ious little time to do it in; add twenty to forty-four,
and how much is left of a man?"

In another letter he again alludes to the manner in which the government
are cutting down the number of employes: "My contract runs only until
March," he ends, "and my chances are 0."

At last, after many hesitations, he definitely decided to leave
government service, and in the autumn of 1894 accepted the offer of a
position on the staff of the _Kobe Chronicle_ made by Mr. Robert Young,
proprietor and editor of the newspaper.

To his sister he wrote from the _Kobe Chronicle_ office, Kobe, Japan:--

"MY DEAR MINNIE,

"I am too much in a whirl just now to write a good letter to you (whose
was the little curl in your last?--you never told me). I am writing only
to say that I have left the Government Service to edit a paper in one of
the open ports. This is returning to my old profession, and is pleasant
enough,--though not just now very lucrative.

"Best love to you. Perhaps we shall meet in a few years. My boy is well,
beginning to walk a little. My book was to be issued on the 29th Sept.

"Ever affectionately,
"LAFCADIO."

CHAPTER XXI
KOBE

Last spring I journeyed to Japan with Mrs. Atkinson, Lafcadio Hearn's
half-sister, and her daughter. Mrs. Atkinson was anxious to make the
acquaintance of her Japanese half-sister-in-law to ascertain the
circumstances surrounding the family, also if it were possible to carry
out her half-brother's wishes with regard to educating his eldest son,
Kazuo--his Benjamin--in England.

The first place at which we landed was Kobe, situated on the eastern end
of the Inland Sea, opposite Osaka, the Manchester of Japan.

Kobe is numbered among the open ports. Consuls can fly their country's
flag and occupy offices on the "Bund." Surrounding the bay are a number
of German, American and British warehouses. Foreigners also are allowed
to reside in the city under Japanese law.

During the six weeks on board the P. & O. coming out, I had been reading
Hearn's books, and was steeped in the legendary lore, the "hidden
soul-life" of ancient Nippon. At Moji--gateway of the Inland Sea--it had
blown a gale, and the Japanese steamer, the _Chikugo Maru_, to which we
had transhipped at Shanghai, was obliged to come to anchor under the
headland. The ecstasy, therefore, a