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| THE JAVANESE PEOPLE - The photographs
here given afford a close study of the little people who came from
Java to the World's Fair, and were established in a settlement of thirty-six houses, a bazaar,
kiosk, coffee-house, temple and theatre
on the north side of Midway Plaisance, east of the Ferris Wheel. At
the left is a dancing girl, who rates as a great beauty, and at home
dances only before the Sultan of Solo, one of the native princes of
the island. On the right are the bride and groom who were married
with the customary festivities in the early weeks of the Fair, and
then returned to their parents to live apart for another year, as the
bride was but nine years old. The face of the woman portrayed at the
left discovers many of the characteristics of gentleness which made
the Javanese so well beloved by those who met them frequently. The
girls danced, or postured, to music that was principally made on
metal gongs, struck with soft hammers, and always in the minor or sad
key. Some of these notes were deep and resonant, and might be heard
a long distance. Three of the males, like the boy in the picture,
would carry onglongs, or bamboo strung on reeds, and the shaking of
these extraordinary instruments with concerted effect produced soft,
sad and peculiar music. The Javanese were homesick, and mourned
bitterly over the dead. But they gained the good-will of the
millions who saw them. |
