The Washington herald., 1907-11-03
Halle E. RiveS- Wheeler Is
Popular in Tokyo
LIFE OF THE DIPLOMATIC SET
How Her Marriage 10 Post Wheeler
Helped to Ease Strain After san
Francisco Riots - Her American
Dinner Begins an Epoch Of 'TNa-
tiOnaIv Entertainments.


visit-living in Tokyo. OF a wealthy and
illustrious sword-bearing family In Amer
Sea, and one Of its most celebrated novel
composing persons, she has left her
country for stsy-doiug in Japan, where
she lives and is happy i'm the japanese
style Dressed in white silk, she loves 10
impart from her fancy like the poet =
her thoughts Of this country To tell OF
her in single page is like attempting TO
describe a beautiful woman by drawing
her bones"
So the Kokumin Shimbun, the soberest
of the japanese capitals vernacular
newspapers, began its first "write-up" of
Halle Erminie Rives, the Virginia novel
list who last December married Mr.. Post
Wheeler. one OF the secretaries of the
american Embassy at Tokyo.
The woman novelist is not common in
Japan. There has never been but one,
IN fact, worth talking about. This was
Miss Murasah no Shikibu, who. in the
year 1905 A. D. wrote novel called
'Genji Monogatarl," the adventures of a
japanese Don Juan, in hfty-four books
and something under 5000 pages. which
remains classic. To the japanese.
Therefore. the advent of a female novelist
from America was something interesting.
New Woman Arises la Japan.
Woman, moreover, has always been the
Submerged sex in the Land of the Rising
Sun But since the war, in the fierce
Western wave Of moderuization that has
been sweeping over the country, she
-
dom and a place i'm the worlds affairs.
Wives ot-high japanese officials have
begun efficiently TO entertain. in Euro
pean-built houses, wearing European
gowns, which latter the court rule de-
mands shall be worn, in place of the
hmOnO at all court functions The girls
throughout the empire have taken 20 60
ing To college ike their brothers, and
the women are reading the newspapers.
For these reasons, the American woman
and the very young woman az that
who had won a place in Western litera-
ture and had become famous for her
novels was a center Of double attraC-
ton. The Tokyo papers and the woman's
magazines devoted pages to Miss RiveS
doings and opinions on all sorts of sub
jects; her picture was put on view at
the Uyeno Exposition, just closed, and
pairing 10 issue d japanese version Of
The Castaway,T her novel of several
seasons ago. founded on the life of Lord
Byron.
street Boy Recognizes Her.
Mrs. Rives-WheeIer tells this story
apropos this personal interest:
One day her rick-a-sha coolie. mistak-
ing her directions. took her TO the wrong
spot Cshe had wanted to visit the tomb
Of one Of the Tycoonsl and she was un-
able 10 make him understand A Japa-
nese boy, OF fifteen OF sixteen years OF
age, who happened 10 be passing ap-
preached. and. with a low, ceremonial
bow, said gravely, IN broken English.
you are lost. Tell me where and
! shall find YOU"
She told him her intended objective
point, and he directed her rick-a-sha
man. Then he astonished her by saying.
i think you must be the American
novel lady l have seen a picture OF you
In the newspaper"
Diplomatic Phase of wedding.
When a man of the Diplomatic Service /
marries abroad the affair mas always its /
national bearings, and in this particular /
instance the affair had special features /
OF real diplomacy. The event took place 1
at the time when the San Francisco anti /
japanese agitation was AT its height. /
Tokyo was much excited. its papers were 7
full of warlike Nominations against the .
United tSates, and the whole situation
was becoming what diplomatists call del /
icate." Air. Wheeler made the affair a 4
soothing salve 10 smarting Japanese
sensibiIities that had a pronounced effect /
Indeed. it may be said 10 have begun
the era OF better feeling. Instead of
choosing his best man. by time-honored
custom. from the Corps Diplomatique he
chose a japanese, Count Terashima a
secretary of the foreign Office. and con
fidential secretary Of ViscOunt Hayashi.
minister Of foreign affairs. The count,
who is a member of the House Of Peers.
was a Colegemate years ago as it hap
pened. of Mr. Wheeler. at the University
of Pennsylvania. Six of the younger
members OF The foreign office and six
chanceIlors of the imperial household Mr..
Wheeler Invited 10 act as ushers and
masters Of ceremonies.
Ceremony Brilliant Affair.
The result Of this dnesse was a social
event Of extraordinary brilliance. The
nobility Of Tokyo came en- masse. from
the Imperial princes down, and the as
sistance Of these ranking japanese de-
lighted japanese offcialdom The min
listers Of state and their wives las curious
concerning a foreign marriage as their
American cousins, for few had ever seen
one), attended, as did MARQUIS Oyama.
Admiral SaitO, Admiral Togo, Gen Ku-
rOki and a hundred other officers These
We're included, also, with the ambassadors
and ministers of foreign powers. I'm the
wedding breakfast Il was the first dipIo-
matte wedding ever held In the American
Embassy, and the japanese showed their
appreciation by shoWering the pair with
gifts from precious stones to bolts of
silk from the most famous looms Of
Kyoto
The popularity thus Drs,n Mrs Wheeler
has added to. The more stilted foreign
embassies found her nothing if not orig
inaL The Baroness d'Anethan. wife of
the Belgian minister to Japan. "a sister of
Rider Haggard. the English novelist. has
decided literary tastes and the pair often
eniiven a glittering state dinner by a lit
erary duel
Affinity at First Sight.
The prime favorite at Tokyo has al
ways been Nine. Bakhmeteff. wife Of the
Russian minister. who was Miss Mary
Beale of Maryland. and sister OF Mrs. :
John R. Mclean, OF Cincinnati and Wash
ington. Nine. Bakhmeteff. who speaks J
seven languages and wears three tilr Z
quoise rings on each Of her ten fingers.
Is known the world over fer her warm
heart and her eccentricities, and rules the
foreign society Of Tokyo with a heavy q
rod. on Miss Rives first evening in the 5
capital the two found themselves dining
al opposite ends of the long dining-room I
of the Hotel Imperial Nine. Bakhmetef !