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diff --git a/42312-0.txt b/42312-0.txt index 79472d3..151f005 100644 --- a/42312-0.txt +++ b/42312-0.txt @@ -1,33 +1,4 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life and Letters of Lafcadio Hearn, -Volume 1, by Elizabeth Bisland - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: The Life and Letters of Lafcadio Hearn, Volume 1 - -Author: Elizabeth Bisland - -Release Date: March 23, 2013 [EBook #42312] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAFCADIO HEARN *** - - - - -Produced by KD Weeks, Ted Garvin and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42312 *** Transcriber's Note @@ -13038,360 +13009,4 @@ errors have been corrected. 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You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: The Life and Letters of Lafcadio Hearn, Volume 1 - -Author: Elizabeth Bisland - -Release Date: March 23, 2013 [EBook #42312] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAFCADIO HEARN *** - - - - -Produced by KD Weeks, Ted Garvin and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - -Transcriber's Note - -Footnotes have been placed at the end of each paragraph in which they -are referenced. - -There are several captioned photographs, which are indicated as -[Illustration: Caption]. Hearn also included in his letters small -sketches. Their approximate positions are indicated with [Illustration]. -Any handwritten text in those sketches is included here as captions. - -Italic text is denoted with underscores as _italic_. There is a small -amount of Greek which is transliterated and enclosed in brackets as -[Larkadiê]. The characters 'o', 'a' and 'u' appear with a macron, a -straight bar atop the letter. These use the '=' sign as 'T[=o]ky[=o]'. - -The occasional superscript is simply left inline (e.g., 'nth'). The use -of subscripts is limited to a single instance. The underscore character -indicates this: L_3 H_9 NG_4. - -The sole instance of the 'oe' ligature is given as is seen here: -'onomatopoeia'. - -Some corrections were made where printer's errors were most likely, -as described in the Note at the end of the text. Other than those -corrections, no changes to spelling have been made. Hyphenation of -words at line or page breaks are removed if other instances of the word -warrant it. - -This book was published in two volumes, of which this is the first. -The second volume was released as Project Gutenberg ebook #42313, -available at: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42313. - - - - - +--------------------------------------------------------+ - | By Lafcadio Hearn | - | | - | THE ROMANCE OF THE MILKY WAY, AND OTHER STUDIES AND | - | STORIES. 12mo, gilt top, $1.25 _net._ Postage | - | extra. | - | | - | KWAIDAN: Stories and Studies of Strange Things. With | - | two Japanese Illustrations. 12mo, gilt top, $1.50. | - | | - | GLEANINGS IN BUDDHA-FIELDS. 16mo, gilt top, $1.25. | - | | - | KOKORO. Hints and Echoes of Japanese Inner Life. 16mo, | - | gilt top, $1.25. | - | | - | OUT OF THE EAST. Reveries and Studies in New Japan. | - | 16mo, $1.25. | - | | - | GLIMPSES OF UNFAMILIAR JAPAN. 2 vols. crown 8vo, gilt | - | top, $4.00. | - | | - | STRAY LEAVES FROM STRANGE LITERATURE. 16mo, $1.50. | - | | - | | - | HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. | - | BOSTON AND NEW YORK. | - +--------------------------------------------------------+ - - - - - LIFE AND LETTERS OF LAFCADIO HEARN - - VOLUME I - -[Illustration: Lafcadio Hearn] - - THE LIFE AND LETTERS - - OF - - LAFCADIO HEARN - - BY - - ELIZABETH BISLAND - - _WITH ILLUSTRATIONS_ - - IN TWO VOLUMES - - VOL. I - -[Illustration: The Riverside Press] - - BOSTON AND NEW YORK - HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY - The Riverside Press Cambridge - - COPYRIGHT 1906 BY ELIZABETH BISLAND WETMORE - - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED - - _Published December 1906_ - - - - -PREFACE - -In the course of the preparation of these volumes there was gradually -accumulated so great a number of the letters written by Lafcadio Hearn -during twenty-five years of his life, and these letters proved of so -interesting a nature, that eventually the plan of the whole work was -altered. The original intention was that they should serve only to -illuminate the general text of the biography, but as their number and -value became more apparent it was evident that to reproduce them in full -would make the book both more readable and more illustrative of the -character of the man than anything that could possibly be related of -him. - -No biographer could have so vividly pictured the modesty and -tender-heartedness, the humour and genius of the man as he has -unconsciously revealed these qualities in unstudied communications to -his friends. Happily--in these days when the preservation of letters is -a rare thing--almost every one to whom he wrote appeared instinctively -to treasure--even when he was still unknown--every one of his -communications, though here and there regrettable gaps occur, owing to -the accidents of changes of residence, three of which, as every one -knows, are more destructive of such treasures than a fire. To all of his -correspondents who have so generously contributed their treasured -letters I wish to express my sincere thanks. Especially is gratitude due -to Professor Masanubo Otani, of the Shinshu University of T[=o]ky[=o], -for the painstaking accuracy and fulness of the information he -contributed as to the whole course of Hearn's life in Japan. - -The seven fragments of autobiographical reminiscence, discovered after -Hearn's death, added to the letters, narrowed my task to little more -than the recording of dates and such brief comments and explanations as -were required for the better comprehension of his own contributions to -the book. - -Naturally some editing of the letters has been necessary. Such parts as -related purely to matters of business have been deleted as uninteresting -to the general public; many personalities, usually both witty and -trenchant, have been omitted, not only because such personalities are -matters of confidence between the writer and his correspondent, a -confidence which death does not render less inviolable, but also because -the dignity and privacy of the living have every claim to respect. -Robert Browning's just resentment at the indiscreet editing of the -FitzGerald Letters is a warning that should be heeded, and it is -moreover certain that Lafcadio Hearn himself would have been profoundly -unwilling to have any casual criticism of either the living or the dead -given public record. Of those who had been his friends he always spoke -with tenderness and respect, and I am but following what I know to be -his wishes in omitting all references to his enemies. - -That such a definite and eccentric person as he should make enemies was -of course unavoidable. If any of these retain their enmity to one who -has passed into the sacred helplessness of death, and are inclined to -think that the mere outline sketch of the man contained in the following -pages lacks the veracity of shadow, my answer is this: In the first -place, I have taken heed of the opinion he himself has expressed in one -of his letters: "I believe we ought not to speak of the weaknesses of -very great men"--and the intention of such part of this book as is my -own is to give a history of the circumstances under which a great man -developed his genius. I have purposely ignored all such episodes as -seemed impertinent to this end, as from my point of view there seems a -sort of gross curiosity in raking among such details of a man's life as -he himself would wish ignored. These I gladly leave to those who enjoy -such labours. - -In the second place, there is no art more difficult than that of making -a portrait satisfactory to every one, for the limner of a man, whether -he use pen or pigments, can--if he be honest--only transfer to the -canvas the lineaments as he himself sees them. _How_ he sees them -depends not only upon his own temperament, but also upon the aspect -which the subject of the picture would naturally turn towards such a -temperament. For every one of us is aware of a certain chameleon-like -quality within ourselves which causes us to take on a protective -colouring assimilative to our surroundings, and we all, like the husband -in Browning's verse, - - "Boast two soul-sides," ... - -which is the explanation, no doubt, of the apparently irreconcilable -impressions carried away by a man's acquaintances. - -Which soul-side was the real man must finally resolve itself into a -matter of opinion. Henley, probably, honestly believed the real -Stevenson to be as he represented him, but the greater number of those -who knew and loved the artist will continue to form their estimate of -the man from his letters and books, and to them Henley's diatribe will -continue to seem but the outbreak of a mean jealousy, which could not -tolerate the lifting up of a companion for the world's admiration. - -Of the subject of this memoir there certainly exists more than one -impression, but the writer can but depict the man as he revealed himself -throughout twenty years of intimate acquaintance, and for confirmation -of this opinion can only refer to the work he has left for all the world -to judge him by, and to the intimate revelations of thoughts, opinions, -and feelings contained in his letters. - - E. B. - - - - - CONTENTS - - - INTRODUCTORY SKETCH - - I. BOYHOOD 3 - - II. THE ARTIST'S APPRENTICESHIP 40 - - III. THE MASTER WORKMAN 103 - - IV. THE LAST STAGE 136 - - LETTERS 165 - - - - - ILLUSTRATIONS - - - LAFCADIO HEARN (photogravure) _Frontispiece_ - From a photograph taken about 1900. - - LAFCADIO HEARN 50 - From a photograph taken about 1873. - - LAFCADIO HEARN AND MITCHELL MCDONALD 110 - - LAFCADIO HEARN 198 - From a photograph taken in the '70's. - - FACSIMILE OF MR. HEARN'S EARLIER HANDWRITING 340 - - SAINT-PIERRE AND MT. PELÉE 410 - From a photograph in the possession of - Dr. T. A. Jaggar, Jr. - - - - - INTRODUCTORY SKETCH - - - CHAPTER I - - BOYHOOD - - -Lafcadio Hearn was born on the twenty-seventh of June, in the year 1850. -He was a native of the Ionian Isles, the place of his birth being the -Island of Santa Maura, which is commonly called in modern Greek Levkas, -or Lefcada, a corruption of the name of the old Leucadia, which was -famous as the place of Sappho's self-destruction. This island is -separated from the western coast of Greece by a narrow strait; the neck -of land which joined it to the mainland having been cut through by the -Corinthians seven centuries before Christ. To this day it remains deeply -wooded, and scantily populated, with sparse vineyards and olive groves -clinging to the steep sides of the mountains overlooking the blue Ionian -sea. The child Lafcadio may have played in his early years among the -high-set, half-obliterated ruins of the Temple of Apollo, from whence -offenders were cast down with multitudes of birds tied to their limbs, -that perchance the beating of a thousand wings might break the violence -of the fall, and so rescue them from the last penalty of expiation. - -In this place of old tragedies and romance the child was born into a -life always to be shadowed by tragedy and romance to an extent almost -fantastic in our modern workaday world. This wild, bold background, -swimming in the half-tropical blue of Greek sea and sky, against which -the boy first discerned the vague outlines of his conscious life, seems -to have silhouetted itself behind all his later memories and -prepossessions, and through whatever dark or squalid scenes his -wanderings led, his heart was always filled by dreams and longings for -soaring outlines, and the blue, "which is the colour of the idea of the -divine, the colour pantheistic, the colour ethical." - -Long years afterward, in the "Dream of a Summer Day," he says:-- - -"I have memory of a place and a magical time, in which the sun and the -moon were larger and brighter than now. Whether it was of this life or -of some life before, I cannot tell, but I know the sky was very much -more blue, and nearer to the world--almost as it seems to become above -the masts of a steamer steaming into equatorial summer.... The sea was -alive and used to talk--and the Wind made me cry out for joy when it -touched me. Once or twice during other years, in divine days lived among -the peaks, I have dreamed for a moment the same wind was blowing--but it -was only a remembrance. - -"Also in that place the clouds were wonderful and of colours for which -there are no names at all,--colours that used to make me hungry and -thirsty. I remember, too, that the days were ever so much longer than -these days,--and every day there were new pleasures and new wonders for -me. And all that country and time were softly ruled by One who thought -only of ways to make me happy.... When day was done, and there fell the -great hush of light before moonrise, she would tell me stories that made -me tingle from head to foot with pleasure. I have never heard any other -stories half so beautiful. And when the pleasure became too great, she -would sing a weird little song which always brought sleep. At last there -came a parting day; and she wept and told me of a charm she had given -that I must never, never lose, because it would keep me young, and give -me power to return. But I never returned. And the years went; and one -day I knew that I had lost the charm, and had become ridiculously old." - -A strange mingling of events and of race-forces had brought the boy into -being. - -Surgeon-Major Charles Bush Hearn, of the 76th Foot, came of an old -Dorsetshire family in which there was a tradition of gipsy blood--a -tradition too dim and ancient now to be verified, though Hearn is an old -Romany name in the west of England, and the boy Lafcadio bore in his -hand all his life that curious "thumb-print" upon the palm, which is -said to be the invariable mark of Romany descent. The first of the -Hearns to pass over into Ireland went as private chaplain to the Lord -Lieutenant in 1693, and being later appointed Dean of Cashel, settled -permanently in West Meath. From the ecclesiastical loins there appears -to have sprung a numerous race of soldiers, for Dr. Hearn's father and -seven uncles served under Wellington in Spain. The grandfather of -Lafcadio rose during the Peninsula Campaign to the position of -lieutenant-colonel of the 43d regiment, and commanded his regiment in -the battle of Vittoria. Later he married Elizabeth Holmes, a kinswoman -of Sir Robert Holmes, and of Edmund Holmes the poet, another member of -her family being Rice Holmes, the historian of the Indian Mutiny. Dr. -Charles Hearn, the father of Lafcadio, was her eldest son, and another -son was Richard, who was one of the Barbizon painters and an intimate -friend of Jean François Millet. - -It was in the late '40's, when England still held the Ionian Isles, that -the 76th Foot was ordered to Greece, and Surgeon-Major Hearn accompanied -his regiment to do garrison duty on the island of Cerigo. Apparently not -long after his arrival he made the acquaintance of Rosa Cerigote, whose -family is said to have been of old and honourable Greek descent. -Photographs of the young surgeon represent him as a handsome man, with -the flowing side-whiskers so valued at that period, and with a bold -profile and delicate waist. A passionate love affair ensued between the -beautiful Greek girl and the handsome Irishman, but the connection was -violently opposed by the girl's brothers, the native bitterness toward -the English garrison being as intense as was the sentiment in the South -against the Northern army of occupation immediately after the American -Civil War. The legend goes that the Cerigote men--there was hot blood in -the family veins--waylaid and stabbed the Irishman, leaving him for -dead. The girl, it is said, with the aid of a servant, concealed him in -a barn and nursed him back to life, and after his recovery eloped with -her grateful lover and married him by the Greek rites in Santa Maura. -The first child died immediately after birth, and the boy, Lafcadio, was -the second child; taking his name from the Greek name of the island, -Lefcada. Another son, James, three years later in Cephalonia, was the -fruit of this marriage, so romantically begun and destined to end so -tragically. - -When England ceded the Ionian Isles to Greece Dr. Hearn returned with -his family to Dublin, pausing, perhaps, for a while at Malta, for in a -letter written during the last years of his life Lafcadio says: "I am -almost sure of having been in Malta as a child. My father told me queer -things about the old palaces of the knights, and a story of a monk who -on the coming of the French had the presence of mind to paint the gold -chancel railing with green paint." - -The two boys were at this time aged six and three. It was inevitable, no -doubt, that the young wife, who had never mastered the English tongue, -though she spoke, as did the children, Italian and Romaic, should have -regretted the change from her sunlit island to the dripping Irish skies -and grey streets of Dublin, nor can it be wondered at that, an exile -among aliens in race, speech, and faith, there should have soon grown up -misunderstandings and disputes. The unhappy details have died into -silence with the passage of time, but the wife seems to have believed -herself repudiated and betrayed, and the marriage being eventually -annulled, she fled to Smyrna with a Greek cousin who had come at her -call, leaving the two children with the father. This cousin she -afterwards married and her children knew her no more. The father also -married again, and the boy Lafcadio being adopted by Dr. Hearn's aunt, a -Mrs. Brenane, and removing with her to Wales, never again saw either his -father or his brother.[1] - - [1] The following version of the story is reproduced from a letter - written by Mrs. Hearn in reply to a request for any knowledge - she might have gained on this subject from her husband's - conversations with her during their life together in Japan. Its - poignant simplicity is heightened by the transmutations through - two languages. - - "Mama San--When about four years old I did very rude things. Mama - gave me a struck on my cheek with her palm. It was very strong. I - got angry and gazed on my Mama's face, which I never forget. Thus - I remember my Mama's face. She was of a little stature, with black - hair and black eyes, like a Japanese woman. How pitiable Mama San - she was. Unhappy Mama San; pitiable indeed! Think of that--Think: - you are my wife, and I take you with Kazuo and Iwao to my native - country: you do not know the language spoken there, nor have any - friend. You have your husband only, who prove not very kind. You - must be so very unhappy then. And then if I happened to love some - native lady and say 'Sayonara' to you, how you would trouble your - heart! That was the case with my Mama. I have not such cruel - heart. But only to think of such thing makes me sad. To see your - face troubled just now my heart aches. Let us drop such subject - from our talk." - - "Papa San--It is only once that I remember I felt glad with my - papa. Yes, on that occasion! Perhaps I was then a boy like Iwao or - Kiyoshi. I was playing with my nurse. Many a sound of - 'gallop-trop' came from behind. The nurse laughed and lifted me - high up. I observed my papa pass; I called him with my tiny - hand--now such a big hand. Papa took me from the hands of nurse. I - was on horseback. As I looked behind a great number of soldiers - followed on horseback with 'gallop-trop.' I imagined myself that I - was a general then. It was only on that time that I thought how - good papa he was." - -The emotions are not hard to guess at of a passionate, sensitive boy of -seven, suddenly flung by the stormy emotions of his elders out of the -small warm circle of his narrow sphere. To a young child the relations -of its parents and the circle of the home seem as fundamental and -eternal as the globe itself, and the sudden ravishment of all the bases -of his life make his footing amid the ties and affections of the world -forever after timid and uncertain. - -A boy of less sensitive fibre might in time have forgotten these shocks, -but the eldest son of Charles Hearn and Rosa Cerigote was destined to -suffer always because of the violent rending of their ties. From this -period seems to have dated his strange distrusts, his unconquerable -terror of the potentialities which he suspected as lurking beneath the -frankest exterior, and his constant, morbid dread of betrayal and -abandonment by even his closest friends. - -Whatever of fault there may have been on his mother's part, his vague -memories of her were always tender and full of yearning affection. - -To the brother he never saw he wrote, when he was a man, "And you do not -remember that dark and beautiful face--with large, brown eyes like a -wild deer's--that used to bend above your cradle? You do not remember -the voice which told you each night to cross your fingers after the old -Greek orthodox fashion, and utter the words--[En to onoma tou Patros -kai tou Yiou kai toy Agiou Pneumatos], 'In the name of the Father, and -of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost'? She made, or had made, three little -wounds upon you when a baby--to place you, according to her childish -faith, under the protection of those three powers, but specially -that of Him for whom alone the Nineteenth Century still feels some -reverence--_the Lord and Giver of Life_.... We were all very dark as -children, very passionate, very odd-looking, and wore gold rings in our -ears. Have you not the marks yet?... - -"When I saw your photograph I felt all my blood stir,--and I thought, -'Here is this unknown being, in whom the soul of my mother lives,--who -must have known the same strange impulses, the same longings, the same -resolves as I! Will he tell me of them?' There was another Self,--would -that Self interpret This? - -"For This has always been mysterious. Were I to use the word 'Soul' in -its limited and superannuated sense as the spirit of the individual -instead of the ghost of a race,--I should say it had always seemed to me -as if I had two souls: each pulling in different ways. One of these -represented the spirit of mutiny--impatience of all restraint, hatred of -all control, weariness of everything methodical and regular, impulses to -love or hate without a thought of consequences. The other represented -pride and persistence;--it had little power to use the reins before I -was thirty.... Whatever there is of good in me came from that dark -race-soul of which we know so little. My love of right, my hate of -wrong;--my admiration for what is beautiful or true;--my capacity for -faith in man or woman;--my sensitiveness to artistic things which gives -me whatever little success I have,--even that language-power whose -physical sign is in the large eyes of both of us,--came from Her.... It -is the mother who makes us,--makes at least all that makes the nobler -man: not his strength or powers of calculation, but his heart and power -to love. And I would rather have her portrait than a fortune." - -Mrs. Brenane, into whose hands the child thus passed, was the widow of a -wealthy Irishman, by whom she had been converted to Romanism, and like -all converts she was "more loyal than the King." The divorce and -remarriage of her nephew incurred her bitterest resentment; she not only -insisted upon a complete separation from the child, but did not hesitate -to speak her mind fully to the boy, who always retained the impressions -thus early instilled. In one of his letters he speaks of his father's -"rigid face, and steel-steady eyes," and says: "I can remember seeing -father only five times. He was rather taciturn, I think. I remember he -wrote me a long letter from India--all about serpents and tigers and -elephants--printed in Roman letters with a pen, so that I could read it -easily.... I remember my father taking me up on horseback when coming -into the town with his regiment. I remember being at a dinner with a -number of men in red coats, and crawling about under the table among -their legs." And elsewhere he declares, "I think there is nothing of him -in me, either physically or mentally." A mistake of prejudice this; the -Hearns of the second marriage bearing the most striking likeness to the -elder half-brother, having the same dark skins, delicate, aquiline -profiles, eyes deeply set in arched orbits, and short, supple, well-knit -figures. The family type is unusual and distinctive, with some racial -alignment not easy to define except by the indefinite term "exotic;" -showing no trace of either its English origin or Irish residence. - -Of the next twelve years of Lafcadio Hearn's life there exists but -meagre record. The little dark-eyed, dark-faced, passionate boy with the -wound in his heart and the gold rings in his ears--speaking English but -stammeringly, mingled with Italian and Romaic--seems to have been -removed at about his seventh year to Wales, and from this time to have -visited Ireland but occasionally. Of his surroundings during the most -impressionable period of his life it is impossible to reconstruct other -than shadowy outlines. Mrs. Brenane was old; was wealthy; and lived -surrounded by eager priests and passionate converts. - -In "Kwaidan" there is a little story called "Hi-Mawari," which seems a -glimpse of this period:-- - - On the wooded hill behind the house Robert and I are looking for - fairy-rings. Robert is eight years old, comely, and very wise;--I am a - little more than seven,--and I reverence Robert. It is a glowing, - glorious August day; and the warm air is filled with sharp, sweet - scents of resin. - - We do not find any fairy-rings; but we find a great many pine-cones in - the high grass.... I tell Robert the old Welsh story of the man who - went to sleep, unawares, inside of a fairy-ring, and so disappeared - for seven years, and would never eat or speak after his friends had - delivered him from the enchantment. - - "They eat nothing but the points of needles, you know," says Robert. - - "Who?" I ask. - - "Goblins," Robert answers. - - This revelation leaves me dumb with astonishment and awe.... But - Robert suddenly cries out:-- - - "There is a harper!--he is coming to the house!" - - And down the hill we run to hear the harper.... But what a harper! Not - like the hoary minstrels of the picture-books. A swarthy, sturdy, - unkempt vagabond, with bold black eyes under scowling brows. More like - a brick-layer than a bard,--and his garments are corduroy! - - "Wonder if he is going to sing in Welsh?" murmurs Robert. - - I feel too much disappointed to make any remarks. The harper poses his - harp--a huge instrument--upon our doorstep, sets all the strings - ringing with a sweep of his grimy fingers, clears his throat with a - sort of angry growl, and begins,-- - - "_Believe me, if all those endearing young charms, - Which I gaze on so fondly to-day_ ..." - - The accent, the attitude, the voice, all fill me with repulsion - unutterable,--shock me with a new sensation of formidable vulgarity. I - want to cry out loud, "You have no right to sing that song!" for I - have heard it sung by the lips of the dearest and fairest being in my - little world;--and that this rude, coarse man should dare to sing it - vexes me like a mockery,--angers me like an insolence. But only for a - moment!... With the utterance of the syllables "to-day," that deep, - grim voice suddenly breaks into a quivering tenderness indescribable; - then, marvellously changing, it mellows into tones sonorous and rich - as the bass of a great organ,--while a sensation unlike anything ever - felt before takes me by the throat.... What witchcraft has he - learned--this scowling man of the road?... Oh! is there anybody else - in the whole world who can sing like that?... And the form of the - singer flickers and dims;--and the house, and the lawn, and all - visible shapes of things tremble and swim before me. Yet instinctively - I fear that man;--I almost hate him; and I feel myself flushing with - anger and shame because of his power to move me thus.... - - "He made you cry," Robert compassionately observes, to my further - confusion,--as the harper strides away, richer by a gift of sixpence - taken without thanks.... "But I think he must be a gipsy. Gipsies are - bad people--and they are wizards.... Let us go back to the wood." - - We climb again to the pines, and there squat down upon the sun-flecked - grass, and look over town and sea. But we do not play as before: the - spell of the wizard is strong upon us both.... "Perhaps he is a - goblin," I venture at last, "or a fairy?" "No," says Robert--"only a - gipsy. But that is nearly as bad. They steal children, you know." - - "What shall we do if he comes up here?" I gasp, in sudden terror at - the lonesomeness of our situation. - - "Oh, he wouldn't dare," answers Robert--"not by daylight, you know." - - [Only yesterday, near the village of Takata, I noticed a flower which - the Japanese call by nearly the same name as we do, _Himawari_, "The - Sunward-turning," and over the space of forty years there thrilled - back to me the voice of that wandering harper.... Again I saw the - sun-flecked shadows on that far Welsh hill; and Robert for a moment - again stood beside me, with his girl's face and his curls of gold.] - -Recorded in this artless story are the most vivid suggestions of the -nature of the boy who was to be father of the man Lafcadio Hearn, the -minute observation, the quivering sensitiveness to tones, to -expressions, to colours and odours; profound passions of tenderness; -and--more than all--his nascent interest in the ghostly and the weird. -How great a part this latter had already assumed in his young life one -gathers from one of the autobiographic papers found after his -death--half a dozen fragments of recollection, done exquisitely in his -small beautiful handwriting, and enclosed each in fine Japanese -envelopes. Characteristically they concern themselves but little with -what are called "facts"--though he would have been the last to believe -that emotions produced by events were not after all the most salient of -human facts. - -These records of impressions left upon his nature by the conditions -surrounding his early years open a strange tremulous light upon the -inner life of the lonely, ardent child, and from the shadows created by -that light one can reconstruct perhaps more clearly the shapes about him -by which those shadows were cast than would have been possible with more -direct vision of them. - -The first of the fragments is called - - - MY GUARDIAN ANGEL - - "Weh! weh! - Du hast sie zerstört, - Die schöne Welt!"--FAUST. - -What I am going to relate must have happened when I was nearly six years -old--at which time I knew a great deal about ghosts, and very little -about gods. - -For the best of possible reasons I then believed in ghosts and in -goblins,--because I saw them, both by day and by night. Before going to -sleep I would always cover up my head to prevent them from looking at -me; and I used to scream when I felt them pulling at the bedclothes. And -I could not understand why I had been forbidden to talk about these -experiences. - -But of religion I knew almost nothing. The old lady who had adopted me -intended that I should be brought up a Roman Catholic; but she had not -yet attempted to give me any definite religious instruction. I had been -taught to say a few prayers; but I repeated them only as a parrot might -have done. I had been taken, without knowing why, to church; and I had -been given many small pictures edged with paper lace,--French religious -prints,--of which I did not understand the meaning. To the wall of the -room in which I slept there was suspended a Greek icon,--a miniature -painting in oil of the Virgin and Child, warmly coloured, and protected -by a casing of fine metal that left exposed only the olive-brown faces -and hands and feet of the figures. But I fancied that the brown Virgin -represented my mother--whom I had almost completely forgotten--and the -large-eyed Child, myself. I had been taught to pronounce the invocation, -_In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost_;--but -I did not know what the words signified. One of the appellations, -however, seriously interested me: and the first religious question that -I remember asking was a question about the _Holy Ghost_. It was the word -"Ghost," of course, that had excited my curiosity; and I put the -question with fear and trembling because it appeared to relate to a -forbidden subject. The answer I cannot clearly recollect;--but it gave -me an idea that the Holy Ghost was a _white_ ghost, and not in the habit -of making faces at small people after dusk. Nevertheless the name filled -me with vague suspicion, especially after I had learned to spell it -correctly, in a prayer-book; and I discovered a mystery and an awfulness -unspeakable in the capital G. Even now the aspect of that formidable -letter will sometimes revive those dim and fearsome imaginings of -childhood. - -I suppose that I had been allowed to remain so long in happy ignorance -of dogma because I was a nervous child. Certainly it was for no other -reason that those about me had been ordered not to tell me either -ghost-stories or fairy-tales, and that I had been strictly forbidden to -speak of ghosts. But in spite of such injunctions I was doomed to learn, -quite unexpectedly, something about goblins much grimmer than any which -had been haunting me. This undesirable information was given to me by a -friend of the family,--a visitor. - -Our visitors were few; and their visits, as a rule, were brief. But we -had one privileged visitor who came regularly each autumn to remain -until the following spring,--a convert,--a tall girl who looked like -some of the long angels in my French pictures. At that time I must have -been incapable of forming certain abstract conceptions; but she gave me -the idea of Sorrow as a dim something that she personally represented. -She was not a relation; but I was told to call her "Cousin Jane." For -the rest of the household she was simply "Miss Jane;" and the room that -she used to occupy, upon the third floor, was always referred to as -"Miss Jane's room." I heard it said that she passed her summers in some -convent, and that she wanted to become a nun. I asked why she did not -become a nun; and I was told that I was too young to understand. - -She seldom smiled; and I never heard her laugh; she had some secret -grief of which only my aged protector knew the nature. Although -handsome, young, and rich, she was always severely dressed in black. Her -face, notwithstanding its constant look of sadness, was beautiful; her -hair, a dark chestnut, was so curly that, however smoothed or braided, -it always seemed to ripple; and her eyes, rather deeply-set, were large -and black. Also I remember that her voice, though musical, had a -peculiar metallic tone which I did not like. - -Yet she could make that voice surprisingly tender when speaking to me. -Usually I found her kind,--often more than kind; but there were times -when she became so silent and sombre that I feared to approach her. And -even in her most affectionate moods--even when caressing me--she -remained strangely solemn. In such moments she talked to me about being -good, about being truthful, about being obedient, about trying "to -please God." I detested these exhortations. My old relative had never -talked to me in that way. I did not fully understand; I only knew that I -was being found fault with, and I suspected that I was being pitied. - -And one morning (I remember that it was a gloomy winter -morning),--losing patience at last during one of these tiresome -admonitions, I boldly asked Cousin Jane to tell me why I should try to -please God more than to please anybody else. I was then sitting on a -little stool at her feet. Never can I forget the look that darkened her -features as I put the question. At once she caught me up, placed me upon -her lap, and fixed her black eyes upon my face with a piercing -earnestness that terrified me, as she exclaimed:-- - -"My child!--is it possible that you do not know who God is?" - -"No," I answered in a choking whisper. - -"God!--God who made you!--God who made the sun and the moon and the -sky,--and the trees and the beautiful flowers,--everything!... You do -not know?" - -I was too much alarmed by her manner to reply. - -"You do not know," she went on, "that God made you and me?--that God -made your father and your mother and everybody?... You do not know about -Heaven and Hell?" - -I do not remember all the rest of her words; I can recall with -distinctness only the following:--"and send you down to Hell to burn -alive in fire for ever and ever!... Think of it!--always burning, -burning, burning!--screaming and burning! screaming and burning!--never -to be saved from that pain of fire!... You remember when you burned your -finger at the lamp?--Think of your whole body burning,--always, always, -always burning!--for ever and ever!" - -I can still see her face as in the instant of that utterance,--the -horror upon it, and the pain.... Then she suddenly burst into tears, and -kissed me, and left the room. - -From that time I detested Cousin Jane,--because she had made me unhappy -in a new and irreparable way. I did not doubt what she had said; but I -hated her for having said it,--perhaps especially for the hideous way in -which she had said it. Even now her memory revives the dull pain of the -childish hypocrisy with which I endeavoured to conceal my resentment. -When she left us in the spring, I hoped that she would soon die,--so -that I might never see her face again. - -But I was fated to meet her again under strange circumstances. I am not -sure whether it was in the latter part of the summer that I next saw -her, or early in the autumn; I remember only that it was in the evening -and that the weather was still pleasantly warm. The sun had set; but -there was a clear twilight, full of soft colour; and in that -twilight-time I happened to be on the lobby of the third floor,--all by -myself. - -... I do not know why I had gone up there alone;--perhaps I was looking -for some toy. At all events I was standing in the lobby, close to the -head of the stairs, when I noticed that the door of Cousin Jane's room -seemed to be ajar. Then I saw it slowly opening. The fact surprised me -because that door--the farthest one of three opening upon the lobby--was -usually locked. Almost at the same moment Cousin Jane herself, robed in -her familiar black dress came out of the room, and advanced towards -me--but with her head turned upwards and sidewards, as if she were -looking at something on the lobby-wall, close to the ceiling. I cried -out in astonishment, "Cousin Jane!"--but she did not seem to hear. She -approached slowly, still with her head so thrown back that I could see -nothing of her face above the chin; then she walked directly past me -into the room nearest the stairway,--a bedroom of which the door was -always left open by day. Even as she passed I did not see her -face,--only her white throat and chin, and the gathered mass of her -beautiful hair. Into the bedroom I ran after her, calling out, "Cousin -Jane! Cousin Jane!" I saw her pass round the foot of a great -four-pillared bed, as if to approach the window beyond it; and I -followed her to the other side of the bed. Then, as if first aware of my -presence, she turned; and I looked up, expecting to meet her smile.... -She had no face. There was only a pale blur instead of a face. And even -as I stared, the figure vanished. It did not fade; it simply ceased to -be,--like the shape of a flame blown out. I was alone in that darkening -room,--and afraid, as I had never before been afraid. I did not scream; -I was much too frightened to scream;--I only struggled to the head of -the stairs, and stumbled, and fell,--rolling over and over down to the -next lobby. I do not remember being hurt; the stair-carpets were soft -and very thick. The noise of my tumble brought immediate succour and -sympathy. But I did not say a word about what I had seen; I knew that I -should be punished if I spoke of it.... - -Now some weeks or months later, at the beginning of the cold season, the -real Cousin Jane came back one morning to occupy that room upon the -third floor. She seemed delighted to meet me again; and she caressed me -so fondly that I felt ashamed of my secret dismay at her return. On the -very same day she took me out with her for a walk, and bought me cakes, -toys, pictures,--a multitude of things,--carrying all the packages -herself. I ought to have been grateful, if not happy. But the generous -shame that her caresses had awakened was already gone; and that memory -of which I could speak to no one--least of all to her--again darkened -my thoughts as we walked together. This Cousin Jane who was buying me -toys, and smiling, and chatting, was only, perhaps, the husk of another -Cousin Jane that had no face.... Before the brilliant shops, among the -crowds of happy people, I had nothing to fear. But afterwards--after -dark--might not the Inner disengage herself from the other, and leave -her room, and glide to mine with chin upturned, as if staring at the -ceiling?... Twilight fell before we reached home; and Cousin Jane had -ceased to speak or smile. No doubt she was tired. But I noticed that her -silence and her sternness had begun with the gathering of the dusk,--and -a chill crept over me. - -Nevertheless, I passed a merry evening with my new toys,--which looked -very beautiful under the lamplight. Cousin Jane played with me until -bed-time. Next morning she did not appear at the breakfast-table--I was -told that she had taken a bad cold, and could not leave her bed. She -never again left it alive; and I saw her no more,--except in dreams. -Owing to the dangerous nature of the consumption that had attacked her, -I was not allowed even to approach her room.... She left her money to -somebody in the convent which she used to visit, and her books to me. - -If, at that time, I could have dared to speak of the other Cousin Jane, -somebody might have thought proper--in view of the strange sequel--to -tell me the natural history of such apparitions. But I could not have -believed the explanation. I understood only that I had seen; and because -I had seen I was afraid. - -And the memory of that seeing disturbed me more than ever, after the -coffin of Cousin Jane had been carried away. The knowledge of her death -had filled me, not with sorrow, but with terror. Once I had wished that -she were dead. And the wish had been fulfilled--but the punishment was -yet to come! Dim thoughts, dim fears--enormously older than the -creed of Cousin Jane--awakened within me, as from some prenatal -sleep,--especially a horror of the dead as evil beings, hating -mankind.... Such horror exists in savage minds, accompanied by the vague -notion that character is totally transformed or stripped by death,--that -those departed, who once caressed and smiled and loved, now menace and -gibber and hate.... What power, I asked myself in dismay, could protect -me from her visits? I had not yet ceased to believe in the God of Cousin -Jane; but I doubted whether he would or could do anything for me. -Moreover, my creed had been greatly shaken by the suspicion that Cousin -Jane had always lied. How often had she not assured me that I could not -see ghosts or evil spirits! Yet the Thing that I had seen was assuredly -her inside-self,--the ghost of the goblin of her,--and utterly evil. -Evidently she hated me: she had lured me into a lonesome room for the -sole purpose of making me hideously afraid.... And why had she hated me -thus before she died?--was it because she knew that I hated her,--that I -had wished her to die? Yet how did she know?--could the ghost of her -see, through blood and flesh and bone, into the miserable little ghost -of myself? - -... Anyhow, she had lied.... Perhaps everybody else had lied. Were all -the people that I knew--the warm people, who walked and laughed in the -light--so much afraid of the Things of the Night that they dared not -tell the truth?... To none of these questions could I find a reply. And -there began for me a second period of black faith,--a faith of -unutterable horror, mingled with unutterable doubt. - -I was not then old enough to read serious books: it was only in after -years that I could learn the worth of Cousin Jane's bequest,--which -included a full set of the "Waverley Novels;" the works of Miss -Edgeworth; Martin's Milton--a beautiful copy, in tree-calf; Langhorne's -Plutarch; Pope's "Iliad" and "Odyssey;" Byron's "Corsair" and -"Lara,"--in the old red-covered Murray editions; some quaint -translations of the "Arabian Nights," and Locke's "Essay on the Human -Understanding"! I cannot recall half of the titles; but I remember one -fact that gratefully surprised me: there was not a single religious book -in the collection.... Cousin Jane was a convert: her literary tastes, at -least, were not of Rome. - -Those who knew her history are dust.... How often have I tried to -reproach myself for hating her. But even now in my heart a voice cries -bitterly to the ghost of her: "_Woe! woe!--thou didst destroy it,--the -beautiful world!_" - - * * * * * - -In the paper entitled "Idolatry" he reveals, as by some passing -reflection in a mirror, how his little pagan Greek soul was hardening -itself thus early against the strong fingers endeavouring to shape the -tendencies of his thought into forms entirely alien to it. - - - IDOLATRY - - "Ah, Psyché, from the regions which - Are Holy Land!" - -The early Church did not teach that the gods of the heathen were merely -brass and stone. On the contrary she accepted them as real and -formidable personalities--demons who had assumed divinity to lure their -worshippers to destruction. It was in reading the legends of that -Church, and the lives of her saints, that I obtained my first vague -notions of the pagan gods. - -I then imagined those gods to resemble in some sort the fairies and the -goblins of my nursery-tales, or the fairies in the ballads of Sir Walter -Scott. Goblins and their kindred interested me much more than the ugly -Saints of the Pictorial Church History,--much more than even the slender -angels of my French religious prints, who unpleasantly reminded me of -Cousin Jane. Besides, I could not help suspecting all the friends of -Cousin Jane's God, and feeling a natural sympathy with his -enemies,--whether devils, goblins, fairies, witches, or heathen deities. -To the devils indeed--because I supposed them stronger than the rest--I -had often prayed for help and friendship; very humbly at first, and in -great fear of being too grimly answered,--but afterwards with words of -reproach on finding that my condescensions had been ignored. - -But in spite of their indifference, my sympathy with the enemies of -Cousin Jane's God steadily strengthened; and my interest in all the -spirits that the Church History called evil, especially the heathen -gods, continued to grow. And at last one day I discovered, in one -unexplored corner of our library, several beautiful books about -art,--great folio books containing figures of gods and of demi-gods, -athletes and heroes, nymphs and fauns and nereids, and all the charming -monsters--half-man, half-animal--of Greek mythology. - -How my heart leaped and fluttered on that happy day! Breathless I gazed; -and the longer that I gazed the more unspeakably lovely those faces and -forms appeared. Figure after figure dazzled, astounded, bewitched me. -And this new delight was in itself a wonder,--also a fear. Something -seemed to be thrilling out of those pictured pages,--something invisible -that made me afraid. I remembered stories of the infernal magic that -informed the work of the pagan statuaries. But this superstitious fear -presently yielded to a conviction, or rather intuition--which I could -not possibly have explained--that the gods had been belied _because_ -they were beautiful. - -... (Blindly and gropingly I had touched a truth,--the ugly truth that -beauty of the highest order, whether mental, or moral, or physical, must -ever be hated by the many and loved only by the few!).... And these had -been called devils! I adored them!--I loved them!--I promised to detest -forever all who refused them reverence!... Oh! the contrast between that -immortal loveliness and the squalor of the saints and the patriarchs and -the prophets of my religious pictures!--a contrast indeed as of heaven -and hell.... In that hour the mediæval creed seemed to me the very -religion of ugliness and of hate. And as it had been taught to me, in -the weakness of my sickly childhood, it certainly was. And even to-day, -in spite of larger knowledge, the words "heathen" and "pagan"--however -ignorantly used in scorn--revive within me old sensations of light and -beauty, of freedom and joy. - - * * * * * - -Only with much effort can I recall these scattered memories of boyhood; -and in telling them I am well aware that a later and much more -artificial Self is constantly trying to speak in the place of the Self -that was,--thus producing obvious incongruities. Before trying to relate -anything more concerning the experiences of the earlier Self, I may as -well here allow the Interrupter an opportunity to talk. - -The first perception of beauty ideal is never a cognition, but a -_recognition_. No mathematical or geometrical theory of æsthetics will -ever interpret the delicious shock that follows upon the boy's first -vision of beauty supreme. He himself could not even try to explain why -the newly-seen form appears to him lovelier than aught upon earth. He -only feels the sudden power that the vision exerts upon the mystery of -his own life,--and that feeling is but dim deep memory,--a -blood-remembrance. - -Many do not remember, and therefore cannot see--at any period of life. -There are myriad minds no more capable of perceiving the higher beauty -than the blind wan fish of caves--offspring of generations that swam in -total darkness--is capable of feeling the gladness of light. Probably -the race producing minds like these had no experience of higher -things,--never beheld the happier vanished world of immortal art and -thought. Or perhaps in such minds the higher knowledge has been effaced -or blurred by long dull superimposition of barbarian inheritance. - -But he who receives in one sudden vision the revelation of the antique -beauty,--he who knows the thrill divine that follows after,--the -unutterable mingling of delight and sadness,--he _remembers_! Somewhere, -at some time, in the ages of a finer humanity, he must have lived with -beauty. Three thousand--four thousand years ago: it matters not; what -thrills him now is the shadowing of what has been, the phantom of -rapture forgotten. Without inherited sense of the meaning of beauty as -power, of the worth of it to life and love, never could the ghost in him -perceive, however dimly, the presence of the gods. - -Now I think that something of the ghostliness in this present shell of -me must have belonged to the vanished world of beauty,--must have -mingled freely with the best of its youth and grace and force,--must -have known the worth of long light limbs on the course of glory, and -the pride of the winner in contests, and the praise of maidens stately -as that young sapling of a palm, which Odysseus beheld, springing by the -altar in Delos.... All this I am able to believe, because I could feel, -while yet a boy, the divine humanity of the ancient gods.... - -But this new-found delight soon became for me the source of new sorrows. -I was placed with all my small belongings under religious tutelage; and -then, of course, my reading was subjected to severe examination. One day -the beautiful books disappeared; and I was afraid to ask what had become -of them. After many weeks they were returned to their former place; and -my joy at seeing them again was of brief duration. All of them had been -unmercifully revised. My censors had been offended by the nakedness of -the gods, and had undertaken to correct that impropriety. Parts of many -figures, dryads, naiads, graces, muses had been found too charming and -erased with a pen-knife;--I can still recall one beautiful seated -figure, whose breasts had been thus excised. Evidently "the breasts of -the nymphs in the brake" had been found too charming: dryads, naiads, -graces and muses--all had been rendered breastless. And, in most cases, -_drawers_ had been put upon the gods--even upon the tiny Loves--large -baggy bathing-drawers, woven with cross-strokes of a quill-pen, so -designed as to conceal all curves of beauty,--especially the lines of -the long fine thighs.... However, in my case, this barbarism proved of -some educational value. It furnished me with many problems of -restoration; and I often tried very hard to reproduce in pencil-drawing -the obliterated or the hidden line. In this I was not successful; but, -in spite of the amazing thoroughness with which every mutilation or -effacement had been accomplished, my patient study of the methods of -attack enabled me--long before I knew Winckelmann--to understand how -Greek artists had idealized the human figure.... Perhaps that is why, in -after years, few modern representations of the nude could interest me -for any length of time. However graceful at first sight the image might -appear, something commonplace would presently begin to reveal itself in -the lines of those very forms against which my early tutors had waged -such implacable war. - -Is it not almost invariably true that the modern naked figure, as -chiselled or painted, shadows something of the modern living -model,--something, therefore, of individual imperfection? Only the -antique work of the grand era is superindividual,--reflecting the -ideal-supreme in the soul of a race.... Many, I know, deny this;--but do -we not remain, to some degree, barbarians still? Even the good and great -Ruskin, on the topic of Greek art, spake often like a Goth. Did he not -call the Medicean Venus "an uninteresting little person"? - - * * * * * - -Now after I had learned to know and to love the elder gods, the world -again began to glow about me. Glooms that had brooded over it slowly -thinned away. The terror was not yet gone; but I now wanted only -reasons to disbelieve all that I feared and hated. In the sunshine, in -the green of the fields, in the blue of the sky, I found a gladness -before unknown. Within myself new thoughts, new imaginings, dim longings -for I knew not what were quickening and thrilling. I looked for beauty, -and everywhere found it: in passing faces--in attitudes and motions,--in -the poise of plants and trees,--in long white clouds,--in faint-blue -lines of far-off hills. At moments the simple pleasure of life would -quicken to a joy so large, so deep, that it frightened me. But at other -times there would come to me a new and strange sadness,--a shadowy and -inexplicable pain. - -I had entered into my Renaissance. - - * * * * * - -Already must have begun the inevitable fissure between himself and his -pious protectress, and one may imagine the emotions of his spiritual -pastors and masters aroused by such an incident as this--related in one -of his letters of later years:-- - -"This again reminds me of something. When I was a boy I had to go to -confession, and my confessions were honest ones. One day I told the -ghostly father that I had been guilty of desiring that the devil would -come to me in the shape of the beautiful women in which he came to the -anchorites in the desert, and that I thought I should yield to such -temptations. He was a grim man who rarely showed emotion, my confessor, -but on that occasion he actually rose to his feet in anger. - -"'Let me warn you!' he cried, 'let me warn you! Of all things never wish -that! You might be more sorry for it than you can possibly believe!' - -"His earnestness filled me with a fearful joy;--for I thought the -temptation might actually be realized--so serious he looked ... but the -pretty _succubi_ all continued to remain in hell." - -From these indications the belief is unavoidable that there was never -the slightest foundation for the assertion that an endeavour was made to -train him for the priesthood. In a letter to his brother he distinctly -denies it. He says:-- - -"You were misinformed as to Grand-aunt educating your brother for the -priesthood. He had the misfortune to pass some years in Catholic -colleges, where the educational system chiefly consists in keeping the -pupils as ignorant as possible. He was not even a Catholic." - -Indeed his bitterness against the Roman Church eventually crystallized -into something like an obsession, aroused perhaps by inherited -tendencies, by the essential character of his mind, and by those in -authority over him in his boyhood driving him, by too great an -insistence, to revolt. He was profoundly convinced that the Church, with -its persistent memory and far-reaching hand, had never forgotten his -apostasy, nor failed to remind him of the fact from time to time. This -conviction remained a dim and threatening shadow in the background of -his whole life; to all remonstrance on the subject his only reply was, -"You don't know the Church as I do;" and several curious coincidences in -crises of his career seemed to him to justify and confirm this belief. - -Of the course and character of his education but little is known. He is -said to have spent two years in a Jesuit college in the north of France, -where he probably acquired his intimate and accurate knowledge of the -French tongue. He was also for a time at Ushaw, the Roman Catholic -college at Durham,[2] and here occurred one of the greatest misfortunes -of his life. In playing the game known as "The Giant's Stride" he was -accidentally blinded in one eye by the knotted end of a rope suddenly -released from the hand of one of his companions. In consequence of this -the work thrown upon the other eye by the enormous labours of his later -years kept him in constant terror of complete loss of sight. In writing -and reading he used a glass so large and heavy as to oblige him to have -it mounted in a handle and to hold it to his eye like a lorgnette, and -for distant observation he carried a small folding telescope. - - [2] A cousin writes of him at this period: "I remember him a boy - with a great taste for drawing. Very near-sighted, but so - tender and careful of me as a little child. He was at a - priest's college where I was taken by my grand-aunt (who had - adopted him), to see him. I remember his taking me upstairs to - look at the school-room, and on the way bidding me bow to an - image of the Virgin, which I refused to do. He became very much - excited and begged me to tell him the reason of my refusal. He - always seemed very much in earnest, and to have a very - sensitive nature." - - A fellow-pupil at Ushaw says of him:-- - - "My acquaintance with him began at Ushaw college, near Durham. - Discovering that we had some tastes in common, we chummed a good - deal, discussing our favourite authors, which in Lafcadio's case - were chiefly poets, though he also took considerable interest in - books of travel and adventure. Even then his style was remarkable - for graphic power, combined with graceful expression.... He was of - a very speculative turn of mind, and I have a lively recollection - of the shock it occasioned to several of us when he one day - announced his disbelief in the Bible. I am of opinion, however, - that he was then only posing as an _esprit fort_, for a few days - afterwards, during a walk with the class in the country, he - returned to this subject in discussion with a master, and I - inferred from what he said to me that he was quite satisfied with - the evidences of the truth of the Scriptures. It is interesting in - connection with this to recall his subsequent adoption of - Buddhism. I am rather inclined to think that in either 1864 or - 1865 Lafcadio devoted more attention to general literature than to - his school studies, as (if my memory does not play me false) he - was 'turned back' on our class moving into 'Grammar.'... - - "Longfellow was one of his favourite poets, his beautiful imagery - and felicity of expression appealing with peculiar force to a - kindred soul. He was fond of repeating scraps of poetry - descriptive of heroic combats, feats of arms, or of the prowess of - the Baresarks, or Berserkers, as described in Norse sagas.... He - used to dwell with peculiar satisfaction on the line:-- - - 'Like Thor's hammer, huge and dinted, was his horny hand.' - - Lafcadio was proud of his biceps, and on repeating this line he - would bend his right arm and grasp the muscle with his left hand. - I often addressed him as 'The Man of Gigantic Muscle.' After he - went to America I had little communication with him beyond, I - think, one letter. We then drifted different ways. He was a very - lovable character, extremely sympathetic and sincere." - -The slight disfigurement, too,--it was never great,--was a source of -perpetual distress. He imagined that others, more particularly women, -found him disgusting and repugnant in consequence of the film that -clouded the iris. - -This accident seems to have ended his career at Ushaw, for his name -appears upon the rolls for 1865, when he was in his sixteenth year, and -in a letter written in Japan to one of his pupils, whom he reproves for -discouragement because of an interruption of his studies caused by -illness, he says:-- - -"A little bodily sickness may come to any one. Many students die, many -go mad, many do foolish things and ruin themselves for life. You are -good at your studies, and mentally in sound health, and steady in your -habits--three conditions which ought to mean success. You have good eyes -and a clear brain. How many thousands fail for want of these? - -"When I was a boy of sixteen, although my blood relations were--some of -them--very rich, no one would pay anything to help me finish my -education. I had to become what you never have had to become--a servant. -I partly lost my sight. I had two years of sickness in bed. I had no one -to help me. And I had to educate myself in spite of all difficulties. -Yet I was brought up in a rich home, surrounded with every luxury of -Western life. - -"So, my dear boy, do not lie there in your bed and fret, and try to -persuade yourself that you are unfortunate." - -This is the only light to be found upon those three dark years between -his leaving Ushaw and his arrival in America. The rupture with his -grand-aunt was complete. Among the fanatic converts were not wanting -those to widen the breach made by the pagan fancies of the boy. Her -property, which he had been encouraged to look upon as his inheritance, -was dribbling away in the hands of those whose only claim to business -ability was their religious convictions, and a few years after their -separation her death put an end to any efforts at reconciliation and -showed what great financial sacrifices she had made in the interests of -her faith. Some provision was made for him in her will, but he put -forward no claims, and the property was found practically to have -vanished. - -To what straits the boy was driven at this time in his friendlessness -there is no means of knowing. One of his companions at Ushaw says:-- - -"In 1866 I left Ushaw, and I am unable to recall now whether he was -there at that time. I had several letters from him subsequently, at a -time when he was suffering the _peine forte et dure_ of direct penury in -London. In some evil quarter by the Thames poverty obliged him to take -refuge in the workhouse. In a letter received from him while living in -that dreadful place, he described the sights and sounds of horror which -even then preferred the shade of night--of windows thrown violently -open, or shattered to pieces, shrieks of agony, or cries of murder, -followed by a heavy plunge in the river." - -The reference in the Japanese letter mentioned above is the only one to -be found in his correspondence, and in even the most intimate talk with -friends he avoided reference to this period as one too painful for -confidence. Another fragment of the autobiography--"Stars"--can, -however, be guessed to refer to an experience of this cruel time. - -"I take off my clothes,--few and thin,--and roll them up into a bundle, -to serve me for a pillow: then I creep naked into the hay.... Oh, the -delight of my hay-bed--the first bed of any sort for many a long -night!--oh, the pleasure of the sense of rest! The sweet scent of the -hay!... Overhead, through a skylight, I see stars--sharply shining: -there is frost in the air. - -"The horses, below, stir heavily at moments, and paw. I hear them -breathe; and their breath comes up to me in steam. The warmth of their -great bodies fills the building, penetrates the hay, quickens my -blood;--their life is my fire. - -"So contentedly they breathe!... They must be aware that I am -here--nestling in their hay. But they do not mind;--and for that I am -grateful. Grateful, too, for the warmth of their breath, the warmth of -their pure bodies, the warmth of their good hay,--grateful even for -those stirrings which they make in their rest, filling the dark with -assurance of large dumb tolerant companionship.... I wish I could tell -them how thankful I am,--how much I like them,--what pleasure I feel in -the power that proceeds from them, in the sense of force and life that -they spread through the silence, like a large warm Soul.... - -"It is better that they cannot understand. For they earn their good food -and lodging;--they earn the care that keeps them glossy and -beautiful;--they are of use in the world. And of what use in the world -am I?... - -"Those sharply shining stars are suns,--enormous suns. They must be -giving light to multitudes unthinkable of other worlds.... In some of -those other worlds there must be cities, and creatures resembling -horses, and stables for them, and hay, and small things--somewhat like -rats or mice--hiding in the hay.... I know that there are a hundred -millions of suns. The horses do not know. But, nevertheless, they are -worth, I have been told, fifteen hundred dollars each: they are superior -beings! How much am I worth?... - -"To-morrow, after they have been fed, I also shall be fed--by kindly -stealth;--and I shall not have earned the feeding, in spite of the fact -that I know there are hundreds of millions of suns!" - - * * * * * - -Sometime during the year 1869--the exact date cannot be -ascertained--Lafcadio Hearn, nineteen years old, penniless, delicate, -half-blind, and without a friend, found himself in the streets of New -York. - - - - - CHAPTER II - - THE ARTIST'S APPRENTICESHIP - - -It is more than doubtful if any individual amid the hurrying multitudes -swarming in the streets of New York in 1869 and 1870 ever noticed with -interest--though many of them must have seen--the shy, shabby boy, -Lafcadio Hearn. He was thin to attenuation, for his meals were scant and -uncertain; his dress was threadbare, for in all the two years he never -possessed enough money to renew the garments he had worn upon landing, -and his shabbiness must have been extreme, for he had during the greater -part of that period no home other than a carpenter's shop, where a -friendly Irish workman allowed him to sleep on the shavings and cook his -meals upon the small stove, in return for a little rough book-keeping -and running of errands. Yet a few may have turned for a second glance at -the dark face and eagle profile of the emaciated, unkempt boy, though -unsuspecting that this was one--few in each generation--of those who -have dreamed the Dream, and seen the Vision, that here was one of those -whom Socrates termed "dæmonic." One who had looked in secret places, -face to face, upon the magic countenance of the Muse, and was thereafter -vowed to the quest of the Holy Cup wherein glows the essential blood of -beauty. One who must follow forever in poverty hard after the Dream, -leaving untouched on either hand the goods for which his fellows strove; -falling at times into the mire, torn by the thorns that others evade, -lost often, and often overtaken by the night of discouragement and -despair, but rising again from besmirchments and defacings to follow the -vision to the end. It is hard for those who have never laboured wearily -after the glimmering feet of the bearer of the Cup, who have never -touched even the hem of her garment, to understand the spiritual -_possession_ of one under the vow. To them in such a career will be -visible only the fantastic or squalid episodes of the quest. - -What were the boy's thoughts at this period; what his hopes, his aims, -or his intentions it is now impossible to know. Merely to keep life in -his body taxed his powers, and while much of his time was spent in the -refuge of the public libraries he was often so faint from inanition as -to be unable to benefit by the books he sought. - -The fourth fragment of the autobiography appears to refer to this -unhappy period. - - - INTUITION - - I was nineteen years old, and a stranger in the great strange world of - America, and grievously tormented by grim realities. As I did not know - how to face those realities, I tried to forget them as much as - possible; and romantic dreams, daily nourished at a public library, - helped me to forget. Next to this unpaid luxury of reading, my chief - pleasure was to wander about the streets of the town, trying to find - in passing faces--faces of girls--some realization of certain ideals. - And I found an almost equal pleasure in looking at the photographs - placed on display at the doors of photographers' shops,--called, in - that place and time, "galleries." Picture-galleries they were indeed - for me, during many, many penniless months. - - One day, in a by-street, I discovered a new photographer's shop; and - in a glass case, at the entrance, I beheld a face the first sight of - which left me breathless with wonder and delight,--a face incomparably - surpassing all my dreams. It was the face of a young woman wearing, - for head-dress, something that looked like an embroidered scarf; and - this extraordinary head-dress might have been devised for the purpose - of displaying, to artistic advantage, the singular beauty of the - features. The gaze of the large dark eyes was piercing and calm; the - aquiline curve of the nose was clear as the curve of a sword; the - mouth was fine, but firm;--and, in spite of the sensitive delicacy of - this face, there was a something accipitrine about it,--something - sinister and superb, that made me think of a falcon.... For a long, - long time I stood looking at it, and the more I looked, the more the - splendid wonder of it seemed to grow--like a fascination. I thought - that I would suffer much--ever so much!--for the privilege of - worshipping the real woman. But who was she? I dared not ask the owner - of the "gallery;" and I could not think of any other means of finding - out. - - I had one friend in those days,--the only fellow countryman whom I - knew in that American town,--a man who had preceded me into exile by - nearly forty years,--and to him I went. With all of my boyish - enthusiasms he used to feel an amused sympathy; and when I told him - about my discovery, he at once proposed to go with me to the - photograph-shop. - - For several moments he studied the picture in silence, knitting his - grey brows with a puzzled expression. Then he exclaimed - emphatically,-- - - "That is not an American." - - "What do you think of the face?" I queried, anxiously. - - "It is a wonderful face," he answered,--"a very wonderful face. But it - is not an American, nor an English face." - - "Spanish?" I suggested. "Or Italian?" - - "No, no," he returned, very positively. "It is not a European face at - all." - - "Perhaps a Jewess?"--I ventured. - - "No; there are very beautiful Jewish faces,--but none like that." - - "Then what can it be?" - - "I do not know;--there is some strange blood there." - - "How can you tell?" I protested. - - "Why, I feel it;--I am quite sure of it.... But wait here a moment!--I - know this photographer, and I shall ask him." - - And, to my delight, he went in.... Alas! the riddle was not to be - solved so quickly as we had hoped. The owner of the picture said that - he did not know whose portrait it was. He had bought it, with a - number of other "stock-photographs," from a wholesale dealer in - photographic wares. It had been taken in Paris; but the card upon - which it was now mounted did not bear the name of the French - photographer. - - Now my friend was a wanderer whose ties with England had been broken - before I was born;--he knew the most surprising things about weird - places and strange peoples, but had long ceased to feel any interest - in the life of the mother country. For that reason, probably, the - picture proved not less of a riddle to him than to me. The - photographer was a young man who had never left his native state; and - his stock-in-trade had been obtained, of course, through an agency. As - for myself, I was hopelessly separated, by iron circumstances, from - that ordered society which seeks its pleasures in art and music and - drama. Otherwise, how easily might I have learned the name of the - marvellous being who had cast that shadow! But many long years went by - before I learned it. - - I had then forgotten all about the picture. I was in a Southern city, - hundreds of miles away; and I happened to be leaning on the counter of - a druggist's shop, talking to the druggist, when I suddenly perceived, - in a glass case at my elbow, the very same enigmatic photograph. It - had been pasted, as a label, on the lid of some box of cosmetic. And - again there tingled, through all my blood, the same thrill of wonder - and delight that I had felt as a boy, at the door of that - photographer.... - - "Excuse me for interrupting you a moment," I exclaimed;--"please tell - me whose face is that." - - The druggist glanced at the photograph, and then smiled--as people - smile at silly questions. - - "Is it possible that you do not know?" he responded. - - "I do not," I said. "Years ago I saw that photograph and I could not - find out whose picture it was." - - "You are joking!" - - "Really I am not," I said;--"and I very much want to know." - - Then he told me--but I need not repeat the name of the great - tragédienne.... At once flashed back to me the memory of my old - friend's declaration:--"_There is some strange blood there._" After - all, he was right! In the veins of that wonderful woman ran the blood - of Indian kings. - - * * * * * - -What drove him at the end of the two years to endeavour to reach -Cincinnati, Ohio, is not clear. The only light to be gathered upon the -subject is from the fifth part of the autobiographical fragments, which -suggests that he made the journey in an emigrant train and had not money -for food upon the way. After thirty years, the clearest memory of that -dolorous pilgrimage was of the distress of being misunderstood by the -friendly girl who pitied his sufferings. The record of it bears the -title of - - MY FIRST ROMANCE - - There has been sent to me, across the world, a little book stamped, on - its yellow cover, with names of Scandinavian publishers,--names - sounding of storm and strand and surge. And the sight of those names, - worthy of Frost-Giants, evokes the vision of a face,--simply because - that face has long been associated, in my imagination, with legends - and stories of the North--especially, I think, with the wonderful - stories of Björnstjerne Björnson. - - It is the face of a Norwegian peasant-girl of nineteen summers,--fair - and ruddy and strong. She wears her national costume: her eyes are - grey like the sea, and her bright braided hair is tied with a blue - ribbon. She is tall; and there is an appearance of strong grace about - her, for which I can find no word. Her name I never learned, and never - shall be able to learn;--and now it does not matter. By this time she - may have grandchildren not a few. But for me she will always be the - maiden of nineteen summers,--fair and fresh from the land of the - _Hrimthursar_,--a daughter of gods and Vikings. From the moment of - seeing her I wanted to die for her; and I dreamed of _Valkyrja_ and of - _Vala_-maids, of _Freyja_ and of _Gerda_.... - - * * * * * - - --She is seated, facing me, in an American railroad-car,--a - third-class car, full of people whose forms have become - indistinguishably dim in memory. She alone remains luminous, vivid: - the rest have faded into shadow,--all except a man, sitting beside me, - whose dark Jewish face, homely and kindly, is still visible in - profile. Through the window on our right she watches the strange new - world through which we are passing: there is a trembling beneath us, - and a rhythm of thunder, while the train sways like a ship in a storm. - - An emigrant-train it is; and she, and I, and all those dim people are - rushing westward, ever westward,--through days and nights that seem - preternaturally large,--over distances that are monstrous. The light - is of a summer day; and shadows slant to the east. - - The man beside me says:-- - - "She must leave us to-morrow;--she goes to Redwing, Minnesota.... You - like her very much?--yes, she's a fine girl. I think you wish that you - were also going to Redwing, Minnesota?" - - I do not answer. I am angry that he should know what I wish. And it is - very rude of him, I think, to let me know that he knows. - - Mischievously, he continues:-- - - "If you like her so much, why don't you talk to her? Tell me what you - would like to say to her; and I'll interpret for you.... Bah! you must - not be afraid of the girls!" - - Oh!--the idea of telling _him_ what I should like to say to her!... - Yet it is not possible to see him smile, and to remain vexed with him. - - Anyhow, I do not feel inclined to talk. For thirty-eight hours I have - not eaten anything; and my romantic dreams, nourished with - tobacco-smoke only, are frequently interrupted by a sudden inner - aching that makes me wonder how long I shall be able to remain without - food. Three more days of railroad travel--and no money!... My - neighbour yesterday asked me why I did not eat;--how quickly he - changed the subject when I told him! Certainly I have no right to - complain: there is no reason why he should feed me. And I reflect upon - the folly of improvidence. - - Then my reflection is interrupted by the apparition of a white hand - holding out to me a very, very large slice of brown bread, with an - inch-thick cut of yellow cheese thereon; and I look up, hesitating, - into the face of the Norwegian girl. Smiling, she says to me, in - English, with a pretty childish accent: - - "Take it, and eat it." - - I take it, and devour it. Never before nor since did brown bread and - cheese seem to me so good. Only after swallowing the very last crumb - do I suddenly become aware that, in my surprise and hunger, I forgot - to thank her. Impulsively, and at the wrong moment, I try to say some - grateful words. - - Instantly, and up to the roots of her hair, she flushes crimson: then, - bending forward, she puts some question in a clear sharp tone that - fills me with fear and shame. I do not understand the question: I - understand only that she is angry; and for one cowering moment my - instinct divines the power and the depth of Northern anger. My face - burns; and her grey eyes, watching it burn, are grey steel; and her - smile is the smile of a daughter of men who laugh when they are angry. - And I wish myself under the train,--under the earth,--utterly out of - sight forever. But my dark neighbour makes some low-voiced - protest,--assures her that I had only tried to thank her. Whereat the - level brows relax, and she turns away, without a word, to watch the - flying landscape; and the splendid flush fades from her cheek as - swiftly as it came. But no one speaks: the train rushes into the dusk - of five and thirty years ago ... and that is all! - - * * * * * - - ... What _can_ she have imagined that I said?... My swarthy comrade - would not tell me. Even now my face burns again at the thought of - having caused a moment's anger to the kind heart that pitied - me,--brought a blush to the cheek of the being for whose sake I would - so gladly have given my life.... But the shadow, the golden shadow of - her, is always with me; and, because of her, even the name of the land - from which she came is very, very dear to me. - - * * * * * - -In Cincinnati Hearn eventually found work that enabled him to live, -though this did not come immediately, as is proved by an anecdote, -related by himself, of his early days there. A Syrian peddler employed -him to help dispose of some accumulated wares, sending him out with a -consignment of small mirrors. Certainly no human being was more unfitted -by nature for successful peddling than Lafcadio Hearn, and at the end of -the day he returned to the Syrian with the consignment intact. Setting -down his burden to apologize for his failure he put his foot -accidentally upon one of the mirrors, and thrown into a panic by the -sound of the splintering glass, he fled incontinently, and never saw the -merchant again, nor ever again attempted mercantile pursuits. - -The first regular work he obtained was as a type-setter and proof-reader -in the Robert Clarke Company, where--as he mentions in one of his -letters--he endeavoured to introduce reforms in the American methods of -punctuation, and assimilate it more closely to the English standards, -but without, as he confesses, any success. It was from some of these -struggles for typographical changes, undertaken with hot-headed -enthusiasm for perfection, that he derived his nickname of "Old -Semicolon," given him in amiable derision by his fellows. Mechanical -work of this character could not satisfy him long, though the experience -was useful to the young artist in words beginning his laborious -self-training in the use of his tools. Punctuation and typographical -form remained for him always a matter of profound importance, and in one -of his letters he declared that he would rather abandon all the -royalties to his publisher than be deprived of the privilege of -correcting his own proofs; corrections which in their amplitude often -devoured in printer's charges the bulk of his profits. - -[Illustration: LAFCADIO HEARN - _About 1873_] - -Later he secured, for a brief period, a position as private secretary to -Thomas Vickers, at that time librarian of the public library of -Cincinnati, and here again he found food for his desires in a free -access to the recondite matters to which already his genius was tending; -but again he was driven by poverty and circumstance into broader fields, -and early in 1874 he was working as a general reporter on the Cincinnati -_Enquirer_. His work was of a kind that gave him at first no scope -for his talents and must have been peculiarly unsympathetic, consisting -of daily market reports, until chance opened the eyes of his employers -to his capacity for better things. A peculiarly atrocious crime, still -known in Cincinnati annals as the "Tan-yard Murder," had been -communicated to the office of the _Enquirer_ at a moment when all the -members of the staff, usually detailed to cover such assignments, were -absent. The editor calling upon the indifferent gods for some one -instantly to take up the matter, was surprised by a timid request from -the shy cub-reporter who turned in daily market "stuff," to be allowed -to deal with this tragedy, and after some demur, he consented to accept -what appeared an inadequate answer from the adjured deities. The "copy" -submitted some hours later caused astonished eyebrows, was considered -worthy of "scare-heads," and for the nine succeeding days of the life of -the wonder, Cincinnati sought ardently the Hoffmannesque story whose -poignantly chosen phrases set before them a grim picture that caused the -flesh to crawl upon their bones. It was realized at once that the -cub-reporter had unsuspected capacities and his talents were allowed -expansion in the direction of descriptive stories. One of the most -admired of these was a record of a visit to the top of the spire of St. -Peter's Cathedral, where hauled in ropes by a steeple-jack to the arms -of the cross which crowned it, he obtained a lofty view of the city and -returned to write an article that enabled all the town to see the great -panorama through his myopic eyes, which yet could bear testimony to -colour and detail not obvious to clearer vision. - -It was in this year that some trusting person was found willing to -advance a small sum of money for the publication of an amorphous little -Sunday sheet, professedly comic and satiric, entitled _Ye Giglampz_. H. -F. Farny contributed the cartoons, and Lafcadio Hearn the bulk of the -text. On June 21st of that year the first number appeared, with the -announcement that it was to be "published daily, except week days," and -was to be "devoted to art, literature, and satire." The first page was -adorned with a Dicky Doylish picture of Herr Kladderadatsch presenting -Mr. Giglampz to an enthusiastic public, which showed decided talent, but -the full page cartoon, though it may have been amusing when published, -is satire turned dry and dusty after the lapse of thirty-two years, and -it may be only vaguely discerned now to refer in some way to the -question of a third term for President Grant. - -The pictures are easily preferable to the text, though no doubt it too -has suffered from the desiccation of time, but Lafcadio Hearn was at no -time, one might infer, better fitted for satire than for peddling; _Ye -Giglampz_ plainly "jooks wi' deefeculty," and the young journalist's -views upon art and politics are such as might be expected from a boy of -twenty-four. - -The prohibition question, the Chicago fire, a local river disaster, and -the Beecher scandal are all dealt with by pen and pencil, much clipping -from _Punch_ and some translations from the comic journals of Paris -fill the columns, and after nine weeks _Ye Giglampz_ met an early and -well-deserved death. The only copies of the paper now known to be in -existence are contained in a bound volume belonging to Mr. Farny, -discovered by him in a second-hand bookshop, with some pencil notes in -the margin in Hearn's handwriting. One of these notes records that an -advertisement--there were but three in the first number--was never paid -for, so presumably this volume, monument of an unfortunate juvenile -exploit, was once in Hearn's meagre library, but was discarded when he -left Cincinnati. - -In the following year Hearn had left the _Enquirer_ and was recording -the Exposition of 1876 for the _Gazette_, and in the latter part of that -year he was a regular reporter for the _Commercial_. - -In 1895--writing to Professor Basil Hall Chamberlain--Hearn speaks of -John Cockerill, then visiting Japan, and draws an astonishingly vivid -picture of the editor who was in command of the Cincinnati _Enquirer_ in -the '70's. These occasional trenchant, accurate sketches from life, to -be found here and there in his correspondence, show a shrewdness of -judgement and coolness of observation which his companions never -suspected. He says:-- - -"I began daily newspaper work in 1874, in the city of Cincinnati, on a -paper called the _Enquirer_ edited by a sort of furious young man named -Cockerill. He was a hard master, a tremendous worker, and a born -journalist. I think none of us liked him, but we all admired his ability -to run things. He used to swear at us, work us half to death (never -sparing himself), and he had a rough skill in sarcasm that we were all -afraid of. He was fresh from the army, and full of army talk. In a few -years he had forced up the circulation of the paper to a very large -figure and made a fortune for the proprietor, who got jealous of him and -got rid of him.... He afterwards took hold of a St. Louis paper,--then -of a New York daily, the _World_.... He ran the circulation up to nearly -a quarter of a million, and again had the proprietor's jealousy to -settle with.... He also built up the _Advertiser_, but getting tired, -sold out, and went travelling. Finally, Bennett of the _Herald_ sends -him to Japan at, I believe, $10,000 a year. - -"I met him here to-day and talked over old times. He has become much -gentler and more pleasant, and seems to be very kindly. He is also a -little grey. What I have said about him shows that he is no very common -person. The man who can make three or four fortunes for other men, -without doing the same thing for himself, seldom is. He is not a -literary man, nor a well-read man, nor a scholar,--but has immense -common sense, and a large experience of life,--besides being, in a -Mark-Twainish way, much of a humourist." - -Those who knew John Cockerill will find in this portrait not one line -omitted which would make for truth and sympathy. One of Hearn's -associates of this period, Joseph Tunison, says of his work:-- - -"In Cincinnati such work was much harder than now, because more and -better work was demanded of a man for his weekly stipend than at -present.... Had he been then on a New York daily his articles would have -attracted bidding from rival managements, but in Cincinnati there was -little, if any, encouragement for such brilliant powers as his. The -_Commercial_ took him on at twenty dollars a week.... Though he worked -hard for a pittance he never slighted anything he had to do.... He was -never known to shirk hardship or danger in filling an assignment.... His -employers kept him at the most arduous work of a daily morning -paper--the night stations--for in that field developed the most -sensational events, and he was strongest in the unusual and the -startling." - -For two years more this was the routine of his daily life. He formed, in -spite of his shyness, some ties of intimacy; especially with Joseph -Tunison, a man of unusual classical learning, with H. F. Farny, the -artist, and with the now well-known musical critic and lecturer, H. E. -Krehbiel. Into these companionships he threw all the ardour of a very -young man; an ardour increased beyond even the usual intensity of young -friendships, by the natural warmth of his feelings and the loneliness of -his life, bereft of all those ties of family common to happier fates. In -their company he developed a quality of bonhomie that underlay the -natural seriousness of his temperament, and is frequently visible in his -letters, breaking through the gravity of his usual trend of thought. -Absence and time diminished but little his original enthusiasm, as the -letters included in this volume will bear testimony, though in later -years one by one his early friendships were chilled and abandoned. One -of the charges frequently brought against Lafcadio Hearn by his critics -in after years was that he was inconstant in his relations with his -friends. Mr. Tunison says of him:-- - -"He had a fashion of dropping his friends one by one, or of letting them -drop him, which comes to the same thing. Whether indifference or -suspicion was at the bottom of this habit would be hard to say, but he -never spoke ill of them afterwards. He seemed to forget all about them, -though two or three acquaintances of his early years of struggle and -privation were always after spoken of with the tenderest regard, and -their companionship was eagerly sought whenever this was possible." - -The charge of inconstancy is, to those who knew Lafcadio Hearn well, of -a sufficiently serious nature to warrant some analysis at this point, -while dealing with the subject of his first intimacies, for up to this -period he appears to have had no ties other than those, so bitterly -ruptured, with the people of his own blood, or the mere passing amities -of school-boy life. That many of his closest friendships were either -broken abruptly or sank into abeyance is quite true, but the reason for -this was explicable in several ways. The first and most comprehensible -cause was his inherent shyness of nature and an abnormal sensitiveness, -which his early experiences intensified to a point not easily understood -by those of a naturally self-confident temperament unqualified by -blighting childish impressions. A look, a word, which to the ordinary -robust nature would have had no meaning of importance, touched the -quivering sensibilities of the man like a searing acid, and stung him to -an anguish of resentment and bitterness which nearly always seemed -fantastically out of proportion to the offender, and this bitterness was -usually misjudged and resented. Only those cursed with similar -sensibilities--"as tender as the horns of cockled snails"--could -understand and forgive such an idiosyncrasy. It must be remembered that -all qualities have their synchronous defects. The nature which is as -reflective as water to the subtlest shades of the colour and form of -life must of its essential character be subject to rufflement by the -lightest breath of harshness or misconception. - -Professor Chamberlain, who himself suffered from this tendency to -unwarranted estrangement, has dealt with another phase of the matter -with a noble sympathy too rare among Hearn's friends. He says, in a -letter to the biographer:-- - -"The second point was his attitude toward his friends,--his quondam -friends,--all of whom he gradually dropped, with but very few -exceptions. Some I know who were deeply and permanently irritated by -this neglect, or ingratitude, as they termed it. I never could share -such a feeling, though of course I lamented the severance of connection -with one so gifted, and made two or three attempts at a renewal of -intercourse, which were met at first by cold politeness, afterwards with -complete silence, causing me to desist from further endeavours. The -reason I could not resent this was because Lafcadio's dropping of his -friends seemed to me to have its roots in that very quality which made -the chief charm of his works. I mean his idealism. Friends, when he -first made them, were for him more than mere mortal men, they stood -endowed with every perfection. He painted them in the beautiful colours -of his own fancy, and worshipped them, pouring out at their feet all the -passionate emotionalism of his Greek nature. But Lafcadio was not -emotional merely; another side of his mind had the keen insight of a man -of science. Thus he soon came to see that his idols had feet of clay, -and--being so purely subjective in his judgements--he was indignant with -them for having, as he thought, deceived him. Add to this that the rigid -character of his philosophical opinions made him perforce despise, as -intellectual weaklings, all those who did not share them, or shared them -only in a lukewarm manner,--and his disillusionment with a series of -friends in whom he had once thought to find intellectual sympathy is -seen to have been inevitable. For no man living, except himself, -idolized Herbert Spencer in his peculiar way; turning Spencer's -scientific speculations into a kind of mysticism. This mysticism became -a religion to him. The slightest cavil raised against it was resented by -him as a sacrilege. Thus it was hardly possible for him to retain old -ties of friendship except with a few men whom he met on the plane of -every-day life apart from the higher intellectual interests. Lafcadio -himself was a greater sufferer from all this than any one else; for he -possessed the affectionate disposition of a child, and suffered -poignantly when sympathy was withdrawn, or--what amounted to the -same--when he himself withdrew it. He was much to be pitied,--always -wishing to love, and discovering each time that his love had been -misplaced." - -To put the matter in its simplest form, he loved with a completeness and -tenderness extremely rare among human beings. When he discovered--as all -who love in this fashion eventually do--that the objects of his -affection had no such tenderness to give in return, he felt himself both -deceived and betrayed and allowed the relation to pass into the silence -of oblivion. - -There is still another facet of this subject which is made clear by some -of the letters written in the last years of his life, when he had -withdrawn himself almost wholly from intercourse with all save his -immediate family. Failing strength warned him that not many more years -remained in which to complete his self-imposed task, and like a man who -nears his goal with shortening breath and labouring pulse, he let slip -one by one every burden, and cast from him his dearest possessions, lest -even the weight of one love should hold him back from the final grasp -upon the ideal he had so long pursued with avid heart. This matter has -been dwelt upon at some length, and somewhat out of due place, but the -charge of disloyalty to friendship is a serious one, and a full -understanding of the facts upon which it rested is important to a -comprehension of the man. - -In these early days in Cincinnati, however, no blight had yet come upon -his young friendships, and they proved a source of great delight. -Krehbiel was already deeply immersed in studies of folk-songs and -folk-music,--his collection of which has since become famous,--and -Lafcadio threw himself with enthusiasm into similar studies, his natural -love for exotic lore rendering them peculiarly sympathetic to his -genius. Together they ransacked the libraries for discoveries, and -sought knowledge at first hand from wandering minstrels in Chinese -laundries, or from the exiles of many lands who gathered in the polyglot -slums along the river-banks. In the dedication of "Some Chinese Ghosts" -is recorded an echo of one of these experiences, when Krehbiel opened -the heart of a reserved Oriental to give up to them all his knowledge, -by proving that he himself could play their strange instruments and sing -their century-old songs. The dedication runs thus:-- - - TO MY FRIEND, - HENRY EDWARD KREHBIEL, - THE MUSICIAN, - WHO, SPEAKING THE SPEECH OF MELODY UNTO THE - CHILDREN OF TEN-HIA,-- - UNTO THE WANDERING TSING-JIN, WHOSE SKINS - HAVE THE COLOUR OF GOLD,-- - MOVED THEM TO MAKE STRANGE SOUNDS UPON THE - SERPENT-BELLIED SAN-HIEN; - PERSUADED THEM TO PLAY FOR ME UPON THE - SHRIEKING YA-HIEN; - PREVAILED ON THEM TO SING ME A SONG OF THEIR - NATIVE LAND,-- - THE SONG OF MOHLI-WA. - THE SONG OF THE JASMINE-FLOWER. - -This dedication is of peculiar interest; "Chinese Ghosts" has been long -out of print, and of the few copies issued--nearly the whole edition was -destroyed--but a handful still exist. It gives a typical example of the -musical, rhythmic prose which the young reporter was endeavouring to -master. He had fallen under the spell of the French Romantic school and -of their passion for _le mot juste_, of their love for exotic words, of -their research for the grotesque, the fantastic, the bizarre. Already -out of his tiny income he was extracting what others in like case spent -upon comforts or pleasures, to buy dictionaries and thesauri, and was -denying himself food and clothes to purchase rare books. The works of -Théophile Gautier were his daily companions, in which he saturated his -mind with fantasies of the Orient, Spain, and Egypt, refreshing himself -after the dull routine of the day's work with endeavours to -transliterate into English the strange and monstrous tales of his model, -those abnormal imaginations whose alien aroma almost defied transference -into a less supple tongue. - -His friend Tunison, writing of Hearn at this period, says:-- - -"But it was impossible for even this slavery of journalism to crush -out of him his determination to advance and excel. In the small hours of -the morning, into broad daylight, after the rough work of the police -rounds and the writing of columns in his inimitable style, he could be -seen, under merely a poor jet of gas, with his one useful eye close to -book and manuscript, translating from Gautier." - -These translations--including "Clarimonde," "Arria Marcella," and "King -Candaule"--with three others were published in 1882 under the title of -the initial tale, "One of Cleopatra's Nights," having been gathered from -the "Nouvelles," and the "Romans et Contes." The preface concludes thus: - -"It is the artist who must judge of Gautier's creations. To the lovers -of the loveliness of the antique world, to the lovers of physical beauty -and artistic truth,--of the charm of youthful dreams and young passion -in its blossoming,--of poetic ambitions and the sweet pantheism that -finds all Nature vitalized by the Spirit of the Beautiful,--to such the -first English version of these graceful phantasies is offered in the -hope that it may not be found wholly unworthy of the original." - -Up to this time no translation into English of Gautier's "Contes" had -been attempted, and the manuscript sought a publisher in vain for half a -dozen years. Later, when the little volume had reached a small but -appreciative audience, another English version was attempted by Andrew -Lang, but proved an unsuccessful rival, lacking the warmth and fidelity -of its predecessor. - -Other attempts in the same direction met with no better success, -partly, in some cases, because of the reluctance any Anglo-Saxon -publisher inevitably feels in issuing works which would encounter no -barriers of rigid decorum between themselves and the world of French -readers. The youthful artist working in any medium is prone to be -impatient of the prejudices of Anglo-Saxon pudency. The beautiful is to -him always its own justification for being, and his inexperience makes -him unafraid of the nudities of art. The refusal to deal freely with any -form of beauty seems to him as bloodlessly pietistic as the priest's -excision of "the breasts of the nymphs in the brake." Yet many years -after, when the boy had himself become the father of a boy and began to -think of his son's future, he said: "What shall I do with him? ... send -him to grim Puritans that he may be taught the Way of the Lord?