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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/5960-h.zip b/5960-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6c35e3f --- /dev/null +++ b/5960-h.zip diff --git a/5960-h/5960-h.htm b/5960-h/5960-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0ccba83 --- /dev/null +++ b/5960-h/5960-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2455 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <title> + LITTLE SISTER SNOW + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> + <h1> + Little Sister Snow, by Frances Little + </h1> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Little Sister Snow, by Frances Little + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Little Sister Snow + +Author: Frances Little + +Release Date: August 16, 2004 [EBook #5960] +Last Updated: February 4, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LITTLE SISTER SNOW *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland David Widger and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + LITTLE SISTER SNOW + </h1> + <h3> + BY + </h3> + <h2> + FRANCES LITTLE + </h2> + <h3> + Author of "The Lady of the Decoration" + </h3> + <h3> + WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY GENJIRO KATAOKA<br /><br /> 1909 + </h3> + <h4> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> TO MY NIECE<br /> ALICE HEGAN RICE<br /> <br /> + </h4> + <h4> + IN MEMORY OF MANY HAPPY MONTHS<br /> SPENT TOGETHER IN JAPAN + </h4> + <p> + <br /><br /> <a name="link001" id="link001"></a><br /> <br /><br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img alt="001.jpg (84K)" src="images/001.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <blockquote> + <p class="toc"> + <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big> + </p> + <p> + <br /> <a href="#link1">Chapter 1</a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2">Chapter + 2</a><br /><br /> <a href="#link3">Chapter 3</a><br /><br /> <a href="#link4">Chapter + 4</a><br /><br /> <a href="#link5">Chapter 5</a><br /><br /> <a href="#link6">Chapter + 6</a><br /><br /> <a href="#link7">Chapter 7</a><br /><br /> <br /><br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <big><b>ILLUSTRATIONS</b></big> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p> + <a href="#link001">A fervent, whispered prayer . . .</a> <i>Frontispiece</i> + </p> + <p> + <a href="#link002">She would throw her into the ditch</a> + </p> + <p> + <a href="#link003">The two old people</a> + </p> + <p> + <a href="#link004">Yuki San was called before her father</a> + </p> + <p> + <a href="#link005">With paint and brush she fell to work</a> + </p> + <p> + <a href="#link006">At the slightest sound she listened</a> + </p> + <p> + <a href="#link007">Not willing to be surpassed in salutation</a> + </p> + <p> + <a href="#link008">"My heart bleed for lonely"</a> + </p> + <p> + <a href="#link009">She busied herself with serving the tea</a> + </p> + <p> + <a href="#link010">Very helpless and lonesome</a> + </p> + <p> + <a href="#link011">To make good her promise to the gods</a> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /><br /> <a name="link1" id="link1"></a><br /> <br /><br /> + </p> + <h3> + CHAPTER I + </h3> + <p> + A quaint old Japanese garden lay smiling under the sunshine of a morning + in early spring. The sun, having flooded the outside world with dazzling + light, seemed to sink to a tender radiance as it wooed leaf and bud into + new life and loveliness. It loosened the tiny rivulet from the icy fingers + of winter, and sped it merrily on its way to a miniature lake, where + shining goldfish darted here and there in an ecstasy of motion. It stole + into the shadows of a great pine-tree, and touched the white wings of the + pigeons as they cooed the song of mating-time. It gleamed on the sandy + path that led to the old stone lantern, played into the eyes of Kwannon, + the Goddess of Mercy, and finally lost itself in the trees beyond. + </p> + <p> + Under a gnarled plum-tree, that for uncounted years had braved the snow + and answered joyously the first call of spring, a little maiden stood and + held out eager hands to catch the falling blossoms. The flowering-time was + nearly done, and the child stood watching the petals twirl quickly down, + filling the hollows and fashioning curious designs on the mossy grass. + </p> + <p> + The softest of breezes coming across the river, over the thick hedge, + saucily blew a stray petal straight into the child's face. To Yuki Chan it + was a challenge, and with outstretched hands and flying feet she gave + chase to the whirling blossoms. Round and round the old tree, into the + hedge, and up the sandy path she raced, her long sleeves spreading like + tiny sails, her cheeks flushed to the same crimson as her flowery + playmates. A sudden stillness in the air ended the romp. Yuki Chan + returned to her playground beneath the tree, and taking her captured + petals from the folds of her kimono, began to count her trophies. + </p> + <p> + "Ichi, ni, san, ichi, ni, san," she rhythmically droned, three being the + magical number that would bring good luck if the petals were properly + arranged and the number repeated often enough. + </p> + <p> + But the monotony of repetition brought rest, and soon Yuki Chan, + forgetting to count, made a bed of the fallen petals and turned her face + toward the little straw-roofed house from which noises of busy preparation + came. + </p> + <p> + It was a birthday. Not Yuki Chan's, for that came with the snow-time. This + was the third day of the third month, which in the long ago was set apart + as the big birthday of all little girls born in the lovely island, and was + celebrated by the Festival of Dolls. + </p> + <p> + Yuki Chan lay with her slim body stretched in the warmth of the sun. In + every graceful line was the imprint of high breeding; her white face, so + unusual with her race, was stamped with the romance and tragedy of + centuries; while her eyes, limpid and luminous, looked out at the world + with eager, questioning interest. + </p> + <p> + Through the wide-open <i>shoji</i> of the house she caught glimpses of her + father and mother hurrying and holding consultations. She marked frequent + visits to the old warehouse that held the household treasures, and the + bringing out of bundles wrapped in yellow cloth. The air brought her + whiffs of cooking food, and the flower- and fish- men deposited a fair + part of their stock on the porch. But Yuki Chan was banished from these + joys of preparation because of naughtiness, and as she lay in the warm + sunshine she thought of her recent wickedness. She smiled as she + remembered how she had hid her father's pipe that he might work the + faster, and broken the straps of her mother's wooden shoes, so that she + could not go outdoors. She laughed softly when she thought of the stray + cat which she had brought into the house and coaxed to drink milk while + she, with skilful fingers and a pair of scissors, transformed her smooth + fur into a wonderful landscape garden. Short work had made kitty's head + slick and shiny, like a lake, with a stray bristle or two, which stood for + trees. In the middle of her back stood Fuji, the great mountain, with + numberless little Fujis to keep company. Many winding paths ran down + kitty's legs to queer, shapeless shrines, and it was only when Yuki Chan + had insisted on making a curious old pine-tree with twisted limbs of + kitty's short and stubby tail that trouble ensued, and she had been + requested by her mother to take her honorable little body to the garden. + </p> + <p> + Yuki Chan remembered her mother's beautiful smile of love as she gently + chided her, and recalled the note of trouble in the kind voice. Was the + mother sorry because she had stuck out a very pink tongue at a cross-eyed + old image that sat on the floor on the very spot that she wanted to step + upon? Or was it—and Yuki Chan grew grave—that the last <i>go + rin</i> had been spent for the new dress she was to wear that day? + </p> + <p> + All her short life Yuki Chan had lived in a house of love, but no veil of + affection, no sacrifice, could shield her from the knowledge of poverty. + She had never seen her mother wear but one festival dress, yet her own + little kimono was ever bright and dainty, and even the new brocade of the + dolls' dresses stood alone with the weave of gold and tinsel. + </p> + <p> + A solemn thought, like a pebble dropped into water, caused circle after + circle to trouble her childish mind. She did not quite understand, but she + knew there was something she must learn. She had been naughty and weighed + her mother's spirits. She had caused a grave look in her father's kind + eyes, and had sent the household pets scattering with her mischief. Now + she must be good—very good—else the fox spirit would come upon + her, and she would go through life an unhappy soul. She would give more + obedience to the honorable mother, whose every word had been a caress. It + was as if for the first time the great book of life opened before her and, + though unconscious of its meaning, the first word she saw spelled Duty. + </p> + <p> + The noises from the house grew fainter. The child, with blinking eyes, lay + gazing straight above her. Overhead the branches overflowed into a canopy + of crimson, which shut out the great real world and opened into a fairy + world wherein only the untried feet of youth may tread and the fragile + flowers of child-dreams bloom. The gates thereto are slight but strong, + and only knowledge erects an impassable barrier. + </p> + <p> + The wind sang its lullaby through the blossoms of the tree, and sleep + would soon have overtaken Yuki Chan had not a peculiar sound aroused her + and caused her eyes to fly wide open. Once before she had heard it, and it + had meant death to the big robin who lived in the branches above. The cry + came from the mother bird this time and brought Yuki Chan to her feet. + </p> + <p> + Through the shower of blossoms, brought down by the mad fluttering of + wings, she saw a tiny half-feathered thing struggling in the sharp claws + of her lately acquired pet. With certainty of success, the cat let its + victim weakly flutter an inch or two away, then reaching out a cruel paw + drew it back. Twice repeated, the green eyes narrowed to slits, and Yuki + Chan, horrified, saw big red drops slowly dripping from either side of the + whiskered mouth. Terror held her for a moment as she heard the crunching + of small bones, then white passion enveloped her as she stole noiselessly + from behind and closed her two small hands around the furry throat. + </p> + <p> + <i>"Baka!"</i> she cried from between her clenched teeth. <i>"Baka</i>—to + eat the baby birds! This day will I ask Oni to make you into a stone, + which every foot will kick and hurt, and you can neither move nor cry. You + cruel, cruel beast!" In vain the cat struggled. Yuki Chan held it firmly + at arm's-length while she decided what was to be its fate. + </p> + <p> + Looking sternly at the offender, her lips rounded into a long-drawn "s-o," + the light of anticipated revenge danced in her eyes. At last she knew what + to do, O most honorable but very ugly cat! She would throw her into the + ditch, where great crawling frogs with popping eyes would stick out long + tongues; where flying things would sting, and creeping things would bite; + where the great tide would come later and take her out to the big, big + ocean, where there was neither milk to drink nor birds to eat. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link002" id="link002"></a><br /> <br /><br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img alt="002.jpg (82K)" src="images/002.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + At the thought of her furry playmate floating alone and hungry in the vast + place which, to Yuki Chan, had neither beginning nor end, something of + pity touched her heart, and she slightly loosened her grasp. + </p> + <p> + The cat gained a good breath and used it. In the fight for freedom a sharp + claw was drawn down the child's arm, leaving a line of red in its course. + Compassion took flight, and Yuki Chan, clutching anew, went swiftly down + the path that led to the street, with a watchful eye on the lodge of the + keeper of the gate. + </p> + <p> + The keeper was very old, and very cross, and lately had acquired a curious + idea that little girls must ask his honorable permission to go in and out + the gate. One day he actually threatened punishment, and Yuki Chan, in her + scorn, invited him to cut off his head with a sword, that he might save + his face. Now the way was clear. + </p> + <p> + She turned her head and bumped her small body against the weight of the + heavy gates until they swung slightly apart and permitted her to slip + through. + </p> + <p> + So intent was her purpose to reach the ditch across the street that she + did not see an approaching jinrikisha, and before she knew it she had been + tumbled over and sent rolling to the side of the road. Still clutching the + kitten, she sat up and rubbed the dust from her eyes. + </p> + <p> + Standing over her was the jinrikisha man, and beside him was his + passenger, a young American boy, whose light hair and blue eyes held her + spell-bound. He was brushing the dust from her kimono, and his foreign + tongue made strange sounds. + </p> + <p> + "Say, kid," the boy was saying, as he transferred the dust from his hands + to his handkerchief, "glad you're not hurt or got any bones cracked. + Where's your mama, or your papa, or your nurse, to give you a spanking and + keep you off the street?" + </p> + <p> + As he talked Yuki Chan grew fascinated watching his mouth, and forgot, for + a moment, her direful intention. The cat, again taking advantage of her + relaxed hold, began to tug for freedom, and a lively struggle ensued. + </p> + <p> + The boy, looking on, began to laugh, a laugh that began in his eyes, ran + over his face and down into his throat, whence it came again in a shout of + boyish merriment. + </p> + <p> + Yuki Chan, looking from him to the smiling jinrikisha man, grew crimson + with anger. With a swift movement she ran toward the ditch. + </p> + <p> + Divining her purpose by the look in her eyes, Dick Merrit went gallantly + to the rescue of the kitten. He was tall for his sixteen years, and his + long strides more than matched the pattering steps of the slip of a girl + who raced before him. + </p> + <p> + "No, you don't, kiddie," he cried; "your manicured cat is not going into + the ditch, if we have to scrap for it." + </p> + <p> + Merrit caught Yuki Chan in one arm, and again and again loosened her + fingers from the struggling kitten. + </p> + <p> + "Iya, Iya!" the child screamed; but Merrit, as determined as she, held her + firmly, and ended by lightly slapping first one little hand and then the + other. + </p> + <p> + The child, thus coming into contact for the first time with physical + force, relaxed her grasp and gazed in amazement at the boy's determined + face. + </p> + <p> + "I guess your 'Iya' means no, little lady, and I say 'Iya' too," said + Merrit, taking the cat into his arms and smoothing its uneven back. "You + are not going to put it into the ditch. Why don't you give it to me? I am + getting up a collection of cats and things at the school, and I'd like to + take this queer specimen along. Ask her if I can have it." + </p> + <p> + The jinrikisha man, who stood a smiling spectator, saw Dick Merrit's hand + move toward his pocket, and was instantly alert and eager to settle the + matter. + </p> + <p> + "Him ve'y bad girl," he said; "him make dead for catty. You give me ten + sen, I take girl homely. You have much of catty." + </p> + <p> + But Dick declined all interference, and putting the cat inside his coat he + stooped down and took one of Yuki Chan's unresisting hands. Her sleeve + fell back, and he saw the long red scratch. + </p> + <p> + "Hello! The cat had an inning too, didn't she? I'd like to chuck her for + hurting you, but I can't let you give her a bath in that dirty hole. Never + mind, I'll take her home, and some day I'll bring you something. I bet you + don't understand a word I'm saying, but I'll be hanged if I know how to + make you." + </p> + <p> + Feeling rather helpless, Dick talked on, patting first Yuki Chan and then + the cat. + </p> + <p> + The child stood speechless and looked deep into his eyes, not having + entirely recovered from the shock of the first blow she had ever received. + </p> + <p> + "You'll be good, won't you?" he went on coaxingly, "not drown any more + cats and things?" + </p> + <p> + Yuki Chan, with the intuition that only a child can have, suddenly bridged + the gulf of strange language and understood. With the quick movement of a + nestling bird, she bent forward and laid her cheek against the boy's + shoulder. It was not only complete surrender, but allegiance to the + conqueror. + </p> + <p> + Dick rose, red and confused. Then he climbed into the jinrikisha, trying + to ignore the smiles of the man. + </p> + <p> + Yuki Chan, with her hands joined just below her sash, bent her body like a + half-shut jack-knife. + </p> + <p> + "Arigato—arigato," she said politely, as she bowed again and again. + </p> + <p> + "Him say t'ank you," interpreted the jinrikisha man. + </p> + <p> + "Good-by," called Dick. "Don't forget—be good!" + </p> + <p> + Yuki Chan watched the back of the jinrikisha and the swinging brown legs + of the jinrikisha man that showed beneath. She had forgotten the cat, but + she still remembered the kind look in the blue eyes of the boy. + </p> + <p> + "Yuki, Yuki!" came the voice of the mother in her native tongue. "Come, + the feast is prepared, and the sandals are worn from my feet running to + seek you. Hurry! before the red beans grow cold." + </p> + <p> + The child sent a long-drawn "Hei" in answer to her mother, then to herself + she said over and over: + </p> + <p> + "Be goodu—be goodu." + </p> + <p> + She had heard the words a few times before, but they were associated with + her visits to the mission-school and a certain oblong box out of which + came sticks of red and white with a very sweet taste. Now, as she said + them, a new meaning seemed to play about them. + </p> + <p> + She slipped through the gate and walked with unhurried feet toward the + small house, so gay in its festal plumage. As she passed the old plum- + tree she looked up and saw the mother bird cuddling her babies beneath her + breast. + </p> + <p> + Some tender thought lighted the child's face into a strange beauty, as a + stray sunbeam finds a hidden flower and glorifies it. Turning her face + upward to the nest, she patted her own cheek and said: "Be goodu, Yuki, be + goodu." + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> <a name="link2" id="link2"></a><br /> <br /><br /> + </p> + <h3> + CHAPTER II + </h3> + <p> + In the springtime a Japanese house is a fairy-like thing, with only top + and bottom of straw and a few upholding posts to give it a look of + substance. + </p> + <p> + Yuki Chan's house was typical. The paper screens were carefully put away + during the day, that the breezes might play unobstructed through the + house. At night the heavy wooden doors were fitted into grooves and served + not only to keep out the night air, but also the evil spirits that come + abroad when the great sun ceases watching. + </p> + <p> + Binding the whole was a narrow porch, showing a floor polished like a + mirror from the slipping and sliding of generations of feet. Yuki Chan + first learned to know her face in its reflections and, alas! by the same + method had learned the saucy fascination of sticking out her small pink + tongue. + </p> + <p> + On the side of the porch toward the plum-tree the child found her father + and mother waiting. The two old people sat on gay cushions with hands + folded and feet crossed. Their festal attire bore the marks of a once + careless luxury, but now shabbiness tried to hide itself under the bravery + of tinsel, where once had been pure gold. + </p> + <p> + Each year the struggle of obsolete methods of business and the intricacies + of progress plowed the furrows a little deeper in the man's face, and when + his eyes, that in youth had blazed with ambition, grew wistful and + troubled, he dropped them that his wife might not see. + </p> + <p> + But what silence could hide from this frail woman any mood of the man she + had served with mind and body and soul these many years? When she came to + him as a shy bride on trial, she knew no such word as love. Duty was her + entire vocabulary, and she asked nothing and gave all. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link003" id="link003"></a><br /> <br /><br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img alt="003.jpg (74K)" src="images/003.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + Many little souls had come to her, with hands all crimped and pink, like + new-blown cherry-leaves, only to close their eyes and pass out to the good + god Jizo, who is always waiting to help little children across the river + of death. + </p> + <p> + In years gone by, night after night sleep had flown before the terror that + another woman would be brought into the house that the family name might + not die out. Silently she would slip out to the little shrine and pour out + passionate words of prayer that just one little soul might be permitted to + live. + </p> + <p> + No matter how long the night, nor how bitter the struggle, morning always + found her bright and cheerful, bending every effort to invent new + diversions for her husband. She labored to anticipate every wish, and even + though she did without, she provided him the best of comfort. Working far + into the night, secretly disposing of her small personal treasures, + acquiescing in his most trivial statements, she planned that no slightest + gap in the domestic arrangement should suggest itself to him. + </p> + <p> + The woman worked and prayed and waited. Then she triumphed. In the wake of + a great snow-storm came the longed-for child, and they called her Yuki, + after the snow that had brought them their wish. Hand in hand with Yuki + Chan came love, and bound the hearts of the man and woman with ties of a + desire fulfilled. From that time to this love had prevailed, and as Yuki + Chan climbed on the porch, besmirching its shining surface with her muddy + little feet, that had been guiltless of sandals all day, the faces of the + two old people lighted up with sudden joy. + </p> + <p> + Yuki Chan looked ruefully at the muddy prints she had made and realized + that she had been a most impolite little girl. Remembering her recent + resolve, she sought the eyes in which she had never seen any light for her + save that of love. She drew close, and reaching down took her mother's + hand, hard and cracked by labor, and laying her cheek against it said, + with a voice sure of forgiveness and sweet desire for atonement: + </p> + <p> + "Go men nasai." + </p> + <p> + The mother, with a courtly but playful air, granted her pardon with a low + salutation. Then with a rush of affection that no convention could stem, + she folded the child to her heart and lived another moment of supreme joy. + </p> + <p> + The father sat by, making no comment, his eyes bright and twinkling. Then + he suggested that their Majesties, the dolls, had been waiting long on the + shelf. Was it not time they were receiving a visit? + </p> + <p> + The years of toil were telling on both father and mother, but they daily + refreshed themselves at the overbrimming fountain of Yuki Chan's youth, + and now, as they each took one of her hands to go in to see the dolls, + they were so gay that the child suggested that instead of walking they + should do the new one-two-three-hop she had learned at the kindergarten. + </p> + <p> + It was unheard-of conduct, but it was for Yuki Chan, and father and mother + stumped along, cheered on by the small girl who was trying to keep time, + but was breathless through sheer excess of happiness. + </p> + <p> + There was nothing in the room to impede their progress. No chairs with + treacherous legs to trip over, no beds, nor tables with sharp corners + —nothing whatever but the matting, soft and thick, where Yuki Chan + had practised all the gymnastics of childhood unbruised and unharmed. + </p> + <p> + Half skipping, half hopping, and wholly undone with laughter and exertion, + the three at last reached the place where, for six years, offerings had + been made for the gift of the child who stood to these two for love. + </p> + <p> + Arranged in the best room in the house, on five long red-covered shelves, + were dolls. Big dolls and little dolls, thin ones and fat ones, each one + to represent some royal man or woman of the long ago, and dressed in a + fashion of a time almost forgotten. There was Jimmu Tenno, the first real + emperor. His hair was done in a curious fashion and his dress was of a + wonderful brocade, while his hands clasped two fierce-looking swords. + There was Jingo, too, who had won fame and lasting honor by her wonderful + fighting, and was so great she had to sit by the emperors and look down on + the other empresses. Such a lot of them! Some worthy to be remembered + every day in the year, others the more quickly forgotten the better. + </p> + <p> + Yuki Chan knew them all by heart, and she lingered before those she liked + and quickly passed those she did not care for. She could not be rude to an + emperor, even though he had been dead hundreds of years. She was really + not very afraid of the greatness of the old doll men and women who sat on + the shelf, still it was well to be careful about handling them. She might + be turned into a lizard or a snake, just as the old lodge-keeper had said. + </p> + <p> + But her delight was in the miniature toilet articles of solid silver, + costly gold lacquer, and porcelain, so tiny, so beautifully carved they + must have meant the eyesight of some workman, only too glad to shut out + the sunlight forever if he might produce just one perfect thing. + </p> + <p> + The things, however, that made Yuki Chan clap her hands and the nesting + birds perk up their heads at the sound of her clear, sweet laugh were the + funny little lacquer carts in which the royalty was supposed to ride, + drawn by impossible fat bullocks, so bow-legged that their curves formed a + big round O. Yuki Chan made her red lips into the same shape, and called + her mother to look. + </p> + <p> + She pretended to feed the dolls with real food and wine, and actually + played with the five court musicians, because they were partly servants + and it did not matter. + </p> + <p> + Her tongue ran in ceaseless chatter. Her father and mother hovered around + her, repeating the history of all those wonderful people. Yuki Chan + listened very little, so concerned was she with her own comments, until + she happened to see an anxious look creep into her mother's eyes. It was + something every little girl must know, and if Yuki Chan's honorable ears + refused to open, how would she learn? Then Yuki Chan nestled close, and + gave little pats of love and tried to listen. THE shadows of the bamboo + grew long and slim as the sun kissed them good night. The sails skimmed + homeward on a silver sea as the west covered its rosy pink in a veil of + deepest blue. The young birds in the old plum-tree did not stir at the + loving touch of the mother who, with a soft bill, searched and sought for + the lost one. The plum-blossoms lingered yet for a night as the air had + grown chill. + </p> + <p> + Within the house Yuki Chan, still dressed, lay on the floor, weary with + the wonders of the day. Her mother took from a small inclosure beneath a + shelf many soft comforts with which she arranged the child's bed. Yuki + Chan, talking all the time in a low monotone, tried to unravel a tangle in + her mind of birds and cats and dolls. It was all getting unmanageable and + very hazy, when her mother gathered her into her arms, and quickly casting + aside her two garments laid her gently in a bath of caressing warmth. A + moment more and the little maiden lay like a rose-leaf in her bed. + </p> + <p> + The night-lamp made shadowy ghosts of all it touched, and one gleam of + light, escaping the paper shade, hung like an aureole above the head of + Yuki Chan's mother as she knelt with clasped hands before the Buddha on + the shelf. + </p> + <p> + Her moving lips had only one refrain: "The child, the child, the child." + </p> + <p> + Yuki Chan watched the play of the light in the half-dark room. What funny + things those shadows made, and, strangely enough, one more wonderful than + all the rest grew into the shape of the boy, and his lips were saying, "Be + good." + </p> + <p> + Then Yuki Chan lost herself in a mist of drowsiness, and her mother sat + by, and kept time with her hand as she chanted rather than sang: + </p> + <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> + <tr> + <td> + <p> + "Sleep, little one, sleep.<br /> The sparrows are nodding.<br /> + Beneath the deep willow-trees<br /> The night-lamp is burning.<br /> + Thy mother is watching,<br /> Sleep, little one, sleep." + </p> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <br /><br /> <a name="link3" id="link3"></a><br /> <br /><br /> + </p> + <h3> + CHAPTER III + </h3> + <p> + Twelve times had the plum-tree scattered its petals to the wind, and Yuki + San [Footnote: The honorific <i>Chan</i>, used only in childhood, is + changed to <i>San</i> in later years.] had passed from childhood into + girlhood, and had already touched the border of that grave land of + grown-up, where all the worries lie. For though she was apparently only a + larger edition of the spoiled, impulsive happy child of old, yet often her + eyes were shadowed with the struggle of shielding her aging father and + mother from the poverty that was coming closer day by day. + </p> + <p> + During the three years she had been gaining her education at the English + mission-school, they had toiled unceasingly that she might have the best + the country could afford, but now that she had returned after her long + struggle with a strange language and a strange people, it was but fitting + that she should take up her duties as the daughter of an impoverished + family of high rank. The father, grown old and feeble, gave up the battle + for existence, and being a devout Buddhist, turned his thoughts upon + Nirvana, which he strove diligently to enter by perpetual meditation and + prayer. The mother, used to guidance and unable to think or plan for + herself, turned helplessly to Yuki San. + </p> + <p> + The duties were heavy for girlish shoulders, and often as the dawn crept + over the mountains it found the girl wide-eyed and still, trying to solve + the problem of modest demand and meager supply. + </p> + <p> + She had learned many things at the mission-school. She could read and + write English imperfectly, she could recite the multiplication table + faster than any one else, she could perform the most intricate figures in + physical culture, and if she had infinite time she could play three hymns + on the organ. These varied accomplishments, however, seemed of little + assistance in showing her how to stretch her father's small pension beyond + the barest necessities of the household. Tales had been told her of a + great land, far beyond her sea-bound home, where women of the highest + birth went out to work in the busy world. How she had marveled at their + boldness and wondered at the customs that would permit it! Now she half + envied them their freedom, and sighed over the iron-bound etiquette that + forbade a departure from her father's roof save for the inevitable end of + all Japanese women—a prearranged marriage. + </p> + <p> + It was for this she had been so carefully trained in all phases of + housekeeping, and in all the intricacies of social life. Her education + from birth had been with a view of making smooth the path of her future + husband that his home might be peaceful and he untroubled. + </p> + <p> + Each day as the burden grew heavier she fought her battle with the bravery + and courage of youth. With jests and chatter she served her parents' + simple meals, constantly urging them to further indulgence of what she + pretended was a great feast, but which in reality she had secretly + sacrificed some household treasure to obtain. She deftly turned the + rice-bucket as she served, that they might not see the scant supply. With + great ceremony she poured the hot water into the bowls, insisting that no + other <i>sake</i> was made such as this. Her determination to keep them + happy and ignorant of the true conditions taxed her every resource, but it + was her duty, and duty to Yuki San was the only religion of which she was + sure. + </p> + <p> + But one day a great event happened in the little home. Yuki San was called + before her father and told, in ceremonious language, that a marriage had + been arranged for her with Saito San, a wealthy officer in the Emperor's + household. She laid her head upon the mats and gave thanks to the gods. + Now her father and mother would live in luxury for the rest of their + lives! + </p> + <p> + <a name="link004" id="link004"></a><br /> <br /><br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img alt="004.jpg (70K)" src="images/004.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + Saito San was to her only a far-away, shadowy being, whom she was to obey + for the rest of her life and whose house she was to keep in order. He was + a means to an end, and entered into her thoughts merely as one to whom she + was deeply grateful. Youth and all its joys were strong within her, and + the pressure of poverty gone, her whole nature rebounded with delight. + </p> + <p> + Many times had marriage been proposed for her, for the story of her beauty + and obedience had spread, but her father guarded his treasure zealously, + and it was not until an offer came, suiting his former rank and condition, + that he gave his consent. + </p> + <p> + Now, when he saw the happy light in the eyes of his child, and saw the + color come into her cheeks, he laid his hands upon her head and blessed + her. When Yuki San was by herself she clapped her hands joyfully. "I make + happy like 'Merican," she whispered. "Hooray, hooray! now my troublesome + make absence," and she hurried away to put a thank-offering before the + household god. + </p> + <p> + Having arranged all preliminaries and instructed the mother to sell every + household treasure that his child's clothes might do honor to the rich + man's house, the father went back once more to his pipe and his dreams. + </p> + <p> + Yuki San and her mother were up with the sun, sewing and embroidering, and + going about their daily task with zest and song. The past trials were + forgotten and the future not considered. + </p> + <p> + One morning, not many weeks after the marriage had been arranged, Yuki San + heard the call of the <i>Yubin</i> San, and running out to meet him, + received a strange-looking letter. The envelope was white and square, and + straight across the middle, in very plain English, was her name and + address. Puzzled, she turned it over and over, then broke the seal. + </p> + <p> + The picture of the big hotel at the top of the sheet was so distracting + that for a time she could get no further, but a word here and there and + the signature at the end finally made her cry out with delight and + surprise. + </p> + <p> + "Oh! it's from that funny lil' boy what gave spank to my hands long time + ago. He want to come to my house for stay. Listen." + </p> + <p> + There was no one to listen but her own happy self, and lying flat upon the + floor she propped her glowing face between her palms, while she read aloud + from the letter spread before her: + </p> + <blockquote> + <blockquote> + <p> + YOKOHAMA. + </p> + <p> + Miss YUKI INOUYE— + </p> + <p> + <i>Dear Miss Inouye</i>: I wonder if you remember an American boy with + whom you had an encounter in your very early days, because he dared to + thwart your plans concerning a cat? I remember it very well, and the + jolly picnics and excursions that you and my mother and I took + together afterward. + </p> + <p> + I hope you have not forgotten me, for I am going to claim the + privilege of the conqueror in that old battle and ask a favor of you. + My Government has sent me out to your country on some important + business, and finding there was no hotel close to my work, I wrote to + the school where my mother and I visited twelve years ago, and asked + them to recommend a family that would be good enough to take me in for + two months. Strangely enough your father's name was suggested, and + when I read that the only daughter both spoke and wrote English, and + that her name was Yuki San, my mind flew back to my "Little Sister + Snow" of the days gone by. + </p> + <p> + Could your father manage to accommodate me for a couple of months, if + I promise to be very good and take up as little room as possible? If + you think he can, please wire me here at Yokohama, and I'll come + straight down. + </p> + <p> + Hoping to see you very soon, I am + </p> + <p> + Your old friend, + </p> + <p> + RICHARD MELTON MERRIT. + </p> + </blockquote> + </blockquote> + <p> + Yuki San turned the letter this way and that, and vainly tried to decipher + the strange words. It was undoubtedly English, but not the English she was + used to. She ran for her small dictionary and diligently searched out the + meaning of each phrase. + </p> + <p> + Yes, she remembered the boy—he had light hair, and blue eyes that + laughed, and he was a big, big boy and carried her on his shoulder. + </p> + <p> + She sat with the folded letter clasped carefully in her hands and gave + herself up to joyous anticipation. A foreign guest was coming to stay two + whole months in her house; after that she was to be married and wear her + beautiful kimono, and give rich gifts to her father and mother. + </p> + <p> + Surely Buddha was caring for her! There had been grave moments of doubt + about it since she left the mission-school, for he had never seemed to + listen, though she prayed him night and day. But he had been only waiting + to send all her happiness at once—he was a good god, kind and + thoughtful. To-morrow, before the sun touched the big pine- tree on the + mountain-top, she would go to the temple and tell him so. + </p> + <p> + Yuki San's plans found favor with her parents, chiefly because of their + great desire to give her pleasure, and incidentally because the board of + the foreigner would swell the fund that was needed for her marriage. + </p> + <p> + The plighted maid to them was already the wife, and the danger of a + youthful heart defying tradition and clearing the bars of conventionality + to reach its own desire was something unknown to these simple people. The + child wished the foreigner to come—they could give her few pleasures—she + should have her desire. + </p> + <p> + The sending of the telegram was the first exciting thing to be attended + to. Five times Yuki San rewrote the short message, finding her fingers + less deft than her tongue in framing an English sentence. Gravely and with + effort she wrote: + </p> + <p> + "I give you all my house. Your lovely friend, Yuki." + </p> + <p> + But she shook her head over this and tried again: + </p> + <p> + "You have the welcome of my heart. Yuki." + </p> + <p> + This, too, fell short of her ideal, so she decided to send simply two + words of which she was quite sure: + </p> + <p> + "Please come." + </p> + <p> + The days that followed were crowded with busy preparation. The difficulty + of providing the ease and comfort that the presence of so honorable a + guest demanded taxed to the utmost Yuki San's resourceful nature. Gaily + she set her wits and fingers to work—placing a heavy brass <i>hibachi</i> + over a black scorch in the matting, fitting new rice- paper into the small + wooden squares of the <i>shoji</i>, and hanging <i>kakemono</i> over the + ugly holes made by the missing plaster in the wall. + </p> + <p> + From one part of the house to another she flitted, laughing and working, + while the old garden echoed her happiness and overflowed with blossom and + song. + </p> + <p> + On the day of Merrit's expected arrival, when the last flower had been put + in the vases, and the last speck of dust flecked from the matting, Yuki + San's keen eyes detected a torn place in the paper door which separated + the guest-chamber from the narrow hall. + </p> + <p> + A puzzled little frown drew her black brows together, but it soon fled + before her smile. + </p> + <p> + "Ah!" she cried, "idea come quickly! I write picture of bamboo on teared + place." + </p> + <p> + With paint and brush she fell to work, and beneath her skilful fingers the + ugly tear disappeared in a forest of slender <i>take</i> which stretched + away to the foot of a snow-capped mountain. