The boy travellers in the Far East : adventures of two youths ... - Library

A JAPANESE LADY'S TOILET. 261
" There are women here who arc not prett}', just as there are some in
America ; but when you are among them, it is!i't polite to tell tlieni of it.
8ome of them paint their faces to make them look pretty. I suppose no-
body ever does anything of the kind in America or any other country
but Japan, and therefore it is very wicked for the Ja})anese ladies to do
so. And when they do paint, they lay it on vei-y thick. JJr. Bronson calls
LADIES AT TIIKIR TOILET.
it kalsomining, and Fred says it reminds him of the veneering that is some-
times put on furniture to make pine appear like mahogany, and have an
expensive look, when it isn't expensive at all. The 'geishas,' or dancing
and singing girls, get themselves up in this way ;
and when they have their
faces properly arranged, they must not laugh, for fear that the effort of
smiling would break the coating of paint. And I have heard it said that
the covering of paint is so thick that they couldn't smile any more than a
mask could ; and, in fact, the paint really takes the place of a mask, and
makes it impossible to recognize anybody through it.
" It is the rule in Japan for a man to have only one wife at a time, but
he does not always stick to it. If he has children, a man is generally con-
tented ; but if he has none, he gets another wife, and either divorces the
first one or not, as he chooses. Divorce is vei'y easy for a man to obtain,
but not so for the woman; and when she is divorced, she has hardly any
means of obtaining justice. But, in justice to the Japanese, it should be
said that the mcTi do not often abuse their opportunities for divorce, and
that the married life of tlie peoi3lc is about as good as that of most coun-
tries. Among the I'easons for divorce, in addition to what I have men-
tioned, there are the usual ones tliat prevail in America. Furthermore,
divorce is allowed if a wife is disobedient to her husband's parents, and