ertain death on the bloodstained hill before Port
Arthur. As commander, he could have assigned them to less dangerous
positions, but it probably never entered his head to shield his own
flesh and blood. And the same loyalty that is shown to country is also
proved in the relation of servant to master. The story of the
Forty-seven Ronins is too well known to need repetition, but the
loyalty of these retainers (who slew the man that caused their lord's
death, although they knew that this deed called for their immediate end
by their own hands) impresses one with new force when he stands before
the tombs of these men in the Japanese capital and sees the profound
reverence in which they are still held by the people of Japan.

What puzzles the foreign observer is: Will this passionate loyalty of
servant to master survive the spectacle of the ingratitude and
self-interest which the Japanese see in the relation of master and
servant in most Christian countries? The whole tendency of life in other
countries than his own is against this loyalty, which has been bred in
his very marrow. How long, without the mainstay of religion, will the
Japanese cling to this outworn but beautiful relic of his old life? And
it must be confessed that religion is rapidly losing its hold on the men
of Japan. Those who have been abroad are apt to return home
freethinkers, because the spectacle of the practical working of
Christianity is not conducive to faith among so shrewd a people as the
Japanese. Even the example of the foreigners in Japan is an influence
that the missionaries regard as prejudicial to Christianity.

Another trait of the Japanese which will not be improved by contact with
foreigners, and especially with Americans, is thoroughness. This trait
is seen on every hand in Japan. Nothing is built in a slovenly way,
whether for private use or for the government. The artisan never scamps
his work. He seems to have retained the old mechanic's pride in doing
everything well which he sets his hand to do. This is seen in the
carving of many works of art, as well as in the building of the
ornamental gateways throughout the empire, that stand as monuments to
the aesthetic sense of the people. Yet the whole influence of foreign
teaching and example is against this thoroughness that is ingrained in
the Japanese character. The young people cannot fail to see that it
does not pay their elders to expend so much time and effort to gain
perfection, whe