morning. There was then neither tram nor rickshaw. The concern for my safety all of them manifested was indeed remarkable. One woman went ahead and presently returned with a kuruma. With a kurumaysan they would trust me to arrive unharmed. My way lay through one of the outer regions of the city. The girls were most considerate and kindly, a loveliness in feminine character which always wins Western men's sympathies.
Through the narrow little by-ways of Hyogo my sturdy rickshaw man bore me. There was so much blackness round about that this trustworthy coolie shone with human radiance. Alone, it might not have been altogether well for me to wander away out here. With him, panting and shifting the place of the shafts, I rode with delight and composure. The electric lights at every gate seemed sleepy within their nooks and corners.
I had time and ease in which to reflect on the night and its experiences. One certainly grows to love these people with a melancholy love. They are not ugly, I thought, but certainly not beautiful; they are not sad, but certainly not happy; they are not prim, but certainly not free; they are not refined, but certainly not vulgar. What are they, then? They are geisha, the product of a feudalism in which a man might do anything he pleased, aside from real thinking. They are a specialized institution. Though the geisha may easily be a libertine in her profession, still I have yet to see her nightly employer take any public liberties with her, as is done with a Western prostitute. Hired for the occasion, to satisfy the pleasure-seeking, she still maintains her dignity. Whatever her morals, in appearance she is the most circumspect individual in the world. It is to the credit of Japanese un-morality that, using their women, they do not torture them as does the West.
Japanese have no women friends, only wives, servants and geisha, alias prostitutes. Whereas we would not think of going out for an evening's pleasure without our girl friends, in Japan the presence of women must be paid for, though they do nothing at all to earn their fees. And back home, my friend's little wife and servant were sitting up for him, for she told me that on all occasions she remains up till he comes, and would not sleep through the night should he remain away.
One rapidly tires of the geisha and their accomplishments, but the resident in Japan soon learns to endure with un-patient resignation
