LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOSEPH HARDY NEESIMA

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ENTERS NAVAL SCHOOL OF SHOGUN. 27 gan to meddle with my study. But I remained as obstinate as ever, and kept up my study even in this trying way. When my father returned he resumed his service, and I was released. Still I could not get rid of the service of the prince altogether. " Just about that time the country was in feadul commotion. Assassination and bloodshed occurred here and there almost every day. Being frightened by this, my coward prince selected a number of the younger pet·sons from his retainers to be his life­guards. Unfortunately, I was chosen to be one of them. Whenever he went out of his palace I was obliged to follow him. Early in the spring of my eighteenth year I followed him as far as Annaka. Of course he was carried in a kago, and we, his lifeguards, were obliged to follow him on foot. It required in me no small amount of patience to be forced into such a servitude. When I came home from Annaka I was utterly disgusted with the prince's service. I often planned to run away from home in order to get rid of it, but I was not bold enough to do so. I was too fondly tied up to my home, and was much afraid of causing great sorrow and disgrace to my parents and grandfather. While I was in this hard fix I was not discouraged with the hopeless outlook, and at­tempted to secure a favor from one of the prince's elder men. Through his influence I was partially exempted from the prince's service. How glad I was then when I found more leisure hours to study. At that time I had just acquired Dutch enough to read a simple treatise on physics and astronomy. Bnt I was utterly ignorant of mathematics, and the simplest calculations in this treatise were beyond my comprehension. So I was prompted to go to the Shogun's naval school just

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