Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1886-05-11
JAPANESE HOUSES.
Why They Are Far Ahead of American
Houses In Real Beauty.

hOHBcR IN lteai beAutys
1t is getting to be very embarrassing,
this civilization, especially to women.
We are acoumulating so much, our
establishments are becoming so compli-
Gated, that daily life is an effort. There are
too many things" Our houses are get
ting to be museums. A house now is a
library, an art gallery, bric-a-brao
shop, furniture warehouse, crock
cry store, combined. 1t is a great es.
tablishment run for the benefit of ser.
wants, plumbers, furnace-men, grocera,
tnkers. Regarded in one light, 1t Is a
very interesting place, and in another, 1t is
an oleemosynary institution. We are
accustomed to consider it a mark of
high civilization; that Is to say, the
more complicated and overloaded W.
make our domestic lives, the more civ
ilized we regard ourselves. Now per-
haps we are on the wrong track alto
gether. Perhaps the way to high dvili-
zation is toward simplicity and disen-
tanglement, so that the human beings
will be less a slave to his surroundings
and impedimenta, and have more leis-
ure for his own cultivation and enjoy
ment. Perhaps life on much simpler
terms than we now carry it on with
would be on really higher plane. We
have been looking at some pictures OF
Japanese dwellings. interiors. How
simple they are! how little furniture or
adUnmentl how few "thingsh to care
for and be anxious about! Now the
Japanese are very ancient people.
They are people of high breeding, pol
ish, refinement They are in some
respects like the Chinese, who have
passed through ages Of cy-
cles of experience, worn out about
all the PHILOSOPHERS and religions then
on, and come out on the other side of
every thing. They have learned to
take things rather easily, not to fret,
and to get on without great many en-
cumbrances that we still wearily carry
along. When we look at the Japanese
houses and at their comparatively
simple life, are we warranted In saying
that they are behind us in civilizationP
May it not be true that they have lived
through all our experience, and come
down to an easy nioduS viUendi? They
may have had their bric-a- brac period,
their overloaded-establsh age,
their various measles stages of civiliza-
ton, before they reached a condition in
which life is comparatively simple
affair. This thought must strike any
one who sees the present Japanese craze
ia this country. For, instead of adopt
'ng the Japanese simplicity in our dwell
ings, we are adding the Japanese eccen-
tricities to our other accumulations OF
odds and ends from all creation, and
increasing the incongruity and the COM
pllcation of our daily life. What help
less being is the housewife in the midst
of her treasuresl The Drawer has had
occasion to speak lately of the recent
enthusiasm in this country for the "cul.
tivation Of the mind" 1t has become
almost fashion. Clubs are formed fol
this express purpose. But what chance
is there for 1t In the increasing anxietiet
of our more and more involved anG
overloaded domestic lifeP Suppose VIZ
have olubs-Japanese clubs they NIGH
be called-for the simplifcation Of ouI
dwellings and for getting rid of much o
our embarrassing menage !-Charie'
Dudley Warner, in Harper's Magazine