A HOUSEKEEPER'S PARADISE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10072, 18 June 1910, Page 4

A HOUSEKEEPER'S PARADISE.

Dr. Marie C. Stopes, in "A Daily Record of Life as Seen by a Scientist" contributes some interesting side-lights on domestic life in Japan. Dr. Stopes famished a five-roomed house, which with its charming grounds she leased for ten shillings a week. She found that the place needed practically no furnishing; there were huge cupboards in every room; beds were not essential, for the soft tatami, specially thick mats which go with the house, served as carpets, bedsteads and mattrasses all rolled into one. Dr. Stopes arranged for the purchase of a stove at a cost of five shillings, and left everything else to her little Japanese maid. For a farthing and a half a fan had been purchased to coax the charcoal into aident usefulness. A lamp with a white glass shade cost eightpence, andfa chain to hang it up by three farthings more, while a second stove fashioned from red earthenware had been procured for an outlay of eightpence-halfpenny. Everything else was on a similarly economical scale, and the house was fitted up with every comfort for under £3. Dr. Stope's observations on the peculiarity of social conven - tions are equally interesting. Sitting in a train one day she had as vis-a-vis a smart-looking Japanese gentleman dressed in faultless English style. As the day became warmer he gravely divested himself of his coat and waistcoat. He then enveloped himself in a loose kimono, and beneath its folds removed every stitch but: that, all without removing bis gold-rimmed glasses or turning a hair.