Show 1M VMIDW mWR HUMBLE WIVES JAPXESE GIRLS AND BRIDES DIS CIlLISTED FOR DOCIIITV At Fourteen Tears or Age n Japanese a Jap-anese 3Iuicl Bursts Forth a Full Bluoiiicfl Cherry Blossom Rosy Checked Velvety Eye un Oriental Ori-ental Flower Full of Sweetness nUll Chnrni YOKOHAMA Feb 5The life of a voman of the middle class is the most i striking of the many differences between be-tween America and Japan Her advent I ad-vent in the world is often heralded several weeks in advance of the event by a gaudy flag from the house top On the seventh day after birth hero her-o head is shaven and kept partly so until I un-til she reaches the age of six During I I infancy she makes a pretty picture with her little bald head bobbins about while strapped on the back of her Lili putian grandmother or elder sister always some one too old or too young to perform manual labor Later all f 1 4 t J e 4hrt o 3 a I formed into several waves and mounds She sleeps on a wooden pillow ma kora on which the neck alone rests and as her nerves are of iron the hair once dressed has a fresh appearance for several days The shaving of the cheeks nose and eyelids are but apart a-part of the hair dressing process I LOVE MAKING AND MARRIAGE Mild flirtations are not one of the I I pastimes of the Japanese maid She I may go to the theater flower shows and festivals but the acquiescent chaperone I of America is here superseded by astern a-stern father Her acquaintances are I only her own sex She smokes tobacco tobac-co as generously as an American girl I chews gum but her grace enables her to inhale from a long slender pipe in a manner that does not strike one as unfeminine While she is aware that iher I ways are not your ways she cannot i can-not discriminate She sees no impropriety I impro-priety in arranging her toilet stripped I to the waist before a foreigner When I I seen this way she faces a western stare I with modesty This may not seem an II appropriate term to the mind that makes the common mistake of associating i asso-ciating modesty more with her raiment i Chan the thought that prompts her expression I ex-pression But in this case it is t Affection position or love of money are little considered in Japanese marriages I mar-riages The fundamental principle of I 04 t I 3 < < l < J ner J J y + t < l to n X 1 II I tfJ f rJ = I f r I fm h t31V r I r I < 7 ie i p J 1 J I t I 0 4i f If J q i Q H o Z F f H i uJ r N = > L 1 f 4 = 1 < A SLUT f outdoors is her playground and her ropejumping battledoor and shuttlecock shuttle-cock and romps in the parks deveop an undersized but wellknit woman True to the instincts of nature the girl is more modest than the boy She fi is invariably polite and knowsno such things as disobedience to her elders Although she may inherit precocity from bright parents mental development develop-ment is denied her Her education is little else than the essential parts of etiquette poetry the various lessons of flowers and rigid rules regarding obedience obe-dience to man At fourteen she bursts forth a fullbloomed cherry blossom rosy cheeked velvety eyes with the least suspicion of obliqueness and I bright as day yet dark as night i c Like all her sisters she has an olive II complexion and beautifully tapered fingers While her face is pleasant to look upon it denotes little intelligence Her forehead is too broad and the cheek bones too prominent to meet the requirements of the EuroDean idea of beauty Her teeth are invariably regular regu-lar and of pearly whiteness QUESTIONS OF COLOR Becoming accustomed accepting the topsyturvy of things Japanese one thinks nothing of blue that in western esthetics is becoming only in blondes being the universal color for these dainty brunettes Her dress varies in texture and design according to her station in life Those who can afford it wear a lonzr flowing kimono of silk o r softtoned crape which falls in graceful folds to the feet and is held in place by a cord around the waist Over the cord and holding it is an enormous sash or obi ten inches wide and twelve feet long wound many times around the waist and tied in an enormous bow at the back It is of silk material woven with gold thread and is the womans chief ornament When covered by the haori or outer winter coat the obi is the only defect de-fect in an otherwise very becoming garment gar-ment for it is apt to give the wearer a hunchbacked appearance The trim little body of the Japanese woman has not yet been subjected to the steel stays of her supposedly more I civilized western sister A thing of beauty while sitting or kneeling the illusion is dispelled when she walks With several rounds of wood in her shoes and her toes turned in all possibility pos-sibility of a graceful carriage is precluded pre-cluded Her raven black tresses are every few days subjected to a bath of rapeseed oil and with the assistance of innumerable pins combs and wads are marriage is a dreadful deepseated fear I of not having a family and allowing in this way the family name to become be-come extinct Centuries of Buddhism have made the perpetuation of a family I fam-ily name of vital importance and a mans first duty to his ancestors No greater misfortunes can befall a couple than to be childless and to avert it marriages are arranged earlyin life proving barren a divorce follows another an-other marriage is arranged and so on until the family is of sufficient size to 1 avoid all possibility of such a calamity An old maid or bachelor is unknown in Japan The girl has no voice in the master of selecting a husband an absurdity ab-surdity largely responsible for the existence ex-istence of one divorce ito every thret marriages THE MATRIMONIAL MIDDLE MAN All is arranged by the middle manor man-or Nakado whose importance cannot can-not be overestimated He is not only consulted as to the adaptability of the I young people but in turn interviews all the relatives of both as to their preference carries on the courting officiates of-ficiates as masterofceremonies at the wedding and finally acts as moderator in all questions of discord between husband and wife He is the court of final appeal in all family matters has power to grant divorce di-vorce and arrange the settlement of property and all details He brings the young couple together for the first time the girl submits to a brief inspection in-spection a brief conversation follows and if she proves satisfactory to her future absolute lord and master all i > well If not the man simply leaves With an engagement there is an exchange ex-change etc of gifts of clothing flowers I WHEN A BRIDE On the wedding day the