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290 HONDA THE SAMUEAl.
betrothal of grown-up children, it is not probable
that the feelings of the son or daughter are outraged,
or that marriages are forced against the consent
of either, though this does sometimes take
place. In Asiatic countries, where obedience to
parents is the first and last duty, and in which no
higher religion than filial obedience exists, the betrothal
and marriage of children is not looked upon
as anything strange. The prevalence of concubinage
as a recognized institution makes it of no serious
importance whether the husband loves his wife
or not. The awful frequency of divorce and the
looseness of the marriage-tie are perhaps
the best
arguments against this defrauding of the young people
of their natural right.
To tell a Japanese that American people often
marry against their parents' consent is to puzzle him
and make him believe bad stories about them. If a
man who marries against his parents' wish be not a
triple-dyed ingrate, he must be a downright fool;
and beyond this idea the old-fashioned Japanese can
not go. You might as well try to make a blind man
understand that " celestial rosy red " was " Love's
proper hue," as to convince a young man of the old
school that a good man ever marries against his
parents' wishes. Such ideas and practices are convincing
evidences to him of the vast moral inferiority
of western nations when compared with the
people descended from the gods.
Was Kiku happy? Nay, you should ask, Can
that word express her feelings? She had obeyed