The wife, however, has not much time to herself; for before she has taken many whiffs, the tradesmen’s boys will be making their daily calls. Those whose bills are settled at the end of the month are usually the dealers in rice, _sake_, and faggot and charcoal, the fishmonger, and the greengrocer. The rice-dealer does not call every day; he brings a bag of rice when required and knows pretty well when it will be exhausted. The _sake_-dealer comes every day; he sells, besides _sake_, soy, _mirin_, and _miso_; and in many cases he deals in faggot and charcoal as well. The fishmonger and the greengrocer call every morning; the former will cook to order simple dishes of fish. Besides these regular tradesmen, there are street-vendors who bring bean-curd, boiled or steamed beans, and other food which will not keep long. We have no grocers properly-speaking in Japan; the nearest approach to them is the dealer in “dried vegetables.” Tea and sugar have, like rice, special dealers. When these tradesmen have been disposed of, it is time to commence the serious work of the day. The cook washes the breakfast things and sweeps and scours the kitchen floor. The housemaid takes up one by one the quilts and mattresses of the beds, folds them in three, and puts them away in closets; she then dusts the paper sliding-doors, shelves, and other woodwork, sweeps the mats and verandahs, and scrubs the woodwork with a hard-wrung cloth. Many foreigners think it strange that we should dust before sweeping; but we dust the woodwork so as to make the dust fall on the mats or be blown out, as we always open the verandah sliding-doors when we dust and then sweep the mats to get rid of the dust. And finally when some of the dust has fallen again on the woodwork, we remove it with a damp cloth. When, therefore, we have finished cleaning a room, all the woodwork looks bright and speckless. The verandah is scrubbed first with a wet cloth and afterwards with an almost dry one to make it shine. In the sitting-room the wiping and polishing of the brazier is a long job, for the housewives of Tokyo pride themselves upon the appearance of their braziers. The wife superintends the cleaning of the rooms and also at times lends a hand.