kow-towing girls; but how to tell them that I wanted a bathe and a meal?
Signs were unavailing. We looked at one another and laughed, but that
did not help. At last they sent for a student who knew a little English.
I could have hugged him. "It is a great pity," he said, "that these
people do not know English." The pity, I replied, was that I did not
know Japanese, but his courtesy repudiated the suggestion. Could I have
a bathing costume? Of course! And in a quarter of an hour he brought me
a wet one. Where could I change? He showed me a room; and presently I
was swimming in the sea, with such delight as he only can know who has
ascended and descended Fuji without the chance of a bath. Returning to
the inn, I wandered about in my wet costume seeking vainly the room in
which I had changed. Laughing girls pushed me here, and pulled me there,
uncomprehending of my pantomime, till one at last, quicker than the
rest, pulled back a slide, and revealed the room I was seeking. Then
came dinner--soup, fried fish, and rice; and--for my weakness--a spoon
and fork to eat them with. The whole house seemed to be open, and one
looked into every room, watching the ways of these gay and charming
people. At last I paid--to accomplish _that_ by pantomime was easy,--and
said good-bye to my hostess and her maids, who bowed their heads to the
ground and smiled as though I had been the most honoured of guests
instead of a clumsy foreigner, fit food for mirth. A walk in a twilight
pine wood, and then back to the station, where I boarded the night
train, and slept fitfully until five, when we reached Kyoto, and my
wanderings were over. How I enjoyed the comfort of the best hotel in the
East! But also how I regretted that I had not long ago learnt to find
comfort in the far more beautiful manner of life of Japan!

VI

JAPAN AND AMERICA

On the reasons, real or alleged, for the hostility of the Californians
to the Japanese this is not the place to dwell. At bottom, it is a
conflict of civilisations, a conflict which is largely due to ignorance
and misunderstanding, and which should never be allowed to develop into
avowed antagonism. For with time, patience, and sympathy it will
disappear of itself. The patience and sympathy, I think, are not lacking
on the side of the Japanese, but they are sadly lacking among the
Californians, and indeed among all white men in Western America. The
truth is that the Western pioneer knows nothing of J