Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1886-10-13
,Japanose Homes.

1t is getting to be very embarrassing,
this civilization, especially to women.
We are accommodating so much, our es'
Adjustments are becoming so compli-
cat ed that daily life is m effort. There
are too many ''things.' Our houses
Il re getting to be museums. A house
'low is library, an art gallery, brio
Ia-brac shop. furniture warehouse, q
crockery store, combined. 1t is II great
establishment run for the benefit of
servants, plumbers, furnace-men, groc-
crs, thinkers. Regarded in one light it
is II very interesting place, and in an
other, it is an elocnosynary institution.
We are accustomed to consider it
mark of high civilization; that is to say,
the more complicated and overloaded
we make our domestic lives, the more
civilized we regard ourselves. Now
perhaps we are on the wrong track alto
gcther. Perhaps the way TO high civil
ization is toward simplicity and olsen
tanglcmcnt, so that the human being
will be less slave to his surroundings
and impedimcnta, and have more leis-
IRE for his own cultivation and enjoy
ment. Perhaps life on much simpler
terms than we now carry it on with
would be on a really higher plane. We
have been looking at some pictures OF
j.. pncsc dwellings, interiors. How
sim, 90 they are! how little furniture or
ador ment! how few "things' 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 re-
spects like the Chinese, who have pass
ed through ages and cycles Of expert
cncc, worn out about all the philoSo-
phcs and religions then on, and come
out on the other side of everything. They
have learned to take things rather east
| ", not to fret. and TO get on without L
great many cncumbranccs that We still
WEAKLY carry along. When we look at
the japanese houses and at their COM
parativcly simple life, are we warranted
in saving that they are behind lis in
civilization? May it not be true that
they have lived through all our expert
cnce, and come down to an easy mOdHS
riUcHdi? They may have had their
brie-a-brac period, their overloaded
establishment age. their various measles
stages of civilization, before they reach
ed II condition in which life is u COM
parativcly simple affair This thought
must strike any one who sees the present
japanese craze in this country. For, in
stead of adopting the japanese SIM
plicity in our dwellings, we are adding
| the japanese ccccntrcitcs to our other
accumulations of odds and ends from all
creation, and increasing the incongruity
and the complication OF our daily life.
What helpless being is the housewife
| in the midst of her treasures. The
Drawer has had occasion to speak lately
| of the recent enthusiasm in this country
for the "cultiyaton of the mind. 1t
| has become almost Il fashion. Clubs
are formed for this express purpose. But
what chance is there for il in the in
crcasng anXictica Of our more and more
involved and overloaded domnsti' llte?
Suppose we have clubs-Japanr,v pInbS
they might be called for the simp!t'ira-
ton of our dwellings and getting rid Of
much of our embarrassing meHage!-
Lharics Dudicy warner IA Harper's
.Mgdzine for April.