An evangelist who worked long in Kyushu was always in great financial trouble because of the fact that he had to support two mothers, besides giving aid to his father, who had married a third wife.  The first was his own mother, who had been divorced, but, as she had no home, the son took her to his.  When the father divorced his second wife, the son was induced to take care of her also.  Another evangelist, with whom I had much to do, was the adopted son of a scheming old man; it seems that in the earlier part of the present era the eldest son of a family was exempt from military draft.  It often happened, therefore, that families who had no sons could obtain large sums of money from those who had younger sons whom they wished to have adopted for the purpose of escaping the draft.  This evangelist, while still a boy, was adopted into such a family, and a certain sum was fixed upon to be paid at some time in the future.  But the adopted son proved so pleasing to the adopting father that he did not ask for the money; by some piece of legerdemain, however, he succeeded in adopting a second son, who paid him the desired money.  After some years the first adopted son became a Christian, and then an evangelist, both steps being taken against the wishes of the adopting father.  The father finally said that he would forego all relations to the son, and give him back his original name, provided the son would pay the original sum that had been agreed on, plus the interest, which altogether would, at that time, amount to several hundred yen.  This was, of course, impossible.  The negotiations dragged on for three or four years.  Meanwhile, the young man fell in love with a young girl, whom he finally married; as he was still the son of his adopting father, he could not have his wife registered as his wife, for the old man had another girl in view for him and would not consent to this arrangement.  And so the matter dragged for several months more.  Unless the matter could be arranged, any children born to them must be registered as illegitimate.  At this point I was consulted and, for the first time, learned the details of the case.  Further consultations resulted in an agreement as to the sum to be paid; the adopted son was released, and re-registered under his newly acquired name and for the first time his marriage became legal.  The confusion and suffering brought into the family by this practice of adoption and of separation are almost endless.

The number of cases in which beautiful and accomplished young women have been divorced by brutal and licentious husbands is appalling.  I know several such.  What wonder that Christians and others are constantly laying emphasis, in public lectures and sermons and private talks, on the crying need of reform in marriage and in the home?