The Indianapolis journal., 1890-12-14

wherein the tea-houses the theaters, the
pagodas-the impression that remains is abb
s0lutely deficient of seriousness. When
ever think of them involuntarily smile.
Astonishing fgurines. that see once more
agitated. assiduOus. little similesque,
running about with continual courtesies
addressed to every body, among their in
tinitesimal dolls baubles, in apartments as
big as the hand, whose paper walls would
fall In at the least blow.
Women in miniature. both childish and
aged, whose excessive grace, so hammered
and mincing IL is. turns to grim aces; whose
everlasting laughter. CONTAGIOUS without
gayety, is as irresistible as Utilization. and
situde. They laugh from excess of amia-
bility or from acquired habit; they laugh
in the gravest circumstances OF life; they
laugh in the temples and at funerals.
Very small creatures, living in the midst
of trihes as artificial and as light as them
selves. Their household utensils. In fine
porcelain or thin metal, look like children's
toys; their cups their teakettles are lili-
putian. and their everlasting pi pes are filled
to overhowing with half q pinch Of very
fine tobacco taken with the tips OF their
elegant little fingers.
Never seated. but crouching all day on
N ats of immaculate whiteness. they ac-
cOmplish in that lnvarlable posture almost
all the acts of their life. 1t ia on the floor
that they take their dolls dinners, served
in microscope crockery, and eaten deli
cately with the aid of chopsticks. 1t is on
the floor. behind fra;l screens that barely
conceal them, and surrounded with q con-
fusion of queer lit instruments-of little
powder-bOxes, of l. !e pots-that they pro-
ceed to their toilet, before mock mirrors
that make one laugh. 1t 10 on the floor
that they work. sew. embroider, play on
their long-handled guitars, dream of imper-
ceptible things. or address to their incOm-
prehensible gods the long prayers of morn
ing and evening.
The peasant woman. clad summer and
winter In the same dress of blue cotton, and
hardly distinguIshable afar from her hus-
band. who wears his hair Iu knot like
hers. and Is clad in robe of the same color
the peasant-woman who is daily seen
bowling over her toll in the tea-fields or in
the liquid mud of the rice swales, protected
by a rough hat on days VIII sn the sun burns,
and having her head completely enveloped
when the north wind blows by a dreadful
muffier, always blue, that only leaves the
almond eyes to view-the small and funny
peasant woman of Japan, wherever she
may be sought for, even in most remote
districts OF the interior, is incontestably
much more refined than our peasant woman
of the West.
She has pretty hands and pretty. delicate
feet; o mere touch would suffice to trans
form her into one Of those ladies that are
and there would be little left to teach her
of hammered Rraces. of affectations OF all
sorts. She almost always cultivates a
pretty garden around her anclent cottage
OF wood, whose interior. garnished with
white mats. is scrupu.ously clean.
She may possibly be more honest than her
sister of the cities, and her life may be more
regular-from our European point of view.
of course; she is also more reserved with
strangers. more timid, with q sort OF mis-
trust and dislike of the intruders notwifh-
standing her amiable welcome and smiles.
The houses that the Japanese women oc-
cupy are, it goes without say ing. as neat
and wondrously fashioned as themselves,
almost always full of surprises, with NOV
able panels, with boxes and slides. with
compartments of ali shapes and astonishing
little closets.
CLEANLINESS AND RELIGION.
Everything is minutiously clean, even
among the humblest. and of apparent sim.
plicity. especially among the richest Alone
the altar of the ancestors. where sticks oi
incense burn, 10 gilded. lscQuered and gar.
pished like pagoda with vases and lam
terms. Everywhere else . purposed bare
ness-a baroness all the more complete and
white If the dwelling pretends to elegance
No embroidered Tapestries; sometimes
Transparent portieres. made of strung beads
and bamboos. And never nny furniture; II