FIRST IMPRESSIONS
As one nail drives out another so were the sights of Honolulu lost in
those newer ones which were met as the vessel entered the great bay.
"It is just like the pictures," cried Nan, eagerly squeezing her
sister's arm.
"It is exactly," responded Mary Lee. "Oh, Nan, those square-sailed
things are the junks, aren't they? And oh, what a lot of little boats."
"And isn't the color beautiful?" returned Nan, her eyes seeking the
further mass of shore beyond the calmly glittering waters. "I am wildly
excited, aren't you, Aunt Helen? Somehow it seems the foreignest of all
the foreign countries we have seen yet, much more than Honolulu did,
for there was so much that was American there."
"It is certainly deeply interesting," her aunt agreed. "I suppose we
shall have to come down to the matter-of-fact question of customs
directly, and after that we can begin to enjoy ourselves."
"Oh, dear me, I always forget that there are such disagreeable things
as customs. I hope they will not capture my precious calabash."
But the customs were easily passed and then came the first sensation of
the day, a ride to the hotel in a _jinrikisha_.
"I feel as if I were on a fan or a _kakamono_," giggled Mary Lee, as
they were borne along by their galloping coolie.
"What funny little houses," commented Nan. "Can you imagine that really
sober, every-day people live in them? It all looks like a joke, and as
if we might come to our sober senses after a while. To be sure some
of the houses do look somewhat European, but even they have a queer
expression."
"I didn't expect to see any horses, and yet there are a good many."
Mary Lee made the observation.
"I suppose they have been brought in by the foreign population," said
Nan. "I have seen quite a number of phaetons, and some persons on
horseback, so there goes one rooted theory. Set it down for a fact that
they do have horses in Japan."
"Don't the shops look fascinating! But we mustn't try to buy much of
anything here for we are going to Tokyo almost at once, Aunt Helen
says. Do you know how far it is, Nan?"
"Only about twenty miles, I believe. Ah, here is our hotel right on
the quay. We get a harbor view, but they say the best scenery is not
here, but that further in the interior it is wonderful. I am wild for
the first glimpse of Fujiyama."
"I suppose we shall be honorabled and kowtowed to from this out,"
remarked Mary Lee as they left their _jinrikishas_ to be met at the
hotel door by a bowing, obsequious person who conducted them inside.
"It should be a flattering possibility, but you must remember that we
are only poor miserable females and are of no account in this land."
"I shall remember that when I get carried away by my admiration of
things Japanese," replied Mary Lee.
Their rooms looked out upon the water, and for some time they gave
themselves up to viewing the novel scene spread out before them; the
queer crafts which passed and repassed; the lambent, soft light which
played over the waters; the effect of a swarming crowd in the costume
of the country, at times diversified by the wearing of a partial
European dress, again accentuated by those who wore such attire as was
most familiar to the girls in their own home. It was quite late in the
day and, as they expected to go on to Tokyo the next morning, they
decided to take _jinrikishas_ or as they discovered them to be called
_kuruma_ and _kurumaya_, that they might see something of the city of
Yokohama and have their first experience of Japanese shops.
"Now, Nan," warned Mary Lee the wise, "don't get too reckless even if
things are cheap. We have months before us and if you begin to load up
now, think what you will have by the end of the time."
Nan, hesitating while she looked longingly at a fragile cup and saucer,
sighed. "I suppose you are right, but one's enthusiasm is always so
much more ardent in the beginning. Besides, I have always found that no
matter how much I carried home with me from abroad, I was always sorry
I didn't buy double."
"But these breakable things will be so hard to lug around."
"True, my practical sister. I think I will limit myself to the purchase
of two things alone in this precious town and it will be fun to decide
what they shall be."
From shop to shop they went, stopping to look at the queer hanging
signs, to examine the curios, the silks, and the odds and ends which
could be picked up for a mere trifle. But at last Nan decided upon a
silk scarf as being easy to carry and a singularly lovely kakamono,
though she gave many a sigh to the beautiful bits of color which she
must pass by. "So cheap," she would murmur, "and I can't have it."
Then Mary Lee would resolutely rush her away with the consoling remark
that doubtless she would find things twice as lovely and even more
cheap in other places. "For you must remember," said she, "that we
are only on the threshold, and probably, as this is such a well-known
seaport, and one which is so much visited, things here are more
expensive than they will be further on."
"I bow to your superior judgment," Nan would reply, with a last
backward look at the treasure she coveted.
Mary Lee, herself, followed Nan's decision and bought but two articles,
one a small piece of carved ivory and the other a piece of embroidery,
both of which could be easily tucked away and would take up little room.