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link005" id="link005"></a><br /> <br /><br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img alt="005.jpg (66K)" src="images/005.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + With a last touch she sank back on her heels and viewed her work with deep + satisfaction. "All finished," she said, opening wide her arms; "no more to + do now but wait for that time 'Merican sensei call jollyful!" + </p> + <p> + A laugh behind her made her turn her head quickly, and there in the + doorway stood a tall foreigner, with outstretched hand of welcome. + </p> + <p> + Hand-shaking was an unknown art with Yuki San, so after one startled + upward glance she touched her head to the floor in gracious courtesy. + </p> + <p> + All her gay spirits and freedom of speech vanished, and she was instantly + enveloped in a mist of shyness and reserve that Merrit's direct look did + not serve to lessen. + </p> + <p> + With lowered eyes, she ushered him into the larger living-room, and bade + him be seated and accept all the hospitality her father's poor house could + give. + </p> + <p> + After a long and tiresome journey Merrit found something inexpressibly + charming in the quiet, picturesque place, and in the silent young girl who + sat so demurely in the shadow. He tactfully ignored her timidity by + talking cheerful nonsense about impersonal things, treating her as a + bashful child who wanted to be friends but hardly dared. + </p> + <p> + As he talked Yuki San gained courage, and ventured many curious glances at + the broad-shouldered young fellow, whose figure seemed completely to fill + the room. At first she saw only a strange foreigner, but gradually, as she + watched his face and listened to his unfamiliar speech, she discovered a + long-lost playmate. + </p> + <p> + Through all the years that she had struggled for an education at the + mission-school, English had been invariably associated with a tall, + awkward, foreign boy, whose mouth made funny curves and whose eyes laughed + when he made strange sounds. How big and splendid and handsome he had + grown! How different his clothes from any she had ever seen before! How + white his long hands, whose strong, firm touch she remembered so well! She + looked and looked again, drinking in the tones of his deep voice, till the + throbbing of her heart sent a flood of crimson to her cheeks. + </p> + <p> + But gradually her shyness wore away, and when Merrit asked her how in the + world he was to conduct his business with so few Japanese words at his + command, she ventured to answer: "I know; I give you the teach of Nippon, + you give me the wise of dat funny 'Merican tongue." + </p> + <p> + "That's a go!" said Dick, as he held out his hand to close the bargain. + </p> + <p> + But the girl drew back, troubled. + </p> + <p> + "No, no, you no <i>go</i>! You stay. I give you all my intellect of Nippon + speech. Please!" and she looked up pleadingly. + </p> + <p> + Merrit laughed outright. + </p> + <p> + "That's all right, Yuki San; I am going to stay, and we will begin school + in the morning." + </p> + <p> + By this time the mother and father had learned of the guest's arrival and + hurried in to bid him welcome. The unpacking of his steamer-trunk and the + disposal of his possessions in his small apartment was a matter of + interest to the whole family. Each article was politely examined and + exclaimed over, and when Merrit drew out a package of photographs and + showed them his home and family and friends, the excitement became + intense. + </p> + <p> + That night Yuki San lay once more on her soft <i>futon</i> and watched the + shadow of the night-lamp play upon the screens. Nothing was changed in the + homely room since she had lain there in her babyhood: the same little + lamp, the same little Buddha on the shelf looking at her with inscrutable + eyes. + </p> + <p> + Yuki San stirred restlessly. "Dat most nice girl in picture," she said to + herself. "Him make marry with dat girl, he say." Then she added + inconsequently, with a sigh, "I much hope Saito San go to war for long, + long time." + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> <a name="link4" id="link4"></a><br /> <br /><br /> + </p> + <h3> + CHAPTER IV + </h3> + <p> + For two halcyon months Yuki San lived in a dream. The ample compensation + Merrit insisted upon making for the hospitality extended to him more than + met the modest needs of the little household, and once again, as in the + earlier days, they went on jolly excursions, visited ancient temples, and + picnicked under the shadow of the <i>torii</i>. The father and mother + always trotted close behind, and Yuki San, vastly pleased with her + ability, gaily translated the speeches from one to another. She talked + incessantly, laughing over her own mistakes, and growing prettier and more + winsome every day. + </p> + <p> + Merrit was glad to fill his leisure time in such pleasant companionship. + Yuki San was the same little bundle of charm he remembered of old, with + her innocence untouched, and a heart whose depths had never yet been + stirred. + </p> + <p> + He teased her, and taught her, and played with her, as he would have + played with a merry child. Naturally gentle and affectionate, he + unconsciously swept Yuki San to the borderland of that golden world where + to awaken alone is agony. + </p> + <p> + One morning, when the heavy mists of the valley lay in masses of pink + against the deeper purple of the mountain, and his Highness, the sun, his + face flushed from his long climb, was sending his first glances over the + sunny peaks of Fuji-yama, Yuki San arose, after a sleepless night, and + faced the morning with sorrowful eyes. + </p> + <p> + "You ve'y lazy, Mister Sun, this morning," she said, shaking a finger at + him in reproof; "where you the have been? Why you not come the more early + and make light for my busy?" + </p> + <p> + She tied the long sleeves of her bright kimono out of her way, and + twisting a bit of cloth about her head, fell to dusting the <i>shoji</i> + and setting the small room in order. + </p> + <p> + "I must the hurry," she said, as she kept up her brisk dusting. "I make + the food so quick as that Robin San steal berry for his babies. To-day him + one big, big day, but him no glad day. Merrit San go away." She paused in + her work, and a look of pain darkened her eyes, but she shook her head + reproachfully. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link006" id="link006"></a><br /> <br /><br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img alt="006.jpg (66K)" src="images/006.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + "Ah, Yuki San, you make sorry voice and your heart is thinking tears. You + naughty girl! Quick you make the fire to rise in <i>hibachi</i> and give + that Merrit San his <i>gohan</i>—same thing what that funny 'Merica + call breakfast." + </p> + <p> + After the steam had begun to rise from the vessels on several <i>hibachi</i>, + Yuki San, flushed by her exertions, rested upon her heels before the door + that led into the garden. As she fanned her flushed face with her sleeve, + she glanced again and again toward the narrow stairway that led to the + chamber above, and at the slightest sound she listened in smiling + expectancy. + </p> + <p> + From outside the wall came the gentle slip-slap of the water against the + <i>sampan</i>, and the cheerful banter of the owners as they made ready + for the work of the day. + </p> + <p> + Circling the garden, the fern-like maples made a note of vivid crimson + amid the feathery green of the bamboo. Every feature of the place was + closely associated with her short happy life. She had learned to walk on + the soft sandy paths, she had spelled out her first characters on the old + stone-lantern. She had whispered her secrets to the broken- nosed image of + Kwannon, who sat in the shadow of the pines, and there under the plum-tree + she had caught the naughty kitten that first brought her and Merrit San + together. + </p> + <p> + As she sat, with folded hands, and watched the sunshine on the dewy leaves + and flowers, her intense, restless, vivacious body relaxed in sudden + languor and her soft mouth drooped in wistfulness. + </p> + <p> + A splash in the pool below attracted her, and looking down she saw the + gleaming bodies of the goldfish as they leaped into the air. Instantly she + was all life and volubility. + </p> + <p> + "Yuki San one big bad girl; she no remember li'l fish. They always like + hungry baby San in early morning. I make fast to fill big hole inside—ve'y + li'l outside." + </p> + <p> + Slipping her half-stockinged feet out of her straw house-shoes, she + stepped into her wooden <i>geta,</i> and passing a shelf, filled her hands + with round rice-cakes. + </p> + <p> + The edge of the water turned to gold as the fish crowded close. Yuki San + scattered the crumbs and stood watching the wriggling mass for a moment, + then said: + </p> + <p> + "You ve'y greedy li'l fish. I never no can fill your bodies. Now I get + flower for Merrit San's breakfast." + </p> + <p> + She made her way over the flat mossy stones, passed the miniature Fuji + where dwelt the spirit of the wondrous "Lady who made the flowers to + bloom." She paused before the gorgeous chrysanthemums and looked long at + the morning-glories, with their tender tints of dawn. But at last she + spied on a rose-bush, set apart from the rest, a single white rose with a + heart of red. + </p> + <p> + With a little cry of satisfaction, she thrust her hands among the thorns + to pluck it. The rebound of the bush sent fluttering to her feet a + brilliant purple butterfly. Tender to all living things, Yuki San dropped + quickly to her knees and folded the half-chilled creature between the + palms of her warm hands. + </p> + <p> + "Ah, Cho Cho San," she said, "the day of yesterday you so big and strong. + The morning of to-day you have the weakness of cold body. That Jack Floss + him ve'y naughty boy!" + </p> + <p> + She put her moist red lips to her folded palms and the warmth of her + breath stirred to action the gauzy creature she held captive. + </p> + <p> + "You no must kick, Cho Cho San! Have the patience. I make you warm, I give + you one more day of happy." + </p> + <p> + Yuki San's wooden shoes sent a sharp click into the quiet morning air as + she quickly crossed the arched bridge and followed the path to the stone + image beyond the pool. With a touch as soft as the wings she held, the + girl lightly balanced the now thoroughly warmed butterfly on the broad + forehead of the Goddess of Mercy. + </p> + <p> + In sharp contrast to the spirit of the scene came the clear, rollicking + strains of an American air, whistled by some one coming down the steps. + </p> + <p> + For a moment Yuki San stood motionless, pressing her lips softly to the + rose she held. Then, with a swift pitter-patter, she ran back to the + house. + </p> + <p> + "The top of the morning to the honorable Miss Snow," said Merrit, who + quite filled the doorway. + </p> + <p> + Not willing to be surpassed in salutation, Yuki San laid a hand on each + knee, and bending her back at right angles, replied with mock gravity: + </p> + <p> + "Ohayo Gozaimasu-Kyo wa yoi O tenki." + </p> + <p> + <a name="link007" id="link007"></a><br /> <br /><br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img alt="007.jpg (65K)" src="images/007.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + Merrit knew she had him at a disadvantage in her own language, but, always + delighted to see the play of her dimples and the soft pink creep into her + cheeks when he teased, he stood by her now, big and stern, and growling. + </p> + <p> + "See here, Yuki San, otherwise Miss Snow, you just come off your high + stilts of that impossible lingo, and speak nice English suitable for a + little boy like me to understand." + </p> + <p> + "Li'l boy like you!" she rippled, "li'l boy like you! Merrit San him so + long when he make Japanese bow he come down from top like big bamboo-tree—so!" + Putting her hands high above her head, she bent till the tips of her + fingers touched the floor. Still bent, she twisted her head till her eyes, + bright with laughter, looked straight into Merrit's. + </p> + <p> + He lifted his eyebrows quizzically. "See here, Yuki San, you are fast + developing the symptoms of a coquette." + </p> + <p> + She quickly straightened her back, and with a smile of bewilderment, + exclaimed: + </p> + <p> + "Me croquette? No, no; croquette, him li'l chicken-ball what you eat. I no + can be eat!" + </p> + <p> + Merrit shouted with delight, then grew grave. + </p> + <p> + "No, Yuki San, you don't ever want to be a coquette. You want to be your + sweet little self, and make a good wife to that handsome soldier Saito, + with all his gold braid and dingle-dangles. But what about breakfast? You + see, my train leaves in an hour. If you don't give me something to fill my + honorable insides, I'll have to eat you, sure enough." + </p> + <p> + In mock fear she quickly brought a low table from an inner room, and with + deft hands placed the steaming soup and broiled fish before him. The knife + and fork were a concession to Merrit's inability to wield the chopsticks, + and sitting on his heels was Merrit's concession to the inability of the + house to provide a chair. + </p> + <p> + "Hello!" he said, picking up a long-stemmed rose, "where did you find this + beauty?" + </p> + <p> + "I guessed her with my nose," the girl answered. "You know what make her + heart so red? Long time ago, most beautiful princess love with wrong man. + Make Buddha ve'y angly, and he turn her body into white rose. But her + heart just stay all time red 'cause of beautiful love that was there." + </p> + <p> + "My! he's a fierce old customer, that Buddha of yours," said Merrit. + </p> + <p> + Yuki San paused in the filling of the rice-bowl and looked at him gravely: + </p> + <p> + "Merrit San, do you know God?" + </p> + <p> + "Do I know God?" he repeated, with a half-embarrassed laugh. + </p> + <p> + "Yes, Christians' God, what you must love and love, but no never can see + till die-time come. You know, Merrit San?" Then, lowering her voice in + earnest inquiry, she went on: "You believe that Christians' God more + better for Japanese girl than Buddha?" + </p> + <p> + For a moment Merrit felt the hot blood of confusion rise to his temples. + The role of spiritual adviser was a new and somewhat embarrassing one. + Struggling for expression, he floundered hopelessly. + </p> + <p> + "I—I—I guess I don't know very much about it. But there's one + sure tip, Yuki San, the Christians' God is all right. You can't lose out + if you pin to him." He stammered like a foolish schoolboy, but struggled + bravely on: "When things get pretty thick and you've struck bottom, that's + the time you find out. I know. I've been there. More's the pity I don't + remember it oftener!" + </p> + <p> + "And you think him more better for me?" asked Yuki San, still perplexed. + </p> + <p> + "You bet I do!" said Merrit with conviction. "Take my word for it and + don't forget." + </p> + <p> + "I no forget," she said. + </p> + <p> + A sliding of the screen and a call from the court-yard announced the + arrival of the jinrikisha men, who had come for the baggage. + </p> + <p> + Merrit thrust back his half-finished breakfast. + </p> + <p> + "By Jove! I'd most forgotten this is my last meal with you. Just to think + all that tiresome old government contract is finished and I'll soon be on + my way to the other side!" + </p> + <p> + "You want to see other side?" she asked. "Mama San not there no more." + Then seeing his face darken, she laid a quick hand of sympathy on his. "I + have the sorrowful for you," she said earnestly, then went on hastily: + "That other side! Yes, I know that most beautiful 'Merica. Most big ship + in the world come rolling into Hatoba. Merrit San so long and big, stand + way out front and see over much people. Then he cry out, 'Herro!' herro!' + with glad and much joyful. He see that lovely girl like picture waiting + there!" + </p> + <p> + Without pausing for a reply, she pushed open a door and called in Japanese + to her father and mother, who never made their appearance till Merrit's + breakfast was finished. + </p> + <p> + "Come, make ready to give our guest an honorable departure," she said. + </p> + <p> + In the small courtyard facing the street the girl found the men, with + their jinrikishas and baggage-wagon, waiting to convey Merrit to the + station. She carefully directed the tying on of the various trunks and + bags, and placed the family just where they should stand that the greatest + honor might be done the departing guest. + </p> + <p> + As Merrit came out of the little house and reached for his shoes, which + stood waiting at the side, Yuki San started toward him, eager to serve him + to the last. Merrit motioned her back. + </p> + <p> + "Don't come too near, Yuki San. If you happened to fall into one of those + shoes, you'd be lost for ever and ever, and that big Mr. Saito would be + inviting me to cut off my head." + </p> + <p> + Yuki San laughed and smoothed the cushions in the jinrikisha while she + gave minute directions to the jinrikisha men. + </p> + <p> + Merrit made his adieu with high good humor, and so many big words that + Yuki San was hard pressed to interpret. He invited the family and all + their relatives to come to see him in America. When he reached Yuki San he + held out his hand. Made shy by the unusual ceremony, she timidly laid a + cold and unresponsive little palm in his. He looked down from his height + with tender memories of all her gentle courtesies. + </p> + <p> + "Good-by, little snow-girl," he said. "I'll never forget Japan, nor you." + </p> + <p> + She withdrew her hand and looked inquiringly up at him. + </p> + <p> + "Some long time you come back?" + </p> + <p> + Merrit climbed into the jinrikisha "No, Yuki San, you know I'll soon have + a little home of my own to work and care for. I'll be a busy man for the + next few years, so I guess I'll not come back." + </p> + <p> + As in a dream, Yuki San saw the men adjust their hats and tighten their + sashes as they took their places in front of the small vehicle. + Mechanically she bowed her farewell with the rest of the family, but she + did not join their "Sayonara." + </p> + <p> + She watched the swift moving of the jinrikisha wheels, then she saw Merrit + turn at the gate and wave his hat as he joyously called: + </p> + <p> + "Good-by, Yuki San, God bless you!" + </p> + <p> + The girl stood still, her eyes on the empty gate. Like a lonely, hurt + child her lip quivered, and she caught it between her teeth to steady it. + </p> + <p> + "Ah, Yuki," cried her mother, "some spirit has wished you harm. A drop of + blood rests on your lips." + </p> + <p> + Yuki San drew her hand across her mouth, and lightly answered that maybe a + robin had tried to steal a cherry. But to herself she murmured: + </p> + <p> + "My heart bleed for lonely. He <i>never</i> come back." + </p> + <p> + <a name="link008" id="link008"></a><br /> <br /><br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img alt="008.jpg (76K)" src="images/008.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + <br /><br /> <br /><br /> <a name="link5" id="link5"></a><br /> <br /><br /> + </p> + <h3> + CHAPTER V + </h3> + <p> + The following day a host of accumulated duties and various preparations + for the first ceremonious visit of the groom-elect kept Yuki San's hands + and mind busy, and if sometimes a sob rose in her throat, or her eyes + strayed wistfully from her task, she resolutely refused to let herself + dwell upon the past. + </p> + <p> + The marriage, which had been dutifully accepted as a matter of course and + looked forward to as a financial relief to the entire family, had never + held any particular interest for her, but now even the preparations, which + had hitherto excited her interest and enthusiasm, found her listless and + indifferent. + </p> + <p> + She would be mistress over a great mansion and many servants, and her days + were to be spent in arranging for the physical comfort of Saito and the + entertainment of his friends. + </p> + <p> + The arrangement had seemed so simple, and so right, and she had been + gratified that a desirable husband had been found. But now she could + neither understand nor explain to herself her new and strange resistance. + She only knew that for the first time in her life there was rebellion + against the inevitable. + </p> + <p> + As she rested her tired body before beginning her toilet for the + afternoon, she remembered an American teacher at school who had been <i>in + love</i> with the man she was soon to marry. She remembered how she had + hidden behind the trees to see this young teacher run to the gate to meet + the postman, and her own failure to see why these letters should bring + such joy. She, with other girls, had spent a whole recess acting this + scene amid peals of laughter. Now it all came back to her with new + meaning, and it seemed neither strange nor amusing. + </p> + <p> + She leaned her head against the open <i>shoji</i> and looked out into the + garden, radiant and beautiful in the high noon of a perfect autumn day. + </p> + <p> + The working world paused in a brief sleep and the music of the garden was + hushed, while the insects sought the shadow of green leaves. Peace was + within and without, save in the girl's awakening heart. + </p> + <p> + "Ah, Sensei," she murmured through her trembling lips. "Then I make fun + for your letter of love. Forgive my impolite. Now I the understanding + have." + </p> + <p> + Yuki San chose her toilet for the coming visit with due regard for all + convention. There must be no touch of purple—that being the color + soonest to fade made it an evil omen. She selected an <i>obi</i> of rare + brocade, the betrothal gift of Saito, the great length of which expressed + the hope of an enduring marriage. + </p> + <p> + As she dressed, her mother flitted about her, chatting volubly and in such + high spirits that Yuki San's heart was warmed. The elaborate trousseau had + caused the little household many a sacrifice, but the joy in the hearts of + the old people more than justified them. + </p> + <p> + Presently the clatter of the jinrikisha in the courtyard announced the + arrival of the guest. Yuki San heard the long ceremonious greeting of her + father. She saw her mother hasten away to do her part and, left alone, she + sat with troubled eyes and drooping head. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link009" id="link009"></a><br /> <br /><br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img alt="009.jpg (66K)" src="images/009.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + The strange feeling in her heart, one moment of joy and one of pain, + bewildered and frightened her. No thought of evading her duty crossed her + mind, but her whole being cried out for a beautiful something she had just + found, but which it was futile to hope for in her new life. + </p> + <p> + At the call of her mother, Yuki San silently pushed open the screen and + made her low and graceful greeting. Custom forbidding her to take part in + the conversation, she busied herself with serving the tea, listening while + Saito San recounted various incidents of the picturesque court-life, or + told of adventures in the recent war. + </p> + <p> + After all the prescribed topics had been discussed and the farewells had + been said, Yuki San retained a vague impression of a small, middle-aged + man, with many medals on his breast, who looked at her with kind, + unsmiling eyes. + </p> + <p> + It was not till after the simple evening meal that Yuki San found the + chance to slip away to the little upper room which had been Merrit's for + two months. Nothing there had been touched, for the old mother claimed + that to set a room in order too soon after a guest's departure was to + sweep out all luck with him. + </p> + <p> + The girl entered and stood, a ghostly image, in the soft and tender light + of the great autumn moon as it lay against the paper doors and filled the + tiny room. Through the half-light Yuki San saw many touches of the late + inmate's personality. A discarded tie hung limply from a hook on the wall, + a half-smoked cigar and a faded white rose lay side by side on the low + table. + </p> + <p> + From the garden the sad call of a night-bird, with its oft-repeated wail, + seemed to voice her loneliness, and with a sob she sank upon her knees + beside the cot. Long she lay in an abandonment of grief, beating futile + wings against the bars of fate. At last, throwing out her arms, she + touched a small object beneath the pillow. Drawing it toward her, she took + it to the open <i>shoji</i>, and by the bright moonlight she saw a small + morocco note-book. She puzzled over the strange figures on the first few + pages, but from the small pocket on the back cover she drew forth a + picture that neither confused nor surprised. It was the girl Merrit had + told her about—the girl to whom he was going so joyously. + </p> + <p> + It was a face full of the gladness of life and love, whose laughing eyes + looked straight into Yuki San's with such a challenge of friendship and + good will that the girl smiled back at the picture and laid it gently + against her warm cheek. + </p> + <p> + She sought out each detail of hair and dress as she held it for closer + inspection, then replacing it in the pocket she said softly: + </p> + <p> + "He have the big, big love for you. You give him the happy. I close my + heart about you." + </p> + <p> + On the back of the book in letters of gold she spelled out the strange + word, "Diary." She puzzled for a moment, then she remembered where she had + seen it before. The young American teacher had written in just such a + book, and when she asked its meaning, the teacher had said it was her best + friend, her confidant, to whom she told her secrets. + </p> + <p> + For a moment Yuki San stood with the book in her hand, then she said + impulsively: + </p> + <p> + "Diary! I make diary, too. I speak my thoughts to you. I tole you all my + secrets. Maybe my lonely heart will flew away." + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> <a name="link6" id="link6"></a><br /> <br /><br /> + </p> + <h3> + CHAPTER VI + </h3> + <p> + THE DIARY OF YUKI SAN + </p> + <p> + <i>First Entry</i> + </p> + <p> + 'Merican Sensei say she have one closest friend in little book. I tell my + troublesome to this little book what spells "Diary" in gold letters on + back. I make it my closest friend what no never speaks the words of yours + when heart overflows with several feelings. I write for Merrit San, but + his eyes no must never see. Just my heart speak to his heart in that + 'Merican tongue what he understands. + </p> + <p> + Japanese girl very naughty if she love man. She made for the take care of + man's mother, man's house. Very bad for Japanese girl to say love when she + marry with man. Merrit San say 'Merican girl speak love with eyes when + lips are shame. Japanese girl cover the eye with little curtain when man + comes. She no must peep out one little corner. No must see, no must hear, + no must speak the love. + </p> + <p> + So I make little book guess my heart each day. + </p> + <p> + The happy days are pass away, and the flowers are bloom and birds will + return to me again, but where can I find Merrit San? How I feel the sorry + and the lonesome when I think I can't find him no more in this long + island. I no can express my heart with words. I never the forget of his + kindness to me. + </p> + <p> + Big lamp by Merrit San's desk no never burn so bright for me. It make + funny little crooked shadow of my body on <i>shoji</i>. Merrit San's body + always make big and strong black picture. I saw it last time big moon look + over mountain. I took walk in garden and I thinking this time next moon + Merrit San will not be here. Though the lamplight shines through the <i>shoji,</i> + still in next month the owner of the light will be different and the ache + come into my heart. + </p> + <p> + Whole Japan are changed, and everything I see or hear makes me think of + him; but my thoughts of him never, never changed, yet more and more + increase and longing for him all time. My heart speak the much word of + love for Merrit San. My eyes grow shame to say it. Little book, close my + secret! + </p> + <p> + <i>Second Entry</i> + </p> + <p> + ALL day many rains come down in garden. He steals flowers' sweetness and + damp my heart with lonesome. Last rainy day Merrit San teached me more + better English, and he laugh very long when I read the English writing + with my Japanese tongue. He say: "Ah, Yuki San, you very funny little + girl!" + </p> + <p> + Then I teach him the play of <i>go ban</i>, and he make the pain in his + head with the several thoughts how he must move the black or white. He try + long, long time, then he shake his big feest, and he say: "You've got me + beat, little sister; you've got me sure." + </p> + <p> + I laugh, but I think much thoughts. <i>I</i> no hurt Merrit San with beat, + and girl with much laugh in her eyes have got him for surely. I no + understand that funny 'Merican tongue. + </p> + <p> + Merrit San so many time call me little sister, and he say my soul all + white like my name. What <i>is</i> my soul? Ah, that same spirit what + leave my body and go out 'cross that many seas to safe Merrit San's + journey. I keep that soul all purely and white all of because Merrit San + call me Little Sister Snow. + </p> + <p> + One day I take Merrit San with me to very old temple. Sun, him so bright + he make all leaves to dance with glad. Green lizard take sleep on stone + step while big honey-bee sing song. All things have the joyful, and my + feets just touch earth with lightsome. + </p> + <p> + I go inside temple and say one very little pray to Amida, for I have the + hurry. When I go back, Merrit San he say: + </p> + <p> + "See here, Yuki San, you no waste time over pray. You get the trouble with + that old gentleman if you have not the careful." + </p> + <p> + Then I say: "Next time I give him little money and make big smoke with + incense," and he say, "Yuki, you very good girl." + </p> + <p> + Just by temple's side is little bamboo-tree which have very nice story. + One good god he like this bamboo, and he like the beautiful love. He say + give names of man and woman to boughs of bamboo and make the tie together + with long pin of thorn. Give the low bow, and by and by the dear wish in + heart will be truly. + </p> + <p> + Merrit San he no can know what I do, but he hold the high boughs of bamboo + down and I name him and me and make the tie together. + </p> + <p> + The dear wish of my heart come not truly. It is full of sad. + </p> + <p> + <i>Third Entry</i> + </p> + <p> + What shall I do to less my anxious? To-day at temple I ask Buddha. He + never speak. He always look far away at big sea. He no care, though tears + of the heart make damp the kimono sleeve. The Christians' God I no can + see. But Merrit San say he is everywhere and listens for voice of + troublesome. I no can make him hear, though I say the loud prayer. + </p> + <p> + Buddha very ugly old god. Maybe him cross when he see very pretty Japanese + girl make the low bow to him. + </p> + <p> + I believe Christians' God more better than Buddha, because Merrit San say + he make everything truly. He make me, he make Merrit San, he make the + beautiful love. Maybe some day that big God hear about Japanese girl's + heart of trouble and speak the peace. + </p> + <p> + To-day one long so busy day. Many silk must be sewed into fine kimono for + the when I go to live in other house. Sometimes I very glad I go to other + house. I make the many comforts of my mother and my father. + </p> + <p> + To-day I see the much cold in my father's body. Very soon he have nice + warm kimono with sheep's fur all inside. Then I make the glad heart, I + marry with Japanese man. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link010" id="link010"></a><br /> <br /><br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img alt="010.jpg (86K)" src="images/010.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + It is getting little cold, and every night the moon is so clear. These day + crickets are singing among the grasses. Those make me to think of Merrit + San more and more. This fall was quite changed to me. At first Merrit San + never come back to me as I expect in dreamy way. I have the feel of very + helpless and lonesome. Before, though I had some trouble or unhappiness, + if I saw Merrit San's smile everything was taken clear away and my heart + was full with cheer and happy. + </p> + <p> + Ah, Merrit San, though it makes my cheek red with hot to write the speak, + I love you most. + </p> + <p> + Buddha very naughty old god to say nothing truly is. + </p> + <p> + <i>Fourth Entry</i> + </p> + <p> + Ah, Merrit San, what you suppose I have dream last night? I was so happy + that I cannot tell with my tongue nor pen. That <i>you</i> come back! I + could no word speak out with so much glad. I had many things to tell you + before I wake, but I could not even one thing. + </p> + <p> + You say you stay ten days. It is too short, but it far more better is than + half night. Oh, I wish so bad I did not wake up from dream! + </p> + <p> + I was tearful with much disappoint, then I remember that day you go to big + 'Merica you call back "God bless you, Yuki San," and with my heart I make + one soft prayer to Christians' God. + </p> + <p> + When big temple bell wake me up and all birds, my troublesome was more + light, and I make so big breakfast for my father and my mother, my pocket + began to tell the loneliness, and I could not perform all my wishes. + </p> + <p> + When I write these letters Merrit San is far away at sea on the way of his + home. He will have joyful time. I wish I can see her, that girl with the + laugh in her eyes. Wonder how she thinks of Japan. Perhaps she would think + how small and lonely country and people. One girl in that Japanese country + very sad with lonely. + </p> + <p> + But Merrit San say: "Yuki San, you <i>good girl</i>, you be good wife." So + I make the try to put my lonely heart to sleep. + </p> + <p> + <i>Fifth Entry</i> + </p> + <p> + Time and days goes too fast as running water. Already old month went away + and new one have come. It is time for us to do last work on many clothes + for new home. + </p> + <p> + When Japanese girl marry with man she take much goods to his house. To-day + my father bring what 'Merican call bureau, and many work-box and trays and + much fine <i>futon</i> for to sleep on floor with. Next day after this + many mens will come and travel all things to other house. Japanese girl + wear fine kimono long, long time, and keep for more little girl. Merrit + San say 'Merican girl wear fine kimono one time, then she no more like. + </p> + <p> + Then 'Merican girl have much happy in her heart. 'Merican man come to + girl's house to marry with her. She no afraid to speak the word of love, + though man's mother sit next by him. She no 'fraid of laugh. She has the + joyful of life. + </p> + <p> + Japanese girl very happy when she very little girl, or very, very old. But + when she goes to man's house to marry with him, she must always be the + quiet of little mice and more busy than honey-bee. Very bad. But Japanese + girl have the much brave, and holds the happy in her heart when she brings + the comforts to her peoples. + </p> + <p> + Merrit San say many more big country than Japan in world. I say, "What is + world? I wish I know world like you!" Merrit San stop the laugh and his + voice grow still with quiet, then he say: + </p> + <p> + "Ah, Yuki San, little snow-girl like you should not know the world. Cuddle + in your little nest and be content." + </p> + <p> + What is content? It is the don't care of anything but the flower- garden + in my heart. Wonder if girl with laugh in her eyes have the content? This + day I take walk by seas. Last time I take walk so many peoples come with + us. I make into Japanese words all Merrit San's funny speaks. We have the + much laugh: Merrit San try the eat with chop-sticks. + </p> + <p> + To-day little boat what we ride the water in was broke by its nose and + many seas was eating it up. Loud cold wind make pine-trees shivery and + sad. Big gray cloud come down and make all black with sorrowful. Sometimes + little white waves jump up and dance, but the joyful of last happy day + stings my heart. + </p> + <p> + <i>Sixth Entry</i> + </p> + <p> + More long time go running slowly by since you have left us, and as I was + thinking of that running and those days and longing for you and my heart + getting down in lonely thoughts, <i>Yubin</i> San bring me those package + what you sent, Merrit San, and it made me very glad and happy. Hardly can + I tell what was in my heart then. Before I can open it I hold it tightly + against my breast and kept silence a little while. Tears of sorrow changed + into the great joy for a moment when I see your name and your hand of + write. I feel as if I receive a new life right in this minute, and I + caught a light of hope in yonder. My heartful joy and gladness will not + express, and I wish I can go up in high place and shout out and tell all + people the joyful of beautiful love. How it make the change in whole earth + and life and give the dance of heart. But I will not. Mens and women of + Japanese country have not the understand of such lovely thing, and make + the shameful of me. So I give silence to my lips and close the door of my + heart. Ah, what funny little thing that heart is! In one half live the + joyful. Other side have all the painful of life, and when the love come + sometimes he knock at wrong door and give the hurtful ache to life. Ah, + Merrit San, you give many thankfuls for the lend of my house in your + letter. I give the love of you many more thankfuls for coming to my heart, + even he knock at two doors. One day me and Merrit San went down to temple + where big feast was. Merrit San go inside and look long long time at + Buddha, then he say: + </p> + <p> + "Yuki San, what will this old gentleman do to you if you disobey him?" I + give little think, then I say, "I no can know—I no never disobey. + Buddha say, 'Yuki, take care father and mother all time.' I take care. Him + say, 'Yuki, you woman—you not talk too much.' I no talk much. Then + him say, 'Yuki, come many time to temple and make light with incense and + put little money every time in box.' I give obey and much <i>go rin</i>, + but Buddha keep all and never give back." Before I finish my speak Merrit + San shiver like cold and say, "Come on, Yuki San, let's get out of here + and find the sun." Outside I make cherry-wreath while Merrit San tell me + story. Him very sweet day—now all gone forever. + </p> + <p> + <i>Seventh Entry</i> + </p> + <p> + Last fine kimono is finished and all baggage is tied. Next day I go to + other house. + </p> + <p> + Then my mother will give all house much sweep with new broom, to tell gods + I go 'way no more to come back. Maybe they make big fire by gate to tell + all peoples I belong to other house now. Ah, little book, to-night I make + big fire in my heart and burn all my wickeds in it. Next day I make more + fire and burn you. To other house I must go all white and purely as Merrit + San say. + </p> + <p> + Ah, Merrit San, you the one big happy in all my life and I never forget + all your kindful. You give me the good heart, like sun make flower-bud + unclose. You telled me what is soul and purely, and you say be very good + wife. + </p> + <p> + One night when moon was big and round and red and river outside wall go + spank, spank, you call all my people to garden, and with the 'Merican <i>samisen</i> + you sing much songs. + </p> + <p> + Sometimes you very funny, but sometimes when moon specks slip through big + pine-tree, I see you very sadful. + </p> + <p> + Now moon speck come on <i>shoji</i> and ache my eyes to look your face + once more. + </p> + <p> + I try so much to make picture of man's face I marry with. I no can see + anything but much medals on coat, and so many teeths. Merrit San's eyes + all blue and twinkly, and face so white and clean. + </p> + <p> + But now he make the joyful with girl with laugh in her eyes, and her feet + no touch the ground with much happy. + </p> + <p> + To-morrow I go to other house and no belong to my father and mother. + To-day I go temple, and I make promise I no more speak of Merrit San's + name; no more the think of his face in my heart. + </p> + <p> + Little book, I weared you close to my breast many days. To-night I sleep + with you tight to my heart. You gived me the courage to turn my face to + the rising sun of the to-morrow. + </p> + <p> + <i>Sayonara.