"So make up your mind that she is gone. Presently there will be others; and you will add to your collection of memories." He smiled. "I don't know if it has ever struck you that as we plod4 along in life, with a few bright spots, vivid pleasures, illuminating5 the general dullness of existence, the only treasures really worth while that we gather are the memories thereof. You know, as I grow older, I find that they become valuable; they gain with age like wine. One picks them up and reviews them, as one might old pressed flowers, faded ribbons, the stupid material mementos6. But the ones really worth while are those which one has stored in one's mind; they don't fade, they never lose their fragrance7. And, do you know, I find that the ones which I treasure, the ones that come back pleasurably into my thoughts again and again, are not the recollections of such few good things, or wise things as I have done—they seem drab, without color,[Pg 125] or tone, or life. No, it's the memories of the foolish things that I have done, madcap adventures, turbulent love affairs,—these are the things that I find pleasure in recalling. You have noticed those old fellows whose active life is behind them, who sit in the sunshine and smoke, and think, and dream. The daydreams8 of youth are all in future; but the old men have no future. Their dreams are of the past. And it has occurred to me that I know what they are dreaming of, as they sit there so quietly and smile over their pipes, and it is not the clever things that they did, the big deals they pulled off; no, it is the foolish pranks9 of youth, the fiery10, passionate11 adventures of young manhood,—these are the thoughts which bring back youth to them, because they are characteristic of it, as those others are not—these are what enable them to become young again in their dreams, as they drowse, recalling this affair and that; this tryst12 by a pool under a hot summer moon; this girl; that fight, one after one, as one would tell off beads13 on a rosary.
"Even in my most frivolous14 days I used to have that idea, that however foolish it all might seem, I was at least gaining memories for my old age. Life becomes like diving after pearls in the opal, translucent15 depths of the sea, which are strung one after the other; all may have a general resemblance, color, luster16, contour, but essentially17 each is a little different from the others; each has its individual history. At least, I have made that provision against my old age; I have a number of memories to recall, to tell off on my rosary of experiences. Can you think of anything so horrible as barren old age, the utter poverty of the old man who has none of the recollections which may bring back youth to him?" He laughed a little at his own earnestness. "'Tis a pet theory of mine. You may think it a mad fancy, but possibly you may see [Pg 126]something in it, and if you do, well—go forth18 and collect your pearls while yet you may."
A bizarre idea; just like Karsten. But it carried no great appeal to Kent. He had no heart to seek love deliberately19, even lighter20 love must come unsought. He would have enjoyed the company of some of the girls whom he knew, but the Suzukis had gone to their villa21 in Oiso for the summer, and he had not seen Kimiko-san since that night in the tea house. She had joined a traveling theatrical22 company and was touring the "colonies," Korea, Manchuria, Formosa.
He formed the habit of taking long walks in the evening, enjoying such scant23 relief as one might obtain after the sweltering heat of the day. These rambles24 took him all over the city and he found vague interest in book stores, curio shops, odd little drinking places; in talking with chance-met Japanese, clerks, barmaids, students, feeling that in an indefinite, tentative way he might get a glimpse of the seething25, vaguely26 stirring thoughts of this multitude, gropingly, eagerly seeking the ideas of the new, great world all around them, the uncertainly fumbling27 mass mind in flux28 of transition.
He had dropped into one of the myriad29 small beer "halls," with their pathetic attempts at modernity, which were springing up all over Tokyo. They were generally much of a pattern, a few tables and chairs, foreign style, cheap, slatternly maids making their attempt at new fashion by means of dirty aprons30 tied over cotton kimonos. It was in Kanda, the student quarter. Gangling31 youths, many of them bespectacled, in kimono or university uniform, but nearly all with the brass-emblemed cap, came and went, drank their beer, munched32 the food prepared in what was supposed to be foreign fashion, joked with the waitresses. He noticed that many went upstairs. Idly curious, he thought he would go up there, but a waitress stopped[Pg 127] him. He remonstrated33; the others could go. No, she was indefinite in her explanation, but determined34. Well, no matter. He dismissed it from his mind.
Suddenly some one stood before him, bowing deeply. It was Ishii, his clerk.
"Good evening, Mr. Kent." He was evidently pleased to show the others that he knew this foreign gentleman. Kent invited him to sit down. As they chatted over their beer, he told him of his rebuff. What was the reason?
"Well, you see, it is, in a way, a sort of a private place, kind of a club." He was oddly evasive, ill at ease. "Just wait a moment, please."
