I wonder what 'tis dreaming; Its tiny wings doth try. White chrysanthemums so pure! I fear to soil them with the finger tip, Maidens seek a shadowed place, As if it was at noon. All her poems reflect their womanly authorship. They are preeminently tender and sympathetic. They are remarkably lucid and may be understood without any explanations. While Basho's poems are like oil paintings, Chiyo's verses are like water color pictures. * The writer must confess that all the examples given above, being translations, are necessarily somewhat paraphrastic. Yet most of them are not very clear without some further explanation or expansion. It is because our poets do not give their poems in full, but strike only the keynote and stop there. Our nation at large seems to be quite frank and open. But our poets and artists are very reserved. Our painters, for instance, are not diligent, faithful copiers of things, but excel in suggestion. They try to make sketches of things with as few strokes as possible, and with these to remind people of real things. Our poets do the same. They attempt to suggest the whole piece by giving only the keynote. "The minimum effort and the maximum effect," seems to be their motto. It shows that they understand something of art, that they know some of the secrets of artists. But their excessive practice of this trick has greatly checked the development of Japanese art and poetry, which for this reason are left at the present stage of imperfect growth. We are far from being worshipers of Basho or of Hokku. * More Hokku will be found in Hearn's "Kotto" (1902), "A Japanese Miscellany" (1901), "Shadowings" (1900), "Exotics and Retrospectives " (1899), Aston's "Japanese Literature" (1899), Chamberlain's "Handbook of Colloquial Japanese" (1898), and Florenz's “ Japanish Dichtungen" (1894). So we do not claim much for this kind of composition. We would be ridiculed if we claimed any great qualities for the seventeen syllable verses. But this much is true, that going through the field of Hokku literature, here and there we meet real little gems. They are as terse and suggestive as can be. Their sentiment is true, and their fancy is lovely. They are almost perfect in their own way. They often annoy and baffle ambitious translators. At the least they are flashes of poetry, though they may not be poetry itself; and flashes are always beautiful and attractive. Their popularity is also undeniable. Basho found followers wherever he went on his tours. He was a great traveler, and at many places we find even to-day stone monuments inscribed with his verses in memory of his visits. Though he died at fifty in Osaka, on one of his excursions, his ten great disciples and a large number of other pupils formed an able band for the spread of the Hokku. Those disciples had their own disciples in turn, and by their united efforts Hokku writing came to be almost universal. Nearly every village or town had a Hokku Society or two, and amateur poets met every month, with their professors in their midst. Each society edited a written monthly journal for circulation among its members. On special occasions they presented large board tablets containing their verses to temples and shrines to be hung under the eaves for exhibition. At the time of village festivals they hung big lanterns across the streets, with their compositions written on the paper shades. These were the means of publishing their masterpieces. In proportion as the art of Hokku writing became common, its productions became commonplace. This was an inevitable tendency. So it is doubtful whether Hokku verses in those days had any literary merit. But the practice had some worth as a means of general culture. It taught even uneducated people to stop and more carefully look at life and nature, in the midst of the busy strife of this world. The introduction of journalism to Japan has given Hokku composers new and better opportunities of publishing their compositions and of spreading their art. The pages of magazines and newspapers show that at the present time the art is flourishing more than ever and a great quantity of Hokku is being produced day by day. The poets have a number of monthly organs with the Hototogisu at the head of the list; and among the daily papers the Nippon is known as the greatest patron of the Hokku. There are many masters among the educated class of people and they are making efforts to save the Hokku from becoming dry and prosy. Something is being done in the way of improving this kind of composition; but there is reason to doubt whether it has much of a future. SENDAI, JAPAN. VII. THE CHURCH AND MEN OF WEALTH. THE REV. JAMES R. BROWN, A.M. This theme presents two factors. Neither requires an exhaustive definition. The "Church" we shall speak of as the whole body of Christian believers, regardless of particular denominational affiliation. By "men of wealth" we mean those who have within their possession and control much more money or useful property than they need to meet the ordinary wants of the average individual or family. This discussion shall deal with the mutual relations between these two factors. We might treat this relation as it obtained during the past, pointing out successes and failures, in order to learn, on the one hand, how to steer clear of bygone errors and, on the other hand, how to follow in the wake of earlier successes. This would be both interesting and profitable. However, it is more in harmony with our present purpose to take up this relation as we find it to-day, and to consider the mutual help the church and men of wealth do, can and ought to render each other. Of course, in speaking of the possible and ideal relations between the two, our judgment must take into account and largely rest on the lessons of the past. f I. DUTIES OF THE CHURCH TO MEN OF WEALTH. First note some of the characteristics of these men with whom the church must deal. We seem to have several types of men of wealth. We find the parvenus who usually are vulgar and loud with their newly gained possessions. They became rich suddenly. From their circle come many of those whose God is Epicurus, and who usually, according to their own phrase, "have no use for the church." Again, we have those who were born with the golden spoon in their mouth. Many of these grew up without learning anything of the seriousness and stress of the average life. They can neither toil nor spin. They can neither pull an oar nor handle a rudder because they have only been drifting, and depending on others to keep the boat in safe waters. Among these we find the moral weaklings who count for very little either positively or negatively. Many of them are in the church but not of the church. A third type we find in those who fought and wrought hard and long and successfully in the mad struggle and conflict to win wealth. They commenced at the bottom. They know the cost of every cent in a dollar. By perseverance, insight, foresight and wise economy they built up their fortune. Among these are the strong men of the times. They are our captains of industry and finance. They are the great motors moving the multitudinous and enormous wheels of commerce. A very large percentage of these are enrolled in the church; and many of them are working just as hard in and for the church as in their business. Many of them are doing a fair and square business and endeavor to live up to the golden rule. Others seem to have two codes of morals-one for Sunday and another for the week day. From these facts it is apparent that it is improper to speak of men of wealth as a body when we want to consider the duties which the church owes them because, after all, the individual or human element plays a far more important part than the financial element. Generalizing inevitably proves unjust and unfair to some and consequently must be avoided here as far as possible, as it should be nearly always in dealing with men. What, then, is the attitude of the church toward these types of men? Probably we should ask what is the attitude of churches or congregations toward them, for there are churches and churches even as there are men of wealth and men of wealth. Some congregations and even some denominations are reputed |