That children enjoyed themselves and that they were helped to enjoy themselves was well shown in the abundance of toys and toy-shops and many holidays on which to display them. The streets of the towns and cities were full of toy-shops, where every kind of toys imaginable could be found. Too, toys, and especially the religious varieties, were displayed for sale about the temples on feast days. There were images of the various gods and of implements and appliances used about the temples. There were on the streets toys of all kinds of animals, of wrestlers and acrobats, of soldiers, etc., etc. Dolls were one of the strongest features of toy-makers and toy-sellers. "Here let me tell you something you certainly never heard of before in relation to Japanese dolls,--not the tiny O-Hina-San I was just speaking about, but the beautiful life-sized dolls representing children of two or three years old; real toy-babes which, although far more cheaply and simply constructed than our finer kinds of Western dolls, become, under the handling of a Japanese girl, infinitely more interesting. Such dolls are well dressed, and look so life-like,--little slanting eyes, shaven pates, smiles, and all!--that as seen from a short distance the best eyes might be deceived by them. Therefore, in those stock photographs of Japanese life, of which so many thousands are sold in the open ports, the conventional baby on the mother's back is most successfully represented by a doll. Even the camera does not betray the substitution. And if you see such a doll, though held, quite close to you, being made by a Japanese mother to reach out its hands, to move its little bare feet, and to turn its head, you would be almost afraid to venture a heavy wager that it was only a doll. Even after having closely examined the thing, you would still, I fancy, feel a little nervous at being left alone with it, so perfect the delusion of that expert handling. "Now there is a belief that some dolls do actually become alive. "Formerly the belief was less rare than it is now. Certain dolls were spoken of with reverence worthy of the Kami, and their owners were envied folk. Such a doll was treated like a real son or daughter: it was regularly served with food; it had a bed, and plenty of nice clothes, and a name. If in the semblance of a girl, it was O-Toku-San; if in that of a boy, Tokutarō-San. It was thought that the doll would become angry and cry if neglected, and that any ill-treatment of it would bring ill-fortune to the house. And, moreover, it was believed to possess supernatural powers of a very high order.