Volume II Part 40 (1/2)
Affectionately, LAFCADIO
TO MITChell McDONALD
TOKYO, February, 1899
DEAR McDONALD,--Now don't give yourself all that trouble about coly trip for you last Saturday or Sunday, anyhoait till the fine days, and till you don't knohat else to do I think I shall see you before you go to the U S anyhow, in Tokyo; but I don't think you will be able to --quick--murder:” then I know that you will even quit your dinner and co the other day to ask you if you ever knew nal Service), Washi+ngton He was very fond of ot me my first introduction to the Harpers I believe that he died of overwork I have his portrait He was Whitether, I ondering how much nationality has to do with these friendshi+ps Is it only Irish or Latin people who etting old--and that, as Balzac says,to think of old times, I believe a man is better off in a very hu then s Give him a thousand dollars a month, and he must live in a theatre, and never presume to take off his mask
No, dear friend, I don't want _your_ book I should not feel comfortable with it in hand: I cannot co to another person, because I feel all the ti it I feel restrained, and therefore unco the ood Nay! I shall wait even until the crack of doom, rather than take your book
There is to be a ht to come to-day--but the _City of Rio de Janeiro_ is not likely to fly in a blizzard, except doard If she has my book on board she will certainly sink
By the way, you did not know that I aets into trouble Went to America in a steamer that foundered Came to japan upon another that went to destruction
Travelled upon a half-dozen japanese steamers,--every one of which was subsequently lost Even lake-boats do not escape me The last on which I journeyed turned over, and drowned everybody on board,--only twenty feet froic_ on land The only shi+p that I could not wreck was the _Saikyo-Maru_, but she went to the Yalu on the next trip after I had been aboard of her,--and got tolerably well smashed up; so I had satisfaction out of her anyhow If ever I voyage on the Empress boats, there will be a catastrophe Therefore I fear exceedingly for the _Rio de Janeiro_; she is not strong enough to bear the presence of that book in a typhoon
Affectionately, LAFCADIO
TO MITChell McDONALD
TOKYO, March, 1899
DEAR FRIEND,--I really felt badly at not being able to see more of you yesterday,--especially to see you off to shi+ate without putting on shoes that take a terrible time to lace On the other hand, you left in the house a sense of warmth and force and sun,--that were like a tonic to me,--or like a South-wind from the sea on a summer's day; and I felt in consequence better satisfied with the world at large
Do you recognize this pen: a US pen, contributed to my pen-holder by a USN officer whom I know a little, and like very much
I hope by this time that the Gordian knot shows some inclination to unravel; and that the worry is dihter, your story of the bear I think I have found nearly as good a siot into a post-carriage, with many furious steeds, which the driver was accusto of Jehu,--and the driver was given further towhich he had no consciousness of the base facts of earth And the bottoe fell out; and the Baboo landed feet first, and ran,--with the carriage round hi at a speed not to be calculated For the Baboo, it was death or run,--because the driver neither heard nor saw; and the exertions ot off with a large amount of hospital, caused--or rather necessitated--by the unusual exercise
Well, I hope I shall so has been gained: you have been up; and I can't find fault--even should you never again visit Toiven a present to those _kuru the ed! Affectionately,
LAFCADIO
Boy sends love to Ojisan McDonald
TO MITChell McDONALD
TOKYO, March, 1899
DEAR McDONALD,--I don't knohat to say about ”Cyrano de Bergerac” as a poem, except that as for fine workmanshi+p, it is e should expect the best dramatic French prosody of this sort to be The verse-sreat craftsman But was the subject worth the labour spent upon it? I have no doubt that upon the French stage the effect would be glorious,--exciting,--splendid: all that sort of thing; and the story is ”Frenchy,”--wrap-ance It isn't natural--that is a great fault Why it should please English and American readers I can't quite see: I don't believe the approbation is quite genuine,--any enuine on the part of those ent to see her without knowing a word of her language I can understand why Frenchmen should enthusiastically praise the book, but not why A little ”chit;” the other characters are without any syht with everybody about his nose--to impose his nose on the world at the point of the sword, while perpetrating rhyrand person No poet could et the nose of Mephistopheles because his wit and force dazzle us; but Mephistopheles has no weaknesses,--not at least in the first part of ”Faust” Cyrano has rowth of his despair about his nose But I a; and I shall prize the book as long as I live,--because it caiven me with a sement) incomparably more beautiful than the writer's best lines; for these latter are not quite out of the heart, you know
Speaking of an ugly subject for heroic treat that you would have done better than thea hairy caterpillar in a salad at a banquet
The lady of the palace had ladled the salad and the caterpillar into the plate of some admiral or commodore, and sahat she had done when it was too late The sea, sed the caterpillar unseen by the other guests After the banquet, the beauty came to thank him--out of the innermost rosy chamber of her heart--when he is reported to have said: ”Why, Madam, did you think that I would per to be spoiled by a miserable G--d d--d caterpillar!” Yes, you would have consumed the caterpillar; but you would not have ”cussed” in the closing scene--though that was a lovable profanity in a man of the older school