i
. 7
New Woman's University of Japan Founded by the
5t -
4 ,-:':-
PEERESSES
(Copyright. 1909. by Frank Q. Carpenter.)
fl
OKIO (Spoclal Cormpondence of
the Rce.) I write ot the Japa
nese girl of today; not of Yum
Yum, Mtne. Chrysanthemum or
rilKiJl'L M1"8 CnerrybloBom, the dainty
plaything ot the past, but ot the
live, wldu awake, up-to-date, pushing
maiden of You may aee her acting
is cashier In the big stores; she sells you
your tickets In tho ottlcea of the railway
stations; she aids In the management of
the hotels at which you stay; and. If you
beromo III, she administers your medicines
is the trained nurse of the hospitals. She
Is fast taking taking her place In the
ranks of every Industry, and as a stenogra
pher and typewriter Is now found In many
of the native factories, banks And other
(Inanclu! establishments.
Three Million School Girls.
There are more than 8,000,000 children in
lh public schools of Japan, and at least
1,000,000 of them are girls. They are re
iulred to wear a school uniform, and
morning and afternoon the streets are
filled with this female educational army,
rolng along singly or hand In hand, with
, N THIS column last Sunday there
was a sketch ot soma events tn
the life ot Felix Mendelssohn
Bartholdy up to hts lst year.
' Continuing therefrom after m
contemplation of his birthday,
which was last Wednesday, the 100th anni
versary we find him at Rome, where he
'.s having an enjoyable time, "his looking
glass stuck full ot visiting cards," ; and
new1 acquaintances every evening. Here he 1
met Horace Vernet, the faraoua French
painter of military subjects, and Thor
waldsen, the Celebrated Psnlah, soulptor.
Mendelssohn did not love antiquity for its
own sake, he said of a certain place: "The
sea lay between the Islands, and the rocks
covered with vegetation, bent over It then,
lust as they do now." (The "then" refers
to tho time of Rrutus and Cioero.) He says:
"The outline of the Alban hills remain un
changed. There they can scribble no names
and compose no inscriptions and to these
I cling." The "Walpurgis-night" a dHltl
this period, 1831, the composer being 22
years old. Tho Italian and Scotch sym
phonies are also on the way towards devel
opment andvp rfectlng. '
Berllox, Benedict and Donizetti amongst
others now cross the young master's path
and are frequently mentioned. Hketch mak
Ing and organ playing take up much time
and we find him In Munich again, playing
his Q minor concerto; his Symphony In C
minor and his "Midsummer Night's Dream"
overture are also heard at this concert.
Christmas of this year he spends In Paris,
and seems to have spent much time with
Chopin, Meyerbeer, Llstt, Ole Bull and
others.
But there were three shadows on this
period of otherwise deep enjoyment In the
pleasures of I'artslun life In good society
first, the rejection of his Reformation Sym
phony; second, the il ath of his great
friend, hklward Kits, and, third, the death
of tioethe. He wus received everywhere In
Tarts with applause and hearty accord, but
he left no lasting Impression snd never
again visited thcru.
In ls.ti. when ho was 23, we find him back
again in his beloved London where he
writes his Caprkx-lo brilliant In B. Op 3.
Uls teacher Zeltcr died In May, Prof. Zol
ter, conductor of the Slngakadimlc; and
Mendelssohn was defeated by Just 0 out of
238 votes for the position vacant.
In 1833 the Italian symphony was finished
In response to an offer from the London
Philharmonic society. The lower Rhine
featlval at Duesscldorf now claims the
attention of this yotng composer and
so great was his success that the authori
ties made him an offer to undertake the
entire musical arrangements of the town.
Back In London, and this time with his
father who has a good deal of fun at the
expense of Felix, on account of the absence
of the sun and the presence of fog. We
have a record of him at this time playing
the organ at St. Paul's cathedral, Kllnge
mann and other frlenda at the bellows, and
the church empty.
