IN YOKOHAMA. 109

ernment is the Mikado, and he hasan army and navy, into both of which foreign
“ideas have made their way. The Japanese flag is a red sun on a white ground.
The climate is what you might expect in the temperate zone. They have winds
that blow pretty hard and come pretty quick. Around Yokohama, the snow is
seldom seen deeper than two or three inches, but then there are other places
where it comes heavier, sometimes in mountain-valleys accumulating to a great
depth, and I think I could stand a little more than they have at Yokohama.”

If the eloquent lecturer had said, “a little more light,” it would
have been more appropriate. The barn-chandelier threatened to fail
the lecturer, as the light began to sputter. It soon shamefully went
out altogether, leaving Ralph in a predicament. At first, he attempted
to extemporize, but m a moment he was ominously pausing and
“hem-hemming.” He saved himself however by fiercely declaring
that he would rather live in old Concord than m Yokohama, for on
the hills at home, winter did give a boy a good chance to coast.
Giving way now to a “noted Japanese juggler,” the lecturer was re-
warded by the enthusiastic applause of the audience for this com-
pliment to New England coasting.