nd the two leading
political "parties." There the very great public spirit is nationalistic
rather than social, that is, it is patriotism rather than public spirit
as we understand it. So while Japan is strong where China is weak, there
are corresponding defects there because of the submission of women--and
the time will come when the hidden weakness will break Japan down. Here
are two items from the Chinese side. A missionary spoke to Christian
Chinese about spending the time Sunday, making chiefly the point that it
was a good time for family reunions and family readings, conversation
and the like. One of them said that they would be bored to death if they
had to spend the whole day with their wives. Then we are told that the
rich women--who have of course much less liberty in getting out than the
poorer class women--spend their time among themselves gambling. It is
universally believed that the attempt to support a number of wives
extravagantly is one of the chief sources of political corruption. On
the other hand, at one of the political protest meetings in Peking a
committee of twelve was appointed to go to the officials and four of
them were women. In Japan women are forbidden to attend any meetings
where politics are discussed, and the law is strictly enforced. There
are many more Chinese women studying in America than there are
Japanese--in part, perhaps, because of the lack of higher schools for
girls here, but also because they don't have to give up marriage here
when they get an education--in fact we are told they are in especial
demand not only among the men who have studied abroad, but among the
millionaires. Certainly the educated ones here are much more advanced on
the woman question than in Japan.

"You never can tell" is the coat of arms of China. The Chancellor of the
University was forced out on the evening of the eighth by the cabinet,
practically under threat of assassination; also soldiers (bandits) were
brought into the city and the University surrounded, so to save the
University rather than himself, he left--nobody knows where. The release
of the students was sent out by telegraph, but they refused to allow
this to become known. It seems this Chancellor was more the intellectual
leader of the liberals than I had realized, and the government had
become really afraid of him. He has only been there two years, and
before that the students had never demonstrated politically and now they
are the leader