LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOSEPH HARDY NEESIMA

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THE KUMAMOTO BAND. 211 "The bearer is one of the Christian company here, of whom I have written you. He must tell you his own story. I will only say that he is a graduate of this year, and had completed the regular course of study before he was taken from the school and sub­jected to persecution. He has received the most cruel and outrageous treatment at the hands of his brother, acting under the influence of the opposition party here, and has been practically a prisoner for one hundred and twenty days. He was made the slave of the ser­vants of his family, who were instructed to treat him as one possessed of a devil, without human rights. He is now practically outcast. He severs his family connection finally and strikes for liberty. He is a shorn lamb, and leaving all." Among other members of what came to be known as the Kumamoto band were Mr. Tokudomi, now a trustee, editor of "The People's Friend," a quarterly magazine published at Tokyo, as also of a leading daily newspaper, an author also of national reputation and influence; Mr. Yokoi, also a trustee, pastor of a church in Tokyo, and editor of "The Christian," the weekly organ of the Congregational churches in Japan, and of a literary journal, " The Rikugo Zasshi ; " Mr. Kosaki, now at the head of the Doshisha as Mr. Nee­sima's successor; Mr. Ebina, afterwards pastor of a flourishing church in Annaka, and now principal of a large English school at Kumamoto; Mr. Morita, for eleven years a professor in the Doshisha, and Mr. Shimomura, at present professor of chemistry. Of the work done by Messrs. Kosaki at Tokyo, Ebina in Kotsuke, Miyagama in Osaka, Kanamori in Oka­yama, and Yokoi in Shikoku, Dr. Davis says:-"It has already changed the history of Japan. The

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