, the loving Heavenly Father, and of the infinite
value of each human soul, thus doing away with the utilitarian scale
for measuring both men and women, together with its conceptions of the
relations of the sexes and of man to man, can alone supply that
foundation for all the elements of the new social order, intellectual
and emotional, which will make it workable and permanent, and of which
monogamy is but one element.[L] He does not see that representative
government and popular rights cannot stand for any length of time on
any other foundation.

X

CHEERFULNESS--INDUSTRY--TRUTHFULNESS--SUSPICIOUSNESS

Many writers have dwelt with delight on the cheerful disposition that
seems so common in Japan. Lightness of heart, freedom from all anxiety
for the future, living chiefly in the present, these and kindred
features are pictured in glowing terms. And, on the whole, these
pictures are true to life. The many flower festivals are made
occasions for family picnics when all care seems thrown to the wind.
There is a simplicity and a freshness and a freedom from worry that is
delightful to see. But it is also remarked that a change in this
regard is beginning to be observed. The coming in of Western
machinery, methods of government, of trade and of education, is
introducing customs and cares, ambitions and activities, that militate
against the older ways. Doubtless, this too is true. If so, it but
serves to establish the general proposition of these pages that the
more outstanding national characteristics are largely the result of
special social conditions, rather than of inherent national character.

The cheerful disposition, so often seen and admired by the Westerner,
is the cheerfulness of children. In many respects the Japanese are
relatively undeveloped. This is due to the nature of their social
order during the past. The government has been largely paternal in
form and fully so in theory. Little has been left to individual
initiative or responsibility. Wherever such a system has been dominant
and the perfectly accepted order, the inevitable result is just such a
state of simple, childish cheerfulness as we find in Japan. It
constitutes that golden age sung by the poets of every land. But being
the cheerfulness of children, the happiness of immaturity, it is
bound to change with growth, to be lost with coming maturity.

Yet the Japanese are by no means given up to a cheerful view of life.
Many an individual i