222 ALL ABOARD FOR SUNRISE LANDS.

“See, boys, those storks! and there is a heron.”

“Those are the birds we see painted so much,” said Ralph.

“Yes; on Japanese ware you will see those birds frequently intro-
duced. They are much admired for the grace of their flight in the air,”
said the doctor. ;

ee Japanese birds, I notice, don’t ‘sing much, doctor.”

“T know it, captain. I can hardly tell why, but they don’t seem
to have been made with a piano in the throat.”

“Here comes something that will. interest you, boys,” called out
Uncle Nat, when they had regained the Tokaido. “ There is a
- whole string of ’em coming.” It was indeed a “string of ’em.”
Eleven bare-headed blind men with long sticks were poling their
way over the road. Some of them stooped very much. One man
seemed to be improving his opportunity and had thrust his hand
into a little bag that his neighbor carried. At the same time he
had turned his head away and was making a queer face at the
sky, as if saying, “What a ninny is this blind man next me! .
He doesn’t know what is going on.” All their heads were shaved,
_ their legs and arms were bare, and as they poled their way along
they cracked their jokes and laughed, occasionally whistling in chorus.

“What do blind people in Japan do for a living?” asked Rick.

“‘Well, one thing is to shampoo people,” said the doctor. “When
one is tired, his jomts sore, a blind man may come up, whistling
through a reed, and that means that he offers his services as a
shampooer. By rubbing, he takes the weariness and soreness out
of the body. Some of the blind are musicians. There are blind
men who are money-lenders. It might seem a wonder to you
where they could get money; but they pick it up, and lending it,
get a big interest. When a blind man is anywhere near you will
be likely to hear a shrill whistle from him, if a shampooer.”