The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-04-22
some game, potatoes and two vegetables,
with dessert, coffee. cheese and nuts.
HOW THE NATIVES LIVE.

pay still less, and these forty millions OF
people could exist well on what America
wastes. Only few of the middle classes
have more than one servant, and among
the poorer classes the wife does the cook
ing and the entire work of the household.
Some families have woman to cook and
do general Homework, and such women
are paid from one to two dollars a month
and are lodged and fed. They generally
receive a present of a dress from their
mistress at New Year and in midsummer,
each costing from $50 to s., and they ex-
pect to get a cent two three times a
week for bath money. Every japanese
takes a hot bath from two to twelve times
a week, and where the family is too poor
to own a bath room they go TO the public
bath houses. The richer people have more
servants, and a well-to-do family will gen.
orally have man in addition to the wom-
en-. They pay their men twice as much as
women. Nurses are very cheap in Japan,
and the common people keep the smaller
children and the old men of the family
busy in taking care of babies. A child
of six often has her baby brother tied 10
her back, and the children from nine 10
sixteen go about with babies so fastened
upon them taking care of them. Such
families, get their board and clothing and
a present now and then. They are often
poor relatives OF the family. and woman
who works In a tea factory will often pay
a cent day to have her baby thus cared
for.
Out In the country the wages are even
lower, and there are parts Of Japan where
the women do not get more than 10 cents
in silver day. or about a nickel Of our
money. All members of a poor family
work, and a man and his wife Will often
labor side by side in the same field. Women
dig up the ground with long spade-like mat
tocks, and / visited tea-firing establish
ment yesterday where / saw about one hun
dred girls bending over hot oven-lilxe pans
and rubbing the green leaves OF the tea
around in them, while the perspiration
rolled down their cheeks and now and
then dropped into the dainty mixture, which
was being prepared for American break
fast tables. / asked as to their hours and
their wages, and l was told that they
worked from daybreak to sunset, and that
they got the enormous wages OF from so
TO 40 cents a day in silver. 1 see men
everywhere 1 go carrying loads that the
ordinary American could not lift, and they
do the work of both horses and men.
There are few horses used and many OF
the carts are pushed and pulled by women
and men. / saw woman breaking stones
for the roads this afternoon and l was
told that she got about 10 of our cents
for twelve hours work. She sat bareheaded
and barefooted on the stones ard pounded
away with a hammer breaking the stones
into pieces. AS 1 watched her two Jap
anese men in blue cotton gowns passed
by carrying a stone weighing four hundred
pounds, which was tied by a rope to a
pole which rested on their shoulders, and a
third man pushed past them with a load
of long boards on his back
There are no such things as stone boats
and lumber wagons in Japan, and human
labor takes the place of steam and horses
There are no lumber mills in the country
and logs are sawed into boards by hand A
lumber yard consists of a lot OF boards tied
up into bundles containing about five or
six boards six inches wide and half an inch
thick, and usually about twelve feet in
length, and it is of such lumber that the
most of the Japanese houses are made The
heaviest of the rafters of the temples are
sawed out by hand, and it is by men that
they are carried UP and put into place
There are many queer things here in the
way u DullulHS, anu Il understand tnat
there are people who make a business of
manufacturing roofs for buildings. The
roof of a Japanese house is put on before
the walls are fitted in and there is a big
scaffoldng made of the height Of the pro-
posed structure and running all around il
before the work of putting Up the house
begins. This scaffoldng is made of bamboo
poles tied together with ropes of straw
and the men who put il up have nothing
to do with erecting the building itself
does nothing else but make scaffoldng, and
it rents it TO the builders at so much per
house.
FIRE AND INSURANCE.
Almost all Of the Japanese houses are of
wood They are built close together in the
towns and cities, and a fire sometimes
sweeps them away by thousands 1t is said
that Tokyo burns down every seven years,
and fires which destroy a thousand houses
are not uncommon. There are now steam
fire engines in the large cities, and all of
the smaller places have fire departments
and hand engines. The Japanese go wild
whenever there is a fire in their neighbor-
hood. They turn out en- masse. each carry
ing a paper lantern, upon which is painted
the name of his house or his business place
and rush toward il. They have lanterns
hung UP in their houses ready TO run out
with them TO fires, and IL Is a matter OF
| etiquette If you have friend in the neigh
! borhood of the conflagration TO call and
| leave your card, and tell him that you
| came TO help him, thinking the house which
| was burning was his and 10 leave your
| card with congratulations that he escaped.
| The fremen themselves carry lanterns.
| and they yell as they run. Each fire
! company has leader who carries a lan,ern
| fastened TO the top OF long pole and orna-
| mented with streamers or paper. Re
Climbs with this TO the roof Of the bu.ldin ?
| which is fire and directs the men, AID
| he is expected TO stay at his pest UNI
these streamers catch fire. The f1remen OF
| Yokohama have blue hats, Ike batst ?
| bcwls, and their backs are the charac-
| tiers which mean Yokohama fire brigade.
! The country fremen tie a handkerchief on
| their heads. and are more often barefoote 1
| than otherwise.
Until lately there was no such thing IS a
| fire insurance company in japan Nov
there are several, and they are doing vel
! There are no foreign companies and TIE
| insurance companies of other countries con
| fine their risks here TO life. i chatted 10;
| night with the manager of the Equitahle
| Life Insurance Company for japan and
China lie tells that this American 81
| stitution is doing a good business here, ard
that the people are insuring more every
day. The highest amount the Equitable
| insures for in Japan is 100000. II has
! taken out two such policies lately and has
| written a number of $4,000 and SIS 900 poll
| cies. The most of its business, however,
p in IS, 900 risks, and il insures here at
| the same rate as in America. 1t does not
| try to push it's business among the Chi
| nese, as there Is more danger OF fraud from
| them. When Chinaman sees he is about