17th—Dear Baby! Kawaii koto!
I hugged the baby of Mrs. Schuyler Jr. and kissed it.
Her husband is away in Japan for the tea business.
It was the darling baby, I thank the gods, who received my first kiss.
It’s heavenly to stamp love with a kiss. Lips are the portal of the human heart.
Kiss is sweet.
I say that it marks an epoch in the spiritual evolution of the Japanese when they learn what a kiss is—but not how to kiss.
The baby crawled like a sportive crab. It orationed. It! I felt sorry that “It” would soon be changed to “He” or “She.” It caught sight of a piece of burnt match in the course of its expedition. It turned its way and clinched it with its fingers. It hastened to the mother to exhibit it, and waited patiently with its great game for Mamma’s praise.
I nearly cried in my excitement at such a pathetic revelation.
Lovely thing!