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92. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Javanese at Home

THE JAVANESE AT HOME.— In their home life the Javanese are said to be a simple and happy people, and this will be readily believed of them by those who were in the Javanese Village at the Fair frequently enough to note the home demeanor of its occupants. They were most interesting, these gentle Javanese, and, in certain ways and habits and views of life, quite unlike any other people in the world, so fax as the Fair afforded an illustration. There was an apparent sadness, which was not so much a sadness as a speculative dreaminess, in their faces, a suggestion of which is afforded in the look of the man who sits with his feet upon a barrel, in the picture, and a certain individuality which showed itself even in their music, which, with its sweet, deep tones, was in pleasant contrast to the shrill clamor of the Plaisance all about. They seemed to enjoy even the impaired degree of domesticity they had during the Fair, and the family groups which gathered on the quaint, rude piazzas were pleasant to look upon. The house shown in the illustration is one typical of the village, not pretentious nor, an American would think, particularly comfortable, but it suited the Javanese; at least, it was of the sort which suited them when at home in Java. Learning to know these little people with their wistful, but not unhappy, faces and their courteous ways, one wished all good fortune to the island whereon the thrifty Dutch are raising coffee for the world, and whereon the native inhabitants are gradually learning to be more in touch with humanity outside.

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