s flaunt motherhood, if this thought of each one for
himself prevails, what will become of us, a nation that depends upon
its worship of the ancestors for its only practical religion? The
loosening of the family bonds, the greater liberty of the single person,
means the lessening of the restraining power of this old religion which
depends upon the family life and the unity of that life. To do away with
it is to do away with the greatest influence for good in China to-day.
What will become of the filial piety that has been the backbone of our
country? This family life has always been, from time immemorial, the
foundation-stone of our Empire, and filial piety is the foundation-stone
of the family life.

I read not long since, in the Christian's Sacred Book, the
commandment, "Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may
be long in the land which the Lord thy God hath given thee," and I
thought that perhaps in the observance of that rule is to be found one
of the chief causes for the long continuance of the Chinese Empire.
What is there to compare in binding power to the family customs of
our people? Their piety, their love one for the other and that to which it
leads, the faithfulness of husband to his wife-- all these, in spite of
what may be said against them by the newer generation, do exist and
must influence the nation for its good. And this one great fact must be
counted amongst the forces, if it is not the greatest force, which bind
the Chinese people in bonds strong as ropes of twisted bamboo.

Our boys and girls will not listen; they are trying to be what they are
not, trying to wear clothes not made for them, trying to be like nations
and people utterly foreign to them; and they will not succeed. But,
"into a sack holding a ri, only a ri will go," and these sacks of our
young people are full to overflowing with this, which seems to me
dearly acquired knowledge, and there is not room for more. Time will
help, and they will learn caution and discretion in life's halls of
experience, and we can only guard their footsteps as best we may.

In the meantime, Mother mine, my days are full and worried, and I, as
in the olden time, can only come to thee with my rice-bowl filled with
troubles and pour them all into thy kindly lap. It is my only comfort, as
thy son is bitter and will not talk with patience, and it would not be
seemly for me to open wide my heart to strangers; but I know thou
lovest me and art full o