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

ARRIVAL AT THE WE.STERN CAIMTAL. 289
completion of the railway from Kioto to Osaka and Kobe ; but there is
still enough to maintain a considerable number of them. There is one,
large hotel, at the ftiot of the Inari hill, about two miles from the centre
of Kioto, where the jin-riki-sha coolies invariably sto]5 for a short j'est, and
to take tea at the expense of their employers. The custom was cai'efully
observed in the present instance, and our friends were shown to the rear
of the hotel, where there was a pretty garden with a little fountain sup-
plied from the hill above. They sipped their tea, and gave side-glances
at the black-eyed maids that were moving around the house ; and when
John announced that the coolies were rested, the journey was resumed.
They passed by several temples, and, after a time, their way led tlirongh
some narrow streets and up a gently sloping hill. Suddenly they halted
and were told that they had reached their stopj^ing-place. There are sev-
eral hotels at Kioto in the foreign style, but all kept and managed by Jap-
anese. John declared that the one to which he had brought them was
the best, bnt he added, in a quiet whisper, that it was not so good as the
hotels at Kobe and Yokohama. After a day's experience of the establish-
ment, Frank suggested that he could make an improvement in John's
English.
Fred asked what he had to propose.
" Why," said Frank, " he spoke of this hotel as the best in the place ;
best implies goodness somewhere, and I don't find any goodness in it."
" But, for all that," .
Fred responded, " the
others may be worse
than this."
" Quite true," was
the answer, " and then
let him say so. In-
stead of calling this the
best hotel in Kioto, he
should say that it is the
least bad. Then he
would be making a
proper use of Ian-
Fred retorted that
Frank was demanding
too much of a boy to
whom they only paid 1V0JIEN OF KIOTO.
19
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