Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1877-08-17

| WAYS OF THE PEOPLE
From the New York Home Journal
The independent bachelor, purely on
health gaining or pleasure bent, knowing and
caring for no one in the place. may dress as
he likes, pass his time as he likes. and live
where he likes. He will perhaps be lodged
In couple of rooms-that is, space con-
sisting of so many mats divided into two by
screens-in a farmhouse or in some trades
mans residence, or even in some old temple.
The sunrise artillery of opening shutters, in
evitable in Japanese house. wakes him
from his sleep, he dons the airiest OF cos
tunes, and starts for plunge in the clear,
| cold, and, as the natives say, uniathomable
waters of the lake. If he has been for any
length of time a wanderer in Japan, he has
probably learned TO exist on the food OF the
country and to dispense with articles of Eu-
| ropean food, the transport of which is always
a source of annoyance and anxiety to the
traveller-an it really requires very little
training to become accustomed to japanese
food. The only point at which the palate
rebels is that of drink the fermented es-
sence of rice, drunk steaming hot, and re-
sembling slightly in flavor diluted sherry OF
the eone-and-three-pence n bottle type, rarely
finds favor with Occidentals. Moreover it Is
a very rapid intoxicant, and is very bad stuff
to work physically upon. But with the edi-
| bles very little fault can be found. The flesh
| of animals, until the settlement of Europeans
in Japan, was utterly unknown as an article
Of food. Now. however, shops for the sale
| OF beef and pork are very numerous in ledo
and Yokohama, and are said to be wonder
fully patronized by the natives.
| Fish and rice are the staple articles of food,
and these, when artfully seasoned by edible
seaweeds, vegetables, eggs, and fruits, form
dishes at which no European epicure could
with reason turn up his nose. At the large
fashionable restaurants of the capital, if the
traveller order dinner on an unlimited scale
| purely a Ia mode jdpondise, he must be pre-
pared for a meal lasting over several hours,
consisting of numberless courses, and COM
posed entirely of these two articles, fish and
| rice. The very sweets with which the ban
! quet opens are extracted from seaweed, and
the side dishes and sauces, made of eggs and
| vegetables, are really the only "plats' which
are neither fish nor rice. In the country the
traveller of course finds the menu more limit
ed as to variety. But having learned the
| use of chopsticks, and possessing bottle or
two of English beer, and not being squeam-
ish in the consumption of raw fish, he may
fare uncommonly well and, what is as i'm
portant, will find that at the end of meal
he is perfectly free from the heaviness and
hearty repast OF the European calibre. Hay-
| ing breakfasted, armed with pipe, a stick,
sketch-book, and few shillings' worth Of
paper money, he may start for his days ram
Bile. If he be not convert to japanese food,
at a very slight cost n coolie may be obtained,
who will carry provisions for day or two !;
and, with Hakone as his headquarters, the
independent bachelor may spend most en-
Joyable fortnight in exploring the neighbor
hood-even venturing so far as to make the
ascent of the holy mountain Fuji, distant
some twenty miles in this case, however.
he must be especially careful that his pass
port is in order for if the japanese are es-
pecially jealous about one subject more than
another, it is their grand, lonely mountain.
Acting thus Independently, untrammeled
by etiquette and the petty exactions of So
ciety, the traveller will never regret having
passed short time at Hakone. Walk as he
may in any direction, pleasing subjects for
his pencil, odd hooks and corners, little
patches of the uncontaminated Japan of the
romantic past, greet him at every turn of the
road. II he be a sportsman he Will find |
among the simple rustics many a sturdy fel- |
low willing TO show him happy hunting |
grounds, ,abounding with big and small game,
which have been accumulating ever since the |
days of feudalism, when the great lords of |
the neighborhood, and not unfrequently the
Emperor himself. were wont to hold great |
hunting festivals extending over several |
weeks, and which, thanks to the stringent |
regulations concerning sporting licenses is |
sued by the government, have never been |
massacred wholesale by the sportsmen of |
Yokohama or he may pass a day of dolce |
FAR ninte with rod and line among the innu-
merable inlets and sequestered corners of the |
lake, sharing rough tiffin with the boatman
under the shade of some waterside shrine,
and enjoying himself thoroughly SO long as
he does not look for sport
Very different, however, is life at Hakone
as passed by men afflicted with large families
and enjoying the reputation of being we'll
known and respected members of the Yoko-
hama community.
