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©> Japanese Working People’s |g © PIome Life and Habits. % (Q Q> As one walks in Yokohama and To- kio through a multitude of narrow streets lined with tiny buildings, writes n correspondent of' the San Francisco Chronicle, the foreign and characteristic air lent to the scenes presented comes from the fact that in each separate little open shop some single workman, like a bee in his cell, in a way so different from our Western method, is busily plying his trade. When I had dissembled my wonder at seeing'the dressmaker holding one end of his seam with his toes; had re¬ turned the polite bow of a young cooper who was skillfully utilizing the same members in his binding of tubs with vegetable withes instead of metallic hoops, and had Watched with admiration the wondrous way in which a basket-maker was helped out by his ingenious combination of ambi and pedal dexterity, I suddenly felt a new wish. I wanted to see these quiet and clever working people at home in their houses as they actually live. Then it was explained that all the little shells of open shops lining the narrow streets and roadways were likewise the veritable habitations of the humanity about me. I soon saw that this was true, and was ever thereafter fascinated by the endless glimpses of interiors and studies of the home life of the common people. There may be one room or two in the small domicile; commonly a second room exists behind the first, A very small separate kitchen miiy or may not be a part of the establishment. The culinary operations are so simple in character and the utensils so JL JAPANESE * STREET nhiNil' CARPEKTMS restaurant till (V- i -V. fc £ O' 1 m S3>' T( 9 mm H 4 Mm I mji t, i/l - !'■« i hr. £■ ■°" c ^t \ ■ - i --- UMBRELLA JAPANESE V A MAKER5 SPINNER e o A /. w 1 \ r ran V A i A -p r:* A i \ & V if. 1, iASf- it, f| j. 2 Wi */} 1U limited that but few feet of space at best are needed to contain them. The partitions being in the form of sliding panels, all may be thrown into the shop during the day or otherwise, as elected. So in this country the worker is still at home to a great ex¬ tent while he plies his trade, and factory, stock of goods and shop, as well as dwelling place, are all under one roof and appertain to one man. Down at the liatobn, or dock, iu Yo¬ kohama gangs of Japanese coolies load and unload the steamers in a leisurely, semi-desultory, casual and happy man¬ ner all their own. Not, a bag or bale could they lift without their accom¬ panying song of: Yoi-toe cor-ab sai-ya, Yoi-toe cor-aU sai-ya. For just when the heavy emphasis comes two men sling the weight on to the shoulders of a third, who trots off with it, and the next two wait for the chorus to come around again to the right syllable before they proceed as before. It is jolly, musical and quaint in the extreme. I the back of the overseer is turned for a moment all the industrious laborers will sink on their heels and light their pipes, which look like a penholder with an infinitesimal thimble bowl at the end. At the other side of town ore the great tea-firing go-downs, redolent, blocks away, of the subtile herb. In¬ side. are the big firing caul¬ drons, with charcoal fires beneath, and filling the place all up and down are the lines of women with towels wrapped about their heads, swaying, bending, sometimes rhythmically, sometimes spasmodically, stirring vigorously with hands and arms among the hot tea 1J u u u ODDQ 1 urn lip -•i isi 188111 RlOJa SHELLING. leareft.-'Scattered here and there among Vftem iong is a man or |boy. Presently a starts up, and fitfully pulsating :Jn throughout the great building it echoes a sort of primitive or elemental wild harmony from all the jerking figures, lightening and facilitating labor. • All workers, at whatever trade, are given in tho middle of forenoon, and afternoon,as at noon, an interval for and eating, and many babies on the backs of small brothers and sis¬ ters wait about the tea-firing places that at the regular hour, they, too,may partake of refreshment. This interval of rest is so elastic in its application that there seems hardly an hour of the day when one group of another of ’ricksha men by the road¬ side, of boatmen in the canal,of coolies in the go-down compounds or of crafts¬ men in the shops may not be seen gathered, seated on their heels, about the little charcoal fireboxes, plying their chopsticks in small lacquered bowls and square wooden boxes of cooked rice,and drinking tea Besides from cups like good-sized thimbles. the dressmaker and tailor, the cooper and the basket-maker are other artisans pursuing their avocations in quite as queer ways. The carpenter hacks at liis boards with a sort of rough adze or stands on them and saws them with what looks like a notched butcher’s knife set in a long handle, or planes them carefully toward him. The mau in the rice mill ignores belts and wheels and machinery generally, and jumps all day on the end of a plank, a cog or weight in the other end of which pounds away at the grains. The lantern-maker and the