"'s long as 't was the little piece. Nearly all the picture part is here, and we can trim the edges off smooth, and nobody'll know the difference. Here's the trees bendin' over, and part of the rock-the prettiest part, too."

"That's so," said Nell, somewhat consoled. “And besides,” —eagerly, as a happy thought struck her "This 'll just about fit in that old frame mamma gave me the other day. Don't you know, we never could find nothin'

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The

'Whoop! That's so," cried Ted delightedly. "Come ahead and let's try it." And in high glee, they rushed on up the hill, out of sight. And presently there was nothing to be heard save the whirr of the mill wheel in the water, with now and then a faint "Gee! Haw!" from some farmer plowing in the distance, or the few sharp, clear notes of some bird in its flight.

"In the beginning all things were in chaos. Heaven and earth were not separated. The world floated in the cosmic mass like a fish in the water, or the yolk in an egg. The ethereal matter sublimed and formed the heavens, while the residuum formed the present earth, from the mold of which a germ sprouted and became a selfanimate being, from which sprang all the gods.

"On the floating bridge of heaven appeared a man and woman of celestial origin. The male plunged his jeweled spear into the unstable waters beneath them, and withdrawing it, the trickling drops formed an island upon which they descended.

"The creative pair, or divine man and woman, designing to make this island a pillar for a continent, separated, the male to the left the female to the right, to make a journey around the island. When they met the woman spake first, saying, 'How joyful to meet a lovely man!'

"The man, offended that the first use of the tongue had been by a woman, demanded that the journey be repeated, after which he cried out exultingly, 'How joyful to meet a lovely woman!'

This island, with seven other large and many thousand small ones, became the "Everlasting Great Japan." As it was created first, it is, without doubt, the holy land, the land of the gods. All other countries were formed at a later date, and although also created by the gods, were not made by the divine man and woman. The traditions of other lands in regard to the creation are fabulous and incorrect, as they are so far from the sources of truth where these events occurred.

The first offspring of this remarkable pair was a daughter, who shone so beautifully and so lighted the heaven and the earth that she was named the "Heaven-illuminating Goddess." Her father therefore translated her to heaven, giving her the ethereal realm to reign over. At this time the floating bridge between earth and heaven had not been removed, so that the goddess easily mounted to her kingdom. The second child was also a daughter, the "Goddess of the Moon." The third was a son, but he was not well formed. When he was three years old, as he was yet unable to stand alone, his parents made an ark of camphor-wood and sent him to sea as "God of the Sea and Storms."

1Translated from the Nakatomi no harai and Nihon

gods forsaken us?" They took an oath to be tributary and loyal to Japan, made an offering of eighty ships laden with gold, silver, and precious stuffs, and eighty men of noble families to be held as hostages; and pledged that "rivers should flow backward, and stones leap up to the stars, ere their word should be broken."

So it came to pass that Jingu's victory was as complete as it was bloodless, and she and the son who was born after her return are yet worshiped in many temples, and their aid invoked in all martial exploits.

The Japanese have great pride in this valiant woman, and to this day one of the favorite subjects depicted on silk and canvas is an ancient minister of state holding Jingu's infant son, the mother standing by in martial

dress.

During the next century, as the immediate result of this heroic conquest, many arts and sciences were introduced from Corea, which were as the affluence of ancient Greece to Europe. From thence came physicians, astronomers, mathematicians, skilled artisans, scholars, teachers; the art of writing and a written language; the introduction of horses, the mulberry plant, and the silkworm. But that which left the most vital impress, fastening itself to the nation's life with the tenacity of the barnacle to the ship, was the Buddhist religion. Henceforth there was an aggressive faith, with doctrines, moral codes, temples, priesthood, to supplant mythological and fetich worship. All this is ascribed to the Empress Jingu, who is referred to as the "warrior woman," with enthusiastic admiration.

Among the heroines whose names are renowned in Japanese classics, whose memory Japan still delights to honor, as marking a distinct historical era, no name has become more classical than Tokiwa, the beloved concubine of Yoshitomo. Artists never tire of picturing her flight after the assassination of her lord, during the memorable fight with the Taira, in 1159.

Tokiwa was the daughter of a peasant, possessed of wonderful beauty, and was the object of Yoshitomos tenderest affection.

During his flight from his enemies, Yoshitomo was killed in a bath-room by hired assassins. Tokiwa fled, hoping to preserve the heirs of the Minamoto line. It was winter, and her path lay through regions of snow, far from the populous cities and orange groves of her birth. With swelling heart of grief and fear, she carried her baby upon her breast, and urged two little sons at her feet, one led by her hand, and the other manfully bearing his father's sword, not knowing where to go or how to subsist. Thus she wandered on, trembling at every sound, and fearing every face, knowing well the plot to exterminate the Minamoto family root and branch.