--I am -beginning to think that really much of the ecclesiastical education (bad -and cruel as I used to imagine it) is founded on the best experience of -man under civilization; and I understand lots of things I used to think -superstitious bosh, and now think solid wisdom." - -This unavailing struggle to find an outlet for the expression of -something more worthy of his abilities than the sensational side of -journalism caused him the deepest discouragement and depression; and his -youthful ardour, denied a safe channel for its forces, turned to less -healthful instincts. The years in Cincinnati were at times marred by -experiments and outbursts, undertaken with bitter enthusiasm for -fantastic ethical codes, and finally caused severance of his ties with -his employers and the town itself. The tendency of his tastes toward the -study of strange peoples and civilizations made him find much that was -attractive in "the indolent, sensuous life of the negro race, and led -him to steep them in a sense of romance that he alone could extract from -the study,"--says Joseph Tunison,--"things that were common to these -people in their every-day life his vivid imagination transformed into -romance." - -This led him eventually into impossible experiments, and brought upon -him the resentment of his friends. Many years after, in Japan, he -referred to this matter in a letter to one of his pupils, and the letter -is so illuminative of this matter as to make it desirable to insert it -here, though rightly it should be included in the volume dealing with -his life in Japan. - - DEAR OCHIAI,--I was very happy to get your kind letter, and the - pleasant news it conveyed.... - - And now that all your trouble is over, perhaps you will sometimes find - it hard not to feel angry with those who ostracized you for so long. - It would at least be natural that you should feel angry with them, or - with some at least. But I hope you will not allow yourself to feel - anger towards them, even in your heart. Because the real truth is that - it was not really your schoolmates who were offended: it only appeared - so. The real feeling against you was what is called a _national_ - sentiment,--that jealous love of country with which every man is born, - and which you, quite unknowingly, turned against you for a little - while. So I hope you will love all your schoolmates none the - less,--even though they treated you distantly for so long. - - When I was a young man in my twenties, I had an experience very like - yours. I resolved to take the part of some people who were much - disliked in the place where I lived. I thought that those who - disliked them were morally wrong,--so I argued boldly for them and - went over to their side. Then all the rest of the people stopped - speaking to me, and I hated them for it. But I was too young then to - understand. There were other moral questions, much larger than those I - had been arguing about, which really caused the whole trouble. The - people did not know how to express them very well; they only _felt_ - them. After some years I discovered that I was quite mistaken--that I - was under a delusion. I had been opposing a great national and social - principle without knowing it. And if my best friends had not got angry - with me, I could not have learned the truth so well,--because there - are many things that are hard to explain and can only be taught by - experience.... - - Ever very affectionately, - Your old teacher, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - KUMAMOTO, March 27, 1894. - -Sick, unhappy, and unpopular, flight to other scenes naturally suggested -itself. Mr. Tunison thus describes the influences determining the move -to New Orleans, which occurred in 1877:-- - -"As Hearn advanced in his power to write, the sense of the discomforts -of his situation in Cincinnati grew upon him. His body and mind longed -for Southern air and scenes. One morning, after the usual hard work of -an unusually nasty winter night in Cincinnati, in a leisure hour of -conversation he heard an associate on the paper describe a scene in the -Gulf State. It was something about an old mansion of an ante-bellum -cotton prince, with its white columns, its beautiful avenue of trees; -the whitewashed negro quarters stretching away in the background; the -cypress and live-oaks hung with moss, the odours from the blossoming -magnolias, the songs of the mocking-birds in the early sunlight." - -Hearn took in every word of this with great keenness of interest, as was -shown by the usual dilation of his nostrils when excited, though he had -little to say at the time. It was as though he could see, and hear, and -smell the delights of the scene. Not long after on leaving for New -Orleans he remarked:-- - -"I had to go, sooner or later, but it was your description of the -sunlight, and melodies, and fragrance, and all the delights with which -the South appeals to the senses that determined me. I shall feel better -in the South, and I believe I shall do better." - -Though nostalgia for Southern warmth had given a purpose to his -wanderings, the immediate cause of his leaving the paper on which he was -employed in Cincinnati was his assignment to deal with a story of -hydrophobia, in which he suspected he had been given some misleading -information by his superiors; and though his suspicions were possibly -unjust, he announced that he had lost his loyalty to the paper and -abruptly quitted it. - -It is said that he went first to Memphis on leaving Cincinnati, but no -proof of this remains save an anecdote he once related, placing the -scene of it in Tennessee. - -The question of essential wrong and right being under discussion, his -companion advanced the theory that morals varied so much with localities -and conditions that it was impossible to decide that there was any act -of which one might say that it was essentially wrong or essentially -right. After thinking this over in his brooding manner, he said:-- - -"Yes, there is one thing that is always wrong, profoundly wrong under -any conditions." - -"And that?" he was asked. - -"To cause pain to a helpless creature for one's own pleasure," was his -answer; and then, in illustration, continued: "Once I was walking along -a road in Tennessee, and I saw a man who seemed intoxicated with -rage--for what cause I don't know. A kitten was crossing the road at the -moment. It got under the man's feet and tripped him. He caught it up and -blinded it and flung it from him with a laugh. The act seemed to soothe -his rage. I was not near enough to stop him, but I had a pistol in my -pocket--I always carried one then--and I fired four times at him; but, -you know my sight is so bad, I missed him." After a few moments he -added, "It has always been one of the regrets of my life that I missed." - -Sometime in 1877--the time of the year is uncertain--Hearn arrived in -New Orleans, and from this date the work of a biographer becomes almost -superfluous, for then was begun the admirable series of letters to H. E. -Krehbiel, which record the occupations and interests of his life for the -next twelve years, setting forth, as no one less gifted than himself -could, the impressions he received, the development of his mind, the -trend of his studies, the infinite labour by which he slowly built up -his mastery of the English tongue and the methods of work which made him -eventually one of the great stylists of the Nineteenth Century. These -letters make clear, as no comment could adequately do, how unflinchingly -he pursued his purpose to become an artist, through long discouragement, -through poverty and self-sacrifice; make clear how the Dream never -failed to lead him, and how broad a foundation of study and discipline -he laid during his apprenticeship for the structure he was later to rear -for his own monument. They also disclose, as again no comment could do, -the modesty of his self-appreciation, and the essentially enthusiastic -and affectionate nature of his character. - -The first work he secured in New Orleans was on the staff of the _Daily -Item_, one of the minor journals, where he read proof, clipped -exchanges, wrote editorials, and occasionally contributed a translation, -or some bit of original work in the shape of what came to be known as -his "Fantastics." Meanwhile he was rejoicing in the change of residence, -for the old, dusty, unpaved squalid New Orleans of the '70's--the city -crushed into inanition by war, poverty, pestilence, and the frenzy of -carpet-bagger misrule--was far more sympathetic to his tastes than the -prosperous growing town he had abandoned. - -The gaunt, melancholy great houses where he lodged in abandoned, -crumbling apartments,--still decorated with the tattered splendours of a -prosperous past,--where he was served by timid unhappy gentlewomen, or -their ex-servants; the dim flower-hung courts behind the blank, -mouldering walls; the street-cries; the night-songs of wanderers--all -the colourful, polyglot, half-tropical life of the town was a constant -appeal to the romantic side of the young man's nature. Of disease and -danger--arising out of the conditions of the unhappy city--he took no -thought till after the great epidemic of yellow fever which desolated -New Orleans the following summer, during which he suffered severely from -_dengue_, a lighter form of the disease. But even the cruelties of his -new home were of value to him. In the grim closing chapter of "Chita" -the anguish of a death by yellow fever is set forth with a quivering -reality which only a personal knowledge of some phases of the disease -could have made possible. - -Always pursued by a desire to free himself of the harness of daily -journalism, he plunged into experiments in economy, reducing at one time -his expenses for food to but two dollars a week; trusting his hardly -gathered savings to a sharper who owned a restaurant, and who ran away -when the enterprise proved a failure. On another occasion he put by -everything beyond his bare necessities in one of the mushroom -building-loan societies which sprang up all over the country at that -time, and with the collapse of this investment he finally and forever -abandoned further financial enterprises, regarding them with an -absolutely comic distrust, though for some years he continued to dwell -now and then on the possibility of starting second-hand bookshops in -hopelessly impossible places--such as the then moribund town of St. -Augustine, Florida--and would suggest, with lovably absurd naïveté, that -a _shrewd_ man could do well there. - -Meanwhile his gluttony for rare books on recondite matters kept him -constantly poor, but proved a far better investment, as tools of trade, -than his other and more speculative expenditures. Eventually he gathered -a library of several hundred volumes and of considerable value, together -with an interesting series of scrapbooks containing his earlier essays -in literary journalism, and other clippings showing his characteristic -_flair_ for the exotic and the strange. - -In 1881 he, by great good fortune, was brought into contact with the -newly consolidated _Times-Democrat_, a journal whose birth marked one of -the earliest impulses towards the regeneration of the long depressed -community, and whose staff included men, such as Charles Whitney, Honoré -Burthe, and John Augustin, who represented the best impulses toward new -growth among both the American and Creole members of the city's -population. Of Page M. Baker, the editor-in-chief, he drew in after -years this faithful pen-picture:-- - -"You say my friend writes nicely. He is about the most lovable man I -ever met,--an old-time Southerner, very tall and slight, with a singular -face. He is so exactly the ideal Mephistopheles that he would never get -his photograph taken. The face does not altogether belie the -character,--but the mockery is very tender play, and queerly original. -It never offends. The real Mephistopheles appears only when there are -ugly obstacles to overcome. Then the diabolic keenness with which -motives are read and disclosed, and the lightning moves by which a plot -is checkmated, or a net made for the plotter himself, usually startle -people. He is a man of immense force,--it takes such a one to rule in -that community,--but as a gentleman I never saw his superior in grace or -consideration. I always loved him--but like all whom I like could never -get quite enough of his company for myself." - -It was an unusual and delightful coterie of men with whom chance had -associated him. Men peculiarly fitted to value his special gifts. Honoré -Burthe was the ideal of the "beau sabreur" of romantic French tradition, -personally beautiful, brave to absurdity; a soldier of fortune under -many flags; withal the pink of gentle courtesy, and a scholar. John -Augustin--with less of the "panache"--inherited also the beauty, -courage, and breeding of those picturesque ancestors, who had made the -French gentleman-adventurers the most ornamental colonists of North -America. Charles Whitney, by contrast, had fallen heir to all the -shrewd, humorous, amiable vigour of the rival race which had struggled -successfully for possession of the great inheritance of America, and -which finally met and fused with the Latins in Louisiana. - -Among these four rather uncommon types of journalists Lafcadio Hearn -found ready sympathy and appreciation, and a chance to develop in the -direction of his talents and desires. He was treated by them with -courtesy and an indulgent consideration of his idiosyncrasies new in -his experience, and was allowed to expand along the natural line of his -tastes and capacities, with the result that he soon began to attract -attention, and was finally able to find his outlet in the direction to -which his preparatory labours and inherent genius were urging him. - -He was astonishingly fortunate to have found such companions and such an -opportunity. At that period the new journalism was dominant almost -everywhere, and perhaps nowhere in the United States, except in New -Orleans,--with its large French population and its residuum of the -ante-bellum leisurely cultivation of taste, and love of lordly beauties -of style,--could he have found an audience and a daily newspaper which -eagerly sought, and rewarded to the best of its ability, a type of -belles-lettres which was caviare to the general. His first work -consisted of a weekly translation from some French writer--Théophile -Gautier, Guy de Maupassant, or Pierre Loti, whose books he was one of -the first to introduce to English readers, and for whose beautiful -literary manner he always retained the most enthusiastic admiration. -Long years afterward in Japan he spoke of one of the worst afflictions -of a recent illness as having been the fear that he should die without -having finished Loti's "L'Inde sans les Anglais," which he was reading -when seized by the malady. These translations were usually -accompanied--in another part of the paper--by an editorial, elucidatory -of either the character and method of the author, or the subject of the -paper itself, and these editorials were often vehicles of much curious -research on a multitude of odd subjects, such as the famous swordsmen of -history, Oriental dances and songs, muezzin calls, African music, -historic lovers, Talmudic legends, monstrous literary exploits, and the -like; echoes of which studies appear frequently in the Krehbiel and -O'Connor letters in this volume. - -From time to time he added transferences, and adaptations, or original -papers, unsigned, which found a small but appreciative audience, some of -whom were sufficiently interested to enquire the identity of the author, -and who grew into a local clientèle which always thereafter followed the -growth of his fame with warm interest. Among these "Fantastics" and -translations was published the whole contents of his three early -books--"One of Cleopatra's Nights," "Stray Leaves from Strange -Literature," and "Some Chinese Ghosts"--but these books were made only -of such selections as an ever increasing severity of taste considered -worthy of reproduction. Much delightful matter which failed quite to -reach this standard lapsed into extinction in the files of the journal. -Among these was one which has been recovered by chance from his later -correspondence. Replying to a criticism by a friend of the use of the -phrase "lentor inexpressible" in a manuscript submitted for judgement, -he promises to delete it, speaks of it as a "trick phrase" of his, and -encloses the old clipping to show where he had first used it, and adds -"please burn or tear up after reading ... this essay belongs to the -Period of Gush." - -Fortunately his correspondent--as did most of those to whom he -wrote--treasured everything in his handwriting, and the fragment which -bore--my impression is--the title of "A Dead Love" (the clipping lacks -its caption) remains to give an example of some of the work that bears -the flaws of his 'prentice hand, before he used his tools with the -assured skill of a master:-- - - ... No rest he knew because of her. Even in the night his heart was - ever startled from slumber as by the echo of her footfall; and dreams - mocked him with tepid fancies of her lips; and when he sought - forgetfulness in strange kisses her memory ever came shadowing - between.... So that, weary of his life, he yielded it up at last in - the fevered summer of a tropical city,--dying with her name upon his - lips. And his face was no more seen in the palm-shadowed streets, ... - but the sun rose and sank even as before. - - And that vague Something which lingers a little while within the tomb - where the body moulders, lingered and dreamed within the long dark - resting-place where they had laid him with the pious hope--_Que en paz - descanse_!... - - Yet so weary of his life had the Wanderer been, that the repose of the - dead was not for him. And while the body shrank and sank into dust, - the phantom man found no rest in the darkness, and thought dimly to - himself: "I am even too weary to find peace!" - - There was a thin crevice in the ancient wall of the tomb. And through - it, and through the meshes of the web that a spider had woven athwart - it, the dead looked and beheld the amethystine blaze of the summer - sky,--and pliant palms bending in the warm wind,--and the opaline glow - of the horizon,--and fair pools bearing images of cypresses - inverted,--and the birds that flitted from tomb to tomb and sang,--and - flowers in the shadow of the sepulchres.... And the vast bright world - seemed to him not so hateful as before. - - Likewise the sounds of life assailed the faint senses of the dead - through the thin crevice in the wall of the tomb:--always the far-off - drowsy murmur made by the toiling of the city's heart; sometimes - sounds of passing converse and steps,--echoes of music and of - laughter,--chanting and chattering of children at play,--and the - liquid babble of the beautiful brown women.... So that the dead man - dreamed of life and strength and joy, and the litheness of limbs to be - loved: also of that which had been, and of that which might have been, - and of that which now could never be. And he longed at last to live - again--seeing that there was no rest in the tomb. - - But the gold-born days died in golden fire; and blue nights unnumbered - filled the land with indigo shadows; and the perfume of the summer - passed like a breath of incense ... and the dead within the sepulchre - could not wholly die. - - Stars in their courses peered down through the crevices of the tomb, - and twinkled, and passed on; winds of the sea shrieked to him through - the widening crannies of the tomb; birds sang above him and flew to - other lands; the bright lizards that ran noiselessly over his bed of - stone, as noiselessly departed; the spider at last ceased to repair - her web of silk; years came and went with lentor inexpressible; but - for the dead there was no rest! - - And after many tropical moons had waxed and waned, and the summer was - deepening in the land, filling the golden air with tender drowsiness - and passional perfume, it strangely came to pass that _She_ whose name - had been murmured by his lips when the Shadow of Death fell upon him, - came to that city of palms, and even unto the ancient place of - sepulture, and unto the tomb that bore his name. - - And he knew the whisper of her raiment--knew the sweetness of her - presence--and the pallid hearts of the blossoms of a plant whose blind - roots had found food within the crevice of the tomb, changed and - flushed, and flamed incarnadine.... - - But she--perceiving it not--passed by; and the sound of her footstep - died away forever. - -To his own, and perhaps other middle-aged taste "A Dead Love" may seem -negligible, but to those still young enough, as he himself then was, to -credit passion with a potency not only to survive "the gradual furnace -of the world" but even to blossom in the dust of graves, this -stigmatization as "Gush" will seem as unfeeling as always does to the -young the dry and sapless wisdom of granddams. To them any version of -the Orphic myth is tinglingly credible. Yearningly desirous that the -brief flower of life may never fade, such a cry finds an echo in the -very roots of their inexperienced hearts. The smouldering ardour of its -style, which a chastened judgement rejected, was perhaps less faulty -than its author believed it to be in later years. - -It was to my juvenile admiration for this particular bit of work that I -owed the privilege of meeting Lafcadio Hearn, in the winter of 1882, and -of laying the foundation of a close friendship which lasted without a -break until the day of his death. - -He was at this time a most unusual and memorable person. About five feet -three inches in height, with unusually broad and powerful shoulders for -such a stature, there was an almost feminine grace and lightness in his -step and movements. His feet were small and well shaped, but he wore -invariably the most clumsy and neglected shoes, and his whole dress was -peculiar. His favourite coat, both winter and summer, was a heavy -double-breasted "reefer," while the size of his wide-brimmed, -soft-crowned hat was a standing joke among his friends. The rest of his -garments were apparently purchased for the sake of durability rather -than beauty, with the exception of his linen, which, even in days of the -direst poverty, was always fresh and good. Indeed a peculiar physical -cleanliness was characteristic of him--that cleanliness of -uncontaminated savages and wild animals, which has the air of being so -essential and innate as to make the best-groomed men and domesticated -beasts seem almost frowzy by contrast. His hands were very delicate and -supple, with quick timid movements that were yet full of charm, and his -voice was musical and very soft. He spoke always in short sentences, and -the manner of his speech was very modest and deferential. His head was -quite remarkably beautiful; the profile both bold and delicate, with -admirable modelling of the nose, lips and chin. The brow was square, and -full above the eyes, and the complexion a clear smooth olive. The -enormous work which he demanded of his vision had enlarged beyond its -natural size the eye upon which he depended for sight, but originally, -before the accident,--whose disfiguring effect he magnified and was -exaggeratedly sensitive about,--his eyes must have been handsome, for -they were large, of a dark liquid brown, and heavily lashed. In -conversation he frequently, almost instinctively, placed his hand over -the injured eye to conceal it from his companion. - -Though he was abnormally shy, particularly with strangers and women, -this was not obvious in any awkwardness of manner; he was composed and -dignified, though extremely silent and reserved until his confidence was -obtained. With those whom he loved and trusted his voice and mental -attitude were caressing, affectionate, and confiding, though with even -these some chance look or tone or gesture would alarm him into sudden -and silent flight, after which he might be invisible for days or weeks, -appearing again as silently and suddenly, with no explanation of his -having so abruptly taken wing. In spite of his limited sight he appeared -to have the power to divine by some extra sense the slightest change of -expression in the faces of those with whom he talked, and no object or -tint escaped his observation. One of his habits while talking was to -walk about, touching softly the furnishings of the room, or the flowers -of the garden, picking up small objects for study with his pocket-glass, -and meantime pouring out a stream of brilliant talk in a soft, -half-apologetic tone, with constant deference to the opinions of his -companions. Any idea advanced he received with respect, however much he -might differ, and if a phrase or suggestion appealed to him his face lit -with a most delightful irradiation of pleasure, and he never forgot it. - -A more delightful or--at times--more fantastically witty companion it -would be impossible to imagine, but it is equally impossible to attempt -to convey his astounding sensitiveness. To remain on good terms with him -it was necessary to be as patient and wary as one who stalks the hermit -thrush to its nest. Any expression of anger or harshness to any one -drove him to flight, any story of moral or physical pain sent him -quivering away, and a look of ennui or resentment, even if but a passing -emotion, and indulged in while his back was turned, was immediately -conveyed to his consciousness in some occult fashion and he was off in -an instant. Any attempt to detain or explain only increased the length -of his absence. A description of his eccentricities of manner would be -misleading if the result were to convey an impression of neurotic -debility, for with this extreme sensitiveness was combined vigour of -mind and body to an unusual degree--the delicacy was only of the -spirit. - -Mrs. Lylie Harris of New Orleans, one of his intimate friends at this -time, in an article written after his death, speaks of his friendship -with the children of her family, with whom he was an affectionate -playfellow, and with whom he was entirely confident and at his ease. An -equally friendly and confident relation existed between himself and the -old negro woman who cared for his rooms (as clean and plain as a -soldier's), and indeed all his life he was happiest with the young and -the simple, who never perplexed or disturbed him by the complexities of -modern civilization, which all his life he distrusted and feared. - -Among those attracted by his work in the _Times-Democrat_ was W. D. -O'Connor, in the marine service of the government, who wrote to enquire -the name of the author of an article on Gustave Doré. From this grew a -correspondence extending over several years. Jerome A. Hart, of San -Francisco, was another correspondent attracted by his work, to whom he -wrote from time to time, even after his residence in Japan had begun. -Mr. Hart in contributing his letters says that this correspondence began -in 1882, through the following reference in the pages of the _Argonaut_ -to "One of Cleopatra's Nights":-- - -"Mr. Lafcadio Hearn, a talented writer on the staff of the New Orleans -_Times-Democrat_, has just translated some of Gautier's fantastic -romances, under the name of 'One of Cleopatra's Nights.' The book -comprises six fascinating stories--the one which gives the title, -'Clarimonde,' 'Arria Marcella, a Souvenir of Pompeii,' 'The Mummy's -Foot,' 'Omphale, a Rococo Story,' and 'King Candaule.' Mr. Hearn has few -equals in this country as regards translation, and the stories lose -nothing of their artistic unity in his hands. But his hobby is -literalism. For instance, of the epitaph in 'Clarimonde,'-- - - 'Ici-gît Clarimonde, - Qui fut de son vivant - La plus belle du monde,' - -he remarks: 'The broken beauty of the lines is but inadequately rendered -thus:-- - - 'Here lies Clarimonde, - Who was famed in her lifetime - As the fairest of women.' - -Very true--it is inadequate. But why not vary it? For example:-- - - Here lieth Clarimonde, - Who was, what time she lived, - The loveliest in the land. - -The fleeting archaic flavour of the original is not entirely lost here, -and the lines are broken, yet metrical. But this is only a suggestion, -and a kindly one." - -This book--his first--travelled far before finding a publisher, and then -only at the cost of the author bearing half the expense of publication. - -Other notices had been less kind. The _Observer_, as he quotes in a -letter to Mr. Hart, had declared that it was a collection of "stories of -unbridled lust without the apology of natural passion," and that "the -translation reeked with the miasma of the brothel." The _Critic_ had -wasted no time upon the translator, confining itself to depreciation of -Gautier, and this Hearn resented more than severity to himself, for at -this period Gautier and his style were his passionate delight, as -witness the following note which accompanied a loan of a volume -containing a selection from the Frenchman's poems:-- - - DEAR MISS BISLAND,--I venture to try to give you a little novel - pleasure by introducing you to the "Emaux et Camées." As you have told - me you never read them, I feel sure you will experience a literary - surprise. You will find in Gautier a perfection of melody, a warmth of - word-colouring, a voluptuous delicacy which no English poet has ever - approached and which reveal, I think, a certain capacity of artistic - expression no Northern tongue can boast. What the Latin tongues yield - in to Northern languages is strength; but the themes in which the - Latin poets excel are usually soft and exquisite. Still you will find - in the "Rondalla" some fine specimens of violence. It is the song of - the Toreador Juan. - - These "Emaux et Camées" constitute Gautier's own pet selection from - his works. I have seen nothing in Hugo's works to equal some of - them.... I won't presume to offer you this copy: it is too shabby, has - travelled about with me in all sorts of places for eight years. But if - you are charmed by this "parfait magicien des lettres françaises" (as - Baudelaire called him) I hope to have the pleasure of offering you a - nicer copy.... - -Mr. John Albee wrote to him in connection with the book, and also the -Reverend Wayland D. Ball. - -"Stray Leaves from Strange Literature"--published by James R. Osgood and -Company of Boston--followed in 1884 and was more kindly treated by the -critics, though it brought fewer letters from private admirers, and was -not very profitable--save to his reputation. In 1885 a tiny volume was -issued under the title of "Gombo Zhêbes," being a collection of 350 -Creole proverbs which he had made while studying the patois of the -Louisiana negro--a patois of which the local name is "Gombo." These -laborious studies of the grammar and oral literature of a tongue spoken -only by and to negro servants in Louisiana seemed rather a work of -supererogation at the time, but later during his life in the West Indies -they proved of incalculable value to him in his intercourse with the -inhabitants. There the patois--not having been subjected as in New -Orleans to that all-absorbing solvent of the English tongue--continued -to hold its own alongside the pure French of the educated Creoles, and -his book would have been impossible had he not had command of the -universal speech of the common people. - -"Some Chinese Ghosts" had set out on its travels in search of a -publisher sometime earlier, and after several rejections was finally, in -the following year, accepted by Roberts Brothers. In regard to some -corrections which they desired made in the text this reference has been -found in a letter to his friend Krehbiel, a letter in which, however, -time and the ruthless appetite of bookworms have made havoc with words -here and there:-- - - 1886. - - DEAR K.,--In Promethean agony I write. - - Roberts Brothers, Boston, have written me that they want to publish - "Chinese Ghosts;" but want me to cut out a multitude of Japanese, - Sanscrit, Chinese, and Buddhist terms. - - Thereupon unto them I despatched a colossal document of supplication - and prayer,--citing Southey, Moore, Flaubert, Edwin Arnold, Gautier, - "Hiawatha," and multitudinous singers and multitudinous songs, and the - rights of prose poetry, and the supremacy of Form. - - And no answer have I yet received. - - How shall I sacrifice Orientalism, seeing that this my work was - inspired by [fragment of a Greek word] by the Holy Spirit, by the Vast - ... [probably Blue Soul] of the Universe ... but one of the facets of - that million-faceted Rose-diamond which flasheth back the light of the - Universal Sun? And even as Apocalyptic John I hold-- - - "And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this - prophecy God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out - of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." - - Thy brother in the Holy Ghost of Art wisheth thee many benisons and - victories, and the Grace that cometh as luminous rain and the Wind of - Inspiration perfumed with musk and the flowers of Paradise. - - Lafcadio. - -This suggestion was peculiarly afflicting because of his love of exotic -words, not only for their own sake, but for the colour they lent to the -general scheme of decoration of his style. It was as if a painter of an -Oriental picture had been asked to omit all reproduction of Eastern -costumes, all representation of the architecture or utensils germane to -his scene. To eliminate these foreign terms was like asking a modern -actor to play "Julius Caesar" in a full-bottomed wig. - -At about this period a friendship formed with Lieutenant Oscar Crosby -exerted a most profound and far-reaching influence upon Hearn--an -influence which continued to grow until his whole life and manner of -thought were coloured by it. - -Lieutenant Crosby was a young Louisianian, educated at West Point, and -then stationed in New Orleans, a person of very unusual abilities, and -Hearn found him a suggestive and inspiring companion. In a letter -written to Ernest Crosby from Japan in 1904, but a month before his -death, he says:-- - -"A namesake of yours, a young lieutenant in the United States Army, -first taught me, about twenty years ago, how to study Herbert Spencer. -To that Crosby I shall always feel a very reverence of gratitude, and I -shall always find myself inclined to seek the good opinion of any man -bearing the name of Crosby." - -To Mr. Krehbiel in the same year that he began the study of "The -Principles of Ethics" he wrote:-- - -"Talking of change in opinions, I am really astonished at myself. You -know what my fantastic metaphysics were. A friend disciplined me to read -Herbert Spencer. I suddenly discovered what a waste of time all my -Oriental metaphysics had been. I also discovered for the first time how -to apply the little general knowledge I possessed. I also found -unspeakable comfort in the sudden, and for me eternal reopening of the -Great Doubt, which renders pessimism ridiculous, and teaches a new -reverence for all forms of faith. In short, from the day when I finished -the 'First Principles,' a totally new intellectual life opened for me; -and I hope during the next few years to devour the rest of this oceanic -philosophy." - -He seems not, in these positive assertions, to have overestimated the -great change that had come upon his mental attitude. The strong breath -of the great thinker had blown from off his mind the froth and ferment -of youth, leaving the wine clear and strong beneath. From this time -becomes evident a new seriousness in his manner, and beauty became to -him not only the mere grace of form but the meaning and truth which that -form was to embody. - -The next book bearing his name shows the effect of this change, and the -immediate success of the book demonstrated that, while his love for the -exotic was to remain ingrained, he had learned to bring the exotic into -vital touch with the normal. - -"Chita: A Story of Last Island" had its origin in a visit paid in the -summer of 1884 to Grande Isle, one of the islands lying in the Gulf of -Mexico, near the mouth of the Mississippi River in the Bay of -Barataria. A letter written to Page Baker while there may be inserted at -this point to give some idea of the place. - -[Illustration: Gentlemen's bathing houses] - - DEAR PAGE,--I wish you were here; for I am sure that the enjoyment - would do you a great deal of good. I had not been in sea-water for - fifteen years, and you can scarcely imagine how I rejoice in it,--in - fact I don't like to get out of it at all. I suppose you have not been - at Grande Isle--or at least not been here for so long that you have - forgotten what it looks like. It makes a curious impression on me: the - old plantation cabins, standing in rows like village-streets, and - neatly remodelled for more cultivated inhabitants, have a delightfully - rural aspect under their shadowing trees; and there is a veritable - country calm by day and night. Grande Isle has suggestions in it of - several old country fishing villages I remember, but it is even still - more charmingly provincial. The hotel proper, where the tables are - laid,--formerly, I fancy, a sugar-house or something of that - sort,--reminds one of nothing so much as one of those big English or - Western barn-buildings prepared for a holiday festival or a - wedding-party feast. The only distinctively American feature is the - inevitable Southern gallery with white wooden pillars. An absolutely - ancient purity of morals appears to prevail here:--no one thinks of - bolts or locks or keys, everything is left open and nothing is ever - touched. Nobody has ever been robbed on the island. There is no - iniquity. It is like a resurrection of the days of good King Alfred, - when, if a man were to drop his purse on the highway, he might return - six months later to find it untouched. At least that is what I am - told. Still I would not _like_ to leave one thousand golden dinars on - the beach or in the middle of the village. I am still a little - suspicious--having been so long a dweller in wicked cities. - - I was in hopes that I had made a very important discovery; viz.--a - flock of really tame and innocuous cows; but the innocent appearance - of the beasts is, I have just learned, a disguise for the most fearful - ferocity. So far I have escaped unharmed; and Marion has offered to - lend me his large stick, which will, I have no doubt, considerably aid - me in preserving my life. - - Couldn't you manage to let me stay down here until after the - Exposition is over, doing no work and nevertheless drawing my salary - regularly?... By the way, one could save money by a residence at - Grande Isle. There are no temptations--except the perpetual and - delicious temptation of the sea. - - The insects here are many; but I have seen no frogs,--they have - probably found that the sea can outroar them and have gone away - jealous. But in Marion's room there is a beam, and against that beam - there is the nest of a "mud-dauber." Did you ever see a mud-dauber? It - is something like this when flying;--but when it isn't flying I can't - tell you what it looks like, and it has the peculiar power of flying - without noise. I think it is of the wasp-kind, and plasters its mud - nest in all sorts of places. It is afraid of nothing--likes to look at - itself in the glass, and leaves its young in our charge. There is - another sociable creature--hope it isn't a wasp--which has built two - nests under the edge of this table on which I write to you. There are - no specimens here of the _cimex lectularius_; and the mosquitoes are - not at all annoying. They buzz a little, but seldom give evidence of - hunger. Creatures also abound which have the capacity of making noises - of the most singular sort. Up in the tree on my right there is a thing - which keeps saying all day long, quite plainly, "_Kiss, Kiss, - Kiss!_"--referring perhaps to the good young married folks across the - way; and on the road to the bath-house, which we travelled late last - evening in order to gaze at the phosphorescent sea, there dwells - something which exactly imitates the pleasant sound of ice jingling in - a cut-glass tumbler. - - [Illustration] - - As for the grub, it is superb--solid, nutritious, and without stint. - When I first tasted the butter I was enthusiastic, imagining that - those mild-eyed cows had been instrumental in its production; but I - have since discovered they were not--and the fact astonishes me not at - all now that I have learned more concerning the character of those - cows. - - [Illustration] - - [Illustration] - - [Illustration] - - At some unearthly hour in the morning the camp-meeting quiet of the - place is broken by the tolling of a bell. This means "Jump up, - lazybones; and take a swim before the sun rises." Then the - railroad-car comes for the bathers, passing up the whole line of white - cottages. The distance is short to the beach; Marion and I prefer to - walk; but the car is a great convenience for the women and children - and invalids. It is drawn by a single mule, and always accompanied by - a dog which appears to be the intimate friend of the said mule, and - who jumps up and barks all the grass-grown way. The ladies' - bathing-house is about five minutes' plank-walking from the - men's,--where I am glad to say drawers and bathing-suits are - unnecessary, so that one has the full benefit of sun-bathing as well - as salt-water bathing. There is a man here called Margot or - Margeaux--perhaps some distant relative of Château-Margeaux--who - always goes bathing accompanied by a pet goose. The goose follows him - just like a dog; but is a little afraid of getting into deep water. It - remains in the surf presenting its stern-end to the breakers:-- - - [Illustration] - - [Illustration] - - [Illustration] - - The only trouble about the bathing is the ferocious sun. Few people - bathe in the heat of the day, but yesterday we went in four times; and - the sun nearly flayed us. This morning we held a council of war and - decided upon greater moderation. There are three bars, between which - the water is deep. The third bar is, I fear, too "risky" to reach, as - it is nearly a mile from the other, and lies beyond a hundred-foot - depth of water in which sharks are said to disport themselves. I am - almost as afraid of sharks as I am of cows.... Marion made a dash for - a drowning man yesterday, in answer to the cry, "Here, you fellows, - help! help!" and I followed. We had instantaneous visions of a - gold-medal from the Life-Saving Service, and glorious dreams of - newspaper fame under the title "Journalistic Heroism,"--for my part, I - must acknowledge I had also an unpleasant fancy that the drowning man - might twine himself about me, and pull me to the bottom,--so I looked - out carefully to see which way he was heading. But the beatific - Gold-Medal fancies were brutally dissipated by the drowning man's - success in saving himself before we could reach him, and we remain as - obscure as before. - - _Interlude_ - - [Illustration: Miss B. B. through our lorgnette] - - [Illustration: Miss Bisland's A No 1. Chaperone] - - [Illustration: The Agricultural Editor of the T.D.--pursued by his - family - - A No 2 - Miss Bisland's Creole Chaperone - - A No 3 - Miss Bisland's Pickwickian Chaperon - - I will now resume the interrupted text of my narration] - - The proprietor has found what I have vainly been ransacking the world - for--a civilized hat, showing the highest evolutional development of - the hat as a practically useful article. I am going to make him an - offer for it. - - [Illustration] - - [Illustration] - - Alas! the time flies too fast. Soon all this will be a dream:--the - white cottages shadowed with leafy green,--the languid rocking-chairs - upon the old-fashioned gallery,--the cows that look into one's window - with the rising sun,--the dog and the mule trotting down the - flower-edged road,--the goose of the ancient Margot,--the muttering - surf upon the bar beyond which the sharks are,--the bath-bell and the - bathing belles,--the air that makes one feel like a boy,--the pleasure - of sleeping with doors and windows open to the sea and its - everlasting song,--the exhilaration of rising with the rim of the - sun.... And then we must return to the dust and the roar of New - Orleans, to hear the rumble of wagons instead of the rumble of - breakers, and to smell the smell of ancient gutters instead of the - sharp sweet scent of pure sea wind. I believe I would rather be old - Margot's goose if I could. Blessed goose! thou knowest nothing about - the literary side of the New Orleans _Times-Democrat_; but thou dost - know that thou canst have a good tumble in the sea every day. If I - could live down here I should certainly live to be a hundred years - old. One _lives_ here. In New Orleans one only exists.... And the boat - comes--I must post this incongruous epistle. - - [Illustration] - - [Illustration] - - Good-bye,--wish you were here, sincerely. - - Very truly, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - -This jesting letter makes but little reference to the beauties of this -tropical island, which had, however, made a profound impression upon -Hearn, and later they were reproduced with astonishing fidelity in the -book. Some distance to the westward of Grande Isle lies L'Isle Dernière, -or--as it is now commonly called--Last Island, then a mere sandbank, -awash in high tides, but thirty years before that an island of the same -character as Grande Isle, and for half a century a popular summer -resort for the people of New Orleans and the planters of the coast. On -the 10th of August, 1856, a frightful storm swept it bare and -annihilated the numerous summer visitors, only a handful among the -hundreds escaping. The story of the tragedy remained a vivid tradition -along the coast, where hardly a family escaped without the loss of some -relation or friend, and on Hearn's return to New Orleans he embodied a -brief story of the famous storm, with his impressions of the splendours -of the Gulf, under the title of "Torn Letters," purporting to be the -fragments of an old correspondence by one of the survivors. This -story--published in the _Times-Democrat_--was so favourably received -that he was later encouraged to enlarge it into a book, and the Harpers, -who had already published some articles from his pen, issued it as a -serial in their magazine, where it won instant recognition from a large -public that had heretofore been ignorant of, or indifferent to, his -work. - -Oscar Wilde once declared that life and nature constantly plagiarized -from art, and would have been pleased with the confirmation of his -suggestion afforded by the fact that nearly twenty years after the -publication of "Chita" a storm, similar to the one described in the -book, swept away in its turn Grande Isle, and Les Chenières, and a girl -child was rescued by Manila fishermen as Hearn had imagined. After -living with one of their families for some time she was finally -recovered by her father (who had believed her lost in the general -catastrophe), under circumstances astoundingly like those invented by -the author so many years before. - -The book was dedicated to Dr. Rodolfo Matas, a Spanish physician in New -Orleans, and an intimate friend,--frequently mentioned in the letters to -Dr. George M. Gould of Philadelphia, with whom a correspondence was -begun at about this time. - -It was because of the success of "Chita" that Hearn was enabled to -realize his long-nourished dream of penetrating farther into the -tropics, and with a vague commission from the Harpers he left New -Orleans, in 1887, and sailed for the Windward Islands. The journey took -him as far south as British Guiana, the fruit of which was a series of -travel-sketches printed in _Harper's Magazine_. So infatuated with the -Southern world of colour, light, and warmth had he become that--trusting -to the possible profits of his books and the further material he hoped -to gather--two months after his return from this journey, and without -any definite resources, he cast himself back into the arms of the -tropics, for which he suffered a life-long and unappeasable nostalgia. - -It was to St. Pierre in the island of Martinique--the place that had -most attracted him on his travels--that he returned. That island of -"gigantic undulations," that town of bright long narrow streets rising -toward a far mass of glowing green ... which looks as if it had slid -down the hill behind it, so strangely do the streets come tumbling to -the port in a cascade of masonry,--with a red billowing of tiled roofs -over all, and enormous palms poking up through it. That town with "a -population fantastic, astonishing,--a population of the Arabian Nights -... many coloured, with a general dominant tint of yellow, like that of -the town itself ... always relieved by the costume colours of -Martinique--brilliant yellow stripings or chequerings which have an -indescribable luminosity, a wonderful power of bringing out the fine -warm tints of tropical flesh ... the hues of those rich costumes Nature -gives to her nearest of kin and her dearest,--her honey-lovers,--her -insects: wasp-colours." Here, under the shadow of Mt. Pelée "coiffed -with purple and lilac cloud ... a magnificent _Madras_, yellow-banded by -the sun," he remained for two years, and from his experiences there -created his next book. "Two Years in the French West Indies" made a -minute and astonishing record of the town and the population, now as -deeply buried and as utterly obliterated as was Pompeii by the lava and -ashes of Vesuvius. Eighteen centuries hence, could some archæologist, -disinterring the almost forgotten town, find this book, what passionate -value would he give to this record of a community of as unique a -character as that of the little Græco-Roman city! What price would be -set to-day upon parchments which reproduced with such vivid fidelity the -world, so long hid in darkness, of that civilization over whose calcined -fragments we now yearningly ponder! - -One English commentator upon the work of Lafcadio Hearn speaks of -"Chita" and "Two Years in the French West Indies" with negligent -contempt as of "the orchid and cockatoo type of literature," and passes -on to his Japanese work as the first of considerable importance. Other -critics have been led into the same error, welcoming the cooler tones of -his later pictures as a growth in power and a development of taste. It -is safe to say that the makers of such criticisms have not seen the -lands and peoples of whom these books attempt to reproduce the charm. -Those who have known tropic countries will realize how difficult is the -task of reproducing their multi-coloured glories, and that to bring even -a faint shadow of their splendours back to eyes accustomed to the pale -greys and half tints of Northern lands is a labour not only arduous in -itself, but more than apt to be ungratefully received by those for whom -it is undertaken. A mole would find a butterfly's description of an -August landscape exaggerated to the point of vulgarity, and the average -critic is more likely to find satisfaction in "A Grey Day at Annisquam" -than in the most subtly handled picture of the blaze of noon at Luxor. - -"Chita" is marred occasionally by a phrase that suggests the journalism -in which the hand of the writer had been so long submerged, but in "Two -Years in the French West Indies" the artist has at last emancipated his -talent and finished his long apprenticeship. Though the author himself -in later years finds some fault with it, giving as excuse that much of -it was done when he was physically exhausted by fever and anxiety, and -"with but a half-filled stomach," it remains one of his most admirable -achievements. - -The risks he had assumed in returning to the tropics proved greater than -he had imagined. Publishers' delays and rigid exactions of all their -part of the writer's pound of flesh left him at times entirely without -means, and had it not been for the generosity and kindliness of the -people of the now vanished city he would not have lived to return. It -was some memory of humble friends there that is recorded in the sixth -part of the autobiographical fragments, written after the disaster at -St. Pierre. - - - IN VANISHED LIGHT - - ... A bright long narrow street rising toward a far mass of glowing - green--burning green of lianas: the front of a tropic wood. Not a - street of this age, but of the seventeenth century: a street of yellow - façades, with yellow garden-walls between the façades. In sharp bursts - of blue light the sea appears at intervals,--blue light blazing up - old, old nights of mossy steps descending to the bay. And through - these openings ships are visible, far below, riding in azure. - - Walls are lemon-colour;--quaint balconies and lattices are green. - Palm-trees rise from courts and gardens into a warm blue - sky--indescribably blue--that appears almost to touch the feathery - heads of them. And all things, within or without the yellow vista, are - steeped in a sunshine electrically white,--in a radiance so powerful - that it lends even to the pavements of basalt the glitter of silver - ore. - - Men wearing only white canvas trousers, and immense hats of - bamboo-grass,--men naked to the waist, and muscled like - sculptures,--pass noiselessly with barefoot stride. Some are very - black; others are of strange and beautiful colours: there are skins of - gold, of brown bronze, and of ruddy bronze. And women pass in robes of - brilliant hue,--women of the colour of fruit: orange-colour, - banana-colour,--women wearing turbans banded with just such burning - yellow as bars the belly of a wasp. The warm thick air is sweet with - scents of sugar and of cinnamon,--with odours of mangoes and of - custard-apples, of guava-jelly and of fresh cocoanut milk. - - --Into the amber shadow and cool moist breath of a great archway I - plunge, to reach a court filled with flickering emerald and the - chirrup of leaping water. There a little boy and a little girl run to - meet me, with Creole cries of "_Mi y!_" Each takes one of my - hands;--each holds up a beautiful brown cheek to kiss. In the same - moment a voice, the father's voice--deep and vibrant as the tone of a - great bell--calls from an inner doorway, "_Entrez donc, mon ami!_" And - with the large caress of that voice there comes to me such joy of - sympathy, such sense of perfect peace, as Souls long-tried by fire - might feel when passing the Gateway of Pearl.... - - But all this was and is not!... Never again will sun or moon shine - upon the streets of that city;--never again will its ways be - trodden;--never again will its gardens blossom ... except in dreams. - -He was again in New York in 1889, occupied with the final proofs of -"Chita" before its appearance in book form, preparing the West Indian -book for the press, but in sore distress for money, and making a -translation of Anatole France's "Le Crime de Sylvestre Bonnard" in a few -weeks by Herculean labour, in order to exist until he could earn -something by his original work. The half-yearly payment of royalties -imposed by publishers bears hardly on the author who must pay daily for -the means to live. For a time he visited Dr. Gould in Philadelphia, but -after his return to New York an arrangement was entered into with Harper -and Brothers to go to Japan for the purpose of writing articles from -there, after the manner of the West Indian articles, later to be made -into a book. An artist was to accompany him to prepare the -illustrations, and their route was by way of the Canadian Pacific -Railway. - -His last evening in New York was spent in the company of his dear friend -Mr. Ellwood Hendrick, to whom many of the most valuable letters -contained in the second volume were written, and on May 8, 1890, he left -for the East--never again to return. - - - - - CHAPTER III - - A MASTER-WORKMAN - - -It was characteristic of the oddity of Hearn's whole life that his way -to the Farthest East should have led through the Farthest West, and that -his way to a land where one's first impressions are of having strayed -into a child's world of faëry,--so elfishly frail and fantastically -small that one almost fears to move lest a rude gesture might destroy a -baby's dear "make believe,"--should have led through plains as gigantic -as empires, and mountain gorges vast as dreams. - -Something of the contrast and amazement are recorded in "My First -Day"--the introductory paper in "Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan":-- - -"The first charm is intangible and volatile as a perfume.... Elfish -everything seems; for everything as well as everybody is small and queer -and mysterious: the little houses under their blue roofs, the little -shop-fronts hung with blue, and the smiling little people in their blue -costumes.... Hokusai's own figures walking about in straw rain-coats and -straw sandals--bare-limbed peasants; and patient-faced mothers, with -smiling bald babies on their backs, toddling by upon their _geta_.... -And suddenly a singular sensation comes upon me as I stand before a -weirdly sculptured portal,--a sensation of dream and doubt. It seems to -me that the steps, and the dragon-swarming gate, and the blue sky -arching over the roofs of the town, and the ghostly beauty of Fuji, and -the shadow of myself there stretching upon the grey masonry, must all -vanish presently ... because the forms before me--the curved roofs, the -coiling dragons, the Chinese grotesqueries of carving--do not really -appear to me as things new, but as things dreamed.... A moment and the -delusion vanishes; the romance of reality returns, with freshened -consciousness of all that which is truly and deliciously new; the -magical transparencies of distance, the wondrous delicacy of tones, the -enormous height of the summer blue, and the white soft witchery of the -Japanese sun." - -That first witchery of Japan never altogether failed to hold him during -the fourteen years in which he wrought out the great work of his life, -though he exclaims in one of his letters of a later time, "The -oscillation of one's thoughts concerning Japan! It is the hardest -country to learn--except China--in the world." He grew aware too in time -that even he, with his so amazing capacity for entering into the spirit -of other races, must forever remain alien to the Oriental. After some -years he writes:-- - -"The different ways of thinking and the difficulties of the language -render it impossible for an educated Japanese to find pleasure in the -society of a European. Here is an astounding fact. The Japanese child is -as close to you as a European child--perhaps closer and sweeter because -infinitely more natural and naturally refined. Cultivate his mind, and -the more it is cultivated the farther you push him from you. -Why?--Because here the race antipodalism shows itself. As the Oriental -thinks naturally to the left where we think to the right, the more you -cultivate him the more he will think in the opposite direction from -you." - -Though he arrived at a happy moment, his artistic _Wanderjahre_ done, -and the tools of his art, after long and bitter apprenticeship, at last -obedient to his will and thought in the hand of a master-workman; the -material with which he was to labour new and beautiful; yet he never -ceased to believe that his true medium was denied to him. In one of his -letters he cries:-- - -"Pretty to talk of my 'pen of fire.' I've lost it. Well, the fact is, it -is of no use here. There isn't any fire here. It is all soft, dreamy, -quiet, pale, faint, gentle, hazy, vapoury, visionary,--a land where -lotus is a common article of diet,--and where there is scarcely any real -summer. Even the seasons are feeble ghostly things. Don't please imagine -there are any tropics here. Ah! the tropics--they still pull at my -heart-strings. Goodness! my real field was there--in the Latin -countries, in the West Indies and Spanish America; and my dream was to -haunt the old crumbling Portuguese and Spanish cities, and steam up the -Amazon and the Orinoco, and get romances nobody else could find. And I -could have done it, and made books that would sell for twenty years." - -Perhaps he never himself quite realized how much greater in importance -was the work chance had set him to do. In place of gathering up in the -outlying parts of the new world the dim tattered fragments of old-world -romance--as a collector might seek in Spanish-American cities faded bits -of what were once the gold-threaded, glowing tapestries brought to adorn -the exile of Conquistadores--he had the good fortune to be chosen to -assist at one of the great births of history. Out of "a race as -primitive as the Etruscan before Rome was"--as he declared he found -them--he was to see a mighty modern nation spring full-armed, with all -the sudden miraculous transformation of some great mailed beetle -bursting from the grey hidden shell of a feeble-looking pupa. He saw the -fourteenth century turn swiftly, amazingly, into the twentieth, and his -twelve volumes of studies of the Japanese people were to have that -unique and lasting value that would attach to equally painstaking -records of Greek life before the Persian wars. Inestimable, immortal, -would be such books--could they anywhere be found--setting down the -faiths, the traditions, the daily lives, the songs, the dances, the -names, the legends, the humble lore of plants, birds, and insects, of -that people who suddenly stood up at Thermopylæ, broke the wave from the -East, made Europe possible, and set the cornerstone of Occidental -thought. This was what Lafcadio Hearn, a little penniless, half-blind, -eccentric wanderer had come to do for Japan. To make immortal the story -of the childhood of a people as simple as the early Greek, who were to -break at Mukden the great wave of conquest from the West and to -rejuvenate the most ancient East. - -So naturally humble was his estimate of himself that it is safe to -assert that not at this time, perhaps at no time, was he aware of the -magnitude and importance of the work he had been set to do. For the -moment he was concerned only with the odylic charm of the new faëry -world in which he found himself, but even in faëry-land one may find in -time rigidities underlying the charm. No Occidental at that period had -as yet divined the iron core underlying the silken courtesy of the -Japanese character. Within the first lustrum of his residence there -Hearn had grasped the truth, and expressed it in a metaphor. In the -volume entitled "Out of the East" he says:-- - -"Under all the amazing self-control and patience there exists an -adamantine something very dangerous to reach.... In the house of any -rich family the guest is likely to be shown some of the heirlooms.... A -pretty little box, perhaps, will be set before you. Opening it you will -see only a beautiful silk bag, closed with a silk running-cord decked -with tiny tassels. Very soft and choice the silk is, and elaborately -figured. What marvel can be hidden under such a covering? You open the -bag and see within another bag, of a different quality of silk, but very -fine. Open that, and lo! a third, which contains a fourth, which -contains a fifth, which contains a sixth, which contains a seventh bag, -which contains the strangest, roughest, hardest vessel of Chinese clay -that you ever beheld. Yet it is not only curious but precious; it may be -more than a thousand years old." - -In time he came to know better than any other Occidental has ever known -all those smooth layers of the Japanese nature, and to understand and -admire that rough hard clay within--old and wonderful and precious. -Again he says:-- - -"For no little time these fairy folk can give you all the softness of -sleep. But sooner or later, if you dwell long with them, your -contentment will prove to have much in common with the happiness of -dreams. You will never forget the dream--never; but it will lift at -last, like those vapours of spring which lend preternatural loveliness -to a Japanese landscape in the forenoon of radiant days. Really you are -happy because you have entered bodily into Fairyland, into a world that -is not, and never could be your own. You have been transported out of -your own century, over spaces enormous of perished time, into an era -forgotten, into a vanished age, back to something ancient as Egypt or -Nineveh. That is the secret of the strangeness and beauty of things, the -secret of the thrill they give, the secret of the elfish charm of the -people and their ways. Fortunate mortal; the tide of Time has turned for -you! But remember that here all is enchantment, that you have fallen -under the spell of the dead, that the lights and the colours and the -voices must fade away at last into emptiness and silence." - -For in time he realized that feudal Japan, with its gentleness and -altruism, had attained to its noble ideal of duty by tremendous coercion -of the will of the individual by the will of the rest, with a resultant -absence of personal freedom that was to the individualism of the -Westerner as strangling as the stern socialism of bees and ants. - -These, however, were the subtler difficulties arising to confront him as -the expatriation stretched into years. The immediate concern was to find -means to live. His original purpose of remaining only long enough to -prepare a series of illustrated articles for _Harper's Magazine_--to be -later collected in book form--was almost immediately subverted by a -dispute with the publishers. The discovery, during the voyage, that the -artist who accompanied him was to receive more than double the pay -allowed for the text, angered him beyond measure, and this, added to -other matters in which he considered himself unjustly treated, caused -him to sever abruptly all his contracts. - -It was an example of his incapacity to look at business arrangements -from the ordinary point of view that he declined even to receive his -royalties from the books already in print, and the publishers could -discharge their obligations to him only by turning over the money to a -friend, who after some years and by roundabout methods succeeded in -inducing him to accept it. That his indignation at what he considered an -injustice left him without resources or prospects in remote exile caused -him not a moment's hesitation in following this course. Fortunately a -letter of introduction carried him within the orbit of Paymaster -Mitchell McDonald, a young officer of the American navy stationed in -Yokohama. Between these two very dissimilar natures there at once sprang -up a warm friendship, from which Hearn derived benefits so delicately -and wisely tendered that even his fierce pride and sensitiveness could -accept them; and this friendship, which lasted until the close of his -life, proved to be a beautiful and helpful legacy for his children. The -letters to Paymaster McDonald included in Volume II have a special -character of gaiety and good fellowship--with him he forgot in great -measure the prepossessions of his life, and became merely the -man-of-the-world, delighting in the memories of good dinners, good wine -and cigars, enjoyed together; long evenings of gay talk and -reminiscences of a naval officer's polyglot experiences; long days of -sea and sunshine; but agreeable as were these cheerful experiences--so -foreign to his ordinary course of existence--he was continually driving -from him, in comic terror, the man who drew him now and again to forget -the seriousness of his task. - -Professor Basil Hall Chamberlain, already famous for his studies of -Japanese life and literature, also became interested in the -wanderer,--and through his potent influence Hearn received an -appointment to the Jinj[=o]-ch[=u]gakk[=o] or Ordinary Middle School at -Matsue, in the province Izumo, in Shimane Ken, to which he went in -August of 1890. - -[Illustration: LAFCADIO HEARN AND MITCHELL McDONALD] - -Matsue lies on the northern coast, near that western end of Japan which -trails like a streaming feather of land through the Eastern Pacific -along the coast of China. It is a town of about thirty-five thousand -inhabitants, situated at the junction of Lake Shinji and the Bay of -Naka-umi, and was at that time far out of the line of travel or Western -influence, the manners of the people remaining almost unchanged, -affording a peculiarly favourable opportunity for the study of feudal -Japan. The ruins of the castle of the Daimy[=o], Matsudaira,--descendant -of the great Sh[=o]gun Ieyasu,--who was overthrown in the wars of the -Meiji, still frowned from the wooded hill above the city, and still his -love of art, his conservatism of the old customs, his rigid laws of -politeness were stamped deeply into the culture of the subjects over -whom he had reigned, though ugly modern buildings housed the schools of -that Western learning he had so contemned, and which the newcomer had -been hired to teach. But this was a teacher of different calibre from -those who had preceded him. Here was one not a holder of the "little -yellow monkey" prepossession. Here was a rare mind capable at the age of -forty of receiving new impressions, of comprehending a civilization -alien to all its previous knowledge. - -Out of this remarkable experience--a stray from the Nineteenth Century -moving about in the unrealized world of the Fourteenth--grew that -portion of his first Japanese book, "Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan," -which he called "From the Diary of an English Teacher," and "The Chief -City of the Province of the Gods." It is interesting to compare the -impression made upon the teacher by his pupils with the opinion formed -by the pupils of their foreign teacher. - -Hearn says:-- - -"I have had two years' experience in large Japanese schools; and I have -never had personal knowledge of any serious quarrel between students.... -A teacher is a teacher only: he stands to his pupils in the relation of -an elder brother. He never tries to impose his will upon them ... -severity would scarcely be tolerated by the students.... Strangely -pleasant is the first sensation of a Japanese class, as you look over -the ranges of young faces.... Those traits have nothing incisive, -nothing forcible: compared with Occidental faces they seem but -'half-sketched,' so soft their outlines are.... Some have a childish -freshness and frankness indescribable ... all are equally characterized -by a singular placidity--expressing neither love nor hate nor anything -save perfect repose and gentleness.... I find among the students a -healthy tone of skepticism in regard to certain forms of popular belief. -Scientific education is rapidly destroying credulity in old -superstitions.... But the deeper religious sense remains with him; and -the Monistic Idea in Buddhism is being strengthened ... by the new -education.... Shint[=o] the students all sincerely are ... what the -higher Shint[=o] signifies,--loyalty, filial piety, obedience to -parents, and respect for ancestors.... The demeanour of a class during -study hours is if anything too faultless. Never a whisper is heard; -never is a head raised from the book without permission.... My favourite -students often visit me of afternoons.... Their conversation and -thoughts are of the simplest and frankest.... Often they bring me gifts -of flowers, and sometimes they bring books and pictures to show -me--delightfully queer things,--family heirlooms. Never by any possible -chance are they troublesome, impolite, curious, or even talkative. -Courtesy in its utmost possible exquisiteness seems as natural to the -Izumo boy as the colour of his hair or the tint of his skin." - -Of the teacher one of his pupils, Teizabur[=o] Inomata, now a student at -Yale College, says:-- - -"We liked him for his appearance and for his gentle manners. He seemed -more pleasing in his looks than most foreigners do to the Japanese." - -Masanobu [=O]tani, his favourite pupil in Matsue, says: "He was a very -kind and industrious teacher, incomparable to the common foreigners -engaged in the Middle Schools of those days. No wonder therefore that he -won at once the admiration of all the teachers and students of the -school." He sends a copy of one of his own compositions corrected and -annotated by Hearn, and observes:-- - -"How he was kind and earnest in his teaching can well be seen by the -above specimen. It seems that themes for our composition were such as he -could infer our artless, genuine thoughts and feelings.... He -attentively listened to our reading, corrected each mispronunciation -whenever we did.... We Japanese feel much pain to pronounce 'l' and -'th.' He kindly and scrupulously taught the pronunciation of these -sounds. He was not tired to correct mispronunciation.... He was always -exact, but never severe." - -Hearn's first residence in Matsue was at an inn in the quarter called -Zaimoku-ch[=o], "but," says his wife in the reminiscences which she set -down to assist his biographer, "circumstances made him resolve to leave -it very soon. The chief cause was as follows: The daughter of the -innkeeper was suffering from a disease of the eyes. This aroused his -sympathy (as did all such troubles in a special manner); he asked the -landlord to send her to a hospital for treatment, but the landlord did -not care much about her, and refused, to Hearn's great mortification. -'Unmerciful fellow! without a father's heart,' he said to himself, and -removed to a house of his own on the shore of the lake." - -This house was near the bridge [=O]hashi which crossed the largest of -the three outlets from the lake to the bay, and commanded the beautiful -scenery described in "The Chief City of the Province of the Gods":-- - -"I slide open my little Japanese paper window to look out upon the -morning over a soft green cloud of foliage rising from the river-bounded -garden below. Before me, tremulously mirroring everything upon its -farther side, glimmers the broad glassy mouth of the [=O]hashi-gawa, -opening into the Shinji Lake, which spreads out broadly to the right in -a dim grey frame of peaks.... But oh, the charm of the vision,--those -first ghostly love-colours of a morning steeped in mist soft as sleep -itself!... Long reaches of faintly-tinted vapour cloud the far lake -verge.... All the bases of the mountains are veiled by them ... so that -the lake appears incomparably larger than it really is, and not an -actual lake, but a beautiful spectral sea of the same tint as the -dawn-sky and mixing with it, while peak-tips rise like islands from the -brume--an exquisite chaos, ever changing aspect as the delicate fogs -rise, slowly, very slowly. As the sun's yellow rim comes into sight, -fine thin lines of warmer tone--violets and opalines--shoot across the -flood, tree-tops take tender fire.... Looking sunward, up the long -[=O]hashi-gawa, beyond the many-pillared wooden bridge, one high-pooped -junk, just hoisting sail, seems to me the most fantastically beautiful -craft I ever saw,--a dream of Orient seas, so idealized by the vapour is -it; the ghost of a junk, but a ghost that catches the light as clouds -do; a shape of gold mist, seemingly semi-diaphanous, and suspended in -pale blue light." - -Here, constantly absorbed when off duty in the study of the sights and -sounds of the city,--the multitudinous soft clapping of hands that -greeted the rising sun, the thin ringing of thousands of wooden _geta_ -across the bridge, the fantastic craft of the water traffic, the trades -of the street merchants, the plays and songs of the children,--he began -to register his first impressions, to make his first studies for his -first book. Of its two volumes he afterwards spoke slightingly as full -of misconceptions and errors, but it at once, upon its appearance in -print, attracted the serious consideration of literary critics, and is -the work which, with "Japan: an Interpretation," remains most popular -with his Japanese friends. It records his many expeditions to the -islands and ports of the three provinces included in the Ken of Shimane, -and his study of the manners, customs, and religion of the people. Of -special value was his visit to the famous temple at Kizuki, to whose -shrine he was the first Westerner ever admitted. Lord Senke Takamori, -priest of this temple, was a friend of the family of the lady who -became Hearn's wife, and prince of a house which had passed its office -by direct male line through eighty-two generations; as old a house as -that of the Mikado himself. From him Hearn received the unusual courtesy -of having ordered for his special benefit a religious dance by the -temple attendants. - -It was while Lafcadio was living in the house by the [=O]hashi bridge -that he married, in January, 1891, Setsu Koizumi, a lady of high samurai -rank. The revolution in Japan which overthrew the power of the -Sh[=o]guns and restored the Mikado to temporal power had broken the -whole feudal structure of Japanese society, and with the downfall of the -daimy[=o]s, whose position was similar to that of the dukes of feudal -England, fell the lesser nobility, the samurai, or "two-sworded" men. -Many of these sank into as great poverty as that which befel the -_émigrés_ after the French Revolution, and among those whose fortunes -were entirely ruined were the Koizumis. Sentar[=o] Nishida, who appears -to have been a sort of head master of the Jinj[=o]-ch[=u]gakk[=o], in -special charge of the English department, was of one of the lesser -samurai families, his mother having been an inmate of the Koizumi -household before the decline of their fortunes. Because of his fluency -in English, as well as because of what seems to have been a peculiar -sweetness and dignity of character, he soon became the interpreter and -special friend of the new English teacher. It was through his mediation -that the marriage was arranged. Under ordinary circumstances a Japanese -woman of rank would consider an alliance with a foreigner an -inexpugnable disgrace; but the circumstances of the Koizumis were not -ordinary, and whatever may have been the secret feelings of the girl of -twenty-two, it is certain that she immediately became passionately -attached to her husband, and the marriage continued to the end to be a -very happy one. It was celebrated by the local rites, as to have married -according to English laws, under the then existing treaties, would have -deprived her of her Japanese citizenship and obliged them to remove to -one of the open ports; but the question of the legality of the marriage -and of her future troubled Hearn from the beginning, and finally obliged -him to renounce his English allegiance and become a subject of the -Mikado in order that she and her children might never suffer from any -complications or doubts as to their position. This could only be -achieved by his adoption into his wife's family. He took their name, -Koizumi, which signifies "Little Spring," and for personal title chose -the classical term for Izumo province, Yakumo, meaning "Eight -Clouds"--or "the place of the issuing of clouds"--and also being the -first word of the oldest known Japanese poem. - -Mrs. Hearn says: "We afterwards removed to a samurai house where we -could have a home of our own conveniently equipped with numbers of -rooms,--our household consisting of us two, maids, and a small cat. Now -about this cat: while we lived near the lake, when the spring was yet -cold, as I was watching from the veranda the evening shadow falling upon -the lake one day, I found a group of boys trying to drown a small cat -near our house. I asked the boys and took it home. 'O pity! cruel -boys!' Hearn said, and took that all-wet, shivering creature into his -own bosom (underneath the cloth) and kindly warmed it. This strongly -impressed me with his deep sincerity, which I ever after witnessed at -various occasions. Such conduct would be very extreme, but he had such -an intensity in his character." This cat seems to have been an important -member of the household. Professor [=O]tani in referring to it says: "It -was a purely black cat. It was given the name of _Hinoko_ (a spark) by -him, because of its glaring eyes like live coals. It became his pet. It -was often held in his hat." - -Later another pet was added to the establishment--an _uguisu_, sent to -him by "the sweetest lady in Japan, daughter of the Governor of Izumo, -who, thinking the foreign teacher might feel lonesome during a brief -illness, made him the gift of this dainty creature." - -"You do not know what an _uguisu_ is?" he says. "An _uguisu_ is a -holy little bird that professes Buddhism ... very brief -indeed is my feathered Buddhist's confession of faith,--only the -sacred name of the _sutras_ reiterated over and over again, like a -litany--'_Ho-ke-ky[=o]!_'--a single word only. But also it is written: -'He who shall joyfully accept but a single word from this _sutra_, -incalculably greater shall be his merit than the merit of one who should -supply all the beings in the four hundred thousand worlds with all the -necessaries for happiness.' ... Always he makes a reverent little pause -after uttering it. First the warble; then a pause of about five -seconds; then a slow, sweet, solemn utterance of the holy name in a tone -as of meditative wonder; then another pause; then another wild, rich, -passionate warble. Could you see him you would marvel how so powerful -and penetrating a soprano could ripple from so minute a throat, yet his -chant can be heard a whole _ch[=o]_ away ... a neutral-tinted mite -almost lost in his box-cage darkened with paper screens, for he loves -the gloom. Delicate he is, and exacting even to tyranny. All his diet -must be laboriously triturated and weighed in scales, and measured out -to him at precisely the same hour each day." - -In this house, surrounded with beautiful gardens, and lying under the -very shadow of the ruined Daimy[=o] castle, Hearn and his wife passed a -very happy year. The rent was about four dollars a month; his salaries -from the middle and normal schools, added to what he earned with his -pen, made him for the first time in his life easy about money matters. -He was extremely popular with all classes, from the governor to the -barber; the charm and wonder of the life about him was still unstaled by -usage, and he found himself at last able to achieve some of that beauty -and force of style for which he had so long laboured. He even found -pleasure in the fact that most of his friends were of no greater stature -than himself. It seems to have been in every way the happiest portion of -his life. Mrs. Hearn's notes concerning it are so delightful as to -deserve literal reproduction. - -"The governor of the prefecture at that time was Viscount Yasusada -Koteda, an earnest advocate of preserving old, genuine Japanese -essentials, a conservatist. He was very much skilful in fencing; was -much respected by the people in general. - -"Mr. Koteda was also very kind to Lafcadio. - -"Thus all Izumo proved favourable to him. The place welcomed him and -treated him as a member of its family, a guest, a good friend, and not -as a stranger or a foreigner. To him all things were full of novel -interest; and the hospitality and good-naturedness of the city-people -were the great pleasure for him. Matsue was, as it were, a paradise for -him; and he became enthusiastically fond of Matsue. The newspapers of -the city often published his anecdotes for his praise. The students were -very pleased that they had a good teacher. In the meantime, the -wonderful thread of marriage happened to unite me with Lafcadio.... - -"When I first saw Lafcadio, his property was a very scanty one,--only a -table, a chair, a few number of books, a suit of both foreign and -Japanese cloth [clothes], etc. - -"When he came home from school, he put on Japanese cloth and sat on -cushion and smoked. - -"By this time he began to be fond of living in all ways like Japanese. -He took Japanese food with chopsticks. - -"In his Izumo days, he was pleased to be present on all banquets held by -the teachers; he also invited some teachers very often and was very glad -to listen to the popular songs. - -"On the New Year's day of 1891, he went round for a formal call with -Japanese _haori_ and _hakama_.... - -"But on those days I had to suffer from the inconvenience of -conversation between us. We could not understand each other very well. -Nor was Hearn familiar with complicated Japanese customs. He was a man -with a rare sensibility of feeling; also he had a peculiar taste. Having -been teased by the hard world, and being still in the vigour of his -life, he often seemed to be indignant with the world. (This turned in -his later years into a melancholic temperament.) When we travelled -through the province of H[=o]ki, we had to rest for a while at a -tea-house of some hot-spring, where many people were making merry. Hearn -pulled my dress, saying: 'Stop to enter this house! No good to rest -here. It is an hell. Even a moment we should not stay here.' He was -often offended in such a way. I was younger than now I am and -unexperienced with the affairs of the world; and it was no easy task for -me then to reconcile him with the occasions. - -"We visited K[=u]kedo, which is a cave on a rocky shore in the sea of -Japan. Hearn went out from the shore and swam for about two miles, -showing great dexterity in various feats of swimming. Our boat entered -the dark, hollow cave, and it was very fearful to hear the sounds of -waves dashing against the wall. There are many fearful legends -concerning this cave. To keep our boat from the evil-spirit, we had to -continue tapping our boat with a stone. The deep water below was -horribly blue. After hearing my story about the cave, Hearn began to put -off his clothes. The sailor said that there would be a great danger if -any one swam here, on account of the devil's curse. I dissuaded him from -swimming. Hearn was very displeased and hardly spoke with me till the -next day.... - -"In the summer of 1891 he visited Kizuki with Mr. Nishida. The next day -he sent for me to come. When I arrived at his hotel I found the two had -gone to sea for swimming, and Hearn's money, packed in his stocking, was -left on the floor. He was very indifferent in regard to money until in -later years he became anxious for the future of family, as he felt he -would not live very long on account of his failing health.... - -"He was extremely fond of freedom, and hated mere forms and restraint. -As a middle school teacher and as a professor in the University he was -always democratic and simple in his life. He ordered to make flock-coat -when he became University professor, and it was after my eager advice. -He at first insisted that he would not appear on public ceremony where -polite garments are required, according to the promise with Dr. Toyama, -and it was after my eager entreaties that at last he consented to have -flock-coat made for him. But it was only some four or five times that he -put on that during his life. So whenever he puts on that, he felt the -task of putting on very troublesome, and said: 'Please attend to-day's -meeting instead of me. I do not like to wear this troublesome thing; -daily cloth is sufficient, etc.' He disliked silk-hat. Some day I said -in joke: 'You have written about Japan very well. His Majesty the -Emperor is calling you to praise. So please put on the flock-coat and -silk-hat.' He answered: 'Therefore I will not attend the meeting; -flock-coat and silk-hat are the thing I dislike.' - -"Our conversation was through Japanese language. Hearn would not teach -me English, saying: 'It is far lovelier for the Japanese women that they -talk in Japanese. I am glad that you do not know English.' - -"Some time (when at Kumamoto) I told him of various inconveniences on -account of my ignorance of English. He said that if I were able to write -my name in English it would be sufficient; and instead he wanted me to -teach him Japanese alphabet. He made progress in this and were able to -write letters in Japanese alphabet with a few Chinese characters -intermixed. - -"Our _mutual_ Japanese language made great progress on account of -necessity. This special Japanese of mine proved much more intelligible -to him than any skilful English of Japanese friend. Hearn was always -delighted with my Japanese. By and by he was able to teach Kazuo in -Japanese. He also taught Japanese stories to other children in Japanese. - -"But on Matsue days we suffered in regard to conversations. Sometimes we -had to refer to the dictionary. Being fond from my girlhood of old -tales, I began from these Matsue days telling him long Japanese old -stories, which were not easy for him to understand, but to which he -listened with much interest and attention. He called our mutual Japanese -language 'Hearn san Kotoba' (Hearn's language). So in later years when -he met some difficult words he would say in joke to explain them in our -familiar 'Hearn san Kotoba.'" - - * * * * * - -Unfortunately this idyllic interval was cut short by ill health. The -cold Siberian winds that pass across Izumo in winter seriously affected -his lungs, and the little _hibachi_, or box of burning charcoal, which -was the only means in use of warming Japanese houses, could not protect -sufficiently one who had lived so long in warm climates. Oddly too, cold -always affected his eyesight injuriously, and very reluctantly, but -under the urgent advice of his doctor, he sought employment in a warmer -region and was transferred to the Dai Go K[=o]t[=o] Gakk[=o], the great -Government College, at Kumamoto, situated near the southern end of the -Inland Sea. In "Sayonara"--the last chapter of the "Glimpses"--there is -a description of his parting:-- - -"The quaint old city has become so endeared to me that the thought of -never seeing it again is one I do not venture to dwell upon.... These -days of farewells have been full of charming surprises. To have the -revelation of gratitude where you had no right to expect more than plain -satisfaction with your performance of duty; to find affection where you -supposed only good will to exist: these are assuredly delicious -experiences.... I cannot but ask myself the question: Could I have lived -in the exercise of the same profession for the same length of time in -any other country, and have enjoyed a similar unbroken experience of -human goodness? From each and all I have received only kindness and -courtesy. Not one has addressed to me a single ungenerous word. As a -teacher of more than five hundred boys and men I have never even had my -patience tried." - -There were presents from the teachers, of splendid old porcelains, of an -ancient and valuable sword from the students, of mementos from every -one. A banquet was given, addresses made, the Government officials and -hundreds of friends came to bid him good-bye at the docks, and thus -closed the most beautiful episode of his life. - -Matsue was old Japan. Kumamoto represented the far less pleasing Japan -in the stage of transition. Here Hearn remained for three years, and at -the expiration of his engagement abandoned the Government service and -returned to journalism for a while. Living was far more expensive, the -official and social atmosphere of Kumamoto was repugnant to him, and he -fell back into the old solitary, retiring habits of earlier -days--finding his friends among children and folk of the humbler -classes, excepting only the old teacher of Chinese, whose name signified -"Moon-of-Autumn," and to whom he makes reference in several of his -letters. In "Out of the East"--the book written in Kumamoto--he says of -this friend: "He was once a samurai of high rank belonging to the great -clan of Aizu. He had been a leader of armies, a negotiator between -princes, a statesman, a ruler of provinces--all that any knight could be -in the feudal era. But in the intervals of military or political duty he -seems always to have been a teacher. Yet to see him now you would -scarcely believe how much he was once feared--though loved--by the -turbulent swordsmen under his rule. Perhaps there is no gentleness so -full of charm as that of the man of war noted for sternness in his -youth." - -Of his childish friends he relates a pretty story. They came upon one -occasion to ask for a contribution of money to help in celebrating the -festival of Jiz[=o], whose shrine was opposite his house. - -"I was glad to contribute to the fund, for I love the gentle god of -children. Early the next morning I saw that a new bib had been put about -Jiz[=o]'s neck, a Buddhist repast set before him.... After dark I went -out into a great glory of lantern-fires to see the children dance; and I -found, perched before my gate, an enormous dragonfly more than three -feet long. It was a token of the children's gratitude for the help I had -given them. I was startled for a moment by the realism of the thing, but -upon close examination I discovered that the body was a pine branch -wrapped with coloured paper, the four wings were four fire-shovels, and -the gleaming head was a little teapot. The whole was lighted by a candle -so placed as to make extraordinary shadows, which formed part of the -design. It was a wonderful instance of art-sense working without a speck -of artistic material, yet it was all the labour of a poor little child -only eight years old!" - -It was in Kumamoto that Hearn first began to perceive the fierceness and -sternness of the Japanese character. "With Ky[=u]sh[=u] Students" and -"Jiu-jutsu" contain some surprising foreshadowings of the then -unsuspected future. Such characteristics, however he might respect or -understand them, were always antipathetic to his nature, and his -relations with the members of the school were for the most part formal. -He mentions that the students rarely called upon him, and that he saw -his fellow teachers only in school hours. Between classes he usually -walked under the trees, smoking, or betook himself to an abandoned -cemetery on the ridge of the hill behind the college, where an ancient -stone Buddha sat upon a lotus--"his meditative gaze slanting down -between half-closed eyelids"--and where he wrought out the chapter in -"Out of the East" which is called "The Stone Buddha." It became a -favourite resort. Mrs. Hearn says: "When at Kumamoto we two often went -out for a walk in the night-time. On the first walk at Kumamoto I was -led to a graveyard, for on the previous day he said: 'I have found a -pleasant place. Let us go there to-morrow night.' Through a dark path I -was led on, until we came up a hill, where were many tombs. Dreary place -it was! He said: 'Listen and hear the voices of frogs.'" - -He was still in Kumamoto when Japan went to war with China, and his -record of the emotion of the people is full of interest. The war spirit -manifested itself in ways not less painful than extraordinary. Many -killed themselves on being refused the chance of military service. - -It was here in the previous year, November 17, 1893, that his first -child was born, and was named Kazuo, which signifies "the first of the -excellent, best of the peerless." The event caused him the profoundest -emotion. Indeed, it seemed to work a great change in all his views of -life, as perhaps it does in most parents, reconciling them to much -against which they may have previously rebelled. Writing to me a few -weeks after this event he declared with artless conviction that the boy -was "strangely beautiful," and though three other children came in later -years, Kazuo always remained his special interest and concern. Up to the -time of his death he never allowed his eldest son to be taught by any -one but himself, and his most painful preoccupation when his health -began to decline was with the future of this child, who appeared to have -inherited both his father's looks and disposition. - -The constant change in the personnel of the teaching force of the -college, and many annoyances to which he was subjected, caused his -decision at the end of the three years' term to remove to K[=o]be and -enter the service of the K[=o]be _Chronicle_. Explaining to Amenomori he -says:-- - -"By the way, I am hoping to leave the Gov't service, and begin -journalism at K[=o]be. I am not sure of success; but Gov't service is -uncertain to the degree of terror,--a sword of Damocles; and Gov't -doesn't employ men like you as teachers. If it did, and would give them -what they should have, the position of a foreign teacher would be -pleasant enough. He would be among thinkers, and find some -kindliness,--instead of being made to feel that he is only the servant -of petty political clerks. And I have been so isolated, that I must -acknowledge the weakness of wishing to be among Englishmen again--with -all their prejudices and conventions." - -K[=o]be was at that time, 1895, an open port, that is to say, one -of the places in which foreigners were allowed to reside without -special government permission, and under the extra-territorial rule -of their own consuls. Of Hearn's external life here there seems -to be but scant record. He worked as one of the staff of the -_Chronicle_,--his editorials frequently bringing upon him the wrath of -the missionaries,--he contributed some letters to the McClure Syndicate, -and there was much talk of a projected expedition, in search of material -for such work, to the Philippines or the Loo Choo Islands; a project -never realized. The journalistic work seriously affected his eyes, and -his health seems to have been poor at times. He made few acquaintances -and had almost no companions outside of his own household, where in 1896 -another son was born. - -Perhaps because of the narrowness of his social life his mental life -deepened and expanded, or possibly his indifference to the outer world -may have resulted from the change manifesting itself in his mental view. - -"Kokoro" (a Japanese word signifying "The Heart of Things") was written -in K[=o]be, as was also "Gleanings in Buddha-Fields," and they quite -remarkably demonstrate his growing indifference to the externals of -life, the deepening of his thought toward the intrinsic and the -fundamental. The visible beauty of woman, of nature, of art, grew to -absorb him less as he sought for the essential principle of beauty. - -In one of the letters written about this time he says: "I have to -acknowledge to feeling a sort of resentment against certain things in -which I used to take pleasure. I can't look at a number of the _Petit -Journal pour Rire_ or the _Charivari_ without vexation, almost anger. I -can't find pleasure in a French novel written for the obvious purpose of -appealing to instincts that interfere with perception of higher things -than instincts. I should not go to the Paris Opera if it were next door. -I should not like to visit the most beautiful lady and be received in -evening dress. You see how absurd I have become--and this without any -idea of principle about the matter except the knowledge that I ought to -avoid everything which does not help me to make the best of -myself--small as it may be." - -And again: "I might say that I have become indifferent to personal -pleasure of any sort ... what is more significant, I think, is the -feeling that the greatest pleasure is to work for others--for those who -take it as a matter of course that I should do so, and would be as much -amazed to find me selfish about it as if an earthquake had shaken the -house down.... It now seems to me that time is the most precious of all -things conceivable. I can't waste it by going out to hear people talk -nonsense.... There are rich natures that can afford the waste, but I -can't, because the best part of my life has been wasted in the wrong -direction and I shall have to work like thunder till I die to make up -for it." - -The growing gravity and force of his thought was shown not only in his -books but in his correspondence. Most of the letters written at this -period were addressed to Professor Chamberlain, dealing with matters of -heredity and the evolution of the individual under ancestral racial -influences. The following extract is typical of the tone of the whole:-- - -"Here comes in the consideration of a very terrible possibility. Suppose -we use integers instead of quintillions or centillions, and say that an -individual represents by inheritance a total of 10-5 of impulses -favourable to social life, 5 of the reverse. (Such a balance would -really occur in many cases.) The child inherits, under favourable -conditions, the father's balance plus the maternal balance of 9,--four -of the number being favourable. We have then a total which becomes odd, -and the single odd number gives preponderance to an accumulation of -ancestral impulse incalculable for evil. It would be like a pair of -scales, each holding a mass as large as Fuji. If the balance were -absolutely perfect the weight of _one_ hair would be enough to move a -mass of millions of tons. Here is your antique Nemesis awfully -magnified. Let the individual descend below a certain level and -countless dead suddenly seize and destroy him,--like the Furies." - -One begins to miss the beautiful landscapes against which he had set his -enchantingly realistic pictures of beautiful things and people, but in -the place of the sensuous charm, the honeyed felicities of phrase, he -offered such essays as the "Japanese Civilization" in "Kokoro," with its -astounding picture of New York City, and its sublimated insight into the -imponderable soul of the Eastern world--such intolerable imaginings as -"Dust" in the "Gleanings from Buddha-Fields," and the delicate -poignancies of "The Nun of the Temple of Amida" or of "A Street Singer." - -I think it was at K[=o]be he reached his fullest intellectual stature. -None of the work that followed in the next eight years surpassed the -results he there achieved, and much was of lesser value, despite its -beauty. He had attained to complete mastery of his medium, and had -moreover learned completely to master his thought before clothing it in -words--a far more difficult and more important matter. - -Yet the clothing in words was no small task, as witness the accompanying -examples of how he laboured for the perfection of his vehicle. These are -not the first struggles of a young and clumsy artist, but the efforts at -the age of fifty-three of one of the greatest masters of English. - -It was done, too, by a man who earned with his pen in a year less than -the week's income of one of the facile authors of the "six best -sellers." - -As has been said of De Quincey, whom Hearn in many ways resembled, "I -can grasp a little of his morbid suffering in the eternal struggle for -perfection of utterance; I can share a part of his æsthetic torment over -cacophony, redundance, obscurity, and all the thousand minute delicacies -and subtleties of resonance and dissonance, accent and cæsura, that only -a De Quincey's ear appreciates and seeks to achieve or evade. How many -care for these fine things to-day? How many are concerned if De Quincey -uses a word with the long 'a' sound, or spends a sleepless night in his -endeavour to find another with the short 'a,' that shall at once -answer his purpose and crown his sentence with harmony? Who lovingly -examine the great artist's methods now, dip into the secret of his -mystery, and weigh verb against adjective, vowel against consonant, that -they may a little understand the unique splendour of this prose? And -who, when an artist is the matter, attempt to measure his hopes as well -as his attainments or praise a noble ambition perhaps shining through -faulty attempt? How many, even among those who write, have fathomed the -toil and suffering, the continence and self-denial of our great artists -in words?" - -[Illustration: _Specimen of Hearn's MS., first draft._] - -[Illustration] - - - - - CHAPTER IV - - THE LAST STAGE - - -With methods of work such as those of which the foregoing examples give -suggestion, with increasing indifference to the external details of -life, and growing concentration of esoteric thought, it was plain that -literature and journalism would not suffice to sustain a family of -thirteen persons. For Hearn in becoming a Japanese subject had accepted -the Japanese duty of maintaining the elder members of the family into -which he had been adopted, and his household included the ancestors of -his son. He referred to the fact occasionally with amused impatience, -but seems never to have really resented or rebelled against the filial -duties which to the Western point of view might appear excessive. His -eyes, too, began to give warnings that could not be ignored, and with -reluctance he yielded to the necessity of earning a larger income by -reëntering the Government service as a teacher. Professor Chamberlain -again came to his aid and secured for him the position of Professor of -English in the Imperial University of T[=o]ky[=o], where his salary was -large compared to anything he had as yet received, and where he was -permitted an admirable liberty as to methods of teaching. - -Of his lectures an example is given in the appendix, under the title -"Naked Poetry." This, it is interesting to mention, was taken down in -long-hand during its delivering by Teizabur[=o] Inomata, who possesses -five manuscript volumes of these records, for Hearn transcribed none of -his lectures, delivering them without notes, and had it not been for -this astonishing feat by a member of one of his classes all written -record of his teaching would have been lost. Mr. Inomata is the Ochiai -of the letter given on page 64 of the present volume, and was one of the -pupils of the Jinj[=o]-ch[=u]gakk[=o] of Matsue. Another of these Matsue -pupils was Masanobu [=O]tani, whom Hearn assisted to pass through the -university by employing him to collect data for many of his books. In -the elaborately painstaking manuscript volume of information which Mr. -[=O]tani sent me to assist in the writing of these volumes, he says:-- - -"Here I want not to forget to add that I had received from him 12 yen (6 -dollars) for my work each month. It was too kind of him that a poor -monthly work of mine was paid with the money above mentioned. To speak -frankly, however, it was not very easy for me to pass each month with -the money through the three years of my university course. I had to pay -2 yen and a half as the monthly fee to the university; to pay 6 or 7 yen -for my lodging and eating every month; to buy some necessary text books, -and to pay for some meetings inevitable. So I was forced to make some -more money beside his favour. Each month I contributed to some -newspapers and magazines; I reprinted the four books of Nesfield's -grammar; I published some pamphlets. Thus I could equal the expense of -each month, but I need hardly say that it was by his extraordinary -favour that I could finish my study in the university. I shall never -forget his extreme kindness forever and ever." - -A revelation this, confirmatory of the constant references made by Hearn -to the frightful price paid in life and energy by Japan in the endeavour -to assimilate a millennium of Western learning in the brief space of -half a century. - -From these notes by Mr. [=O]tani, Mrs. Hearn, and Mr. Inomata it is -possible to reconstruct his life in T[=o]ky[=o] with that minuteness -demanded by the professors of the "scientific school" of biography:-- - -"When he came to the university he immediately entered the lecture room, -and at the recreation hour he was always seen in a lonely part of the -college garden, smoking, and walking to and fro. No one dared disturb -his meditations. He did not mingle with the other professors.... - -"Very regular and very diligent in his teaching, he was never absent -unless ill. His hours of teaching being twelve in the week.... - -"He never used an umbrella.... - -"He liked to bathe in tepid water.... - -"He feared cold; his study having a large stove and double doors; he -never, however, used gloves in the coldest weather."... - -And so on, to the _nth_ power of fatigue. Personally nothing would -have been so obnoxious to the man as this piling up of unimportant -detail and banal ana about his private life. He was entirely free of -that egotism, frequently afflicting the literary artist, which made the -crowing cocks, the black beetles, and the marital infelicities of the -Carlyles matters of such import as to deserve being solemnly and -meticulously recorded for the benefit of an awestruck world. - -At first the change of residence, the necessary interruption of the -heavy work of preparing lectures, the teaching, and its attendant -official duties seem to have broken the train of his inspiration--for -"Gleanings in Buddha-Fields," though published the year after his -arrival in T[=o]ky[=o], had been completed while in K[=o]be, and he -complains bitterly in his letters that "the Holy Ghost had departed from -him," and was constantly endeavouring to find some means of renewing the -fire. In a letter to his friend Amenomori he says: "But somehow, working -is 'against the grain.' I get no thrill, no _frisson_, no sensation. I -want new experiences, perhaps; and T[=o]ky[=o] is no place for them. -Perhaps the power to feel thrill dies with the approach of a man's -fiftieth year. Perhaps the only land to find the new sensations is in -the Past,--floats blue-peaked under some beautiful dead sun 'in the -tropic clime of youth.' Must I die and be born again to feel the charm -of the Far East;--or will Nobushige Amenomori discover for me some -unfamiliar blossom growing beside the Fountain of Immortality? Alas, I -don't know!" Indeed, in "Exotics and Retrospectives" he returned for -part of his material to old memories of the West Indies, and the next -four volumes--"In Ghostly Japan" (with its monstrous fantasy of the -Mountain of Skulls), "Shadowings," "A Japanese Miscellany," and -"Kotto"--show that the altar still waited for the coal, the contents of -these being merely studies, masterly as they were, such as an artist -might make while waiting for some great idea to form itself, worthy of a -broad canvas. - -As the letters show, prodigious care and patience were expended upon -each of these sketches. In advising a friend he explains his own -methods:-- - -"Now with regard to your own sketch or story. If you are quite -dissatisfied with it, I think this is probably due _not_ to what you -suppose,--imperfection of expression,--but rather to the fact that some -_latent_ thought or emotion has not yet defined itself in your mind with -sufficient sharpness. You feel something and have not been able to -express the feeling--only because you do not yet quite know what it is. -We feel without understanding feeling; and our most powerful emotions -are the most undefinable. This must be so, because they are inherited -accumulations of feeling, and the multiplicity of them--superimposed one -over another--blurs them, and makes them dim, even though enormously -increasing their strength.... _Unconscious_ brain-work is the best to -develop such latent feeling or thought. By quietly writing the thing -over and over again, I find that the emotion or idea often _develops -itself_ in the process,--unconsciously. Again, it is often worth while -to _try_ to analyze the feeling that remains dim. The effort of trying -to understand exactly what it is that moves us sometimes proves -successful.... If you have any feeling--no matter what--strongly latent -in the mind (even only a haunting sadness or a mysterious joy), you may -be sure that it is expressible. Some feelings are, of course, very -difficult to develop. I shall show you one of these days, when we see -each other, a page that I worked at for _months_ before the idea came -clearly.... When the best result comes, it ought to surprise you, for -our best work is out of the Unconscious." - -In all these studies the tendency grew constantly more marked to abandon -the earlier richness of his style; a pellucid simplicity was plainly the -aim of his intention. The transparent, shadowy, "weird stories" of -"Kwaidan" were as unlike the splendid floridity of his West Indian -studies as a Shint[=o] shrine is unlike a Gothic cathedral. These -ghostly sketches might have been made by the brush of a Japanese artist; -a grey whirl of water about a phantom fish--a shadow of a pine bough -across the face of a spectral moon--an outline of mountains as filmy as -dreams: brief, almost childishly simple, and yet suggesting things -poignant, things ineffable. - -"Ants," the last study in "Kwaidan," was, however, of a very different -character. The old Occidental fire and power was visible again; his -inspiration was reillumined. Then suddenly the broad canvas was spread -for him and he wrote "Japan: an Attempt at Interpretation," one of the -most astonishing reviews of the life and soul of a great nation ever -attempted. - -To understand the generation of this book it is necessary to explain the -conditions of the last years of his life in T[=o]ky[=o]. Of his private -existence at this time Mrs. Hearn's reminiscences furnish again a -delightful and vivid record. - -"It was on the 27th Aug., 1896, that we arrived at T[=o]ky[=o] from -K[=o]be. - -"Having heard of a house to let in Ushigome district, we went to see it. -It was an old house of a pure Japanese style, without an upper story; -and having a spacious garden and a lotus-pond in it, the house resembled -to a Buddhist temple. Very gloomy house it was and I felt a sense of -being haunted. Hearn seemed fond of the house. But we did not borrow it. - -"We heard afterward that it was reputed to be haunted by the ghost; and -though the house-rent was very cheap, no one would dare to borrow the -house; and finally it was broken down by its owner. 'Why then did we not -inhabit that house?' Hearn said, with regret, 'It was very interesting -house, I thought at that time!' - -"At last we settled at a house at Tomihisa-ch[=o], Ushigome district, -about three miles from the university. The house was situated on a -bluff, with a Buddist temple called Kobu-dera in the neighbourhood. -'Kobu-dera' means 'Knots Temple,' because all the pillars in the -building have knots left, the natural wood having been used without -carpenter's planes. Formerly it was called Hagi-dera on account of many -_hagi_[3] flowers in the garden. - - [3] Bush clover. - -"Being very fond of a temple, he often went for rambling in Kobu-dera, -so that he became acquainted with a goodly old priest there, with whom -he was pleased to talk on Buddhist subjects, I being always his -interpreter in such a case. - -"Almost every morning and every evening he took walk in Kobu-dera. - -"The children always said when he was absent, 'Papa is in Kobu-dera.' - -"The following is one of his conversations in one of our ramblings -there: 'Can I not live in this temple?' 'I should be very glad to become -a priest--I will make a good priest with large eyes and high nose!' -'Then you become a nun! and Kazuo a little boy priest!--how lovely he -would be! We shall then every day chant the texts. Oh, a happy life!' -'In the next world you shall be born a nun!' - -"One day we went to the temple for our usual walk. 'O, O!' he exclaimed -in astonishment. Three large cedars had been lying on the ground. 'Why -have they cut down these trees? I see the temple people seem to be poor. -They are in need of money. Oh, why have they not told me about that? I -should be very much pleased to give them some amount. What a long time -it must have taken to grow so large from the tiny bud! I have become a -little disgusted with that old priest. Pity! he has not money, though. -Poor tree!' He was extremely sad and melancholily walked for home. 'I -feel so sad! I am no more pleasant to-day. Go and ask the people to cut -no more trees,' he said. - -"After this he did not go to the temple yard any more. - -"Sometime after the old priest was removed to another temple; and the -younger new priest, the head of temple, began cutting trees. - -"His desire was to live in a little house, in some lonely suburb, with a -spacious garden full of trees. I looked for several places; at Nishi -[=O]kubo _mura_ I found a house of pure Japanese style and even with no -foreign styled house in the neighbourhood, for his desire was to live in -the midst of genuine Japan. That the house stood in a lonely suburb and -that there was a bamboo bush in the rear of house pleased him much and -prompted his immediate decision. Being much afraid of cold winter, he -wanted to have one room furnished with a stove newly built and that the -library should open to the west. His library, with an adjoining room -with a stove, and my sitting room were built. He left all else to my -choice, saying, 'I have only to write; other things I do not care for; -you know better, good Mamma San!' - -"It was on the 19th March, 1902, that we removed on new house at -[=O]kubo. He used to go to university by a jinrikisha; it took about 40 -minutes. Our house was all furnished in Japanese fashion, except the -stove and the glass-screen on account of the stove, instead of a -paper-screen, in regard to that apartment. - -"On the day we removed I was helping him arrange books in the library. -Among the bamboo woods were heard the uguisu or warbler's notes through -the stillness of the place. 'How happy!' he said, pleased with the new -abode. 'But my heart is sorry,' he added. 'Why?' I asked. 'To be happy -is a cause of anxiousness to me;' he said, 'I would like to live long -in this house. But I do not know whether I can.' - -"He put too much importance to Beauty or Nicety perhaps. He was too -enthusiastic for beauty, for which he wept, and for which he rejoiced, -and for which he was angry. This made him shun social intercourse; this -made him as if he were an eccentric person. To him meditating and -writing were the sole pleasure of life; and for this he disposed of all -things else. I often said: 'You are too secluded in your room. Please go -out when you like and find enjoyment anything you like.' 'You know my -best enjoyment: thinking and writing. When I have things to write upon I -am happy. While writing I forget all cares and anxieties. Therefore give -me subjects to write. Talk to me more,' he said. 'I have talked you all -things. I have no more story to tell you.' 'Therefore you go out, and -when you come back home, tell me all you have seen and heard. Only -reading books is not enough.' - -"I used to tell him ghost-stories in dreary evenings, with the lamp -purposely dimly lighted. He seemed always to listen as if he were -withholding breath for fear. His manner, so eagerly attentive and -looking fearful, made me tell the story with more emphasis. Our house -was, as it were, a ghost-house on those times; I began to be haunted -with fearful dreams in the night. I told him about that and he said we -would stop ghost-stories for some time. - -"When I tell him stories I always told him at first the mere skeleton of -the story. If it is interesting, he puts it down in his note-book and -makes me repeat and repeat several times. - -"And when the story is interesting, he instantly becomes exceedingly -serious; the colour of his face changes; his eyes wear the look of -fearful enthusiasm. - -"As I went on as usual the story of Okachinsan [in the begining of -'Kotto'], his face gradually changed pale; his eyes were fixed; I felt a -sudden awe. When I finished the narrative he became a little relaxed and -said it was very interesting. 'O blood!' he repeatedly said; and asked -me several questions regarding the situations, actions, etc., involved -in the story. 'In what manner was "O blood!" exclaimed? In what manner -of voice? What do you think of the sound of "geta" at that time? How was -the night? I think so and so. What do you think? etc.' Thus he consulted -me about various things besides the original story which I told from the -book. If any one happened to see us thus talking from outside, he would -surely think that we were mad. - -"'Papa, come down; supper is ready,' three children used to say -altogether to him; then 'All right, sweet boys,' he would say, and come -to the table in a cheerful manner. But when he is very much absorbed in -writing, he would say, 'All right,' very quickly. And whenever his -answer is quick, he would not come very soon. I then go to him and say: -'Papa San! the children are waiting for you. Please come soon, or the -dishes will lose their good flavour.' - -"'What?' he asks. - -"'The supper is ready, Papa.' - -"'I do not want supper. Didn't I already take that? Funny!' - -"'Mercy! please awake from your dream. The little child would weep.' - -"In such occasion, he is very forgetful; and takes bread only to -himself. And children ask him to break bread for them. And he would take -whiskey for wine or put salt into the cup of coffee. Before meal he took -a very little quantity of whiskey. Later when his health was a little -hurt he took wine. - -"But on usual meals we were very pleasant. He tells stories from foreign -papers; I from Japanese newspapers. Kiyoshi would peep from the hole of -sliding-paper screen. The cat comes; the dog come under the window; and -they share some sweets he gives. After meal we used to sing songs -innocently and merrily. - -"Often he danced or laughed heartily when he was very happy. - -"In one New Year's day it happened that one of the jinrikisha men of our -house died suddenly while drinking _sake_ in a narrow room near the -portal of our house. The dead man was covered with a bed-covering. A -guest came for wishing a happy new year to our home. The guest found -that and said: 'O, a drunkard sleeping on the New Year's day. A happy -fellow!' The rikisha man, who sat near and was watching the dead, said -in his vulgar tone: 'Not a drunkard, but a Buddha!'[4] The guest was -sorely astonished and went out immediately. After some days I told him -this fact; he was interested to imagine the manner the guest made in -astonishment. And he ordered me to repeat the conversation between the -guest and the rikisha man. He often imitated the words of 'Not a -drunkard, but a Buddha,' as being a very natural and simple utterance. - - [4] "Hotoke-sama" means the dead. - -"Whenever he met with a work of any art suited to his taste, he -expressed an intense admiration, even for a very small work. A man with -a nice and kind heart he was! We often went to see the exhibition of -pictures held occasionally in T[=o]ky[=o]. If he found any piece of work -very interesting to him, he spoke of it as cheap though very high in -price. 'What do you think of that?' my husband says. 'It is too much -high price,' I say, lest he should immediately buy it quite indifferent -of prices. 'No, I don't mean about prices. I mean about the picture. Do -you think it is very good?' Then I answer: 'Yes, a pretty picture, -indeed, I think.' 