ox each; but the clumsy-wheeled vehicles loaded with lumber, earth, stone-every thing, in short, required in a growing city-and drawn by men, were abundant; and they were loaded so heavy that the utmost muscular strain was requisite to move them. In the country, with the exception of the great Tokaido, the roads will admit of no vehicle but the narrow jinrikisha, so that the produce of the country goes to market either on the shoulders of men or on the backs of pack-horses; and judging from what I saw, I should say that by far the greater part is carried by men. A pole with baskets, boxes or packages suspended from each end is balanced on the shoulder, whereupon the bearer trots off, it may be many miles, to his market town. Then what he purchases is carried home the same way. Happy is the farmer who has a pack-horse to relieve him of this heavy burden. A good many, indeed, have horses, but multitudes have none. The soil is prepared for planting by the spade, and the cultivated portions are generally flat-not always. But for rice, if a naturally flat surface is not found, it is made by terracing the slope. Over this water is run from ditches, and the rice, first sown in beds, is transplanted by the hand in overflowed ground, the laborer standing often knee-deep in mud and water. It is planted in bunches, and they in straight rows. The ditches are kept all the time in perfect repair, and every square yard of ground is cultivated with as much care as the best gardens at home. In the regions through which I passed every available foot was in cultivation. Every little strip and patch by the road-side was spaded up and planted, either in

rice or vegetables. This incessant labor and burdenbearing has had its effect on the muscles of the men. One of the first things a foreigner notices is the enormous size of the muscles in their legs, which even now in December are often naked. And all this toil is so poorly remunerated that it must be incessantly kept up only to keep soul and body together. Happy is the poor fellow who gets employment with a foreigner at five or six dollars a month, and feeds himself. Even the domestic servants feed themselves. They cook sumptuous dinners for their masters, and then go and consume their rice with their families, and their five dollars a month must feed and clothe them and their families. Rice is their principal food, though now they are beginning to eat a little flesh. Heretofore they have abstained from animal food under the influence of Buddhism partly, and partly from poverty. Now Buddhism is losing its hold, but poverty is not. Does the future offer anything better? I shall have something to say on that subject further on. But at present the laboring classes are ground down to the earth, and they have no Sunday, no Lord's-day, no hallowed pause between periods of incessant toil. Life is all one unbroken period of toil. There are, indeed, many holidays, but they do not bring rest to the laborer. They are gala days on which those who can afford it go to the temples and have a good time; but traffic goes on all the same, and I saw no signs of intermitted labor in the city.

I had seen it stated in the papers, before I left home, that the Japanese Government had adopted the Christian Sabbath. It is true that it is made a

holiday for all who are in Government employment. This has come about by the influence of European and American employes of the Government. Many of these, especially Americans, refused to work on that day. But these men are indispensable to the Government in this new epoch, and so this concession was made to them; but it has brought no Sabbath to the people. In fact, it makes more business in some lines, especially with shop-keepers. The soldiers and other employes of the Government who have it for a holiday, do their shopping on that day. Indeed, the want of a Sabbath is one great obstacle in the way of the gospel. Already one of the most influential of the converts of the Methodist Mission at Tokio has been expelled for persistent violation of the Sabbath. He pleads necessity. The laborers he employs, he says, will not remain with him unless he will give them employment every day. His customers come in to settle their bills that day, and will not come another day. His friends, he said, would forsake him entirely, and he would be ruined. But the missionaries felt that they must take a firm stand on this point, and although this was perhaps the most influential man they had received in all Japan, with one exception, they have cut him off.

The one exception I speak of is a Mr. Tsuda, who lives in a suburb of Tokio. He is perhaps the most widely known of any private man in the empire. He is a scientific agriculturist, and under the new rigime, has charge of an experimental farm under the auspicies of the Government. He also publishes an agricultural journal, a monthly, in pamphlet-form. So wide-spread is his correspondence over the whole

Empire that he has to employ a private secretary to answer letters.

This man Tsuda puts out a sign at his gate every Sunday morning: "No business transacted here to-day."

He is the only private citizen of the Empire who has ever received any attention from the Mikado. His Majesty had him to dine with him one day, as a mark of appreciation of the great service he is doing in improving the agricultural condition of the country. If he retains his simplicity of character in the midst of all the honors he is receiving he will no doubt be a very useful man in the young Church in Japan.

Apropos of my Sunday experiences in Yokohama, I may add that the official members whose names I have given, gave me many tokens of affection. The last was very unexpected to me. When I was leaving them they were on the Bund, in a body, to bid me an affectionate farewell. I had time only for a few affectionate words, and then parted with them until the last day. Noble men!-pioneers of the Church in a new Empire which the Son of God is just now invading! I shall never forget them.

I would envy these missionaries, if I would allow myself to envy anybody. True, there are many crosses, many discouragements, many trials; but there is no other field so glorious as theirs; they are in the forefront of the battle, and see the advancing lines of occupation as the Lord of hosts moves on in the conquest of the world.

I have said that the ground in this country is prepared for planting by the spade. It is not to be in-.

ferred that there is no plowing. A great deal of the ground is broken up by the plow, but a great deal of it, again, never sees a plow. And even when the plow has done its work the whole surface is gone over again with hoe and rake, so that the amount of labor is incalculable. The only plowing I have seen is with a single ox, hitched with ropes, the plow being small, and having only one handle. The fact is, as I have put it-human muscle is depended on for almost every thing, and there is neither labor-saving contrivance nor the relief of any Sabbath. What a boon, even for this life, the gospel would be to Japan!

CHAPTER IV.

THE REVOLUTION OF 1868 IN DIA NIPPON.

CCORDING to the Japanese Mythology, the Mikado, or Emperor, is descended from the gods. The line of descent has been preserved with the greatest care, so that to this day the blood is pure and sacred. The Emperor, from the beginning, was absolute, ruling with God-given authority. Of course it came about in the run of ages that weak