- A Game of Snowball
The two little boys are playing at snowball. These lads enjoy a fall of snow, and still better than snowballing they like making a snowman with a charcoal ball for each eye and a streak of charcoal for his mouth. The shoes which they usually wear out of doors are better for a snowy day than your boots, for their feet do not sink into the snow, unless it is deep. These shoes are of wood, and make a boy seem to be about three inches taller than he really is. The shoe, you see, has not laces or buttons, but is kept on the foot by that thong which passes between the first and second toe. The thong is made of grass, and covered with strong paper, or with white or colored calico. The boy in the check dress wears his shoes without socks, but you see the other boy has socks on. - A ring of children
A ring of children - A strange face was bending over her
Lady leaning over a child in bed - April
April - August
August - Baby-like, I ran my fingers through the shiny grain, spilling a few kernels on the floor
One evening in the corn planting moon, she was making ready her seed for the morrow’s planting. She had a string of braided ears lying beside her. Of these ears she chose the best, broke off the tip and butt of each, and shelled the perfect grain of the mid-cob into a wooden bowl. Baby-like, I ran my fingers through the shiny grain, spilling a few kernels on the floor. “Do not do that,” cried my grandmother. “Corn is sacred; if you waste it, the gods will be angry.” - Barbara's Birthday
- Beckoned silently to the rest to follow him
For some time this secret practising continued without arousing suspicion on the part of the other inmates of the house. One night, however, when the child had resorted to his favourite spot, he was suddenly missed by those below, and, as it was known that he had been sent to bed, some fears were felt as to what could have become of him. The servants were summoned, but could give no account of him; the father was fetched from his study, whither he had retired, and a search began. The alarm increased when it was ascertained that the child was in none of the living-rooms of the house, and it was decided that the garrets and lofts must be searched. Calling for a lantern, the surgeon ascended the stairs leading to the lumber-room; it was possible that the boy might have found his way thither on some childish expedition, and there fallen asleep. Great was the father's surprise, on reaching the top-most landing, to hear faint musical sounds proceeding from behind the closed door. Noiselessly retracing his steps, he summoned the rest of the household, and then, ascending the stairs in a body, they paused outside to listen. Sure enough the old garret was full of melodic sounds! Now near, now far off, they seemed to the listeners to be wafted from another world; there was something uncanny about it, and the maids gazed into each other's faces with a scared expression, as the master softly lifted the latch, and, having peeped [41]into the room, beckoned silently to the rest to follow him. - Blind man's buff
In the olden times this game was known by the name of "Hood-man Blind," as in those days the child that was chosen to be "blind man" had a hood placed over his head, which was fastened at the back of the neck. In the present day the game is called "Blind Man's Buff," and very popular it is among young folk. - Boat-Children Ashore
Boat-Children Ashore - Boy and Girl
Boy and Girl - Boy discussing two women
Boy telling his friend to respect his mother - Boy in bed in dormitory
Boy in bed in dormitory - Boy sleeping
Boy sleeping - Boy whistling
Boy whistling - Boys
Boys - Boys' Concert—Flute, Drum, and Song
In the picture are two boys who are fond of music. One has a flute, which is made of bamboo wood. These flutes are easy to make, as bamboo wood grows hollow, with cross divisions at intervals. If you cut a piece with a division forming one end you need only make the outside holes in order to finish your flute. The child sitting down has a drum. His drum and the paper lanterns hanging up have painted on them an ornament which is also the crest of the house of "Arima." If these boys belong to this family they wear the same crest embroidered on the centre of the backs of their coats. - Caring for a wounded bird
- Castles by the Sea
- Childhood games
White people seem to think that Indian children never have any play and never laugh. Such ideas seem very funny to me. How can any child grow up without play? I have seen children at our reservation school playing white men’s games—baseball, prisoners’ base, marbles. We Indian children also had games. I think they were better than white children’s games. I look back upon my girlhood as the happiest time of my life. How I should like to see all my little girl playmates again! Some still live, and when we meet at feasts or at Fourth-of-July camp, we talk of the good times we had when we were children. - Children playing
Children playing - Children playing
Children playing - Children sitting at the table
Children sitting at the table - Children sitting under a tree
Children sitting under a tree - Chinese Boy choosing Toys
There are many curious customs regarding Chinese children. One takes place when a little boy is one year old. A great bamboo sieve, such as farmers use, is placed upon the table. Upon it are spread many articles—money-scales, shears, a measure, a mirror, a pencil, ink, paper, inkstone, books, the counting-board, objects of gold or silver, fruits, etc. The baby, all dressed in his best clothes, is then set in the midst of the objects, on the sieve. His parents and friends watch anxiously to see which of the articles he will grasp. They believe it will show what he will do when he is a man. If he takes the money-scales or the gold or silver, he will become a rich merchant; if he takes the book or pencil, he will be a great scholar, and so on. - Crab Fishing
