Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1896-10-28
Alexsmdria @azettf.
WEDNESDAY EVENING. OCT. IS 1896.
THE GElSHA AS SHE Is.
Japsnese Singing Girls n Peculiar Feature
of the Country.

0AEshSoS Sihbihb 0AA'
of the Country.
In O Jap teahouse in Tokyo of q
pleasant afternoon.
Each room consists of one large
apartment. and by neal of light
bamboo and paper screens that slide
in grooves in floor and ceiling this
apartment can be swiftly divided
into a number of oozy, private
rooms.
The guests sat in a circle on the
mating, and tho girls bring lacquer
trays and small tables, on which are
placed tiny teapots and delicate,
shell-like cups. The girls now pour
out and hand around the tea, each
as she offers her cup pr~ostrating
herself before the guest, saying,
"Honorably deign to accept this
tea" After this they bring in bot
ties of sake, " the wine of the
try, made from rice, and recalling to
an American or European palate the
flavor of dry sherry. This is mixed
with warm water and drunk out of
tiny porcelain cups.
Square boxes, containing each Il
little pot of charcoal, al ashbox and
a spittoon, are also placed here and
there about the floor. The Jap uses
a very finely cut mild and bitter
tasting tobacco, which he smokes, a
pinch at a time, in a tiny metal
pipe, only containing enough to give
him three or four puffs. From time
to time he taps the ashbox, empties
his pipe and starts afresh.
Meanwhile the host has sent for
the "geishas," OF trained singing
and dancing girls, who now arrive
and are ushered with great cere-
mony into the room.
The class to which these girls be-
long forms n of the most quaint
and interesting institutions even in
this pre-eminently quaint and inter
esting country.
They seldom take part in the tenn
pie ceremonies, but are trained to
play the ''samisen," or Japanese
guitar, to sing and dance and to
minister to the entertainment of the
guests at social festivities.
AS a rule they are bought from
their parents at q very early age by
some entrepeneur, thoroughly train
ed in the arts pertaining to their
calling and then hired out by him
at a large figure.
He picks them for their good looks
and provides them with rich and
beautiful clothing, and "geisha"
who is bright, amusing and attract
I've generally succeeds in gaining the
affection of some rich admirer, who
buys her from the entrepeneur and
establishes her. Of late years, since
the rapid influx of western ideas,
there has been al attempt made to
induce the government to do away
with the "geishas" altogether.
The mikado has set the example
by banishing them from the court
entertainments and the banquets of
state, and the government has put
a tax upon them, but in spite of all
this the custom of employing them
at private parties is one that will
die very hard.
All sorts of conflicting opinions
about the "geisha," her personal
appearance and her ways and a
ners, have been expressed by differ
ent foreign critics,
The 'geisha' is ''sui generis" q
creature alone and apart, and her
quaint little painted and enameled
face, her penciled eyebrows and arti-
fcially carmined lips, her shiny
black hair, stiffened with gum and
built up into the most fantastic and
elaborate structure; above all, her
beautiful costume, with its soft and
subtle harmonies of color and grace
full draping, all go to make her q
personality that is as charming as it
is different from anything one can
see elsewhere in the world.-Boston
Advertiser.