しかし、これはまったく男子学生の場合だけのことです。前にも申しましたように、女子の進学が極めて少ない時代であって、地方から遊学のため上京するなどということは、暁天の星であって、余程の秀才で、しかも向学心に燃え立ち、村どころか、郡内での大金持ちで、その上、両親が十分の理解をもっていなければ、大事な箱入娘を、ただ一人、東京へ出すなどということは思いもよりません。従って、東京で苦学をしている女子学生などというものは捜したくても、なかなか見つかるものではなかったことでしょう。私は、実にその稀(まれ)な女子苦学生となりました。[英訳を表示]
As mentioned earlier, this was an era in which relatively few girls advanced to university with the ambition of going from the countryside to study in Tokyo, like a rising star at dawn. It was unthinkable that a cherished little naive daughter would be allowed to move to Tokyo on her own. Indeed, one needed not only to be talented and extremely bright but also to have a burning desire for academic pursuits. They needed to come from families who were wealthy not only locally, but also regionally. They also needed to be fortunate enough to have understanding parents. That is to say, you would not find a lot of college girls in Tokyo supporting themselves through school. So I was a very rare species.
送金が絶えてから、毎日内職を探しましたが、結局、朝夕２回、町の辻に出て、新聞を売ってみたのです。２回で２時間ぐらいですが、その収入は１か月かかってやっと２円程でした。これでは駄目です。そこで牛乳配達にかわりました。所は近くの三崎町、毎朝、冬は５時、夏は４時に仕事にかかります。３００本の牛乳を車に入れて家家に届けてくると２時間ほどですし、収入の方も月６円ほどになりますので、これならと喜んでおりました。ところが、会社の都合で、配達人の仕事が急に増えました。それは、朝配達して来た壜(びん)を夕方また集めにゆき、それを洗滌(せんじょう)してしまうまでが、仕事の責任になったのです。[英訳を表示]
After my money dried up, I looked for employment in homes and finally got a job selling newspapers in the morning and evening on the streets around town. Each task occupied only two hours twice a day, but the income was just two yen a month. It wasn’t enough. So I began delivering milk. This part time job near Misaki-cho started around five o’clock every morning in winter and four o’clock in summer. It took two hours to deliver three hundred milk bottles by cart, house to house, and I was pleased to be making six yen per month. However, on top of the morning delivery, company circumstances saw my work load rapidly increase and I had to go around again in the evening, collecting and washing the bottles that I had delivered in the morning.
これでは、夜学に差支えるのです。毎晩３０分ほど遅刻するので、６か月の予科の課程も事を欠くようになり、遂に中退してしまいました。しかし、どうしても修了しておかなくては駄目だと痛感しましたので、次の予科入学期に、再入学したのですが、内職の方は、そのまま続けていましたので、４、５か月は続いたが、またまた中退の憂目を見たのです。３度目に入学した時、国語の先生が、みんなの前で大きな声で、「寺部、またきたか。」と申された時には、さすがの私も赤面せずにはおられませんでした。[英訳を表示]
The job consequently began interfering with my night school classes. I was forced to come in about thirty minutes late every evening, so I couldn’t complete the six-month preparatory course, and I ended up having to quit school after all. But I maintained a deep sense that I must finish school, so I re-enrolled during the following entrance term for the preparatory course. I continued working as before, but, to be honest, after four or five months, I was forced to withdraw from school again. When I re-entered school, for the third time, my Japanese teacher shouted in front of the class, “Terabe, you’re back again?!” at which verbal assault I could only blush.