--'Not exactly,' I answered; 'in public baths, in times gone by, both sexes bathed together, but you must remember, even in those times, those who went to public baths were people of the lower classes, for the better classes always managed to have their own bathroom, and in Japan houses having such bathrooms are very common. Moreover, even in those days, there was nothing more indelicate in the matter of public baths than a sea-bath by both sexes in occidental countries. I should like to remind those who write about such matters of many customs in their own countries to which they may be too much accustomed to perceive any impropriety, but which appear very indelicate to the eyes of strangers. I may go a step further: we are sometimes even astonished to notice that the most indelicate performances--such that, if it were in Japan, would not be permitted by the police to go on two minutes--are given, under the name of dances or suchlike, and men and women of respectability go and see them without showing the slightest embarrassment. I confess I have personally seen some of these performances while visiting out of curiosity different places of interest. But, in reality, there is no necessity for me to set up such matters against our former customs of public baths, because, for several decades, such bathing has been forbidden, and every public bath has long since had one division for men and another for women. Those who think that the former custom still exists are mistaken, and are labouring under a false impression given by travellers of former days. '_Apropos_ of a bath, I prefer in a way our system, be it public or private, to the ordinary Western method. With our system, a large space of the floor of the bathroom is made either of wood or concrete, in such a way that water may be poured on to it. There is, besides the main bath, also a small tank containing fresh cold and warm water in separate sections, so that one who bathes can make free use of the water, warm or cold, both before getting into the bath and before dressing.' --'I think, on the whole, I like your country,' said another. 'It seems very different from what many people have represented it hitherto, but you have not yet given us a comprehensive survey of your people, in respect to social and moral organisation.' --'I think I have done so often,' said I; 'but if you do not object, I will do so once more by repeating to you the exact words of an interview which I gave to a representative of the London press: '"You remember the story of George Washington and the cherry tree?" said Baron Suyematsu, with a smile, to our representative. "Well, that is very often told to the children in the Japanese schools."