The San Francisco call., 1901-11-17

in this measure there are few restraints
placed upon the composer, either as to
theme or method. Almost the only rule
about hokku-not at all rigid one-is
that the poem shall be a little word pic
ture--that 1t shall revive the memory of
something seen or felt-that it shall ap-
peal to some experience Of sense. The
greater number of the poems that 1 am
going to quote certainly fulfill this re-
quirement; the reader will find that they
are really pictures-tiny color prints in the
manner of the Ukiyo-ye school, Indeed,
almost any Of them could be delightfully."-
imaged, with few touches Of the brush,
by some Japanese master:
Tombo tonde
Koto-nald mura no
Hi go mari.
dragon flies are fitting and the noon
sun is shining above the village where
nothing ever happens
OF course, according to our lights the
foregoing is far from poetry. Mr.. Hearn
has this to say:
''Of course these compositions make but
slight appeal to the esthetic sentiment;
they are merely curious, for the most
part. But they help us to understand
something of the soul of the elder Japan.
The people who could find delight, CEN
tury after century, in watching the ways
of insects, and in making such verses
about them, must have comprehended,
better than we, the simple pleasure Of ex-
istence. They could not, indeed, describe
the magic OF nature as our great West
ern poets have done; but they could feel
the beauty of the world without its sor-
row, and rejoice in its beauty, much after
the manner of inquisitive and happy chill
dren."
An even more interesting chapter is the
one on "Children's Songs" Mr.. Hearn
gives numerous examples, and from these,
while 1T seems that childrens ideas the
world over naturally run to the same sub
jects for their little songs, still these of
the Japanese are more delicate, more
filled with imagery and a sense and ap-
probation Of the beautiful in nature than
those of other nations.
In the third section is given a series
of essays under the title, Studies Here
and There" Each and every one of them
is worth a third reading, but one strikes
me as particularly noteworthy for its les
son between the lines Mr.. Hearn has
lived in japan for years, and has de-
voted all his time to a study of its people
He is at present the lecturer on English
literature in the Imperial University OF
TOXIC Words from a man so well in
formed are not to be lightly put aside
and therefore the hint to missionaries in
"The Case Of O-Dai,' 1t is to be hoped
may bear some fruit. Not that Mr.. Hearr
through this sketch, shows himself ar
enemy of missionary work we'll done, but
he points out most strongly the hopeless
pitiful, miserable and wrong ending that
must result from even well-meaning eff.
forts of people who do not understand
any civilization but their own.
Little, Brown & Co., who publish "a
Japanese Miscellany" have given the
book tasteful dress and made it holi.
day present worth wnlle. price 81 CO.,
J. A Mitchell, editor of Life, gives us
a love story extraordinary in "The Pines
of Lory." 1t has much Of the charm that
made Amos Judd" so many friends; the
same delightful girl who at first hates
and then finds that 1t was love all the
time, the same man who has dash OF
the unknown in his life that appeals t.
the feminine mind, and the same choice
of situation out Of the ordinary.
But the present book lacks the skillfu
holding of attention to the very end thai
makes Amos Judd" SO interesting. AL
though Amos Judd dies according to nj;
own prediction and thus ruins every
chance of the "lived happy ever after
ward" still that is the artistic finish ant
only possible ending for such a story.
amos Judd" is clean. clear cut and e
story of undivided interest. 1.-The Pines
of Lory'' has story within story which
weakens both to certain extent.
1t is only in comparing this last bool
with Mr.. Mitchelrs first effort that the
former suffers, so it is hardly fair to dwell
on these points. but merely as praise OF
amos Judd" the truth must be hinte6
at-sotto voce, THE Pines of Lory'' /:
not as good as Amos Judd"
The conditions in 1.-The Pines of Lory'
resemble in a way those given in ''Tht
Master Knot" book that attained L
some prominence last season. In "Tht
Master Knot the author has as hero ant
heroine two normal society persons Of tn,
present time who are left as the sole sur
viving human beings on earth. In 9Th,
Pines of Lory,' the hero and heroine ar,
left by mistake on an uninhabted shore
Fortunately they find house and pro
visions whose owner had just died.
The romantic element is further en-