'We shall then buy that picture,' he says, 'the price -is however very cheap; let us offer more money for that.' As to our -financial matter, he was entirely trusting to me. Thus, I, the little -treasurer, sometimes suffered on such occasions. - -"In those innocent talks of our boys he was pleased to find interesting -things. In fact his utmost pleasure was to be acquainted with a thing of -beauty. How he was glad to hear my stories. Alas! he is no more! though -I sometimes get amusing stories, they are now no use. Formalities were -the things he most disliked. His likes and dislikes were always to the -extreme. When he liked something he liked extremely. He used to wear a -plain cloth; only he was particular about shirts on account of cold. -When he had new suit of cloth made, he wore it after my repeated -entreaties. Being fond of Japanese cloth, he always puts off foreign -cloth when he comes back from without, and, sitting on the cushion so -pleasantly, he smokes. At Aizu in summer, he often wore bathing cloth -and Japanese sandals. - -"He always chose the best and excellent quality of any kind of things, -so in purchasing my dress, he often ordered according to his taste. -Sometimes he was like an innocent child. One summer we went to a store -selling cloth for a bathing cloth (_yukata_) which I wear in -summer-time. The man showed us various kinds of designs, all of which he -was so very fond and bought. I said that we need not so many kinds. He -said: 'But think of that. Only one yen and half for a piece. Please put -on various kinds of dress, which only to see is pleasant to me.' He -bought some thirty pieces, to the amazement of the store people. - -"He resented in his heart that many Japanese people, forgetting of the -fact that there exist many beautiful points in things Japanese, are -imitating Western style. He regretted that Japan would thus be lost. So -he abhorred the foreign style which Japanese assume. He was glad that -many Waseda professors wore Japanese _haori_ and _hakama_. He disliked -unharmonized foreign dress of Japanese lady and proud girl speaking -English. We one day went to a bazar at Ueno Park. He asked the price of -an article in Japanese. The storekeeper, a girl of new school, replied -in English. He was displeased and drew my dress and turned away. When -he became the professor of Waseda, Dean Takata invited him to his house. -It was very rare that he ever accepted an invitation. At the portal, -Mrs. Takata welcomed him in Japanese language. This reception greatly -pleased him, so he told me when he returned home. In our home, -furnitures and even the manner of maids' hair-dressing were all in -genuine Japanese style. If I happened to buy some articles of foreign -taste, he would say: 'Don't you love Japanese arts?' He wanted our boy -put on Japanese cloths and wear _geta_ instead of shoes. Sometimes in -company with him in usual walks, one of our boys would wear shoes. He -say: 'Mamma San, look at my toes. Don't you mind that our dear -children's toes should become disfigured in such manner as mine?' As -Kazuo's appearance is very much like a foreigner, he taught him English. -Other boys were taught and brought up in Japanese way. We kept no -interpreter since our Matsue days. A Japanese guest would come to our -house in Western style and smoke cigarettes, but the host receives him -in Japanese cloth and does all in Japanese fashion--a curious contrast. -With one glance of his nose-glass which he keeps he catches the whole -appearance of any first visitor even to the smallest details of the -physiognomy. He is extremely near-sighted; and the minute he takes a -glance is the whole time of his observation; still his wonderfully keen -observation often astonished me. - -"One day I read the following story to him from a Japanese paper: 'A -certain nobleman's old mother is extremely fond of classical Japanese -ways, absolutely antagonistic to the modern manners. The maids were to -wear _obi_ in old ways. Lamps were not allowed, but paper _and[=o]_ was -used instead. Nor soaps were to be used in this household. So maids and -servants would not endure long.' Hearn was very much delighted to learn -that there still existed such a family. 'How I like that!' he said. 'I -would like to visit them.' One time I said to him in joke: 'You are not -like Westerner, except in regard to your nose.' Then he said: 'What -shall I do with this nose? But I am a Japanese. I love Japan better than -any born Japanese.' - -"Indeed, he loved Japan with his whole heart, but his sincere love for -Japan was not very well understood by Japanese. - -"When asked anything to him, he would not readily accept that; but -everything he did he did it with his sincere and whole heart! - -"One day he said to me: 'Foreign people are very desirous to know of my -whereabouts. Some papers have reported that Hearn disappeared from the -world. What do you think of this? How funny!--disappeared from the -world.' Thus his chief pleasure was only to write, without being -disturbed from without. O, while I thus talk of my dear husband's life, -I feel in myself as if I were being scolded by him why I was thus -talking of him. 'Where is Hearn now? He has disappeared from the world.' -This was his desire--unknown to the rest of the world. But though he -would scold me I wish to tell about him more and more. - -"When he was engaged in writing he was so enthusiastically that any -small noise was a great pain to him. So I always tried to keep the house -still in regard to the opening and shutting of doors, the footsteps of -family, etc.; and I always chose to enter his room when necessary as I -heard the sound of his pipes (tobacco-smoking pipes) and his songs in a -high voice. But after removal to [=O]kubo, our house was wide enough and -his library was very remote from the children's room and the portal. So -he could enjoy his enjoyment in the world of calmness. - -"When writing the story of 'Miminashi H[=o]ïchi,' he was forgetful of -the approach of evening. In the darkness of the evening twilight he was -sitting on the cushion in deep thought. Outside of the paper-screens of -his room, I for a trial called with a low voice, 'H[=o]ïchi! H[=o]ïchi!' -'Yes, I am a blind man. Who are you?' he replied from within; he had -been imagining as if he himself were H[=o]ïchi with a _biwa_ in his -hand. Whenever he writes he is entirely absorbed with the subject. On -those days I one day went to the city and bought a little doll of blind -priest with a _biwa_. I put it secretly upon his desk. As he found it he -was overjoyed with it and seemed as if he met an expecting friend. When -a rustling noise of fallen leaves in the garden woods he said seriously: -'Listen! the Heike are fallen. They are the sounds of waves at -Dan-no-ura.' And he listened attentively. Indeed sometimes I thought he -was mad, because he seemed too frequently he saw things that were not -and heard things that were not." - -His life outside of the university and of his own home he narrowed down -to a point where the public began to create legends about him, so seldom -was he seen. The only person ever able to draw him forth was his friend -Mitchell McDonald, whose sympathy and hospitality he constantly fled -from and constantly yielded to. To Mrs. Fenollosa he wrote: - -"My friends are much more dangerous than my enemies. These latter--with -infinite subtlety--spin webs to keep me out of places where I hate to go -... and they help me so much by their unconscious aid that I almost love -them. They help me to maintain the isolation absolutely essential to -thinking.... Blessed be my enemies, and forever honoured all them that -hate me! - -"But my friends!--ah! my friends! They speak so beautifully of my work; -they say they want more of it,--and yet they would destroy it! They do -not know what it costs, and they would break the wings and scatter the -feather-dust, even as the child that only wanted to caress the -butterfly. And they speak of converse and sympathy.... And they -say,--only a day--just an afternoon--but each of them says this thing. -And the sum of the days is a week of work dropped forever into the -Abyss.... I must not even think about people's kind words and faces, but -work, work, work, while the Scythe is sharpening within vision." - -Under the strain of constant work his eyesight again began to fail, and -in 1902 he wrote to friends in America asking for aid to find work -there, desiring to consult a specialist, and to bring for instruction -in English his beloved Kazuo--from whom he would never be parted for a -day. He was entitled to his sabbatical year of vacation from the -university, and while he took advantage of it he wished to form other -connections, as intrigues among those inimical to him made him fear for -the tenure of his position. His family had increased by the birth of -another son, and his responsibilities--with weakening lungs and -eyesight--began to weigh heavily on his mind. An arrangement was made -for him to lecture for a season in Cornell University at a salary of -$2500, and these lectures he at once began to prepare. When, however, he -applied for leave it was refused him, and an incident occurring at this -juncture, of the intrusion of an English traveller into his classroom -during one of his lectures--an incident which had its origin in mere -curiosity,--seemed to his exacerbated imagination to have a significance -out of all proportion to its real meaning; and convinced that it was -intended as a slight by the authorities in their purpose to be rid of -him, he resigned. The students--aware that influences were at work to -rob him of his place--made some demonstrations of resentment, but -finally abandoned them at his personal request. - -He plunged more deeply, at once, into the preparation of his work for -the American lectures, but shortly before he was to have sailed for -America the authorities at Cornell withdrew from their contract on the -plea that the epidemic of typhoid at Ithaca the previous summer had -depleted the funds at their command. - -Vigorous efforts were at once undertaken by his friends in America to -repair this breach of contract by finding him employment elsewhere, with -but partial success, but all these efforts were rendered useless by a -sudden and violent illness, attended by bleeding from the lungs, and -brought on by strain and anxiety. After his recovery the lectures -prepared for Cornell were recast to form a book, but the work proved a -desperate strain upon already weakened forces. - -Mrs. Hearn says this:-- - -"Of his works, 'Japan: an Interpretation' seemed a great labour to him. -So hard a task it was that he said at one occasion: 'It is not difficult -that this book will kill me.' At another time he said: 'You can imagine -how hard it is to write such a big book in so short a time with no -helper.' To write was his life; and all care and difficulties he forgot -while writing. As he had no work of teaching in the university, he -poured forth all his forces in the work of 'Japan.' - -"When the manuscripts of 'Japan' were completed, he was very glad and -had them packed in strong shape and wrote addresses upon the cover for -mail. He was eagerly looking forward to see the new volume. A little -before his death he still said that he could imagine that he could hear -the sound of type-work of 'Japan' in America. But he was unable to see -the book in his lifetime." - -To me he wrote, in that lassitude always following on the completion of -creative work: "The 'rejected addresses' will shortly appear in book -form. I don't like the work of writing a serious treatise on -sociology.... I ought to keep to the study of birds and cats and insects -and flowers, and queer small things--and leave the subject of the -destiny of empires to men with brains." Despite which verdict he -probably recognized it as the crowning achievement of his long effort to -interpret his adopted country to the world. - -Shortly after its completion he accepted the offer of the chair of -English in the Waseda University, founded by Count Okuma, for he was -expecting again to be a father and his pen was unable to meet all the -demands upon his income. Meantime the University of London had entered -into negotiation with him for a series of lectures, and it was suggested -that Oxford also wished to hear him. It had always been the warmest of -his desires to win recognition from his own country, and these offers -were perhaps the greatest satisfaction he had ever known. But his forces -were completely exhausted. The desperate hardships of his youth, the -immense labours of his manhood, had burned away the sources of vitality. - -On the 26th of September, 1904--shortly after completing the last letter -included in these volumes, to Captain Fujisaki, who was then serving on -Marshal [=O]yama's staff--while walking on the veranda in the twilight -he sank down suddenly as if the whole fabric of life had crumbled -within, and after a little space of speechlessness and pain, his long -quest was over. - -In "Kwaidan" he had written: "I should like, when my time comes, to be -laid away in some Buddhist graveyard of the ancient kind, so that my -ghostly company should be ancient, caring nothing for the fashions and -the changes and the disintegrations of Meiji. That old cemetery behind -my garden would be a suitable place. Everything there is beautiful with -a beauty of exceeding and startling queerness; each tree and stone has -been shaped by some old, old ideal which no longer exists in any living -brain; even the shadows are not of this time and sun, but of a world -forgotten, that never knew steam or electricity or magnetism.... Also in -the boom of the big bell there is a quaintness of tone which wakens -feelings so strangely far away from all the nineteenth-century part of -me that the faint blind stirrings of them make me afraid,--deliciously -afraid. Never do I hear that billowing peal but I become aware of a -striving and a fluttering in the abyssal part of my ghost,--a sensation -as of memories struggling to reach the light beyond the obscurations of -a million million deaths and births. I hope to remain within hearing of -that bell." - -In so far as was possible this was complied with. Though not a Buddhist -he was buried according to Buddhist rites. One who was present at his -funeral thus describes it:-- - -"The procession left his residence, 266 Nishi [=O]kubo, at half past one -and proceeded to the Jit[=o]-in Kobu-dera Temple in Ichigaya.... First -came the bearers of white lanterns and wreaths and great pyramidal -bouquets of asters and chrysanthemums; next, men carrying long poles -from which hung streamers of paper _gohei_; after them two boys in -'rickshas carrying little cages containing birds to be released, symbols -of the soul released from its earthly prison.... - -"The emblems were all Buddhist. The portable hearse, carried by six men -in blue, was a beautiful object of unpainted, perfectly fresh, white -wood trimmed with blue silk tassels and with gold and silver lotus -flowers at the corners.... Priests carrying food for the dead, -university professors, and a multitude of students formed the end of the -procession.... In the comparative darkness of the temple, against the -background of black lacquer and gold, eight priests chanted a dirge. -Their heads were clean-shaven and they were clothed in white, with -several brilliantly tinted gauze robes imposed. After a period of -chanting punctuated by the tinkling of a bell, the chief Japanese -mourner arose from the other side and led forward the son. Together they -knelt before the hearse, touching their foreheads to the floor, and -placing some grains of incense upon the little brazier burning between -the candles. A delicate perfume filled the air.... The wife next stepped -forward with expressionless face--her hair done in stiff loops like -carved ebony, her only ornament the magnificent white _obi_, reserved -for weddings and funerals. She and the younger sons also burned incense. -The chief mourner and the eldest son again bowed to the ground, and the -ceremony was ended." - -The students presented a laurel wreath with the inscription "In memory -of Lafcadio Hearn, whose pen was mightier than the sword of the -victorious nation which he loved and lived among, and whose highest -honour it is to have given him citizenship and, alas, a grave!" The body -was then removed to a crematory, the ashes being interred at the -cemetery of Z[=o]shigaya, his tombstone bearing the inscription -"Sh[=o]gaku In-den J[=o]-ge Hachi-un Koji," which literally translated -means: "Believing Man Similar to Undefiled Flower Blooming like Eight -Rising Clouds, who dwells in Mansion of Right Enlightenment." - -Amenomori,--whom he called "the finest type of the Japanese -man,"--writing of him after his death, said: "Like a lotus the man was -in his heart ... a poet, a thinker, loving husband and father, and -sincere friend.... Within that man there burned something pure as the -vestal fire, and in that flame dwelt a mind that called forth life and -poetry out of the dust, and grasped the highest themes of human -thought." - -Yone Noguchi wrote: "Surely we could lose two or three battleships at -Port Arthur rather than Lafcadio Hearn." - -After his death were issued a few of his last studies of Japan under the -title of "A Romance of the Milky Way," and these, with his -autobiographical fragments included in this volume, conclude his work. -The last of these fragments, three small pages, is named "Illusion":-- - - "An old, old sea-wall, stretching between two boundless levels, green - and blue;--on the right only rice-fields, reaching to the - sky-line;--on the left only summer-silent sea, where fishing-craft of - curious shapes are riding. Everything is steeped in white sun; and I - am standing on the wall. Along its broad and grass-grown top a boy is - running towards me,--running in sandals of wood,--the sea-breeze - blowing aside the long sleeves of his robe as he runs, and baring his - slender legs to the knee. Very fast he runs, springing upon his - sandals;--and he has in his hands something to show me: a black - dragonfly, which he is holding carefully by the wings, lest it should - hurt itself struggling.... With what sudden incommunicable pang do I - watch the gracious little figure leaping in the light,--between those - summer silences of field and sea!... A delicate boy, with the blended - charm of two races.... And how softly vivid all things under this - milky radiance,--the smiling child-face with lips apart,--the twinkle - of the light quick feet,--the shadows of grasses and of little - stones!... - - "But, quickly as he runs, the child will come no nearer to me,--the - slim brown hand will never cling to mine. For this light is the light - of a Japanese sun that set long years ago.... Never, dearest!--never - shall we meet,--not even when the stars are dead! - - "And yet,--can it be possible that I shall not remember?--that I shall - not still see, in other million summers, the same sea-wall under the - same white noon,--the same shadows of grasses and of little - stones,--the running of the same little sandalled feet that will - never, never reach my side?" - -The compression found necessary in order to yield room for the letters, -which I think will bear comparison with the most famous letters in -literature, has forced me to content myself with depicting the man -merely in profile and giving a bare outline of his work as an artist. It -has obliged me to abandon all temptation to dwell upon his more human -side, his humour, tenderness, sympathy, eccentricity, and the thousand -queer, charming qualities that made up his many-faceted nature. These -omissions are in great part supplied by the letters themselves, where he -turns different sides of his mind to each correspondent, and where one -sees in consequence a shadow of the writers themselves reflected in his -own mental attitude. - -In the turbid, shallow flood of the ephemeral books of our time Lafcadio -Hearn's contribution to English letters has been partially obscured. But -day by day, as these sink unfruitfully into the sands of time, more -clearly emerge the stern and exquisite outlines of his patient work. -While still a boy he said playfully, in answer to an appeal to concede -something to the vulgarer taste for the sake of popularity: "I shall -stick to my pedestal of faith in literary possibilities like an Egyptian -Colossus with a broken nose, seated solemnly in the gloom of my own -originality." - -To that creed he held through all the bitter permutations of life, and -at the end it may be fitly said of him that "despite perishing -principles and decaying conventions, despite false teaching, false -triumphs, and false taste, there were yet those who strove for the -immemorial grandeur of their calling, who pandered to no temptation from -without or from within, who followed none of the great world-voices, -were dazzled by none of the great world-lights, and used their gift as -stepping-stone to no meaner life; but clear-eyed and patient, neither -elated nor cast down, still lifted the lamp as high as their powers -allowed, still pursued art singly for her own immortal sake." - - - - - LETTERS OF LAFCADIO HEARN - - - - - LETTERS - - 1877-1889 - - -TO H.E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1877.[5] - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--I have just received your second pleasant letter, -enclosing a most interesting article on music. The illustrations -interested me greatly. You could write a far more entertaining series of -essays on the history of musical instruments than that centennial humbug -who, as you say, did little more than merely to describe what he saw. - -I have been reading in "Curiosités des Arts"--curious book now out of -print--an article on the musical instruments of the Middle Ages, which -is of deep interest even to such an ignoramus as myself. I would have -translated it for your amusement, but, that my eyes have been so bad as -to cripple me. Let me just give you an extract, and as soon as I feel -better I will send the whole thing if you deem it worth while:-- - -"The Romans, at the termination of their conquests, had brought to this -country and adopted nearly all the musical instruments they had -discovered among the peoples they had conquered. - - [5] Hearn rarely dated his letters, but in most cases internal - evidence makes possible the assignment of a fairly definite - date. - -Thus Greece furnished Rome with nearly all the soft instruments of the -family of flutes and of lyres; Germany and the provinces of the North, -inhabited by warlike races, taught their conquerors to acquire a taste -for terrible instruments, of the family of trumpets and of drums; Asia, -and in particular Judæa, which had greatly multiplied the number of -metallic instruments for use in ceremonies of religion, naturalized -among the Romans clashing instruments of the family of bells and -tam-tams; Egypt introduced the sistrum into Italy together with the -worship of Isis; and no sooner had Byzantium invented the first wind -organs than the new religion of Christ adopted them, that she might -consecrate them exclusively to the solemnities of her worship, West and -East. - -"All the varieties of instruments in the known world had thus, in some -sort, taken refuge in the capital of the Empire; first at Rome, then at -Byzantium; when the Roman decline marked the last hour of this vast -concert, then, at once ceased the orations of the Emperors in the -Capitol and the festivals of the pagan gods in the temples; then were -silenced and scattered those musical instruments which had taken part in -the pomps of triumphs or of religious celebrations; then disappeared and -became forgotten a vast number of those instruments which pagan -civilization had made use of, but which became useless amidst the ruins -of the antique social system." - -Following is the description of an organ,--a wonderful organ,--in a -letter from St. Jerome to Dardanas,--made of fifteen pipes of brass, -two air-reservoirs of elephant's skin, and two forge bellows for the -imitation of the sound of thunder. The writer compiled his essay from -eighteen ancient Latin authors, eight early Italian, about ten early -French, and some Spanish authors--all antiquated and unfamiliar. - - * * * * * - -As you are kindly interested in what I am doing I shall talk about -EGO,--I shall talk about ME. - -I am (this is not for public information) barely making a living here by -my letters to the paper. I think I can make about $40 per month. This -will keep me alive and comfortable. I am determined never to resume -local work on a newspaper. I could not stand the gaslight; and then you -know what a horrid life it is. While acting as correspondent I shall -have time to study, study, study; and to write something better than -police news. I have a lot of work mapped out for magazine essays; and -though I never expect to make much money, I think I shall be able to -make a living. So far I have had a real hard time; but I hope to do -better now, as they send me money more regularly. - -I do not intend to leave New Orleans, except for farther South,--the -West Indies, or South America. I am studying Spanish hard and will get -along well with it soon. - -I think I can redeem myself socially here. I have got into good society; -and as everybody is poor in the South, my poverty is no drawback. - - Yours truly, - [Larkadiê]. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - - NEW ORLEANS, 1877. - -MY DEAR KREHBIEL,--I am charmed with your letter,--your paper, and your -exquisite little jocose programme. The "Fantaisie Chinoise" was to me -something that really smacked of a certain famous European art-cenacle -where delightful little parties of this kind were given. That cenacle -was established by the disciples of Victor Hugo,--_les Hugolâtres_, as -they were mockingly but perhaps also nobly named; and the records of its -performances are some of the most delicate things in French literature. -Hector Berlioz was one of the merry crowd,--and Berlioz, by the way, had -written some fine romances as well as fine musical compositions. - -There is a touch, a brilliant touch, of real art in all these little -undertakings of yours, which gives me more enjoyment than I could tell -you. Remember I am speaking of the _tout-ensemble_. Were I to make any -musical observations you might rightly think I was talking about -something of which I am disgracefully ignorant. Do you know, however, -that I have never forgotten that pretty Chinese melody I heard at the -club that day; and I sometimes find myself whistling it involuntarily. - -I am indeed delighted to know that you have got Char Lee's instruments, -and are soon to receive others. Were there any Indian instruments in use -among the Choctaws here, I could get you some, but they are no longer a -musical people. The sadness that seems peculiar to dying races could not -be more evident than in them. Le Père Rouquette, their missionary, -tells me he has seen them laugh; but that might have been half a century -ago. He is going to take me out to one of their camps on Lake -Pontchartrain soon, and I shall try to pick you up something queer. - -As yet I have not received the Chinese Play, etc., but will write when I -do, and return it as promptly as possible. - -I am just recovering from a week's sickness--fever and bloody flux--and -I don't believe I weigh ninety pounds. You never saw such a sight as I -am. I have been turned nearly black; and my face is so thin that I can -see every bone as if it had only a piece of parchment drawn over it. And -then all my hair is cut close to the skin. I have had hard work to crawl -out of bed the last few days, but am getting better now. If I were to -get regular yellow fever now I would certainly go to the cemetery; for I -am only a skeleton as it is. - - * * * * * - -The newspaper generally gives only wages to its employees, and small -wages,--and literary reputation to its capitalists; although in France -the opposite condition exists. There are exceptions, of course, when a -man has exceedingly superior talent; and his employer, knowing its -value, allows its free exercise. That has been your case to a certain -degree; you have not only won a reputation for yourself, but have given -a tone and a standing to the paper which in my opinion has been of -immense value to it. - -I have got everything here down to a fine point--three hours' work a -day! - -There is but one thing here to compensate for the abominable heat--Figs. -They are remarkably cool, sweet, juicy, and tender. Unfortunately they -are too delicate to bear shipment. The climate is so debilitating that -even energetic _thought_ is out of the question; and unfortunately the -only inspiring hour, the cool night, I cannot utilize on account of -gaslight. When the night comes on here it is not the night of Northern -summers, but that night of which the divine Greek poet wrote,--"O holy -night, how well dost thou harmonize with me; for to me thou art all -eye,--thou art all ear,--thou art all fragrance!" - -The infinite gulf of blue above seems a shoreless sea, whose foam is -stars, a myriad million lights are throbbing and flickering and -palpitating, a vast stillness filled with perfume prevails over the -land,--made only more impressive by the voices of the night-birds and -crickets; and all the busy voices of business are dead. The boats are -laid up, cotton presses closed, and the city is half empty. So that the -time is really inspiring. But I must wait to record the inspiration in -some more energetic climate. - -Do you get _Mélusine_ yet? You are missing a great deal if you are not. -_Mélusine_ is preserving all those curious peasant songs with their -music,--some of which date back hundreds of years. They would be a -delightful relish to you. - - Yours à jamais, - L. HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1877. - -"O-ME-TAW-BOODH!"--Have I not indeed been much bewitched by thine exotic -comedy, which hath the mild perfume and yellow beauty of a Chinese rose? -Assuredly I have been enchanted by the Eastern fragrance of thy -many-coloured brochure; for mine head "is not as yellow as mud." In thy -next epistle, however, please to enlighten my soul in regard to the -mystic title-phrase,--"Remodelled from the original English;" for I have -been wearing out the iron shoes of patience in my vain endeavour to -comprehend it. What I most desired, while perusing the play, was that I -might have been able to hear the musical interludes,--the barbaric -beauty of the melodies,--and the plaintive sadness of thy -serpent-skinned instruments. I shall soon return the MSS. to thy hands. - -By the bye, did you ever hear a _real_ Chinese gong? I don't mean a d--d -hotel gong, but one of those great moon-disks of yellow metal which have -so terrible a power of utterance. A gentleman in Bangor, North Wales, -who had a private museum of South Pacific and Chinese curiosities, -exhibited one to me. It was hanging amidst Fiji spears beautifully -barbed with shark's teeth, which, together with grotesque New Zealand -clubs of green stone and Sandwich Island paddles wrought with the -baroque visages of the Shark-God, were depending from the walls. Also -there were Indian elephants in ivory, carrying balls in their carven -bellies, each ball containing many other balls inside it. The gong -glimmered pale and huge and yellow, like the moon rising over a Southern -swamp. My friend tapped its ancient face with a muffled drumstick, and -it commenced to sob, like waves upon a low beach. He tapped it again, -and it moaned like the wind in a mighty forest of pines. Again, and it -commenced to roar, and with each tap the roar grew deeper and deeper, -till it seemed like thunder rolling over an abyss in the Cordilleras, or -the crashing of Thor's chariot wheels. It was awful, and astonishing as -awful. I assure you I did not laugh at it at all. It impressed me as -something terrible and mysterious. I vainly sought to understand how -that thin, thin disk of trembling metal could produce so frightful a -vibration. He informed me that it was very expensive, being chiefly made -of the most precious metals,--silver and gold. - -Let me give you a description of my new residence. I never knew what the -beauty of an old Creole home was until now. I do not believe one could -find anything more picturesque outside of Venice or Florence. For six -months I had been trying to get a room in one of these curious -buildings; but the rents seemed to me maliciously enormous. However, I -at last obtained one for $3 per week. Yet it is on the third floor, rear -building;--these old princes of the South built always double edifices, -covering an enormous space of ground, with broad wings, courtyards, and -slave quarters. - -The building is on St. Louis Street, a street several hundred years old. -I enter by a huge archway about a hundred feet long,--full of rolling -echoes, and commencing to become verdant with a thin growth of bright -moss. At the end, the archway opens into a court. There are a few -graceful bananas here with their giant leaves splitting in ribbons in -the summer sun, so that they look like young palms. Lord! How the -carriages must have thundered under that archway and through the broad -paved court in the old days. The stables are here still; but the blooded -horses are gone, and the family carriage, with its French coat of arms, -has disappeared. There is only a huge wagon left to crumble to pieces. A -hoary dog sleeps like a stone sphinx at a corner of the broad stairway; -and I fancy that in his still slumbers he might be dreaming of a Creole -master who went out with Beauregard or Lee and never came back again. -Wonder if the great greyhound is waiting for him. - -The dog never notices me. I am not of his generation, and I creep -quietly by lest I might disturb his dreams of the dead South. I go up -the huge stairway. At every landing a vista of broad archways reëchoes -my steps--archways that once led to rooms worthy of a prince. But the -rooms are now cold and cheerless and vast with emptiness. Tinted in pale -green or yellow, with a ceiling moulded with Renaissance figures in -plaster, the ghost of luxury and wealth seems trying to linger in them. -I pass them by, and taking my way through an archway on the right, find -myself on a broad piazza, at the end of which is my room. - -It is vast enough for a Carnival ball. Five windows and glass doors -open flush with the floor and rise to the ceilings. They open on two -sides upon the piazza, whence I have a far view of tropical gardens and -masses of building, half-ruined but still magnificent. The walls are -tinted pale orange colour; green curtains drape the doors and windows; -and the mantelpiece, surmounted by a long oval mirror of Venetian -pattern, is of white marble veined like the bosom of a Naiad. In the -centre of the huge apartment rises a bed as massive as a fortress, with -tremendous columns of carved mahogany supporting a curtained canopy at -the height of sixteen feet. It seems to touch the ceiling, yet it does -not. There is no carpet on the floor, no pictures on the wall,--a -sense of something dead and lost fills the place with a gentle -melancholy;--the breezes play fantastically with the pallid curtains, -and the breath of flowers ascends into the chamber from the verdant -gardens below. Oh, the silence of this house, the perfume, and the -romance of it. A beautiful young Frenchwoman appears once a day in my -neighbourhood to arrange the room; but she comes like a ghost and -disappears too soon in the recesses of the awful house. I would like to -speak with her, for her lips drop honey, and her voice is richly sweet -like the cooing of a dove. "O my dove, that art in the clefts of the -rock, in the secret hiding-places of the stairs, let me see thy face, -let me hear thy voice, for thy voice is sweet and thy countenance is -comely!" - -Let me tell thee, O Bard of the Harp of a Thousand Strings, concerning a -Romance of Georgia. I heard of it among the flickering shadow of -steamboat smoke and the flapping of sluggish sails. It has a hero -greater, I think, than Bludso; but his name is lost. At least it is lost -in Southern history; yet perhaps it may be recorded on the pages of a -great book whose leaves never turn yellow with Time, and whose letters -are eternal as the stars. But the reason his name is not known is -because he was a "d--d nigger." - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1878. - -MY DEAR MUSICIAN,--I wrote you such a shabby, disjointed letter last -week that I feel I ought to make up for it,--especially after your -newsy, fresh, pleasant letter to me, which came like a cool Northern -breeze speaking of life, energy, success, and strong hopes. - -I am very much ashamed that I have not yet been able to keep all my -promises to you. There is that Creole music I had hoped to get copied by -Saturday, and could not succeed in obtaining. But it is only delayed, I -assure you; and New Orleans is going to produce a treat for you soon. -George Cable, a charming writer, some of whose dainty New Orleans -stories you may have read in _Scribner's Monthly_, is writing a work -containing a study of Creole music, in which the songs are given, with -the musical text in footnotes. I have helped Cable a little in -collecting the songs; but he has the advantage of me in being able to -write music by ear. Scribner will publish the volume. This is not, of -course, for publicity. - -My new journalistic life may interest you,--it is so different from -anything in the North. I have at last succeeded in getting right into -the fantastic heart of the French quarter, where I hear the antiquated -dialect all day long. Early in the morning I visit a restaurant, where I -devour a plate of figs, a cup of black coffee, a dish of -cream-cheese,--not the Northern stuff, but a delightful cake of pressed -milk floating in cream,--a couple of corn muffins, and an egg. This is a -heavy breakfast here, but costs only about twenty-five cents. Then I -slip down to the office, and rattle off a couple of leaders on literary -or European matters and a few paragraphs based on telegraphic news. This -occupies about an hour. Then the country papers,--half French, half -English,--altogether barbarous, come in from all the wild, untamed -parishes of Louisiana. Madly I seize the scissors and the paste-pot and -construct a column of crop-notes. This occupies about half an hour. Then -the New York dailies make their appearance. I devour their substance and -take notes for the ensuing day's expression of opinion. And then the -work is over, and the long golden afternoon welcomes me forth to enjoy -its perfume and its laziness. It would be a delightful existence for one -without ambition or hope of better things. On Sunday the brackish Lake -Pontchartrain offers the attraction of a long swim, and I like to avail -myself of it. Swimming in the Mississippi is dangerous on account of -great fierce fish, the alligator-gars, which attack a swimmer with -ferocity. An English swimmer was bitten by one only the other day in the -river, and, losing his presence of mind, was swept under a barge and -drowned. - -Folks here tell me now that I have been sick I have nothing more to -fear, and will soon be acclimatized. If acclimatization signifies -becoming a bundle of sharp bones and saddle-coloured parchment, I have -no doubt of it at all. It is considered dangerous here to drink much -water in summer. For five cents one can get half a bottle of strong -claret, and this you mix with your drinking water, squeezing a lemon -into it. Limes are better, but harder to get,--you can only buy them -when schooners come in from the Gulf islands. But no one knows how -delicious lemonade can be made until he has tasted lemonade made of -limes. - -I saw a really pleasing study for an artist this morning. A friend -accompanied me to the French market, and we bought an enormous quantity -of figs for about fifteen cents. We could not half finish them; and we -sought rest under the cool, waving shadow of a eunuch banana-tree in the -Square. As I munched and munched a half-naked boy ran by,--a fellow that -would have charmed Murillo, with a skin like a new cent in colour, and -heavy masses of hair massed as tastefully as if sculptured in ebony. I -threw a fig at him and hit him in the back. He ate it, and coolly walked -toward us with his little bronze hands turned upward and opened to their -fullest capacity, and a pair of great black eyes flashed a request for -more. You never saw such a pair of eyes,--deep and dark,--a night -without a moon. Spoke to him in English,--no answer; in French,--no -response. My friend bounced him with _Spak-ne Italiano_, or something of -that kind, but it was no good. We asked him by signs where he came from, -and he pointed to a rakish lugger rocking at the Picayune pier. I filled -his little brown hands with figs, but he did not smile. He gravely -thanked us with a flash of the eye like a gleam of a black opal, and -murmured, "Ah, mille gratias, Señor." Why, that boy _was_ Murillo's boy -after all, _propria persona_. He departed to the rakish lugger, and we -dreamed of Moors and gipsies under the emasculated banana. - - L. HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1878. - -MY DEAR KREHBIEL,--Your letter took a long week to reach me; perhaps by -reason of the quarantine regulations which interpose some extraordinary -barriers, little Chinese walls, across the country below Memphis. Thus -am I somewhat tardy in responding. - -The same sentiment which caused me so much pleasure on reading your -ideas on the future of musical philosophy occasioned something of -sincere regret on reading your words,--"I am not a thoroughly educated -musician," etc. I had hoped (and still hope, and believe with all my -heart, dear Krehbiel) that the Max Müller of Music would be none other -than yourself. Perhaps you will therefore pardon some little -observations from one who knows nothing about music. - -I fancy that you have penetrated just so far into the Temple of your Art -that, like one of the initiates of Eleusis, you commence to experience -such awe and reverence for its solemn vastness and its whispers of -mystery as tempt you to forego further research. You suddenly forget how -much farther you have advanced into the holy precincts than most -mortals, who seldom cross the vestibule;--the more you advance the more -seemingly infinite becomes the vastness of the place, the more -interminable its vistas of arches, and the more mysterious its endless -successions of aisles. The Vatican with its sixty thousand rooms is but -a child's toy house compared with but one of the countless wings of -Art's infinite temples; and the outer world, viewing only the entrance, -narrow and low as that of a pyramid, can no more comprehend the -Illimitable that lies beyond it than they can measure the deeps of the -Eternities beyond the fixed stars. I cannot help believing that the -little shadow of despondency visible in your last letter is an evidence -of how thoroughly you have devoted yourself to Music, and a partial -contradiction of your own words. It would be irrational in you to expect -that you could achieve your purposes in the very blush of manhood, as it -were; but you ought not to forget altogether that you already stand in -knowledge on a footing with many grey-haired disciples and apostles of -the art, whose names are familiar in musical literature. I believe you -can become anything musical you desire to become; but in art-study one -must devote one's whole life to self-culture, and can only hope at last -to have climbed a little higher and advanced a little farther than -anybody else. You should feel the determination of those neophytes of -Egypt who were led into subterranean vaults and suddenly abandoned in -darkness and rising water, whence there was no escape save by an iron -ladder. As the fugitive mounted through heights of darkness, each rung -of the quivering stairway gave way immediately he had quitted it, and -fell back into the abyss, echoing; but the least exhibition of fear or -weariness was fatal to the climber. - -It seems to me that want of confidence in one's self is not less a curse -than it appears to be a consequence of knowledge. You hesitate to accept -a position on the ground of your own feeling of inadequacy; and the one -who fills it is somebody who does not know the rudiments of his duty. -"Fools rush in," etc., and were you to decline the situation proffered -by Mr. Thomas, merely because you don't think yourself qualified to fill -it, I hope you do not imagine that any better scholar will fill the -bill. On the contrary, I believe that some d--d quack would take the -position, even at a starvation salary, and actually make himself a -reputation on the mere strength of cheek and ignorance. However, you -tell me of many other reasons. Of course, ---- is a vast and varied -ass,--a piebald quack of the sort who makes respectability an apology -for lack of brains; but I fancy that you would be sure to find some -asses at the head of any institution of the sort in this country. The -demand for art of any kind is new, and so long as people cannot tell the -difference between a quack and a scholar, the former, having the cheek -of a mule and a pompous deportment, is bound to get his work in. I don't -think I should care much about the plans and actions of such people, but -content myself, were I in your place, by showing myself superior to -them. There is one thing in regard to a position like that you speak -of,--it would afford you large opportunity for study, and in fact compel -study upon you as a public instructor. At least it seems so to me. Then, -again, remember that your connection with the _Gazette_ leaves you in -the position of the Arabian prince who was marbleized from his loins -down. As an artist you are but half alive there; one half of your -existence is paralyzed; you waste your energies in the creation of works -which are coffined within twelve hours after their birth; your power of -usefulness is absorbed in a direction which can give you no adequate -reward hereafter; and the little time you can devote to your studies and -your really valuable work is too often borrowed from sleep. From the -daily press I think you have obtained about all you will get from it in -the regard of reputation, etc.; and there is no future really worth -seeking in it. Even the most successful editors live a sort of existence -which I certainly do not envy, and I am sure you would soon sicken of. -Do you not think, too, that any situation like that now offered you -might lead to a far better one under far better conditions? It would -certainly introduce you to many whose friendship and appreciation would -be invaluable. I do not believe that Cincinnati is your true field for -future work, and I cannot persuade myself that the city will ever become -a _permanent_ artistic centre; but I am satisfied that you will drift -out of the newspaper drudgery before long, and if you have an -opportunity to obtain a good footing in the East, I would take it. -Thomas ought to be capable of making an Eastern pedestal for you to -light on; for, judging by the admiration expressed for him by the -_Times_, _Tribune_, _World_, _Herald_, _Sun_, etc., he must have some -influence with musical centres. Then Europe would be open to you in a -short time with its extraordinary opportunities of art-study, and its -treasures of musical literature, to be devoured free of cost. Your -researches into the archæology of music, I need hardly say, must be made -in Europe rather than here; and I hope you will before many twelvemonths -be devouring the Musical Department of the British Museum, and the -libraries of Paris and the Eternal City. - -However, I do not pretend to be an adviser,--only a _suggester_. I think -your good little wife would be a good adviser; for women seem blessed -with a kind of divine intuition, and I sometimes believe they can see -much farther into the future than men. You must not get disgusted with -my long letter. I could not help telling you what interest your last -excited in me regarding your own prospects. - -Let me tell you something that I have been thinking about the bagpipe. -Somewhere or other I have read that the bagpipe was a Roman military -instrument, and was introduced into Scotland by the Roman troops, -together with the "kilt." It must have occurred to you that the Highland -dress bears a ghostly resemblance to that of the Roman private as -exhibited on the Column of Trajan. I cannot remember where I have read -this, but you can doubtless inform me. - -I am still well, although I have even had the experience of nursing a -friend sick of yellow fever. The gods are sparing me for some fantastic -reason. I enclose some specimens of the death notices which sprinkle our -town, and send a copy of the last _Item_. - -My eyes are eternally played out, and I shall have to abandon newspaper -work altogether before long. Perhaps I shall do better in some little -business. What is eternally rising up before me now like a spectre is -the ?--"Where shall I go?--what shall I do?" Sometimes I think of -Europe, sometimes of the West Indies,--of Florida, France, or the -wilderness of London. The time is not far off when I must go -somewhere,--if it is not to join the "Innumerable Caravan." Whenever I -go down to the wharves, I look at the white-winged ships. O ye -messengers, swift Hermæ of Traffic, ghosts of the infinite ocean, -whither will ye bear me?--what destiny will ye bring me,--what hopes, -what despairs? - - Your sincere friend and admirer, - L. HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1878. - -MY DEAR KREHBIEL,--I received your admirable little sketch. It pleased -me more than the others,--perhaps because, having to deal with a simpler -subject, you were less hampered by mechanical details and could maintain -your light, gossipy, fresh method of instruction in all its simple -force. - -I recognized several of the cuts. That of the uppermost figure at the -right-hand corner was of the god Terminus, a most ancient deity, and his -instrument is of corresponding antiquity perhaps, although in country -districts the Termina were generally characterized by a certain sylvan -rudeness. The earliest Termina were mere blocks of wood or stone. Among -the ancients a circle of ground, or square border--it was set by law in -Rome at two feet wide--surrounded every homestead. This was inviolate to -the gods, and the Termina were placed at intervals along its borders, -or at the corners. At certain days in the year the proprietor made the -circuit, pushing victims before him, and chanting hymns to the god of -boundaries. The same gods existed among the ancient Hindoos, with whom -the Greeks and Romans must have had a close relationship in remote -antiquity. The Greeks called these deities the [theoi horioi]. I do -not know whence you got the figure; but I know it is a common one of -Terminus; and such _eau-forte_ engravers as Gessner, who excelled in -antique subjects, delighted to introduce it in sylvan scenes. I have an -engraving by Leopold Flameng,--called _La Satyresse_,--a female satyr -playing on the double flute (charming figure) and old Terminus with -his single flute accompanies her in the background,--smiling from his -pedestal of stone. - -The first flute-player on the left-hand side, at the lower corner, is -evidently from a vase, as the treatment of the hair denotes--I should -say a Greek vase; and the second one, with the mouth-bandage, in spite -of the half-Egyptian face, appears to be an Etruscan figure. The -treatment of the eyes and profile looks Etruscan. Some of the flutes in -the upper part of the drawing are much more complicated than I had -supposed any of the antique flutes were. - -You will find a charming version of the Medusa story in Kingsley's -"Heroes"--for little ones. Of course he does not tell why Medusa's hair -was turned into snakes. There are several other versions of the legend. -I prefer that in which the sword is substituted for the sickle,--a most -unwarlike weapon, and a utensil, moreover, sacred to the Goddess of -Harvests. The sword given by Hermes to Perseus is said to have been that -wherewith he slew the monster Argus,--a diamond blade. Like the Runic -swords forged by the gnomes under the roots of the hills of Scandinavia, -this weapon slew whenever brandished. - -Fever is bad still. I had another attack of dengue, but have got nearly -over it. I find lemon-juice the best remedy. All over town there are -little white notices pasted on the lamp-posts or the pillars of piazzas, -bearing the dismal words:-- - - Décédé - Ce matin, à 3½ heures - Julien - Natif de ----, - -and so on. The death notices are usually surmounted by an atrocious cut -of a weeping widow sitting beneath a weeping willow--with a huge -mausoleum in the background. Yellow fever deaths occur every day close -by. Somebody is advocating firing off cannon as a preventive. This plan -of shooting Yellow Jack was tried in '53 without success. It brings on -rain; but a rainy day always heralds an increase of the plague. You will -see by the _Item's_ tabulated record that there is a curious periodicity -in the increase. It might be described by a line like this-- - -[Illustration] - -You have doubtless seen the records of pulsations made by a certain -instrument, for detecting the rapidity of blood-circulation. The fever -actually appears to have a pulsation of graduated increase like that of -a feverish vein. I think this demonstrates a regularity in the periods -of germ incubation,--affected, of course, more or less by atmospheric -changes. - -Hope you will have your musical talks republished in book form. Send us -_Golden Hours_ once in a while. It will always have a warm notice in the -_Item_. Yours in much hurry, with promise of another epistle soon. - - L. HEARN. - -Regards to all the boys. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1878. - -MY DEAR KREHBIEL,--I received yours, with the kind wishes of Mrs. -Krehbiel, which afforded me more pleasure than I can tell you,--also the -_Golden Hours_ with your instructive article on the history of the -piano. It occurs to me that when completed your musical essays would -form a delightful little volume, and ought certainly to find a -first-class publisher. I hope you will entertain the suggestion, if it -has not already occurred to you. I do not know very much about musical -literature; but I fancy that no work in the English tongue has been -published of a character so admirably suited to give young people a -sound knowledge of the romantic history of music instruments as your -essays would constitute, if shaped into a volume. The closing -observations of your essay, markedly original and somewhat startling, -were very entertaining. I have not yet returned your manuscript, because -Robinson is devouring and digesting that Chinese play. He takes a great -interest in what you write. - -I send you, not without some qualms of conscience, a copy of our little -journal containing a few personal remarks, written with the idea of -making you known here in musical circles. I have several apologies to -make in regard to the same. Firstly, the _Item_ is only a poor little -sheet, in which I am not able to obtain space sufficient to do you or -your art labour justice; secondly, I beg of you to remember that if I -have spoken too extravagantly from a strictly newspaper standpoint, it -will not be taken malicious advantage of by anybody, as the modest -_Item_ goes no farther north than St. Louis. - -The Creole rhymes I sent you were unintelligible chiefly because they -were written phonetically after a fashion which I hold to be an -abomination. The author, Adrien Rouquette, is the last living Indian -missionary of the South,--the last of the Blackrobe Fathers, and is -known to the Choctaws by the name of Charitah-Ima. You may find him -mentioned in the American Encyclopædia published by the firm of -Lippincott & Co. There is nothing very remarkable about his poetry, -except its eccentricity. The "Chant d'un jeune Créole" was simply a -personal compliment,--the author gives something of a sketch of his own -life in it. It was published in _Le Propagateur_, a French Catholic -paper, for the purpose of attracting my attention, as the old man wanted -to see me, and thought the paper might fall under my observation. The -other, the "Moqueur-Chanteur,"--as it ought to have been spelled,--or -"Mocking Singer," otherwise the mocking-bird, has some pretty bits of -onomatopoeia. (This dreamy, sunny State, with its mighty forests of -cedar and pine, and its groves of giant cypress, is the natural home of -the mocking-bird.) These bits of Creole rhyming were adapted to the airs -of some old Creole songs, and the music will, perhaps, be the most -interesting part of them. - -I am writing you a detailed account of the Creoles of Louisiana, and -their blending with Creole emigrants from the Canaries, Martinique, and -San Domingo; but it is a subject of great latitude, and I can only -outline it for you. Their characteristics offer an interesting topic, -and the bastard offspring of the miscegenated French and African, or -Spanish and African, dialects called Creole offer pretty peculiarities -worth a volume. I will try to give you an entertaining sketch of the -subject. I must tell you, however, that Creole music is mostly negro -music, although often remodelled by French composers. There could -neither have been Creole patois nor Creole melodies but for the French -and Spanish blooded slaves of Louisiana and the Antilles. The -melancholy, quavering beauty and weirdness of the negro chant are -lightened by the French influence, or subdued and deepened by the -Spanish. - -Yes, I _did_ send you that song as something queer. I had only hoped -that the music would own the charming naiveté of the words; but -I have been disappointed. But you must grant the song is pretty and -has a queer simplicity of sentiment. Save it for the words. (Alas! -_Mélusine_--according to information I have just received from Christern -of New York--is dead. Poor, dear, darling _Mélusine_! I sincerely mourn -for her with archæological and philological lament.) L'Orient is in -Brittany, and the chant is that of a Breton fisher village. That it -should be melancholy is not surprising; but that it should be melancholy -without weirdness or sweetness is lamentable. _Mélusine_ for 1877 had a -large collection of Breton songs, with music; and I think I shall avail -myself of Christern's offer to get it. I want it for the legends; you -will want, I am sure, to peep at the music. Your criticism about the -resemblance of the melody to the Irish keening wail does not surprise -me, although it disappointed me; for I believe the Breton peasantry are -of Celtic origin. Your last letter strengthened a strange fancy that has -come to me at intervals since my familiarity with the Chinese -physiognomy,--namely, that there are such strong similarities between -the Mongolian and certain types of the Irish face that one is inclined -to suspect a far-distant origin of the Celts in the East. The Erse and -the Gaelic tongues, you know, are very similar in construction, also the -modern Welsh. I have heard them all, and met Irish people able to -comprehend both Welsh and Gaelic from the resemblance to the Erse. I -suppose you have lots of Welsh music, the music of the Bards, some of -which is said to have had a Druidic origin. Tell me if you have ever -come across any Scandinavian music--the terrible melody of the Berserker -songs, and the Runic chants, so awfully potent to charm; the Raven song -of the Sweyn maidens to which they wove the magic banner; the death-song -of Ragnar Lodbrok, or the songs of the warlocks and Norse priests; the -many sword-songs sung by the Vikings, etc. I suppose you remember -Longfellow's adaptation of the Heimskringla legend:-- - - "Then the Scald took his harp and sang, - And loud through the music rang - The sound of that shining word; - And the harp-strings a clangor made, - As if they were struck with the blade - Of a sword." - -I am delighted to hear that you have got some Finnish music. Nothing in -the world can compare in queerness and all manner of grotesqueness to -Finnish tradition and characteristic superstition. I see an -advertisement of "Le Chant de Roland," price $100, splendidly -illustrated. Wonder if the original music of the Song of Roland has been -preserved. You know the giant Taillefer sang that mighty chant as he -hewed down the Saxons at the battle of Hastings. - -With grateful regards to Mrs. Krehbiel, I remain - - Yours à jamais, - L. H. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - -MY DEAR KREHBIEL,--That I should have been able even by a suggestion to -have been of any use to you is a great pleasure. Your information in -regard to Père Rouquette interested me. The father--the last of the -Blackrobe Fathers--is at present with his beloved Indians at -Ravine-les-Cannes; but I will see him on his return and read your letter -to the good old soul. If the columns of a good periodical were open to -me, I should write the romance of his life--such a wild strange -life--inspired by the magical writings of Châteaubriand in the -commencement; and latterly devoted to a strangely beautiful religion of -his own--not only the poetic religion of _Atala_ and _Les Natchez_, but -that religion of the wilderness which flies to solitude, and hath no -other temple than the vault of Heaven itself, painted with the frescoes -of the clouds, and illuminated by the trembling tapers of God's -everlasting altar, the stars of the firmament. - -I have received circular and organ-talk. You are right, I am convinced, -in your quotation of St. Jerome. To-day I send you the book--an old copy -I had considerable difficulty in coaxing from the owner. It will be of -use to you chiefly by reason of the curious list of writers on mediæval -and antique music quoted at the end of the volume. - -If you do not make a successful volume of your instructive "Talks," -something dreadful ought to happen to you,--_especially as Cincinnati -has now a musical school in which children will have to learn something -about music_. You are the professor of musical history at that college. -Your work is a work of instruction for the young. As the professor of -that college, you should be able to make it a success. This is a -suggestion. I know you are not a wire-puller--couldn't be if you tried; -but I want to see those talks put to good use, and made profitable to -the writer, and you have friends who should be able to do what I think. - -Your friend is right, no doubt, about the - - "Tig, tig, malaboin - La chelema che tango - Redjoum!" - -I asked my black nurse what it meant. She only laughed and shook her -head,--"Mais c'est Voudoo, ça; je n'en sais rien!" "Well," said I, -"don't you know anything about Voudoo songs?" "Yes," she answered, "_I -know Voudoo songs; but I can't tell you what they mean_." And she broke -out into the wildest, weirdest ditty I ever heard. I tried to write down -the words; but as I did not know what they meant I had to write by sound -alone, spelling the words according to the French pronunciation:-- - - "Yo so dan godo - Héru mandé - Yo so dan godo - Héru mandé - Héru mandé. - Tigà la papa, - No Tingodisé - Tigà la papa - Ha Tinguoaiée - Ha Tinguoaiée - Ha Tinguoaiée." - -I have undertaken a project which I hardly hope to succeed in, but which -I feel some zeal regarding, viz., to collect the Creole legends, -traditions, and songs of Louisiana. Unfortunately I shall never be able -to do this thoroughly without money,--plenty of money,--but I can do a -good deal, perhaps. - -I must also tell you that I find Spanish remarkably easy to acquire; and -believe that at the end of another year I shall be able to master -it,--write it and speak it well. To do the latter, however, I shall be -obliged to spend some time in some part of the Spanish-American -colonies,--whither my thoughts have been turned for some time. With a -good knowledge of three languages, I can prosecute my wanderings over -the face of the earth without timidity,--without fear of starving to -death after each migration. - -After all, it has been lucky for me that I was obliged to quit hard -newspaper work; for it has afforded me opportunities for -self-improvement which I could not otherwise have acquired. I should -like, indeed, to make more money; but one must sacrifice something in -order to study, and I must not grumble, as long as I can live while -learning. - -I have really given up all hope of creating anything while I remain -here, or, indeed, until my condition shall have altered and my -occupation changed. - -What material I can glean here, from this beautiful and legendary -land,--this land of perfume and of dreams,--must be chiselled into shape -elsewhere. - -One cannot write of these beautiful things while surrounded by them; and -by an atmosphere, heavy and drowsy as that of a conservatory. It must be -afterward, in times to come, when I shall find myself in some cold, -bleak land where I shall dream regretfully of the graceful palms; the -swamp groves, weird in their ragged robes of moss; the golden ripples of -the cane-fields under the summer wind, and this divine sky--deep and -vast and cloudless as Eternity, with its far-off horizon tint of tender -green. - -I do not wonder the South has produced nothing of literary art. Its -beautiful realities fill the imagination to repletion. It is regret and -desire and the Spirit of Unrest that provoketh poetry and romance. It is -the North, with its mists and fogs, and its gloomy sky haunted by a -fantastic and ever-changing panorama of clouds, which is the land of -imagination and poetry. - - * * * * * - -The fever is dying. A mighty wind, boisterous and cool, lifted the -poisonous air from the city at last. - -I cannot describe to you the peculiar effect of the summer upon one -unacclimated. You feel as though you were breathing a drugged -atmosphere. You find the very whites of your eyes turning yellow with -biliousness. The least over-indulgence in eating or drinking prostrates -you. My feeling all through the time of the epidemic was about this: I -have the fever-principle in my blood,--it shows its presence in a -hundred ways,--if the machinery of the body gets the least out of order, -the fever will get me down. I was not afraid of serious consequences, -but I felt conscious that nothing but strict attention to the laws of -health would pull me through. The experience has been valuable. I -believe I could now live in Havana or Vera Cruz without fear of the -terrible fevers which prevail there. Do you know that even here we have -no less than eleven different kinds of fever,--most of which know the -power of killing? - -I am very glad winter is coming, to lift the languors of the air and -restore some energy to us. The summer is not like that North. At the -North you have a clear, dry, burning air; here it is clear also, but -dense, heavy, and so moist that it is never so hot as you have it. But -no one dares expose himself to the vertical sun. I have noticed that -even the chickens and the domestic animals, dogs, cats, etc., always -seek shady places. They fear the sun. People with valuable horses will -not work them much in summer. They die very rapidly of sunstroke. - -In winter, too, one feels content. There is no nostalgia. But the summer -always brings with it to me--always has, and I suppose always will--a -curious and vague species of homesickness, as if I had friends in some -country far off, where I had not been for so long that I have forgotten -even their names and the appellation of the place where they live. I -hope it will be so next summer that I can go whither the humour leads -me,--the propensity which the author of "The Howadji in Syria" calleth -the Spirit of the Camel. - -But this is a land where one can really enjoy the Inner Life. Every one -has an inner life of his own,--which no other eye can see, and the great -secrets of which are never revealed, although occasionally when we -create something beautiful, we betray a faint glimpse of it--sudden and -brief, as of a door opening and shutting in the night. I suppose you -live such a life, too,--a double existence--a dual entity. Are we not -all doppelgängers?--and is not the invisible the only life we really -enjoy? - - * * * * * - -You may remember I described this house to you as haunted-looking. It is -delicious, therefore, to find out that it is actually a haunted house. -But the ghosts do not trouble me; I have become so much like one of -themselves in my habits. There is one room, however, where no one likes -to be alone; for phantom hands clap, and phantom feet stamp behind them. -"And what does that signify?" I asked a servant. "_Ça veut dire, -Foulez-moi le camp_"--a vulgar expression for "Git!" - - * * * * * - -There is to be a _literary_ (God save the mark!) newspaper here. I have -been asked to help edit it. As I find that I can easily attend to both -papers I shall scribble and scrawl and sell 'em translations which I -could not otherwise dispose of. Thus I shall soon be making, instead of -$40, about $100 per month. This will enable me to accumulate the means -of flying from American civilization to other horrors which I know not -of--some place where one has to be a good Catholic (in outward -appearance) for fear of having a _navaja_ stuck into you, and where the -whole population is so mixed up that no human being can tell what nation -anybody belongs to. So in the meantime I must study such phrases as:---- - - ¿Tiene V. un leoncito? Have you a small lion? - - No señor, pero tengo un fero perro. No: but I've an ugly dog. - - ¿Tiene V. un muchachona? Have you a big strapping girl? - - No: pero tengo un hombrecillo. No: but I've a miserable little man. - -May the Gods of the faiths, living and dead, watch over thee, and thy -dreams be made resonant with the sound of mystic and ancient music, -which on waking thou shalt vainly endeavour to recall, and forever -regret with a vague and yet pleasant sorrow; knowing that the gods -permit not mortals to learn their sacred hymns. - - L. HEARN. - -By the way, let me send you a short translation from Baudelaire. It is -so mystic and sad and beautiful. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1879. - -QUERIDO AMIGO,--Your words in regard to my former letter flatter me -considerably, for I feel rather elated at being able to be of the -smallest service to you; and as to your unavoidable delays in writing, -never allow them to trouble you, or permit your correspondence to -encroach upon your study hours for my sake. Indeed, it is a matter of -surprise to me how you are able to spare any time at present in view of -your manifold work. - -So _your_ literary career--at least the brilliant portion of -it--commences in January; and mine ends at the same time, without a -single flash of brightness or a solitary result worthy of preservation. -My salary has been raised three times since I heard from -you,--encouraging, perhaps, but I do not suffer myself to indulge in any -literary speculations. Since the close of the sickly season my only -thought has been to free myself from the yoke of dependence on the whims -of employers,--from the harness of journalism. I hired myself a room in -the northern end of the French Quarter (near the Spanish), bought myself -a complete set of cooking utensils and kitchen-ware, and kept house for -myself. I got my expenses down to $2 per week, and kept them at that -(exclusive of rent, of course) although my salary rose to $20. Thus I -learned to cook pretty well; also to save money, and will start a little -business for myself next week. I have an excellent partner,--a Northern -man,--and we expect by spring to clear enough ready money to start -for South America. By that time I shall have finished my Spanish -studies,--all that are necessary and possible in an American city, and -shall--please (not God but) the good old gods--play gipsy for a while in -strange lands. Many unpleasant things may happen; but with good health I -have no fear of failure, and the new life will enable me to recruit my -eyes, fill my pockets, and improve my imagination by many strange -adventures and divers extraordinary archæological pursuits. - -[Illustration: LAFCADIO HEARN - _In the '70's_] - -How is that for Bohemianism? But I wish I could spend a day with you in -order to recount the many wonderful and mystic adventures I have had in -this quaint and ruinous city. To recount them in a letter is impossible. -But I came here to enjoy romance, and I have had my fill. - -Business,--ye Antiquities!--hard, practical, unideal, realistic -business! But what business? Ah, _mi corazon_, I would never dare to -tell you. Not that it is not honourable, respectable, etc., but that it -is so devoid of dreamful illusions. Yet hast thou not said,--"This is no -world for dreaming,"--and divers other horrible things which I shall not -repeat? - -Tell me all about your exotic musical instruments, when you have -time,--you know they will interest me; and may not I, too, some day be -able to forward to you various barbaric symbols and sackfuls from -outlandish places?--from the pampas or the llanos,--from some -palm-fringed islands of the Eastern sea, where even Nature dreams -opiated dreams? How knowst thou but that I shall make the Guacho and -llanero, the Peruvian and the Chilian, to contribute right generously to -thy store of musical wealth? - -I have not made much progress in the literature most dear to you; -inasmuch as my time has been rather curtailed, and the days have become -provokingly short. But I have been devouring Hoffmann (Emile de la -Bédollière's translation in French--could not get a complete English -one); and I really believe he has no rival as a creator of musical -fantasticalities. "The Organ-Stop," "The Sanatus," "Lawyer Krespel" (a -story of a violin, replete with delightful German mysticism), "A Pupil -of the Great Tartini," "Don Juan,"--and a dozen other stories evidence -an enthusiasm for music and an extraordinary sensitiveness to musical -impressions on the author's part. You probably read these in German,--if -not, I am sure many of them would delight you. The romance of music -must, I fancy, be a vast aid to the study of the art,--it seems to me -like the setting of a jewel, or the frame of a painting. I also have -observed in the New York _Times_ a warm notice of a lady who is an -enthusiast upon the subject of Finnish music, and who has collected a -valuable mass of the quaint music and weird ditties of the North. As you -speak of having a quantity of Finnish music, however, I have no doubt -that you know much more about the young lady than I could tell you. - -Prosper Mérimée's "Carmen" has fairly enthralled me,--I am in love with -it. The colour and passion and rapid tragedy of the story is -marvellous. I think I was pretty well prepared to enjoy it, however. I -had read Simpson's "History of the Gipsies," Borro's[6] "Gypsies of -Spain," a volume of Spanish gipsy ballads,--I forget the name of the -translator,--and everything in the way of gipsy romance I could get my -hands on,--by Sheridan Le Fanu, Victor Hugo, Reade, Longfellow, George -Eliot, Balzac, and a brilliant novelist also whose works generally -appear in the _Cornhill Magazine_. Balzac's "Le Succube" gives a curious -picture of the persecution of the Bohemians in mediæval France, founded -upon authentic records. Le Fanu wrote a sweet little story called "The -Bird of Passage," which contained a remarkable variety of information in -regard to gipsy secrets; but it is only within very recent years that a -really good novel on a gipsy theme has been written in English; and I am -sorry that I cannot remember the author's name. I found more romance as -well as information in Borro and Simpson than in all the novels and -poems put together; and I obtained a fair idea of the artistic side of -Spanish gipsy life from Doré's "Spain." Doré is something of a musician -as well as a limner; and his knowledge of the violin enabled him to make -himself at home in the camps of that music-loving people. He played wild -airs to them, and studied their poses and gestures with such success -that his gipsies seem actually to dance in the engravings. I read that -Miss Minnie Hauck plays Carmen in gorgeous costume, which is certainly -out of place, except in one act of the opera. Otherwise from the first -scene of the novel in which she advances "poising herself on her hips, -like a filly from the Cordovan Stud," to the ludicrous episode at -Gibraltar, her attire is described as more nearly resembling that -picturesque rag-blending of colour Doré describes and depicts. If you -see the opera,--please send me your criticism in the _Gazette_. - - [6] See page 205. - -You may remember some observations I made--based especially on De -Coulanges--as to the derivation of the Roman and Greek tongues from the -Sanscrit. Talking of Borro reminds me that Borro traces the gipsy -dialects to the mother of languages; and Simpson naturally finds the -Romany akin to modern Hindostanee, which succeeded the Sanscrit. Now -here is a curious fact. Rommain is simply Sanscrit for The Husbands,--a -domestic appellation applicable to the gipsy races above all others, -when the ties of blood are stronger than even among the Jewish people; -and Borro asks timidly what is then the original meaning of those mighty -words, "Rome" and the "Romans," of which no scholar (he claims) has yet -ventured to give the definition. Surely all mysteries seem to issue from -the womb of nations,--from the heart of Asia. - -I see that the musical critic of the New York _Times_ speaks of certain -airs in the opera of _Carmen_ as Havanese airs,--_Avaneras_. If there be -a music peculiar to Havana, I expect that I shall hear some of it next -summer. If I could only write music, I could collect much interesting -matter for you. - -There is a New Orleans story in the last issue of _Scribner's -Monthly_,--"Ninon,"--which I must tell you is a fair exemplification of -how mean French Creoles can be. The great cruelties of the old slave -régime were perpetuated by French planters. Anglo-Saxon blood is not -cruel. If you want to find cruelty, either in ancient or modern history, -it must be sought for among the Latin races of Europe. The Scandinavian -and Teutonic blood was too virile and noble to be cruel; and the science -of torture was never developed among them. - - * * * * * - -Before I commenced to keep house for myself, I must tell you about a -Chinese restaurant which I used to patronize. No one in the American -part of the city--or at least very few--know even of its existence. The -owner will not advertise, will not hang out a sign, and seems to try to -keep his business a secret. The restaurant is situated in the rear part -of an old Creole house on Dumaine Street,--about the middle of the -French Quarter; and one must pass through a dark alley to get in. I had -heard so much of the filthiness of the Chinese, that I would have been -afraid to enter it, but for the strong recommendations of a Spanish -friend of mine,--now a journalist and a romantic fellow. (By the way, he -killed a stranger here in 1865 one night, and had to fly the country. A -few hot words in a saloon; and the Spanish blood was up. The stranger -fell so quickly and the stab was given so swiftly,--"according to the -_rules_,"--that my friend had left the house before anybody knew what -had happened. Then the killer was stowed away upon a Spanish schooner, -and shipped to Cuba, where he remained for four years. And when he came -back, _there were no witnesses_.) - -But about the restaurant. I was surprised to find the bills printed half -in Spanish and half in English; and the room nearly full of Spaniards. -It turned out that my Chinaman was a Manilan,--handsome, swarthy, with a -great shock of black hair, wavy as that of a Malabaress. His movements -were supple, noiseless, leopardine; and the Mongolian blood was scarcely -visible. But his wife was positively attractive;--hair like his own, a -splendid figure, sharp, strongly marked features, and eyes whose very -obliqueness only rendered the face piquant,--as in those agreeable yet -half-sinister faces painted on Japanese lacquerware. The charge for a -meal was only twenty-five cents,--four dishes allowed, with dessert and -coffee, and only five cents for every extra dish one might choose to -order. I generally ordered a nice steak, stewed beef with potatoes, -stewed tongue, a couple of fried eggs, etc. Everything is cooked before -your eyes, the whole interior of the kitchen being visible from the -dining-table; and nothing could be cleaner or nicer. I asked him how -long he had kept the place; he answered, "Seven years;" and I am told he -has been making a fortune even at these prices of five cents per dish. -The cooking is perfection. - - * * * * * - -There is nothing here which would interest you particularly in the -newspaper line. We have a new French daily, _Le Courrier de la -Louisiane_; but the ablest French editor in Louisiana--Dumez of Le -Meschacébé--was killed by what our local poets are pleased to term "The -March of the Saffron Steed!" The _Item_, beginning on nothing, now -represents a capital, and I would have a fine prospect should I be able -to content my restless soul in this town. The _Democrat_ is in a death -struggle with the gigantic lottery monopoly; and cannot live long. -Howard is king of New Orleans, and can crush every paper or clique that -opposes him. He was once blackballed by the Old Jockey Club, who had a -splendid race-course at Métairie. "By God," said Howard, "I'll make a -graveyard of their d----d race-course." He did it. The Métairie cemetery -now occupies the site of the old race-course; and the new Jockey Club is -Howard's own organization. - -It just occurs to me that the name of the gypsy novel written by the -Cornhill writer is "Zelda's Fortune," and that I spelled the name Borrow -wrong. It has a "w." Mérimée refers to B_a_rrow, which is also wrong. -Longfellow borrowed (excuse the involuntary pun) nearly all the gypsy -songs in his "Spanish Student" from Borrow. I remember, for instance, -the songs commencing,---- - - "Upon a mountain's tip I stand, - With a crown of red gold in my hand;" - -also, - - "Loud sang the Spanish cavalier - And thus his ditty ran: - God send the gypsy lassie here, - And not the gipsy man." - -(I have been spelling "gipsy" and "gypsy"--don't know which I like -best.) I wonder why Longfellow did not borrow the forge-song, quoted -by Borrow,--_Las Muchis_, "The Sparks":---- - - "More than a hundred lovely daughters I see produced at one time, - fiery as roses, in one moment they expire, gracefully - circumvolving." - -Is it not beautiful, this gipsy poetry? The sparks are compared to -daughters, but they are _gitanas_ "_fiery_ as roses;" and in the words, -"I see them expire, gracefully _circumvolving_," we have the figure of -the gypsy dance,--the Romalis, with its wild bounds and pirouettes. - - * * * * * - -My letter is too long. I fear it will try your patience; but I cannot -say half I should wish to say. You will soon hear from me again; for le -père Rouquette hath returned; I must see him, and show him your letter. -A villainous wind from your boreal region has overcast the sky with a -cope of lead, and filled the sunny city with gloom. From my dovecot -shaped windows I can see only wet roofs and dripping gable-ends. The -nights are now starless, and haunted by fogs. Sometimes, in the day -there is no more than a suggestion of daylight,--a gloaming. Sometimes -in the darkness I hear hideous cries of murder from beyond the boundary -of sharp gables and fantastic dormers. But murders are so common here -that nobody troubles himself about them. So I draw my chair closer to -the fire, light up my pipe _de terre Gambièse_, and in the flickering -glow weave fancies of palm-trees and ghostly reefs and tepid winds, and -a Voice from the far tropics calls to me across the darkness. - - Adios, hermano mio, - Forever yours, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO H.E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1879. - -MY DEAR KREHBIEL,--I regret very much that I could not reply until now; -overstudy obliged me to quit reading and writing for several days; I am -just in that peculiar condition of convalescence when one cannot tell -how to regulate the strain upon his eyes. - -It pleased me very much to hear from you just before you entered upon -your duties as a professor of the beautiful art you have devoted -yourself to;--that letter informed me of many things more than its -written words directly expressed,--especially that you felt I was really -and deeply interested in every step you were taking, and that I would on -receiving your letter experience that very thrill of indescribable -anxiety and hope, timidity and confidence, and a thousand intermingled -sensations,--which ever besets one standing on the verge of uncertainty -ere taking the first plunge into a new life. - -I read your lecture with intense interest, and felt happy in observing -that your paper did you the justice to publish the essay entire. Still, -I fancy that you may have interpolated its delivery with a variety of -unpublished comments and verbal notes,--such as I have heard you often -deliver when reading from print or MSS. These I should much have wished -to hear,--if they were uttered. - -Your lecture was in its entirety a vast mass of knowledge wonderfully -condensed into a very small compass. That condensation, which I would -regret if applied to certain phases of your whole plan, could not have -been avoided in its inception; and only gave to the whole an -encyclopædic character which must have astonished many of your hearers. -To present so infinite a subject in so small a frame was a gigantic task -of itself; and nevertheless it was accomplished symmetrically and -harmoniously,--the thread of one instructive idea never being broken. I -certainly think you need harbour no further fears as to success in the -lecture-room, and far beyond it. - -The idea of religion as the conservator of Romanticism, as the promoter -of musical development, seemed to me very novel and peculiar. I cannot -doubt its correctness, although I believe some might take issue with you -in regard to the Romantic idea,--because the discussions in regard to -romantic truth are interminable and will never cease. Religion is beyond -any question the mother of all civilizations, arts, and laws; and no -archæologic research has given us any record of any social system, any -art, any law, antique or modern, which was not begotten and nurtured by -an ethical idea. You know that I have no faith in any "faiths" or -dogmas; I regard thought as a mechanical process, and individual life as -a particle of that eternal force of which we know so little: but the -true philosophers who _hold_ these doctrines to-day (I cannot say -originated them, for they are old as Buddhism) are also those who best -comprehend the necessity of the religious idea for the maintenance of -the social system which it cemented together and developed. The name of -a religion has little to do with this truth; the law of progress has -been everywhere the same. The art of the Egyptian, the culture of the -Greeks, the successful policy of Rome, the fantastic beauty of Arabic -architecture, were the creations of various religious ideas; and passed -away only when the faiths which nourished them weakened or were -forgotten. So I believe with you that the musical art of antiquity was -born of the antique religions, and varied according to the character of -that religion. But I have also an inclination to believe that -Romanticism itself was engendered by religious conservation. The amorous -Provençal ditties which excited the horror of the mediæval church were -certainly engendered by the mental reactions against religious -conservatism in Provence; and I fancy that the same reaction everywhere -produced similar results, whether in ancient or modern history. This is -your idea, is it not; or is it your idea carried perhaps to the extreme -of attributing the birth of Romanticism to conservatism, Pallas-Athene -springing in white beauty from the head of Zeus? - -There is one thing which I will venture to criticize in the -lecture,--not positively, however. I cannot help believing that the -deity whose name you spell _Schiva_ (probably after a German writer) is -the same spelled Seeva, Siva, or Shiva, according to various English and -French authors. If I am right, then I fear you were wrong in calling -Schiva the _goddess_ of fire and destruction. The god, yes; but although -many of these Hindoo deities, including Siva, are bi-sexual and -self-engendering, as the embodiment of any force, they are masculine. -Now Siva is the third person of the Hindoo trinity,--Brahma, the -Creator; Vishnu, the Preserver; Siva, the Destroyer. Siva signifies the -wrath of God. Fire is sacred to him, as it is an emblem of the Christian -Siva, the _Holy Ghost_. Siva is the Holy Ghost of the Hindoo trinity; -and as sins against the Holy Ghost are unforgiven, so are sins against -Siva unforgiven. There is an awful legend that Brahma and Vishnu were -once disputing as to greatness, when Siva suddenly towered between them -as a pillar of fire. Brahma flew upward for ten myriads of years vainly -striving to reach the flaming capital of that fiery column; Vishnu flew -downward for ten thousand years without being able to reach its base. -And the gods trembled. But this legend, symbolic and awful, signifies -only that the height and depth of the vengeance of God is immeasurable -even by himself. I think the _wife_ of Siva is Parvati. See if I am -right. I have no works here to which I can refer on the subject. - -There is to my mind a most fearful symbolism in the origin of five tones -from the head of Siva. I cannot explain the idea; but it is a terrible -one, and may symbolize a strange truth. All this Brahminism is half -true; it conflicts not with any doctrine of science; its symbolism is -only a monstrously-figured veil wrought to hide from the ignorant truths -they cannot understand; and those elephant-headed or hundred-armed gods -do but represent tremendous facts. - -On the subject of Romanticism, I send you a translation from an article -by Baudelaire. The last part of the chapter, applying wholly to -romanticism in form and colour, hardly touches the subject in which you -are most interested. His criticism of Raphael is very severe; that of -Rembrandt enthusiastic. "The South," he says, is "brutal and positive -in its conception of beauty, like a sculptor;" and he remarks that -sculpture in the North is always rather picturesque than realistic. -Winckelmann and Lessing long since pointed out, however, that antique -art was never realistic; it was only a dream of human beauty deified -and immortalized, and the ancients were true Romanticists in their -day. I wonder what Baudelaire would have thought of our modern -Pre-Raphaelites,--Rossetti, _et als_. Surely they are true Romanticists -also; but I must not tire you with Romanticism. - -Do you not think that outside of the religio-musical system of Egyptian -worship, there may have been a considerable development of the art in -certain directions--judging from the wonderful variety of -instruments,--harps, flutes, tamborines, sistrums, drums, cymbals, etc., -discovered in the tombs or pictured forth upon the walls? Your remarks -on the subject were exceedingly interesting. - - * * * * * - -I fear my letters will bore you,--however, they are long only because I -must write as I would talk to you were it possible. I am disappointed in -regard to several musical researches I have been undertaking; and can -tell you little of interest. The work of Cable is not yet in -press--yellow fever killed half his family. Rouquette has been doing -nothing but writing mad essays on the beauties of chastity, so that I -can get nothing from him in the way of music until his crazy fit is -over. Several persons to whom I applied for information became -suspicious and refused point-blank to do anything. I traced one source -of musical lore to its beginning, and discovered that the individual had -been subsidized by another collector to say nothing. Speaking of Pacific -Island music, you have probably seen Wilkins' "Voyages," 5 vols., with -strange music therein. I have many ditties in my head, but I cannot -write them down.... - - Thine, O Minnesinger, - L. HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1880. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--I was so glad to hear from you. - -Your letter gave me much amusement. I wish I could have been present at -that Chinese concert. It must have been the funniest thing of the kind -ever heard of in Cincinnati. - -It gives me malicious pleasure to inform you that my vile and improper -book will probably be published in a few months. Also that the wickedest -story of the lot--"King Candaule"--is being published as a serial in one -of the New Orleans papers, with delightful results of shocking people. I -will send you copies of them when complete. - -I am interested in your study of Assyrian archæology. It is a pity there -are so few good works on the subject. Layard's _unabridged_ works are -very extensive; but I do not remember seeing them in the Cincinnati -library. Rawlinson, I think, is more interesting in style and more -thorough in research. The French are making fine explorations in this -direction. - -I find frequent reference made to Overbeck's "Pompeii," a German work, -as containing valuable information on antique music, drawn from -discoveries at Herculaneum and Pompeii, also to Mazois, a great French -writer upon the same subject. I have not seen them; but I fancy you -would find some valuable information in them regarding musical -instruments. I suppose you have read Sir William Gell's "Pompeiana,"--at -least the abridged form of it. You know the double flutes, etc., of the -ancients are preserved in the museum of Naples. In the Cincinnati -library is a splendid copy of the work on Egyptian antiquities prepared -under Napoleon I, wherein you will find coloured prints--from -photographs--of the musical instruments found in the catacombs and -hypogæa. But I do not think there are many good books on the subject of -Assyrian antiquities there. Vickers could put you in the way of getting -better works on the subject than any one in the library, I believe. - -You will master these things much more thoroughly than ever I -shall--although I love them. I have only attempted, however, to -photograph the _rapports_ of the antiquities in my mind, like memories -of a panoramic procession; while to you, the procession will not be one -of shadows, but of splendid facts, with the sound of strangely ancient -music and the harmonious tread of sacrificial bands,--all preserved for -you through the night of ages. And the life of vanished cities and the -pageantry of dead faiths will have a far more charming reality for -you,--the Musician,--than ever for me,--the Dreamer. - -I can't see well enough yet to do much work. I have written an essay -upon luxury and art in the time of Elagabalus; but now that I read it -over again, I am not satisfied with it, and fear it will not be -published. And by the way--I request, and beg, and entreat, and -supplicate, and petition, and pray that you will not forget about -Mephistopheles. Here, in the sweet perfume-laden air, and summer of -undying flowers, I feel myself moved to write the musical romance -whereof I spake unto you in the days that were. - -I can't say that things look very bright here otherwise. The prospect is -dark as that of stormy summer night, with feverish pulses of lightning -in the far sky-border,--the lightning signifying hopes and fantasies. -But I shall stick to my pedestal of faith in literary possibilities like -an Egyptian colossus with a broken nose, seated solemnly in the gloom of -its own originality. - -Times are not good here. The city is crumbling into ashes. It has been -buried under a lava-flood of taxes and frauds and maladministrations so -that it has become only a study for archæologists. Its condition is so -bad that when I write about it, as I intend to do soon, nobody will -believe I am telling the truth. But it is better to live here in -sackcloth and ashes, than to own the whole State of Ohio. - -Once in a while I feel the spirit of restlessness upon me, when the -Spanish ships come in from Costa Rica and the islands of the West -Indies. I fancy that some day, I shall wander down to the levee, and -creep on board, and sail away to God knows where. I am so hungry to see -those quaint cities of the Conquistadores and to hear the sandalled -sentinels crying through the night--_Sereño alerto!--sereño -alerto!_--just as they did two hundred years ago. - -I send you a little bit of prettiness I cut out of a paper. Ah!--_that_ -is style, is it not?--and fancy and strength and height and depth. It is -just in the style of Richter's "Titan." - -Major sends his compliments. I must go to see the Carnival nuisance. -Remember me to anybody who cares about it, and believe me always - - Faithfully yours, - L. HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1880. - -MY DEAR KREHBIEL,--Pray remember that your ancestors were the very Goths -and Vandals who destroyed the marvels of Greek art which even Roman -ignorance and ferocity had spared; and I perceive by your last letter -that you possess still traces of that Gothic spirit which detests all -beauty that is not beautiful with the fantastic and unearthly beauty -that is Gothic. - -You cannot make a Goth out of a Greek, nor can you change the blood in -my veins by speaking to me of a something vague and gnostic and mystic -which you deem superior to all that any Latin mind could conceive. - -I grant the existence and the weird charm of the beauty that Gothic -minds conceived; but I do not see less beauty in what was conceived by -the passion and poetry of other races of mankind. This is a cosmopolitan -art era: and you must not judge everything which claims art-merit by a -Gothic standard. - -Let me also tell you that you do not as yet know anything of the Spirit -of Greek Art,--or the sources which inspired its miraculous -compositions; and that to do so you would have to study the climate, the -history, the ethnological record, the religion, the society of the -country which produced it. My own knowledge is, I regret to say, very -imperfect,--but it is sufficient to give me the right to tell you that -you were wrong to accuse me of abandoning Greek ideals, or to lecture -me upon what is and what is not art in matters of form and colour and -literature. I might say the same thing in regard to your judgment of -French writers: you confound Naturalism with Romanticism, and _vice -versa_. - -Again, do not suppose that I am insensible to other forms of beauty. You -judge all art, I fear, by inductions from that in which you are a -master; but the process in your case is false;--nor will you be able to -judge the artistic soul of a people adequately by its musical -productions, until you have passed another quarter of a century in the -study of the music of different races and ages and civilizations. Then -it is possible that you may find that secret key; but you cannot -possibly do it now, learned as you are, nor do I believe there are a -dozen men in the world who could do it. - -Now I am with the Latin; I live in a Latin city;--I seldom hear the -English tongue except when I enter the office for a few brief hours. I -eat and drink and converse with members of the races you detest like the -son of Odin that you are. I see beauty here all around me,--a strange, -tropical, intoxicating beauty. I consider it my artistic duty to let -myself be absorbed into this new life, and study its form and colour and -passion. And my impressions I occasionally put into the form of the -little fantastics which disgust you so much, because they are not of the -Æsir and Jötunheim. Were I able to live in Norway, I should try also to -intoxicate myself with the Spirit of the Land, and I might write of the -Saga singers-- - - "From whose lips in music rolled - The Hamavel of Odin old, - With sounds mysterious as the roar - Of ocean on a storm-beat shore." - -The law of true art, even according to the Greek idea, is to seek beauty -wherever it is to be found, and separate it from the dross of life as -gold from ore. You do not see beauty in animal passion;--yet passion was -the inspiring breath of Greek art and the mother of language; and its -gratification is the act of a creator, and the divinest rite of Nature's -temple. - - * * * * * - -... And writing to you as a friend, I write of my thoughts and fancies, -of my wishes and disappointments, of my frailties and follies and -failures and successes,--even as I would write to a brother. So that -sometimes what might not seem strange in words, appears very strange -upon paper. And it may come to pass that I shall have stranger things to -tell you; for this is a land of magical moons and of witches and of -warlocks; and were I to tell you all that I have seen and heard in these -years in this enchanted City of Dreams you would verily deem me mad -rather than morbid. - - Affectionately yours, - L. HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - - NEW ORLEANS, 1880. - -MY DEAR KREHBIEL,--Your letter delighted me. I always felt sure that you -would unshackle yourself--sooner or later; but I hardly expected it -would come so soon. - -The great advantage of your new position, I think, will be the leisure -it will afford you to study, and that too while you are still in the -flush of youth and ambition, and before your energies are impaired by -excess of newspaper drudgery. I think your future is secure now beyond -any doubt;--for any man with such talent and knowledge, such real love -for art, and such a total absence of vices should find the road before -an easy one. It is true that you have a prodigious work to achieve; but -the path is well oiled, like those level highways along which the -Egyptians moved their colossi of granite. I congratulate you; I rejoice -with you; and I envy you with the purest envy possible. Still more, -however, I envy your youth, your strength, and that something which is -partly hope and partly force and love for the beautiful which I have -lost, and which, having passed away with the summer of life, can never -be recalled. When a man commences to feel what it is to be young, he is -beginning to grow old. You have not felt that yet. I hope you will not -for many years. But I do; and my hair is turning grey at thirty! - -I liked your letter very much also in regard to our discussion. It is -just and pleasant to read. I thought your first reproaches much too -violent. But I am still sure you are not correct in speaking of the -Greeks as chaste. You will not learn what the Greeks were in the time of -the glory of their republics either from Homer or Plato or Gladstone or -Mahaffy. Perhaps the best English writer I could refer you to--without -mentioning historians proper--is John Addington Symonds, author of -"Studies of the Greek Poets," and "Studies and Sketches in Southern -Europe." His works would charm you. The Greeks were brave, intelligent, -men of genius, men who wrote miracles--_un peuple des demi-dieux_, as a -French poet terms them; but the character of their thought, as reflected -in their mythology, their literature, their art, and their history -certainly does not indicate the least conception of chastity in the -modern signification of the word. No: you will not go down to your grave -with the conception you have made of them,--unless you should be -determined not to investigate the contrary. - -I would like to discuss the other affair, also; but I have so little -time that I must forego the pleasure. - -As to the fantastics, you greatly overestimate me if you think me -capable of doing something much more "worthy of my talents," as you -express it. I am conscious they are only trivial; but I am condemned to -move around in a sphere of triviality until the end. I am no longer able -to study as I wish to, and, being able to work only a few hours a day, -cannot do anything outside of my regular occupation. My hope is to -perfect myself in Spanish and French; and, if possible, to study Italian -next summer. With a knowledge of the Latin tongues, I may have a better -chance hereafter. But I fancy the idea of the fantastics is artistic. -They are my impressions of the strange life of New Orleans. They are -dreams of a tropical city. There is one twin-idea running through them -all--Love and Death. And these figures embody the story of life here, as -it impresses me. I hope to be able to take a trip to Mexico in the -summer just to obtain literary material, sun-paint, tropical colour, -etc. There are tropical lilies which are venomous, but they are more -beautiful than the frail and icy-white lilies of the North. Tell me if -you received a fantastic founded upon the story of Ponce de Leon. I -think I sent it since my last letter. I have not written any fantastics -since except one,--inspired by Tennyson's fancy,---- - - "My heart would hear her and beat - Had it lain for a century dead---- - Would start and tremble under her feet---- - And blossom in purple and red." - -Jerry, Krehbiel, Ed Miller, Feldwisch! All gone! It is a little strange. -But it will always be so. Looking around the table at home at which are -gathered wanderers from all nations and all skies, the certainty of -separation for all societies and coteries is very impressive. We are all -friends. In six months probably there will not be one left. Dissolution -of little societies in this city is more rapid than with you. In the -tropics all things decay more speedily, or mummify. And I think that in -such cities there is no real friendship. There is no time for it. Only -passion for women, a brief acquaintance for men. And it is only when I -meet some fair-haired Northern stranger here, rough and open like a wind -from the great lakes, that I begin to realize I once lived in a city -whose heart was not a cemetery two centuries old, and where people who -hated did not kiss each other, and where men did not mock at all that -youth and faith hold to be sacred. - - Your sincere friend, - L. HEARN. - -Read Bergerat's article on Offenbach--the long one. I think you will -like it. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, February, 1881. - -MY DEAR KREHBIEL,--A pleasant manner, indeed, of breaking thy silence, -vast and vague, illuminating my darkness of doubt!--the vision of a -sunny-haired baby-girl, inheriting, I hope, those great soft grey eyes -of yours, and the artist dream of her artist father. I should think you -would feel a sweet and terrible responsibility--like one of those -traditional guardian-angels entrusted for the first time with the care -of a new life.... - -I have not much to tell you about myself. I am living in a ruined Creole -house; damp brick walls green with age, zig-zag cracks running down the -façade, a great yard with plants and cacti in it; a quixotic horse, four -cats, two rabbits, three dogs, five geese, and a seraglio of hens,--all -living together in harmony. A fortune-teller occupies the lower floor. -She has a fantastic apartment kept dark all day, except for the light of -two little tapers burning before two human skulls in one corner of the -room. It is a very mysterious house indeed.... But I am growing very -weary of the Creole quarter, and think I shall pull up stakes and fly to -the garden district where the orange-trees are, but where Latin tongues -are not spoken. It is very hard to accustom one's self to live with -Americans, however, after one has lived for three years among these -strange types. I am swindled all the time and I know it, and still I -find it hard to summon up resolution to forsake these antiquated streets -for the commonplace and practical American districts.... - - Very affectionately, - L. HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, February, 1881. - -MY DEAR KREHBIEL,--Your letter rises before me as I write like a tablet -of white stone bearing a dead name. I see you standing beside me. I look -into your eyes and press your hand and say nothing.... - -Remember me kindly to Mrs. Krehbiel. I am sure you will soon have made a -cosy little home in the metropolis. In my last letter I forgot to -acknowledge receipt of the musical articles, which do you the greatest -credit, and which interested me much, although I know nothing about -music further than a narrow theatrical experience and a natural -sensibility to its simpler forms of beauty enable me to do. I see your -name also in the programme of _The Studio_, and hope to see the first -number of that periodical containing your opening article. I should like -one of these days to talk with you about the possibility of -contributing a romantic--not musical--series of little sketches upon the -Creole songs and coloured Creoles of New Orleans to some New York -periodical. Until the summer comes, however, it will be difficult for me -to undertake such a thing; the days here are much shorter than they are -in your northern latitudes, the weather has been gloomy as Tartarus, and -my poor imagination cannot rise on dampened wings in this heavy and -murky atmosphere. This has been a hideous winter,--incessant rain, -sickening weight of foul air, and a sky grey as the face of Melancholy. -The city is half under water. The lake and the bayous have burst their -bonds, and the streets are Venetian canals. Boats are moving over the -sidewalks, and moccasin snakes swarm in the old stonework of the -gutters. Several children have been bitten. - -I am very weary of New Orleans. The first delightful impression it -produced has vanished. The city of my dreams, bathed in the gold of -eternal summer, and perfumed with the amorous odours of orange flowers, -has vanished like one of those phantom cities of Spanish America, -swallowed up centuries ago by earthquakes, but reappearing at long -intervals to deluded travellers. What remains is something horrible like -the tombs here,--material and moral rottenness which no pen can do -justice to. You must have read some of those mediæval legends in which -an amorous youth finds the beautiful witch he has embraced all through -the night crumble into a mass of calcined bones and ashes in the -morning. Well, I feel like such a one, and almost regret that, unlike -the victims of these diabolical illusions, I do not find my hair -whitened and my limbs withered by sudden age; for I enjoy exuberant -vitality and still seem to myself like one buried alive or left alone in -some city cursed with desolation like that described by Sinbad the -sailor. No literary circle here; no jovial coterie of journalists; no -associates save those vampire ones of which the less said the better. -And the thought--Where must all this end?--may be laughed off in the -daytime, but always returns to haunt me like a ghost in the night. - - Your friend, - L. HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1881. - -MY DEAR KREHBIEL,--To what could I now devote myself? To nothing! To -study art in any one of its branches with any hope of success requires -years of patient study, vast reading, and a very considerable outlay of -money. This I know. I also know that I could not write one little story -of antique life really worthy of the subject without such hard study as -I am no longer able to undertake, and a purchase of many costly works -above my means. The world of Imagination is alone left open to me. It -allows of a vagueness of expression which hides the absence of real -knowledge and dispenses with the necessity of technical precision of -detail. Again, let me tell you that to produce a really artistic work, -after all the years of study required for such a task, one cannot -possibly obtain any appreciation of the work for years after its -publication. Such works as Flaubert's "Salammbô" or Gautier's "Roman de -la Momie" were literary failures until recently. They were too learned -to be appreciated. Yet to write on a really noble subject, how learned -one must be! There is no purpose, as you justly observe, in my -fantastics,--beyond the gratification of expressing a Thought which -cries out within one's heart for utterance, and the pleasant fancy that -a few kindred minds will dream over them, as upon pellets of green -hascheesch,--at least should they ever assume the shape I hope for. And -do not talk to me of work, dear fellow, in this voluptuous climate. It -is impossible! The people here are so languidly lazy that they do not -even dream of chasing away the bats which haunt these crumbling -buildings. - -Is it possible you like Dr. Ebers? I hope not! He has no artistic -sentiment whatever,--no feeling, no colour. He is dry and dusty as a -mummy preserved with bitumen. He gropes in the hypogæa like some Yankee -speculator looking for antiquities to sell. You must be Egyptian to -write of Egypt;--you must feel all the weird solemnity and mighty -ponderosity of the antique life;--you must comprehend the whole force of -those ideas which expressed themselves in miracles of granite and -mysteries of black marble. Ebers knows nothing of this. Turning from the -French writers to his lifeless pages is like leaving the warm and -perfumed bed of a beloved mistress for the slimy coldness of a -sepulchre. - -The Venus of Milo!