He scrambled35 upstairs and disappeared. Presently he returned. "You can come, if you like. They are my friends upstairs there. We meet here sometimes. You know," he lowered his voice, "it's politics."
So that was it. Immediately Kent was eager to go. These were the hotbeds of the new thought, the "dangerous thoughts," as the police called them, half-baked Socialism, Communism, Sovietism, fortuitously mixed with Cubist art, literature after the fashion of Dostoievsky, crude passion for mass sculpture à la Rodin, anything that was thought to be ultra-modern or outré, beyond the minds of the hoi polloi, haikara, the latest in modern culture. It was an opportunity to learn for himself what they really thought, these youths, how much of it was real, and how much only pose; to see how deeply it all went, whether it was merely the usual ebullience36 of youth, such as one might see in the European universities, even in America, which usually spent itself quite safely with passage into maturer years, or whether this was really more definite, more likely to have direct, positive influence on the life of the nation, the development of the government of Japan.
They were extremely courteous37, quite friendly,[Pg 128] though a little self-conscious, ill at ease, evidently diffident as to whether they had been wise in admitting this stranger. He was invited to sit at the table with two men older than the others; he was told that they were professors. Scattered38 at other tables were some ten or twelve students, much of a type, the ungainly age of adolescence39. It was awkward in the beginning. He had the uncomfortable feeling that they were taking his measure, deciding whether he was quite safe. He would like to reassure40 them; still, it was probably better to let the situation develop spontaneously, to let them take the initiative. He drank with the two professors; he judged them to be about thirty-five or forty, thin, nervous men with the pale, somewhat ascetic41 faces of enthusiasts42. They opened with the questions usual in Japan; what was his nationality, how long had he been in Japan?
"What are you politically?"
After that came a long conglomeration43 of political questions, first tentative hints, designed to draw out his ideas, to determine his stand, but soon they launched into their pet topic, the miseries44 of the present situation in Japan.
"But surely you must see that, even if there are things to correct in other countries, in no place are conditions so terrible as they are in Japan." The elder professor had risen, swept out his hand, addressing not only Kent but the whole assembly, the students who sat gazing at him raptly. "There are only a few hundred thousands in the privileged class. They are the ones who are gaining everything. They took advantage of the fact that the people, the sixty millions, are still thinking as they did in the days of the Tokugawa, looking to their masters for orders, taking dumbly whatever they might deign45 to fling to them. They have been exploiting the people, and they and the[Pg 129] militarists want to exploit the other people, too, in Siberia and China. You foreigners are always talking about the militarist rule of Japan; but you don't see that even the militarists are not all-powerful now. The real governing power of Japan is the little multi-millionaire class, the Watanabes, the Fukusakis, the Oharas, the Inouyes, the Yamanakas, the Katos, only about half a dozen enormously wealthy houses, with their mines, and their steamship46 companies, their tremendous business houses, their banks, who buy Diet members and cabinet ministers, who determine the Government's policy, who keep prices high by insisting on import tariffs47, who wallow in concessions48. Even the militarists bow to them. The plutocrats wanted Siberia, so we spent hundreds of millions of yen49 on the Siberia expedition and our young men were killed by the thousands that the plutocrats might get fisheries, and mines and oil wells. Japan to-day is a plutocratic50 oligarchy51, with the militarists as a handy and subservient52 tool, with the police throwing into jail any one who tries to wake up the people to assert their rights. Just look about you. See, right here in Tokyo, the poor are huddled53 by thousands in hovels in Fukagawa and Honjo, where the river washes out their houses every year, and still they must pay heavy taxes on their miserable54 mud flats, while the rich with their parks, stretching over vast spaces in the best and highest parts of the city, pay taxes only on a valuation as forest lands or fields. These are the ones who want the people to remain as they were a hundred years ago, feudal55 slaves, in order that the rich may grow richer. That's why the police keep watch over us and the government officials hire soshi, professional ruffians, to break up our meetings. That's why it is a crime to 'harbor dangerous thoughts.' Property is the curse of all modern countries. When private property became known the class struggle began the world over; and nowhere is property as privileged as it is in Japan. Labor56 should be the measure of value, undifferentiated human labor, where all workers should be paid alike, no matter what might be the manner of their work. Here capital exploits labor, as capital always does, and only by abolition57 of capitalism58 can we abolish such exploitation."
