PATER’S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3802, 25 January 1927, Page 35

PATER’S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

A COURTEOUS RACE. Recently there appeared in the papers a comment by Dr Parr (of Christchurch) on Japanese courtesy. He said that everywhere he went in Japan he was struck by the unvarying refined politeness of all classes of Japanese from the highest to the lowest. He mentioned that in one of the towns he asked a young fellow where a certain place was, and that the youth, after a very courteous salutation, told him where the place was, and added that, if the honourable visitor to his beautiful country would permit it, he would walk along with him and show him the house, because to strangers places in the towns were often very difficult to find. Other travellers in Japan say they have met the same courtesy not only among grown-up people, but even from very young boys, who invariably offer their services as a guide, and will accept nothing for their act of politeness. In spite of this, which is not the only refinement in Japanese character and social life, we, in our insular habits of thought and ignorance, are given to the belief that we are quite a superior race of people to the Japanese. That is a veryfoolish attitude to take up in regard to any of the great nations of the world, and is one of failings of the English people. It is that failing that makes us have too little an inclination to regard with good nature aud with some sympathy the feelings and habits or customs of other peoples. The Hon. W. E. Gladstone said: “We have too great a tendency to disregard the feelings and habits of other peoples, and this is pur besetting fault and weakness.” That is a great failing, and to other races that can lay claim to being civilised it makes us appear rough, uncouth, ill-bred, and very overbearing and arrogant. It is certainly a very grave fault in our manners and general outlook upon the world of- nations outside our own boundaries, and lea<]s to a general; dislike of us, which mqy be hidden br kept in check because we are a powerful people, or may be expressed openly, as it is in China just now. and as it has been expressed in India, Egypt, Ireland, and by great numbers in North America. It is, of course, a characteristic peculiar to a strong, virile, and Conquering nation, but it has been made worse by onr insularity, being an island people, and by our imperfect methods of education, or the backwardness and lack of it, all of which loads to narrowness of mind, overweening self-esteem, impoliteness, and finally arrogance. Amongst foreigners of every race and colour, however, there are two things in the British that earn for them great admiration aud a deal of respect, and those characteristics are an Englishman’s word of honour and love of truth and his sense of fair play, or the desire to be just in all his dealings. An Englishman's word of honour is so appreciated by other races, and especially amoi.jst backward peoples, that it is not uncommon amongst the natives of the Near East, when they maintain they are speaking the truth, to say: “On the word of an Englishman I am speaking the truth.” Now that is a very fine tribute to our character, but it is not enough. Everyone of any race whatever feels and appreciates acts of courtesy, and resents the contempt and arrogance which is too great a tendency in our insular nature and habits of outlook on the outside world. We are apt to regard ourselves in too many cases as too excellently superior. This has been seen, felt, and noted by foreigners ’ all over the world, and even by the people of the very few nations that admire British law and justice, and are inclined to be friendly. Now in trade or commerce and in international dealings of all kinds Britain needs friends to-day more than ever she did, and one of the best ways in which we can earn the goodwill and respect of other peoples is to cultivate the habit of sympathy, and especially courtesy, and to study more carefully so as to be able to appreciate with the right spirit the feelings and habits of other races.In Japan the training of the young in duty towards their elders is due to the ancient religion of that country—the worship of their ancestors. Great care is taken in teaching the children to be loyal, patient, polite, clean in person, and industrious, and, moreover—a thing which is splendid and worthy of much praise—to be lovers of the beautiful in all things, and especially i- Nature; Nowhere in the world are there such ’ beautiful gardens as there afte-in Japan and such iaiaster gardeners. Every month in Japan has’it special day set’ apart as a holiday to study and admire the' beauty Of the flowers that appear in thdir best forin' in that' particular month. • •■’There is a cherry blossom day, a rose day/ii Idtiis day,ahda” chrysanthemum day/SBd

so on according to any plant’s best time of bloom. . ...

