Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1900-01-12
A GIRL SEES JAPAN
AND TELLS WHAT SHE THINKS
ABOUT 1T.

rdngement OF the Glr0le.
Miss Ethel Maud Soper, a student
at the Woman's College, was born in
japan and lived there a long time
She is the daughtel of the Rev. julius
Soper, Of the Meth odist Church. who
has been a missionary in Japan. Miss
Soper speaks as follows of the differ.
ence between Japanese girl and an
American girl:
The first remark made after an in
PRODUCTION is, And what might be
your honorable age? And you may
be sure that if the answerer be a Jap
anese she will give her full age-and
even be tempted to add year or two.
This is the indispensable question in
polite society. There is even a special
costume which only women over 80
may wear The long, dull-colored gar
ment cannot be altered, but the lining
of the sleeves and neckpiece are made
of the most brilliant scarlet. The
sandals are laced with scarlet thongs,
and close skullcap of the same color
ing completes the dress.
The dress of japanese girl is
made of straight pieces sewed to-
gether. Japanese sewing is very diff
ferent from ours. There are no les,
no gathers, no bias folds, the fashions
never change, and a girl may wear
her mothers or grandmothers frock
without a thought of fit or fashion.
There are however prescribed dresses
for different classes of society. A
Japanese can tell at a glance, but
European will get hopelessly bewil-
dered at the class distinctions indi-
Gated by tiny thu cad of color in the
sleeve or slight variation in the way
of wearing the hair.
The upper class Japanese girl usu-
ally has a loose garment of some dull
color lined with brighter tint. Our
fashion of putting bright silk Innings
IN our coats came from Janan. a ball
dress might be Of q aove-c olored
crepe with pink lining; the skirt
showing beneath this might be hand
painted most deliberately. The neck
piece showing 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 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 always lined with some
heavy material like canton flannel.
Some of these brocade belts with
laces, which come from the shoulder
to the feet, cost as much as 5000 or
$500. 1t takes a good deal of skill to
get the belts on just right, and a
large part of a Japanese girls educa-
ion, toto In 1ns,r linn nt1 b<,xx
to do it
Il taught a princess once who was
very close to the throne. 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 elaborate
ly and always by hairdresser. The
fashion of putting the hair over cush-
ions, or rats, as schoolgirls call
them. is Japanese importation. The
past fashion, too, of wearing bangs,
comes from another Japanese way of
wearing the hair They fix their hair
once, OF at most twice a week, for it
stays fixed until the hairdresser calls
I again. For fear the structure will get
tumbled when she is asleep, the Jap
anese girl dispenses with pillows and
sleep with a wooden rest under the
back of the neck and the head quite
I unsupported.
Very comfortable it must be, but
a Japanese girl, like an American girl.
will do a great deal for the sake of
appearing well
Etiquette is an important part of
a Japanese girls education. There
are professors of etiquette in Japan.
cob. IL a,
sors in 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 Christianized, then
they assume our ways with woman
kind
One specimen of this exaggerated
politeness is in their salutation.
Where we would say, i am glad to
see YOU they would say, i hang upon
you honorable eyelids.'
The Japanese girl is apt to be in.
dolent Knitting was a great occu-
patton with them, and now that the
Europeans have taught them other
kinds of work they go wild with de-
light over crochet stitches and differ,
ent kinds of embroidery Almost the
only game that the girls play is bat
tledore and shuttlecock. They do
this a great deal, looking pretty and
picturesque when they play, just as if
they had stepped off a Jananese fan.
1t was always very hard for the
missionaries to get hold of the wom-
en- of the family. When they called
only the men and the children would
appear, and when the wife was asked
for, o, 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 Japan
csc house, only cushions. A table for
| meals is so small that it looks like
tray The difference between the