umbrella-maker sit patiently tying and pasting .their frail wares, the stock in trade slowly piling up, day by day, be¬ hind them. Lonely men, each in his little booth, make the thick straw mats or sections of flooring for the native houses. Boys work deftly, tossing shuttles back and forth that weave or tie the bamboo window blinds. I watched an actual boy with warts on his hands, at work alone in an open doorway, on a great square of pale blue silk on which he was em¬ broidering without model or copy the most exquisitely shaded pink roses. Little girls sitting on the floor hem¬ stitched silk handkerchiefs and made the fragilely beautiful drawn and em¬ broidered grass-linen work. A couple of blue men, with hawk noses and severe countenances, like American red men gone a wrong color, bobbing about among their indigo vats, will be the whole visible works of a big dye¬ ing establishment. In front of six shops, young men with simple appli¬ ances, working in the dust of the roadway, jostled by ’ricksha men and ball-throwing youngsters, reel off silk into skeins or quickly twist it, in a sort of wayside ropewalk, into varie¬ gated silkhn cords. PerhapJ the most interesting of all are the women in small, open rooms who sit all day at primitive frames throwing by hand the shuttles in and out that weave the web of silk or cot¬ ton. It is a pretty and poetical way of achieving the fabric we are to wear. I can but contrast the lives of these quiet workers in their open doorways, under the blue of heaven, their eyes sometimes wandering away with pleas¬ ure to the shifting street panorama before them, with those of the thrice wretched seamstresses, factory hands and aweat-shop women in our own cities. It is Bmall misfortune to be bare-limbed, perchance; to wear cheap cotton, to eat only rice, in a land where the fashion for all, even the well-to-do, is not widely different. I have seen the weary and old counten¬ ances of little children and the hard ones of young girls, thronging out of our mills anti! manufactories, but (hese better faces cf the Japanese women at their hand looms are less hopeless. And I would that this caflous, hurried scrambling w arid had time to weave its textiles all in the old way of those early ages when so much sorrow was not. There aeerjs nothing about. grim, over- severe or crashing Japanese labor. It is essentially sociable and cheerful. Every third shop is a place of eatables, where hot sweet potatoes, rice coated with delicate seaweed, hot fish or shrimp fritters dipped in soy, rolls of fish wrapped around bean and sugar paste, buckwheat macaroni with soy, tasty morsels broiled on skewers, sugared beans and roasted nuts, parched or popped rice kernels, rice wafers and cakes browned over -the fire (and if still pale, painted to the right tinge with brown dyes), rice paste or jelly, sweet millet paste candy, popped rice candy, cups of shaved ice and numerous other dainties and sweetmeats, are ever at hand for the WV r' w f7’— , ‘“ delectation of tlie workers. But this is not enough, and men with vans and boxes of oooked food perambulate the streets still more conveniently The to re- fresh the toiling masses. meager coppers so scantily earned jingle all day right merrily into the pockets or pouchos Babies of the caterers. swarming are everywhere about, nfoot and aback, with then- share of the good things going. No- body seems ever to startle and depress A\m S Li.T! si ■ ■ mm ' 1 ; wMM ’_J'— V. BROOM PEDDLER. them with “You mustn’t do that,” “You can’t have this,” “You mayn’t go there.” Among the common peo¬ ple, at least, there is no sequestering of women; they, too, are everywhere, cheek by jowl, helping and doing, ap¬ parently, as freely as the men. If it is only a wooden tub which they have to scrub out, girls with bare feet and arms, elaborately dressed hair and clean and pretty blue and white kim¬ onos, are apt to bring it out on the sidewalk and scrub away gregariously for the next half hour or more. Unloading great stones from the sampans in the canals, women work as cheerfully, lustily and effectively as the men. They share, seemingly on equal terms, in the small shop keep¬ ing, and help in all the labors of the various avocations. I don’t see how one of these men can have any secrets from his wife or escape her society on the plea that business will detain him at the store. If business did, he would probably find her there before him, as much at home as in the kitchen or nursery, which apartments, in truth, seem to be pretty well done away with; and if she wasn’t there in person, at least all the other women on the block would be in the near vicinity, able to supervise his movements. Living is reduced almost to its sim¬ plest elements. here, where a single garment will do for a covering, and that, if necessary, for years; where a few cents’ worth of rice, pickled vege¬ tables and dried fish make an appetiz¬ ing and satisfying meal, and where a single bare room for dining, for guests and for sleeping is practically all that is required by even ambitious house¬ holders. ' In Japan the