People get him to write kakemonos and signboards for them, and he
had earned 10 yen, or about 2 pounds, that day. His father is
going to travel to Kiyoto with him, to see if any one under
fourteen can write as well. I never saw such an exaggerated
instance of child worship. Father, mother, friends, and servants,
treated him as if he were a prince.

The house-master, who is a most polite man, procured me an
invitation to the marriage of his niece, and I have just returned
from it. He has three "wives" himself. One keeps a yadoya in
Kiyoto, another in Morioka, and the third and youngest is with him
here. From her limitless stores of apparel she chose what she
considered a suitable dress for me--an under-dress of sage green
silk crepe, a kimono of soft, green, striped silk of a darker
shade, with a fold of white crepe, spangled with gold at the neck,
and a girdle of sage green corded silk, with the family badge here
and there upon it in gold. I went with the house-master, Ito, to
his disgust, not being invited, and his absence was like the loss
of one of my senses, as I could not get any explanations till
afterwards.

The ceremony did not correspond with the rules laid down for
marriages in the books of etiquette that I have seen, but this is
accounted for by the fact that they were for persons of the samurai
class, while this bride and bridegroom, though the children of
well-to-do merchants, belong to the heimin.

In this case the trousseau and furniture were conveyed to the
bridegroom's house in the early morning, and I was allowed to go to
see them. There were several girdles of silk embroidered with