MATSUE, August, 1891.
DEAR PAGE,--I answer your dear letter at once, as you wished me to
do. It reached me to-day, on my return from Kizuki, the Holy City of
Japan,--where I have become something of a favourite with the high
pontiff of the most ancient and sacred shrine of the land,--which
no other European was ever permitted to enter before me. And I am
travelling now,--stopping at home only on my way to other curious and
unknown places. For this part of Japan is so little known that I was
the first to furnish Murray's Guidebook editors with some information
thereabout....
But I had unknown friends here who knew me through my "Chinese
Ghosts"--so they applied to the Government for me, and I got an
educational position under contract. The contract was renewed last March
for a year--the extreme term allowed by law. My salary is only $100 per
month; but that is equal here to more than double the sum in America.
So that I am able to keep up nearly the nicest house in town,--outside
of a few very rich men,--to have several servants, to give dinners, and
to dress my little wife tolerably nicely. Moreover, life in Japan is
something so placid and kindly and gentle--that it is just like one of
those dreams in which everybody is good-natured about everything. The
missionaries have no reason to like me,--for one had to be discharged to
secure me; and I teach the boys to respect their own beautiful faith and
the gods of their fathers, and not to listen to proselytism. However,
the missionaries leave me alone. We have a tiff about Spencer in the
_Japan Mail_ sometimes; but as a rule I am completely isolated from all
Europeans. It is only at long intervals one ever gets so far,--with
the exception of an austere female stationed here in the vague hope of
making a convert.
Of course I will send you a photograph of my little wife. I must tell
you I am married only in the Japanese manner as yet,--because of the
territorial law. Only by becoming a Japanese citizen, which I think I
shall do, will it be possible to settle the matter satisfactorily. By
the present law, the moment a foreigner marries a native according to
English law, she becomes an English citizen, and her children English
subjects, if she have any. Therefore she becomes subject to territorial
laws regarding foreigners,--obliged to live within treaty limits,
and virtually separated from her own people. So it would be her ruin
to marry her according to English form, until I become a Japanese in
law;--for should I die, she would have serious reason to regret her loss
of citizenship.
As for going abroad--I mean back to you all--I don't know what to
say. Just now, of course, I could not if I would; for I am under
legal contract. Then my plans for a book on Japan are but a quarter
finished. Then, my little woman would be very unhappy, I fear, away
from her people and her gods;--for this country is so strange that it
is impossible for any who have never lived here for a long time to
understand the enormous difference between the thought and feeling of
the Japanese and our own. But, later on, perhaps I _must_ go back for a
time to see about getting out a book. Then I will probably appeal to you
for a year's employ or something. The Orient is more fascinating than
you may suppose: here, remember, the people _really_ eat lotuses: they
form a common article of diet. But no human being can tell exactly what
the future has in store for him. So I cannot for the life of me say now
what I shall do....
We are many years behind you here. In Matsue there is a little newspaper
of which I must send you a copy as a curiosity. Every week or two there
is an article in it about me. For "the foreigner's" every act is a
subject for comment. There is no such thing in Japan as privacy. There
are no secrets. Every earthly thing a man does is known to everybody,
and life is extravagantly, astoundingly frank. The moral effect is,
in my opinion, extremely good,--though the missionaries, who lie hard
about this country, say the reverse. Think of nothing but a paper screen
dividing all your life from the lives about you,--a paper screen to poke
a hole through, which is not considered outrageous, unless the screen
be decorated with celebrated paintings. That is _common_ life here.
As for me, I have a secluded house, with three gardens round it. But,
according to popular custom, I must never shut the door, or lock myself
up except at night. One must not be nervous here, or impatient: it is
impossible to remain either in such an atmosphere, or to be ill-natured,
or to hide anything. And just think of it!--I having to give lectures
and make speeches through an interpreter, which lectures and speeches
are duly printed in a Japanese magazine! To speak before a Japanese
audience, however, is delightful. One look at all the placid smiling
faces reassures the most shrinking soul at once.
Well, at all events, I shall write you often, and send you something
queer betimes. I must now get ready to take the little steamer by which
I start.
With best regards to all, and to you best love, I remain,