LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOSEPH HARDY NEESIMA
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HIS CHARACTER. 347 school assembled in the chapel, declared with deep emotion that the existence of this spirit was proof of a defective government, for which he was responsible, and for which, therefore, he also deserved punishment; and taking a cane proceeded to strike llls own hand with a force that brought tears and indignant protests from the entire school. This incident illustrates forcibly how intimate is the union of love and a real justice. Mr. Neesima's love knew no limits. It is easy to love our friends, it is possible to love our enemies; but it is rare to find one who loves the great multitude of the unknown. In a conversation with one whom he was urging to take up work in the provinces, he quoted the poem written by the wife of one of the earlier Shoguns:-"However glad the city's spring may be, The thonght of fading conntry fiowe111 deep sadn688 brings to me.'' Mr. Neesima's monument is not the simple stone which marks the grave on the slope above Kyoto; it is the university on the plain below. Every one who visits Japan is impressed by the results it has already wrought. A Russian nobleman, high in station in his native land, after meeting Mr. Neesima and inspecting the Doshisha in 1887, said: "He is one of the most wonderful men in some respects I have ever known, and this institution would be a blessing to any nation. There are no schools in Siberia to compare with it, and I wish that some of the energy and force and wisdom which have been displayed in its foundation might be devoted to the work of lifting up my countrymen who are scattered through that broad Asiatic empire which we possess." Yet even the university itself, the visible outcome of Mr. Neesima's
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