Read Ebook: Big People and Little People of Other Lands by Shaw Edward R Edward Richard

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They have schools in Japan just as we have. The boys and girls must go to school until they are ten years old. Some of their lessons are very hard. They have forty-seven letters in their alphabet, instead of only twenty-six, as we have. Don't you think it must be hard for the boys and girls to learn to read?

They go to school very early in the morning. Before they enter the school they take off their shoes. When the teacher comes, they bow down their heads nearly to the ground and draw in their breath. This is their "good morning." The teacher also bows to the boys and girls.

Then the children sit on the floor. They put their books on their knees and begin their lessons. They have no pens or pencils. They use little brushes instead. They write in lines from the top to the bottom of the sheet of paper, instead of across from side to side as we do. This is the way, you remember, they write in China. The books in Japan are also like the books in China. The last page in our books would be the first page in books in China and Japan. So their books begin at what we would think the end. How queer this seems to us!

There are newspapers in Japan, but they are not much like ours. The lines run up and down just as Japanese writing does. They read back from what we would call the last page.

A great many things that we use in America come from Japan. We get silk from Japan, and beautiful vases and mats and screens and basket work. The boys and girls in Japan help to make these things. For they are bright and learn quickly how to do very nice work.

ARABIA.

Have you ever heard of the Arabs? They are people with brown skin and dark eyes. They live in a country called Arabia. It is a very warm country. There is never any snow in Arabia. A great part of it is covered with sand. For miles and miles you would see nothing but sand. Often the sand is so hot that you could not walk on it in your bare feet. Those great tracts of sand are called deserts.

In many parts of Arabia water is very scarce. It rains very seldom, and in some places there are no rivers. The people get water out of wells. They carry the water, in bottles made of leather. Glass bottles would not do. The heat is so great that it would go through the glass. Tins would make the water warm. But the leather bottles keep the water cool.

Some of the Arabs live in towns. They have walls around their towns. At some parts of the walls there are towers. Both walls and towers are made of earth.

In every large town they have an open market place with shops around it. In most of the shops they sell food. In a few of the shops they sell cotton cloth and other dry goods. Many of the shops are kept by women.

The streets are swept every day. Every family sweeps the street in front of its own door.

The houses in the towns are made of stone. They have flat mud roofs and small windows. The Arabs have no chairs or beds in their houses. They sit on mats or carpets spread on the floor. They also sleep on mats.

The chief room in an Arab house is the coffee room. It is a large room with a furnace or fireplace at one end of it for making coffee.

Many of the Arabs live in tents. They move about from place to place. Sometimes they cross the desert to come to the towns. They must often cross it to find water and grass for their horses and camels and sheep.

The camel is very useful to the Arabs. Perhaps you have seen a camel. It is much larger than a horse. It has a great hump on its back. It has large feet with broad, flat soles; and it can walk or run over the sand without sinking.

The camel can carry a very heavy load. It gives milk which is good to drink. Its hair is made into cloth. Its flesh is good meat. It can bear thirst and heat far better than a horse can. It can travel and carry a load in the desert for three or four days without drinking. This makes it very useful to the Arabs.

But the Arabs have horses also. They are the finest horses in the world. An Arab is very proud of his horse. He loves him almost as much as he loves his children.

Did you ever hear the story that is told of Hassan and his horse? Hassan was an Arab who had a horse which he loved very much. And the horse loved Hassan very much.

One day Hassan was riding on his horse in the desert with some other Arabs. They were met by a party of men called Turks, who made them prisoners. The Turks tied the feet of Hassan and his friends with leather straps. They tied the horses also. They planned to carry them off next morning.

During the night Hassan heard his horse neighing. He crept up to him and said in a low voice: "What will become of you, my poor horse? You will not be happy with these Turks. Go home to my tent. Tell my wife that she will never see me again. Lick the hands of my children with your tongue, as a token of my love."

