DEAR CAPTAIN,--Your most welcome letter reached us to-day. It was a
great pleasure to receive it, and to know that you are well and strong.
You have often been in my thoughts and dreams. And, of course, we have
been anxious about you. But the gods seem to be taking good care of you;
and your position is, from our point of view, supremely fortunate. That
a bright future is before you, I cannot doubt,--in spite of the chances
of war.
[4] The day of Hearn's death.
As you see the papers here, it will not be worth while to send you any
general news. As for local news,--things are very quiet, just as when
you were here. But many men of Ōkubo-mura have been summoned to the
front. Nearly all the young gardeners, fruit-sellers, _kurumaya_, etc.,
have been called. So the district is, perhaps, a little more lonesome.
We had regiments stationed here for a while. When the soldiers were
going away, they gave toys to the children of the neighbourhood. To
Kazuo they gave a little clay-model of a Russian soldier's head, and one
said: "When we come back, we will bring you a real one." We prize that
funny little gift, as a souvenir of the giver and the time.
Summer was dry, hot, and bright--we had very little rain after July. But
during July,--the early part,--it used to rain irregularly, in a strange
way;--and with the rain there was much lightning. Several persons in
Tōkyō were killed by the lightning. I imagined that the war had
something to do with the disturbed state of the atmosphere. After a
heavy rain we generally had the news of a victory; so, when it began to
rain hard, I used to say, "Ah! the Russians are in trouble again!"
We went to Yaidzu for about twenty days, and got strong and brown. Iwao
was positively black when he returned. He learned to swim a little, and
was able to cross the river on his back--where it was quite deep;--but
the sea was rather too rough for him. We found that seventeen men
of Yaidzu had been summoned to the war,--including several pleasant
acquaintances.
Your good mother writes to us; and all your household seem to be as well
and as happy as could be expected,--considering the natural anxieties
of the war. Even for me, a stranger, the war has been trying; it was a
long time before I could get used to the calling of the newspaper-lads,
selling extras (_gogwai_). But the people of Tōkyō have been
very cheerful and brave. Nobody seems to have any doubt as to the
results of the campaign.
[Illustration: LAFCADIO HEARN'S GRAVE]
I am still hoping to see you next spring, or at latest in summer. For
this hope, however, I have no foundation beyond the idea that Russia
will probably find, before long, that she must think of something else
besides fighting with Japan. The commercial powers of the world are
disturbed by her aggression; and industrial power, after all, is much
more heavy than all the artillery of the Czar. Whatever foreign sympathy
really exists is with Japan. In any event Russia must lose Manchuria, I
fancy.
What strange and unimagined experiences you must have been passing
through. Since the time of the great war between France and Germany,
there were never such forces opposed to each other as those that met
at Liaoyang. It seems to me a wonderful thing that I am able to send a
letter to the place of so vast a contest.
I shall try to send you something to read of the kind you mention. My
boys are writing to you--Kazuo in English; Iwao in his native language.
May all good fortune be with you is the sincere wish of your friend,