At the end of the third day of the Dolls' Festival there was a charming toy garden at one end of the veranda. In the garden there was a tiny lake bordered with flowering shrubs, a little hill with trees growing around it, a path leading to the lake beside which grew peach trees in full bloom, and there were even two tiny stone lanterns and a little temple on the hill. It had been a wonderful holiday for the little girls and they were sorry that it was all over, but they cheerfully helped to pack the dolls and toys away in boxes and carry them back to the godown. CHAPTER V A VISIT TO THE TEMPLE "O Haha San," said Umé, "when we took little Yuki San to the temple for the first time, with whom did I sit in the jinrikisha?" "It is not strange that you have no memory of it, little Plum Blossom," said her mother. "Why, honorable mother?" "Because you were ill from eating too many sweets the day before, and had to stay at home in your bed." Umé laughed. "Now I do remember it," she said. "My unworthy head danced like a geisha girl when I tried to stand on my two feet." Umé's mother looked at her little daughter reprovingly. "Do not speak so easily of such girls, Umé-ko," she said. "Was Tara taken to the temple when he was thirty days old?" "Yes, my daughter." "But, Mother San, with whom did I ride then?" "With O Ba San." "I wish I could go to-day with Tei," said Umé. "It is time for them even now to begin the journey," answered her mother. "You may perhaps ride in the same jinrikisha with your little cousin." Umé made a deep bow to her mother, slipped into her clogs at the veranda step, and ran swiftly through the garden to her cousin's house. Everything there was in a great state of excitement. The new baby, dressed in a most gorgeous red silk kimono with the family crest embroidered on the back and sleeves, was going to make his first visit to the temple. "Yes, you may come with me," said Tei to Umé, after asking the honorable father's permission. [Illustration: Umé Riding in a Jinrikisha. _Page_ 37.] The pale little mother leaned back in her jinrikisha beside the nurse who carried the beautiful boy. The father, very proud to have a son who would carry on the family name, rode in the first jinrikisha, and the little party took their way to the famous Kameido Temple in the eastern part of the city. "It was not until three days ago that the baby was well enough to have his head shaved," Tei confided to Umé. "But I thought it must always be done on the seventh day," said Umé. Tei shook her head. "The august father commanded that it should not be done," she said. "The baby was so frail that there have been no visits from anyone since he was first seen in our house." "Then the baby might just as well have been a girl," said Umé decidedly.