Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1888-01-12
Si''iirgiuia u frer gress.
". ". b. GALLAHER, Editor.
S,O'em,Je6ersOn County, West Va
January II, 1883.
Cdrter'Hdrrison's Bath.

Hon. Carter II. Harrison, in a letter
to the Chicago NAL from Hiogo, Japan.
says of the Japaneselpeople: We have
passed vast acres of cultivated fields and
seen many thousands of people engaged
in their daily occupations. We have
slept in their houses and eaten OF their
food. We have seen them reeking il
sweat but never in filth. We have seen
them in hilarious mirth-never once in
violent anger. We have seen them in
their nakedness, but never once in any
thing like lewdness. We have seen them
in toiling poverty, but have never seen
single look of sullenuess or Of despair
We have seen them in abiect poverty ;
we have never seen them begging aims,
except in a few instances of total blind
ness and decrepit age. We have seen
them in every way shocking all precon-
ceived ideas of decency and modesty, yet
we have never noticed a single look or
expression which would show that any
one was aware things were being done
which modesty would forbid
We have met women III the highway
naked down to the hips, and saw no look
that betokened single thought Of shame,
and within few hundred yards we would
meet beautiful, well-clothed woman,
whose eyes would drop in pretty medesty
because we gave her look Of involunta-
ry admiration. There is here no such
thing as conventional decency. With q
high cvilization-in many respects very
high-the people still seem to be, to a
certain extent, in a state Of animal ma
turc. Is the conscience seared-or has
conscience never been awakened by .
sense of sin? The psychologist must
solve the problem and answer the query
| cannot. | am still in species Of
amazement among this inconsistent, this
great, this little, this bright, and yet grow
cling, immoral people
He describes his bath at a japanese
hotel: Then ore of the girls tells US The
bath is ready. We undress and put Oh
a robe. A girl shows US the bath room
1t is down stairs and has only an oper
japanese screen to shut off the gaze o.
the habitues Of the house. The tub is q
round wooden vat about four feet deep
You put your foot in to try he tempera
ture. The foot at once takes the hue 0
a boiled lobster. You nearly shrek
The girl laughs and empties a pail o
cold water in. You then wait for her L
90 out. She does not bulge. You can
to save you, think Of japanese enough Il
tell her to git. Finally, by lot Of awk
ward signs, you get her beyond the screen
But not all inch farther. Ihere sh'
stands and waits, as inDocently as di'
good old Eve when Adam poured int
her willing ears his first declaration 0
undying affection.
There are things that try mems soul
and call for heroic courage. One ca
scale the bristliDg wall, can march up t
the mouth of hot throated cannon, ca
noun, the scaffold with the sh ming AK
glistening in the sun, can tell the girl h
loves how he would win and wed her, ca
make maiden speech in the House
Representatives. But these are easy task
compared to that of getting into a ho
E bath with pretty japanese girl lookln
at you through a rattan screen-!ooAln
at YOU, too, with as much sang froid as
she was seeing three months old Dab
stripped Of its little flannel shirt
Finally patience gives out, you dro
your robe and jump in. Good heaven