Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1906-01-23
CHANGES In JAP HOMES.
CONTRACT WITH WEST HAS IN
FLUENCED WoMEN'S LIVES.

SfO'f.'H AtF -
Fortunately For the Picturesqueness
of Life Many of the Cid Habits Are
Retained and Dove-TaiIed into Eur
ropean Customs-StiII Wear the
kimona
Tourists in Japan find that gentle
women in Nippon differ very slightly
in their home customs from the gen
tlewomen of England, writes Helen
Adair in the Boudoir So quickly have
they grown accustomed to Western
ideas, so closely have they follow
ed the example set by grande DANES
like the Viscountess Hayashi, that
peeresses who have decided to west
ernie have established houses which
(allowing for differences of climate
and taste) are as modern as the best
in Park lane, and are training their
daughters much as our English girls
are trained at Cheltenham or con-
vent school.
Fortunately for the picturesque
ness of life, many of the old habits
are retained and dovetailed into Eur
opean customs. For fete occasions
and to receive British guests, for ex-
ample, a lady Of rank at Toxic will
don Redfern costume or a Worth
creation, but when she is living en-
famile the probability is that she and
her daughters will wear the kimona.
Ios,. 1od "
will ply her needle little more, pos
sibly than her English sister, for the
art of embroidery is essentially
Eastern, and skill in making brocade,
in silks and tapestry work, is inherit
ed, and the gentlewomen of today in
Nippon are as assiduous in artistry
of this kind as the weaving queens OF
the Middle Ages of Europe.
But in addition to the arts which
are native, they are quickly learning
many arts which are Western. There
are several excellent schools OF de-
sign in Toxic, and here the daughters
OF noblemen may be seen studying
from life and from classic models.
The most European trait probably
which should strike the visitor would
be the fast growing demand of the
woman to take her full share of5life.
The Japanese gentlewoman is no
preside over castle as reserved as
a hermitage. She claims to have her
opinions in public affairs. She has
studied medicine, and is allowed to
practise. She has sent her daughters
to Girton, and they have taken de-
grees in art. There are lady novelists
and lady journalists, and Con lower
plane) considerable number of girls
have entered the postal and other
departments of the civil service.
1t has not yet been contemplated
that women should enter Parliament,
but the wives of Ambassadors abroad
have quite dropped the reserve which
was as definite a barrier as the pur-
dab, and frankly obey all the social
etiquette of the country to which they
may be accredited. Wives of the
statesmen at home in the same way
are establishing quietly; out surely,
their political salons. In connection
with the war, the gentlewomen OF
Japan have done all for their soldiers
which English gentlewomen did for
our troops in South Africa, with the
single exception that they have not
thrown up Florence Nightingale or
sent Lady Randolph Churchill to the
front.
In the nursery one will not find
many cradles and the toys are not
made in Birr ingham. At the table
the food, fortunately for their diges-
ton, is still native, and for this rea-
son their doctors are not so busy as
ours of Harley street in sarving the
human frame. Tennis is only slowly
ingratiating itself Games do not ap-
pear so necessary to a people at once
so strenuous and Gas far as their
women kind are concerned) so seden-
tary. But they are yoracious readers.
They study English and American
illustrated papers very closely They
TAKE up our WI anu Jul JOINCos
They are determined, it is to be fear
ed, to follow us in our minor vices as
we'll as in our chosen virtues, and the
up to date girl in Toxic is rapidly
assinilating the airs and graces of
the smart debutante in London. She
is coming over in rapidly increasing
numbers to our London season. She
axes her trps to New York as mat
tie rof course. You will find the yell
low backed French novel introduced,
and an English girl who spends
summer in court circles in Japan
would find that there are few of her
foibles not understood.
The Japanese gentlewomen is by
instinct and preference light hearted,
merry, determined to see the best in
life, prepared to. enjoy small pleas
ures greatly, and to minimize trouble.
She has the placid, well balanced
young life. The cynic might add that
it is equally to be hoped she will in
oculate us with her Unborn politeness
but | gather from conversations with
Japanese that they fear that elabora-
tion of courtesy will be killed by our
plentiful sarcasm. Flowers of speech
which are quite pretty in the land of
the crysanthemum have to be drop
ped in our colder drawing rooms, and
wnen our fair visitor returns it
comes upon them with a slight shock
that the home style of politeness is
a shade overdrawn.
The Cynic's Dictionary.
Altruism-Mowing your neighbours
lawn.
Reform-A brief vacation for prac-
teal politicians.
The Simple Life-A strenuous effort
to live unnaturally.