The San Francisco call., 1910-05-31

. L
particularly strong against the issue
Of such marriages. and even extended
, ~ children of Japanese parents born in
this country So there you are with
the subject in a nutshell. The two
races are antagonistic to such mar
riages. Both the man and the woman
/ lose TO a certain extent, the respect,
and to a large extent, the companion
ship of their fellows. 1t is out of the
question for the Japanese husband to
mingle with the friends of his Arneri-
can wife and it is equally out of the
question for the American wife to meet
on a friendly basis the friends of her
japanese husband. Add to this the
domestic demands of the Japanese hus-
band and the equally strong demands
of the American wife
II qualify all these statements with
what [ said about the white women
who married Japanese husbands and
whom | met in Seattle. I talk now of
such unions in general Those are the
actual conditions and if the public
thinks that the average Japanese and
the average American can overcome
them. then such marriages will be pos
sible; otherwise not"
These white women who have Jap
anese husbands-are they women of
intellect?"
JUST AVERAGE WOMEN
No" responded Mrs. Aoki demure-
~, they are average women. 1 think
every woman will agree with me in
declaring that the average woman is
not what we term Intellectual"
Mrs. Emery interrupted. THAT is
rather strange-really, my dear, L
should not like to be quoted in public
print
Mother" said Mrs. Aoki, when you
find any woman who is ready to admit
to herself that she is only an average
woman, I think we might be safe in
saying that she is not Intellectual
When a Japanese and an American
marry there must necessarily be more
than the normal amount of affection
between them" she continued, for
both realize that their union and hap
piness viii mean also their suffering
in the loss of their friends. 1t is
probably because of this great af-
fection that the white women with
Japanese husbands. whom l have mem
toned, seem to derive such happiness
from their maria ges"
AS to whether her forthcoming di-
vorce is brought about by the incom-
paubility between the national traits
she refused TO say, but she inferred
plainly that while this fact had some
thing to do with il. there were
which were Objectionable TO her.
Surely nobody can believe or i'm
agine that I married him for the pur-
pose of securing a divorce" she said.
My reasons for a divorce are per-
sonal The reasons came to me after
I married him, but as my experiences
are limited to my own case / can not
say that there are similar traits in all
Japanese
OF her personal relations with Aoki
and the grounds of her divorce, she
was silent. A year ago, the day be-
fore she was married, she was in
formed that Aoki did not have the
best of regulations among his fellow
countrymen. Then she Immediately en-
tered the breach for him, dec airing
the statements were untruths. To-
day her manner was different. She
passed his name away with a disgust
ed toss of her hand.
ct have not the slightest idea where
he is" she said, "and I think on the
whole it viii be better to allow him
TO pass by"
Did you discover him worthless?"
she was asked.
WANTS TO FORGET
She remained silent for a moment.
Il want to forget all that" she con-
tinued simply These are personal af-
fairs. not as the public would consider
them as between a japanese and an
American girl, but between husband
and wife When 1T is necessary for me
to speak in the divorce court 1 will do
so but until then
4 wonder If people sometimes real
ize what a horror this IS to me, what
it cost me, first to marry him and now
to seek a divorce from him. For more
than a year they have stared at me.
I enter store and immediately-im
mediately-I hardly think it fair. Yet
my greatest sin is that 1 followed my
Why is 1T? Here in Nevada there are
scores of women securing divorces"
She stopped herself with a quick smile
and a shrug.
Pardon me-" she said, II am not in
the habit of becoming dramatic, but
butt has gone on for more than a
year"
She stripped leaf to pieces as she
Sat mussng and on her face there was
shadowed the tragedy of her life Her
indomitable will cast the spell from
her.
"It will change some day." she said
1T must. / am young yet and there is
a great deal in life After all it is
human nature to attempt to wrest
victory from defeat. I can not believe
this will go on always"
What of your future? What are
your intentions?"
There is the baby-that, of course,
is the first problem"
PROBLEM OF FUTURE
The problem lay on the grass at her
feet clamoring for all the flowers in
the world. Her dimpled fist crushed a
daisy and her baby eyes laughed up at
the mother. Even as the latter looked
there came into her eyes the dread of
the days to come, the dread brought
a bout by a knowledge of the Japanese
cheek bones and the American mouth
and dimples. The problem was there
in all its immensity of the latest color
question.
Though Mrs. Aoki spoke not it was
evident to see that she realized the
danger. Prior to her marriage when
the same question had been put to her
she slibly answered that the charac- |
teristics of the American and the Jap
enese were akin in SO many regards |
that there was no reason why the chill
dreu of JapaI1ese-American marriages
should not retain the good points of
both nations. Theoretically the honors
of the argument were with her.
brought hack m |