ceremony--it is a fine art; it is poetry,
with articulate gestures for rhythm: it is a _modus operandi_ of soul
discipline. Its greatest value lies in this last phase. Not infrequently
the other phases preponderated in the mind of its votaries, but that
does not prove that its essence was not of a spiritual nature.

Politeness will be a great acquisition, if it does no more than impart
grace to manners; but its function does not stop here. For propriety,
springing as it does from motives of benevolence and modesty, and
actuated by tender feelings toward the sensibilities of others, is ever
a graceful expression of sympathy. Its requirement is that we should
weep with those that weep and rejoice with those that rejoice. Such
didactic requirement, when reduced into small every-day details of life,
expresses itself in little acts scarcely noticeable, or, if noticed, is,
as one missionary lady of twenty years' residence once said to me,
"awfully funny." You are out in the hot glaring sun with no shade over
you; a Japanese acquaintance passes by; you accost him, and instantly
his hat is off--well, that is perfectly natural, but the "awfully funny"
performance is, that all the while he talks with you his parasol is down
and he stands in the glaring sun also. How foolish!--Yes, exactly so,
provided the motive were less than this: "You are in the sun; I
sympathize with you; I would willingly take you under my parasol if it
were large enough, or if we were familiarly acquainted; as I cannot
shade you, I will share your discomforts." Little acts of this kind,
equally or more amusing, are not mere gestures or conventionalities.
They are the "bodying forth" of thoughtful feelings for the comfort of
others.

Another "awfully funny" custom is dictated by our canons of Politeness;
but many superficial writers on Japan, have dismissed it by simply
attributing it to the general topsy-turvyness of the nation. Every
foreigner who has observed it will confess the awkwardness he felt in
making proper reply upon the occasion. In America, when you make a gift,
you sing its praises to the recipient; in Japan we depreciate or slander
it. The underlying idea with you is, "This is a nice gift: if it were
not nice I would not dare give it to you; for it will be an insult to
give you anything but what is nice." In contrast to this, our logic
runs: "You are a nice person, and no gift is nice enough for you. You
will not accept anything I can lay at