eir homes, give an
impression of indifference to the flight of time, if not of absolute
laziness. The workers seem ready to sit down for a smoke and a chat at
any hour of the day. In the home and in ordinary social life, the loss
of time seems to be a matter of no consequence whatever. Polite
palaver takes unstinted hours, and the sauntering of the people
through the street emphasizes the impression that no business calls
oppress them.

In my opinion these characteristics, also, are due to the conditions
of society, past and present, rather than to the inherent nature of
the people. The old civilization was easy-going; it had no clocks; it
hardly knew the time of day; it never hastened. The hour was estimated
and was twice as long as the modern hour. The structure of society
demanded the constant observance of the forms of etiquette; this, with
its numberless genuflections and strikings of the head on the floor,
always demanded time. Furthermore, the very character of the footgear
compelled and still compels a shuffling, ambling gait when walking the
streets. The clog is a well-named hindrance to civilization in the
waste of time it compels. The slow-going, time-ignoring
characteristics of New Japan are social inheritances from feudal
times, characteristics which are still hampering its development. The
industrious spirit that is to be found in so many quarters to-day is
largely the gift of the new civilization. Shoes are taking the place
of clogs. The army and all the police, on ordinary duty, wear shoes.
Even the industry of the students is largely due to the new conditions
of student life. The way in which the Japanese are working to-day, and
the feverish haste that some of them evince in their work, shows that
they are as capable as Occidentals of acquiring the rush of
civilization.

The home life of the people gives an impression of listlessness that
is in marked contrast to that of the West. This is partly due to the
fact that the house work is relatively light, there being no furniture
to speak of, the rooms small, and the cooking arrangements quite
simple. Housewives go about their work with restful deliberation,
which is trying, however, to one in haste. It is the experience of the
housekeepers from the West that one Japanese domestic is able to
accomplish from a third to a half of what is done by a girl in
America. This is not wholly due to slowness of movement, however, but
also to smallness of stature and