He then bit off with his teeth the cords that tied the horse, and set him free. The horse looked at his master for a minute or two. Then he caught him with his teeth by the belt and ran off with him into the desert. On and on across the sand he ran. He never stopped until he had laid Hassan down beside his wife and children. Then, worn out with his long run, he dropped dead at his master's feet.

All the people around wept when they heard the story. Arab poets made songs about Hassan and his horse.

The Arabs do not eat very much. Their chief meal is supper. They have supper in the evening. They are very fond of coffee. Did you ever hear of Mocha coffee? It comes from Mocha, a town in Arabia. Most of the Arabs take their coffee without sugar or milk.

They always make their bread in thin cakes. Then they bake the bread on hot iron plates or in an open oven. They also have ground wheat cooked with a little butter. Arabs who are rich have mutton or camel's flesh, and also rice. All eat vegetables and fruits of various kinds.

There are many kinds of fruit in Arabia. But the greatest and best of all is the date. This grows on the date-palm tree. The date palm grows very high. The Arabs are very proud of it. Every part of it is of use to them. Its fruit is the chief food of many of the people. You have seen and perhaps you have eaten dried dates. They are not nearly so sweet or so good as the fruit when taken off the tree. The trunk of the date palm is good for making furniture. Its leaves make roofs for houses. Parts of its branches make firewood. From some parts of the tree cords and ropes are made.

The Arabs do not wear very many clothes. They do not need heavy clothes, because the weather in Arabia is almost always very warm. The men wear long light dresses like shirts. They have a belt, or girdle, around the waist. They wear a handkerchief on the head. This is tied around with a band or string. On their feet they wear sandals. Do you know what a sandal is? It is a shoe with only a sole, and straps going across the foot and round the ankle. The Arab women also wear a long shirt. Over it they have a large, wide piece of blue cloth. This blue cloth covers them from head to foot.

But what about the Arab boys and girls? What do they wear? Most of the boys run around without shoes or stockings. But some of them wear little red shoes turned up at the toes, and others wear small sandals. They also wear loose trousers and jackets and little red caps. The girls commonly wear cotton dresses that are made very plain. Sometimes they have veils over their heads. In the country places the girls do not wear veils.

Only the boys go to school. Before they enter the school they must take off their sandals. They have no seats in their schools. They all sit on the floor. Their lessons are not like your lessons. They have only one book. It is called the Koran. The Koran is the Arab Bible. The Arab boys must learn the Koran by heart. At school, they all shout out together when they are learning their lessons.

But the Arab boys learn many things at home. They learn to read and to write. They also have plenty of time to play. They play ball. They fly kites. They ride ponies. Often they play with old guns and swords. Thus they learn to be soldiers.

The Arab girls do not go to school. But they do not play very much. They must help their mothers do the work at home. The mothers grind corn to make bread. They spin and weave cloth for clothes. They grind the corn with two flat stones. One of these stones is placed on top of the other. There is a hole in the middle of the upper stone. They pour the corn into this hole. The upper stone is then turned round by a handle. So the corn is ground between the two stones. The girls often have to turn the stone around. They must also take care of the baby. They help to carry home water from the well. They carry the water in earthen jars.

You will say, then, that the Arab girls have a hard time. But they do not work always. They have some time for play. They have very funny dolls. Would you not laugh if some one gave you two sticks joined like a cross, and told you it was a doll? That is the kind of doll the Arab girls have. And they are very fond of their dolls. They dress them, and take great care of them.

The Arabs are very fond of tales and stories. Perhaps you have heard of a book called the "Arabian Nights." It is full of wonderful stories about kings and giants and witches, and other strange things. This book came from Arabia. When you are older you will read the "Arabian Nights." In it you will learn many more things about Arabia and the Arabs.

KOREA.

What funny hats they wear in Korea!

But, you will ask, where is Korea? It is near Japan, a country you have read of in this book.