--the Venus who is not a Venus! Perhaps you have read -Victor Rydberg's beautiful essay about that glorious figure! If not, -read it; it is worth while. And let me say, my dear friend, no one dare -write the whole truth about Greek sculpture. None would publish it. Few -would understand it. Winckelmann, although impressed by it, hardly -realized it. Symonds, in his exquisite studies, acknowledges that the -spirit of the antique life remains, and will always remain to the -greater number, an inexplicable although enchanting mystery. But if one -dared!... - -And you speak of the Song of Solomon. I love it more than ever. But -Michelet, the passionate freethinker, the divine prose-poet, the bravest -lover of the beautiful, has written a terrible chapter upon it. No -lesser mind dare touch the subject now with sacrilegious hand. - -I doubt if you are quite just to Gautier. I had hoped his fancy might -please you. But Gautier did not write those lines I sent you. They are -found in the report of conversations held with him by Emile -Bergerat;--they are mere memories of a dead voice. Probably had he ever -known that these romantic opinions would one day be published to the -world, he would never have uttered them. - -Your Hindoo legends charmed me, but I do not like them as I love -the Greek legends. The fantasies created in India are superhumanly -vast, wild, and terrible;--they are typhoons of the tropical -imagination;--they seem pictures printed by madness,--they terrify and -impress, but do not charm. I love better the sweet human story of -Orpheus. It is a dream of human love,--the love that is not only strong, -but stronger than death,--the love that breaks down the dim gates of the -world of Shadows and bursts open the marble heart of the tomb to return -at the outcry of passion. Yet I hold that the Greek mind was infantine -in comparison to the Indian thought of the same era; nor could any Greek -imagination have created the visions of the visionary East. The Greek -was a pure naturalist, a lover of "the bloom of young flesh;"--the -Hindoo had fathomed the deepest deeps of human thought before the Greek -was born. - -Zola is capable of some beautiful things. His "Le Bain" is pure -Romanticism, delicate, sweet, coquettish. His contribution to "Les -Soirées de Médan" is magnificent. His "Faute de l'Abbé Mouret" does not -lack real touches of poetry. But as the copy of Nature is not true art -according to the Greek law of beauty, so I believe that the school of -Naturalism belongs to the low order of literary creation. It is a sharp -photograph, coloured by hand with the minute lines of vein and shading -of down. Zola's pupils, however,--those who wrote the "Soirées de -Médan,"--have improved upon his style, and have mingled Naturalism with -Romanticism in a very charming way. - -I was a little disappointed, although I was also much delighted, with -parts of Cable's "Grandissimes." He did not follow out his first -plan,--as he told me he was going to do,--viz., to scatter about fifty -Creole songs through the work, with the music in the shape of notes at -the end. There are only a few ditties published; and as the Creole music -deals in fractions of tones, Mr. Cable failed to write it properly. He -is not enough of a musician, I fancy, for that. - -By the time you have read this I think you will also have read my -articles on Gottschalk and translations. I sent for his life to Havana; -and received it with a quaint Spanish letter from Enrique Barrera, -begging me to find an agent for him. I found him one here. His West -Indian volume is one of the most extraordinary books I have ever seen. -It is the wildest of possible romances. - - L. H. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1881. - -MY DEAR KREHBIEL,--How could you ever think you had offended me? I was -so sick--expecting to go blind and "lift the cover of my brains," as the -Spaniards say, and also ill-treated--that I had no spirit left to write. -You will be glad to know that I have now got so fat that they call me -"The Fat Boy" at the office. - -Your letter gave me great pleasure. I think your plan--vague as it -appears to be--will crystallize into a very happy reality. You have the -sacred fire,--_le vrai feu sacré_,--and with health and strength must -succeed. What you want, and what we all want, who possess devotion to -any noble idea, who hide any artistic idol in a niche of the heart, is -that independence which gives us at least the time to worship the -holiness of beauty,--be it in harmonies of sound, of form, or of colour. -You have strength, youth,--not in years only but in the vital resources -of your being,--the true _parfum de la jeunesse_ is perceptible in your -thoughts and hopes and abilities to create; and you have other -advantages I will not mention lest my observations might be -"embarrassing." I should be surprised indeed to hear in a few years from -now that you had not been able to emancipate yourself from the fetters -of that intensely vulgar and detestably commonplace thing, called -American journalism,--of which I, alas! must long remain a slave. A -prize in the Havana lottery might alone deliver me speedily; but I -mostly rely on the hope of being able next year to open a little French -bookstore in one of the tense quaint old streets. I had hoped to leave -New Orleans; but with my eyes in their present condition, it would be -folly to fight for life over again in some foreign country. - -You say you hope to see some day a product of my pen more durable than a -newspaper article. But I very much doubt if you ever will. My visual -misfortune has reduced my hours of work to one third. I only work from -10 A.M. to 2 P.M. You will see, therefore, that my work must be rapid. -At 2 P.M. my eyes are usually worn out. But as you seem to have been -interested in some of my little fantasies, I take the liberty of sending -you several now. They are too flimsy, however, to be ever collected for -publication, unless in the course of a few years I could write a -hundred or so, and select one out of three afterward. - -Your observations about Amphion and Orpheus prompted me to send you an -old issue of the _Item_, in which you will find some very extraordinary -observations on the subject of Greek music, translated from a charming -work in my possession. But you will be disgusted, perhaps, to know that -with all his erudition upon musical legends and musical history, Gautier -had no ear for music. I almost feel like asking you not to tell that to -anybody. - -If you could pay a visit this winter I think you would have a pleasant -time. I would like to aid you to get some of the Creole music I vainly -promised you. I found it impossible so far to obtain any; yet had I the -ability to write music down I could have obtained you some. If you were -here I could introduce you to the President of the Athénée Louisianaise, -who would certainly put you in the way of doing so yourself. - -What I do hope to obtain for you--if you care about it--is Mexican -music. Mexicans are common visitors here; and every educated Mexican can -sing and play some instrument. They have sung here for us,--guitar -accompaniment. Did you ever hear "El Aguardiente"? It is a very queer -air,--boisterous, merry with a merriment that seems all the time on the -point of breaking into a laugh--yet withal half-savage like some Spanish -ditties. When they sang it here, it was with a chorus accompaniment of -glasses held upside down and tapped with spoons. - -Did you ever hear negroes play the piano by ear? There are several -curiosities here, Creole negroes. Sometimes we pay them a bottle of wine -to come here and play for us. They use the piano exactly like a banjo. -It is good banjo-playing, but no piano-playing. - -One difficulty in the way of obtaining Creole music or ditties is the -fact that the French coloured population are ashamed to speak their -patois before whites. They will address you in French and sing French -songs; but there must be extraordinary inducements to make them sing or -talk in Creole. I have done it, but it is no easy work. - -Nearly all the Creoles here--white--know English, French, and Spanish, -more or less well, in addition to the patois employed only in speaking -to children or servants. When a child becomes about ten years old, it is -usually forbidden to speak Creole under any other circumstances. - -But I do not suppose this will much interest you. I shall -endeavour--this time I'm afraid to promise--to secure you some Mexican -or Havanese music; and will postpone further remarks to a future -occasion. - -I am sorry Feldwisch is ill; and I doubt if the Colorado air will do him -good. When he was here I had a vague suspicion I should never see him -again. - -Remember me to those whom you know I like, and don't think me dilatory -if I don't write immediately on receipt of a letter. I have explained -the condition of affairs as well as I could. - - I remain, dear fellow, yours, - L. HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1882. - -How are you on Russian music? - -You could make a terrible and taking operatic tragedy on Sacher-Masoch's -"Mother of God." Get it, if you can, and read it. I send you specimen -translation. It was written, I believe, in German. - -Have you read in the "Kalewala" of the "Bride of Gold,"--of the -"Betrothed of Silver"? - -Have you read how the mother of Kullevo arose from her tomb, and cried -unto him from the deeps of the dust? - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1882. - -DEAR K.,--It got dark yesterday before I could finish some extracts from -"Kalewala" I wanted to send. They are just suggestion. I must also tell -you I have only a very confused idea of the "Kalewala" myself, having -read it through simply as a romance, and never having had time to study -out all its mythological bearings and meanings. In fact my edition is -too incomplete and confusedly arranged in any case: notes are piled in a -heap at the end of each volume, causing terrible trouble in making -references. See if you can get Castrén. - -I want also to tell you that the Pre-Islamic legends I spoke of to you -are admirably arranged for musical suggestion. The original narrator -breaks into verse here and there, as into song: Rabiah, for instance, -recites his own death-song, his mother answers him in verse. All Arabian -heroic stories are arranged in the same way; and even in so serious a -work as Ibn Khallikan's great biographical dictionary, almost every -incident is emphasized by a poetical citation. - -Your idea about your style being heavy is really incorrect. Your art has -trained you so thoroughly in choosing words that hit the exact meaning -desired with the full strength of technical or picturesque expression, -that the continual use of certain beauties has dulled your perception of -their native force, perhaps. You do not feel, I mean, the full strength -of what you write--in a style of immense compressed force. I would not -wish you to think you had done your best, though; better to feel -dissatisfied, but not good to _underestimate_ yourself. I am now, you -see, claiming the privilege of criticizing what I could not begin to do -myself; but I believe I can see beauty where it exists in style, and I -don't want you to be underestimating your own worth. - -Are your letters of a character suitable for book-form? Hoppin,--I -think, is the name,--the author of "Old England," a Yale professor, who -made an English tour, formed one of the most charming volumes in such a -way. Think it over. - - Affectionately, - LAFCADIO. - -Please never even suspect that my suggestions to you are made in any -spirit of false conceit: a friend of the most limited artistic ability -can often suggest things to a real artist, and even give him -confidence. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1882. - - KALEWALA - -DEAR K.,--The Society of Finnish Literature celebrated, in 1885, I -think, the first centennial of the publication of the "Kalewala." - -There are two epics of Finland--just as most peoples have two -epics--most people at least of Aryan origin; and the existence of such -tremendous poems as the "Kalewala" and "Kanteletar" affords, in the -opinion of M. Quatrefages, a strong proof that the Finns are of Aryan -origin. - -Loennrot was the Homer of Finland, the one who collected and edited the -oral epic poetry now published under the head of the "Kalewala." - -But Léouzon Le Duc in 1845 published the first translation. (This I -have.) Loennrot followed him three years later. Le Duc's version -contained only 12,100 verses. Loennrot's contained 22,800. A second -French version was subsequently made (which I have sent for). In 1853 -appeared Castrén's magnificent work on Finnish mythology, without which -a thorough comprehension of the "Kalewala" is almost impossible. - -You will be glad to know that the _definitive_ edition of the -"Kalewala," as well as the work of Castrén, have both been translated -into German by Herr Schiefner (1852-54, I believe is the date). Since -then a whole ocean of Finnish poetry and folk-lore and legends has been -collected, edited, published, and translated. (I get some of these -facts from _Mélusine_, some from the work of the anthropologist -Quatrefages.) - -In order to get a correct idea of what you might do with the "Kalewala," -_you must get it and read it_. Try to get it in the German! I can give -you some idea of its beauties; but to give you its movement, and plot, -or to show you precisely how much operatic value it possesses, would be -a task beyond my power. It would be like attempting to make one familiar -with Homer in a week. - -Once you have digested it, I can then be of real service, perhaps. You -would need the work of Castrén also--which I cannot read. To determine -the precise mythological value, rank, power, aspect, etc., of gods and -demons, and their relation to natural forces, one must read up a little -on the Finns. I have Le Duc, but he is deficient. - -I don't think that any epic surpasses that weirdest and strangest of -runes. It is not so well known as it deserves. It gives you the -impression of a work written by wizards, who spoke little to men, and -much to nature--but the sinister and misty nature of the eternally -frozen North. - -You have in the "Kalewala" all the elements of a magnificent operatic -episode,--weirdness, the passion of love, and the eternal struggle -between evil and good, between darkness and light. You have any possible -amount of melody,--a universe of inspiration for startling and totally -novel musical themes. The scenery of such a thing might be made wilder -and grander than anything imagined even by the Talmudically vast -conceptions of Wagner. - -An opera founded on the "Kalewala" might be made a work worthy of the -grandest musician who ever lived: think of the possibilities suggested -by the picture of Nature's mightiest forces in contention,--wind and -sea, frost and sun, darkness and luminosity. - -I don't like the antique theme you suggest, because it has been worn so -threadbare that only a miracle could give it a fresh surface. Better -search the "Kath[=a]-sarit-S[=a]gara," or some other Indian -collection,--or borrow from the sublimely rough and rugged poetry of -Pre-Islamic Arabia. You will never regret an acquaintance with these -books--even at some cost. They epitomize all the thought, passion, and -poetry of a nation and of a period. - -I prefer the "Kalewala" to any other theme you suggest. I might suggest -many others, but none so vast, so grand, so multiform. Nothing in the -Talmud like that. The Talmud is a _Semitic_ work; but nothing Jewish -rises to the grandeur of Arabic poetry, which expresses the supreme -possibilities of the Semitic mind,--except, perhaps, the Book of Job, -which is thought by some to have had an Arabian creator. - -What you say about the disinclination to work for years upon a theme for -pure love's sake, without hope of reward, touches me,--because I have -felt that despair so long and so often. And yet I believe that all the -world's art-work--all that which is eternal--was thus wrought. And I -also believe that no work made perfect for the pure love of art, can -perish, save by strange and rare accident. Despite the rage of religion -and of time, we know Sappho found no rival, no equal. Rivers changed -their courses and dried up,--seas became deserts, since some Egyptian -romanticist wrote the story of Latin-Khamois. Do you suppose he ever -received $00 for it? - -Yet the hardest of all sacrifices for the artist is this sacrifice to -art,--this trampling of self under foot! It is the supreme test for -admittance into the ranks of the eternal priests. It is the bitter and -fruitless sacrifice which the artist's soul is bound to make,--as in -certain antique cities maidens were compelled to give their virginity to -a god of stone! But without the sacrifice can we hope for the grace of -heaven? - -What is the reward? The consciousness of inspiration only! I think art -gives a new faith. I think--all jesting aside--that could I create -something I felt to be sublime, I should feel also that the Unknowable -had selected me for a mouthpiece, for a medium of utterance, in the holy -cycling of its eternal purpose; and I should know the pride of the -prophet that had seen God face to face. - -All this might seem absurd, perhaps, to a purely practical mind (yours -is not _too_ practical); but there is a practical side also. In this age -of lightning, thought and recognition have become quadruple-winged, like -the angels of Isaiah. Do your very best,--your very, very best: the -century must recognize the artist if he is there. If he is not -recognized, it is because he is not great. Have you faith in yourself? I -know you are a great natural artist; I have absolute faith in you. You -_must_ succeed if you make the sacrifice of working for art's sake -alone. - -Comparing yourself to me won't do!--dear old fellow. I am in most things -a botch! You say you envy me certain qualities; but you forget how those -qualities are at variance with an art whose beauty is geometrical and -whose perfection is mathematical. You also say you envy me my power of -application!--If you only knew the pain and labour I have to create a -little good work. And there are months when I cannot write. It is not -hard to write when the thought is there; but the thought will not always -come--there are weeks when I cannot even think. - -The only application I have is that of persistence in a small way. I -write a rough sketch and labour it over and over again for half a year, -at intervals of ten minutes' leisure--sometimes I get a day or two. The -work done each time is small. But with the passing of the seasons the -mass becomes noticeable--perhaps creditable. This is merely the result -of system. - -You may laugh at this letter if you please,--this friendly protest to -one whom I have always recognized as my superior,--but there is truth in -it. Think over the "Kalewala," and write to - - Your friend and admirer, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1882. - -MY DEAR KREHBIEL,--When I got your letter I felt as if a great load was -lifted off me--the sky looked brighter and the world seemed a little -sweeter than usual. As for me, you could have paid me no higher -compliment. Glad you did not disapprove of the article. - -Your clippings are superb. I think your style constantly gains in force -and terseness. It is admirably crystallized; and I have not yet been -able to form a permanent style of my own. I trust I will succeed in -time; but in purity and conciseness you will always be my master, for -your art has taught you style better than a thousand university -professors could do. I suppose, however, you will always be slightly -Gothic,--not harshly Gothic, but Middle Period,--making ornament always -subordinate to the general plan. I shall always be more or less -Arabesque,--covering my whole edifice with intricate designs, serrating -my arches, and engraving mysticisms above the portals. You will be grand -and lofty; I shall try to be at once voluptuous and elegant, like a -colonnade in the mosque of Cordova. - -I send you something your article on the Jubilee Singers makes me think -of. It is from the pen of a marvellous writer, who long lived at -Senegal. If you do not find anything new in it, return it; but if it can -be of use to you, keep it. I hope to translate the whole work some day. - - Your friend, - L. H. - -Have heard Patti; but did not understand her power until you explained -it me. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1882. - -MY DEAR KREHBIEL,--Much as it pleased me to hear from you, I assure you -that your letter is shocking. It is shocking to hear of anybody being -compelled to work for seventeen hours a day. You have neither time to -think, to study, to read, to do your best work, or to make any artistic -progress--not even to hint of pleasure--while working seventeen hours a -day. Nor is that all; I believe it injures a man's health and capacity -for endurance, as well as his style and peace of mind. You have a fine -constitution; but if once broken down by over-straining the nervous -system you will never get fully over the shock. It is very hard for me -to believe that it is really necessary for you to do reportorial work -and to write correspondence, unless you have a special financial object -to accomplish within a very short space of time. The editorial work -touching upon art matters which you are capable of doing for the -_Tribune_ might be done in the daytime; but what do you want to waste -your brain and time upon reportorial work for? D--n reportorial -work and correspondence, and the American disposition to work people -to death, and the American delight in getting worked to death! -Well, I have nothing more to say except to protest my hope that the -seventeen-hours-a-day business is going to stop before long; for the -longer it lasts the more difficult it will be for you to accomplish your -ultimate purpose. The devil of overworking one's self is that it -renders it impossible to get fair and just remuneration for value -given,--impossible also to create those opportunities for -self-advancements which form the steps of the stairway to the artistic -heaven,--impossible to maintain that self-pride and confident sense of -worth without which no man, however gifted, can make others fully -conscious of it. When you voluntarily convert yourself into a part of -the machinery of a great daily newspaper, you must revolve and keep -revolving with the wheels; you play the man in the treadmill. The more -you involve yourself the more difficult it will be for you to escape. I -said I had nothing further to observe; but I find I must say something -more,--not that I imagine for a moment I am telling you anything new, -but because I wish to try to impress anew upon you some facts which do -not seem to have influenced you as I believe they ought to do. - -Under all the levity of Henri Murger's picturesque Bohemianism, there is -a serious philosophy apparent which elevates the characters of his -romance to heroism. They followed one principle faithfully,--so -faithfully that only the strong survived the ordeal,--never to abandon -the pursuit of an artistic vocation for any other occupation however -lucrative,--not even when she remained apparently deaf and blind to her -worshippers. The conditions pictured by Murger have passed away in Paris -as elsewhere: the old barriers to ambition have been greatly broken -down. But I think the moral remains. So long as one can live and pursue -his natural vocation in art, it is a duty with him never to abandon it -if he believes that he has within him the elements of final success. -Every time he labours at aught that is not of art, he robs the divinity -of what belongs to her. - -Do you never reflect that within a few years you will no longer be the -YOUNG MAN,--and that, like Vesta's fires, the enthusiasm of youth for an -art-idea must be well fed with the sacred branches to keep it from dying -out? I think you ought really to devote all your time and energies and -ability to the cultivation of one subject, so as to make that subject -alone repay you for all your pains. And I do not believe that Art is -altogether ungrateful in these days: she will repay fidelity to her, and -recompense sacrifices. I don't think you have any more right to play -reporter than a great sculptor to model fifty-cent plaster figures of -idiotic saints for Catholic processions, or certain painters to letter -steamboats at so much a letter. In one sense, too, Art is exacting. To -acquire real eminence in any one branch of any art, one must study -nothing else for a lifetime. A very wide general knowledge may be -acquired only at the expense of depth. But you are certainly right in -thinking of the present for other reasons. Still, there is nothing so -important, not only to success but to confidence, hope, and happiness, -as good health and a strong constitution; and these you must lose if you -choose to keep working seventeen hours a day! It is well to be able to -do such a thing on a brief stretch, but it is suicide, moral and -physical, to keep it up regularly. The rolling-mill hand, or the -puddler, or the moulder, or the common brakeman on a railroad cannot -keep up at such hours for a great length of time; and you must know that -even hard labour is not so exhausting as brain-work. Don't work yourself -sick, old friend,--you are in a fair way to do it now. - - Your friend, - L. H. - - - TO JEROME A. HART - - NEW ORLEANS, May, 1882. - -DEAR SIR,--Thanks for your kindly little article. I suppose it emanated -from the same source as the charming translation of Gautier's "Spectre -de la Rose"--which we reproduced here, comparing it with the inferior -translation--or rather mutilation--of the same poem which appeared in -the ----. - -Your translation of the epitaph seems to me superb as far as the first -two lines go; but I can hardly agree with you as to the last. "La plus -belle du monde" cannot be perfectly rendered by "the loveliest in the -land"--which is a far weaker expression, by reason of the circumscribed -idea it involves. "La plus belle du monde" is an expression of paramount -force, simple as it is; it conveys the idea of beauty without an equal, -not in any one country, but in the whole world. But I think your second -line is a masterpiece of faithfulness; and, as you justly remark, my -hobby is literalism. - - Very sincerely yours, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO JEROME A. HART - - NEW ORLEANS, May, 1882. - -DEAR SIR,--I am very grateful for your kind letter and the pleasure of -making your acquaintance even through an epistolary medium. - -We have the same terrible proverb in Spanish that you cite in Italian; -but it certainly can never apply to the _Argonaut's_ exquisite -translations--preserving metre, colour, and warmth so far as seems to be -possible. Still, I must say that I do not believe the poetry of one -country can be perfectly reproduced in corresponding metre in the poetry -of another: much that is even marvellous may be done,--yet a little of -the original perfume evaporates in the process. Therefore the French -gave _prose_ translations of Heine and Byron: especially in regard to -the German poet they considered translation in metrical form impossible. -Nevertheless it is impossible also to refrain from attempting such -things at times,--when the beauty of exotic verse seems to take us by -the throat with the strangulation of pleasure. I have felt impelled -occasionally to make an essay in poetical translation; the result has -generally been a dismal failure, but I venture to send you a specimen -which appears to be less condemnable than most of my efforts. I cannot -presume to call it a translation,--it is only an adaptation. - -As for the lines in "Clarimonde," if the book ever reaches a second -edition, I think I will be able to remedy some of their imperfections. -Skaldic verse, I suppose, would be anachronistically vile; but -something corresponding to the metre of "La Chanson de Roland," -unrhymed, what the French call _vers assonances_. This corresponds -exactly with your lines in breadth; also in tone, as the accent of the -assonance is thrown upon the last syllable of each line. - - Very gratefully yours, - L. H. - -P. S. Just received another note from you. Have seen the reproduction; I -am exceedingly thankful for the compliment; and you know that so far as -the copyright business is concerned, the credit must do the book too -much good for Worthington to find any fault. I suppose you receive the -_Times-Democrat_ of New Orleans. I forward last Sunday's issue, -containing a little compliment to the _Argonaut_. - - Very sincerely yours, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO JEROME A. HART - - NEW ORLEANS, December, 1882. - -DEAR SIR,--I venture to intrude upon you to ask a little advice, which -as a brother-student of foreign literature you could probably give me -better than any other person to whom I could apply. I am informed that -in San Francisco there are enterprising and liberal-minded publishers, -with whom unknown authors have a better chance than with the austere and -pious publishers of the East. It would be a very great favour indeed, if -you could give me some positive indication in this matter. I desire to -find a publisher for that excessively curious but somewhat audacious -book, "La Tentation de Saint Antoine," of Flaubert, of which I have -completed and corrected the MS. translation. You who know the original -will probably agree with me that it would be little less than a literary -crime to emasculate such a masterpiece in the translation. I have -translated almost every word of the Heresiarch dispute, and the -soliloquy of the god Crepitus, etc. - -Consequently I have very little hopes of obtaining a publisher in New -York or Boston. Do you think I could obtain one in San Francisco? I -would be willing to advance something toward the cost of publishing,--if -necessary. - -Trust you will pardon my intrusion. I think the mutual interest we both -feel in one branch of foreign literature is a fair excuse for my letter. - -With thanks for previous many kindnesses, - - I remain, truly yours, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO JEROME A. HART - - NEW ORLEANS, January, 1883. - -DEAR SIR,--Writing to San Francisco seems, after a sort, like writing to -Japan or Malabar, so great is the lapse of time consumed in the transit -of mail-matter, especially when one is anxious. I was quite so, fearing -you might have considered my letter intrusive; but your exceedingly -pleasant reply has dispelled all apprehension. - -I am not surprised at the information; for the difficulty of finding -publishers in the United States is something colossal, and my hopes -burned with a very dim flame. I do not know about Worthington,--as he is -absent in Europe, perhaps he will undertake the publication; but I fear, -inasmuch as he is a Methodist of the antique type, that he will not. Now -the holy _Observer_ declared that the "Cleopatra" was a collection of -"stories of unbridled lust without the apology of natural passion;" that -"the translation reeked with the miasma of the brothel," etc., -etc.,--and Worthington was much exercised thereat. Otherwise I should -have suggested the publication in English of "Mademoiselle de Maupin." - -I regret that I cannot tell you anything about the fate of "Cleopatra's -Nights," but the publisher preserves a peculiar and sinister silence in -regard to it. Perhaps he is sitting upon the stool of orthodox -repentance. Perhaps he is preparing to be generous. But this I much -doubt; and as the translations were published partly at my own expense, -I am anxious only regarding the fate of my original capital. - -Yes, I read the _Critic_--and considered that the observation on Gautier -stultified the paper. If the translator had been dissected by the same -hand, I should not have felt very unhappy. But I received some very nice -private letters from Eastern readers, which encouraged me very much, and -among them several requesting for other translations from Gautier. - -"Salammbô" is the greatest, by far, of Flaubert's creations, because -harmonious in all its plan and purpose, and because it introduces the -reader into an unfamiliar field of history, cultivated with astonishing -skill and verisimilitude. It was twice written, like "La Tentation." I -translated the prayer to the Moon for the preface to "La Tentation." I -sincerely trust you will translate it. As for time, it is astonishing -what system will accomplish. If a man cannot spare an hour a day, he can -certainly spare a half-hour. I translated "La Tentation" by this -method,--never allowing a day to pass without an attempt to translate a -page or two. The work is audacious in parts; but I think nothing ought -to be suppressed. That serpent-scene, the crucified lions, the breaking -of the chair of gold, the hideous battles about Carthage,--these pages -contain pictures that ought not to remain entombed in a foreign museum. -I pray you may translate "Salammbô,"--a most difficult task, I -fancy,--but one that you would certainly succeed admirably with. In my -preface I spoke of "Salammbô" as the most wonderful of Flaubert's -productions. - -"Herodias" is another story which ought to be translated. But I would -write too long a letter if I dilate upon the French masterpieces. - -I will only say that, in regard to recent publications, I have noticed -some extraordinary novels which have not earned the attention they -deserve. "Le Roman d'un Spahi" seems to me a miracle of art,--and "Le -Mariage de Loti" contains passages of wonderful and weird beauty. These, -with "Aziyadé," are the productions of a French naval officer who signs -himself Loti. Think I shall try to translate the first-named next year. - -Verily the path of the translator is hard. The Petersons and Estes & -Lauriat are deluging the country with bogus translations or translations -so unfaithful to the original that they must be characterized as -fraudulent. And the great American public like the stuff. One who -translates for the love of the original will probably have no reward -save the satisfaction of creating something beautiful, and perhaps of -saving a masterpiece from desecration by less reverent bards. But this -is worth working for. - -With grateful thanks, and sincere hopes that you will not be deterred -from translating "Salammbô" before some incompetent hand attempts it, I -remain, - - Sincerely, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO REV. WAYLAND D. BALL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1882. - -DEAR SIR,--I am very grateful for the warm and kindly sympathy your -letter evidences; and as I have already received about a half-dozen -communications of similar tenor from unknown friends, I am beginning to -feel considerably encouraged. The "lovers of the antique loveliness" are -proving to me the future possibilities of a long cherished dream,--the -English realization of a Latin style, modelled upon foreign masters, and -rendered even more forcible by that element of _strength_ which is the -characteristic of Northern tongues. This no man can hope to accomplish; -but even a translator may carry his stone to the master-masons of a new -architecture of language. - -You ask me about translations. I am sorry that I am not able to answer -you hopefully. I have a curious work by Flaubert in the hands of R. -Worthington (under consideration); and I have various MSS. filed away in -the Cemetery of the Rejected. I tried for six years to obtain a -publisher for the little collection you so much like, and was obliged at -last to have them published partly at my own expense--a difficult matter -for one who is obliged to work upon a salary. As for "Mademoiselle de -Maupin," much as I should desire the honour of translating it, I would -dread to work in vain, or at best to work for the profit of some -publisher who would have the translator at his mercy. If I could find a -publisher willing to publish the work precisely as I would render it, I -would be glad to surrender all profits to him; but I fancy that any -American publisher would wish to emasculate the manuscript. - -I am told that an English translation was in existence in London some -years ago, but I could not learn the publisher's name. Chatto & Windus, -the printers of the admirable English version of the "Contes -Drolatiques," might be able to inform you further. But I am afraid that -the English version was scarcely worthy of the original, owing to the -profound silence of the press in regard to the matter. An American -translation was being offered to New York publishers a few years ago. It -was not accepted. - -Although my own work is far from being perfect, I think I am capable of -judging other translations of Gautier. The American translations are -very poor ("Spirite," "Captain Fracasse," "Romance of the Mummy"), in -fact they are hardly deserving the name. The English translations of -Gautier's works of travel are generally good. Henry Holt has reprinted -some of them, I think. - -But out of perhaps sixty volumes, Gautier's works include very few -romances or stories. I have never seen a translation of "Fortunio" or -"Militona,"--perhaps because the sexual idea--the Eternal -Feminine--prevails too much therein. "Avatar" has been translated in the -New York _Evening Post_, I cannot say how well; but I have the -manuscript translation of it myself, which I could never get a publisher -to accept. Then there are the "Contes Humoristiques" (1 vol.) and about -a dozen short tales not translated. Besides these, and the four -translated already ("Fracasse," "Spirite," "The Mummy," and possibly -"Mademoiselle de Maupin") Gautier's works consist chiefly of critiques, -sketches of travel, dramas, comedies--including the charmingly wicked -piece, "A Devil's Tear,"--and three volumes of poems. - -My purpose now is to translate a series of works by the most striking -French authors, each embodying a style of a school. I tried in the first -collection to offer the best novelettes of Gautier in English, relying -upon my own judgement so far as I could. Hereafter with leisure and -health I shall attempt to do the same for about five others. I can -understand your desire to see more of Gautier, and I trust you will some -day; but when you have read "Mademoiselle de Maupin" and the two volumes -of short stories, you have read his masterpieces of prose, and will care -less for the remainder. His greatest art is of course in his magical -poems; except the exotic poetry of the Hindoos, and of Persia, there is -nothing in verse to equal them. - -I must have fatigued your patience, however, by this time. With many -thanks for your kind letter, which I took the liberty to send to -Worthington, and hoping that you will soon be able to see another -curious attempt of mine in print, I remain, - - Sincerely, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - -I forgot to say that in point of archæologic art the "Roman de la Momie" -is Gautier's greatest work. It towers like an obelisk among the rest. -But the American translation would disappoint you very much; it is a -poor concern all the way through. It would not be a bad idea to drop a -line to Chatto & Windus, Pub., London, and enquire about English -versions of Gautier. You know that Austin Dobson translated some of his -poems very successfully indeed. - - In haste, - L. H. - - - TO REV. WAYLAND D. BALL - - NEW ORLEANS, November, 1882. - -DEAR SIR,--I translate hurriedly for you a few extracts from -"Mademoiselle de Maupin," some of which have been used or translated by -Mallock, who has said many very clever things, but whose final -conclusions appear to me to smack of Jesuitic casuistry. - -Gautier was not the founder of a philosophic school, but the founder of -a system of artistic thought and expression. His "Mademoiselle de -Maupin" is an idyl, nothing more, an idyl in which all the vague -longings of youth in the blossoming of puberty, the reveries of amorous -youth, the wild dreams of two passionate minds, male and female, both -highly cultivated, are depicted with a daring excused only by their -beauty. I think Mallock wrong in his taking Gautier for a type of -Antichrist. There are few who have beheld the witchery of an antique -statue, the supple interlacing of nude limbs in frieze or cameo, who -have not for the moment regretted the antique. Freethinkers as were -Gautier, Hugo, Baudelaire, De Musset, De Nerval, none of them were -insensible to the mighty religious art of mediævalism which created -those fantastic and enormous fabrics in which the visitor feels like an -ant crawling in the skeleton of a mastodon. With the growth of -æstheticism there is a tendency to return to antique ideas of beauty, -and the last few years has given evidence of a resurrection of Greek -influence in several departments of art. But when the first revolution -against prudery and prejudice had to be made in France, violent and -extreme opinions were necessary,--the Gautiers and De Mussets were the -Red Republicans of the Romantic Renaissance. Gautier's poems utter the -same plaints as his prose; mourning for the death of Pan, crying that -the modern world is draped with funeral hangings of black, against which -the white skeleton appears in relief. But the dreams of an artist may -influence art and literature only; they cannot affect the -crystallization of social systems or the philosophy of the eye. - -They were all pantheists, these characters of Romanticism, some vaguely -like old Greek dreamers, others deeply and studiously, like De Nerval, a -lover of German mysticism: nature, whom they loved, must have whispered -to them in wind-rustling and wave-lapping some word of the mighty truths -she had long before taught to Brahmins and to Bodhisatvas under a more -luxuriant sky. They saw the evil beneath their feet as a vast "paste" -for which the great Statuary eternally moulded new forms in his infinite -crucible, and into which old forms were remelted to reappear in varied -shapes;--the lips of loveliness might blossom again in pouting roses, -the light of eyes rekindle in amethyst and emerald, the white breast -with its delicate network of veins be re-created in fairest marble. The -worship within sombre churches, and chapels, seemed to them unworthy of -the spirit of Universal Love;--to adore him they deemed no temple worthy -save that from whose roof of eternal azure hang the everlasting lamps -of the stars; no music, save that never-ending ocean hymn, ancient as -the moon, whose words no human musician may learn. - -I do not know whether Mallock translated Gautier himself, or made -extracts; but Gautier's madrigal pantheistic alone contains the germ of -a faith sweeter and purer and nobler than the author of "Is Life Worth -Living?" ever dreamed of, or at least comprehended. The poem is a -microcosm of artistic pantheism; it contains the whole soul of Gautier, -like one of the legendary jewels in which spirits were imprisoned. - -Speaking of the "Decameron," Petronius, Angelinus, and so forth, I must -say that I think it the duty of every scholar to read them. It is only -thus that we can really obtain a correct idea of the thought and lives -of those who read them when first related or written. They are -historical paintings, they are shadows of the past and echoes of dead -voices. Brantôme or De Châteauneuf teach one more about the life of the -fifteenth or sixteenth centuries than a dozen ordinary historians could -do. The influence of sex and sexual ideas has moulded the history of -nations and formed national character; yet, except Michelet, there is -perhaps no historian who has read history fairly in this connection. -Without such influence there can be no real greatness; the mind remains -arid and desolate. Every noble mind is made fruitful by its virility; we -all have a secret museum in some corner of the brain, although our -Pompeian or Etruscan curiosities are only shown to appreciative -friends. - -I have read your enclosed slip and am quite pleased with the creditable -notice given you by way of introduction, and quite astonished that you -should be so young. You have fine prospects before you, I fancy, if so -successful already. Of course _Congregational_ is so vague a word that I -cannot tell how latitudinarian your present ideas are (for people in -general), nor how broadly you may extend your studies of philosophy. -Your correspondence with a freethinker of an extreme type would incline -me to believe you were very liberally inclined, but I have often noticed -that clergymen belonging even to the old cast-iron type may be classed -among warm admirers of the beautiful and the true for their own sakes. - - Very sincerely yours, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - -P. S. Have just been looking at Mallock, and am satisfied that he made -the translation himself because he translated the "virginity" by -"purity." No one but a Catholic or Jesuit would do that; only Catholics, -I believe, consider the consummation of love intrinsically impure, or -attempt to identify purity with virginity. Gautier would never have used -the word--a word in itself impure and testifying to uncleanliness of -fancy. I have translated it properly by the English equivalent. I -suppose you know that Mallock's aim is to prove that everybody not a -Catholic is a fool. - - - ENCLOSURE - -"Mademoiselle de Maupin," petite édition, Charpentier, 2 vols.; vol. ii, -page 12. - -"I am a man of the Homeric ages;--the world in which I live is not mine, -and I comprehend nothing of the social system by which I am surrounded. -Never did Christ come into the world for me; I am as pagan as Alcibiades -or Phidias. Never have I been to Golgotha to gather passion-flowers; and -the deep river flowing from the side of the crucified, and making a -crimson girdle about the world, has never bathed me with its waves." - -Page 21: "Venus may be seen; she hides nothing; for modesty is created -for the ugly alone; and is a modern invention, daughter of the Christian -disdain of form and matter." - -"O ancient worlds! all thou didst revere is now despised; thine idols -are overthrown in dust; gaunt anchorites clad in tattered rags, gory -martyrs with shoulders lacerated by the tigers of the circuses, lie -heaped upon the pedestals of thy gods so comely and so charming;--the -Christ has enveloped the world in his winding sheet. Beauty must blush -for herself, must wear a shroud." - -Pages 22, 23: "Virginity, thou bitter plant, born upon a soil -blood-moistened, whose wan and sickly flower opes painfully within the -damp shadows of the cloister, under cold lustral rains;--rose without -perfume, and bristling with thorns,--thou hast replaced for us those -fair and joyous roses, besprinkled with nard and Falernian, worn by the -dancing girls of Sybaris." - -"The antique world knew thee not, O fruitless flower!--never wert thou -entwined within their garlands, replete with intoxicating perfume;--in -that vigorous and healthy life, thou wouldst have been disdainfully -trampled under foot! Virginity, mysticism, melancholy,--three unknown -words, three new maladies brought among us by the Christ. Pale spectres -who deluge the world with icy tears and who," etc., etc. - - - TO REV. WAYLAND D. BALL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1883. - - SECRET AFFINITIES - (A PANTHEISTIC MADRIGAL) - "_Emaux et Camées--Enamels and Cameos_" - -For three thousand years two blocks of marble in the pediment of an -antique temple have juxtaposed their white dreams against the background -of the Attic heaven. - -Congealed in the same nacre, tears of those waves which weep for -Venus,--two pearls deep-plunged in ocean's gulf, have uttered secret -words unto each other;-- - -Blooming in the cool Generalife, beneath the spray of the ever-weeping -fountain, two roses in Boabdil's time spake to each other with whisper -of leaves;-- - -Upon the cupolas of Venice, two white doves, rosy-footed, perched one -May-time evening on the nest where love makes itself eternal. - -Marble, pearl, rose, and dove--all dissolve, all pass away;--the pearl -melts, the marble falls, the rose fades, the bird takes flight. - -Leaving each other, all atoms seek the deep Crucible to thicken that -universal paste formed of the forms that are melted by God. - -By slow metamorphoses, the white marble changes to white flesh, the rosy -flowers into rosy lips,--remoulding themselves into many fair bodies. - -Again do the white doves coo within the hearts of young lovers; and the -rare pearls re-form into teeth for the jewel-casket of woman's smile. - -And hence those sympathies, imperiously sweet, whereby in all places -souls are gently warmed to know each other for sisters. - -Thus, docile to the summons of an aroma, a sunbeam, a colour, the atom -flies to the atom as to the flower the bee. - -Then dream-memories return of long reveries in white temple pediments, -of reveries in the deeps of the sea,--of blossom talk beside the -clear-watered fountain,-- - -Of kisses and quivering of wings upon the domes that are tipped with -balls of gold; and the faithful molecules seek one another and know the -clinging of love once more. - -Again love awakens from its slumber of oblivion;--vaguely the Past is -re-born; the perfume of the flower inhales and knows itself again in the -sweetness of the pink mouth. - -In that mother-of-pearl which glimmers in a laugh, the pearl recognizes -its own whiteness;--upon the smooth skin of a young girl the marble with -emotion recognizes its own coolness. - -The dove finds in a sweet voice the echo of its own plaint,--resistance -becomes blunted, and the stranger becomes the lover. - -And thou before whom I tremble and burn,--what ocean-billow, what -temple-font, what rose-tree, what dome of old knew us together? What -pearl or marble, what flower or dove? - - L. HEARN. - -DEAR BALL,--Hope you will like the above rough prose version--of course -all the unison is gone, all the soul of it has exhaled like a -perfume;--this is a faded flower, pressed between the leaves of a -book,--not the exquisite blossom which grew from the heart of Théophile -Gautier. - - L. H. - - - TO REV. WAYLAND D. BALL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1883. - -DEAR BALL,--So far from your last being a "poor letter," as you call it, -I derived uncommon pleasure therefrom; and you must not annoy yourself -by writing me long letters when you have much more important matters to -occupy yourself. To write a letter of twelve pages or more is the labour -equivalent to the production of a column article for a newspaper; and it -would be unreasonable to expect any correspondent to devote so much -time and labour to letter-writing more than once in several months. I -have always found the friends who write me short letters write me -regularly, and all who write long letters become finally weary and cease -corresponding altogether at last. Nevertheless a great deal may be said -in a few words, and much pleasure extracted from a letter one page long. - -I should much like to hear of your being called to a strong church, but -I suppose, as you say, that your youth is for the time being a drawback. -But I certainly would not feel in the least annoyed upon that score. You -have all your future before you in a very bright glow, and I do not -believe that any one can expect to obtain real success before he is -thirty-five or forty. You cannot even forge yourself a good literary -style before thirty; and even then it will not be perfectly tempered for -some years. But from what I have seen of your ability, I should -anticipate a more than common success for you, and I believe you will -create yourself a very wide and strong weapon of speech. And your -position is very enviable. There is no calling which allows of so much -leisure for study and so many opportunities for self-cultivation. Just -fancy the vast amount of reading you will be able to accomplish within -five years, and the immense value of such literary absorption. I have -the misfortune to be a journalist, and it is hard work to study at all, -and attend to one's diurnal duty. Another misfortune here is the want of -a good library. You have in Boston one of the finest in the world, and -I believe you will be apt to regret it if you leave. Speaking of -study,--you know that science has broadened and deepened so enormously -of late years, that no man can thoroughly master any one branch of any -one science, without devoting his whole life thereunto. The scholars of -the twentieth century will have to be specialists or nothing. In matters -of literary study, pure and simple, a fixed purpose and plan must be -adopted. I will tell you what mine is, for I am quite young too, -comparatively speaking, and have my "future" before me, so to speak. I -never read a book which does not powerfully impress the imagination; but -whatever contains novel, curious, potent imagery I always read, no -matter what the subject. When the soil of fancy is really well enriched -with innumerable fallen leaves, the flowers of language grow -spontaneously. There are four things especially which enrich -fancy,--mythology, history, romance, poetry,--the last being really the -crystallization of all human desire after the impossible, the diamonds -created by prodigious pressure of suffering. Now there is very little -really good poetry, so it is easy to choose. In history I think one -should only seek the extraordinary, the monstrous, the terrible; in -mythology the most fantastic and sensuous, just as in romance. But there -is one more absolutely essential study in the formation of a strong -style--science. No romance equals it. If one can store up in his brain -the most extraordinary facts of astronomy, geology, ethnology, etc., -they furnish him with a wonderful and startling variety of images, -symbols, and illustrations. With these studies I should think one could -not help forging a good style at least--an impressive one certainly. I -give myself five years more study; then I think I may be able to do -something. But with your opportunities I could hope to do much better -than I am doing now. Opportunity to study is supreme happiness; for -colleges and universities only give us the keys with which to unlock -libraries of knowledge hereafter. Isn't it horrible to hold the keys in -one's hands and never have time to use them? - - Very truly yours, - L. HEARN. - -Don't write again until you have plenty of time;--I know you must be -busy. But whenever you would like to hear anything about anything in my -special line of study, let me have a line from you, as I might be able -to be of some use in matters of reference. - - - TO REV. WAYLAND D. BALL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1883. - -MY DEAR BALL,--I suppose you are quite disgusted with my silence; but -you would excuse it were you to see how busy I have been, especially -since our managing editor has gone on a vacation of some months. - -I was amused at your ideal description of me. As you supposed, I am -swarthy--more than the picture indicates; but by no means interesting -to look at, and the profile view conceals the loss of an eye. I am also -very short, a small square-set fellow of about 140 pounds when in good -health. - -I read with extreme pleasure your essay, and while I do not hold the -same views, I believe yours will do good. Furthermore, if you -familiarize the public with Buddhism, you are bound to aid in bringing -about the very state of things I hope for. Buddhism only needs to be -known to make its influence felt in America. I don't think that works -like those of Sinnett, or Olcott's curious "Buddhist Catechism," -published by Estes & Lauriat, will do any good;--they are too -metaphysical, representing a sort of neo-gnosticism which repels by its -resemblance to Spiritualistic humbug. But the higher Buddhism,--that -suggested by men like Emerson, John Weiss, etc.,--will yet have an -apostle. We shall live, I think, to see some strange things. - -I am sorry I cannot gratify you by my reply about your projected -literary sketches. The policy of the paper has been to give the -preference to lady writers on such subjects, with a few exceptions to -which some literary reputation has been attached. You would have a much -better chance with theosophic essays; but you would be greatly -restricted as to space. You did not write, it appears, to Page; and he -is now at Saratoga, where he will remain about two months. Anyhow, I -would personally advise you--if you think my advice worth anything--to -devote your literary impulse altogether to religious subjects. By a -certain class of sermons and addresses you can achieve in a few years -much more success than the slow uphill work of professional journalism -or literature would bring you in a whole decade. With leisure and -popularity you could then achieve such literary work as you could not -think of attempting now. As for me, if I succeed in becoming independent -of journalism in another ten years, I shall be luckier than men of much -greater talent,--such as Bayard Taylor. - - Believe me, as ever, yours, - L. HEARN. - - - TO REV. WAYLAND D. BALL - - NEW ORLEANS, June, 1883. - -MY DEAR FRIEND,--You have been very kind indeed to give me so pleasant -an introduction to your personality;--I already feel as if we were more -intimate, as if I knew you better and liked you more. A photograph is -generally a surprise;--in your case it was not;--you are very much as I -fancied you were--only more so. - -I read with pleasure your article. The introduction was especially -powerful. I must now, however, tell you frankly what I think would be -most to your interest. When I wrote before I had no definite idea as to -the scope or plan of your essay, nor did I know the _Inter-Ocean_ -desired it. Now I think it your duty to give the next article to that -paper,--as the first is incomplete without it. It does not contain more -than the parallel. However, the publication of your writing in the -_Inter-Ocean_, even though unremunerative, will do you vastly more good -than would the publication in our paper at a small price. The -_Inter-Ocean_ circulation is very large; and you must be advertised. -It is not necessary to seek it, but it would be unwise to refuse -it. In the mean time I shall call attention to you in our columns -occasionally,--briefly of course. I only proposed _T.-D._ with the idea -you might have need of a medium to publish your opinions and ideas. But -so long as the _Inter-Ocean_ takes an interest in you,--even without -compensating you,--you have a right to congratulate yourself, as you are -only beginning to make your voice heard in the wilderness. I shall bring -your paper to Page Baker to-night,--who has just returned to town. Will -send photo when I write again. - -I would scarcely advise you to quote from my book. I am still too small -a figure to attract any attention; and I think it would be best for you -only to cite generally recognized authorities. Needless to say that I -should feel greatly honoured and very grateful; but I think it would not -be strictly to your interest to notice me until such time as I am -recognized as a thinker, if such time shall ever arrive. With you it is -very different;--your _cloth_--as we say in England--gives every gamin -the right to review and praise you as a public teacher. - - Yours very affectionately, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO W. D. O'CONNOR - - NEW ORLEANS, February, 1883. - -DEAR SIR,--Mr. Page M. Baker, managing editor of the _Times-Democrat_, -to whose staff I belong, handed me your letter relative to the article -on Gustave Doré--stating at the same time that it seemed to him the -handsomest compliment ever paid to my work. I hasten to confirm the -statement, and to thank you very sincerely for that delicate and -nevertheless magistral criticism; for no one could have uttered a more -forcible compliment in fewer words. As the author of a little volume of -translations from Théophile Gautier I received a number of very -encouraging and gratifying letters from Eastern literary men; but I must -say that your letter upon my editorial gave me more pleasure than all of -them, especially, perhaps, as manifesting an artistic sympathy with me -in my admiration for the man whom I believe to have been the mightiest -of modern artists. - - Very gratefully and sincerely yours, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO W. D. O'CONNOR - - NEW ORLEANS, March, 1883. - -MY DEAR MR. O'CONNOR,--My delay in answering your charming letter was -unavoidable, as I have been a week absent from the city upon an -excursion to the swampy regions of southern Louisiana, in company with -Harpers' artist, for whom I am writing a series of Southern sketches. As -I am already on good terms with the Harpers, your delicate letter to -them cannot have failed to do me far more good than would have been the -case had I been altogether unknown. I don't know how to thank you, but -trust that I may yet have the pleasure of trying to do so verbally, if -you ever visit New Orleans. - -Your books came to hand; and do great credit to your skill--I am myself -a compositor and have held the office of proof-reader in a large -publishing house, where I tried to establish an English system of -punctuation with indifferent success. Thus I can appreciate the work. As -yet I have not had time to read much of the report, but as the -Life-Saving Service has a peculiar intrinsic interest I will expect to -find much to enjoy in the report before long. - -You are partly right about Gautier, and, I think, partly wrong. His idea -of work was to illustrate with a mosaic of rare and richly-coloured -words. But there is a wonderful tenderness, a nervous sensibility of -feeling, an Oriental sensuousness of warmth in his creations which I -like better than Victor Hugo's marvellous style. Hugo, like the grand -Goth that he is, liked the horrible, the grotesqueness of tragic -mediævalism. Gautier followed the Greek ideal so potently presented in -Lessing's "Laocoön," and sought the beautiful only. His poetry is, I -believe, matchless in French literature--an engraved gem-work of words. -Well, you can judge for yourself a little, by reading his two remarkable -prose-fantasies--"Arria Marcella" and "Clarimonde"--in my translations -of him, which you will receive from New York in a few days. Something -evaporates in translation of course, and as the book was my first -effort, there will be found divers inaccuracies and errors therein; but -enough remains to give some idea of Gautier's imaginative powers and -descriptive skill. Will also forward you paper you ask for. - -I regret having to write very hurriedly, as I have a great press of work -upon my hands. You will hear from me again, however, more fully. A -letter to my address as above given will reach me sooner than if sent to -the _Times-Democrat_ office. - - Very gratefully your friend, - L. HEARN. - - - TO W. D. O'CONNOR - - NEW ORLEANS, August, 1883. - -MY DEAR MR. O'CONNOR,--I had feared that I had lost a rare literary -friend. Your charming letter undeceived me, and your equally charming -present revealed you to me in a totally new light. I had imagined you as -a delicate amateur only: I did not recognize in you a Master. And after -I had read your two articles,--articles written in a fashion realizing -my long-cherished dream of English in splendid Latin attire,--I felt -quite ashamed of my own work. You have a knowledge, too, of languages -unfamiliar to me, which I honestly envy, and which is becoming -indispensable in the higher spheres of literary criticism--I mean a -knowledge of Italian and German. As for your long silence, it only -remains for me to say that your letter filled me with that sympathy -which, in certain sad moments, expresses itself only by a silent and -earnest pressure of the hand,--because any utterance would sound -strangely hollow, like an echo in some vast dim emptiness. - -Your beautiful little book came like a valued supplement to an edition -of "Leaves of Grass" in my library. I have always _secretly_ admired -Whitman, and would have liked on more than one occasion to express my -opinion in public print. But in journalism this is not easy to do. There -is no possibility of praising Whitman unreservedly in the ordinary -newspaper, whose proprietors always tell you to remember that their -paper "goes into respectable families," or accuse you of loving obscene -literature if you attempt controversy. Journalism is not really a -literary profession. The journalist of to-day is obliged to hold himself -ready to serve any cause,--like the _condottieri_ of feudal Italy, or -the free captains of other countries. If he can enrich himself -sufficiently to acquire comparative independence in this really -_nefarious_ profession, then, indeed, he is able freely to utter his -heart's sentiments and indulge his tastes, like that æsthetic and wicked -Giovanni Malatesta whose life Yriarte has written. - -I do not think that I could ever place so lofty an estimate upon the -poet's work, however, as you give,--although no doubt rests in my mind -as to your critical superiority. I think that Genius must have greater -attributes than mere creative power to be called to the front rank,--the -thing created must be beautiful; it does not satisfy me if the material -be rich. I cannot content myself with ores and rough jewels. I want to -see the gold purified and wrought into marvellous fantastic shapes; I -want to see the jewels cut into roses of facets, or turned as by Greek -cunning into faultless witchery of nude loveliness. And Whitman's gold -seems to me in the ore: his diamonds and emeralds in the rough. Would -Homer be Homer to us but for the billowy roar of his mighty verse,--the -perfect cadence of his song that has the regularity of ocean-diapason? I -think not. And did not all the Titans of antique literature polish their -lines, chisel their words, according to severest laws of art? Whitman's -is indeed a Titanic voice; but it seems to me the voice of the giant -beneath the volcano,--half stifled, half uttered,--roaring betimes -because articulation is impossible. - -Beauty there is, but it must be sought for; it does not flash out from -hastily turned leaves: it only comes to one after full and thoughtful -perusal, like a great mystery whose key-word may only be found after -long study. But the reward is worth the pain. That beauty is -cosmical--it is world-beauty;--there is something of the antique -pantheism in the book, and something larger too, expanding to the stars -and beyond. What most charms me, however, is that which is most earthy -and of the earth. I was amused at some of the criticisms--especially -that in the _Critic_--to the effect that Mr. Whitman might have some -taste for natural beauty, etc., _as an animal has_! Ah! that was a fine -touch! Now it is just the animalism of the work which constitutes its -great force to me--not a brutal animalism, but a _human_ animalism, such -as the thoughts of antique poets reveal to us: the inexplicable delight -of being, the intoxication of perfect health, the unutterable pleasures -of breathing mountain-wind, of gazing at a blue sky, of leaping into -clear deep water and drifting with a swimmer's dreamy confidence down -the current, with strange thoughts that drift faster. Communion with -Nature teaches philosophy to those who love that communion; and Nature -imposes silence sometimes, that we may be forced to think:--the men of -the plains say little. "You don't feel like talking out there," I heard -one say: "the silence makes you silent." Such a man could not tell us -just what he thought under that vastness, in the heart of that silence: -but Whitman tells us for him. And he also tells us what we ought to -think, or to remember, about things which are not of the wilderness but -of the city. He is an animal, if the _Critic_ pleases, but a human -animal--not a camel that weeps and sobs at the sight of the city's -gates. He is rude, joyous, fearless, artless,--a singer who knows -nothing of musical law, but whose voice is as the voice of Pan. And in -the violent magnetism of the man, the great vital energy of his work, -the rugged and ingenuous kindliness of his speech, the vast joy of his -song, the discernment by him of the Universal Life,--I cannot help -imagining that I perceive something of the antique sylvan deity, the -faun or the satyr. Not the distorted satyr of modern cheap classics: but -the ancient and godly one, "inseparably connected with the worship of -Dionysus," and sharing with that divinity the powers of healing, saving, -and foretelling, not less than the orgiastic pleasures over which the -androgynous god presided. - -I see great beauty in Whitman, great force, great cosmical truths sung -of in mystical words; but the singer seems to me nevertheless -_barbaric_. You have called him a bard. He is! But his bard-songs are -like the improvisations of a savage skald, or a forest Druid: immense -the thought! mighty the words! but the music is wild, harsh, rude, -primæval. I cannot believe it will endure as a great work endures: I -cannot think the bard is a creator, but only a precursor--only the voice -of one crying in the wilderness--_Make straight the path for the Great -Singer who is to come after me!_... And therefore even though I may -differ from you in the nature of my appreciation of Whitman I love the -soul of his work, and I think it a duty to give all possible aid and -recognition to his literary priesthood. Whatsoever you do to defend, to -elevate, to glorify his work you do for the literature of the future, -for the cause of poetical liberty, for the cause of mental freedom. Your -book is doubly beautiful to me, therefore: and I believe it will endure -to be consulted in future times, when men shall write the "History of -the Literary Movement of 1900," as men have already written the -"Histoire du Romantisme." - -I don't think you missed very much of my work in the _T.-D._ I have not -been doing so well. The great heat makes one's brain languid, barren, -dusty. Then I have been making desperate efforts to do some magazine -work. Thanks for your praise of "The Pipes of Hameline." I wish, indeed, -that I could drag myself out of this newspaper routine,--even though -slowly, like a turtle struggling over uneven ground. Journalism dwarfs, -stifles, emasculates thought and style. As for my translation of -Gautier, it has many grave errors I am ashamed of, but it is not -castrated. My pet stories in it are "Clarimonde" and "Arria Marcella." - -Victor Hugo was indeed the Arthur of the Romantic Movement, and Gautier -was but one of his knights, though the best of them--a Lancelot. I think -his "Emaux et Camées" surpass Hugo's work in word-chiselling, in -goldsmithery; but Hugo's fancy overarches all, like the vault of the -sky. His prose is like the work of Angelo--the paintings in the Sistine -Chapel, the figures described by Emilio Castelar as painted by flashes -of lightning. He is one of those who appear but once in five hundred -years. Gautier is not upon Hugo's level. But while Hugo wrought like a -Gothic sculptor, largely, weirdly, wondrously, Gautier could create -mosaics of word-jewelry without equals. The work is small, delicate, -elfish: it will endure as long as the French language, even though it -figure in the Hugo architecture only as arabesque-work or stained glass -or inlaid pavement. - -Oh yes! you will catch it for those articles! you will have the fate of -every champion of an unpopular cause,--thorns at every turn, which may -turn into roses. - -I hope to see you some day. Will always have time to write. Sometimes my -letter may be short; but not often. Believe me, sincerely, - - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO JOHN ALBEE - - NEW ORLEANS, 1883. - -DEAR SIR,--Your very kind letter, forwarded to me by Mr. Worthington, -was more of an encouragement and comfort than you, perhaps, even -desired. One naturally launches his first literary effort with fear and -trembling; and at such a time kind or unkind words may have a lasting -effect upon his future hopes and aims. - -The little stories were translated five years ago, in the intervals of -rest possible to snatch during reportorial duty on a Western paper. I -was then working fourteen hours a day. Subsequently I was four years -vainly seeking a publisher. - -Naturally enough, the stories are not even now all that I could wish -them to be; but I trust that before long I may escape so far from the -treadmill of daily newspaper labour as to produce something better in -point of literary execution. It has long been my aim to create something -in English fiction analogous to that warmth of colour and richness of -imagery hitherto peculiar to Latin literature. Being of a meridional -race myself, a Greek, I _feel_ rather with the Latin race than with the -Anglo-Saxon; and trust that with time and study I may be able to create -something different from the stone-grey and somewhat chilly style of -latter-day English or American romance. - -This may seem only a foolish hope,--unsubstantial as a ghost; but with -youth, health and such kindly encouragement as you have given me, I -believe that it may yet be realized. Of course a little encouragement -from the publishers will also be necessary. Believe me very gratefully -yours, - - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, September, 1883. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--I trust you will be able to read the hideously written -music I sent you in batches,--according as I could find leisure to copy -it. The negro songs are taken from a most extraordinary book translated -into French from the Arabic, and published at Paris by a geographical -society. The author was one of those errant traders who travel yearly -through the desert to the Soudan, and beyond into Timbuctoo -occasionally, to purchase slaves and elephants' teeth from those almost -unknown Arab sultans or negro kings who rule the black ant-hills of -Central Africa. I have only yet obtained the great volume relating to -Ouaday; the volume on Darfour is coming. Perron, the learned translator, -in his "Femmes Arabes" (published at Algiers), gives some curious -chapters on ancient Arab music which I must try to send you one of these -days. The Japanese book--a rather costly affair printed in gold and -colours--is rapidly becoming scarce. I expect soon to have some Hindoo -music; as I have a subscription for a library of folk-lore and folk-lore -music of all nations, of which only 17 volumes are published so -far--Elzevirians. These mostly relate to Europe, and contain much -Breton, Provençal, Norman, and other music. But there will be several -volumes of Oriental popular songs, etc. Some day, I was thinking, we -might together get up a little volume on the musical legends of all -nations, introducing each legend by appropriate music. - -I have nearly finished a collection of Oriental stories from all sorts -of queer sources,--the Sanscrit, Buddhist, Talmudic, Persian, -Polynesian, Finnish literatures, etc.,--which I shall try to publish. -But their having been already in print will militate against them. - -Couldn't get a publisher for the fantastics, and I am, after all, glad -of it; for I feel somewhat ashamed of them now. I have saved a few of -the best pieces, which will be rewritten at some future time if I -succeed in other matters. Another failure was the translation of -Flaubert's "Temptation of Saint Anthony," which no good publisher seems -inclined to undertake. The original is certainly one of the most -exotically strange pieces of writing in any language, and weird beyond -description. Some day I may take a notion to print it myself. At present -I am also busy with a dictionary of Creole Proverbs (this is a secret), -four hundred or more of which I have arranged; and, by the way, I have -quite a Creole library, embracing the Creole dialects of both -hemispheres. I have likewise obtained favour with two firms, Harpers', -and Scribners'--both of whom have recently promised to consider -favourably anything I choose to send in. You see I have my hands full; -and an enormous mass of undigested matter to assimilate and crystallize -into something. - -So much about myself, in reply to your question.... Your Armenian legend -was very peculiar indeed. There is nothing exactly like it either in -Baring-Gould's myths ("Mountain of Venus") or Keightley's "Fairy -Mythology," or any of the Oriental folk-lore I have yet seen. The -ghostly sweetheart is a universal idea, and the phantom palace also; but -the biting of the finger is a delightful novelty. Many thanks for the -pretty little tale. - -I don't think you will see me in New York this winter. I shudder at the -bare idea of cold. Speak to me of blazing deserts, of plains smoking -with volcanic vapours, of suns ten times larger, and vast lemon-coloured -moons,--and venomous plants that writhe like vipers and strangle like -boas,--and clouds of steel-blue flies,--and skeletons polished by -ants,--and atmospheres heavy as those of planets nearer to the solar -centre!--but hint not to me of ice and slush and snow and black-frost -winds. Why can't you come down to see me? I'll show you nice music: I'll -enable you to note down the musical cries of the Latin-faced venders of -herbs and _gombo fève_ and _calas_ and _latanir_ and _patates_. - -If you can't come, I'll try to see you next spring or summer; but I -would rather be whipped with scorpions than visit a Northern city in the -winter months. In fact few residents here would dare to do it,--unless -well used to travelling. Some day I must write something about the -physiological changes produced here by climate. In an article I wrote -for _Harper's_ six months ago, and which ought to appear soon (as I was -paid for it), you will observe some brief observations on the subject; -but the said subject is curious enough to write a book about. By the -way, I have become scientific--I write nearly all the scientific -editorials for our paper, which you sometimes see, no doubt. Farney -ought to spend a few months here: it would make him crazy with joy to -perceive those picturesquenesses which most visitors never see. - -I thought I would go to Cincinnati next week or so; but I'm afraid it's -too cold now. If I do go, I'll write you. - -As to your protest about correspondence, I think you're downright wrong; -but I won't renew the controversy. Anyhow I suppose we keep track of -each other, with affectionate curiosity. I am quite sorry you missed my -friend Page Baker: he is a splendid type,--you would have become fast -friends at once. Never mind, though! if you ever come down here, we'll -make you enjoy yourself in earnest. Please excuse this rambling letter. - - Your Creolized friend, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - -P. S. By the bye, have you the original music of the Muezzin's call,--as -called by the first of all Muezzins, Bìlâl the Abyssinian, to whom it -was taught by Our Lord Mohammed? Bìlâl the black Abyssinian, whose voice -was the mightiest and sweetest in Islam. In those first days, Bìlâl was -persecuted as the slave of the persecuted Prophet of God. And in the -"Gulistan," it is told how he suffered. But after Our Lord had departed -into the chamber of Allah,--and the tawny horsemen of the desert had -ridden from Medina even to the gates of India, conquering and to -conquer,--and the young crescent of Islam, slender as a sword, had waxed -into a vast moon of glory that filled the world,--Bìlâl still lived with -that wonderful health of years given unto the people of his race. But he -only sang for the Kalif. And the Kalif was Omar. So, one day, it came to -pass, that the people of Damascus, whither Omar had travelled upon a -visit, begged the Caliph, saying: "O Commander of the Faithful, we pray -thee that thou ask Bìlâl to sing the call to prayer for us, even as it -was taught him by Our Lord Mohammed." And Omar requested Bìlâl. Now -Bìlâl was nearly a century old; but his voice was deep and sweet as -ever. And they aided him to ascend the minaret. Then, into the midst of -the great silence burst once more the mighty African voice of -Bìlâl,--singing the _Adzan_, even as it has still been sung for more -than twelve hundred years from all the minarets of Islam: - - "God is Great! - God is Great! - I bear witness there is no other God but God! - I bear witness that Mohammed is the Prophet of God! - Come to Prayer! - Come to Prayer! - Come unto Salvation! - God is Great! - God is Great! - There is no other God but God!" - -And Omar wept and all the people with him. - -This is an outline. I'd like to have the music of that. Sent to London -for it, and couldn't get it. - - L. H. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1883. - -I'm so delighted with that music that I don't know what to do. - -First, I went to my friend Grueling, the organist, and got him to play -and sing it. "It is very queer," he said; "but it seems to me like -chants I've heard some of these negroes sing." Then I took it to a -piano-player, and he played it for me. Then I went to a cornet-player--I -think the cornet gives the best idea of the sound of a tenor voice--and -he played it exquisitely, beautifully. Those arabesques about the name -of Allah are simply divine! I noticed the difference clearly. The second -version seems suspended, as a song eternal,--something never to be -finished so long as waves sing and winds call, and worlds circle in -space. So I thought of Edwin Arnold's lines:-- - - "Suns that burn till day has flown, - Stars that are by night restored, - _Are thy dervishes_, O Lord, - _Wheeling_ round thy golden throne!" - -I believe I'll use both songs. The suspended character of the second has -a great and pathetic poetry in it. Please tell me in your next letter -what kind of voice Bìlâl ought to have--being a woolly-headed -Abyssinian. I suppose I'll have to make him a tenor. I can't imagine a -basso making those flourishes about the name of the Eternal. - -Next week I'll send you selections of Provençal and other music which I -believe are new. My library is very fine. I have a collection worth a -great deal of money which you would like to see. - -If you ever come down here, you could stay with me nicely, and have a -pleasant artistic time. - - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO H.E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, October, 1883. - -MY DEAR KREHBIEL,--I have been too sick with a strangling cold to write -as I had wished, or to copy for you something for which I had already -obtained the music-paper. Nevertheless I am going to ask another favour. -I hope you can find time to copy separately for me the Arabic words of -the _Adzan_: I prefer Villoteau. As for Koran-reading, it would delight -me; but please give me the number of the _sura_, or chapter, from which -the words are taken. - -My article on Bìlâl is progressing: the second part being complete. I am -dividing it into four Sections. But I do not feel quite so hopeful now -as I did before. Magazine-writing is awful labour. Six weeks at least -are required to prepare an article, and then the probability is that the -magazine editor will make beastly changes: my article on Cable suffered -at his hands. The Harpers change nothing; but they keep an article over -for twelve months and more. One of mine is not yet published. I have -been hoping that if my "Bìlâl" takes, you might follow it up with an -article on Arabic music generally: the open letter department of -_Scribner's_ pays well, and the Harpers pay even better. I would like to -see you with a series, which could afterward be united into a volume: -you could copyright each one. This is only a suggestion. - -I will not make much use of the Koran-reading in "Bìlâl:" I want to -leave that wholly to you. I feel even guilty for borrowing your pithy -and forcible observation upon the _cantillado_. - -If you have a chance to visit some of your public libraries, please see -whether they have Maisonneuve's superb series: "Les Littératures -populaires de toutes les nations." I have fourteen volumes of it, rich -in musical oddities. If they have it not, I will send you extracts from -time to time. Also see if they have _Mélusine_: my volume of it (1878) -contains the music of a Greek dance, older than the friezes of the -Parthenon. Of course, if you can see them, it will be better than the -imperfect copying of an ignoramus in music like me. - -I grossly offended a Creole musician the other day. He denied _in toto_ -the African sense of melody. "But," said I, "did you not tell me that -you spent hours trying to imitate the notes of a roustabout-song on your -flute?" "I did," he replied, "but not because it pleased me--only -because I was curious to learn why I could not imitate it: it still -baffles me, but it is nevertheless an abomination to my ear!" "Nay!" -said I, "it hath a most sweet sound to me; and to the ethnologist a most -fascinating interest. Verily, I would rather listen to it, than hear a -symphony of Beethoven!" ... Whereupon he walked away in high fury; and -now ... he speaketh to me no more! - - Yours very thankfully, - L. HEARN. - -[Illustration] - - - TO H.E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1883. - -MY DEAR KREHBIEL,--There is nothing in magazine-work in the way of -profit; for the cent-a-word pay does not really recompense the labour -required: but the magazines introduce one to publishers, and publishers -select men to write their books. Magazine-work is the introduction to -book-work; and book-work pays doubly--in money and reputation. I hope to -climb up slowly this way--it takes time, but offers a sure issue. You -could do so much more rapidly. - -I find in my Oriental catalogues "Villoteau--_Mémoire sur la Musique de -l'antique Egypte._--Paris: Maisonneuve & Cie, 1883 (15 fr.)." Wonder if -you have the work in any of your public libraries. If you have not, and -you would like to get it, I can obtain it from Paris duty-free next -time I write to Maisonneuve, from whom I am obtaining a great number of -curious books. - -You must have noticed in the papers the real or pretended discovery of -an ancient Egyptian melody,--the notes being represented by owls -ascending and descending the musical scale. Hope you will get to see it. -I have been thinking that we might some day, together, work up a -charming collection of musical legends: each legend followed by a -specimen-melody, with learned dissertation by H. Edward Krehbiel. But -that will be for the days when we shall be "well-known and highly -esteemed authors." I think I could furnish some singular folk-lore. - -Meanwhile "Bìlâl" has been finished. I wrote to _Harper's -Magazine_;--the article was returned with a very complimentary autograph -letter from Alden, praising it warmly, but recommending its being -offered to the _Atlantic_, as he did not know when he could "find room -for it." Find room for it! Ah, bah!... I am sorry: because I had written -him about your share in it, and hoped, if successful, it would tempt him -to write you. It is now in the hands of another magazine. I used your -Koran-fragment in the form of a musical footnote. - -I notice you called it a "brick." Are you sure this is the correct word? -Each _sura_ (or chapter) indeed signifies a "course of bricks in a -wall;" but also signifies "a rank of soldiers"--and the verses, which -were never numbered in the earlier MSS., are so irregular that the -poetry of the term "brick" could scarcely apply to them. However, I may -be wrong. - -I was delighted with your delight, as expressed in your beautiful letter -upon the Hebrew ceremonial. Hebrew literature has been my hobby for some -time past: I have Hershon's "Talmudic Miscellany;" Stauben's "Scènes de -la Vie Juive" (full of delicious traditions); Kompert's "Studies of -Jewish Life," which you have no doubt read in the original German; and -Schwab's French translation of the beginning of the Jerusalem Talmud -(together with the Babylonian Berachoth), 5 vols. I confess the latter -is, as a whole, unreadable; but the legends in it are without parallel -in weirdness and singularity. Such miscellaneous reading of this sort as -I have done has given new luminosity to my ideas of the antique Hebrew -life; and enabled me to review them without the gloom of Biblical -tradition,--especially the nightmarish darkness of the Pentateuch. I -like to associate Hebrew ceremonies rather with the wonderful Talmudic -days of the Babylonian rabbonim than with the savage primitiveness of -the years of Exodus and Deuteronomy. There are some queer things about -music in the Talmud; but they are sometimes extravagant as that story -about the conch-shell blown at the birth of Buddha--"where of the sound -_rolled on unceasingly for four years_!" The swarthy fishermen of our -swampy lakes do blow conch-shells by way of marine signalling; and -whenever I hear them I think of that monstrous conch-shell told of in -the Nid[=a]nakath[=a]. - -As I write it seemeth to me that I behold, overshadowing the paper, the -most Dantesque silhouette of one who walked with me the streets of the -far-off Western city by night, and with whom I exchanged ghostly fancies -and phantom hopes. Now in New York! How the old night-forces have been -scattered! But is it not pleasant to observe that the members of the -broken circle have been mounting higher and higher toward the supreme -hope? Perhaps we may all meet some day in the East; whence as legendary -word hath it--"lightning ever cometh." Remember me very warmly to my old -comrade Tunison. - -But I think it more probable I shall see you here than that you -shall see me there. New York has become something appalling -to my imagination--perhaps because I have been drawing my ideas -of it from caricatures: something cyclopean without solemnity, -something pandemoniac without grotesqueness,--preadamite -bridges,--superimpositions of iron roads higher than the aqueducts of -the Romans,--gloom, vapour, roarings and lightnings. When I think of it, -I feel more content with my sunlit marshes,--and the frogs,--and the -gnats,--and the invisible plagues lurking in visible vapours,--and the -ancientness,--and the vast languor of the land. Even our vegetation -here, funereally drooping in the great heat, seems to dream of dead -things--to mourn for the death of Pan. After a few years here the spirit -of the land has entered into you,--and the languor of the place embraces -you with an embrace that may not be broken;--thoughts come slowly, ideas -take form sluggishly as shapes of smoke in heavy air; and a great -horror of work and activity and noise and bustle roots itself within -your soul,--I mean brain. Soul = Cerebral Activity = Soul. - -I am afraid you have read the poorest of Cable's short stories. "Jean-ah -Poquelin," "Belles-Demoiselles," are much better than "Tite Poulette." -There is something very singular to me in Cable's power. It is not a -superior style; it is not a minutely finished description--for it will -often endure no close examination at all: nevertheless his stories have -a puissant charm which is hard to analyze. His serial novel--"The -Grandissimes"--is not equal to the others; but I think the latter -portion of "Dr. Sevier" will surprise many. He did me the honour to read -nearly the whole book to me. Cultivate him, if you get a chance. - -Baker often talks with me about you. You would never have any difficulty -in obtaining a fine thing here. Perhaps you will be the reverse of -flattered by this bit of news; but the proprietors here think they can -make the _T.-D._ a bigger paper than it is, and rival the Eastern -dailies. For my part I hope they will do it; but they lack system, -experience, and good men, to some extent. Now good men are not easily -tempted to cast their fortunes here at present. It will be otherwise in -time; the city is really growing into a metropolis,--a world's market -for merchants of all nations,--and will be made healthier and more -beautiful year by year. - -Good-bye for the present. - - Your very sincere friend, - L. HEARN. - - - TO W. D. O'CONNOR - - NEW ORLEANS, 1883. - -MY DEAR O'CONNOR,--I felt the same regret on finishing your letter that -I have often experienced on completing a brief but delightful novelette: -I wanted more,--and yet I had come to the end!... Your letters are all -treasured up;--they are treats, and one atones for years of silence. My -dear friend, you must never trouble yourself to write when you feel -either tired or disinclined: when I think I have the power to interest -you, I will always take advantage of it, without expecting you to write. -I know what routine is, and what weariness is; and some day I think we -shall meet, and arrange for a still more pleasant intimacy. - -Your preference for Boutimar pleases me: Boutimar was my pet. There is a -little Jewish legend in the collection--Esther--somewhat resembling it -in pathos. - -Your observation about my knowledge is something I cannot accept; for in -positive acquirements I am even exceptionally ignorant. By purchasing -queer books and following odd subjects I have been able to give myself -the air of knowing more than I do; but none of my work would bear the -scrutiny of a specialist; I would like, however, to show you my library. -It cost me only about $2000; but every volume is _queer_. Knowing that I -have nothing resembling genius, and that any ordinary talent must be -supplemented with some sort of curious study in order to place it above -the mediocre line, I am striving to woo the Muse of the Odd, and hope -to succeed in thus attracting some little attention. This coming summer -I propose making my first serious effort at original work--a very tiny -volume of sketches in our Creole archipelago at the skirts of the Gulf. -I am seeking the Orient at home, among our Lascar and Chinese colonies, -and the Prehistoric in the characteristics of strange European settlers. - -The trouble kindly taken by you in transcribing the little words of -praise by a lady was more than compensated by the success of its -purpose, I fancy. The only pleasure, indeed, that an author derives from -his labours is that of hearing such commendations from appreciative or -sympathetic readers. Your sending copies "hither and thither" was too -kind; I could scold you for it! Still, the consequences indicated that -the book may some day reach a new edition; and I receive nothing until -the publisher pockets $1000. - -Have you seen the exquisite new edition of Arnold's "Light of Asia"? It -has enchanted me,--perfumed my mind as with the incense of a strangely -new and beautiful worship. After all, Buddhism in some esoteric form may -prove the religion of the future. Is not the cycle of transmigration -actually proven in the vast evolution from nomad to man,--from worm to -King through innumerable myriads of brute form? Is not the tendency of -all modern philosophy toward the acceptance of the ancient Indian -teaching that the visible is but an emanation of the Invisible,--a -delusion,--a creature, or a shadow, of the Supreme Dream? What are the -heavens of all Christian fancies, after all, but Nirvana,--extinction of -individuality in the eternal interblending of man with divinity; for a -bodiless, immaterial, non-sensuous condition means nothingness, and no -more. And the life and agony and death of universes, are these not -pictured forth in the Oriental teachings that all things appear and -disappear alternately with the slumber or the awakening, the night or -the day, of the Self-Existent? Finally, he efforts of Romanes and Darwin -and Vignoli to convince us of the interrelation--the brotherhood of -animals and of men were anticipated by Gautama. I have an idea that the -Right Man could now revolutionize the whole Occidental religious world -by preaching the Oriental faith. - - Very affectionately, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - -If Symonds praises Whitman, I stand reproved for my least doubts; for he -is the very apostle of _classicism_ and _form_. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, December, 1883. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--I greatly enjoyed that sharp, fresh, breezy letter from -Feldwisch, which I re-enclose with thanks for the pleasure given. While -I am greatly delighted with his success, I cannot say I have been -surprised: he possessed such rare and splendid qualities of integrity -and manliness--coupled with uncommon quickness of business -perception--that I would not have been astonished to hear of Congressman -Feldwisch,--always supposing it were possible to be a politician and an -upright member of modern American society,--which is doubtful. Please -let me have his exact address;--I would like to write him once in a -while. - -After all, I believe you are right in regard to magazine-work. I fully -appreciated the effect upon a thoroughbred artist of being asked to -write something flimsy,--ask Liszt to play Yankee Doodle! Our -magazines--excepting the _Atlantic_--do not appear to be controlled by, -or in the interest of, scholars. Fancy how I felt when asked -(indirectly) by the _Century_ to write something "SNAPPY"!--even I, who -am no specialist, and if anything of an artist, only a word-artist in -embryo!... I also suspect you are correct in your self-interest: your -_forte_ will never be _light_ work, because your knowledge is too -extensive, and your artistic feeling too deep, to be wasted upon -puerilities. It has always seemed to me that your style gains in solid -strength and beauty as the subject you treat is deeper. To any mind -which has grasped the general spirit and aspect of a science, isolated -facts are worthy of consideration only in their relation to universal -and, perhaps, eternal laws: anecdote for the mere sake of anecdote is -simply unendurable. - -Five years of hard study here have resulted in altogether changing my -own literary inclinations,--yet, unfortunately, to no immediate purpose -that I can see; for I must always remain too ignorant to succeed as a -specialist in any one topic. But a romantic fact--the possession of -which would have driven me wild with joy a few years ago, or even one -year ago, perhaps--now affects me not at all unless I can perceive its -relation to some general principle to be elucidated. And the mere ideas -and melody of a poem seem to me of small moment unless the complex laws -of versification be strictly obeyed. Hence I feel no inclination to -attempt a story or sketch unless I can find some theme of which the -treatment might do more than gratify fancy. Unless a romance be -instructive,--or inaugurate a totally novel style,--I think it can have -no lasting value. The old enthusiasm has completely died out of me. But -meanwhile I am trying to fill my brain with unfamiliar facts on special -topics, believing that some day or other I shall be able to utilize them -in a new way. I have thought, for example, of trying to write -physiological novelettes or stories,--based upon scientific facts in -regard to races and characters, but nevertheless of the most romantic -aspect possible: natural but never naturalistic. Still, I am so fully -conscious that this idea has been suggested by popular foreign -novelists, that I fear it may prove merely a passing ambition. - -Another great affliction is my inability to travel. I hate the life of -every day in connection with any idea of story-writing: I would give -anything to be a literary Columbus,--to discover a Romantic America in -some West Indian or North African or Oriental region,--to describe the -life that is only fully treated of in universal geographies or -ethnological researches. Won't you sympathize with me?... If I could -only become a Consul at Bagdad, Algiers, Ispahan, Benares, Samarkand, -Nippo, Bangkok, Ninh-Binh,--or any part of the world where ordinary -Christians do not like to go! Here is the nook in which my romanticism -still hides. But I know I have not the physical qualifications to fit me -for such researches, nor the linguistic knowledge required to make such -researches valuable. I suppose I shall have to settle down at last to -something horribly prosaic, and even devoid of philosophic interest.... -Alas! O that I were a travelling shoemaker, or a player upon the -sambuke! - -I have two--nay three--projects sown: the seed has not yet sprouted. I -expressed to Harpers' a little Dictionary of Creole Proverbs--a mere -compilation, of course, from many unfamiliar sources; "Bìlâl" is under -consideration at the _Century_ (where, I fear, they will cut up every -sentence which clashes with Baptist ideas on the sinfulness of Islam); -and my compilation of Oriental stories is being "seriously examined" by -J. R. Osgood & Co.... - -This letter is getting wearisome; but I don't know how soon I can again -snatch time to write.... Ah yes!--for God's sake (I suppose you believe -just a small bit in God) don't try to conceive how I could sympathize -with Cable! Because I never sympathized with him at all. His awful -faith--which to me represents an undeveloped mental structure--gives a -neutral tint to his whole life among us. There is a Sunday-school -atmosphere.... But Cable is more liberal-minded than his creed; he has -also rare analytical powers on a small scale.... Belief I do not think -is ridiculous altogether;--nothing is ridiculous in the general order of -the world: but at a certain point it prevents the mind from -expanding;--its horizon is solid stone and its sky a material vault. One -must cease to believe before being able to comprehend either the reason -or beauty of belief. The loss is surely well recompensed by the vast -enlargement of vision--the opening up of the Star-spaces,--the -recognition of the Eternal Life throbbing simultaneously in the vein of -an insect or the scintillations of a million suns,--the comprehension of -the relations of Infinity to human existence, or at least the -understanding that there are such relations,--and that the humblest atom -of substance can tell a story more wondrous than all the epics, -romances, legends, or myths devised by ancient or modern fancy.--Now I -am getting long-winded again. I conclude with a promise soon to forward -another little bit of queer music. Hope you like the last. Come down -here and I will turn you loose in my library. I need hardly specify that -if you come, your natural expenses will be represented by 0,--that is, -if you condescend to live in my neighbourhood. It is not romantic; but -it is comfortable. I'm sick of Creole Romance--it nearly cost me my -life. - -Bye, my friend. - - Your old goblin, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, February, 1884. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--I hope you may prove right and I wrong in my judgement -of ----. As you say, I have a peculiar and unfortunate disposition; -nevertheless I had better reasons for my suggestions to you than it is -now necessary to specify. - -Your syrinx discoveries seem to me of very uncommon importance. What is -now important to learn is this: Is the syrinx an original instrument in -those regions whence the American and West Indian slave-elements were -drawn?--an account of which slave-sources is to be found in Edwards's -"History of the West Indies." The Congo dances with their music are -certainly importations from the West Coast--the Ivory Coast. Have you -seen Livingstone's account of the multiple pipe (_chalumeau_, Hartmann -calls it in French) among the Batokas? I would like to know if it is a -syrinx. We have no big public libraries here; but if you have time to -make some West African researches, one could perhaps trace out the whole -history of the syrinx's musical migration. I send you the latest -information I have been able to pick up. Just so soon as I can get the -material ready, will send also information regarding the various West -Indian dances in brief--also the negro-Creole bottle-dance, danced over -an upright bottle to the chant-- - - "Ça ma coupé,-- - Ça ma coupé,-- - Ça ma coupé,-- - Ça! - - Ça ma coupé,-- - Ça ma coupé,-- - Ça ma coupé,-- - Ça!" - -I've reopened the envelope to tell you something I forgot--a suggestion. - -I was quite pleased to hear you like my Chinese paragraph; and I have a -little proposition. Do you know that a most delightful book was recently -published in France, consisting wholly of odd impressions about strange -books and strange people exchanged between friends by mail. Each -impression should be very brief. Why couldn't we do this: Once every -month I'll write you the queerest and most outlandish fancy I can get -up--based upon fact, of course--not more than two hundred words; and you -write me the most awful thing that has struck you in relation to new -musical discoveries. In a year's time we would have twenty-four little -pieces between us, which would certainly be original enough to elaborate -into more artistic form; and we could plot together how to outrage the -public by printing them. I would contribute $100 or so--if we couldn't -find an enthusiastic printer. The book would be very small. - -Everything should be perfectly monstrous, you know--ordinary facts, or -ideas that could by any chance occur to commonly-balanced minds, ought -to be rigidly excluded. - -I don't think I can go North till April. March would be too cold for me. -The temptation of hearing grand singers is not now strong,--I'm sorry to -say,--for I never go to the theatre on account of the artificial light, -never read or write after dark; and I anticipate no special pleasure -except that of seeing an old friend, and talking much monstrous talk -about matters which I but half understand. - - Yours very affectionately, - L. HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, February, 1884. - -Extra volume of the series: Price, $500. Large folio. - - THE BATTLE-CRIES OF ALL NATIONS. With accompaniment of Barbaric - instruments. Arranged for modern Orchestral reproduction. - - I. ARYAN DIVISION.--Battle-Shouts of Gothic Races.--Teutoni and - Cimbri--Frank and Alleman--Merovingian--The Roar of - Pharamond. Iberian.--The Triumph of Herman.--Viking - War-Chants.--The Song of Roland as sung by - Taillefer.--Celtic and Early British War-Cries, etc., etc. - - II. SEMITIC DIVISION.--Hebrew War-Cries. "God is gone up with a - shout, the Lord with the sound of the Trumpet."--Arabs and - Crusaders.--"Allah--hu-u-u Akbar!" etc. Berber Cries.--The - Numidian Cavalry. - -(The work also contains Ancient Egyptian, Babylonian, and Scythian -war-cries; war-cries of the Parthians and Huns, of the Mongols and -Tartars. Sounds of the Battle of Chalons; Cries of the Carthaginian -mercenaries; Macedonian rallying-call, etc., etc. In the modern part are -included Polynesian, African, Aztec, Peruvian, Patagonian and American. -A magnificent musical version of the chant of Ragnar Lodbrok will be -found in the Appendix: "We smote with our swords.") - - * * * * * - -(This is not intended as a part of our private extravaganzas: but is -written as a just punishment for your silence.) - - Vol. I. MONOGRAPH UPON THE POPULAR MELODIES OF EXTINCT RACES. - XXIII and 700 pp. - - Vol. II. MUSIC OF NOMAD RACES. Introduction. "Men of Prey; the - Falcon and Eagle Races of Mankind." Part I. The Arabs. - Part II. The Touareg of the Greater Desert. Part III. - The Turkish and Tartar Tribes of Central Asia. With - 1600 examples of melodies, engravings of musical - instruments, etc. - - Vol. III. MANIFESTATION OF CLIMATIC INFLUENCE IN POPULAR MELODY. - In Two Parts. Part I. Melodies of Mountain-dwellers. - Part II. Melodies of Valley dwellers and inhabitants - of low countries. (3379 Ex.) - - Vol. IV. Race-Temper as Evidenced in the Popular Music of Various - Peoples. Part I. The Melancholy Tendency. Part II. The - Joyous Temperament. Part III. Ferocity. Part IV. etc., - etc.,--2700 ex. - - Vol. V. PECULIAR CHARACTERISTICS OF EROTIC MUSIC IN ALL - COUNTRIES. (This volume contains nearly 7000 examples - of curious music from India, Japan, China, Burmah, - Siam, Arabia, Polynesia, Africa, and many other parts - of the world.) - - Vol. VI. MUSIC OF THE DANCE IN THE ORIENT. (3500 pp.) - - Chap. I. The Mussulman Bayaderes of India (17 photolith). - - Chap. II. The Bayaderes of Hinduism--especially of the Krishna - and Sivaite sects. - - Chap. III. Examples of Burmese Dance--music (with 25 photographic - plates). - - Chap. IV. The Tea-house dancers of Japan; and Courtesans of - Yokohama. (34 Photo-Engrav.) - - Chap. V. Chinese dancing melodies. (23 Photo-Engrav.) - - Chap. VI. Tartar dance-melodies: the nomad dancing girls. (50 - beautiful coloured plates.) - - Chap. VII. Circassian and Georgian Dances, with Music. Examples - of Daghestan melodies (49 plates). - - Chap. VIII. Oriental War-Dances (480 melodies). - - Vol. VII. THE WEIRD IN SAVAGE MUSIC (with 169 highly curious - examples). - - Vol. VIII. HISTORY OF CREOLE MUSIC IN THE OCCIDENTAL INDIES. - - Part I. Franco-African Melody, and its ultimate development. (298 - ex.) - - Part II. Spanish. Creole music and the history of its formation - (359 examples of Havanese and other West Indian airs - are given). - - Vol. IX-X-XI. Melodies of African Races. (This highly important - work contains no less than 5000 different melodies, - and a complete description of all African musical - instruments known, illustrated with numerous - engravings.) Price per vol., $27.50. - - Vol. XII. RECONSTRUCTION OF ANTIQUE MELODIES AFTER THE - IRREFUTABLE SCIENTIFIC SYSTEM OF THE GERMAN SCHOOL OF - MUSICAL EVOLUTIONISTS. (By this new process of - anthropological research, it is now possible to - reconstruct a lost melody, precisely as it was - previously possible to affirm the existence of an - extinct species of mammal which left no fossil record - of which we know.) - - Vol. XIII. MAGICAL MELODIES. The music of Apollo and - Orpheus.--The Melodies of Wäinamöinen.--The - Harp-playing of Merlin the Great.--Exhumation of the - extraordinary Wizard-music referred to in the - Kalewala.--Melodies that petrify.--Melodies that - kill.--Melodies which evoke storms and tempests.--The - Hávamál of Odin.--Scandinavian belief in chants which - seduce female virtue.--The Indian legend of - Amaron.--Polynesian magic song.--The thief's song that - lulls to sleep: a musical "hand-of-glory."--The - invocation of demons by song.--Examples of the - melodies which fiends obey.--Songs that bring down - fire from heaven.--Strange Hindoo legend of the singer - consumed by his own song.--The melodies of the greater - magic.--The chants that change the colour of the - Moon.--Deva-music: the conch-shells sounded at the - birth of Buddha.--Notes on the Kalewala legends of - singers who made the sun and moon to pause in heaven - and changed the courses of the stars. - - Vol. XIV. THE MELODIES OF MIGHTY LAMENTATION. Isis and - Osiris.--Demeter and Persephone.--"By the Rivers of - Babylon."--Jeremiah's knowledge of music.--Lamentation - of Thomyris.--The musicians of Shah Jehan, etc. - - Apocalyptic music of the Bible. - - Vol. XV. MOURNING FOR THE DEAD. History of cries of mourning in - all nations.--Description of ancient writers.--Howling - of the women of the Teutoni and Cimbri.--Terror of the - Romans at the hideous sounds. (With 1300 examples of - musical wailing among ancient nations.)--Modern - wailing.--Survival of the Ancient Mourning Cry among - modern peoples.--The Corsican _voceri_.--African - funeral-chants.--Negro-Creole funeral-wail. (_Tout - pití çabri--ça Zoé non yé_).--Irish keening.--Gradual - development of funeral-music, etc., etc. - - Vol. XVI. SONGS OF TRIUMPH.--"Up to the everlasting Gates of - Capitolian Jove."--Triumphal Chants of Rameses and - Thotmes.--Assyrian triumphal marches.--A Tartar - triumph.--Arabian melodies of war-joy, etc., etc. - - - KOROL AR C'HLEZE (The Sword-Dance) - - Ancient dialect of Léon (Bretagne) - - Goad, gwin, ha Korol. - D'id Heol! - Goad, gwin, ha Korol. - - _Tan! tan! dir! oh! dir! tan! tan! dir ha tan! - Tann! tann! tir! ha tonn! tonn! tir ha tir ha tann!_ - - Ha Korol ha Kan, - Kan, ha Kann! - Ha Korol ha Kan. - Tan! tan!... - - Korol ar c'hleze, - Enn eze; - Korol ar c'hleze. - Tan! tan!... - - Kan ar c'hleze glaz - A gar laz; - Kan ar c'hleze glaz. - Tan! tan!... - Kann ar c'hleze gone - Ar Rone! - Kann ar c'hleze gone. - Tan! tan!... - - Kleze! Rone braz - Ar stourmeaz! - Kleze! Rone braz! - Tan! tan!... - - Kaneveden gen - War da benn! - Kaneveden gen! - - _Tan! tan! dir! oh! dir! tan! tan dir ha tan! - Tann! tann! tir! ha tonn! tonn! tann! tir ha tir ha tann!_ - - LITERAL TRANSLATION - - Blood, wine, and dance to thee, O Sun!--blood, wine and dance! - And dance and song, song and battle! dance and song! - The Dance of Swords, in circle!--the dance of swords. - - Song of the Blue Sword that loves murder!--song of the blue sword! - Battle where the Savage Sword is King!--battle of the savage sword! - O Sword!--O great King of the fields of battle!--O Sword! O great King! - Let the Rainbow shine about thy brow!--let the rainbow shine! - -(The chorus is literal in my own translation, or rather metrification!) - -(Rude metrical translation by your most humble servant.) - - CELTIC SWORD-SONG - - Dance, battle-blood and wine, - O Sun, are thine! - Dance, battle-blood, and wine! - _O Fire!--O Fire! - O Steel!--O Steel! - O Fire!--O Fire! - O Steel and Fire! - O Oak!--O Oak! - O Earth!--O Waves! - O Waves!--O Earth! - O Earth and Oak!_ - - The dance-chant and the death-lock - In battle-shock!-- - The dance-chant and the death-lock! - _O Fire!--O Fire! - O Steel!--O Steel!..._ - - The Sword-dance, circling - In a ring!-- - The Sword-dance, circling! - _O Fire! O Fire! - O Steel! O Steel!..._ - - Sing the Slaughter-lover blue - Broad and true! - Sing the Slaughter-lover blue! - _O Fire!--O Fire! - O Steel!--O Steel!..._ - - Battle where the savage Sword - Is sole Lord,-- - Battle of the savage Sword! - _O Fire!--O Fire! - O Steel!--O Steel!..._ - - O Sword! mighty King! - Battle-King! - O Sword! mighty King!... - _O Fire!--O Fire! - O Steel!--O Steel!..._ - - Let the Rainbow's magic rays - Round thee blaze!-- - Let the Rainbow round thee blaze! - _O Fire!--O Fire! - O Steel!--O Steel! - O Fire!--O Fire! - O Steel and Fire! - O Oak!--O Oak! - O Earth!--O Waves! - O Waves!--O Earth! - O Earth and Oak!_ - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, February, 1884. - -DEAR K.,--Charley Johnson's coming down to spend a week with me. I shall -be soon enjoying his Rabelaisian mirth, and his Gargantuesque laughter. -He is going to Havana, and I shall ask him to get, if possible, the -music of the erotic mime-dance,--the Zamacueca of the Creoles. - -I see they are offering prizes for a good opera. Why don't you compose -an opera? I can suggest the most tremendous, colossal, Ragnarockian -subject imaginable--knocks Wagner endwise and all the trilogies: "THE -WOOING OF THE VIRGIN OF POJA," from the "Kalewala." The "Kalewala" is -the only essentially _musical_ epopea I know of. Orpheus is a mere -clumsy charlatan to Wainamoinen and the wooers. The incidents are more -charmingly enormous than anything in the Talmud, Ramayana, or -Mahabharata. O! the old woman who talks to the Moon!--and the wicked -singer who turns all that hear him to stone!