Page:Scented isles and coral gardens- Torres Straits, German New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies, by C.D. Mackellar, 1912.pdf/411

Rh me better than Dzjobek, who she said was “a rough-house man”; but we were to remember she was no “rough-house girl,” and she proceeded to give us a dissertation on things Japanese. She was " middle class," she said, and the middle class were thoroughly respectable, but not ih the least nobility. She described the geisha girl, who is trained up from a youthful age in all the arts and graces to be a conversationalist and entertainer. The geisha girls go out to Japanese dinners to sit behind or beside the guests to entertain them. Then there is the other nameless class of girl, who plays such a part in Japan and need not be further described, as all the world knows how the Japanese have solved that question, and the strange position occupied by the frail ones of their land. But it was amusing to hear this young person describing all these differences with the utmost sang-froid, intent only on making us realise that tea-house girls were thoroughly respectable and " middle class." How she libelled herself! That such a gay and joyous, such a bright and clever little person should be labelled with such terrible epithets as “respectable” and “middle class is” monstrous.

Nothing used to amuse me so much in Yokohama as the constant fires which always seemed to take place at night. The little wooden houses burnt like matchboxes; but they are all insured, their whole contents can be removed in a few minutes, and then the house can be easily rebuilt. So one saw the burnt-out owners sitting on their belongings at ease and appearing to enjoy the spectacle! The burning houses reflected in the canals the chattering crowd all carrying lighted paper lanterns and trotting in long lines over the bridges really forms a wonderful picture. One of these fires took place beside and partly in