TOPICS OF THE DAY.
Amongst other Europeaa The" fashions, Japan ba£ not Kindergartens iwgottea to adapt the v of kindergarten system. lα' Tokio. - Tokio a Frasbel Society was formed three yean ago, on the birthday of the great German reformer. To-day there ore several flourish" ing schools, the most distinguished of which is the Peeresses' Kindergarten in the capital This is one of tihe most aristocratic and exclusive infant schools in existence. It H under tike special patronage of the Empres, and none but children of. noble birth en ! admitted. One of ■the scholars is a bafcy princess, others are of royal descent, otkit ' .the sons and daughters of titled generals and [ statesmen. The bunding stands in t&e perial gardens? 'the architectural design were drawn by the teachers themselves, and j ■when it was built special artist* were eo>■ gaged to deoorafce.it and paint picttrni designed to cultivate the children's seneo of beauty and to instruct fchem sib the sane, time. Tie garden around tie school, if desarabed <aa MoomJbg -vyith flowers fed-1 shaded with fine trees. In fine ireatte' games ore played in an arbor covered bfj an immense wistaria vine, and a picture hat -, been, painted of the brightly dressed lisij j Japanese singing under tie blossoms. Mj American writer gives in a few wordTST charming picture of this scene, so characteristic of tie nation, where flffWt arrangement is taught as part of era?, child's education. "Imagine a small hunw butterfly with sleek, dark iheod, clad ia r ■scarlet kimono flowered' witJh white, *i»loose eleeves waving from the slender brona arms, or picture a flock of birds in loaj gowns and sashes of yeUow and blue aaf violet and crimson fluttering about tsf circle in ihe dappled Shade of thetfe leaves." In aesthetics, Japan has not ruudt to learn from Europe, - ,
An American rhymer tells & Earth,- savages who "ain't partis^ Eaters, -what they cat." "But often, when their food: is skerce, aai bitter is their plight, . '. •' Will tek a spell of mud-pies for to hffltt their appytdte." ' But this, according to a summary of tie' earth-eating habit, in the "Pall Mall Gazette,* ia a misleading as well as a frivolous «»/*>(, putting things. Earth or clay eatere eif to be found in every zone, and the diets, vry frequently adopted/ as a matter of chssa rather than savagery or necessity. Thep»' tice has indeed proved some kind of staad-Jf in famine-stricken countries. In the (JWm Indian periods of scarcity, we hear of hof&j of starring wretches crowding the river-lw* to devour the rich mud which forma the to* of all vegetable life in the country; It W during dearth in Sweden that a poor vroA man experimented in mixing an attracts* looking white earth in his rye and bark H, and the loaf turned out w> well that he $ his neighbours, and a.new fashion ia bre* making set in. The magistrateis forbade flf use of this delicacy, just as in France arf* rity prohibited the use of yeast whea it «j first dntroduced from Flanders, as prejudfc* to the public health. But the Sffedie peasant was no more than the Parisian bai* to be coerced into rejecting what he regaw as a good thing, and the white earth orf i tinned for come time a staple ingredient b* m soup and bread. An analysis showed * stuff contained "finely pulverised fliat «* felspar, lime, clay, oxide of iron, and sjduum of come organio matter similtf *| animal, which yielded ammonia and an ««" —the last, no doubt, affording nouririfl* 1 * 'enough not to be despised during a f«"* But the potters of Sonde, in full worit, tf, by no means in danger of starving! J?* jj allowance has to be made in the "Ohaniah," a white unctuous earth u«fr* glazing, for the quantity consumed ty* workers and their wives and cliildren. 3*» the Ainoa are quite artists in eartb-w**-"ln the north of tiitxr island is a valley **£ alone the material can be dug, but it »* ried to all parts, They boil it **» *; root of the white lily; when, a < jerta,n .'L portion of tbe ohvy has settled, »I» wBjJJJ is poured off and eaten like cream. , ' ** bread "buttered" with fine clay whicj breakfast for the quarrymen at f»JJJ| and Humboldt reports sedng Busaan so* 1 eating what they called "rock similar clay. But the peoples of & donia hwe a fanicy, too, for a nourishing stone,' "tapis oleans.' ' t Cloquet and Brischet, traveUing to x islands, could get no food for tlhree They came upon some green lam^jj and ate five ounces each; their tamed, and they never felt any iwjJJ' enoe." As for peoples who their drinking water, they are too tf asserto the "Pail MoU" Gazette" «J» be made mention ot "W« ta ve JJ & Boer family complain that theyoo ■where get good water when »**
i&*' bow on tfie banks of the Orange. The water of the Orange i* a 'pure* , of mud, hence ita name." Taatea are decidedly various in tb : s world, but on the whole it is fortunate S that man usually relishes what he is obliged to eat. Arthur Wing Pinero ii not Pinero and only one of the most popular His I'lavs. dramatists of his day, but also one of the most perfect masters of stagecraft on record. Like many other celebrated men of our century, he is of Jewisn descent, tho Pinheiros being a noble family of the Sephardim, settled in London since the beginning of last century; while on the maternal side he had a distinguished English ancestor in Wing, one of Nelson's Trafalgar heroes. Like Shakeepere, he had a practical knowledge of tho stage; for six years he acted under Irving at the Lyceum. His tinit venture as a playwright was in one act curtain-raisers, in which he himself sometimes took part. In tliis way he went through the A. B.C. of hie art until he became a DKUrter of he technique. Dramatic effect ia his supreme object, and he dedarei* that, "more dramatic authors have died from literature than from any other cause." Every lino, and scene, and episode, are meant to tell; every detail, even the furniture of the room and its effect on the actor's movement is carefully studied. He stage-manages his own plays, and it has bran said that "for a young actor to rehearse with him is a liberal education." In writing he takes the same elaborate pains; and is as particular about his scenery as if he were on historian. He will travel any distance to iodise the plaoes he hue in his mind, and when this is once done, ho draws a sketch of them fur the scene-paiiiter, and also a ground plan of every room or house with j •very detail and every piece of furniture marked in. The most minute stage directions are given with every act he writes, all in his own hand, copied and revised by himself. While he was shaping in his mind that most extraordinary creation, "The Second Mr* Tanqueray," a friend relates that he walked about for two or three days in the neighbourhood of the Albany, retailing one evening quite jubilant, and exclaiming, "I've nen Aubrey Tanqueray'e chambers in the Albany." "Uighercoombe, near Willowmere," where Paula met her tragic fate, was the bouse near Haslemere where Pinero had lived for some months; while "Mrs Corteyon's house" was ia real life inhabited by Un Hump&ry Ward.
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Press, Volume LVI, Issue 10483, 23 October 1899, Page 4
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1,236TOPICS OF THE DAY. Press, Volume LVI, Issue 10483, 23 October 1899, Page 4
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