When he returned to Duesseldorf he revol
utionised things, snd at first all went well,
until he began to grow tired of the theatri
cal part of his work, which was irksome
to him by nature. He gave this part up in
1834. not without having exerted a good
influence, while in church music much
progress was made. Chopin visited him
here.
In the spring of the same year he was
made a member of tho Berlin academy of
Kino Arts.
He always had a great desire to write
fraud opera and It Is In the vain attempt
to get good librettos ot a high morale,
that we hear him say that he "will for
sake opera and write oratorios."
The oratorio of "St. Paul" was begun gc
oordlngly In 1834.
In the closing months of this year (1834)
Mendelssohn had further unpleasant diffi
culties to contend with and gave up the
hole thing, and eame to Leipzig as con
ductor of the Oewandhaus concerts, lie re
fer to coming to Leipilg thus: "Wbea 1
MI
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1 1 I.
SCHOOU FOUNDED BT THEJ EMPRESS OF JAPAN.
their books wrapped up In bundles, on
their way to and from school. ' The girls
wear skirts of dark red or plum color,
above which show out the upper parts of
their kimonos, that take the place of our
shirtwaists. Most of them carry paper
umbrellas and many walk on wooden
shoes. When It rains they have sandals
about three Inches high, and as they hold
up their skirts they show a, bit 'of bare
skin above their white foot mittens.
These girls are of all ages, from little
tots of 6, who are going to the kindergar
tens, up to young women of IS or more,
on their way to the high schools, normal
schools and academies. The compulsory
school age is from 6 to II. .during which
the girls have until now been compelled to
attend for a 'period of four years. This
time has been extended to six years, and
the tendency Is to make it still longer.
The school fours begin at 8 and last until
Z, and there Is a recess, of fifteen minutes
at the close of each hour ftr the children
to go out In the open' and exercise. Every
school has Ha gymnasium and every girl
is required to spend three hours each
week In athletic exercises under the direc
tion of well trained Instructors. The re
sult has already been a great improvement
Music and Musical Notes
first came to Lelpxlg and thought 1 was In
Paradise." And little wonder, for he was
said to be the idol of the town, he had a
spWndUl orchestra kit , def otedVJdllowers, a
concert-master who was strictly' en rapport,
Herr David; a business manager and sup
ported in Herr. Bchlentix, who relieved him
of every unpleasant task. He waa made
Ph. Doc. by the University of Lelpslg in
IKK.
Now came a very important visit to
Frankfort, where he conducted the Caecl-llen-Verein
for Sensible, who Is ill. Hiller
Was here and so was Rossini, who was
much, in the company of Mendelssohn. But
there was one of much more importance
than either ot these.
Cecile Charlotte Sophie Jeanreivaud. This
was the name which was to go down Into
posterity as the beloved wife of Mendels
sohn. Ha was madly in love with her, and
even went away to Schevenlgen, the fa
mous bathing resort, In order to test his
affection for her. It was a success and in
September they were betrothed. And on
March. 28, 1837, they were married. Ihe
waa the daughter of a minister of the
French Reformed church. And the man
whose "wedding march" has made happy
thousands of young hearts was married
when he was 28, and when his wife was
18. .
Tha next years, 1839 and 1840, were de
voted largely to Leipzig, many concerts
taking place, and some ot moment Indeed.
The "Lobgesang," or. hymn of pralse.was
written for the Festival In Com me r oration
of the Invention of Printing, held In Lelp
slg June, 1&40,
After much deliberation he went to Ber
lin again as kapellmeister to the king of
Prussia and began to work on a revival
of Greek tragedies. In January, 1842 (he Is
low nearing his 33d birthday), he tried a
series of concerts at tho king's command,
but the urchrstra a unsympathetic, and
the audiences were cold. But nevertheless
he completed his Scotch symphony. In this
jear he conducted again the Duesseldorf
festival, went to London with his wire, waa
feasted and feted by the "Philharmonic,"
which he conducted; visited twice at Buck.
