Ever, with best regards of all of us, LAFCADIO HEARN (KOIZUMI YAKUMO).
DEAR PAGE,--I have your exquisite photo of Constance--like a bit of marble it is.... And I have your letter--a very dear letter, though--excuse me--I cannot help hating the typewriter!
I have been very sick with inflammation of the lungs, and unable to move until recently. But I shall soon, I hope, be able to send you something....
About my name. Koizumi is a family name: I take my wife's name as her husband by adoption--the only way in which I could become a Japanese citizen. Koizumi means "little spring" or "little source." The other name means "many clouds," and is an alternate poetical name for Izumo, the "Place of the Issuing of Clouds." For I became a citizen of the province of Izumo, where I am officially registered. The word is also the first word of the most ancient poem in the Japanese language--referring to a legend of the sacred records. _Please do not publish this!_ it is a little private matter, and the whole explanation, though read at a glance by a Japanese, would require many pages to make clear. As to your other question, I always wear the Japanese dress at home or in the interior. In K[=o]be or the large cities I wear Western clothes when I go on the street; because it does not do there for a man with a long nose to be too "Japanesey"--there has been a surplus of "Japanesey" display on the part of foreigners of the jocose class. I am Japanese only among Japanese....
And you have been very sick too. Do you know that I am often worried by the fear that one of us might die before we meet again? I very often think about you. Please take every care of yourself,--all the outing you can. I think, though, you are a long-lived tough race--you Bakers; and that Page M. Baker will be writing some day an obituary of Lafcadio Hearn that was,--with many pleasant observations which the said Lafcadio never deserved and never will deserve.
You think I am misanthropic--no, not exactly; but I do feel an intense hatred for the business class of Northern mankind. You know I never could learn much about them till I was ass enough to go North.... And you will remember that settled dislikes or likes come to this creature at intervals--never thereafter to depart. My last horror--one that I can scarcely bear--is what is called "business correspondence." That is why I say that I dislike the sight of typewriting--though I assure you, dear Page, I am glad to get a line from you written or printed in any way, shape, or form.