The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-05-06
TIME IN TOXIC:
THE WAR DOGS DINE OUT
By Richard. Harding Davi5,
Golfers Special War Correspondent in Japan.
Reproduced in the Journal by Special Arrangement

Waited bathrobe. the kimono. There was
no brilliant color In any or the ccstuin rS
They all were gray, brown, plack. ine
room was heated by braZierS or brasS SET
in wooden boxes and filled with not ashss
over which the Japanese passed their hanus
continually, as though performing an IN
cantation.
A Japanese dinner begins at the end with
the sweets, and then starts over again
with soup. A nesan placed In front OF eacI
guest a box filled with cakes, CANDY anu
Sugared fruit The guest is not SUPPOSED
to eat this. but TO save it until the DIN
ner is over, when he packs whatever parts
of the dinner he has not eaten In the ooA
and carries the box home. After the little
girl had explained with much shaking OF
her head that We must not eat. the sweets,
she brought Us tiny lacquer table tnat
stood about six inches from the moor pius
tastes like warm sherry, saucer OF SAT-
and msutard, a saki cup, bowl In wnlcn
TO rinse the saki cup before We offer II 10
any one with whom We wish TO drlnk a
toast, and a pair of chopsticks. Soup FOL
lowed in a lacquered bowl, then hot fsh.
and, a gridircn of glass rods, raw hsh
The soup and the hot fish were as denclous-
~ cooked as at the oldest and best of Paris
restaurants. but the raw fish was a novelty
which even the bravest military attache
attempt. After that the dishes no longer
came in courses, but were placed at the
same time in rich profusion upon the tiny
tables. Many with which we were familiar
were so served that we failed to recognize
them, and other dishes We thought were
those We knew at home we ate In blissful
Ignorance that they were not. some Kid
neys 1 especially welcomed. All ex-
claimed one Of the polite hosts, Il see you
like very much our devil fish, i had seen
Devil fish In the aquarium at Naples, but
/ never before had hungered for one. OF
course. the chopsticks We're battling, and
, of how many other breaches of etiquette
we were guilty one bushes TO guess. The
next night / dined after the European fash
0VaA L. he Inya
nese officers at the dinner followed it, was
amazed al our temerity of the night pre-
vious. For the first time l became con-
scious that the customs of our table are
1Gll OF pitfalls. AS some one has said, the
Romans were able 10 conquer the world be-
cause they did not have 10 stay at home
and learn their own language.
But no one of the Japanese members OF
parliament made any sign that We were
not eating with perfect propriety though
we must surely have shocked them. Many
or the American and English could not I'M
derstand that the little girls who knelt in
front of them were not to be admired and
complmented, but were there simply as
mattresses. And when the japanese heard
their guests address them as 'Maimies
and "Maude." they must in their artless
japanese way have congratulated them
selves that when they determined to copy
US they knew where TO stop. OF course.
it is very hard for the visitor to take the
little resanS as seriously as they take them
selves. The whole situation is unfamiliar.
quantity dressed handmaidens kneel and
bow before us. To the gallant American
| the occasion seems to demand that the
| least he can do is treat the young lady as
one of the guests. AS a matter of fact
| one is supposed to treat her with every
poiteness, even if you speak Japanese, &c
discuss the food with her, and to give her
| the saki cup that she may drink with you
| but it does not follow that you need neces-
| sarily address her as "Good morning, Car
| RE
| Our hosts probably knew that we did not
| offend with knowledge, and the little girls
themselves accepted invitations to drink
and did drink, after most polite cere-
| monial, and, when our chopsticks refused
| TO work. and We spilled our food, shivereo
and giggled with delight and covered their
eyes with their hands.
After the dinner and the speeches, they
| gathered up the sweets and wrapped the
boxes we were to carry home in napkins
| And then they cleared the floor for the
geisha girls.
| The geisha is-but. no. in this peace-rid
| den city, so far removed from wars anC
| the rumors of wars" where the coming OF
| the cherry blossoms is the one event OF
vital interest, the geisha becomes a subjec
| OF too serious moment TO be wasted in
| paragraph. 1t must be saved for another
steamer day.