Sturdysan Discovers
Christian Christmas
By NANCY LOWE GRAY
I never sit before the warmth of my Christmas tree with my
family without remembering a small pagan boy who took the loneliness
out of Christmas for me.
Toward the end of the Korean conflict, I was living in a small
mountain town in Japan, writing
news features for The Associated
Press of Tokyo. Few Americans
came to Takarazuka and I faced
my first Christmas there with a
great deail of loneliness until I met
Sturdysan, a small Japanese boy.
He was sturdy for an Oriental and
his long, complicated name was
such a tongue twister, I nicknamed
him Sturdysan. In return, and in
the Japanese manner, he called me
Nancysan.
He Peddled Fish
My little friend’s face was the
face of Asia, doomed to hunger and
poverty, but he had a ready smile
and an eagerness to learn all things
American.
Sturdysan peddled fish for his
father on a beat-up bike of un
known vintage. He worked opposite
my hotel and his shrill, chattering
voice was my alarm clock.
His broad, Eskimo-like face
would beam up at me as I slid my
paper window aside and greeted
him each day. He took pride in try
ing to impress me.
Sturdysan was an operator in his
own fashion, and although he was
a street urehin, he was kingpin
street urehin in the village. He ran
errands for our neighborhood gei
sha house and carried long bottles
of sake to the women who lived
there.
Our friendship ripened into daily
chit-chat, and Sturdysan often
would race after me on his bike
shouting, “Alio, Atlo, Nancysan,”
until the entire village laughed at
him.
A Strange Request
My maid, Okyasan, could speak
English and she interpreted for
me. I told her I wanted to have a
i i
As the red and green and
golden lights of Christmas
wink through the twilight,
we send you our greetings
for a Christmas to be long
and happily remambered.
Georgia and Herbert Bell
Christmas tree for Sturdysan, and
after much typical bickering a
hotel handyman cut down a stunted
(Continued on Page 14)
GREETINGS
ALL THE JOYS OF AN OLD-FASHIONED CHRISTMAS
TOWN CLUB