Japan and the Children. EW countries in the whole round earth are, at the present moment, creating a deeper interest in themselves than Japan. It is not merely that its art is the delight and wonder of the world, or that it can boast of a faith and a civilization many centuries old, but because it has shaken off both its insular prejudice and exclusiveness, and its superstitious incubus of a semi-divine Mikado or ruler, together with its ancient feudatory lordships, and opened wide its gates to the tide of European civilization. The result has been that the country has, within a wonderfully short period, taken gigantic strides in the march of progress-strides so gigantic indeed that it has practically left its ancient faith behind and found no other to take its place. In this respect European influence has not been an unmixed good. We have it on the authority of Miss Bird,* the intrepid traveller, but devout Christian lady, that the young Japanese who are educated in England for high positions in their native land, return not only with their heads full of the advanced scientific teaching of the day, but with the conviction that Christians themselves don't believe in their own religion. She further adds, that when searching the shelves of one of the largest booksellers in one of the chief cities, she came across the works of Darwin, Huxley, and Tyndal, but not a single book of a religious character of whatever description. Yet notwithstanding the fact that the people are, as a rule, indifferent to the question of religion, Japan is not by any means a hopeless field for Christian missions, and, on one point at least, as it is the object of this paper to show, Christian Europe may learn a lesson from heathen Japan. The Japanese have a perfect passion for education, and in this respect remind us much of the Scotch. The government scheme is to give one school for every six hundred of the inhabitants, but in places where no school exists the principal inhabitants will secure a young man to teach their children, one giving him clothes, another board and lodging, and the poorer people, monthly fees. The very poorest, however, get their children educated gratuitously. There are very nearly 26,000 elementary schools with a staff of teachers of about 60,000. The school buildings are, in some respects, better than ours, and free use is made of the blackboard, while object lessons are not unknown. There are also normal schools and colleges where efficient teachers are trained for this work. Into this subject, interesting as it is, we do not at present go. We only mention it because of its relation to the children of Japan. According to Miss Bird, the Japanese children are in many respects model children, and her words must stir strange thoughts and emotions in the breasts of English parents and teachers. One of the greatest hindrances to the work of teaching with us, especially in the Sunday school, where of course we have not the "Unbeaten Tracks in Japan." London: John Murray, 1880. authority of the parents or schoolmaster, is the restless, refractory and self-asserting dispositions of our scholars. The teachers who have tried every art and stratagem, who have expended heart, brain, muscle, and even money in vain attempts to secure a modicum of good behaviour and of interest in the lessons for a few successive Sundays, may be counted by the hundreds and the thousands. Almost every Sunday, with some classes of boys, at least, it is a battle as to which will is to be supreme, the teacher's or the scholar's; and it depends pretty much upon circumstances which comes off victorious. So much is this the case that the teacher who dares not leave his Master's service, either goes home every other Sunday with a saddened heart, or gets into that philosophical way of accepting the inevitable, which is sure, sooner or later, to degenerate into indifference. Is there no remedy for this unhappy state of things? Is it true that human nature is the same the wide world over, and that "boys will be boys"? That depends upon the interpretation we put upon these phrases. Let us hear what Miss Bird has to say about Japanese children :— "The children, though for our ideas too gentle and formal, are very prepossessing in looks and behaviour. They are so perfectly docile and obedient, so ready to help their parents, so good to the little ones, and, in the many hours I have spent in watching them at play, I have never heard an angry word, or seen a sour look or act." Again, "I have never yet heard a baby cry, and I have never seen a child troublesome or disobedient. * * I admire the way in which children are taught to be independent in their amusements. Part of the home education is the learning of the rules of the different games, which are absolute, and when there is a doubt instead of a quarrelsome suspension of the game the fiat of a senior child decides the matter. They play by themselves and don't bother adults at every turn." The secret of Japanese child life and behaviour lies in the home. There is nothing new or startling in this, but it suggests a solemn and striking contrast. Here is a Christian nation,- -we speak now of England-familiar with the highest and purest idea of the family, viz., that presented under the Bible truth of the Fatherhood of God, and the homes of which get the credit of being the happiest in the world, and yet the children of these homes do not show so much of the graces and virtues demanded by the Bible, such as respect for elders and teachers and obedience to and love for parents, as the children of a heathen nation. It proves beyond all possibility of contradiction that parental influence and authority in the home are not, or have not been what they ought to be. "Filial piety," continues Miss Bird, "is the leading virtue in Japan, and unquestioning obedience is the habit of centuries. The arts and threats by which English mothers cajole or frighten their children into unwilling obedience appear unknown." One great reason of this is unquestionably to be traced to the great love a Japanese cherishes for children, whether his own or his neighbours, and is not afraid to show. He does not grudge time or attention to his offspring, but devotes himself to them with his whole heart. May it not be the secret of the indocility, the wilfulness and the lack of respect shown by the children of many English homes, that the children are left for the most part to their own resources, and are grudged more than the smallest modicum of time and attention? we cannot forbear giving Miss Bird's picture of Japanese parents: "I never saw people take so much delight in their offspring, carrying them about, or holding their hands in walking, watching and entering into their games, supplying them constantly with new toys, taking them to picnics and