Amador ledger., 1902-12-12

service in that country
writes Mr.. Douglas Sla-
] oys and grooms may not
::'lior of being servants at
o.. arr tradesmen, which Is the
t','v.,, ;ii:.g OF all in Japan short Of
| being an eta, or member Of the class
OF outcasts. Grooms are excluded as
betting, gambling, cheating lot (the
Japanese think it impossible for q
groom to be hones0 and the rickshaw
boys as rough people without any man.
ners.
There are two classes of servants
personal and kitchen. Kitchen sery-
ants need have no knowledge of eti-
quette. They are sometimes rough
creatures from the country, no better
than rickshaw boys. They are dull,
contented drudges, but Cook San (Ndr.
Cook is held In very different esti-
nation. In small household he does
the catering and keeps the accounts as
well as superintends the ridiculous lit
tie birds nest of charcoal ash which
cooks the meals In Japan.
The personal servants show a hu-
mility to their employers which would
paralyze an Englishman with any
sense Of humor, and their masters as
sumo an etiquette air of command.
But from every one else these sery-
ants expect a considerable amount of
politeness.
Hotel servants are male and female.
Hotels for Europeans generally have
men housemaids as well as men wait
ers and call them all "boys."
To go to a Japanese hotel for the
first time is like going to farce It is
impossible to keep serious. In the din
Ing room you are surrounded by panto-
mime imps dressed In indigo cotton
doublets and hose, who run about
shoeless and are called boys" and
look like boys until the day they die.
Half of them know no English except
the numbers. Each has a number to
himself, and each dish on the menu
has number, even down to the pota-
toes.
No. g." you say if you are new to II,
"I'n have some 2, and I'll take some Z
and with it, please" He catches
some numbers and brings them. but
you would have a far better chance of
getting what you want if you simply
said 2, 10
You can hardly hear yourself speak
for the scruff, scruff across the floor.
You think it is lucky they don't wear
boots. At very grand hotels they wear
blue serge suits like ships stewards
and bad limitations of foreign shoes,
and they don't run, and then they
don't wait so well, because it is not
natural for a Japanese "boy" not TO
run.
japanese boy has one good quail
tty. Though he cannot understand Eng
lish, before you have been in the house
three days he will know your tastes,
and if you like the breast of a chicken
better than the leg you will get it, and
you will have your steak to look purple
or burned under when it is cut, as you
prefer.
If he saw you using Teaspoon after
your wife, he would very likely bring
you used teaspoon with your next
mornings tea. His motto is that there
Is nc accounting for the madness of
foreigners and the forms it will take.
But your bedroom boy is a very DIFF
ferent person. He has intelligence and
often a fair command of English.
There is nothing that Japanese
room boy cannot do. would trust him
to mend my watch have + him
on such varied problems as ing a
frightened canary back to its csge,
fishing up small coin that had fallen
through crack In the floor and mend
ing the lock of a portmanteau. One Of
them even said that he could take in a
felt hat whieh gave him so large for
him that his ears did not stop 1t.
The japanese like their hats to rest
upon their ears. They can mend your
clothes or put button on and are
handler than sailors. They expect you
to show them all your purchases and
always tell you how much more or how
much less you ought to have paid.
In the transient life of a hotel you
see the farcical side Of Japanese serv-
ants. The pristine and sentimental side
you only get In private family, where
the servants, like the pages of the mid
die ages, may be equal in birth to their
masters but willing to do service in
his household because he is famous
poet or noble or man of science, so as
to gather the crumbs Of education
which fall from his table.-Exchange.
Economy.
Fqdge-Yes, Spinks has splendid
system Of economy.