The professor flung back a long wisp of wet hair, paused to refresh himself from his beer glass. The students were all nodding approval. Evidently this was familiar doctrine59 to which they heartily60 subscribed61. Kent remembered the numberless volumes of Karl Marx which might be seen in every second-hand62 book stall in the student quarter, along Jimbo-cho. They swallowed it all, the Marxian dogmas, cramming63 them down hastily in their hungry voracity64 for new thought, ever more.
Ishii-san insisted on seeing Kent part of the way home, after another long harangue65 on capitalism, evidently a popular topic. As they left the place, a shadow detached itself from the general blackness of the buildings opposite and followed at a little distance. "A detective," whispered Ishii, excitedly. "He is following us. Oh, Mr. Kent, I wish I might be arrested."
When they parted, Kent was relieved to see that the shadow followed Ishii. He had no desire to become a victim to the burdensome attentions of the police. Probably he had been foolish to venture into this queer gathering66. Still, it had been interesting, had given him another glimpse into the intimate life of Japan, far more vitally important than the phase which had heretofore intrigued67 him.
"What do you make of it?" he asked Kittrick a few days later. "It is up to us to know all this that's going on all about us. It's widespread. It's important.[Pg 131] It has a vital bearing on the future of Japan, and still it's so intangible, so oddly impossible to get at. Is it just an intermittent68 phase, or is it a growing movement that will slowly but surely result in fruit of some kind,—revolution or what?"
"Of course, I've been wanting to follow it, just as you have," said Kittrick. "But what can one do? If you try to learn from the agitators69, no matter how innocent may be your intentions, the police will soon make it impossible for you. One may get a little by following the Japanese papers, watching the straws that show which way the wind blows. Here you see a big appropriation70 for special officers to watch over 'dangerous thoughts'; here's an item about a special force to guard the persons of cabinet ministers.
"The point is that Japan is discarding her old beliefs, political, social, ethical71, religious, the whole business, and she is in a breathless hurry to grab at anything, any kind of belief, or philosophy, or political creed72 that comes handy. Of course it's a mix-up. The political unrest may be dangerous in so far as it leads excited fanatics73 to take too literally74 what they read or hear, so they prize a knife or a bomb and sally forth to become heroes or martyrs75, but there is no great amount of sound sense or definite program in it.
"When the people stand up and shout for this thing or the other, you'll find that the real underlying76 cause is entirely77 economic. A few years ago Japan's industrial system was patriarchal. The boss had a little shop with half a dozen or a dozen workmen. He fed them, and clothed them and looked after them, paterfamilias fashion, did their thinking for them, and they were quite satisfied. That was all they knew. Now has come the big factory system, where thousands work in great plants and never see the owner. The personal relation has been lost. Then they've heard[Pg 132] that workmen in other countries have better conditions. During the war, when workers must be had at any price to fill the orders from abroad that swamped the factories, they learned to strike for high pay—and got it. They've learned a lot of other things, 'sabotage,' 'go slow,' unionism, that labor may have a voice in factory control, all that sort of thing. They see the rich grow richer, and are learning that they ought to have a share of those profits. Most of them think that Russia is a little paradise for the workmen. It's not the political side that interests them, it's better conditions. They have learned to look upon capitalism collectively and on labor collectively. Their unions are becoming more and more consolidated78. The next thing you'll see nation-wide strikes.
"And in the meantime the economic situation grows worse every day. Japan has lost her foreign markets, so she closes factories. The capitalists insist on dividends79, so, as they can't make money abroad, they insist on keeping prices high on home products by keeping production just a bit lower than the demand. That means closing more factories, discharging more workmen, unemployment. If they kick too much, they give them discharge allowances, six months' pay, a year's pay, anything to avoid a row—and, of course, the consumer pays for it, and prices go higher, while the workmen retire to the country villages they came from and blow their allowances and then live on their relatives. The family system of helping80 relatives is saving the situation to-day. That's why you don't hear much trouble yet from unemployment, but as the number increases of idlers whom each worker must support, the condition grows worse. The end must come some day."
