LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOSEPH HARDY NEESIMA

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16 EARLY LIFE. be buried with her ancestors. We were all received in the large hall of the temple, where numbers of the priests appeared in purple, red, and black robes, mak­ing a solemn ceremony by beating drums, striking cymbals, and repeating some sacred writings of Bud­dha. " While I was quite young my father used to take me out to temples of the different gods to worship, as certain days of the months or years are especially devoted to them. On those occasions the temple grounds were generally crowded by all sorts of ped­dlers, selling pictures, kites, tops, divers kinds of play­things, cakes, candies, fruits, flowers, shrubs, etc. "I must not forget to mention here what devoted pagan worshipers my father and grandfather were. They never missed going to the temples to worship on special days, and also kept numerous gods at home. A dozen of them were kept in the sitting-room, a dozen more in the parlor, with the tablets of their an­cestors, and at least a half dozen in the kitchen. They offered them tea and rice in the morning and lights in the evening. At each offering they made the most profound bows before them, and made some prayers in behalf of the family. So far as I can recollect, they must have been thoroughly convinced that the life and prosperity of the family were depending on them. Being quite young and thoughtless, I supposed that my grandfather and father were the best people that ever lived in the world. Of course, I followed their example set before me, and often bowed myself down before these dumb idols, having some childish ambition that I might acquire some wisdom and skill to become an accomplished samurai. " As my father was a teacher of penmanship, he

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