It is very wicked for a man to kill
himself, yet in Japan it is the custom for all courtiers who have
offended the emperor, to cut open their own bodies with a sword. The
little boys of five years old, begin to learn the dreadful art. They do
not really cut themselves, but they are shown _how_ to do it, that when
they are men, they may be able to kill themselves in an elegant manner.
How dreadful! Every great man has a white dress, which he never wears,
but keeps by him, that he may put it on when he is going to kill himself:
and he carries it about with him wherever he goes, for he cannot tell how
suddenly he may want it. When a courtier receives a letter sentencing him
to die, he invites his friends to a feast; and at the end of it, his
sentence is read aloud by the emperor's officer; then he takes his sword,
and makes a great gash across his own body; at the same moment, a servant
who stands behind him, cuts off his head.
This way of dying is thought very fine, and as a reward, the emperor
allows the son of the dead man to occupy his father's place in the court.
But _what_ a place to have, when at last there may be such a fearful
scene! Missionaries cannot come into Japan to teach the people a better
way of dying, and to tell them of a happy place after death.
AUSTRALIA.
This is the largest island in the world. It is as large as Europe (which
is not an _island_, but a _continent_).
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