the lasting fame. Its quaint style, dash and vigor in its narration
appealed to the public who had become somewhat tired of the stereotyped
sort of manner with which all stories had come to be handled.

In its simplest understanding, "Botchan" may be taken as an episode in
the life of a son born in Tokyo, hot-blooded, simple-hearted, pure as
crystal and sturdy as a towering rock, honest and straight to a fault,
intolerant of the least injustice and a volunteer ever ready to champion
what he considers right and good. Children may read it as a "story of
man who tried to be honest." It is a light, amusing and, at the name
time, instructive story, with no tangle of love affairs, no scheme of
blood-curdling scenes or nothing startling or sensational in the plot or
characters. The story, however, may be regarded as a biting sarcasm on a
hypocritical society in which a gang of instructors of dark character at
a middle school in a backwoods town plays a prominent part. The hero of
the story is made a victim of their annoying intrigues, but finally
comes out triumphant by smashing the petty red tapism, knocking down the
sham pretentions and by actual use of the fist on the Head Instructor
and his henchman.

The story will be found equally entertaining as a means of studying the
peculiar traits of the native of Tokyo which are characterised by their
quick temper, dashing spirit, generosity and by their readiness to
resist even the lordly personage if convinced of their own justness, or
to kneel down even to a child if they acknowledge their own wrong.
Incidently the touching devotion of the old maid servant Kiyo to the
hero will prove a standing reproach to the inconstant, unfaithful
servants of which the number is ever increasing these days in Tokyo. The
story becomes doubly interesting by the fact that Mr. K. Natsume, when
quite young, held a position of teacher of English at a middle school