The Lady and Sada San: A Sequel to the Lady of the Decoration — John Shaqi
The Lady and Sada San: A Sequel to the Lady of the DecorationLittle, Frances
History
The Lady and Sada San: A Sequel to the Lady of the Decoration
Little, Frances
Japan -- History -- Meiji period, 1868-1912 -- Fiction
Please say to your small son David that I will give his love to the
"king's little boy" _if_ I see him. My last glimpse of him was in
Nikko. Poor little chap. He was permitted to walk for a moment.
In that moment he spied a bantam hen, the anxious mother of half a
dozen puff-ball chickens. Royalty knew no denial and went in
pursuit. The bantam knew no royalty, pursued also. The four men
and six women attendants were in a panic. The baby was rescued
from a storm of feathers and taken back to the palace with an extra
guard of three policemen.
I have been very busy, at play and at work. We have just had a
wedding tea. My former secretary, Miss First River, as she
expressed it, "married with" Mr. East Village.
The wedding took place at the ugly little mission church, which was
transformed into a beautiful garden, with weeping willows,
chrysanthemums, and mountain ferns. Also we had a wedding-bell.
In a wild moment of enthusiasm I proposed it. It is always a guess
where your enthusiasm will land you out here. I coaxed a cross old
tinner to make the frame for me. He expostulated the while that
the thing was impossible, because it had never been done before in
this part of the country. It was rather a weird shape, but I left
the girls to trim it and went to the church to help decorate. The
bell was to follow upon completion. It failed to follow and after
waiting an hour or so I sent for it. The girls came carrying one
trimmed bell and one half covered. I asked, "Why are you making
two wedding-bells?" My answer was, "Why Sensei! must not the groom
have one for his head too?"
Everybody wanted to do something for the little maid, for she had
so bravely struggled with adversity of fortune and perversity of
family. So there were four flower girls, and the music teacher
played at the wedding march! In spite of her efforts, Lohengrin
seemed suffering as it came from the complaining organ.
Miss First River was a lovely enough picture, in her bridal robes
of crepe, to cause the guests to draw in long breaths of
admiration, till the room sounded like the coming of a young
cyclone. They were not accustomed to such prominence given a
bride, nor to weddings served in Western style.
Oh, yes, the groom was there, a secondary consideration for the
first time in the history of Hiroshima, but so in love he did not
seem to mind the obscurity.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account