The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1893-08-26

An Afternoon In the Javanese VIII
lage.
many more things-are the japanese,
who seem at first sight to be their near
kindred. These two races are the grand
islanders Of the Orient and illustrate
how climatic laws operate over there
very much as they do in this West
ern world. The Japanese are, in truth,
as they have been named in compll-
ment, the Yankees of the East. The
Javanese, equally polite and witty, are
the gay and indolent children Of the
tropics.
And yet they are happy-at least in
Chicago. The men 60 about their little
tasks with a pleasing deftness and
alacrity, while the women. despite the
fact that their theology allows them
no souls, are cheerful and clipper, and
there is something in the shy way one
Of them offers the visitor a cigarette
just finished by her delicate fingers
and something in the soft word and ro-
guish smile which 60 with it that is
mighty fetching"
They are very childlike in their love
of sweets, and their rapid changes
from grave to gay. They weep pro-
fusely in sorrow, then dry their eyes
and may soon be laughing heartily.
For candy no big school girl is more
greedy. In that way goes most Of the
small change they get in gratuities.
In short, they T childlike in every
thing but one-perhaps. They are not
a bit afraid of soap and water. They
naturally love to be clean, and the men
are much the same. So.
Their religion may have created the
habit in the first place, but it has be-
come a second nature. Courtesy, too,
has by long habit become organic. So
and other Americans about the village
say the Javanese of both sexes can
forget instructions more easily and
with less embarrassment than any
other people on the grounds. When
told q thing for the seventeenth time
and reminded, Of the previous times,
they give a short, pleasant laugh and
chatter something which seems to
mean, "Oh, yes; that's so. How care
less Of me to forget it,"
The Javanese theater is quite a Gu
riosity, all the more because the
dancers are loaned for this occasion
only by the only sultan who retains
any considerable power in Java. The
Dutch control most of the island. As
the old heather ceremonies which sur
vived into Christian times in Europe
were regarded as the lamentations of
witchcraft for centuries, then became
the mere sports of children and finally
lost all meaning, so the old Buddhist
ceremonies in Java were degraded into
amusements for the cOnquering race,
and in time none but the sultan and
his guests were even allowed to see
them. The common people never see
dancing women, and those in this
Javanese village have seen it here for
the first time. All the people, however,
can see the dancing OF puppets or ma
riOnettes, and a very complicated set
is operated here on the same stage
with the women dancers.
The remnants OF the old religion
which are shown in these dances are
really Hindoo, as the Buddhist religion
came into. Java from India. The
women are remarkably agile, and by
q comical division Of labor all the
talking is done by n man, who sits
on the back Of the stage behind a
screen and varies his voice with sur
prisiQg success. From deep base to
screaming falsetto, through all the
manifestations of love and hatred,
Joy, hope and despair, he literally runs
the whole show. The whole village Is,
as near as is possible in this climate,
an exact reproduction OF the home ar