</i> + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> <a name="link7" id="link7"></a><br /> <br /><br /> + </p> + <h3> + CHAPTER VII + </h3> + <p> + The low, deep music of a temple bell rolled down the hillside and echoed + through the giant cryptomerias. It stirred to action the creatures of the + early dawn and passed out with infinite sweetness to the red-rimmed east + of another day. + </p> + <p> + The priests in the old temples chanted their prayers with weird monotony, + while a single bird poured out his morning song of love at the door of his + mate. + </p> + <p> + The old stone steps leading from temple to temple would have looked as + they had a thousand other mornings, gray, grim, and mossy, save for a + little figure that slowly took its way up a long and crooked flight. + </p> + <p> + Yuki San was on her way to make good her promise to the gods. Her wooden + shoes clicked sharply in the quiet morning air, then hushed as she paused + for rest on a broad step. Even the exertion of the long climb had failed + to color her white cheeks, but her lips were carmine and her eyes luminous + with purpose. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link011" id="link011"></a><br /> <br /><br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img alt="011.jpg (86K)" src="images/011.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + The one spot of color about her otherwise sober little figure was a + bright-red <i>furoshike</i> held close, in which something was carefully + wrapped. + </p> + <p> + A noisy waterfall leaped past her down the hillside in a perpetual + challenge to race to the foot. Stern-faced images, grim of aspect, stared + at her as she climbed, but Yuki San kept gravely on her way until she + reached the open door of the great silent temple. + </p> + <p> + The faint light of the early morning had scarce penetrated the shadows + that clung about the gorgeous hangings and rich symbols of this ancient + place of worship. A white-robed priest, oblivious to all save his own + meditations, paid little heed to the childlike figure as it knelt before + the cold, calm, unchanging image of the great Buddha. + </p> + <p> + For a moment Yuki San moved her lips. Still kneeling, she drew from her + sash the red <i>furoshike</i> and took from it a small morocco note- book. + </p> + <p> + With light steps she crossed to a brazier, and with a pair of small tongs + lifted from it a glowing coal. With steady fingers she pushed aside the + many sticks of incense in the great brass vessel before the shrine, and + making a little grave among the ashes, she laid within the burning coal + the little book. + </p> + <p> + The blue smoke, rising slowly, hung for a moment above the girl's head as + a halo, then rose to the feet of Buddha as in supplication for mercy, and + was finally lost in the darkness of the heavy roof. + </p> + <p> + The girl watched with wide eyes and parted lips. Clasping her hands, she + lifted her face and from her heart came a fervent, whispered prayer. + </p> + <p> + "I make empty my heart of all wicked. Buddha or Christians' God, I no can + know which. Please the more better speak into my lonely life the word of + peace." + </p> + <p> + She turned from the silent temple on her homeward way. She paused by the + clump of bamboo where so short a time before she had gleefully tied + together two boughs in the name of Merrit and herself. Tiptoeing to reach + the high boughs which Merrit had held for her to tie, she drew them + downward to slip the thong that bound them. After holding them to her soft + cheek a moment, she let them fly apart, while she closed her eyes and + whispered softly: + </p> + <p> + "Good-by, beautiful love, good-by." + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Little Sister Snow, by Frances Little + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LITTLE SISTER SNOW *** + +***** This file should be named 5960-h.htm or 5960-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/5/9/6/5960/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland David Widger and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Little Sister Snow + +Author: Frances Little + +Release Date: August 16, 2004 [EBook #5960] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LITTLE SISTER SNOW *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland David Widger and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + + + + + +LITTLE SISTER SNOW + +BY + +FRANCES LITTLE + +Author of "The Lady of the Decoration" + + +WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY +GENJIRO KATAOKA +1909 + + + +TO MY NIECE + +ALICE HEGAN RICE + +IN MEMORY OF MANY HAPPY MONTHS +SPENT TOGETHER IN JAPAN + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + +A fervent, whispered prayer . . . _Frontispiece_ + +With outstretched hands and flying feet + +She would throw her into the ditch + +The two old people + +Yuki San was called before her father + +With paint and brush she fell to work + +At the slightest sound she listened + +Not willing to be surpassed in salutation + +"My heart bleed for lonely" + +She busied herself with serving the tea + +Very helpless and lonesome + +To make good her promise to the gods + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +A quaint old Japanese garden lay smiling under the sunshine of a +morning in early spring. The sun, having flooded the outside world +with dazzling light, seemed to sink to a tender radiance as it wooed +leaf and bud into new life and loveliness. It loosened the tiny +rivulet from the icy fingers of winter, and sped it merrily on its way +to a miniature lake, where shining goldfish darted here and there in +an ecstasy of motion. It stole into the shadows of a great pine-tree, +and touched the white wings of the pigeons as they cooed the song of +mating-time. It gleamed on the sandy path that led to the old stone +lantern, played into the eyes of Kwannon, the Goddess of Mercy, and +finally lost itself in the trees beyond. + +Under a gnarled plum-tree, that for uncounted years had braved the +snow and answered joyously the first call of spring, a little maiden +stood and held out eager hands to catch the falling blossoms. The +flowering-time was nearly done, and the child stood watching the +petals twirl quickly down, filling the hollows and fashioning curious +designs on the mossy grass. + +The softest of breezes coming across the river, over the thick hedge, +saucily blew a stray petal straight into the child's face. To Yuki +Chan it was a challenge, and with outstretched hands and flying feet +she gave chase to the whirling blossoms. Round and round the old tree, +into the hedge, and up the sandy path she raced, her long sleeves +spreading like tiny sails, her cheeks flushed to the same crimson as +her flowery playmates. A sudden stillness in the air ended the romp. +Yuki Chan returned to her playground beneath the tree, and taking her +captured petals from the folds of her kimono, began to count her +trophies. + +"Ichi, ni, san, ichi, ni, san," she rhythmically droned, three being +the magical number that would bring good luck if the petals were +properly arranged and the number repeated often enough. + +But the monotony of repetition brought rest, and soon Yuki Chan, +forgetting to count, made a bed of the fallen petals and turned her +face toward the little straw-roofed house from which noises of busy +preparation came. + +It was a birthday. Not Yuki Chan's, for that came with the snow-time. +This was the third day of the third month, which in the long ago was +set apart as the big birthday of all little girls born in the lovely +island, and was celebrated by the Festival of Dolls. + +Yuki Chan lay with her slim body stretched in the warmth of the sun. +In every graceful line was the imprint of high breeding; her white +face, so unusual with her race, was stamped with the romance and +tragedy of centuries; while her eyes, limpid and luminous, looked out +at the world with eager, questioning interest. + +Through the wide-open _shoji_ of the house she caught glimpses of +her father and mother hurrying and holding consultations. She marked +frequent visits to the old warehouse that held the household +treasures, and the bringing out of bundles wrapped in yellow cloth. +The air brought her whiffs of cooking food, and the flower- and +fish-men deposited a fair part of their stock on the porch. But Yuki +Chan was banished from these joys of preparation because of naughtiness, +and as she lay in the warm sunshine she thought of her recent +wickedness. She smiled as she remembered how she had hid her father's +pipe that he might work the faster, and broken the straps of her +mother's wooden shoes, so that she could not go outdoors. She laughed +softly when she thought of the stray cat which she had brought into the +house and coaxed to drink milk while she, with skilful fingers and a +pair of scissors, transformed her smooth fur into a wonderful landscape +garden. Short work had made kitty's head slick and shiny, like a lake, +with a stray bristle or two, which stood for trees. In the middle of her +back stood Fuji, the great mountain, with numberless little Fujis to +keep company. Many winding paths ran down kitty's legs to queer, +shapeless shrines, and it was only when Yuki Chan had insisted on making +a curious old pine-tree with twisted limbs of kitty's short and stubby +tail that trouble ensued, and she had been requested by her mother to +take her honorable little body to the garden. + +Yuki Chan remembered her mother's beautiful smile of love as she +gently chided her, and recalled the note of trouble in the kind voice. +Was the mother sorry because she had stuck out a very pink tongue at a +cross-eyed old image that sat on the floor on the very spot that she +wanted to step upon? Or was it--and Yuki Chan grew grave--that the +last _go rin_ had been spent for the new dress she was to wear that +day? + +All her short life Yuki Chan had lived in a house of love, but no veil +of affection, no sacrifice, could shield her from the knowledge of +poverty. She had never seen her mother wear but one festival dress, +yet her own little kimono was ever bright and dainty, and even the new +brocade of the dolls' dresses stood alone with the weave of gold and +tinsel. + +A solemn thought, like a pebble dropped into water, caused circle +after circle to trouble her childish mind. She did not quite +understand, but she knew there was something she must learn. She had +been naughty and weighed her mother's spirits. She had caused a grave +look in her father's kind eyes, and had sent the household pets +scattering with her mischief. Now she must be good--very good--else +the fox spirit would come upon her, and she would go through life an +unhappy soul. She would give more obedience to the honorable mother, +whose every word had been a caress. It was as if for the first time +the great book of life opened before her and, though unconscious of +its meaning, the first word she saw spelled Duty. + +The noises from the house grew fainter. The child, with blinking eyes, +lay gazing straight above her. Overhead the branches overflowed into a +canopy of crimson, which shut out the great real world and opened into +a fairy world wherein only the untried feet of youth may tread and the +fragile flowers of child-dreams bloom. The gates thereto are slight +but strong, and only knowledge erects an impassable barrier. + +The wind sang its lullaby through the blossoms of the tree, and sleep +would soon have overtaken Yuki Chan had not a peculiar sound aroused +her and caused her eyes to fly wide open. Once before she had heard +it, and it had meant death to the big robin who lived in the branches +above. The cry came from the mother bird this time and brought Yuki +Chan to her feet. + +Through the shower of blossoms, brought down by the mad fluttering of +wings, she saw a tiny half-feathered thing struggling in the sharp +claws of her lately acquired pet. With certainty of success, the cat +let its victim weakly flutter an inch or two away, then reaching out a +cruel paw drew it back. Twice repeated, the green eyes narrowed to +slits, and Yuki Chan, horrified, saw big red drops slowly dripping +from either side of the whiskered mouth. Terror held her for a moment +as she heard the crunching of small bones, then white passion +enveloped her as she stole noiselessly from behind and closed her two +small hands around the furry throat. + +_"Baka!"_ she cried from between her clenched teeth. _"Baka_--to eat +the baby birds! This day will I ask Oni to make you into a stone, +which every foot will kick and hurt, and you can neither move nor cry. +You cruel, cruel beast!" In vain the cat struggled. Yuki Chan held it +firmly at arm's-length while she decided what was to be its fate. + +Looking sternly at the offender, her lips rounded into a long-drawn +"s-o," the light of anticipated revenge danced in her eyes. At last +she knew what to do, O most honorable but very ugly cat! She would +throw her into the ditch, where great crawling frogs with popping eyes +would stick out long tongues; where flying things would sting, and +creeping things would bite; where the great tide would come later and +take her out to the big, big ocean, where there was neither milk to +drink nor birds to eat. + +At the thought of her furry playmate floating alone and hungry in the +vast place which, to Yuki Chan, had neither beginning nor end, +something of pity touched her heart, and she slightly loosened her +grasp. + +The cat gained a good breath and used it. In the fight for freedom a +sharp claw was drawn down the child's arm, leaving a line of red in +its course. Compassion took flight, and Yuki Chan, clutching anew, +went swiftly down the path that led to the street, with a watchful eye +on the lodge of the keeper of the gate. + +The keeper was very old, and very cross, and lately had acquired a +curious idea that little girls must ask his honorable permission to go +in and out the gate. One day he actually threatened punishment, and +Yuki Chan, in her scorn, invited him to cut off his head with a sword, +that he might save his face. Now the way was clear. + +She turned her head and bumped her small body against the weight of +the heavy gates until they swung slightly apart and permitted her to +slip through. + +So intent was her purpose to reach the ditch across the street that +she did not see an approaching jinrikisha, and before she knew it she +had been tumbled over and sent rolling to the side of the road. Still +clutching the kitten, she sat up and rubbed the dust from her eyes. + +Standing over her was the jinrikisha man, and beside him was his +passenger, a young American boy, whose light hair and blue eyes held +her spell-bound. He was brushing the dust from her kimono, and his +foreign tongue made strange sounds. + +"Say, kid," the boy was saying, as he transferred the dust from his +hands to his handkerchief, "glad you're not hurt or got any bones +cracked. Where's your mama, or your papa, or your nurse, to give you a +spanking and keep you off the street?" + +As he talked Yuki Chan grew fascinated watching his mouth, and forgot, +for a moment, her direful intention. The cat, again taking advantage +of her relaxed hold, began to tug for freedom, and a lively struggle +ensued. + +The boy, looking on, began to laugh, a laugh that began in his eyes, +ran over his face and down into his throat, whence it came again in a +shout of boyish merriment. + +Yuki Chan, looking from him to the smiling jinrikisha man, grew +crimson with anger. With a swift movement she ran toward the ditch. + +Divining her purpose by the look in her eyes, Dick Merrit went +gallantly to the rescue of the kitten. He was tall for his sixteen +years, and his long strides more than matched the pattering steps of +the slip of a girl who raced before him. + +"No, you don't, kiddie," he cried; "your manicured cat is not going +into the ditch, if we have to scrap for it." + +Merrit caught Yuki Chan in one arm, and again and again loosened her +fingers from the struggling kitten. + +"Iya, Iya!" the child screamed; but Merrit, as determined as she, held +her firmly, and ended by lightly slapping first one little hand and +then the other. + +The child, thus coming into contact for the first time with physical +force, relaxed her grasp and gazed in amazement at the boy's +determined face. + +"I guess your 'Iya' means no, little lady, and I say 'Iya' too," said +Merrit, taking the cat into his arms and smoothing its uneven back. +"You are not going to put it into the ditch. Why don't you give it to +me? I am getting up a collection of cats and things at the school, and +I'd like to take this queer specimen along. Ask her if I can have it." + +The jinrikisha man, who stood a smiling spectator, saw Dick Merrit's +hand move toward his pocket, and was instantly alert and eager to +settle the matter. + +"Him ve'y bad girl," he said; "him make dead for catty. You give me +ten sen, I take girl homely. You have much of catty." + +But Dick declined all interference, and putting the cat inside his +coat he stooped down and took one of Yuki Chan's unresisting hands. +Her sleeve fell back, and he saw the long red scratch. + +"Hello! The cat had an inning too, didn't she? I'd like to chuck her +for hurting you, but I can't let you give her a bath in that dirty +hole. Never mind, I'll take her home, and some day I'll bring you +something. I bet you don't understand a word I'm saying, but I'll be +hanged if I know how to make you." + +Feeling rather helpless, Dick talked on, patting first Yuki Chan and +then the cat. + +The child stood speechless and looked deep into his eyes, not having +entirely recovered from the shock of the first blow she had ever +received. + +"You'll be good, won't you?" he went on coaxingly, "not drown any more +cats and things?" + +Yuki Chan, with the intuition that only a child can have, suddenly +bridged the gulf of strange language and understood. With the quick +movement of a nestling bird, she bent forward and laid her cheek +against the boy's shoulder. It was not only complete surrender, but +allegiance to the conqueror. + +Dick rose, red and confused. Then he climbed into the jinrikisha, +trying to ignore the smiles of the man. + +Yuki Chan, with her hands joined just below her sash, bent her body +like a half-shut jack-knife. + +"Arigato--arigato," she said politely, as she bowed again and again. + +"Him say t'ank you," interpreted the jinrikisha man. + +"Good-by," called Dick. "Don't forget--be good!" + +Yuki Chan watched the back of the jinrikisha and the swinging brown +legs of the jinrikisha man that showed beneath. She had forgotten the +cat, but she still remembered the kind look in the blue eyes of the +boy. + +"Yuki, Yuki!" came the voice of the mother in her native tongue. +"Come, the feast is prepared, and the sandals are worn from my feet +running to seek you. Hurry! before the red beans grow cold." + +The child sent a long-drawn "Hei" in answer to her mother, then to +herself she said over and over: + +"Be goodu--be goodu." + +She had heard the words a few times before, but they were associated +with her visits to the mission-school and a certain oblong box out of +which came sticks of red and white with a very sweet taste. Now, as +she said them, a new meaning seemed to play about them. + +She slipped through the gate and walked with unhurried feet toward the +small house, so gay in its festal plumage. As she passed the old +plum-tree she looked up and saw the mother bird cuddling her babies +beneath her breast. + +Some tender thought lighted the child's face into a strange beauty, as +a stray sunbeam finds a hidden flower and glorifies it. Turning her +face upward to the nest, she patted her own cheek and said: "Be goodu, +Yuki, be goodu." + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +In the springtime a Japanese house is a fairy-like thing, with only +top and bottom of straw and a few upholding posts to give it a look of +substance. + +Yuki Chan's house was typical. The paper screens were carefully put +away during the day, that the breezes might play unobstructed through +the house. At night the heavy wooden doors were fitted into grooves +and served not only to keep out the night air, but also the evil +spirits that come abroad when the great sun ceases watching. + +Binding the whole was a narrow porch, showing a floor polished like a +mirror from the slipping and sliding of generations of feet. Yuki Chan +first learned to know her face in its reflections and, alas! by the +same method had learned the saucy fascination of sticking out her +small pink tongue. + +On the side of the porch toward the plum-tree the child found her +father and mother waiting. The two old people sat on gay cushions with +hands folded and feet crossed. Their festal attire bore the marks of a +once careless luxury, but now shabbiness tried to hide itself under +the bravery of tinsel, where once had been pure gold. + +Each year the struggle of obsolete methods of business and the +intricacies of progress plowed the furrows a little deeper in the +man's face, and when his eyes, that in youth had blazed with ambition, +grew wistful and troubled, he dropped them that his wife might not +see. + +But what silence could hide from this frail woman any mood of the man +she had served with mind and body and soul these many years? When she +came to him as a shy bride on trial, she knew no such word as love. +Duty was her entire vocabulary, and she asked nothing and gave all. + +Many little souls had come to her, with hands all crimped and pink, +like new-blown cherry-leaves, only to close their eyes and pass out to +the good god Jizo, who is always waiting to help little children +across the river of death. + +In years gone by, night after night sleep had flown before the terror +that another woman would be brought into the house that the family +name might not die out. Silently she would slip out to the little +shrine and pour out passionate words of prayer that just one little +soul might be permitted to live. + +No matter how long the night, nor how bitter the struggle, morning +always found her bright and cheerful, bending every effort to invent +new diversions for her husband. She labored to anticipate every wish, +and even though she did without, she provided him the best of comfort. +Working far into the night, secretly disposing of her small personal +treasures, acquiescing in his most trivial statements, she planned +that no slightest gap in the domestic arrangement should suggest +itself to him. + +The woman worked and prayed and waited. Then she triumphed. In the +wake of a great snow-storm came the longed-for child, and they called +her Yuki, after the snow that had brought them their wish. Hand in +hand with Yuki Chan came love, and bound the hearts of the man and +woman with ties of a desire fulfilled. From that time to this love had +prevailed, and as Yuki Chan climbed on the porch, besmirching its +shining surface with her muddy little feet, that had been guiltless of +sandals all day, the faces of the two old people lighted up with +sudden joy. + +Yuki Chan looked ruefully at the muddy prints she had made and +realized that she had been a most impolite little girl. Remembering +her recent resolve, she sought the eyes in which she had never seen +any light for her save that of love. She drew close, and reaching down +took her mother's hand, hard and cracked by labor, and laying her +cheek against it said, with a voice sure of forgiveness and sweet +desire for atonement: + +"Go men nasai." + +The mother, with a courtly but playful air, granted her pardon with a +low salutation. Then with a rush of affection that no convention could +stem, she folded the child to her heart and lived another moment of +supreme joy. + +The father sat by, making no comment, his eyes bright and twinkling. +Then he suggested that their Majesties, the dolls, had been waiting +long on the shelf. Was it not time they were receiving a visit? + +The years of toil were telling on both father and mother, but they +daily refreshed themselves at the overbrimming fountain of Yuki Chan's +youth, and now, as they each took one of her hands to go in to see the +dolls, they were so gay that the child suggested that instead of +walking they should do the new one-two-three-hop she had learned at +the kindergarten. + +It was unheard-of conduct, but it was for Yuki Chan, and father and +mother stumped along, cheered on by the small girl who was trying to +keep time, but was breathless through sheer excess of happiness. + +There was nothing in the room to impede their progress. No chairs with +treacherous legs to trip over, no beds, nor tables with sharp corners +--nothing whatever but the matting, soft and thick, where Yuki Chan had +practised all the gymnastics of childhood unbruised and unharmed. + +Half skipping, half hopping, and wholly undone with laughter and +exertion, the three at last reached the place where, for six years, +offerings had been made for the gift of the child who stood to these +two for love. + +Arranged in the best room in the house, on five long red-covered +shelves, were dolls. Big dolls and little dolls, thin ones and fat +ones, each one to represent some royal man or woman of the long ago, +and dressed in a fashion of a time almost forgotten. There was Jimmu +Tenno, the first real emperor. His hair was done in a curious fashion +and his dress was of a wonderful brocade, while his hands clasped two +fierce-looking swords. There was Jingo, too, who had won fame and +lasting honor by her wonderful fighting, and was so great she had to +sit by the emperors and look down on the other empresses. Such a lot +of them! Some worthy to be remembered every day in the year, others +the more quickly forgotten the better. + +Yuki Chan knew them all by heart, and she lingered before those she +liked and quickly passed those she did not care for. She could not be +rude to an emperor, even though he had been dead hundreds of years. +She was really not very afraid of the greatness of the old doll men +and women who sat on the shelf, still it was well to be careful about +handling them. She might be turned into a lizard or a snake, just as +the old lodge-keeper had said. + +But her delight was in the miniature toilet articles of solid silver, +costly gold lacquer, and porcelain, so tiny, so beautifully carved +they must have meant the eyesight of some workman, only too glad to +shut out the sunlight forever if he might produce just one perfect +thing. + +The things, however, that made Yuki Chan clap her hands and the +nesting birds perk up their heads at the sound of her clear, sweet +laugh were the funny little lacquer carts in which the royalty was +supposed to ride, drawn by impossible fat bullocks, so bow-legged that +their curves formed a big round O. Yuki Chan made her red lips into +the same shape, and called her mother to look. + +She pretended to feed the dolls with real food and wine, and actually +played with the five court musicians, because they were partly +servants and it did not matter. + +Her tongue ran in ceaseless chatter. Her father and mother hovered +around her, repeating the history of all those wonderful people. Yuki +Chan listened very little, so concerned was she with her own comments, +until she happened to see an anxious look creep into her mother's +eyes. It was something every little girl must know, and if Yuki Chan's +honorable ears refused to open, how would she learn? Then Yuki Chan +nestled close, and gave little pats of love and tried to listen. THE +shadows of the bamboo grew long and slim as the sun kissed them good +night. The sails skimmed homeward on a silver sea as the west covered +its rosy pink in a veil of deepest blue. The young birds in the old +plum-tree did not stir at the loving touch of the mother who, with a +soft bill, searched and sought for the lost one. The plum-blossoms +lingered yet for a night as the air had grown chill. + +Within the house Yuki Chan, still dressed, lay on the floor, weary +with the wonders of the day. Her mother took from a small inclosure +beneath a shelf many soft comforts with which she arranged the child's +bed. Yuki Chan, talking all the time in a low monotone, tried to +unravel a tangle in her mind of birds and cats and dolls. It was all +getting unmanageable and very hazy, when her mother gathered her into +her arms, and quickly casting aside her two garments laid her gently +in a bath of caressing warmth. A moment more and the little maiden lay +like a rose-leaf in her bed. + +The night-lamp made shadowy ghosts of all it touched, and one gleam of +light, escaping the paper shade, hung like an aureole above the head +of Yuki Chan's mother as she knelt with clasped hands before the +Buddha on the shelf. + +Her moving lips had only one refrain: "The child, the child, the +child." + +Yuki Chan watched the play of the light in the half-dark room. What +funny things those shadows made, and, strangely enough, one more +wonderful than all the rest grew into the shape of the boy, and his +lips were saying, "Be good." + +Then Yuki Chan lost herself in a mist of drowsiness, and her mother +sat by, and kept time with her hand as she chanted rather than sang: + + "Sleep, little one, sleep. + The sparrows are nodding. + Beneath the deep willow-trees + The night-lamp is burning. + Thy mother is watching, + Sleep, little one, sleep." + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +Twelve times had the plum-tree scattered its petals to the wind, and +Yuki San [Footnote: The honorific _Chan_, used only in childhood, is +changed to _San_ in later years.] had passed from childhood into +girlhood, and had already touched the border of that grave land +of grown-up, where all the worries lie. For though she was apparently +only a larger edition of the spoiled, impulsive happy child of old, +yet often her eyes were shadowed with the struggle of shielding her +aging father and mother from the poverty that was coming closer day by +day. + +During the three years she had been gaining her education at the +English mission-school, they had toiled unceasingly that she might +have the best the country could afford, but now that she had returned +after her long struggle with a strange language and a strange people, +it was but fitting that she should take up her duties as the daughter +of an impoverished family of high rank. The father, grown old and +feeble, gave up the battle for existence, and being a devout Buddhist, +turned his thoughts upon Nirvana, which he strove diligently to enter +by perpetual meditation and prayer. The mother, used to guidance and +unable to think or plan for herself, turned helplessly to Yuki San. + +The duties were heavy for girlish shoulders, and often as the dawn +crept over the mountains it found the girl wide-eyed and still, trying +to solve the problem of modest demand and meager supply. + +She had learned many things at the mission-school. She could read and +write English imperfectly, she could recite the multiplication table +faster than any one else, she could perform the most intricate figures +in physical culture, and if she had infinite time she could play three +hymns on the organ. These varied accomplishments, however, seemed of +little assistance in showing her how to stretch her father's small +pension beyond the barest necessities of the household. Tales had been +told her of a great land, far beyond her sea-bound home, where women +of the highest birth went out to work in the busy world. How she had +marveled at their boldness and wondered at the customs that would +permit it! Now she half envied them their freedom, and sighed over the +iron-bound etiquette that forbade a departure from her father's roof +save for the inevitable end of all Japanese women--a prearranged +marriage. + +It was for this she had been so carefully trained in all phases of +housekeeping, and in all the intricacies of social life. Her education +from birth had been with a view of making smooth the path of her +future husband that his home might be peaceful and he untroubled. + +Each day as the burden grew heavier she fought her battle with the +bravery and courage of youth. With jests and chatter she served her +parents' simple meals, constantly urging them to further indulgence of +what she pretended was a great feast, but which in reality she had +secretly sacrificed some household treasure to obtain. She deftly +turned the rice-bucket as she served, that they might not see the +scant supply. With great ceremony she poured the hot water into the +bowls, insisting that no other _sake_ was made such as this. Her +determination to keep them happy and ignorant of the true conditions +taxed her every resource, but it was her duty, and duty to Yuki San +was the only religion of which she was sure. + +But one day a great event happened in the little home. Yuki San was +called before her father and told, in ceremonious language, that a +marriage had been arranged for her with Saito San, a wealthy officer +in the Emperor's household. She laid her head upon the mats and gave +thanks to the gods. Now her father and mother would live in luxury for +the rest of their lives! + +Saito San was to her only a far-away, shadowy being, whom she was to +obey for the rest of her life and whose house she was to keep in +order. He was a means to an end, and entered into her thoughts merely +as one to whom she was deeply grateful. Youth and all its joys were +strong within her, and the pressure of poverty gone, her whole nature +rebounded with delight. + +Many times had marriage been proposed for her, for the story of her +beauty and obedience had spread, but her father guarded his treasure +zealously, and it was not until an offer came, suiting his former rank +and condition, that he gave his consent. + +Now, when he saw the happy light in the eyes of his child, and saw the +color come into her cheeks, he laid his hands upon her head and +blessed her. When Yuki San was by herself she clapped her hands +joyfully. "I make happy like 'Merican," she whispered. "Hooray, +hooray! now my troublesome make absence," and she hurried away to put +a thank-offering before the household god. + +Having arranged all preliminaries and instructed the mother to sell +every household treasure that his child's clothes might do honor to +the rich man's house, the father went back once more to his pipe and +his dreams. + +Yuki San and her mother were up with the sun, sewing and embroidering, +and going about their daily task with zest and song. The past trials +were forgotten and the future not considered. + +One morning, not many weeks after the marriage had been arranged, Yuki +San heard the call of the _Yubin_ San, and running out to meet him, +received a strange-looking letter. The envelope was white and square, +and straight across the middle, in very plain English, was her name +and address. Puzzled, she turned it over and over, then broke the +seal. + +The picture of the big hotel at the top of the sheet was so +distracting that for a time she could get no further, but a word here +and there and the signature at the end finally made her cry out with +delight and surprise. + +"Oh! it's from that funny lil' boy what gave spank to my hands long +time ago. He want to come to my house for stay. Listen." + +There was no one to listen but her own happy self, and lying flat upon +the floor she propped her glowing face between her palms, while she +read aloud from the letter spread before her: + +YOKOHAMA. + +Miss YUKI INOUYE-- + +_Dear Miss Inouye_: I wonder if you remember an American boy with whom +you had an encounter in your very early days, because he dared to +thwart your plans concerning a cat? I remember it very well, and the +jolly picnics and excursions that you and my mother and I took +together afterward. + +I hope you have not forgotten me, for I am going to claim the +privilege of the conqueror in that old battle and ask a favor of you. +My Government has sent me out to your country on some important +business, and finding there was no hotel close to my work, I wrote to +the school where my mother and I visited twelve years ago, and asked +them to recommend a family that would be good enough to take me in for +two months. Strangely enough your father's name was suggested, and +when I read that the only daughter both spoke and wrote English, and +that her name was Yuki San, my mind flew back to my "Little Sister +Snow" of the days gone by. + +Could your father manage to accommodate me for a couple of months, if +I promise to be very good and take up as little room as possible? If +you think he can, please wire me here at Yokohama, and I'll come +straight down. + +Hoping to see you very soon, I am + +Your old friend, + +RICHARD MELTON MERRIT. + +Yuki San turned the letter this way and that, and vainly tried to +decipher the strange words. It was undoubtedly English, but not the +English she was used to. She ran for her small dictionary and +diligently searched out the meaning of each phrase. + +Yes, she remembered the boy--he had light hair, and blue eyes that +laughed, and he was a big, big boy and carried her on his shoulder. + +She sat with the folded letter clasped carefully in her hands and gave +herself up to joyous anticipation. A foreign guest was coming to stay +two whole months in her house; after that she was to be married and +wear her beautiful kimono, and give rich gifts to her father and +mother. + +Surely Buddha was caring for her! There had been grave moments of +doubt about it since she left the mission-school, for he had never +seemed to listen, though she prayed him night and day. But he had been +only waiting to send all her happiness at once--he was a good god, +kind and thoughtful. To-morrow, before the sun touched the big +pine-tree on the mountain-top, she would go to the temple and tell +him so. + +Yuki San's plans found favor with her parents, chiefly because of +their great desire to give her pleasure, and incidentally because the +board of the foreigner would swell the fund that was needed for her +marriage. + +The plighted maid to them was already the wife, and the danger of a +youthful heart defying tradition and clearing the bars of +conventionality to reach its own desire was something unknown to these +simple people. The child wished the foreigner to come--they could give +her few pleasures--she should have her desire. + +The sending of the telegram was the first exciting thing to be +attended to. Five times Yuki San rewrote the short message, finding +her fingers less deft than her tongue in framing an English sentence. +Gravely and with effort she wrote: + +"I give you all my house. Your lovely friend, Yuki." + +But she shook her head over this and tried again: + +"You have the welcome of my heart. Yuki." + +This, too, fell short of her ideal, so she decided to send simply two +words of which she was quite sure: + +"Please come." + +The days that followed were crowded with busy preparation. The +difficulty of providing the ease and comfort that the presence of so +honorable a guest demanded taxed to the utmost Yuki San's resourceful +nature. Gaily she set her wits and fingers to work--placing a heavy +brass _hibachi_ over a black scorch in the matting, fitting new +rice-paper into the small wooden squares of the _shoji_, and hanging +_kakemono_ over the ugly holes made by the missing plaster in the +wall. + +From one part of the house to another she flitted, laughing and +working, while the old garden echoed her happiness and overflowed with +blossom and song. + +On the day of Merrit's expected arrival, when the last flower had been +put in the vases, and the last speck of dust flecked from the matting, +Yuki San's keen eyes detected a torn place in the paper door which +separated the guest-chamber from the narrow hall. + +A puzzled little frown drew her black brows together, but it soon fled +before her smile. + +"Ah!" she cried, "idea come quickly! I write picture of bamboo on +teared place." + +With paint and brush she fell to work, and beneath her skilful fingers +the ugly tear disappeared in a forest of slender _take_ which +stretched away to the foot of a snow-capped mountain. + +With a last touch she sank back on her heels and viewed her work with +deep satisfaction. "All finished," she said, opening wide her arms; +"no more to do now but wait for that time 'Merican sensei call +jollyful!" + +A laugh behind her made her turn her head quickly, and there in the +doorway stood a tall foreigner, with outstretched hand of welcome. + +Hand-shaking was an unknown art with Yuki San, so after one startled +upward glance she touched her head to the floor in gracious courtesy. + +All her gay spirits and freedom of speech vanished, and she was +instantly enveloped in a mist of shyness and reserve that Merrit's +direct look did not serve to lessen. + +With lowered eyes, she ushered him into the larger living-room, and +bade him be seated and accept all the hospitality her father's poor +house could give. + +After a long and tiresome journey Merrit found something inexpressibly +charming in the quiet, picturesque place, and in the silent young girl +who sat so demurely in the shadow. He tactfully ignored her timidity +by talking cheerful nonsense about impersonal things, treating her as +a bashful child who wanted to be friends but hardly dared. + +As he talked Yuki San gained courage, and ventured many curious +glances at the broad-shouldered young fellow, whose figure seemed +completely to fill the room. At first she saw only a strange +foreigner, but gradually, as she watched his face and listened to his +unfamiliar speech, she discovered a long-lost playmate. + +Through all the years that she had struggled for an education at the +mission-school, English had been invariably associated with a tall, +awkward, foreign boy, whose mouth made funny curves and whose eyes +laughed when he made strange sounds. How big and splendid and handsome +he had grown! How different his clothes from any she had ever seen +before! How white his long hands, whose strong, firm touch she +remembered so well! She looked and looked again, drinking in the tones +of his deep voice, till the throbbing of her heart sent a flood of +crimson to her cheeks. + +But gradually her shyness wore away, and when Merrit asked her how in +the world he was to conduct his business with so few Japanese words at +his command, she ventured to answer: "I know; I give you the teach of +Nippon, you give me the wise of dat funny 'Merican tongue." + +"That's a go!" said Dick, as he held out his hand to close the +bargain. + +But the girl drew back, troubled. + +"No, no, you no _go_! You stay. I give you all my intellect of Nippon +speech. Please!" and she looked up pleadingly. + +Merrit laughed outright. + +"That's all right, Yuki San; I am going to stay, and we will begin +school in the morning." + +By this time the mother and father had learned of the guest's arrival +and hurried in to bid him welcome. The unpacking of his steamer-trunk +and the disposal of his possessions in his small apartment was a +matter of interest to the whole family. Each article was politely +examined and exclaimed over, and when Merrit drew out a package of +photographs and showed them his home and family and friends, the +excitement became intense. + +That night Yuki San lay once more on her soft _futon_ and watched the +shadow of the night-lamp play upon the screens. Nothing was changed in +the homely room since she had lain there in her babyhood: the same +little lamp, the same little Buddha on the shelf looking at her with +inscrutable eyes. + +Yuki San stirred restlessly. "Dat most nice girl in picture," she said +to herself. "Him make marry with dat girl, he say." Then she added +inconsequently, with a sigh, "I much hope Saito San go to war for +long, long time." