New-York tribune., 1908-10-04
THE JAPANESE GIRL
She Is Forsaking old Ways and
Reaching Ont to the Ne1C.

There is woman in Japan said Miss Alice
NJ Bacon. at the Brooklyn Institute. on Friday
and she is the problem of the day for Japan edu-
Gators. Girls are coming into the cities from the
whole country to go to school and it is problem
to know what to do with them They know only
the old system, and their parents know only that
But they feel the pulse of the new lte' ana theg
cannot be held back.
1T is a very critical point in the life Of any ma
ton when the women feel a desire for change
Women are the conservative force of civilization,
men the progressive. When for any reason women
go the civilization they have been preserving
turn their back upon 1t and demand something
new critical period in the life OF that nation
and Japan must and will go forward. Her face IS
set toward change. She cannot stop. The women
must go too. The men cannot go alone and leave
the women behind. But the Japanese woman is
the most perfectly adpted to her civilization that
the world has ever seen, and one who knew her at
her. finest and best under the old regime cannot
help feeling sorry that she is changing and must
change more"
Miss Bacon, who in the author of several books
on Japan had charge of the peeresses' school at
tended by daughters of the nobility, in Toxic for
many years.
1T is rather pathetic said she that the Jap
anese girl knows so we'll that her school days are
her manifest days She never utters that phrase
always on the American girls lips, When I'm
through school She never plans the gay. happy
years TO follow her graduation. Instead she takes
all her little schoolgirl pleasures with the ful con-
scousness that when they over there will come
q time when devotion to duty will be almost the
only pleasure in life for her. She knows that after
graduation the mother-in-law's house waits for
her and that there the lowest place in a
strangers house she will have to WORK patiently
her way up TO the respect and good viii Of
strange family.
The little daughter of a wealthy house goes to
school from six to seventeen. She learns reading,
writing natural science English, the koto' sewing
cooking and the tea ceremony
TlleS OF
the time the Spanish Armada was besiegins Eliza
beth Every movement Of the woman, every posi-
tion of cup spoon tea caddy towel, IS tXed by
rubric a thorough knowledge Of it stamps girl
as an accomplished woman, and leaves a mark OF
breeding and savoir faire attained in no other
way Much of the charm of the high bred Jap
anese woman which so delights foreigners Is de-
yeloped by this ceremony, the drill in which IS so
severe that the girls dread it more than any other
lesson
..To q foreigner Japanese sewing seems eX-
tremelv simple that it would hardly seem neces-
sary to study ii. But the japanese girl applies
herself to it with the knowledge that in the future
the aDnearance Of her children, her husband her
,oo+ber-tn-la,y and her father-in-law will all be
set down to her credit disCredit. No Japanese
woman is a slave to dressmakers or tailors. She
can if necessary make every garment worn in
her household. There is not school in japan that
does not teach sewing and dressmakng. Since
cloth is always bought by the bolt in japan and
the bolt is not always OF the same length the first
step in learning 10 sew is learning to measure the
bolt.
she learns to cook sufficiently 10 direct her
servants. particularly IN the line of rice and
pickles Rice and pickles are enough for any Jap
apese meal There may be other things, hut they
are all Iuxuries Rice and pickles necessavies
Of life in Japan
THE daughter of the house must learn to
range the flowers, only artistically, but that
they will bear that wealth Of symbolism found
in every Japanese grouping Of flowers. When fer
eigner enters the best room in japanese house and
sees there a perfectly natural spray branch #
flowers he supposes it pucked in that form.
He does not know that hours have been given.
perbaps TO achieve that perfection of art in
raugement. Some of the happiest days Of her girl
hood also, were IN going to see the flower bios
somng not only the GUM and cherry blossominS,
b5t the great fields Of Iris, with the little open tea
houses all around them, merry party in each the
wonderful wistaria with blossoms yard long,
always trained so that the vine reflects Itself in
water beneath; lakes covered with lotus blooms.
THE feast Of the dolls is the Quaintest of all
the little Japanese girls festivals. In the store
house where kept all the family there
are boxes filed with dolls which have come down
from grandmothers and great -grandmothers. Each
new bride brings her dolls when she comes to her
each year till her Oldest daughter Is old enough 20
take it up For three days each yea: all The dolls
and all their furniture set out in gorgeous
raw and With a fixed ceremony. and trays
spread for them with real food and wine. For
two weeks before bazaars and street booths have
been overlooking with dolls for sale and. taking
altogether it is of the prettest festivals Of
childhood I'm the world"