--and the phantoms created -by magical chant!--and the songs that make the stars totter in the -frosty sky!--and the melodies that melt the gates of iron! And then, -too, the episode of the Eternal Smith, by whose art the blue vault of -heaven was wrought into shape; and the weird sleigh-ride over the Frozen -Sea; and the words at whose utterance "the waters of the great deep -lifted a thousand heads to listen!" And the story of the Earth-giant, -aroused by magical force from his slumber of innumerable years, to teach -to the Magician the runes by which all things are created,--the -enchanted songs by which the Beginning was made to Begin. If you have -not read it, try to get a _prose_ translation: no poetical version can -preserve the delightful goblinry and elfishness of the original, whereof -the metre rings even as the ringing of a mighty harp. - -I have also a delightful Malay poem which would make a much finer -operatic subject or dramatic subject than the European _féeries_ -modelled upon the Hindoo drama of Sakuntala, or, as my French translator -writes it, _Sacountala_. I have an inexhaustible quarry of monstrous and -diabolical inspiration. - - Yours truly, etc. - -I spend whole days in vocal efforts--vain ones--to imitate those -delicious arabesques about the Name of Allah in the Muezzin's Song,--and -do suddenly awake by night with a Voice in my ears, as of a Summons to -Prayer. Bismillah!--enormous is God! - -(Punishment No. 2) - -_Monograph upon the Music of the Witches' Sabbath._ - -_Dictionary of the Musical Instruments of all Nations._ - -With 50,000 wood engravings. - -_The Musical Legends of All Nations._ - -By H. Ed. Krehbiel and Lafcadio Hearn. Seven Vols. in 8vo, with 100 -chromolithographs and 2000 eau-fortes. Price $300 per vol. 24th edition. - -_On the Howling Dervishes_, and on the melodies of the six other orders -of Dervishes. With music. - -_The Song of the Muezzin in All Moslem Countries._ From Western Morocco -to the Chinese Sea. Nine hundred different Notations of the Chant--with -an Appendix treating of the Chant in the Oases and in the Soudan, as -affected by African influence. Price $8000. - -_Dance-Music of the Ancient Occident_, 1700 Ex. - -_Temple-Melodies of the Ancient and Modern World._ Vol. I, China. Vol. -II, India. Vol III, Rome. Vol. IV, Greece. Vol. V, Egypt, etc. - -(To be continued.) - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, February, 1884. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--Please don't let my importunacy urge you to write when -you have little time and leisure. I only want to hear from you when it -gives you pleasure and kills time. Never mind if I take a temporary -notion to write every day--you know I don't mean to be unreasonable. - -Now, as I have your postal card I'll cease the publication of my -imaginary musical library, and will reserve that exquisite torture for -some future occasion when I shall think you have treated me horribly. -Just so soon as this beastly weather changes I'll go to New York, and -hope you'll be able--say in April--to give me a few days' loafing-time. - -I'm afraid, however, I shall have to leave my Ideas behind me. I know I -could never squeeze them under or over the Brooklyn Bridge. Furthermore, -I'm afraid the Elevated R. R. cars might run over my Ideas and hurt -them. In fact, 't is only in the vast swamps of the South, where the -converse of the frogs is even as the roar of a thousand waters, that my -Ideas have room to expand. - -Your banjo article delighted me,--of course, there is a great deal that -is completely new to me therein. By the way, have you noticed the very -curious looking harps of the Niam-Niams in Schweinfurth? They seem to me -rather nearly related to the banjo in some respects. I am glad my little -notes were of some use to you. I will take good care of the proof. -Every time I see anything you'd like, I'll send it on. The etymology of -the banjo is a very interesting thing; perhaps I may find something -fresh on the subject some day. - - Yours enthusiastically, - L. HEARN. - -I know you would not care to hear about "the thousand different -instruments to which the daughter of Pharaoh introduced King Solomon on -the day he married her," because the names of the instruments and the -melodies which were performed upon them and the various chants to all -the idols of Egypt which the daughter of Pharaoh taught Solomon are -utterly forgotten. Yet, by the Kabbalistic rules of Gematria and Temurah -might they not be exhumed? - -In treatise Shekalim of Seder Mo'ed of the Talmud of Jerusalem it is -related on the authority of Rabbi Aha, that Hogrus ben Levi, who -directed the singing in the temple, "knew a vast number of melodies, and -possessed a particular talent for modulating them in an agreeable voice. -_By thrusting his thumb into his mouth he produced many and various -sorts of chants, so that his brethren, the Cohanim, were utterly amazed -thereat._" - -Hast read in Chap. XII of the Treatise Shabbat (Seder Mo'ed) concerning -that lost Hebrew musical instrument, unlike any other instrument known -in the history of mankind?... - - - TO H.E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, March, 1884. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--I was quite glad to get your short letter, knowing how -busy you are. Johnson changed his mind about Havana, as the season there -has been very unhealthy; and for the time being I am disappointed in -regard to the Spanish-Creole music. But it is only a question of a -little while when I shall get it. I sent you the other day some -Madagascar music. You will observe it is arranged for men and women -alternately. By the way, speaking of the refrain, I think you ought to -find it scientifically treated in Herbert Spencer's "Sociology;" for in -that giant summary of all human knowledge, everything relating to the -arts of life is considered comparatively and historically. I have not -got it: indeed I could not afford so immense a series as a mere work of -reference, and life is too short. But you can easily refer to it in your -public libraries. This reminds me of a curious fact I observed in -reading Tylor--the similarity of an Australian song to a Greek chorus at -Sparta,--at least, the construction thereof. You remember the lines, -sung alternately by old men, young men, and boys:-- - - (OLD MEN) "We once were stalwart youths." - (YOUNG MEN) "We are: if thou likest, test our strength." - (BOYS) "We shall be, and far better too!" - -Now Tylor quotes this Australian chant:-- - - (GIRLS) "Kardang garro."--Young-brother again. - (OLD WOMEN) "Manmal garro."--Son again. - (BOTH TOGETHER) "Mela nadjo Nunga broo."--Hereafter I shall see never. - -And it is also odd to find in Jeannest that in certain Congo tribes -there is a superstition precisely like the Scandinavian superstition -about the hell-shoon"--a strange coincidence in view of the fact that -these negroes do not allow any save the king and the dead to wear shoes. - -I am happy to have discovered a new work on the blacks of -Senegambia--home of the Griots; and I expect it contains some Griot -music. I have sent for it. It is quite a large volume. I am beginning to -think it would be a pity to hurry our project. The subject is so vast, -and so many new discoveries are daily being made, that I think we can -afford to gain material by waiting. I believe we can pick up a great -deal of queer African music this summer; and I feel convinced we ought -to get specimens of West Indian Creole music. - -I am afraid my imagination may have outstripped human knowledge in -regard to negro physiology. You remember my suggestion about the -possible differentia in the vocal chords of the two races. I feel more -than ever convinced there _is_ a remarkable difference. I heard a negro -mother the other day calling her child's name--a name of two -syllables--Ella;--the first syllable was a low but very loud note, the -second a very high sharp one, with a fractional note tied to its tail; -and I don't believe any white throat could have uttered that -extraordinary sound with such rapidity and flexibility. The Australian -_Coo-eee_ was nothing to it! Well, I have been since studying Flower's -"Hunterian Lectures on the Comparative Anatomy of Man;" and I find that -the science of comparative anatomy is scarcely yet well defined--what, -then, can be said about the Comparative Physiology of Man? Nevertheless -Flower is astonishing. He indicates extraordinary race-differences in -the pelvic index--(the shape of the pelvis)--the length and proportion -of the limbs, etc. I have been thinking of writing to him on the -subject. Tell me,--do you approve of the idea? - -I have also sent to Europe for some works on Oriental music. - - Your affectionate friend, - L.H. - -Charley Johnson spent a week with me. He is the same old Charley. We had -lots of fun and talk about old times. He was quite delighted with my -library; nearly every volume of which is unfamiliar to ordinary readers. -I have now nearly five hundred volumes--Egyptian, Assyrian, Indian, -Chinese, Japanese, African, etc., etc. Johnson seems to have become a -rich man. The fact embarrassed me a little bit. Somehow or other, wealth -makes a sort of Chinese wall between friends. One is afraid to be one's -self, or even to be as friendly as one would like toward somebody who is -much better off. You know what I mean. Of course, I only speak of my -private feelings; for Charley was just the same to me as in the old -days. - - - TO W. D. O'CONNOR - - NEW ORLEANS, MARCH, 1884. - -MY DEAR O'CONNOR,--What a delicious writer you are!--you do not know -what pleasure your letter gave me, and how many novel combinations of -ideas it evoked. I like your judgement of the _Musée Secret_; and yet -... I do not find it possible to persuade myself that the "mad excess of -love" should not be indulged in by mankind. It is _immemorial_ as you -say;--Love was the creator of all the great thoughts and great deeds of -men in all ages. I felt somewhat startled when I first read the earliest -Aryan literature to find how little the human heart had changed in so -many thousand years;--the women of the great Indian epics and lyrics are -not less lovable than the ideal beauties of modern romance. All the -great poems of the world are but so many necklaces of word-jewelry for -the throat of the _Venus Urania_; and all history is illuminated by the -_Eternal Feminine_, even as the world's circle in Egyptian mythology is -irradiated by Neith, curving her luminous woman's body from horizon to -horizon. And has not this "mad excess" sometimes served a good purpose? -I like that legend of magnificent prostitution in Perron's "Femmes -Arabes," according to which a battle was won and a vast nomad people -saved from extinction by the action of the beauties of the tribe, who -showed themselves unclad to the hesitating warriors and promised their -embraces to the survivors,--of whom not over-many were left. Neither do -I think that passion necessarily tends to enervate a people. There is -an intimate relation between Strength, Health, and Beauty; they are -ethnologically interlinked in one embrace,--like the _Charities_. I -fancy the stout soldiers who followed Xenophon were far better judges of -physical beauty than the voluptuaries of Corinth;--the greatest of the -exploits of Heracles was surely an amorous one. I don't like Bacon's -ideas about love: they should be adopted only by statesmen or others to -whom it is a duty to remain passionless, lest some woman entice them to -destruction. Has it not sometimes occurred to you that it is only in the -senescent epoch of a nation's life that love disappears?--there were no -grand loves during the enormous debauch of which Rome died, nor in all -that Byzantine orgy interrupted by the lightning of Moslem swords.... -Again, after all, what else do we live for--ephemeræ that we are? Who -was it that called life "a sudden light between two darknesses"? "Ye -know not," saith Krishna, in the Bhagavad-Gita, "either the moment of -life's beginning or the moment of its ending: only the middle may ye -perceive." It is even so: we are ephemeræ, seeking only the pleasure of -a golden moment before passing out of the glow into the gloom. Would not -Love make a very good religion? I doubt if mankind will ever cease to -have faith--in the aggregate; but I fancy the era _must_ come when the -superior intelligences will ask themselves of what avail are the noblest -heroisms and self-denials, since even the constellations are surely -burning out, and all forms are destined to melt back into that infinite -darkness of death and of life which is called by so many different -names. Perhaps, too, all those myriads of suns are only golden swarms of -ephemeræ of a larger growth and a larger day, whose movements of -attraction are due to some "mad excess of love." - -The account your friend gave you of De Nerval's suicide is precisely -like the details of M. de Beaulieu's picture exposed in 1859--and, I -_think_, destroyed by the police for some unaccountable reason. It is -described in Gautier's "Histoire du Romantisme," pp. 143-4 (note).... I -am glad you notice my hand once in a while, and that you liked my De -Nerval sketch and the "Women of the Sword." You speak of magazine-work. -I think the magazines are simply _inabordables_. My experiences have -been disheartening. "Very good, very scholarly--_but not the kind_ we -want;"--"Highly interesting--sorry we have no room for it;"--"I regret -to say we cannot use it, but would advise you to send it to X--;" -"Deserves to be published; but unfortunately our rules exclude"--etc. I -have an article now with the _Atlantic_--an essay upon the _Adzan_, or -chant of the muezzin; its romantic history, etc. This has already been -rejected by other leading magazines. Another horrible fact is that after -your article is accepted, the editor rewrites it in his own way,--and -then prints your name at the end of the so-created abomination. This is -the plan of ----. I would like to see the ideal newspaper started we -used to talk about: then we could write--eh? - -So you think Doré's Raven a failure! I hope you are not altogether -right. I thought so when I first looked at the plates; but the longer I -examined them, the more strongly they impressed me. There is ghostly -power in several. What do you think of "The Night's Plutonian Shore;" -and the "Home by Horror haunted"? I must say that the terminal vignette -with its Sphinx-death is one of the most terrible ideas I have ever seen -drawn--although its force might be augmented by larger treatment. I -would like to see it taken up by that French artist who painted that -beautiful "Flight into Egypt," where we see the Virgin and Child (in -likeness of an Arab wanderer with her baby), slumbering between the -awful granite limbs of the monster. - -Your Gautier has just arrived. If you had sent me a little fortune you -could not have pleased me so much. I never saw the photo before: it not -only pleased, it excelled anticipation. You know our preconceived ideas -of places we should like to visit and people we should like to know, -usually excel the reality; but the head of Gautier seems to me grander -than I imagined. One can almost hear him speak with that mellow, golden, -organ-toned voice of his which Bergerat described; and I like that -barbaric luxury of his attire,--there is something at once rich and -strange about it, worthy some Khan of the Golden Horde.... I really feel -quite enthusiastic about my new possession. - -I am glad to hear you dislike Matthew Arnold. He seems to me one of the -colossal humbugs of the century: a fifth-rate poet and unutterably -dreary essayist;--a sort of philosophical hermaphrodite, yet lacking -even the grace of the androgyne, because there is neither enough of -positivism nor of idealism in his mental make-up to give real character -to it. Don't you think Edwin Arnold far the nobler man and writer? I -love that beautiful enthusiasm of his for the beauties of strange faiths -and exotic creeds. This is the spirit that, in some happier era, may -bless mankind with a universal religion in perfect harmony with the -truths of science and the better nature of humanity. - -You ask about this climate. One who has lived by the sea and on the -mountain-tops, as I have, must spend several years here to understand -how this intertropical swamp-life affects the unacclimated. The first -year one becomes very sick--fevers of unfamiliar character attack him; -the appetite vanishes, the energies become enfeebled. The second summer -one feels even worse. The third summer one can just endure without -absolute sickness. The fourth, one begins to gain flesh and strength. -But the blood has completely changed, the least breath of really cool -air makes one shiver, and energy never becomes quite restored. After a -few years in Louisiana, hard work becomes impossible. We are all lazy, -enervated, compared with you Northerners. When my Northwestern friends -come down here, it seems to me like a coming of Vikings and Berserkers; -they are so full of life and blood and vital electricity! But when it is -cold to me, it seems frightfully warm to them; and yet we used once to -work together as reporters with the thermometer 20 below zero. - -Sorry to say that Leloir died before completing the illustrations; and I -suppose the subscribers to the edition will be the losers. It was to be -issued in parts. Perhaps ten numbers were out. But I am not sure whether -any of the engravings were printed. I based my error upon the critique -of Leloir's work in _Le Livre_. It is dangerous to anticipate! - -I believe I have the very latest edition of W. W. [Walt Whitman]--1882 -(Rees, Welsh & Co.), which I like very much. You did not quite -understand my allusion to the Bible. I wished to imply that it was when -W. W.'s verses approached that biblical metre in form, etc., that we -most admired him. I agree with all you say about slang,--especially -nautical slang; also about the grand irregularity of the wave-chant. -Still I'll have to write some examples of what I refer to, and will do -so later. - - Yours very warmly and gratefully, - L. HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, March, 1884. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--I am sorry to be in such a hurry that I have to write a -short letter; but I must signal my pleasure at seeing you coming out in -public, and I have a vision of future greatness for you. As for myself, -I trust I shall in a few years more obtain influence enough to be able -to return some of your many kindnesses in a literary way. Eventually we -may be able to pull together to a very bright goal, if I can keep my -health. - -I think that Osgood will announce the book about the 1st of April, but I -am not sure. It would hardly do to anticipate. I send you his letter. -The terms are not grand; but a big improvement on Worthington's. Next -time I hope I will be able to work _to order_. You can return letter -when you are done with it, as it forms a part of my enormous collection -of letters from publishers--(199 rejections to 1 acceptation). - -I expect I shall have to postpone my visit until the book is out, as I -must wait here to receive and correct proofs. I have dedicated the book -to Page Baker, as it was entirely through his efforts that I got a -hearing from Osgood. The reader _had already rejected_ the MS. when -Baker's letter came. - -From the _Atlantic_ I have not yet heard. If I have good luck (which is -extremely improbable) I would make the Muezzin No. 1 in a brief series -of Arabesque studies, which would cost about two years' labour--at -intervals. I have several subjects in mind: for example, the lives of -certain outrageous Moslem Saints, and a sketch of the mulatto and -quadroon slave-poets of Arabia before Mahomet; "The Ravens," as they -were called from their color;--also the story of the _Ye monnat_, or -those who died of love.... But these are beautiful dreams in embryo! -Yours affectionately, - - L. HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, March, 1884. - Postal-card. - -... It is related by Philostratus in his life of Apollonius of Tyana, -that when Apollonius visited India, and asked the Brahmins to give him -an example of (musical) magic, the Brahmins did strip themselves naked -and dance in a ring, each tapping the earth with a staff, and singing a -strange hymn. Then the earth within the ring rose up, quivering, even as -fermenting dough,--and rose higher,--and undulated and was lost in great -waves,--and elevated the singers unto the height of two cubits.... - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, April, 1884. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--I read your leader with no small interest; and "the -gruesome memories" were revived. The killing of the man in the Vine -Street saloon, however, interested me most as a memory-reviving -interest. That murderer was the most magnificent specimen of -athletic manhood that I ever saw,--I suspect he was a gipsy; for he -had all the characteristics of that race, and _was not a regular -circus-employee_,--only a professional rider, now with one company, now -with another. Did you see him when you were there? He was perhaps 6 feet -4; for his head nearly touched the top of the cell. He had a very -regular handsome face, with immense black eyes; and an Oriental sort of -profile:--then he seemed slender, in spite of his immense force,--such -was the proportion of his figure. A cynical devil, too. I went to see -him with the coroner, who showed him the piece of the dead man's skull. -He took it between his fingers, held it up to the light, handed it back -to the coroner and observed; "Christ!--_he must have had a d--d rotten -skull_." He was ordered to leave town within twenty-four hours as a -dangerous character. It is a pity such men should be vulgar murderers -and ruffians;--what superb troopers they would make! I shall never -forget that splendid stature and strength as long as I live.... - -I don't know whether I shall ever be living in that terrible metropolis -of yours. It will be impossible for me ever again to write or read by -night; and hard work has become impossible. If I could ever acquire -reputation enough to secure a literary position on some monthly or -weekly periodical where I could take it easy, perhaps I might feel like -enduring the hideous winters. But I am just now greatly troubled by the -question, What shall I work for?--to what special purpose? Perhaps some -good fortune may come when least expected. - -Now I want to talk about our trip. I think it better not to go now. Page -wants me to take a good big vacation this summer,--a long one. If I wait -till it gets warm, I will be able to escape the feverish month; and if -you should be in Cincinnati at the Festival, or elsewhere, I would meet -you anyhow or anywhere you say. Were I to leave now I could not do so -later; and I am waiting for some curious books and things which I want -to bring you so that we can analyze them together. A month or so won't -make much difference. - -Will write you soon. Had to quit work for a few days on account of -eye-trouble. - - Yours very truly, - L. HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, May, 1884. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--I have been so busy that I have not been able to answer -your last. They are sending me proofs at the rate of twenty pages a day; -and you can imagine this keeps me occupied in addition to my other work. -Alas! I find that nothing written for a newspaper--at least for an -American newspaper--can be perfect. My poor little book will show some -journalistic weaknesses--will contain some hasty phrases or redundancies -or something else which will mar it. I try my best to get it straight; -but the consequences of hasty labour are perpetually before me, -notwithstanding the fact that the collocation of the material occupied -nearly two years. I am thinking of Bayard Taylor's terrible observation -about American newspaper-work. It seems to be generally true. Still -there _are_ some who write with extraordinary precision and correctness. -I think you are one of them. - -What troubles my style especially is ornamentation. An ornamental style -must be perfect or full of atrocious discords and incongruities; and -perfect ornamentation requires slow artistic work--except in the case of -men like Gautier, who never re-read a page, or worried himself about a -proof. But I think I'll improve as I grow older. - -I won't be away till June. Then I'll have some queer books in my -satchel, and we'll talk the book over. I fear it is no use to discuss it -beforehand, as I shall be overwhelmed with work. Another volume of the -Talmud has come, and some books about music containing Chinese hymns. By -the way, in Spencer's last volume there is an essay on musical -origination. I have had only time to glance at it. Your Creole music -lecture cannot fail to be extremely curious; wish I could _hear_ and see -it. The melodies will certainly make a sensation if you have a good -assortment. Did you borrow anything from Gottschalk?--I hope you did: -the Bamboula used to drive the Parisians wild. - -Thanks for the musical transcription. I'm afraid the project won't pan -out, however. Trübner & Co. of London made an offer, but wanted me to -guarantee the American sale of 100 copies--that means pay in advance. I -would not perhaps have objected, if they had mentioned a low price; but -when I tried to get them to come down to about 5s. per copy they did not -write me any more. - -Then I abandoned the pursuit of the Ignis Fatuus of Success, and -withdrew into the Immensities and the Eternities, even as the rhinoceros -withdraweth into the recesses of the jungle. And I gave myself up to the -meditation of the Vedas and of the Puranas and of the Upanishads, and of -the Egyptian Ritual of the Dead,--until the memory of magazines and of -publishers faded out of my mind, even as the vision of demons. - - Yours very truly, - L. HEARN. - - - TO W. D. O'CONNOR - - NEW ORLEANS, May, 1884. - -MY DEAR O'CONNOR,--I did not get time until to-day to drop you a line; -and just at present I am enthusiastically appreciating your observations -regarding The Foul Fiend Routine. I wish I could escape from his brazen -grip; and nevertheless he has done me service. He has stifled my younger -and more foolish aspirations, and clipped the foolish wings of my -earlier ambition with the sharp scissors of revision. It is true that I -now regret my inability to achieve literary independence; but had I -obtained a market for my wares in other years, I should certainly have -been so ashamed of them by this time, that I should fly to some desert -island. These meditations follow upon the incineration of several -hundred pages of absurdities written some years back, and just committed -to the holy purification of fire.... - -I am not, however, sorry for writing the fantastic ideas about love -which you so thoroughly exploded in your letter; they "drew you out," -and I wanted to hear your views. I suppose, however, that the mad excess -is indulged in by every nation at a certain period of existence--perhaps -the Senescent Epoch, as Draper calls it. What a curious article might be -written upon "The Amorous Epochs of National Literatures,"--or something -of that sort; dwelling especially upon the extravagant passionateness of -Indian, Persian, and Arabic belles-lettres,--and their offshoots! Not to -bore you further with theories, however, I herewith submit another -specimen of excess from the posthumous poetry of Gautier. It has been -compared to those Florentine statuettes, which are kept in shagreen -cases, and only exhibited, whisperingly, by antiquaries to each -other.... - -There is real marmorean beauty in the lines,--their sculpturesqueness -saves them from lewdness. I think them more beautiful than Solomon's -simile, or the extravagances of the Gita-Govinda. - - June 29. - -You see how busy I have been. And my brain seems so full of dust and hot -sun and feverish vapours that it is hard to write at all.... I am -thinking of what you said about Arnold's translating the Koran. There -are two English translations besides Sale's--one in Trübner's Oriental -Series, and one in Max Müller's "Sacred Books of the East" (Macmillan's -beautiful edition). Sale's is chiefly objectionable because the _suras_ -are not versified: the chapters not having been so divided in early -times by figures. But it is horribly hard to find anything in it. The -French have two superb versions: Kazimirski and La Beaume. Kazimirski is -popular and cheap; the other is an analytical Koran of 800 4to pp. with -concordance, and designed for the use of the Government bureaux in -Algeria. I have it. It is unrivalled. - -My book is out; and you will receive a copy soon. If you ever have time, -please tell me if there is anything in it you like. It is not a gorgeous -production,--only an experiment. I have a great plan in view: to -popularize the legends of Islam and other strange faiths in a series of -books. My next effort will be altogether Arabesque--treating of Moslem -saints, singers, and poets, and hagiographical curiosities--eschewing -such subjects as the pilgrimage to the _ribath_ (monastery) of -Deir-el-Tiu in the Hedjaz, where fragments of the broken _aidana_ of -Mahomet are kissed by the faithful.... - -I'm sorry to say I know little of Bacon except his Essays. Those -surprised and pleased me. I started to read them only as a study of Old -English; but soon found the ideas far beyond the century in which they -were penned. You will be shocked, I fear, to know that I am terribly -ignorant of classic English literature,--of the sixteenth, seventeenth, -and eighteenth centuries. Not having studied it much when at college, I -now find life too short to study it,--except for style. When I want to -clear mine,--as coffee is cleared by the white of an egg,--I pour a -little quaint English into my brain-cup, and the Oriental extravagances -are gradually precipitated. But I think a man must devote himself to one -thing in order to succeed: so I have pledged me to the worship of the -Odd, the Queer, the Strange, the Exotic, the Monstrous. It quite suits -my temperament. For example, my memories of early Roman history have -become cloudy, because the Republic did not greatly interest me; but -very vivid are my conceptions of the Augustan era, and great my delight -with those writers who tell us how Hadrian almost realized that -impossible dream of modern æsthetes, the resurrection of Greek art. The -history of modern Germany and Scandinavia I know nothing about; but I -know the Eddas and the Sagas, and the chronicles of the Heimskringla, -and the age of Vikings and Berserks,--because these were mighty and -awesomely grand. The history of Russia pleaseth me not at all, with the -exception of such extraordinary episodes as the Dimitris; but I could -never forget the story of Genghis Khan, and the nomad chiefs who led -1,500,000 horsemen to battle. Enormous and lurid facts are certainly -worthy of more artistic study than they generally receive. What De -Quincey told us in his "Flight of a Tartar Tribe" previous writers -thought fit to make mere mention of.... But I'm rambling again. - -I don't know whether I shall be able to go North as I hoped--I have so -much private study before me. But I do really hope to see you some day. -Couldn't you get down to our Exposition?... - -Did you ever read Symonds's "Greek Poets"? The final chapters on the -genius of Greek art are simply divine. I mention them because of your -observation about our being or not being ephemeral. I feel fearful we -are. But Symonds says what I would have liked to say, so much better, -that I would like to let him speak for me with voice of gold. - - Very truly your friend, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO H.E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, June, 1884. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--I'm expecting every day to get some Griot music and some -queer things, and have discovered an essay upon just the subject of -subjects that interests Us:--the effect of physiological influences upon -the history of nations, and "the physiological character of races in -their relation to historical events." Wouldn't it be fine if we could -write a scientific essay on Polynesian music in its manifestations of -the physiological peculiarities of the island-races? Nothing would give -me so much pleasure as to be able some day to write a most startling and -stupefying preface to some treatise of yours upon exotic music--a -preface nevertheless strictly scientific and correct. By the way, have -you any information about Eskimo music? If you have, tell me when I see -you. I have some singular songs with a _double-refrain_,--but no -music,--which I found in Rink. Why the devil didn't Rink give us some -melodies? - -I am especially interested just now in Arabic subjects; but as I am -following the Arabs into India, I find myself studying the songs of the -bayaderes. They are very strange, and sometimes very pretty--sweetly -pretty. Maisonneuve promised to publish some of this Indian music; but -that was in '81, and we haven't got it yet. I have found curious titles -in Trübner's collection; but I'm afraid the music isn't -published--"Folk-Songs of Southern India," etc. - -I want you to tell me how long you will stay in New York, as I would -like to go there soon. The vacations are beginning. Don't fail to keep -me posted as to your movements. How did you like the sonorous cry of the -bel-balancier man? - -Am writing in haste; excuse everything excusable. - - Yours affectionately, - L. HEARN. - -A man ignorant of music is likely to say silly things without knowing it -when writing to a professor; so you must excuse my faults on the ground -of good will to you. I have just destroyed two pages which I thought -might be waste of time to read. - - - TO H.E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, June, 1884. - -DEAR K.,--I want you to let me hear about old Bìlâl for the following -reasons:-- - -1. I have discovered that a biography of him--the only one in existence -probably--may be found in Wüstenfeld's "Nawawi," for which I have -written. If the text is German I can utilize it with the aid of a -_bouquiniste_ here. - -2. I have been lucky enough to engage a copy of Ibn Khallikan in 24 -volumes--the great Arabic biographer. It containeth legends. The book is -dear but invaluable to an Oriental student,--especially to me in the -creation of my new volume, which will be all Arabesques. - -And here is another bit of news for you. My _Senegal_ books have thrown -a torrent of light on the whole history of American slave-songs and -superstitions and folk-lore. I was utterly astounded at the revelation. -All that had previously seemed obscure is now lucid as day. Of course, -you know the slaves were chiefly drawn from the _West Coast_; and the -study of ethnography and ethnology of the West Coast races is absolutely -essential to a knowledge of Africanism in America. As yet, however, I -have but partly digested my new meal. - - Siempre á V., - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - NEW ORLEANS, June, 1884. - -DEAR K.,--Your letter has given me unspeakable pleasure. In making -the acquaintance of Howells, you have met the subtlest and noblest -literary mind in this country,--scarcely excepting that prince of -critics, Stedman; and you have found a friend who will aid you in -climbing Parnassus, not for selfish motives, but for pure art's sake. -Cultivate him all you can.... - -I got a nice letter from Ticknor. He actually promises to open the -magazine-gates for me. And a curious coincidence is that the book is -published on my birthday, next Friday. - -I will write you before I start for New York in a few weeks more.... - -I will bring my African books with me, and other things. - - Yours sincerely, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, October, 1884. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--I sit down to write you the first time I have had -leisure to do justice to the subject for a month. - -Now I must tell you what I am doing. I have been away a good deal, in -the Creole archipelagoes of the Gulf, and will soon be off again, to -make more studies for my little book of sketches. I sent you the No. 2, -as a sample. These I take as much pains with as with magazine work, and -the plan is philosophical and pantheistic. Did you see "Torn -Letters,"--(No. 1) about the _Biscayena_. The facts are not wholly true; -I was very nearly in love--not quite sure whether I am not a little in -love still,--but I never told her so. It is so strange to find one's -self face to face with a beauty that existed in the Tertiary -epoch,--300,000 years ago,--the beauty of the most ancient branch of -humanity,--the oldest of the world's races! But the coasts here are just -as I described them, without exaggeration,--and I am so enamoured of -those islands and tepid seas that I would like to live there forever, -and realize Tennyson's wish:-- - - "I will wed some savage woman; she shall rear my dusky race: - Iron-jointed, supple-sinewed, they shall dive and they shall run,-- - Catch the wild goat by the hair, and hurl their lances in the sun, - Whistle back the parrot's call,--leap the rainbows of the brooks,-- - Not with blinded eyesight poring over miserable books." - -The islanders found I had one claim to physical superiority anyhow,--I -could outswim the best of them with the greatest ease. And I have -disciplined myself physically so well of late years, that I am no longer -the puny little fellow you used to know. - -All this is sufficiently egotistical. I just wanted, however, to tell -you of my wanderings and their purpose. It was largely inspired by the -new style of Pierre Loti--that young marine officer who is certainly the -most original of living French novelists. - -All this summer Page could not get away; so you will not have the -pleasure of seeing my very noble and lovable friend,--a tall, fine, -eagle-faced fellow, primitive Aryan type. I only got away on the pledge -to give the results to the _T.-D._, which is giving me all possible -assistance in my literary undertakings. - -I was glad to receive Creole books, as I am working on Creole subjects. -Several new volumes have appeared. I have some Oriental things to send -you--music, if you will agree to return in one month from reception. But -you need not have expressed those other things--made me feel sorry. I -expressed them to you for other reasons entirely. - -I have a delightful Mexican friend living with me, and teaching me to -speak Spanish with that long, soft, languid South American Creole accent -that is so much more pleasant than the harsher accent of Spain. His name -is José de Jesus y Preciado, and he sends you his best wishes, because -he says all my friends must be his friends too. - -Now, I hope you'll write me a pretty, kind, forgiving letter,--not -condescendingly, but really nice,--you know what I mean. - -Your supersensitive and highly suspicious friend, - - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, January, 1885. - -DEAR FRIEND KREHBIEL,--Many, many happy New Years. Your letter came -luckily during an interval of rest,--so that I can answer it right away. -I have not been at all worried by your silence,--as your former kind -lines showed me you had fully forgiven my involuntary injustice and my -voluntary, but only momentary _malice_. (Please give this last the -French accent, which takes off the edge of the word.) - -In a few days my Creole Dictionary will be published in New York; and I -will not forget to send you a copy, just as soon as I can get some -myself. I do not expect to make anything on the publication. It is a -give-away to a friend, who will not forget me if he makes money, but who -does not expect to make a fortune on it. This kind of thing is never -lucrative; and the publication of the book is justified only by -Exposition projects. As for the "Stray Leaves" I have never written to -the publishers yet about them,--so afraid of bad news I have been. But I -have dared to try and get a good word said for it in high places. I -succeeded in obtaining a personal letter from Protap Chunder Roy, of -Calcutta, and hope to get one from Edwin Arnold. This is cheeky; but -publishers think so much about a commendation from some acknowledged -authority in Oriental studies. - -The prices are high; the markets are all "bulled;" and for the first -time I find my room rent here (twenty dollars per month) and my salary -scarcely enough for my extravagant way of life. Money is a subject I am -beginning to think of in connection with everything except--art. I still -think nobody should follow an art purpose with money in view; but if no -money comes in time, it is discouraging in this way,--that the lack of -public notice is generally somewhat of a bad sign. Happily, however, I -have joined a building association, which compels me to pay out $20 per -month. Outside of this way of saving, I save nothing,--except queer -books imported from all parts of the world. - -Very affectionately yours, - - HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL. - - NEW ORLEANS, January, 1885. - -MY DEAR KREHBIEL,--I fear I know nothing about Creole music or Creole -negroes. Yes, I have seen them dance; but they danced the Congo, and -sang a purely African song to the accompaniment of a dry-goods box -beaten with sticks or bones and a drum made by stretching a skin over a -flour-barrel. That sort of accompaniment and that sort of music, you -know all about: it is precisely similar to what a score of travellers -have described. There are no harmonies--only a furious contretemps. As -for the dance,--in which the women do not take their feet off the -ground,--it is as lascivious as is possible. The men dance very -differently, like savages, leaping in the air. I spoke of this spectacle -in my short article in the _Century_. - -One must visit the Creole parishes to discover the characteristics of -the real Creole music, I suspect. I would refer the _Century_ to -Harris's book: he says the Southern darkies don't use the banjo. I have -never seen any play it here but Virginians or "upper country" darkies. -The slave-songs you refer to are infinitely more interesting than -anything Cable's got; but still, I fancy his material could be worked -over into something really pretty. Gottschalk found the theme for his -Bamboula in Louisiana--_Quand patate est chinte_, etc., and made a -miracle out of it. - -Now if you want any further detailed account of the Congo dance, I can -send it; but I doubt whether you need it. The Creole songs, which I have -heard sung in the city, are Frenchy in construction, but possess a few -African characteristics of method. The darker the singer the more marked -the oddities of intonation. Unfortunately most of those I have heard -were quadroons or mulattoes. One black woman sang me a Voudoo song, -which I got Cable to write--but I could not sing it as she sang it, so -that the music is faulty. I suppose you have seen it already, as it -forms part of the collection. If the _Century_ people have any sense -they would send you down here for some months next spring to study up -the old ballads; and I believe that if you manage to show Cable the -importance of the result, he can easily arrange it.... - -You answered some of my questions charmingly. Don't be too sarcastic -about my capacity for study. My study is of an humble sort; and I never -knew anything, and never shall, about acoustics. But I have had to study -awful hard in order to get a vague general idea of those sciences which -can be studied without mathematics, or actual experimentation with -mechanical apparatus. I have half a mind to study medicine in practical -earnest some day. Wouldn't I make an imposing Doctor in the Country of -Cowboys? A doctor might also do well in Japan. I'm thinking seriously -about it. - -This is the best letter I can write for the present, and I know it's not -a good one. I send a curiosity by Xp to you. - -The Creole slaves sang usually with clapping of hands. But it would take -an old planter to give reliable information regarding the accompaniment. - - Yours very truly, - L. HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1885. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--I regret having been so pressed for time that I was -obliged to return your MS. without a letter expressing the thanks which -you know I feel. I scribbled in pencil--which you can erase with a bit -of bread--some notes on the Cajan song, that may interest you. - -The Harpers are giving me warm encouragement; but advise me to remain a -fixture where I am. They say they are looking now to the South for -literary work of a certain sort,--that immense fields for observation -remain here wholly untilled, and that they want active, living, -opportune work of a fresh kind. I shall try soon my hand at fiction;--my -great difficulty is my introspective disposition, which leaves me in -revery at moments when I ought to be using eyes, ears, and tongue in -studying others rather than my own thoughts. - -I find the word _Banja_ given as African in Bryan Edwards's "West -Indies." My studies of African survivals have tempted me to the purchase -of a great many queer books which will come in useful some day. Most are -unfortunately devoted to Senegal; for our English travellers are -generally poor ethnographers and anthropologists, so far as the Gold -Coast and Ivory Coast are concerned. You remember our correspondence -about the comparative anatomy of the vocal organs of negroes and whites. -A warm friend of several years' standing--a young Spanish physician and -professor here--is greatly interested in this new science: indeed we -study comparative human anatomy and ethnology in common, with -goniometers and Broca's instruments. He states that only microscopic -work can reveal the full details of differentiation in the vocal organs -of races; but calls my attention to several differences already noticed. -Gibb has proved, for instance, that the cartilages of Wrisberg are -larger in the negro;--this would not affect the voice especially; but -the fact promises revelations of a more important kind. We think of your -projects in connection with these studies. - -I copied only your Acadian boat-song. What is the price of the -slave-song book? If you have time to send me during the next month the -music of "Michié Preval," and of the boat-song, I can use them admirably -in _Mélusine_.... - - Your friend, - L. H. - - - TO W. D. O'CONNOR - - NEW ORLEANS, March, 1885. - -Big P. S. No. 1. - -I forgot in my hurried letter yesterday, to tell you that if you ever -want a copy of "Stray Leaves," don't go and buy it, as you have been -naughty enough to do, but tell me, and I'll send you what you wish. I -hope to dedicate a book to you some day, when I am sure it is worth -dedicating to you. - -I am quite curious about you. Seems to me you must be like your -handwriting,--firmly knit, large, strong, and keen;--with delicate -perceptions, (of course I know _that_, anyhow!) well-developed ideas of -order and system, and great continuity of purpose and a disposition as -level and even as the hand you write. If my little scraggy hand tells -you anything, you ought to recognize in it a very small, erratic, -eccentric, irregular, impulsive, variable, nervous disposition,--almost -exactly your antitype in everything--except the love of the beautiful. - - Very faithfully, - L. H. - -Big P. S. No. 2. - -I did not depend on _Le Figaro_ for statements about Hugo; but picked -them up in all directions. What think you of his refusal to aid poor -blind Xavier Aubryet by writing a few lines of preface for his book? -What about his ignoring the services of his greatest champion, Théophile -Gautier? What about his studied silence in regard to the works of the -struggling poets and novelists of the movement which he himself -inaugurated? I really believe that the man has been a colossus of -selfishness. One who prejudiced me very strongly against him, however, -was that eccentric little Jew, Alexander Weill, whose reminiscences of -Heine made such a sensation. Perhaps after all literary generosity is -rare. Flaubert and Gautier possessed it; but twenty cases of the -opposite kind, quite as illustrious, may be cited. In any event I am -glad of your rebuke. Whether my ideas are right or wrong, I believe we -ought not to speak of the weaknesses of truly great men when it can be -avoided;--therefore I cry _peccavi_, and promise to do so no more. - - Yours very sincerely, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - -[Illustration: MR. HEARN'S EARLIER HANDWRITING] - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1885. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--I have been away in Florida, in the track of old Ponce -de Leon,--bathing in the Fount of Youth,--talking to the -palm-trees,--swimming in the great Atlantic surf. Charley Johnson and I -took the trip together,--or to be strictly fair, it was he that induced -me to go along; and I am not sorry for the expense or the time spent, as -I enjoyed my reveries unspeakably. For bathing--sea-bathing--I prefer -our own Creole islands in the Gulf to any place in Florida; but for -scenery and sunlight and air,--air that is a liquid jewel,--Florida -seems to me the garden of Hesperus. I'll send you what I have written -about it.... - -Charles Dudley Warner, whose acquaintance made here, strikes me as the -nicest literary personage I have yet met.... Gilder of the _Century_ was -here--a handsome, kindly man.... A book which I recently got would -interest you--Symonds's "Wine, Women, and Song." I had no idea that the -Twelfth Century had its literary renascence, or that in the time of the -Crusades German students were writing worthy of Horace and Anacreon. The -Middle Ages no longer seem so Doresquely black. - - Your friend, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO REV. WAYLAND D. BALL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1885. - -MY DEAR BALL,--I regret my long silence, now broken with the sincere -pleasure of being able to congratulate you upon a grand success and -still grander opportunities. The salary you are promised is nearly -double that obtained by the best journalist in the country (excepting -one or two men in highly responsible positions of managers); it far -exceeds the average earnings of expert members of the higher -professions; and there are not many authors in the United States who can -rely upon such an income. So that you have a fine chance to accumulate a -nice capital, as well as ample means to indulge scholarly tastes and -large leisure to gratify them. I feared, sensitive as you are, to weigh -too heavily upon one point before, but I think I shall not hesitate to -do so now. I refer to the question of literary effort. Again I would -say: Leave all profane writing alone for at least five years more; and -devote all your talent, study, sense of beauty, force of utterance to -your ministerial work. You will make an impression, and be able to rise -higher and higher. In the meanwhile you will be able to mature your -style, your thought, your scholarship; and when the proper time comes be -able also to make a sterling, good, literary effort. What we imagine new -when we are young is apt really to be very old; and that which appears -to us very old suddenly grows youthful at a later day with the youth of -Truth's immortality. None, except one of those genii, who appear at -intervals as broad as those elapsing in Indian myth between the -apparition of the Buddhas, can sit down before the age of thirty-five or -forty, and create anything really great. Again the maxim, "Money is -power,"--commonplace and vulgar though it be,--has a depth you will -scarcely appreciate until a later day. It is power for good, quite as -much as for evil; and "nothing succeeds like success," you know. Once -you occupy a great place in the great religious world of wealth and -elegance and beauty, you will find yourself possessed of an influence -that will enable you to realize any ambition which inspires you. This is -the best answer I can now give to your last request for a little -friendly counsel, and it is uttered only because I feel that being older -than you, and having been knocked considerably about the world, I can -venture to offer the results of my little experience. - -As you say, you are drawing nearer to me. I expect we shall meet, and be -glad of the meeting. I shall have little to show you except books, but -we will have a splendid time for all that. Meanwhile I regret having -nothing good to send you. The story appeared in _Harper's Bazar_. - - Sincerely your friend, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO REV. WAYLAND D. BALL - - NEW ORLEANS, July, 1885. - -MY DEAR BALL,--Your welcome letter came to me just at a happy moment -when I had time to reply. I would have written before, but for a -protracted illness. I am passionately fond of swimming; and the clear -waters of that Florida spring seduced me into a plunge while very hot. -The water was cold as death; and when I got back to New Orleans, I had -the novel experience of a Florida fever,--slow, torpid, and -unconquerable by quinine. Now I am all right. - -The language of "Stray Leaves" is all my own, with the exception of the -Italic texts and a few pages translated from the "Kalewala." The Florida -sketch I sent you, although published in a newspaper, is one of a number -I have prepared for the little volume of impressions I told you about. I -sent it as an illustration of the literary theory discussed in our -previous correspondence, which I am surprised you remember so well. - -Apropos of your previous letter, I must observe that I do not like -James Freeman Clarke's work,--immense labour whose results are nullified -by a purely sectarian purpose. Mr. Clarke sat down to study with the -preconceived purpose of belittling other beliefs by comparison with -Christianity,--a process quite as irrational and narrow as would be an -attempt in the opposite direction. My very humble studies in comparative -mythology led me to a totally different conclusion,--revealing to me a -universal aspiration of mankind toward the Infinite and Supreme, so -mighty, so deeply sincere, so touching, that I have ceased to perceive -the least absurdity in any general idea of worship, whether fetish or -monotheistic, whether the thought of the child man or the dream of hoary -Indian philosophy. Nor can I for the same reason necessarily feel more -reverence for the crucified deity than for that image of the Hindoo god -of light, holding in one of his many hands Phallus, and yet wearing a -necklace of skulls,--symbolizing at once creation and destruction,--the -Great Begetter and the Universal Putrifier. - -A noble and excellently conceived address that of yours on Thos. -Paine,--bolder than I thought your congregation was prepared for. Yes, I -certainly think you are going to effect a great deal in a good cause, -the cause of mental generosity and intellectual freedom. I almost envy -you sometimes your opportunities as a great teacher, a social -emancipator, and I feel sure what you have already done is nothing to be -compared with what you will do, providing you retain health and -strength. - -I don't know just what to say about your literary articles; but I can -speak to the editor-in-chief, who is my warm personal friend. The only -difficulty would be the bigotry here. Even my editorials upon Sanscrit -literature called out abuse of the paper from various N. O. pulpits, as -"A Buddhist Newspaper," an "Infidel sheet," etc. If published first in -the Boston paper, I could get the lecture reproduced, I think, in ours. -If you expect remuneration you would have to send the MS. first to us -and take the chances. I think what you best do in the interim would be -to write on the subject to Page M. Baker, Editor _T.-D._, mentioning my -name, and await reply. - -You asked me in a former letter a question I forgot to answer. I have no -photograph at present, but will have some taken soon and will send you -one. - - Very sincerely yours, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO REV. WAYLAND D. BALL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1885. - -DEAR BALL,--I regret extremely my long delay in writing you--due partly -to travel, partly to work, for I have considerable extra work to do for -the Harpers, and for myself. You ask me about literary ventures. I -suppose you have seen the little book Osgood published for me last -summer--"Stray Leaves from Strange Literature," a volume of Oriental -stories. Since then I have had nothing printed except a dictionary of -Creole proverbs which could scarcely interest you,--and some Oriental -essays, which appeared in newspapers only, but which I hope to collect -and edit in permanent form next year. Meantime I am working upon a -little book of personal impressions, which I expect to finish this -summer. Of course I will keep the story you want for you, and mail it; -and if you have not seen my other book I will send it you. - -Your project about a correspondence is pleasant enough; but I am now -simply overwhelmed with work, which has been accumulating during a short -absence in Florida. In any event, however, I do not quite see how this -thing could prove profitable. I doubt very much if Christ is not a myth, -just as Buddha is. There may have been a teacher called Jesus, and there -may have been a teacher Siddartha; but the mythological and -philosophical systems attached to these names have a far older origin, -and represent only the evolution of human ideas from the simple and -primitive to the complex form. As the legend of Buddha is now known to -have been only the development of an ancient Aryan sun-myth, so probably -the legend of Jesus might be traced to the beliefs of primitive and -pastoral humanity. What matter creeds, myths, traditions, to you or me, -who perceive in all faiths one vast truth,--one phase of the Universal -Life? Why trouble ourselves about detailed comparisons while we know -there is an Infinite which all thinkers are striving vainly to reach by -different ways, and an Infinite invisible of which all things visible -are but emanations? Worlds are but dreams of God, and evanescent; the -galaxies of suns burn out, the heavens wither; even time and space are -only relative; and the civilization of a planet but an incident of its -growth. To those who feel these things religious questions are valueless -and void of meaning, except in their relation to the development of -ethical ideas in general. And their study in this light is too large for -the compass of a busy life. - - In haste, your friend, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - -I read your sermon with pleasure and gave a copy to our editor-in-chief. - - - TO W. D. O'CONNOR - - NEW ORLEANS, July, 1885. - -MY DEAR O'CONNOR,--Your kind little surprise came to me while I was very -ill, and, I believe, helped me to get better; for everything which -cheers one during an attack of swamp-fever aids convalescence. As you -know, I made a sojourn in East Florida; and I exposed myself a good -deal, in the pursuit of impressions. The wonderful water especially -tempted me. I am a good swimmer, and always crazy to enjoy a dive, so I -yielded to the seduction of Silver Spring. It was a very hot day; but -the flood was cold as the grip of old Death. I didn't feel the effect -right away; but when I got back home found I had a fever that quinine -would take no effect upon. Now I am getting all right, and will be off -to the sea soon to recruit. - -Well, I thought I would wait to write until I could introduce myself to -you, as you so delicately divined that I wanted you to do to me; but I -delayed much longer than I wished or intended. Photographs are usually -surprises;--your face was not exactly what I had imagined, but it -pleased me more--I had fancied you a little stern, very dark, with -black eyes,--partly, perhaps, because others of your name whom I -knew had that purplish black hair and eyes which seems a special -race-characteristic,--partly perhaps from some fantastic little idea -evolved by the effort to create a person from a chirography, as though -handwriting constituted a sort of _track_ by which individuality could -be recognized. I know now that I should feel a little less timid in -meeting you; for I seem to know you already very well,--for a long -time,--intimately and without mystery. - -I send a couple of little clippings which may interest you for the -moment,--one, a memory of Saint Augustine; the other, a translation -which, though clumsy, preserves something of a great poet's weird fancy. - -I am sorry that I have so little to tell you in a literary way. As you -seem to see the _T.-D._ very often, you watch me tolerably closely, I -suppose. I have been trying to complete a little volume of impressions, -but the work drags on very, very slowly: I fear I shan't finish it -before winter. Then I have a little Chinese story accepted for _Harper's -Bazar_, which I will send you, and which I think you will like. -Otherwise my plans have changed. With the expansion of my private study, -I feel convinced that I know too little to attempt anything like a -serious volume of Oriental essays; but my researches have given me a -larger fancy in some directions, and new colours, which I can use -hereafter. Fiction seems to be the only certain road to the publishers' -hearts, and I shall try it, not in a lengthy, but a brief -compass,--striving as much as possible after intense effects. I think -you would like my library if you could see it,--it is one agglomeration -of exotics and eccentricities. - -And you do not now write much?--do you? I would like to have read the -paper you told me of; but I fear the _Manhattan_ is dead beyond -resurrection--and, by the way, Richard Grant White has departed to that -land which is ruled by absolute silence, and in which a law of fair -play, unrecognized by our publishers, doth prevail. Do you never take a -vacation? If you could visit our Grande Isle in the healthy season, you -would enjoy it so much! An old-fashioned, drowsy, free-and-easy Creole -watering-place in the Gulf,--where there is an admirable beach, fishing -extraordinary, and subjects innumerable for artistic studies--a hybrid -population from all the ends of heaven, white, yellow, red, brown, -cinnamon-colour, and tints of bronze and gold. Basques, Andalusians, -Portuguese, Malays, Chinamen, etc. I hope to make some pen drawings -there. - -Have you seen the revised Old Testament? How many of our favourite and -beautiful texts have been marred! I almost prefer the oddity of -Wickliffe.... And, by the way, I must tell you that Palmer's Koran is a -fine book! ("Sacred Books of the East," Macmillan.) Sale is now -practically obsolete. - -Hoping I will be able, one of these days, to write something that I can -worthily dedicate to you, - - Believe me - Very affectionately, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, October, 1885. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--I would suggest as a title for Tunison's admirably -conceived book, "The Legends of Virgil," or, better still, "The -Virgilian Legend" (in the singular), as it is the custom among -folklorists to assemble a class of interrelated myths or fables under -such a general head. Thus we have "The Legend of Mélusine, or Mère -Lusine;" "The Legend of Myrrdlium, or Merlin;" "The Legend of Don -Juan"--although each subject represents a large number of myths, -illustrating the evolutional history of one idea through centuries. This -title could be supplemented by an explanatory sub-title. - -Of course you can rely on me to praise, sincerely and strongly, what I -cannot but admire and honourably envy the authorship of. I wish I could -even hope to do so fine a piece of serious work as this promises to be. - -I am exceedingly grateful for your prompt sending of the Creole songs, -which I will return in a day or two. Some Creole music of an _inedited_ -kind--just one or two fragments--I would like so as to introduce your -rôle well. I now fear, however, that I shall not be able to devote as -much time to the work as I hoped. - -As for my "thinkings, doings, and ambitions," I have nothing interesting -to tell. I have accumulated a library worth $2000; I have studied a -great deal in directions which have not yet led me to any definite goal; -I have made no money by my literary outside work worth talking about; -and I have become considerably disgusted with what I have already done. -But I have not yet abandoned the idea of evolutional fiction, and find -that my ethnographic and anthropologic reading has enabled me to find a -totally new charm in character-analysis, and suggested artistic effects -of a new and peculiar description. I dream of a novel, or a novelette, -to be constructed upon totally novel principles; but the outlook is not -encouraging. Years of very hard work with a problematical result! I feel -pretty much like a scholar trying hard to graduate and feeling tolerably -uneasy about the result. - -Since you have more time now you might drop a line occasionally. I hope -to hear you succeed with the Scribners;--if not, I would strongly -recommend an effort with Houghton, Mifflin & Co., the most appreciative -publishers on this side of the Atlantic. - - Yours very affectionately, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1885. - -DEAR K.,--I was in hopes by this time to have been able to have sent you -for examination a little volume by La Selve, in which a curious account -is given of the various negro-creole dances and songs of the Antilles. -The book has been ordered for a very considerable time, but owing to -some cause or other, its arrival has been delayed. - -I find references made to Duveyrier (_Les Touaregs du Nord_) in regard -to the music of those extraordinary desert nomads, who retain their blue -eyes and blonde hair under the sun of the Timbuctoo country; and to -Endemann (by Hartmann) as a preserver of the music of the Basutos (South -Africa). Hartmann himself considers African music--superficially, -perhaps, in the smaller volume--in his "Peuples d'Afrique;" and in his -"Nigritiens" (Berlin: in 2 vols.). I have the small work ("Peuples -d'Afrique") which forms part of the French International Scientific -Series, but has not been translated for the American collection. -Hartmann speaks well of the musical "aptitudes" of the African races, -while declaring their art undeveloped; and he even says that the famous -Egyptian music of Dendera, Edfu, and Thebes never rose above the -orchestration at an Ashantee or Monbuttoo festival. He even remarks that -the instruments of the ancient Egyptian and modern Nigritian peoples are -almost similar. He also refers to the negro talents for improvisation, -and their peculiar love of animal-fables--the same, no doubt, which -found a new utterance in the negro myths of the South. The large work of -Hartmann I have never seen, and as it is partly chromolithographed I -fear it is very expensive. The names Hartmann and Endemann are very -German: I know of the former only through French sources,--perhaps you -have seen the original. He supports some of his views with quotations -you are familiar with perhaps--from Clapperton, Bowdich, and -Schweinfurth. - -It is rather provoking that I have not been able to find any specimens -of Griot music referred to in French works on Senegal; and I fancy the -Griot music would strongly resemble (in its suitability to improvisation -especially) the early music of the negroes here. Every French writer on -Senegal has something to say about the Griots, but none seem to have -known enough music to preserve a chant. The last two works published -(Jeannest's "Au Congo" and Marche's "Afrique Occidentale") were written -by men without music in their souls. The first publishes pictures of -musical instruments, but no music; and the second gives ten lines to the -subject in a volume of nearly 400 pp. Seems to me that a traveller who -was a musician might cultivate virgin soil in regard to the African -music of the interior. All I can find relating to it seems to deal with -the music of South Africa and the west and north coasts;--the interior -is unknown musically. I expect to receive La Selve soon, however,--and -if his announcement be truthful, we shall have something of interest -therein regarding the cis-Atlantic Africa. - - L. H. - -I saw a notice in the _Tribune_ regarding the negro Pan's pipe described -by Cable. I never saw it; but the fact is certainly very interesting. -The cane is well adapted to inspire such manufacture. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1885. - -DEAR K.,--Just got a letter from you. Hope my reply to your delightful -suggestion was received. I fear I write too often; but I can only write -in snatches. Were I to wait for time to write a long letter, the result -would be either 0 or something worse. - -I have already in my mind a little plan. Let me suggest a long preface, -and occasional picturesque notes to your learning and facts. For -example, I would commence by treating the negro's musical -patriotism--the strange history of the Griots, who furnish so singular -an example of musical prostitution, and who, although honoured and -petted in one way, are otherwise despised by their own people and -refused the rites of burial. Then I would relate something about the -curious wanderings of these Griots through the yellow desert northward -into the Moghreb country--often a solitary wandering; their performances -at Arab camps on the long journey, when the black slaves come out to -listen and weep;--then their hazardous voyaging to Constantinople, where -they play old Congo airs for the great black population of Stamboul, -whom no laws or force can keep within doors when the sound of Griot -music is heard in the street. Then I would speak of how the blacks carry -their music with them to Persia and even to mysterious Hadramaut, where -their voices are held in high esteem by Arab masters. Then I would touch -upon the transplantation of negro melody to the Antilles and the two -Americas, where its strangest black flowers are gathered by the -alchemists of musical science, and the perfume thereof extracted by -magicians like Gottschalk. (How is that for a beginning?) - -I would divide my work into brief sections of about 1½ pages -each--every division separated by Roman numerals and containing one -particular group of facts. - -I would also try to show a relation between negro _physiology_ and negro -music. You know the blood of the African black has the highest human -temperature known--equal to that of the swallow--although it loses that -fire in America. I would like you to find out for me whether the negro's -vocal cords are not differently formed, and capable of _longer_ -vibration than ours. Some expert professor in physiology might tell you; -but I regret to say the latest London works do not touch upon the negro -vocal cords, although they do show other remarkable anatomical -distinctions. - -Here is the only Creole song I know of with an African refrain _that is -still sung_:--don't show it to C., it is one of _our_ treasures. - -(Pronounce "Wenday," "makkiyah.") - - _Ouendé, ouendé, macaya!_ - Mo pas barassé, _macaya_! - _Ouendé, ouendé, macaya!_ - Mo bois bon divin, _macaya_! - _Ouendé, ouendé, macaya!_ - Mo mangé bon poulet, _macaya_! - _Ouendé, ouendé, macaya!_ - Mo pas barassé, _macaya_! - _Ouendé, ouendé, macaya!_-- - _Macaya!_ - -I wrote from dictation of Louise Roche. She did not know the meaning of -the refrain--her mother had taught her, and the mother had learned it -from the grandmother. However, I found out the meaning, and asked her if -she _now_ remembered. She leaped in the air for joy--apparently. -_Ouendai_ or _ouendé_ has a different meaning in the eastern Soudan; but -in the Congo or Fiot dialect it means "to go"--"to continue to," "to go -on." I found the word in Jeannest's vocabulary. Then _macaya_ I found in -Turiault's "Etude sur la Langage Créole de la Martinique:" ça veut dire -"manger tout le temps"--"excessivement." Therefore here is our -translation:-- - - Go on! go on! _eat enormously!_ - _I_ ain't one bit ashamed--_eat outrageously_! - _Go on! go on! eat prodigiously_! - _I_ drink good wine,--_eat ferociously_!-- - Go on! go on!--_eat unceasingly_!-- - I eat good chicken--gorging myself!-- - Go on! go on! etc. - -How is this for a linguistic discovery? The music is almost precisely -like the American river-music,--a chant, almost a recitative until the -end of the line is reached; then for your mocking-music! - -And by the way, in Guyana, there is a mocking-bird more wonderful than -ours--with a voice so sonorous and solemn and far-reaching that those -Creole negroes who dwell in the great aisles of the forest call it _zozo -mon-pè_ (l'oiseau mon-père), the "My father-bird." But the word father -here signifieth a spiritual father--a _ghostly_ father--the -"Priest-bird"! - -Now dream of the vast cathedral of the woods, whose sanctuary lights are -the stars of heaven! - - L. H. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1885. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--You are a terribly neglectful correspondent: I have -asked you nearly one hundred questions, not a single one of which you -have ever deemed it worth while to answer. However, that makes no matter -now,--as none of the questions were very important, certainly not in -your estimation. I think you are right about the negro-American music, -and that a Southern trip will be absolutely essential,--because I have -never yet met a person here able to reproduce on paper those fractional -tones we used to talk about, which lend such weirdness to those songs. -The naked melody robbed of these has absolutely no national -characteristic. The other day a couple of darkeys from the country -passed my corner, singing--not a Creole song, but a plain negro -ditty--with a recurrent burthen consisting of the cry:-- - - _Oh! Jee-roo-sa-le-e-em!_ - -I can't describe to you the manner in which the syllable _lem_ was -broken up into four tiny notes, the utterance of which did not occupy -one second,--all in a very low but very powerful key. The rest of the -song was in a regular descending scale: the _oh_ being very much -prolonged and the other notes very quick and sudden. Wish I could write -it; but I can't. I think all the original negro-Creole songs were -characterized by similar eccentricities. If you could visit a Creole -plantation,--and I know Cable could arrange that for you,--you would be -able to make some excellent studies. - -Cable told me he wanted you to treat these things musically. I am -_sure_, however, that his versions of them lack something--as regards -rhythm (musical), time, and that shivering of notes into musical -splinters which I can't describe. I have never told him I thought so; -but I suggest the matter to you for consideration. I think it would be a -good idea to have a chat with him about a Southern trip in the interest -of these Creole studies. I am also sure that one must study the original -Creole-ditty among the full-blooded French-speaking blacks of the -country,--not among the city singers, who are too much civilized to -retain originality. When the bamboulas were danced there was some real -"Congo" music; but the musicians are gone God knows where. The results -of your Southern trip might be something very important. There is a rage -in Europe for musical folk-lore. Considering what Gottschalk did with -Creole musical themes, it is surprising more attention has not been paid -to the ditties of the Antilles, etc. I am told there are stunning -treasures of such curiosities in Cuba, Martinique,--all the Spanish and -French possessions, but especially the former. The outlook is -delightful; but I think with you that it were best to rely chiefly upon -_personal_ study. It strikes me the thing ought to be scientifically -undertaken,--so as to leave as little as possible for others to improve -upon or even to glean. If you care for names of French writers on -African music, I can send. - -Didst ever hear the music of the Zamacueca? - - L. H. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, February, 1886. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--Your very brief note was received almost simultaneously -with my first perusal of your work in the _Century_. But the -Cala-woman's song is, I really think, imaginary. I have the real -cry,--six notes and some fractions,--which I will send you when I get a -man to write it down. The patate-cry is less African, but very pleasing. -I have been somewhat surprised to discover that the word Voudoo is not -African, but the corruption of a South-American mythological term with a -singular history--too long to write now, but at your service whenever -you may need it. - -Plympton has been here on his way to the W. Indies _via_ Florida--a -white shadow, a ghost, a Voice,--utterly broken down. I fear his summers -are numbered. He will return to his desk only to die, I fancy. A good, -large-minded, frank, eccentric man--always a friend to me. - -If you are interested in Provençal literature and song, and are not -acquainted with Hueffer's "Troubadours" (Chatto & Windus), let me -recommend the volume as one of the most compact and scholarly I have yet -seen. It is not exactly _new_, but new in its popularity on this side. -His theories are original; his facts, of course, may be all old to you. - -Houssaye is not a New Orleans favourite, like Albert Delpit, the -Creole,--or Pierre Loti,--or Guy de Maupassant,--or the leaders of the -later schools of erudite romance, such as Anatole France,--or the -psychologists of naturalism. Finally, I am sorry to say, the same -material saw light months ago in the _Figaro_, and is now quite ancient -history to French-speaking New Orleans. However, I have to leave the -matter entirely to Page, and the greatest obstacle will be price,--as we -usually only pay $5 for foreign correspondence. Picayunish, I know; but -Burke will pay $75 for a note from Loti, or a letter from Davitt, just -for the name. - -Try Roberts Bros, for Tunison. Chatto & Windus, of London, might also -like the book;--the only trouble is that in England there is a lurking -suspicion (not without foundation) of the untrustworthiness of American -work of this kind,--so many things have been done hastily in this -country, without that precision of scholarship and leisurely finish -indispensable to solid endurance. If they can only be induced to _read_ -the MS., perhaps it would be all right. Rivington of London is another -enterprising firm in the same line. - -I expect to see you this summer--also to send you a volume of Chinese -stories. Material is developing well. Won't write again until I can tear -and wrench and wring a big letter out of you. - - Affectionately, - L. HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, February, 1886. - -MY DEAR MUSICIAN,--Your letter delighted me. Strange as it may seem to -you, the books and papers you sent me, I never received! - -I feel a somewhat malicious joy in telling you that the translations you -considered so abominable are printed without the least alteration, and -also in assuring you that if you can spare time to read them you will -like them. Still, I must say that the book is not free from errors, and -that were I to do it all over again to-day, I should be able to improve -upon it. It is my first effort, however, and I am therefore a little -anxious; for to commence one's literary career with a collapse would be -very bad. I think I shall see you in New York this summer. I have a -project on foot--to issue a series of translations of archaeological and -artistic French romance--Flaubert's "Tentation de Saint-Antoine;" De -Nerval's "Voyage en Orient;" Gautier's "Avatar;" Loti's most -extraordinary African and Polynesian novels; and Baudelaire's "Petits -Poëmes en Prose." If I can get any encouragement, it is not impossible -that I might stay in New York awhile; but there is no knowing. I am -working steadily toward the realization of one desire--to get rid of -newspaper life. - -No: I am not writing on music now--only book reviews, French and Spanish -translations, and an occasional editorial. The musical reviews of the -_Times-Democrat_ are the work of Jean Augustin--one of the few talented -Creoles here, who is the author of a volume of French poems, and is -personally a fine fellow. We are now very busy writing up the Carnival. -I have charge of the historical and mythological themes,--copies of -which I will send you when the paper is printed. One of the themes will -interest you as belonging to a novel and generally little known subject; -but I have only been able to devote two days apiece to them (four in -all), so you will make allowance for rough-and-ready work. - -I am very happy to hear you are cozy, and nicely established, and the -father of a little one, which I feel sure must inherit physical and -mental comeliness of no common sort. - -I cannot write as I wish to-day, as Carnival duties are pressing. So I -will only thank you for your kindness, and conclude with a promise to do -better next time. - - Your friend and admirer, - L. HEARN. - -By the way, would you like a copy of De l'Isere's work on diseases of -the voice, and the _rapports_ between sexual and vocal power? I have a -copy for you, but you must excuse its badly battered condition. I have -built up quite a nice library here; and the antiquarians bring me odd -things when they get them. This is one, but it has been abused. - - L. H. - - - TO W. D. O'CONNOR - - NEW ORLEANS, April, 1886. - -MY DEAR O'CONNOR,--Your dainty little gift was deeply appreciated. By -this mail I send you a few papers containing an editorial on the -subject--rather hastily written, I much regret to say, owing to pressure -of other work,--but calculated, I trust, to excite interest in the -nobly-written defence of Mrs. Pott's marvellous commentary. - -I have not written you because I felt unable to interest you in the -condition I have been long in--struggling between the necessities of my -_trade_ and the aspirations of what I hope to prove my _art_. I have a -little Chinese book on Ticknor & Co.'s stocks: if it appear you will -receive it, and perhaps enjoy some pages. The volume is an attempt in -the direction I hope to make triumph some day: _poetical prose_. I send -also some cuttings,--leaves for a future volume to appear, God knows -when, under the title "Notebook of an Impressionist." Before completing -it I expect to publish a novelette, which will be dedicated to you,--if -I think it worthy of you. I will work at it all this summer. - -I may also tell you that since I last wrote a very positive change has -been effected in my opinions by the study of Herbert Spencer. He has -completely converted me away from all 'isms, or sympathies with 'isms: -at the same time he has filled me with the vague but omnipotent -consolation of the Great Doubt. I can no longer give adhesion to the -belief in human automatism,--and that positive skepticism that imposes -itself upon an undisciplined mind has been eternally dissipated in my -case. I do not know if this philosophy interests you; but I am sure it -would, if you are not already, as I suspect, an adept in it. I have only -read, so far, the First Principles; but all the rest are corollaries -only. - -Now I have been selfish enough with my _Ego_;--let me trust you are -well, not over-busy, and as happy as it is possible to be under ordinary -conditions. I may run away to the sea for a while; I may run up North, -and take the liberty of spending a few hours in Washington on my way -back from New York. But whether I see you or not, believe always in my -sincere affection. - - Your friend, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO W. D. O'CONNOR - - NEW ORLEANS, April, 1886. - -DEAR O'CONNOR,--I had not received your letter when I wrote mine. It -pained me to hear of your having been ill, and especially ill in a way -which I am peculiarly well qualified to understand--having been almost -given up for dead some eight years ago. The same causes, the same -symptoms--in every particular. Luckily for me I found a warmer -climate, a city where literary competition was almost nothing, and men -of influence who took an interest in my work, and let me have things my -own way. Rest and cultivation of the _animal_ part of me, and good care -by a dear good woman, got me nearly well again. I am stronger than I -ever was in some ways; but I have not the same recuperative vitality,--I -cannot trust myself to any severe mental strain. "Sickness is health," -they say, for those who have received one of Nature's severe -corrections. - -I mention my own case only to show that I understand yours, and to give -you, if possible, the benefit of my experience. Long sleep is necessary, -for two or three years. Do not be afraid to take ten, eleven, or twelve -hours when you so feel inclined. I observe that the mind accomplishes -more, and in a shorter time, after these protracted rests. Never work -when you feel that little pain in the back of the head. Rare -beefsteaks,--eggs just warmed,--and claret and water to stimulate -appetite as often as possible, are important. Doctors can do little; you -yourself can do a great deal. I think a few months, or even weeks, at -the sea, would astonish you by the result. It did me. The abyss, out of -which all mundane life is said to have been evolved,--the vast salt gulf -of Creation,--seems still to retain its mysterious power: the Spirit -still hovers over the Face of the Deep,--and the very breath of the -ocean gives new soul to the blood. - -You will already know what I think of your beautiful book, with all of -which I heartily concur. But do not attempt to overwork any more. You -ought not to trust yourself to do more than three or four hours' work a -day,--and even this application ought to be interrupted at intervals. I -take a smoke every hour or so. The main thing--_please do not doubt -it_--is plenty of nourishment, cultivation of appetite, and much sleep. -Then Nature will right herself--slowly, though surely. - -Do not write to me if it tires you. I know just how it is; I know also -that you feel well toward me even if you have to keep silence. I will -write whenever I think I can interest you,--and never fail to drop me a -line if I can do anything to please you--just a line. I would not have -been silent so long, had I even suspected you were ill. My own illness -of eight years back was caused by years of night-work--16 hours a day. -Several of my old comrades died at it. I quit--took courage to attempt a -different class of work, and, as the French say, I have been able to -re-make my constitution. I trust it won't bore you, my writing all this: -I understand so exactly how you have been that I am anxious to give all -the suggestions I can. - - I remain, dear O'Connor, - Very affectionately, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, May, 1886. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--I think I shall soon be able to send you a Hindoo. Yes, -a Hindoo,--with Orientally white teeth, the result of vegetal diet and -Brahmanic abstemiousness--rather prognathous, I am sorry to say, and not -therefore of purest Aryan breed. He may be a Thug, a Sepoy deserter, a -Sikh drummed out of the army, a Brahmin who has lost caste, a Pariah -thief, a member of the Left-hand or of the Right-hand caste (or other -sections too horrible to name), a Jain, a half-breed Mongol Islamite -from Delhi, a Ghoorkha, a professional fraud, a Jesuitic convert on -trial ... I know not;--I send him to you with my best regard. You are -large and strong; you can take care of yourself! I send him to the -_Tribune_,--fearing the awful results of his visit to 305 West -Fifty-fifth Street. - -How did I find him? Well, he came one day to our office to protest about -some of my editorials on Indian questions. I found he talked English -well, wrote with sufficient accuracy to contribute to the _T.-D._, and -had been in the Indian civil service. I questioned him on Hindoo -literature: found him somewhat familiar with the Mahabharata and -Ramayana, the Bhagavad-Gita and the Vedantas,--heard him reiterate the -names of the great Sanscrit poets and playwrights--Kalidasa, Vyasa, -Jayadeva, Bhartrihari. He first taught me accurately to pronounce the -awful title _Mricchakatikâ_, which means "The Chariot of Baked Clay;" -and he translated for me, although with great effort and very badly, one -of the delicious love-lyrics of the divine Amaron. Therefore I perceived -that he knew something vaguely about the vast Mother of Languages. - -And he sang for me the chants of the temples, in a shrill Indian tenor, -with marvellously fine splintering of notes--melancholy, dreamy, drowsy, -like the effect of monotonous echoes in a day of intense heat and -atmospheric oppression. - -Why, then, did not my heart warm toward him? Was it because, in the -columns of the _Times-Democrat_, he had boldly advocated the burning of -widows and abused the Government of which I remain a loving subject? Was -it because he made his appearance simultaneously with that of that -colossal fraud, the "North, South and Central American Exposition"? Nay: -it was because of his prognathism, his exceedingly sinister eye, like -the eye of a creature of prey; his shaky suppleness of movement; and his -mysterious past. How might I trust myself alone with a man who looked -like one of the characters of the "Moonstone"? And yet I regret ... what -a ridiculous romance I might have made! - -Never mind, I send him to you! He says he is a Brahman. He says he can -sing you the chants and dirges of his sun-devoured land. Let him -sing!--let him chant! If he merit interest in the shape of fifty cents, -give it to him, and watch him slip it into his swarthy bosom with the -stealthy gesture of one about to pull forth a moon-shaped knife. Or tell -him where to get, or to look for work. He worked here in a moss-factory -and in a sash-factory and other factories; living upon rice and beans -more cheaply than a Chinaman. Yet beware you do not smite him on the -nostrils without large and solid reason. I give him a letter to you. -Amen! (P.S. His alleged name is Sattee or Suttee--perhaps most probably -the _latter_, as he advocates it.) - -I received your book--a charming volume in all that makes a volume -charming: including clear tinted paper, not too glossy; fascinating -type; broad margins; tasteful binding. Thanks for dear little phrase -written in it. I will send first criticism of contents in shape of a -review. Have something else to talk of later. - -I hope you received photograph sent by Baker through me,--and paper. The -translation does not convey original force of style; but it may serve to -reveal something of the author's _intensity_. His power of impressing -and communicating queer sensations makes him remarkable. - - Affectionately, - L. HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1886. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--I was waiting to write you in the hope of being able to -send you some literary news. I have my little Chinese book in Ticknor's -hands; but the long silence is still unbroken. The omen is not a bad -one, yet I am disappointed in not being able now, when replying to your -delightful letter, to tell you everything is O. K.,--because the book is -dedicated to you. There are only six little stories; but each of them -cost months of hard work and study, and represent a much higher attempt -than anything in the "Stray Leaves." The dedication will, I think, amuse -you if the book appears,--and will be more or less mysterious to the -rest of the world. I fear now it cannot be published in time to reach -you before you leave for Europe. - -Well, dear old fellow, I think I must try to see you at New York anyhow. -At all events I must have a change. The prolonged humidity and -chilliness of our winter is telling on me; I have been considerably -pulled down in spite of an easy life, and must try the sea somewhere. I -fear the Eastern beaches are too expensive; but I could run North, and -spend the rest of the time allowed me after my visit at some obscure -fishing village. Europe, I fear, must be given up this summer. I could -visit Spain in company with a dear friend, Dr. Matas; but I feel it a -duty to myself to stick at literary work this summer in order to effect -a new departure. - -Now, I must tell you about it. I am writing a novelette. It will require -at least twelve months to finish--though it will be a tiny book. It will -be all divided into microscopic chapters of a page or half-a-page each. -Every one of these is to be a little picture, with some novel features. -Some touches of evolutionary philosophy. I want to make something -altogether odd, novel, ideal in the best sense. The theme, I fear, you -will not like. The story of a somewhat improper love--a fascination -developed into a sincere but vain affection--an effort to re-create what -has been hopelessly lost,--a seeking after the impossible. I am not -quite sure yet how I shall arrange the main part;--there will be much -more of _suggestion_ than of real plot.... I do, indeed, remember your -advice; but I am not sorry not to have followed it before. My style was -not formed; I did not really know how to work; I am only now beginning -to learn. Ticknor writes that if I should undertake a novelette, he is -certain it would succeed. So I shall try. In trying I must study from -real material; I must take models where I can find them. Still the work -will be ideal to the verge of fantasy. - -So much for that. If I have been selfish enough to talk first about -myself, it is partly because I cannot answer your question without -giving some of my own experience. You ask about style; you deem yours -unsatisfactory, and say that I overestimated it. Perhaps I may have -overestimated particular things that with a somewhat riper judgement I -would consider less enthusiastically. But I always perceived an uncommon -excellence in the tendency of your style--a purity and strength that is -uncommon and which I could never successfully imitate. A man's style, -when fully developed, is part of his personality. Mine is being shaped -for a particular end; yours, I think, is better adapted to an ultimately -higher purpose. The fact that you deem it unsatisfactory shows, I fancy, -that you are in a way to develop it still further. I have only observed -this, that it is capable of much more polish than you have cared to -bestow upon it. Mind! I do not mean _ornament_;--I do not think you -should attempt ornament, but rather force and sonority. Your tendency, I -think, is naturally toward classical purity and correctness--almost -severity. With great strength,--ornament becomes unnecessary; and the -general cultivation of strength involves the cultivation of grace. I -still consider yours a higher style than mine, but I do not think you -have cultivated it to one fourth of what it is capable. Now, let me say -why. - -Chiefly, I fancy, for want of time. If you do not know it already, let -me dwell upon an art principle. Both you and I have a _trade_: -journalism. We have also an _art_: authorship. The same system of labour -cannot be applied to the one as to the other without unfortunate -results. Let the trade be performed as mechanically as is consistent -with preservation of one's reputation as a good _workman_: any more -labour devoted to it is an unpaid waste of time. But when it comes to -writing a _durable_ thing,--a book or a brochure,--every line ought to -be written at least twice, if possible _three_ times. Three times, at -all events, to commence with. First--roughly, in pencil: after which -correct and reshape as much as you deem necessary. Then rewrite _clean_ -in pencil. Read again; and you will be surprised to find how much -improvement is possible. Then copy in ink, and in the very act of -copying, new ideas of grace, force, and harmony will make themselves -manifest. Without this, I will venture to say, fine literary execution -is _impossible_. Some writers need the discipline less than others. You, -for example, less than I. My imagination and enthusiasm have to be kept -in control; my judgements to be reversed or amended; my adjectives -perpetually sifted and pruned. But my work is ornamental--my dream is -poetical prose: a style unsuited to literature of the solid and -instructive kind. Have you ever worked much with Roget's -"Thesaurus"?--it is invaluable. Still more valuable are etymological -dictionaries like those of Skeat (best in the world), of Brachet -(French), of Dozy and Engelmann (Spanish-Arabic). Such books give one -that subtle sense of words to which much that _startles_ in poetry and -prose is due. Time develops the secret merit of work thus done.... -These, dear K., are simply my own experiences, ideas, and impressions. I -now think they are correct. In a few years I might modify them. They may -contain useful suggestions. Our humblest friends may suggest valuable -things sometimes. - -Talking of change in opinions, I am really astonished at myself. You -know what my fantastic metaphysics were. A friend disciplined me to read -Herbert Spencer. I suddenly discovered what a waste of time all my -Oriental metaphysics had been. I also discovered, for the first time, -how to apply the little general knowledge I possessed. I also learned -what an absurd thing positive skepticism is. I also found unspeakable -comfort in the sudden and, for me, eternal reopening of the Great Doubt, -which renders pessimism ridiculous, and teaches a new reverence for all -forms of faith. In short, from the day when I finished the "First -Principles,"--a totally new intellectual life opened for me; and I hope -during the next two years to devour the rest of this oceanic philosophy. -But this is boring you too much for the nonce. - -Believe me, dear friend, affectionately, - - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1886. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--I must drop you another line or two; for you must let me -hear from you again before you go to Europe. - -I have completely recovered from the nervous shock which the sudden -return of my tiny volume produced in spite of myself; and all my -scattered plans are being re-crystallized. I know my work is good in -some respects; and if it bears reading over well, next winter I may take -a notion to publish a small edition at my own expense. In fact, I -believe I will have to publish several things at my own expense. Even if -my art-ideas are correct (and I sincerely believe they are)--in their -most mature form they would represent a heterodox novelty in American -style, and literary heterodoxies no publisher will touch. I am going to -give up the novelette idea,--it is too large an undertaking at -present,--and will try short stories. My notebooks will always be -useful. Whenever I receive a new and strong impression, even in a dream, -I write it down, and afterwards develop it at leisure. These efforts -repay me well in the end. - -There are impressions of blue light and gold and green, correlated to -old Spanish legend, which can be found only south of this line. I -obtained a few in Florida;--I must complete the effect by future visits: -therefore I shall go to the most vast and luminous of all ports known to -the seamen of the South--the Bay of the Holy Ghost (Espiritu Santo),--in -plainer language, Tampa. So I shall vegetate a while longer in the -South. I have some $600 saved up; but, I fear, under present -circumstances, that I would be imprudent to expend it all in a foreign -trip, and will wait until I can make some sort of impression with some -new sort of work. The _T.-D._ will save expenses for me on Florida trip, -and instead of roar and rumble of traffic and shrieking of steam and -dust of microbes, I shall dream by the shores of phosphorescent seas, -and inhale the Spirit that moveth over the face of the Deep. - -I forgot in my last to thank you for little notice in the playbill of my -Gautier stories; but you were mistaken as to their being paraphrases. -They were literal translations, so far as I was able to make them at the -time. I am sorry that they now appear full of faults: especially as I -cannot get any publisher to take them away from Worthington. If I -succeed some day, I may be able to get out a more perfect edition in -small neat shape. "Stray Leaves" also has several hideous errors in it. -I never dare now to look at them for fear of finding something else -worse than before. - -By the way, last year I had to muster up courage to condemn a lot of -phantasmagoria to the flames. - - Very affectionately, - LAFCADIO. - -DEAR K.,--Like a woman I must always add a P.S. - -Something that has been worrying me demands utterance. A Paris -correspondent of the _Tribune_, grossly misinformed, has written an -error to that paper on "Lakme." "Lakme" may have been drawn from "Le -Mariage de Loti,"--the weirdest and loveliest romance, to my notion, -ever written;--but that novel has nothing to do with India or English -officers. It is a novel of Polynesian life in Tahiti. It is unspeakably -beautiful and unspeakably _odd_. I translated its finest passages in a -so-and-so way when it first came out, and won the good will of its -clever author, Julien Viaud, who sent me his portrait and a very pretty -letter. I have collected every scrap "Loti" wrote, and translated many -things: will send you a rough-and-ready translation from his new novel -on Sunday. No writer ever had such an effect upon me; and time -strengthens my admiration. I hold him the greatest of living writers of -the Impressionist School; and still he is something more--he has a -spirituality peculiarly his own, that reminds you a little of Coleridge. -I cannot even think of him without enthusiasm. Therefore I feel sorry to -hear of him being misrepresented. He is a great musician in the -folk-lore way, too; and in one of my letters to him I mentioned your -name. Some day you might come together; and he could sing you all the -Polynesian and African songs you want. He has lived in the Soudan. I -sent you once a fragment by him upon those African improvisors, called -Griots. If the _Tribune_ ever wants anything written about Loti, see if -you can't persuade them to apply to me. I know all about his life and -manners, and I would not ask any remuneration for so delightful a -privilege as that of being able to do him justice in a great paper. His -address is 141 Rue St. Pierre, Rochefort-sur-Mer. You might see him in -Europe, perhaps. - - LAFCADIO H. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, October, 1886. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--While in hideous anxiety I await the decision of my -future by various damnably independent censors, I must seize the moment -of leisure--the first calm after a prolonged storm of work--to chat with -you awhile, and to thank you for your musical aid. Alden is, of course, -deliberating over the "Legend of l'Ile Dernière;" Roberts Bros. are -deliberating over "Chinese Ghosts;" I am also deliberating about a -voyage to Havana, the Mystical Rose of a West Indian dawn--with palms -shaking their plumes against the crimsoning. What are you deliberating -about? Something that I shall be crazy to read, no doubt, and will have -the delight of celebrating the appearance of in the editorial columns of -the provincial _T.-D._! O that I were the directing spirit of some new -periodical--backed by twenty million dollar publishing interests,--and -devoted especially to the literary progression of the future,--the -realization of a dream of poetical prose,--the evolution of the -Gnosticism of the New Art! Then, wouldn't I have lots to say about The -Musician,--_my_ musician,--and the Song of Songs that is to be! - -For my own purpose now lieth naked before me, without shame. I suppose -we all have a purpose, an involuntary goal, to which the Supreme Ghost, -unknowingly to us, directs our way; and when we find we have -accomplished what _we_ wished for, we also invariably find that we have -travelled thither by a route very different from that which we laid out -for ourselves, and toward a consummation not precisely that which we -anticipated--although pleasing enough. Well, you remember my ancient -dream of a poetical prose,--compositions to satisfy an old Greek -ear,--like chants wrought in a huge measure, wider than the widest line -of a Sanscrit composition, and just a little irregular, like -Ocean-rhythm. I really think I will be able to realize it at last. And -then, what? I really don't know. I fancy that I shall have produced a -pleasant effect on the reader's mind, simply with pictures; and that the -secret work, the word-work, will not be noticed for its own sake. It -will be simply an eccentricity for critics; an originality for those -pleased by it--but I'm sure it will be grateful unto the _musical_ ear -of H. E. K.! - -Now I remember promising to write about going to New York. - -Br-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r! - -'Tis winter. My lizard blood freezes at the thought. In my room it is -71°: that is cold for us. New York in winter signifieth for such as -me--Dissolution,--eternal darkness and worms. Transformation of physical -and vital forces of L. H. into the forces of innumerable myriads of -worms! "And though a man live many years, and rejoice in them all--yet -let him remember the Days of Darkness,--for they shall be many!" No: -March, April, or May! But you say,--"Then it will be the same old story, -and seasons will cycle, and generations pass away, and yet he will not -come." Yet there are symptoms of my coming: little spider-threads of -literary weaving with New York are thickening. When the rope is strong, -I can make my bridge.--Think of the trouble I would have with my $1800 -of books, and all my other truck. Alas! I have an anchor! - -My friend Matas has returned. He tells me delightful things about -Spanish music, and plays for me. He also tells me much concerning Cuban -and Mexican music. He says these have been very strongly affected by -African influence--full of contretemps. He tried to explain about the -accompaniments of Havanen and Mexican airs having peculiar -interresemblances of a seemingly _dark_ origin--the bass goes all the -time something like _Si, Mi, Si,--si, mi, si_. "See me?--see?" that's -how I remembered it. But he has given me addresses, and I will be able -to procure specimens. - - Affectionately, - LAFCADIO. - - - TO W. D. O'CONNOR - - NEW ORLEANS, February, 1887. - -DEAR O'CONNOR,--Please, if feeling free enough from other and more -important labours, write to me, let me have a few lines from -you--telling me how you are, and how the years pass. - -With me they have been somewhat uneventful--except, indeed, that your -wish to see me succeed with the Harpers has been realized: I have become -a contributor to the _Magazine_, and am going to have the honour of a -short sketch of myself in it,--of course, in connection with the New -Southern Literary Movement. And I will also soon have the pleasure of -sending you a new production, just got, or getting out by a Boston -house,--my "Chinese Ghosts;" brief studies in poetical prose, if you -like. They may amuse you in a leisure moment. - -I am soon going to run away to Florida, and perhaps the West Indies, for -a romantic trip--a small literary bee in search of inspiring honey. -There is a good market for books on Florida; and I may be able to get -one out this next winter. You will like my sketch in _Harper's_ when it -appears, as it deals with topics in which you are directly interested -professionally,--Gulf-coasts and shifting dunes, sands, winds and tides, -storms, and valiant saving of life. I think I am beginning to learn how -to do good work. - -I trust you are feeling strong and hearty. Last time you wrote me you -were quite ill. - -How delightful it would be if you could take a trip with me in March, to -the Floridian springs, to windy Key West, or to the palmier Antilles, -where we might watch together the rose-blossoming of extraordinary -sunrises, the conflagration of apocalyptic sunsets. Is it impossible? My -dreams now are full of fantastic light--a Biblical light: and the -World-Ghost, all blue, promises inspiration. Could we not celebrate the -Blue Ghost's pentecost together? - - Affectionately, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO W. D. O'CONNOR - - NEW ORLEANS, March, 1887. - -DEAR O'CONNOR,--I was sincerely pained to hear of your illness; and -reading your long, kind, affectionate letter, felt that I had, without -intending it, strained your generosity by causing you to write so much -while ill. Not that your letter was wanting in any of those splendid and -unique qualities which, I think, make you unrivalled as a letter-writer; -but that, having been once severely shocked by overwork myself, I am -fully aware how much it costs to write a long letter when the nervous -system flags. In sending you this tiny book, I only desire to amuse you -in leisure moments when you might feel inclined to read it;--don't think -I want you to write me about it; for if you were to write again before -you get quite strong you would pain me.... - -I find I will have to go to the West Indies by way of New York;--at -first I intended to go through lower Florida, and take a steamer at Key -West for Havana. But I would have to change vessels so many times, I -thought it best to get a New York steamer for Trinidad. In Trinidad I -can see South American flora in all their splendour; in Jamaica and, -especially, Martinique, I can get good chances to study those Creole -types which are so closely allied to our own. I want to finish a tiny -volume of notes of travel--Impressionist-work,--always keeping to my -dream of a _poetical prose_. - -But I feel you will have to make some new departure in your own work at -Washington: so terrible a mill as they have there for grinding minds, -frightens me! I used to think Government positions were facile to fill, -and exacted less than ordinary professions in private life. I see such -is not the case; and I hope you will be prudent, and not return to the -same exacting duties again--_enemigo reconciliado, enemigo doblado_. My -own sad experience at journalistic work, which broke me down, did me -great good: it rendered it out of the question ever to put myself in a -similar situation, and instead of the old loss of liberty I found -leisure to study, to dream a little, to conceive an ambition which I now -hope to fulfil in the course of a few years, if I live. Out of the -misfortune, good came to me; and I notice that Nature is really very -kind when we obey her;--she gives back more than she takes away, she -lessens energies to increase mental powers of assimilation; she compels -recognition, like the God of Job "who maketh silence in the high -places," and after having taught us what we _cannot_ do, then returns to -us a hundredfold that which she first took away. This is just what she -will do for you; and I even hope the day will come when you will feel -quite glad that you did overwork yourself a little, because the result -turned the splendid stream of your mind into a broader channel of daily -action, not confined within boundaries of hewn stone, but shadowed by -odorous woods, and swept by free winds, and changing under the pressure -of the will-current. - -I want you to feel full of cheer and faith in this dear Nature of ours, -who is certain to make you strong and lucky,--if you don't go back to -that horrid brain-mill in the Capital. - -I will write you a little while I am gone,--if I can find a little -strange bit of tropical colour to spread on the paper,--like the fine -jewel-dust of scintillant moth-wings. - -Believe me, with sincerest wishes and regards, - - Affectionately, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1887. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--Your letter contained a cutting truth,--"This is not a -country to dream in; but to get rich or go to the poorhouse." Still, O -golden-haired musician, is it not a crime to stifle the aspirations -toward the beautiful which strive to burn upon the altar of every -generous heart? Why not aim to kindle the holy fire, in spite of harsh -realities and rains of Disappointment? - -If you have written any pretty things recently let me see a copy soon as -possible. - -Don't forget me altogether. It will be best to address me at -post-office. - -A gentleman lent me a bundle of Creole music yesterday. I could not copy -it; the writing was too funny; but he is going to have it copied in -order to send it to you. - - Very truly yours, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - -_Afterthought!_--It has just occurred to me to ask if you are -familiar with Lissajous' experiments. I know nothing about them -except what I found in Flammarion's great "Astronomie Populaire." One -extraordinary chapter on numbers gives diagrams of the vibrations of -harmonics--showing their singular relation to the geometrical designs of -crystal-formation;--and the chapter is aptly closed by the Pythagorean -quotation: [Aei ho Theos geômetrei].--"God _geometrizes_ everywhere."