BY 02C0T0 WATANNA 



0 race can 

 mothers/"^ 

 essentially i 

 the care and reari 

 occupies so much 



N 



rise higher than its 

 Japanese women are 

 L race of mothers, and 

 ng of their children 

 of their time and 

 thonght that they are nnable to have that 

 extensive social life their western sisters 

 enjov, even were it not for the etiquette 

 which makes it actually fashionable for 

 them to find their pleasures in their 

 homes. 



Many have imputed to Japanese women 

 in consequence a lack of knowledge and 

 undue meekness, 

 regarding them as 

 little more than 

 servants of their 

 families and hus- 

 bands. Such crit- 

 icism is purely su- 

 perficial and fax 



■ ^^B^ Ji from being accu- 

 1 T^MsS "^^^^ ' indeed, it is 

 |b' ""j^^"^ t^^S ^^""^^^ inaccurate. 

 B "^'" -1* '^^^ position of 

 J ™ " a Japanese woman 

 m ■ ■ is a high one. She 



■ is addressed as 

 I "Okusama/' the 

 j ■■ : honorable lady of 

 m _ the house, and she 



oNOTo WATANNA treated with the 



greatest considera- 

 tion and respect by her husband and h^r fam- 

 ily. Far from being a meek, slavish crea- 

 ture of the household, she is more of the 



mentor, the autocrat and idol of the home. 

 In domestic affairs she has full control. 

 Her duties are onerous, but never repug- 

 nant to her. They consist of managing 

 the household, practicing economy, mak- 

 ing her home pleasant both in appearance 

 and by her cheerfulness of disposition, and 

 the education and instruction of her chil- 

 dren, for even after the children have en- 

 tered school they are still under her tu- 

 telage. 



As her home is therefor ^ her world, it is 

 only natural that it has become the inher- 

 ent instinct of the Japanese women to 

 lavish the greatest love and tenderness 

 upon their homes, and to expend much 

 time and thought in endeavoring to make 

 them as attractive and as pleasant as 

 possible. 



Her house is the acme of purity. To a 

 western eye the aspect of the interior of 

 a Japanese house may at first seem bare 

 and barren. In truth the Japanese abhor 

 decoration of any kind, and consider it not 

 only inartistic, but extremely vulgar. I 

 was once shown a so-called "Japanese 

 room" in the house of a Chicago million- 

 aire, and I am quite sure that the average 

 Japanese housewife would have thought 

 herself in the room of some insane person, 

 or else in some curiosity shop. Such a 

 profusion of articles scattered broadcast 

 about the room ! Such a frightful display 

 of mixed-np ornaments hanging to the 

 wall! 



There are not only very few decorations 

 to be seen in a Japanese house, but very 

 little furniture, beyond the mats which 

 serve as seats, and even these are' carefully 



Onoto Watanna, who in private is Mrs. B. W. Babcock, is half Japanese, She was born 

 in Japan, but educated in England and this country. Journalistic work in the West Indies 

 and on the Cincinnati Commercial Tribune fitted her for her literary career. For the past 

 four years she has done magazine and book work of high grade and extensive character. 

 Her most successful story, "A Japanese Nightingale," a novel, was published in 1901. 



