The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1878-06-19
Uses Of the Japanese Screen.
10 the Editor of the Chicaqo Tribune:


GARDNER HOUSE, CHICAGO, May 21.-Not
even bedsteadS, tables, or chairs are more
comfortable, convenient, and useful thar
Japanese screens. The Japanese dispense
with the three former, but are never with.
out the latter. Shops for their sale are as
numerous in the large cities Of Japan as
lager-beer saloons are in Chicago and Mil
waukee. Too poor to purchase, a Japanese
contrives one for himself.
They are seen everywhere in Japan, in
many forms and sizes, from the tiny mar
katro bio (pilow screen) to the mammoth
hatchi bio (eight-leaf screen). They are al.
ways light, pliable, portable, generally du
rable, and capable OF being shut UP into
very small space when not in use.'
They arc used to ward off drafts Of hot
and cold air, rays Of light and fire, to screen
beds, tables, desks, doors, windows, and
other openings; in garden, lawn, picnic,
pantomime, theatricals, and street pagean.
try; for balconies, verandas, conseryato-
ries, ierneries. hospitals, camps, &C.; as
temporary partitions in halls and rooms, and
to insure privacy in apartments where peo-
pie are passing to and fro. T..
Considered from an art standpoint, they
are the picture-galleries OF the japanese.
In this respect they are superior, for their
I
only ornamental. They are vehicles for rich
designing in lacquer, bronze, porcelain,
embroidery, natural feathers. ferns, sea.
weed, marguerite and mosaics in woods and
shells, and cloisonne enamelling as we'll as
paintings, classical writings, proverbs, and
inscriptions.
Single individuals and families OF means
possess them in collections just as we col.
lect pictureS-many OF these collections
being Of great value and historic interest.
Mechanically considered. they are ingeni.
ously constructed. Take four-leaf screen,
for example, five or six feet high, each leaf
two feet wide; when folded up it will be
four inches thick, and child may shove
it away under bed or sofa, behind book
case or sldeboard. Opened out, it will
screen bed, table, desk, bow-window,
doorway, or garden party, and it can be
applied to all these purposes in the same
house with facility, being so light as to be
readily moved from place to place. The
Joints are SO contriyed, and without the use
of metal, as to swing in any direction, while
they are always tightly closed at whatever
point the hinges may stand, thus present
ing most effective barrier against drafts
OF mir and prying obtrusiyeness. All doors
and windows may be opened with impu-
nifty while one sits ut his desk or table, or
reclines on ones bed or lounge with the
draft broken by a screen, and screen will
do this just as thoroughly whether it
costs s. or $500. Their uses and value are
fast becoming known to lis, and it is to an
swer the numerous inquiries that are con-
stantIy being made as to their utility that
this letter is written; for have thoroughly
learned it myself during many years in
Japan, and am glad to be able to point it
out gratuitously to my fellow-countrymen.
I know of nothing which we may adopt
from the Japans with more profit. J:
Very respectfully, &C.,
=. WILLIAM H. DOYLE.