The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1889-02-06
THE EMPRESS OF JAPAN,
APPEARANCE AND DAILY HABITS
OF THE EMPERoRs WIFE.
A Handsome Woman OF Unusual
Intellectual Attachments - How
She Occupies Her Time

She Occupies Her Time
Frank G. Carpenter says in a Toxic
letter to the New York World that the
Empress of Japan is Just about as old as
her husband thirty eight years.. She is
q full head shorter than the average
American woman and has a slender
figure, very straight and very dignitied.
She appreciates her position and walks
like an Empress. II Is now more than
year since she adopted foreign clothes,
and her iot-black hair Is combed in for
eign style and foreign waterfall sits
upon her shapely crown. She has fine
complexion, much lighter than the Or
dinary Japanese, aud she has that
dropping of the lower lip which
is a 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. "Sho does not" says the
Court Chamberlain, 'paint her lower
lip nor blacken her teeth, as was the
former custom of Japanese wives, and
she wears now stra' ght bang of hair
across her forehead" Her first European
costumes, so society lady of Toxic
tells me, were ordered from Germany,
but the Germans d d not feel competent
for the task and sent her measure to
Worth at Paris. The clothes were made
and shipped back to Berlin, and the
German dressmakers there exposed them
as their own and all of the capital of
Germany was called in to inspect the
clothes which the Empress of Japan was
about to wear. Such an action would
hardly be possible in the case of a
European queen, and | have heard 1t
condemned with much indignation here.
At present am told that the Empress
buys her clothes, as far as possible, in
Japan. She is thorough little Japanese
queen, and she is anxious to do every
thing to advance her own people.
"She is" in the words of the Court
Chamberlain, especially interested in
japanese women, and she tries to pro-
mote their advancement in every way.
She is very charitable, and she is espe-
cially patron of the Red Cross Society
and of the Toxic Charity Hospital. She
often visits the hospital and her intlu-
ence is given for the good. At the late
eruption of Bandaisan she sent money
at once to relieve the sufferers from the
volcano, and she is especially interested
in the education of japanese women.
There is female school attended by the
girls of the mobiles, which is known as
the Empresss 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 a fine Chinese scholar, and she
is one of the best poets in the Empire.
lor havn hnnp Gpt 10
music and have been used as national
songs, and quite a 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 hey own, and
it is quite 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 Letters. 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 at this time the wives OF
| the Ministers and the Princesses who
may call upon her, and if they come at
| 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 a Grand Marshal and a
| Chamberlain. She is, you know, the
| first Empress of the new order OF
things, even as the Emperor is the
first Emperor. She wears but little
jewelry, though she has some diamond
! rings and bracelets. She is tiue horse
back rider, and often takes turn on one
OF the horses of the imperial stables. She
wears a European riding habit and sits
her horse WELL"
The Emperor, the Empress and the
! Crown Prince make up the royal family,
or at least the three most important mem
bers of it, Each of these three has, as
said, an establishment of his own inside
of the palace grounds. The Crown
Prince is heir-apparent to the throne.
He is the son OF the Emperor by Nine.
Yanagiwara, and not by the Empress
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 are all legitimate and noble, and II
is to these wives in times past that the
no5lest of the court families of to day
date their origin, Very little is known
about them outside the royal pala c,
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 a part of tho
constitution of the royal family, and in
the directory of Japan for this yeal
find that the Emperor has had by
them nine children, though all with th'
exception of three of these have died
Children thus born have nothing to dc
with their mothers, and the young
Prince was brought up apart. | asked
the Court Chamberlain about this de
partment of the palace. He would say
nothing, and said it was not proper TO
him to discuss such private matter o.
the Emperor's.
A Fleet Catamaran.