1890.
MY DEAR SISTER ELIZABETH,-- ... Now, as for myself,--I am going
to become country school-master in Japan,--probably for several long
years. The language is unspeakably difficult to learn;--I believe it can
only be learned by ear. Teaching will help me to learn it; and before
learning it, to write anything enduring upon Japan would be absurdly
impossible. Literary work will not support one here, where living costs
quite as much as in New York. What I wish to do, I want to do for its
own sake; and so intend to settle, if possible, in this country, among a
people who seem to me the most lovable in the world.
I have been living in temples and old Buddhist cemeteries, making
pilgrimages and sounding enormous bells and worshipping astounding
Buddhas. Still, I do not as yet know anything whatever about Japan. I
have nothing else worth telling you to write just now, and no address to
give,--as I do not know where I am going or what I shall be doing next
month.
Later on, I shall write again.
Best wishes and affection from
L. H.