At Dark The Paper Windows Are Drawn, The Amado,
Or External Wooden Shutters, Are Closed, The Lamp Is Lighted Before
The family shrine, supper is eaten, the children play at quiet
games round the andon; and about ten the quilts
And wooden pillows
are produced from the press, the amado are bolted, and the family
lies down to sleep in one room. Small trays of food and the
tabako-bon are always within reach of adult sleepers, and one grows
quite accustomed to hear the sound of ashes being knocked out of
the pipe at intervals during the night. The children sit up as
late as their parents, and are included in all their conversation.
I never saw people take so much delight in their offspring,
carrying them about, or holding their hands in walking, watching
and entering into their games, supplying them constantly with new
toys, taking them to picnics and festivals, never being content to
be without them, and treating other people's children also with a
suitable measure of affection and attention. Both fathers and
mothers take a pride in their children. It is most amusing about
six every morning to see twelve or fourteen men sitting on a low
wall, each with a child under two years in his arms, fondling and
playing with it, and showing off its physique and intelligence. To
judge from appearances, the children form the chief topic at this
morning gathering. At night, after the houses are shut up, looking
through the long fringe of rope or rattan which conceals the
sliding door, you see the father, who wears nothing but a maro in
"the bosom of his family," bending his ugly, kindly face over a
gentle-looking baby, and the mother, who more often than not has
dropped the kimono from her shoulders, enfolding two children
destitute of clothing in her arms.
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