10.08.2013 Views

A Japanese miscellany - University of Oregon

A Japanese miscellany - University of Oregon

A Japanese miscellany - University of Oregon

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

25'0 <strong>Japanese</strong> Miscellany<br />

she certainly had not been to them <strong>of</strong> any use<br />

whatever, and they required a capable assistant.<br />

Moreover they were going away for some time,<br />

and could not take her with them. Surely she<br />

could not have been so foolish as to think that<br />

they were going to give her three yen per month<br />

merely for being a Christian ! . . .<br />

O-Dai cried; and they advised her to be<br />

brave, and to walk in the paths <strong>of</strong> virtue. She<br />

said that she could not find employment: they<br />

told her that no industrious and honest person<br />

need ever want for work in this busy world.<br />

Then, in desperate terror, she told them truths<br />

which they could not understand, and energeti-<br />

cally refused to believe. She spoke <strong>of</strong> a danger<br />

imminent; and they answered her with all the<br />

harshness <strong>of</strong> which they were capable, — believ-<br />

ing that she had confessed herself utterly de-<br />

praved. In this they were wrong. There was<br />

no atom <strong>of</strong> vice in the girl: an amiable weak-<br />

ness and a childish trustfulness were the worst<br />

<strong>of</strong> her faults. Really she needed help, — needed<br />

it quickly, — needed it terribly. But they could<br />

understand only that she wanted money; and<br />

that she had threatened to commit sin if she<br />

did not get it. They owed her nothing, as she

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!