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Painting by Frank E. Schoonover

Illustration for " The Marriage in Kairwan" "IT IS THOU, THEN, O RUNNER ON THE HOUSETOPS BY NIGHT!"

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NEW LETTERS FROM JAPAN BY THE AUTHOR OF "THE LADY OF THE DECORATION"

PART I

BY FRANCES LITTLE

D

EAREST PAT,-Since I left
you
I have been like a bumble-bee on
a fly-wheel. Only the wheel flies faster
than I can bumble. So there is not a
minute to call you Patricia. I have a
call of a different kind. Before I answer,
there are a few happenings I must pass
along to you, else they'll grow stale, so
swift is the change in the life pictures of
the Far East of to-day.

The big mail-steamer that brought me
over is out in the harbor. It is flying
flags and frivoling with every wavelet
and making much show while waiting
to take my letter to you. Of course it
may be waiting for other things. But
it is queer what kindly intimacy you
acquire with these giant ships which
have carried you safely across leagues of
water, rough and smooth. Why, I feel
as if this one must know of my prom-
ise to write you often and everything
possible to write, and your promise to
seek entertainment only from the writ-
ten pages. If cold facts creep in here
and there, just remember they are facts,
and each one has a godmother to stand
sponsor for it.

evenings, with the wind howling outside,
my telling you of the many times I've
sailed across the old Pacific with a
heavenly blue sky above and a sea to
match beneath? This time the above
and below were of another color. The
water took on the heavy gray of the
clouds and the one merry thing on its
broad expanse was our little steamer.
From Seattle to Yokohama it looped the
loop, skimmed the crest of every wave,
climbed up the other side with an aban-
don which brought no joy to the storm-
tossed souls aboard. It ceased its capers
only when anchored in the shallow pools
of Tokio Bay. After that I can't say
whether it put on company manners or
not. I was too busy with other things
new and old.

Where do you get your wisdom, Pat,
held as you are to one room and a bed?
Your warning that changes great and
small would greet me was more than
justified. I was prepared for some such
greeting. Changes are inevitable. I did
not expect so complete a knock-down.

They began to arise with the first
glimpse of Hondo's misty shores and even
Do you remember those long winter the ghosts of old familiar things were

Copyright, 1921, by Harper & Brothers. All Rights Reserved

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THE APPROACH TO NIPPON BRIDGE-THE CENTER OF THE EMPIRE

charged with a new spirit which is transforming a beautiful land, not omitting the space above. So far as I could see, the world upheaval has not budged Fuji one inch. The mountain "where dwells the Spirit Lady who made the flowers to bloom" was as serene and beautiful as ever. But think of it! Over her glistening heights an airplane dipped and somersaulted, scorning alike danger and the traditions of the sacred mount below.

No longer did sampans and white

sailed junks flock around us in the open sea, bidding us welcome, the owners inviting us to dispose of all small change for articles temptingly cheap and curi

ous.

Even the sea-gulls had flown to other climes, and only a government launch, impertinent as to newness, important as to duty, came and swiftly departed. After all, I've told you of the joyful arrival of a steamer in a Japanese port-and now to see it robbed of so much of its color and quaintness! It is enough

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