LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOSEPH HARDY NEESIMA
26/372

10 EARLY LIFE. price of everythings got high. Ah! you must go to sea again. I thought too I must work pretty well for my eating and dresl'!ing, and I could not get in any school before I could earn any money to pay to a school. 'Vhen such thoughts pressed my brain I could not work very well, I could not read book very cheerfully, and only looked around myself long while as a lunatic. Every night after I went to bed I prayed to the God : Please ! don't cast away me into miserable condition. Please ! let me reach my great aim! Now I know the ship's owner, Mr. Hardy, may send me to a school, and he will pay all my expenses. When I heard first these things from my captain my eyes were fulfilled with many tears, because I was very thankful to him, and I thought too : God will not forsake me." To this remarkable statement was due the begin­ning of that interest which Mr. and Mrs. Hardy felt in N eesima, an interest which deepened with the years, and which subsequent events amply justified. During the voyage from Japan, Captain Taylor had told Neesima that the owner of the ship might find him some employment in Boston, and possibly provide for his education. In this hope, but perplexed by the difficulty of pursuing his studies while earning his living, Neesima had written the following on some scraps of paper which he confided to the captain be­fore reaching Boston : -" I must tell you that I am most concerned for it that I will not reach my great aim, because I made such thoughts as hereafter:-"Though the ship's owner will be very kindly to me, perhaps he will not send me to school so long as I may reach my great aim, "Qecause he will apend his

元のページ 

10秒後に元のページに移動します

※このページを正しく表示するにはFlashPlayer10.2以上が必要です