woven into whatsoever pattern the
artistic eye and skillful fingers of the gardener may select. A roof of
matting shields each group from the sun by day, and a slight sprinkling
every night serves to keep the plants fresh for nearly a month, and the
flowers continue their blooming during that time, as calmly as if in
perfectly natural positions. Each of the gardeners of the neighborhood
has his own little show, containing several tableaux, the entrance to
which is guarded by an officious gate-keeper, who shouts out the merits
of his particular groups of figures, and forces his show-bills upon the
passer-by, in the hope of securing the two sen admission fee which is
required for each exhibit.

And so, amid the shopping, the festivals, the amusements of the great
cities, the women find their lives varied in many ways. Their holidays
from home duties are spent amid these enjoyments; and if they have not
the out-of-door employments, the long walks up the mountains, the days
spent in tea-picking, in harvesting, in all the varied work that comes
to the country woman, the dwellers in the city have no lack of sights
and sounds to amuse and interest them, and would not often care to
exchange their lot for the freer and hardier life of the rustic.

CHAPTER XI.

DOMESTIC SERVICE.

To the foreigner, upon his arrival in Japan, the status of household
servants is at first a source of much perplexity. There is a freedom in
their relations with the families that they serve, that in this country
would be regarded as impudence, and an independence of action that, in
many cases, seems to take the form of direct disobedience to orders.
From the steward of your household, who keeps your accounts, makes your
purchases, and manages your affairs, to your _jinrikisha_ man or groom,
every servant in your establishment does what is right in his own eyes,
and after the manner that he thinks best. Mere blind obedience to orders
is not regarded as a virtue in a Japanese servant; he must do his own
thinking, and, if he cannot grasp the reason for your order, that order
will not be carried out. Housekeeping in Japan is frequently the despair
of the thrifty American housewife, who has been accustomed in her own
country to be the head of every detail of household work, leaving to her
servants only the mechanical labor of the hands. She begins by showing
her Oriental help the work to be done, and just the way in which she is
accustomed to hav