The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1859-11-26
A japanese Girl and her hook.

: books of japanese travel have begun t
, multiply; but among them, says an En-
: glish reviewer, there are none more anus
J ing than Mr.. Kinahsn CORVALLIS work
He has seen much of earth, according t.
: his statements and, best of all, he love
} Japan. America and Australia are famil
lar to him as his native home. Mr. Corn
wallis, by his good conduct, insinuated
himself into the good will of gentleman
in scarlet; Mr.. Noskotoska, who lives in
sweet Nagoaki, with wife and two sons
This lady inspired a " virtuous admiration
In the travellers breast upon his first intro
duction to her. Japan is an intellectual
land, for onethird of the shops belong to
booksellers and stationers. 1t is a land of
religious freedom, for a man may be OF
any religious sect he pleases, and nobody
discusses the subject, but all sects "pious-
ly adore the Emperor, and trample on the
symbols OF Christianity according to Rome.
1t is moral land, yet in one set of very
moral islands Mr.. CORVALLIS found that
there were tWo husbands to one wife-im-
plying female scarcity, that to a more
statistical person would have suggested fe-
male infanticide. Tho facility which a
stranger has of introducing himself to a
japanese young lady, and the passion of
these young ladies for reading, are illustra.
| ted in tho following extract, page Al, vol
l. The traveller was iii the city Of Simoda
so miles from the metropolis Simoda is
small town, and witless are the manners
of its ladies.
On our way back, passing along the
street running parallel with the beach, and
formed OF two rows of picturesque two
storied wooden houses plastcred over with
stone like cement, the Intel or door post
OF such being surmounted 10y buddha's
head, or some such device intended as a
charm saw young girl standing, fan
In hand, at an open door reading. She
was simply clad in loose Grape half peti.
coat, half dressing gown sort Of dress.
reaching As far down rs the ancles. and
bound by sash of yellow silk round the
waist Her feet, which were small and
beautifully formed rested on the common
high straw sandals of the country Over
this dress, which left the bosom partly un-
covered, she wore a light cream colored
open jacket, Of a muslin texture, with
wide sleeves extending little below the
elbow. Her soft black hair was beautiful
ly drawn back from off the forehead, and
bound in peculiar cluster at the back of
the head, where it was held by two gold
pins, one of great length, and with u scor-
pion-like device attached to il, and which
moved to and FRO with every motion Of its
fair wearer. Her complexion was bright
and pale. much more so than the Chinese. !
her features animated and expressive, and
her teeth white and as finely formed as
the entire figure.
By the latter saw she was virgin the /
invariable japanese custom being that on /
the marriage of every female the teeth are ]
dyed black and III some cases the eve
i l.. 4
of where she stood; she did not look f
proud and turn away, AS the fair 'iaInsels /
of my own country would likely have
done; but she favored me with steady .
gaze and smile. though | could scarce de
tect the movement of a feature, while her
eyes like souls Of eloquence, glowed in fas-
beauty.
The Chinese characters are generally
so that they are not capable of
being decipleted without the syllable char
iss Is ifss,,i.ntf F tfsitFs nlaeea 4eaE them here
resent the numbers, the months, man, big,
little, to be, to do, to say, and so forth.
The japanese letters, sylahiC Characters,
are fcr.ysight m number, written in va
rious ways. The plainest kind of letters,
called katakana, appeared only to be used
in learned books, translations, and COM
mentaries. The cOmmonest kind of let
ters are cvlled Airskaina These are used |
in all the common literature, works of /
natural science. histories, and such like
| saw a small japanese book-the seven |
which there We're seven |
additional kinds of letters, which appear
to be used as much "a old English and |
German text are with us, to ornament title |
pages. and to display the learning and |
skill of the scribes.
In its structure the language is analo- !
gious to those of the Tartar or Scythic |
cless; and. although in the photographic
portion it differs from all others of that
maxine a general distinction, because even
other in this respect
She was reading book. ! saluted her
with a low bow; she returned the compli-
ment by a somewhat similar movement
Observing my curiosity to see the book
which she held she handed it to me. 1t
was thin and nearly of the quarto size; the
letter-press was intermixcd with numerous
wood cuts-a common circumstance in
Japan, as | subsequently ascertained,
where nearly every book published abounds
with numerous illustrations. In weight,
the book was exceedingly light, and the
cover was of very thick colored paper,
highly ornamented, the external picture
being that of a crucifixion; the paper was
printed on one side only and left uncut SO
that the printed sides were clone present
ed to the eye The work, one of an ordi
nary kind, was Of excellent Typography
OF its literary merits, the young lady might
have formed an opinion; but, being any
thing but Japanese, could do no such
pleasant thing The beginning OF Jap
anese book is at the other end OF it; that
i.. the book commences, and the numbers
advance, from the last page Beginning
at the right hand upper corner aid run
ming from top to bottom, the lines succeed
regularly. Most of their books are com
posed of two very different kinds of char
acters, viz: Chinese ideographic and Jap
anese syllable mingled.-BoSton Transcript
A WOMAN PASSING AS A MAN FOR Forty
YEARs-A most extraordinary revelation
was made at an inquest recently, before
the coroner for Stafford, England The
BODY of a man was found in the sluice at
Mode Wheel, OH the river lrwell, and in
the evening an inquest was held. On IN
auiry, it was found that the deceased, who
went by the name of Harry Strokes, was
in fact a woman; that she had worked as
bricksetter for quarter OF century;
that she had been twice married during
that period; had kept beer shop in Man
chester during the early part of her career;
but in every way conducted herself as n
man. The jury, after an examination, re-
turned verdict of found drowned"
To PRESERVE Flowers FREsii.-To pre-
serve a nosegay we are told to sprinkle it
lightly with fresh water, then put it into a
vessel containing soap suds; this will pu-
rify the roots and keep the flowers bright
Take the bOquet out every morning ana
lay it sideways (the stock entering firsD
into clean water; keep it there minute
| Al k,I