Ingham palace, where the late Queen Vic.
toria and the prince consort showed their
thorough appreciation of the composer.
In 1843 th Conservatorium at Laipslg,
which waa one of Mendelssohn's cherished
Ideas, actually matertaiiied. It waa called
the "Music School." Schumann waa chosen
by Mendttlssohn as one of the teachers.
One of the boys' who came to 1hat school
from Vienna, at tho age ot 12, was Joseph.
Joachim, and It waa the beginning of a
great friendship. j
(A year ago last summer the present
writer stood bareheaded among thousands
of others In respect to the memory of the
grist Joseph Joachim, whose, funeral pro
cession waa passing, and later In tha week
ha stood with uncovered head at the grave
of Mendelssohn. Truly "they rest from
their labors and their works do follow
them." What they hava left for us today
to carry on we must do regardless of the
sneer of the materialist, the opposition of
the Ignorant, or the abuse ot false ac
cusers )
In 1844 a most Interesting sidelight is
seen on Mitndelssohn's disposition. He was
to conduct the London Philharmonic for
soma concert! and he brought over amongst
other things Schubert's Symphony In C,
and Uade's in C-mlnor, as well as hla own
"Iluy Bias" overture. But the orchestra
was so indifferent to the first two works
that he was very angry and he declined to
produce his own overture, which waa not
played In lodon until after hla death.
In 1M tha work on "Elijah" waa test
producing results and ou August 2t the
work was first presented In Birmingham,
Kngland. It was afterward largely revised
and altered, and one notable alteration was
the changing of the duet "Lift Thine Eyes"
Into the trio form in which , we know It
today.
In the winter of the same year Mendels
sohn waa greatly distressed by the Illness
and death of his faithful aervant, Johann
Kreba, "mein brave guter Dlener." How
THE OMAHA
1 ! '
In the .'hysique of the children, and it will
result In making the uncorseted Japanese
girl one the best developed of her sex.
The studies of the elementary schools are
just the same as those of the United States,
save that morale and the Japanese lan
guage are added. In most ot the schools
Ungllsh is taught, and In not a few, cook
ing, sewing and other branches ot domestic
science.
' Girls' Hlgn Schools.
Japan has now a large number of girls'
high schools, although as a rule the most
of the children drop out at the end of the
ordinary grades. In the high schools ad
vanced mathematics such as algebra and
geometry are taught and also botany,
physics, chemistry, biology and hygiene.
They have a special training in the Japa
nese language and composition and also in
morals.
In the normal schools the curriculum Is
still more advanced. These schools are
for teachers, and there are sixteen In the
country devoted exclusively, to women.
The students go out to practice teaching
In the various public schools, and, when
they graduate are given positions as teach
ers. In these normal schools there are
ever, by the time his birthday came he had
recovered much of his buoyancy of spirit,
In spite of many trials and tribulations.
court annoyances and professional strife.
Mendelssohn had lost his father and his
mother, both dying unexpectedly, the for
mer quite suddenly and the latter after a
few hours' illness. And now came the
blow which broke the nervous system of
the great man, the news of the sudden
death of his favorite sister. Fanny. He
developed a dread of public music and
complained a good deal, although he al
ways censured himself for not deserving
the happiness which his loving wife Cecile
always gave him, and that was doubtless
the effect of his illness.
In November he had a second attack of
violent pain In the head and on Thursday,
November 4, 1847, he passed to his other
life.
There were four children born to the
Mendelssohns Marie, Paul. Carl and Felix.
THOMAS J. KELLY.
Musical Notes.
Mr. David Blsnham. who will appear in a
recital at the Lyric theater February 25,
has arranged for this occasion a typical
Blspham program. Beside some ot his
well known and popular numbers he will
give Kdgar Allen Poe's poem the "Raven."
set to music by Arthur Bergh. This num
ber has taken well mrougnout tne east.
