You write me delightful letters, which, alas! I can’t answer. Well, they are not answerable in themselves. They are thinking. I can only say this about one point: the isolation ought—unless you are physically tired by the day’s work—to prove of value. All the best work is done the way ants do things—by tiny but tireless and regular additions. I wouldn’t recommend introspection,—except in commentary. You must see interesting life. Of course only in flashes and patches. But preserve in writing the memory of these. In a year you will be astounded to find them self-arranging, kaleidoscopically, into something symmetrical,—and trying to live. Then play God, and breathe into the nostrils,—and be astonished and pleased.
Lovingly ever yours,
Lafcadio Hearn.
TO PAGE M. BAKER
Kumamoto, June, 1892.
Dear Page,—To-day, second of June, your kind letter came, enclosing a draft for £163; and I write in haste to catch the mail.... And now, ten thousand thanks, from the bottom of my much-scarified heart.
I am sorry I did not get the T.-D., as it would have helped me to get out my book quicker,—my first book. It ought to be out this Fall; and I think it will be tolerably large,—a little larger than but it is only an introductory book.
Really, it is very queer; but you seem to be the best friend I’ve got outside of Japan. You really do things for a fellow—great big things; and nobody else seems inclined to do much of anything....
I send you to-day a better photo of my little wife, and some other things; and you will shortly get a copy of Chamberlain’s I have ordered for you.... As for making a present to Setsu (that is her name in Japanese; in Chinese Chi-yo, or Tchi-yo[1]), I don’t think you could send her anything Western she would understand. And I would not wish you to take so much trouble. The best thing you can do to please her is to be good to me. She has really everything she wants (you know Japanese women wear no earrings, necklaces, or jewelry as ours do); and what she really wants is only made in Japan; and I am wickedly trying to keep her as innocent of foreign life as possible. So whenever she shows a liking even for foreign textures (many are now thrown on the market) I persuade her that Japanese goods are twice as pretty and durable, and for fear she might not believe me I usually manage to find some Japanese stuff that really is much better than the foreign article on sale....