ought
and morals.

Mr. Fukuzawa starts out with the proposition that women are quite equal
to men, and should hold equal position and influence. Although he allows
that woman's work in the world is quite distinct from that of man, he
holds that it is as important, and that she should have the same
property-holding privileges and rights. The greatest stress is laid on
the point that the same moral obligation for purity of life rests on the
husband as on the wife. He goes into the details of the unhappiness
resulting from concubinage, putting the duty of the husband in this
respect as equal to that of the wife to preserve her chastity, and as
this is, next to obedience, the virtue of virtues for a Japanese wife,
his argument is as strong as it could well be made. He insists that
women should demand as a right from their husbands and families the same
privileges and opportunities that men have in society.

Such sentiments are a matter of course in America, and they have been
held by a few advanced thinkers in Japan, but no one hitherto has dared
in so vigorous and positive a way, and with arguments that come so near
home, to try to break the chain of custom that holds women down as
inferior beings. Kaibara says that if a woman finds her husband doing
wrong, she should gently plead with him, choosing a time when he is
most inclined to listen. If he refuses, she should not insist on his
hearing her, but wait until he is willing to listen, and though she may
try two or three times, she should never anger or irritate him. Fukuzawa
says that if this applies to the woman, it should also to the man,--that
is to say, if a man finds his wife unfaithful, he is to wait for an
opportunity when she is in good humor before he remonstrates with her.
Fukuzawa also throws new light on the duty of husbands and fathers to
their wives and children in another respect. He says that no man should
let the sole responsibility for the happiness of the home fall upon his
wife; that a man is responsible for the peace of the home as well as the
woman. This view of the matter is entirely new in Japan, as the
responsibility for an unhappy home is laid as a matter of course upon
the wife. The duty of a wife to her parents-in-law is also treated after
the same revolutionary manner. Is it to be wondered at that many men
fear the influence of such a book upon their gentle, submissive wives?
In this connection it is interesting, however, to note that at a r