Their afternoon would not have been complete without a first visit to a
tea-house. "A really truly Japanese one this time," said Nan. "Aren't
you glad we waited? I have much more of a sensation, haven't you, Aunt
Helen?"
"It does seem the real thing in such an atmosphere and such a company,"
she returned, as they were served with the pale yellow beverage in tiny
cups by the most smiling of little maids.
It was something of a ceremony as they discovered, when, at the very
door, they must remove their shoes that they might not soil the clean
straw mats with which the floor was thickly spread. Slippers were
provided them and shuffling in with these upon their feet they sat on
cushions, when a little maid in kimono and broad _obi_ came forward to
ask if the honorable ladies would like some honorable tea.
"Dear me," whispered Nan, "it is just as I hoped it would be. We have
been called honorable at last."
Presently the _mousmeé_ approached on her knees bearing a carved tray
which she presented most humbly, and the three sat drinking their
tea and trying to realize that this was Japan and that they were not
dreaming.
Continuing their ride, they were taken still further away from the
European quarter of the town through the streets which looked more and
more foreign; but they did not stop at any of the tiny shops, raised
above the street, with their banner-like signs of blue or red or white
all bearing lettering in fantastic Japanese or Chinese characters. It
was all wonderfully rich and harmonious and the three were so busy
drinking in the sights, the queer little low houses, the people, mostly
habited in blue, short of stature, smiling, picturesque, that they were
taken by surprise when at last their broad-hatted runner stopped.
They looked up there to see before them in the evening light the great
cone of Fujiyama, or Fujisan, as the wonderful mountain is called.
Nan began to laugh hysterically. "What makes you do that?" said Mary
Lee. "I don't see anything so amusing about this glorious view."
"I have to do something," returned Nan, "and I don't want to cry. I
have to do one or the other, it is so wonderfully beautiful. Doesn't
it seem like the very spirit of a mountain wrapped in this pale, misty
evening light? The great sacred mountain! And how high is it? I must
look at my book and see." She turned the leaves of the book which she
carried with her. "The great volcano," she read, "is between 12,000
and 13,000 feet high. It is 120 miles around the base. It has been
practically inactive since 1707, yet there is a spot where it still
shows indications of inward fires which, it is safe to declare, may
break out some day."
"Dear me, let us hope it will not be while we are here," said Mary Lee.
"It isn't at all probable," Nan assured her, "for I am sure there would
be some warning, unearthly noises, and growlings and mutterings. I
shouldn't mind a little harmless sort of eruption, and I am rather
looking for a baby earthquake that we can really expect almost any
time. Do you know, Mary Lee, I am only beginning to wake up to the
tremendous possibilities of Japan. Every little while I come upon the
description of some famous shrine or temple, some wonderful view,
some queer custom, or fascinating festival. I am beginning to get
more and more bewildered, and shall have to sift this information so
I can gather together the few grains which must serve us while we are
here. It would never do to go away with merely a hodge-podge of facts
not properly catalogued in our minds. You, who have an orderly and
practical mind, must help me arrange some sort of synopsis of what we
are to see and why we must."
Mary Lee agreed and after a short observation of the magic mountain,
they turned their backs upon it and saw only the bobbing hat of their
runner who bore them through the unfamiliar and weirdly interesting
streets, whose shops were now beginning to be lighted by gay paper
lanterns, on to a more familiar looking quarter of the city, peopled
principally by Europeans and back to the hotel on the quay, where
they stopped. Their minds were full of new sensations, and their eyes
were still filled with the pictures of foreign streets, smiling,
gentle-voiced little people, and lastly great Fujisan, calm and
beautiful in the sunset glow.
After dismissing the _jinrikishas_, the three entered the hotel again,
Nan walking ahead. As they were passing through the corridor, she
stopped short as she came face to face with a girl about her own age
who also came to a halt as she saw Nan. Then she sprang forward and
took Nan by the shoulders, giving her a gentle shake. "Nan Corner, as I
live! This is surprising."
"Eleanor Harding, who could have expected to meet you on the other side
of the world?" cried Nan.
"How on earth did you get here?" asked Eleanor.
"Just dug a hole and fell through," returned Nan.
Eleanor laughed. "Dear me, that does make me feel as if we were all
back at Bettersley. Why, there is Mary Lee, too! What fun!" She
hastened forward to greet her old classmate, and to speak to Miss Helen
whom she had met more than once at various college functions. "Well,
this is luck," she declared. "Do let us go somewhere and have a good
talk. Have you all had dinner? No? Then come along and sit with me for
I was just going in."