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +For two halcyon months Yuki San lived in a dream. The ample +compensation Merrit insisted upon making for the hospitality extended +to him more than met the modest needs of the little household, and +once again, as in the earlier days, they went on jolly excursions, +visited ancient temples, and picnicked under the shadow of the +_torii_. The father and mother always trotted close behind, and Yuki +San, vastly pleased with her ability, gaily translated the speeches +from one to another. She talked incessantly, laughing over her own +mistakes, and growing prettier and more winsome every day. + +Merrit was glad to fill his leisure time in such pleasant +companionship. Yuki San was the same little bundle of charm he +remembered of old, with her innocence untouched, and a heart whose +depths had never yet been stirred. + +He teased her, and taught her, and played with her, as he would have +played with a merry child. Naturally gentle and affectionate, he +unconsciously swept Yuki San to the borderland of that golden world +where to awaken alone is agony. + +One morning, when the heavy mists of the valley lay in masses of pink +against the deeper purple of the mountain, and his Highness, the sun, +his face flushed from his long climb, was sending his first glances +over the sunny peaks of Fuji-yama, Yuki San arose, after a sleepless +night, and faced the morning with sorrowful eyes. + +"You ve'y lazy, Mister Sun, this morning," she said, shaking a finger +at him in reproof; "where you the have been? Why you not come the more +early and make light for my busy?" + +She tied the long sleeves of her bright kimono out of her way, and +twisting a bit of cloth about her head, fell to dusting the +_shoji_ and setting the small room in order. + +"I must the hurry," she said, as she kept up her brisk dusting. "I +make the food so quick as that Robin San steal berry for his babies. +To-day him one big, big day, but him no glad day. Merrit San go away." +She paused in her work, and a look of pain darkened her eyes, but she +shook her head reproachfully. + +"Ah, Yuki San, you make sorry voice and your heart is thinking tears. +You naughty girl! Quick you make the fire to rise in _hibachi_ and +give that Merrit San his _gohan_--same thing what that funny 'Merica +call breakfast." + +After the steam had begun to rise from the vessels on several +_hibachi_, Yuki San, flushed by her exertions, rested upon her heels +before the door that led into the garden. As she fanned her flushed +face with her sleeve, she glanced again and again toward the narrow +stairway that led to the chamber above, and at the slightest sound she +listened in smiling expectancy. + +From outside the wall came the gentle slip-slap of the water against +the _sampan_, and the cheerful banter of the owners as they made ready +for the work of the day. + +Circling the garden, the fern-like maples made a note of vivid crimson +amid the feathery green of the bamboo. Every feature of the place was +closely associated with her short happy life. She had learned to walk +on the soft sandy paths, she had spelled out her first characters on +the old stone-lantern. She had whispered her secrets to the +broken-nosed image of Kwannon, who sat in the shadow of the pines, and +there under the plum-tree she had caught the naughty kitten that first +brought her and Merrit San together. + +As she sat, with folded hands, and watched the sunshine on the dewy +leaves and flowers, her intense, restless, vivacious body relaxed in +sudden languor and her soft mouth drooped in wistfulness. + +A splash in the pool below attracted her, and looking down she saw the +gleaming bodies of the goldfish as they leaped into the air. Instantly +she was all life and volubility. + +"Yuki San one big bad girl; she no remember li'l fish. They always +like hungry baby San in early morning. I make fast to fill big hole +inside--ve'y li'l outside." + +Slipping her half-stockinged feet out of her straw house-shoes, she +stepped into her wooden _geta,_ and passing a shelf, filled her hands +with round rice-cakes. + +The edge of the water turned to gold as the fish crowded close. Yuki +San scattered the crumbs and stood watching the wriggling mass for a +moment, then said: + +"You ve'y greedy li'l fish. I never no can fill your bodies. Now I get +flower for Merrit San's breakfast." + +She made her way over the flat mossy stones, passed the miniature Fuji +where dwelt the spirit of the wondrous "Lady who made the flowers to +bloom." She paused before the gorgeous chrysanthemums and looked long +at the morning-glories, with their tender tints of dawn. But at last +she spied on a rose-bush, set apart from the rest, a single white rose +with a heart of red. + +With a little cry of satisfaction, she thrust her hands among the +thorns to pluck it. The rebound of the bush sent fluttering to her +feet a brilliant purple butterfly. Tender to all living things, Yuki +San dropped quickly to her knees and folded the half-chilled creature +between the palms of her warm hands. + +"Ah, Cho Cho San," she said, "the day of yesterday you so big and +strong. The morning of to-day you have the weakness of cold body. That +Jack Floss him ve'y naughty boy!" + +She put her moist red lips to her folded palms and the warmth of her +breath stirred to action the gauzy creature she held captive. + +"You no must kick, Cho Cho San! Have the patience. I make you warm, I +give you one more day of happy." + +Yuki San's wooden shoes sent a sharp click into the quiet morning air +as she quickly crossed the arched bridge and followed the path to the +stone image beyond the pool. With a touch as soft as the wings she +held, the girl lightly balanced the now thoroughly warmed butterfly on +the broad forehead of the Goddess of Mercy. + +In sharp contrast to the spirit of the scene came the clear, +rollicking strains of an American air, whistled by some one coming +down the steps. + +For a moment Yuki San stood motionless, pressing her lips softly to +the rose she held. Then, with a swift pitter-patter, she ran back to +the house. + +"The top of the morning to the honorable Miss Snow," said Merrit, who +quite filled the doorway. + +Not willing to be surpassed in salutation, Yuki San laid a hand on +each knee, and bending her back at right angles, replied with mock +gravity: + +"Ohayo Gozaimasu-Kyo wa yoi O tenki." + +Merrit knew she had him at a disadvantage in her own language, but, +always delighted to see the play of her dimples and the soft pink +creep into her cheeks when he teased, he stood by her now, big and +stern, and growling. + +"See here, Yuki San, otherwise Miss Snow, you just come off your high +stilts of that impossible lingo, and speak nice English suitable for a +little boy like me to understand." + +"Li'l boy like you!" she rippled, "li'l boy like you! Merrit San him +so long when he make Japanese bow he come down from top like big +bamboo-tree--so!" Putting her hands high above her head, she bent till +the tips of her fingers touched the floor. Still bent, she twisted her +head till her eyes, bright with laughter, looked straight into +Merrit's. + +He lifted his eyebrows quizzically. "See here, Yuki San, you are fast +developing the symptoms of a coquette." + +She quickly straightened her back, and with a smile of bewilderment, +exclaimed: + +"Me croquette? No, no; croquette, him li'l chicken-ball what you eat. +I no can be eat!" + +Merrit shouted with delight, then grew grave. + +"No, Yuki San, you don't ever want to be a coquette. You want to be +your sweet little self, and make a good wife to that handsome soldier +Saito, with all his gold braid and dingle-dangles. But what about +breakfast? You see, my train leaves in an hour. If you don't give me +something to fill my honorable insides, I'll have to eat you, sure +enough." + +In mock fear she quickly brought a low table from an inner room, and +with deft hands placed the steaming soup and broiled fish before him. +The knife and fork were a concession to Merrit's inability to wield +the chopsticks, and sitting on his heels was Merrit's concession to +the inability of the house to provide a chair. + +"Hello!" he said, picking up a long-stemmed rose, "where did you find +this beauty?" + +"I guessed her with my nose," the girl answered. "You know what make +her heart so red? Long time ago, most beautiful princess love with +wrong man. Make Buddha ve'y angly, and he turn her body into white +rose. But her heart just stay all time red 'cause of beautiful love +that was there." + +"My! he's a fierce old customer, that Buddha of yours," said Merrit. + +Yuki San paused in the filling of the rice-bowl and looked at him +gravely: + +"Merrit San, do you know God?" + +"Do I know God?" he repeated, with a half-embarrassed laugh. + +"Yes, Christians' God, what you must love and love, but no never can +see till die-time come. You know, Merrit San?" Then, lowering her +voice in earnest inquiry, she went on: "You believe that Christians' +God more better for Japanese girl than Buddha?" + +For a moment Merrit felt the hot blood of confusion rise to his +temples. The role of spiritual adviser was a new and somewhat +embarrassing one. Struggling for expression, he floundered hopelessly. + +"I--I--I guess I don't know very much about it. But there's one sure +tip, Yuki San, the Christians' God is all right. You can't lose out if +you pin to him." He stammered like a foolish schoolboy, but struggled +bravely on: "When things get pretty thick and you've struck bottom, +that's the time you find out. I know. I've been there. More's the pity +I don't remember it oftener!" + +"And you think him more better for me?" asked Yuki San, still +perplexed. + +"You bet I do!" said Merrit with conviction. "Take my word for it and +don't forget." + +"I no forget," she said. + +A sliding of the screen and a call from the court-yard announced the +arrival of the jinrikisha men, who had come for the baggage. + +Merrit thrust back his half-finished breakfast. + +"By Jove! I'd most forgotten this is my last meal with you. Just to +think all that tiresome old government contract is finished and I'll +soon be on my way to the other side!" + +"You want to see other side?" she asked. "Mama San not there no more." +Then seeing his face darken, she laid a quick hand of sympathy on his. +"I have the sorrowful for you," she said earnestly, then went on +hastily: "That other side! Yes, I know that most beautiful 'Merica. +Most big ship in the world come rolling into Hatoba. Merrit San so +long and big, stand way out front and see over much people. Then he +cry out, 'Herro!' herro!' with glad and much joyful. He see that +lovely girl like picture waiting there!" + +Without pausing for a reply, she pushed open a door and called in +Japanese to her father and mother, who never made their appearance +till Merrit's breakfast was finished. + +"Come, make ready to give our guest an honorable departure," she said. + +In the small courtyard facing the street the girl found the men, with +their jinrikishas and baggage-wagon, waiting to convey Merrit to the +station. She carefully directed the tying on of the various trunks and +bags, and placed the family just where they should stand that the +greatest honor might be done the departing guest. + +As Merrit came out of the little house and reached for his shoes, +which stood waiting at the side, Yuki San started toward him, eager to +serve him to the last. Merrit motioned her back. + +"Don't come too near, Yuki San. If you happened to fall into one of +those shoes, you'd be lost for ever and ever, and that big Mr. Saito +would be inviting me to cut off my head." + +Yuki San laughed and smoothed the cushions in the jinrikisha while she +gave minute directions to the jinrikisha men. + +Merrit made his adieu with high good humor, and so many big words that +Yuki San was hard pressed to interpret. He invited the family and all +their relatives to come to see him in America. When he reached Yuki +San he held out his hand. Made shy by the unusual ceremony, she +timidly laid a cold and unresponsive little palm in his. He looked +down from his height with tender memories of all her gentle +courtesies. + +"Good-by, little snow-girl," he said. "I'll never forget Japan, nor +you." + +She withdrew her hand and looked inquiringly up at him. + +"Some long time you come back?" + +Merrit climbed into the jinrikisha "No, Yuki San, you know I'll soon +have a little home of my own to work and care for. I'll be a busy man +for the next few years, so I guess I'll not come back." + +As in a dream, Yuki San saw the men adjust their hats and tighten +their sashes as they took their places in front of the small vehicle. +Mechanically she bowed her farewell with the rest of the family, but +she did not join their "Sayonara." + +She watched the swift moving of the jinrikisha wheels, then she saw +Merrit turn at the gate and wave his hat as he joyously called: + +"Good-by, Yuki San, God bless you!" + +The girl stood still, her eyes on the empty gate. Like a lonely, hurt +child her lip quivered, and she caught it between her teeth to steady +it. + +"Ah, Yuki," cried her mother, "some spirit has wished you harm. A drop +of blood rests on your lips." + +Yuki San drew her hand across her mouth, and lightly answered that +maybe a robin had tried to steal a cherry. But to herself she +murmured: + +"My heart bleed for lonely. He _never_ come back." + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +The following day a host of accumulated duties and various +preparations for the first ceremonious visit of the groom-elect kept +Yuki San's hands and mind busy, and if sometimes a sob rose in her +throat, or her eyes strayed wistfully from her task, she resolutely +refused to let herself dwell upon the past. + +The marriage, which had been dutifully accepted as a matter of course +and looked forward to as a financial relief to the entire family, had +never held any particular interest for her, but now even the +preparations, which had hitherto excited her interest and enthusiasm, +found her listless and indifferent. + +She would be mistress over a great mansion and many servants, and her +days were to be spent in arranging for the physical comfort of Saito +and the entertainment of his friends. + +The arrangement had seemed so simple, and so right, and she had been +gratified that a desirable husband had been found. But now she could +neither understand nor explain to herself her new and strange +resistance. She only knew that for the first time in her life there +was rebellion against the inevitable. + +As she rested her tired body before beginning her toilet for the +afternoon, she remembered an American teacher at school who had been +_in love_ with the man she was soon to marry. She remembered how she +had hidden behind the trees to see this young teacher run to the gate +to meet the postman, and her own failure to see why these letters +should bring such joy. She, with other girls, had spent a whole recess +acting this scene amid peals of laughter. Now it all came back to her +with new meaning, and it seemed neither strange nor amusing. + +She leaned her head against the open _shoji_ and looked out into the +garden, radiant and beautiful in the high noon of a perfect autumn +day. + +The working world paused in a brief sleep and the music of the garden +was hushed, while the insects sought the shadow of green leaves. Peace +was within and without, save in the girl's awakening heart. + +"Ah, Sensei," she murmured through her trembling lips. "Then I make +fun for your letter of love. Forgive my impolite. Now I the +understanding have." + +Yuki San chose her toilet for the coming visit with due regard for all +convention. There must be no touch of purple--that being the color +soonest to fade made it an evil omen. She selected an _obi_ of rare +brocade, the betrothal gift of Saito, the great length of which +expressed the hope of an enduring marriage. + +As she dressed, her mother flitted about her, chatting volubly and in +such high spirits that Yuki San's heart was warmed. The elaborate +trousseau had caused the little household many a sacrifice, but the +joy in the hearts of the old people more than justified them. + +Presently the clatter of the jinrikisha in the courtyard announced the +arrival of the guest. Yuki San heard the long ceremonious greeting of +her father. She saw her mother hasten away to do her part and, left +alone, she sat with troubled eyes and drooping head. + +The strange feeling in her heart, one moment of joy and one of pain, +bewildered and frightened her. No thought of evading her duty crossed +her mind, but her whole being cried out for a beautiful something she +had just found, but which it was futile to hope for in her new life. + +At the call of her mother, Yuki San silently pushed open the screen +and made her low and graceful greeting. Custom forbidding her to take +part in the conversation, she busied herself with serving the tea, +listening while Saito San recounted various incidents of the +picturesque court-life, or told of adventures in the recent war. + +After all the prescribed topics had been discussed and the farewells +had been said, Yuki San retained a vague impression of a small, +middle-aged man, with many medals on his breast, who looked at her +with kind, unsmiling eyes. + +It was not till after the simple evening meal that Yuki San found the +chance to slip away to the little upper room which had been Merrit's +for two months. Nothing there had been touched, for the old mother +claimed that to set a room in order too soon after a guest's departure +was to sweep out all luck with him. + +The girl entered and stood, a ghostly image, in the soft and tender +light of the great autumn moon as it lay against the paper doors and +filled the tiny room. Through the half-light Yuki San saw many touches +of the late inmate's personality. A discarded tie hung limply from a +hook on the wall, a half-smoked cigar and a faded white rose lay side +by side on the low table. + +From the garden the sad call of a night-bird, with its oft-repeated +wail, seemed to voice her loneliness, and with a sob she sank upon her +knees beside the cot. Long she lay in an abandonment of grief, beating +futile wings against the bars of fate. At last, throwing out her arms, +she touched a small object beneath the pillow. Drawing it toward her, +she took it to the open _shoji_, and by the bright moonlight she saw a +small morocco note-book. She puzzled over the strange figures on the +first few pages, but from the small pocket on the back cover she drew +forth a picture that neither confused nor surprised. It was the girl +Merrit had told her about--the girl to whom he was going so joyously. + +It was a face full of the gladness of life and love, whose laughing +eyes looked straight into Yuki San's with such a challenge of +friendship and good will that the girl smiled back at the picture and +laid it gently against her warm cheek. + +She sought out each detail of hair and dress as she held it for closer +inspection, then replacing it in the pocket she said softly: + +"He have the big, big love for you. You give him the happy. I close my +heart about you." + +On the back of the book in letters of gold she spelled out the strange +word, "Diary." She puzzled for a moment, then she remembered where she +had seen it before. The young American teacher had written in just +such a book, and when she asked its meaning, the teacher had said it +was her best friend, her confidant, to whom she told her secrets. + +For a moment Yuki San stood with the book in her hand, then she said +impulsively: + +"Diary! I make diary, too. I speak my thoughts to you. I tole you all +my secrets. Maybe my lonely heart will flew away." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE DIARY OF YUKI SAN + + +_First Entry_ + +'Merican Sensei say she have one closest friend in little book. I tell +my troublesome to this little book what spells "Diary" in gold letters +on back. I make it my closest friend what no never speaks the words of +yours when heart overflows with several feelings. I write for Merrit +San, but his eyes no must never see. Just my heart speak to his heart +in that 'Merican tongue what he understands. + +Japanese girl very naughty if she love man. She made for the take care +of man's mother, man's house. Very bad for Japanese girl to say love +when she marry with man. Merrit San say 'Merican girl speak love with +eyes when lips are shame. Japanese girl cover the eye with little +curtain when man comes. She no must peep out one little corner. No +must see, no must hear, no must speak the love. + +So I make little book guess my heart each day. + +The happy days are pass away, and the flowers are bloom and birds will +return to me again, but where can I find Merrit San? How I feel the +sorry and the lonesome when I think I can't find him no more in this +long island. I no can express my heart with words. I never the forget +of his kindness to me. + +Big lamp by Merrit San's desk no never burn so bright for me. It make +funny little crooked shadow of my body on _shoji_. Merrit San's body +always make big and strong black picture. I saw it last time big moon +look over mountain. I took walk in garden and I thinking this time +next moon Merrit San will not be here. Though the lamplight shines +through the _shoji,_ still in next month the owner of the light will +be different and the ache come into my heart. + +Whole Japan are changed, and everything I see or hear makes me think +of him; but my thoughts of him never, never changed, yet more and more +increase and longing for him all time. My heart speak the much word of +love for Merrit San. My eyes grow shame to say it. Little book, close +my secret! + +_Second Entry_ + +ALL day many rains come down in garden. He steals flowers' sweetness +and damp my heart with lonesome. Last rainy day Merrit San teached me +more better English, and he laugh very long when I read the English +writing with my Japanese tongue. He say: "Ah, Yuki San, you very funny +little girl!" + +Then I teach him the play of _go ban_, and he make the pain in his +head with the several thoughts how he must move the black or white. He +try long, long time, then he shake his big feest, and he say: "You've +got me beat, little sister; you've got me sure." + +I laugh, but I think much thoughts. _I_ no hurt Merrit San with beat, +and girl with much laugh in her eyes have got him for surely. I no +understand that funny 'Merican tongue. + +Merrit San so many time call me little sister, and he say my soul all +white like my name. What _is_ my soul? Ah, that same spirit what leave +my body and go out 'cross that many seas to safe Merrit San's journey. +I keep that soul all purely and white all of because Merrit San call +me Little Sister Snow. + +One day I take Merrit San with me to very old temple. Sun, him so +bright he make all leaves to dance with glad. Green lizard take sleep +on stone step while big honey-bee sing song. All things have the +joyful, and my feets just touch earth with lightsome. + +I go inside temple and say one very little pray to Amida, for I have +the hurry. When I go back, Merrit San he say: + +"See here, Yuki San, you no waste time over pray. You get the trouble +with that old gentleman if you have not the careful." + +Then I say: "Next time I give him little money and make big smoke with +incense," and he say, "Yuki, you very good girl." + +Just by temple's side is little bamboo-tree which have very nice +story. One good god he like this bamboo, and he like the beautiful +love. He say give names of man and woman to boughs of bamboo and make +the tie together with long pin of thorn. Give the low bow, and by and +by the dear wish in heart will be truly. + +Merrit San he no can know what I do, but he hold the high boughs of +bamboo down and I name him and me and make the tie together. + +The dear wish of my heart come not truly. It is full of sad. + +_Third Entry_ + +What shall I do to less my anxious? To-day at temple I ask Buddha. He +never speak. He always look far away at big sea. He no care, though +tears of the heart make damp the kimono sleeve. The Christians' God I +no can see. But Merrit San say he is everywhere and listens for voice +of troublesome. I no can make him hear, though I say the loud prayer. + +Buddha very ugly old god. Maybe him cross when he see very pretty +Japanese girl make the low bow to him. + +I believe Christians' God more better than Buddha, because Merrit San +say he make everything truly. He make me, he make Merrit San, he make +the beautiful love. Maybe some day that big God hear about Japanese +girl's heart of trouble and speak the peace. + +To-day one long so busy day. Many silk must be sewed into fine kimono +for the when I go to live in other house. Sometimes I very glad I go +to other house. I make the many comforts of my mother and my father. + +To-day I see the much cold in my father's body. Very soon he have nice +warm kimono with sheep's fur all inside. Then I make the glad heart, I +marry with Japanese man. + +It is getting little cold, and every night the moon is so clear. These +day crickets are singing among the grasses. Those make me to think of +Merrit San more and more. This fall was quite changed to me. At first +Merrit San never come back to me as I expect in dreamy way. I have the +feel of very helpless and lonesome. Before, though I had some trouble +or unhappiness, if I saw Merrit San's smile everything was taken clear +away and my heart was full with cheer and happy. + +Ah, Merrit San, though it makes my cheek red with hot to write the +speak, I love you most. + +Buddha very naughty old god to say nothing truly is. + +_Fourth Entry_ + +Ah, Merrit San, what you suppose I have dream last night? I was so +happy that I cannot tell with my tongue nor pen. That _you_ come back! +I could no word speak out with so much glad. I had many things to tell +you before I wake, but I could not even one thing. + +You say you stay ten days. It is too short, but it far more better is +than half night. Oh, I wish so bad I did not wake up from dream! + +I was tearful with much disappoint, then I remember that day you go to +big 'Merica you call back "God bless you, Yuki San," and with my heart +I make one soft prayer to Christians' God. + +When big temple bell wake me up and all birds, my troublesome was more +light, and I make so big breakfast for my father and my mother, my +pocket began to tell the loneliness, and I could not perform all my +wishes. + +When I write these letters Merrit San is far away at sea on the way of +his home. He will have joyful time. I wish I can see her, that girl +with the laugh in her eyes. Wonder how she thinks of Japan. Perhaps +she would think how small and lonely country and people. One girl in +that Japanese country very sad with lonely. + +But Merrit San say: "Yuki San, you _good girl_, you be good wife." So +I make the try to put my lonely heart to sleep. + +_Fifth Entry_ + +Time and days goes too fast as running water. Already old month went +away and new one have come. It is time for us to do last work on many +clothes for new home. + +When Japanese girl marry with man she take much goods to his house. +To-day my father bring what 'Merican call bureau, and many work-box +and trays and much fine _futon_ for to sleep on floor with. Next day +after this many mens will come and travel all things to other house. +Japanese girl wear fine kimono long, long time, and keep for more +little girl. Merrit San say 'Merican girl wear fine kimono one time, +then she no more like. + +Then 'Merican girl have much happy in her heart. 'Merican man come to +girl's house to marry with her. She no afraid to speak the word of +love, though man's mother sit next by him. She no 'fraid of laugh. She +has the joyful of life. + +Japanese girl very happy when she very little girl, or very, very old. +But when she goes to man's house to marry with him, she must always be +the quiet of little mice and more busy than honey-bee. Very bad. But +Japanese girl have the much brave, and holds the happy in her heart +when she brings the comforts to her peoples. + +Merrit San say many more big country than Japan in world. I say, "What +is world? I wish I know world like you!" Merrit San stop the laugh and +his voice grow still with quiet, then he say: + +"Ah, Yuki San, little snow-girl like you should not know the world. +Cuddle in your little nest and be content." + +What is content? It is the don't care of anything but the +flower-garden in my heart. Wonder if girl with laugh in her eyes have +the content? This day I take walk by seas. Last time I take walk so many +peoples come with us. I make into Japanese words all Merrit San's funny +speaks. We have the much laugh: Merrit San try the eat with chop-sticks. + +To-day little boat what we ride the water in was broke by its nose and +many seas was eating it up. Loud cold wind make pine-trees shivery and +sad. Big gray cloud come down and make all black with sorrowful. +Sometimes little white waves jump up and dance, but the joyful of last +happy day stings my heart. + +_Sixth Entry_ + +More long time go running slowly by since you have left us, and as I +was thinking of that running and those days and longing for you and my +heart getting down in lonely thoughts, _Yubin_ San bring me those +package what you sent, Merrit San, and it made me very glad and happy. +Hardly can I tell what was in my heart then. Before I can open it I +hold it tightly against my breast and kept silence a little while. +Tears of sorrow changed into the great joy for a moment when I see +your name and your hand of write. I feel as if I receive a new life +right in this minute, and I caught a light of hope in yonder. My +heartful joy and gladness will not express, and I wish I can go up in +high place and shout out and tell all people the joyful of beautiful +love. How it make the change in whole earth and life and give the +dance of heart. But I will not. Mens and women of Japanese country +have not the understand of such lovely thing, and make the shameful of +me. So I give silence to my lips and close the door of my heart. Ah, +what funny little thing that heart is! In one half live the joyful. +Other side have all the painful of life, and when the love come +sometimes he knock at wrong door and give the hurtful ache to life. +Ah, Merrit San, you give many thankfuls for the lend of my house in +your letter. I give the love of you many more thankfuls for coming to +my heart, even he knock at two doors. One day me and Merrit San went +down to temple where big feast was. Merrit San go inside and look long +long time at Buddha, then he say: + +"Yuki San, what will this old gentleman do to you if you disobey him?" +I give little think, then I say, "I no can know--I no never disobey. +Buddha say, 'Yuki, take care father and mother all time.' I take care. +Him say, 'Yuki, you woman--you not talk too much.' I no talk much. +Then him say, 'Yuki, come many time to temple and make light with +incense and put little money every time in box.' I give obey and much +_go rin_, but Buddha keep all and never give back." Before I finish my +speak Merrit San shiver like cold and say, "Come on, Yuki San, let's +get out of here and find the sun." Outside I make cherry-wreath while +Merrit San tell me story. Him very sweet day--now all gone forever. + +_Seventh Entry_ + +Last fine kimono is finished and all baggage is tied. Next day I go to +other house. + +Then my mother will give all house much sweep with new broom, to tell +gods I go 'way no more to come back. Maybe they make big fire by gate +to tell all peoples I belong to other house now. Ah, little book, +to-night I make big fire in my heart and burn all my wickeds in it. Next +day I make more fire and burn you. To other house I must go all white +and purely as Merrit San say. + +Ah, Merrit San, you the one big happy in all my life and I never +forget all your kindful. You give me the good heart, like sun make +flower-bud unclose. You telled me what is soul and purely, and you say +be very good wife. + +One night when moon was big and round and red and river outside wall +go spank, spank, you call all my people to garden, and with the +'Merican _samisen_ you sing much songs. + +Sometimes you very funny, but sometimes when moon specks slip through +big pine-tree, I see you very sadful. + +Now moon speck come on _shoji_ and ache my eyes to look your face once +more. + +I try so much to make picture of man's face I marry with. I no can see +anything but much medals on coat, and so many teeths. Merrit San's +eyes all blue and twinkly, and face so white and clean. + +But now he make the joyful with girl with laugh in her eyes, and her +feet no touch the ground with much happy. + +To-morrow I go to other house and no belong to my father and mother. +To-day I go temple, and I make promise I no more speak of Merrit San's +name; no more the think of his face in my heart. + +Little book, I weared you close to my breast many days. To-night I +sleep with you tight to my heart. You gived me the courage to turn my +face to the rising sun of the to-morrow. + +_Sayonara._ + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +The low, deep music of a temple bell rolled down the hillside and +echoed through the giant cryptomerias. It stirred to action the +creatures of the early dawn and passed out with infinite sweetness to +the red-rimmed east of another day. + +The priests in the old temples chanted their prayers with weird +monotony, while a single bird poured out his morning song of love at +the door of his mate. + +The old stone steps leading from temple to temple would have looked as +they had a thousand other mornings, gray, grim, and mossy, save for a +little figure that slowly took its way up a long and crooked flight. + +Yuki San was on her way to make good her promise to the gods. Her +wooden shoes clicked sharply in the quiet morning air, then hushed as +she paused for rest on a broad step. Even the exertion of the long +climb had failed to color her white cheeks, but her lips were carmine +and her eyes luminous with purpose. + +The one spot of color about her otherwise sober little figure was a +bright-red _furoshike_ held close, in which something was carefully +wrapped. + +A noisy waterfall leaped past her down the hillside in a perpetual +challenge to race to the foot. Stern-faced images, grim of aspect, +stared at her as she climbed, but Yuki San kept gravely on her way +until she reached the open door of the great silent temple. + +The faint light of the early morning had scarce penetrated the shadows +that clung about the gorgeous hangings and rich symbols of this +ancient place of worship. A white-robed priest, oblivious to all save +his own meditations, paid little heed to the childlike figure as it +knelt before the cold, calm, unchanging image of the great Buddha. + +For a moment Yuki San moved her lips. Still kneeling, she drew from +her sash the red _furoshike_ and took from it a small morocco +note-book. + +With light steps she crossed to a brazier, and with a pair of small +tongs lifted from it a glowing coal. With steady fingers she pushed +aside the many sticks of incense in the great brass vessel before the +shrine, and making a little grave among the ashes, she laid within the +burning coal the little book. + +The blue smoke, rising slowly, hung for a moment above the girl's head +as a halo, then rose to the feet of Buddha as in supplication for +mercy, and was finally lost in the darkness of the heavy roof. + +The girl watched with wide eyes and parted lips. Clasping her hands, +she lifted her face and from her heart came a fervent, whispered +prayer. + +"I make empty my heart of all wicked. Buddha or Christians' God, I no +can know which. Please the more better speak into my lonely life the +word of peace." + +She turned from the silent temple on her homeward way. She paused by +the clump of bamboo where so short a time before she had gleefully +tied together two boughs in the name of Merrit and herself. Tiptoeing +to reach the high boughs which Merrit had held for her to tie, she +drew them downward to slip the thong that bound them. After holding +them to her soft cheek a moment, she let them fly apart, while she +closed her eyes and whispered softly: + +"Good-by, beautiful love, good-by." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Little Sister Snow, by Frances Little + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LITTLE SISTER SNOW *** + +***** This file should be named 5960.txt or 5960.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/5/9/6/5960/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland David Widger and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Little Sister Snow + +Author: Frances Little + +Release Date: June, 2004 [EBook #5960] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on October 1, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LITTLE SISTER SNOW *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + +LITTLE SISTER SNOW + +BY + +FRANCES LITTLE + +Author of "The Lady of the Decoration" + + +WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY +GENJIRO KATAOKA +1909 + + + +TO MY NIECE + +ALICE HEGAN RICE + +IN MEMORY OF MANY HAPPY MONTHS +SPENT TOGETHER IN JAPAN + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + +A fervent, whispered prayer . . . _Frontispiece_ + +With outstretched hands and flying feet + +She would throw her into the ditch + +The two old people + +Yuki San was called before her father + +With paint and brush she fell to work + +At the slightest sound she listened + +Not willing to be surpassed in salutation + +"My heart bleed for lonely" + +She busied herself with serving the tea + +Very helpless and lonesome + +To make good her promise to the gods + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +A quaint old Japanese garden lay smiling under the sunshine of a +morning in early spring. The sun, having flooded the outside world +with dazzling light, seemed to sink to a tender radiance as it wooed +leaf and bud into new life and loveliness. It loosened the tiny +rivulet from the icy fingers of winter, and sped it merrily on its way +to a miniature lake, where shining goldfish darted here and there in +an ecstasy of motion. It stole into the shadows of a great pine-tree, +and touched the white wings of the pigeons as they cooed the song of +mating-time. It gleamed on the sandy path that led to the old stone +lantern, played into the eyes of Kwannon, the Goddess of Mercy, and +finally lost itself in the trees beyond. + +Under a gnarled plum-tree, that for uncounted years had braved the +snow and answered joyously the first call of spring, a little maiden +stood and held out eager hands to catch the falling blossoms. The +flowering-time was nearly done, and the child stood watching the +petals twirl quickly down, filling the hollows and fashioning curious +designs on the mossy grass. + +The softest of breezes coming across the river, over the thick hedge, +saucily blew a stray petal straight into the child's face. To Yuki +Chan it was a challenge, and with outstretched hands and flying feet +she gave chase to the whirling blossoms. Round and round the old tree, +into the hedge, and up the sandy path she raced, her long sleeves +spreading like tiny sails, her cheeks flushed to the same crimson as +her flowery playmates. A sudden stillness in the air ended the romp. +Yuki Chan returned to her playground beneath the tree, and taking her +captured petals from the folds of her kimono, began to count her +trophies. + +"Ichi, ni, san, ichi, ni, san," she rhythmically droned, three being +the magical number that would bring good luck if the petals were +properly arranged and the number repeated often enough. + +But the monotony of repetition brought rest, and soon Yuki Chan, +forgetting to count, made a bed of the fallen petals and turned her +face toward the little straw-roofed house from which noises of busy +preparation came. + +It was a birthday. Not Yuki Chan's, for that came with the snow-time. +This was the third day of the third month, which in the long ago was +set apart as the big birthday of all little girls born in the lovely +island, and was celebrated by the Festival of Dolls. + +Yuki Chan lay with her slim body stretched in the warmth of the sun. +In every graceful line was the imprint of high breeding; her white +face, so unusual with her race, was stamped with the romance and +tragedy of centuries; while her eyes, limpid and luminous, looked out +at the world with eager, questioning interest. + +Through the wide-open _shoji_ of the house she caught glimpses of +her father and mother hurrying and holding consultations. She marked +frequent visits to the old warehouse that held the household +treasures, and the bringing out of bundles wrapped in yellow cloth. +The air brought her whiffs of cooking food, and the flower- and fish- +men deposited a fair part of their stock on the porch. But Yuki Chan +was banished from these joys of preparation because of naughtiness, +and as she lay in the warm sunshine she thought of her recent +wickedness. She smiled as she remembered how she had hid her father's +pipe that he might work the faster, and broken the straps of her +mother's wooden shoes, so that she could not go outdoors. She laughed +softly when she thought of the stray cat which she had brought into +the house and coaxed to drink milk while she, with skilful fingers and +a pair of scissors, transformed her smooth fur into a wonderful +landscape garden. Short work had made kitty's head slick and shiny, +like a lake, with a stray bristle or two, which stood for trees. In +the middle of her back stood Fuji, the great mountain, with numberless +little Fujis to keep company. Many winding paths ran down kitty's legs +to queer, shapeless shrines, and it was only when Yuki Chan had +insisted on making a curious old pine-tree with twisted limbs of +kitty's short and stubby tail that trouble ensued, and she had been +requested by her mother to take her honorable little body to the +garden. + +Yuki Chan remembered her mother's beautiful smile of love as she +gently chided her, and recalled the note of trouble in the kind voice. +Was the mother sorry because she had stuck out a very pink tongue at a +cross-eyed old image that sat on the floor on the very spot that she +wanted to step upon? Or was it--and Yuki Chan grew grave--that the +last _go rin_ had been spent for the new dress she was to wear that +day? + +All her short life Yuki Chan had lived in a house of love, but no veil +of affection, no sacrifice, could shield her from the knowledge of +poverty. She had never seen her mother wear but one festival dress, +yet her own little kimono was ever bright and dainty, and even the new +brocade of the dolls' dresses stood alone with the weave of gold and +tinsel. + +A solemn thought, like a pebble dropped into water, caused circle +after circle to trouble her childish mind. She did not quite +understand, but she knew there was something she must learn. She had +been naughty and weighed her mother's spirits. She had caused a grave +look in her father's kind eyes, and had sent the household pets +scattering with her mischief. Now she must be good--very good--else +the fox spirit would come upon her, and she would go through life an +unhappy soul. She would give more obedience to the honorable mother, +whose every word had been a caress. It was as if for the first time +the great book of life opened before her and, though unconscious of +its meaning, the first word she saw spelled Duty. + +The noises from the house grew fainter. The child, with blinking eyes, +lay gazing straight above her. Overhead the branches overflowed into a +canopy of crimson, which shut out the great real world and opened into +a fairy world wherein only the untried feet of youth may tread and the +fragile flowers of child-dreams bloom. The gates thereto are slight +but strong, and only knowledge erects an impassable barrier. + +The wind sang its lullaby through the blossoms of the tree, and sleep +would soon have overtaken Yuki Chan had not a peculiar sound aroused +her and caused her eyes to fly wide open. Once before she had heard +it, and it had meant death to the big robin who lived in the branches +above. The cry came from the mother bird this time and brought Yuki +Chan to her feet. + +Through the shower of blossoms, brought down by the mad fluttering of +wings, she saw a tiny half-feathered thing struggling in the sharp +claws of her lately acquired pet. With certainty of success, the cat +let its victim weakly flutter an inch or two away, then reaching out a +cruel paw drew it back. Twice repeated, the green eyes narrowed to +slits, and Yuki Chan, horrified, saw big red drops slowly dripping +from either side of the whiskered mouth. Terror held her for a moment +as she heard the crunching of small bones, then white passion +enveloped her as she stole noiselessly from behind and closed her two +small hands around the furry throat. + +_"Baka!"_ she cried from between her clenched teeth. _"Baka_--to eat +the baby birds! This day will I ask Oni to make you into a stone, +which every foot will kick and hurt, and you can neither move nor cry. +You cruel, cruel beast!" In vain the cat struggled. Yuki Chan held it +firmly at arm's-length while she decided what was to be its fate. + +Looking sternly at the offender, her lips rounded into a long-drawn +"s-o," the light of anticipated revenge danced in her eyes. At last +she knew what to do, O most honorable but very ugly cat! She would +throw her into the ditch, where great crawling frogs with popping eyes +would stick out long tongues; where flying things would sting, and +creeping things would bite; where the great tide would come later and +take her out to the big, big ocean, where there was neither milk to +drink nor birds to eat. + +At the thought of her furry playmate floating alone and hungry in the +vast place which, to Yuki Chan, had neither beginning nor end, +something of pity touched her heart, and she slightly loosened her +grasp. + +The cat gained a good breath and used it. In the fight for freedom a +sharp claw was drawn down the child's arm, leaving a line of red in +its course. Compassion took flight, and Yuki Chan, clutching anew, +went swiftly down the path that led to the street, with a watchful eye +on the lodge of the keeper of the gate. + +The keeper was very old, and very cross, and lately had acquired a +curious idea that little girls must ask his honorable permission to go +in and out the gate. One day he actually threatened punishment, and +Yuki Chan, in her scorn, invited him to cut off his head with a sword, +that he might save his face. Now the way was clear. + +She turned her head and bumped her small body against the weight of +the heavy gates until they swung slightly apart and permitted her to +slip through. + +So intent was her purpose to reach the ditch across the street that +she did not see an approaching jinrikisha, and before she knew it she +had been tumbled over and sent rolling to the side of the road. Still +clutching the kitten, she sat up and rubbed the dust from her eyes. + +Standing over her was the jinrikisha man, and beside him was his +passenger, a young American boy, whose light hair and blue eyes held +her spell-bound. He was brushing the dust from her kimono, and his +foreign tongue made strange sounds. + +"Say, kid," the boy was saying, as he transferred the dust from his +hands to his handkerchief, "glad you're not hurt or got any bones +cracked. Where's your mama, or your papa, or your nurse, to give you a +spanking and keep you off the street?" + +As he talked Yuki Chan grew fascinated watching his mouth, and forgot, +for a moment, her direful intention. The cat, again taking advantage +of her relaxed hold, began to tug for freedom, and a lively struggle +ensued. + +The boy, looking on, began to laugh, a laugh that began in his eyes, +ran over his face and down into his throat, whence it came again in a +shout of boyish merriment. + +Yuki Chan, looking from him to the smiling jinrikisha man, grew +crimson with anger. With a swift movement she ran toward the ditch. + +Divining her purpose by the look in her eyes, Dick Merrit went +gallantly to the rescue of the kitten. He was tall for his sixteen +years, and his long strides more than matched the pattering steps of +the slip of a girl who raced before him. + +"No, you don't, kiddie," he cried; "your manicured cat is not going +into the ditch, if we have to scrap for it." + +Merrit caught Yuki Chan in one arm, and again and again loosened her +fingers from the struggling kitten. + +"Iya, Iya!" the child screamed; but Merrit, as determined as she, held +her firmly, and ended by lightly slapping first one little hand and +then the other. + +The child, thus coming into contact for the first time with physical +force, relaxed her grasp and gazed in amazement at the boy's +determined face. + +"I guess your 'Iya' means no, little lady, and I say 'Iya' too," said +Merrit, taking the cat into his arms and smoothing its uneven back. +"You are not going to put it into the ditch. Why don't you give it to +me? I am getting up a collection of cats and things at the school, and +I'd like to take this queer specimen along. Ask her if I can have it." + +The jinrikisha man, who stood a smiling spectator, saw Dick Merrit's +hand move toward his pocket, and was instantly alert and eager to +settle the matter. + +"Him ve'y bad girl," he said; "him make dead for catty. You give me +ten sen, I take girl homely. You have much of catty." + +But Dick declined all interference, and putting the cat inside his +coat he stooped down and took one of Yuki Chan's unresisting hands. +Her sleeve fell back, and he saw the long red scratch. + +"Hello! The cat had an inning too, didn't she? I'd like to chuck her +for hurting you, but I can't let you give her a bath in that dirty +hole. Never mind, I'll take her home, and some day I'll bring you +something. I bet you don't understand a word I'm saying, but I'll be +hanged if I know how to make you." + +Feeling rather helpless, Dick talked on, patting first Yuki Chan and +then the cat. + +The child stood speechless and looked deep into his eyes, not having +entirely recovered from the shock of the first blow she had ever +received. + +"You'll be good, won't you?" he went on coaxingly, "not drown any more +cats and things?" + +Yuki Chan, with the intuition that only a child can have, suddenly +bridged the gulf of strange language and understood. With the quick +movement of a nestling bird, she bent forward and laid her cheek +against the boy's shoulder. It was not only complete surrender, but +allegiance to the conqueror. + +Dick rose, red and confused. Then he climbed into the jinrikisha, +trying to ignore the smiles of the man. + +Yuki Chan, with her hands joined just below her sash, bent her body +like a half-shut jack-knife. + +"Arigato--arigato," she said politely, as she bowed again and again. + +"Him say t'ank you," interpreted the jinrikisha man. + +"Good-by," called Dick. "Don't forget--be good!" + +Yuki Chan watched the back of the jinrikisha and the swinging brown +legs of the jinrikisha man that showed beneath. She had forgotten the +cat, but she still remembered the kind look in the blue eyes of the +boy. + +"Yuki, Yuki!" came the voice of the mother in her native tongue. +"Come, the feast is prepared, and the sandals are worn from my feet +running to seek you. Hurry! before the red beans grow cold." + +The child sent a long-drawn "Hei" in answer to her mother, then to +herself she said over and over: + +"Be goodu--be goodu." + +She had heard the words a few times before, but they were associated +with her visits to the mission-school and a certain oblong box out of +which came sticks of red and white with a very sweet taste. Now, as +she said them, a new meaning seemed to play about them. + +She slipped through the gate and walked with unhurried feet toward the +small house, so gay in its festal plumage. As she passed the old plum- +tree she looked up and saw the mother bird cuddling her babies beneath +her breast. + +Some tender thought lighted the child's face into a strange beauty, as +a stray sunbeam finds a hidden flower and glorifies it. Turning her +face upward to the nest, she patted her own cheek and said: "Be goodu, +Yuki, be goodu." + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +In the springtime a Japanese house is a fairy-like thing, with only +top and bottom of straw and a few upholding posts to give it a look of +substance. + +Yuki Chan's house was typical. The paper screens were carefully put +away during the day, that the breezes might play unobstructed through +the house. At night the heavy wooden doors were fitted into grooves +and served not only to keep out the night air, but also the evil +spirits that come abroad when the great sun ceases watching. + +Binding the whole was a narrow porch, showing a floor polished like a +mirror from the slipping and sliding of generations of feet. Yuki Chan +first learned to know her face in its reflections and, alas! by the +same method had learned the saucy fascination of sticking out her +small pink tongue. + +On the side of the porch toward the plum-tree the child found her +father and mother waiting. The two old people sat on gay cushions with +hands folded and feet crossed. Their festal attire bore the marks of a +once careless luxury, but now shabbiness tried to hide itself under +the bravery of tinsel, where once had been pure gold. + +Each year the struggle of obsolete methods of business and the +intricacies of progress plowed the furrows a little deeper in the +man's face, and when his eyes, that in youth had blazed with ambition, +grew wistful and troubled, he dropped them that his wife might not +see. + +But what silence could hide from this frail woman any mood of the man +she had served with mind and body and soul these many years? When she +came to him as a shy bride on trial, she knew no such word as love. +Duty was her entire vocabulary, and she asked nothing and gave all. + +Many little souls had come to her, with hands all crimped and pink, +like new-blown cherry-leaves, only to close their eyes and pass out to +the good god Jizo, who is always waiting to help little children +across the river of death. + +In years gone by, night after night sleep had flown before the terror +that another woman would be brought into the house that the family +name might not die out. Silently she would slip out to the little +shrine and pour out passionate words of prayer that just one little +soul might be permitted to live. + +No matter how long the night, nor how bitter the struggle, morning +always found her bright and cheerful, bending every effort to invent +new diversions for her husband. She labored to anticipate every wish, +and even though she did without, she provided him the best of comfort. +Working far into the night, secretly disposing of her small personal +treasures, acquiescing in his most trivial statements, she planned +that no slightest gap in the domestic arrangement should suggest +itself to him. + +The woman worked and prayed and waited. Then she triumphed. In the +wake of a great snow-storm came the longed-for child, and they called +her Yuki, after the snow that had brought them their wish. Hand in +hand with Yuki Chan came love, and bound the hearts of the man and +woman with ties of a desire fulfilled. From that time to this love had +prevailed, and as Yuki Chan climbed on the porch, besmirching its +shining surface with her muddy little feet, that had been guiltless of +sandals all day, the faces of the two old people lighted up with +sudden joy. + +Yuki Chan looked ruefully at the muddy prints she had made and +realized that she had been a most impolite little girl. Remembering +her recent resolve, she sought the eyes in which she had never seen +any light for her save that of love. She drew close, and reaching down +took her mother's hand, hard and cracked by labor, and laying her +cheek against it said, with a voice sure of forgiveness and sweet +desire for atonement: + +"Go men nasai." + +The mother, with a courtly but playful air, granted her pardon with a +low salutation. Then with a rush of affection that no convention could +stem, she folded the child to her heart and lived another moment of +supreme joy. + +The father sat by, making no comment, his eyes bright and twinkling. +Then he suggested that their Majesties, the dolls, had been waiting +long on the shelf. Was it not time they were receiving a visit? + +The years of toil were telling on both father and mother, but they +daily refreshed themselves at the overbrimming fountain of Yuki Chan's +youth, and now, as they each took one of her hands to go in to see the +dolls, they were so gay that the child suggested that instead of +walking they should do the new one-two-three-hop she had learned at +the kindergarten. + +It was unheard-of conduct, but it was for Yuki Chan, and father and +mother stumped along, cheered on by the small girl who was trying to +keep time, but was breathless through sheer excess of happiness. + +There was nothing in the room to impede their progress. No chairs with +treacherous legs to trip over, no beds, nor tables with sharp corners +--nothing whatever but the matting, soft and thick, where Yuki Chan had +practised all the gymnastics of childhood unbruised and unharmed. + +Half skipping, half hopping, and wholly undone with laughter and +exertion, the three at last reached the place where, for six years, +offerings had been made for the gift of the child who stood to these +two for love. + +Arranged in the best room in the house, on five long red-covered +shelves, were dolls. Big dolls and little dolls, thin ones and fat +ones, each one to represent some royal man or woman of the long ago, +and dressed in a fashion of a time almost forgotten. There was Jimmu +Tenno, the first real emperor. His hair was done in a curious fashion +and his dress was of a wonderful brocade, while his hands clasped two +fierce-looking swords. There was Jingo, too, who had won fame and +lasting honor by her wonderful fighting, and was so great she had to +sit by the emperors and look down on the other empresses. Such a lot +of them! Some worthy to be remembered every day in the year, others +the more quickly forgotten the better. + +Yuki Chan knew them all by heart, and she lingered before those she +liked and quickly passed those she did not care for. She could not be +rude to an emperor, even though he had been dead hundreds of years. +She was really not very afraid of the greatness of the old doll men +and women who sat on the shelf, still it was well to be careful about +handling them. She might be turned into a lizard or a snake, just as +the old lodge-keeper had said. + +But her delight was in the miniature toilet articles of solid silver, +costly gold lacquer, and porcelain, so tiny, so beautifully carved +they must have meant the eyesight of some workman, only too glad to +shut out the sunlight forever if he might produce just one perfect +thing. + +The things, however, that made Yuki Chan clap her hands and the +nesting birds perk up their heads at the sound of her clear, sweet +laugh were the funny little lacquer carts in which the royalty was +supposed to ride, drawn by impossible fat bullocks, so bow-legged that +their curves formed a big round O. Yuki Chan made her red lips into +the same shape, and called her mother to look. + +She pretended to feed the dolls with real food and wine, and actually +played with the five court musicians, because they were partly +servants and it did not matter. + +Her tongue ran in ceaseless chatter. Her father and mother hovered +around her, repeating the history of all those wonderful people. Yuki +Chan listened very little, so concerned was she with her own comments, +until she happened to see an anxious look creep into her mother's +eyes. It was something every little girl must know, and if Yuki Chan's +honorable ears refused to open, how would she learn? Then Yuki Chan +nestled close, and gave little pats of love and tried to listen. THE +shadows of the bamboo grew long and slim as the sun kissed them good +night. The sails skimmed homeward on a silver sea as the west covered +its rosy pink in a veil of deepest blue. The young birds in the old +plum-tree did not stir at the loving touch of the mother who, with a +soft bill, searched and sought for the lost one. The plum-blossoms +lingered yet for a night as the air had grown chill. + +Within the house Yuki Chan, still dressed, lay on the floor, weary +with the wonders of the day. Her mother took from a small inclosure +beneath a shelf many soft comforts with which she arranged the child's +bed. Yuki Chan, talking all the time in a low monotone, tried to +unravel a tangle in her mind of birds and cats and dolls. It was all +getting unmanageable and very hazy, when her mother gathered her into +her arms, and quickly casting aside her two garments laid her gently +in a bath of caressing warmth. A moment more and the little maiden lay +like a rose-leaf in her bed. + +The night-lamp made shadowy ghosts of all it touched, and one gleam of +light, escaping the paper shade, hung like an aureole above the head +of Yuki Chan's mother as she knelt with clasped hands before the +Buddha on the shelf. + +Her moving lips had only one refrain: "The child, the child, the +child." + +Yuki Chan watched the play of the light in the half-dark room. What +funny things those shadows made, and, strangely enough, one more +wonderful than all the rest grew into the shape of the boy, and his +lips were saying, "Be good." + +Then Yuki Chan lost herself in a mist of drowsiness, and her mother +sat by, and kept time with her hand as she chanted rather than sang: + + "Sleep, little one, sleep. + The sparrows are nodding. + Beneath the deep willow-trees + The night-lamp is burning. + Thy mother is watching, + Sleep, little one, sleep." + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +Twelve times had the plum-tree scattered its petals to the wind, and +Yuki San [Footnote: The honorific _Chan_, used only in childhood, is +changed to _San_ in later years.] had passed from childhood into +girlhood, and had already touched the border of that grave land +of grown-up, where all the worries lie. For though she was apparently +only a larger edition of the spoiled, impulsive happy child of old, +yet often her eyes were shadowed with the struggle of shielding her +aging father and mother from the poverty that was coming closer day by +day. + +During the three years she had been gaining her education at the +English mission-school, they had toiled unceasingly that she might +have the best the country could afford, but now that she had returned +after her long struggle with a strange language and a strange people, +it was but fitting that she should take up her duties as the daughter +of an impoverished family of high rank. The father, grown old and +feeble, gave up the battle for existence, and being a devout Buddhist, +turned his thoughts upon Nirvana, which he strove diligently to enter +by perpetual meditation and prayer. The mother, used to guidance and +unable to think or plan for herself, turned helplessly to Yuki San. + +The duties were heavy for girlish shoulders, and often as the dawn +crept over the mountains it found the girl wide-eyed and still, trying +to solve the problem of modest demand and meager supply. + +She had learned many things at the mission-school. She could read and +write English imperfectly, she could recite the multiplication table +faster than any one else, she could perform the most intricate figures +in physical culture, and if she had infinite time she could play three +hymns on the organ. These varied accomplishments, however, seemed of +little assistance in showing her how to stretch her father's small +pension beyond the barest necessities of the household. Tales had been +told her of a great land, far beyond her sea-bound home, where women +of the highest birth went out to work in the busy world. How she had +marveled at their boldness and wondered at the customs that would +permit it! Now she half envied them their freedom, and sighed over the +iron-bound etiquette that forbade a departure from her father's roof +save for the inevitable end of all Japanese women--a prearranged +marriage. + +It was for this she had been so carefully trained in all phases of +housekeeping, and in all the intricacies of social life. Her education +from birth had been with a view of making smooth the path of her +future husband that his home might be peaceful and he untroubled. + +Each day as the burden grew heavier she fought her battle with the +bravery and courage of youth. With jests and chatter she served her +parents' simple meals, constantly urging them to further indulgence of +what she pretended was a great feast, but which in reality she had +secretly sacrificed some household treasure to obtain. She deftly +turned the rice-bucket as she served, that they might not see the +scant supply. With great ceremony she poured the hot water into the +bowls, insisting that no other _sake_ was made such as this. Her +determination to keep them happy and ignorant of the true conditions +taxed her every resource, but it was her duty, and duty to Yuki San +was the only religion of which she was sure. + +But one day a great event happened in the little home. Yuki San was +called before her father and told, in ceremonious language, that a +marriage had been arranged for her with Saito San, a wealthy officer +in the Emperor's household. She laid her head upon the mats and gave +thanks to the gods. Now her father and mother would live in luxury for +the rest of their lives! + +Saito San was to her only a far-away, shadowy being, whom she was to +obey for the rest of her life and whose house she was to keep in +order. He was a means to an end, and entered into her thoughts merely +as one to whom she was deeply grateful. Youth and all its joys were +strong within her, and the pressure of poverty gone, her whole nature +rebounded with delight. + +Many times had marriage been proposed for her, for the story of her +beauty and obedience had spread, but her father guarded his treasure +zealously, and it was not until an offer came, suiting his former rank +and condition, that he gave his consent. + +Now, when he saw the happy light in the eyes of his child, and saw the +color come into her cheeks, he laid his hands upon her head and +blessed her. When Yuki San was by herself she clapped her hands +joyfully. "I make happy like 'Merican," she whispered. "Hooray, +hooray! now my troublesome make absence," and she hurried away to put +a thank-offering before the household god. + +Having arranged all preliminaries and instructed the mother to sell +every household treasure that his child's clothes might do honor to +the rich man's house, the father went back once more to his pipe and +his dreams. + +Yuki San and her mother were up with the sun, sewing and embroidering, +and going about their daily task with zest and song. The past trials +were forgotten and the future not considered. + +One morning, not many weeks after the marriage had been arranged, Yuki +San heard the call of the _Yubin_ San, and running out to meet him, +received a strange-looking letter. The envelope was white and square, +and straight across the middle, in very plain English, was her name +and address. Puzzled, she turned it over and over, then broke the +seal. + +The picture of the big hotel at the top of the sheet was so +distracting that for a time she could get no further, but a word here +and there and the signature at the end finally made her cry out with +delight and surprise. + +"Oh! it's from that funny lil' boy what gave spank to my hands long +time ago. He want to come to my house for stay. Listen." + +There was no one to listen but her own happy self, and lying flat upon +the floor she propped her glowing face between her palms, while she +read aloud from the letter spread before her: + +YOKOHAMA. + +Miss YUKI INOUYE-- + +_Dear Miss Inouye_: I wonder if you remember an American boy with whom +you had an encounter in your very early days, because he dared to +thwart your plans concerning a cat? I remember it very well, and the +jolly picnics and excursions that you and my mother and I took +together afterward. + +I hope you have not forgotten me, for I am going to claim the +privilege of the conqueror in that old battle and ask a favor of you. +My Government has sent me out to your country on some important +business, and finding there was no hotel close to my work, I wrote to +the school where my mother and I visited twelve years ago, and asked +them to recommend a family that would be good enough to take me in for +two months. Strangely enough your father's name was suggested, and +when I read that the only daughter both spoke and wrote English, and +that her name was Yuki San, my mind flew back to my "Little Sister +Snow" of the days gone by. + +Could your father manage to accommodate me for a couple of months, if +I promise to be very good and take up as little room as possible? If +you think he can, please wire me here at Yokohama, and I'll come +straight down. + +Hoping to see you very soon, I am + +Your old friend, + +RICHARD MELTON MERRIT. + +Yuki San turned the letter this way and that, and vainly tried to +decipher the strange words. It was undoubtedly English, but not the +English she was used to. She ran for her small dictionary and +diligently searched out the meaning of each phrase. + +Yes, she remembered the boy--he had light hair, and blue eyes that +laughed, and he was a big, big boy and carried her on his shoulder. + +She sat with the folded letter clasped carefully in her hands and gave +herself up to joyous anticipation. A foreign guest was coming to stay +two whole months in her house; after that she was to be married and +wear her beautiful kimono, and give rich gifts to her father and +mother. + +Surely Buddha was caring for her! There had been grave moments of +doubt about it since she left the mission-school, for he had never +seemed to listen, though she prayed him night and day. But he had been +only waiting to send all her happiness at once--he was a good god, +kind and thoughtful. To-morrow, before the sun touched the big pine- +tree on the mountain-top, she would go to the temple and tell him so. + +Yuki San's plans found favor with her parents, chiefly because of +their great desire to give her pleasure, and incidentally because the +board of the foreigner would swell the fund that was needed for her +marriage. + +The plighted maid to them was already the wife, and the danger of a +youthful heart defying tradition and clearing the bars of +conventionality to reach its own desire was something unknown to these +simple people. The child wished the foreigner to come--they could give +her few pleasures--she should have her desire. + +The sending of the telegram was the first exciting thing to be +attended to. Five times Yuki San rewrote the short message, finding +her fingers less deft than her tongue in framing an English sentence. +Gravely and with effort she wrote: + +"I give you all my house. Your lovely friend, Yuki." + +But she shook her head over this and tried again: + +"You have the welcome of my heart. Yuki." + +This, too, fell short of her ideal, so she decided to send simply two +words of which she was quite sure: + +"Please come." + +The days that followed were crowded with busy preparation. The +difficulty of providing the ease and comfort that the presence of so +honorable a guest demanded taxed to the utmost Yuki San's resourceful +nature. Gaily she set her wits and fingers to work--placing a heavy +brass _hibachi_ over a black scorch in the matting, fitting new rice- +paper into the small wooden squares of the _shoji_, and hanging +_kakemono_ over the ugly holes made by the missing plaster in the +wall. + +From one part of the house to another she flitted, laughing and +working, while the old garden echoed her happiness and overflowed with +blossom and song. + +On the day of Merrit's expected arrival, when the last flower had been +put in the vases, and the last speck of dust flecked from the matting, +Yuki San's keen eyes detected a torn place in the paper door which +separated the guest-chamber from the narrow hall. + +A puzzled little frown drew her black brows together, but it soon fled +before her smile. + +"Ah!" she cried, "idea come quickly! I write picture of bamboo on +teared place." + +With paint and brush she fell to work, and beneath her skilful fingers +the ugly tear disappeared in a forest of slender _take_ which +stretched away to the foot of a snow-capped mountain. + +With a last touch she sank back on her heels and viewed her work with +deep satisfaction. "All finished," she said, opening wide her arms; +"no more to do now but wait for that time 'Merican sensei call +jollyful!" + +A laugh behind her made her turn her head quickly, and there in the +doorway stood a tall foreigner, with outstretched hand of welcome. + +Hand-shaking was an unknown art with Yuki San, so after one startled +upward glance she touched her head to the floor in gracious courtesy. + +All her gay spirits and freedom of speech vanished, and she was +instantly enveloped in a mist of shyness and reserve that Merrit's +direct look did not serve to lessen. + +With lowered eyes, she ushered him into the larger living-room, and +bade him be seated and accept all the hospitality her father's poor +house could give. + +After a long and tiresome journey Merrit found something inexpressibly +charming in the quiet, picturesque place, and in the silent young girl +who sat so demurely in the shadow. He tactfully ignored her timidity +by talking cheerful nonsense about impersonal things, treating her as +a bashful child who wanted to be friends but hardly dared. + +As he talked Yuki San gained courage, and ventured many curious +glances at the broad-shouldered young fellow, whose figure seemed +completely to fill the room. At first she saw only a strange +foreigner, but gradually, as she watched his face and listened to his +unfamiliar speech, she discovered a long-lost playmate. + +Through all the years that she had struggled for an education at the +mission-school, English had been invariably associated with a tall, +awkward, foreign boy, whose mouth made funny curves and whose eyes +laughed when he made strange sounds. How big and splendid and handsome +he had grown! How different his clothes from any she had ever seen +before! How white his long hands, whose strong, firm touch she +remembered so well! She looked and looked again, drinking in the tones +of his deep voice, till the throbbing of her heart sent a flood of +crimson to her cheeks. + +But gradually her shyness wore away, and when Merrit asked her how in +the world he was to conduct his business with so few Japanese words at +his command, she ventured to answer: "I know; I give you the teach of +Nippon, you give me the wise of dat funny 'Merican tongue." + +"That's a go!" said Dick, as he held out his hand to close the +bargain. + +But the girl drew back, troubled. + +"No, no, you no _go_! You stay. I give you all my intellect of Nippon +speech. Please!" and she looked up pleadingly. + +Merrit laughed outright. + +"That's all right, Yuki San; I am going to stay, and we will begin +school in the morning." + +By this time the mother and father had learned of the guest's arrival +and hurried in to bid him welcome. The unpacking of his steamer-trunk +and the disposal of his possessions in his small apartment was a +matter of interest to the whole family. Each article was politely +examined and exclaimed over, and when Merrit drew out a package of +photographs and showed them his home and family and friends, the +excitement became intense. + +That night Yuki San lay once more on her soft _futon_ and watched the +shadow of the night-lamp play upon the screens. Nothing was changed in +the homely room since she had lain there in her babyhood: the same +little lamp, the same little Buddha on the shelf looking at her with +inscrutable eyes. + +Yuki San stirred restlessly. "Dat most nice girl in picture," she said +to herself. "Him make marry with dat girl, he say." Then she added +inconsequently, with a sigh, "I much hope Saito San go to war for +long, long time." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +For two halcyon months Yuki San lived in a dream. The ample +compensation Merrit insisted upon making for the hospitality extended +to him more than met the modest needs of the little household, and +once again, as in the earlier days, they went on jolly excursions, +visited ancient temples, and picnicked under the shadow of the +_torii_. The father and mother always trotted close behind, and Yuki +San, vastly pleased with her ability, gaily translated the speeches +from one to another. She talked incessantly, laughing over her own +mistakes, and growing prettier and more winsome every day. + +Merrit was glad to fill his leisure time in such pleasant +companionship. Yuki San was the same little bundle of charm he +remembered of old, with her innocence untouched, and a heart whose +depths had never yet been stirred. + +He teased her, and taught her, and played with her, as he would have +played with a merry child. Naturally gentle and affectionate, he +unconsciously swept Yuki San to the borderland of that golden world +where to awaken alone is agony. + +One morning, when the heavy mists of the valley lay in masses of pink +against the deeper purple of the mountain, and his Highness, the sun, +his face flushed from his long climb, was sending his first glances +over the sunny peaks of Fuji-yama, Yuki San arose, after a sleepless +night, and faced the morning with sorrowful eyes. + +"You ve'y lazy, Mister Sun, this morning," she said, shaking a finger +at him in reproof; "where you the have been? Why you not come the more +early and make light for my busy?" + +She tied the long sleeves of her bright kimono out of her way, and +twisting a bit of cloth about her head, fell to dusting the +_shoji_ and setting the small room in order. + +"I must the hurry," she said, as she kept up her brisk dusting. "I +make the food so quick as that Robin San steal berry for his babies. +To-day him one big, big day, but him no glad day. Merrit San go away." +She paused in her work, and a look of pain darkened her eyes, but she +shook her head reproachfully. + +"Ah, Yuki San, you make sorry voice and your heart is thinking tears. +You naughty girl! Quick you make the fire to rise in _hibachi_ and +give that Merrit San his _gohan_--same thing what that funny 'Merica +call breakfast." + +After the steam had begun to rise from the vessels on several +_hibachi_, Yuki San, flushed by her exertions, rested upon her heels +before the door that led into the garden. As she fanned her flushed +face with her sleeve, she glanced again and again toward the narrow +stairway that led to the chamber above, and at the slightest sound she +listened in smiling expectancy. + +From outside the wall came the gentle slip-slap of the water against +the _sampan_, and the cheerful banter of the owners as they made ready +for the work of the day. + +Circling the garden, the fern-like maples made a note of vivid crimson +amid the feathery green of the bamboo. Every feature of the place was +closely associated with her short happy life. She had learned to walk +on the soft sandy paths, she had spelled out her first characters on +the old stone-lantern. She had whispered her secrets to the broken- +nosed image of Kwannon, who sat in the shadow of the pines, and there +under the plum-tree she had caught the naughty kitten that first +brought her and Merrit San together. + +As she sat, with folded hands, and watched the sunshine on the dewy +leaves and flowers, her intense, restless, vivacious body relaxed in +sudden languor and her soft mouth drooped in wistfulness. + +A splash in the pool below attracted her, and looking down she saw the +gleaming bodies of the goldfish as they leaped into the air. Instantly +she was all life and volubility. + +"Yuki San one big bad girl; she no remember li'l fish. They always +like hungry baby San in early morning. I make fast to fill big hole +inside--ve'y li'l outside." + +Slipping her half-stockinged feet out of her straw house-shoes, she +stepped into her wooden _geta,_ and passing a shelf, filled her hands +with round rice-cakes. + +The edge of the water turned to gold as the fish crowded close. Yuki +San scattered the crumbs and stood watching the wriggling mass for a +moment, then said: + +"You ve'y greedy li'l fish. I never no can fill your bodies. Now I get +flower for Merrit San's breakfast." + +She made her way over the flat mossy stones, passed the miniature Fuji +where dwelt the spirit of the wondrous "Lady who made the flowers to +bloom." She paused before the gorgeous chrysanthemums and looked long +at the morning-glories, with their tender tints of dawn. But at last +she spied on a rose-bush, set apart from the rest, a single white rose +with a heart of red. + +With a little cry of satisfaction, she thrust her hands among the +thorns to pluck it. The rebound of the bush sent fluttering to her +feet a brilliant purple butterfly. Tender to all living things, Yuki +San dropped quickly to her knees and folded the half-chilled creature +between the palms of her warm hands. + +"Ah, Cho Cho San," she said, "the day of yesterday you so big and +strong. The morning of to-day you have the weakness of cold body. That +Jack Floss him ve'y naughty boy!" + +She put her moist red lips to her folded palms and the warmth of her +breath stirred to action the gauzy creature she held captive. + +"You no must kick, Cho Cho San! Have the patience. I make you warm, I +give you one more day of happy." + +Yuki San's wooden shoes sent a sharp click into the quiet morning air +as she quickly crossed the arched bridge and followed the path to the +stone image beyond the pool. With a touch as soft as the wings she +held, the girl lightly balanced the now thoroughly warmed butterfly on +the broad forehead of the Goddess of Mercy. + +In sharp contrast to the spirit of the scene came the clear, +rollicking strains of an American air, whistled by some one coming +down the steps. + +For a moment Yuki San stood motionless, pressing her lips softly to +the rose she held. Then, with a swift pitter-patter, she ran back to +the house. + +"The top of the morning to the honorable Miss Snow," said Merrit, who +quite filled the doorway. + +Not willing to be surpassed in salutation, Yuki San laid a hand on +each knee, and bending her back at right angles, replied with mock +gravity: + +"Ohayo Gozaimasu-Kyo wa yoi O tenki." + +Merrit knew she had him at a disadvantage in her own language, but, +always delighted to see the play of her dimples and the soft pink +creep into her cheeks when he teased, he stood by her now, big and +stern, and growling. + +"See here, Yuki San, otherwise Miss Snow, you just come off your high +stilts of that impossible lingo, and speak nice English suitable for a +little boy like me to understand." + +"Li'l boy like you!" she rippled, "li'l boy like you! Merrit San him +so long when he make Japanese bow he come down from top like big +bamboo-tree--so!" Putting her hands high above her head, she bent till +the tips of her fingers touched the floor. Still bent, she twisted her +head till her eyes, bright with laughter, looked straight into +Merrit's. + +He lifted his eyebrows quizzically. "See here, Yuki San, you are fast +developing the symptoms of a coquette." + +She quickly straightened her back, and with a smile of bewilderment, +exclaimed: + +"Me croquette? No, no; croquette, him li'l chicken-ball what you eat. +I no can be eat!" + +Merrit shouted with delight, then grew grave. + +"No, Yuki San, you don't ever want to be a coquette. You want to be +your sweet little self, and make a good wife to that handsome soldier +Saito, with all his gold braid and dingle-dangles. But what about +breakfast? You see, my train leaves in an hour. If you don't give me +something to fill my honorable insides, I'll have to eat you, sure +enough." + +In mock fear she quickly brought a low table from an inner room, and +with deft hands placed the steaming soup and broiled fish before him. +The knife and fork were a concession to Merrit's inability to wield +the chopsticks, and sitting on his heels was Merrit's concession to +the inability of the house to provide a chair. + +"Hello!" he said, picking up a long-stemmed rose, "where did you find +this beauty?" + +"I guessed her with my nose," the girl answered. "You know what make +her heart so red? Long time ago, most beautiful princess love with +wrong man. Make Buddha ve'y angly, and he turn her body into white +rose. But her heart just stay all time red 'cause of beautiful love +that was there." + +"My! he's a fierce old customer, that Buddha of yours," said Merrit. + +Yuki San paused in the filling of the rice-bowl and looked at him +gravely: + +"Merrit San, do you know God?" + +"Do I know God?" he repeated, with a half-embarrassed laugh. + +"Yes, Christians' God, what you must love and love, but no never can +see till die-time come. You know, Merrit San?" Then, lowering her +voice in earnest inquiry, she went on: "You believe that Christians' +God more better for Japanese girl than Buddha?" + +For a moment Merrit felt the hot blood of confusion rise to his +temples. The role of spiritual adviser was a new and somewhat +embarrassing one. Struggling for expression, he floundered hopelessly. + +"I--I--I guess I don't know very much about it. But there's one sure +tip, Yuki San, the Christians' God is all right. You can't lose out if +you pin to him." He stammered like a foolish schoolboy, but struggled +bravely on: "When things get pretty thick and you've struck bottom, +that's the time you find out. I know. I've been there. More's the pity +I don't remember it oftener!" + +"And you think him more better for me?" asked Yuki San, still +perplexed. + +"You bet I do!" said Merrit with conviction. "Take my word for it and +don't forget." + +"I no forget," she said. + +A sliding of the screen and a call from the court-yard announced the +arrival of the jinrikisha men, who had come for the baggage. + +Merrit thrust back his half-finished breakfast. + +"By Jove! I'd most forgotten this is my last meal with you. Just to +think all that tiresome old government contract is finished and I'll +soon be on my way to the other side!" + +"You want to see other side?" she asked. "Mama San not there no more." +Then seeing his face darken, she laid a quick hand of sympathy on his. +"I have the sorrowful for you," she said earnestly, then went on +hastily: "That other side! Yes, I know that most beautiful 'Merica. +Most big ship in the world come rolling into Hatoba. Merrit San so +long and big, stand way out front and see over much people. Then he +cry out, 'Herro!' herro!' with glad and much joyful. He see that +lovely girl like picture waiting there!" + +Without pausing for a reply, she pushed open a door and called in +Japanese to her father and mother, who never made their appearance +till Merrit's breakfast was finished. + +"Come, make ready to give our guest an honorable departure," she said. + +In the small courtyard facing the street the girl found the men, with +their jinrikishas and baggage-wagon, waiting to convey Merrit to the +station. She carefully directed the tying on of the various trunks and +bags, and placed the family just where they should stand that the +greatest honor might be done the departing guest. + +As Merrit came out of the little house and reached for his shoes, +which stood waiting at the side, Yuki San started toward him, eager to +serve him to the last. Merrit motioned her back. + +"Don't come too near, Yuki San. If you happened to fall into one of +those shoes, you'd be lost for ever and ever, and that big Mr. Saito +would be inviting me to cut off my head." + +Yuki San laughed and smoothed the cushions in the jinrikisha while she +gave minute directions to the jinrikisha men. + +Merrit made his adieu with high good humor, and so many big words that +Yuki San was hard pressed to interpret. He invited the family and all +their relatives to come to see him in America. When he reached Yuki +San he held out his hand. Made shy by the unusual ceremony, she +timidly laid a cold and unresponsive little palm in his. He looked +down from his height with tender memories of all her gentle +courtesies. + +"Good-by, little snow-girl," he said. "I'll never forget Japan, nor +you." + +She withdrew her hand and looked inquiringly up at him. + +"Some long time you come back?" + +Merrit climbed into the jinrikisha "No, Yuki San, you know I'll soon +have a little home of my own to work and care for. I'll be a busy man +for the next few years, so I guess I'll not come back." + +As in a dream, Yuki San saw the men adjust their hats and tighten +their sashes as they took their places in front of the small vehicle. +Mechanically she bowed her farewell with the rest of the family, but +she did not join their "Sayonara." + +She watched the swift moving of the jinrikisha wheels, then she saw +Merrit turn at the gate and wave his hat as he joyously called: + +"Good-by, Yuki San, God bless you!" + +The girl stood still, her eyes on the empty gate. Like a lonely, hurt +child her lip quivered, and she caught it between her teeth to steady +it. + +"Ah, Yuki," cried her mother, "some spirit has wished you harm. A drop +of blood rests on your lips." + +Yuki San drew her hand across her mouth, and lightly answered that +maybe a robin had tried to steal a cherry. But to herself she +murmured: + +"My heart bleed for lonely. He _never_ come back." + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +The following day a host of accumulated duties and various +preparations for the first ceremonious visit of the groom-elect kept +Yuki San's hands and mind busy, and if sometimes a sob rose in her +throat, or her eyes strayed wistfully from her task, she resolutely +refused to let herself dwell upon the past. + +The marriage, which had been dutifully accepted as a matter of course +and looked forward to as a financial relief to the entire family, had +never held any particular interest for her, but now even the +preparations, which had hitherto excited her interest and enthusiasm, +found her listless and indifferent. + +She would be mistress over a great mansion and many servants, and her +days were to be spent in arranging for the physical comfort of Saito +and the entertainment of his friends. + +The arrangement had seemed so simple, and so right, and she had been +gratified that a desirable husband had been found. But now she could +neither understand nor explain to herself her new and strange +resistance. She only knew that for the first time in her life there +was rebellion against the inevitable. + +As she rested her tired body before beginning her toilet for the +afternoon, she remembered an American teacher at school who had been +_in love_ with the man she was soon to marry. She remembered how she +had hidden behind the trees to see this young teacher run to the gate +to meet the postman, and her own failure to see why these letters +should bring such joy. She, with other girls, had spent a whole recess +acting this scene amid peals of laughter. Now it all came back to her +with new meaning, and it seemed neither strange nor amusing. + +She leaned her head against the open _shoji_ and looked out into the +garden, radiant and beautiful in the high noon of a perfect autumn +day. + +The working world paused in a brief sleep and the music of the garden +was hushed, while the insects sought the shadow of green leaves. Peace +was within and without, save in the girl's awakening heart. + +"Ah, Sensei," she murmured through her trembling lips. "Then I make +fun for your letter of love. Forgive my impolite. Now I the +understanding have." + +Yuki San chose her toilet for the coming visit with due regard for all +convention. There must be no touch of purple--that being the color +soonest to fade made it an evil omen. She selected an _obi_ of rare +brocade, the betrothal gift of Saito, the great length of which +expressed the hope of an enduring marriage. + +As she dressed, her mother flitted about her, chatting volubly and in +such high spirits that Yuki San's heart was warmed. The elaborate +trousseau had caused the little household many a sacrifice, but the +joy in the hearts of the old people more than justified them. + +Presently the clatter of the jinrikisha in the courtyard announced the +arrival of the guest. Yuki San heard the long ceremonious greeting of +her father. She saw her mother hasten away to do her part and, left +alone, she sat with troubled eyes and drooping head. + +The strange feeling in her heart, one moment of joy and one of pain, +bewildered and frightened her. No thought of evading her duty crossed +her mind, but her whole being cried out for a beautiful something she +had just found, but which it was futile to hope for in her new life. + +At the call of her mother, Yuki San silently pushed open the screen +and made her low and graceful greeting. Custom forbidding her to take +part in the conversation, she busied herself with serving the tea, +listening while Saito San recounted various incidents of the +picturesque court-life, or told of adventures in the recent war. + +After all the prescribed topics had been discussed and the farewells +had been said, Yuki San retained a vague impression of a small, +middle-aged man, with many medals on his breast, who looked at her +with kind, unsmiling eyes. + +It was not till after the simple evening meal that Yuki San found the +chance to slip away to the little upper room which had been Merrit's +for two months. Nothing there had been touched, for the old mother +claimed that to set a room in order too soon after a guest's departure +was to sweep out all luck with him. + +The girl entered and stood, a ghostly image, in the soft and tender +light of the great autumn moon as it lay against the paper doors and +filled the tiny room. Through the half-light Yuki San saw many touches +of the late inmate's personality. A discarded tie hung limply from a +hook on the wall, a half-smoked cigar and a faded white rose lay side +by side on the low table. + +From the garden the sad call of a night-bird, with its oft-repeated +wail, seemed to voice her loneliness, and with a sob she sank upon her +knees beside the cot. Long she lay in an abandonment of grief, beating +futile wings against the bars of fate. At last, throwing out her arms, +she touched a small object beneath the pillow. Drawing it toward her, +she took it to the open _shoji_, and by the bright moonlight she saw a +small morocco note-book. She puzzled over the strange figures on the +first few pages, but from the small pocket on the back cover she drew +forth a picture that neither confused nor surprised. It was the girl +Merrit had told her about--the girl to whom he was going so joyously. + +It was a face full of the gladness of life and love, whose laughing +eyes looked straight into Yuki San's with such a challenge of +friendship and good will that the girl smiled back at the picture and +laid it gently against her warm cheek. + +She sought out each detail of hair and dress as she held it for closer +inspection, then replacing it in the pocket she said softly: + +"He have the big, big love for you. You give him the happy. I close my +heart about you." + +On the back of the book in letters of gold she spelled out the strange +word, "Diary." She puzzled for a moment, then she remembered where she +had seen it before. The young American teacher had written in just +such a book, and when she asked its meaning, the teacher had said it +was her best friend, her confidant, to whom she told her secrets. + +For a moment Yuki San stood with the book in her hand, then she said +impulsively: + +"Diary! I make diary, too. I speak my thoughts to you. I tole you all +my secrets. Maybe my lonely heart will flew away." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE DIARY OF YUKI SAN + + +_First Entry_ + +'Merican Sensei say she have one closest friend in little book. I tell +my troublesome to this little book what spells "Diary" in gold letters +on back. I make it my closest friend what no never speaks the words of +yours when heart overflows with several feelings. I write for Merrit +San, but his eyes no must never see. Just my heart speak to his heart +in that 'Merican tongue what he understands. + +Japanese girl very naughty if she love man. She made for the take care +of man's mother, man's house. Very bad for Japanese girl to say love +when she marry with man. Merrit San say 'Merican girl speak love with +eyes when lips are shame. Japanese girl cover the eye with little +curtain when man comes. She no must peep out one little corner. No +must see, no must hear, no must speak the love. + +So I make little book guess my heart each day. + +The happy days are pass away, and the flowers are bloom and birds will +return to me again, but where can I find Merrit San? How I feel the +sorry and the lonesome when I think I can't find him no more in this +long island. I no can express my heart with words. I never the forget +of his kindness to me. + +Big lamp by Merrit San's desk no never burn so bright for me. It make +funny little crooked shadow of my body on _shoji_. Merrit San's body +always make big and strong black picture. I saw it last time big moon +look over mountain. I took walk in garden and I thinking this time +next moon Merrit San will not be here. Though the lamplight shines +through the _shoji,_ still in next month the owner of the light will +be different and the ache come into my heart. + +Whole Japan are changed, and everything I see or hear makes me think +of him; but my thoughts of him never, never changed, yet more and more +increase and longing for him all time. My heart speak the much word of +love for Merrit San. My eyes grow shame to say it. Little book, close +my secret! + +_Second Entry_ + +ALL day many rains come down in garden. He steals flowers' sweetness +and damp my heart with lonesome. Last rainy day Merrit San teached me +more better English, and he laugh very long when I read the English +writing with my Japanese tongue. He say: "Ah, Yuki San, you very funny +little girl!" + +Then I teach him the play of _go ban_, and he make the pain in his +head with the several thoughts how he must move the black or white. He +try long, long time, then he shake his big feest, and he say: "You've +got me beat, little sister; you've got me sure." + +I laugh, but I think much thoughts. _I_ no hurt Merrit San with beat, +and girl with much laugh in her eyes have got him for surely. I no +understand that funny 'Merican tongue. + +Merrit San so many time call me little sister, and he say my soul all +white like my name. What _is_ my soul? Ah, that same spirit what leave +my body and go out 'cross that many seas to safe Merrit San's journey. +I keep that soul all purely and white all of because Merrit San call +me Little Sister Snow. + +One day I take Merrit San with me to very old temple. Sun, him so +bright he make all leaves to dance with glad. Green lizard take sleep +on stone step while big honey-bee sing song. All things have the +joyful, and my feets just touch earth with lightsome. + +I go inside temple and say one very little pray to Amida, for I have +the hurry. When I go back, Merrit San he say: + +"See here, Yuki San, you no waste time over pray. You get the trouble +with that old gentleman if you have not the careful." + +Then I say: "Next time I give him little money and make big smoke with +incense," and he say, "Yuki, you very good girl." + +Just by temple's side is little bamboo-tree which have very nice +story. One good god he like this bamboo, and he like the beautiful +love. He say give names of man and woman to boughs of bamboo and make +the tie together with long pin of thorn. Give the low bow, and by and +by the dear wish in heart will be truly. + +Merrit San he no can know what I do, but he hold the high boughs of +bamboo down and I name him and me and make the tie together. + +The dear wish of my heart come not truly. It is full of sad. + +_Third Entry_ + +What shall I do to less my anxious? To-day at temple I ask Buddha. He +never speak. He always look far away at big sea. He no care, though +tears of the heart make damp the kimono sleeve. The Christians' God I +no can see. But Merrit San say he is everywhere and listens for voice +of troublesome. I no can make him hear, though I say the loud prayer. + +Buddha very ugly old god. Maybe him cross when he see very pretty +Japanese girl make the low bow to him. + +I believe Christians' God more better than Buddha, because Merrit San +say he make everything truly. He make me, he make Merrit San, he make +the beautiful love. Maybe some day that big God hear about Japanese +girl's heart of trouble and speak the peace. + +To-day one long so busy day. Many silk must be sewed into fine kimono +for the when I go to live in other house. Sometimes I very glad I go +to other house. I make the many comforts of my mother and my father. + +To-day I see the much cold in my father's body. Very soon he have nice +warm kimono with sheep's fur all inside. Then I make the glad heart, I +marry with Japanese man. + +It is getting little cold, and every night the moon is so clear. These +day crickets are singing among the grasses. Those make me to think of +Merrit San more and more. This fall was quite changed to me. At first +Merrit San never come back to me as I expect in dreamy way. I have the +feel of very helpless and lonesome. Before, though I had some trouble +or unhappiness, if I saw Merrit San's smile everything was taken clear +away and my heart was full with cheer and happy. + +Ah, Merrit San, though it makes my cheek red with hot to write the +speak, I love you most. + +Buddha very naughty old god to say nothing truly is. + +_Fourth Entry_ + +Ah, Merrit San, what you suppose I have dream last night? I was so +happy that I cannot tell with my tongue nor pen. That _you_ come back! +I could no word speak out with so much glad. I had many things to tell +you before I wake, but I could not even one thing. + +You say you stay ten days. It is too short, but it far more better is +than half night. Oh, I wish so bad I did not wake up from dream! + +I was tearful with much disappoint, then I remember that day you go to +big 'Merica you call back "God bless you, Yuki San," and with my heart +I make one soft prayer to Christians' God. + +When big temple bell wake me up and all birds, my troublesome was more +light, and I make so big breakfast for my father and my mother, my +pocket began to tell the loneliness, and I could not perform all my +wishes. + +When I write these letters Merrit San is far away at sea on the way of +his home. He will have joyful time. I wish I can see her, that girl +with the laugh in her eyes. Wonder how she thinks of Japan. Perhaps +she would think how small and lonely country and people. One girl in +that Japanese country very sad with lonely. + +But Merrit San say: "Yuki San, you _good girl_, you be good wife." So +I make the try to put my lonely heart to sleep. + +_Fifth Entry_ + +Time and days goes too fast as running water. Already old month went +away and new one have come. It is time for us to do last work on many +clothes for new home. + +When Japanese girl marry with man she take much goods to his house. +To-day my father bring what 'Merican call bureau, and many work-box +and trays and much fine _futon_ for to sleep on floor with. Next day +after this many mens will come and travel all things to other house. +Japanese girl wear fine kimono long, long time, and keep for more +little girl. Merrit San say 'Merican girl wear fine kimono one time, +then she no more like. + +Then 'Merican girl have much happy in her heart. 'Merican man come to +girl's house to marry with her. She no afraid to speak the word of +love, though man's mother sit next by him. She no 'fraid of laugh. She +has the joyful of life. + +Japanese girl very happy when she very little girl, or very, very old. +But when she goes to man's house to marry with him, she must always be +the quiet of little mice and more busy than honey-bee. Very bad. But +Japanese girl have the much brave, and holds the happy in her heart +when she brings the comforts to her peoples. + +Merrit San say many more big country than Japan in world. I say, "What +is world? I wish I know world like you!" Merrit San stop the laugh and +his voice grow still with quiet, then he say: + +"Ah, Yuki San, little snow-girl like you should not know the world. +Cuddle in your little nest and be content." + +What is content? It is the don't care of anything but the flower- +garden in my heart. Wonder if girl with laugh in her eyes have the +content? This day I take walk by seas. Last time I take walk so many +peoples come with us. I make into Japanese words all Merrit San's +funny speaks. We have the much laugh: Merrit San try the eat with +chop-sticks. + +To-day little boat what we ride the water in was broke by its nose and +many seas was eating it up. Loud cold wind make pine-trees shivery and +sad. Big gray cloud come down and make all black with sorrowful. +Sometimes little white waves jump up and dance, but the joyful of last +happy day stings my heart. + +_Sixth Entry_ + +More long time go running slowly by since you have left us, and as I +was thinking of that running and those days and longing for you and my +heart getting down in lonely thoughts, _Yubin_ San bring me those +package what you sent, Merrit San, and it made me very glad and happy. +Hardly can I tell what was in my heart then. Before I can open it I +hold it tightly against my breast and kept silence a little while. +Tears of sorrow changed into the great joy for a moment when I see +your name and your hand of write. I feel as if I receive a new life +right in this minute, and I caught a light of hope in yonder. My +heartful joy and gladness will not express, and I wish I can go up in +high place and shout out and tell all people the joyful of beautiful +love. How it make the change in whole earth and life and give the +dance of heart. But I will not. Mens and women of Japanese country +have not the understand of such lovely thing, and make the shameful of +me. So I give silence to my lips and close the door of my heart. Ah, +what funny little thing that heart is! In one half live the joyful. +Other side have all the painful of life, and when the love come +sometimes he knock at wrong door and give the hurtful ache to life. +Ah, Merrit San, you give many thankfuls for the lend of my house in +your letter. I give the love of you many more thankfuls for coming to +my heart, even he knock at two doors. One day me and Merrit San went +down to temple where big feast was. Merrit San go inside and look long +long time at Buddha, then he say: + +"Yuki San, what will this old gentleman do to you if you disobey him?" +I give little think, then I say, "I no can know--I no never disobey. +Buddha say, 'Yuki, take care father and mother all time.' I take care. +Him say, 'Yuki, you woman--you not talk too much.' I no talk much. +Then him say, 'Yuki, come many time to temple and make light with +incense and put little money every time in box.' I give obey and much +_go rin_, but Buddha keep all and never give back." Before I finish my +speak Merrit San shiver like cold and say, "Come on, Yuki San, let's +get out of here and find the sun." Outside I make cherry-wreath while +Merrit San tell me story. Him very sweet day--now all gone forever. + +_Seventh Entry_ + +Last fine kimono is finished and all baggage is tied. Next day I go to +other house. + +Then my mother will give all house much sweep with new broom, to tell +gods I go 'way no more to come back. Maybe they make big fire by gate +to tell all peoples I belong to other house now. Ah, little book, to- +night I make big fire in my heart and burn all my wickeds in it. Next +day I make more fire and burn you. To other house I must go all white +and purely as Merrit San say. + +Ah, Merrit San, you the one big happy in all my life and I never +forget all your kindful. You give me the good heart, like sun make +flower-bud unclose. You telled me what is soul and purely, and you say +be very good wife. + +One night when moon was big and round and red and river outside wall +go spank, spank, you call all my people to garden, and with the +'Merican _samisen_ you sing much songs. + +Sometimes you very funny, but sometimes when moon specks slip through +big pine-tree, I see you very sadful. + +Now moon speck come on _shoji_ and ache my eyes to look your face once +more. + +I try so much to make picture of man's face I marry with. I no can see +anything but much medals on coat, and so many teeths. Merrit San's +eyes all blue and twinkly, and face so white and clean. + +But now he make the joyful with girl with laugh in her eyes, and her +feet no touch the ground with much happy. + +To-morrow I go to other house and no belong to my father and mother. +To-day I go temple, and I make promise I no more speak of Merrit San's +name; no more the think of his face in my heart. + +Little book, I weared you close to my breast many days. To-night I +sleep with you tight to my heart. You gived me the courage to turn my +face to the rising sun of the to-morrow. + +_Sayonara._ + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +The low, deep music of a temple bell rolled down the hillside and +echoed through the giant cryptomerias. It stirred to action the +creatures of the early dawn and passed out with infinite sweetness to +the red-rimmed east of another day. + +The priests in the old temples chanted their prayers with weird +monotony, while a single bird poured out his morning song of love at +the door of his mate. + +The old stone steps leading from temple to temple would have looked as +they had a thousand other mornings, gray, grim, and mossy, save for a +little figure that slowly took its way up a long and crooked flight. + +Yuki San was on her way to make good her promise to the gods. Her +wooden shoes clicked sharply in the quiet morning air, then hushed as +she paused for rest on a broad step. Even the exertion of the long +climb had failed to color her white cheeks, but her lips were carmine +and her eyes luminous with purpose. + +The one spot of color about her otherwise sober little figure was a +bright-red _furoshike_ held close, in which something was carefully +wrapped. + +A noisy waterfall leaped past her down the hillside in a perpetual +challenge to race to the foot. Stern-faced images, grim of aspect, +stared at her as she climbed, but Yuki San kept gravely on her way +until she reached the open door of the great silent temple. + +The faint light of the early morning had scarce penetrated the shadows +that clung about the gorgeous hangings and rich symbols of this +ancient place of worship. A white-robed priest, oblivious to all save +his own meditations, paid little heed to the childlike figure as it +knelt before the cold, calm, unchanging image of the great Buddha. + +For a moment Yuki San moved her lips. Still kneeling, she drew from +her sash the red _furoshike_ and took from it a small morocco note- +book. + +With light steps she crossed to a brazier, and with a pair of small +tongs lifted from it a glowing coal. With steady fingers she pushed +aside the many sticks of incense in the great brass vessel before the +shrine, and making a little grave among the ashes, she laid within the +burning coal the little book. + +The blue smoke, rising slowly, hung for a moment above the girl's head +as a halo, then rose to the feet of Buddha as in supplication for +mercy, and was finally lost in the darkness of the heavy roof. + +The girl watched with wide eyes and parted lips. Clasping her hands, +she lifted her face and from her heart came a fervent, whispered +prayer. + +"I make empty my heart of all wicked. Buddha or Christians' God, I no +can know which. Please the more better speak into my lonely life the +word of peace." + +She turned from the silent temple on her homeward way. She paused by +the clump of bamboo where so short a time before she had gleefully +tied together two boughs in the name of Merrit and herself. Tiptoeing +to reach the high boughs which Merrit had held for her to tie, she +drew them downward to slip the thong that bound them. After holding +them to her soft cheek a moment, she let them fly apart, while she +closed her eyes and whispered softly: + +"Good-by, beautiful love, good-by." + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Little Sister Snow, by Frances Little + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LITTLE SISTER SNOW *** + +This file should be named ltsss10.txt or ltsss10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, ltsss11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, ltsss10a.txt + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END* + diff --git a/old/ltsss10.zip b/old/ltsss10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ba0ca99 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/ltsss10.zip diff --git a/old/ltsss10h.htm b/old/ltsss10h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c3ddfc7 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/ltsss10h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2148 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<title>LITTLE SISTER SNOW</title> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> +<style type="text/css"> +<!-- +body {background:#faebd7; margin:10%; text-align:justify} +img {border: 0;} +h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {color:#A82C28} +blockquote {font-size:14pt} +P {font-size:14pt} +--> +</style> +</head> +<body> + +<h1>Little Sister Snow, by Frances Little</h1> +<pre> +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Little Sister Snow, by Frances Little + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. 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You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Little Sister Snow + +Author: Frances Little + +Release Date: June, 2004 [EBook #5960] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on October 1, 2002] +[HTML version posted on October 12, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LITTLE SISTER SNOW *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger, Ted Garvin, Juliet Sutherland, +Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + +</pre> +<hr><br><br><br> +<center> +<h1>LITTLE SISTER SNOW</h1> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>FRANCES LITTLE</h2> + +<h3>Author of "The Lady of the Decoration"</h3> + +<h3> +WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY +GENJIRO KATAOKA<br><br> +1909</h3> +</center> +<br><br><br><br> +<center> +<p>TO MY NIECE</p> + +<p>ALICE HEGAN RICE</p> + +<p>IN MEMORY OF MANY HAPPY MONTHS +SPENT TOGETHER IN JAPAN</p> +</center> +<br><br> +<a name="001"></a> +<br><br> +<center> +<img alt="001.jpg (84K)" src="001.jpg" height="674" width="442"> +</center> +<br><br> + +<center> +<h2> +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2></center> + +<center> +<table summary=""> +<tr><td> + + + +<p><a href="#001">A fervent, whispered prayer . . .