Coming ss it does at a time when the
100th anniversary of Poa's birth is
belt g celebrated by the different literary
and educational societies. The special en
gagement of Miss Allee Barbee, tha young
French. American soprano, for tne Omaha
concert only, is certainly an evidence that
Mr. Bispnam lntenas to give an excellent
entertainment. Besides tho usual solo
numbers there will be a group of duets
that will po doubt be heard with pleasure.
Harold O. Smith will officiate at th piano.
Of great Interest to music teachers,
singers, students and school teachers Is the
lecture-recital to be given by Wlllinm H.
Neldlinger. one of the favorite American
composers, nt tho First Congregational
church Thursday evening, Februaay It,
under the auspices of the musical depart
ment ot the Woman's club. In addition to
being a tlioreugh musician, Mr. Neldlinger
Is a scholar and writer and has many beau
tiful theories and ldss nbout music, which
he will present in his talk, "Music In Com
mon Life." He wll! Illustrate the Ideas
snd Ideals by sli ging a number of his
aonga to his own accompaniment, A short
talk on children's songs will alao be in
cluded in the program. This promises to
t one of the most Interesting features, for
no other man has written so much for
children and no one has a deeper place In
th heart of th child, His songs are used
extensively in all kindergartens and
school.
FIRST STORY OF THE TRAGEDY
Orlaual Issue f New York HeraU
Containing Account of Lin
coln's Assassination,
Mrs. Lena Hanson, 2408 Burt street. Is
th proud possessor of one of th original
copies of the New York Herald, telling of
the assassination of President Lincoln.
She treasures ths paper highly, for, al
though fae-slmllea ot the paper hava been
printed, there are very few of the original
Issues In extsteno.
Mrs. Hanson found the paper In an old
book among her husband' possession.
The lead story contains the telegram from
Edwin M. Stanton, secretary of war, to
Major Dlx at New York, tetllng him of
tha assassination. Tha edition waa printed
after tha death of President Lincoln at
T;22, th morning ot April 16, 188a. The
regular price ot the Herald at that time
waa 14 cent. It waa full of news of tha
war, nearly all of the newa being that of
th progress of tha war. Tha extra waa
issued at 8:10 a. m.
A few years ago In Kansas City 'there
was an old-time printer, still working at
the cases, who waa on tha Herald and
helped to "set up" this very edition. He
said tha Herald, In it anxiety to get a
aceop on tha story, pinned a dollar bill to
every "take" of copy, hung on the hook
and tha mora "takes" a printer aet the
mora dollars he got. The "takes" were cut
up very abort as an additional facility.
"There were fast printers in that ahop
about then," this old veteran aaid. "I never
saw type thrown together as fast la my
life as we boys stuck it an that story."
SUNDAY BEE: FEBRUARY
PRESIDENT J. NARTJSE.
courses of gymnastics, mathematics, phys
ics and chemistry of two years each, and
there Is a special oourse ot domestic
economy ot three years. Soma ot the more
brilliant graduates are sent abroad to
study at th expense of the government.
When they return they are required to
teach in the government schools for alx
years. Among such students Is Miss
Takeda, who waa sent to Wellesley college,
and Miss Tetsu Yatsul, who has been edu
cated at the Cambridge Training college
In England. Upon Miss Yatsul's return
she was sent to Slam by the government
to found a Nobles' school there and she la
now on her way to teach In the Peeresses'
school. A number of other Japanese teach
er ot these normal school have studied
in America, th favorite college for such
education being Wellesley.
Where Peeresses Are Educated.
