that it would be wiser for
them to spend the same amount of time on more immediately practical
subjects. The reply was that the boys needed to have the drill in
English in order to gain clear methods of thought: that the sharp
distinctness of the English sentence, with its personal pronouns and
tense and number, affords a mental drill which the Japanese can get in
no other way; and that even if the boys should never make the
slightest after-use of English in reading or conversation, the
advantage gained was well worth the time expended. I have since
noticed that those men who have spent some time in the study of a
foreign language speak very much more clearly in Japanese than those
who have not had this training. In the former case, the enunciation is
apt to be more distinct, and the sentences rounded into more definite
periods. The conversation of the average Japanese tends to ramble on
in a never-ending sentence. But a marked change has come over vast
numbers of the people during the last three decades. The
roundaboutness of to-day is as nothing to that which existed under the
old order of society. For the new order rests on radically different
ideas; directness of speech and not its opposite is being cultivated,
and in absolute contrast to the methods of the feudal era, directness
of governmental procedure is well-nigh universal to-day. In trade,
too, there has come a straightforwardness that is promising, though
not yet triumphant. It is safe to assume that in all respectable
stores the normal price is charged; for the custom of fixed prices has
been widely adopted. If individuals are known to have the "beating
down" habit, special prices are added for their sakes.

A personal experience illustrates the point. My wife and I had priced
several lamps, had made note of the most satisfactory, and had gone
home without buying. The next day a domestic was sent to secure the
one which pleased us best. He was charged more than we had been, and
in surprise mentioned the sum which we had authorized him to pay. The
shopkeeper explained by saying that he always told us the true price
in the beginning, because we never tried to beat him down. In truth,
modern industrial conditions have pretty well banished the old-time
custom of haggling. A premium is set on straightforwardness in
business unknown to the old social order.

Roundaboutness is, however, closely connected with "yumei-mujitsu,"
the other characteristic mentioned a