I am not very decent in my own language or manner, but am sure that my
moral standard is far more decent than that of these gangs. Those six
boys filed out leisurely. Outwardly they appeared more dignified than I
their teacher, it was the more repulsive for their calm behavior. I have
no temerity equal to theirs. Then I went to bed again, and found the
inside of the net full of merry crowds of mosquitoes. I could not bother
myself to burn one by one with a candle flame. So I took the net off the
hooks, folded it the lengthwise, and shook it crossways, up and down the
room. One of the rings of the net, flying round, accidentally hit the
back of my hand, the effect of which I did not soon forget. When I went
to bed for the third time, I cooled off a little, but could not sleep
easily. My watch showed it was half past ten. Well, as I thought it
over, I realized myself as having come to a dirty pit. If all teachers
of middle schools everywhere have to handle fellows like these in this
school, those teachers have my sympathy. It is wonderful that teachers
never run short. I believe there are many boneheads of extraordinary
patience; but me for something else. In this respect, Kiyo is worthy of
admiration. She is an old woman, with neither education nor social
position, but as a human, she does more to command our respect. Until
now, I have been a trouble to her without appreciating her goodness, but
having come alone to such a far-off country, I now appreciated, for the
first time, her kindness. If she is fond of sasa-ame of Echigo province,
and if I go to Echigo for the purpose of buying that sweetmeat to let
her eat it, she is fully worth that trouble. Kiyo has been praising me
as unselfish and straight, but she is a person of sterling qualities far
more than I whom she praises. I began to feel like meeting her.

While I was thus meditating about Kiyo, all of a sudden, on the floor
above my head, about thirty to forty people, if I guess by the number,
started stamping the floor with bang, bang, bang that well threatened to