The Japanese needlewoman’s work-box is commonly a square or oblong case with two drawers, one above the other, of nearly the same breadth as the case itself and another pair of half the breadth side by side on the top. Into these drawers are thrown threads wound round square, flat pieces of wood or cardboard, odd bits of rag, scissors shaped like shears, and a bone cloth-marker. On one side of the case is an upright post with a flat hole for inserting a bamboo foot-measure, and on the top of it is a little box for the needle-cushion. To the post is attached a small loop of string, to which the cloth to be sewn is hitched with a needle, as pins are, or rather were until recently, unknown. Sometimes the needle-cushion is on an upright of its own, apart from the work-box, and has a long base which is pressed under the knee while the cloth is fastened to the loop. The thimble is not of metal, but of leather or thick paper and is nothing more than a ring put over the first joint of the middle finger. In sewing, the needle-cushion upright is put to the right of the worker, and an end of the cloth is hitched to the loop. The threaded needle is held and the tip only is moved up and down while the cloth itself is gathered in small folds on the needle; and when there are enough folds on it, the needle is pushed forward with the thimble and the folds are pulled over the thread and straightened out. The needle is then drawn out until it is stopped by the knot of the thread at the first stitch. The same process is repeated. The cloth is re-hitched to the post from time to time as the stitching goes on. This manner of sewing is often mentioned as a peculiarity of Japanese needlework; but the Japanese woman is so used to it that she can sew very rapidly in this way. It cannot be resorted to when the stitches have to be very close or the cloth is too thick or stiff to be doubled into little creases, in which case the needle has to be passed through at every stitch. The Japanese needle is of a very primitive kind; it is made of iron or badly-tempered steel, for it is very brittle; and it rusts rapidly while the eye is square and apt to cut the thread. The danger of the Japanese way of sewing with beginners is that when they bring back the needle after passing it through, they not unfrequently scratch their right cheeks with it if the thread is long. [Illustration: NEEDLEWORK.]