"But we are still in traveling dress," objected Mary Lee, always
particular.
"Never mind that; lots of others will be, too. Come right along."
Thus urged the three followed along to the dining-room where they found
a table to themselves over in one corner, and the chattering began.
"Now tell me all about it," said Eleanor. "Dear me, but it does me good
to see you."
"We have come just because we all wanted to," Nan told her. "Aunt Helen
proposed it, and here we are. We left mother and the twinnies at home."
"Jack and Jean are at Bettersley, of course."
"Yes, pegging away and getting along about as well as the rest of us
did in our freshman year. Jack, as may be guessed, is in everything,
including scrapes, but she is a general favorite and always comes out
on top."
"It makes me sort of homesick," said Eleanor with a sigh.
"But you haven't told us yet what brought you here," Mary Lee reminded
her.
"Oh, so I haven't. I came out with my aunt whose husband is an army
man. My brother is in the diplomatic service and is to be here some
time, probably, so every one thought it was my chance for seeing this
country."
"It certainly is, for you will have opportunities denied the rest of us
mere tourists. Is your aunt here in Yokohama?"
"For the present. She and my brother have both gone to some function
this evening, hence I am alone. Do you know what I thought when I first
caught sight of you, Nan? I thought you were married and had come on
your wedding trip."
"No such prospect for Nancy," was the answer.
"What about Rob Powell?" asked Eleanor. "He used to be your adorer a
year ago."
"Was it only a year ago? It seems ten," returned Nan. "Oh, I hear of
him once in a while from Rita Converse. He is doing pretty well for a
beginner, I believe."
"What callous indifference," replied Eleanor. "I quite counted on
hearing of your engagement by this time."
"I don't seem to engage as readily as some others," Nan made answer,
"and the longer I put it off the more 'fistadious' I become as Jean
used to say. What about yourself, Nell, my dear? I don't forget Yale
Prom."
"Oh, bless me, who can count upon what happened before the deluge? I've
begun all over again. I am counting on my brother Neal to supply me
with something in the way of a Mikado or a _daimio_."
"Deliver me if you please," cried Mary Lee.
"So say we all of us," echoed Nan. "No Japanese mother-in-law for me.
You must do better than that, Eleanor."
So the chaff and chatter went on. Eleanor had been one of their
comrades at college and there were a thousand questions to ask on each
side, reminiscences and all that, the process of what the girls called
"reminiscing" continuing long after they had left the table and had
retired to a spot where they would be undisturbed. Here, after a while,
they were discovered by Eleanor's brother who was duly presented and
who entertained them all by an account of the affair which he had just
attended. Later came in Mrs. Craig to hunt up her niece and nephew.
She was a charming woman who had already been through many interesting
experiences, and who was disposed to make much of these college friends
of her niece.
"We must all have some good times together," she proposed. "My husband
and Neal have both been out here long enough to give us suggestions."
Neal declared himself eager to be of assistance and lost no time in
beginning to plan what they all must do the next day. There was some
discussion about hours and engagements, but at last all was arranged to
the satisfaction of every one concerned and the little company broke
up.
"Did you ever know such luck?" whispered Nan as they were going to
their rooms. "Aunt Helen, we certainly started out under a lucky star.
What would Honolulu have been without Mrs. Beaumont? And here come Mrs.
Craig and Mr. Harding to act as cicerone for us here. Nell Harding of
all people! I can't get over my surprise yet."
"Were you very intimate with her at college?" asked Miss Helen.
"Not quite as much so as with Rita Converse and one or two others.
Still we were very good friends, especially during our senior year. Do
you remember, Mary Lee, that she was the one who wrote to her brother
about that horrid Oliver Adams, when you were taking up the cudgels for
Natty Gray?"
"Indeed I do remember," returned Mary Lee. "She was so nice about it; I
have always liked her better ever since that time. What do you think of
this brother, Nan?"
"Pleasant sort of somebody. Looks as if there might be a good deal in
him. Not specially good-looking, but he has nice eyes and a well-shaped
head that looks as if he had more than ordinary intellect. I think we
shall all become very good friends. Don't you like Mrs. Craig, Aunt
Helen? I am sure she is great, and is going to be no end of help to us."
So the talk went on while the night opened up new stars to their
vision, and the coming day promised new friends, new scenes and new
experiences.
[Illustration: THEY LOOKED UP TO SEE THE GREAT CONE OF
FUJIYAMA]
[Illustration: CHAPTER IV
TEMPLES AND TEA]