The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-07-23
SINCERITY.


the good of her husband or master is
concerned. A young samurai was in
need of a stipulated sum of money to
make good his honor in certain
transaction. AS he had no means of
! procuring the funds his integrity was
at stake. Without his knowledge his
young wife volunteered to sell herself
to the keeper of a brother for a term
of months, providing a cash payment
was made to her in advance. She ask
ed a price equal to that of her huS-
bands obligation, thus saving his
good name without reckoning the aw-
cerned felt keenly the dishonor of the
means used to save the young mans
reputation, but the disgrace was not
considered as great as if his good
name had been sullied.
This reveals the difference in the
view point of the occidental and the
oriental as to what constitutes woman
! ly virtue. The western idea is that
| personal chastity is the prime requi-
site, while to the eastern mind the
! body may be defiled to safeguard
principles of honor that are consider
! ed higher. Such sacrifices are not re-
garded lightly, and are only condoned
on account of the high motives which
prompt them. But this Is a tale Of
the olden time. Such things happen
ed only infrequently then and their
J occurrence has ever been rare. Be-
cause an occasional woman, prompted
/ by the noble resolve to do what. she
/ ho1i hor a,1fy
herself, it does not follow that all our
women are immoral. Please put it in
the writing as have spoken.
THE LAW OF SELF CONTROL.
! self control is taught the Japanese
/ girl from her babyhood. The forms
of etiquette in this regard are inviol-
able. Convention frequently requires
her to pass through the most trying
/ ordeals without showing emotion
The experience which recently befell
the wife of Prince Kita-Shirakawa will
illustrate. An ancient court formality
requires that every prince of the royal
blood must die in his own house. The
nobleman in question met his fate
away from home while serving his
country as a soldier. The only thing
to be done under the circum stances
was to bring his body home and OBJ
serve the same rites as if he were alive
No announcement of death could be
made nor signs of grief manifested I'M
til the corpse reached the ancestral
palace.
AT every station along the railway
the funera train was met by cheering
crowds, and officials offered congrat-
ulatory speeches just like they would
have done under ordinary circum-
stances. In reply the personal attend,
ant of the Prince thanked the speakers.
saying that his master was moved by
their kindness and regretted the slight
indisposition which made it imposSi-
BILE for him to appear before them in
person. The farce was continued to
the last stop where the widowed prin-
cess and her little son were waiting.
The heart-broken wife had to advance
to the covered stretcher and smillingly
address the same endearing words of
welcome to the dead that she would
have bestowed upon the living. She
performed her part of the ceremony
without trace of emotion. The Jap
anese woman never fails to live up to
her duty as she sees it.
THE PIONEERING OF SABA SAN. !
The easy means of divorce in Japan
makes the position of the wife uncer- |
tain. The present sorrow of my little
reighbor, saba San, causes me much |
grief. / have known her all her life. !
On the seventh day after her birth she /
was named and thirty days after she /
was taken to the temple and placed /
under the care of Shinto deity. This /
is custom. A more dainty mite than |
saba San was never born during the /
time of the WiStera. In her gay XII /
mono she was as gorgeous as a but
terfly with its flaming coat. When |
she grew older the blind music teach |
ar came to instruct her in the art of |
playing the samson, the japanese /
guitar. She was a so taught to paint |
and how to serve the ceremonial tea, |
as well as to arrange flowers artistical- |
~ and the proper way to open and |
close a door. Her education included t
all the various points of domestic eti-
luette which a polished young lady |
should know.
But just as the bud of a maiden |
was Towering so beautifully she had |
to bid fearful farewell to teachers |
and schco'mates to hec me a wife. !
Alas, that is one of the errors of on"
Our women are cheated Of /
their girlhood to early become such ,
household drudges that they are little
better than slaves, The parents of .
Sada San had a proposal for her and
she was dispo~ of in the usual way.
She was sent to meet the young man
who wanted her for his housekeeper