Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1903-04-18

The following letter written by Utah
women, now in Japan. to friends, in
this city, will be perused with interest
by many readers of the News"
Tokyo Japan My Dear Frends-I
am going 70 give you a domestic"
chapter first. | have given you an ac-
count Of some Of our experiences with
japanese food, and now ! will give you
some Of our experiences with servants,
etc. First we hired a nklsha-man
"kuruma,' he Is called, for $3.50 per
month, and he furnishes his own rih-
sha and boards himself wife and two
children There is a house in the front
yard FOR him he lives in one little room
about as large as our bathroom AT
home, and uses the rest of the building
for his rlkisha. Their last baby was
born on the Sunday before New Years,
and on Thursday the nurse left, they
had no need for her any longer, the
woman got up and took a bath In the
shed Just outside the door In what APP
peared to be cold water, and from then
on took charge of her household at
fairs as usual, walking out with Moth
ing on her head and with her bare feet
on--l can't say in--wooden shoes, She
took the baby out the first time she
went out, with nothing on It's head ana
the bright sun shining into IT'S little
black eyes. The other Uaby, about two
and half years old, Is "a queer looking
little object, and runs screaming 70 his
mother every time he catches sight OF
us. He Is as frightened Of us as our
children would be of Indians. 81 wrote
home that the dogs bark at US and the
children cry at u.s. But when his mo-
ther Is near to protect him she can per-
suade him to make Us japanese bow,
and II Is amusing to see the queer little
figure bowling nearly 10 the ground
DELIGHTFUL WINTER CLIMATE,
We find the winter climate here de-
lightful II Is quite cold with a damp
GOODNESS something Ike California, and
we have hot fires In the house and wear
0yercoats and iurs when we go out, and
Sun We have had weeks Of lovely sun
shine, without a cloud or storm, when
have sat in my room up stairs With
out a fire. day after day reading and
studying, and We have had camellas
constantly, since early fall. We have
a boquet always on the table. and the
trees are loaded with buds now, On
New Years day / picked the last three
tea-roses from our garden, ana many
Of the trees are green as In spring.
While there Is a little white frost on the
ground mornings, the vegetable gar
dens look like early spring. and have
been 50 all winter. Excuse me for
branching or from my subject occa-
sionally, but when | think OF anything
explanatory | must say IT., and ! shall |
be doing the same thing right along, l |
suppose) | was speaking about seq
wants. We have been doing our own
work since we came here but labor Is |
so cheap that we thought we might az |
ford a hired girl TO do the scrubbing |
and washing that We have been /
doing for six months II was quite !
lot OF work three times q week we have /
all the boys here, Sunday 20 dinner ana /
supper, and Friday night when they |
come to choir practise, and that makes |
u az table, besides a Japanese friend |
or two occasionally; we ladies took |
turns doing the work, and on Sunday 1t |
vas quite a task, for we hold meeting !
and Sunday school in our large dining |
room. We inquired for girl and found |
that We could get a good one for $500 |
q month. AS there are eight Of US |
sharing household expenses here. that |
would amount TO 10 cents each per |
week, a. we engaged the girl. one OF |
our japanese friends said that was al
together too high, she only paid her
servant 81 25 per month. and from that |
"a tlaa No aHN u hon
bath and for having her hair dressed,
The public baths are numerous, and
for ~ cents you can have a bath, and
for y cent extra you can have san
ski" to give you massage treatment.
get this information from one Of the
missionaries, have never tried IL my
self. II takes the hairdrasser one hour
10 dress the hair In the elaborate and
complicated way In which they do IL.
with strings pins, combs, rats and
glue, and the price Is 2ia cents 10
complete the beautifying process they
have their eyebrows all shaved Of. As
the hair only has TO be done once q
week. It Is not so very expensive.
SERVANTS RESPECTFUL THERE.
We have found our new servant
Jewel so far, but there Is no telling
how she may turn out, so many Of the
people are so unreliable We didn't in
tend to have her cook at first, we pre-
ferred to do our own cooking, but she
took charge Immediately. surprised us
with a new dish occasionally, and
waited on the table and served the
food very nicely indeed. We found that
she had lived with the family OF an
American missionary for two years, and
was a good cook and really competent
IN ever way. There was a room In the
house for a servant, and we began
looking around FOR some bedding. etc,
for her before she came, but we were
'0fo~'nee th"' M this couotry servants
furnished their own bedding, go we
'efr saved That expense. And she
toards herself. TOO, for she won't eat