191 ^ Lawn Party for Peace 



would not be complete unless Mrs. Jordan also were 

 present, as the Countess had promised to help receive 

 and many ladies had been invited to listen to the dis- 

 course. I was thus led to summon my wife back 

 from the mountains to the still sweltering town. 



The spacious Okuma garden was provided with 

 chairs to accommodate the large audience, which 

 included a number of foreign residents and visitors. 

 Professor Ishikawa of the Higher Normal School had 

 kindly consented to serve as interpreter, though the 

 length of the program made his task somewhat oner- 

 ous. The day being very hot, the speakers were 

 provided with an abundant supply of the excellent 

 Hirano Water, a comfort not shared by our listeners. 

 After an eloquent and friendly preliminary address Twice-told 

 in Japanese by our host, followed by a rendering into ^'^^^ 

 English, I began my discourse. This at the best would 

 not have been short because of the Count's expressed 

 wish that I should cover the whole case against war, 

 with the general argument for peace and arbitration. 

 And as a Japanese translation demands about twice 

 as many syllables as the original English, it w^as a 

 long-drawn-out affair. Some of my audience at least 

 must have been as much bored as edified. Neverthe- 

 less, they did not show it, and the elegant collation 

 serv^ed afterward no doubt helped to make the meet- 

 ing a marked success. 



Okuma, president of Waseda University, had Count 

 already been prime minister and was later to occupy Okuma 

 that position for a second time. He is a man of 

 power, originality, initiative, wide information, and 

 versatile interests. His strong emotional bent, sug- 

 gesting certain Rooseveltian traits, has sometimes 

 laid him open to the charge of being erratic. Cer- 



C 357 3 



