A Unique Custom

Taichi Takeishi, a Japanese student, died in thia city on August 16, 1890. Quiet funeral services were held and the remains were buried in Forest Hill cemetery. On Saturday last, some twelve of Takeishi's friends, who are still in the city, gathered in the room of one of their number, and paid their tribute of respeGt to the memory of the dead. It was pathetic and instructive. The meeting was the outgrowth of an old religious custom, followed from time immemorial by the "Shintoists," a sect which antedates even the Budhists themselves. They believe that when a man dies he becomes a god, and that his soul finds a dwelling-place in a shrine which they at once provide for it. At the end of the first year a priest conducís before this shrine a very esoteric ceremony. At the meeting of the Japanese studente on Saturday, however, no such ceremony was performedThere was simply an informal talk. The religión of "Shintoism," in fact, is believed only by the most ignorant. To the Japanese Rtudents of this University, who are mostly Chriatians, it has or.ly a poetic significance. It was decided at the meeting to erect a monument ovei the grave of Takeishi.