bride covers I her face with a thick rice paint rouges her lips and dresses in a gar I The Japanesswell understand the charm of simplicity In all their floral arrangements the individuality of each plant is retained There are no monstrous bouquets of inharmonious colors In fact they were as a nation fair advanced in esthetics when our ancestors wore untanned skins and fed on acorns The lotus the emblem of purity is freely used the pine emblematic em-blematic of a faithful heart and other shrubs and flowers each withits own significance are sparingly distributed In one corner of the room in which the wedding occurs are two wooden figures dressed as an old man and woman a rather odd manner cf wishing the bride and groom a long life JAPANESE NUPTIALSi The marriage ceremony is most simple = sim-ple Religion has nothing whatever to do with it and the law little more It I 5 r v t j i 0 i ri1E r t Lw j I 11 L < < hM 4 eC JAPXElSJ GIRL WRITING IvETTER ment of whitethe mourning color in order to signify her death to her fathers family All her belongings are sent to her motherinlaw and after af-ter her Departure the house undergoes a thorough cleaning another indication indica-tion that she is no longer of the household Formerly the fathers parting gift was a short sword with instructions to the childwife to use it on herself should she fail to please her husband The marriage is held in the house of the mans parents and at sunset the girl is escorted by the nakado and changes her white kimono for a colored col-ored one provided by the lover The house is tastefully decorated with flowers partakes of thenature of an agreement and can be terminated by joint consent The bridegroom is seen kneeling alone at one side of the room where he is joined by the bride Nakado and members of the immediate families They kneel facing each other and the bridegroom hands the bride a cup of sake a mild rice wine from which she sips and returns to him Nine times these toasts are drunk to the accompaniment accom-paniment of string music from an adjoining ad-joining room and their meaning is that henceforth the husband and wife for they are now legally married will drink from the same cup whether it be of adversity or prosperity The wedding party is now joined by the relatives rel-atives and the banquet follows f s fl 4 J 4 jq A1 r k i APt A-Pt I fl I ter 1 r s t 1 < c i iW 4 W > r x < j r f Jr f I er AvrArt 0 u PEE Y s w a l b The guests departed the bridal chamber cham-ber is sought and again nine cups are emptied the husband this time being served by the bride who makes many low obeisances and otherwise indicates her belief in her husbands superiority It is the beginning of a life of servitude for from now on the husbands power is supreme No osculation is indulged in and there are no terms of endear I men t Instead of wearing a ring as a sign of marriage vows the woman makes herself as hideous and unattractive to other men as possible This is easily done by blackening the teeth and shaving shav-ing the eyebrowsa medieval mutilation mutila-tion now rapidly going out of practice and only done by those who least need itShe She also changes her coiffure and style of her dress as an indication of marriage WHEN A WIFE The honeymoon of a Japanese bride is the most unhappy period of her life Custom wills that she become the slave not only to the caprice of her husband but to an exacting motherinlaw as well After the birth of her first child especially if it be a boy conditions change somewhat and she receives a degree of consideration Until recently the husband could at will divorce himself He had but to report re-port to the Nakado that the wife was illtempered barren jealous or in fact d tm 4 tEl F In the HairDressers Hands almost anything that met with his disapproval dis-approval Concubinage was seldom made grounds for a divorce for the woman She could however declare herself divorced as freely as he but by so doing she lost all claim to social recognition as well as her home and her children Statistics show that but onefourth of the divorces originate with women A law enacted in 1893 brings the divorce law into close conformity con-formity with European usages Even before then divorces were confined almost al-most exclusively to the middle and lower classes A POOR = CREATURE Not until od age does woman come into the free reward for her many years of hardship and patience Her declining years are called the GoIn kioSama and during them every comfort com-fort the family purse cam provide is given her While her lot is the least degraded of the Asiatic women it is still a pitiable one and made more conspicuous by the civilization that surrounds it From childhood she is taught perfect obedience first to father then to husband hus-band and husbands parents and when widowed to a son Considered an inferior infe-rior being she is taken Into little account ac-count outside of household matters Although tender gentle womanly there is no romantic homage for her nor are her smiles ever mans incentive to the performance of valient deeds But with Japans rapid progress in other oth-er lines the emancipation of woman is bound to follow One of Japans proverbs reads Not to know Is to be a Buddah Ignorance is bliss expresses the same thought to us In it Is the secret OIl the contentment con-tentment plainly depicted on the faces of the women here She has prescribed privileges and demands no rights At present in her childish ways she is the picture of sweet submission Of her Chamfberlain quotes the following comparison com-parison evidently from some one under the spell How sweet the Japanese woman is All the possibilities of the race for goodness seem to be conceni trated in her It shakes ones faith in some Occidental doctrines If this be the result of suppression and joppres sion then these pre notaltogetherC6ad On the other hand how diamond hard the character of the American woman J o f > > zc becomes under the Idolatry of which she is the object In the eternal order of things whichis the highest being the childish confiding sweet Japanese girl or the superb calculating penetrating pene-trating Occidental Circe of our more artificial ar-tificial society with her enormous power pow-er for evil and her limited capacity for good Sweetness and gentle nature go far to cast the lotus spell upon those who journey to the shores of the Dal NipponLOUIS I LOUIS G STEVENSON i 1j 1 1J j r J iw J 1 U i T1 I VII i j j Yo i j IDEAL OF THE REFORMERS x t 1111 v r a r i d o o b c e e I I I L 1 X v r 1 + Jy E 1 rl id f 1lll w Ijt N tit ti-t ii 1 t 1Nl t kr fJ n i 7 1 E 0ri |