Herd is-a fine and admirable thing in Japanese home life. Children from babyhood are even taught to smile, and smiling . faces are a characteristic of ”ie people. Japanese soldiers are. noted for sense of duty and Spartan’ courage, which is the result of their home training and examples of their ciders. When a great sorrow afflicts a Japanese family it is considered very bad form or manners to show outside the family any signs of grief. That is one of the chief reasons why Japanese children are taught to smile. An English merchant in Japan had a Japanese clerk, who, to the astonishment of the. merchant, one morning came late to work—their great sense of duty never permits them to allow themselves to be behind time at their work. To the employer, seeking to know the reason, the youth—he was about 18 or 19 years of age—smiled up to his face, and told his master that his (the boy's) honourable mother had died that morning. He was excused, smiled again, and went to his desk still smiling, to the astonishment of his employer, who was thinking to himself what a eal-lous-minded, hard-hearted race of beings the Japs are. He did not know that it was bad form to intrude your sorrows upon other people, and that below that smile the little Jap's heart was nearly bursting with grief. Every year in Japan there are boy and girl holidays, when peculiar-looking fishshaped kites are flown above every house in towns and villages. Those kites tell the boys that it is their great day, and also reminds them of their duties to be strong, brave, polite, and loyal, and selfsacrificing even unto death. From earliest childhood they are taught that, and it becomes part of their nature in manhood. All Japanese children are very keen to learn and derive as much pleasure from learning as our boys do from their sports. When these things, which are only a few of the fine teachings given to children in Japan, are known, should we be. surprised at the marvellous progress Japan has made since she adopted Western civilisation and methods only GO years ago? The foundation of Japan’s greatness was laid long before that in the splendid training in their home life given by the parents to their children. If some British parents paid .more attention to the. proper training of their children they would have much less reason later on to "complain of their children's ingratitude, and the manners or courtesy and respect of our race would be much improved, a state of affairs which for our own sakes and the goodwill of outsiders ■is much to be desired. It. is . necessary for us in New Zealand, we who are an insular people, that we should with all due humility take a leaf out of Japan's book on home training, and use it to some purpose for our own good amongst ourselves and our good name abroad.

THE MAN WHO WOULD NOT TURN BACK.

The reason that more people do not realise their dreams is because they are afraid of . failure. If they would put into them all that they are, all their heart and brain and strength, they would find themselves going forward to achievements undreamed of when they first set forth I

So says one of the most successful o* all living engineers, the great John Frank Stevens. You bad not heard of him perhaps: few people in Britain know his name. Yet in the wild Rocky Mountains of America hisxstatue crowns a lonely hill.

The statue was raised to commemorate the persistency, tenacity, and skill which the engineer showed when he explored the drive across the Cascades and the Rockies to the sea. He had to go across vast stretches of unceded Indian land, while beyond he crossed the reservation of the Blackfoot Indian tribe, generally so hostile to strangers. But Mr Stevens, on his surveying expedition, came and went freely among these Indians. He made friends of them, though they did not show him their trails through the mountains. From them he learned that an old Indian legend mentioned a pass, such as he sought, at the head of the Marias River. But in it, they warned him, dwelled an evil spirit. Their earnest advice was to steer clear of it, for even if he discovered it—so they assured him —he could never return alive. But Stevens could not give up. The more closely he studied the lie of the land and the course of the streams the more positive he became that somewhere through those mysterious mountains was the outlet he sought and was determined to find. One day about the middle of December, when the thermometer registed 40 degrees below zero, he stopped by the Blackfoot settlement, 40 miles from the summit of the Rockies, to see if he, could not bribe one of them to pilot him through the mountains. But they could not be induced to do it. Finally he persuaded a Kalispell Indian, who had been driven from his tribe for murder, to accompany him. But after a day and ahalf he backed out of his promise, and refused to venture among those treacherous andTcy slopes. But Stevens could not. bring himself -to turn back after coming so far. : He went on. alone. Through snow five feet- in places, over great masses of' fallen timber, along steep inclines slippery as glass, he made his way among those unknown.;, and deadly mountains.. . ■ '“More than once” (Stevens admits today) “I nearly lost my life. But I was stubborn; I could hot give up. I be-

lieved in my soiil that the pass was there. And at last, deep in : tlie moiintains, I stumbled upon it. Following it, to make sure c'T a Pacific drainage, I saw just how it carte out on the western side. “Oft rny return darkness overtook me as I reached the summit, and T amid go no farther. It was bitterly cold, aiid .all night I tramped back and forth to keep from freezing. “But it was a most interesting night, for tramping there in the darkness,’ on the summit of that mountain pass, I saw as clearly as if it were’already a reality, exactly how the trains of the Great Northern would go sweeping through those mountain fastnesses in rue months to come.” And now the steel trail is blazed, thanks to Stevens’s industry, right through the mountains. Bridges have been thrown over sombre and dizzy canyons, and paths blasted through the precipitous heights. He made one tunnel which is three miles long, and so excellently was it calculated that when the two headings of the tunnel met mid-way beneath the mountains there was an error of but one-fourth of an inch between them!