RECOLLECTIONS OF FULL YEARS
mained to laugh. The little 'ricksha man began chattering and grimacing at all of them and kept it up until he had enlisted the services of at least halt the population of the village to help him in attaining the crest of the hill.
Two days before the Hancock was to start on her way toward Manila the great event of our visit to Japan transpired. We had our audience with the Emperor and Empress.
The first thing the ladies all asked, of course, was, "What shall we wear?" It was a most important question. I supposed we should have to wear evening gowns and was congratulating myself that I had a very nice new one that would do beautifully. But only on the afternoon before the day appointed, it was decreed that we should appear in high-necked frocks with trains. That was more difficult,—especially the trains. I didn't own an afternoon frock that I considered good enough. I was going to the tropics and had got a supply of thin white muslins and linens, but I had nothing that would do for a cold May day in Japan. Mrs. Wright, Mrs. Worcester and Mrs. Moses were as greatly concerned as I, but we finally managed. I solved the problem by having a Chinese dressmaker in Yokohama make me, overnight, a lace guimpe which I wore with my perfectly acceptable evening gown.
Judge Ide had been particularly interested in the audience and in the fact that the ladies would also be received and he was very much chagrined when he found that "the ladies" meant only the wives of the Commissioners and that he could not take with him his two beautiful daughters. He quite lost interest in the whole proceeding, and we didn't blame him in the least.
The Palace in Tokyo is not a "Forbidden City" literally, as the old palace in Peking used to be, but it looks from the outside just as "forbidden," or more so. It is surrounded by a wide, deep moat which is crossed at intervals by curved
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