THE LADIES' FLORAL CABINET. 
“ I should think you might live on cold rice for 
several weeks.” 
Mr. Yamato smiled, and said confidentially : 
“To tell you the truth, it is rather what you call not 
exactly fresh. 
“ Stale,” I suggested. 
“ Just so,” he replied. 
Then we turned to the refreshment tables, of which 
there were several; on these small stands were large 
platters of fine porcelain, with slight partitions in each 
to separate the different articles. Here were sweetmeats 
of all sorts, pickles and cakes, quite in New England 
fashion. There were also the ju-ba-ko, or nests of boxes 
fitting neatly one above the other, and connected with 
handles, filled with sundry cold meats. 
“By the way, of what was the New Year’s Chowder 
composed ? It seemed to me that at each house it had a 
different flavor.” 
“Oh, you mean the zo-ni. Yes; it may be made of 
cliicken, fish, duck or stork.” 
“Or anything that comes handy,” I said laughingly. 
“ But what else? ” 
“Some vegetables of course; a kind of cabbage, 
potato, seaweed, and always mochi, which is a paste 
made of rice pounded in a mortar. Then the wine that 
i9 
you praised so much is peculiar to this joyful occasion. 
Ah, I would that New Year’s came every day 1 ” cried 
my friend, smacking his lips. 
“But come 1 It is now dark, and you will enjoy the 
illuminations.” 
Back we were borne through the good-natured crowd, 
and, gaining the hill called Kudan, just outside the 
inner moat and wall of the Mikado’s castle, looked 
around us. We could see, in the distance, busy, merry 
Isakusa whose dwellings, theatres, restaurants, tea¬ 
houses, gardens, and even the great temple of Kuwan- 
non, were ablaze with light and life. Nearer were 
aristocratic mansions, whose lantern decorations were 
unique and fanciful to the last degree, while the broad 
To-ri (principal avenue) was illuminated from end to 
end as far as the eye could penetrate, and each by-path 
and side-street seemed filled with ignus fatui, as the 
merry revelers swung their paper-lanterns to and fro. 
As I left Tokio the next day I saw no more of the 
festivities, but presume they were earned on with un- 
dimiuished vigor and enthusiasm throughout the entire 
six days. 
With my respectful salutation, I say to one and 
all— 
“ O Me-ke-to.” 
HOW ART REMUNERATES WOMEN. 
In furnishing designs for manufacturers, and in 
adapting then- designs and executing them, as well as 
in making sketches for the purposes of illustration and 
decoration, the art of designing proves very remunera¬ 
tive to American women whose talents develop in this 
direction, and by it are enabled to earn a very comfort¬ 
able living in riieir own homes. In an article upon this 
subject in Harper's Bazar , the writer says: 
• “ I saw the other day a pair of suspenders faced with 
blue satin, on which a clever youijg graduate of the 
Cooper Institute had painted in water-colors a simple 
design of conventionalized flowers and leaves. The 
work might have occupied two hours, and the pay was 
at the rate of seven dollars a dozen. I suppose that in 
an emergency she could have painted a dozen in a day. 
The order came from a well-known firm of dealers in 
men’s wear, and while filling it she was offered similar 
work by the same firm—what she had already done 
having opened to her an opportunity of doing more. 
Being asked on one occasion what she would consider 
a comfortable income from_ decorative art-work, she 
answered: ‘When I began to’study art, I should have 
felt rich if I had earned eight dollars a week. I can 
live very comfortably on from twelve to fifteen dollars a 
week, not dressing extravagantly of course, but getting 
along very nicely indeed.’ Her present income is much 
more than that, and I venture to say that none of her 
fiiends think her lot a laborious one, and that, when 
evening comes on, she is not so tired as the shop-girls 
are who earn perhaps only one-fourth as much. * * * 
“ Within the last five years, however, the public taste 
actually has made long strides in this direction. The 
desire for artistic homes has widened, and we are en¬ 
tering upon an epoch which a hundred years to come 
may be known as the American Renaissance. A well- 
known member of the National Academy of Design, at 
Fourth Avenue and Twenty-third Street—an artist 
whom we will call a typical Academician—told with 
much enthusiasm the other day a story of a lady of 
wealth and cultivation who, having just married her 
daughter, and feeling lonely in consequence, had begun 
to take lessons in drawing. ‘ She must be,’ he said, ‘ at 
least fifty-five years old; she has never made a sketch 
in her life; and now she is learning to draw.’ ‘ What 
for?’ he was asked. ‘Oh, in order to decorate her 
house. And I tell you there are lots of women like her. 
The feminine rage for decoration is a universal tide, and 
at high water. It will give “ us artists ” a lift by-and- 
by, I have no doubt; as the taste for art developes, the 
market for oil-paintings will become more active. But 
just now we can’t sell our oil-paintings, because the 
walls are becoming so beautiful that the owners don’t 
like to cover them up.’ 
“ The technical schools of the Metropolitan Museum of 
Art were opened last year at Nos. 214 and 216 East 
Fourteenth Street, and in addition to evening classes for 
young men in drawing and designing, in modelling, in 
the drafting and construction of carriages, and in fresco 
decoration, a day class for women in ‘ tempora decora¬ 
tion "was organized, the course of instruction including 
drawing and painting in water-colors and distemper 
upon leather, glass, wood, and so forth. When circulars 
were isshed by the trustees of the Museum announcing 
that ‘ the object is to furnish instruction to young 
women seeking a means of support in practical, remu¬ 
nerative production,’ much interest was awakened, and 
