he House of Peers. He recalled the antagonism
which the young men at Tokyo University, himself among them, felt
towards the odd figure of Hearn--he had a terribly strained eye and
wore a monocle--when he became a professor, and how very soon he
gained the confidence and regard of the class.

I had often wondered that there was no Japanese memorial to Hearn, and
when I rose to speak I said so. I added that it was rare to meet a
Japanese who had any understanding of how much Hearn had done in
forming the conception of Japan possessed by thousands of Europeans
and Americans. The fault in so many books about Japan, I went on, was
not that their "facts" were wrong. What was wrong was their authors'
attitude of mind. I had heard Japanese say that Hearn was "too
poetical" and that some of his inferences were "inaccurate." That was
as might be. What mattered was that the mental attitude of Hearn was
so largely right. He did not approach Japan as a mere "fact" collector
or as a superior person. What he brought to the country was the
humble, studious, imaginative, sympathetic attitude; and it was only
by men and women of his rare type that peoples were interpreted one to
the other.

In that free-and-easy way in which meetings are conducted in Japan it
was permissible for us to leave after another speech had been made.
The proceedings were interrupted while the promoters of the gathering
showed us a collection of books and memorials of Hearn, arranged under
a large portrait, and accompanied us to the door of the hall. I do not
recall during the time I was in Japan any other public gathering in
honour of Hearn, and I met several prominent men who had either never
heard his name or knew nothing of the far-reaching influence of his
books. But some months after this Matsue meeting there was included
among the Coronation honours a posthumous distinction for
Hearn--"fourth rank of the junior grade."[192]

During this journey I attended a dinner of officials and leading
agriculturists and had the odd sensation of making a short
after-dinner speech on my knees. At such a dinner the guests kneel on
cushions ranged round the four walls of the room, and each man has a
low lacquer table to himself, and a geisha to wait on him. When the
geisha is not bringing in new dishes or replenishing the _sake_
bottle, she kneels before the table and chatters entertainingly. The
governors of the feast visit the guests of honour and drink with them.
In