</a> <i>Frontispiece</i></p> + +<p><a href="#002">She would throw her into the ditch</a></p> + +<p><a href="#003">The two old people</a></p> + +<p><a href="#004">Yuki San was called before her father</a></p> + +<p><a href="#005">With paint and brush she fell to work</a></p> + +<p><a href="#006">At the slightest sound she listened</a></p> + +<p><a href="#007">Not willing to be surpassed in salutation</a></p> + +<p><a href="#008">"My heart bleed for lonely"</a></p> + +<p><a href="#009">She busied herself with serving the tea</a></p> + +<p><a href="#010">Very helpless and lonesome</a></p> + +<p><a href="#011">To make good her promise to the gods</a></p> + + +</td></tr> +</table> +</center> + + + +<br><br><br><br> + +<h3> +CHAPTER I</h3> + +<p> +A quaint old Japanese garden lay smiling under the sunshine of a +morning in early spring. The sun, having flooded the outside world +with dazzling light, seemed to sink to a tender radiance as it wooed +leaf and bud into new life and loveliness. It loosened the tiny +rivulet from the icy fingers of winter, and sped it merrily on its way +to a miniature lake, where shining goldfish darted here and there in +an ecstasy of motion. It stole into the shadows of a great pine-tree, +and touched the white wings of the pigeons as they cooed the song of +mating-time. It gleamed on the sandy path that led to the old stone +lantern, played into the eyes of Kwannon, the Goddess of Mercy, and +finally lost itself in the trees beyond.</p> + +<p>Under a gnarled plum-tree, that for uncounted years had braved the +snow and answered joyously the first call of spring, a little maiden +stood and held out eager hands to catch the falling blossoms. The +flowering-time was nearly done, and the child stood watching the +petals twirl quickly down, filling the hollows and fashioning curious +designs on the mossy grass.</p> + +<p>The softest of breezes coming across the river, over the thick hedge, +saucily blew a stray petal straight into the child's face. To Yuki +Chan it was a challenge, and with outstretched hands and flying feet +she gave chase to the whirling blossoms. Round and round the old tree, +into the hedge, and up the sandy path she raced, her long sleeves +spreading like tiny sails, her cheeks flushed to the same crimson as +her flowery playmates. A sudden stillness in the air ended the romp. +Yuki Chan returned to her playground beneath the tree, and taking her +captured petals from the folds of her kimono, began to count her +trophies.</p> + +<p>"Ichi, ni, san, ichi, ni, san," she rhythmically droned, three being +the magical number that would bring good luck if the petals were +properly arranged and the number repeated often enough.</p> + +<p>But the monotony of repetition brought rest, and soon Yuki Chan, +forgetting to count, made a bed of the fallen petals and turned her +face toward the little straw-roofed house from which noises of busy +preparation came.</p> + +<p>It was a birthday. Not Yuki Chan's, for that came with the snow-time. +This was the third day of the third month, which in the long ago was +set apart as the big birthday of all little girls born in the lovely +island, and was celebrated by the Festival of Dolls.</p> + +<p>Yuki Chan lay with her slim body stretched in the warmth of the sun. +In every graceful line was the imprint of high breeding; her white +face, so unusual with her race, was stamped with the romance and +tragedy of centuries; while her eyes, limpid and luminous, looked out +at the world with eager, questioning interest.</p> + +<p>Through the wide-open <i>shoji</i> of the house she caught glimpses of +her father and mother hurrying and holding consultations. She marked +frequent visits to the old warehouse that held the household +treasures, and the bringing out of bundles wrapped in yellow cloth. +The air brought her whiffs of cooking food, and the flower- and fish- +men deposited a fair part of their stock on the porch. But Yuki Chan +was banished from these joys of preparation because of naughtiness, +and as she lay in the warm sunshine she thought of her recent +wickedness. She smiled as she remembered how she had hid her father's +pipe that he might work the faster, and broken the straps of her +mother's wooden shoes, so that she could not go outdoors. She laughed +softly when she thought of the stray cat which she had brought into +the house and coaxed to drink milk while she, with skilful fingers and +a pair of scissors, transformed her smooth fur into a wonderful +landscape garden. Short work had made kitty's head slick and shiny, +like a lake, with a stray bristle or two, which stood for trees. In +the middle of her back stood Fuji, the great mountain, with numberless +little Fujis to keep company. Many winding paths ran down kitty's legs +to queer, shapeless shrines, and it was only when Yuki Chan had +insisted on making a curious old pine-tree with twisted limbs of +kitty's short and stubby tail that trouble ensued, and she had been +requested by her mother to take her honorable little body to the +garden.</p> + +<p>Yuki Chan remembered her mother's beautiful smile of love as she +gently chided her, and recalled the note of trouble in the kind voice. +Was the mother sorry because she had stuck out a very pink tongue at a +cross-eyed old image that sat on the floor on the very spot that she +wanted to step upon? Or was it—and Yuki Chan grew grave—that the +last <i>go rin</i> had been spent for the new dress she was to wear that +day?</p> + +<p>All her short life Yuki Chan had lived in a house of love, but no veil +of affection, no sacrifice, could shield her from the knowledge of +poverty. She had never seen her mother wear but one festival dress, +yet her own little kimono was ever bright and dainty, and even the new +brocade of the dolls' dresses stood alone with the weave of gold and +tinsel.</p> + +<p>A solemn thought, like a pebble dropped into water, caused circle +after circle to trouble her childish mind. She did not quite +understand, but she knew there was something she must learn. She had +been naughty and weighed her mother's spirits. She had caused a grave +look in her father's kind eyes, and had sent the household pets +scattering with her mischief. Now she must be good—very good—else +the fox spirit would come upon her, and she would go through life an +unhappy soul. She would give more obedience to the honorable mother, +whose every word had been a caress. It was as if for the first time +the great book of life opened before her and, though unconscious of +its meaning, the first word she saw spelled Duty.</p> + +<p>The noises from the house grew fainter. The child, with blinking eyes, +lay gazing straight above her. Overhead the branches overflowed into a +canopy of crimson, which shut out the great real world and opened into +a fairy world wherein only the untried feet of youth may tread and the +fragile flowers of child-dreams bloom. The gates thereto are slight +but strong, and only knowledge erects an impassable barrier.</p> + +<p>The wind sang its lullaby through the blossoms of the tree, and sleep +would soon have overtaken Yuki Chan had not a peculiar sound aroused +her and caused her eyes to fly wide open. Once before she had heard +it, and it had meant death to the big robin who lived in the branches +above. The cry came from the mother bird this time and brought Yuki +Chan to her feet.</p> + +<p>Through the shower of blossoms, brought down by the mad fluttering of +wings, she saw a tiny half-feathered thing struggling in the sharp +claws of her lately acquired pet. With certainty of success, the cat +let its victim weakly flutter an inch or two away, then reaching out a +cruel paw drew it back. Twice repeated, the green eyes narrowed to +slits, and Yuki Chan, horrified, saw big red drops slowly dripping +from either side of the whiskered mouth. Terror held her for a moment +as she heard the crunching of small bones, then white passion +enveloped her as she stole noiselessly from behind and closed her two +small hands around the furry throat.</p> + +<p><i>"Baka!"</i> she cried from between her clenched teeth. <i>"Baka</i>—to eat +the baby birds! This day will I ask Oni to make you into a stone, +which every foot will kick and hurt, and you can neither move nor cry. +You cruel, cruel beast!" In vain the cat struggled. Yuki Chan held it +firmly at arm's-length while she decided what was to be its fate.</p> + +<p>Looking sternly at the offender, her lips rounded into a long-drawn +"s-o," the light of anticipated revenge danced in her eyes. At last +she knew what to do, O most honorable but very ugly cat! She would +throw her into the ditch, where great crawling frogs with popping eyes +would stick out long tongues; where flying things would sting, and +creeping things would bite; where the great tide would come later and +take her out to the big, big ocean, where there was neither milk to +drink nor birds to eat.</p> + +<a name="002"></a> +<br><br> +<center> +<img alt="002.jpg (82K)" src="002.jpg" height="682" width="440"> +</center> +<br><br> + +<p>At the thought of her furry playmate floating alone and hungry in the +vast place which, to Yuki Chan, had neither beginning nor end, +something of pity touched her heart, and she slightly loosened her +grasp.</p> + +<p>The cat gained a good breath and used it. In the fight for freedom a +sharp claw was drawn down the child's arm, leaving a line of red in +its course. Compassion took flight, and Yuki Chan, clutching anew, +went swiftly down the path that led to the street, with a watchful eye +on the lodge of the keeper of the gate.</p> + +<p>The keeper was very old, and very cross, and lately had acquired a +curious idea that little girls must ask his honorable permission to go +in and out the gate. One day he actually threatened punishment, and +Yuki Chan, in her scorn, invited him to cut off his head with a sword, +that he might save his face. Now the way was clear.</p> + +<p>She turned her head and bumped her small body against the weight of +the heavy gates until they swung slightly apart and permitted her to +slip through.</p> + +<p>So intent was her purpose to reach the ditch across the street that +she did not see an approaching jinrikisha, and before she knew it she +had been tumbled over and sent rolling to the side of the road. Still +clutching the kitten, she sat up and rubbed the dust from her eyes.</p> + +<p>Standing over her was the jinrikisha man, and beside him was his +passenger, a young American boy, whose light hair and blue eyes held +her spell-bound. He was brushing the dust from her kimono, and his +foreign tongue made strange sounds.</p> + +<p>"Say, kid," the boy was saying, as he transferred the dust from his +hands to his handkerchief, "glad you're not hurt or got any bones +cracked. Where's your mama, or your papa, or your nurse, to give you a +spanking and keep you off the street?"</p> + +<p>As he talked Yuki Chan grew fascinated watching his mouth, and forgot, +for a moment, her direful intention. The cat, again taking advantage +of her relaxed hold, began to tug for freedom, and a lively struggle +ensued.</p> + +<p>The boy, looking on, began to laugh, a laugh that began in his eyes, +ran over his face and down into his throat, whence it came again in a +shout of boyish merriment.</p> + +<p>Yuki Chan, looking from him to the smiling jinrikisha man, grew +crimson with anger. With a swift movement she ran toward the ditch.</p> + +<p>Divining her purpose by the look in her eyes, Dick Merrit went +gallantly to the rescue of the kitten. He was tall for his sixteen +years, and his long strides more than matched the pattering steps of +the slip of a girl who raced before him.</p> + +<p>"No, you don't, kiddie," he cried; "your manicured cat is not going +into the ditch, if we have to scrap for it."</p> + +<p>Merrit caught Yuki Chan in one arm, and again and again loosened her +fingers from the struggling kitten.</p> + +<p>"Iya, Iya!" the child screamed; but Merrit, as determined as she, held +her firmly, and ended by lightly slapping first one little hand and +then the other.</p> + +<p>The child, thus coming into contact for the first time with physical +force, relaxed her grasp and gazed in amazement at the boy's +determined face.</p> + +<p>"I guess your 'Iya' means no, little lady, and I say 'Iya' too," said +Merrit, taking the cat into his arms and smoothing its uneven back. +"You are not going to put it into the ditch. Why don't you give it to +me? I am getting up a collection of cats and things at the school, and +I'd like to take this queer specimen along. Ask her if I can have it."</p> + +<p>The jinrikisha man, who stood a smiling spectator, saw Dick Merrit's +hand move toward his pocket, and was instantly alert and eager to +settle the matter.</p> + +<p>"Him ve'y bad girl," he said; "him make dead for catty. You give me +ten sen, I take girl homely. You have much of catty."</p> + +<p>But Dick declined all interference, and putting the cat inside his +coat he stooped down and took one of Yuki Chan's unresisting hands. +Her sleeve fell back, and he saw the long red scratch.</p> + +<p>"Hello! The cat had an inning too, didn't she? I'd like to chuck her +for hurting you, but I can't let you give her a bath in that dirty +hole. Never mind, I'll take her home, and some day I'll bring you +something. I bet you don't understand a word I'm saying, but I'll be +hanged if I know how to make you."</p> + +<p>Feeling rather helpless, Dick talked on, patting first Yuki Chan and +then the cat.</p> + +<p>The child stood speechless and looked deep into his eyes, not having +entirely recovered from the shock of the first blow she had ever +received.</p> + +<p>"You'll be good, won't you?" he went on coaxingly, "not drown any more +cats and things?"</p> + +<p>Yuki Chan, with the intuition that only a child can have, suddenly +bridged the gulf of strange language and understood. With the quick +movement of a nestling bird, she bent forward and laid her cheek +against the boy's shoulder. It was not only complete surrender, but +allegiance to the conqueror.</p> + +<p>Dick rose, red and confused. Then he climbed into the jinrikisha, +trying to ignore the smiles of the man.</p> + +<p>Yuki Chan, with her hands joined just below her sash, bent her body +like a half-shut jack-knife.</p> + +<p>"Arigato—arigato," she said politely, as she bowed again and again.</p> + +<p>"Him say t'ank you," interpreted the jinrikisha man.</p> + +<p>"Good-by," called Dick. "Don't forget—be good!"</p> + +<p>Yuki Chan watched the back of the jinrikisha and the swinging brown +legs of the jinrikisha man that showed beneath. She had forgotten the +cat, but she still remembered the kind look in the blue eyes of the +boy.</p> + +<p>"Yuki, Yuki!" came the voice of the mother in her native tongue. +"Come, the feast is prepared, and the sandals are worn from my feet +running to seek you. Hurry! before the red beans grow cold."</p> + +<p>The child sent a long-drawn "Hei" in answer to her mother, then to +herself she said over and over:</p> + +<p>"Be goodu—be goodu."</p> + +<p>She had heard the words a few times before, but they were associated +with her visits to the mission-school and a certain oblong box out of +which came sticks of red and white with a very sweet taste. Now, as +she said them, a new meaning seemed to play about them.</p> + +<p>She slipped through the gate and walked with unhurried feet toward the +small house, so gay in its festal plumage. As she passed the old plum- +tree she looked up and saw the mother bird cuddling her babies beneath +her breast.</p> + +<p>Some tender thought lighted the child's face into a strange beauty, as +a stray sunbeam finds a hidden flower and glorifies it. Turning her +face upward to the nest, she patted her own cheek and said: "Be goodu, +Yuki, be goodu."</p> + +<br><br><br><br> + +<h3> +CHAPTER II</h3> + +<p> +In the springtime a Japanese house is a fairy-like thing, with only +top and bottom of straw and a few upholding posts to give it a look of +substance.</p> + +<p>Yuki Chan's house was typical. The paper screens were carefully put +away during the day, that the breezes might play unobstructed through +the house. At night the heavy wooden doors were fitted into grooves +and served not only to keep out the night air, but also the evil +spirits that come abroad when the great sun ceases watching.</p> + +<p>Binding the whole was a narrow porch, showing a floor polished like a +mirror from the slipping and sliding of generations of feet. Yuki Chan +first learned to know her face in its reflections and, alas! by the +same method had learned the saucy fascination of sticking out her +small pink tongue.</p> + +<p>On the side of the porch toward the plum-tree the child found her +father and mother waiting. The two old people sat on gay cushions with +hands folded and feet crossed. Their festal attire bore the marks of a +once careless luxury, but now shabbiness tried to hide itself under +the bravery of tinsel, where once had been pure gold.</p> + +<p>Each year the struggle of obsolete methods of business and the +intricacies of progress plowed the furrows a little deeper in the +man's face, and when his eyes, that in youth had blazed with ambition, +grew wistful and troubled, he dropped them that his wife might not +see.</p> + +<p>But what silence could hide from this frail woman any mood of the man +she had served with mind and body and soul these many years? When she +came to him as a shy bride on trial, she knew no such word as love. +Duty was her entire vocabulary, and she asked nothing and gave all.</p> + + + +<a name="003"></a> +<br><br> +<center> +<img alt="003.jpg (74K)" src="003.jpg" height="678" width="436"> +</center> +<br><br> + + +<p>Many little souls had come to her, with hands all crimped and pink, +like new-blown cherry-leaves, only to close their eyes and pass out to +the good god Jizo, who is always waiting to help little children +across the river of death.</p> + +<p>In years gone by, night after night sleep had flown before the terror +that another woman would be brought into the house that the family +name might not die out. Silently she would slip out to the little +shrine and pour out passionate words of prayer that just one little +soul might be permitted to live.</p> + +<p>No matter how long the night, nor how bitter the struggle, morning +always found her bright and cheerful, bending every effort to invent +new diversions for her husband. She labored to anticipate every wish, +and even though she did without, she provided him the best of comfort. +Working far into the night, secretly disposing of her small personal +treasures, acquiescing in his most trivial statements, she planned +that no slightest gap in the domestic arrangement should suggest +itself to him.</p> + +<p>The woman worked and prayed and waited. Then she triumphed. In the +wake of a great snow-storm came the longed-for child, and they called +her Yuki, after the snow that had brought them their wish. Hand in +hand with Yuki Chan came love, and bound the hearts of the man and +woman with ties of a desire fulfilled. From that time to this love had +prevailed, and as Yuki Chan climbed on the porch, besmirching its +shining surface with her muddy little feet, that had been guiltless of +sandals all day, the faces of the two old people lighted up with +sudden joy.</p> + +<p>Yuki Chan looked ruefully at the muddy prints she had made and +realized that she had been a most impolite little girl. Remembering +her recent resolve, she sought the eyes in which she had never seen +any light for her save that of love. She drew close, and reaching down +took her mother's hand, hard and cracked by labor, and laying her +cheek against it said, with a voice sure of forgiveness and sweet +desire for atonement:</p> + +<p>"Go men nasai."</p> + +<p>The mother, with a courtly but playful air, granted her pardon with a +low salutation. Then with a rush of affection that no convention could +stem, she folded the child to her heart and lived another moment of +supreme joy.</p> + +<p>The father sat by, making no comment, his eyes bright and twinkling. +Then he suggested that their Majesties, the dolls, had been waiting +long on the shelf. Was it not time they were receiving a visit?</p> + +<p>The years of toil were telling on both father and mother, but they +daily refreshed themselves at the overbrimming fountain of Yuki Chan's +youth, and now, as they each took one of her hands to go in to see the +dolls, they were so gay that the child suggested that instead of +walking they should do the new one-two-three-hop she had learned at +the kindergarten.</p> + +<p>It was unheard-of conduct, but it was for Yuki Chan, and father and +mother stumped along, cheered on by the small girl who was trying to +keep time, but was breathless through sheer excess of happiness.</p> + +<p>There was nothing in the room to impede their progress. No chairs with +treacherous legs to trip over, no beds, nor tables with sharp corners +—nothing whatever but the matting, soft and thick, where Yuki Chan had +practised all the gymnastics of childhood unbruised and unharmed.</p> + +<p>Half skipping, half hopping, and wholly undone with laughter and +exertion, the three at last reached the place where, for six years, +offerings had been made for the gift of the child who stood to these +two for love.</p> + +<p>Arranged in the best room in the house, on five long red-covered +shelves, were dolls. Big dolls and little dolls, thin ones and fat +ones, each one to represent some royal man or woman of the long ago, +and dressed in a fashion of a time almost forgotten. There was Jimmu +Tenno, the first real emperor. His hair was done in a curious fashion +and his dress was of a wonderful brocade, while his hands clasped two +fierce-looking swords. There was Jingo, too, who had won fame and +lasting honor by her wonderful fighting, and was so great she had to +sit by the emperors and look down on the other empresses. Such a lot +of them! Some worthy to be remembered every day in the year, others +the more quickly forgotten the better.</p> + +<p>Yuki Chan knew them all by heart, and she lingered before those she +liked and quickly passed those she did not care for. She could not be +rude to an emperor, even though he had been dead hundreds of years. +She was really not very afraid of the greatness of the old doll men +and women who sat on the shelf, still it was well to be careful about +handling them. She might be turned into a lizard or a snake, just as +the old lodge-keeper had said.</p> + +<p>But her delight was in the miniature toilet articles of solid silver, +costly gold lacquer, and porcelain, so tiny, so beautifully carved +they must have meant the eyesight of some workman, only too glad to +shut out the sunlight forever if he might produce just one perfect +thing.</p> + +<p>The things, however, that made Yuki Chan clap her hands and the +nesting birds perk up their heads at the sound of her clear, sweet +laugh were the funny little lacquer carts in which the royalty was +supposed to ride, drawn by impossible fat bullocks, so bow-legged that +their curves formed a big round O. Yuki Chan made her red lips into +the same shape, and called her mother to look.</p> + +<p>She pretended to feed the dolls with real food and wine, and actually +played with the five court musicians, because they were partly +servants and it did not matter.</p> + +<p>Her tongue ran in ceaseless chatter. Her father and mother hovered +around her, repeating the history of all those wonderful people. Yuki +Chan listened very little, so concerned was she with her own comments, +until she happened to see an anxious look creep into her mother's +eyes. It was something every little girl must know, and if Yuki Chan's +honorable ears refused to open, how would she learn? Then Yuki Chan +nestled close, and gave little pats of love and tried to listen. THE +shadows of the bamboo grew long and slim as the sun kissed them good +night. The sails skimmed homeward on a silver sea as the west covered +its rosy pink in a veil of deepest blue. The young birds in the old +plum-tree did not stir at the loving touch of the mother who, with a +soft bill, searched and sought for the lost one. The plum-blossoms +lingered yet for a night as the air had grown chill.</p> + +<p>Within the house Yuki Chan, still dressed, lay on the floor, weary +with the wonders of the day. Her mother took from a small inclosure +beneath a shelf many soft comforts with which she arranged the child's +bed. Yuki Chan, talking all the time in a low monotone, tried to +unravel a tangle in her mind of birds and cats and dolls. It was all +getting unmanageable and very hazy, when her mother gathered her into +her arms, and quickly casting aside her two garments laid her gently +in a bath of caressing warmth. A moment more and the little maiden lay +like a rose-leaf in her bed.</p> + +<p>The night-lamp made shadowy ghosts of all it touched, and one gleam of +light, escaping the paper shade, hung like an aureole above the head +of Yuki Chan's mother as she knelt with clasped hands before the +Buddha on the shelf.</p> + +<p>Her moving lips had only one refrain: "The child, the child, the +child."</p> + +<p>Yuki Chan watched the play of the light in the half-dark room. What +funny things those shadows made, and, strangely enough, one more +wonderful than all the rest grew into the shape of the boy, and his +lips were saying, "Be good."</p> + +<p>Then Yuki Chan lost herself in a mist of drowsiness, and her mother +sat by, and kept time with her hand as she chanted rather than sang:</p> + +<center> +<table summary=""> +<tr><td> + +<p> "Sleep, little one, sleep.<br> + The sparrows are nodding.<br> + Beneath the deep willow-trees<br> + The night-lamp is burning.<br> + Thy mother is watching,<br> + Sleep, little one, sleep."</p> + +</td></tr> +</table> +</center> + + + +<br><br><br><br> + +<h3> +CHAPTER III</h3> + +<p> +Twelve times had the plum-tree scattered its petals to the wind, and +Yuki San [Footnote: The honorific <i>Chan</i>, used only in childhood, is +changed to <i>San</i> in later years.] had passed from childhood into +girlhood, and had already touched the border of that grave land +of grown-up, where all the worries lie. For though she was apparently +only a larger edition of the spoiled, impulsive happy child of old, +yet often her eyes were shadowed with the struggle of shielding her +aging father and mother from the poverty that was coming closer day by +day.</p> + +<p>During the three years she had been gaining her education at the +English mission-school, they had toiled unceasingly that she might +have the best the country could afford, but now that she had returned +after her long struggle with a strange language and a strange people, +it was but fitting that she should take up her duties as the daughter +of an impoverished family of high rank. The father, grown old and +feeble, gave up the battle for existence, and being a devout Buddhist, +turned his thoughts upon Nirvana, which he strove diligently to enter +by perpetual meditation and prayer. The mother, used to guidance and +unable to think or plan for herself, turned helplessly to Yuki San.</p> + +<p>The duties were heavy for girlish shoulders, and often as the dawn +crept over the mountains it found the girl wide-eyed and still, trying +to solve the problem of modest demand and meager supply.</p> + +<p>She had learned many things at the mission-school. She could read and +write English imperfectly, she could recite the multiplication table +faster than any one else, she could perform the most intricate figures +in physical culture, and if she had infinite time she could play three +hymns on the organ. These varied accomplishments, however, seemed of +little assistance in showing her how to stretch her father's small +pension beyond the barest necessities of the household. Tales had been +told her of a great land, far beyond her sea-bound home, where women +of the highest birth went out to work in the busy world. How she had +marveled at their boldness and wondered at the customs that would +permit it! Now she half envied them their freedom, and sighed over the +iron-bound etiquette that forbade a departure from her father's roof +save for the inevitable end of all Japanese women—a prearranged +marriage.</p> + +<p>It was for this she had been so carefully trained in all phases of +housekeeping, and in all the intricacies of social life. Her education +from birth had been with a view of making smooth the path of her +future husband that his home might be peaceful and he untroubled.</p> + +<p>Each day as the burden grew heavier she fought her battle with the +bravery and courage of youth. With jests and chatter she served her +parents' simple meals, constantly urging them to further indulgence of +what she pretended was a great feast, but which in reality she had +secretly sacrificed some household treasure to obtain. She deftly +turned the rice-bucket as she served, that they might not see the +scant supply. With great ceremony she poured the hot water into the +bowls, insisting that no other <i>sake</i> was made such as this. Her +determination to keep them happy and ignorant of the true conditions +taxed her every resource, but it was her duty, and duty to Yuki San +was the only religion of which she was sure.</p> + +<p>But one day a great event happened in the little home. Yuki San was +called before her father and told, in ceremonious language, that a +marriage had been arranged for her with Saito San, a wealthy officer +in the Emperor's household. She laid her head upon the mats and gave +thanks to the gods. Now her father and mother would live in luxury for +the rest of their lives!</p> + + +<a name="004"></a> +<br><br> +<center> +<img alt="004.jpg (70K)" src="004.jpg" height="438" width="668"> +</center> +<br><br> + + +<p>Saito San was to her only a far-away, shadowy being, whom she was to +obey for the rest of her life and whose house she was to keep in +order. He was a means to an end, and entered into her thoughts merely +as one to whom she was deeply grateful. Youth and all its joys were +strong within her, and the pressure of poverty gone, her whole nature +rebounded with delight.</p> + +<p>Many times had marriage been proposed for her, for the story of her +beauty and obedience had spread, but her father guarded his treasure +zealously, and it was not until an offer came, suiting his former rank +and condition, that he gave his consent.</p> + +<p>Now, when he saw the happy light in the eyes of his child, and saw the +color come into her cheeks, he laid his hands upon her head and +blessed her. When Yuki San was by herself she clapped her hands +joyfully. "I make happy like 'Merican," she whispered. "Hooray, +hooray! now my troublesome make absence," and she hurried away to put +a thank-offering before the household god.</p> + +<p>Having arranged all preliminaries and instructed the mother to sell +every household treasure that his child's clothes might do honor to +the rich man's house, the father went back once more to his pipe and +his dreams.</p> + +<p>Yuki San and her mother were up with the sun, sewing and embroidering, +and going about their daily task with zest and song. The past trials +were forgotten and the future not considered.</p> + +<p>One morning, not many weeks after the marriage had been arranged, Yuki +San heard the call of the <i>Yubin</i> San, and running out to meet him, +received a strange-looking letter. The envelope was white and square, +and straight across the middle, in very plain English, was her name +and address. Puzzled, she turned it over and over, then broke the +seal.</p> + +<p>The picture of the big hotel at the top of the sheet was so +distracting that for a time she could get no further, but a word here +and there and the signature at the end finally made her cry out with +delight and surprise.</p> + +<p>"Oh! it's from that funny lil' boy what gave spank to my hands long +time ago. He want to come to my house for stay. Listen."</p> + +<p>There was no one to listen but her own happy self, and lying flat upon +the floor she propped her glowing face between her palms, while she +read aloud from the letter spread before her:</p> +<blockquote><blockquote> +<p>YOKOHAMA.</p> + +<p>Miss YUKI INOUYE—</p> + +<p><i>Dear Miss Inouye</i>: I wonder if you remember an American boy with whom +you had an encounter in your very early days, because he dared to +thwart your plans concerning a cat? I remember it very well, and the +jolly picnics and excursions that you and my mother and I took +together afterward.</p> + +<p>I hope you have not forgotten me, for I am going to claim the +privilege of the conqueror in that old battle and ask a favor of you. +My Government has sent me out to your country on some important +business, and finding there was no hotel close to my work, I wrote to +the school where my mother and I visited twelve years ago, and asked +them to recommend a family that would be good enough to take me in for +two months. Strangely enough your father's name was suggested, and +when I read that the only daughter both spoke and wrote English, and +that her name was Yuki San, my mind flew back to my "Little Sister +Snow" of the days gone by.</p> + +<p>Could your father manage to accommodate me for a couple of months, if +I promise to be very good and take up as little room as possible? If +you think he can, please wire me here at Yokohama, and I'll come +straight down.</p> + +<p>Hoping to see you very soon, I am</p> + +<p>Your old friend,</p> + +<p>RICHARD MELTON MERRIT.</p> +</blockquote></blockquote> + +<p>Yuki San turned the letter this way and that, and vainly tried to +decipher the strange words. It was undoubtedly English, but not the +English she was used to. She ran for her small dictionary and +diligently searched out the meaning of each phrase.</p> + +<p>Yes, she remembered the boy—he had light hair, and blue eyes that +laughed, and he was a big, big boy and carried her on his shoulder.</p> + +<p>She sat with the folded letter clasped carefully in her hands and gave +herself up to joyous anticipation. A foreign guest was coming to stay +two whole months in her house; after that she was to be married and +wear her beautiful kimono, and give rich gifts to her father and +mother.</p> + +<p>Surely Buddha was caring for her! There had been grave moments of +doubt about it since she left the mission-school, for he had never +seemed to listen, though she prayed him night and day. But he had been +only waiting to send all her happiness at once—he was a good god, +kind and thoughtful. To-morrow, before the sun touched the big pine- +tree on the mountain-top, she would go to the temple and tell him so.</p> + +<p>Yuki San's plans found favor with her parents, chiefly because of +their great desire to give her pleasure, and incidentally because the +board of the foreigner would swell the fund that was needed for her +marriage.</p> + +<p>The plighted maid to them was already the wife, and the danger of a +youthful heart defying tradition and clearing the bars of +conventionality to reach its own desire was something unknown to these +simple people. The child wished the foreigner to come—they could give +her few pleasures—she should have her desire.</p> + +<p>The sending of the telegram was the first exciting thing to be +attended to. Five times Yuki San rewrote the short message, finding +her fingers less deft than her tongue in framing an English sentence. +Gravely and with effort she wrote:</p> + +<p>"I give you all my house. Your lovely friend, Yuki."</p> + +<p>But she shook her head over this and tried again:</p> + +<p>"You have the welcome of my heart. Yuki."</p> + +<p>This, too, fell short of her ideal, so she decided to send simply two +words of which she was quite sure:</p> + +<p>"Please come."</p> + +<p>The days that followed were crowded with busy preparation. The +difficulty of providing the ease and comfort that the presence of so +honorable a guest demanded taxed to the utmost Yuki San's resourceful +nature. Gaily she set her wits and fingers to work—placing a heavy +brass <i>hibachi</i> over a black scorch in the matting, fitting new rice- +paper into the small wooden squares of the <i>shoji</i>, and hanging +<i>kakemono</i> over the ugly holes made by the missing plaster in the +wall.</p> + +<p>From one part of the house to another she flitted, laughing and +working, while the old garden echoed her happiness and overflowed with +blossom and song.</p> + +<p>On the day of Merrit's expected arrival, when the last flower had been +put in the vases, and the last speck of dust flecked from the matting, +Yuki San's keen eyes detected a torn place in the paper door which +separated the guest-chamber from the narrow hall.</p> + +<p>A puzzled little frown drew her black brows together, but it soon fled +before her smile.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" she cried, "idea come quickly! I write picture of bamboo on +teared place."</p> + +<p>With paint and brush she fell to work, and beneath her skilful fingers +the ugly tear disappeared in a forest of slender <i>take</i> which +stretched away to the foot of a snow-capped mountain.</p> + + +<a name="005"></a> +<br><br> +<center> +<img alt="005.jpg (66K)" src="005.jpg" height="686" width="433"> +</center> +<br><br> + + +<p>With a last touch she sank back on her heels and viewed her work with +deep satisfaction. "All finished," she said, opening wide her arms; +"no more to do now but wait for that time 'Merican sensei call +jollyful!"</p> + +<p>A laugh behind her made her turn her head quickly, and there in the +doorway stood a tall foreigner, with outstretched hand of welcome.</p> + +<p>Hand-shaking was an unknown art with Yuki San, so after one startled +upward glance she touched her head to the floor in gracious courtesy.</p> + +<p>All her gay spirits and freedom of speech vanished, and she was +instantly enveloped in a mist of shyness and reserve that Merrit's +direct look did not serve to lessen.</p> + +<p>With lowered eyes, she ushered him into the larger living-room, and +bade him be seated and accept all the hospitality her father's poor +house could give.</p> + +<p>After a long and tiresome journey Merrit found something inexpressibly +charming in the quiet, picturesque place, and in the silent young girl +who sat so demurely in the shadow. He tactfully ignored her timidity +by talking cheerful nonsense about impersonal things, treating her as +a bashful child who wanted to be friends but hardly dared.</p> + +<p>As he talked Yuki San gained courage, and ventured many curious +glances at the broad-shouldered young fellow, whose figure seemed +completely to fill the room. At first she saw only a strange +foreigner, but gradually, as she watched his face and listened to his +unfamiliar speech, she discovered a long-lost playmate.</p> + +<p>Through all the years that she had struggled for an education at the +mission-school, English had been invariably associated with a tall, +awkward, foreign boy, whose mouth made funny curves and whose eyes +laughed when he made strange sounds. How big and splendid and handsome +he had grown! How different his clothes from any she had ever seen +before! How white his long hands, whose strong, firm touch she +remembered so well! She looked and looked again, drinking in the tones +of his deep voice, till the throbbing of her heart sent a flood of +crimson to her cheeks.</p> + +<p>But gradually her shyness wore away, and when Merrit asked her how in +the world he was to conduct his business with so few Japanese words at +his command, she ventured to answer: "I know; I give you the teach of +Nippon, you give me the wise of dat funny 'Merican tongue."</p> + +<p>"That's a go!" said Dick, as he held out his hand to close the +bargain.</p> + +<p>But the girl drew back, troubled.</p> + +<p>"No, no, you no <i>go</i>! You stay. I give you all my intellect of Nippon +speech. Please!" and she looked up pleadingly.