PateJdmilidS, as he has ladies with him,
must put up at one OF the great tea-houses-
in the olden time sober, respectable, dingy
old inns enough, but now, alas, much altered,
to suit the tastes of foreign yisitors-at least
so think the enterprising proprietors. Every
time he enters the tea-house his eye is afilict-
ed with staring address, rudely printed on
huge board, suspended over the entrance
running somewhat in this style:
GRAsn HOTEL HAxoxr.
Great accommodation for English and Americans
gentlemen. AL tongues they speak,
and Mists1 TSea eesT kspnsSI sold by
The soft white mats are retained in that
portion of the house set apart for domestic
use, but in the rooms allotted to foreigners
fimsy capets are laid down, Oh which totter
wooden constructions charitably presumed
to be chairs and tables. The host himself is
attred from morn till night in what would
not be a bad imitation of European evening
dress, were it tolerably well-ftting and pas
coh oil nj
opportunity. even to guests thoroughly ac-
quainted with his own tongue, an extraordi-
nary lingo of Anglicized French.
The mattresses, from long association with
all sorts and conditions OF foreigners, have
none Of the coyness and civility which are
such marked characteristics of their sisters
in less known hostelries, but are impudent,
slovenly, and can be, if occasion requires,
very tolerably blasphemous, thanks to the
influence which certain classes of English
men and Americans never fail to make felt
whenever they travel in Japan. Worst of ALL
the charges are exorbitant, and every one
connected with the establishment has what |
is known as "a very keen eye to the main
chance"
As paterfamilias meets here all the Smiths
and Browns OF his Yokohama acquaintance
he must live as they do. He probably has
brought his own Chinese cook, and the rick
city tables nightly groan beneath extrava-
giant viands and costly liquors, very little in
keeping with the homely, nay, mean, appear
ance of the room and its furniture. He must |
dress as in Yokohama To him the comforts
of the collarless shirt, the light wide-awake,
and the loose knickerbockers are denied, and |
he must descend to breakfast each morning
IN irreproachable costume, SO that the poor
man really finds that the change from Yoko-
ha m To Hal 10 Int 4 vritl n
distinction.
But If etiquette presses hard upon those
of the sterner sex, how much harder is 1t |
upon ladies' during these hot months , All. |
especially the Americans, vie with each other |
IN the production and exhibition Of sumptu- |
Gus raiment and as the fair-skinnod daugh- |
ters Of the West sweep along the humble vii |
lage street, daintily tripping with upheld |
skirts and the highest -heeled boots. along |
the most rugged of paths, the chubby, |
bronzed little japanese women run to the |
cottage doors, and, questioning doubtless
the similarity of sex, cape with wonder |
struck eyes, afterwards turning away in peOls |
OF genuine laughter
Calls are regularly made and received, ,titiin |
and dinner parties gwen, and solemn expe- |
dItions of exploration formed TO the various |
points of interest within an easy distance OF
the village. Nor are the spiritual wants of |
the little community left neglected. for the |
Saturday coach from Yokohama generally |
brings missionary en- route for the baths &; |
and to the traveller passing perchance |
through Hakone on n Sunday. very funnily |
does the sound of 'hymns. ancient and mod |
ern, sung to the chords OF harmonium, |
contrast with the scene around.
Such is life at Il Japanese watering-place. |
BY many readers our account may Ice deemed |
too sweeping. for doubtless there are many |
who fly from the heat OF Yokohama and en-
Joy their holiday in rational way but these
are our experiences at Hakone during three |
successive summers passed there. and we
cannot deem them overdrawn. Although |
pleasure seekers form the largest proportion
of the visitors to the baths Of Japan, thero |
are many people who really 60 to be cured of
their ailments, or at least, TO obtain tempo
rary relief. These. however. do not patronize
Hakone. Halfway between lIakono and
,E