Evening star., 1914-04-12
VISCOUNTESS CHINDA,
Wife of Japanese ambassador.
Copyright by Harris & Ewing.)
her hair arranged in quite the latest
lYXzI

her hair arranged in quite the latest
fashion.
She is rapidly becoming acquainted with
and adopting American customs, though
having come to this country from Toxic
only a month and a half ago
Il love your ways here in America
she said, smiling and showing her gleam-
ing white teeth. Everything you do
here is all improvement over ways in my
country, it seems. Is it not so?' She
has a delightful way of enunciating every
syllable separately. as though each We're
separate word.
For instance, it is much more sensi-
BILE to sit in nice chair than all doubled
up on a mat on the floor. 1t is more,
what you might say, comfortable? Am
not right, pray?' And the little Wis
countess leaned her head back comforta-
bly, the upholstered cushions of her
gold chair. and sighed contentedly
In Toxic they think it far more easy
TO sit curled UP on the floor. But mel
back-so-and besides, it keeps my dress
/ 1TOIIl-N Nat "oulU YOU sdS 1 CduHOl just
now find the word. What would YOU say
in English when YOU mean that dress
gets all like this?'' And the viscountess
leaned over. grasped a portion of her
dress in one hand and squeezed it
| tightly.
.WrinkIed? Yes. An. that is what l
| mean, ones dress gets all wrinkled and
ugly to gaze upon when one sits on the
! floor. Now me, ] shall no longer have
so disagreeable thing happen to me-"
When her visitor expressed surprise at
! learning that the custom of sitting on
| the floor still prevailed in Japan the Wis
| countess laughed merrily.
! ''Ah. but that is nothing. We do not
| think it polite and proper to enter a home
| in our shoes. either. Even in the most
aristocratic families the members still re-
move their footwear on entering a room.
/ Now me. | like shoes. and | like to
! keep them on she said, swinging one
small daintily booted foot back and forth
and gazing at it in most approving
| fashion.
I But. somehow. the tone in which this
remark was made caused one to feel that
| after all Viscountess Chinda thinks our
/ custom of having our shoes remain with
/ us both indoors and out rather queer and
| slightly rude. even though preferring the
| appearance of shod foot to an unshod
| one.
/ 1T does not seem so strange 10 me any
I more. because for long time have fol-
1 lowed American customs she continued.
| You see. in Toxic. our home is divided
| into two sections. Part Of it is distinctly
Japanese. furnished in japanese fashion,
and here We live in purely Japanese style.
| But the other rooms are fitted up like
! American homes. and here I entertain
| Americans in their own way.
! 1T was your manner of furnishing and
decorating home which | found very
/ hard to understand. An American home
! is always so crowded with furniture it
! seems to me Not but what do not like
/ this only it is so different from our way
| that it took me some time to grow ac-
! customed to it.
I Here you have a little-divan-is it so?
! A little divan in one corner. many chairs
a piano. pedestals. statues. bank of
| plants a bookcase. paintings, number
| of velvet hangings. But in Japan We
/ have so few things, and what we have
must be very important and something
| which particularly appeals to us-some-
| thing OF which we are extremely fond.
| 4 Will describe to You what We call a
| model nome or rather room in mode