LETTERS OF A JAVANESE PRINCESS
I should not allow my girl, although I wished to make a new woman
of her, to study as though she had no other desire in life; nor would I
cut her off in anything so that her brother could have more. Never!
And then I should let down the bars which have been so foolishly erected between the two sexes. I am convinced that when this is done much good will come of it, especially to the men. I shall never believe that educated and cultivated men designedly avoid the society of women who are their equals in education and enlightenment, to throw themselves deliberately into the arms of disreputable women. While many men seek the society where cultivated ladies are to be found, there is a vast army who cannot take the slightest interest in a girl without thinking of sex. Now all this will disappear when men and women can mingle freely together from childhood.
You say, "We girls could do much toward bringing young men upon the good path, but we know so little of their lives." Everything will change with time, but here in Java we stand only on the threshold of the new age. Must we not go through all the corresponding stages of development, through which you have already passed in Europe?
Among my new treasures I have "Het Jongetje" by Borel.[1] A delightful book. Many here think it sickly and over-drawn. But to me; it is sickly not at all, and over-drawn even less. There may not be many like Borel's little boy, but I know at least one. The child of the Assistant-Resident is Borel's boy personified. Once he said to Kardinah "Tante, I like girls so much. Girls smile so indolently. They are quite, quite different from boys; they are so sweet, so soft." A little fellow of five said this. He bit Kardinah's arm once, saying, "Tante
—73—
- ↑ Henri Borel, novelist and journalist bom in 1869. Also noted as an authority on Chinese art and literature. The author of "Kwan Yin," "Da Laatse Incarnatie," "Het Jongetje," etc.
