The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1920-04-03
FATHER FORD, OF MARYkNOLL
N. Y, WRITES FROM JAPAN.

His Imperial Maiesty's R. r., Nagas-
aki TO MOjii.
Dear Father Superior:
| should have written sooner, en-
route, but His Majesty's train shakes
too much.
We have been making one-night
stands along the way and it is hard
to determine what half-hOur shall be
set apart for writing home.
My last letter was written at Sen,
dai. After Bishop Berlioz took us to
the scene Of martyrdom of Blessed
Carvalho, We took supper at the Ca
thedral residence and he gave me sew
eral large photographs of original doc
uments connected with the MARTYR
doms. l will try to make short ar
ticle Of it soon. At nine he left us to
the care of Father JacQuet and Father
Hayasaka (his French and English
are remarkable. he picked up the lat
est slang from New Workers at PrODa-
ganda) and His Lordship tramped
back those twO-and-a-half miles in the
seemed to take it as the usual thing.
Every missioner so far has been de-
lighted at the chance to show Amer
lean priests, especially MaryknolleTs,
his appreciation of the goodwill Amer
lea manifested both in mission help
and in the war.
From Sendai we went to Osaka
stopping at NagOya. Father Spenner
at Yokohama had sent telegram to
Father Walter to meet us at 9 in the
evening but after waiting a half hour
we 'pousse-pOussed" it through back
streets and dark lanes, and dirt and
ugly sights, which my imagination
fed on Nick Carter's) pictured as
preludes of robbery and death by star
walton in an opium den. Ten-thirty
found us in front Of Mel Sci (The
Morning Star SchooD but it took Us
five or ten minutes to wake one OF
the Brothers by shouting, and a hall
hour later we were tucked away in
bed The telegram arrived the day
after. The unusual delay was caused
by strike among the operators Rice
has gone sky high because Of the de
mands of the Allies and the better
price Japan can sell it for abroad
leaves little for home use. The tel
egraph operators, as everywhere else
want higher wages.
Father Walter dropped everything
except necessary classwork and tool
us through Nara to see the larges
bell in the world. 1t is a side attrac
ton near a large temple. Fathe
Jeley, the local missioner, was sayinI
his beads in the park as we passed by
so he became our guide. In the par!
were some sacred monkeys, natives O
the Nara mountains, highly esteemed
as the ancestors Of the present gen
GRAFTON of the Jap. The theories o
Darwinism have a firm grip here bu
the Jap cannot impose them on tn
Korean. Father Jeley told us Of
Korean schoolboy who was instructed
by his Japanese teacher that men ar
descendants from monkeys. The DO
answered promptly: Pardon me, tn
japanese are, but not the Koreans.
Darwinism is taught in all the schools
along with Kant and other German
philosophers.
On the train young Jap Che ma
have been fifty, but they all appear t
be school boys) showed his teeth an
asked us whittier we were bound
Had Father Browne heard his Englis
he would never despair over America
"slanguage;" 1t was safer to let hir
talk than try to make him understand
He told us he had studied English i
the "Christian Bible School, but h
did not remember what denomination
suggested every one l could think @
and he appeared more intelligen
when l said Baptist" but it woul
be rash to say he understood me. H
volunteered that he had studied tn
penhauer and Buddhist philosophy an(
though a Buddhist, he did not worshi
at the temples. He said: After dee
philosophy study of Bible and you
philosophers, Kant and Shopenhauel
| study very, very deeply Buddhist
same person but | am not man Q
peace but of practical and very busy
| believe in Kant" Is he a sample @
the product of Japanese modern edl
cational institutions, including Sc
called Christian ones? He also state
that Catholics never read the Bible
l could not hope to convince him tina
the Breviary l held in my hand cor
tanned much of the Bible, but I as
sured him | had even heard of tn
Old Testament
After Nara, Father Walter took u
to Kyoto, ''the Rome of Buddhism,
where the center of Japanese worshi
is. We had an unkempt bonze, tootf
less and with several dirty handkel