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36
THE WONDERFUL CITY OF TOKIO.
The woman took a piece of paper string from a holder ly-
ing upon her left, placed it upon her tongue, dexterously
threaded a packing-needle, and complacently replied:
"Buy a mallet, honorable young lady? Why should we
-waste our money on such luxuries, when we can use our
elbows? Besides these shields prevent the sharp pieces of
'the straw from running into our flesh."
She then thrust the needle into the mat, and began to stitch
with great rapidity, while her son fetched the visitors some tea
.and brought Oto a light for his pipe.
An old lady was in the back room, enjoying the luxury of
'being shampooed by a blind boy, who knelt behind her and
.alternately thumped and kneaded her back.
"That is honorable grandmother," said the mat-maker.
"She is over ninety years old, and is a most pious person. She
counts her beads all day long, and has attained a perfect com-
posure of mind."
The aged woman chuckled at this remark, and said to the
shampooer:
"Don't hit me too hard, my bones are not as strong as they
used to be;" adding, in an undertone: "I think those honorable
foreigners ought to make me a present. They do not
-often have the happiness of seeing any one as old as I am."
The Professor gave the dame's grandson ten sen for her,
whereupon she chuckled like an overjoyed child, and, bowing,
:said :
"7r0, iro, arigato! (thanks, many thanks). Now I will
buy myself some very good tobacco."
Soon after they had left the mat-maker's, they heard a toot-
ing noise, and presently beheld a man standing by a portable
stall on which were arranged an assortment of flutes and
whistles.