What I said about the Germans you may not have understood. I did not explain. There is, I think, a particular German characteristic which has its charm. Accustomed for generations to a communal form of life—totally different from that of the English—there has been developed among them a certain spirit of tolerance and a social inclination essentially German. Also the poverty of their country has nourished a tendency to sobriety of life, while the causes developing their educational system on a wonderful level of economy have brought the race, I believe, to a higher general plane than others. I don’t mean that the top-shoots are higher than French or English; but I think the middle growth educationally is. At all events a German community in America or in Japan, while it remains German—has a peculiar charm—an independence of conventions, as distinguished from the religious and social codes,—and an exterior affability,—quite different from the individualism of other communities. Perhaps, however, the friendship never goes quite as deep as in those isolated natures so much harder to win.
The essay by Spencer you will find in a volume sent you by mail, and sent to me by my American friend. It did not appear in the old editions. Perhaps I may try the feat some day of a Japanese study on those lines,—though I must acknowledge that I now perceive several of my views entirely wrong. I also perceive how closely Lowell reached the neighbourhood of truth without being able, nevertheless, (or willing?) to actually touch it. My conclusion is that the charm of Japanese life is largely the charm of childhood, and that the most beautiful of all race childhoods is passing into an adolescence which threatens to prove repulsive. Perhaps the manhood may redeem all,—as with English “bad boys” it often does.
I fear I can scarcely finish “Occult Japan,” and that I praised it too much in my late letter, after hasty examination. It strikes me only as a mood of the man, an ugly, supercilious one, verging on the wickedness of a wish to hurt. When my eyes improve, I should like better to see his work on Mars. I don’t wish to say that my work is as good as Lowell’s “Soul of the Far East;” but it is a curious fact that in at least a majority of the favourable criticisms I have been spoken of as far more successful than Lowell. Why? Certainly not because I am his equal, either as a thinker or an observer. The reason is simply that the world considers the sympathetic mood more just than the analytical or critical. And except when the critic is a giant like Spencer or his peers,—I fear the merely critical mood will always be blind to the most vital side of any human question. For the more vital side is feeling,—not reason. This, indeed, Spencer showed long ago. But there was in the “Soul of the Far East” an exquisite approach to playful tenderness—utterly banished from “Occult Japan.”
Ever yours,
Lafcadio Hearn.
TO BASIL HALL CHAMBERLAIN
Kōbe, February, 1895.
Dear Chamberlain,—Thanks for the curious historical envelopes. My eyes are nearly well: there is still one small black spot in the centre of the field of vision; but I trust it will go away as soon as the weather becomes warm.
I am delighted to know you like the book. A curious fact is that out of fifty criticisms sent me, in which the critics select “favourites,” I find that almost every article in the book has been selected by somebody. It thus seems to appeal to persons of totally different temperament in different ways, and this fact suggests itself,—that perhaps no book written entirely in one key can please so well as a book written in many keys. However, the work must be unconscious. If you are curious about any of the “inside facts,” I shall be glad to tell you. The “Teacher’s Diary” is, of course, strictly true as to means and facts; and the artistic work is simply one of “grouping.” The cruiser at Mionoseki was the Takachiho,—since become famous. Hino-misaki and Yaegaki ought to contain something you would like,—so I trust you will peep at them some time. The Gūji of Hino-misaki is my wife’s relative, and the story of his ancestor is quite true.