en, and is helping to create a new atmosphere in this
land, where, for centuries, one chief effort has been to repress all
natural expression of emotion.

While touring in Kyushu several years ago, I had an experience which
showed me that the stolidity, or vivacity, of a people is largely
dependent on the prevailing social order rather than on inherent
nature. Those who have much to do with the Japanese have noted the
extreme quiet and reserve of the women. It is a trait that has been
lauded by both native and foreign writers. Because of this
characteristic it is difficult for a stranger, to carry on
conversation with them. They usually reply in monosyllables and in low
tones. The very expression of their faces indicates a reticence, a
calm stolidity, and a lack of response to the stimulus of social
intercourse that is striking and oppressive to an Occidental. I have
always found it a matter of no little difficulty to become acquainted
with the women, and especially with the young women, in the church
with which I have been connected. With the older women this reticence
is not so marked. Now for my story:

One day I called on a family, expecting to meet the mother, with whom
I was well acquainted. She proved to be out; but a daughter of whom I
had not before heard was at home, and I began to talk with her.
Contrary to all my previous experience, this young girl of less than
twenty years looked me straight in the face with perfect composure,
replied to my questions with clear voice and complete sentences, and
asked questions in her turn without the slightest embarrassment. I was
amazed. Here was a Japanese girl acting and talking with the freedom
of an American. How was this to be explained? Difficult though it
appeared, the problem was easily solved. The young lady had been in
America, having spent several years in Radcliffe College. There it was
that her Japanese demureness was dropped and the American frankness
and vivacity of manner acquired. It was a matter simply of the
prevailing social customs, and not of her inherent nature as a
Japanese.

And this conclusion is enforced by the further fact that there is a
marked increase in vivacity in those who become Christian. The
repressive social restraints of the old social order are somewhat
removed. A freedom is allowed to individuals of the Christian
community, in social life, in conversation between men and women, in
the holding of private opinions, which the non-