... -I should imagine that the geometry of a fine opera would--were the -vibrations outlined in similar fashion--offer a network of designs -which for intricate beauty would double discount the arabesque of the -Alhambra. I was reading in an article on Bizet not long ago that music -has ceased to be an art and has become a _science_--in which event it -must have a _mathematical_ future!... Probably all this is old to you; -but it produced such an impression upon me when I first saw it, that I -believe its mention won't tire you anyhow. And then, between friends, it -is a pleasure to exchange thoughts even of the most hyperbolical, and, -perhaps, useless description. - - L. H. - -I send specimen music choral dance of Greek women in Megara. It is -called _La Trata_, and was first published in Bourgault-Ducoudray's -"Souvenirs d'une mission musicale en Grèce;"--I took mine from -_Mélusine_. The dance is very peculiar, and is supposed to have been -danced in antique times at the festival of Neptune or Poseidon. The -women form a chain, by so interlacing their hands that across each -woman's breast the hands of those on either side of her are clasped. The -dancers move forward and retreat in file,--as if pulling _nets_. Ancient -tomb-paintings show it was known in early Roman times also;--might not -the music be as old as the dance,--as old as Phidias anyhow?... I -suppose this is absurd, but wish it wasn't. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1887. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--Excuses for silence between us are, I fancy, recognized -as unnecessary, since they always have a good cause. I read with -admiration and pleasure the fine critiques you were kind enough to send -me; and I verily believe that you will be recognized sooner or later, if -you are not already, as the best musical critic in the United States. Of -course, I'm talking now on a subject I know little about; yet, if there -be any superior to you, I am sure it is only that, being much older than -you, they may have had a generation longer of opportunities for study. - -My little book is advancing; and I am now face to face with what I -recognize as one of the most awful situations in life, the criticism of -the proof-reader. I don't mean the commonplace proof-reader, who is a -mere printer; but the terrible scholar who supervises proofs for a -leading class of publishers, such as the man of the University or -Riverside Press, who knows all rules of grammar, all laws of form, all -the weaknesses of writers,--and whose frightful suggestions are often -simply crushing! What you have spent a month in making a beauty-blossom -of style, may suddenly fade into worthless dust at one touch of his -terrific pencil, making the simple hook-mark "?". I can imagine I hear a -voice asking: "Do you desire to make a fool of yourself by having this -line in print?" And then the after-thoughts, the premature hurrying away -of proofs, the frantic rush to the telegraph-office to have them -returned or corrected, the humble letters of apology for trouble given, -the yells of anguish in bed at night when I think to myself, "Oh! what a -d--d ass I have been!" I have been now three times in front of this -awful man, and like the angels he is without wrath and wholly without -pity. - -Your query about an opera-subject which suggested my lines about Rabyah, -also inspired me to make the story a poetical sketch in my best style, -which I sent to _Harper's Bazar_; and perhaps, when you read it, you -will think again more favourably about the theme. I am going one of -these days to make a study on the romance of Rabyah's courtship and -marriage, which is very pretty in the rendering of the old Arabian -chronicles. I understand exactly what you want; but not having any -accurate idea of stage-necessities and theatrical exigencies, I fear -you must always remain the one to determine the worth of any operatic -suggestion possible to make. Now, for example, I can't understand why -Rabyah's death could not be _mounted_, etc. You will like the _colour_ -of my sketch for the _Bazar_, to which I gave the title of "Rabyah's -Last Ride." I have adopted the Arabic names, in preference to Lyall's or -Muir's, unpronounceable at sight.--It seems to me that you can devise a -splendid piece of gloomy beauty from the "Kalewala." - -I am going to the West Indies as soon as my book is out. It will be a -tiny 16mo, with Chinese figures. - -Believe me always your warmest friend, - - LAFCADIO. - -I made a mistake in writing you about Hindola and Kabit; they represent -poetical measures, or styles of chant, not instruments. See how my -memory failed me. - - - TO ELIZABETH BISLAND - - NEW ORLEANS, 1887. - -DEAR MISS BISLAND,--More than two weeks before receiving your most -welcome letter, I wrote to Messrs. Roberts Bros. of Boston to send you, -as soon as published, a copy of "Chinese Ghosts," which will appear in a -few weeks. It opens with the story of the Bell--the legend of the Great -Bell of Pekin, or Pe-King;--and you will also find in it the "Legend of -the Tea-Plant:" both in better form than that which you first saw.... -If you watch the _Harper's Bazar_, you will find in it a little -pre-Islamic story--"Rabyah's Last Ride,"--which I expect will please -you. - -I am under so many obligations to you that I can't attempt to thank you -_seriatim_; but I am especially grateful to you for the pleasure of -knowing something of Mrs. Alice W. Rollins. All the nice little things -you have written about me and said about me, I can only hope to thank -you for _as I should like_, when I am better able to prove what I feel. - -As for your criticism of my queer ways, I can only say in explanation -that I suspected a slightly sarcastic tendency where I was no doubt -mistaken, and simply beat retreat from an imaginary fire. - -Anyhow, let me assure you no one has ever had a sincerer belief in, or a -higher opinion of your abilities, or a profounder recognition of many -uncommon qualities discerned in you,--than myself. I trust you will soon -receive the visit of the Ghosts: there are only six of them. - - Very truly and gratefully, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO ELIZABETH BISLAND - - NEW ORLEANS, April 7 and 14, 1887. - -DEAR MISS BISLAND,--Your delightful letter ought, I imagine, to have -been answered before; but among literary brothers and sisters a little -delay can always be comprehended and forgiven, even without explanation. -The explanation, however, might be interesting to one who feels so -generous a sympathy with my work. I am trying to find the Orient at -home,--to apply the same methods of poetical-prose treatment to modern -local and living themes. The second attempt, in form of a novelette, is -nearly ready. The subject of the whole is one which you love as much as -I,--Louisiana Gulf-life. - -Yes, indeed, I remember the Baboo!--with his prognathic profile, and his -Yakshasa smile. I remember him especially, perhaps, because I first -learned in his presence that your eyes were grey, instead of black.... I -sent the Baboo to Krehbiel with a letter last summer;--taking care, -however, to warn my friend against the ways of the Phansigars. Really -the Baboo was an uncanny fellow; and the mysterious fact of his -discharge from the British Civil Service impressed me as suspicious. - -I think you are really lucky to be able to see and hear a Brahmin, and -to find the East at your right hand. _Atmans_ and _mantras_, and the -_skandhas_, and the Days and Nights of Him with the unutterable name, -and the mystic syllable Aum! Enough to suggest all the rest,--light, -warmth, sounds, and the splendour of nights in which fountain-jets of -song do bubble up from the rich flood of flower-odours.... Perhaps I -shall be able to see the Brahmin;--I hope to be in New York early in -May. I do not know whether I shall behold _you_;--you will be there, as -here, a blossom dangerous to approach by reason of the unspeakable -multitude of bees! - -I have always wondered at your pluck in going boldly into the mouth of -that most merciless of all monsters--a Metropolis of the first -dimension,--and at your success in the face of very serious difficulties -of the competitive sort. Let me hope you will feel always confident, as -I do, that you are going to do more. You have one very remarkable and -powerful faculty,--that of creating an impression, that remains, with a -very few words. It shows itself in little things--for example, your few -lines about the composite photos. Do you still write verse? A little -volume of poetry by you is something I hope to see one of these days. -The only thing I used to be afraid of regarding you was that you might -lack the rare yet terribly necessary gift of waiting. And yet, there is -something very unique in your literary temperament;--you are able to -reach an effect at once and directly which others would obtain only by -long effort. If you like anything I have done, it is because I have -taken horrible pains with it. Eight months' work on one sketch;--then -eight months on another--not yet finished; but happily 120 pages are -done; and the first was only 75. The attempt at romantic work on modern -themes taught me lots of things. One is, that the purpose, as well as -the thought, must evolve itself, but the thought must come first;--then -the thing begins to develop--and always in a different way from that at -first intended. Also I found that the importance of noting down -_impressions_, introspective or otherwise,--and expanding them at -leisure, is simply enormous. Perhaps you know all this already;--if not, -try it and get a pretty surprise. - -I have one thing more to chat about;--I am trying to get all my friends -to read Herbert Spencer--beginning with "First Principles." Slow -reading, but invaluable; systematizes all one's knowledge and plans and -ideas. I've made three converts. The only way to read him is by -paragraphs--all of which are numbered. I am now wrestling with the two -big volumes of "Biology," and have digested one of the "Sociology." The -"Psychology" I will touch last, though it is his mightiest work. Four -years' study, at least, for me to complete the reading. But "First -Principles" contain the digest of all;--the other volumes are merely -corollaries. When one has read Spencer, one has digested the most -nutritious portion of all human knowledge. Also the style is worth the -labour,--puissant, compact, and melodious. - -Believe me always with many thanks for kind letter, - - Your friend and literary brother, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - -Twice commenced, it is time this rambling document should finish. But I -forgot to tell you C. D. Warner is here--stops at No. 13 Rampart. He -called once at my rooms, seated himself among the papers, dust, bad -pictures, and general desolation; and went away, leaving his card upon -the valise (long-extemporized into a desk). I did not see him! He never -called again. - - - TO GEORGE M. GOULD - - NEW ORLEANS, April, 1887. - -DEAR SIR,--However pleasant may have been the impulse prompting your -generous letter, I doubt whether you could fully comprehend the value of -it to myself,--the value of literary encouragement from an evidently -strong source. There is nothing an author or an artist needs so -much,--nothing that is more difficult to obtain. - -After all, the reward for him who strives to express beauty or truth, -for its own sake, is just such a letter as yours; for his aim is only to -reach and touch that kindred _something_ in another which the Christian -calls Soul,--the Pantheist, God,--the philosopher, the Unknowable. - -Your wish as to the application to modern themes of the same literary -methods is about to be accomplished. I do not know how the work will be -received by the public, nor can I tell just when it will appear; but I -_think_ soon, and in _Harper's Magazine_ (entre nous!). If it appears -subsequently (or immediately) in more enduring form, I shall show my -gratefulness by sending you a copy. - - Believe me, very sincerely, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO GEORGE M. GOULD - - NEW ORLEANS, April, 1887. - -DEAR MR. GOULD,--You could not have done me more pleasure than by -sending me your pamphlet on the "Colour-Sense." I am an Evolutionist, -and as thorough a disciple of Spencer as it is possible for one not a -practical scientist to be; and such studies, combined with art and -poetry, with which they serve in my case to stimulate and illustrate and -expand, are my delight. I like your criticism on Grant Allen, too. In -his "Physiological Æsthetics," as well as in "Common-Sense in Science" -and various other volumes, he has occasionally made singularly wild -divergences from the perfectly smooth path he professes to -travel--tumbled into imaginative thickets, lost himself in romantic -groves. Still he is, as you observe, more than interesting sometimes; -delightful, suggestive, skilled in giving a charming homeliness and -familiarity to new truths vast as the sky. - -The pamphlet on retinal insensibility I have not yet read through; and I -fear some parts of it will prove too technical for me. But its larger -conclusions and elucidations impress me already sufficiently to tell me -that a more complete grasp of it will more than please and surprise. - -My novelette is complete and in a publisher's hands. When you read the -first part, whether in the _Magazine_ or in book form,--I think you will -find much of what you have said regarding the Æsthetic Symbolism of -Colour therein expressed, intuitively,--especially regarding the -holiness of the sky-colour,--the divinity of Blue. Blue is the -World-Soul. - - With grateful regards, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO GEORGE M. GOULD - - NEW ORLEANS, 1887. - -DEAR MR. GOULD,--Reading your letter, I was strongly impressed by the -similarity in thought, inspiration, range, even chirography, with the -letters of a very dear friend, almost a brother, and also a -physician,--though probably less mature than you in many ways. A greater -psychological resemblance I have never observed. My friend is very -young, but already somewhat eminent here;--he has been demonstrator of -anatomy for some years at our University, and will ultimately, I am -sure, turn out a great name in American medicine. But he is a -Spaniard,--Rodolfo Matas. I first felt really curious about him after -having visited him to obtain some material for a fantastic anatomical -dream-sketch, and asked where I could find good information regarding -the lives and legends of the great Arabian physicians. When he ran off a -long string of names, giving the specialties of each man, and -criticizing his work, I was considerably surprised; and even felt a -little skeptical until I got hold of Leclerc and Sprengel and found the -facts there as given to me by word of mouth. I trust you will meet him -some day, and find in him an ideal _confrère_, which I am sure he would -find in you. It is a singular fact that most of my tried friends have -been physicians. - -You asked me about Gautier. I have read and possess nearly all his -works; and before I was really mature enough for such an undertaking I -translated his six most remarkable short stories: ("Une Nuit de -Cléopâtre;" "La Morte Amoureuse;" "Arria Marcella;" "Le Pied de Momie;" -"Le Roi Candaule;" and "Omphale"), which were published by R. -Worthington under the title of the opening story,--"One of Cleopatra's -Nights." The work contains, I regret to say, several shocking errors; -and the publisher refused me the right to correct the plates. The book -remains one of the sins of my literary youth; but I am sure my judgement -of the value of the stories was correct, and if ever able I shall try to -get out a new and correct edition. Of Sainte-Beuve I have read very -little--found him silver-grey. Most of the Romantic school I have. If -you like Gautier, how much more would you like the work of Julien Viaud -(Pierre Loti). We know each other by letter. Read "Le Roman d'un Spahi" -first; I think it will astonish you. Then "Le Mariage de Loti;" then -"Fleurs d'Ennui." All his work, which has already won, even for so young -a man, the highest encomium of the Academy, and the Vitel prize, is -extraordinary; but my dislike of grey skies, fogs and ice, causes me to -find less pleasure in "Mon Frère Yves," and "Pêcheur d'Islande," though -there are superb tropical pages scattered through the latter. - -I send you a little Arabian story, which I wrote for _Harper's Bazar_ -last winter, and which I will reproduce some day in another shape, if I -live to complete my Arabian plan. Perhaps you are familiar with the -legend. - -You will be glad to hear my novelette has been purchased by the -_Magazine_. So that I may ultimately hope to be able to leave -journalism alone. It is not arduous work for me; but I am a -thorough demophobe, and it compels me to meet many disagreeable -experiences,--experiences which often result in absolute nervous -prostration caused wholly by annoyance. You can imagine the difficulties -of creating artistic things only in the intervals of a long succession -of petty troubles. Such troubles would be absurd to most minds, but to -me they are horribly serious: I have a badly-balanced nervous make-up. - -Next week I go away to hunt up some tropical or semi-tropical -impressions. The _Atlantic_ has given me some attention, and I am going -to try to make a sketch for them. - -Yours must be a very remarkable mind: I was greatly impressed by the -plan and purpose and admirable instructive excellence of that optic -model you sent me the circular of. In fact, I feel very small when I -compare the work of my fancy with the work of such knowledge as yours. -Still I have the power to give you pleasure, which is quite a -consolation. - -Believe me very truly, your friend, - - LAFCADIO HEARN. - -P.S. Are you inclined to believe in a further evolution of the -colour-sense? Spencer, in vol. II "Biology," is rather conservative as -to the further prospects of _physical evolution_, although I suppose -further moral evolution must necessitate a further progress in the -nervous system. - - - TO GEORGE M. GOULD - - NEW ORLEANS, 1887. - -In reply to nearly all the questions about my near-sightedness, I might -answer, "Yes." Had the best advice in London. Observe all the rules you -suggest. Glasses strain the eye too much--part of retina is gone. Other -eye destroyed by a blow at college; or rather by inflammation consequent -upon blow. Can tell you more about myself when I see you, but the result -will be more curious than pleasing. Myopia is not aggravating. - -I knew you were going to have thorough success;--you will do far better -than you think. Wish I had the opportunity to study medicine, or rather, -the ability to be a good physician. Ah! to have a profession is to be -rich, to have international current-money, a gold that is cosmopolitan, -passes everywhere. Then I think I would never settle down in any place; -would visit all, wander about as long as I could. There is such a -delightful pleasantness about the _first_ relations with people in -strange places--before you have made any rival, excited any ill will, -incurred anybody's displeasure. Stay long enough in any one place and -the illusion is over: you have to sift this society through the meshes -of your nerves, and find perhaps one good friendship too large to pass -through. To be a physician, an architect, an engineer,--anything that -makes one capable of supplying to a universal or cosmopolitan want, is a -great capital. Next to this, a good tradesman is worthy of envy: he may -feel as much at home in Valparaiso as in New York; in Bangkok as in -Paris. - -Apropos of a medical novel, again,--have you had occasion to remark the -fact that among the French, every startling discovery in medicine or -those sciences akin to medicine, is almost immediately popularized by a -capital story? The best of those I have seen appeared in the _Revue -Politique et Littéraire_ and in the _Revue des Deux Mondes_. The -evolution of electricity by the human body suggested a powerful but very -Frenchy sketch in the former some years ago, which appeared -concomitantly with those theatrical exhibitions of a famous "electrical -woman." Then there was one dealing with the super-refinement of the five -senses, particularly vision and smell,--entitled "Un Fou." The -researches of Charcot and others into hypnotism and its phenomena, -doubtless suggested "Une Tresse Blonde" in the _Revue des Deux Mondes_. - -It is always a safe and encouraging thing to trace one's ancestral -history, supposing one be very philosophical. In your case it is. A fine -physical and mental man can feel sure from the mere fact of his -comparative superiority that he has something to thank his ancestors -for. But suppose the man be small, puny, sickly, scrofulous,--the -question of ancestry becomes unpleasant. We are far ahead of Tristram -Shandy, nowadays; the inferiority of the homunculus is no mere matter of -accident or interruption. How depressing some knowledge is, and how -little philosophy betters the situation some discoveries bring about. -Take such an example as this: a nice, sweet girl, full of physical -attractiveness, grace, freshness, with a delicious disposition, -fascinates you, you think of marriage. Somebody tells you the mother and -grandmother both went mad. How much of a change in your admiration is -produced by this simple fact. I saw this feeling put into practice. A -Southern planter--splendid man!--was asked for his daughter's hand by a -gentleman of the neighbourhood, whose grandfather had committed a -terrible crime. The young man was wealthy, accomplished, steady, brave, -had the best of reputations and was liked by the girl. The father -refused him frankly for the simple reason that he had in his veins some -of the blood of a great criminal. - -It must have struck you, if you have studied Buddhism--(not "esoteric -Buddhism," which is damnable charlatanism!)--how the tenets of that -great faith are convertible into scientific truths in the transforming -crucible of the new philosophy. The consequence of the crime or the -sacrifice in the forming of the future personality; the heights -attainable by discipline, of indifference to external things; the duty -and holiness of the extinction of the _Self_; the monstrous allegory of -the physical metempsychosis, which is the shadow of a tremendous truth; -the supreme Buddha-hood which is the melting into the infinite life, -light, knowledge, and the peace of the immensities: science gives an -harmonious commentary upon all these, which it refuses to the more -barbarous faith of the Occident. All that is noble in the Christianity, -too much boasted of, belongs also to the older and vaster dream of the -East--is perchance a dim reflection of it; the possibility of the -invasion of the Oriental philosophy into the Occident seems to me worthy -of consideration. In the meanwhile, it is unfortunate that such apes as -the ---- should parade their detestable _macaqueries_ as Buddhism and -obtain such hosts of hearers. - -Speaking of the sexual sense being "such an infernal liar," there are -reasons that lead me to doubt whether it is _all_ a liar. I think it -never tells a _physical_ lie. It only tells an ethical one. The physical -memory of the most worthless woman that ever ensnared a man vibrates -always afterward with a thrill of pleasure. But that is not really what -I intended to say: I want to know if there be any scientific explanation -of this fact. A woman wicked enough to tempt a man to cut his mother's -throat _may_ have a peculiar physical magnetism. The touch of her hand -in passing, the character of a look from her,--although she be -ugly,--may be irresistible, damning. A good woman, beautiful, graceful, -infinitely her physical superior, may have no such charm for the same -man. Here is a mystery I cannot explain. This phenomenon is especially -noticeable in the tropics, where differences of race and race mixture -produce astounding sexual variations. Never was there a huger stupidity -than the observation that "all women are in one respect alike." On the -contrary, in that one respect they differ infinitely, inexplicably, -diabolically, fantastically. - - L. H. - - - TO GEORGE M. GOULD - - NEW ORLEANS, 1887. - -DEAR MR. GOULD,--I posted a letter, thanking you for two treatises so -kindly sent, just before receiving your note. Be sure that I will find -it no small pleasure to have a chat with a brother-thinker, if I find -myself in Philadelphia this summer. - -To the best of my recollection the book you speak of is a small, thin -volume which only pretends to be a synopsis of the most gigantic of -existing epics--the Mahabharata excepted. There are three complete -translations of the colossal Ramayana:--The Italian version of Gorresio, -I think in ten vols.; the French prose one by Hippolyte Fauche in nine, -which I have read; and the exceedingly tiresome English translation (now -O. P.) by Griffith, in Popish verse. It was, I think, on this last that -"The Iliad of the East" was based--a very poor effort, artistically. - -These epics are simply inexhaustible mines of folk-lore and -legend,--like the Kath[=a]-sarit-S[=a]gara. But one gets cloyed soon. It -requires the patience of a Talmudist to work in these huge masses to get -out a diamond or two. But diamonds there are. You know that mighty -pantheistic hymn, the "Bhagavad-Gita," is but a little fragment of the -Mahabharata;--also the story of Nala, so beautifully translated by -Monier Williams, Arnold, and the wonderful dead Hindoo girl, Toru Dutt, -who wrote English and French as well as Hindustani and Sanscrit, made -also some exquisite renderings. All you could wish for in this -direction has not indeed been done; but it will take a hundred years to -do it. - -I am only a dilettante, not a linguist; and I only try to familiarize -myself with the aspect of a national Idea as manifested in these epics. -Some day I shall try to offer the public a little volume dealing with -the Old Arabic spirit--pre-Islamic and post-Islamic. The poetry of the -desert is Homeric. And I don't know but that for pure _natural_ poetry, -the great Finnish Kalewala is not more wonderful than the Indian epics. -When I made my brief renderings from the French edition of 1845, I was -not familiar with the completion of the work by the labours of Loennrot. - -Pardon long letter. You and I may have a good chance to talk these -things over later on. - - Very cordially yours, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO ELIZABETH BISLAND - - NEW ORLEANS, 1887. - -DEAR MISS BISLAND,--At the time your letter reached me, the few proofs -sent had been given away;--I have not many friends, of course, but I did -not have many proofs either. The best I can therefore do is to send -original photo. This is taking a liberty, I suppose, to send what wasn't -asked for; but it is the best I can do, and you can pitch it away if you -don't want it. - -My novelette is done, and I am waiting to hear of its fate before -starting. I am sure you will like it, and recognize a good deal of the -scenery. I do not know how long I shall stay in New York;--might only -stay a very short time, but quite long enough to see you once,--for a -little while. Then again I might take a notion to stay in the -North--don't really know what I shall do. - -What would be nice, if one could manage it, would be to live in the -country, or in some vast wilderness, and ship one's work away. But I -fear that will only be possible when I have become Ancient as the -Moon,--if I should ever become ancient. - - Very truly, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - -P. S. I met no more Hindoos here, but I met some other singular beings. - -My last pet was a Chinese doctor, whose name I cannot pronounce. He -tried to teach me Chinese; but I discovered nasal tones almost -impossible to imitate,--snarling sounds like the malevolent outcries of -contending cats.... "Gha!--ho-lha! Koum Yada! Gha! ghwang hwa!--yow -sum!" Under the placid _naïveté_ of a baby, my Chinese tutor concealed a -marvellous comprehension of human motives and of human meannesses. He -observed like a judge, and smiled always--always, with the eternal, -half-compassionate, half-divine smile of the images of Fo. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1887. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--All that is now delaying me is news from the Harpers -which I am waiting for. I have sent on my completed novelette,--an -attempt at treatment of modern Southern life in the same spirit of -philosophic romance as the "Ghosts" attempted to exemplify,--an effort -to reach that something in the reader which they call Soul, God, or the -Unknowable, according as the thought harmonizes with Christian, -Pantheistic, or Spencerian ideas, without conflicting with any. Of -course, I am a little anxious over this parturition;--have no idea how -it is going to impress Alden. In a week from this date I expect to hear -from him. Then I will be able to go. - -Of course, New York is a horrible nightmare to me. I have been a -demophobe for years,--dread crowds and hate unsympathetic characters -most unspeakably. I have only been once to a theatre in New Orleans; to -hear Patti sing, and I got out after she had sung one song. I can't be -much of a pleasure to any one. Here I visit a few friends steadily for a -couple of months;--then disappear for six. Can't help it;--just a -nervous condition that renders effort unpleasant. So I shall want to be -very well hidden away in New York,--to see no one except you and Joe. -There are one or two I shall have to visit; but I shall take care to -make those visits just before leaving town. - -Your suggestion about the catalogue was so kind, that I don't know how -to thank you. What bothers me about it are the following points:-- - -1. If the collection is a large one, seems to me that each department -should be entrusted to a specialist. Japanese armourers-work alone -demands that. You know what Damascus-steel means in literary and -scientific research; and the Japanese artisans surpassed the world in -such work. Then porcelains, lacquers, inlaid work, pictured books, -goldsmithery, etc. I know nothing about these things. - -2. The Japanese expert may have simply confined himself to titles, -dates, names;--or have made explanatory text as fitting and dry as -possible. If he has, I don't see how a _unique_ catalogue could be made. -The only way it could be made, I imagine, would be to make explanatory -text picturesque and rich in anecdote; which would require immense -reading, and purchase of many expensive books on the subject of art and -history--De Rosny, Gonse, Metchnikoff, etc. Oriental art is one of the -things I can never afford to study. It costs too much--the luxury of a -rich dilettante. - -3. Seems to me such a work would require at least six months to do at -all, a whole year to do well. Don't think I could afford to do it. I -cannot write or read at night. If it were simply a question of -translation and arrangement, it would be done soon; and I would need -only a few technical and art treatises, some of which I already have.... - - * * * * * - -I need rest and change a while,--not that I feel sick, but the continual -fight with malaria leaves a fellow's nerves terribly slack, like the -over-strained chords of a--well, better leave the rest of the simile to -you.... I don't know whether the "Ghosts" walk; but I have been told it -did me much good in Boston literary circles. The publishers voluntarily -made a 5-years'--10 per cent--contract with me; but I have not heard -from them. Notices were very contradictory outside of New York and -Boston. Some said the stories were literal translations; others said -they were fabrications, without any Chinese basis; others said the book -was obscene; others called it "exquisitely spiritual,"--in short, the -critics didn't seem to know what to make of it. Three lines in the -_Atlantic_ consoled me amply for naughty Western criticism. - -You may expect to hear _definitely_ from me very soon,--at latest, I -suppose, ten days. - - Affectionately, - L. HEARN. - -Have you any idea how big a catalogue it ought to be?--if 100, 200, 300 -pp. 16mo? Would it be indexed generally, or by departments,--duplex or -single? Five pp. a day on such a job would be work. Then rewriting at -rate of 10 pp. per day. All supposing that no research or elaborated -treatment of incident were required,--only description and explanation. - -I've had to open envelope to ask another question: Does he want the -catalogue written in _French_? Because if he does, I wouldn't attempt -it. No one but a Frenchman, or some rare men like Rossetti and -Swinburne can write artistic French. I can't write French with delicacy -and correctness. - -Or does he simply want bad French turned into good English? - -My experience is this. Translation--except for an artistic motive, and -with ample leisure--never pays, either in self-satisfaction or anything -else. Cataloguing, pure and simple, is the most terrible and tiresome of -earthly labours;--first notebook and eyes; then arrangement of amplified -notes by "a's" and "b's;" then enveloping or boxing, and pasting, then -rewriting; then, O God!--the proofs! - -I know how to do it, but it is so much _life_ thrown away--so much -thought-time made sterile. In this case the chief compensation would be -opportunity to study the phases of Japanese art,--the _esprit_. - - - TO ELIZABETH BISLAND - - NEW YORK, 1887. - -DEAR MISS BISLAND,--A small creature rang the bell at 136 Madison -Avenue. A large and determined concierge responded, and the following -converse ensued:-- - -S. C.--"Miss Bisland--?" - -C.--"No, sir!" - -S. C.--"Miss E-liz-a-beth Bisland--?" - -C.--"No, sir!" - -S. C.--"Isn't this 136 Madison Avenue?" - -C.--"Yes.--Used to live here.--Moved." - -S. C.--"Do you not know where--?" - -C.--"No, sir." - -S. C.--"None of her friends or relatives here, who could tell me?" - -C.--"No!" - -The sudden closing of the door here made a Period and a Finis. - -Then I wandered away down a double row of magnificent things that seemed -less buildings than petrifactions,--astonishments of loftiness and -silent power,--and wondered how Miss Elizabeth Bisland must have felt -when she first trod these enormous pavements and beheld these colossal -dreams of stone trying to touch the moon. And reaching my friend -Krehbiel's house I made this brief record of my vain effort to meet the -grey eyes of E. B. - - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - SAINT-PIERRE, MARTINIQUE, 1887. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--I was delighted to get your letter, the first which -reached me from America during my trip. My own correspondence has been -irregular, though I have written a good many short letters; but the -amount of work on my hands has been something enormous,--and I have only -had five idle days, caused by a fever due to imprudence. I got into a -marshy town, got wet, and came home with a burning headache. The result -was not serious except that I had to stop all writing for a while. - -You ask me to send you a hint about my work; but I think it were best to -say nothing about it. I have a very large mass of MS. prepared, and -don't yet know what I am going to do with it: it is not polished as I -should wish, but I hope to work it into proper shape in a few days more. -It consists simply of a detailed account of impressions, sensations, -colours, etc. I have tried to put the whole _feeling_ of the trip on -paper. Then I have about $60 worth of photos to illustrate it. My photo -set is very complete;--I have also a rich collection of Coolie and -half-breed types, including many nude studies. - -Strange as you may think it, this trip knocks the poetry out of me! The -imagination is not stimulated, but paralyzed by the satiation of all its -aspirations and the realization of its wildest dreams, The artistic -sense is numbed by the display of colours which no artist could paint; -and the philosophical sense is lulled to inactivity by the perpetual -current of novel impressions, by the continual stream of unfamiliar -sensory experiences. Concentration of mind is impossible. - -It pleases me, however, to have procured material for stories, which I -can write up at home; and for romantic material the West Indies offer an -unparalleled field of research. I shall return to them again at my -earliest opportunity;--the ground is absolutely untilled, and it is not -in the least likely that anybody in the shape of a Creole is ever going -to till it. - -[Illustration: SAINT-PIERRE AND MT. PELÉE BEFORE THE ERUPTION] - -By this time you will have seen the doll. I want to remind you that this -is more than a doll; it is really an artistic model of the dress worn by -the women of Martinique,--big earrings and all. The real earrings and -necklaces are pure gold; the former worth 175 francs a pair; the latter -often running as high as 500, 600, even 900 francs. - -In case this reaches you before leaving New York, I hope you will be -able to make some arrangement with Joe or somebody, so that I can put my -things in a place of safety for a day or two, until I can try to arrange -matters with the Harpers. I will be obliged to stay a short while in New -York,--and shall want a room badly, until my MS. and photos have been -disposed of, and my proof-reading has been done on "Chita." With -affectionate regards to all, - - Very truly yours, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - -P. S. I return with the Barracouta. - -My inquiries about the Marimba and other instruments have produced no -result except the discovery that our negroes play the guitar, the flute, -the flageolet, the cornet-à-piston! Some play very well; all the -orchestras and bands are coloured. But the civilized instrument has -killed the native manufacture of aboriginalities. The only hope would be -in the small islands, or where slavery still exists, as in Cuba, There -are one or two African songs still current, but they are sung to the -tam-tam-- - - Welleli, welleli, - hm, hm! - Papa mon ce papa mon - hm, hm! - Welleli, welleli, - hm, hm! - Maman mon ce maman mon - hm, hm! - Welleli, etc. - - - TO ELIZABETH BISLAND - - GEORGETOWN, DEMERARA, July, 1887. - -DEAR MISS BISLAND,--I suppose you will have just a tiny little bit of -curiosity to know about my impressions here? They have been all -flavoured with that enchanting sensation which artists term _surprise_. -The effect upon me has been such that I think the North will always look -torpid to me,--as a benumbed and livid part of our planet. Nearly all -these isles are volcanic; and this largely accounts for the green and -purple symmetry of their shapes. The colours are of the kind called -"impossible;"--and the days have such an azure expansion, so enormous a -luminosity that it does not really seem to be _our_ sky above, but the -heaven of some larger world. - -That's all I can attempt to say about it now (in a general way) without -wearying you. - -Imagine old New Orleans, the dear quaint part of it, young and idealized -as a master-artist might idealize it,--made all tropical, with narrower -and brighter streets, all climbing up the side of a volcanic peak to a -tropical forest, or descending in terraces of steps to the sea;--fancy -our Creole courts filled with giant mangoes and columnar palms (a -hundred feet in height sometimes); and everything painted in bright -colours, and everybody in a costume of more than Oriental -picturesqueness;--and astonishments of half-breed beauty;--and a grand -tepid wind enveloping the city in one perpetual perfumed caress,--fancy -all this, and you may have a faint idea of the sweetest, queerest, -darlingest little city in the Antilles: _Saint-Pierre_, Martinique. I -hope it will be my residence for the next two months,--and for the -latter part of my wretched little existence. I love it as if it were a -human being. - -Outside are queer little French islands, with queer names--_Marie -Galante_ is rather an old appellation for an island,--full of Cytherean -suggestion. - -We leave this very fantastic and unhealthy land--now smitten with -Gold-fever as well as other maladies--to-morrow. Then will come -Trinidad, with its Hindoo villages to see. Photos, bought at Demerara -and St. Kitts, predict visions of Indian grace worth daring the -perpendicular sun to see. I am now the only passenger. My last -companion--a fine Northwestern man--goes, I fear, to leave his bones in -the bush. From the interior men are being carried back to the coast to -die, yet the stream pours on to the gold-mines. My miner thinks he can -stand it: he has dug for African gold, under a fiercer sky. He was an -odd fellow. Saw no beauty in these islands. "No, partner--if you want to -see scenery see the Rockies: that's something to look at! Even the sea's -afraid of them mountains,--ran away from them: you can see four thousand -feet up where the sea tried to climb before it got scared!" - -Sometimes the apes on board are taught the experiences of life, the -advantages of civilization. Torpedoes are tied to their tails; -fire-crackers surround them with circles of crepitation and flame. Also -they are occasionally paralyzed by unexpected sensations of -electricity;--they have made the acquaintance of a galvanic battery; -they have been induced to do foolish things which resulted in sharp and -unfamiliar pains and burnings. Their lives are astonishments, and -prolonged spasms of terror. - -The sea at night is an awful and magnificent sight. It looks -infernal,--Acherontic;--black surges that break into star-spray;--an -abyss full of moving lights that come and go. - -Well, I can't write a good letter now;--wait till I get back to -Martinique. I wanted you to _know_ I had not forgotten my promise to -write. You must make a trip down here some day. It is not hotter than -New York except in the sun. - -_You can do whatever you wish._ You have force to do it. You have more -brains in your finger-tips than some who have managed to get a big -reputation. The little talk about Grande Isle that night was an absolute -poem,--gave me a sense of the charm of the place such as I felt the -first beautiful morning there. You don't know what you can do, _if you -want to_. - -I think I should do something with this novel material, it is so rich in -absurd colour! But I don't feel enthusiastic now. Enthusiasm has been -numbed by a long series of violent sensations and unexpected -experiences. I have artistic indigestion;--going to try to dream it away -at divine, paradisaical Martinique. There I will write you again. My -address will be, care American Consul. But you mustn't write unless you -have plenty of time;--I am only paying my debts, not trying to make you -waste paper answering me. - -I believe I am beginning to write absurdities: it is so hot that -rain-clouds form in one's head. - -Good-bye, believe the best you can of me. - - Your friend, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO ELIZABETH BISLAND - - SAINT-PIERRE, MARTINIQUE, 1887. - -DEAR MISS BISLAND,--I am settled here for at least a month:--wish I -could settle here forever. I love this quaint, whimsical, -wonderfully-coloured little town,--all its ups and downs, vistas of -azure harbour and overshadowing volcanic hills,--all the stones that -whisper under the myriad naked feet of this fantastic population. It -pleases me to find my affection for it is not merely inspiration: the -place has fascinated more than one practical American,--persuaded them -to abandon ambitions, contests, popular esteem, friends, society,--and -to settle here for the rest of their days, in delightful indolence and -dreamy content. - -In my trunk I have something for you: a Coolie girl's bracelet. It will -not look so well on your arm as on hers, because its effect depends on a -background of dark colour; and all this clumsy Indian jewelry is -inartistically wrought. It is indeed made chiefly for economical -reasons. Coolies so carry their wealth;--I saw one Hindoo wife with some -$900 worth of jewelry upon her. - -In the little Coolie village near Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, I sat, and -looked at rudely painted Indian gods, while waiting for the silversmith -to sit down before his ridiculous little anvil. All the palm-shadows, -intensely black, crawled outside like tarantulas; it was a glowing -day,--blindingly blue: the light of a larger sun seemed to fill the -world,--a white sun,--Sirius! - -"Ra!" called out the Coolie smith when I told him I wanted to look at -his jewelry;--and his wife came in. She wore the Hindoo garb without the -long veils: a white robe like a Greek chiton, or rather like a lady's -chemise,--leaving the arms and ankles bare, and confined about the -waist. I thought her very lovely,--slender and delicate,--a perfect -bronze-colour: the gold-flower attached to the nostril did not impair -the symmetry of the face;--extraordinary eyes and teeth. She held out -her pretty round arms for examination: there were about ten silver rings -upon each: the two outer ones being round, the inner eight being flat. -The arm was infinitely prettier than the bracelets;--I selected one -ring, and the smith opened and removed it with an iron instrument and -gave it me. It had a faint musky odour: perhaps that was why the smith -insisted on putting it into an absurdly small furnace, and purifying it -after the Indian manner. - -I wanted to buy a pair of baby bracelets;--so they brought in the -baby,--a girl, and therefore (?) having a dress on. The little babies of -the other sex wear nothing but circles of silver on arms and ankles. -Sometimes the custom is extended; for the little wife who carried her -girl baby to the post-office when I was at Demerara, carried it naked -at her hip in the most primitive manner. - -This Trinidad baby had absurdly large eyes,--looked supernatural: the -mother's eyes magnified. She held up her little arms and I chose two -rings. Then she talked to me in--Creole patois! It is the commercial -dialect of the poor; and the Hindoos learn it well. - - Always truly, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - -There are palms here over 200 feet high. There are fish here of all the -colours of marsh-sunset. - - - TO ELIZABETH BISLAND - - FORT DE FRANCE, MARTINIQUE, July, 1887. - -DEAR MISS BISLAND,--Imagine yourself turned into marble, all -white,--robed after the fashion of the Directory,--standing forever on a -marble pedestal, under an enormous azure day,--encircled by a ring of -tall palms, graceful as Creole women,--and gazing always, always, over -the summer sea, toward emerald Trois Islets. - -That is _Josephine_! I think she looks just like you, "Mamzelle -Josephine,"--or Zefine, if you like. - -I want to tell you a little story about her,--just a little anecdote -somebody told me on the street, which I want to develop into a sketch -next week. - -It was after the fall of the Second Empire,--after France felt the iron -heel of Germany upon her throat. - -Far off in this delicious little Martinique, the Republican rage made -itself felt;--the huge reaction passed over the ocean like a magnetic -current. So it happened, in a little while, that the Martinique -politicians resolved to do that which had already been done in -France,--to obliterate the memories of the Empire. - -There was Mamzelle Zefine, _par exemple_!... They put a rope round her -beautiful white neck. They prepared to destroy the statue. - -Then Somebody rang the Church-bell--(you ought to see the sleepy little -church: it makes you want to doze the moment you pass into its cool -shadow). A vast crowd gathered in the Savane. - -It was a crowd of women,--mostly women who had been slaves,--quadroons, -mulattoesses; the house-servants, the _bonnes_, the nurses and -housekeepers of the old days. (You could form no possible idea of this -coloured Creole element without seeing it: it does not exist in New -Orleans.) They gathered to defend Mamzelle Zefine. - -When the Republican officials came with their workmen at sunrise, -Mamzelle Zefine was still gazing toward Trois Islets; she was white as -ever; her pure cold passionate face just as lovely: she seemed totally -indifferent to what was about to happen,--she was dreaming her eternal -plaintive dream. - -But she could well afford to feel indifferent! About her, under the -circle of the palms, surged a living sea,--a tide of angry yellow faces, -above which flashed the lightning of cane-knives, axes, _couteaux de -boucher_. "Ah! li vieu!--lâches! cafa'ds! pott'ons! Vos pas cabab -toucher li! Touché li--yon tête fois!--Osé toucher li. Capons -Républicains! Osé toucher li!" - -Mamzelle Zefine still gazed plaintively toward Trois Islets. She must -have seemed to that yellow population to live;--for each one she -represented some young mistress, some petted child, some memory of the -old colonial days. And all the love of the slave for the master--all the -strange passionate senseless affection of the servant for the Creole -family--was stirred to storm by the mere idea of the proposed -desecration. The man who should have dared to lay an evil finger upon -Josephine that day would have been torn limb from limb in the public -square. The officials were frightened and foiled: they pledged their -faith that the statue should not be touched. - -So they took the ropes away; and they piled flowers at Mamzelle Zefine's -white feet; they garlanded her; they twined the crimson jessamines of -the tropics about her beautiful white throat. - -And she is still here,--always in the circle of the palms, always -looking to Trois Islets, always beautiful and sweet as a young Creole -maiden,--dreamy, gracious, loving,--with a smile that is like some -faint, sweet memory of other days. - - Always, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO ELIZABETH BISLAND - - NEW YORK, 1887. - -DEAR MISS BISLAND,--Thanks for the gracious little letter. I wish I -could see you, and see other friends; but fate forbids. Distances are -too enormous; engagements imperative; preparations for coming journey -made my head whirl. For I return to the tropics, dear Miss -Bisland,--probably forever: I imagine that civilization will behold me -no more, except as a visitor at very long intervals. I would like to -write you sometimes, praying only that my letters be not ever shown unto -newspaper people. You will hear from me soon again. I am off on Friday -afternoon, and have not even the necessary time to do what I ought to do -in the mere matter of exceedingly small purchases, outfits, etc. - -Good-bye, with best regards and something a little more, too. - - LAFCADIO HEARN. - -I have not seen Krehbiel at all,--was out of town when I returned, and -seems to have found no time afterwards. - - -TO ELIZABETH BISLAND - - NEW YORK, 1887. - -Your letter reached me just at a time when everything that had seemed -solid was breaking up, and substance had become Shadow. It made me very -foolish,--made me cry. Your rebuke for the trivial phrase in my letter -was very beautiful as well as very richly deserved. But I don't think it -is a question of volition. It is necessary to obey the impulses of the -Unknown for Art's sake--or rather, you _must_ obey them. The Spahi's -fascination by the invisible Forces was purely physical. I think I am -right in going: perhaps I am wrong in thinking of making the tropics a -home. Probably it will be the same thing over again: impulse and chance -compelling another change. - -The carriage--no, the New York hack and hackman (no romance or -sentimentality about these!)--is waiting to take me to Pier 49, East -River. So I must end. But I have written such a ridiculous letter that I -shan't put anybody's name to it. - - - TO GEORGE M. GOULD - - SAINT-PIERRE, MARTINIQUE, May, 1888. - -DEAR GOULD,--One of your letters, I think a P. Cd., many months ago, -caught me in British Guiana, another to-day finds me here. I left N. O. -in June, 1887, and have been travelling since, or at least sojourning in -these tropics. I have been sick, too,--have had some trouble fighting -the influences of climate, trouble in trying to carry out large plans -with absurdly small resources; and have been unable to do my friends -justice. How could you think I could have been offended? It was only the -other day, in a letter to the editor of _Harper's_, that I referred to -one of your delightful colour-theories. - -Praise from you I value very highly. As to impress such a mind as yours -means to me a great pride and pleasure. I am delighted "Chita" pleased -you. - -I have written a number of sketches on the West Indies,--some of which -may appear in a few months, others later on. It has been a hope of mine -to make a unique book on these strange Hesperides, with their singularly -mixed races; but I don't know whether I shall be able to carry the -project out. - -The climate is antagonistic to work. It is a benumbing power, rendering -concentrated thought almost out of the question. I can now understand -why the tropics have produced so little literature. - -We are quarantined and isolated for the present by a long epidemic of -small-pox, which among these populations means something as fatal as an -Oriental plague. The whites are exempt. But the disease, although on the -decline, still prevails to an extent rendering it doubtful when I can -get away from here. - -I would like much to hear from you when you have time. I am temporarily -settled here, and everything goes well enough now, so that I can write -regularly. - - With best affection, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO GEORGE M. GOULD - - GRAND ANSE, MARTINIQUE, June, 1888. - -DEAR DR. GOULD,--I am writing you from an obscure, pretty West Indian -village, seldom visited by travellers. Tall palms, and a grand roaring -sea, blue as lapis lazuli in spite of its motion. - -I was certainly even more pleased to hear from you than you could have -been at the receipt of my letter;--for in addition to the intellectual -and sympathetic pleasure of such a correspondence, the comparative -rarity of friendly missives, enhancing their value, lends them certain -magnetism difficult to describe,--the sensation, perhaps, of that North, -and that Northern vigour of mind which has made the world what it is, -and that pure keen air full of the Unknowable Something which has made -the Northern Thought. - -I seldom have a chance now to read or speak English; and English phrases -that used to seem absolutely natural already begin to look somewhat odd -to me. Were I to continue to live here for some years more, I am almost -sure that I should find it difficult to write English. The resources of -the intellectual life are all lacking here,--no libraries, no books in -any language;--a mind accustomed to discipline becomes like a garden -long uncultivated, in which the rare flowers return to their primitive -savage forms, or are smothered by rank, tough growths which ought to be -pulled up and thrown away. Nature does not allow you to think here, or -to study seriously, or to work earnestly: revolt against her, and with -one subtle touch of fever she leaves you helpless and thoughtless for -months. - -But she is so beautiful, nevertheless, that you love her more and more -daily,--that you gradually cease to wish to do aught contrary to her -local laws and customs. Slowly, you begin to lose all affection for the -great Northern nurse that taught you to think, to work, to aspire. Then, -after a while, this nude, warm, savage, amorous Southern Nature succeeds -in persuading you that labour and effort and purpose are foolish -things,--that life is very sweet without them;--and you actually find -yourself ready to confess that the aspirations and inspirations born of -the struggle for life in the North are all madness,--that they wasted -years which might have been delightfully dozed away in land where the -air is always warm, the sea always the colour of sapphire, the woods -perpetually green as the plumage of a green parrot. - -I must confess I have had some such experiences. It appears to me -impossible to resign myself to living again in a great city and in a -cold climate. Of course I shall have to return to the States for a -while,--a short while, probably;--but I do not think I will ever settle -there. I am apt to become tired of places,--or at least of the -disagreeable facts attaching more or less to all places and becoming -more and more marked and unendurable the longer one stays. So that -ultimately I am sure to wander off somewhere else. You can comprehend -how one becomes tired of the very stones of a place,--the odours, the -colours, the shapes of Shadows, and tint of its sky;--and how small -irritations become colossal and crushing by years of repetition;--yet -perhaps you will not comprehend that one can actually become weary of a -whole system of life, of civilization, even with very limited -experience. Such is exactly my present feeling,--an unutterable -weariness of the aggressive characteristics of existence in a highly -organized society. The higher the social development, the sharper the -struggle. One feels this especially in America,--in the nervous centres -of the world's activity. One feels at least, I imagine, in the tropics, -where it is such an effort just to live, that one has no force left for -the effort to expand one's own individuality at the cost of another's. I -clearly perceive that a man enamoured of the tropics has but two things -to do:--To abandon intellectual work, or to conquer the fascination of -Nature. Which I will do will depend upon necessity. I would remain in -this zone if I could maintain a certain position here;--to keep it -requires means. I can earn only by writing, and yet if I remain a few -years more, I will have become (perhaps?) unable to write. So if I am to -live in the tropics, as I would like to do, I must earn the means for it -in very short order. - -I gave up journalism altogether after leaving N. O. I went to Demerara -and visited the lesser West Indies in July and August of last -year,--returned to New York after three months with some MS.,--sold -it,--felt very unhappy at the idea of staying in New York, where I had -good offers,--suddenly made up my mind to go back to the tropics by the -very same steamer that had brought me. I had no commission, resolved to -trust to magazine-work. So far I have just been able to scrape -along;--the climate numbs mental life, and the inspirations I hoped for -won't come. The real--surpassing imagination--whelms the ideal out of -sight and hearing. The world is young here,--not old and wise and grey -as in the North; and one must not seek the Holy Ghost in it. I suspect -that the material furnished by the tropics can only be utilized in a -Northern atmosphere. We will talk about it together; for I will -certainly call on you in Philadelphia some day. - -I would not hesitate, if I were you, to begin the _magnum opus_;--the -only time to hesitate would be when it is all complete, before giving to -the printer. Then one may perhaps commune with one's self to advantage -upon the question of what might be gained or lost by waiting for more -knowledge through fresh expansions of science. But the true way to -attempt an enduring work is to begin it as a duty, without considering -one's self in the matter at all, but the subject only,--which you love -more and more the longer you caress it, and find it taking form and -colour and beauty with the patient years. - -I am horribly ignorant about scientific matters; but sometimes the -encouragement of a layman makes the success of the prelate. - -Now, replying to your question about "Chita." "Chita" was founded on the -fact of a child saved from the Lost Island disaster by some Louisiana -fisher-folk, and brought up by them. Years after a Creole hunter -recognized her, and reported her whereabouts to relatives. These, who -were rich, determined to bring her up as young ladies are brought up in -the South, and had her sent to a convent. But she had lived the free -healthy life of the coast, and could not bear the convent;--she ran away -from it, married a fisherman, and lives somewhere down there now,--the -mother of multitudinous children. - -And about my work, I can only tell you this:--I will have two -illustrated articles on a West Indian trip in the _Harper's Monthly_ -soon,--within four or five months. These will be followed by brief West -Indian sketches. Other sketches, not suited for the magazine, will go to -form a volume to be published later on. I do not correspond or write for -any newspaper, and I would always let you know in advance where anything -would be published written by me. - -You know what the nervous cost of certain imaginative work means; and -this sort of work I do not think I shall be able to do here. One -has no vital energy to spare in such a climate. I cannot read -Spencer here,--gave up the "Biology" (vol. II) in despair. But I -did not miss the wonderful page about the evolution of the -eye--hair--snail-horn--etc., etc.... I want to see anything you write -that I can understand, with my limited knowledge of scientific terms and -facts. And when you write again, tell me what you said of Loti in the -letter I never received. Did you read his "Roman d'un Spahi"? I thought -you would like it. If you do not, let me know why,--because Loti has had -much literary influence upon me, and I want to know his faults as well -as his merits. With love to you, - - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO GEORGE M. GOULD - - SAINT-PIERRE, MARTINIQUE, August, 1888. - -DEAR GOULD,--Many thanks for the _quid_!--the surprising _quid_. I have -been waiting to send you the _quo_, which I do not like so well as one -taken in New Orleans, of which I have no copy within reach. But before I -tell you anything about the _quo_, I ought to scold you for your -startling deception. I pictured you as a much younger man than -myself--although quite conscious of meeting an intelligence much more -virile and penetrating than my own, and with an experience of life -larger: this did not, however, astonish me; for whatever qualities I -have lie only in that one direction which pleased you and won your -friendship,--moreover, I had met several _much_ younger men than myself, -my mental superiors in every respect. But, all of a sudden you come upon -me with such a revelation of your personality as makes me half afraid of -you. I perceive that your _envergure_ is much larger than I imagined:--I -mean, of course, the mental spread-of-wing; and then your advice and -suggestions, while manifesting your ability to teach me much in my own -line, resemble only those proffered by old experienced masters in -literary guidance. It is exactly the advice of Alden, among one or two -others. - -Now about the _quo_. I am about five feet three inches high, and weigh -about 137 pounds in good health;--fever has had me down to 126. Nothing -phthisical,--36¾ inches round the chest, stripped. Was born in June -(27th), 1850, in Santa Maura (the antique Leucadia), of a Greek mother. -My father, Dr. Charles Bush Hearn, who spent most of his life in India, -was surgeon-major of the 76th British regiment (now merged in West -Riding Battalion). Do not know anything about my mother, whether alive -or dead;--was last heard of (remarried) in Smyrna, about 1858-9. My -father died on his return from India. There was a queer romance in the -history of my father's marriage. It is not, however, of the sort to -interest you in a letter. I am very near-sighted, have lost one eye, -which disfigures me considerably; and my near-sightedness always -prevented the gratification of a natural _penchant_ for physical -exercise. I am a good swimmer; that is all. - -Your advice about story-writing is capital; I am not so sure about your -suggestion of plot. I cannot believe--in view of the extraordinary -changes (changes involving even the whole osseous structure) wrought in -the offspring of Europeans or foreigners within a single generation by -the tropical climate--that anything of the parental moral character on -the _father's_ side would survive with force sufficient to produce the -psychical phenomena you speak of. In temperate climates these do survive -astonishingly, even through generations; in the tropics, Nature moulds -every new being _at once_ into perfect accord with environment, or else -destroys it. The idea you speak of occurred to me also; it was abandoned -after a careful study of tropical conditions. It could only be used on -an _inverse_ plot,--transporting the tropical child to the North. At -least, I think so, with my present knowledge on the subject,--which -might be vastly improved, no doubt.... - -About story-writing, dear friend, you ought to know I would like to be -able to do nothing else. But even in these countries, where life is so -cheap, I could not make the pot--or as they call it here, the -_canari_--boil by story-writing until I gain more literary success, and -can obtain high prices. A story takes at least ten or twelve months to -write, that is, a story of the length of "Chita." Suppose it brings only -$500,--half as much as you will soon be able to obtain for a single -operation! It is pretty hard to live even in the tropics on that sum. I -must write sketches too. They do me other good also, involve research I -might otherwise neglect. I have prepared some twelve sketches in all, -which obligated investigation that will prove invaluable for a -forthcoming novelette. - -I like your firm, strong, sonorous letter, better than anything of the -sort I ever received. The only thing I did not relish in it was the -suggestion that I should prepare a lecture, or make an appearance before -a private club. I would not do it for anything! I shrink from real life, -however, not at all because I am pessimistic. It is a very beautiful -world:--the ugliness of some humanity only exists as the shadowing that -outlines the view; the nobility of man and the goodness of woman can -only be felt by those who know the possibilities of degradation and -corruption. Philosophically I am simply a follower of Spencer, whose -mind gives me the greatest conception of Divinity I can yet expand to -receive. The faultiness is not with the world, but with myself. I -inherit certain susceptibilities, weaknesses, sensitivenesses, which -render it impossible to adapt myself to the ordinary _milieu_; I have to -make one of my own, wherever I go, and never mingle with that already -made. True, I lose much knowledge, but I escape pains which, in spite of -all your own knowledge, you could not wholly comprehend, for the simple -reason that you _can_ mingle with men. By the way, it is no small -disadvantage in life to be 5 ft. 3 in. high. I remember observing, at a -great gathering of American merchant princes, that the small or -insignificant looking men present might have been counted on the fingers -of one hand. Success in life still largely depends upon the power to -impose respect, the reserve of mere physical force; since the expansion -of everybody's individuality--at the expense of everybody else's -individuality--is still the law of existence. - -I am not yet sure what I am going to do. One thing certain is that I am -to go to South or to Central America--for monetary reasons. I may linger -here long enough to finish a novelette. If not able to do so, I will -perhaps be in New York before December. I left it October 2, 1887, after -a stay of only three weeks, to return to the tropics. It was then -impossible to visit Philadelphia. Should I go to the Continent from -here, you will know at least six weeks in advance. - -Thanks for the superb paper on Loti. I cannot imagine anything much -finer in the way of literary analysis. But what does James -want?--evolution to leap a thousand years? What he classes as sensual -perceptions must be sensitized and refined supernally,--fully evolved -and built up _before_ the moral ones, of which they are the -physiological foundations, pedestals. Granting the doubt as to the -ultimate nature of Mind, it is still tolerably positive that its -development--so far as man is concerned--follows the development of the -nervous system; and that very sensuousness which at once delights and -scandalizes James, rather seems to me a splendid augury of the higher -sensitiveness to come, in some future age of writers and poets,--the -finer "_sensibility of soul_," whose creative work will caress the -nobler emotions more delicately than Loti's genius ever caressed the -senses of colour and form and odour. - -You ask about my idea of Whitman? I have not patience for him,--not as -for Emerson. Enormous _suggestiveness_ in both, rather than clear -utterance. I used to like John Weiss better than Emerson. Then there is -a shagginess, an uncouthness, a Calibanishness about Whitman that -repels. He makes me think of some gigantic dumb being that sees things, -and wants to make others see them, and cannot for want of a finer means -of expression than Nature gives him. But there is manifest the rude -nobility of the man,--the primitive and patriarchal soul-feeling to men -and the world. Whitman lays a Cyclopean foundation on which, I fancy, -some wonderful architect will yet build up some marvellous thing.... -Yes, there is nonsense in Swinburne, but he is merely a melodist and -colourist. He enlarges the English tongue,--shows its richness, -unsuspected flexibility, admirable sponge-power of beauty-absorption. He -is not to be despised by the student. - -Let me pray you not to make mention of anything written to you thus, -even incidentally, to newspaper folk--or to any literary folk who would -not be _intimate_ friends. There are reasons, more than personal, for -this suggestion, acceptance of which would remove any check on -frankness. - - Best love to you, from - LAFCADIO HEARN. - -Speaking of Whitman, I must add that my idea of him is not consciously -stable. It has changed within some years. What I like, however, was not -Whitman exactly,--rather the perception of something Whitman feels, and -disappoints by his attempted expression of. - -After closing letter I remember you wanted to know about illustrations -in magazine. They are after photos. I am sorry to say incorrect use has -been made of several: the types published as _Sacratra_ were not -_Sacratra_, but in two cases half-breed Coolie,--one seemingly of -Southern India, showing a touch of Malay. There were other errors. It is -horrible not to be able to correct one's _own_ work,--on account of -irregularities in mail involved by quarantine. In the December number -you will see a study of a peculiar class of young girls here. If you -want, yourself, to have some particular photo of some particular thing, -send word, and I will try to get it for you. - -I can only work here of mornings. Nobody dreams of eating before noon: -all rise with the sun. After 2 P.M., the heat and weight of the air make -thinking impossible. Your head gets heavy, as if there was lead in it, -and you sleep. - - - TO GEORGE M. GOULD - - SAINT-PIERRE, MARTINIQUE, - October, 1888. - -DEAR FRIEND GOULD,--I have read your delightful letter,--also, the -delightful essays of James you so kindly sent me. I suspect James has -not his equal as a literary chemist: the analyses of his French -contemporary, Lemaître, are far less qualitative. You have made me know -him as a critic;--I had only known him as a novelist. My work has been -poor; it has been condensed and recondensed for the magazine till all -originality has been taken out of it; finally I never had a chance to -revise it in proof. I believe I have temporarily lost all creative -power: it will come back to me, perhaps, when I inhale some Northern -ozone. - -I would like to call your attention to the article by Loti in -_Fortnightly Review_--"Un Rêve," a delicious little psychological -phenomenon. Have you seen "Madame Chrysanthemum"--wonderfully -illustrated! - -Are you perfectly, positively sure there is really a sharp distinction -between moral and physical sensibilities? I doubt it. I suspect what we -term the finer moral susceptibilities signify merely a more complex and -perfect evolution of purely physical sensitiveness. The established -distinction simply seems to me that "moral" feelings are those into -which the sexual instinct does not visibly enter, or those in which some -form of desire, some form of egotism, does not predominate at the cost -of justice to others. There is a queer vagueness about all definitions -of the moral sense. When one's physical sensibilities are fully -developed and properly balanced, I do not think wickedness to others -possible. The cruel and the selfish are capable of doing what is called -wrong, because they are ignorant of the suffering inflicted. Thorough -consciousness of the result of acting forms morality, if morality is -self-restraint, self-sacrifice, incapacity to injure unnecessarily;--one -who understands pain does not give it. Of course, I am not a believer in -free will. I do not believe in the individual soul,--though in the -manifestations of a universal human, or divine, soul, I am inclined to -believe, or to have that doubt which almost admits of belief. What -offends in certain writings, I suppose, is the feeling that the writer's -faculties are not perfectly balanced,--that certain senses are so much -more developed than others that one can suspect him of yielding to -cruelties of egotism. Perhaps I may say that I would call moral -feelings, as distinguished from those termed physical, the sensitiveness -of perception of suffering in others,--of the consequences of acts. But -can those be thoroughly developed before those which conduce to -self-preservation? I imagine the reverse to be the case. By the -super-refinement of the earlier sensations comes the capacity for the -"higher sentiments." It is true that moral standards are very old, but -those existing are also very defective. Evolutionally, egotism must -precede altruism;--altruism itself being only a sort of double reflex -action of egotism.--All this is very badly written; but you can catch -the idea I am trying to express. - -When you think of tropical Nature as cruel and splendid, like a leopard, -I fancy the Orient, which is tropical largely, dominates the idea. -Humanity has a great beauty in these tropics, a great charm,--that of -childishness, and the goodness of childishness. As for the mysterious -Nature, which is the soul of the land, it was understood by the ancient -Mexicans, whose goddess of flowers, Coatlicue, was robed in a robe of -serpents interwoven. She is rich in death as in life, this Nature, and -lavish of both. I would love her; but I fear she is an enemy of the -mind,--a hater of mental effort. - -No, indeed, I did not laugh at your experiences. I have had nearly as -multiform; but mine were less successful,--I was less fitted for them. I -have not your advantages, nor capacities. I never learned German. It is -only in America such careers are possible. I wish I could have finished -like you, as a physician; for I hold, that with the modern development -of medicine as an enormous interbranching system of science and -philosophy, the physician is the only perfect man, mentally. Like those -old Arabian physicians who affected to treat the soul, the modern knows -the mind, the reason of actions, the source of impulses,--which must -make him the most generous of men to the faults of others. - -I don't like your plot for a medical novel at all. It involves ugliness. -I believe in Théophile Gautier's idea of art, study only the -beautiful;--create only ideals, therefore. You are not a realist, I am -sure. Then your plot is too thin. It has not the beauty nor depth of -that simple narrative about a famous painter, or writer,--I forget -which,--whose imagination rendered it impossible for him to complete his -medical studies. Shapes impressed themselves upon his brain as on the -brain of an artist: vividly to painfulness. He was in love, engaged to -be married; under the peach flesh and behind the velvet gaze, he always -saw the outlined skull, the empty darkness of void orbits. He had to -abandon medicine for art. A very powerful short sketch might be made of -this _fact_. - -I believe in a medical novel,--a wonderful medical novel. We must chat -about it. Why not use a fantastic element,--anticipate discoveries hoped -for,--anticipate them so powerfully as to make the reader believe you -are enunciating realities? - -Your objection to my idea is quite correct. I have already abandoned it. -It would have to be sexual. Never could you find in the tropics that -magnificent type of womanhood, which, in the New England girl, makes one -afraid even to think about sex, while absolutely adoring the -personality. Perfect natures inspire the love that is a fear. I don't -think any love is noble without it. The tropical woman inspires a love -that is half a compassion; this is always dangerous, untrustworthy, -delusive--pregnant with future pains innumerable. - -I don't know why you hold the work of Spencer, etc., more colourless -than those of the other philosophers and scientists whom you have -studied--all except beastly Hegel: there is an awful poetry to me in the -revelation of which these men are the mouthpieces, as much vaster than -the old thoughts as the foam of suns in the _via lactea_ is vaster than -the spume of a wave on the sea-beach. Wallace I know only as a traveller -and naturalist; is it the same Wallace? I am very fond of him too: he is -very human, fraternal: he is not like God the Father as Spencer is. I -suppose what we need is God the Holy Ghost. He is not yet come. - -Flower, who wrote that interesting little book "Fashion in Deformity" -and many other excellent things, could find some good texts here. I am -convinced now that most of our fashions are deformities; that grace is -savage, or must be savage in order to be perfect; that man was never -made to wear shoes; that in order to comprehend antiquity, the secret of -Greek art, one must know the tropics a little (so much has fashion -invaded the rest of the world), and that the question of more or less -liberty in the sex relation is like the tariff question--one of -localities and conditions, scarcely to be brought under a general rule. - - - TO GEORGE M. GOULD - - SAINT-PIERRE, MARTINIQUE, - February, 1889. - -DEAR GOULD,--A letter to you has been lying on my desk for months -unfinished,--I can only just gum the envelope and let it go as it is. I -am obliged at intervals--thank Goodness, only at very long ones--to let -all correspondence, even the most important, wait a little or risk the -results of interrupting a work which exacts all one's thinking time -during waking hours. This has been partly my case,--having just -completed a novelette; but I have also had a good deal of trouble about -other matters that left me no chance to do anything until now. I am free -again,--I hope for a good long time. - -Meanwhile I received your pamphlets, and read every one with more -pleasure than you could readily believe a non-scientific man could feel -in them. Of course, those which interested me most were: - -1. That on the Homing Instinct (a much better word than the French -_orientation_). 2. That on the electric light. My first experience with -the light was painful; then I learned to like it (the white, not the -yellow) very much and found gaslight intensely disagreeable afterward. -By the way, do you correspond with Romanes, who solicits correspondence -on the subject of animals? You know him, of course, the author of -"Animal Intelligence" and "Mental Evolution in Animals." A man like that -ought to be delighted with such a splendid and powerful suggestion as -that of your pamphlet. I hope you are not too patriotic to think you -cannot do better with a scientific suggestion abroad than at home. There -are certain things that seem to me too worthy to remain buried in the -archives of a medical society,--which ought to reach a larger scientific -circle through a more eclectic medium, such as that of the superb -foreign reviews, devoted to what used to be called natural history, but -for which the term has long ago become too small. Still I am sure you -must have heard from your paper on the homing instinct if the -publication in which it appeared reached the quarters it ought to have -reached. - -I don't know what to tell you about myself. Since October last I have -been buried in my room--facing, happily, a semi-circle of Mornes curving -away into a sea like lapis lazuli--and have neither heard nor seen -anything else. We had an epidemic of yellow fever which carried away -many Europeans and strangers; but it is over, and the weather is -delightful, if you can call weather delightful which keeps you drenched -in perspiration from morning to night, and forces you to lie down and -sleep in the afternoon if you dare attempt to write or read. The -difficulty of work in such a climate only those who have had the -experience can understand. I think my case is an experiment; almost a -phenomenon,--and I am very curious to know the result by the verdict -upon my work. I cannot judge it myself here. What at sundown seems good -in the morning appears damnably bad; and I was obliged to give every -page a test of three or four days' waiting. My novelette made itself -out of an incident related to me about a case of heroism during a great -negro revolt. - -There is no question but that I shall be in New York this summer, for a -while. It is imperative. I have to oversee work before it can be -published;--that which already appeared was in terribly bad shape on -account of my not having seen the proofs. Then I may be getting out a -little book. - -Did you see the incident in regard to the admission of a remarkable -young lady doctor into the profession by the faculty of Paris,--the -remarks of Charcot and others? I thought of your medical novel. There -were some remarks very suggestive made. The thesis of the candidate was -the position and duty of woman as a physician. You know what those -French are, and what peculiar ways they have of looking at the question -of women as physicians;--the Paris papers made all kinds of -_observations scabreuses_; but the dignity of the girl carried her -splendidly through the ordeal--an ordeal to which Americans would never -put a female student. - -I have a curious compilation,--"Etudes pathologiques et historiques sur -l'origine et la propagation de la Fièvre Jaune" (1886),--perhaps you -know it already,--by Dr. Cornilliac of Martinique. If you do not know it -I will send it you from New York. It contains a great deal of valuable -matter regarding the climate of the West Indies, and formative -influences of that climate on races and temperament. Martinique has had -several physicians of colonial celebrity,--how great I cannot estimate, -being ignorant of their comparative value; but some of them have a -decided charm as writers and historians. Such was Rufz de Lavison, -author of a delightful history of the colony, and a work upon the -_trigonocephalus_, which would not bear equal praise, I fancy. If you -want any information about medical matters in Martinique, I will hunt it -up for you. - -I hope to see you and have a great chat with you. But the heat is great, -and there is an accumulation of letters to answer, and you will forgive -me for saying for the moment good-bye. - - Your sincere friend, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO GEORGE M. GOULD - - SAINT-PIERRE, MARTINIQUE, - April, 1889. - -DEAR GOULD,--I read your pamphlets with intense pleasure: that on the -effect of reflex neurosis, of course, impressed me only as a curious -research; but your paper on dreams, full of truth and suggestive beauty, -had much more than a scientific interest for me. There is a world of -poetical ideas and romantic psychology evoked by its perusal. I wonder -only that you did not dwell more upon the softness, sweetness, -impalpable goodness of this dream-world in which everything--even what -we usually think wrong--seems to be right. Doubtless all man's dreams of -paradise, of a golden past age, or a perfect future, were born of the -thin light vanishing sensations of dream. The work of Gautier cited by -you--"Avatar"--was my first translation from the French. I never could -find a publisher for it, however, and threw the MS. away at last in -disgust. It is certainly a wonderful story; but the self-styled -Anglo-Saxon has so much damnable prudery that even this innocent -phantasy seems to shock his sense of the "proper." - -You will be pleased to hear my novelette has been a success with the -publishers. It cost me terrible work in this continual heat, small as it -is; and I feel so mentally blank that I must get back to the States for -a while to seek some vitality, brighten whatever blood I have got left -after two years of tropical air. - -If you could find me in Philadelphia a very quiet room where I could -write without noise for a few months, I would try my luck there. New -York is stupefying; I know too many people there; and I want to be very -quiet,--only to see a friend or two now and then, when I am in good trim -for a chat. I shall return to the West Indies in the winter. - -Address me if you have time to write c/o H. M. Alden, Edr. _Harper's -Magazine_;--for I shall have left Martinique, doubtless, by the time -this reaches you. - - Faithfully, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO JOSEPH TUNISON - - NEW YORK, 1889. - -DEAR JOE,--By the time this reaches you I shall have disappeared. - -The moment I get into all this beastly machinery called "New York," I -get caught in some belt and whirled around madly in all directions until -I have no sense left. This city drives me crazy, or, if you prefer, -crazier; and I have no peace of mind or rest of body till I get out of -it. Nobody can find anybody, nothing seems to be anywhere, everything -seems to be mathematics and geometry and enigmatics and riddles and -confusion worse confounded: architecture and mechanics run mad. One has -to live by intuition and move by steam. I think an earthquake might -produce some improvement. The so-called improvements in civilization -have apparently resulted in making it impossible to see, hear, or find -anything out. You are improving yourselves out of the natural world. I -want to get back among the monkeys and the parrots, under a violet sky -among green peaks and an eternally lilac and lukewarm sea,--where -clothing is superfluous and reading too much of an exertion,--where -everybody sleeps 14 hours out of the 24. This is frightful, nightmarish, -devilish! Civilization is a hideous thing. Blessed is savagery! Surely a -palm 200 feet high is a finer thing in the natural order than seventy -times seven New Yorks. I came in by one door as you went out at the -other. Now there are cubic miles of cut granite and iron fury between -us. I shall at once find a hackman to take me away. I am sorry not to -see you--but since you live in hell what can I do? I will try to find -you again this summer. - - Best affection, - L. H. - - - TO ELIZABETH BISLAND - - PHILADELPHIA, 1889. - -DEAR MISS BISLAND,--A week ago in New York I was asking a friend where -you were, but could then obtain no satisfactory information without -taking steps I had no time to attempt. I was really glad to get out of -the frightful whirl and roar of modern improvements as soon as possible, -but regretted not seeing you, even while assured of being able to do so -before long. - -It is true I have been silent with my friends: I did not write seven -letters in seventeen months,--not even business letters. It was very -difficult to write anything in the continuous enervating heat; and I had -to struggle with difficulties of the most unlooked for sort, -incessantly,--until I found correspondence become almost impossible. But -I thought of you very often; and wondered if you were still in that -terrible metropolis. I saw in Max O'Rell's book some lines about a -charming young lady and thought it must have been you.... I returned on -the 8th from Martinique. - -Dr. Matas sent me your pretty eulogy of "Chita"--which I often re-read -afterward, and which gave me encouragement when I began to doubt whether -I could do anything else.... I don't think I shall write another story -in the same manner,--feel I have changed very much in my way of looking -at things and of writing. "Chita" will soon be sent to you in book form -as a souvenir of Grande Isle: it is not as short a story as it looked in -the serried type of _Harper's_--will make a volume of 225 pp. I will -have something else to send you, however, that will interest you more as -to novelty,--a volume of tropical sketches. - -I wonder whether you could ever throw upon paper the thoughts you -uttered to me that evening I visited you nearly two years ago,--when you -said _why_ you liked Grande Isle. In your few phrases you said much that -I had been trying to express and could not,--at least it so seemed to -me.... I have seen a great many strange beaches since; but nothing like -the morning charm of Grande Isle ever revealed itself. I wonder if I -were to see it now, whether I should feel the same pleasure.... - -Thanks for those verses!--there is a large, strong, strange beauty in -them. There seems, you know, to be just now a straining-up of eyes to -look for some singer able to prophesy,--to chant even one hymn of that -cosmic faith that is stealing upon the world. - - Affectionately your friend, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO ELIZABETH BISLAND - - PHILADELPHIA, 1889. - -DEAR MISS BISLAND,--Oh! what a stiff epistle, with a little sharp -pointing of reproach twisting about in the tail of every letter! Really -you must never, never feel vexed at anything I write:--I wrote you just -as I wrote to Mr. Stedman about the same matter. I feel the man -sometimes is much less than the work: my work, however weak, is so much -better than myself, that the less said about me the better,--then there -are so many things you do not know. As for _you_ not liking -personalities, that is a very different thing! Your own personality has -charm enough to render the truth very palatable. But I am sure, now, -from your letter anything you say will be nice,--though I think it would -have been better not to have said it. Does a portrait of an ugly man -make one desirous to read his book? I could not get out of the Harper -plan for an article on Southern writers, without hurting myself -otherwise; but the candid truth is that I felt like yelling when I saw -the thing--howling and screeching! Indeed I think that my belief in the -invisible personality of a man has been largely forced by my thorough -disgust with the visible personality. Schopenhauer says a beautiful -thing about the former,--that the "I" is the dark point in -consciousness,--just as the point of the retina where the sight-nerve -enters is blind, and as the brain itself is without sensation, and the -eye sees all but itself. I am not anxious to see my soul; but the fact -of inability to see it encourages me to believe it is better than the -thing called L. H. - -I don't know that I wrote anything clever enough to be worth your using, -but it is a pleasure you should think so. I can only suggest that the -adoption of my poor notions would tend to make me selfish about such as -I might think really good ones--I would keep them out of my letters, -until they could get into print!?! - -_Sub rosa_, now!... My Martinique novelette comes out--the first -part--in January. I think you will like it better than "Chita:" it is -more mature and more exotic by far. It will run through two numbers. -They have made some illustrations which I have not seen, and am -therefore afraid of. Unless an illustration either reflects precisely or -surpasses the writer's imagination, it hurts rather than helps. By the -way, have you ever met H.F. Farny? Farny is an Alsatian, a fine man, and -a superb sketcher--though lazy as a serpent. But if you ever want -imaginative drawing of a certain class, he is one to do it. - -Please don't ask me when I'm going to New York. I really can't find out. -I wish I could. I ought to be there on the 15th. But I am peculiarly -situated, tied up by a business-muddle,--tangled by necessities of -waiting for information,--tormented, befuddled, anxious beyond -expression about an undecided plan,--shivering with cold, and longing -for the tropics. All my life I have suffered with cold--all kinds of -cold--psychical and physical;--I hate cold!!!!--I _never_ can resign -myself to live in it!--I can't even think in it, and I would not be -afraid of that Warm Place where sinners are supposed to go! Perhaps the -G.A. will sentence me to everlasting sojourn in an iceberg when I have -ceased to sin. - -Very faithfully, and to some extent apologetically. - -For you I do remain always as nice as I can be. - - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO ELIZABETH BISLAND - - PHILADELPHIA, 1889. - -DEAR MISS BISLAND,--I can't say definitely when I shall be in New York, -to have the delightful pleasure of a chat with you--something I have -been looking forward to for fully a year; but I will write to tell you a -few days in advance. I am drifting about with the forces of -circumstance--following directions of least resistance. Just now I have -a large mass (at least it looks very big to me) of MS. to amend and -emend and arrange into a tropical book: you will like some things in it. -When this job is finished, in a couple of weeks, it is probable I will -set to work on a short sketch or story, for which I have the material -partly arranged; and then I will go to New York. It is so quiet in this -beautiful great city, and my present environment is so pleasant, that I -am sure of doing better work here than I could in that frightful cyclone -of electricity and machinery called New York.... - -I am afraid you were right about the tropics, and the fascination of -climate. It is still upon me, and I shall find it very difficult to -conquer the temptation to return to the French colonies: the main fact -which helps me is the conviction that I cannot work there,--one's memory -and will blurs and fails in the incessant heat and sleepy air; and for -three months before leaving I could not write a line.... My friends -advise me to try the Orient next time; and I think I shall. - -I have a novelette in the _Magazine_ pigeon-holes,--you will like it; -but I don't know when it is going to come out. - -It is not a little pleasure to know that my admiration of your verses -can be an encouragement;--you have quite forgiven my ancient effort to -_amend_ a stanza by spoiling it!... I think your present position will -leave you time--after a while--for all you love to do, and can do so -uniquely. Magazine editing is so largely a question of method and -system--so far as I can learn--that I fancy you will eventually find it -possible to claim a few hours every day for yourself;--and such -systematic work as you must take hold of, will not, like journalistic -routine, deaden aspiration. I hope you will have a greater success with -the new monthly than you yourself expect, and I am sure you will if you -have fair chances at all.--But I must wait for the opportunity to see -you--because what one writes (at least what I myself write) on such -matters sounds so fictitious and flat,--though you know it comes from -your sincere friend, - - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO ELIZABETH BISLAND - - PHILADELPHIA, 1889. - -DEAR MISS BISLAND,--It is true that I am only a small Voice;--but the -Voice has been uninterruptedly in the City of Doctors and Quakers, with -the exception of a much regretted interim passed in looking at that -monstrosity,--aptly described by C. D. Warner as "having been cut out -with a scroll-saw,"--Atlantic City.... (May I never, never behold -anything resembling it again!) I fear you must have written the address -wrong--so I send you the right one. It will always do: no matter where I -be. The Voice will call at 475 Fourth Avenue as soon as it can. It is -not its fault that it has not so done already. Everything to be written -must be finished, if possible, by the 15th prox.,--so that I can get -some place where the air is blue before cold weather. I will not be able -to run away from the country before Christmas anyhow. - -I trust you are very, very well,--and as--everything--nice as anybody -could wish, and with best regards, remain always, - - Your very true and positive friend, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - -P.S. Now I want to see those letters which came back from the Dead -Letter Office. Is it really so? - - - TO ELIZABETH BISLAND - - PHILADELPHIA, 1889. - -DEAR MISS BISLAND,--I know I am a horrid _ignis fatuus_; but the proofs -of "Chita" are only half-read, and I have no time to get away till it is -all done. Then I am working on a sketch,--then there will be more -proof-reading to do on the other book. But I will certainly get away in -a few weeks more, and will have ever so many things to tell you. - -I have never seen the _Cosmopolitan_ in its new dress, and I do not know -what has been going on anywhere.... - -Philadelphia is a city very peculiar--isolated by custom antique, but -having a good solid social morality, and much peace. It has its own dry -drab newspapers, which are not like any other newspapers in the world, -and contain nothing not immediately concerning Philadelphia. -Consequently no echo from New York enters here--nor any from anywhere -else: there are no New York papers sold to speak of. The Quaker City -does not want them--thinks them in bad taste, accepts only the magazines -and weeklies. But it's the best old city in the whole world all the -same. - - Faithfully, - L. HEARN. - - - TO ELIZABETH BISLAND - - PHILADELPHIA, 1889. - -MY DEAR MISS BISLAND,--I don't know whether you saw a little gem of -Loti's in the _Fortnightly_; I cut it out and send it,--also an attempt -at translation which proves the wisdom of the English magazine editor in -printing it in French,--and a comment of mine. I don't think you are -likely to wish to print such a thing as the translation; but if you -should, don't use it without sending me a proof, because it is full of -errors. - -While in Saint-Pierre, Martinique, I found it--originally contributed, -in French, to the _Fortnightly_ for August, 1888--copied into a French -paper. The impression made by reading it startled me for reasons -independent of the exquisite weirdness of the thought. There was the -great orange sunset of the tropics before me, over a lilac -sea,--bronzing the green of the mango, and tamarind-trees, and the -broad, satiny leaves of _bananier_ and _balisier_. The interior -described in the vision was not of modern Saint-Pierre; but I knew an -old interior in Fort de France, whose present quaint condition repeated -precisely the background of the dream. A hundred years ago there were -but two places on the sunset-side of Martinique which could have -presented the spectacle of the little low streets described,--Fort de -France and Saint-Pierre. The high mountains cut off the sunset glow at -an early hour on the eastern side of the island. It seemed to me a -strange coincidence that in _Les Colonies_, a local paper, I had just -read also, that some old cemetery of Fort de France was about to be -turned into a playground for children. - - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO ELIZABETH BISLAND - - PHILADELPHIA, 1889. - -DEAR MISS BISLAND,--Verily shirîn, shirîntar, and shirîntarin art -thou,--and Saadi in the Garden of the Taj likewise,--and also the letter -which I have just received. - -Emotionally the book is surely Arnold's strongest: it has that intensity -of sweetness which touches the sphere of pain. One need not seek in the -Bostan or Gulistan for the essence of that volume: the Oriental thought -has been transfigured in its reflection from a nineteenth century mind. -There has been in one of Edwin Arnold's books some suggestion of a -future religion of human goodness and human brotherhood, through -recognition of soul-unity,--but in none, I think, so strangely as in -this. And then, what horror to read the very coarse interview published -recently in a daily paper: the brutal repetition of a man's words -uttered under constraint, about the most sacred of sentiments!... - -No; I won't go to New York till you come back. I trust you will not -overwork yourself: when we see (I mean "hear") each other, we can talk -over all known devices for lightening literary duties. I am acquainted -with some; and I would not have you fall sick for anything--unless you -were to do me something "awfully mean:" then I'm afraid I would not be -so sorry as I ought to be. - -I will try to give you something for the Christmas number anyhow,--but -not very long. By the way, I have an idea which may be wrong, but seems -to me worth uttering. The prose fiction which lives through the -centuries in the short story: like the old Greek romances--narratives -like "Manon Lescaut;" "Paul et Virginie;" the "Candide" of Voltaire; the -"Vicar of Wakefield;" "Undine," etc., outlive all the ampler labour of -their authors. It seems to me that with this century the great novel -will pass out of fashion: three-quarters of what is written is -unnecessary,--is involved simply by obedience to effete formulas and -standards. As a consequence we do not read as we used to. We read only -the essential, skipping all else. The book that compels perusal of every -line and word is the book of power. Create a story of which no reader -can skip a single paragraph, and one has the secret of force,--if not of -durability. My own hope is to do something in accordance with this idea: -no descriptions, no preliminaries, no explanations--nothing but the -feeling itself at highest intensity. I may fail utterly; but I think I -have divined a truth which will yet be recognized and pursued by -stronger minds than mine. The less material, the more force;--the -subtler the power the greater, as water than land, as wind than water, -as mind than wind. I would like to say something about light, heat, -electricity, rates of ether-vibration;--but the notion will work itself -out in your own beautiful mind without any clumsy attempts of mine to -illustrate. - ---About the translation,--do as you please,--but don't please put it in -a great big daily, next to the account of a prize-fight or a -murder,--and please, if you do anything with it, see, _above all things -earthly_, that I get proofs. But I would just as soon you would keep it. -I made it for you, and am glad you had not seen the original previously. -I thought the _Cosmo._ was a sort of literary weekly. It is a beautiful -little magazine,--full of surprises; and I trust it is going to win a -great success. - -Good-bye;--your Voice wishes you a very happy pleasure-trip, in which -you will feel all sorts of new feelings, and dream all manner of new -dreams. - - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO ELIZABETH BISLAND - - PHILADELPHIA, 1889. - -This morning I dropped you a little note; but this afternoon, reading -your book-chat in the _Cosmo._ I find I must write you something more -impersonal. - ---You know, perhaps, that Spencer's thought about education--the -paramount necessity of educating the Will through the Emotion--has -received, consciously or unconsciously, more attention in Italy than -elsewhere. The Emotions are not, as a rule, educated at all outside of -the home-circle. The great public schools of all countries have a system -which either ignores the emotions, or leaves them unprotected;--while -all sectarian teaching warps and withers them in the direction, at -least, of their natural growth. You know all this, I suppose, better -than I. But perhaps you do not know the "Cuore" of Edmondo de Amicis -(Thos. Y. Crowell & Co.), which has passed through 39 Italian editions. -And if you do not know it, I pray you to read it without skipping a -single phrase. It is as full of heart-sweetness as attar-of-roses is -full of flower-ghosts; and it seems a revelation of what emotional -education might accomplish. - -I read Brownell's book at your suggestion. It contains, I think, the -best teaching about _how_ to study French character; but I could not -accept many of its inferences,--especially in regard to art and -morality,--without reluctance. There is a sense of something wanting in -the book--something lucid and spiritual (is it Conviction?) that makes -it heavy. How luminous and psychically electric is Lowell's book -compared with it. And how much nobler a soul must be the dreamer of -Chosön! - ---I shall never write "Miss Bisland" again, except upon an envelope. It -is a formality,--and you are you: you are not a formality,--but a -somewhat. And I am only - - "_I._" - - - TO GEORGE M. GOULD - - 1889. - -DEAR GOULD,--Verily there is no strength nor power but from God,--the -High, the Great! I have thy letter, O thou of enormous working capacity, -and I admire and wonder, but am in no wise sorry for thee, seeing thou -doest that which thou art able to do, and findest pleasure therein and -excellence and dignity and power,--and that if thou wert doing it not -thou wouldst surely be doing something else;--for God (whose name be -exalted!) hath numbered thee among those who find felicity in exceeding -activity. Thou art indeed forty-one years old, by reckoning of time; but -as thou art of the Giants this reckoning hath no signification for thee. -Verily thou art but twenty-five years old, and thou shalt never know -age until a hundred winters shall have passed over thee. And all things -which thou dost desire shall be accorded unto thee by Him who, like -thyself, reposeth never, and whose blessed name be forever exalted! Also -unto thee shall the patients come, as an army for multitude, so that thy -bell shall make but one ringing through all thy days continuously, and -that thy neighbours shall be oppressed by reason of the concourse in the -street about thy dwelling. - -But as for me, concerning whom thou makest inquiry, trouble not thyself -about thy servant, whose trust and power are in God--the High, the -Great! That which shall be shall be, and that which hath been shall not -be again:--for the moment, indeed, I am concerned only to know why the -flame of my lamp goeth _upward_, and all flame likewise,--unless it be -for the purpose of praising God (whose name be exalted by all living -creatures!). For thou saidst unto me, being a Kafeer, that Flame is a -vibration only; but thou hast not been able to tell me the mystery of -the pointing of fire and the upreaching of it to the feet of God, the -Compassionate, the Merciful. - -Here it raineth always, and this Soul of me is slowly evaporating, -despite the perusal of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, who spake of souls. -Meseems that each time I behold the eyes of her concerning whom I spake -to thee, something of that soul is drawn out unto her, and devoured -perhaps for sustenance of that Jinneyah--which is her own soul. So that -mine hath become thin as the inner shadow wrought by a strong double -light upon the ground; and I shall become even as a vegetable -presently--having knowledge of nothing save the witchery of God in the -eyes of women. The memory of Schopenhauer hath passed,--and with its -passing I find my only salvation in a return to the study of the Oceanic -Majesty and Power and Greatness and Holiness and Omniscience of the mind -of Herbert Spencer. - -Be thou ever blessed and loved by the sons of men, even as by - - HEARN. - - - TO GEORGE M. GOULD - - 1889. - -GOULD,--You must have skipped, bad boy!--for the girl is _not_ "all face -and foot"! You missed the finely detailed account of her body in -William's diary,--and the just observation of a trait characteristic of -the race in its purity; the great length of the lower limb,--fine -greyhounds, fine thoroughbred horses, and fine men and women have all -this characteristic, like the conventional figures of antique gem-work. -The gipsy-girl is possible: I have seen charming ones. You must read -Borrow's "Gipsies" (the unabbreviated edition in two volumes),--also his -"Bible in Spain," and "Lavengro,"--a Gipsy novel. Simpson's "Gipsies" is -also worth looking at.... But if you won't believe in the bird of -passage, take Carmen and believe in her--there, at least, you will not -doubt: all will prove in accordance with possible sin and sorrow. Why do -you want the Bird's body to be better known--since nobody ever knew it -any better than you know it; (or would know if you had read all)--could -not have except by making to operate, like the Vicar of Azey-le-Rideau, -all its "hinges and mesial partitions," even to disjuncture. What a -singular fact in the history of torture, that the inquisitor was trained -to believe the beautiful body he was breaking and rending and burning -was _never beautiful_--that its grace and symmetry were illusions, the -witchcraft of the dear old compassionate Devil striving to save his -victim by the mirage of fleshly attractiveness! Only through this belief -could certain monstrosities have been possible. It was always Saint -Anthony's temptation! - -I have a book for you--an astounding book,--a godlike book. But I want -you to promise to read every single word of it. Every word is dynamic. -It is the finest book on the East ever written; and though very small -contains more than all my library of Oriental books. And an American (?) -wrote it! It is called "The Soul of the Far East." It will astound you -like Schopenhauer, the same profundity and lucidity. Love to you, - - HEARN. - - - TO GEORGE M. GOULD - - 1889. - -DEAR GOULD,--I blacked--that is, I had my boots blacked yesterday,--just -for the same reason that we do things after people are dead (which we -would not have done for them while they lived and asked), with a -ghostly idea of pleasing them. If you had been here I might not have -had them blacked, but as you were gone, I did it for the Shadow of -you. And I gave the boy 20 cents,--because of the feeling that he -might never have such a chance again. That boy runs after me now -everywhere,--but--he is mistaken! I am no longer the same! I have -satisfied my conscience, and enjoy Nirvana. - -This morning when I got up I thought the streets looked queer. It seemed -as if they were lighted by the afternoon in some way or other, instead -of the morning. I went to the P. O. with "The Soul of the Far East." How -silent the streets for a Friday morning! The population seemed all to -have ebbed away somewhere as if to look at something. The post-office -was silent as a pyramid inside. I went to the book-store, and found it -closed,--and for the first time realized that it was Sunday. Then I -understood why the streets looked like afternoon; and the sunshine had a -tinge as of evening in a cemetery. Confound Sunday! - -Talking with Jakey last night about Nature, I heard him express the -opinion that his capacity of scientific realization of the _causes_ of -things was enough to account for the absence in him of any feeling of -awe or reverence in the presence of mountain scenery. It occurred to me -therewith that the characteristic of indifference to poetry might be -almost common to mathematicians. The man who wrote "The Soul of the Far -East" and "Chosön" is nevertheless an accomplished mathematician. But -you will notice that his divine poetry touches only that which no -scientific knowledge can explain,--that which no mathematics can -solve,--that which must remain mysterious throughout all conceivable -span of time,--the fluttering of the Human Soul in its chrysalis, which -it at once hates and loves, and hates because it loves, and strives to -burst through, and still fears unspeakably to break,--though dimly -conscious of the infinite Ghostly Peace beyond. - - HEARN. - - - TO GEORGE M. GOULD - - 1889. - -DEAR GOULD,--I feel like a white granular mass of amorphous crystals--my -formula appears to be isomeric with Spasmotoxin. My aurochloride -precipitates into beautiful prismatic needles. My Platinochloride -develops octohedron crystals,--with a fine blue fluorescence. My -physiological action is not indifferent. One millionth of a grain -injected under the skin of a frog produced instantaneous death -accompanied by an orange blossom odour. The heart stopped in systole. A -base--L_3 H_9 NG_4--offers analogous reaction to phosmotinigstic -acid. Yours with best regards, - - PHOSMOLYODIC LAFCADIO HEARN. - -GOULD,--"Concerning zombis, tell me all about them." - -HEARN,--"In order to relate you that which you desire, it will be -necessary first to explain the difference in the idea of the -supernatural as existing in the savage and in the civilized mind. Now, -I remember a very strange thing...." - -GOULD,--"I'll be back in a minute." (_Strides across the street._) - -Violent agitation in the peripheral centres of Hearn, together with -considerable acute anguish, owing to disintegration of cerebral tissue -consequent upon the sudden arrest of nerve-force in discharge. (See -Grant Allen on cause of pain, "Physiological Æsthetics.") - -Gould, suddenly reappearing:--"Go on with that old story, now." - -(Resurrection of cerebral agitation in the ganglionic centres and -intercorrelate cerebral fibres of Hearn. After desperate and painful -research, the broken threads of memories and impulses are found again, -and peripherally conjointed, and the wounded narrative proceeds, limping -grievously.) - -HEARN,--"As I was observing, I recollect one very curious instance of -emotional and fantastic--" - -GOULD,--"Yes, I'll be out in a moment--" (_Disappears through a door._) - ---Brutal confusion established in the visual, auditory, gustatory, and -olfactory ganglia of Hearn;--general quivering and strain of all the -mnemonic current lines, and then a sense of inquisitorial torture going -on in various brain-chambers, where the vital forces, suddenly arrested, -flow back in a deluge and set all ideas afloat in drowning agony. Slow -recovery as from concussion of the cerebellum. - -ENTER GOULD,--"Now proceed with that story of yours." - -HEARN,--pacifying the fury of the ganglionic centres with the most -extreme possible difficulty, timidly observes,-- - -"But you don't care to hear it?" - -GOULD,--moving with inconceivable rapidity, dynamically overcharged,-- - -"Of course, I do: I'm just dying to hear it." - -Hearn, running after him, skipping preliminaries in the anguish of "hope -deferred which maketh the heart sick,"-- - -"Well, it was in the Rue du Bois Morier,--one of the steepest and -strangest streets in the world, full of fantastic gables, and the -shadows of--" - -GOULD,--"Yes, I'll be out in a minute." (_Vanishes through a shop -entrance._) - -(Inexpressible chaos and bewilderment of impulses afferent and -efferent,--electrical collisions in the ganglia,--unspeakable combustion -of tissue in the intercorrelating fibres,--paralysis of conflicting -emotions,--unutterable anguish: coma followed by acute mania in the -person of Hearn.) - -GOULD,--emerging, "Well, go on with that old yarn...." - -But Hearn is being already conveyed by two large Philadelphia Policemen -to the Penn. Lunatic Asylum for Uncurables. - -Astonishment of Gould. - - - TO GEORGE M. GOULD - - 1889. - -GOULD,--Just after I wrote you last night, something began to whiffle -quite soundlessly round my head: I saw only a shadow, and I turned down -the gas,--remembering that he who extinguisheth his light so that -insects may not perish therein, shall, according to the book of Laotse, -obtain longer life and remission of sins. Then it struck me with its -wings so heavily that I knew it was a bat,--for no bird could fly so -silently; and I turned up the gas again,--full. There it was!