I have recently visited many of these
schools and within the last week I have
gone through the great school established
by the empress for the daughters of the
peers and princes of Japan. This was
opened fifteen years ago and It now has
(00 pupil. The school Is under the direct
supervision of the Imperial household and
Is not In any way connected with the edu
cational department which manages the
other schools. It Is remarkable in that It
is made up largely ot the daughters of the
highest classes, and in that It Includes sev
eral princesses belonging to branches of
the royal family. Its girls may be said to
belong to the topmost layer ot the upper
crust of the crenie de la cram -of Japan.
' I would like to take some ot the Ameri
can girls, who are reading this letter, on
a visit t these peeresses at school. We
shall take our Jlnriklshas and, pulled by
our human steeds, In their scanty trousers
and buttcrbowl hats, go through the
streets of Toklo and climb the hill on
which the school stands. It is back ot the
foreign office and not far from the palace.
There are beautiful gardens about it, and
its great buildings ot biick and stone are
surrounded by quaint pines, trained in
Japanese fashion; by brown leafed maples,
and the ferns, flowers and other conceits,
of these artistic landscape gardeners.
There Is no campus, but there are large
yards for' exercising and there Is a groat
gymnasium where a hundred or so of the
girls go through all th evolutions of mod
ern athletics. We aie met at (he door by
on of the professors, tor we hava a letter
of Introduction from the foreign office.
and this exclusive school Is thrown open
to us. The professor speaks English and
he explains as we go.
We first visit some of the class rooms. As
we go through the halls we meet many
students. They are of all agea, from tots
In the kindergarten to young lady seniors,
and all are dressed In the common school
costume of Japan. Although they may
be the daughters of princes and nobles
who In most cases are rich, they all dress
the same way and wear the same cos
tume, No frills or furbelows are to be
seen anywhere, the only difference being
In the arrangement of the hair. The faces,
however, are aristocratic and refined. Most
of the girls come ot long lines of high
ancestry, and many of them are beautiful.
How pulite they are! They bend almost
double a they pass the professor, and
theie is no sign, of rudeness to be seen
anywhere.
In the Gymnasium.
During our stay we visit the gymnasium.
I Here 100 ot these Japanese maidens are
marching back and forth at the direction
of the teacher. She raises her hands and
their 300 bar - arms come up in the air.
She makes a motion and they fall again
to their idea. The girls hava dumb bells
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with which they practice the setting-up
excerclse. They rise and fall on their toes
and they go through all the evolutions of
the drill as they march back and fprth. a
body of 100 almond-eyed, cream-oolored
Amasons In plum-colored skirts. Observe
themas they go. Their shoulder are well
back and they walk like soldiers. Tha
teacher wears a gymnasium costume which
shows th outline of her form. She would
make a model for a statue of Diana, and
the most tit her pupils are equally robust.
They have the advantage of our girls In
not wearing corsets and they are de
veloped along nature's lines.
As we go from the gymnasium through
the yard to one of the other buildings
we see a clasa of maidens walking the
pole.. This Is an exercise common to
every girls' school, and I am told It pro
duces excellent results. The pole Is a log
about a foot thick and thirty feet long,
so slung by means of two chains at each
end that It hangs horizontally, about a
foot off the ground. The teacher starts
the log swinging back and forth and Hie
girls step on at pne end of it and walk
to the other. It takes some skill to main
tain one's balance, on account of the mo
tion, and it brings Into play almost every
muscle of the body. I have tried it sev
eral times and ignomlntously failed. These
peeresses walk It with ease.
In the Schoolrooms.