</p> + +<p>Merrit laughed outright.</p> + +<p>"That's all right, Yuki San; I am going to stay, and we will begin +school in the morning."</p> + +<p>By this time the mother and father had learned of the guest's arrival +and hurried in to bid him welcome. The unpacking of his steamer-trunk +and the disposal of his possessions in his small apartment was a +matter of interest to the whole family. Each article was politely +examined and exclaimed over, and when Merrit drew out a package of +photographs and showed them his home and family and friends, the +excitement became intense.</p> + +<p>That night Yuki San lay once more on her soft <i>futon</i> and watched the +shadow of the night-lamp play upon the screens. Nothing was changed in +the homely room since she had lain there in her babyhood: the same +little lamp, the same little Buddha on the shelf looking at her with +inscrutable eyes.</p> + +<p>Yuki San stirred restlessly. "Dat most nice girl in picture," she said +to herself. "Him make marry with dat girl, he say." Then she added +inconsequently, with a sigh, "I much hope Saito San go to war for +long, long time."</p> + +<br><br><br><br> + +<h3> +CHAPTER IV</h3> + +<p> +For two halcyon months Yuki San lived in a dream. The ample +compensation Merrit insisted upon making for the hospitality extended +to him more than met the modest needs of the little household, and +once again, as in the earlier days, they went on jolly excursions, +visited ancient temples, and picnicked under the shadow of the +<i>torii</i>. The father and mother always trotted close behind, and Yuki +San, vastly pleased with her ability, gaily translated the speeches +from one to another. She talked incessantly, laughing over her own +mistakes, and growing prettier and more winsome every day.</p> + +<p>Merrit was glad to fill his leisure time in such pleasant +companionship. Yuki San was the same little bundle of charm he +remembered of old, with her innocence untouched, and a heart whose +depths had never yet been stirred.</p> + +<p>He teased her, and taught her, and played with her, as he would have +played with a merry child. Naturally gentle and affectionate, he +unconsciously swept Yuki San to the borderland of that golden world +where to awaken alone is agony.</p> + +<p>One morning, when the heavy mists of the valley lay in masses of pink +against the deeper purple of the mountain, and his Highness, the sun, +his face flushed from his long climb, was sending his first glances +over the sunny peaks of Fuji-yama, Yuki San arose, after a sleepless +night, and faced the morning with sorrowful eyes.</p> + +<p>"You ve'y lazy, Mister Sun, this morning," she said, shaking a finger +at him in reproof; "where you the have been? Why you not come the more +early and make light for my busy?"</p> + +<p>She tied the long sleeves of her bright kimono out of her way, and +twisting a bit of cloth about her head, fell to dusting the +<i>shoji</i> and setting the small room in order.</p> + +<p>"I must the hurry," she said, as she kept up her brisk dusting. "I +make the food so quick as that Robin San steal berry for his babies. +To-day him one big, big day, but him no glad day. Merrit San go away." +She paused in her work, and a look of pain darkened her eyes, but she +shook her head reproachfully.</p> + + +<a name="006"></a> +<br><br> +<center> +<img alt="006.jpg (66K)" src="006.jpg" height="686" width="440"> +</center> +<br><br> + + +<p>"Ah, Yuki San, you make sorry voice and your heart is thinking tears. +You naughty girl! Quick you make the fire to rise in <i>hibachi</i> and +give that Merrit San his <i>gohan</i>—same thing what that funny 'Merica +call breakfast."</p> + +<p>After the steam had begun to rise from the vessels on several +<i>hibachi</i>, Yuki San, flushed by her exertions, rested upon her heels +before the door that led into the garden. As she fanned her flushed +face with her sleeve, she glanced again and again toward the narrow +stairway that led to the chamber above, and at the slightest sound she +listened in smiling expectancy.</p> + +<p>From outside the wall came the gentle slip-slap of the water against +the <i>sampan</i>, and the cheerful banter of the owners as they made ready +for the work of the day.</p> + +<p>Circling the garden, the fern-like maples made a note of vivid crimson +amid the feathery green of the bamboo. Every feature of the place was +closely associated with her short happy life. She had learned to walk +on the soft sandy paths, she had spelled out her first characters on +the old stone-lantern. She had whispered her secrets to the broken- +nosed image of Kwannon, who sat in the shadow of the pines, and there +under the plum-tree she had caught the naughty kitten that first +brought her and Merrit San together.</p> + +<p>As she sat, with folded hands, and watched the sunshine on the dewy +leaves and flowers, her intense, restless, vivacious body relaxed in +sudden languor and her soft mouth drooped in wistfulness.</p> + +<p>A splash in the pool below attracted her, and looking down she saw the +gleaming bodies of the goldfish as they leaped into the air. Instantly +she was all life and volubility.</p> + +<p>"Yuki San one big bad girl; she no remember li'l fish. They always +like hungry baby San in early morning. I make fast to fill big hole +inside—ve'y li'l outside."</p> + +<p>Slipping her half-stockinged feet out of her straw house-shoes, she +stepped into her wooden <i>geta,</i> and passing a shelf, filled her hands +with round rice-cakes.</p> + +<p>The edge of the water turned to gold as the fish crowded close. Yuki +San scattered the crumbs and stood watching the wriggling mass for a +moment, then said:</p> + +<p>"You ve'y greedy li'l fish. I never no can fill your bodies. Now I get +flower for Merrit San's breakfast."</p> + +<p>She made her way over the flat mossy stones, passed the miniature Fuji +where dwelt the spirit of the wondrous "Lady who made the flowers to +bloom." She paused before the gorgeous chrysanthemums and looked long +at the morning-glories, with their tender tints of dawn. But at last +she spied on a rose-bush, set apart from the rest, a single white rose +with a heart of red.</p> + +<p>With a little cry of satisfaction, she thrust her hands among the +thorns to pluck it. The rebound of the bush sent fluttering to her +feet a brilliant purple butterfly. Tender to all living things, Yuki +San dropped quickly to her knees and folded the half-chilled creature +between the palms of her warm hands.</p> + +<p>"Ah, Cho Cho San," she said, "the day of yesterday you so big and +strong. The morning of to-day you have the weakness of cold body. That +Jack Floss him ve'y naughty boy!"</p> + +<p>She put her moist red lips to her folded palms and the warmth of her +breath stirred to action the gauzy creature she held captive.</p> + +<p>"You no must kick, Cho Cho San! Have the patience. I make you warm, I +give you one more day of happy."</p> + +<p>Yuki San's wooden shoes sent a sharp click into the quiet morning air +as she quickly crossed the arched bridge and followed the path to the +stone image beyond the pool. With a touch as soft as the wings she +held, the girl lightly balanced the now thoroughly warmed butterfly on +the broad forehead of the Goddess of Mercy.</p> + +<p>In sharp contrast to the spirit of the scene came the clear, +rollicking strains of an American air, whistled by some one coming +down the steps.</p> + +<p>For a moment Yuki San stood motionless, pressing her lips softly to +the rose she held. Then, with a swift pitter-patter, she ran back to +the house.</p> + +<p>"The top of the morning to the honorable Miss Snow," said Merrit, who +quite filled the doorway.</p> + +<p>Not willing to be surpassed in salutation, Yuki San laid a hand on +each knee, and bending her back at right angles, replied with mock +gravity:</p> + +<p>"Ohayo Gozaimasu-Kyo wa yoi O tenki."</p> + + +<a name="007"></a> +<br><br> +<center> +<img alt="007.jpg (65K)" src="007.jpg" height="656" width="429"> +</center> +<br><br> + + +<p>Merrit knew she had him at a disadvantage in her own language, but, +always delighted to see the play of her dimples and the soft pink +creep into her cheeks when he teased, he stood by her now, big and +stern, and growling.</p> + +<p>"See here, Yuki San, otherwise Miss Snow, you just come off your high +stilts of that impossible lingo, and speak nice English suitable for a +little boy like me to understand."</p> + +<p>"Li'l boy like you!" she rippled, "li'l boy like you! Merrit San him +so long when he make Japanese bow he come down from top like big +bamboo-tree—so!" Putting her hands high above her head, she bent till +the tips of her fingers touched the floor. Still bent, she twisted her +head till her eyes, bright with laughter, looked straight into +Merrit's.</p> + +<p>He lifted his eyebrows quizzically. "See here, Yuki San, you are fast +developing the symptoms of a coquette."</p> + +<p>She quickly straightened her back, and with a smile of bewilderment, +exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"Me croquette? No, no; croquette, him li'l chicken-ball what you eat. +I no can be eat!"</p> + +<p>Merrit shouted with delight, then grew grave.</p> + +<p>"No, Yuki San, you don't ever want to be a coquette. You want to be +your sweet little self, and make a good wife to that handsome soldier +Saito, with all his gold braid and dingle-dangles. But what about +breakfast? You see, my train leaves in an hour. If you don't give me +something to fill my honorable insides, I'll have to eat you, sure +enough."</p> + +<p>In mock fear she quickly brought a low table from an inner room, and +with deft hands placed the steaming soup and broiled fish before him. +The knife and fork were a concession to Merrit's inability to wield +the chopsticks, and sitting on his heels was Merrit's concession to +the inability of the house to provide a chair.</p> + +<p>"Hello!" he said, picking up a long-stemmed rose, "where did you find +this beauty?"</p> + +<p>"I guessed her with my nose," the girl answered. "You know what make +her heart so red? Long time ago, most beautiful princess love with +wrong man. Make Buddha ve'y angly, and he turn her body into white +rose. But her heart just stay all time red 'cause of beautiful love +that was there."</p> + +<p>"My! he's a fierce old customer, that Buddha of yours," said Merrit.</p> + +<p>Yuki San paused in the filling of the rice-bowl and looked at him +gravely:</p> + +<p>"Merrit San, do you know God?"</p> + +<p>"Do I know God?" he repeated, with a half-embarrassed laugh.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Christians' God, what you must love and love, but no never can +see till die-time come. You know, Merrit San?" Then, lowering her +voice in earnest inquiry, she went on: "You believe that Christians' +God more better for Japanese girl than Buddha?"</p> + +<p>For a moment Merrit felt the hot blood of confusion rise to his +temples. The role of spiritual adviser was a new and somewhat +embarrassing one. Struggling for expression, he floundered hopelessly.</p> + +<p>"I—I—I guess I don't know very much about it. But there's one sure +tip, Yuki San, the Christians' God is all right. You can't lose out if +you pin to him." He stammered like a foolish schoolboy, but struggled +bravely on: "When things get pretty thick and you've struck bottom, +that's the time you find out. I know. I've been there. More's the pity +I don't remember it oftener!"</p> + +<p>"And you think him more better for me?" asked Yuki San, still +perplexed.</p> + +<p>"You bet I do!" said Merrit with conviction. "Take my word for it and +don't forget."</p> + +<p>"I no forget," she said.</p> + +<p>A sliding of the screen and a call from the court-yard announced the +arrival of the jinrikisha men, who had come for the baggage.</p> + +<p>Merrit thrust back his half-finished breakfast.</p> + +<p>"By Jove! I'd most forgotten this is my last meal with you. Just to +think all that tiresome old government contract is finished and I'll +soon be on my way to the other side!"</p> + +<p>"You want to see other side?" she asked. "Mama San not there no more." +Then seeing his face darken, she laid a quick hand of sympathy on his. +"I have the sorrowful for you," she said earnestly, then went on +hastily: "That other side! Yes, I know that most beautiful 'Merica. +Most big ship in the world come rolling into Hatoba. Merrit San so +long and big, stand way out front and see over much people. Then he +cry out, 'Herro!' herro!' with glad and much joyful. He see that +lovely girl like picture waiting there!"</p> + +<p>Without pausing for a reply, she pushed open a door and called in +Japanese to her father and mother, who never made their appearance +till Merrit's breakfast was finished.</p> + +<p>"Come, make ready to give our guest an honorable departure," she said.</p> + +<p>In the small courtyard facing the street the girl found the men, with +their jinrikishas and baggage-wagon, waiting to convey Merrit to the +station. She carefully directed the tying on of the various trunks and +bags, and placed the family just where they should stand that the +greatest honor might be done the departing guest.</p> + +<p>As Merrit came out of the little house and reached for his shoes, +which stood waiting at the side, Yuki San started toward him, eager to +serve him to the last. Merrit motioned her back.</p> + +<p>"Don't come too near, Yuki San. If you happened to fall into one of +those shoes, you'd be lost for ever and ever, and that big Mr. Saito +would be inviting me to cut off my head."</p> + +<p>Yuki San laughed and smoothed the cushions in the jinrikisha while she +gave minute directions to the jinrikisha men.</p> + +<p>Merrit made his adieu with high good humor, and so many big words that +Yuki San was hard pressed to interpret. He invited the family and all +their relatives to come to see him in America. When he reached Yuki +San he held out his hand. Made shy by the unusual ceremony, she +timidly laid a cold and unresponsive little palm in his. He looked +down from his height with tender memories of all her gentle +courtesies.</p> + +<p>"Good-by, little snow-girl," he said. "I'll never forget Japan, nor +you."</p> + +<p>She withdrew her hand and looked inquiringly up at him.</p> + +<p>"Some long time you come back?"</p> + +<p>Merrit climbed into the jinrikisha "No, Yuki San, you know I'll soon +have a little home of my own to work and care for. I'll be a busy man +for the next few years, so I guess I'll not come back."</p> + +<p>As in a dream, Yuki San saw the men adjust their hats and tighten +their sashes as they took their places in front of the small vehicle. +Mechanically she bowed her farewell with the rest of the family, but +she did not join their "Sayonara."</p> + +<p>She watched the swift moving of the jinrikisha wheels, then she saw +Merrit turn at the gate and wave his hat as he joyously called:</p> + +<p>"Good-by, Yuki San, God bless you!"</p> + +<p>The girl stood still, her eyes on the empty gate. Like a lonely, hurt +child her lip quivered, and she caught it between her teeth to steady +it.</p> + +<p>"Ah, Yuki," cried her mother, "some spirit has wished you harm. A drop +of blood rests on your lips."</p> + +<p>Yuki San drew her hand across her mouth, and lightly answered that +maybe a robin had tried to steal a cherry. But to herself she +murmured:</p> + +<p>"My heart bleed for lonely. He <i>never</i> come back."</p> + +<a name="008"></a> +<br><br> +<center> +<img alt="008.jpg (76K)" src="008.jpg" height="691" width="442"> +</center> +<br><br> + +<br><br><br><br> + +<h3> +CHAPTER V</h3> + +<p> +The following day a host of accumulated duties and various +preparations for the first ceremonious visit of the groom-elect kept +Yuki San's hands and mind busy, and if sometimes a sob rose in her +throat, or her eyes strayed wistfully from her task, she resolutely +refused to let herself dwell upon the past.</p> + +<p>The marriage, which had been dutifully accepted as a matter of course +and looked forward to as a financial relief to the entire family, had +never held any particular interest for her, but now even the +preparations, which had hitherto excited her interest and enthusiasm, +found her listless and indifferent.</p> + +<p>She would be mistress over a great mansion and many servants, and her +days were to be spent in arranging for the physical comfort of Saito +and the entertainment of his friends.</p> + +<p>The arrangement had seemed so simple, and so right, and she had been +gratified that a desirable husband had been found. But now she could +neither understand nor explain to herself her new and strange +resistance. She only knew that for the first time in her life there +was rebellion against the inevitable.</p> + +<p>As she rested her tired body before beginning her toilet for the +afternoon, she remembered an American teacher at school who had been +<i>in love</i> with the man she was soon to marry. She remembered how she +had hidden behind the trees to see this young teacher run to the gate +to meet the postman, and her own failure to see why these letters +should bring such joy. She, with other girls, had spent a whole recess +acting this scene amid peals of laughter. Now it all came back to her +with new meaning, and it seemed neither strange nor amusing.</p> + +<p>She leaned her head against the open <i>shoji</i> and looked out into the +garden, radiant and beautiful in the high noon of a perfect autumn +day.</p> + +<p>The working world paused in a brief sleep and the music of the garden +was hushed, while the insects sought the shadow of green leaves. Peace +was within and without, save in the girl's awakening heart.</p> + +<p>"Ah, Sensei," she murmured through her trembling lips. "Then I make +fun for your letter of love. Forgive my impolite. Now I the +understanding have."</p> + +<p>Yuki San chose her toilet for the coming visit with due regard for all +convention. There must be no touch of purple—that being the color +soonest to fade made it an evil omen. She selected an <i>obi</i> of rare +brocade, the betrothal gift of Saito, the great length of which +expressed the hope of an enduring marriage.</p> + +<p>As she dressed, her mother flitted about her, chatting volubly and in +such high spirits that Yuki San's heart was warmed. The elaborate +trousseau had caused the little household many a sacrifice, but the +joy in the hearts of the old people more than justified them.</p> + +<p>Presently the clatter of the jinrikisha in the courtyard announced the +arrival of the guest. Yuki San heard the long ceremonious greeting of +her father. She saw her mother hasten away to do her part and, left +alone, she sat with troubled eyes and drooping head.</p> + +<a name="009"></a> +<br><br> +<center> +<img alt="009.jpg (66K)" src="009.jpg" height="669" width="441"> +</center> +<br><br> + +<p>The strange feeling in her heart, one moment of joy and one of pain, +bewildered and frightened her. No thought of evading her duty crossed +her mind, but her whole being cried out for a beautiful something she +had just found, but which it was futile to hope for in her new life.</p> + +<p>At the call of her mother, Yuki San silently pushed open the screen +and made her low and graceful greeting. Custom forbidding her to take +part in the conversation, she busied herself with serving the tea, +listening while Saito San recounted various incidents of the +picturesque court-life, or told of adventures in the recent war.</p> + +<p>After all the prescribed topics had been discussed and the farewells +had been said, Yuki San retained a vague impression of a small, +middle-aged man, with many medals on his breast, who looked at her +with kind, unsmiling eyes.</p> + +<p>It was not till after the simple evening meal that Yuki San found the +chance to slip away to the little upper room which had been Merrit's +for two months. Nothing there had been touched, for the old mother +claimed that to set a room in order too soon after a guest's departure +was to sweep out all luck with him.</p> + +<p>The girl entered and stood, a ghostly image, in the soft and tender +light of the great autumn moon as it lay against the paper doors and +filled the tiny room. Through the half-light Yuki San saw many touches +of the late inmate's personality. A discarded tie hung limply from a +hook on the wall, a half-smoked cigar and a faded white rose lay side +by side on the low table.</p> + +<p>From the garden the sad call of a night-bird, with its oft-repeated +wail, seemed to voice her loneliness, and with a sob she sank upon her +knees beside the cot. Long she lay in an abandonment of grief, beating +futile wings against the bars of fate. At last, throwing out her arms, +she touched a small object beneath the pillow. Drawing it toward her, +she took it to the open <i>shoji</i>, and by the bright moonlight she saw a +small morocco note-book. She puzzled over the strange figures on the +first few pages, but from the small pocket on the back cover she drew +forth a picture that neither confused nor surprised. It was the girl +Merrit had told her about—the girl to whom he was going so joyously.</p> + +<p>It was a face full of the gladness of life and love, whose laughing +eyes looked straight into Yuki San's with such a challenge of +friendship and good will that the girl smiled back at the picture and +laid it gently against her warm cheek.</p> + +<p>She sought out each detail of hair and dress as she held it for closer +inspection, then replacing it in the pocket she said softly:</p> + +<p>"He have the big, big love for you. You give him the happy. I close my +heart about you."</p> + +<p>On the back of the book in letters of gold she spelled out the strange +word, "Diary." She puzzled for a moment, then she remembered where she +had seen it before. The young American teacher had written in just +such a book, and when she asked its meaning, the teacher had said it +was her best friend, her confidant, to whom she told her secrets.</p> + +<p>For a moment Yuki San stood with the book in her hand, then she said +impulsively:</p> + +<p>"Diary! I make diary, too. I speak my thoughts to you. I tole you all +my secrets. Maybe my lonely heart will flew away."</p> + +<br><br><br><br> + +<h3> +CHAPTER VI</h3> + +<p>THE DIARY OF YUKI SAN</p> + +<p> +<i>First Entry</i></p> + +<p>'Merican Sensei say she have one closest friend in little book. I tell +my troublesome to this little book what spells "Diary" in gold letters +on back. I make it my closest friend what no never speaks the words of +yours when heart overflows with several feelings. I write for Merrit +San, but his eyes no must never see. Just my heart speak to his heart +in that 'Merican tongue what he understands.</p> + +<p>Japanese girl very naughty if she love man. She made for the take care +of man's mother, man's house. Very bad for Japanese girl to say love +when she marry with man. Merrit San say 'Merican girl speak love with +eyes when lips are shame. Japanese girl cover the eye with little +curtain when man comes. She no must peep out one little corner. No +must see, no must hear, no must speak the love.</p> + +<p>So I make little book guess my heart each day.</p> + +<p>The happy days are pass away, and the flowers are bloom and birds will +return to me again, but where can I find Merrit San? How I feel the +sorry and the lonesome when I think I can't find him no more in this +long island. I no can express my heart with words. I never the forget +of his kindness to me.</p> + +<p>Big lamp by Merrit San's desk no never burn so bright for me. It make +funny little crooked shadow of my body on <i>shoji</i>. Merrit San's body +always make big and strong black picture. I saw it last time big moon +look over mountain. I took walk in garden and I thinking this time +next moon Merrit San will not be here. Though the lamplight shines +through the <i>shoji,</i> still in next month the owner of the light will +be different and the ache come into my heart.</p> + +<p>Whole Japan are changed, and everything I see or hear makes me think +of him; but my thoughts of him never, never changed, yet more and more +increase and longing for him all time. My heart speak the much word of +love for Merrit San. My eyes grow shame to say it. Little book, close +my secret!</p> + +<p><i>Second Entry</i></p> + +<p>ALL day many rains come down in garden. He steals flowers' sweetness +and damp my heart with lonesome. Last rainy day Merrit San teached me +more better English, and he laugh very long when I read the English +writing with my Japanese tongue. He say: "Ah, Yuki San, you very funny +little girl!"</p> + +<p>Then I teach him the play of <i>go ban</i>, and he make the pain in his +head with the several thoughts how he must move the black or white. He +try long, long time, then he shake his big feest, and he say: "You've +got me beat, little sister; you've got me sure."</p> + +<p>I laugh, but I think much thoughts. <i>I</i> no hurt Merrit San with beat, +and girl with much laugh in her eyes have got him for surely. I no +understand that funny 'Merican tongue.</p> + +<p>Merrit San so many time call me little sister, and he say my soul all +white like my name. What <i>is</i> my soul? Ah, that same spirit what leave +my body and go out 'cross that many seas to safe Merrit San's journey. +I keep that soul all purely and white all of because Merrit San call +me Little Sister Snow.</p> + +<p>One day I take Merrit San with me to very old temple. Sun, him so +bright he make all leaves to dance with glad. Green lizard take sleep +on stone step while big honey-bee sing song. All things have the +joyful, and my feets just touch earth with lightsome.</p> + +<p>I go inside temple and say one very little pray to Amida, for I have +the hurry. When I go back, Merrit San he say:</p> + +<p>"See here, Yuki San, you no waste time over pray. You get the trouble +with that old gentleman if you have not the careful."</p> + +<p>Then I say: "Next time I give him little money and make big smoke with +incense," and he say, "Yuki, you very good girl."</p> + +<p>Just by temple's side is little bamboo-tree which have very nice +story. One good god he like this bamboo, and he like the beautiful +love. He say give names of man and woman to boughs of bamboo and make +the tie together with long pin of thorn. Give the low bow, and by and +by the dear wish in heart will be truly.</p> + +<p>Merrit San he no can know what I do, but he hold the high boughs of +bamboo down and I name him and me and make the tie together.</p> + +<p>The dear wish of my heart come not truly. It is full of sad.</p> + +<p><i>Third Entry</i></p> + +<p>What shall I do to less my anxious? To-day at temple I ask Buddha. He +never speak. He always look far away at big sea. He no care, though +tears of the heart make damp the kimono sleeve. The Christians' God I +no can see. But Merrit San say he is everywhere and listens for voice +of troublesome. I no can make him hear, though I say the loud prayer.</p> + +<p>Buddha very ugly old god. Maybe him cross when he see very pretty +Japanese girl make the low bow to him.</p> + +<p>I believe Christians' God more better than Buddha, because Merrit San +say he make everything truly. He make me, he make Merrit San, he make +the beautiful love. Maybe some day that big God hear about Japanese +girl's heart of trouble and speak the peace.</p> + +<p>To-day one long so busy day. Many silk must be sewed into fine kimono +for the when I go to live in other house. Sometimes I very glad I go +to other house. I make the many comforts of my mother and my father.</p> + +<p>To-day I see the much cold in my father's body. Very soon he have nice +warm kimono with sheep's fur all inside. Then I make the glad heart, I +marry with Japanese man.</p> + +<a name="010"></a> +<br><br> +<center> +<img alt="010.jpg (86K)" src="010.jpg" height="690" width="438"> +</center> +<br><br> + +<p>It is getting little cold, and every night the moon is so clear. These +day crickets are singing among the grasses. Those make me to think of +Merrit San more and more. This fall was quite changed to me. At first +Merrit San never come back to me as I expect in dreamy way. I have the +feel of very helpless and lonesome. Before, though I had some trouble +or unhappiness, if I saw Merrit San's smile everything was taken clear +away and my heart was full with cheer and happy.</p> + +<p>Ah, Merrit San, though it makes my cheek red with hot to write the +speak, I love you most.</p> + +<p>Buddha very naughty old god to say nothing truly is.</p> + +<p><i>Fourth Entry</i></p> + +<p>Ah, Merrit San, what you suppose I have dream last night? I was so +happy that I cannot tell with my tongue nor pen. That <i>you</i> come back! +I could no word speak out with so much glad. I had many things to tell +you before I wake, but I could not even one thing.</p> + +<p>You say you stay ten days. It is too short, but it far more better is +than half night. Oh, I wish so bad I did not wake up from dream!</p> + +<p>I was tearful with much disappoint, then I remember that day you go to +big 'Merica you call back "God bless you, Yuki San," and with my heart +I make one soft prayer to Christians' God.</p> + +<p>When big temple bell wake me up and all birds, my troublesome was more +light, and I make so big breakfast for my father and my mother, my +pocket began to tell the loneliness, and I could not perform all my +wishes.</p> + +<p>When I write these letters Merrit San is far away at sea on the way of +his home. He will have joyful time. I wish I can see her, that girl +with the laugh in her eyes. Wonder how she thinks of Japan. Perhaps +she would think how small and lonely country and people. One girl in +that Japanese country very sad with lonely.</p> + +<p>But Merrit San say: "Yuki San, you <i>good girl</i>, you be good wife." So +I make the try to put my lonely heart to sleep.</p> + +<p><i>Fifth Entry</i></p> + +<p>Time and days goes too fast as running water. Already old month went +away and new one have come. It is time for us to do last work on many +clothes for new home.</p> + +<p>When Japanese girl marry with man she take much goods to his house. +To-day my father bring what 'Merican call bureau, and many work-box +and trays and much fine <i>futon</i> for to sleep on floor with. Next day +after this many mens will come and travel all things to other house. +Japanese girl wear fine kimono long, long time, and keep for more +little girl. Merrit San say 'Merican girl wear fine kimono one time, +then she no more like.</p> + +<p>Then 'Merican girl have much happy in her heart. 'Merican man come to +girl's house to marry with her. She no afraid to speak the word of +love, though man's mother sit next by him. She no 'fraid of laugh. She +has the joyful of life.</p> + +<p>Japanese girl very happy when she very little girl, or very, very old. +But when she goes to man's house to marry with him, she must always be +the quiet of little mice and more busy than honey-bee. Very bad. But +Japanese girl have the much brave, and holds the happy in her heart +when she brings the comforts to her peoples.</p> + +<p>Merrit San say many more big country than Japan in world. I say, "What +is world? I wish I know world like you!" Merrit San stop the laugh and +his voice grow still with quiet, then he say:</p> + +<p>"Ah, Yuki San, little snow-girl like you should not know the world. +Cuddle in your little nest and be content."</p> + +<p>What is content? It is the don't care of anything but the flower- +garden in my heart. Wonder if girl with laugh in her eyes have the +content? This day I take walk by seas. Last time I take walk so many +peoples come with us. I make into Japanese words all Merrit San's +funny speaks. We have the much laugh: Merrit San try the eat with +chop-sticks.</p> + +<p>To-day little boat what we ride the water in was broke by its nose and +many seas was eating it up. Loud cold wind make pine-trees shivery and +sad. Big gray cloud come down and make all black with sorrowful. +Sometimes little white waves jump up and dance, but the joyful of last +happy day stings my heart.</p> + +<p><i>Sixth Entry</i></p> + +<p>More long time go running slowly by since you have left us, and as I +was thinking of that running and those days and longing for you and my +heart getting down in lonely thoughts, <i>Yubin</i> San bring me those +package what you sent, Merrit San, and it made me very glad and happy. +Hardly can I tell what was in my heart then. Before I can open it I +hold it tightly against my breast and kept silence a little while. +Tears of sorrow changed into the great joy for a moment when I see +your name and your hand of write. I feel as if I receive a new life +right in this minute, and I caught a light of hope in yonder. My +heartful joy and gladness will not express, and I wish I can go up in +high place and shout out and tell all people the joyful of beautiful +love. How it make the change in whole earth and life and give the +dance of heart. But I will not. Mens and women of Japanese country +have not the understand of such lovely thing, and make the shameful of +me. So I give silence to my lips and close the door of my heart. Ah, +what funny little thing that heart is! In one half live the joyful. +Other side have all the painful of life, and when the love come +sometimes he knock at wrong door and give the hurtful ache to life. +Ah, Merrit San, you give many thankfuls for the lend of my house in +your letter. I give the love of you many more thankfuls for coming to +my heart, even he knock at two doors. One day me and Merrit San went +down to temple where big feast was. Merrit San go inside and look long +long time at Buddha, then he say:</p> + +<p>"Yuki San, what will this old gentleman do to you if you disobey him?" +I give little think, then I say, "I no can know—I no never disobey. +Buddha say, 'Yuki, take care father and mother all time.' I take care. +Him say, 'Yuki, you woman—you not talk too much.' I no talk much. +Then him say, 'Yuki, come many time to temple and make light with +incense and put little money every time in box.' I give obey and much +<i>go rin</i>, but Buddha keep all and never give back." Before I finish my +speak Merrit San shiver like cold and say, "Come on, Yuki San, let's +get out of here and find the sun." Outside I make cherry-wreath while +Merrit San tell me story. Him very sweet day—now all gone forever.</p> + +<p><i>Seventh Entry</i></p> + +<p>Last fine kimono is finished and all baggage is tied. Next day I go to +other house.</p> + +<p>Then my mother will give all house much sweep with new broom, to tell +gods I go 'way no more to come back. Maybe they make big fire by gate +to tell all peoples I belong to other house now. Ah, little book, +to-night I make big fire in my heart and burn all my wickeds in it. Next +day I make more fire and burn you. To other house I must go all white +and purely as Merrit San say.</p> + +<p>Ah, Merrit San, you the one big happy in all my life and I never +forget all your kindful. You give me the good heart, like sun make +flower-bud unclose. You telled me what is soul and purely, and you say +be very good wife.</p> + +<p>One night when moon was big and round and red and river outside wall +go spank, spank, you call all my people to garden, and with the +'Merican <i>samisen</i> you sing much songs.</p> + +<p>Sometimes you very funny, but sometimes when moon specks slip through +big pine-tree, I see you very sadful.</p> + +<p>Now moon speck come on <i>shoji</i> and ache my eyes to look your face once +more.</p> + +<p>I try so much to make picture of man's face I marry with. I no can see +anything but much medals on coat, and so many teeths. Merrit San's +eyes all blue and twinkly, and face so white and clean.</p> + +<p>But now he make the joyful with girl with laugh in her eyes, and her +feet no touch the ground with much happy.</p> + +<p>To-morrow I go to other house and no belong to my father and mother. +To-day I go temple, and I make promise I no more speak of Merrit San's +name; no more the think of his face in my heart.</p> + +<p>Little book, I weared you close to my breast many days. To-night I +sleep with you tight to my heart. You gived me the courage to turn my +face to the rising sun of the to-morrow.</p> + +<p><i>Sayonara.</i></p> + +<br><br><br><br> + +<h3> +CHAPTER VII</h3> + +<p> +The low, deep music of a temple bell rolled down the hillside and +echoed through the giant cryptomerias. It stirred to action the +creatures of the early dawn and passed out with infinite sweetness to +the red-rimmed east of another day.</p> + +<p>The priests in the old temples chanted their prayers with weird +monotony, while a single bird poured out his morning song of love at +the door of his mate.</p> + +<p>The old stone steps leading from temple to temple would have looked as +they had a thousand other mornings, gray, grim, and mossy, save for a +little figure that slowly took its way up a long and crooked flight.</p> + +<p>Yuki San was on her way to make good her promise to the gods. Her +wooden shoes clicked sharply in the quiet morning air, then hushed as +she paused for rest on a broad step. Even the exertion of the long +climb had failed to color her white cheeks, but her lips were carmine +and her eyes luminous with purpose.</p> + +<a name="011"></a> +<br><br> +<center> +<img alt="011.jpg (86K)" src="011.jpg" height="684" width="445"> +</center> +<br><br> + +<p>The one spot of color about her otherwise sober little figure was a +bright-red <i>furoshike</i> held close, in which something was carefully +wrapped.</p> + +<p>A noisy waterfall leaped past her down the hillside in a perpetual +challenge to race to the foot. Stern-faced images, grim of aspect, +stared at her as she climbed, but Yuki San kept gravely on her way +until she reached the open door of the great silent temple.</p> + +<p>The faint light of the early morning had scarce penetrated the shadows +that clung about the gorgeous hangings and rich symbols of this +ancient place of worship. A white-robed priest, oblivious to all save +his own meditations, paid little heed to the childlike figure as it +knelt before the cold, calm, unchanging image of the great Buddha.</p> + +<p>For a moment Yuki San moved her lips. Still kneeling, she drew from +her sash the red <i>furoshike</i> and took from it a small morocco note- +book.</p> + +<p>With light steps she crossed to a brazier, and with a pair of small +tongs lifted from it a glowing coal. With steady fingers she pushed +aside the many sticks of incense in the great brass vessel before the +shrine, and making a little grave among the ashes, she laid within the +burning coal the little book.</p> + +<p>The blue smoke, rising slowly, hung for a moment above the girl's head +as a halo, then rose to the feet of Buddha as in supplication for +mercy, and was finally lost in the darkness of the heavy roof.</p> + +<p>The girl watched with wide eyes and parted lips. Clasping her hands, +she lifted her face and from her heart came a fervent, whispered +prayer.</p> + +<p>"I make empty my heart of all wicked. Buddha or Christians' God, I no +can know which. Please the more better speak into my lonely life the +word of peace."</p> + +<p>She turned from the silent temple on her homeward way. She paused by +the clump of bamboo where so short a time before she had gleefully +tied together two boughs in the name of Merrit and herself. Tiptoeing +to reach the high boughs which Merrit had held for her to tie, she +drew them downward to slip the thong that bound them. After holding +them to her soft cheek a moment, she let them fly apart, while she +closed her eyes and whispered softly:</p> + +<p>"Good-by, beautiful love, good-by."</p> + +<br><br><br><br><hr> +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Little Sister Snow, by Frances Little + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LITTLE SISTER SNOW *** + +This file should be named ltsss10h.txt or ltsss10h.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, ltsss11h.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, ltsss10ha.txt + +Produced by David Widger, Ted Garvin, Juliet Sutherland, +Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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