236 ALL ABOARD FOR SUNRISE LANDS.

chewed written prayers rolled them up into a ball, and then thrown
them at the god. He is freckled all over with them; but he seems -
to be no worse for it, and the worshippers feel all the better, for
they are sure then that the prayers have reached him.”

“Don’t you think, Rick,” asked Ralph, “it would be a good
idea to give a god an immense ear and let the balls drive at that?
He would be all the surer to get the prayers.”

“Oh Ralph, his ear would soon be all filled up, and he’d be deaf
as a haddock. I guess what the doctor said was the way is the
best: to freckle him all over.”

Lake Biwa, not far from Kiyoto, was visited. It is a beautiful
body of water, and an attractive spot for excursionists.

The next city seen by Uncle Nat & Co. was Osaka, and the steam
cars carried them to it.

“We leave Old Japan for the New,” said the doctor, “riding by cars.”

“ And the exchange seems good,” declared the captain.

“We have a railroad between Tokiyo and Yokohama, and one
in this neighborhood joming Kobe, Osaka, Kiyoto and Otsu; only
seventy-six miles in all. They are extending this last railroad.”

Rick sent his mother a letter telling her what he thought of
Osaka. ;

“ This is a big place, I tell you, mother, and I guess as many as three hundred
thousand people must live here. There is a river and there are canals
and there are lots of bridges, and the doctor, he knows a lot I tell you,
he says there are heaps of wickedness here. We went down to a place
and saw some children playing in the water and trying to fish. I saw a
crab on the rocks that they tried to get off. My! If I ain’t glad I was
brought up in Concord and didn’t have my head shaved! After we had
seen Osaka, we came to Kobe where we are now. It is not so big as
Osaka, only forty thousand people counting in Hiogo, the native quarter,
but there are many of our folks here and so it seems quite natural. This