The fire burned all day and got very near us by evening. I thought our fate was the same as those many poor refugees I had seen and pitied for these last two days and we put all Y.O. salvables in his Storehouse which is supposed to be fire proof and prepared to flee for our lives with a little baggage.

I wrote a farewell note to my sweetheart and left it under a flower pot on a stone in Y.O's yard hoping it would be sent to her if I was lost. I asked Mrs. O. to tell Kate how often I thought of her and our little lovers so far away and how broken hearted I was at being so far away and not having seen them in so long a time. I felt my end was not far off...

An American Visit to Japan, 1923