The Topeka state journal., 1899-12-29
JAPANESE GIRLS AT HOME.



an and lived there a long time. She is
the daughter Of the Rev Julius Soper
of the Methodist church. who has been
a missionary in Japan. MISS Soper
spoke as follows of the differences be-
tween the Japanese girl and an Ameri-
can girl:
To begin with the babies: They are
as much petted and INDUCED as the
most spoiled darling in all the United
States. Everything is done to make
ch1IdhOOd a happy time Toys are laV-
ished on them. Scolding is almost un-
heard of. The pride of every woman is
her children, and as result the child
ren rule the house. once knew of
case where there was great commo-
ton during the night, and next morning
it was learned that the little girl of the
household had walked up at o'clock
and had cried to be taken for a boat
ride. Her wish was gratifed.
Next to the babies, the old women
have the greatest number of privileges
Some one has said, The grandmOtherS
rule the empire 1t is when she is a
grandmother that a woman gets honor
in the household. Age, of course, is
made after an introduction is, And
what might be your honorable age2
And you may be sure that if the an
SWerer be a Japanese she Will give her
full age-and even be tempted to add a
year or two. This is the Indispensable
question in polite society. There is even
a special costume which only women of
over 80 may wear The long, dull-cOlor-
ed garment can not be altered, put the
lining of the sleeves and neck piece are
made of the most brilliant scarlet. The
sandals are laced with scarlet thongs.
and a close skull cap of the same cOlOrs
completes the dress.
THE dress of a japanese girl is made
of straight pieces SeWed together. jana
nese sewing is very different from ours.
There are no ruff1eS, no gathers, no bias
folds, the fashions never change, and a
girl may wear her mothers or grand
mothers frOck without d thought of fit
or fashion. There are, however, pre-
scribed dresses for different classes of
society. A Japanese can tell at a
glance but a European will get hope
IessIy beWildered at the class distinc-
tion indicated by tiny thread of col
or in the sleeve, a slight variation in
the way of wearing the hair.
The upper class japanese girl usual
ly has the loose upper garment of some
dull color, lined with brighter tint Our
fashion of putting bright silk Innings in
our coats came from Japan. A ball
dress might be of a dOVe-cOlOred crepe,
with a pink lining; the skirt showing
beneath this might be hand painted
most elabOrately. The neck piece show
ing above the loose outer garment is
often of variegated silks, beautifully
Ornamented.
But the most interesting article of a
Japanese girls toilet to herself is her
belt. First a width of crepe is wound
around the waist to hold the dress in
right position; over this comes the belt
proper 1t is often at least 16 inches
wide, made of any substance, but al
ways lined with some heavy material
like canton flannel. Some of these bro
cade belts with laces. which come from
the shoulders to the feet, cost as mucn
as $500 or $780, 1t takes a good deal Of
skill to get the belts on just right, and
a large part Of a japanese girls edu-
cation consists in learning exactly how
to do it.
Il taught a princess once who was
very close up to the trOne. She would
come to my house with several attend
ants and in the most costly robes but
if the weather was warm she would be
barefOOted
"The hair is dressed very eIaborateIv
and always by a hair-dresser. The
fashion of putting the hair over cush-
ions or rats as school girls call them,
is a japanese Importation. The past
fashion, too, Of wearing bangs, comes
from another Japanese way of wearing
the hair. They fix their hair once, or
at most twice a week, and it stays fixed
till the hair-dresSer calls again. For
fear that the structure will get tumbled
when she is asleep, the Japanese girl
dispenses with pillows, and sleeps with
a wooden rest under the back of the
neck and the head quite unsupported.
Very uncomfortable it must be- but a
Japanese girl, like an American girl
Will do great deal for the sake of
appearing well.
etiquette is an important part of a
japanese girls education. There are
professors of etiquette in japanese
schools, just as there are professors of
languages, and a girl must know how
to enter a room, how to introduce, and
all the numberleSs rules of precedence
All men, of course, take precedence of
all women, unless they have been Chris
tianized; then they assume our ways
with womankind.
lone specimen of their exaggerated
pOliteness is in their salutatiOn. Where
we would say, I am glad to see you,
they would say, I hang upon your hon
orable eyehds.'
THE Japanese girl is apt to be fndo-
TrraH T1-v,5F sr,r-
with them, and now that the Europeans
have taught them other kinds of fance
work, they go wild with delight over
crochet stitches and different kinds of
embroidery. Almost the only game the
girls play is battIedOre and shuttle
cock. They do this a great deal, look
ing pretty and picturesque when they
play, just as if they had stepped off a
fan.
1t was always very hard for the mis-,
StOnarieS to get hold Of the women of
the family. When they called only the
men and children would appear and
when the wife was asked fer, %, she is
just a stupid thing the loving husband
would protest.
"A woman has little control over her
life. She marries at the will of her
father or elder brother, often without
seeing her future husband till she is led
to the altar The man, too, is governed
by his father, who selects the bride. But
human hearts are the same everywhere
and there are some genuine love
| matches. even in Japan.
There is no furniture in a JaDanese
| house-Only cushions. a table for meals
is so small it looks more like a tray
The difference between the house of a
poor man and the residence of a mill
ionaire consists in the timber of which
the house is built. You can not find a
knot in the wood of a beautifully built
house The the mating on the floor
will be of the finest and the sliding
doors. perhaps, beautifully hand-paint-
| ed The kitchens, too. have no furnf-
| ture except the stove; there is not even
a table; all the work is done on the
floor. As YOU maE irnagine it is haa11-