Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1875-12-24
A WESTERN GIRL IN JAPAN.
BY MISS DORA L. SCHOONMAKER.
From the Northwestern Advocate.

BY MISS DORA E. sCHoONMAKER.
From the Northwestern Advocate.
On the 2Sth of October, after a
pleasant, unadventurous voyage OF
twenty-four days, we left the broad
Pacific behind us and entered the
quiet Bay of Yeddo. This sounds
like a good orthodox beginning, and
it rather seems as if 1 had heard
something like it before. 1t is SO
hard to be original in this worn-out
old world! but l propose to tell you
what happened to me, and what l
saw, and if the same things have been
heretofore described, l cannot help
that. 1t was about three O'Clock
when we first saw land, but the day
was misty, and the shores were not
very clearly seen till nearly sundown;
then, as the sun sank into magni-
ficent couch of gold and crimson
clouds and sent upward qnivering
lances of fiery light, we, who stood
on the upper deck, caught glimpse
Of Japan's greatest glory-grand, old
Fusi Yama! Those who watched
the sun fade out into night, will not
soon forget the beauty Of that hour.
At about ten in the evening we
dropped anchor in Yokohama harbor.
and obtaied a good view of the city
by gaslight, for the enterprising Jap.
anese are already using gas in their
streets. Being somewhat unsophis-
ticated, it has not occurred to me
that we should not find a wharf here
similar to the one we left at San
Francisco, and seeing that the ship
had stopped many yards from the
shore l was fain to inquire how we
were going to land. But l was soon
informed that the ''natives" would
come for us. Very kind of them, no
doubt, but when l saw the way in
which they came, I felt no desire to
trust myself at night in such queer
looking crafts, and accordingly be.
took myself to my state-room and
tried to sleep; but just underneath
my window was treight-barge man.
ed by japanese coolies, and although
it was too dark to see how they look
ed, a deaf man could have had no diff
ficulty in hearing them. OF all jar
gons ever heard, their language
seemed the most senseless, and if
they worked in proportion to the
noise they made all through the long
light, they surely accomplished much.
My first view in the morning gave
me something OF the sensation a
moon-dweller might be expected to
have were he suddenly brought from
his own planet to ours. The rain
was descending in sheets; the bay
seemed nearly filled with men-of-war,
merchantmen, and all sorts of vessels
frou. all the nations of the gIcbe,
while all about our ship, and every
where, in fact, swarmed the small flat
boats of the natives. On the shore |
could see a low, irregularly built city,
back of which rose thickly wooded,
moderately high hills, seeming to
form almost semicircle about the
town. $780," said to myself, "this
is Yokohama, and I, a Western
school ma'am, am about to tread its
streets"
My apprehensions as to how the
shore was reached, were relieved by
the appearance of DR.. r. S. Maclay,
who, taking charge of me and my
personal effects, succeeded in getting
us slowed away in a boat, and we
pushed off from the vessel which had
grown like home to me, in my long
voyage. But what a queer boat ride
was that! Not even the drenching
rain, and the knowledge that it was
spelling my best bonnet were suffi-
cent to quench my enjoyment of the
strangeness of the surroundings.
Our boatman stood up to row, and
at each pull uttered a peculiar grunt
or cry, which then sounded very
strangely, but has since grown famil-
lar to our ears, tor it is used by all
the coolies when engaged in lifting
or drawing heavy loads. But the
dress of these coolies, words fail me.
Imagine two short specimens of the
genus homo, dark and sun,brown,
large, ugly mouths, fiat nose, small
squint-eyes, and their wlry frames
attired in tight breeches. of some blue
material, these only reaching to their
knees, and above these a skirt Of rice
straw, not plated rice straw, but the
raw material, fastened in some way
to sort of rope which is tied about
the waist, and from which the straw
hangs about the limbs in dripping
strings; then about the upper part OF
the body was a cape Of the same
material; on their heads they wore
what l have since learned were rain
hats, but what to my verdant eyes
looked like inverted butter bowls
(western housewives will understand
what l mean), perverted from their
lawful uses. The whole costume was
to say the least, unique. had heard
OF "men of straw" and now these
coolies in their straw suits, bamboo
butter bowl hat, and bare feet stood
before me, a realization of the phrase.
But the shore was reached before
I had finished studying these striking
styles, and here now revelations
awaited me. We walked few steps
from where we landed, and came to
some vehicles that looked like baby
carriages-two wheels, on which was
placed small box, arched over with
rough hoop-poles, and these covered
over with some sort of oiled skin;
from the wheels extended out long
shafts-if you can imagine such a
conveyance, you will see before you
the carriage in which ! took my
first japanese ride, but no stretch of
Imagination can tell youhow difficult
it seemed to me to get into this odd
affair. The shafts rested on the
ground, the top was up. and project
ed over so far that it was necessary
for one to crawl in headforemost,
then turn around as best he might,
and deposit himself On the narrow