Despite the reality of these religious, sentiments, however, many things are done in Japan quite opposed to them.  Of course this is so.  These violations spring from irreligion, and irreligion is found in every land.  Furthermore, many things done in the name of loyalty and piety seem to us Westerners exceedingly whimsical and illogical.  Deeds which to us seem disloyal and unfilial receive no rebuke.  Filial piety often seems to us more active toward the dead than toward the living.

Closely connected with loyalty and filial piety, and in part their expression, is one further religious sentiment, namely, gratitude.  In his chapter in “Kokoro” “About Ancestor-Worship,” Mr. Hearn makes some pertinent remarks as to the nature of Shinto.  “Foremost among the moral sentiments of Shinto is that of loving gratitude to the past.”  This he attributes to the fact that “To Japanese thought the dead are not less real than the living.  They take part in the daily life of the people, sharing the humblest sorrows and the humblest joys ... and they are universally thought of as finding pleasure in the offerings made to them or the honors conferred upon them.”  There is much truth in these statements, though I by no means share the opinion that in connection with the Japanese belief in the dead there “have been evolved moral sentiments wholly unknown to Western civilization,” or that their “loving gratitude to the past” is “a sentiment having no real correspondence in our own emotional life.”  Mr. Hearn may be presumed to be speaking for himself in these matters; but he certainly does not correctly represent the thought or the feelings of the circle of life known to me.  The feeling of gratitude of Western peoples is as real and as strong as that of the Japanese, though it does not find expression in the worship of the dead.  That the Japanese are profuse in their expressions of gratitude to the past and to the powers that be is beyond dispute.  It crops out in sermons and public speeches, as well as in the numberless temples to national heroes.

But it is a matter of surprise to note how often there is apparent ingratitude toward living benefactors.  Some years ago I heard a conversation between some young men who had enjoyed special opportunities of travel and of study abroad by the liberality of American gentlemen.

It appeared that the young men considered that instead of receiving any special favors, they were conferring them on their benefactors by allowing the latter to help such brilliant youth as they, whose subsequent careers in Japan would preserve to posterity the names of their benefactors.  I have had some experience in the line of giving assistance to aspiring students, in certain cases helping them for years; a few have given evidence of real gratitude; but a large proportion have seemed singularly deficient in this grace.  It is my impression that relatively few of the scores of students who have received a large proportion of