poorest people are not without their comforts and conveni¬ ences. Cooked foods, so cheaply pre¬ pared in public kitchens, have been mentioned. Milkmen and other pur¬ veyors are in almost every block, with their goods in smallest packages if de¬ sired, for the fractional copper cur¬ rency. The housekeeping is the easiest, and at the same time the dain¬ tiest, in all the world. No dust and dirt ever are brought in to tarnish the fair white floors. The low-oeilinged, empty rooms and narrow verandas are readily brushed and-washed each day. The mats on which the poor man sleeps are as soft as those of the rich. Bathhouses in the neighborhood, too, are frequent, where the tired mother and ail her fretful progeny, wearied by the heat and the hours of work, at the close of the day enjoy their regular evening hot and cold water plunge and splash. The improvidence of these people probably is in no danger of being ex- PRINCESS HELENE OP ITALY, MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMAN OF EUROPE B hi fw ' . ss M. 1,1 ids! Al 11 / ■ % m •V \\ R w. I r A- Wa xm 0 When the Crown Princess Helene visited the English court during tho Jubilee festivities at Loudon she was accorded the palm as the peerless beauty of all the handsome women of the blood royal present at the functions. She is the daughter of the Prince of Montenegro, and was reared in her father’s mountainous principality, to which she owes her exquisite complexion and regal cariage. Her husband, the Crown Prince of Italy, is her opposite in personal appearance, being weak, small and bilious-looking, and rumor has it that only her father’s poverty led her to accept the hand of the future ruler of Italy. Her out-of-door life has given her a “beauty truly blent whose red and white Nature’s own sweet and cunning hand laid on,” and these charms, combined with her very shy, modest and even diffident ways when she is brought before the people, have made her vastly popular in Italy. ^ aggorated W^;rrpnm«'.-w-jp«—>—-v- in the telling. It — -—'---—"WKi is doubt- less ’ricksha quite true that tho impoverished puller or factory operator pawns his bed daily to buy his break- fast, and after earning enough to re- deem the futons before night,reckless- ly expends in riotous living in the ten- sen eating houses the whole balance of his capital. Ho looks as if ho does all that ho is accused of in tho way of ever patching his blue kimono instead of buying a new houses, one, in living of handing in one- yen-a-montli descendants and the down to his only same pots and kettles, without a single ad¬ dition thereto, which lie in his day in¬ herited from his parents. But that he is to any extent unhappy, miserable and wretched over it I very much doubt. I have watched him singing (and lingering) at his work, and going home at night in droves, still cheer¬ fully sociable, solaced with his tiny pipe and fairly hilarious over the least morsel and drop of rice and cheap saki. I have gone with him to his matsuri, or festivals, and I know how often they recur and how light-hearted they find him. I have stood with him to laugh at the fun-makers and dancers at the frequent street celebrations and local fetes,and I don’t believe there is much rancor and bitterness to his poverty. Besides, his wages are going up. Guilds he has had always, and he is learning about strikes. Dock laborers get eighty cents a day now, where formerly they received nearer to eight. Considering their labor capacity and the cheapness of their living,the former is not a bad wage. ’Ricksha charges, those for laundry work, and of vari¬ ous craftsmen (as all the dyers in Osaka, who have just procured them¬ selves a tweuty-five-per-cont. raise), the wages of house servants and the salaries of policemen and other officials, all are slowly and steadily increasing, and the explanation is that the wants of life are on the increase, meat is be¬ ginning to he eaten, wool is coming to be liked for clothing, some simple lux¬ uries are now understood and desired, and so the time is to come when the workingman of Japan is to have rather more of the conveniences and neces¬ saries of life to buy, and considerably more money with which to purchase them. At least that is considered the trend of affairs at present. German Carp is Unpopular. If a fish dealer depended upon tho sale of German carp for a livelihood he would starve in double-quick time. That particular member of the fish family is several hundred thousands of miles away from the pinnacle of popu¬ larity, and there is nothjpg these days to indicate that it is going to decrease the distance. German carp are quoted, wholesale price, at a penny a pound. “How in the world do you manage to make anything out of them?” asked the inquisitive buyer of the South Water street fish dealer the other day; “I don’t see where it pays to handle them.” “It really doesn’t pay to handle thorn, nor does the fisherman who catches them make a fortune out of his business,” said the fish dealer. “Just imagine what the fisherman makes when we are supposed pound. to sell at a profit at a penny a He wouldn’t do right well even if he had a good business. German carp aro far from being entitled to recognition as • fine fish. They are coarse in floeli, 1 and ii is an impossible matter to refine them. I handle them because there are some people who buy them from me. It is not that I sell them for a reasonable profit, but merely as an ac¬ commodation.”