The Minneapolis journal., 1904-12-31
.Yone Noguchi, in Boston Transcript.

.Yone Noguchi, in Boston Transcript.
There Is not woman in Japan,
young or old, rich or poor, noble or
plebelan, respectable or geisha, who is
not working as one hand for the SOL
dlers at the 'front.'. It is remarkable.
! The work takes many various forms;
some women have converted their own
some have presented half their for
tunes; some have made up hundreds
OF boxes containing bottles of sake and
It's associated dishes of fishes, one box
Tor each soldier in the regiment from
their own prov inces; others have un-
dertaken to make thousands Of rollers
and bandages for the wounded; others
have entered the Red Cross, giving SER
wees without compensation; little girls
in the schools make picture scrapbooks
Tor the convalescent soldiers in the
hospitals, while the older school girls
make bandages; the Society of Women
HAIR Dressers gives large, sum from
its daily earnings,> and, what is more
strlklng still, two weeks ago the geisha
girls OF Tokio--and, in fact, the whole
OF Japan-7:began to- make bandages
and what is more, they contribute now
until the war shall end 10 per cent of
their earnings! Could any demonstra-
ton OF true-heart patriotism be ever
found more deep and more sincere :
Sesides that, they give their fathers,
husbands, sons and brothers as the
Spartan. - -" :
The honorable ladies of: the royal
fe femily emily: a. are working daily from ~ 9 8
woHIins ns igrhe WIZ qa5' only @asfb e1efb
(a: rice ball) or a piece or two of sand
Wlches for their luncheons. -
The Tokushi Kango Fijinkai (Volun-
tary Society of Women Nurses), under
the, presidency Of H. I. H. Nashim
ana Fushima and with the patronesses
the marshionesses of Nabeshima and
Shimatsu, again undertook to contrib
ute 10000 roller bandages to the army,
navy and the Red Cross society. They
meet on the second floor of the Red
Cross Society building in Shibuya,
;, Yesterday 7 visited them Gathered
there We're 100 ladies Of the highest
rank i'll Japan, all silently and deftly
working. And among them, moving the
rolling machine and cutting for hours
with scissors, I saw: H., I. H Nashinot:a
and t,ush1ma, Marchioness Tokugawa,
Marchioness Matsudaira, Marchioness
Nabeshima and Marchioness Hachisuka.
daughter Of the late Marquis Arinori
Mor1, once Japanese minister to this
country and one Of the foremost schol-
ars and statesmen of his time. =. The
members are divided into three parties,
and the date is fixed for each party to
appear to work, but they could not
Red Cross society, assured me. for their
] turn Of day, but attended every day
without taking any rest. :.
| The room whara thou u1or1r ;s +,,,>,o.
dously large, and is heated by one stove
only. Now when the weather is grow.
ing so much colder the room is chill
but when the motion was brought be.
fore q. I. H. Nashimota for more stoves
TO be brought in, she rebul.ed the ladies
for wishing for such luxury when
the soldiers and sailors are suffering SO
bitterly at the front. >>.:.e'
SO they, gladly resumed work in the
talk, and the ladies have but one hour
for rest at noon. Before they enter the
workroom they are obliged to undergo
, the process of disinfection. They wash
; their hair and trim their finger nails
everybody does it, even the ladies OF
the royal family. And H. I. H. Nashi
mota is said to be the cleverest worker
Of them all, producing daily more than
fifty rollers: Even the slowest lady can
=
reas when they have luncheon. T was
told that H. I. H. helped herself ~to
her tea and even washed her own CUE
and saucer.
. The Kazoku Jogkako (the Peeress
schooD is by no means behind in pa
triotism. If you drop in during the
late afternoon after The lesson hours
you will see all the girl students. some
426 IN. all, with fifty teachers wearing
Whlte caps and aprons, all Of them, ano
working hard at bandage.making. This
school alone turns out 1000 bandages
a day; Among the. students there are
hard as the other girls. They have
stopped all their games, outdoors ane
in, and are devoting their recreation
hours to helping their country So il
is with other prominent schools. .
/ But the most surprising movement
was recently when the geisha quarter
5of Toxic, the gallant Shinbashi ant
Yanagibashi, woke up to the wave o1
Tpatriotism, and the well-known geisha
girls in both places engaged to make
rollers just as the titled ladies and tht
students Of the Peeress school do. Al
Igeady 906y shinbashi Ed nh has produced nearly
determination to consecrate so much O:
their earnings to the war fund. .>-,
Altho the public bitterly -criticize
any who spend money upon the geishs
girls and sake since the war was de
, clared, nevertheless the existence @:
the geisha is recognized, and they ar,
undoubtedly nee cessary for the socia
pleasure of the Japanese dinner party
and necessary part, of course, Of tn,
teahouse. So they make money NOR,
or less continually, even since the war
and now they haye decided to give D:
] their earnings 10 per cent. More tha,
:; 6Oo.yen have already been gathered il
: only Shinbashi It is very interesting
to see the geishas at work for the sol
diers and sailors, using their prett,
slender fingers, which only touched th'
samisen till now, in making the role
} bandages, and working with that sam
rare and exquisite grace that has mad
the name OF geisha celebrated thruou
the world. 2-1,@ '~~f
, In Toxic there are fifteen districts
and each district has Its own movemen
for helping the families of the soldiers
!. In the F'ukagawa district the chief O
the district formed the Hokokai-a so
: capital Of 10000 yen. Three ven i
,, given to each one over 10 years oil,
every month, members of soldiers fam
: lilies, and, besides this, it is seen tina
: :nished them. Baron shib]usawa ] is IS do do
ing this also in other district, and h
: has lately undertaken the responsibilit,
Z of seeing to the education of the: chii
: dren whose fathers are off at the front
! So the families Of the men are bein,
} well cared for.