Show I I c = = WUMHfSHARDWOAK J i Labor of the Weaker Sex in i Japan Task of Great ReplenishIng Coal Bunkers of Ocean LIners Is Dono by Them With Celerity and Ease The weaker sex Is sex Is fn Japan not mentioned shared by There the hoary swath Is < woman work of loading even tho heavy gasakl great ships at Na This Is a tremendous done largely l b task It Is I by women Iognkuln who 110 nt many IIttio lukuda 51dttid and In tho villages town At lint shirt the daybreak met they era to bo their rowing full share down to Nagasaki to tnko In ono of their coot Irys s most Interesting prlses national cote The town owes Its Important as a o coaling talons station to the rIch coal lit falmsblma and other sot rounding districts and IIghtlls bring lie coal g alongside of the stelllller n shoulder Ien and on women barrels stand baskets shoulder hmen to s I ui hold iinyiiiing bat will give them a foot n and nil a long lino of baskets each coal containing about two buckets 01 forms These are passed to tho plat hung on tho side of the ship en each ol which a young girl stands of Sometimes there are five or six flue y platforms on either side of 5 the Steamer These hugo basketfuls ol f coal are passed to ono gIrl who In I turn swings It up to the one above her and so on along tho line with I I the swiftness and regularity of ma chlnory As the girl at the top empties the coal down the chute she throws away the empty basket and with the same movements catches a full one Above on the deck sit the tall leIs ono for each line and as every seventh basket Is emptied the girl calls out 01 and he places a mark on a sheet Twenty marks count as one ton and It Is es timated that 1000 tons of coal Is a good days work for a fairsized gang The girls continue at this task unin I terruptedly and merrily from early morning till mid afternoon In tho win ters cold and under the blazing sum mer sun and nt noon they have n short rest and eat their lunch of rico In ono day a great ocean liner can be loaded with enough coal to carry her from Nagasaki to San Francisco Ths Is a magnificent testimony to t toe strength and endurance of the In 1 dustrial Japanese woman A well p known traveler In Japan recently remarked re-marked T do not believe that there Is another body of work folk In the world who could have performed the same task In the same time and with the same ease The old order Is changing with great rapidity and un der the new an Important place Is reserved re-served for tho Japanese woman In In duatry |