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264 HONDA THE SAMURAI. under the same heaven with the murderer of father or lord, jealous women will not be slow to apply the same doctrine to recreant lovers. Will you not, friend Rai, do your part to extirpate from your province this witchcraft and forms ? superstition in all its " "I will, I promise. Even now I feel like running after this woman and scaring her by roaring like a bull. Part of the superstition is that if the be- witched see an ox the potency of her charm is destroyed. I have known mischievous boys to make a huge white figure of a bull's head and horns and nearly terrify women into insanity. Besides, it ruins the potency of the charm. What say you, doctor?" " No, no ; wait. Have pity on the poor girl. She is half-crazed now, and I fear for her reason. With time and patience I can assure her of the true facts with regard to Honda Jiro ; and truth in this case will be the best medicine." " Do, my good friend ; show her that Honda Jiro has not, so far as we know, been unfaithful to her, nor is there another woman drawing away his affec- tions. Her idea is one of pure imagination." "If too we could only get Honda released from prison," said the doctor; "this done, with your help I do not even despair of seeing them married and happy, and Honda's energies turned into the right channel. From mulberry leaves to silk is a great change, but not greater than can be wrought by kindness and tact in this case." "From what I have heard of the young man,"
THE HOUR OF THE OX. 265 said Mr. Koba, "he is a noble specimen of man- hood, despite his waywardness. In him is the true Yamato-damashii, the ideal of unconquerable Japan. This ideal needs only to be kept from being merely military and degenerating into barbarism, to be the noblest on earth. From such men as Honda, rightly enlightened, we must look for the establishment of our nation upon foundations which even the shock of foreign intercourse, or even war, can not shake. Indeed, when the intellectual methods and moral principles which govern the nations of the West become ours, such youth as Honda Jiro will be the hope of the land. May you be as industrious, as successful, doctor, in this transformation, as is the silk-worm in turning the mulberry leaf into satin." Mr. Koba meant even more than he said, but he checked himself and purposely returned to the doctor's illustration of the silk-worm. The three moved towards the city, still talking on the theme of popular superstition. " These absurd notions of the people are a draw- back to the honorable practice of my profession and greatly hinder science," said the doctor. " Just look at those little cedar-wood tablets bought at the Buddhist temple to keep off fire, thieves, and diseases ! On some houses there are layers of a dozen or more. Then look at those figures of a black hand on a white sheet of paper pasted beside the doors of their houses. They are supposed to keep off small-pox. Old Tame'tomo's palm is as
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264 HONDA THE SAMURAI.<br />
under the same heaven with the murderer of father<br />
or lord, jealous women will not be slow to apply the<br />
same doctrine to recreant lovers. Will you not,<br />
friend Rai, do your part to extirpate from your<br />
province this witchcraft and forms ?<br />
superstition in all its<br />
"<br />
"I will, I promise. Even now I feel like running<br />
after this woman and scaring her by roaring like a<br />
bull. Part of the superstition is that if the be-<br />
witched see an ox the potency of her charm is destroyed.<br />
I have known mischievous boys to make<br />
a huge white figure of a bull's head and horns and<br />
nearly terrify women into insanity.<br />
Besides, it ruins<br />
the potency of the charm. What say you, doctor?"<br />
" No, no ; wait. Have pity on the poor girl. She<br />
is half-crazed now, and I fear for her reason. With<br />
time and patience I can assure her of the true facts<br />
with regard to Honda Jiro ; and truth in this case<br />
will be the best medicine."<br />
" Do, my good friend ; show her that Honda Jiro<br />
has not, so far as we know, been unfaithful to her,<br />
nor is there another woman drawing away his affec-<br />
tions. Her idea is one of pure imagination."<br />
"If too we could only get Honda released from<br />
prison," said the doctor; "this done, with your<br />
help I do not even despair of seeing them married<br />
and happy, and Honda's energies turned into the<br />
right channel. From mulberry<br />
leaves to silk is a<br />
great change, but not greater than can be wrought<br />
by kindness and tact in this case."<br />
"From what I have heard of the young man,"
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