The classrooms are not unlike those of
the United States, with desks and chafrs,
save that all the chairs are cushioned with
green. . We visit one class and listen to a
lecture on physics. About fifty girls are
taking notes In Japanese script, and they
hardly look up as we enter. We go to the
laboratories, where they are studying chem
istry, and on Into music rooms, In some of
which are taught foreign playing and sing
ing, and In others the music of Japan. In
the latter the girls play upon the goto, a
sort of horizontal harp or guitar which
rests on a low bench. The Instrument is
about five feet long, a foot wide and it has
a half dozen or more catgut strings. In an
other room we hear the girls reciting Eng
lish, and in another see them studying
French under a Japanese major, who
learned the language In Paris. Every pupil
1 required to study either French or Eng
lish, and the professor tells us that most
of them choose the letter. He says that
the school has three divisions known as the
primary, middle and graduate sections. The
girls enter the primary school at the age
of t and remain there until 12. During this
time they are required to study four or five
hours a day, and Saturday from three to
four hours. The middle section requires
five years, and after graduating there the
students may snter the graduate section,
which Is a sort of mater-of-arts depart
ment, and which has a term of three years.
In this department there are courses in
Japsnese literature and art as well as In
the several sciences and languages. Most
girl graduate at about 20, but only about
one-half of those who enter remain for
graduation. So far the school has had
mors than 2,000 graduates.
Fashionable Accomplishments.
Th Peeresses' school I by far tha moat
fashionable and aristocratic of the empire,
and a large part of lis purpose Is to fit the
girls to Idko their p'sces In society both at
court and st home. Many of them become
the wives of generals, statesmen and dlplo
mats, and they have to uphold the position
of their people. They all learn to draw
and paint and; they do so most beautifully.
They are taught sewing and embroidery
and some of them do good work In soulp
ture. The Japsnese are naturally artistic
and even the small girls write and sketch
with grest facility.
An Important branch of th teaching is
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COLLEGE OIRL3 OF AMERICA AND JAPAN.
Japanese etiquette. The professor at the
head of this department la an old man ot
the Samurai class, who Is said to be the
best of his kind In Japan. I watched htm
put about twenty young women through
the proper evolutions necessary to the re
ception of a guest. The girls had to bend
Just so, keeping their backs perfectly
straight as they bowed, and then getting
down on their knee and spreading their
hands out on the mats while they bent
their heads to the floor. Their action
were wonderfully graceful, but the old
gray-haired professor was not satisfied un
less each motion was in accord with the
rules and not a hair' breadth out of the
way.
Japan's University for Women.
Japan now has a university for women,
it was founded about eight years ago by
Dr. Jlnzo Naruse, who Is its president.
It has been aided by the emperor and em
press and by many of th leading men ot
Japan. The empress gave 2,000 yen toward
It at the time ot its opening and many
public men are contributing to Its support.
This institution has now 1,100 student and
there are about 800 in its dormitories. 1
hava spent the greater part of today going
through It. Situated on the outskirts ot
Toklo, It has from fifteen to twenty acre
of beautiful grounds. Its main bulldjngs
are ot foreign style. Bom are of brick and
some are frame. They run around a
campus filled with magnificent treea and
have a fine outlook over hill and hollow.
Th Institution has about 700 alumnae
already, although the first olass was gradu
ated only six years ago. Th first building
I entered waa the alumnae hall. The
alumna call themselves the Cherry and
Maple club. They are organised and they
are doing a great deal to further th uni
versity. They publish a college newspaper,
known as th Home Weekly, which deal
altogether with college subjects and school
newt. They run a store, where the girl
can buy anything they need, from pin and
needlea to candy, perfumery and aoap,
and where are sold stationery, books and
other school supplies. They have organized
a bank, where the students deposit their
money, all buying in the store being done
with bank tickets, whlc.lt may be secured
from the cashier next door. The bank
does a business of about 800 yen per day.
Many of the alumni were carrying on
post-graduate work., Among other things
I waa shown a diagram gotten up to dis
prove the atatement that education is a
bar to matrimony. The diagram by
means of red line exhibited th percent
age of students who have married since
their graduation. From it I sea that all
but 10 per cent of the first class of alx
years ago have entered Into the bonds
matrimonial, and that a large proportion
of the graduates of each class since then
have done likewise. I doubt If any grad
uating class of Vassar. Wellesley, Smith
oi Bryn Mawr can show as good a record.
