TO MRS. FENOLLOSA
April, 1899.
Dear Mrs. Fenollosa,—To say that you have sent me the most beautiful letter that I ever received—certainly the one that most touched me—is not to say anything at all! Of course I hope to see more of the soul that could utter such a letter,—every word a blossom fragrant like the lovely flower to which the letter was tied.
And yet—strange as it may seem—I feel like reproaching you!—It is not good for a writer to get such a letter;—he ought to be severely maintained rather in a state of perpetual self-dissatisfaction. You would spoil him! Nevertheless, how pleasant to know that there is somebody to whom I can send a book hereafter with a tolerable certainty of pleasing! I shall not even try to thank you any more now; and I shall not dare to reread your letter for at least a month. But I hope that my next publication—which is all new—will not have a less welcome in your heart.
Ever with kindliest sympathies,—and unspoken gratitude for the delicious letter and the delicious flower,
Lafcadio Hearn.
TO MITCHELL McDONALD
Tōkyō, May, 1899.
Dear Mitchell,—I am sending you the address of the great silk house, or rather dry-goods house, in Tōkyō; but a word in addition. If you and the consul are not afraid of taking cold by walking about in stocking-feet awhile, I strongly advise you to visit also the Japanese show-rooms,—just to see the crêpe-silks, spring goods, embroidered screens, etc.,—the things made to suit Japanese taste, according to real art principles. You will find them much more interesting, I imagine, than the displays made to please foreigners. Even the towels and the yukata stuffs ought to tempt you into a trifling purchase or two in spite of yourselves; but nobody will grumble even if you do not buy at all. It is just like a bazaar, you need only go upstairs and walk through, from room to room, looking at the cases.
I was delighted with the little book which good Consul Bedloe so kindly gave me—I read it in the train. Please thank him with the best thanks in your capacity (which is practically unlimited) for the picture: it will be always a souvenir for me of one of the most, if not the absolutely most, delightful days that I passed in Yokohama. If you think he would care for the enclosed shadow of this old owl, please kindly give it him. I would I had at the moment some better way of acknowledging the rare pleasure which his merry good fellowship and his inimitable stories and everything about himself filled me with. I can’t help feeling as if I had made a new friend—though that would not do to say, you know, upon such short acquaintance, to him. I only want to tell you just how the experience affected me.