The routine of life in the prison was very trying.  They got up at seven.  Most of the day they had to assume a haunched, kneeling position, and remain absolutely still, hour after hour.  The wardresses in the corridors kept close watch, and woe to the girl who made the slightest move.  “They ordered us not to move a hand or a foot but to remain perfectly still,” wrote one girl.  “Even the slightest movement brought down every kind of wrath.  We did not dare to move even a toe-nail.”

One unhappy girl, mistaking the call of an official in the corridor, “I-ri-ma sen” for a command to go to sleep, stretched out her leg to lie down.  She was scolded and severely punished.  Another closed her eyes in prayer.  “You are sleeping,” called the wardress.  In vain the girl replied that she was praying.  “You lie,” retorted the polite Japanese lady.  More punishment!

After fifteen days in the prison outside the West Gate, some of the girls were called in the office.  “Go, but be very careful not to repeat your offence,” they were told.  “If you are caught again, you will be given a heavier punishment.”

The worst happenings with the women were not in the big towns, where the presence of white people exercised some restraint, but in villages, where the new troops often behaved in almost incredible fashion, outraging freely.  The police in many of these outlying parts rivalled the military in brutality.  Of the many stories that reached me, the tale of Tong Chun stands out.  The account was investigated by experienced white men, who shortly afterwards visited the place and saw for themselves.

The village of Tong Chun contains about 300 houses and is the site of a Christian church.  The young men of the place wished to make a demonstration but the elders of the church dissuaded them for a time.  However, on March 29th, market day, when there were many people in the place, some children started demonstrating, and their elders followed, a crowd of four or five hundred people marching through the streets and shouting “Mansei!” There was no violence of any kind.  The police came out and arrested seventeen persons, including five women.

One of these women was a widow of thirty-one.  She was taken into the police office and a policeman tore off her clothes, leaving her in her underwear.  Then the police began to take off her underclothes.  She protested, whereupon they struck her in the face with their hands till she was black and blue.  She still clung to her clothes, so they put a wooden paddle down between her legs and tore her clothes away.  Then they beat her.  The beating took a long time.  When it was finished the police stopped to drink tea and eat Japanese cakes, they and their companions—­there were a number of men in the room—­amusing themselves by making fun of her as she sat there naked among them.  She was subsequently released.  For a week afterwards she had to lie down most of the time and could not walk around.