Page:Soseki - Botchan (1918).djvu/192

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

BOTCHAN


beat it, I thought, and, saying “No, I don’t, good by,” hastily left the house. The “haiku” should be a diversion of Baseo[1] or the boss of a barbershop. It would not do for the teacher of mathematics to rave over the old wooden bucket and the morning glory.[2]

I returned home and thought it over. Here is a man whose mental process defies a layman’s understanding. He is going to court hardships in a strange part of the country in preference of his home and the school where he is working,–both of which should satisfy most anybody,–because he is tired of them. That may be all right if the strange place happens to be a lively metropolis where electric cars run,–but of all places, why Nobeoka in Hiuga province? This town here has a good steamship connection, yet I became
———————————————

  1. A famous composer of the poem.
  2. There is a well-known 17-syllable poem describing the scene of morning glories entwining around the wooden bucket.

–178–