contentment which townspeople do not know.

_August_: Standing peasant worthier than resting rich man.

_September_: Ears of rice bend their heads as they ripen.
(An allusion to wisdom and meekness.)

_October_: White steam coming out of a manure house on
an autumn morning.

_November_: Moon clear and bright above neatly divided
paddy fields.

_December_: All the members of the family smiling and
celebrating the year's end, piling up many bales of rice.

In this district I first noticed cotton. It is sown in June and is
picked from time to time between early September and early November.
Cotton has been grown for centuries in Japan, but nowadays it is
produced for household weaving only, the needs of the factories being
met by foreign imports. The plant has a beautiful yellow flower with a
dark brown eye.

In one village I asked how many people smoked. The answer was 60 per
cent. of the men and 10 per cent. of the women. In the same village,
which did not seem particularly well off, I was told that 200 daily
papers might be taken among 1,300 families. Eighty per cent. of the
local papers were dailies and cost 35 sen a month. Tokyo papers cost
45 or 50 sen a month.