--very -large,--circling round and round the ceiling so swiftly that I felt -dizzy trying to turn to keep it in sight,--and as noiselessly as its own -shadow above it. I could not tell which was the shadow and which the -life,--until both came together at last upon a ledge, and made a little -peak-shouldered devilish thing with strangely twisted ears. - -All at once I remembered an experience in Martinique one summer evening. -We were at Grand Anse,--friend Arnoux and I,--supping in a little room -opening over a low garden full of banana-trees, to the black beach of -the sea; and the great Voice thundered so we could scarcely hear -ourselves speak; and the candle in the verrine fluttered like something -afraid. Then right over my head a bat began to circle, with never a -sound. Arnoux exclaimed: "_Mais, mon cher, regarde cette sacrée -bête--ah--c'est drôle!_" By the look of his face I knew _drôle_ meant -"weird." He struck it down with his napkin and it disappeared; but a -moment later came back again, and flew round as before. Again he hit it -and drove it away; but it always came flitting back. Then we all -laughed;--and Pierre, the host, tickling my ear with his beard, cried -out,--"_C'est ta maîtresse à Saint-Pierre--elle est morte,--elle vient -te chercher._" And I looked so serious that Arnoux burst into a laugh as -loud as the surf outside. - -Now when I saw that bat, I thought it was "weird,"--_drôle_ as the -other. I even found myself wondering, Who it could be? I thought it -might be Clemence, about whose death I received news in my last letter. -I did not think for a moment it was Gould. Only some very poor simple -soul would avail itself of so humble a vehicle for apparition.... Then -it looked so much like something damned as it moved about, that I felt -ashamed of thinking it could be Clemence,--the best kind of old souls, -Clemence!--My _blanchisseuse_. It was not easy to catch the bat without -hurting it. I argued that if it was anybody I knew it could not be -afraid of me. It sat on the mirror. It went under the table. It -flattened under the trunk and feigned death. Then I caught it in my hat; -and it revealed its plain nature by burying its teeth in my finger; and -it would not let go,--and it squeaked and chippered like a ghost. I was -almost mad enough to hurt it; but I tried to caress its head, which felt -soft and nice. But it showed all its teeth and looked too ugly, and -there was a musky smell of hell about it--so that I knew, if it were -anybody, the place with a capital "P" where it came from. I put it in a -box. To-night I am going to let it go. - - With love to you, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO GEORGE M. GOULD - - 1889. - -MY MOST DEAR GOULD,--I am really quite lonesome for you, and am -reflecting how much more lonesome I shall be in some outrageous -equatorial country where I shall not see you any more;--also it seems to -me perfectly and inexplainably atrocious to know that some day or other -there will be no Gould at 119 S. 17th St. That I should cease to make a -shadow some day seems quite natural, because Hearn is only a bubble -anyhow ("the earth hath bubbles"),--but you, hating mysteries and seeing -and feeling and knowing everything,--you have no right ever to die at -all. And I can't help doubting whether you will. You have almost made me -believe what you do not believe yourself,--that there are souls. I -haven't any, I know; but I think you have,--something electrical and -luminous inside you that will walk about and see things always. Are you -really--what I see of you--only an envelope of something subtler and -perpetual? Because if you are, I might want you to pass down some day -southward,--over the blue zone and the volcanic peaks like a little -wind,--and flutter through the palm-plumes under the all-purifying -sun,--and reach down through old roots to the bones of me, and try to -raise me up. - -"Ruth" maketh progress; but I had to murder the "Mother of God." Anyhow -the simile would have had a Catholic idolatrousness about it, so that I -don't regret it.--I send a clipping I found in the trunk, to make you -laugh: the "Femmes Arabes" of Dr. Perron furnished me the facts.--Mrs. -Gould moveth or reposeth in serenity,--Jakey fulfilleth with becoming -dignity the duties devolved upon him. I have consumed one plug of -"Quaker City;" but as the smoke spires up, the spiritual-sensualism of -"Ruth" becometh manifest. - -There has been some rain almost worthy of the tropics,--and much -darkness. And I can understand better why the ancients of Yucatan, -accustomed to the charm of real physical light (about which you -Northerners know nothing), put no fire into their hell, but darkness -only, as woe enough for tropical souls to bear! - -I hope you are having a glorious, joyous journeying, and remain, - - Lovingly yours, - HEARN. - - - TO ---- - - 1889. - -I am very sorry your trip was a chilly and rainy one. As for me, I have -been shivering here, and have got to get South somewhere soon,--if only -till I can get back to the tropics. I am sorry to confess it; but the -tropical Circe bewitches me again--I must go back to her. - -I had such a queer dream last night. A great, warm garden with high -clipped hedges,--much higher than a man,--and a sort of pleasant -country-house, with steps leading into the garden,--and everywhere, even -on the steps, hampers and baskets. Krehbiel was there,--he told me he -was going to Europe never to come back. And you were there, too, all in -black silk--sheathed in it; you were also going away somewhere; and I -was packing for you, getting things ready. Everybody was saying nice -things: one did not seem to hear,--really one never hears voices in -dreams,--but one feels the words, tones and all, as if they passed -unspoken--just the soul or will of them only--out of one brain into -another. I can't remember what anybody said precisely: what I recollect -best is the sensation that everybody was going, and that I was to stay -all alone in the place, or anywhere I pleased; and it was getting dark. -Then I woke up, and said: "Well, I really must see her." I suppose -dreams mean nothing: but interpreted by the contrary, as is a custom, it -would mean the reverse--that I am going away somewhere,--which I don't -yet know. - - Always and in all things yours, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - -P. S. Oh!--you spoke about Philadelphia.... Is it possible you have -never seen it? Is it possible you have never seen Fairmount Park? -Believe me, then, that it is the most beautiful place of the whole -civilized world on any sunny, tepid summer day. Your Central Park is a -cabbage-garden by comparison: F. Pk. is fifteen miles long, by about -eight or ten broad. But the size is nothing. It is the beauty of the -woods and their vistas, the long drives by the river, the glimpse of -statuary and fountains from delightful terraces, the knolls commanding -the whole circle of the horizon, the vast garden and lawn spaces, the -shadowed alleys where 100,000 people make scarcely any more sound than a -swarm of bees,--and over it all such a soft, sweet dreamy light. (When -you go to see it, be sure to choose a sunny, _warm_ day.) Thousands of -thousands of carriages file by, each with a pair of lovers in it. -Everybody in the park seems to be making love to somebody. Love is so -much the atmosphere of the place,--a part of the light and calm and -perfume--that you feel as if drenched with it, permeated by it, -mesmerized. And if you are all alone, you will look about you once in a -while, wondering that somebody else is not beside you.... But I forgot -that I am not writing to a stupid man, like myself. - - L. H. - - - TO ---- - - NEW YORK, November, 1889. - -Oh! you splendid girl!--will it really give you some short pleasure to -see this old humbug's writing again?... I was very sorry not to have -been able to see you: I should have wished to be able to give you a few -bits of advice about precautions to take during the tropical part of -your trip. But I have faith in your superb constitution and youth,--and -trust this will reach eyes undimmed by fever, and brightened more than -ever by the glow of all the strange suns that will have shone upon you. - -So that is my dream that I wrote you about: it was you, not I, that were -to run away. But I did not help you to do your packing, as I imagined. - -I wonder if you went away in black silk, or black cashmere: I dreamed of -you all in black that time. And when I saw the charming notice about you -in the _Tribune_, there suddenly came back to me the same vague sense of -unhappiness I had dreamed of feeling,--an absurd sense of absolute -loneliness. - -For seldom as I saw you, I must tell you that I looked forward to such -visits as to something very delightful, that helped me to forget the -great iron-whirling world and everything in it but yourself. You made a -little circle of magnetic sunshine for me; and you know I liked to bask -in it so much that I used to be quite selfish about it. I feel now as -though, each night I sat up so late in your little parlour, I was taking -from you so much rest,--which means life and strength,--acted, in short, -the part of a psychical cannibal! And I am remorseful at not being able -to feel more remorseful than I do; it was so nice to be there that I -can't be properly sorry, as I should. - -I and my friends have been wagering upon you, hoping for you, praying -for you to win your race,--so that every one may admire you still more, -and your name be flashed round the world quicker than the sunshine, and -your portrait--in spite of you--appear in some French journal where they -know how to engrave portraits properly. I thought I might be able to -coax one from you; but as you never are the same person two minutes in -succession, I am partly consoled: it could only be one small phase of -you,--Proteus, Circe, Undine, Djineeyeh! - ---And you found the loose bar at last, and shook it out, and flew! I -much doubt if they will ever get you well into the cage again,--that was -so irksome to you. But perhaps the world itself will seem a cage to you -hereafter:--it will have grown so much smaller in that blue-flashing -circuit of yours about it. Perhaps when human society shall have become -infinitely more fluid and electric than at present,--which it is sure to -do with the expansion and increasing complexity of intercommunication by -steam and wire,--this little half-dead planet will seem too small to -mankind. One will feel upon it, in the light of a larger knowledge, -constrained almost as much as Simon on the top of his pillar,--and long, -like him, for birth into a larger mode of being. Even now there is no -more fleeing into strange countries,--because there are no strange -countries: everything is being interbound and interspersed with steel -rails and lightning wires;--there are no more mysteries,--except what -are called hearts, those points at which individualities rarely touch -each other, only to feel as sudden a thrill of surprise as at meeting a -ghost, and then to wonder in vain, for the rest of life, what lies out -of soul-sight. - ---Did you often wish to stop somewhere, and feel hearts beating about -you, and see the faces of gods and dancing-girls? Or were you petted -like the _Lady of the Aroostook_ by officers and crew,--and British -dignitaries eager to win one Circe-smile,--and superb Indian Colonels of -princely houses returning home,--that you had no chance to regret -anything? I have been so afraid of never seeing you again, that I have -been hating splendid imaginary foreigners in dreams,--which would have -been quite wickedly selfish if I had been awake!... - -With every true good wish and sincere affection, - - Your friend, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO ---- - - March 7-8, 1890. - -I must write you a line or two, before I finish packing,--though it is -the hour of ghosts, when writing is a grave imprudence. Something makes -me write you nevertheless. - -I could not go to see Mr. M----: there was too much ice and snow. But -you can forgive _that_. - -I shall be very sorry not to see you again,--and this time, you are not -sorry to know I am going away as you were when I went South. Perhaps you -are quite right.... - ---But that is nothing. What I want to say is, that after looking at your -portrait, I must tell you how sweet and infinitely good you ... can be, -and how much I like you, and how I like you,--or at least _some_ of -those many who are one in you. - -I might say love you,--as we love those who are dead--(the dead who -still shape lives);--but which, or how many, of you I cannot say. One -looks at me from your picture; but I have seen others, equally pleasing -and less mysterious. - -... Not when you were in evening dress, because you were then too -beautiful; and what is thus beautiful is not that which is most charming -in you. It only dazzles one, and constrains.... I like you best in the -simple dark dress, when I can forget everything except all the souls of -you. Turn by turn one or other floats up from the depth within and -rushes to your face and transfigures it;--and that one which made you -smile with pleasure like a child at something pretty we were both -admiring is simply divine.... I do not think you really know how sacred -you are; and yet you ought to know: it is because you do not know what -is in you, _who_ are in you, that you say such strangely material -things. And you yourself, by being, utterly contradict them all. - -It seems to me that all those mysterious lives within you--all the Me's -that were--keep asking the Me that is, for something always -refused;--that you keep saying to them: "But you are dead and cannot -see--you can only feel; and _I_ can see,--and I will not open to you, -because the world is all changed. You would not know it, and you would -be angry with me were I to grant your wish. Go to your places, and sleep -and wait and leave me in peace with myself." But they continue to wake -up betimes, and quiver into momentary visibility to make you divine in -spite of yourself,--and as suddenly flit away again. I wish one would -come--and stay: the one I saw that night when we were looking at ... -what was it? - -Really, I can't remember what it was: the smile effaced the memory of -it,--just as a sun-ray blots the image from a dry-plate suddenly -exposed. There was such a child-beauty in that smile.... Will you ever -be _like that always_ for any one being? - ---I hope you will get my book before you go: it will be sent you Tuesday -at latest, I think. I don't know whether you will like the paper; but -you will only look for the "gnat of a soul" that belongs to me between -the leaves. - ---Forgive all my horrid ways, my dear, sweet, ghostly sister. - - Good-bye, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - END OF VOLUME I - - -Transcriber's Note - -The following list contains questionable spellings (and the pages upon -which they appeared) all of which have been retained: - -befel (116); Buddist (142); begining (146); bazar (149, 342) - -There are also some constructions that seem questionable. Punctuation -errors have been corrected. - - p. 138 | unimportant detail and [banal ana] | banaliana? - | | - p. 152 | he was so enthusiastic[ally] that | sic - | | - p. 183 | spectre is the ?--"Where shall I go? | '?' stands for - | | 'question'. - | | - p. 329 | Very truly your friend[./,] | Corrected. - | | - p. 387 | the simple hook-mark "?"[.] I can | A full stop is needed. - | imagine | - | | - p. 410 | wildest dreams[,/.] The artistic | Corrected. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life and Letters of Lafcadio -Hearn, Volume 1, by Elizabeth Bisland - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAFCADIO HEARN *** - -***** This file should be named 42312-8.txt or 42312-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/3/1/42312/ - -Produced by KD Weeks, Ted Garvin and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: The Life and Letters of Lafcadio Hearn, Volume 1 - -Author: Elizabeth Bisland - -Release Date: March 23, 2013 [EBook #42312] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAFCADIO HEARN *** - - - - -Produced by KD Weeks, Ted Garvin and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - -Transcriber's Note - -Footnotes have been placed at the end of each paragraph in which they -are referenced. - -There are several captioned photographs, which are indicated as -[Illustration: Caption]. Hearn also included in his letters small -sketches. Their approximate positions are indicated with [Illustration]. -Any handwritten text in those sketches is included here as captions. - -Italic text is denoted with underscores as _italic_. There is a small -amount of Greek which is transliterated and enclosed in brackets as -[Larkadie]. The characters 'o', 'a' and 'u' appear with a macron, a -straight bar atop the letter. These use the '=' sign as 'T[=o]ky[=o]'. - -The occasional superscript is simply left inline (e.g., 'nth'). The use -of subscripts is limited to a single instance. The underscore character -indicates this: L_3 H_9 NG_4. - -The sole instance of the 'oe' ligature is given as is seen here: -'onomatopoeia'. - -Some corrections were made where printer's errors were most likely, -as described in the Note at the end of the text. Other than those -corrections, no changes to spelling have been made. Hyphenation of -words at line or page breaks are removed if other instances of the word -warrant it. - -This book was published in two volumes, of which this is the first. -The second volume was released as Project Gutenberg ebook #42313, -available at: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42313. - - - - - +--------------------------------------------------------+ - | By Lafcadio Hearn | - | | - | THE ROMANCE OF THE MILKY WAY, AND OTHER STUDIES AND | - | STORIES. 12mo, gilt top, $1.25 _net._ Postage | - | extra. | - | | - | KWAIDAN: Stories and Studies of Strange Things. With | - | two Japanese Illustrations. 12mo, gilt top, $1.50. | - | | - | GLEANINGS IN BUDDHA-FIELDS. 16mo, gilt top, $1.25. | - | | - | KOKORO. Hints and Echoes of Japanese Inner Life. 16mo, | - | gilt top, $1.25. | - | | - | OUT OF THE EAST. Reveries and Studies in New Japan. | - | 16mo, $1.25. | - | | - | GLIMPSES OF UNFAMILIAR JAPAN. 2 vols. crown 8vo, gilt | - | top, $4.00. | - | | - | STRAY LEAVES FROM STRANGE LITERATURE. 16mo, $1.50. | - | | - | | - | HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. | - | BOSTON AND NEW YORK. | - +--------------------------------------------------------+ - - - - - LIFE AND LETTERS OF LAFCADIO HEARN - - VOLUME I - -[Illustration: Lafcadio Hearn] - - THE LIFE AND LETTERS - - OF - - LAFCADIO HEARN - - BY - - ELIZABETH BISLAND - - _WITH ILLUSTRATIONS_ - - IN TWO VOLUMES - - VOL. I - -[Illustration: The Riverside Press] - - BOSTON AND NEW YORK - HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY - The Riverside Press Cambridge - - COPYRIGHT 1906 BY ELIZABETH BISLAND WETMORE - - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED - - _Published December 1906_ - - - - -PREFACE - -In the course of the preparation of these volumes there was gradually -accumulated so great a number of the letters written by Lafcadio Hearn -during twenty-five years of his life, and these letters proved of so -interesting a nature, that eventually the plan of the whole work was -altered. The original intention was that they should serve only to -illuminate the general text of the biography, but as their number and -value became more apparent it was evident that to reproduce them in full -would make the book both more readable and more illustrative of the -character of the man than anything that could possibly be related of -him. - -No biographer could have so vividly pictured the modesty and -tender-heartedness, the humour and genius of the man as he has -unconsciously revealed these qualities in unstudied communications to -his friends. Happily--in these days when the preservation of letters is -a rare thing--almost every one to whom he wrote appeared instinctively -to treasure--even when he was still unknown--every one of his -communications, though here and there regrettable gaps occur, owing to -the accidents of changes of residence, three of which, as every one -knows, are more destructive of such treasures than a fire. To all of his -correspondents who have so generously contributed their treasured -letters I wish to express my sincere thanks. Especially is gratitude due -to Professor Masanubo Otani, of the Shinshu University of T[=o]ky[=o], -for the painstaking accuracy and fulness of the information he -contributed as to the whole course of Hearn's life in Japan. - -The seven fragments of autobiographical reminiscence, discovered after -Hearn's death, added to the letters, narrowed my task to little more -than the recording of dates and such brief comments and explanations as -were required for the better comprehension of his own contributions to -the book. - -Naturally some editing of the letters has been necessary. Such parts as -related purely to matters of business have been deleted as uninteresting -to the general public; many personalities, usually both witty and -trenchant, have been omitted, not only because such personalities are -matters of confidence between the writer and his correspondent, a -confidence which death does not render less inviolable, but also because -the dignity and privacy of the living have every claim to respect. -Robert Browning's just resentment at the indiscreet editing of the -FitzGerald Letters is a warning that should be heeded, and it is -moreover certain that Lafcadio Hearn himself would have been profoundly -unwilling to have any casual criticism of either the living or the dead -given public record. Of those who had been his friends he always spoke -with tenderness and respect, and I am but following what I know to be -his wishes in omitting all references to his enemies. - -That such a definite and eccentric person as he should make enemies was -of course unavoidable. If any of these retain their enmity to one who -has passed into the sacred helplessness of death, and are inclined to -think that the mere outline sketch of the man contained in the following -pages lacks the veracity of shadow, my answer is this: In the first -place, I have taken heed of the opinion he himself has expressed in one -of his letters: "I believe we ought not to speak of the weaknesses of -very great men"--and the intention of such part of this book as is my -own is to give a history of the circumstances under which a great man -developed his genius. I have purposely ignored all such episodes as -seemed impertinent to this end, as from my point of view there seems a -sort of gross curiosity in raking among such details of a man's life as -he himself would wish ignored. These I gladly leave to those who enjoy -such labours. - -In the second place, there is no art more difficult than that of making -a portrait satisfactory to every one, for the limner of a man, whether -he use pen or pigments, can--if he be honest--only transfer to the -canvas the lineaments as he himself sees them. _How_ he sees them -depends not only upon his own temperament, but also upon the aspect -which the subject of the picture would naturally turn towards such a -temperament. For every one of us is aware of a certain chameleon-like -quality within ourselves which causes us to take on a protective -colouring assimilative to our surroundings, and we all, like the husband -in Browning's verse, - - "Boast two soul-sides," ... - -which is the explanation, no doubt, of the apparently irreconcilable -impressions carried away by a man's acquaintances. - -Which soul-side was the real man must finally resolve itself into a -matter of opinion. Henley, probably, honestly believed the real -Stevenson to be as he represented him, but the greater number of those -who knew and loved the artist will continue to form their estimate of -the man from his letters and books, and to them Henley's diatribe will -continue to seem but the outbreak of a mean jealousy, which could not -tolerate the lifting up of a companion for the world's admiration. - -Of the subject of this memoir there certainly exists more than one -impression, but the writer can but depict the man as he revealed himself -throughout twenty years of intimate acquaintance, and for confirmation -of this opinion can only refer to the work he has left for all the world -to judge him by, and to the intimate revelations of thoughts, opinions, -and feelings contained in his letters. - - E. B. - - - - - CONTENTS - - - INTRODUCTORY SKETCH - - I. BOYHOOD 3 - - II. THE ARTIST'S APPRENTICESHIP 40 - - III. THE MASTER WORKMAN 103 - - IV. THE LAST STAGE 136 - - LETTERS 165 - - - - - ILLUSTRATIONS - - - LAFCADIO HEARN (photogravure) _Frontispiece_ - From a photograph taken about 1900. - - LAFCADIO HEARN 50 - From a photograph taken about 1873. - - LAFCADIO HEARN AND MITCHELL MCDONALD 110 - - LAFCADIO HEARN 198 - From a photograph taken in the '70's. - - FACSIMILE OF MR. HEARN'S EARLIER HANDWRITING 340 - - SAINT-PIERRE AND MT. PELEE 410 - From a photograph in the possession of - Dr. T. A. Jaggar, Jr. - - - - - INTRODUCTORY SKETCH - - - CHAPTER I - - BOYHOOD - - -Lafcadio Hearn was born on the twenty-seventh of June, in the year 1850. -He was a native of the Ionian Isles, the place of his birth being the -Island of Santa Maura, which is commonly called in modern Greek Levkas, -or Lefcada, a corruption of the name of the old Leucadia, which was -famous as the place of Sappho's self-destruction. This island is -separated from the western coast of Greece by a narrow strait; the neck -of land which joined it to the mainland having been cut through by the -Corinthians seven centuries before Christ. To this day it remains deeply -wooded, and scantily populated, with sparse vineyards and olive groves -clinging to the steep sides of the mountains overlooking the blue Ionian -sea. The child Lafcadio may have played in his early years among the -high-set, half-obliterated ruins of the Temple of Apollo, from whence -offenders were cast down with multitudes of birds tied to their limbs, -that perchance the beating of a thousand wings might break the violence -of the fall, and so rescue them from the last penalty of expiation. - -In this place of old tragedies and romance the child was born into a -life always to be shadowed by tragedy and romance to an extent almost -fantastic in our modern workaday world. This wild, bold background, -swimming in the half-tropical blue of Greek sea and sky, against which -the boy first discerned the vague outlines of his conscious life, seems -to have silhouetted itself behind all his later memories and -prepossessions, and through whatever dark or squalid scenes his -wanderings led, his heart was always filled by dreams and longings for -soaring outlines, and the blue, "which is the colour of the idea of the -divine, the colour pantheistic, the colour ethical." - -Long years afterward, in the "Dream of a Summer Day," he says:-- - -"I have memory of a place and a magical time, in which the sun and the -moon were larger and brighter than now. Whether it was of this life or -of some life before, I cannot tell, but I know the sky was very much -more blue, and nearer to the world--almost as it seems to become above -the masts of a steamer steaming into equatorial summer.... The sea was -alive and used to talk--and the Wind made me cry out for joy when it -touched me. Once or twice during other years, in divine days lived among -the peaks, I have dreamed for a moment the same wind was blowing--but it -was only a remembrance. - -"Also in that place the clouds were wonderful and of colours for which -there are no names at all,--colours that used to make me hungry and -thirsty. I remember, too, that the days were ever so much longer than -these days,--and every day there were new pleasures and new wonders for -me. And all that country and time were softly ruled by One who thought -only of ways to make me happy.... When day was done, and there fell the -great hush of light before moonrise, she would tell me stories that made -me tingle from head to foot with pleasure. I have never heard any other -stories half so beautiful. And when the pleasure became too great, she -would sing a weird little song which always brought sleep. At last there -came a parting day; and she wept and told me of a charm she had given -that I must never, never lose, because it would keep me young, and give -me power to return. But I never returned. And the years went; and one -day I knew that I had lost the charm, and had become ridiculously old." - -A strange mingling of events and of race-forces had brought the boy into -being. - -Surgeon-Major Charles Bush Hearn, of the 76th Foot, came of an old -Dorsetshire family in which there was a tradition of gipsy blood--a -tradition too dim and ancient now to be verified, though Hearn is an old -Romany name in the west of England, and the boy Lafcadio bore in his -hand all his life that curious "thumb-print" upon the palm, which is -said to be the invariable mark of Romany descent. The first of the -Hearns to pass over into Ireland went as private chaplain to the Lord -Lieutenant in 1693, and being later appointed Dean of Cashel, settled -permanently in West Meath. From the ecclesiastical loins there appears -to have sprung a numerous race of soldiers, for Dr. Hearn's father and -seven uncles served under Wellington in Spain. The grandfather of -Lafcadio rose during the Peninsula Campaign to the position of -lieutenant-colonel of the 43d regiment, and commanded his regiment in -the battle of Vittoria. Later he married Elizabeth Holmes, a kinswoman -of Sir Robert Holmes, and of Edmund Holmes the poet, another member of -her family being Rice Holmes, the historian of the Indian Mutiny. Dr. -Charles Hearn, the father of Lafcadio, was her eldest son, and another -son was Richard, who was one of the Barbizon painters and an intimate -friend of Jean Francois Millet. - -It was in the late '40's, when England still held the Ionian Isles, that -the 76th Foot was ordered to Greece, and Surgeon-Major Hearn accompanied -his regiment to do garrison duty on the island of Cerigo. Apparently not -long after his arrival he made the acquaintance of Rosa Cerigote, whose -family is said to have been of old and honourable Greek descent. -Photographs of the young surgeon represent him as a handsome man, with -the flowing side-whiskers so valued at that period, and with a bold -profile and delicate waist. A passionate love affair ensued between the -beautiful Greek girl and the handsome Irishman, but the connection was -violently opposed by the girl's brothers, the native bitterness toward -the English garrison being as intense as was the sentiment in the South -against the Northern army of occupation immediately after the American -Civil War. The legend goes that the Cerigote men--there was hot blood in -the family veins--waylaid and stabbed the Irishman, leaving him for -dead. The girl, it is said, with the aid of a servant, concealed him in -a barn and nursed him back to life, and after his recovery eloped with -her grateful lover and married him by the Greek rites in Santa Maura. -The first child died immediately after birth, and the boy, Lafcadio, was -the second child; taking his name from the Greek name of the island, -Lefcada. Another son, James, three years later in Cephalonia, was the -fruit of this marriage, so romantically begun and destined to end so -tragically. - -When England ceded the Ionian Isles to Greece Dr. Hearn returned with -his family to Dublin, pausing, perhaps, for a while at Malta, for in a -letter written during the last years of his life Lafcadio says: "I am -almost sure of having been in Malta as a child. My father told me queer -things about the old palaces of the knights, and a story of a monk who -on the coming of the French had the presence of mind to paint the gold -chancel railing with green paint." - -The two boys were at this time aged six and three. It was inevitable, no -doubt, that the young wife, who had never mastered the English tongue, -though she spoke, as did the children, Italian and Romaic, should have -regretted the change from her sunlit island to the dripping Irish skies -and grey streets of Dublin, nor can it be wondered at that, an exile -among aliens in race, speech, and faith, there should have soon grown up -misunderstandings and disputes. The unhappy details have died into -silence with the passage of time, but the wife seems to have believed -herself repudiated and betrayed, and the marriage being eventually -annulled, she fled to Smyrna with a Greek cousin who had come at her -call, leaving the two children with the father. This cousin she -afterwards married and her children knew her no more. The father also -married again, and the boy Lafcadio being adopted by Dr. Hearn's aunt, a -Mrs. Brenane, and removing with her to Wales, never again saw either his -father or his brother.[1] - - [1] The following version of the story is reproduced from a letter - written by Mrs. Hearn in reply to a request for any knowledge - she might have gained on this subject from her husband's - conversations with her during their life together in Japan. Its - poignant simplicity is heightened by the transmutations through - two languages. - - "Mama San--When about four years old I did very rude things. Mama - gave me a struck on my cheek with her palm. It was very strong. I - got angry and gazed on my Mama's face, which I never forget. Thus - I remember my Mama's face. She was of a little stature, with black - hair and black eyes, like a Japanese woman. How pitiable Mama San - she was. Unhappy Mama San; pitiable indeed! Think of that--Think: - you are my wife, and I take you with Kazuo and Iwao to my native - country: you do not know the language spoken there, nor have any - friend. You have your husband only, who prove not very kind. You - must be so very unhappy then. And then if I happened to love some - native lady and say 'Sayonara' to you, how you would trouble your - heart! That was the case with my Mama. I have not such cruel - heart. But only to think of such thing makes me sad. To see your - face troubled just now my heart aches. Let us drop such subject - from our talk." - - "Papa San--It is only once that I remember I felt glad with my - papa. Yes, on that occasion! Perhaps I was then a boy like Iwao or - Kiyoshi. I was playing with my nurse. Many a sound of - 'gallop-trop' came from behind. The nurse laughed and lifted me - high up. I observed my papa pass; I called him with my tiny - hand--now such a big hand. Papa took me from the hands of nurse. I - was on horseback. As I looked behind a great number of soldiers - followed on horseback with 'gallop-trop.' I imagined myself that I - was a general then. It was only on that time that I thought how - good papa he was." - -The emotions are not hard to guess at of a passionate, sensitive boy of -seven, suddenly flung by the stormy emotions of his elders out of the -small warm circle of his narrow sphere. To a young child the relations -of its parents and the circle of the home seem as fundamental and -eternal as the globe itself, and the sudden ravishment of all the bases -of his life make his footing amid the ties and affections of the world -forever after timid and uncertain. - -A boy of less sensitive fibre might in time have forgotten these shocks, -but the eldest son of Charles Hearn and Rosa Cerigote was destined to -suffer always because of the violent rending of their ties. From this -period seems to have dated his strange distrusts, his unconquerable -terror of the potentialities which he suspected as lurking beneath the -frankest exterior, and his constant, morbid dread of betrayal and -abandonment by even his closest friends. - -Whatever of fault there may have been on his mother's part, his vague -memories of her were always tender and full of yearning affection. - -To the brother he never saw he wrote, when he was a man, "And you do not -remember that dark and beautiful face--with large, brown eyes like a -wild deer's--that used to bend above your cradle? You do not remember -the voice which told you each night to cross your fingers after the old -Greek orthodox fashion, and utter the words--[En to onoma tou Patros -kai tou Yiou kai toy Agiou Pneumatos], 'In the name of the Father, and -of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost'? She made, or had made, three little -wounds upon you when a baby--to place you, according to her childish -faith, under the protection of those three powers, but specially -that of Him for whom alone the Nineteenth Century still feels some -reverence--_the Lord and Giver of Life_.... We were all very dark as -children, very passionate, very odd-looking, and wore gold rings in our -ears. Have you not the marks yet?... - -"When I saw your photograph I felt all my blood stir,--and I thought, -'Here is this unknown being, in whom the soul of my mother lives,--who -must have known the same strange impulses, the same longings, the same -resolves as I! Will he tell me of them?' There was another Self,--would -that Self interpret This? - -"For This has always been mysterious. Were I to use the word 'Soul' in -its limited and superannuated sense as the spirit of the individual -instead of the ghost of a race,--I should say it had always seemed to me -as if I had two souls: each pulling in different ways. One of these -represented the spirit of mutiny--impatience of all restraint, hatred of -all control, weariness of everything methodical and regular, impulses to -love or hate without a thought of consequences. The other represented -pride and persistence;--it had little power to use the reins before I -was thirty.... Whatever there is of good in me came from that dark -race-soul of which we know so little. My love of right, my hate of -wrong;--my admiration for what is beautiful or true;--my capacity for -faith in man or woman;--my sensitiveness to artistic things which gives -me whatever little success I have,--even that language-power whose -physical sign is in the large eyes of both of us,--came from Her.... It -is the mother who makes us,--makes at least all that makes the nobler -man: not his strength or powers of calculation, but his heart and power -to love. And I would rather have her portrait than a fortune." - -Mrs. Brenane, into whose hands the child thus passed, was the widow of a -wealthy Irishman, by whom she had been converted to Romanism, and like -all converts she was "more loyal than the King." The divorce and -remarriage of her nephew incurred her bitterest resentment; she not only -insisted upon a complete separation from the child, but did not hesitate -to speak her mind fully to the boy, who always retained the impressions -thus early instilled. In one of his letters he speaks of his father's -"rigid face, and steel-steady eyes," and says: "I can remember seeing -father only five times. He was rather taciturn, I think. I remember he -wrote me a long letter from India--all about serpents and tigers and -elephants--printed in Roman letters with a pen, so that I could read it -easily.... I remember my father taking me up on horseback when coming -into the town with his regiment. I remember being at a dinner with a -number of men in red coats, and crawling about under the table among -their legs." And elsewhere he declares, "I think there is nothing of him -in me, either physically or mentally." A mistake of prejudice this; the -Hearns of the second marriage bearing the most striking likeness to the -elder half-brother, having the same dark skins, delicate, aquiline -profiles, eyes deeply set in arched orbits, and short, supple, well-knit -figures. The family type is unusual and distinctive, with some racial -alignment not easy to define except by the indefinite term "exotic;" -showing no trace of either its English origin or Irish residence. - -Of the next twelve years of Lafcadio Hearn's life there exists but -meagre record. The little dark-eyed, dark-faced, passionate boy with the -wound in his heart and the gold rings in his ears--speaking English but -stammeringly, mingled with Italian and Romaic--seems to have been -removed at about his seventh year to Wales, and from this time to have -visited Ireland but occasionally. Of his surroundings during the most -impressionable period of his life it is impossible to reconstruct other -than shadowy outlines. Mrs. Brenane was old; was wealthy; and lived -surrounded by eager priests and passionate converts. - -In "Kwaidan" there is a little story called "Hi-Mawari," which seems a -glimpse of this period:-- - - On the wooded hill behind the house Robert and I are looking for - fairy-rings. Robert is eight years old, comely, and very wise;--I am a - little more than seven,--and I reverence Robert. It is a glowing, - glorious August day; and the warm air is filled with sharp, sweet - scents of resin. - - We do not find any fairy-rings; but we find a great many pine-cones in - the high grass.... I tell Robert the old Welsh story of the man who - went to sleep, unawares, inside of a fairy-ring, and so disappeared - for seven years, and would never eat or speak after his friends had - delivered him from the enchantment. - - "They eat nothing but the points of needles, you know," says Robert. - - "Who?" I ask. - - "Goblins," Robert answers. - - This revelation leaves me dumb with astonishment and awe.... But - Robert suddenly cries out:-- - - "There is a harper!--he is coming to the house!" - - And down the hill we run to hear the harper.... But what a harper! Not - like the hoary minstrels of the picture-books. A swarthy, sturdy, - unkempt vagabond, with bold black eyes under scowling brows. More like - a brick-layer than a bard,--and his garments are corduroy! - - "Wonder if he is going to sing in Welsh?" murmurs Robert. - - I feel too much disappointed to make any remarks. The harper poses his - harp--a huge instrument--upon our doorstep, sets all the strings - ringing with a sweep of his grimy fingers, clears his throat with a - sort of angry growl, and begins,-- - - "_Believe me, if all those endearing young charms, - Which I gaze on so fondly to-day_ ..." - - The accent, the attitude, the voice, all fill me with repulsion - unutterable,--shock me with a new sensation of formidable vulgarity. I - want to cry out loud, "You have no right to sing that song!" for I - have heard it sung by the lips of the dearest and fairest being in my - little world;--and that this rude, coarse man should dare to sing it - vexes me like a mockery,--angers me like an insolence. But only for a - moment!... With the utterance of the syllables "to-day," that deep, - grim voice suddenly breaks into a quivering tenderness indescribable; - then, marvellously changing, it mellows into tones sonorous and rich - as the bass of a great organ,--while a sensation unlike anything ever - felt before takes me by the throat.... What witchcraft has he - learned--this scowling man of the road?... Oh! is there anybody else - in the whole world who can sing like that?... And the form of the - singer flickers and dims;--and the house, and the lawn, and all - visible shapes of things tremble and swim before me. Yet instinctively - I fear that man;--I almost hate him; and I feel myself flushing with - anger and shame because of his power to move me thus.... - - "He made you cry," Robert compassionately observes, to my further - confusion,--as the harper strides away, richer by a gift of sixpence - taken without thanks.... "But I think he must be a gipsy. Gipsies are - bad people--and they are wizards.... Let us go back to the wood." - - We climb again to the pines, and there squat down upon the sun-flecked - grass, and look over town and sea. But we do not play as before: the - spell of the wizard is strong upon us both.... "Perhaps he is a - goblin," I venture at last, "or a fairy?" "No," says Robert--"only a - gipsy. But that is nearly as bad. They steal children, you know." - - "What shall we do if he comes up here?" I gasp, in sudden terror at - the lonesomeness of our situation. - - "Oh, he wouldn't dare," answers Robert--"not by daylight, you know." - - [Only yesterday, near the village of Takata, I noticed a flower which - the Japanese call by nearly the same name as we do, _Himawari_, "The - Sunward-turning," and over the space of forty years there thrilled - back to me the voice of that wandering harper.... Again I saw the - sun-flecked shadows on that far Welsh hill; and Robert for a moment - again stood beside me, with his girl's face and his curls of gold.] - -Recorded in this artless story are the most vivid suggestions of the -nature of the boy who was to be father of the man Lafcadio Hearn, the -minute observation, the quivering sensitiveness to tones, to -expressions, to colours and odours; profound passions of tenderness; -and--more than all--his nascent interest in the ghostly and the weird. -How great a part this latter had already assumed in his young life one -gathers from one of the autobiographic papers found after his -death--half a dozen fragments of recollection, done exquisitely in his -small beautiful handwriting, and enclosed each in fine Japanese -envelopes. Characteristically they concern themselves but little with -what are called "facts"--though he would have been the last to believe -that emotions produced by events were not after all the most salient of -human facts. - -These records of impressions left upon his nature by the conditions -surrounding his early years open a strange tremulous light upon the -inner life of the lonely, ardent child, and from the shadows created by -that light one can reconstruct perhaps more clearly the shapes about him -by which those shadows were cast than would have been possible with more -direct vision of them. - -The first of the fragments is called - - - MY GUARDIAN ANGEL - - "Weh! weh! - Du hast sie zerstoert, - Die schoene Welt!"--FAUST. - -What I am going to relate must have happened when I was nearly six years -old--at which time I knew a great deal about ghosts, and very little -about gods. - -For the best of possible reasons I then believed in ghosts and in -goblins,--because I saw them, both by day and by night. Before going to -sleep I would always cover up my head to prevent them from looking at -me; and I used to scream when I felt them pulling at the bedclothes. And -I could not understand why I had been forbidden to talk about these -experiences. - -But of religion I knew almost nothing. The old lady who had adopted me -intended that I should be brought up a Roman Catholic; but she had not -yet attempted to give me any definite religious instruction. I had been -taught to say a few prayers; but I repeated them only as a parrot might -have done. I had been taken, without knowing why, to church; and I had -been given many small pictures edged with paper lace,--French religious -prints,--of which I did not understand the meaning. To the wall of the -room in which I slept there was suspended a Greek icon,--a miniature -painting in oil of the Virgin and Child, warmly coloured, and protected -by a casing of fine metal that left exposed only the olive-brown faces -and hands and feet of the figures. But I fancied that the brown Virgin -represented my mother--whom I had almost completely forgotten--and the -large-eyed Child, myself. I had been taught to pronounce the invocation, -_In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost_;--but -I did not know what the words signified. One of the appellations, -however, seriously interested me: and the first religious question that -I remember asking was a question about the _Holy Ghost_. It was the word -"Ghost," of course, that had excited my curiosity; and I put the -question with fear and trembling because it appeared to relate to a -forbidden subject. The answer I cannot clearly recollect;--but it gave -me an idea that the Holy Ghost was a _white_ ghost, and not in the habit -of making faces at small people after dusk. Nevertheless the name filled -me with vague suspicion, especially after I had learned to spell it -correctly, in a prayer-book; and I discovered a mystery and an awfulness -unspeakable in the capital G. Even now the aspect of that formidable -letter will sometimes revive those dim and fearsome imaginings of -childhood. - -I suppose that I had been allowed to remain so long in happy ignorance -of dogma because I was a nervous child. Certainly it was for no other -reason that those about me had been ordered not to tell me either -ghost-stories or fairy-tales, and that I had been strictly forbidden to -speak of ghosts. But in spite of such injunctions I was doomed to learn, -quite unexpectedly, something about goblins much grimmer than any which -had been haunting me. This undesirable information was given to me by a -friend of the family,--a visitor. - -Our visitors were few; and their visits, as a rule, were brief. But we -had one privileged visitor who came regularly each autumn to remain -until the following spring,--a convert,--a tall girl who looked like -some of the long angels in my French pictures. At that time I must have -been incapable of forming certain abstract conceptions; but she gave me -the idea of Sorrow as a dim something that she personally represented. -She was not a relation; but I was told to call her "Cousin Jane." For -the rest of the household she was simply "Miss Jane;" and the room that -she used to occupy, upon the third floor, was always referred to as -"Miss Jane's room." I heard it said that she passed her summers in some -convent, and that she wanted to become a nun. I asked why she did not -become a nun; and I was told that I was too young to understand. - -She seldom smiled; and I never heard her laugh; she had some secret -grief of which only my aged protector knew the nature. Although -handsome, young, and rich, she was always severely dressed in black. Her -face, notwithstanding its constant look of sadness, was beautiful; her -hair, a dark chestnut, was so curly that, however smoothed or braided, -it always seemed to ripple; and her eyes, rather deeply-set, were large -and black. Also I remember that her voice, though musical, had a -peculiar metallic tone which I did not like. - -Yet she could make that voice surprisingly tender when speaking to me. -Usually I found her kind,--often more than kind; but there were times -when she became so silent and sombre that I feared to approach her. And -even in her most affectionate moods--even when caressing me--she -remained strangely solemn. In such moments she talked to me about being -good, about being truthful, about being obedient, about trying "to -please God." I detested these exhortations. My old relative had never -talked to me in that way. I did not fully understand; I only knew that I -was being found fault with, and I suspected that I was being pitied. - -And one morning (I remember that it was a gloomy winter -morning),--losing patience at last during one of these tiresome -admonitions, I boldly asked Cousin Jane to tell me why I should try to -please God more than to please anybody else. I was then sitting on a -little stool at her feet. Never can I forget the look that darkened her -features as I put the question. At once she caught me up, placed me upon -her lap, and fixed her black eyes upon my face with a piercing -earnestness that terrified me, as she exclaimed:-- - -"My child!--is it possible that you do not know who God is?" - -"No," I answered in a choking whisper. - -"God!--God who made you!--God who made the sun and the moon and the -sky,--and the trees and the beautiful flowers,--everything!... You do -not know?" - -I was too much alarmed by her manner to reply. - -"You do not know," she went on, "that God made you and me?--that God -made your father and your mother and everybody?... You do not know about -Heaven and Hell?" - -I do not remember all the rest of her words; I can recall with -distinctness only the following:--"and send you down to Hell to burn -alive in fire for ever and ever!... Think of it!--always burning, -burning, burning!--screaming and burning! screaming and burning!--never -to be saved from that pain of fire!... You remember when you burned your -finger at the lamp?--Think of your whole body burning,--always, always, -always burning!--for ever and ever!" - -I can still see her face as in the instant of that utterance,--the -horror upon it, and the pain.... Then she suddenly burst into tears, and -kissed me, and left the room. - -From that time I detested Cousin Jane,--because she had made me unhappy -in a new and irreparable way. I did not doubt what she had said; but I -hated her for having said it,--perhaps especially for the hideous way in -which she had said it. Even now her memory revives the dull pain of the -childish hypocrisy with which I endeavoured to conceal my resentment. -When she left us in the spring, I hoped that she would soon die,--so -that I might never see her face again. - -But I was fated to meet her again under strange circumstances. I am not -sure whether it was in the latter part of the summer that I next saw -her, or early in the autumn; I remember only that it was in the evening -and that the weather was still pleasantly warm. The sun had set; but -there was a clear twilight, full of soft colour; and in that -twilight-time I happened to be on the lobby of the third floor,--all by -myself. - -... I do not know why I had gone up there alone;--perhaps I was looking -for some toy. At all events I was standing in the lobby, close to the -head of the stairs, when I noticed that the door of Cousin Jane's room -seemed to be ajar. Then I saw it slowly opening. The fact surprised me -because that door--the farthest one of three opening upon the lobby--was -usually locked. Almost at the same moment Cousin Jane herself, robed in -her familiar black dress came out of the room, and advanced towards -me--but with her head turned upwards and sidewards, as if she were -looking at something on the lobby-wall, close to the ceiling. I cried -out in astonishment, "Cousin Jane!"--but she did not seem to hear. She -approached slowly, still with her head so thrown back that I could see -nothing of her face above the chin; then she walked directly past me -into the room nearest the stairway,--a bedroom of which the door was -always left open by day. Even as she passed I did not see her -face,--only her white throat and chin, and the gathered mass of her -beautiful hair. Into the bedroom I ran after her, calling out, "Cousin -Jane! Cousin Jane!" I saw her pass round the foot of a great -four-pillared bed, as if to approach the window beyond it; and I -followed her to the other side of the bed. Then, as if first aware of my -presence, she turned; and I looked up, expecting to meet her smile.... -She had no face. There was only a pale blur instead of a face. And even -as I stared, the figure vanished. It did not fade; it simply ceased to -be,--like the shape of a flame blown out. I was alone in that darkening -room,--and afraid, as I had never before been afraid. I did not scream; -I was much too frightened to scream;--I only struggled to the head of -the stairs, and stumbled, and fell,--rolling over and over down to the -next lobby. I do not remember being hurt; the stair-carpets were soft -and very thick. The noise of my tumble brought immediate succour and -sympathy. But I did not say a word about what I had seen; I knew that I -should be punished if I spoke of it.... - -Now some weeks or months later, at the beginning of the cold season, the -real Cousin Jane came back one morning to occupy that room upon the -third floor. She seemed delighted to meet me again; and she caressed me -so fondly that I felt ashamed of my secret dismay at her return. On the -very same day she took me out with her for a walk, and bought me cakes, -toys, pictures,--a multitude of things,--carrying all the packages -herself. I ought to have been grateful, if not happy. But the generous -shame that her caresses had awakened was already gone; and that memory -of which I could speak to no one--least of all to her--again darkened -my thoughts as we walked together. This Cousin Jane who was buying me -toys, and smiling, and chatting, was only, perhaps, the husk of another -Cousin Jane that had no face.... Before the brilliant shops, among the -crowds of happy people, I had nothing to fear. But afterwards--after -dark--might not the Inner disengage herself from the other, and leave -her room, and glide to mine with chin upturned, as if staring at the -ceiling?... Twilight fell before we reached home; and Cousin Jane had -ceased to speak or smile. No doubt she was tired. But I noticed that her -silence and her sternness had begun with the gathering of the dusk,--and -a chill crept over me. - -Nevertheless, I passed a merry evening with my new toys,--which looked -very beautiful under the lamplight. Cousin Jane played with me until -bed-time. Next morning she did not appear at the breakfast-table--I was -told that she had taken a bad cold, and could not leave her bed. She -never again left it alive; and I saw her no more,--except in dreams. -Owing to the dangerous nature of the consumption that had attacked her, -I was not allowed even to approach her room.... She left her money to -somebody in the convent which she used to visit, and her books to me. - -If, at that time, I could have dared to speak of the other Cousin Jane, -somebody might have thought proper--in view of the strange sequel--to -tell me the natural history of such apparitions. But I could not have -believed the explanation. I understood only that I had seen; and because -I had seen I was afraid. - -And the memory of that seeing disturbed me more than ever, after the -coffin of Cousin Jane had been carried away. The knowledge of her death -had filled me, not with sorrow, but with terror. Once I had wished that -she were dead. And the wish had been fulfilled--but the punishment was -yet to come! Dim thoughts, dim fears--enormously older than the -creed of Cousin Jane--awakened within me, as from some prenatal -sleep,--especially a horror of the dead as evil beings, hating -mankind.... Such horror exists in savage minds, accompanied by the vague -notion that character is totally transformed or stripped by death,--that -those departed, who once caressed and smiled and loved, now menace and -gibber and hate.... What power, I asked myself in dismay, could protect -me from her visits? I had not yet ceased to believe in the God of Cousin -Jane; but I doubted whether he would or could do anything for me. -Moreover, my creed had been greatly shaken by the suspicion that Cousin -Jane had always lied. How often had she not assured me that I could not -see ghosts or evil spirits! Yet the Thing that I had seen was assuredly -her inside-self,--the ghost of the goblin of her,--and utterly evil. -Evidently she hated me: she had lured me into a lonesome room for the -sole purpose of making me hideously afraid.... And why had she hated me -thus before she died?--was it because she knew that I hated her,--that I -had wished her to die? Yet how did she know?--could the ghost of her -see, through blood and flesh and bone, into the miserable little ghost -of myself? - -... Anyhow, she had lied.... Perhaps everybody else had lied. Were all -the people that I knew--the warm people, who walked and laughed in the -light--so much afraid of the Things of the Night that they dared not -tell the truth?... To none of these questions could I find a reply. And -there began for me a second period of black faith,--a faith of -unutterable horror, mingled with unutterable doubt. - -I was not then old enough to read serious books: it was only in after -years that I could learn the worth of Cousin Jane's bequest,--which -included a full set of the "Waverley Novels;" the works of Miss -Edgeworth; Martin's Milton--a beautiful copy, in tree-calf; Langhorne's -Plutarch; Pope's "Iliad" and "Odyssey;" Byron's "Corsair" and -"Lara,"--in the old red-covered Murray editions; some quaint -translations of the "Arabian Nights," and Locke's "Essay on the Human -Understanding"! I cannot recall half of the titles; but I remember one -fact that gratefully surprised me: there was not a single religious book -in the collection.... Cousin Jane was a convert: her literary tastes, at -least, were not of Rome. - -Those who knew her history are dust.... How often have I tried to -reproach myself for hating her. But even now in my heart a voice cries -bitterly to the ghost of her: "_Woe! woe!--thou didst destroy it,--the -beautiful world!_" - - * * * * * - -In the paper entitled "Idolatry" he reveals, as by some passing -reflection in a mirror, how his little pagan Greek soul was hardening -itself thus early against the strong fingers endeavouring to shape the -tendencies of his thought into forms entirely alien to it. - - - IDOLATRY - - "Ah, Psyche, from the regions which - Are Holy Land!" - -The early Church did not teach that the gods of the heathen were merely -brass and stone. On the contrary she accepted them as real and -formidable personalities--demons who had assumed divinity to lure their -worshippers to destruction. It was in reading the legends of that -Church, and the lives of her saints, that I obtained my first vague -notions of the pagan gods. - -I then imagined those gods to resemble in some sort the fairies and the -goblins of my nursery-tales, or the fairies in the ballads of Sir Walter -Scott. Goblins and their kindred interested me much more than the ugly -Saints of the Pictorial Church History,--much more than even the slender -angels of my French religious prints, who unpleasantly reminded me of -Cousin Jane. Besides, I could not help suspecting all the friends of -Cousin Jane's God, and feeling a natural sympathy with his -enemies,--whether devils, goblins, fairies, witches, or heathen deities. -To the devils indeed--because I supposed them stronger than the rest--I -had often prayed for help and friendship; very humbly at first, and in -great fear of being too grimly answered,--but afterwards with words of -reproach on finding that my condescensions had been ignored. - -But in spite of their indifference, my sympathy with the enemies of -Cousin Jane's God steadily strengthened; and my interest in all the -spirits that the Church History called evil, especially the heathen -gods, continued to grow. And at last one day I discovered, in one -unexplored corner of our library, several beautiful books about -art,--great folio books containing figures of gods and of demi-gods, -athletes and heroes, nymphs and fauns and nereids, and all the charming -monsters--half-man, half-animal--of Greek mythology. - -How my heart leaped and fluttered on that happy day! Breathless I gazed; -and the longer that I gazed the more unspeakably lovely those faces and -forms appeared. Figure after figure dazzled, astounded, bewitched me. -And this new delight was in itself a wonder,--also a fear. Something -seemed to be thrilling out of those pictured pages,--something invisible -that made me afraid. I remembered stories of the infernal magic that -informed the work of the pagan statuaries. But this superstitious fear -presently yielded to a conviction, or rather intuition--which I could -not possibly have explained--that the gods had been belied _because_ -they were beautiful. - -... (Blindly and gropingly I had touched a truth,--the ugly truth that -beauty of the highest order, whether mental, or moral, or physical, must -ever be hated by the many and loved only by the few!).... And these had -been called devils! I adored them!--I loved them!--I promised to detest -forever all who refused them reverence!... Oh! the contrast between that -immortal loveliness and the squalor of the saints and the patriarchs and -the prophets of my religious pictures!--a contrast indeed as of heaven -and hell.... In that hour the mediaeval creed seemed to me the very -religion of ugliness and of hate. And as it had been taught to me, in -the weakness of my sickly childhood, it certainly was. And even to-day, -in spite of larger knowledge, the words "heathen" and "pagan"--however -ignorantly used in scorn--revive within me old sensations of light and -beauty, of freedom and joy. - - * * * * * - -Only with much effort can I recall these scattered memories of boyhood; -and in telling them I am well aware that a later and much more -artificial Self is constantly trying to speak in the place of the Self -that was,--thus producing obvious incongruities. Before trying to relate -anything more concerning the experiences of the earlier Self, I may as -well here allow the Interrupter an opportunity to talk. - -The first perception of beauty ideal is never a cognition, but a -_recognition_. No mathematical or geometrical theory of aesthetics will -ever interpret the delicious shock that follows upon the boy's first -vision of beauty supreme. He himself could not even try to explain why -the newly-seen form appears to him lovelier than aught upon earth. He -only feels the sudden power that the vision exerts upon the mystery of -his own life,--and that feeling is but dim deep memory,--a -blood-remembrance. - -Many do not remember, and therefore cannot see--at any period of life. -There are myriad minds no more capable of perceiving the higher beauty -than the blind wan fish of caves--offspring of generations that swam in -total darkness--is capable of feeling the gladness of light. Probably -the race producing minds like these had no experience of higher -things,--never beheld the happier vanished world of immortal art and -thought. Or perhaps in such minds the higher knowledge has been effaced -or blurred by long dull superimposition of barbarian inheritance. - -But he who receives in one sudden vision the revelation of the antique -beauty,--he who knows the thrill divine that follows after,--the -unutterable mingling of delight and sadness,--he _remembers_! Somewhere, -at some time, in the ages of a finer humanity, he must have lived with -beauty. Three thousand--four thousand years ago: it matters not; what -thrills him now is the shadowing of what has been, the phantom of -rapture forgotten. Without inherited sense of the meaning of beauty as -power, of the worth of it to life and love, never could the ghost in him -perceive, however dimly, the presence of the gods. - -Now I think that something of the ghostliness in this present shell of -me must have belonged to the vanished world of beauty,--must have -mingled freely with the best of its youth and grace and force,--must -have known the worth of long light limbs on the course of glory, and -the pride of the winner in contests, and the praise of maidens stately -as that young sapling of a palm, which Odysseus beheld, springing by the -altar in Delos.... All this I am able to believe, because I could feel, -while yet a boy, the divine humanity of the ancient gods.... - -But this new-found delight soon became for me the source of new sorrows. -I was placed with all my small belongings under religious tutelage; and -then, of course, my reading was subjected to severe examination. One day -the beautiful books disappeared; and I was afraid to ask what had become -of them. After many weeks they were returned to their former place; and -my joy at seeing them again was of brief duration. All of them had been -unmercifully revised. My censors had been offended by the nakedness of -the gods, and had undertaken to correct that impropriety. Parts of many -figures, dryads, naiads, graces, muses had been found too charming and -erased with a pen-knife;--I can still recall one beautiful seated -figure, whose breasts had been thus excised. Evidently "the breasts of -the nymphs in the brake" had been found too charming: dryads, naiads, -graces and muses--all had been rendered breastless. And, in most cases, -_drawers_ had been put upon the gods--even upon the tiny Loves--large -baggy bathing-drawers, woven with cross-strokes of a quill-pen, so -designed as to conceal all curves of beauty,--especially the lines of -the long fine thighs.... However, in my case, this barbarism proved of -some educational value. It furnished me with many problems of -restoration; and I often tried very hard to reproduce in pencil-drawing -the obliterated or the hidden line. In this I was not successful; but, -in spite of the amazing thoroughness with which every mutilation or -effacement had been accomplished, my patient study of the methods of -attack enabled me--long before I knew Winckelmann--to understand how -Greek artists had idealized the human figure.... Perhaps that is why, in -after years, few modern representations of the nude could interest me -for any length of time. However graceful at first sight the image might -appear, something commonplace would presently begin to reveal itself in -the lines of those very forms against which my early tutors had waged -such implacable war. - -Is it not almost invariably true that the modern naked figure, as -chiselled or painted, shadows something of the modern living -model,--something, therefore, of individual imperfection? Only the -antique work of the grand era is superindividual,--reflecting the -ideal-supreme in the soul of a race.... Many, I know, deny this;--but do -we not remain, to some degree, barbarians still? Even the good and great -Ruskin, on the topic of Greek art, spake often like a Goth. Did he not -call the Medicean Venus "an uninteresting little person"? - - * * * * * - -Now after I had learned to know and to love the elder gods, the world -again began to glow about me. Glooms that had brooded over it slowly -thinned away. The terror was not yet gone; but I now wanted only -reasons to disbelieve all that I feared and hated. In the sunshine, in -the green of the fields, in the blue of the sky, I found a gladness -before unknown. Within myself new thoughts, new imaginings, dim longings -for I knew not what were quickening and thrilling. I looked for beauty, -and everywhere found it: in passing faces--in attitudes and motions,--in -the poise of plants and trees,--in long white clouds,--in faint-blue -lines of far-off hills. At moments the simple pleasure of life would -quicken to a joy so large, so deep, that it frightened me. But at other -times there would come to me a new and strange sadness,--a shadowy and -inexplicable pain. - -I had entered into my Renaissance. - - * * * * * - -Already must have begun the inevitable fissure between himself and his -pious protectress, and one may imagine the emotions of his spiritual -pastors and masters aroused by such an incident as this--related in one -of his letters of later years:-- - -"This again reminds me of something. When I was a boy I had to go to -confession, and my confessions were honest ones. One day I told the -ghostly father that I had been guilty of desiring that the devil would -come to me in the shape of the beautiful women in which he came to the -anchorites in the desert, and that I thought I should yield to such -temptations. He was a grim man who rarely showed emotion, my confessor, -but on that occasion he actually rose to his feet in anger. - -"'Let me warn you!' he cried, 'let me warn you! Of all things never wish -that! You might be more sorry for it than you can possibly believe!' - -"His earnestness filled me with a fearful joy;--for I thought the -temptation might actually be realized--so serious he looked ... but the -pretty _succubi_ all continued to remain in hell." - -From these indications the belief is unavoidable that there was never -the slightest foundation for the assertion that an endeavour was made to -train him for the priesthood. In a letter to his brother he distinctly -denies it. He says:-- - -"You were misinformed as to Grand-aunt educating your brother for the -priesthood. He had the misfortune to pass some years in Catholic -colleges, where the educational system chiefly consists in keeping the -pupils as ignorant as possible. He was not even a Catholic." - -Indeed his bitterness against the Roman Church eventually crystallized -into something like an obsession, aroused perhaps by inherited -tendencies, by the essential character of his mind, and by those in -authority over him in his boyhood driving him, by too great an -insistence, to revolt. He was profoundly convinced that the Church, with -its persistent memory and far-reaching hand, had never forgotten his -apostasy, nor failed to remind him of the fact from time to time. This -conviction remained a dim and threatening shadow in the background of -his whole life; to all remonstrance on the subject his only reply was, -"You don't know the Church as I do;" and several curious coincidences in -crises of his career seemed to him to justify and confirm this belief. - -Of the course and character of his education but little is known. He is -said to have spent two years in a Jesuit college in the north of France, -where he probably acquired his intimate and accurate knowledge of the -French tongue. He was also for a time at Ushaw, the Roman Catholic -college at Durham,[2] and here occurred one of the greatest misfortunes -of his life. In playing the game known as "The Giant's Stride" he was -accidentally blinded in one eye by the knotted end of a rope suddenly -released from the hand of one of his companions. In consequence of this -the work thrown upon the other eye by the enormous labours of his later -years kept him in constant terror of complete loss of sight. In writing -and reading he used a glass so large and heavy as to oblige him to have -it mounted in a handle and to hold it to his eye like a lorgnette, and -for distant observation he carried a small folding telescope. - - [2] A cousin writes of him at this period: "I remember him a boy - with a great taste for drawing. Very near-sighted, but so - tender and careful of me as a little child. He was at a - priest's college where I was taken by my grand-aunt (who had - adopted him), to see him. I remember his taking me upstairs to - look at the school-room, and on the way bidding me bow to an - image of the Virgin, which I refused to do. He became very much - excited and begged me to tell him the reason of my refusal. He - always seemed very much in earnest, and to have a very - sensitive nature." - - A fellow-pupil at Ushaw says of him:-- - - "My acquaintance with him began at Ushaw college, near Durham. - Discovering that we had some tastes in common, we chummed a good - deal, discussing our favourite authors, which in Lafcadio's case - were chiefly poets, though he also took considerable interest in - books of travel and adventure. Even then his style was remarkable - for graphic power, combined with graceful expression.... He was of - a very speculative turn of mind, and I have a lively recollection - of the shock it occasioned to several of us when he one day - announced his disbelief in the Bible. I am of opinion, however, - that he was then only posing as an _esprit fort_, for a few days - afterwards, during a walk with the class in the country, he - returned to this subject in discussion with a master, and I - inferred from what he said to me that he was quite satisfied with - the evidences of the truth of the Scriptures. It is interesting in - connection with this to recall his subsequent adoption of - Buddhism. I am rather inclined to think that in either 1864 or - 1865 Lafcadio devoted more attention to general literature than to - his school studies, as (if my memory does not play me false) he - was 'turned back' on our class moving into 'Grammar.'... - - "Longfellow was one of his favourite poets, his beautiful imagery - and felicity of expression appealing with peculiar force to a - kindred soul. He was fond of repeating scraps of poetry - descriptive of heroic combats, feats of arms, or of the prowess of - the Baresarks, or Berserkers, as described in Norse sagas.... He - used to dwell with peculiar satisfaction on the line:-- - - 'Like Thor's hammer, huge and dinted, was his horny hand.' - - Lafcadio was proud of his biceps, and on repeating this line he - would bend his right arm and grasp the muscle with his left hand. - I often addressed him as 'The Man of Gigantic Muscle.' After he - went to America I had little communication with him beyond, I - think, one letter. We then drifted different ways. He was a very - lovable character, extremely sympathetic and sincere." - -The slight disfigurement, too,--it was never great,--was a source of -perpetual distress. He imagined that others, more particularly women, -found him disgusting and repugnant in consequence of the film that -clouded the iris. - -This accident seems to have ended his career at Ushaw, for his name -appears upon the rolls for 1865, when he was in his sixteenth year, and -in a letter written in Japan to one of his pupils, whom he reproves for -discouragement because of an interruption of his studies caused by -illness, he says:-- - -"A little bodily sickness may come to any one. Many students die, many -go mad, many do foolish things and ruin themselves for life. You are -good at your studies, and mentally in sound health, and steady in your -habits--three conditions which ought to mean success. You have good eyes -and a clear brain. How many thousands fail for want of these? - -"When I was a boy of sixteen, although my blood relations were--some of -them--very rich, no one would pay anything to help me finish my -education. I had to become what you never have had to become--a servant. -I partly lost my sight. I had two years of sickness in bed. I had no one -to help me. And I had to educate myself in spite of all difficulties. -Yet I was brought up in a rich home, surrounded with every luxury of -Western life. - -"So, my dear boy, do not lie there in your bed and fret, and try to -persuade yourself that you are unfortunate." - -This is the only light to be found upon those three dark years between -his leaving Ushaw and his arrival in America. The rupture with his -grand-aunt was complete. Among the fanatic converts were not wanting -those to widen the breach made by the pagan fancies of the boy. Her -property, which he had been encouraged to look upon as his inheritance, -was dribbling away in the hands of those whose only claim to business -ability was their religious convictions, and a few years after their -separation her death put an end to any efforts at reconciliation and -showed what great financial sacrifices she had made in the interests of -her faith. Some provision was made for him in her will, but he put -forward no claims, and the property was found practically to have -vanished. - -To what straits the boy was driven at this time in his friendlessness -there is no means of knowing. One of his companions at Ushaw says:-- - -"In 1866 I left Ushaw, and I am unable to recall now whether he was -there at that time. I had several letters from him subsequently, at a -time when he was suffering the _peine forte et dure_ of direct penury in -London. In some evil quarter by the Thames poverty obliged him to take -refuge in the workhouse. In a letter received from him while living in -that dreadful place, he described the sights and sounds of horror which -even then preferred the shade of night--of windows thrown violently -open, or shattered to pieces, shrieks of agony, or cries of murder, -followed by a heavy plunge in the river." - -The reference in the Japanese letter mentioned above is the only one to -be found in his correspondence, and in even the most intimate talk with -friends he avoided reference to this period as one too painful for -confidence. Another fragment of the autobiography--"Stars"--can, -however, be guessed to refer to an experience of this cruel time. - -"I take off my clothes,--few and thin,--and roll them up into a bundle, -to serve me for a pillow: then I creep naked into the hay.... Oh, the -delight of my hay-bed--the first bed of any sort for many a long -night!--oh, the pleasure of the sense of rest! The sweet scent of the -hay!... Overhead, through a skylight, I see stars--sharply shining: -there is frost in the air. - -"The horses, below, stir heavily at moments, and paw. I hear them -breathe; and their breath comes up to me in steam. The warmth of their -great bodies fills the building, penetrates the hay, quickens my -blood;--their life is my fire. - -"So contentedly they breathe!... They must be aware that I am -here--nestling in their hay. But they do not mind;--and for that I am -grateful. Grateful, too, for the warmth of their breath, the warmth of -their pure bodies, the warmth of their good hay,--grateful even for -those stirrings which they make in their rest, filling the dark with -assurance of large dumb tolerant companionship.... I wish I could tell -them how thankful I am,--how much I like them,--what pleasure I feel in -the power that proceeds from them, in the sense of force and life that -they spread through the silence, like a large warm Soul.... - -"It is better that they cannot understand. For they earn their good food -and lodging;--they earn the care that keeps them glossy and -beautiful;--they are of use in the world. And of what use in the world -am I?... - -"Those sharply shining stars are suns,--enormous suns. They must be -giving light to multitudes unthinkable of other worlds.... In some of -those other worlds there must be cities, and creatures resembling -horses, and stables for them, and hay, and small things--somewhat like -rats or mice--hiding in the hay.... I know that there are a hundred -millions of suns. The horses do not know. But, nevertheless, they are -worth, I have been told, fifteen hundred dollars each: they are superior -beings! How much am I worth?... - -"To-morrow, after they have been fed, I also shall be fed--by kindly -stealth;--and I shall not have earned the feeding, in spite of the fact -that I know there are hundreds of millions of suns!" - - * * * * * - -Sometime during the year 1869--the exact date cannot be -ascertained--Lafcadio Hearn, nineteen years old, penniless, delicate, -half-blind, and without a friend, found himself in the streets of New -York. - - - - - CHAPTER II - - THE ARTIST'S APPRENTICESHIP - - -It is more than doubtful if any individual amid the hurrying multitudes -swarming in the streets of New York in 1869 and 1870 ever noticed with -interest--though many of them must have seen--the shy, shabby boy, -Lafcadio Hearn. He was thin to attenuation, for his meals were scant and -uncertain; his dress was threadbare, for in all the two years he never -possessed enough money to renew the garments he had worn upon landing, -and his shabbiness must have been extreme, for he had during the greater -part of that period no home other than a carpenter's shop, where a -friendly Irish workman allowed him to sleep on the shavings and cook his -meals upon the small stove, in return for a little rough book-keeping -and running of errands. Yet a few may have turned for a second glance at -the dark face and eagle profile of the emaciated, unkempt boy, though -unsuspecting that this was one--few in each generation--of those who -have dreamed the Dream, and seen the Vision, that here was one of those -whom Socrates termed "daemonic." One who had looked in secret places, -face to face, upon the magic countenance of the Muse, and was thereafter -vowed to the quest of the Holy Cup wherein glows the essential blood of -beauty. One who must follow forever in poverty hard after the Dream, -leaving untouched on either hand the goods for which his fellows strove; -falling at times into the mire, torn by the thorns that others evade, -lost often, and often overtaken by the night of discouragement and -despair, but rising again from besmirchments and defacings to follow the -vision to the end. It is hard for those who have never laboured wearily -after the glimmering feet of the bearer of the Cup, who have never -touched even the hem of her garment, to understand the spiritual -_possession_ of one under the vow. To them in such a career will be -visible only the fantastic or squalid episodes of the quest. - -What were the boy's thoughts at this period; what his hopes, his aims, -or his intentions it is now impossible to know. Merely to keep life in -his body taxed his powers, and while much of his time was spent in the -refuge of the public libraries he was often so faint from inanition as -to be unable to benefit by the books he sought. - -The fourth fragment of the autobiography appears to refer to this -unhappy period. - - - INTUITION - - I was nineteen years old, and a stranger in the great strange world of - America, and grievously tormented by grim realities. As I did not know - how to face those realities, I tried to forget them as much as - possible; and romantic dreams, daily nourished at a public library, - helped me to forget. Next to this unpaid luxury of reading, my chief - pleasure was to wander about the streets of the town, trying to find - in passing faces--faces of girls--some realization of certain ideals. - And I found an almost equal pleasure in looking at the photographs - placed on display at the doors of photographers' shops,--called, in - that place and time, "galleries." Picture-galleries they were indeed - for me, during many, many penniless months. - - One day, in a by-street, I discovered a new photographer's shop; and - in a glass case, at the entrance, I beheld a face the first sight of - which left me breathless with wonder and delight,--a face incomparably - surpassing all my dreams. It was the face of a young woman wearing, - for head-dress, something that looked like an embroidered scarf; and - this extraordinary head-dress might have been devised for the purpose - of displaying, to artistic advantage, the singular beauty of the - features. The gaze of the large dark eyes was piercing and calm; the - aquiline curve of the nose was clear as the curve of a sword; the - mouth was fine, but firm;--and, in spite of the sensitive delicacy of - this face, there was a something accipitrine about it,--something - sinister and superb, that made me think of a falcon.... For a long, - long time I stood looking at it, and the more I looked, the more the - splendid wonder of it seemed to grow--like a fascination. I thought - that I would suffer much--ever so much!--for the privilege of - worshipping the real woman. But who was she? I dared not ask the owner - of the "gallery;" and I could not think of any other means of finding - out. - - I had one friend in those days,--the only fellow countryman whom I - knew in that American town,--a man who had preceded me into exile by - nearly forty years,--and to him I went. With all of my boyish - enthusiasms he used to feel an amused sympathy; and when I told him - about my discovery, he at once proposed to go with me to the - photograph-shop. - - For several moments he studied the picture in silence, knitting his - grey brows with a puzzled expression. Then he exclaimed - emphatically,-- - - "That is not an American." - - "What do you think of the face?" I queried, anxiously. - - "It is a wonderful face," he answered,--"a very wonderful face. But it - is not an American, nor an English face." - - "Spanish?" I suggested. "Or Italian?" - - "No, no," he returned, very positively. "It is not a European face at - all." - - "Perhaps a Jewess?"--I ventured. - - "No; there are very beautiful Jewish faces,--but none like that." - - "Then what can it be?" - - "I do not know;--there is some strange blood there." - - "How can you tell?" I protested. - - "Why, I feel it;--I am quite sure of it.... But wait here a moment!--I - know this photographer, and I shall ask him." - - And, to my delight, he went in.... Alas! the riddle was not to be - solved so quickly as we had hoped. The owner of the picture said that - he did not know whose portrait it was. He had bought it, with a - number of other "stock-photographs," from a wholesale dealer in - photographic wares. It had been taken in Paris; but the card upon - which it was now mounted did not bear the name of the French - photographer. - - Now my friend was a wanderer whose ties with England had been broken - before I was born;--he knew the most surprising things about weird - places and strange peoples, but had long ceased to feel any interest - in the life of the mother country. For that reason, probably, the - picture proved not less of a riddle to him than to me. The - photographer was a young man who had never left his native state; and - his stock-in-trade had been obtained, of course, through an agency. As - for myself, I was hopelessly separated, by iron circumstances, from - that ordered society which seeks its pleasures in art and music and - drama. Otherwise, how easily might I have learned the name of the - marvellous being who had cast that shadow! But many long years went by - before I learned it. - - I had then forgotten all about the picture. I was in a Southern city, - hundreds of miles away; and I happened to be leaning on the counter of - a druggist's shop, talking to the druggist, when I suddenly perceived, - in a glass case at my elbow, the very same enigmatic photograph. It - had been pasted, as a label, on the lid of some box of cosmetic. And - again there tingled, through all my blood, the same thrill of wonder - and delight that I had felt as a boy, at the door of that - photographer.... - - "Excuse me for interrupting you a moment," I exclaimed;--"please tell - me whose face is that." - - The druggist glanced at the photograph, and then smiled--as people - smile at silly questions. - - "Is it possible that you do not know?" he responded. - - "I do not," I said. "Years ago I saw that photograph and I could not - find out whose picture it was." - - "You are joking!" - - "Really I am not," I said;--"and I very much want to know." - - Then he told me--but I need not repeat the name of the great - tragedienne.... At once flashed back to me the memory of my old - friend's declaration:--"_There is some strange blood there._" After - all, he was right! In the veins of that wonderful woman ran the blood - of Indian kings. - - * * * * * - -What drove him at the end of the two years to endeavour to reach -Cincinnati, Ohio, is not clear. The only light to be gathered upon the -subject is from the fifth part of the autobiographical fragments, which -suggests that he made the journey in an emigrant train and had not money -for food upon the way. After thirty years, the clearest memory of that -dolorous pilgrimage was of the distress of being misunderstood by the -friendly girl who pitied his sufferings. The record of it bears the -title of - - MY FIRST ROMANCE - - There has been sent to me, across the world, a little book stamped, on - its yellow cover, with names of Scandinavian publishers,--names - sounding of storm and strand and surge. And the sight of those names, - worthy of Frost-Giants, evokes the vision of a face,--simply because - that face has long been associated, in my imagination, with legends - and stories of the North--especially, I think, with the wonderful - stories of Bjoernstjerne Bjoernson. - - It is the face of a Norwegian peasant-girl of nineteen summers,--fair - and ruddy and strong. She wears her national costume: her eyes are - grey like the sea, and her bright braided hair is tied with a blue - ribbon. She is tall; and there is an appearance of strong grace about - her, for which I can find no word. Her name I never learned, and never - shall be able to learn;--and now it does not matter. By this time she - may have grandchildren not a few. But for me she will always be the - maiden of nineteen summers,--fair and fresh from the land of the - _Hrimthursar_,--a daughter of gods and Vikings. From the moment of - seeing her I wanted to die for her; and I dreamed of _Valkyrja_ and of - _Vala_-maids, of _Freyja_ and of _Gerda_.... - - * * * * * - - --She is seated, facing me, in an American railroad-car,--a - third-class car, full of people whose forms have become - indistinguishably dim in memory. She alone remains luminous, vivid: - the rest have faded into shadow,--all except a man, sitting beside me, - whose dark Jewish face, homely and kindly, is still visible in - profile. Through the window on our right she watches the strange new - world through which we are passing: there is a trembling beneath us, - and a rhythm of thunder, while the train sways like a ship in a storm. - - An emigrant-train it is; and she, and I, and all those dim people are - rushing westward, ever westward,--through days and nights that seem - preternaturally large,--over distances that are monstrous. The light - is of a summer day; and shadows slant to the east. - - The man beside me says:-- - - "She must leave us to-morrow;--she goes to Redwing, Minnesota.... You - like her very much?--yes, she's a fine girl. I think you wish that you - were also going to Redwing, Minnesota?" - - I do not answer. I am angry that he should know what I wish. And it is - very rude of him, I think, to let me know that he knows. - - Mischievously, he continues:-- - - "If you like her so much, why don't you talk to her? Tell me what you - would like to say to her; and I'll interpret for you.... Bah! you must - not be afraid of the girls!" - - Oh!--the idea of telling _him_ what I should like to say to her!... - Yet it is not possible to see him smile, and to remain vexed with him. - - Anyhow, I do not feel inclined to talk. For thirty-eight hours I have - not eaten anything; and my romantic dreams, nourished with - tobacco-smoke only, are frequently interrupted by a sudden inner - aching that makes me wonder how long I shall be able to remain without - food. Three more days of railroad travel--and no money!... My - neighbour yesterday asked me why I did not eat;--how quickly he - changed the subject when I told him! Certainly I have no right to - complain: there is no reason why he should feed me. And I reflect upon - the folly of improvidence. - - Then my reflection is interrupted by the apparition of a white hand - holding out to me a very, very large slice of brown bread, with an - inch-thick cut of yellow cheese thereon; and I look up, hesitating, - into the face of the Norwegian girl. Smiling, she says to me, in - English, with a pretty childish accent: - - "Take it, and eat it." - - I take it, and devour it. Never before nor since did brown bread and - cheese seem to me so good. Only after swallowing the very last crumb - do I suddenly become aware that, in my surprise and hunger, I forgot - to thank her. Impulsively, and at the wrong moment, I try to say some - grateful words. - - Instantly, and up to the roots of her hair, she flushes crimson: then, - bending forward, she puts some question in a clear sharp tone that - fills me with fear and shame. I do not understand the question: I - understand only that she is angry; and for one cowering moment my - instinct divines the power and the depth of Northern anger. My face - burns; and her grey eyes, watching it burn, are grey steel; and her - smile is the smile of a daughter of men who laugh when they are angry. - And I wish myself under the train,--under the earth,--utterly out of - sight forever. But my dark neighbour makes some low-voiced - protest,--assures her that I had only tried to thank her. Whereat the - level brows relax, and she turns away, without a word, to watch the - flying landscape; and the splendid flush fades from her cheek as - swiftly as it came. But no one speaks: the train rushes into the dusk - of five and thirty years ago ... and that is all! - - * * * * * - - ... What _can_ she have imagined that I said?... My swarthy comrade - would not tell me. Even now my face burns again at the thought of - having caused a moment's anger to the kind heart that pitied - me,--brought a blush to the cheek of the being for whose sake I would - so gladly have given my life.... But the shadow, the golden shadow of - her, is always with me; and, because of her, even the name of the land - from which she came is very, very dear to me. - - * * * * * - -In Cincinnati Hearn eventually found work that enabled him to live, -though this did not come immediately, as is proved by an anecdote, -related by himself, of his early days there. A Syrian peddler employed -him to help dispose of some accumulated wares, sending him out with a -consignment of small mirrors. Certainly no human being was more unfitted -by nature for successful peddling than Lafcadio Hearn, and at the end of -the day he returned to the Syrian with the consignment intact. Setting -down his burden to apologize for his failure he put his foot -accidentally upon one of the mirrors, and thrown into a panic by the -sound of the splintering glass, he fled incontinently, and never saw the -merchant again, nor ever again attempted mercantile pursuits. - -The first regular work he obtained was as a type-setter and proof-reader -in the Robert Clarke Company, where--as he mentions in one of his -letters--he endeavoured to introduce reforms in the American methods of -punctuation, and assimilate it more closely to the English standards, -but without, as he confesses, any success. It was from some of these -struggles for typographical changes, undertaken with hot-headed -enthusiasm for perfection, that he derived his nickname of "Old -Semicolon," given him in amiable derision by his fellows. Mechanical -work of this character could not satisfy him long, though the experience -was useful to the young artist in words beginning his laborious -self-training in the use of his tools. Punctuation and typographical -form remained for him always a matter of profound importance, and in one -of his letters he declared that he would rather abandon all the -royalties to his publisher than be deprived of the privilege of -correcting his own proofs; corrections which in their amplitude often -devoured in printer's charges the bulk of his profits. - -[Illustration: LAFCADIO HEARN - _About 1873_] - -Later he secured, for a brief period, a position as private secretary to -Thomas Vickers, at that time librarian of the public library of -Cincinnati, and here again he found food for his desires in a free -access to the recondite matters to which already his genius was tending; -but again he was driven by poverty and circumstance into broader fields, -and early in 1874 he was working as a general reporter on the Cincinnati -_Enquirer_. His work was of a kind that gave him at first no scope -for his talents and must have been peculiarly unsympathetic, consisting -of daily market reports, until chance opened the eyes of his employers -to his capacity for better things. A peculiarly atrocious crime, still -known in Cincinnati annals as the "Tan-yard Murder," had been -communicated to the office of the _Enquirer_ at a moment when all the -members of the staff, usually detailed to cover such assignments, were -absent. The editor calling upon the indifferent gods for some one -instantly to take up the matter, was surprised by a timid request from -the shy cub-reporter who turned in daily market "stuff," to be allowed -to deal with this tragedy, and after some demur, he consented to accept -what appeared an inadequate answer from the adjured deities. The "copy" -submitted some hours later caused astonished eyebrows, was considered -worthy of "scare-heads," and for the nine succeeding days of the life of -the wonder, Cincinnati sought ardently the Hoffmannesque story whose -poignantly chosen phrases set before them a grim picture that caused the -flesh to crawl upon their bones. It was realized at once that the -cub-reporter had unsuspected capacities and his talents were allowed -expansion in the direction of descriptive stories. One of the most -admired of these was a record of a visit to the top of the spire of St. -Peter's Cathedral, where hauled in ropes by a steeple-jack to the arms -of the cross which crowned it, he obtained a lofty view of the city and -returned to write an article that enabled all the town to see the great -panorama through his myopic eyes, which yet could bear testimony to -colour and detail not obvious to clearer vision. - -It was in this year that some trusting person was found willing to -advance a small sum of money for the publication of an amorphous little -Sunday sheet, professedly comic and satiric, entitled _Ye Giglampz_. H. -F. Farny contributed the cartoons, and Lafcadio Hearn the bulk of the -text. On June 21st of that year the first number appeared, with the -announcement that it was to be "published daily, except week days," and -was to be "devoted to art, literature, and satire." The first page was -adorned with a Dicky Doylish picture of Herr Kladderadatsch presenting -Mr. Giglampz to an enthusiastic public, which showed decided talent, but -the full page cartoon, though it may have been amusing when published, -is satire turned dry and dusty after the lapse of thirty-two years, and -it may be only vaguely discerned now to refer in some way to the -question of a third term for President Grant. - -The pictures are easily preferable to the text, though no doubt it too -has suffered from the desiccation of time, but Lafcadio Hearn was at no -time, one might infer, better fitted for satire than for peddling; _Ye -Giglampz_ plainly "jooks wi' deefeculty," and the young journalist's -views upon art and politics are such as might be expected from a boy of -twenty-four. - -The prohibition question, the Chicago fire, a local river disaster, and -the Beecher scandal are all dealt with by pen and pencil, much clipping -from _Punch_ and some translations from the comic journals of Paris -fill the columns, and after nine weeks _Ye Giglampz_ met an early and -well-deserved death. The only copies of the paper now known to be in -existence are contained in a bound volume belonging to Mr. Farny, -discovered by him in a second-hand bookshop, with some pencil notes in -the margin in Hearn's handwriting. One of these notes records that an -advertisement--there were but three in the first number--was never paid -for, so presumably this volume, monument of an unfortunate juvenile -exploit, was once in Hearn's meagre library, but was discarded when he -left Cincinnati. - -In the following year Hearn had left the _Enquirer_ and was recording -the Exposition of 1876 for the _Gazette_, and in the latter part of that -year he was a regular reporter for the _Commercial_. - -In 1895--writing to Professor Basil Hall Chamberlain--Hearn speaks of -John Cockerill, then visiting Japan, and draws an astonishingly vivid -picture of the editor who was in command of the Cincinnati _Enquirer_ in -the '70's. These occasional trenchant, accurate sketches from life, to -be found here and there in his correspondence, show a shrewdness of -judgement and coolness of observation which his companions never -suspected. He says:-- - -"I began daily newspaper work in 1874, in the city of Cincinnati, on a -paper called the _Enquirer_ edited by a sort of furious young man named -Cockerill. He was a hard master, a tremendous worker, and a born -journalist. I think none of us liked him, but we all admired his ability -to run things. He used to swear at us, work us half to death (never -sparing himself), and he had a rough skill in sarcasm that we were all -afraid of. He was fresh from the army, and full of army talk. In a few -years he had forced up the circulation of the paper to a very large -figure and made a fortune for the proprietor, who got jealous of him and -got rid of him.... He afterwards took hold of a St. Louis paper,--then -of a New York daily, the _World_.... He ran the circulation up to nearly -a quarter of a million, and again had the proprietor's jealousy to -settle with.... He also built up the _Advertiser_, but getting tired, -sold out, and went travelling. Finally, Bennett of the _Herald_ sends -him to Japan at, I believe, $10,000 a year. - -"I met him here to-day and talked over old times. He has become much -gentler and more pleasant, and seems to be very kindly. He is also a -little grey. What I have said about him shows that he is no very common -person. The man who can make three or four fortunes for other men, -without doing the same thing for himself, seldom is. He is not a -literary man, nor a well-read man, nor a scholar,--but has immense -common sense, and a large experience of life,--besides being, in a -Mark-Twainish way, much of a humourist." - -Those who knew John Cockerill will find in this portrait not one line -omitted which would make for truth and sympathy. One of Hearn's -associates of this period, Joseph Tunison, says of his work:-- - -"In Cincinnati such work was much harder than now, because more and -better work was demanded of a man for his weekly stipend than at -present.... Had he been then on a New York daily his articles would have -attracted bidding from rival managements, but in Cincinnati there was -little, if any, encouragement for such brilliant powers as his. The -_Commercial_ took him on at twenty dollars a week.... Though he worked -hard for a pittance he never slighted anything he had to do.... He was -never known to shirk hardship or danger in filling an assignment.... His -employers kept him at the most arduous work of a daily morning -paper--the night stations--for in that field developed the most -sensational events, and he was strongest in the unusual and the -startling." - -For two years more this was the routine of his daily life. He formed, in -spite of his shyness, some ties of intimacy; especially with Joseph -Tunison, a man of unusual classical learning, with H. F. Farny, the -artist, and with the now well-known musical critic and lecturer, H. E. -Krehbiel. Into these companionships he threw all the ardour of a very -young man; an ardour increased beyond even the usual intensity of young -friendships, by the natural warmth of his feelings and the loneliness of -his life, bereft of all those ties of family common to happier fates. In -their company he developed a quality of bonhomie that underlay the -natural seriousness of his temperament, and is frequently visible in his -letters, breaking through the gravity of his usual trend of thought. -Absence and time diminished but little his original enthusiasm, as the -letters included in this volume will bear testimony, though in later -years one by one his early friendships were chilled and abandoned. One -of the charges frequently brought against Lafcadio Hearn by his critics -in after years was that he was inconstant in his relations with his -friends. Mr. Tunison says of him:-- - -"He had a fashion of dropping his friends one by one, or of letting them -drop him, which comes to the same thing. Whether indifference or -suspicion was at the bottom of this habit would be hard to say, but he -never spoke ill of them afterwards. He seemed to forget all about them, -though two or three acquaintances of his early years of struggle and -privation were always after spoken of with the tenderest regard, and -their companionship was eagerly sought whenever this was possible." - -The charge of inconstancy is, to those who knew Lafcadio Hearn well, of -a sufficiently serious nature to warrant some analysis at this point, -while dealing with the subject of his first intimacies, for up to this -period he appears to have had no ties other than those, so bitterly -ruptured, with the people of his own blood, or the mere passing amities -of school-boy life. That many of his closest friendships were either -broken abruptly or sank into abeyance is quite true, but the reason for -this was explicable in several ways. The first and most comprehensible -cause was his inherent shyness of nature and an abnormal sensitiveness, -which his early experiences intensified to a point not easily understood -by those of a naturally self-confident temperament unqualified by -blighting childish impressions. A look, a word, which to the ordinary -robust nature would have had no meaning of importance, touched the -quivering sensibilities of the man like a searing acid, and stung him to -an anguish of resentment and bitterness which nearly always seemed -fantastically out of proportion to the offender, and this bitterness was -usually misjudged and resented. Only those cursed with similar -sensibilities--"as tender as the horns of cockled snails"--could -understand and forgive such an idiosyncrasy. It must be remembered that -all qualities have their synchronous defects. The nature which is as -reflective as water to the subtlest shades of the colour and form of -life must of its essential character be subject to rufflement by the -lightest breath of harshness or misconception. - -Professor Chamberlain, who himself suffered from this tendency to -unwarranted estrangement, has dealt with another phase of the matter -with a noble sympathy too rare among Hearn's friends. He says, in a -letter to the biographer:-- - -"The second point was his attitude toward his friends,--his quondam -friends,--all of whom he gradually dropped, with but very few -exceptions. Some I know who were deeply and permanently irritated by -this neglect, or ingratitude, as they termed it. I never could share -such a feeling, though of course I lamented the severance of connection -with one so gifted, and made two or three attempts at a renewal of -intercourse, which were met at first by cold politeness, afterwards with -complete silence, causing me to desist from further endeavours. The -reason I could not resent this was because Lafcadio's dropping of his -friends seemed to me to have its roots in that very quality which made -the chief charm of his works. I mean his idealism. Friends, when he -first made them, were for him more than mere mortal men, they stood -endowed with every perfection. He painted them in the beautiful colours -of his own fancy, and worshipped them, pouring out at their feet all the -passionate emotionalism of his Greek nature. But Lafcadio was not -emotional merely; another side of his mind had the keen insight of a man -of science. Thus he soon came to see that his idols had feet of clay, -and--being so purely subjective in his judgements--he was indignant with -them for having, as he thought, deceived him. Add to this that the rigid -character of his philosophical opinions made him perforce despise, as -intellectual weaklings, all those who did not share them, or shared them -only in a lukewarm manner,--and his disillusionment with a series of -friends in whom he had once thought to find intellectual sympathy is -seen to have been inevitable. For no man living, except himself, -idolized Herbert Spencer in his peculiar way; turning Spencer's -scientific speculations into a kind of mysticism. This mysticism became -a religion to him. The slightest cavil raised against it was resented by -him as a sacrilege. Thus it was hardly possible for him to retain old -ties of friendship except with a few men whom he met on the plane of -every-day life apart from the higher intellectual interests. Lafcadio -himself was a greater sufferer from all this than any one else; for he -possessed the affectionate disposition of a child, and suffered -poignantly when sympathy was withdrawn, or--what amounted to the -same--when he himself withdrew it. He was much to be pitied,--always -wishing to love, and discovering each time that his love had been -misplaced." - -To put the matter in its simplest form, he loved with a completeness and -tenderness extremely rare among human beings. When he discovered--as all -who love in this fashion eventually do--that the objects of his -affection had no such tenderness to give in return, he felt himself both -deceived and betrayed and allowed the relation to pass into the silence -of oblivion. - -There is still another facet of this subject which is made clear by some -of the letters written in the last years of his life, when he had -withdrawn himself almost wholly from intercourse with all save his -immediate family. Failing strength warned him that not many more years -remained in which to complete his self-imposed task, and like a man who -nears his goal with shortening breath and labouring pulse, he let slip -one by one every burden, and cast from him his dearest possessions, lest -even the weight of one love should hold him back from the final grasp -upon the ideal he had so long pursued with avid heart. This matter has -been dwelt upon at some length, and somewhat out of due place, but the -charge of disloyalty to friendship is a serious one, and a full -understanding of the facts upon which it rested is important to a -comprehension of the man. - -In these early days in Cincinnati, however, no blight had yet come upon -his young friendships, and they proved a source of great delight. -Krehbiel was already deeply immersed in studies of folk-songs and -folk-music,--his collection of which has since become famous,--and -Lafcadio threw himself with enthusiasm into similar studies, his natural -love for exotic lore rendering them peculiarly sympathetic to his -genius. Together they ransacked the libraries for discoveries, and -sought knowledge at first hand from wandering minstrels in Chinese -laundries, or from the exiles of many lands who gathered in the polyglot -slums along the river-banks. In the dedication of "Some Chinese Ghosts" -is recorded an echo of one of these experiences, when Krehbiel opened -the heart of a reserved Oriental to give up to them all his knowledge, -by proving that he himself could play their strange instruments and sing -their century-old songs. The dedication runs thus:-- - - TO MY FRIEND, - HENRY EDWARD KREHBIEL, - THE MUSICIAN, - WHO, SPEAKING THE SPEECH OF MELODY UNTO THE - CHILDREN OF TEN-HIA,-- - UNTO THE WANDERING TSING-JIN, WHOSE SKINS - HAVE THE COLOUR OF GOLD,-- - MOVED THEM TO MAKE STRANGE SOUNDS UPON THE - SERPENT-BELLIED SAN-HIEN; - PERSUADED THEM TO PLAY FOR ME UPON THE - SHRIEKING YA-HIEN; - PREVAILED ON THEM TO SING ME A SONG OF THEIR - NATIVE LAND,-- - THE SONG OF MOHLI-WA. - THE SONG OF THE JASMINE-FLOWER. - -This dedication is of peculiar interest; "Chinese Ghosts" has been long -out of print, and of the few copies issued--nearly the whole edition was -destroyed--but a handful still exist. It gives a typical example of the -musical, rhythmic prose which the young reporter was endeavouring to -master. He had fallen under the spell of the French Romantic school and -of their passion for _le mot juste_, of their love for exotic words, of -their research for the grotesque, the fantastic, the bizarre. Already -out of his tiny income he was extracting what others in like case spent -upon comforts or pleasures, to buy dictionaries and thesauri, and was -denying himself food and clothes to purchase rare books. The works of -Theophile Gautier were his daily companions, in which he saturated his -mind with fantasies of the Orient, Spain, and Egypt, refreshing himself -after the dull routine of the day's work with endeavours to -transliterate into English the strange and monstrous tales of his model, -those abnormal imaginations whose alien aroma almost defied transference -into a less supple tongue. - -His friend Tunison, writing of Hearn at this period, says:-- - -"But it was impossible for even this slavery of journalism to crush -out of him his determination to advance and excel. In the small hours of -the morning, into broad daylight, after the rough work of the police -rounds and the writing of columns in his inimitable style, he could be -seen, under merely a poor jet of gas, with his one useful eye close to -book and manuscript, translating from Gautier." - -These translations--including "Clarimonde," "Arria Marcella," and "King -Candaule"--with three others were published in 1882 under the title of -the initial tale, "One of Cleopatra's Nights," having been gathered from -the "Nouvelles," and the "Romans et Contes." The preface concludes thus: - -"It is the artist who must judge of Gautier's creations. To the lovers -of the loveliness of the antique world, to the lovers of physical beauty -and artistic truth,--of the charm of youthful dreams and young passion -in its blossoming,--of poetic ambitions and the sweet pantheism that -finds all Nature vitalized by the Spirit of the Beautiful,--to such the -first English version of these graceful phantasies is offered in the -hope that it may not be found wholly unworthy of the original." - -Up to this time no translation into English of Gautier's "Contes" had -been attempted, and the manuscript sought a publisher in vain for half a -dozen years. Later, when the little volume had reached a small but -appreciative audience, another English version was attempted by Andrew -Lang, but proved an unsuccessful rival, lacking the warmth and fidelity -of its predecessor. - -Other attempts in the same direction met with no better success, -partly, in some cases, because of the reluctance any Anglo-Saxon -publisher inevitably feels in issuing works which would encounter no -barriers of rigid decorum between themselves and the world of French -readers. The youthful artist working in any medium is prone to be -impatient of the prejudices of Anglo-Saxon pudency. The beautiful is to -him always its own justification for being, and his inexperience makes -him unafraid of the nudities of art. The refusal to deal freely with any -form of beauty seems to him as bloodlessly pietistic as the priest's -excision of "the breasts of the nymphs in the brake." Yet many years -after, when the boy had himself become the father of a boy and began to -think of his son's future, he said: "What shall I do with him? ... send -him to grim Puritans that he may be taught the Way of the Lord?