em disloyal and unfilial receive no rebuke. Filial piety
often seems to us more active toward the dead than toward the living.

Closely connected with loyalty and filial piety, and in part their
expression, is one further religious sentiment, namely, gratitude. In
his chapter in "Kokoro" "About Ancestor-Worship," Mr. Hearn makes some
pertinent remarks as to the nature of Shinto. "Foremost among the
moral sentiments of Shinto is that of loving gratitude to the past."
This he attributes to the fact that "To Japanese thought the dead are
not less real than the living. They take part in the daily life of the
people, sharing the humblest sorrows and the humblest joys ... and
they are universally thought of as finding pleasure in the offerings
made to them or the honors conferred upon them." There is much truth
in these statements, though I by no means share the opinion that in
connection with the Japanese belief in the dead there "have been
evolved moral sentiments wholly unknown to Western civilization," or
that their "loving gratitude to the past" is "a sentiment having no
real correspondence in our own emotional life." Mr. Hearn may be
presumed to be speaking for himself in these matters; but he certainly
does not correctly represent the thought or the feelings of the circle
of life known to me. The feeling of gratitude of Western peoples is as
real and as strong as that of the Japanese, though it does not find
expression in the worship of the dead. That the Japanese are profuse
in their expressions of gratitude to the past and to the powers that
be is beyond dispute. It crops out in sermons and public speeches, as
well as in the numberless temples to national heroes.

But it is a matter of surprise to note how often there is apparent
ingratitude toward living benefactors. Some years ago I heard a
conversation between some young men who had enjoyed special
opportunities of travel and of study abroad by the liberality of
American gentlemen.

It appeared that the young men considered that instead of receiving
any special favors, they were conferring them on their benefactors by
allowing the latter to help such brilliant youth as they, whose
subsequent careers in Japan would preserve to posterity the names of
their benefactors. I have had some experience in the line of giving
assistance to aspiring students, in certain cases helping them for
years; a few have given evidence of real gratitude; but a large
proportion have s