nd to inability to pay the heavy taxes.

We have here the story of a successful attack on a system which has
existed in Japan for three hundred years, by a Christian agency acting
with the support of so strong a public opinion that police and
government have felt bound to obey its behests. There has been no more
striking example of the effect of Christian thought upon public
sentiment in any country than this crusade against the brothels in
Japan. When we remember that ten years ago it was not possible for a
speaker to attack the institution before an audience of students without
being silenced by hisses, it is interesting to note that this year, the
students of that same school greeted with applause and respectful
attention an address on this very subject.

It seems to me rather striking that in the year 1900 fifty thousand
copies of the Bible were sold in Japan--more than of any other book.
Although the present translation is regarded as far from perfect, and
much of it is unintelligible to the average Japanese without
instruction, whether directly or indirectly, by mission workers, it is
still sought after and read for the sake of its literature, and because
of the reputation that has been gained for it throughout the country.
There are few missionaries of any experience in Japan who cannot tell
stories of men coming to them from country villages, who, through the
reading of a copy of the Bible in some way fallen into their hands, have
been brought by the beauty and nobility of the parts that they could
understand to seek additional explanation from some teacher or preacher.
One case that is amusing, but at the same time striking, I have heard
vouched for from a number of sources:--

Two thieves, one night, broke into the dormitory of a girls' school in
search of booty, and by chance awakened two of the girls. As they sat
up in their beds, wondering what was best to do under the circumstances,
one zealous damsel reached for the Bible in which she had been reading
before she went to sleep, and handed it to one of the thieves, saying,
"If you read this book, you will not want to steal any more." The other
girl followed her companion's example and gave her Bible to the other
thief. That was all, so far as the girls knew, and it was some years
before the sequel came to light.

There is one place in Japan to which released convicts who are trying to
get back to respectability again drift from all parts of the empire. I