Volume II Part 18 (1/2)

I think that on the whole I aular fits of despondency and disgust about my work, of course

One day I think I have done well; the next that I am a hideous ass and fool Much is a question of nervous condition But I feel sure that a long-continued period of self-contentment would be extremely injurious to me; and that checks and failures and mockeries are indispensable medicine

I read the books you sent me--Mallock only because _you_ wishedhe ever did How i

”The Wood beyond the World” astounded lish; but you know that such a thing could not be written in lish prose very well; and Ithe _raison d'etre_ thereof It is si is priceless,--the single story of Puriestive moral of human life is such a avethree totally distinct fields of literary work--were a great treat

My boy is quite well again, though ere very frightened about him

He suffers from the cold every winter (you know the japanese never have fire in winter), but he is getting hardier, I trust He is very fond of pictures and says funny things about the pictures in the ”Jungle Book”

I am off to the Southern Islands shortly,--so you may not hear from me for some weeks

Ever affectionately, LAFCADIO HEARN

TO ELLWOOD HENDRICK

KOBE, January, 1895

Since I wrote you last, you dear old fellow, I've been through so you, I broke down, and had to remain three weeks with compresses over my eyes in a dark room I am now over it--able to write and read for a short time every day, but have been warned to leave routine newspaper work alone Which I must do

Your letter ell, I don't just knohat to call its quality:--there was a bracing tenderness in it that ree friendshi+p Really, in this world there is nothing quite so holy as a college friendshi+p Two lads,--absolutely innocent of everything wrong in the world or in life,--living in ideals of duty and drea each other all their troubles, and bracing each other up I had such a friend once We were both about fifteen when separated, but had been together froot the worst;--then my friend became for me a sort of ideal, which still lives I should be alroay froht his voice and face back,--just as if his very ghost had come in to lay a hand on my shoulder

Kobe is a nice little place The effect on me is not pleasant, however I have becon women--the sound of their voices--jars uponpurely natural won woeoise_ style--affected English and affected American ways prevail) Carpets,--dirty shoes,--absurd fashi+ons,--wickedly expensive living,--airs,--vanities,--gossip: how much sweeter the japanese life on the soft mats,--with its ever dearer courtesy and pretty, pure simplicity Yet rows old, there will some day come back to him memories of his mother's dainty little world,--the _hibachi_,--the _toko_,--the garden,--the lights of the household shrine,--the voices and hands that shaped his thought and guided every little tottering step Then he will feel very, very lonesome,--and be sorry he did not follow after those who loved hi-place where the Buddhas still smile under their moss

Ever affectionately, LAFCADIO

TO BASIL HALL CHAMBERLAIN

KOBE, January, 1895

DEAR CHAMBERLAIN,--I'm able norite and read a little every day--nottires the eyes less Glad you like ”Glimpses,” as I see by your last kind letter Of course it is full of faults: any ritten in absolute isolation h: the publishers announce a third edition already, and the notices have been good--in America, enthusiastic _The Athenaeulish papers abuse it The enerally

The earthquakes are really horrible I can syn life here is very unpleasant, after life in the interior A foreign interior is a horror to n women--China-Coast tall woree with you about the ”genuine men and women”

in the open ports There are some--very, very few (Thank the Gods I shall never have to live a them!) The number of Germans here makes life more tolerable, I fancy They are plain, but holish or Americans (the forood library But life in Yunotsu or Hino-misaki, or Oki, with only the bare her in every way than the best open ports can offer

The japanese peasant is ten tin merchant could ever learn to be Unfortunately the japanese official, with all his civility and ood deal lower than a savage and h (who always has a kernel of good in him) by an inexpressible per cent Carpets--pianos--s--curtains--brass bands--churches! how I hate them!! And white shi+rts!--and _yofuku!_ Would I had been born savage; the curse of civilized cities is on et away pers, I know I'ht like to know about the effect on me of a half-return to Western life How much I could hate all that we call civilization I never knew before How ugly it is I never could have conceived without a long sojourn in old japan--the only civilized country that existed since antiquity Them's my sentiments!

I have not yet been able to read Lowell's new book through But he must have worked treured by absolutely shaht sharp sting peculiar to Lowell's art It is painfully unsympathetic--Mephistophelian in a way that chillsthat the study is applicable equally to Europe or America as to japan The same psychical phenomena may be studied out anywhere, with the same result The race difference in persons, like the difference between life and not-life in biology, is only one of degree, not of kind Still, it is a wonderful book

Ever truly, LAFCADIO HEARN