TŌKYŌ, March, 1898.
DEAR McDONALD,--Just got your letter,--your more than kind letter.
Happily there is no occasion to send the telegram. I am getting well
fast, and think I shall be lecturing on Monday. No: I did not minimize
things. I have been laid up, but it was more painful than serious. Can't
tell what it was--a painful swelling of one side of the face, and nose.
My picturesque nose suffered most. That a square mile of solid pain
could be concentrated into one square inch of nose was a revelation!
Anyhow, it felt just like a severe case of frost-bite; but I suppose it
was only some sort of a cold. Going to Yokohama had nothing to do with
it; but the weather must have had. It was rather trying, you know, last
Tuesday.
You are the one who tries to minimize things, my dear friend, by
assuring me that there are thousands of ... people like yourself. I
am glad to think that you _can_ believe thus well of the world; but I
can't, and I should not be glad to think you were right. I prefer the
exceptional. Then you will remember my philosophical theory that no two
living beings have even the same voice, and that it is the uniqueness
of each that has value. I should have to abandon my theories to accept
your opinion of things in general, and I am prejudiced in favour of my
theories.
Perhaps next week I can run down, and if that be not a good time for
you, the week following. Anyhow the term will be over in about two weeks
more, and--I hope--the cold. Tuesday deceived even the creatures of the
spring. Hundreds of little frogs began to chant their song of birth, and
flowers were opening everywhere. Now there is no sound of a frog. They
woke up too soon, the creatures,--and the flowers look as if they were
dying of consumption. In your hotel you don't know all this--because you
keep up the atmosphere of the Bermudas under that roof. In Ushigome we
are practically in the country, and observe the seasons.
Affectionately,
LAFCADIO.