The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-04-03

| girdle or obi which is worn for the
purpose of carrying mis- sword, for
the Japanese sword is usually much
too long to be slung at the side as we
wear them
Most of the young men had
/ adopted the European shoe-always
of the elastic side sort-but these
seemed to be wornNfor ceremony only,
for the old sandal still was held in
much favor because of it's comfort
They retained. too, the jingasa-the
great wooden headpiece covered with
a heavy lacquer of scarlet and gold.
To Western people this uniform was
little less than astounding. The coats
and trousers never could be made to
fit, and when shoes were worn they
were torture. Some of the older men
utterly refused to attempt this sort
of combination, but they went so far
as to have their regularly designed
costume made of the heaviest Eng
lish broadcloth. OF course. this was
utterly unsuited as a material for their
kind of clothing, chiefly because it is
unelastic, and refuses to shape itself
as does the beautiful silk and linens of
the old times.
Most of us thought that the Jap
anese people were about to change
their whole system of dress and adopt
what one of the young men proudly
able His Partisan fashions honor
able was chiefly distinguished for it's
marvellous broadcloth coat, faced with
white silk, upon which his mon or
crest was embroidered six times. Even
the Imperial Court felt the influence
of this fever for change, but this
seems now to have been only tenn
porary affair.
For the most part the military have
returned to q more reasonable method
of wearing a fairly convenient kind
of European uniform, but only at
drills and official functions. At home,
and out of official hours, they return
to the native costume, and the ulti-
mate change seems as far away as
ever
TabOOed Subject Among the samurai
zone curious thing that came to my
notice in the college days was that
while the Japanese students readily
understood the most difficult problems
in mathematics, gunnery, shipbuilding
and other technical things, they could
not understand a Western love story
as it appears In our literature. Stories
of war and fighting on land and sea,
and tales of heroism and daring of
every description were readily COM
pretended but they considered it ex-
ceeding bad taste to discuss any mat
ter in which a woman had part
ITO speak, eeven in the most guard
ed fashion, of anything closely relat-
ed to domestic affairs is, to the Japa-
nese, the hight of bad breeding. To
mention a kiss or a caress would have
been barbarism to their classes, and
though the teachers of English litera-
ture in the college tried to make the
boys understand the Western point of
view, it was found to be practically
impossible. They simply would not
discuss the affair at all.
zone of the teachers told me that he
tried to make his class comprehend
the meaning of the line, She is more
beautiful than day The Japs knew
what a beautiful day was. and they
understood what a beautiful woman
meant, but that there could be any
possible anlogy between the beauty of
day and the beauty of a woman
was something beyond them.
But ii must not be understood that
women play but little part in the war
fare Of Japan. Men go forth to bat
tie there just as they do the world
over. to fight for woman as represent
ed in the home. 1t is one Of the guild
ing spirits for fighting-but II is not
mentioned. 1t seems to me that this
shows in some degree the mental atti-
tude which makes the japanese such