—Chicago Record. “Do you think you can accustom yourself to Klondike cooking?” “Why not? My wife took, the first prize at Vassar for her paper-weight biscuits.”—Cleveland Plain Dealer. WAS IX ATTENDANCE OX NATIONAL FETE IX MONTEVIDEO. THE ASSASSIN WAS H ANARCHIST. Twice Before Was Borda’a Rife In Jeopar¬ dy, But He Was Miraculously Saved. Unpopular With the People. During a national fete which was held at Montevideo, Uruguay, Wednes¬ day, President J. Idiarte Borda was shot and killed by an assassin. The assassination of the president occurred as he was leaving the cathe¬ dral, where a Te Deum had been sung. President Borda died almost imme¬ diately after he was shot. The assassin is named Arredondo, supposed to be an anarchist, and was arrested. Senor Cuestas, president of the sen¬ ate, has assumed the presidency of the republic ad interim. Senor J. Idiarte Borda was elected president of Uruguay for the term ex- tending from March, 1894, to 1898. The fete at which he was assassi¬ nated was being held in celebration of the independence of Uruguay, which was achieved on August 25, 1825. The murdered president was about fifty years of ago. He was married and hail a family and also a brother who is an officer in the Uruguayan army. He was elected three years ago, being a “combination candidate” of several parties. So far as known he had not been very popularly identified with the peo¬ ple nor had he held any number of im¬ portant offices. His elevation to the chief magistracy is said to have been dis¬ tasteful to the more advanced element of the people. Much interest attaches to the nationality of the assassin of the president. An attempt was made to assassinate the president on the afternoon of April 21st last. An unknown man met Pres¬ ident Borda on the street and shot at him. The president escaped without injury and the criminal was captured. On that occasion the president, ac¬ companied by his aid, Lieutenant Col¬ onel Turrene, had been horseback rid¬ ing. As he dismounted in front of the government palace a youth approached him and drew a pistol. Before the trigger could be pulled Lieutenant Colonel Turrene struck up the arm of the would-be assassin and the ball passed over the president’s head. Another attempt to assinatehim was made on May 20th, when he received a bomb sent to him from LaPlata, Ar¬ gentine. It was in a box and so ar- rarauged that it would explode when the box was opened. Fortunately sus¬ picion was aroused and the box was turned over to the police and de¬ stroyed. POLICE AND NEGROES FIGHT. A Bloody Iilot Precipitated at Charleston Cotton Mills. In the Charleston cotton mills, at Charleston, S. C., where colored labor is employed, fully 100 negroes meet at night when work is stopped to prevent/, tho white ex-operatives from attacking tho negro men and women as they march out of the mill. Wednesday afternoon as the work¬ men were leaving a policeman went to arrest a negro, when he was mobbed by the whole gang. Two other officers rushed up, and the three were beaten with sticks and stoues. The police¬ men did not shoot for fear of killing the children, but managed to knock down.a dozen negroes with clubs. The fighting was becomiug furious and the riot call was sent iu to police headquarters. This brought tho en¬ tire force, and the mob dispersed. WAGES WERE TOO LOW. Hungarian anil Italian Coliory Men at Hazelton, Pa., Strfke. The Hungarians and Italians em¬ ployed at the shippings and canal at Van Winkle’s Colleraiue Collery at Hazleton, Pa., struck Wednesday. Dissatisfacton has prevailed there for some time. The men say the price of provisions is going up and that they want an ad¬ vance in wages. Superintendent Rod¬ erick has asked to appoint a committee and he would confer with them. FALLING WALLS KILL FOUR. Disastrous and Fatal Blaze Occurs at Pittsburg, Pa. Fire at Pittsbmg, Pa., Thursday evening caused the death of two fire¬ men, the death of two boys, the loss of $165,000 worth of property, injury to two firemen and created a panic in the Seventh Avenue hotel. Several hours after the fire had been subdued and the firemen were coup¬ ling up their hose, the wall of the Ed- mundson & Perrine building, three stories high, fell, burying under the debris two firemen. Two boys, who were watching tho firemen work, are also supposed to be under the fallen walls. SPAIN MAKES NEW LOAN. Government to Borrow Money For Navy Improvements. Advices from Madrid state that the Spanish government is arranging a fresh credit with the view of strength¬ ening the navy. The navigation tax has been pledged as security for the loan. The government will immediately construct one large ironclad and six cruisers of from 6,000 to 7,000 tons to form the nucleus