The people of Korea look a little like Chinamen. They have yellow skin and slanting eyes. Their hair is long, straight, and black, and they wear it in a very strange way. The boys and girls wear their hair down their backs in braids tied with ribbons. The men and women have their hair in little topknots that stand straight up.

But I must tell you about the strange hats they have. Some of the men wear hats that go down over their shoulders. This is the kind of hat they wear when they are in mourning, after the death of a father or mother. Some wear hats made of straw. These hats look like large flowerpots turned upside down. Some have hats made of horsehair.

But the hats made of straw and the hats made of horsehair do not keep the rain out. So they have umbrellas. Their umbrellas are as funny as the hats. They are made of oil paper, and have no handles. They look like fans. When it rains, the people open their umbrellas and tie them on top of their hats.

The boys in Korea wear loose jackets, and wide trousers which go under their stockings. The stockings are padded with cotton, and are tied at the ankle. The girls wear very pretty little jackets, sometimes red, sometimes pink, and sometimes green.

The shoes they wear in Korea are of many kinds and shapes. Some are made of leather. Others are like the wooden shoes the Chinamen wear, which turn up at the toes. The funniest shoes they have are made of paper. The paper is very thick and strong, and so their paper shoes last a good while. But the shoes that are worn by most of the people in Korea are made of straw. They are like sandals, and they are worn so that the large toe is not covered.

The people in Korea have a strange way of keeping themselves cool in hot weather. They have something like a basket made of rods of bamboo. This basket is round and long, and open at the top and bottom. They put their heads through this basket, and it hangs downward from their shoulders around their bodies. Then they put their clothes over it, so that the basket is inside. It is next to their skin. How would you like to have such a summer dress?

The boys in Korea go to school when they are very young. The girls do not go to school. They stay at home to help their mothers. But girls whose parents are rich have teachers at home to teach them reading and writing and other things.

The boys in Korea have some very nice toys. But the best playthings they have are their kites. They make their kites fight battles in the air, just as the boys do in Japan. Every boy tries to tear down every other boy's kite. This is done by pulling the strings across one another. Sometimes the sky is full of beautiful kites, which jump and dash about as if they were alive.

The boys also have fine, large pinwheels. They make these pinwheels whirl around in the wind. The boys also spin tops, and they play "seesaw," and jump the rope.

The boys in Korea are fond of fishing. Nearly every boy has a fishing rod and goes fishing whenever he can. Sometimes the boys have great fun going around dressed like their fathers. They wear wooden swords and little bows and arrows like soldiers. They make straw figures of men, and with their swords they strike off the heads of these straw men.

But the boys have to work as well as play. Many of the peddlers in Korea are boys. They sell candy and other things. The girls do a great deal of work at home. The first thing they learn to do is to sew.

Would you like to know how the women iron their clothes? They wrap each piece around a stick and lay it on the floor. Then they sit down and beat the piece on the stick with wooden clubs. In this way they make the clothes as smooth as a Chinaman makes the linen which he irons.

The houses in Korea are one or two stories high. They are made of wood or clay, and sometimes the roofs are of straw. The windows are high, and the doors are often so low that the people have to stoop down to go in. The rooms are very small and have hardly any furniture. There are no chairs. The people sit on mats on the floor. The walls between the rooms are made of paper, and the floor is made of stone.

They have a strange way of heating their houses. They have no stoves or fireplaces. But under the floor they have a cellar like an oven. In this cellar a fire is always kept, and the rooms are sometimes so hot that the people can hardly walk on the stone floors.

People who are poor sleep on mats on the floor. They sleep in their clothes. People who are rich have mattresses. The mattresses are laid on the floor at night, and are taken up in the morning.

The people of Korea eat a great deal of rice. But they have other kinds of food. They have meat and fish and eggs and also fruit. You would think that they would use a great deal of tea, as they live so near China. But they do not drink tea. They drink rice water instead. The rice water is water that rice has been boiled in.

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