Page:Eminent Authors of Contemporary Japan.pdf/84

70 What was his calling?
 * Asa.—A coolie, like myself.
 * Koyama.—Residence,—the place where you live?
 * Asa.—Shimo-Meguro.
 * Koyama.—Shimo-Meguro in the village of Meguro, the county of Ebara, in a suburb of Tokyo. Yes—What is the number of your house?
 * Asa.—Number 2-3-5-7.
 * Koyama.—Number 2-3-5-7. Have you this house to yourself, or have you other people living with you?
 * Asa.—We live alone.
 * Koyama.—And when was the baby born?
 * Asa.—On the tenth day of the month before last.
 * Koyama.—That was the tenth of February. Was it a boy?
 * Asa.—Yes.
 * Koyama.—And the day on which you killed it?
 * Asa.—(With a woeful expression) It was on the night of the day before yesterday.
 * Koyama.—How did you kill it?
 * Asa.—It happened that I was on the way home from my work, just as I am today. I was walking near Gyoninzaka, and the baby began to cry. It cried and cried, as if it were being burnt. I wanted to give it milk but I couldn’t. I did not know what to do.
 * Koyama.—Why couldn’t you give it any milk?
 * Asa.—Because I hadn’t any to give. Perhaps the food I had been having was too poor. I had been unable to nurse my child for some days before that.