Yoné Noguchi 
The American Diary of a Japanese Girl [EPUB ebook] 

Tokio, Sept. 23rd
My new page of life is dawning.
A trip beyond the seas-Meriken Kenbutsu-it’s not an ordinary event.
It is verily the first event in our family history that I could trace back for six centuries.
My today’s dream of America-dream of a butterfly sipping on golden dews-was rudely broken by the artless chirrup of a hundred sparrows in my garden.
‘Chui, chui! Chui, chui, chui!’
Bad sparrows!
My dream was silly but splendid.
Dream is no dream without silliness which is akin to poetry.
If my dream ever comes true!