found in the good observance of the laws and constitution of the land; display your personal courage and public spirit for the sake of the country whenever required; and thus support the Imperial prerogative, which is coexistent with the Heavens and the Earth.

     “Such conduct on your part will not only strengthen the character
     of Our good and loyal subjects, but conduce also to the maintenance
     of the fame of your worthy forefathers.

     “This is the instruction bequeathed by Our ancestors and to be
     followed by Our subjects; for it is the truth which has guided and
     guides them in their own affairs and their dealings toward aliens.

     “We hope, therefore, that We and Our subjects will regard these
     sacred precepts with one and the same heart in order to attain the
     same ends.”

XXIV

MORAL PRACTICE

One noticeable characteristic of the Japanese is the publicity of the life of the individual.  He seems to feel no need for privacy.  Houses are so constructed that privacy is practically impossible.  The slight paper shoji and fusuma between the small rooms serve only partially to shut out peering eyes; they afford no protection from listening ears.  Moreover, these homes of the middle and lower classes open upon public streets, and a passer-by may see much of what is done within.  Even the desire for privacy seems lacking.  The publicity of the private (?) baths and sanitary conveniences which the Occidental puts entirely out of sight has already been noted.

I once passed through a village and was not a little amazed to see two or three bathtubs on the public road, each occupied by one or more persons; nor were the occupants children alone, but men and women also.  Calling at the home of a gentleman in Kyushu with whom I had some business, and gaining no notice at the front entrance, I went around to the side of the house only to discover the lady of the place taking her bath with her children, in a tub quite out of doors, while a manservant chopped wood but a few paces distant.

The natural indifference of the Japanese to the exposure of the unclothed body is an interesting fact.  In the West such indifference is rightly considered immodest.  In Japan, however, immodesty consists entirely in the intention of the heart and does not arise from the accident of the moment or the need of the occasion.  With a fellow missionary, I went some years since to some famous hot springs at the foot of Mount Ase, the smoking crater of Kyushu.  The spot itself is most charming, situated in the center of an old crater, said to be the largest in the world.  Wearied with a long walk, we were glad to find that one of the public bath tubs or tanks, some fifteen by thirty feet in size, in a bath house separate from other houses, was quite unoccupied; and on inquiry we were told that bathers were few at