Lady of the Decoration | Page 8

still in full bloom, and color, color everywhere.
Across the river, the banks are lined with picturesque houses that look
out from a mass of green, and above them are tea-houses, and temples
and shrines so old that even the moss is gray, and time has worn away
the dates engraved upon the stones.
We spent yesterday at the sacred Island of Miyajima, which is about
one hour's ride from here. The dream of it is still upon me and I wish I
could share it with you. We went over in a sampan, a rude open boat
rowed by two men in undress uniform. For half an hour we literally
danced across the sea; everything was fresh and sparkling, and I was so
glad to be alive and free, that I just sang for joy. Miss Leasing joined in
and the boatmen kept time, smiling and nodding their approval.
The mountains were sky high, and at their base in a small
crescent-shaped plain was the village with streets so clean and white
you hated to walk on them. We stopped at the "House of the White
Cloud" and three little maids took off our shoes and replaced them with
pretty sandals. The whole house was of cedar and ebony and bamboo
and it had been rubbed with oil until it shone like satin. On the floor
was a stuffed matting with a heavy border of crimson silk, and in the
corner of the room was a jar that came to my shoulder, full of

wonderfully blended chrysanthemums. All the rooms opened upon a
porch which hung directly above a roaring waterfall, and below us a
dozen steps away stretched the sparkling sea, full of hundreds of sailing
vessels and junks.
In the afternoon, we wandered over the island, visiting the old, old
temples, listening to the mysterious wailing of the wind bells, feeding
the deer and crane, and drinking in the beauty of it all. I felt like a
disembodied spirit, traveling back, back over the centuries, into dim
forgotten ages. The dead seemed close about me, yet they brought no
gloom, for I too was dead. All afternoon I had the impression of trying
to keep my consciousness from drifting into oblivion through the gate
of this magical dream!
How you would enjoy it all, and read its deeper meaning, which is
hidden from me. But even if I can't philosophize like a certain blessed
old Mate of mine, I can feel until every nerve is a tingle with the thrill.
Good bye for a little while; I've stolen the time to write you this, and
now it behooves me to hustle.

November 12th, 1901.
It's been a long while between "drinks", but I have been waiting until I
could write a letter minus the groans. The truth is I have hit bottom
good and hard and it is only to-day that I have come to the surface.
When the exhilaration of seeing all the new and strange sights wore off,
I began to sink in a sea of homesickness that threatened to put an end to
the kindergarten business for good and all.
I worked like mad, and all the time I felt like one of these whizzing
rockets that go rushing through the air and die out in a miserable little
fizzle at the end. I can stand it in the daytime, but at night I almost go
crazy. And you have no idea how many women do lose their minds out
here. Nearly every year some poor insane creature has to be shipped
home. You needn't worry about that though, if I had mind enough to
lose I'd have lost it long ago. But to think of all my old ambitions and
aspirations ending in the humble task of wiping Little Japan's nose!
I suppose you think I am pulling for the shore but I am not. I am
steering my little craft right out in the billows It may be dashed to
smithereens, and it may come safely home again, but in any case, I'll
have the consolation of the Texas cowboy that "I've done my

durndest!"
By the way, what has become of Jack? He needn't have taken me so
literally as never to send me a message even! You mentioned his
having been at the Cape while you were there. Was he just as
unsociable as ever? I can see him now lying flat on his back in the
bottom of a boat reading poetry. I hate poetry, and when he used to
quote his favorite passages I made parodies on them. Now you were
always different. You'd rhapsodize with him to his heart's content.
Just here I had a lovely surprise. I looked out of the window and saw a
coolie pull