As our little girl emerges from babyhood she finds the life opening before her a bright and happy one, but one hedged about by proprieties, and one in which from babyhood to old age, she must expect to be always under the control of one of the stronger sex. Her position will be an honored and respected one only as she learns in her youth the lesson of cheerful obedience, of pleasing manners, and of personal cleanliness and neatness. Her duties must always be either within the house, or, if she belongs to the peasant class, on the farm. There is no career or vocation open to her: she must be always dependent upon either father, husband, or son, and her greatest happiness is to be gained not by the cultivation of the intellect, but by the early acquisition of the self-control which is expected of all Japanese women to even a greater degree than of the men. This self-control must consist not simply in the concealment of all outward signs of any disagreeable emotion,--whether of grief, anger, or pain,--but in the assumption of a cheerful smile and an agreeable manner under even the most distressing circumstance. The duty of self-restraint is taught to the little girls of the family from the tenderest years; it is their great moral lesson and is expatiated upon at all times by their elders. The little girl must sink herself entirely, must give up always to others, must never show emotions except such as will be pleasing to others about her; this is the secret of true politeness and must be mastered if the woman wishes to be well thought of and to lead a happy life. The effect of this teaching is seen in the attractive, but dignified manners of the Japanese women,--even of the very little girls. They are not forward or pushing, neither are they awkwardly bashful; there is no self-consciousness, neither is there any lack of _savoir faire_; a childlike simplicity is united with a womanly consideration for the comfort of those around them. A Japanese child seems to come into the world with little savagery and barbarian bad manners, and the first ten or fifteen years of its life do not seem to be passed in one long struggle to acquire a coating of good manners that will help to render it less obnoxious in polite society. How much of the politeness of the Japanese is inherited from generations of civilized ancestors, it is difficult to tell; but my impression is that babies are born into the world with a good start in the matter of manners, and that the uniformly gentle and courteous treatment they receive from those about them, together with the continual verbal teaching of the principle of self-restraint and thoughtfulness of others, produce with very little difficulty the irresistibly attractive manners of the people.