The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1867-05-29
The Japanese in Private Life.

- W lhe modest caravansary on the corner
e Fourth avenue and Fourteenth street nortI
L east corner, are domlclled party of cope
Is eoiofed men, women and children. ranein
e lfom-the maturer age Of forty to the tende
Y age OF ten years. BY profession they are Jug
! giefs, acrobats, tricksters, cooks. musicians
e washers, Ironers. tumblers and posturers
$ Ihelr dress IN public is gorgeous. in prjyat
6 plain o. nothing. 1t was our fortune reser
: day to meet little " All Right, and his father
e with the wonderful name. in the street Tbe,
! were surrounded by curious boys, young ant
t ing. 3
| Together we rode to their hotel, and ac
cePunS courteous invitation, we entered ant
; examined. In the passage way, at the head
OF the stars; two servants were WASHING. If
The adjoining room they were cooking, in a
room beyond the young people were varouslv
employed, and in a room across the hall the
J older people were preparing for the evening.
Thinking it might be Of interest to the public
to know how these peaceable strangers live,
and noticing that they in no instance adopted
the American style, we made the following
notes
In the cook-room one reckless culinary ar
list sported a simple black band of cloth across
his back, and one Of white about his oins,
while, regardless Of visitors, he picked up -
some cold Goldfish from a huge specimen that
| hung on the wall between portraits of Wash
lngton and Jackson. On the table by his side
was dish OF chopped CLAIMS, lettuce, mustard,
beets and pickles, and near it large tin bowl
full OF steamed rice, said to be highly esteemed
by the Japs.
Each particle was separate, distinct from
the others, and the mess (of rice) was not on
~ savory but toothsome A second cook.
with hair enough on his head to furnish Grace
! Church with chignons for a season, stirred la
zily with q long stick mussy-looking prepa-
ration, the name Of which we failed to oct but
it was very long and sounded nicely. This
cook was older and wore more clothes.
In the second room we saw little Gail
Right" and half a dozen other little MONKEYS
of both genders. |.All Right was kneeline
down by a trunk counting bis money He
had just come in from a walk, and distributed
among the children some large horse-chest-
nuts, which they ate with relish. One bow
was on his back, feet in the air, balancing q
long roll of blankets, occasionally throwing
the roll high up in the air, so that he might
The little girl, who is said to be an expert
top-spinner, was poking rice, and salad, and
CLAIMS, and nuts, and pickles, and candy into
her mouth as fast as two sharp chopstcks
would carry them. A third was asleep on
the tloor-laid mattress. The others were play
ing with an inflated balloon, while Chinese
boy, about fourteen years Of age looked on
with sad expression and downcast counte-
nance. The chief top-spinner was looking
through an opera-g lass at the people in the
street On the floor Of the little, three cor
nered, cramped room, were laid half dozen
miniature mattresses, on which the Japs sleep
at night.
In the room across the hall, which must be
twelve feet long by six feet wide, we found a
young gentleman cross-legged on bed, "tum
tum - in hand, accompanying his sister, who
sat Oh bed by his side, with her :" tum tum -
IN hand-the two making the most outlandish
carlcature ofmusc we have ever heard.
He was a fne-looking fellow, with much
development of hair, but no eyebrows to speak
of or clothes to crticsc. She was by no means
ugly, but her hair was divided off into a spc-
cies of landscape gardening, suggestive at once
OF geometry, botany, and a good deal of pa
tlence On a bed adjoining these was an old
er woman-perhaps thirty-who showed us
g tricks" She showed US her photograph,
and thanked us for saying it was every pref
ty," which it wasn't. Her hair arrangements
were also very extensive, somewhat compli-
Gated, and quite greasy. Her clothing it
would be impossible to describe, for We saw
only sample of it.. At another bed sat a
melancholy Jap, with sombre hued "tum
tum - in his hand, from which he thrummed
out leisurely at intervals a series of car-splt-
ting tones, quite effective, but by no means
pleasant.
This youth, whose lront-hcad is miracu-
ously shaved, is the identical Jap chap who
mounts the loose tight-rope and swings him
self in the most abandoned manner, counting
! severe fall and sudden death at every turn
No wonder that he playsa dismal tune Near
lin, and wholly uhmindlul of any one, were
wo tumblers-not glass, but flesh and blood
'oys, about twelve years old. 5
They were all very polite. The ladies
smiled pleasantly, sang as best they could,
very hard and very long, showed
is pictures and said &c thank you - the men
bowed very low, showed us variety of pic
urcs, tried very hard to understand our bro
Ken English and deaf and dumb signs, offered
is rice, and in default of forks, 'chops.''
When we departed the boys and girls ran
fter us saying, "goodby,' and :" glad you
ome;" while the men and women shook
lands cordially, and very gracefully sped the
artlng guest.
On the whole, it can't be nice to be a Jap.
letting aside the hari kari business, and the
olor and the hair, and the grease, and the
REVEALING notions in regard to clothing, there
re nsuperable objections connected with their
leas privacy-brotber, sister, another man
nd wife, a third man and two boys, all sleep
10 in a little box of a room-their taste in
BOD, their habits of squatting, their internal
lusic, and all that sort of thing, which Miss
)phe}la characteristics as ssshftlessness which
'ould forever interfere with the naturalization U
a genuine Yankee into a regular built Jap
hese specimens are civil, quiet, orderly, kind
nd peaceable-they certainly are wonderful
their line of art, but beyond that nothing.
KIND WORDS FOR A MOTHER. ''-Despisc
1t thy mother when she is old. Age may
aste a mothers beauty, strength, limbs,