much difficulty and subsequent dar depends upon the endeavour'and dé= gers. At that time, all my relations termination of its people, The past restrained themselves from communi-100'years have wi a number cating with me. The only one who of nations establishing themselves 'SUN believed in. -whatever I had after years of hard struggle, and these Undertaken to do, and would do to help me, spiritually end materially, was my mother, 'At the time of the establishment of the "Republic, I found myself at If we can keep on struggling' wit the age of 28, By then I had been able to improve our home for my. mother and to gratify her wishes a ttle, Unfortunately, the -establishment of the Republican form of government "was not "followed by the establishment of perpetual peace.
'A Hopeless Period Already Interiecine conflicts among warring militarists had occurred all ver the land, In such circumstances, the application of Party principles was absolutely impossible, and for a lime the cause of the revolution seemed hopelessly lost. At this critical time,- my mother again_camé fo me with valuable advice, For period of seventeen years—that is, from the time T lost my father at the age of nine till T was 25 years old—my mother had never spent_a day free of domestic difficulties. Though often anxious about my fugitive Ife during "that period, she remained persistently calm and self-confident Bnd. regarded the reconstruction "of ur home as Her only responsibility.
Once: she said to. me" have become such a. poor widow since your father's death, and sometimes T was amidst' such "unbearable conditions that T really did not know how to preserve ourselves. My only convieion is that a fatherless child like you must be carefully brought before we can' expect any success in this world. Our house must be car-Blod om by an heir who can. keep untarnished, the good. reputation of family." "At another time. she said:—"Unfortunate "things, such "as misfortunes, dangers, and human sufferings, sre of daily occurrence every corner of the world, but in the face of these we must practice selt-reliance and: sell-betterment In order to find a way out. Hence, the greater our domestic diftcultis, the more important It 1s to uphold our family traditions; the worse our domestic disaster, the stronger we" have to make our will. For a poor widow anda poor orphan, or anyone who {s trying to support himself in. this cruel world, there is nothing better than the. strict. observance of self tell ance and. selt-betterment"
3 Fillat Piety At the first disappointment I en" countered in the early days of the Revolution, my mother again. came to my ald. She taught me how to make the principle of thal piety applicable 10 the whole nation, " She fold: me to recall to mind how we overcome our home difficulties in the garller days, and wished me to apply the principle in a broader sense—in a national sense—so that injustice and oppression might for ever disappear from human history. 'She impressed upon my mind that to be merely a dutiful son does not fulfil all the exacting conditions of the principle filial piety; the principle demands an unflinching devotion to the cause' of the "nation, All these Good words were said by my mother with the purpose of guld-Ing my lite in this. world. Although has always been my ardent desire to do everything in accordance with my late mother's wishes, yet so far Thave not been able to live up to her great expectations, Whenever 1 reflected on the conditions in. which we two—a. widowed mother and a fatherless son—lived in the. shadow of cold realities, T could not but pray for the day when T-shaula be able to. fulath my mother's wishes worthy manner.
Such is the great debt 1 owe to my country, and such is the great debt ewe tommy mother. In some of my leisure moments, T reflected upon my experiences during the past 80 years, Teannot but confess that the frst 25 years of my life were beset with great dimeulties. 1° suffered tie lose of my mother, I was handicapped by the want of means, snd again I war hhandleapped by my" limited know: ledge in the struggle for a better ite.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.