The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-03-19


 long before he has learned to tell the truth and to curb his temper knows his mothers place. for, strange as 1t may seem. each mother Is careful that the grand old doctrine of man shall be faith fully preserved. In its oblviousness to the power of we'll developed womanhood Japan is far behind the other Christian nations and far behind her own ideals
 Ut Is not that the Japanese married woman has to toll and moil necessarily for the household. She is provided with one servant unless the family be a poor as In our own homes. in that respect, Is that of overseer She has leisure in which she occupies herself much as any other woman in our own land might if she had only a moderate education and rather narrow interests. The Japanese wife has more actual freedom than any other wife in the East. The Turkish wo- men are captives in comparison. The Japanese are proud to admit this but they Jealously, guard the conservatism they deem necessary
 "l'he husband In Japan admires his wife when she Is obedient in all things He has complete authority over her. which he often abuses by alternate fits of cruelty and indulgence
 Said a student to me once, speaking of gentleman who had married gei- sha: MT Otsuka loves his wife all the | time 1t is very curious thing Why was 1t a curious thing? Because | love is the highest expression of the individuality, and the Japanese strive | unceasingly to suppress individuality By this they may gain certain benefits not so well known to the Western world. but 1t Is undenable that strong family af- lection. based on a sound respect for the | individual, Is and must be wanting to a large degree. It Is right here that the | West and East cannot and do not care | To understand each other.
 guest in a Japanese home is made l 10 feel that all creation exists for his benefit and if he is in a receptive mood ne finds 1t decidedly agreeable. Nd member of the family mars the illusion | Dy trying to impress upon him his pecu- iiar tastes or doings. It Is as if all had | lnnhlte leisure to minister solely to his pressure, If the Japanese could only | realize how one pines for something sig nificant. some expression which we do not arterward discover to be strictly classical, some petulant defiance even of thelr everlasting precedents!
 Quests come and go, but the ceremo- nous performance of the sacrifice of hum i Die individuality ever goes on, and the most successful because the most prac- ticed actor in this national tragedy Is a sne Wife and mother. If it hope of the soul and feeling of | every hope of the soul and feeling of the heart by artificial gesture, then the Japanese women could do 1t. But as it | 10 llOl, OHS SOODS learns the motives that underlie the substitutions and from these | instinctively feels what the natural ex- | pression would be
 | Even foreigner soon decides the worth or even Japanese smile, and ev- | cry baby knows just how little his fath- | CTS frown implies. 1 wonder if the Jap anese themselves do not take consider | able pleasure in understanding each other in this round-about way. But this self | repression is not the lovely spontaneity | 1t seems; 1t Is often a dolorous duty and l the effect of severe schooling It is cer- tainly contrary to nature. yet 1t is as beautiful as 1t is possible for art to be.
 The children of Japanese homes are well bred. A foreigner never fails to no- tice 1t. As rule, they are obedient and | deferential to their elders, sweet and obhging among their equals, and patient to degree that Is philosophical, yet nc | more genuine children are anywhere to be found. No child is without it's respon- abilities, and in most cases these are strapped to It's back, and it bears them I cheerfully. There is a beautiful spirit of helpfulness between brothers and sisters. ''l think the children have more real affection for each other than they dc fo- their parents, for whom their respect is unbounded Although the Japanese take great pride in their babies, and their l growing sons and daughters, they strenu- 1 ously endeavor not to reveal 1t, and fl you have naught but their word for Ii you would think they were quite har- assed and dlsgusted with their offspring 1 T suppose said a friend, before left for Japan you will have to refer to your baby as my dirty, insignificant and 1 troublesome little son.
 Still, after all, no one can withstand the blandishments of an infant, and many Japanese mother have I en- trapped into glowing details of the ac- compishments of her small children.
 The mother does not always give them all the attention which mothers should | ic axrar at fha 1aOl and ,all nf h l head of the family to the exclusion of all l other requests At such times if the ba- | bies protest they are stuffed with sweets or turned over to the servants, and such times are nearly all the time. The ser vants. are not refined, but are kind heart | ed women, and they are closer members 1 of the household than our servants are or would like to be. and for that reason | they mother the children, and naturally 1 get the greater half of their love.
 Much of the discipline of the family is l turned over to the elder brother. It is summary and sound. Occasionally the l father devotes himself to the children | on a picnic or a walk, or in the evening l telling them stories or playing games but never under any circumstances will he lay aside his pipe and his dignity to crawl about on his hands and knees in | the smilitude of lion. Ototsan' is al- ways imperturbable.
 Mothers and fathers often speak ad- l miringly and wistfully of the care and | love that are bestowed upon the children l of the West and 1t may come to pass some day that their own will figure more as human opportunities than as issues and heirs.
 | "A Japanese away from home is the most homesick thing in the world. What | is 1t he longs to get back to? His own | family? His friends? No; these are too easily put on and off. It is Japan itself. All Japan is home to him, and no won der Never did any nationality in any age become more amalgamated. It's ra- l cial instincts exactly correspond to fam l fly pride and family affection. Besides, its blood relationships are so closely in- l terwoven that 1t Is, In reality, one huge l A-- .l.-. ...l for.