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A JAPANESE HOME. 27
The Japanese are not so passionately fond of knowledge
as to wish to see the law of gravity illustrated
at every chill of Mother Earth by having their skulls
cracked by falling lirne. On the walls, after priming
of pulp made of common waste, the ornamented or
gilt paper is pasted. Here we see that Japan
is the
original home of wall paper, and that the designs
are quiet and elegant. The ceiling is rarely so
covered.
Closets, chimneys, glass windows, or sashed casements
are unknown in the city, except where some
one has brought a pane of glass from the Dutchmen
Nagasaki, and, as a mere curiosity, has set it in a
door, calling it giyamon (diamond). Cuddy-holes
for small articles are made and often exquisitely
adorned. Cabinets and chests of drawers have their
place. Charcoal, which is used for warmth, is smokeless
and odorless. One would suppose the use of
this fuel to
be dangerous, but one never hears of a
native losing his life
by it. The openness of the
houses prevents
ill effects. The partitions, which
occupy three sides of nearly every room, the fourth
side being the wall, slide in grooves. The tops of
the frames are not quite six feet high from the floor,
and it is plain that there are not as many
tall men in
this country as in some others, else they would surely
often bump their heads. Over the partition frame
is a space of two feet to the ceiling,
in which is set
a handsome lattice of white-pine or camphor or
Iteaki wood watered like silk ;
or perforated landscapes,
or mountain outlines, or flocks of birds in