mmissioned to
identify and receive the head of the youth. Will he be deceived by the
false head? The poor Genzo's hand is on the hilt of the sword, ready to
strike a blow either at the man or at himself, should the examination
defeat his scheme. The officer takes up the gruesome object before him,
goes calmly over each feature, and in a deliberate, business-like tone,
pronounces it genuine.--That evening in a lonely home awaits the mother
we saw in the school. Does she know the fate of her child? It is not for
his return that she watches with eagerness for the opening of the
wicket. Her father-in-law has been for a long time a recipient of
Michizane's bounties, but since his banishment circumstances have forced
her husband to follow the service of the enemy of his family's
benefactor. He himself could not be untrue to his own cruel master; but
his son could serve the cause of the grandsire's lord. As one acquainted
with the exile's family, it was he who had been entrusted with the task
of identifying the boy's head. Now the day's--yea, the life's--hard work
is done, he returns home and as he crosses its threshold, he accosts his
wife, saying: "Rejoice, my wife, our darling son has proved of service
to his lord!"

"What an atrocious story!" I hear my readers exclaim,--"Parents
deliberately sacrificing their own innocent child to save the life of
another man's." But this child was a conscious and willing victim: it is
a story of vicarious death--as significant as, and not more revolting
than, the story of Abraham's intended sacrifice of Isaac. In both cases
it was obedience to the call of duty, utter submission to the command of
a higher voice, whether given by a visible or an invisible angel, or
heard by an outward or an inward ear;--but I abstain from preaching.

The individualism of the West, which recognizes separate interests for
father and son, husband and wife, necessarily brings into strong relief
the duties owed by one to the other; but Bushido held that the interest
of the family and of the members thereof is intact,--one and
inseparable. This interest it bound up with affection--natural,
instinctive, irresistible; hence, if we die for one we love with natural
love (which animals themselves possess), what is that? "For if ye love
them that love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the
same?"

In his great history, Sanyo relates in touching language the heart
struggle of Shigemori concerning his