Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1902-12-10
SERVANTS In JAPAN
A LAND WHERE DOMESTIC SERVICE
is CONSIDERED AN HONOR.

The "Boys" That Wait on TnhI. Tn
Hotels and How They Uork.
Household Servants That Are EouaI
In Birth to Their Masters.
They have some curious notions
about servants in Japan. Instead of
Its being considered a disgrace 10 20
into domestic service In that country
1t is an honor, writes Mr.. Douglas sla.
den.
Jinriklsha boys and grooms may not
have the honor of being servants at
all, but are tradesmen, which is the
lowest thing Of all in Japan short of
being an eta, OF member of the class
OF outcasts. Grooms are excluded as
a betting, gambling, cheating lot Uhe
Japanese think 1t impossible for n
groom to be honestl and the rickshaw
boys as rough people without any man.
ners.
There are two classes OF servants,
personal and kitchen. Kitchen serv-
ants need have no knowledge of ell
quette. They are sometimes rough
creatures from the country. no better
than rickshaw boys. They are dull.
contented drudges, but Cook San (Ir.
Cook is held In a very different estl-
nation. In a 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 hui
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 serv-
ants expect a considerable amount of
p~oliteness.
Hotel servants are male and female.
Hotels for Europeans generally have
men hoCscmaids as we'll as men wait
ers and call them all "boys."
To go 20 Il japanese hotel for the
first time is like going to Il farce. 1t 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
shoelcss and are called 'hOys" and
look like boys until the day they die.
Half Of them know no English except
the numbers. Each has Il number 10
himself, and each dish ON the menu
has a number, ever down TO the pota-
toes.
mo. D." you say If you are new to it,
"lll have some ., and I'll take some Z
and . with it, please" lie catches
some numbers and brings them. but
you would have Il far better chance Of
getting what you want if you simply
sirid2 10.
You can hardly hear yourself speak
for the scru1, scrulf across the floor.
You think II 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.
A japanese "boy" has one good quail
ity. Though he cannot understand Eng
lish. before you have been In the house
three days he will know your tastes,
and IL you like the breast of a chicken
better than the leg you will get IT, and
you will have your steak to look purple
OF burned under when it Is cut, as you
prefer.
If he saw you using a teaspoon after
your wife, he would very likely bring
you a used teaspoon with your next
mornings tea. His motto is that there
is no accounting for the madness Of
foreigners and the forms 1t 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 a japanese
room boy cannot do. l would trust him
to mend my watch. ! have tried him
On such varied problems as Turing a
frightened canary back to its cage,
fishing up a small coin that had fallen
through a crack in the floor and mend
ing the lock of n portmanteau. One Of
them even said that he could take in a
felt hat which | 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 a 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 a private family, where
the servants. like the pages Of the mid
die ages. may be equal in birth 10 their
masters. but willing TO do service in
his household because he is a famous
poet or noble or man of science. so as
to gather the crumbs of education
which fall from his table.-Exchange.
Economy,