LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOSEPH HARDY NEESIMA

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12 EARLY LIFE. but was sent to him seventeen years later by the widow of Captain Taylor. On learning that Mr. Hardy had decided to send him to school, Neesima wrote him the following letter: I am very thankful to you. You relief me, but I can't show to you my thankfulness with my words. But I at all times bless to God for you with this prayer : 0 God ! if thou hast eyes, look upon me. 0 God ! if thou hast ears, hear my prayer. Let me be civil­ized with Bible. 0 Lord 1 thou send thy Spirit upon my Hardy, and let him relief me from sad condi­tion. 0 Lord ! please ! set thy eyes upon my Hardy, and keep out him from illness and temptation. Your obedient servant, JOSEPH N EESili:IA. In 1885, when, after a lapse of twenty years, this nmaway occupied a position of honor and influence in his native land, he sent to those whom he loved to call his American parents, and whose name he had adopted, a fuller account of his early life and the cir­cumstances under which he left Japan. From this narrative, which affords an interesting picture of his Japanese home, the following pages are taken : -KYOTO, JAPAN, Aug. 29, 1885. To MR. AND MRs. ALPHEus HARDY, To whom I owe more than to my own parents for their boundless love and untiring interest manifested in my welfare, both temporal and spiritual, I most gratefully and affectionately dedicate this brief narra­tive of my younger days. Their ever grateful child, JOSEPH HARDY NEESIMA.

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