Crab Fishing - Curly-headed girl sitting up in bed
Curly-headed girl sitting up in bed - Daruma, the Snow-Image
- December
December - Drop the handkerchief
A ring is formed by the players joining hands, whilst one child, who is to "drop the handkerchief," is left outside. He walks round the ring, touching each one with the handkerchief, saying the following words: "I wrote a letter to my love, But on my way, I dropped it; A little child picked it up And put it in his pocket. It wasn't you, it wasn't you, It wasn't you—but it was you." When he says "It was you," he must drop the handkerchief behind one of the players, who picks it up and chases him round the ring, outside and under the joined hands, until he can touch him with the handkerchief. As soon as this happens, the first player joins the ring, whilst it is now the turn of the second to "drop the handkerchief." - Eating Stand for the Children
Yoshi-san and his Grandmother go to visit the great temple at Shiba. They walk up its steep stairs, and arrive at the lacquered threshold. Here they place aside their wooden clogs, throw a few coins into a huge box standing on the floor. It is covered with a wooden grating so constructed as to prevent pilfering hands afterward removing the coin. Then they pull a thick rope attached to a big brass bell like an exaggerated sheep-bell, hanging from the ceiling, but which gives forth but a feeble, tinkling sound. To insure the god's attention, this is supplemented with three distinct claps of the hands, which are afterward clasped in prayer for a short interval; two more claps mark the conclusion. Then, resuming their clogs, they clatter down the steep, copper-bound temple steps into the grounds. Here are stalls innumerable of toys, fruit, fish-cakes, birds, tobacco-pipes, ironmongery, and rice, and scattered amidst the stalls are tea-houses, peep-shows, and other places of amusement. Of these the greatest attraction is a newly-opened chrysanthemum show. - Eight children
Eight children - Eskimo Game
- Eye-Hiding, or Blindman's Buff
- February
February - Five children at the beach
Three girls, a boy and a baby at the beach - Getting Ready to Raise the big Humming Kite with the Sun Emblem
- Girl eating banana
Girl eating banana - Girl playing with her doll
Girl playing with her doll - Girl reading to a boy who is in bed
Girl reading to a boy who is in bed - Girl walking heel to toe
Girl walking heel to toe - Girl washing her doll
Girl washing her doll - Girls Carrying Children on their backs
On the way to our boat from the parade ground, I was much amused, as I always am, by watching several very young girls and boys with babies strapped on to their backs. When these young people are engaged in play, they seem utterly to forget their living burdens, and one fears for the safety of the poor little babies. At times, when we pass through villages, the boys and girls, in their fright at the sudden appearance of Europeans, take to their heels and scamper away, and then the babies on their backs appear to be in imminent danger. - Good Children
Good Children - He started for the house with an armful of wood
- Heron-legs, or Stilts
After the heavy autumn rains have filled the roads with big puddles, it is great fun, this boy thinks, to walk about on stilts. His stilts are of bamboo wood, and he calls them "Heron-legs," after the long-legged snowy herons that strut about in the wet rice-fields. When he struts about on them, he wedges the upright between his big and second toe as if the stilt was like his shoes. He has a good view of his two friends who are wrestling, and probably making hideous noises like wild animals as they try to throw one another. - Hide-then go seek
Hide-then go seek - Horses and Ponies
- I didn't tell her about the red-letter part
- Imitating the Procession to the Temple
- Improve your speech by reading
A family sitting around reading - Ironclad Top Game
The tops the lads are playing with in this picture are not quite the same shape as our tops, but they spin very well. Some men are so clever at making spinning-tops run along strings, throwing them up into the air and catching them with a tobacco-pipe, that they earn a living by exhibiting their skill. Some of the tops are formed of short pieces of bamboo with a wooden peg put through them, and the hole cut in the side makes them have a fine hum as the air rushes in whilst they spin. - January
January - July
- Jumper dresses for the very young high school girl
- June
June - Kangura, or Korean Lion Play
The masker goes from house to house accompanied by one or two men who play on cymbals, flute, and drum. He steps into a shop where the people of the house and their friends sit drinking tea, and passers-by pause in front of the open shop to see the fun. He takes a mask, like the one in the picture, off his back and puts it over his head. This boar's-head mask is painted scarlet and black, and gilt. It has a green cloth hanging down behind, in order that you may not perceive where the mask ends and the mans body begins. Then the masker imitates an animal. He goes up to a young lady and lays down his ugly head beside her to be patted, as "Beast" may have coaxed "Beauty" in the fairy tale. He grunts, and rolls, and scratches himself. The children almost forget he is a man, and roar with laughter at the funny animal. - Little girl at the beach with many other children
Little girl standing in a puddle at the beach while lots of other children play in the background - Little girls looking with a lamb
- Little Patriots