In addition to this the alumni associa
tion has a dairy, gardens, a chicken yard
and a cake-making establishment. It runs
a grocery store, and In all of these In
stitutions It employs the students, who,
to a large extent, earn their way through
school.
Of th graduates, eight have recently
gone to China to teach, and about 100
are teaching in Japan. Others arc re
porters and government clerks. Bm s,re
employed In the railway offices. omc in
the libraries and nine are studying soelul
reform.
Eight Hundred College Girls.
If I remember correctly, Bryn Mawr has
something like 600 students, Vaasar lm
over 1,000, Wellesley 1,200 and Smith
1,600. This Institution has now 1,100
Empress
r
.As..
In attendance, but about 600 of these
should be put In the preparatory classes.
aa there are branches of the school run
nlng down to the kindergarten. This
leaves about 800 in the university proper,
which la an excellent showing for a col
lege only eight yeara old. A far as I
can Judge, the age of the atudenta ar
about the same as those of our college
girls. I have a Smith college girl of tha
sophomore clasa traveling with me, and
In order to show tho respective sizes of
the college girl of the two nations, I
took a snapshot of three of these Japa
nese sophomores with the Smith sopho
more standing beside them. They are, aa
a rule, considerably ahorter than our girls,
but through their athletics promise aoon
to become quit a robust.
Higher Education for Women.
I was tsken through the buildings by
MIbs Hlrano, the professor of ethics, a
charming woman who spoke English per
fectly. We went through classroom after
classroom, each filled with bright looking
students either reciting or listening to
lecture. In one hall there were a hun
dred seniors taking down the notes of a
lecture on sociology, and In others we
listened to classes being taught literature,
psychology snd ethics. There are thre
courses In the university preparatory, uni
versity and post-graduate. The university
proper hss three departments. One I
devoted to domestic science, another to
Japanese literature and another to Eng
lish literature. The department of domes
tic science covers such things as ethics,
psychology, pedagogy, physiology, econom
ics, law and science, and art, aa well aa
physics, chemistry and the other natural
dances. The other two departments are
till broader and there are many eleotiv
courses of study.
The work done seems to ma thorough.
I spent some time in the chemical labor
atories watching the girl analysing sub
stances of various kinds. They have a
half dozen or more large rooms, well
equipped with such appliances, and they
are doing soma original work. In one room,
for Instance, I waa shown some thousand
of bottles comprising analyses made by
these girls of all the foods of Japan, vege
table and animal. Who knows but that
the Mm. Curie of the next generation ma
not have a yellow skin and slant eyes!
In the Dormitories.
The dormitories of this university ara
especially Interesting. There are twenty
seven of them, divided up Into little rooms,
each of which Is occupied by from two to.
four students. Some of the dormitories
are purely Japanese. In these the girl
sleep on the floor, lying on futons or com
forts, which they pack away In closet
during the day time. They rest their neck
on Japanese pillows, mere blocks of wood,
about the size of a brick, with a roll of
soft tissue paper on top. The floors of all
the dormitories are covered with mat
about an Inch thick, so white and clean
that one would not fear to eat off of them.
Other dormitories have mattresses on low
shelves, so arranged that the beds are cov
ered with board" during the day time.
Then they servt tables and desks. Tha
girls take care o' their own rooms and do
all th housework, one servant only being
In the employ of each dormitory. Kverjr
establishment has also a matron in charge.
The work of the students Is required in
Older to make the expenses as low as pos
sible, snd I doubt If there Is anywhere elsa
In the world that one can get a good edu
cation at such a low price aa here. Th
annual tuition is Just under 114, and It I
payable (n three Installments. There la
an additional fee of less than 83 for school
expenses, and an extra charge for those
who study music of 26 cents per month fop
the use of -an organ and BO cents for using
the planoa. Including board and expenses
a girl can go to school here a whole year
for about tioo.
FRANK O. CARPENTER.