Meanwhile the minister of state, who was the leader of the Taira class, conceived a plan by which these children would inevitably fall into his hands-a plan as cruel as it was certain. In Japan, filial obligation is paramount to every other. Taking advantage of this sentiment, the unprincipled minister seized Tokiwa's mother, knowing that the law of a daughter's duty would triumph over a mother's love and fear for her offspring, and bring Tokiwa to Kioto.

Half frozen and starved, the heroic woman was met by a Taira soldier, who pitying her condition provided her food and shelter, and then communicated the news of her mother's capture. Then began the wild struggle between her filial duty, and love for her dead lord and for their children and name. To enter the capital would release her mother, but destroy her babes.

Wit sharpened by love taught her to risk all, trusting to her great beauty to melt Kiyomori's heart. So she suddenly appeared before him, sheltering her three boys with her arms. The pathos of this act, together with her wonderful beauty, completely melted her persecutor. He instantly offered to release her mother and spare her children, if she would give herself to him. At first she indignantly refused, but finally with floods of tears consented to the conditions, if he would give her a written pledge to save her boys.

The Court insisted that the young Minomotos should be destroyed. But the face of their beautiful mother prevailed. That

babe on Tokiwa's breast became the famous Yoshitsuné a name that kindles the wildest enthusiasm in the young Japanese today. Son of the dauntless Tokiwa, he yet lives, the Bayard of Japan.1

But the records teem with instances not only of woman's valor, but also of her fortitude under suffering, and of her greatness in the hour of persecution or death, and in all those trials of filial devotion and conjugal affection, made more strenuous by national customs and beliefs. And not only does classic history immortalize the great women of old; the annals of the seventeenth century are red with the blood of women, whose faces gleamed amid the flames as did the martyrs of England; of women stretched upon the cross they worshiped, transfixed with spears, dashed from precipices, or pushed into open graves, with close-shut lips and eyes lit with a sublime faith.

The memory of the heroic women of Japan is kept green in those exquisite works of art with which that nation delights the civilized world, pictured on screen, cup, memorial stone, curtain, and wall; in school and college by quotation, inscription, recitation, and song.

The Japanese woman has also a place all her own in the world of letters. Her importance as a factor in this realm is thus described by Professor Griffis :

"Among the anomalies with which Japan has delighted the world is woman's achieve ments in this domain. It was woman's genius, not man's, that made the Japanese a literary language. Moses established the Hebrew, Alfred the Saxon, and Luther the German tongue, in permanent forms; but in Japan the mobile forms of speech crystalized into perennial beauty under the touch of woman's hand."

During the early centuries after a written language was introduced by the Coreans, the spoken and written language were identical, but in time the native scholars cultivated a pedantic style and usurped the privilege of

1 A more complete account of these historic women

forming a literature in the Chinese language solely. Even conversation became so impregnated with Chinese words and phrases as to be nearly unintelligible to the masses. Thus the pure native tongue was in danger of being lost outright, but for the fact that the women of the empire disliked the Chinese language and seldom used it. To them it was left to form a pure literature in the Japanese vernacular, and right nobly have they performed their task. "No parallel is to be found in the history of European letters to the remarkable fact that a very large proportion of the best writings of the best age of Japanese literature was the work of woman.

Hence, "If we would find the fountains of the musical and beautiful language of Jap an, we must seek them in the hearts and hear them flow from the lips of the mothers of the Island Empire."

The traveler in Japan is surprised at the superiority of woman's position over that which exists in other Asiatic nations. Through the prevailing superstitions of the East, she is denied a soul and made a scapegoat for the sins of mankind; yet the gentler teachings of the Indian sage have crept in, and under their influence a fairer condition is presented to view than can be found in China or any other Eastern land.

While abject obedience is inculcated upon a woman, her feet are not bound, and she is left as free to walk, or visit, or travel, as are the women of America. Thus, greater selfrespect is induced, with a dignity of bearing unknown elsewhere in the East. For ages, the girls in families of rank and wealth have been educated by private tutors. Now, a gigantic system of public education has been established, in which both sexes participate.

Each household contains a voluminous book, relative to the conduct of life, called "Woman's Great Learning," which treats of the "Moral Duties of Woman," founded on the classics, and "Household Instruction," with regard to dress, house-furnishing, etiquette, reception of guests and all the inter

Griffis.

2 W. G. Aston.