The record-union., 1897-08-22

1
ly intercourse with the ladies of the
family. The mistress of a household
exchanges saduations with the guests
provides for their entertainments, and
accompanies them to the door on their
return, but she is not expected to re-
main in the guest room and converse
with them, except in the absence Of her
| husband and of other male members of
the family.
Northumberland tea and cake
are always served to guest almost
| Immediately on his arrival, together
with the charcoal baxter, which holds
the fire for lighting the little Japanese
! pipes carried by almost every one in
the girdle of the kimono. If the guest
does not eat the cake or candy served
| to him ii is quite the proper thing when
! he is leaving for some member of the
household to wrap it up in the paper in
which it has been placed and give it
to him to take home and it is the guests
part to SLOW his appreciation by taking
it, rather than leaving it behind as
something worthless. He slips it into
the long sleeve of his dress, whence it
is taken out by the little ones at home.
who are only too happy to have the
|
children are very fond of the sweet
dainties, of which there is such an
| abundance in Japan.
SOME HOSPITABLE CUSTOMS.
A guest who has come from any dis
| tance is always asked to a meal, but it
is frequently served to him separately
on a little lacquer table brought in to
the guest room. One or two members
of the family may take their meal with
! him, while the others of the household
have their dinner in a separate room
The host, in asking his guest to dine,
must always preface his invitation by
modestly saying that there is nothing
| fitting for his friends entertainments,
but he begs him TO partake OF what
| they have. The guest bows his thanks
and then begins the meal on the nttle
| lacquer table with rice bowl, soup DoWd,
saucers and chop sticks neatly ar
ranged in place, and a kneeling maid
ready to serve the hot rice whenever
it is called for.
AS sandals and clogs are worn in the
streets and left outside at the door on
entering a house, the footgear OF
guest must be looked after and neatly
placed for him at the door before ms
return Should it not have been hXed
by the servants, some member OF the
! family must do it at the time the guest
| departs AS the touching of any artlcle
Of footgear is a very lowly act IN ia
pan, as in all Eastern countries, the
guest must feel honored by this cour-
| tesy. make his bow and say the ap-
propriate words of thanks.
Whether or not a guest is welcomed
and entertained as he should be he is
sure of being well-sped when he is
| departing. Custom orders that all
members of the family and those OF
the servants who happen to be around
shall accompany the guest to the door
10 bow and see him off. Five or SIX
| bowling figures around a doorway is by
no means an unusal sight, and it gives
| one a sense of Importance TO depart
with such a show as a family of even
moderate size can make, not to speak
of larger and wealthier households,
with their retinueS of servants.
CURIOUS EVERYDAY CEREMO-
MES.
Besides these everyday customs there
are many curious ceremonials in Jap
anese life, many of which the present
era has given up or abbreviated. OF
those that remain, the most interesting
| is, perhaps, the old ceremonial tea
making, which is a very complicated
and difficult affair, and can only be
learned after much practice and many
| instructions from master of etiquette.
| There service at a ceremonial tea party
| is an art in itself and there are profess
| sionals who teach exactly how it is to
be carried out. The ceremony of max
| ing this peculiar and rare kind Of tea
and of serving the dinner which accom-
panies it lasts several hours, and the
whole entertainment is from beginning
| to end a very curious and complicated
| one, in which rules of etiquette are
very rigid Every motion of the hand
| when preparing the powdered tea is
| fixed by rule, as are also tho manner
| of presentation and the acc sptng of
| the cup by the guest 1t takes many
| long hours of practice before one IS
| skillful enough TO dc it gracefully and
without one mistake. The tearoom in
| which the entertainment is held. the
| utensils, the ornarnrpts of the room
| and everything connected with il are
and they must be in keeping with the
esthetic regulations which govern the
| whole entertainment. The making of
! the tea is taught in many girls schools
and by special masters in the profess
| sion.
! THE LANGUAGE OF COURTESY.
| Nothing more truly shows the court
estes and formalities of the nation than
| the language itself. Innumerable
| phrases with many and delicate shades
of meaning abound for every act. There
are honorific terms of varying signifi-
canoe to be applied to people of every
| rank, to objects possessed by superior
and to articles of dress and food be-
| other hand, humble terms to be used
on ones self, or of ones own family,
when addressing outsiders One does
not eat or dress or go about or per-
| form many acts in the same word as
another. A man speaks of his own
| wife, using an entirely different word
| from that which he woulud use for the
| wife of third person, and this again
may be different and less polite word
| than the term he would use for the
wife of the person addressed. The lam
guage may be roughly divided into
| three divisions-the language to su-
| periors, the language to equals and the
| language to inferiors-but it is. of
course, delicate matter on many oc-
casions to decide in which language
| to speak, whether to use all the hon
orable prefixes and long examinations
| or to cut every sentence off short. as
| in the language to interiors The orar