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1
smelt
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| v.熔解，熔炼；n.银白鱼，胡瓜鱼 | |
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guild
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| n.行会，同业公会，协会 | |
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complicates
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| 使复杂化( complicate的第三人称单数 ) | |
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4
plod
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| v.沉重缓慢地走，孜孜地工作 | |
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5
illuminating
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| a.富于启发性的，有助阐明的 | |
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6
mementos
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| 纪念品，令人回忆的东西( memento的名词复数 ) | |
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fragrance
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| n.芬芳，香味，香气 | |
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8
daydreams
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| n.白日梦( daydream的名词复数 )v.想入非非，空想( daydream的第三人称单数 ) | |
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pranks
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| n.玩笑，恶作剧( prank的名词复数 ) | |
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10
fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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12
tryst
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| n.约会；v.与…幽会 | |
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13
beads
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| n.（空心）小珠子( bead的名词复数 )；水珠；珠子项链 | |
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frivolous
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| adj.轻薄的；轻率的 | |
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15
translucent
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| adj.半透明的；透明的 | |
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16
luster
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| n.光辉；光泽，光亮；荣誉 | |
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essentially
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| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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18
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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20
lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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21
villa
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| n.别墅，城郊小屋 | |
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theatrical
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| adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的 | |
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23
scant
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| adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略 | |
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rambles
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| （无目的地）漫游( ramble的第三人称单数 )； （喻）漫谈； 扯淡； 长篇大论 | |
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seething
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| 沸腾的，火热的 | |
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vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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fumbling
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| n. 摸索,漏接 v. 摸索,摸弄,笨拙的处理 | |
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28
flux
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| n.流动；不断的改变 | |
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29
myriad
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| adj.无数的；n.无数，极大数量 | |
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30
aprons
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| 围裙( apron的名词复数 )； 停机坪，台口（舞台幕前的部份） | |
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gangling
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| adj.瘦长得难看的 | |
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munched
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| v.用力咀嚼（某物），大嚼( munch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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remonstrated
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| v.抗议( remonstrate的过去式和过去分词 )；告诫 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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35
scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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36
ebullience
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| n.沸腾，热情，热情洋溢 | |
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courteous
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| adj.彬彬有礼的，客气的 | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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39
adolescence
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| n.青春期，青少年 | |
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40
reassure
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| v.使放心，使消除疑虑 | |
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41
ascetic
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| adj.禁欲的；严肃的 | |
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42
enthusiasts
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| n.热心人，热衷者( enthusiast的名词复数 ) | |
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43
conglomeration
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| n.团块，聚集，混合物 | |
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44
miseries
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| n.痛苦( misery的名词复数 )；痛苦的事；穷困；常发牢骚的人 | |
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45
deign
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| v. 屈尊, 惠允 ( 做某事) | |
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46
steamship
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| n.汽船，轮船 | |
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47
tariffs
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| 关税制度； 关税( tariff的名词复数 )； 关税表； （旅馆或饭店等的）收费表； 量刑标准 | |
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48
concessions
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| n.（尤指由政府或雇主给予的）特许权( concession的名词复数 )；承认；减价；（在某地的）特许经营权 | |
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49
yen
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| n. 日元；热望 | |
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50
plutocratic
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| adj.富豪的，有钱的 | |
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51
oligarchy
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| n.寡头政治 | |
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52
subservient
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| adj.卑屈的，阿谀的 | |
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53
huddled
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| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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54
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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55
feudal
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| adj.封建的，封地的，领地的 | |
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56
labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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57
abolition
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| n.废除，取消 | |
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58
capitalism
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| n.资本主义 | |
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59
doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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60
heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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61
subscribed
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| v.捐助( subscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；签署，题词；订阅；同意 | |
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62
second-hand
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| adj.用过的，旧的，二手的 | |
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63
cramming
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| n.塞满，填鸭式的用功v.塞入( cram的现在分词 )；填塞；塞满；（为考试而）死记硬背功课 | |
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64
voracity
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| n.贪食，贪婪 | |
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65
harangue
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| n.慷慨冗长的训话，言辞激烈的讲话 | |
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66
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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67
intrigued
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| adj.好奇的，被迷住了的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的过去式)；激起…的兴趣或好奇心；“intrigue”的过去式和过去分词 | |
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68
intermittent
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| adj.间歇的，断断续续的 | |
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69
agitators
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| n.（尤指政治变革的）鼓动者( agitator的名词复数 )；煽动者；搅拌器；搅拌机 | |
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70
appropriation
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| n.拨款，批准支出 | |
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ethical
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| adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的 | |
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creed
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| n.信条；信念，纲领 | |
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73
fanatics
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| 狂热者，入迷者( fanatic的名词复数 ) | |
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literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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75
martyrs
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| n.martyr的复数形式；烈士( martyr的名词复数 )；殉道者；殉教者；乞怜者（向人诉苦以博取同情） | |
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underlying
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| adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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78
consolidated
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| a.联合的 | |
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79
dividends
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| 红利( dividend的名词复数 )； 股息； 被除数； （足球彩票的）彩金 | |
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helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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