resembling the guitar.]

Nor was Satsuma the only place in Japan where gentleness was inculcated
among the warrior class. A Prince of Shirakawa jots down his random
thoughts, and among them is the following: "Though they come stealing to
your bedside in the silent watches of the night, drive not away, but
rather cherish these--the fragrance of flowers, the sound of distant
bells, the insect humming of a frosty night." And again, "Though they
may wound your feelings, these three you have only to forgive, the
breeze that scatters your flowers, the cloud that hides your moon, and
the man who tries to pick quarrels with you."

It was ostensibly to express, but actually to cultivate, these gentler
emotions that the writing of verses was encouraged. Our poetry has
therefore a strong undercurrent of pathos and tenderness. A well-known
anecdote of a rustic samurai illustrates a case in point. When he was
told to learn versification, and "The Warbler's Notes"[10] was given him
for the subject of his first attempt, his fiery spirit rebelled and he
_flung_ at the feet of his master this uncouth production, which ran

[Footnote 10: The uguisu or warbler, sometimes called the nightingale of
Japan.]

"The brave warrior keeps apart
The ear that might listen
To the warbler's song."

His master, undaunted by the crude sentiment, continued to encourage the
youth, until one day the music of his soul was awakened to respond to
the sweet notes of the _uguisu_, and he wrote

"Stands the warrior, mailed and strong,
To hear the uguisu's song,
Warbled sweet the trees among."

We admire and enjoy the heroic incident in Koerner's short life, when, as
he lay wounded on the battle-field, he scribbled his famous "Farewell to
Life." Incidents of a similar kind were not at all unusual in our
warfare. Our pithy, epigrammatic poems were particularly well suited to
the improvisation of a single sentiment. Everybody of any education was
either a poet or a poetaster. Not infrequently a marching soldier might
be seen to halt, take his writing utensils from his belt, and compose an
ode,--and such papers were found afterward in the helmets or the
breast-plates, when these were removed from their lifeless wearers.

What Christianity has done in Europe toward rousing compassion in the
midst of belligerent horrors, love of music and letters has done in
Japan. The cultivation of tender feelings breeds considerate regard for