festivals, never being content to be without them, and treating other people's children also with a suitable measure of affection and attention. Both fathers and mothers take a pride in their children. It is most amusing about six every morning to see twelve or fourteen men sitting on a low wall, each with a child under two in his arms, fondling and playing with it, and showing off its physique and intelligence. To judge from appearances, the children form the chief topic at this morning gathering. At night, after the houses are shut up, looking through the long fringe of rope or rattan which conceals the sliding door, you see the father, who wears nothing but a maro, in the bosom of his family, bending his ugly, kindly face over a gentlelooking baby, and the mother, who, more often than not, has dropped the kimono from her shoulders, enfolding two children destitute of clothing in her arms." That the children are not spoilt by this treatment is proved by their perfect obedience to their parents, and the ceremonious politeness they show to each other and to strangers. The great result of this home training is that when at school the teacher has not the slightest trouble in securing quietness, attention, and the most perfect order. One peculiar feature of the home life is worthy of notice, as that which our own educationalists, whether secular or religious, are always insisting, viz., the interest taken by the parents in the lessons of their children. Miss Bird says that in the evening you can hear from nearly every house, "the monotonous hum of the preparation of lessons." If we could only get the great mass of English parents to take the same loving interest in their children, and to enforce at the same time prompt and unquestioning obedience for all in authority, it would inaugurate a happy day in our Sunday school work. And can nothing be done by teachers in this respect? Yes, much. Many of them are parents themselves, let them see to it that their own homes are full of sweetness, and light, and loving obedience. In their classes, in the Sunday school, they must see to it that their authority is supreme; not indeed enforced by rigour, harsh words, or hasty measures, but by patient and wise methods. To assert authority and then let it be ignored or defied is fatal to all success in teaching. The right of parents to rule in love, and of teachers and elders to reverence, ought to be more insisted on by loving reference to our relationship to the Great Father. We do not hesitate to say also that these truths do not at the present moment secure the prominence in the teaching from our pulpits and our press they are entitled to, and the needs of the times require. Teachers are not helpless in both these respects. It is possible in several ways to reach ministers and writers so as to urge this duty more. Let teachers see to it that they use their great moral influence on behalf of that which ties their hands and mars their work. In conclusion, it is our firm conviction that the Sunday school as matters stand must devise some means-more effectual than any at present existing-for reaching the parents of the children taught within its walls on the Sunday, and of educating them as regards their moral duties to their children. Doubtless the instruction now given to our Sunday scholars will result in the elevation in some degree of the homes of a future generation, but not to such an extent we fear, judging from experience, as to render such an auxiliary as we have hinted at unnecessary. The interval between a scholar leaving school and the time when he or she may become a parent is generally spent in such a manner as to cause forgetfulness of the good teaching of the class, and as a consequence the responsibilities of forming a home are apt to be undertaken in a thoughtless and careless manner especially as regards children. The great problem of course is how to continue our hold upon the young people until they become both Christians and heads or households; but until that problem is solved we must adopt means and methods of creating, if possible, a healthy home influence for our Sunday scholars. W. SKINNER, BROADCAST THY SEED. Broadcast thy seed: If thou hast aught of wealth to lend, Broadcast thy seed: Although some portion may be found Or when it comes, some noxious air J. C. PRINCE. IS THE BOOK WRONG?* CHOOLBOYS, when they cannot make their answer to a sum agree with the one given in the book, will often go up to their master and say, "Please, sir, the book's wrong." The master will look at them with an angry frown, or an amused smile, according to his character or state of temper at the time, for he knows from past experience that in 99 cases out of 100 it is they that are wrong, and that the positive conclusion they have arrived at is the result of their own ignorance, carelessness, and conceit; a few minutes later another boy more intelligent and accurate works out the same sum and proves the book right. Are not some of our men of science just like schoolboys in this respect? They are constantly working at some problem-geological, historical, physical, or philological and arriving at conclusions which either are, or appear to be, at variance with the statements of Scripture; they at once flippantly and positively assert that the Book is wrong. Does not their conclusion likewise result from ignorance, inaccuracy, and conceit? Ignorance, in the form of partial knowledge; inaccuracy, either in their data or the conclusions drawn from them; conceit, in maintaining their unverified assertions against a Book which (to say the least) is the most time-honoured and revered authority in the world. It is a marvel that they have not learnt caution and humility from experience. Again and again, after they have asserted positively that the Book was wrong in some particular case, one of their own number, another man of science, has worked the problem independently, but with more knowledge, intelligence, and accuracy, and shown that his fellows were wrong and the Book right. In the present day it is most important to draw attention to the constant breakdowns in scientific conclusions, because there is a tendency in modern scepticism not only to assail the truth of the Word of God, but even to assume that science has so completely and confessedly overthrown Scripture, that all well-informed and intelligent men are obliged to admit it. In lectures on popular science, addressed to the middle classes chiefly, this presumptuous assertion is made in the most barefaced manner; it is thought that these classes have no time to investigate for themselves, and therefore will be easily misled. Hence, before such audiences, scientific lecturers of the Infidel school * From a small work of forty pages, by the Rev. H. H. A. Smith. London: Bemrose & Sons. |