TO H. FUJISAKI
September 26, 1904.[4]
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.
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.
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.