LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOSEPH HARDY NEESIMA

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332 LAST YEARS AND DEATH. of consecration. His departure on the eve of the completion of his great work is especially lamentable. His life is well known to the world, and any attempt to narrate it on the part of my unworthy pen would but mar the perfect gem. So I let that pass, wishing only to place before you some words of his which I wish thus to preserve as an incentive to my own spirit. "About fifteen years ago, on his return from America, he preached frequently in Tokyo and Y oko~ hama, and also delivered several lectures. He deeply impressed all who heard him, causing them to look upon him as the father of our people. I was one of his listeners, and from that time tried to see him as often as I could. Gradually his name became known, and he recently set about his plan to establish a uni~ versity. I rejoiced in this undertaking, and to show my interest in it, with other sisters gave· a musical concert, the proceeds of which, a widow's mite, we forwarded to him. He sent us a letter of thanks, but we felt unworthy to receive even this from him. "Last winter he came to Tokyo. It was on the 23d of December. I had the pleasure of having a long talk with him. His face was gentle, but indica­tive of will. Though a man of few words, yet every one he uttered carried incalculable weight. He re­ceived me as a father receives his child, with overflow­ing love, yet with a delicate reserve. 'Believing this is the best opportunity,' he said, 'I wish to ask a favor of you. There is a work to which I desire you to give yourself, an important one at this juncture. Among the reasons why there are so few great men among us, why national morality is so low, I believe the greatest to be the existing inequality in the rights of man and woman. Therefore the first thing to im-

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