Bacon, Alice (Mabel)

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BACON, Alice (Mabel)

Born 26 February 1858, New Haven, Connecticut; died 1 May 1918, New Haven, Connecticut

Daughter of Leonard and Catherine Bacon

Alice Bacon wrote almost exclusively about Japan. This special interest began when she was only fourteen years old, when her father took under his guardianship one of a pioneering group of five young girls sent by the Japanese government to be educated in the U.S. Bacon soon became best friends with her adopted sister.

In 1883 Bacon began teaching at Hampton Institute. In 1888 she was invited to teach at the Peeresses' School in Tokyo, conducted by the Imperial Household Department for daughters of the nobility. While residing in Japan, she spent most of her time in Japanese society, experiencing many aspects of Japanese life rarely seen by Western visitors.

In 1889 Bacon returned to her work at Hampton, where she concerned herself with the status of the black man. She founded the Dixie Hospital to provide nursing education and better medical care for the community, and expressed her views on racial problems in an article entitled "The Negro and the Atlanta Exposition."

Japanese Girls and Women (1891) is based upon Bacon's many years of living in Japan. She felt the book was needed because, "While Japan as a whole has been closely studied, and while much and varied information has been gathered about the country and its people, one half of the population has been left entirely unnoticed, passed over with brief mention, or altogether misunderstood." The information she gathered and the observations she made were not those of a casual superficial traveler, but are based upon the intimate friendships she developed with many native Japanese women. Bacon became acquainted with people of all classes and carefully noted the similarities and differences in their ideas and customs.

Her first chapter deals with childhood and tells of the various ceremonies and traditions connected with infancy and child rearing. The author tells how children are dressed and treated, and particularly emphasizes their training in "good manners." In another chapter, Bacon discusses the formal education of a Japanese girl. The reader learns of the high value placed upon education in general, as well as the details of the instruction which virtually all girls receive.

In later chapters Bacon treats such topics as marriage, divorce, motherhood, old age, court life, "samurai" and "peasant" women, city life, and domestic service. The reader learns the details of arranged marriages and the standards of "a beautiful and accomplished maiden." One also learns how after marriage, a young upper-class woman becomes almost a servant to her mother-in-law. The life of a countryman's wife offers an interesting contrast to the life of the upper-class woman. Although the peasant woman undoubtedly works harder and grows older earlier, she is freer and more independent than her city sister.

In discussing elderly women, Bacon emphasizes the respect given to the aged. She explains that an elderly woman proudly dresses as such and does not try to make herself appear younger. An aged mother is treated with love and tenderness and never regarded as a burden. When times are hard, children deprive themselves in order to give extra to their parents.

Court life is the center of Japan's finest drama, music, art, and literature. Similarly the city lies at the center of popular folk culture, and Bacon describes the various festivals of the common people. One of the most interesting occupations to be found in the city is that of the geisha. The Geisha ya are establishments where little girls are taken to be taught dance and song, the etiquette of entertaining guests, and "whatever else goes to make a girl charming to the opposite sex." Sometimes geisha will leave the dancing in the teahouses to become the concubine of some wealthy Japanese or foreigner.

Although Japanese Girls and Women is Bacon's major work, she also published a collection of letters related to her experiences teaching in Tokyo (A Japanese Interior, 1893), and a collection of stories (In the Land of the Gods: Some Stories of Japan, 1905). Both books provide a rare insight into Japanese daily life.

Other Works:

Human Bullets, a Soldier's Story of Port Arthur (1907).

Bibliography:

Baldwin, T. W., Bacon Genealogy: Michael Bacon of Dedham, 1640, and His Descendants (1915). Peabody, F. G., Education for Life: The Story of Hampton Institute (1918).