The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1859-02-08
BEAUTIES OF JAPAN.

Mr. Harris, the United States Consul to Japan,
writes as follows:
GAS you take an interest in the "fair sex,' you
will expect some description of the beauties of
Japan. The women of condition never make
visits Except the mother to a married daughter, }
they have no asscmblages of their 'dear five
hundred friends nor do they assemble at the
tea table to hold high courts of censure on the
manners and morals of their friends. They go out
once or twice in year to visit some celebrated
temple, but their ordinary devotons are paid at a
shrine within their houses, or at pretty mia
erected within the enclosures of their grounds.
The females of the laboring classes perform some
portion of the outdoor labor; but they not over
worked, as in China and other parts of ASIA
Polygamy obtains e., may have any num-
Der of ''second wives" When female is selected
first wife, she prepares for her change Of con-
dition" by smearing her teeth with horrid mix
ture, which not only blacken them forever, but
also destroys portion of the gums, and the lips
sometimes remain permanently swollen. She
next shaves her eyebrows and exterminates her
eyelashes, and changes the fashion of her hair
She has only to bring the knot Of her girdle
round to the front, and all the world knows that
she is the first wife, the commanderinch chief OF all
the ''second wives" and the undisputed proprie-
tress of all the children born in the house.
The last privilege reminds of similar right
exercised by the wives of the respectable Abra-
ham, (Rachel and Leah.) The second wives do
not perform any of these absurd actions, conse-
quently they are by far the best looking in the
eyes Of the To-jin or foreigners. A lady in full
dress-i e., made up for -nischief-is worth de-
scribing. Her face is thickly covered with rice
Acur, ON which rough-real rough-is prettily
placed while her lips are brought to that just
violet tinge that drives the japanese lover even
to making poetry, her robes are numerous and
clumsy and her girdle is vast in its amplitude,
that it would make a robe for an ordinary woman;
her head is bristling with metal ornaments that
look Ike the grandfathers of all the tuning
forks; her really pretty feet are protected by
neat straw sandals; when she walks she minces
her steps as though her legs tied together at
the knees.
Did ever tell you of the description young
Malay Tumangong of Sumatra once gave me OF
a young girl with whom he was in love? No.
Then YOU shall have it now: "Tuan, said he,
"Tuan, she is high bosomed and moon faced; she
has a mole on her cheek like spot Of amber
girls; her lips are Ike the new cut shell of the
mangosteen; her teeth winter than the chamhaka
flower; her breath makes the Glove tree die with
envy; her hair is blacker than the night of separa
ton to the distracted lover; her form is like
branch of willow, and when she walks her hips
move from side to side"
Is
Boston Herald gives the particulars of two men
who have recently left that city, having lost
heavily by gambling and the purchase Of lottery
tickets. One has lost property Of about S12,O 900,
and the other is minus property OF about
$4,000. .t
How THE Press is AFFLICTED BY DEAD
HEADs-Railroads occasionally complain of dead
heading but no institution suffers SO much from it
as the Press. A sensible writer says: -s.
The press endures the afaetion of dead-headism
from the pulpit, the bar and the stage, from cor
porations, societies ard individuals. 1t is expect
ed to yield its interests; it is required to give
strength to weak institutions, eyes to the blind,
clothes to the naked, and bread to the hungry; it
is expected to cover infrnlities, hide weakness,
and wink at improprieties; it is expected to herald
quacks, bolster up dull authors, and fatter the
vain; it is in short, to be all things to all men;
and if it looks for pay reward, it is denounced
as mean and sordid. There is no interest under
the whole heavens that is expected to give so
much to society without pay or thanks, as the
Press 8. aeaaLs saE o59. g-.s - a-ssg.zaa