Volume II Part 27 (1/2)

AUGUST, 1896

DEAR NIshi+DA,--We got back on the night of the twenty-third We had to wait a couple of days at Sakai; and I had so Dr

Takahashi+ was very s had becoht out all the chest- the tio to the sea whenever I feel pulled down again

Sakai is a queer place for swie three ti One who cannot swim far has to be careful Straws in the water show the way of the current near shore; but in thethe other way

There were eight foreign officers on the Meiji Maru They were very kind to us The captain (his na Sun (I think) and got a present of 2000 for services during the war,--the transport-service, of course He told s about the behaviour of the soldiery,--very nice things

I felt unhappy at the Ohashi+, because you waited so long, and I had no power to coax you to go ho there so kindly and patiently,--in the great heat of that afternoon Write soon,--if only a line in japanese,--to tell us how you are

Kaji-_chan_ re to Nishi+da-San no Oji-San We all hope to have another summer with you next year

Ever faithfully, arards of all,

LAFCADIO HEARN

I still see you sitting at the wharf to watch us go I think I shall always see you there

[Illustration]

TO ELLWOOD HENDRICK

TOKYO, 1896

DEAR HENDRICK,--I a to ask you to put eneral book-dealer_ to whom I can send P O orders, and ill mailthrough local book-dealers,--not sies and errors, but because of enormous delays On a separate sheet I enclose some titles of what I badly want for thesome cash This said, I promise not to trouble you further _except when I can't help it_ See what a nuisance I am!

You may well believe ine my position:--a professor of literature without books, i lectures to students without books I reached Tokyo about seven days ago, and have not yet got a house,--but aive you no valid i is a blur But so far the position does not seereeable--rather the reverse In fact I a Polyxenes The salary is 400 yen,--and in japan, a yen is a dollar though it is only fifty-odd cents in Aather roundit--so in separate and never-colliding orbits I can teach for years--if I please--without ever seeing any of ues

But Government favour, you know, is uncertain The chances are that I shall hold on for three years at least

When I heard last fro by constant swi,--japanese diet takes all the loose flesh froot quite sound, and my miserable eye _nearly_ well

I suppose that I partly owe this place to my books, and partly to Professor Chamberlain's kind recommendation The japanese seldom notice literary work,--but they have paid considerable attention to h, is independence in my own home,--an old-fashi+oned _yashi+ki_, full of surprises of colour and beauty and quaintness and peace And a few years abroad with my boy,--who is very mischievous now, and beats his father occasionally--Curious, how much better the japanese understand children than we do You re _dip_ in the sea, no doubt This no japanese parents would inflict on their child

I tried it with : it will only make him afraid of the water” Which proved true Moreover, he would not allow me to come near him any more in the sea,--but used to order me to keep away ”Go away, and don't coe; and in a week he was as fond of the water as I,--had overcoreat patience to treat children japanese-style,--by leaving the courage by little and little

Aeather,--floods, wreckings, ruinings, drownings I think the deforestation of the country is probably the cause of these terrible visitations In Kobe just before I left, the river, usually a dry sandbed, burst its banks after rain, swept ahole streets, wrecked hundreds of houses, and drowned about a hundred people Then you know the tidal wave in the north--it was _only_ 200 --destroyed some 30,000 lives A considerable part of East Central japan is still under water at this moment--river water Lake Biwa rose and drowned the city of Otsu

Isn't it aln salary under such circumstances?--especially while students come to tellall their property,--piece by piece,--even mother's dresses and our lacquer-ware had to be sold And noe have nothing, and my education is unfinished--and unless it is finished I cannot even hope for a position Teacher, I shall work six years to pay the money back, if you will help me” Poor fellows!--their whole expense is only about 120 (japanese) a year But if I did not take the salary, another foreigner would ask evenfor a japanese coant, but my literary work pays for that

Well, here's love to you (If the book-business does not bother you too _,--not to send by express)

Ever faithfully, LAFCADIO HEARN

(Y KOIZUMI)