Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1889-02-08
THE EMPRESS OF JAPAN.
APPEARANCE AND DAILY HABITS
OF THE EMPERoRS WIFE
a Handsome Woman OF Unusual
1ntellcctuai Attainments- How
She OccuDfcS Her Time.


intellectual Attachments How
She Occupies Her Time.
Frank G. Carpenter says in Toxic
letter TO tho New York IVorLI that the
Empress of Japan is Just about rs old rs
her husband thirty eight years.. She is
full head shorter than the average
American woman and has n slender
figure, very straight and very digniiied.
She appreciates her position and walks
like an Empress. 1t is now more than
year since she adopted foreign clothes,
and her ict.hlack hair is combcd IN for
cign style and foreign waterfall sits
upon her shapely crown. She has fine
complexion, much lighter than the or
binary Japanese. and she has that
dropping OF the lower lip which
is mark of Japanese beauty.
The only pictures that are now procur-
able of her are those in her old court
dress, but these give fair idea of her
features, and her face is decidedly
aristocratic. "She does not" says the
Court chamberlain, ''paint her lower
lip nor blacicn her teeth, rs was the
former custom Of Japanese wives, and
she wears now stra ght bang of hair
across her forehead Tier first European
toobuHlGo, 81 u sDCiCtN Va iOhO
tells me, were ordered IRON Germany,
but the Germans d Il net feel competent
for the task and sent her measure to
Worth at Paris. The clothes were made
and shipned back to Berlin, and the
German drcssmakcrs there exposed them
rs their own and all of the capital of
Germany was called in to inspect the
clothes which the Impress of Japan was
about 10 wear. Such an action would
hardly be possible in the case of
European queen. and have heard it
condemned with much Indignation here.
At present am told that the Empress
buys her clothes, as far rs possible, in
Japan. She IS II thorough little Japanese
queen, and she is ANXIOUS to do every
thing to advance her own people.
''Shc is" in the words OF the Court
Chamberlain, especially interested in
japanese women, aud she tries TO pro-
mote their advancement i'll every way.
She is very charitable, and she is cspe-
cialy patron of the Red Cross Society
and of the Toxic Charity Hospital. She
often visits the hospital and her inllu-
| cnce is given for the good. at the late
eruption of l'andasan she sent money
ut once to relieve the sufferers from the
volcano, and she is especially interested
in the education Of japanese women.
There is female school attended ny the
girls of the mobiles, which is known as
the Emprcss's school. She watches very
closely over this, and one of the pict-
ures upon its walls consists of some
poetry written by her. The Empress of
Japan is fine Chinese scholar, and she
is one of the best poets in the Empire.
Many of her poems have been set to
music and have been used ne national
songs, and quite number of them nave
been published in the Japanese news
papers,"
TELL me something OF the daily life
of the Empress" said l.
"She has, replied the Court Chamber
lain, ian establishment Of her own, and
it is quite n large one. She has her
maids of honor. her private secretaries
{ and the ladies of the court to deal with.
Her morning is occupied by the reading
and writing Of lcttc $. She attends to
the supervision Of her various charities
through Others chiefly, and in the after
noon she devotes herself to social duties.
| She receives ut this time the wives of
the Ministers and the princcsses who
may call upon her. and if they como ut
/ the proper time these sometimes take
! tea with her. She sometimes invites
/ these ladies to meetings to discuss mat
tiers relating to the charity hospital, and
she has Grand Marshal and a
Chamberlain. She is, you know, the
first Empress OF the new order of
things, even rs the Emperor is the
first Emperor. She wears but little
! jewelry, though she has some diamond
rings and bracelets She is fine horse
back rider, and often takes turn on one
OF the horses OF the imperial stables. She
wears European riding habit and sits
her horse we'll"
The Emperor. the Empress and the
Crown Prince make up the royal family,
bers OF it, Each of these three has, as l
said, an establishment of his own inside
of the palace grounds. The Crown
Prince is hcir-apparcnt to the throne.
He is the son al the Emperor by Mime.
Haruko The Mikado of Japan has the
right to twelve wives in addition TO the
Empress, and the children of these, in
case of the failure of issue by the En-
press, have the right to the throne.
They arc all legitimate and noble. and it
is to these wives in times past that the
MODEST of the court families of to-day
date their origin. Very little is known
about them outside the royal pala"e
These wives do not appear at the Court
ceremonies, and am told that each has
her little establishment inside of the
palace grounds. They are part of the
constitution OF the royal family, and in
the directory of Japan for this year
find that the Emperor has had by
them nine children, though all with the
exception of three of these have died.
Children thus born have nothing to do
with their mothers, and the young
Prince was brought up apart. l asked
the Court Chamberlain about this de-
partment of the palace. He would say
r1thng and said it was not proper for
him to discuss such a private matter of
the Emperor's.