Page:Eminent Authors of Contemporary Japan.pdf/81

Rh *Asa.—(She again falls in a heap on the floor weeping.) Because you do not understand, Sir.
 * Koyama.—Why?
 * Asa.—It was far better to let it die than live. It was far more merciful to lose it, than for it to live and be tormented in this merciless world.
 * Koyama.—Are you not crazy to talk in such a way?
 * Asa.—No, Sir; I am sane. It is a terrible thing to let the sick linger and live on without being able to help them and to give them relief.
 * Koyama.—But it is very sinful and cruel to kill a healthy child.
 * Asa.—Yes, but I was sure that that child would grow up sick like the rest of them. Even now, the one that came before him lies in his bed deadly sick.
 * Koyama.—But still, I cannot see any reason for taking its life.
 * Asa.—Oh, I thought and thought many times before it was born. I even tried to bring on a miscarriage, but the attempt made me frightened, lest I should hurt my own body in the attempt. After it was born, I tried to kill it, but couldn’t at first. Before the child was born I thought how dear life was to me, for my present child was lying sick, and needed me. It must have attention, and so I allowed the child to be born naturally.
 * Koyama.—You have someone looking after the child now?
 * Asa.—Yes, an old man.
 * Koyama.—Is that man too old to work?