The San Francisco call., 1901-11-17

~ AFcADIo HEARN Is one Of the
few. the very few, whose writings
4 nossess that lasting quality-that
Ii rare something that makes each
reading more pleasurable than the
one before His books show comnina-
ton of great research, long study and
hard work; yet through 1T all shines
brightly the light of true genius and the
soul of a poet. You feel as you read that
you are receiving the best that schol-
arly scholar has to give.
Mr.. Hearn shows himself so completely
into his work that his very enthusiasm
carries you away. He treats his subjects
in such charmingly poetical prose that
the very expression of his thoughts is de-
lightful. There is not one Of his former
books but deserves a place Of honor on
the library table-and his latest. "a jap
anese Miscellany" is far from the ex-
ception.
AS it's title suggests, "A Japanese Mis-
cellany'' is a little Of everything, but that
everything is entirely japanese. The at
mosphere Of the land Of art, flowers and
quaint superstitions that Mr.. Hearn puts
into his sketches and essays is at once
convincing and fascinating. In the pres
ent book the contents are made UP OF
three sections: Strange Stories" Folk
lore Gleanings" and Studies Here and
There.".
His strange stories are, as usual, par
ticularly weird and peculiarly Japanese.
The first two tell respectively "of a
Promise Kept" and "Of a Promise
Broken" In the Promise Kept" is de-
picted a young Japanese who values his
word so highly that he commits hara-
kiri that he may keep an appointment in
spirit which he is unable to redeem in
the flesh. The Promise Broken is even
more weird and horrible. 1t tells Of a
a
life Of celibacy, and when he breaks his
VOW she deals with his second wife ac-
cording to all the most frightful ethics
of ghostly Japan.
1.-The Story of Kwashin Koji" is in
more cheerful vein and has quite bit of
japanese hunor in it. 1t tells of the
wonderful doings of old Koji, whose per-
tinacity and peculiar faculty for gather
ing himself together just after he has
been cut to pieces would baf1e the in
genuity of any wizard of ancient or mod
ern fairy tale lore.
Several other stories are given under
this section, all equally good and all with
just the right touch to make them dis
tinctIy Japanese and instructive as well
as entertaining.
The second section Of Folklore Clean
ings" is even more charming and inter-
esting
Here Mr.. Hearn gives US some more of
those translations of charmi1g little jap
anese verses that have added so much to
his past works. In "Exotics and Retro
spectives' we found them under Frogs
and Insect Musicians; "Shadowings'
was enriched with many little poems on
Cicadae and with some old japanese
songs: In Ghostly Japan" had its Bits
of Poetry" and now he continues the
series with a paper on the poems relating
70 the dragon flies and an essay on 1.-The
Songs of japanese Children.
The little legend of the dragon f1y's
first appearance in verse is very pretty:
For more than ten centuries the Japa-
nese have been making verses about
dragon flies. and the subject remains g
favorite one even with the younger poets
of to-day. The Oldest extant poem about
q dragon fly is said to have been com
posed fourteen hundred and forty years
ago by the Emperor Yuriaku. One day
while the Emperor was hunting, say the
ancient records, a gadhy came and bit his
arm Herewith a dragon fly pounceo
upon that gadf1y and devoured it. Their
the Emperor commanded his Ministers tC
make ode in praise of that dragon fly
But as they hesitated how to begin hc
himself composed poem in praise Of tho
insect, ending with the words:
Even 2 creeping insect
Waits upon the Great Lord;
Thy form it will bear
o, <amato, land of the dragon fly!
Ard in honor Of the loyal dragon fy
the place Of the incident was called Akit.
sumo, or the Moor Of the Dragon Fly"
From that day to the present time the
dragon fly has been a favorite subjec
with the poets Of Japan. Mr.. Hearr
gives many examples of their picture
poems on this subject. Microscopic verse.
they can be properly called, these poem.
OF the old, old school, when time wa.
abundant for close study by the poetica
philosopher. This explanation will Civ,
an icea. and one example will show how
different this old world of letters wa,
from ours Of the present:
In the form hokku-limited to seven
teen syllables-the poems on dragon file,
are almost as numerous as are the dragon
flies themselves in the early autumn. Fol