At the second meeting the Governor awaited our arrival but "went on" alone. The star speaker meanwhile refreshed himself in the anteroom with tea, tobacco and conversation as before. In a few minutes the Governor, having done his turn, rejoined us, and my friend proceeded to the meeting to deliver his speech, the Governor taking his departure. [Illustration: A PEASANT PROPRIETOR'S HOUSE.] [Illustration: GRAVESTONES REASSEMBLED AFTER PADDY ADJUSTMENT.] At the third meeting the Governor and the speaker of the day did enter the hall together, but before the Governor had finished his introductory harangue my companion took himself off to the anteroom to refresh himself with a cigar and a chat. When the Governor concluded and returned to the anteroom there was conversation for a few minutes, and then my friend and his Excellency went into the meeting together. This time the Governor stayed to the end. In his three speeches my friend said many moving things and his audiences were appreciative. But no one presumed to interrupt with applause. At the end, however, there was a hearty round of hand-clapping, now a general custom at public gatherings. On the conclusion of each of his addresses the orator stepped down from the platform and made off to the hall, for no one dreamt of asking questions. When he was gone an official expressed the thanks of the audience and there was another round of applause. Then everybody connected with the arrangement of the meeting gathered in the anteroom and one after the other made appreciative speeches and bows. I marvelled at the orator's toughness. Before he went on the platform he had been pestered with unending introductions and beset by conversation. But I do not know that my friend felt any strain. Nor did the fashion in which the speakers wandered on and off the platform, and thus, according to our notions, did their utmost to damp the enthusiasm of the meetings, seem to have any such effect. Once in an oculist's consulting clinic in Tokyo I was struck by the fact that when water was squirted into the eyes of a succession of patients of both sexes and various ages, they did not wince as Western people would have done. I was told that school fees go up a little when the price of rice is high; also of the "negatively good" effects of young men's associations. During the period of our tour efforts were being made to systematise these organisations. The Department of Agriculture wanted a farmer at the head of each society, the War Office an ex-soldier. There can be no doubt that the militarists have been doing their best to give the societies the mental attitude of the army.