September, 1937
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
337
Jinsaburo Lifts His Cross
By OPAL LEONORE GIBBS
drooping heart. He also is comforter to me, and we prayed together today as we walked among the bamboo trees outside our suburban district. Then I persuaded him to go to mission ary’s house to inform, which we did. They decided at once to hold the Farewell Social Meeting for Matsu Chan. And their pray ings were like gentle plaster on my friend’s spirit. M ay 4. The farewell meeting was held tonight and my uncle permitted my attendance for my friend. Many people came, about one hundred, I think. And English Bible Class students brought small gifts of farewell. As the assorted speeches poured forth about Matsumura’s Christian faith, my heart dis solved and I had much ado not to spill tears. It seemed,I had not understood fully my own friend’s sweetness of character. Pastor Fujimoto said he was like John whom Lord Jesus loved most of any. When my turn came to arise and give farewell verse, I drank emotion but could not speak, So I asked to pray and heard many accom paniments of soft weeping to my prayer. Blind girl, Eiko San, sang in her angel voice with lifted face shining as always with great light. W e ate cakes and tea, and Mrs. McEdward walked about, dressed in quiet blue silk kimono. Sometimes she wears Japanese clotheses at social meeting and we all smile warmly to see her. She had even the fan pushed into her obi-sash, and also the white tabi on her feet. At midnight we sang, “Till the Day We Meet Again with Jesus,” and she sang one verse in English, playing always up and down on organ in very beautiful manner. To my [Continued on page 358]
body. For a friend of Uncle was at din ner and as they ate and drank loudly, they held conversation. I heard plainly the promise to marry me away to some man’s daughter. Sometimes I think hatred for my Uncle burns like fire within. How can he be still medieval to compel me in such mat ter? But I listed further and she is eightT een years. Her name is Hanako, which means “Little Flower.” However, I shall never marry to her. I shall employ sit- down strike, or stand-up strike, or fast strike like Gandhi. Yes, I shall pray day and night to be saved from such nefarious custom. Would that Uncle did meet with great accident, perhaps burst himself open with eating and drinking. M ay 1. Matsu Chan visited my room this eve ning. He is soon to become married man. The girl which was choosed for his wife dwells in the country mountains, twenty leagues from here. But such is not all. Her father is large landowner with tenantry in villages about, but as he has no sons, he must adopt a son as husband of this oldest daughter. This man, the father, is cousin to Matsu’s father, so it has been arranged. And my friend can no longer be Matsu- mura but Hoshigawa, as that is their name. However, he is meekly acquiescent. As for me, I cry with Invictus, “ Under fell clutching of circumstance, My head is bloody but unbowed.” The ceremony is to be promulgated soon, and my friend asks me to accompany him to this mountain house. If only Uncle con sents, how delight I shall feel I I shall stay his sinking morale and comfort his
Carp banners, one for each boy in the home, are displayed above Japanese homes on May 5, the annual Boys' Festival.
PART II M arriage P lans
Jinsaburo, having majored in English in a Japanese university, desires to continue his use of the English language. Accord ingly, he confides to his journal the events of his life in Tokyo. The necessity of sup porting his young sister and his widowed mother has forced Jinsaburo to work in the shop of his uncle, and he does not always find the relationship an easy one. Because their missionary friends, the Mc- Edward family, could not accompany them to view the cherry blossoms at Arakawa, Jinsaburo and his friend, a young man named Matsu Chan, took Jinsaburo’s rela tives instead. Having, as Christians, new standards of purity, Jinsaburo and his friend concluded that the many evidences of sin seen in a public place marred the pleasure of a Christian who sought to enjoy the beauty of the blossoms. In this present por tion of his story, Jinsaburo deals with more problems in the new life in Christ. S unday . T ODAY Pastor Fujimoto gave church sermon about Flower - Viewing in Bible. We learned how Lord Jesus is like valley lilies and roses and if we have Him, we give forth sweet odors in speech and temper. I resolved always to be in this way, but alas! My soul is even now so angered that it heats my whole [Mrs. Gibbs draws this story from her experiences as a missionary in Japan and from her knowledge of the spiritual devel opment of the young Japanese whom she calls “Jinsaburo.” Further incidents in the life of Jinsaburo will appear in T he K ing ’ s B usiness in subsequent months .—E ditor .]
Such a display as this greeted Taro and Jiro, Jinsaburo's small cousins, on the occasion of the yearly boys' celebration. Dolls representing national heroes are given to the boys, and miniature martial accoutrements, armor, swords, lances, axes, bows, and arrows, are set forth in Japanese homes to teach courage and to wish health, success, and prosperity to the nation's boys. The illustrations on this page are used through the courtesy of the Board of Tourist Industry of the Japanese Government Railways.
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