The boy travellers in the Far East : adventures of two youths ... - Library

Qi THE BOY TRAVELLERS.
"You mean tliose little things the Japanese sleep on?"
" 1 es ; they are so uneouifortahle that we couldn't use them with any
sort of pleasure. Nobody would want to lie in bed after he liad waked
lip, if he had such a pillow under his head. He would be out in a minute,
and wouldn't think of turning over for another doze.
" Now, if our Congress will pass a law abolishing the feather pillow all
over the United States, and commanding everybody to sleep on the Jap-
anese one, it would make every man, woman, and child get up at least an
hour earlier every day. For forty millions of people this would make a
gain of forty million hours daily, and that would be equal to forty-five
thousand years. Just think what an advantage that would be to the
country, and how much more we could accomplish than we do now.
Isn't it a grand idea V
Fred thought it might be grand and profitable to the country, but it
would be necessaiy to make the pillows for the people ;
and from what he
had heard of Congress, he didn't think they would vote away the public
money for anything of the sort. Besides, the members of Congress would
not wish to deprive themselves of the privilege of sleeping on feather pil-
lows, and therefore they wouldn't vote away their liberties. So he ad-
vised Frank to study Japan a little longer before he suggested the adop-
tion of the Japanese pillow in America.
This conversation occurred while the boys were in fi'ont of the hotel,
and waiting for the Doctor, whom they expected every moment. When
he came, the three went out for a stroll, and returned in good season for
breakfast. While they were out they took a peep into a Japanese house,
where the family were at their morning meal, and thus the boys had an
opportunity of couiparing their own ways with those of the country they
were in.
A dignified native, with the fore part of his head closely shaven, Avas
squatted on the floor in front of a little box atiout a foot high, which
served as a table. Opposite was his wife, and at the moment our party
looked in she M'as engaged in pouring something from a liottle into a
small cup the size of a thimble. Directly under her liand was a bowl
filled with freshly boiled rice, from which the steam was slowly rising; and
at the side of the table was another and smaller one, holding some plates
and chopsticks. A tiny cup and a bowl constituted the rest of the break-
fast equipment. The master was waited upon by his wife, who was not
supposed to attend to her own wants until his had been fully met. She
sat with her back to the window, wliich was covered with paper in small
squares pasted to the frame, and at her right was a screen, such as one