is rooted in this same ancestral worship. The boy is to become the high priest of the family, and after father and mother are dead it will be his duty to see that suitable sacrifices are offered and that all the details of ancestral worship are properly carried out. It is the desire on the part of the parents to train the boy so that he will not fail in this matter of worship that leads them to humor the boy till he is spoiled. They are afraid he will not look well to their interests after they are gone if they do not let him have his way while they are here. According to their way of thinking, their eternal happiness will depend upon the way the ancestral worship is carried on after they are gone. Daughters cannot perform these rites; so every family must have a son, and where none is born one must be adopted.
I have seen the statement that has been recently going the rounds in the papers that "Japanese children are born civilized." I am sure I do not know just what this statement means; perhaps the author does. But if it means that Japanese children are better than other children, then I shall be compelled to differ with the author. During these ten years in the East I have seen much of Japanese children as well as Koreans, and I am convinced that, apart from training, they are very much like all the world of little people. I know this to be true of our village boys. It may be said that the conditions under which these children are brought up might lead one to think that they are better than their Anglo-Saxon cousins. However, if he only waits till the occasion
