JAPANESE GIRLS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume IX, Issue 17, 23 April 1892, Page 433

JAPANESE GIRLS.

In a book entitled ‘ Japanese Girls and Women ’ an interesting account of the duties of a daughter in the family is given. ‘ If she is the eldest daughter, to tbe servants she is “O Jo Sama,” literally, young lady : to her own brothers and sisters, " Ane San,’ elder sister. Should she be one of the younger ones, her given name, preceded by the honorific O, and followed be San, meaning Miss, is the name by which she will be called. * As she passes from babyhood to girlhood, and from girlhood to womanhood, she is the object of much love and care and solicitude : but she does not grow up irresponsible, or untrained to meet the duties which womanhood will surely bring to her. She must take a certain responsibility in the household, must see that tea is made for the guests, and in all but families of the highest rank, must serve it. She must know the proper etiquette of tbe table, how to serve carefully and n?atly. * She also feels a certain care about tbe behaviour of the younger members of the family, especially in the absence of the parents. In all but the very wealthiest and most aristocratic families, the daughters of the house do a large part of the simple housework. ‘ In a house with no furniture, no carpets, no mirrors, picture frames, or glasses to be cared for, no stoves or furnaces, no windows to wash, no latest styles in clothing to be imitated, the amount of work to be done by women is considerably diminished, but still there remains enough to take a good deal of time. * Every morning there are the beds to be rolled np and stored away in the closet. Breakfast is to be cooked ard served, and marketing done. Of sewing there is always a good deal to be done, for many Japanese dresses must be taken to pit C‘s whenever they are wasted, acd are turned, dyed, and made over again and again so long as there is a shred of the originial material left to wor k upon. Then there are the every day dishes which our Japanese maiden must learn to pre-

pare. ‘ Tbe proper boiling of rice is in itself a study. The construction of various soups, which form the staple in the Japanese bill of fate, the preparation of mseAi, a kind of rice dough which is preparer! at the New Year, or to send to friends on variohs festival occasions,— these and many other branches of the culinary art must be mastered before tbe young girl is prepared to assume the duties of married life.