of three squadrons. GRAND AI til V HEX MARCH. President McKinley .Reviews fcl»© Lino of Old Veteran*. Forty-five thousand Grand Army men marched through the streets of Buffalo, X. Y., Wednesday and swath¬ ed in flags and buntings, received the ovations of u half million people, whose gratitude and admiration were evinced in every way in which human devotion can find public expression. The president was at their head. The procession moved for five hours and forty-two minutes. Along the route of march one hundred girls, dressed in the colors of the flag, scattered flowers in the path of the soldiers. President McKinley rode in a car¬ riage at the head of the procession, mid waved his hat at the cheering crowd. After passing under the gayly decorated arch erected by the colored people of Buffalo, the president saw before him a great and living shield, and caught the music of 2,000 young voices lifted up in the national anthem. As the columns moved on nearer and nearer to the shield, the first platoons wheeling up Delaware avenue, the hu¬ man sympathy that had been pent up for an hour of waiting broke out iu one tumultuous climax of enthusiasm. At the reviewing stand a large gayly- decorated compartment in the middle of the 3,000 seats for spectators had been set apart for tho president, the governor, the secretary of war and other distinguished guests. After nearly six hours of constant attention the president and Governor Black were driven to their hotel amid the hurrahs of the old soldiers and the applause of the vast crowd of people. The closing event of the evening was a reception to the president at Music hall. LEASING OF CONVICTS ILLEGAL. Sensation Caused by a Georgia Supreme Court Decision. The supreme court of Georgia has decided that the leasing of the con¬ victs of Georgia is illegal. The sensation caused by the publi¬ cation of Colonel Phil G. Byrd’s re¬ port showing the horrible condition of misdemeanor convicts leased by the county authorities to private individ¬ uals has been succeeded by another sensation ten times as startling. It has been discovered that every con¬ vict so leased has merely to appeal to the courts to secure prompt release, owing to the fact that his incarcera¬ tion under such circumstances is as much in disobedience to the law as was the original offense which led to his conviction. Every misdemeanor convict camp controlled by private individuals in Georgia is a nest of illegality. Every man employing misdemeanor convicts for private gain is breaking the law. Every county official who leases or permits to be leased a misdemeanor convict for other than public works does so in violation of the plainest statute in the law books of the state, and in addition is probably liable for personal damages. This discovery has made the con¬ victs’ situation so much worse than it was before, that the legislature will hardly dare to ignore it as other legis¬ latures have been doing in the past. But it is doubtful if the people will wait for the legislature to meet before some action is taken, showing the pressing need for immediate reform in this direction. Prominent layers say that on habeas corpus proceedings they can release every misdemeanor convict from the shackles of con¬ finement in private oamps, and that no contract between the counties and les¬ sees is worth the paper it is written on. ALABAMIAN ASSASSINATED. Francis Bartow Floyd Shot Down By a Well Known Desperado. Francis Bartow Lloyd (Rufus San¬ ders), a well known public man and writer of Alabama, was assassinated, Wednesday evening by John A. Gaf- ford, a well known desperado. Cause of killing unknown. The killing occurred near Mr.Lloyd’s home, three miles northwest of Green¬ ville. A few minutes after the killing Gaf- ford met Earl Lewis, who lives near by, in the road and said to him: “I want to inform you that I have just killed Bartow Lloyd up the road a piece. You had better see about do¬ ing something with him.” Lewis went at once to Greenville and gave notice to the authorities. A posse was organized to hunt the mur¬ derer. IRBY ROASTS TILLMAN. Senatorial Candidate Closes Campaign With a Hot Tirade. At the closing South Carolina sena¬ torial campaign meeting te Florence Saturday night Irby threw off restraint and attacked Senator Tillman, openly denouncing him for his part in the campaign. He declared: “While Tillman says he is ‘handsoff’ he was ‘mouth on.’ Tillman went to Abbeville and York and now he has been to Union—all my strongholds. There work was done for McLaurin. All his utterances mean: “Vote for McLaurin, he’s as good a tool as I want.’ “I give him to understand I am none of his poodle dog.” CLOAK MAKERS STRIKE. The Long Threatened Walk Out Takes Place In New York. The general strike of the cloak mak- ers of New York city and vicinity, which has been threatened for a long time, has been ordered. Henry Fish¬ er, of the board of walking delegates of the Brotherhood of Cloak Makers, announced that the 12,000 cloak mak¬ ers iu the brotherhood will be called out at once. More than 5,000 went out Wednesday afternoon.