--I am -beginning to think that really much of the ecclesiastical education (bad -and cruel as I used to imagine it) is founded on the best experience of -man under civilization; and I understand lots of things I used to think -superstitious bosh, and now think solid wisdom." - -This unavailing struggle to find an outlet for the expression of -something more worthy of his abilities than the sensational side of -journalism caused him the deepest discouragement and depression; and his -youthful ardour, denied a safe channel for its forces, turned to less -healthful instincts. The years in Cincinnati were at times marred by -experiments and outbursts, undertaken with bitter enthusiasm for -fantastic ethical codes, and finally caused severance of his ties with -his employers and the town itself. The tendency of his tastes toward the -study of strange peoples and civilizations made him find much that was -attractive in "the indolent, sensuous life of the negro race, and led -him to steep them in a sense of romance that he alone could extract from -the study,"--says Joseph Tunison,--"things that were common to these -people in their every-day life his vivid imagination transformed into -romance." - -This led him eventually into impossible experiments, and brought upon -him the resentment of his friends. Many years after, in Japan, he -referred to this matter in a letter to one of his pupils, and the letter -is so illuminative of this matter as to make it desirable to insert it -here, though rightly it should be included in the volume dealing with -his life in Japan. - - DEAR OCHIAI,--I was very happy to get your kind letter, and the - pleasant news it conveyed.... - - And now that all your trouble is over, perhaps you will sometimes find - it hard not to feel angry with those who ostracized you for so long. - It would at least be natural that you should feel angry with them, or - with some at least. But I hope you will not allow yourself to feel - anger towards them, even in your heart. Because the real truth is that - it was not really your schoolmates who were offended: it only appeared - so. The real feeling against you was what is called a _national_ - sentiment,--that jealous love of country with which every man is born, - and which you, quite unknowingly, turned against you for a little - while. So I hope you will love all your schoolmates none the - less,--even though they treated you distantly for so long. - - When I was a young man in my twenties, I had an experience very like - yours. I resolved to take the part of some people who were much - disliked in the place where I lived. I thought that those who - disliked them were morally wrong,--so I argued boldly for them and - went over to their side. Then all the rest of the people stopped - speaking to me, and I hated them for it. But I was too young then to - understand. There were other moral questions, much larger than those I - had been arguing about, which really caused the whole trouble. The - people did not know how to express them very well; they only _felt_ - them. After some years I discovered that I was quite mistaken--that I - was under a delusion. I had been opposing a great national and social - principle without knowing it. And if my best friends had not got angry - with me, I could not have learned the truth so well,--because there - are many things that are hard to explain and can only be taught by - experience.... - - Ever very affectionately, - Your old teacher, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - KUMAMOTO, March 27, 1894. - -Sick, unhappy, and unpopular, flight to other scenes naturally suggested -itself. Mr. Tunison thus describes the influences determining the move -to New Orleans, which occurred in 1877:-- - -"As Hearn advanced in his power to write, the sense of the discomforts -of his situation in Cincinnati grew upon him. His body and mind longed -for Southern air and scenes. One morning, after the usual hard work of -an unusually nasty winter night in Cincinnati, in a leisure hour of -conversation he heard an associate on the paper describe a scene in the -Gulf State. It was something about an old mansion of an ante-bellum -cotton prince, with its white columns, its beautiful avenue of trees; -the whitewashed negro quarters stretching away in the background; the -cypress and live-oaks hung with moss, the odours from the blossoming -magnolias, the songs of the mocking-birds in the early sunlight." - -Hearn took in every word of this with great keenness of interest, as was -shown by the usual dilation of his nostrils when excited, though he had -little to say at the time. It was as though he could see, and hear, and -smell the delights of the scene. Not long after on leaving for New -Orleans he remarked:-- - -"I had to go, sooner or later, but it was your description of the -sunlight, and melodies, and fragrance, and all the delights with which -the South appeals to the senses that determined me. I shall feel better -in the South, and I believe I shall do better." - -Though nostalgia for Southern warmth had given a purpose to his -wanderings, the immediate cause of his leaving the paper on which he was -employed in Cincinnati was his assignment to deal with a story of -hydrophobia, in which he suspected he had been given some misleading -information by his superiors; and though his suspicions were possibly -unjust, he announced that he had lost his loyalty to the paper and -abruptly quitted it. - -It is said that he went first to Memphis on leaving Cincinnati, but no -proof of this remains save an anecdote he once related, placing the -scene of it in Tennessee. - -The question of essential wrong and right being under discussion, his -companion advanced the theory that morals varied so much with localities -and conditions that it was impossible to decide that there was any act -of which one might say that it was essentially wrong or essentially -right. After thinking this over in his brooding manner, he said:-- - -"Yes, there is one thing that is always wrong, profoundly wrong under -any conditions." - -"And that?" he was asked. - -"To cause pain to a helpless creature for one's own pleasure," was his -answer; and then, in illustration, continued: "Once I was walking along -a road in Tennessee, and I saw a man who seemed intoxicated with -rage--for what cause I don't know. A kitten was crossing the road at the -moment. It got under the man's feet and tripped him. He caught it up and -blinded it and flung it from him with a laugh. The act seemed to soothe -his rage. I was not near enough to stop him, but I had a pistol in my -pocket--I always carried one then--and I fired four times at him; but, -you know my sight is so bad, I missed him." After a few moments he -added, "It has always been one of the regrets of my life that I missed." - -Sometime in 1877--the time of the year is uncertain--Hearn arrived in -New Orleans, and from this date the work of a biographer becomes almost -superfluous, for then was begun the admirable series of letters to H. E. -Krehbiel, which record the occupations and interests of his life for the -next twelve years, setting forth, as no one less gifted than himself -could, the impressions he received, the development of his mind, the -trend of his studies, the infinite labour by which he slowly built up -his mastery of the English tongue and the methods of work which made him -eventually one of the great stylists of the Nineteenth Century. These -letters make clear, as no comment could adequately do, how unflinchingly -he pursued his purpose to become an artist, through long discouragement, -through poverty and self-sacrifice; make clear how the Dream never -failed to lead him, and how broad a foundation of study and discipline -he laid during his apprenticeship for the structure he was later to rear -for his own monument. They also disclose, as again no comment could do, -the modesty of his self-appreciation, and the essentially enthusiastic -and affectionate nature of his character. - -The first work he secured in New Orleans was on the staff of the _Daily -Item_, one of the minor journals, where he read proof, clipped -exchanges, wrote editorials, and occasionally contributed a translation, -or some bit of original work in the shape of what came to be known as -his "Fantastics." Meanwhile he was rejoicing in the change of residence, -for the old, dusty, unpaved squalid New Orleans of the '70's--the city -crushed into inanition by war, poverty, pestilence, and the frenzy of -carpet-bagger misrule--was far more sympathetic to his tastes than the -prosperous growing town he had abandoned. - -The gaunt, melancholy great houses where he lodged in abandoned, -crumbling apartments,--still decorated with the tattered splendours of a -prosperous past,--where he was served by timid unhappy gentlewomen, or -their ex-servants; the dim flower-hung courts behind the blank, -mouldering walls; the street-cries; the night-songs of wanderers--all -the colourful, polyglot, half-tropical life of the town was a constant -appeal to the romantic side of the young man's nature. Of disease and -danger--arising out of the conditions of the unhappy city--he took no -thought till after the great epidemic of yellow fever which desolated -New Orleans the following summer, during which he suffered severely from -_dengue_, a lighter form of the disease. But even the cruelties of his -new home were of value to him. In the grim closing chapter of "Chita" -the anguish of a death by yellow fever is set forth with a quivering -reality which only a personal knowledge of some phases of the disease -could have made possible. - -Always pursued by a desire to free himself of the harness of daily -journalism, he plunged into experiments in economy, reducing at one time -his expenses for food to but two dollars a week; trusting his hardly -gathered savings to a sharper who owned a restaurant, and who ran away -when the enterprise proved a failure. On another occasion he put by -everything beyond his bare necessities in one of the mushroom -building-loan societies which sprang up all over the country at that -time, and with the collapse of this investment he finally and forever -abandoned further financial enterprises, regarding them with an -absolutely comic distrust, though for some years he continued to dwell -now and then on the possibility of starting second-hand bookshops in -hopelessly impossible places--such as the then moribund town of St. -Augustine, Florida--and would suggest, with lovably absurd naivete, that -a _shrewd_ man could do well there. - -Meanwhile his gluttony for rare books on recondite matters kept him -constantly poor, but proved a far better investment, as tools of trade, -than his other and more speculative expenditures. Eventually he gathered -a library of several hundred volumes and of considerable value, together -with an interesting series of scrapbooks containing his earlier essays -in literary journalism, and other clippings showing his characteristic -_flair_ for the exotic and the strange. - -In 1881 he, by great good fortune, was brought into contact with the -newly consolidated _Times-Democrat_, a journal whose birth marked one of -the earliest impulses towards the regeneration of the long depressed -community, and whose staff included men, such as Charles Whitney, Honore -Burthe, and John Augustin, who represented the best impulses toward new -growth among both the American and Creole members of the city's -population. Of Page M. Baker, the editor-in-chief, he drew in after -years this faithful pen-picture:-- - -"You say my friend writes nicely. He is about the most lovable man I -ever met,--an old-time Southerner, very tall and slight, with a singular -face. He is so exactly the ideal Mephistopheles that he would never get -his photograph taken. The face does not altogether belie the -character,--but the mockery is very tender play, and queerly original. -It never offends. The real Mephistopheles appears only when there are -ugly obstacles to overcome. Then the diabolic keenness with which -motives are read and disclosed, and the lightning moves by which a plot -is checkmated, or a net made for the plotter himself, usually startle -people. He is a man of immense force,--it takes such a one to rule in -that community,--but as a gentleman I never saw his superior in grace or -consideration. I always loved him--but like all whom I like could never -get quite enough of his company for myself." - -It was an unusual and delightful coterie of men with whom chance had -associated him. Men peculiarly fitted to value his special gifts. Honore -Burthe was the ideal of the "beau sabreur" of romantic French tradition, -personally beautiful, brave to absurdity; a soldier of fortune under -many flags; withal the pink of gentle courtesy, and a scholar. John -Augustin--with less of the "panache"--inherited also the beauty, -courage, and breeding of those picturesque ancestors, who had made the -French gentleman-adventurers the most ornamental colonists of North -America. Charles Whitney, by contrast, had fallen heir to all the -shrewd, humorous, amiable vigour of the rival race which had struggled -successfully for possession of the great inheritance of America, and -which finally met and fused with the Latins in Louisiana. - -Among these four rather uncommon types of journalists Lafcadio Hearn -found ready sympathy and appreciation, and a chance to develop in the -direction of his talents and desires. He was treated by them with -courtesy and an indulgent consideration of his idiosyncrasies new in -his experience, and was allowed to expand along the natural line of his -tastes and capacities, with the result that he soon began to attract -attention, and was finally able to find his outlet in the direction to -which his preparatory labours and inherent genius were urging him. - -He was astonishingly fortunate to have found such companions and such an -opportunity. At that period the new journalism was dominant almost -everywhere, and perhaps nowhere in the United States, except in New -Orleans,--with its large French population and its residuum of the -ante-bellum leisurely cultivation of taste, and love of lordly beauties -of style,--could he have found an audience and a daily newspaper which -eagerly sought, and rewarded to the best of its ability, a type of -belles-lettres which was caviare to the general. His first work -consisted of a weekly translation from some French writer--Theophile -Gautier, Guy de Maupassant, or Pierre Loti, whose books he was one of -the first to introduce to English readers, and for whose beautiful -literary manner he always retained the most enthusiastic admiration. -Long years afterward in Japan he spoke of one of the worst afflictions -of a recent illness as having been the fear that he should die without -having finished Loti's "L'Inde sans les Anglais," which he was reading -when seized by the malady. These translations were usually -accompanied--in another part of the paper--by an editorial, elucidatory -of either the character and method of the author, or the subject of the -paper itself, and these editorials were often vehicles of much curious -research on a multitude of odd subjects, such as the famous swordsmen of -history, Oriental dances and songs, muezzin calls, African music, -historic lovers, Talmudic legends, monstrous literary exploits, and the -like; echoes of which studies appear frequently in the Krehbiel and -O'Connor letters in this volume. - -From time to time he added transferences, and adaptations, or original -papers, unsigned, which found a small but appreciative audience, some of -whom were sufficiently interested to enquire the identity of the author, -and who grew into a local clientele which always thereafter followed the -growth of his fame with warm interest. Among these "Fantastics" and -translations was published the whole contents of his three early -books--"One of Cleopatra's Nights," "Stray Leaves from Strange -Literature," and "Some Chinese Ghosts"--but these books were made only -of such selections as an ever increasing severity of taste considered -worthy of reproduction. Much delightful matter which failed quite to -reach this standard lapsed into extinction in the files of the journal. -Among these was one which has been recovered by chance from his later -correspondence. Replying to a criticism by a friend of the use of the -phrase "lentor inexpressible" in a manuscript submitted for judgement, -he promises to delete it, speaks of it as a "trick phrase" of his, and -encloses the old clipping to show where he had first used it, and adds -"please burn or tear up after reading ... this essay belongs to the -Period of Gush." - -Fortunately his correspondent--as did most of those to whom he -wrote--treasured everything in his handwriting, and the fragment which -bore--my impression is--the title of "A Dead Love" (the clipping lacks -its caption) remains to give an example of some of the work that bears -the flaws of his 'prentice hand, before he used his tools with the -assured skill of a master:-- - - ... No rest he knew because of her. Even in the night his heart was - ever startled from slumber as by the echo of her footfall; and dreams - mocked him with tepid fancies of her lips; and when he sought - forgetfulness in strange kisses her memory ever came shadowing - between.... So that, weary of his life, he yielded it up at last in - the fevered summer of a tropical city,--dying with her name upon his - lips. And his face was no more seen in the palm-shadowed streets, ... - but the sun rose and sank even as before. - - And that vague Something which lingers a little while within the tomb - where the body moulders, lingered and dreamed within the long dark - resting-place where they had laid him with the pious hope--_Que en paz - descanse_!... - - Yet so weary of his life had the Wanderer been, that the repose of the - dead was not for him. And while the body shrank and sank into dust, - the phantom man found no rest in the darkness, and thought dimly to - himself: "I am even too weary to find peace!" - - There was a thin crevice in the ancient wall of the tomb. And through - it, and through the meshes of the web that a spider had woven athwart - it, the dead looked and beheld the amethystine blaze of the summer - sky,--and pliant palms bending in the warm wind,--and the opaline glow - of the horizon,--and fair pools bearing images of cypresses - inverted,--and the birds that flitted from tomb to tomb and sang,--and - flowers in the shadow of the sepulchres.... And the vast bright world - seemed to him not so hateful as before. - - Likewise the sounds of life assailed the faint senses of the dead - through the thin crevice in the wall of the tomb:--always the far-off - drowsy murmur made by the toiling of the city's heart; sometimes - sounds of passing converse and steps,--echoes of music and of - laughter,--chanting and chattering of children at play,--and the - liquid babble of the beautiful brown women.... So that the dead man - dreamed of life and strength and joy, and the litheness of limbs to be - loved: also of that which had been, and of that which might have been, - and of that which now could never be. And he longed at last to live - again--seeing that there was no rest in the tomb. - - But the gold-born days died in golden fire; and blue nights unnumbered - filled the land with indigo shadows; and the perfume of the summer - passed like a breath of incense ... and the dead within the sepulchre - could not wholly die. - - Stars in their courses peered down through the crevices of the tomb, - and twinkled, and passed on; winds of the sea shrieked to him through - the widening crannies of the tomb; birds sang above him and flew to - other lands; the bright lizards that ran noiselessly over his bed of - stone, as noiselessly departed; the spider at last ceased to repair - her web of silk; years came and went with lentor inexpressible; but - for the dead there was no rest! - - And after many tropical moons had waxed and waned, and the summer was - deepening in the land, filling the golden air with tender drowsiness - and passional perfume, it strangely came to pass that _She_ whose name - had been murmured by his lips when the Shadow of Death fell upon him, - came to that city of palms, and even unto the ancient place of - sepulture, and unto the tomb that bore his name. - - And he knew the whisper of her raiment--knew the sweetness of her - presence--and the pallid hearts of the blossoms of a plant whose blind - roots had found food within the crevice of the tomb, changed and - flushed, and flamed incarnadine.... - - But she--perceiving it not--passed by; and the sound of her footstep - died away forever. - -To his own, and perhaps other middle-aged taste "A Dead Love" may seem -negligible, but to those still young enough, as he himself then was, to -credit passion with a potency not only to survive "the gradual furnace -of the world" but even to blossom in the dust of graves, this -stigmatization as "Gush" will seem as unfeeling as always does to the -young the dry and sapless wisdom of granddams. To them any version of -the Orphic myth is tinglingly credible. Yearningly desirous that the -brief flower of life may never fade, such a cry finds an echo in the -very roots of their inexperienced hearts. The smouldering ardour of its -style, which a chastened judgement rejected, was perhaps less faulty -than its author believed it to be in later years. - -It was to my juvenile admiration for this particular bit of work that I -owed the privilege of meeting Lafcadio Hearn, in the winter of 1882, and -of laying the foundation of a close friendship which lasted without a -break until the day of his death. - -He was at this time a most unusual and memorable person. About five feet -three inches in height, with unusually broad and powerful shoulders for -such a stature, there was an almost feminine grace and lightness in his -step and movements. His feet were small and well shaped, but he wore -invariably the most clumsy and neglected shoes, and his whole dress was -peculiar. His favourite coat, both winter and summer, was a heavy -double-breasted "reefer," while the size of his wide-brimmed, -soft-crowned hat was a standing joke among his friends. The rest of his -garments were apparently purchased for the sake of durability rather -than beauty, with the exception of his linen, which, even in days of the -direst poverty, was always fresh and good. Indeed a peculiar physical -cleanliness was characteristic of him--that cleanliness of -uncontaminated savages and wild animals, which has the air of being so -essential and innate as to make the best-groomed men and domesticated -beasts seem almost frowzy by contrast. His hands were very delicate and -supple, with quick timid movements that were yet full of charm, and his -voice was musical and very soft. He spoke always in short sentences, and -the manner of his speech was very modest and deferential. His head was -quite remarkably beautiful; the profile both bold and delicate, with -admirable modelling of the nose, lips and chin. The brow was square, and -full above the eyes, and the complexion a clear smooth olive. The -enormous work which he demanded of his vision had enlarged beyond its -natural size the eye upon which he depended for sight, but originally, -before the accident,--whose disfiguring effect he magnified and was -exaggeratedly sensitive about,--his eyes must have been handsome, for -they were large, of a dark liquid brown, and heavily lashed. In -conversation he frequently, almost instinctively, placed his hand over -the injured eye to conceal it from his companion. - -Though he was abnormally shy, particularly with strangers and women, -this was not obvious in any awkwardness of manner; he was composed and -dignified, though extremely silent and reserved until his confidence was -obtained. With those whom he loved and trusted his voice and mental -attitude were caressing, affectionate, and confiding, though with even -these some chance look or tone or gesture would alarm him into sudden -and silent flight, after which he might be invisible for days or weeks, -appearing again as silently and suddenly, with no explanation of his -having so abruptly taken wing. In spite of his limited sight he appeared -to have the power to divine by some extra sense the slightest change of -expression in the faces of those with whom he talked, and no object or -tint escaped his observation. One of his habits while talking was to -walk about, touching softly the furnishings of the room, or the flowers -of the garden, picking up small objects for study with his pocket-glass, -and meantime pouring out a stream of brilliant talk in a soft, -half-apologetic tone, with constant deference to the opinions of his -companions. Any idea advanced he received with respect, however much he -might differ, and if a phrase or suggestion appealed to him his face lit -with a most delightful irradiation of pleasure, and he never forgot it. - -A more delightful or--at times--more fantastically witty companion it -would be impossible to imagine, but it is equally impossible to attempt -to convey his astounding sensitiveness. To remain on good terms with him -it was necessary to be as patient and wary as one who stalks the hermit -thrush to its nest. Any expression of anger or harshness to any one -drove him to flight, any story of moral or physical pain sent him -quivering away, and a look of ennui or resentment, even if but a passing -emotion, and indulged in while his back was turned, was immediately -conveyed to his consciousness in some occult fashion and he was off in -an instant. Any attempt to detain or explain only increased the length -of his absence. A description of his eccentricities of manner would be -misleading if the result were to convey an impression of neurotic -debility, for with this extreme sensitiveness was combined vigour of -mind and body to an unusual degree--the delicacy was only of the -spirit. - -Mrs. Lylie Harris of New Orleans, one of his intimate friends at this -time, in an article written after his death, speaks of his friendship -with the children of her family, with whom he was an affectionate -playfellow, and with whom he was entirely confident and at his ease. An -equally friendly and confident relation existed between himself and the -old negro woman who cared for his rooms (as clean and plain as a -soldier's), and indeed all his life he was happiest with the young and -the simple, who never perplexed or disturbed him by the complexities of -modern civilization, which all his life he distrusted and feared. - -Among those attracted by his work in the _Times-Democrat_ was W. D. -O'Connor, in the marine service of the government, who wrote to enquire -the name of the author of an article on Gustave Dore. From this grew a -correspondence extending over several years. Jerome A. Hart, of San -Francisco, was another correspondent attracted by his work, to whom he -wrote from time to time, even after his residence in Japan had begun. -Mr. Hart in contributing his letters says that this correspondence began -in 1882, through the following reference in the pages of the _Argonaut_ -to "One of Cleopatra's Nights":-- - -"Mr. Lafcadio Hearn, a talented writer on the staff of the New Orleans -_Times-Democrat_, has just translated some of Gautier's fantastic -romances, under the name of 'One of Cleopatra's Nights.' The book -comprises six fascinating stories--the one which gives the title, -'Clarimonde,' 'Arria Marcella, a Souvenir of Pompeii,' 'The Mummy's -Foot,' 'Omphale, a Rococo Story,' and 'King Candaule.' Mr. Hearn has few -equals in this country as regards translation, and the stories lose -nothing of their artistic unity in his hands. But his hobby is -literalism. For instance, of the epitaph in 'Clarimonde,'-- - - 'Ici-git Clarimonde, - Qui fut de son vivant - La plus belle du monde,' - -he remarks: 'The broken beauty of the lines is but inadequately rendered -thus:-- - - 'Here lies Clarimonde, - Who was famed in her lifetime - As the fairest of women.' - -Very true--it is inadequate. But why not vary it? For example:-- - - Here lieth Clarimonde, - Who was, what time she lived, - The loveliest in the land. - -The fleeting archaic flavour of the original is not entirely lost here, -and the lines are broken, yet metrical. But this is only a suggestion, -and a kindly one." - -This book--his first--travelled far before finding a publisher, and then -only at the cost of the author bearing half the expense of publication. - -Other notices had been less kind. The _Observer_, as he quotes in a -letter to Mr. Hart, had declared that it was a collection of "stories of -unbridled lust without the apology of natural passion," and that "the -translation reeked with the miasma of the brothel." The _Critic_ had -wasted no time upon the translator, confining itself to depreciation of -Gautier, and this Hearn resented more than severity to himself, for at -this period Gautier and his style were his passionate delight, as -witness the following note which accompanied a loan of a volume -containing a selection from the Frenchman's poems:-- - - DEAR MISS BISLAND,--I venture to try to give you a little novel - pleasure by introducing you to the "Emaux et Camees." As you have told - me you never read them, I feel sure you will experience a literary - surprise. You will find in Gautier a perfection of melody, a warmth of - word-colouring, a voluptuous delicacy which no English poet has ever - approached and which reveal, I think, a certain capacity of artistic - expression no Northern tongue can boast. What the Latin tongues yield - in to Northern languages is strength; but the themes in which the - Latin poets excel are usually soft and exquisite. Still you will find - in the "Rondalla" some fine specimens of violence. It is the song of - the Toreador Juan. - - These "Emaux et Camees" constitute Gautier's own pet selection from - his works. I have seen nothing in Hugo's works to equal some of - them.... I won't presume to offer you this copy: it is too shabby, has - travelled about with me in all sorts of places for eight years. But if - you are charmed by this "parfait magicien des lettres francaises" (as - Baudelaire called him) I hope to have the pleasure of offering you a - nicer copy.... - -Mr. John Albee wrote to him in connection with the book, and also the -Reverend Wayland D. Ball. - -"Stray Leaves from Strange Literature"--published by James R. Osgood and -Company of Boston--followed in 1884 and was more kindly treated by the -critics, though it brought fewer letters from private admirers, and was -not very profitable--save to his reputation. In 1885 a tiny volume was -issued under the title of "Gombo Zhebes," being a collection of 350 -Creole proverbs which he had made while studying the patois of the -Louisiana negro--a patois of which the local name is "Gombo." These -laborious studies of the grammar and oral literature of a tongue spoken -only by and to negro servants in Louisiana seemed rather a work of -supererogation at the time, but later during his life in the West Indies -they proved of incalculable value to him in his intercourse with the -inhabitants. There the patois--not having been subjected as in New -Orleans to that all-absorbing solvent of the English tongue--continued -to hold its own alongside the pure French of the educated Creoles, and -his book would have been impossible had he not had command of the -universal speech of the common people. - -"Some Chinese Ghosts" had set out on its travels in search of a -publisher sometime earlier, and after several rejections was finally, in -the following year, accepted by Roberts Brothers. In regard to some -corrections which they desired made in the text this reference has been -found in a letter to his friend Krehbiel, a letter in which, however, -time and the ruthless appetite of bookworms have made havoc with words -here and there:-- - - 1886. - - DEAR K.,--In Promethean agony I write. - - Roberts Brothers, Boston, have written me that they want to publish - "Chinese Ghosts;" but want me to cut out a multitude of Japanese, - Sanscrit, Chinese, and Buddhist terms. - - Thereupon unto them I despatched a colossal document of supplication - and prayer,--citing Southey, Moore, Flaubert, Edwin Arnold, Gautier, - "Hiawatha," and multitudinous singers and multitudinous songs, and the - rights of prose poetry, and the supremacy of Form. - - And no answer have I yet received. - - How shall I sacrifice Orientalism, seeing that this my work was - inspired by [fragment of a Greek word] by the Holy Spirit, by the Vast - ... [probably Blue Soul] of the Universe ... but one of the facets of - that million-faceted Rose-diamond which flasheth back the light of the - Universal Sun? And even as Apocalyptic John I hold-- - - "And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this - prophecy God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out - of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." - - Thy brother in the Holy Ghost of Art wisheth thee many benisons and - victories, and the Grace that cometh as luminous rain and the Wind of - Inspiration perfumed with musk and the flowers of Paradise. - - Lafcadio. - -This suggestion was peculiarly afflicting because of his love of exotic -words, not only for their own sake, but for the colour they lent to the -general scheme of decoration of his style. It was as if a painter of an -Oriental picture had been asked to omit all reproduction of Eastern -costumes, all representation of the architecture or utensils germane to -his scene. To eliminate these foreign terms was like asking a modern -actor to play "Julius Caesar" in a full-bottomed wig. - -At about this period a friendship formed with Lieutenant Oscar Crosby -exerted a most profound and far-reaching influence upon Hearn--an -influence which continued to grow until his whole life and manner of -thought were coloured by it. - -Lieutenant Crosby was a young Louisianian, educated at West Point, and -then stationed in New Orleans, a person of very unusual abilities, and -Hearn found him a suggestive and inspiring companion. In a letter -written to Ernest Crosby from Japan in 1904, but a month before his -death, he says:-- - -"A namesake of yours, a young lieutenant in the United States Army, -first taught me, about twenty years ago, how to study Herbert Spencer. -To that Crosby I shall always feel a very reverence of gratitude, and I -shall always find myself inclined to seek the good opinion of any man -bearing the name of Crosby." - -To Mr. Krehbiel in the same year that he began the study of "The -Principles of Ethics" he wrote:-- - -"Talking of change in opinions, I am really astonished at myself. You -know what my fantastic metaphysics were. A friend disciplined me to read -Herbert Spencer. I suddenly discovered what a waste of time all my -Oriental metaphysics had been. I also discovered for the first time how -to apply the little general knowledge I possessed. I also found -unspeakable comfort in the sudden, and for me eternal reopening of the -Great Doubt, which renders pessimism ridiculous, and teaches a new -reverence for all forms of faith. In short, from the day when I finished -the 'First Principles,' a totally new intellectual life opened for me; -and I hope during the next few years to devour the rest of this oceanic -philosophy." - -He seems not, in these positive assertions, to have overestimated the -great change that had come upon his mental attitude. The strong breath -of the great thinker had blown from off his mind the froth and ferment -of youth, leaving the wine clear and strong beneath. From this time -becomes evident a new seriousness in his manner, and beauty became to -him not only the mere grace of form but the meaning and truth which that -form was to embody. - -The next book bearing his name shows the effect of this change, and the -immediate success of the book demonstrated that, while his love for the -exotic was to remain ingrained, he had learned to bring the exotic into -vital touch with the normal. - -"Chita: A Story of Last Island" had its origin in a visit paid in the -summer of 1884 to Grande Isle, one of the islands lying in the Gulf of -Mexico, near the mouth of the Mississippi River in the Bay of -Barataria. A letter written to Page Baker while there may be inserted at -this point to give some idea of the place. - -[Illustration: Gentlemen's bathing houses] - - DEAR PAGE,--I wish you were here; for I am sure that the enjoyment - would do you a great deal of good. I had not been in sea-water for - fifteen years, and you can scarcely imagine how I rejoice in it,--in - fact I don't like to get out of it at all. I suppose you have not been - at Grande Isle--or at least not been here for so long that you have - forgotten what it looks like. It makes a curious impression on me: the - old plantation cabins, standing in rows like village-streets, and - neatly remodelled for more cultivated inhabitants, have a delightfully - rural aspect under their shadowing trees; and there is a veritable - country calm by day and night. Grande Isle has suggestions in it of - several old country fishing villages I remember, but it is even still - more charmingly provincial. The hotel proper, where the tables are - laid,--formerly, I fancy, a sugar-house or something of that - sort,--reminds one of nothing so much as one of those big English or - Western barn-buildings prepared for a holiday festival or a - wedding-party feast. The only distinctively American feature is the - inevitable Southern gallery with white wooden pillars. An absolutely - ancient purity of morals appears to prevail here:--no one thinks of - bolts or locks or keys, everything is left open and nothing is ever - touched. Nobody has ever been robbed on the island. There is no - iniquity. It is like a resurrection of the days of good King Alfred, - when, if a man were to drop his purse on the highway, he might return - six months later to find it untouched. At least that is what I am - told. Still I would not _like_ to leave one thousand golden dinars on - the beach or in the middle of the village. I am still a little - suspicious--having been so long a dweller in wicked cities. - - I was in hopes that I had made a very important discovery; viz.--a - flock of really tame and innocuous cows; but the innocent appearance - of the beasts is, I have just learned, a disguise for the most fearful - ferocity. So far I have escaped unharmed; and Marion has offered to - lend me his large stick, which will, I have no doubt, considerably aid - me in preserving my life. - - Couldn't you manage to let me stay down here until after the - Exposition is over, doing no work and nevertheless drawing my salary - regularly?... By the way, one could save money by a residence at - Grande Isle. There are no temptations--except the perpetual and - delicious temptation of the sea. - - The insects here are many; but I have seen no frogs,--they have - probably found that the sea can outroar them and have gone away - jealous. But in Marion's room there is a beam, and against that beam - there is the nest of a "mud-dauber." Did you ever see a mud-dauber? It - is something like this when flying;--but when it isn't flying I can't - tell you what it looks like, and it has the peculiar power of flying - without noise. I think it is of the wasp-kind, and plasters its mud - nest in all sorts of places. It is afraid of nothing--likes to look at - itself in the glass, and leaves its young in our charge. There is - another sociable creature--hope it isn't a wasp--which has built two - nests under the edge of this table on which I write to you. There are - no specimens here of the _cimex lectularius_; and the mosquitoes are - not at all annoying. They buzz a little, but seldom give evidence of - hunger. Creatures also abound which have the capacity of making noises - of the most singular sort. Up in the tree on my right there is a thing - which keeps saying all day long, quite plainly, "_Kiss, Kiss, - Kiss!_"--referring perhaps to the good young married folks across the - way; and on the road to the bath-house, which we travelled late last - evening in order to gaze at the phosphorescent sea, there dwells - something which exactly imitates the pleasant sound of ice jingling in - a cut-glass tumbler. - - [Illustration] - - As for the grub, it is superb--solid, nutritious, and without stint. - When I first tasted the butter I was enthusiastic, imagining that - those mild-eyed cows had been instrumental in its production; but I - have since discovered they were not--and the fact astonishes me not at - all now that I have learned more concerning the character of those - cows. - - [Illustration] - - [Illustration] - - [Illustration] - - At some unearthly hour in the morning the camp-meeting quiet of the - place is broken by the tolling of a bell. This means "Jump up, - lazybones; and take a swim before the sun rises." Then the - railroad-car comes for the bathers, passing up the whole line of white - cottages. The distance is short to the beach; Marion and I prefer to - walk; but the car is a great convenience for the women and children - and invalids. It is drawn by a single mule, and always accompanied by - a dog which appears to be the intimate friend of the said mule, and - who jumps up and barks all the grass-grown way. The ladies' - bathing-house is about five minutes' plank-walking from the - men's,--where I am glad to say drawers and bathing-suits are - unnecessary, so that one has the full benefit of sun-bathing as well - as salt-water bathing. There is a man here called Margot or - Margeaux--perhaps some distant relative of Chateau-Margeaux--who - always goes bathing accompanied by a pet goose. The goose follows him - just like a dog; but is a little afraid of getting into deep water. It - remains in the surf presenting its stern-end to the breakers:-- - - [Illustration] - - [Illustration] - - [Illustration] - - The only trouble about the bathing is the ferocious sun. Few people - bathe in the heat of the day, but yesterday we went in four times; and - the sun nearly flayed us. This morning we held a council of war and - decided upon greater moderation. There are three bars, between which - the water is deep. The third bar is, I fear, too "risky" to reach, as - it is nearly a mile from the other, and lies beyond a hundred-foot - depth of water in which sharks are said to disport themselves. I am - almost as afraid of sharks as I am of cows.... Marion made a dash for - a drowning man yesterday, in answer to the cry, "Here, you fellows, - help! help!" and I followed. We had instantaneous visions of a - gold-medal from the Life-Saving Service, and glorious dreams of - newspaper fame under the title "Journalistic Heroism,"--for my part, I - must acknowledge I had also an unpleasant fancy that the drowning man - might twine himself about me, and pull me to the bottom,--so I looked - out carefully to see which way he was heading. But the beatific - Gold-Medal fancies were brutally dissipated by the drowning man's - success in saving himself before we could reach him, and we remain as - obscure as before. - - _Interlude_ - - [Illustration: Miss B. B. through our lorgnette] - - [Illustration: Miss Bisland's A No 1. Chaperone] - - [Illustration: The Agricultural Editor of the T.D.--pursued by his - family - - A No 2 - Miss Bisland's Creole Chaperone - - A No 3 - Miss Bisland's Pickwickian Chaperon - - I will now resume the interrupted text of my narration] - - The proprietor has found what I have vainly been ransacking the world - for--a civilized hat, showing the highest evolutional development of - the hat as a practically useful article. I am going to make him an - offer for it. - - [Illustration] - - [Illustration] - - Alas! the time flies too fast. Soon all this will be a dream:--the - white cottages shadowed with leafy green,--the languid rocking-chairs - upon the old-fashioned gallery,--the cows that look into one's window - with the rising sun,--the dog and the mule trotting down the - flower-edged road,--the goose of the ancient Margot,--the muttering - surf upon the bar beyond which the sharks are,--the bath-bell and the - bathing belles,--the air that makes one feel like a boy,--the pleasure - of sleeping with doors and windows open to the sea and its - everlasting song,--the exhilaration of rising with the rim of the - sun.... And then we must return to the dust and the roar of New - Orleans, to hear the rumble of wagons instead of the rumble of - breakers, and to smell the smell of ancient gutters instead of the - sharp sweet scent of pure sea wind. I believe I would rather be old - Margot's goose if I could. Blessed goose! thou knowest nothing about - the literary side of the New Orleans _Times-Democrat_; but thou dost - know that thou canst have a good tumble in the sea every day. If I - could live down here I should certainly live to be a hundred years - old. One _lives_ here. In New Orleans one only exists.... And the boat - comes--I must post this incongruous epistle. - - [Illustration] - - [Illustration] - - Good-bye,--wish you were here, sincerely. - - Very truly, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - -This jesting letter makes but little reference to the beauties of this -tropical island, which had, however, made a profound impression upon -Hearn, and later they were reproduced with astonishing fidelity in the -book. Some distance to the westward of Grande Isle lies L'Isle Derniere, -or--as it is now commonly called--Last Island, then a mere sandbank, -awash in high tides, but thirty years before that an island of the same -character as Grande Isle, and for half a century a popular summer -resort for the people of New Orleans and the planters of the coast. On -the 10th of August, 1856, a frightful storm swept it bare and -annihilated the numerous summer visitors, only a handful among the -hundreds escaping. The story of the tragedy remained a vivid tradition -along the coast, where hardly a family escaped without the loss of some -relation or friend, and on Hearn's return to New Orleans he embodied a -brief story of the famous storm, with his impressions of the splendours -of the Gulf, under the title of "Torn Letters," purporting to be the -fragments of an old correspondence by one of the survivors. This -story--published in the _Times-Democrat_--was so favourably received -that he was later encouraged to enlarge it into a book, and the Harpers, -who had already published some articles from his pen, issued it as a -serial in their magazine, where it won instant recognition from a large -public that had heretofore been ignorant of, or indifferent to, his -work. - -Oscar Wilde once declared that life and nature constantly plagiarized -from art, and would have been pleased with the confirmation of his -suggestion afforded by the fact that nearly twenty years after the -publication of "Chita" a storm, similar to the one described in the -book, swept away in its turn Grande Isle, and Les Chenieres, and a girl -child was rescued by Manila fishermen as Hearn had imagined. After -living with one of their families for some time she was finally -recovered by her father (who had believed her lost in the general -catastrophe), under circumstances astoundingly like those invented by -the author so many years before. - -The book was dedicated to Dr. Rodolfo Matas, a Spanish physician in New -Orleans, and an intimate friend,--frequently mentioned in the letters to -Dr. George M. Gould of Philadelphia, with whom a correspondence was -begun at about this time. - -It was because of the success of "Chita" that Hearn was enabled to -realize his long-nourished dream of penetrating farther into the -tropics, and with a vague commission from the Harpers he left New -Orleans, in 1887, and sailed for the Windward Islands. The journey took -him as far south as British Guiana, the fruit of which was a series of -travel-sketches printed in _Harper's Magazine_. So infatuated with the -Southern world of colour, light, and warmth had he become that--trusting -to the possible profits of his books and the further material he hoped -to gather--two months after his return from this journey, and without -any definite resources, he cast himself back into the arms of the -tropics, for which he suffered a life-long and unappeasable nostalgia. - -It was to St. Pierre in the island of Martinique--the place that had -most attracted him on his travels--that he returned. That island of -"gigantic undulations," that town of bright long narrow streets rising -toward a far mass of glowing green ... which looks as if it had slid -down the hill behind it, so strangely do the streets come tumbling to -the port in a cascade of masonry,--with a red billowing of tiled roofs -over all, and enormous palms poking up through it. That town with "a -population fantastic, astonishing,--a population of the Arabian Nights -... many coloured, with a general dominant tint of yellow, like that of -the town itself ... always relieved by the costume colours of -Martinique--brilliant yellow stripings or chequerings which have an -indescribable luminosity, a wonderful power of bringing out the fine -warm tints of tropical flesh ... the hues of those rich costumes Nature -gives to her nearest of kin and her dearest,--her honey-lovers,--her -insects: wasp-colours." Here, under the shadow of Mt. Pelee "coiffed -with purple and lilac cloud ... a magnificent _Madras_, yellow-banded by -the sun," he remained for two years, and from his experiences there -created his next book. "Two Years in the French West Indies" made a -minute and astonishing record of the town and the population, now as -deeply buried and as utterly obliterated as was Pompeii by the lava and -ashes of Vesuvius. Eighteen centuries hence, could some archaeologist, -disinterring the almost forgotten town, find this book, what passionate -value would he give to this record of a community of as unique a -character as that of the little Graeco-Roman city! What price would be -set to-day upon parchments which reproduced with such vivid fidelity the -world, so long hid in darkness, of that civilization over whose calcined -fragments we now yearningly ponder! - -One English commentator upon the work of Lafcadio Hearn speaks of -"Chita" and "Two Years in the French West Indies" with negligent -contempt as of "the orchid and cockatoo type of literature," and passes -on to his Japanese work as the first of considerable importance. Other -critics have been led into the same error, welcoming the cooler tones of -his later pictures as a growth in power and a development of taste. It -is safe to say that the makers of such criticisms have not seen the -lands and peoples of whom these books attempt to reproduce the charm. -Those who have known tropic countries will realize how difficult is the -task of reproducing their multi-coloured glories, and that to bring even -a faint shadow of their splendours back to eyes accustomed to the pale -greys and half tints of Northern lands is a labour not only arduous in -itself, but more than apt to be ungratefully received by those for whom -it is undertaken. A mole would find a butterfly's description of an -August landscape exaggerated to the point of vulgarity, and the average -critic is more likely to find satisfaction in "A Grey Day at Annisquam" -than in the most subtly handled picture of the blaze of noon at Luxor. - -"Chita" is marred occasionally by a phrase that suggests the journalism -in which the hand of the writer had been so long submerged, but in "Two -Years in the French West Indies" the artist has at last emancipated his -talent and finished his long apprenticeship. Though the author himself -in later years finds some fault with it, giving as excuse that much of -it was done when he was physically exhausted by fever and anxiety, and -"with but a half-filled stomach," it remains one of his most admirable -achievements. - -The risks he had assumed in returning to the tropics proved greater than -he had imagined. Publishers' delays and rigid exactions of all their -part of the writer's pound of flesh left him at times entirely without -means, and had it not been for the generosity and kindliness of the -people of the now vanished city he would not have lived to return. It -was some memory of humble friends there that is recorded in the sixth -part of the autobiographical fragments, written after the disaster at -St. Pierre. - - - IN VANISHED LIGHT - - ... A bright long narrow street rising toward a far mass of glowing - green--burning green of lianas: the front of a tropic wood. Not a - street of this age, but of the seventeenth century: a street of yellow - facades, with yellow garden-walls between the facades. In sharp bursts - of blue light the sea appears at intervals,--blue light blazing up - old, old nights of mossy steps descending to the bay. And through - these openings ships are visible, far below, riding in azure. - - Walls are lemon-colour;--quaint balconies and lattices are green. - Palm-trees rise from courts and gardens into a warm blue - sky--indescribably blue--that appears almost to touch the feathery - heads of them. And all things, within or without the yellow vista, are - steeped in a sunshine electrically white,--in a radiance so powerful - that it lends even to the pavements of basalt the glitter of silver - ore. - - Men wearing only white canvas trousers, and immense hats of - bamboo-grass,--men naked to the waist, and muscled like - sculptures,--pass noiselessly with barefoot stride. Some are very - black; others are of strange and beautiful colours: there are skins of - gold, of brown bronze, and of ruddy bronze. And women pass in robes of - brilliant hue,--women of the colour of fruit: orange-colour, - banana-colour,--women wearing turbans banded with just such burning - yellow as bars the belly of a wasp. The warm thick air is sweet with - scents of sugar and of cinnamon,--with odours of mangoes and of - custard-apples, of guava-jelly and of fresh cocoanut milk. - - --Into the amber shadow and cool moist breath of a great archway I - plunge, to reach a court filled with flickering emerald and the - chirrup of leaping water. There a little boy and a little girl run to - meet me, with Creole cries of "_Mi y!_" Each takes one of my - hands;--each holds up a beautiful brown cheek to kiss. In the same - moment a voice, the father's voice--deep and vibrant as the tone of a - great bell--calls from an inner doorway, "_Entrez donc, mon ami!_" And - with the large caress of that voice there comes to me such joy of - sympathy, such sense of perfect peace, as Souls long-tried by fire - might feel when passing the Gateway of Pearl.... - - But all this was and is not!... Never again will sun or moon shine - upon the streets of that city;--never again will its ways be - trodden;--never again will its gardens blossom ... except in dreams. - -He was again in New York in 1889, occupied with the final proofs of -"Chita" before its appearance in book form, preparing the West Indian -book for the press, but in sore distress for money, and making a -translation of Anatole France's "Le Crime de Sylvestre Bonnard" in a few -weeks by Herculean labour, in order to exist until he could earn -something by his original work. The half-yearly payment of royalties -imposed by publishers bears hardly on the author who must pay daily for -the means to live. For a time he visited Dr. Gould in Philadelphia, but -after his return to New York an arrangement was entered into with Harper -and Brothers to go to Japan for the purpose of writing articles from -there, after the manner of the West Indian articles, later to be made -into a book. An artist was to accompany him to prepare the -illustrations, and their route was by way of the Canadian Pacific -Railway. - -His last evening in New York was spent in the company of his dear friend -Mr. Ellwood Hendrick, to whom many of the most valuable letters -contained in the second volume were written, and on May 8, 1890, he left -for the East--never again to return. - - - - - CHAPTER III - - A MASTER-WORKMAN - - -It was characteristic of the oddity of Hearn's whole life that his way -to the Farthest East should have led through the Farthest West, and that -his way to a land where one's first impressions are of having strayed -into a child's world of faery,--so elfishly frail and fantastically -small that one almost fears to move lest a rude gesture might destroy a -baby's dear "make believe,"--should have led through plains as gigantic -as empires, and mountain gorges vast as dreams. - -Something of the contrast and amazement are recorded in "My First -Day"--the introductory paper in "Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan":-- - -"The first charm is intangible and volatile as a perfume.... Elfish -everything seems; for everything as well as everybody is small and queer -and mysterious: the little houses under their blue roofs, the little -shop-fronts hung with blue, and the smiling little people in their blue -costumes.... Hokusai's own figures walking about in straw rain-coats and -straw sandals--bare-limbed peasants; and patient-faced mothers, with -smiling bald babies on their backs, toddling by upon their _geta_.... -And suddenly a singular sensation comes upon me as I stand before a -weirdly sculptured portal,--a sensation of dream and doubt. It seems to -me that the steps, and the dragon-swarming gate, and the blue sky -arching over the roofs of the town, and the ghostly beauty of Fuji, and -the shadow of myself there stretching upon the grey masonry, must all -vanish presently ... because the forms before me--the curved roofs, the -coiling dragons, the Chinese grotesqueries of carving--do not really -appear to me as things new, but as things dreamed.... A moment and the -delusion vanishes; the romance of reality returns, with freshened -consciousness of all that which is truly and deliciously new; the -magical transparencies of distance, the wondrous delicacy of tones, the -enormous height of the summer blue, and the white soft witchery of the -Japanese sun." - -That first witchery of Japan never altogether failed to hold him during -the fourteen years in which he wrought out the great work of his life, -though he exclaims in one of his letters of a later time, "The -oscillation of one's thoughts concerning Japan! It is the hardest -country to learn--except China--in the world." He grew aware too in time -that even he, with his so amazing capacity for entering into the spirit -of other races, must forever remain alien to the Oriental. After some -years he writes:-- - -"The different ways of thinking and the difficulties of the language -render it impossible for an educated Japanese to find pleasure in the -society of a European. Here is an astounding fact. The Japanese child is -as close to you as a European child--perhaps closer and sweeter because -infinitely more natural and naturally refined. Cultivate his mind, and -the more it is cultivated the farther you push him from you. -Why?--Because here the race antipodalism shows itself. As the Oriental -thinks naturally to the left where we think to the right, the more you -cultivate him the more he will think in the opposite direction from -you." - -Though he arrived at a happy moment, his artistic _Wanderjahre_ done, -and the tools of his art, after long and bitter apprenticeship, at last -obedient to his will and thought in the hand of a master-workman; the -material with which he was to labour new and beautiful; yet he never -ceased to believe that his true medium was denied to him. In one of his -letters he cries:-- - -"Pretty to talk of my 'pen of fire.' I've lost it. Well, the fact is, it -is of no use here. There isn't any fire here. It is all soft, dreamy, -quiet, pale, faint, gentle, hazy, vapoury, visionary,--a land where -lotus is a common article of diet,--and where there is scarcely any real -summer. Even the seasons are feeble ghostly things. Don't please imagine -there are any tropics here. Ah! the tropics--they still pull at my -heart-strings. Goodness! my real field was there--in the Latin -countries, in the West Indies and Spanish America; and my dream was to -haunt the old crumbling Portuguese and Spanish cities, and steam up the -Amazon and the Orinoco, and get romances nobody else could find. And I -could have done it, and made books that would sell for twenty years." - -Perhaps he never himself quite realized how much greater in importance -was the work chance had set him to do. In place of gathering up in the -outlying parts of the new world the dim tattered fragments of old-world -romance--as a collector might seek in Spanish-American cities faded bits -of what were once the gold-threaded, glowing tapestries brought to adorn -the exile of Conquistadores--he had the good fortune to be chosen to -assist at one of the great births of history. Out of "a race as -primitive as the Etruscan before Rome was"--as he declared he found -them--he was to see a mighty modern nation spring full-armed, with all -the sudden miraculous transformation of some great mailed beetle -bursting from the grey hidden shell of a feeble-looking pupa. He saw the -fourteenth century turn swiftly, amazingly, into the twentieth, and his -twelve volumes of studies of the Japanese people were to have that -unique and lasting value that would attach to equally painstaking -records of Greek life before the Persian wars. Inestimable, immortal, -would be such books--could they anywhere be found--setting down the -faiths, the traditions, the daily lives, the songs, the dances, the -names, the legends, the humble lore of plants, birds, and insects, of -that people who suddenly stood up at Thermopylae, broke the wave from the -East, made Europe possible, and set the cornerstone of Occidental -thought. This was what Lafcadio Hearn, a little penniless, half-blind, -eccentric wanderer had come to do for Japan. To make immortal the story -of the childhood of a people as simple as the early Greek, who were to -break at Mukden the great wave of conquest from the West and to -rejuvenate the most ancient East. - -So naturally humble was his estimate of himself that it is safe to -assert that not at this time, perhaps at no time, was he aware of the -magnitude and importance of the work he had been set to do. For the -moment he was concerned only with the odylic charm of the new faery -world in which he found himself, but even in faery-land one may find in -time rigidities underlying the charm. No Occidental at that period had -as yet divined the iron core underlying the silken courtesy of the -Japanese character. Within the first lustrum of his residence there -Hearn had grasped the truth, and expressed it in a metaphor. In the -volume entitled "Out of the East" he says:-- - -"Under all the amazing self-control and patience there exists an -adamantine something very dangerous to reach.... In the house of any -rich family the guest is likely to be shown some of the heirlooms.... A -pretty little box, perhaps, will be set before you. Opening it you will -see only a beautiful silk bag, closed with a silk running-cord decked -with tiny tassels. Very soft and choice the silk is, and elaborately -figured. What marvel can be hidden under such a covering? You open the -bag and see within another bag, of a different quality of silk, but very -fine. Open that, and lo! a third, which contains a fourth, which -contains a fifth, which contains a sixth, which contains a seventh bag, -which contains the strangest, roughest, hardest vessel of Chinese clay -that you ever beheld. Yet it is not only curious but precious; it may be -more than a thousand years old." - -In time he came to know better than any other Occidental has ever known -all those smooth layers of the Japanese nature, and to understand and -admire that rough hard clay within--old and wonderful and precious. -Again he says:-- - -"For no little time these fairy folk can give you all the softness of -sleep. But sooner or later, if you dwell long with them, your -contentment will prove to have much in common with the happiness of -dreams. You will never forget the dream--never; but it will lift at -last, like those vapours of spring which lend preternatural loveliness -to a Japanese landscape in the forenoon of radiant days. Really you are -happy because you have entered bodily into Fairyland, into a world that -is not, and never could be your own. You have been transported out of -your own century, over spaces enormous of perished time, into an era -forgotten, into a vanished age, back to something ancient as Egypt or -Nineveh. That is the secret of the strangeness and beauty of things, the -secret of the thrill they give, the secret of the elfish charm of the -people and their ways. Fortunate mortal; the tide of Time has turned for -you! But remember that here all is enchantment, that you have fallen -under the spell of the dead, that the lights and the colours and the -voices must fade away at last into emptiness and silence." - -For in time he realized that feudal Japan, with its gentleness and -altruism, had attained to its noble ideal of duty by tremendous coercion -of the will of the individual by the will of the rest, with a resultant -absence of personal freedom that was to the individualism of the -Westerner as strangling as the stern socialism of bees and ants. - -These, however, were the subtler difficulties arising to confront him as -the expatriation stretched into years. The immediate concern was to find -means to live. His original purpose of remaining only long enough to -prepare a series of illustrated articles for _Harper's Magazine_--to be -later collected in book form--was almost immediately subverted by a -dispute with the publishers. The discovery, during the voyage, that the -artist who accompanied him was to receive more than double the pay -allowed for the text, angered him beyond measure, and this, added to -other matters in which he considered himself unjustly treated, caused -him to sever abruptly all his contracts. - -It was an example of his incapacity to look at business arrangements -from the ordinary point of view that he declined even to receive his -royalties from the books already in print, and the publishers could -discharge their obligations to him only by turning over the money to a -friend, who after some years and by roundabout methods succeeded in -inducing him to accept it. That his indignation at what he considered an -injustice left him without resources or prospects in remote exile caused -him not a moment's hesitation in following this course. Fortunately a -letter of introduction carried him within the orbit of Paymaster -Mitchell McDonald, a young officer of the American navy stationed in -Yokohama. Between these two very dissimilar natures there at once sprang -up a warm friendship, from which Hearn derived benefits so delicately -and wisely tendered that even his fierce pride and sensitiveness could -accept them; and this friendship, which lasted until the close of his -life, proved to be a beautiful and helpful legacy for his children. The -letters to Paymaster McDonald included in Volume II have a special -character of gaiety and good fellowship--with him he forgot in great -measure the prepossessions of his life, and became merely the -man-of-the-world, delighting in the memories of good dinners, good wine -and cigars, enjoyed together; long evenings of gay talk and -reminiscences of a naval officer's polyglot experiences; long days of -sea and sunshine; but agreeable as were these cheerful experiences--so -foreign to his ordinary course of existence--he was continually driving -from him, in comic terror, the man who drew him now and again to forget -the seriousness of his task. - -Professor Basil Hall Chamberlain, already famous for his studies of -Japanese life and literature, also became interested in the -wanderer,--and through his potent influence Hearn received an -appointment to the Jinj[=o]-ch[=u]gakk[=o] or Ordinary Middle School at -Matsue, in the province Izumo, in Shimane Ken, to which he went in -August of 1890. - -[Illustration: LAFCADIO HEARN AND MITCHELL McDONALD] - -Matsue lies on the northern coast, near that western end of Japan which -trails like a streaming feather of land through the Eastern Pacific -along the coast of China. It is a town of about thirty-five thousand -inhabitants, situated at the junction of Lake Shinji and the Bay of -Naka-umi, and was at that time far out of the line of travel or Western -influence, the manners of the people remaining almost unchanged, -affording a peculiarly favourable opportunity for the study of feudal -Japan. The ruins of the castle of the Daimy[=o], Matsudaira,--descendant -of the great Sh[=o]gun Ieyasu,--who was overthrown in the wars of the -Meiji, still frowned from the wooded hill above the city, and still his -love of art, his conservatism of the old customs, his rigid laws of -politeness were stamped deeply into the culture of the subjects over -whom he had reigned, though ugly modern buildings housed the schools of -that Western learning he had so contemned, and which the newcomer had -been hired to teach. But this was a teacher of different calibre from -those who had preceded him. Here was one not a holder of the "little -yellow monkey" prepossession. Here was a rare mind capable at the age of -forty of receiving new impressions, of comprehending a civilization -alien to all its previous knowledge. - -Out of this remarkable experience--a stray from the Nineteenth Century -moving about in the unrealized world of the Fourteenth--grew that -portion of his first Japanese book, "Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan," -which he called "From the Diary of an English Teacher," and "The Chief -City of the Province of the Gods." It is interesting to compare the -impression made upon the teacher by his pupils with the opinion formed -by the pupils of their foreign teacher. - -Hearn says:-- - -"I have had two years' experience in large Japanese schools; and I have -never had personal knowledge of any serious quarrel between students.... -A teacher is a teacher only: he stands to his pupils in the relation of -an elder brother. He never tries to impose his will upon them ... -severity would scarcely be tolerated by the students.... Strangely -pleasant is the first sensation of a Japanese class, as you look over -the ranges of young faces.... Those traits have nothing incisive, -nothing forcible: compared with Occidental faces they seem but -'half-sketched,' so soft their outlines are.... Some have a childish -freshness and frankness indescribable ... all are equally characterized -by a singular placidity--expressing neither love nor hate nor anything -save perfect repose and gentleness.... I find among the students a -healthy tone of skepticism in regard to certain forms of popular belief. -Scientific education is rapidly destroying credulity in old -superstitions.... But the deeper religious sense remains with him; and -the Monistic Idea in Buddhism is being strengthened ... by the new -education.... Shint[=o] the students all sincerely are ... what the -higher Shint[=o] signifies,--loyalty, filial piety, obedience to -parents, and respect for ancestors.... The demeanour of a class during -study hours is if anything too faultless. Never a whisper is heard; -never is a head raised from the book without permission.... My favourite -students often visit me of afternoons.... Their conversation and -thoughts are of the simplest and frankest.... Often they bring me gifts -of flowers, and sometimes they bring books and pictures to show -me--delightfully queer things,--family heirlooms. Never by any possible -chance are they troublesome, impolite, curious, or even talkative. -Courtesy in its utmost possible exquisiteness seems as natural to the -Izumo boy as the colour of his hair or the tint of his skin." - -Of the teacher one of his pupils, Teizabur[=o] Inomata, now a student at -Yale College, says:-- - -"We liked him for his appearance and for his gentle manners. He seemed -more pleasing in his looks than most foreigners do to the Japanese." - -Masanobu [=O]tani, his favourite pupil in Matsue, says: "He was a very -kind and industrious teacher, incomparable to the common foreigners -engaged in the Middle Schools of those days. No wonder therefore that he -won at once the admiration of all the teachers and students of the -school." He sends a copy of one of his own compositions corrected and -annotated by Hearn, and observes:-- - -"How he was kind and earnest in his teaching can well be seen by the -above specimen. It seems that themes for our composition were such as he -could infer our artless, genuine thoughts and feelings.... He -attentively listened to our reading, corrected each mispronunciation -whenever we did.... We Japanese feel much pain to pronounce 'l' and -'th.' He kindly and scrupulously taught the pronunciation of these -sounds. He was not tired to correct mispronunciation.... He was always -exact, but never severe." - -Hearn's first residence in Matsue was at an inn in the quarter called -Zaimoku-ch[=o], "but," says his wife in the reminiscences which she set -down to assist his biographer, "circumstances made him resolve to leave -it very soon. The chief cause was as follows: The daughter of the -innkeeper was suffering from a disease of the eyes. This aroused his -sympathy (as did all such troubles in a special manner); he asked the -landlord to send her to a hospital for treatment, but the landlord did -not care much about her, and refused, to Hearn's great mortification. -'Unmerciful fellow! without a father's heart,' he said to himself, and -removed to a house of his own on the shore of the lake." - -This house was near the bridge [=O]hashi which crossed the largest of -the three outlets from the lake to the bay, and commanded the beautiful -scenery described in "The Chief City of the Province of the Gods":-- - -"I slide open my little Japanese paper window to look out upon the -morning over a soft green cloud of foliage rising from the river-bounded -garden below. Before me, tremulously mirroring everything upon its -farther side, glimmers the broad glassy mouth of the [=O]hashi-gawa, -opening into the Shinji Lake, which spreads out broadly to the right in -a dim grey frame of peaks.... But oh, the charm of the vision,--those -first ghostly love-colours of a morning steeped in mist soft as sleep -itself!... Long reaches of faintly-tinted vapour cloud the far lake -verge.... All the bases of the mountains are veiled by them ... so that -the lake appears incomparably larger than it really is, and not an -actual lake, but a beautiful spectral sea of the same tint as the -dawn-sky and mixing with it, while peak-tips rise like islands from the -brume--an exquisite chaos, ever changing aspect as the delicate fogs -rise, slowly, very slowly. As the sun's yellow rim comes into sight, -fine thin lines of warmer tone--violets and opalines--shoot across the -flood, tree-tops take tender fire.... Looking sunward, up the long -[=O]hashi-gawa, beyond the many-pillared wooden bridge, one high-pooped -junk, just hoisting sail, seems to me the most fantastically beautiful -craft I ever saw,--a dream of Orient seas, so idealized by the vapour is -it; the ghost of a junk, but a ghost that catches the light as clouds -do; a shape of gold mist, seemingly semi-diaphanous, and suspended in -pale blue light." - -Here, constantly absorbed when off duty in the study of the sights and -sounds of the city,--the multitudinous soft clapping of hands that -greeted the rising sun, the thin ringing of thousands of wooden _geta_ -across the bridge, the fantastic craft of the water traffic, the trades -of the street merchants, the plays and songs of the children,--he began -to register his first impressions, to make his first studies for his -first book. Of its two volumes he afterwards spoke slightingly as full -of misconceptions and errors, but it at once, upon its appearance in -print, attracted the serious consideration of literary critics, and is -the work which, with "Japan: an Interpretation," remains most popular -with his Japanese friends. It records his many expeditions to the -islands and ports of the three provinces included in the Ken of Shimane, -and his study of the manners, customs, and religion of the people. Of -special value was his visit to the famous temple at Kizuki, to whose -shrine he was the first Westerner ever admitted. Lord Senke Takamori, -priest of this temple, was a friend of the family of the lady who -became Hearn's wife, and prince of a house which had passed its office -by direct male line through eighty-two generations; as old a house as -that of the Mikado himself. From him Hearn received the unusual courtesy -of having ordered for his special benefit a religious dance by the -temple attendants. - -It was while Lafcadio was living in the house by the [=O]hashi bridge -that he married, in January, 1891, Setsu Koizumi, a lady of high samurai -rank. The revolution in Japan which overthrew the power of the -Sh[=o]guns and restored the Mikado to temporal power had broken the -whole feudal structure of Japanese society, and with the downfall of the -daimy[=o]s, whose position was similar to that of the dukes of feudal -England, fell the lesser nobility, the samurai, or "two-sworded" men. -Many of these sank into as great poverty as that which befel the -_emigres_ after the French Revolution, and among those whose fortunes -were entirely ruined were the Koizumis. Sentar[=o] Nishida, who appears -to have been a sort of head master of the Jinj[=o]-ch[=u]gakk[=o], in -special charge of the English department, was of one of the lesser -samurai families, his mother having been an inmate of the Koizumi -household before the decline of their fortunes. Because of his fluency -in English, as well as because of what seems to have been a peculiar -sweetness and dignity of character, he soon became the interpreter and -special friend of the new English teacher. It was through his mediation -that the marriage was arranged. Under ordinary circumstances a Japanese -woman of rank would consider an alliance with a foreigner an -inexpugnable disgrace; but the circumstances of the Koizumis were not -ordinary, and whatever may have been the secret feelings of the girl of -twenty-two, it is certain that she immediately became passionately -attached to her husband, and the marriage continued to the end to be a -very happy one. It was celebrated by the local rites, as to have married -according to English laws, under the then existing treaties, would have -deprived her of her Japanese citizenship and obliged them to remove to -one of the open ports; but the question of the legality of the marriage -and of her future troubled Hearn from the beginning, and finally obliged -him to renounce his English allegiance and become a subject of the -Mikado in order that she and her children might never suffer from any -complications or doubts as to their position. This could only be -achieved by his adoption into his wife's family. He took their name, -Koizumi, which signifies "Little Spring," and for personal title chose -the classical term for Izumo province, Yakumo, meaning "Eight -Clouds"--or "the place of the issuing of clouds"--and also being the -first word of the oldest known Japanese poem. - -Mrs. Hearn says: "We afterwards removed to a samurai house where we -could have a home of our own conveniently equipped with numbers of -rooms,--our household consisting of us two, maids, and a small cat. Now -about this cat: while we lived near the lake, when the spring was yet -cold, as I was watching from the veranda the evening shadow falling upon -the lake one day, I found a group of boys trying to drown a small cat -near our house. I asked the boys and took it home. 'O pity! cruel -boys!' Hearn said, and took that all-wet, shivering creature into his -own bosom (underneath the cloth) and kindly warmed it. This strongly -impressed me with his deep sincerity, which I ever after witnessed at -various occasions. Such conduct would be very extreme, but he had such -an intensity in his character." This cat seems to have been an important -member of the household. Professor [=O]tani in referring to it says: "It -was a purely black cat. It was given the name of _Hinoko_ (a spark) by -him, because of its glaring eyes like live coals. It became his pet. It -was often held in his hat." - -Later another pet was added to the establishment--an _uguisu_, sent to -him by "the sweetest lady in Japan, daughter of the Governor of Izumo, -who, thinking the foreign teacher might feel lonesome during a brief -illness, made him the gift of this dainty creature." - -"You do not know what an _uguisu_ is?" he says. "An _uguisu_ is a -holy little bird that professes Buddhism ... very brief -indeed is my feathered Buddhist's confession of faith,--only the -sacred name of the _sutras_ reiterated over and over again, like a -litany--'_Ho-ke-ky[=o]!_'--a single word only. But also it is written: -'He who shall joyfully accept but a single word from this _sutra_, -incalculably greater shall be his merit than the merit of one who should -supply all the beings in the four hundred thousand worlds with all the -necessaries for happiness.' ... Always he makes a reverent little pause -after uttering it. First the warble; then a pause of about five -seconds; then a slow, sweet, solemn utterance of the holy name in a tone -as of meditative wonder; then another pause; then another wild, rich, -passionate warble. Could you see him you would marvel how so powerful -and penetrating a soprano could ripple from so minute a throat, yet his -chant can be heard a whole _ch[=o]_ away ... a neutral-tinted mite -almost lost in his box-cage darkened with paper screens, for he loves -the gloom. Delicate he is, and exacting even to tyranny. All his diet -must be laboriously triturated and weighed in scales, and measured out -to him at precisely the same hour each day." - -In this house, surrounded with beautiful gardens, and lying under the -very shadow of the ruined Daimy[=o] castle, Hearn and his wife passed a -very happy year. The rent was about four dollars a month; his salaries -from the middle and normal schools, added to what he earned with his -pen, made him for the first time in his life easy about money matters. -He was extremely popular with all classes, from the governor to the -barber; the charm and wonder of the life about him was still unstaled by -usage, and he found himself at last able to achieve some of that beauty -and force of style for which he had so long laboured. He even found -pleasure in the fact that most of his friends were of no greater stature -than himself. It seems to have been in every way the happiest portion of -his life. Mrs. Hearn's notes concerning it are so delightful as to -deserve literal reproduction. - -"The governor of the prefecture at that time was Viscount Yasusada -Koteda, an earnest advocate of preserving old, genuine Japanese -essentials, a conservatist. He was very much skilful in fencing; was -much respected by the people in general. - -"Mr. Koteda was also very kind to Lafcadio. - -"Thus all Izumo proved favourable to him. The place welcomed him and -treated him as a member of its family, a guest, a good friend, and not -as a stranger or a foreigner. To him all things were full of novel -interest; and the hospitality and good-naturedness of the city-people -were the great pleasure for him. Matsue was, as it were, a paradise for -him; and he became enthusiastically fond of Matsue. The newspapers of -the city often published his anecdotes for his praise. The students were -very pleased that they had a good teacher. In the meantime, the -wonderful thread of marriage happened to unite me with Lafcadio.... - -"When I first saw Lafcadio, his property was a very scanty one,--only a -table, a chair, a few number of books, a suit of both foreign and -Japanese cloth [clothes], etc. - -"When he came home from school, he put on Japanese cloth and sat on -cushion and smoked. - -"By this time he began to be fond of living in all ways like Japanese. -He took Japanese food with chopsticks. - -"In his Izumo days, he was pleased to be present on all banquets held by -the teachers; he also invited some teachers very often and was very glad -to listen to the popular songs. - -"On the New Year's day of 1891, he went round for a formal call with -Japanese _haori_ and _hakama_.... - -"But on those days I had to suffer from the inconvenience of -conversation between us. We could not understand each other very well. -Nor was Hearn familiar with complicated Japanese customs. He was a man -with a rare sensibility of feeling; also he had a peculiar taste. Having -been teased by the hard world, and being still in the vigour of his -life, he often seemed to be indignant with the world. (This turned in -his later years into a melancholic temperament.) When we travelled -through the province of H[=o]ki, we had to rest for a while at a -tea-house of some hot-spring, where many people were making merry. Hearn -pulled my dress, saying: 'Stop to enter this house! No good to rest -here. It is an hell. Even a moment we should not stay here.' He was -often offended in such a way. I was younger than now I am and -unexperienced with the affairs of the world; and it was no easy task for -me then to reconcile him with the occasions. - -"We visited K[=u]kedo, which is a cave on a rocky shore in the sea of -Japan. Hearn went out from the shore and swam for about two miles, -showing great dexterity in various feats of swimming. Our boat entered -the dark, hollow cave, and it was very fearful to hear the sounds of -waves dashing against the wall. There are many fearful legends -concerning this cave. To keep our boat from the evil-spirit, we had to -continue tapping our boat with a stone. The deep water below was -horribly blue. After hearing my story about the cave, Hearn began to put -off his clothes. The sailor said that there would be a great danger if -any one swam here, on account of the devil's curse. I dissuaded him from -swimming. Hearn was very displeased and hardly spoke with me till the -next day.... - -"In the summer of 1891 he visited Kizuki with Mr. Nishida. The next day -he sent for me to come. When I arrived at his hotel I found the two had -gone to sea for swimming, and Hearn's money, packed in his stocking, was -left on the floor. He was very indifferent in regard to money until in -later years he became anxious for the future of family, as he felt he -would not live very long on account of his failing health.... - -"He was extremely fond of freedom, and hated mere forms and restraint. -As a middle school teacher and as a professor in the University he was -always democratic and simple in his life. He ordered to make flock-coat -when he became University professor, and it was after my eager advice. -He at first insisted that he would not appear on public ceremony where -polite garments are required, according to the promise with Dr. Toyama, -and it was after my eager entreaties that at last he consented to have -flock-coat made for him. But it was only some four or five times that he -put on that during his life. So whenever he puts on that, he felt the -task of putting on very troublesome, and said: 'Please attend to-day's -meeting instead of me. I do not like to wear this troublesome thing; -daily cloth is sufficient, etc.' He disliked silk-hat. Some day I said -in joke: 'You have written about Japan very well. His Majesty the -Emperor is calling you to praise. So please put on the flock-coat and -silk-hat.' He answered: 'Therefore I will not attend the meeting; -flock-coat and silk-hat are the thing I dislike.' - -"Our conversation was through Japanese language. Hearn would not teach -me English, saying: 'It is far lovelier for the Japanese women that they -talk in Japanese. I am glad that you do not know English.' - -"Some time (when at Kumamoto) I told him of various inconveniences on -account of my ignorance of English. He said that if I were able to write -my name in English it would be sufficient; and instead he wanted me to -teach him Japanese alphabet. He made progress in this and were able to -write letters in Japanese alphabet with a few Chinese characters -intermixed. - -"Our _mutual_ Japanese language made great progress on account of -necessity. This special Japanese of mine proved much more intelligible -to him than any skilful English of Japanese friend. Hearn was always -delighted with my Japanese. By and by he was able to teach Kazuo in -Japanese. He also taught Japanese stories to other children in Japanese. - -"But on Matsue days we suffered in regard to conversations. Sometimes we -had to refer to the dictionary. Being fond from my girlhood of old -tales, I began from these Matsue days telling him long Japanese old -stories, which were not easy for him to understand, but to which he -listened with much interest and attention. He called our mutual Japanese -language 'Hearn san Kotoba' (Hearn's language). So in later years when -he met some difficult words he would say in joke to explain them in our -familiar 'Hearn san Kotoba.'" - - * * * * * - -Unfortunately this idyllic interval was cut short by ill health. The -cold Siberian winds that pass across Izumo in winter seriously affected -his lungs, and the little _hibachi_, or box of burning charcoal, which -was the only means in use of warming Japanese houses, could not protect -sufficiently one who had lived so long in warm climates. Oddly too, cold -always affected his eyesight injuriously, and very reluctantly, but -under the urgent advice of his doctor, he sought employment in a warmer -region and was transferred to the Dai Go K[=o]t[=o] Gakk[=o], the great -Government College, at Kumamoto, situated near the southern end of the -Inland Sea. In "Sayonara"--the last chapter of the "Glimpses"--there is -a description of his parting:-- - -"The quaint old city has become so endeared to me that the thought of -never seeing it again is one I do not venture to dwell upon.... These -days of farewells have been full of charming surprises. To have the -revelation of gratitude where you had no right to expect more than plain -satisfaction with your performance of duty; to find affection where you -supposed only good will to exist: these are assuredly delicious -experiences.... I cannot but ask myself the question: Could I have lived -in the exercise of the same profession for the same length of time in -any other country, and have enjoyed a similar unbroken experience of -human goodness? From each and all I have received only kindness and -courtesy. Not one has addressed to me a single ungenerous word. As a -teacher of more than five hundred boys and men I have never even had my -patience tried." - -There were presents from the teachers, of splendid old porcelains, of an -ancient and valuable sword from the students, of mementos from every -one. A banquet was given, addresses made, the Government officials and -hundreds of friends came to bid him good-bye at the docks, and thus -closed the most beautiful episode of his life. - -Matsue was old Japan. Kumamoto represented the far less pleasing Japan -in the stage of transition. Here Hearn remained for three years, and at -the expiration of his engagement abandoned the Government service and -returned to journalism for a while. Living was far more expensive, the -official and social atmosphere of Kumamoto was repugnant to him, and he -fell back into the old solitary, retiring habits of earlier -days--finding his friends among children and folk of the humbler -classes, excepting only the old teacher of Chinese, whose name signified -"Moon-of-Autumn," and to whom he makes reference in several of his -letters. In "Out of the East"--the book written in Kumamoto--he says of -this friend: "He was once a samurai of high rank belonging to the great -clan of Aizu. He had been a leader of armies, a negotiator between -princes, a statesman, a ruler of provinces--all that any knight could be -in the feudal era. But in the intervals of military or political duty he -seems always to have been a teacher. Yet to see him now you would -scarcely believe how much he was once feared--though loved--by the -turbulent swordsmen under his rule. Perhaps there is no gentleness so -full of charm as that of the man of war noted for sternness in his -youth." - -Of his childish friends he relates a pretty story. They came upon one -occasion to ask for a contribution of money to help in celebrating the -festival of Jiz[=o], whose shrine was opposite his house. - -"I was glad to contribute to the fund, for I love the gentle god of -children. Early the next morning I saw that a new bib had been put about -Jiz[=o]'s neck, a Buddhist repast set before him.... After dark I went -out into a great glory of lantern-fires to see the children dance; and I -found, perched before my gate, an enormous dragonfly more than three -feet long. It was a token of the children's gratitude for the help I had -given them. I was startled for a moment by the realism of the thing, but -upon close examination I discovered that the body was a pine branch -wrapped with coloured paper, the four wings were four fire-shovels, and -the gleaming head was a little teapot. The whole was lighted by a candle -so placed as to make extraordinary shadows, which formed part of the -design. It was a wonderful instance of art-sense working without a speck -of artistic material, yet it was all the labour of a poor little child -only eight years old!" - -It was in Kumamoto that Hearn first began to perceive the fierceness and -sternness of the Japanese character. "With Ky[=u]sh[=u] Students" and -"Jiu-jutsu" contain some surprising foreshadowings of the then -unsuspected future. Such characteristics, however he might respect or -understand them, were always antipathetic to his nature, and his -relations with the members of the school were for the most part formal. -He mentions that the students rarely called upon him, and that he saw -his fellow teachers only in school hours. Between classes he usually -walked under the trees, smoking, or betook himself to an abandoned -cemetery on the ridge of the hill behind the college, where an ancient -stone Buddha sat upon a lotus--"his meditative gaze slanting down -between half-closed eyelids"--and where he wrought out the chapter in -"Out of the East" which is called "The Stone Buddha." It became a -favourite resort. Mrs. Hearn says: "When at Kumamoto we two often went -out for a walk in the night-time. On the first walk at Kumamoto I was -led to a graveyard, for on the previous day he said: 'I have found a -pleasant place. Let us go there to-morrow night.' Through a dark path I -was led on, until we came up a hill, where were many tombs. Dreary place -it was! He said: 'Listen and hear the voices of frogs.'" - -He was still in Kumamoto when Japan went to war with China, and his -record of the emotion of the people is full of interest. The war spirit -manifested itself in ways not less painful than extraordinary. Many -killed themselves on being refused the chance of military service. - -It was here in the previous year, November 17, 1893, that his first -child was born, and was named Kazuo, which signifies "the first of the -excellent, best of the peerless." The event caused him the profoundest -emotion. Indeed, it seemed to work a great change in all his views of -life, as perhaps it does in most parents, reconciling them to much -against which they may have previously rebelled. Writing to me a few -weeks after this event he declared with artless conviction that the boy -was "strangely beautiful," and though three other children came in later -years, Kazuo always remained his special interest and concern. Up to the -time of his death he never allowed his eldest son to be taught by any -one but himself, and his most painful preoccupation when his health -began to decline was with the future of this child, who appeared to have -inherited both his father's looks and disposition. - -The constant change in the personnel of the teaching force of the -college, and many annoyances to which he was subjected, caused his -decision at the end of the three years' term to remove to K[=o]be and -enter the service of the K[=o]be _Chronicle_. Explaining to Amenomori he -says:-- - -"By the way, I am hoping to leave the Gov't service, and begin -journalism at K[=o]be. I am not sure of success; but Gov't service is -uncertain to the degree of terror,--a sword of Damocles; and Gov't -doesn't employ men like you as teachers. If it did, and would give them -what they should have, the position of a foreign teacher would be -pleasant enough. He would be among thinkers, and find some -kindliness,--instead of being made to feel that he is only the servant -of petty political clerks. And I have been so isolated, that I must -acknowledge the weakness of wishing to be among Englishmen again--with -all their prejudices and conventions." - -K[=o]be was at that time, 1895, an open port, that is to say, one -of the places in which foreigners were allowed to reside without -special government permission, and under the extra-territorial rule -of their own consuls. Of Hearn's external life here there seems -to be but scant record. He worked as one of the staff of the -_Chronicle_,--his editorials frequently bringing upon him the wrath of -the missionaries,--he contributed some letters to the McClure Syndicate, -and there was much talk of a projected expedition, in search of material -for such work, to the Philippines or the Loo Choo Islands; a project -never realized. The journalistic work seriously affected his eyes, and -his health seems to have been poor at times. He made few acquaintances -and had almost no companions outside of his own household, where in 1896 -another son was born. - -Perhaps because of the narrowness of his social life his mental life -deepened and expanded, or possibly his indifference to the outer world -may have resulted from the change manifesting itself in his mental view. - -"Kokoro" (a Japanese word signifying "The Heart of Things") was written -in K[=o]be, as was also "Gleanings in Buddha-Fields," and they quite -remarkably demonstrate his growing indifference to the externals of -life, the deepening of his thought toward the intrinsic and the -fundamental. The visible beauty of woman, of nature, of art, grew to -absorb him less as he sought for the essential principle of beauty. - -In one of the letters written about this time he says: "I have to -acknowledge to feeling a sort of resentment against certain things in -which I used to take pleasure. I can't look at a number of the _Petit -Journal pour Rire_ or the _Charivari_ without vexation, almost anger. I -can't find pleasure in a French novel written for the obvious purpose of -appealing to instincts that interfere with perception of higher things -than instincts. I should not go to the Paris Opera if it were next door. -I should not like to visit the most beautiful lady and be received in -evening dress. You see how absurd I have become--and this without any -idea of principle about the matter except the knowledge that I ought to -avoid everything which does not help me to make the best of -myself--small as it may be." - -And again: "I might say that I have become indifferent to personal -pleasure of any sort ... what is more significant, I think, is the -feeling that the greatest pleasure is to work for others--for those who -take it as a matter of course that I should do so, and would be as much -amazed to find me selfish about it as if an earthquake had shaken the -house down.... It now seems to me that time is the most precious of all -things conceivable. I can't waste it by going out to hear people talk -nonsense.... There are rich natures that can afford the waste, but I -can't, because the best part of my life has been wasted in the wrong -direction and I shall have to work like thunder till I die to make up -for it." - -The growing gravity and force of his thought was shown not only in his -books but in his correspondence. Most of the letters written at this -period were addressed to Professor Chamberlain, dealing with matters of -heredity and the evolution of the individual under ancestral racial -influences. The following extract is typical of the tone of the whole:-- - -"Here comes in the consideration of a very terrible possibility. Suppose -we use integers instead of quintillions or centillions, and say that an -individual represents by inheritance a total of 10-5 of impulses -favourable to social life, 5 of the reverse. (Such a balance would -really occur in many cases.) The child inherits, under favourable -conditions, the father's balance plus the maternal balance of 9,--four -of the number being favourable. We have then a total which becomes odd, -and the single odd number gives preponderance to an accumulation of -ancestral impulse incalculable for evil. It would be like a pair of -scales, each holding a mass as large as Fuji. If the balance were -absolutely perfect the weight of _one_ hair would be enough to move a -mass of millions of tons. Here is your antique Nemesis awfully -magnified. Let the individual descend below a certain level and -countless dead suddenly seize and destroy him,--like the Furies." - -One begins to miss the beautiful landscapes against which he had set his -enchantingly realistic pictures of beautiful things and people, but in -the place of the sensuous charm, the honeyed felicities of phrase, he -offered such essays as the "Japanese Civilization" in "Kokoro," with its -astounding picture of New York City, and its sublimated insight into the -imponderable soul of the Eastern world--such intolerable imaginings as -"Dust" in the "Gleanings from Buddha-Fields," and the delicate -poignancies of "The Nun of the Temple of Amida" or of "A Street Singer." - -I think it was at K[=o]be he reached his fullest intellectual stature. -None of the work that followed in the next eight years surpassed the -results he there achieved, and much was of lesser value, despite its -beauty. He had attained to complete mastery of his medium, and had -moreover learned completely to master his thought before clothing it in -words--a far more difficult and more important matter. - -Yet the clothing in words was no small task, as witness the accompanying -examples of how he laboured for the perfection of his vehicle. These are -not the first struggles of a young and clumsy artist, but the efforts at -the age of fifty-three of one of the greatest masters of English. - -It was done, too, by a man who earned with his pen in a year less than -the week's income of one of the facile authors of the "six best -sellers." - -As has been said of De Quincey, whom Hearn in many ways resembled, "I -can grasp a little of his morbid suffering in the eternal struggle for -perfection of utterance; I can share a part of his aesthetic torment over -cacophony, redundance, obscurity, and all the thousand minute delicacies -and subtleties of resonance and dissonance, accent and caesura, that only -a De Quincey's ear appreciates and seeks to achieve or evade. How many -care for these fine things to-day? How many are concerned if De Quincey -uses a word with the long 'a' sound, or spends a sleepless night in his -endeavour to find another with the short 'a,' that shall at once -answer his purpose and crown his sentence with harmony? Who lovingly -examine the great artist's methods now, dip into the secret of his -mystery, and weigh verb against adjective, vowel against consonant, that -they may a little understand the unique splendour of this prose? And -who, when an artist is the matter, attempt to measure his hopes as well -as his attainments or praise a noble ambition perhaps shining through -faulty attempt? How many, even among those who write, have fathomed the -toil and suffering, the continence and self-denial of our great artists -in words?" - -[Illustration: _Specimen of Hearn's MS., first draft._] - -[Illustration] - - - - - CHAPTER IV - - THE LAST STAGE - - -With methods of work such as those of which the foregoing examples give -suggestion, with increasing indifference to the external details of -life, and growing concentration of esoteric thought, it was plain that -literature and journalism would not suffice to sustain a family of -thirteen persons. For Hearn in becoming a Japanese subject had accepted -the Japanese duty of maintaining the elder members of the family into -which he had been adopted, and his household included the ancestors of -his son. He referred to the fact occasionally with amused impatience, -but seems never to have really resented or rebelled against the filial -duties which to the Western point of view might appear excessive. His -eyes, too, began to give warnings that could not be ignored, and with -reluctance he yielded to the necessity of earning a larger income by -reentering the Government service as a teacher. Professor Chamberlain -again came to his aid and secured for him the position of Professor of -English in the Imperial University of T[=o]ky[=o], where his salary was -large compared to anything he had as yet received, and where he was -permitted an admirable liberty as to methods of teaching. - -Of his lectures an example is given in the appendix, under the title -"Naked Poetry." This, it is interesting to mention, was taken down in -long-hand during its delivering by Teizabur[=o] Inomata, who possesses -five manuscript volumes of these records, for Hearn transcribed none of -his lectures, delivering them without notes, and had it not been for -this astonishing feat by a member of one of his classes all written -record of his teaching would have been lost. Mr. Inomata is the Ochiai -of the letter given on page 64 of the present volume, and was one of the -pupils of the Jinj[=o]-ch[=u]gakk[=o] of Matsue. Another of these Matsue -pupils was Masanobu [=O]tani, whom Hearn assisted to pass through the -university by employing him to collect data for many of his books. In -the elaborately painstaking manuscript volume of information which Mr. -[=O]tani sent me to assist in the writing of these volumes, he says:-- - -"Here I want not to forget to add that I had received from him 12 yen (6 -dollars) for my work each month. It was too kind of him that a poor -monthly work of mine was paid with the money above mentioned. To speak -frankly, however, it was not very easy for me to pass each month with -the money through the three years of my university course. I had to pay -2 yen and a half as the monthly fee to the university; to pay 6 or 7 yen -for my lodging and eating every month; to buy some necessary text books, -and to pay for some meetings inevitable. So I was forced to make some -more money beside his favour. Each month I contributed to some -newspapers and magazines; I reprinted the four books of Nesfield's -grammar; I published some pamphlets. Thus I could equal the expense of -each month, but I need hardly say that it was by his extraordinary -favour that I could finish my study in the university. I shall never -forget his extreme kindness forever and ever." - -A revelation this, confirmatory of the constant references made by Hearn -to the frightful price paid in life and energy by Japan in the endeavour -to assimilate a millennium of Western learning in the brief space of -half a century. - -From these notes by Mr. [=O]tani, Mrs. Hearn, and Mr. Inomata it is -possible to reconstruct his life in T[=o]ky[=o] with that minuteness -demanded by the professors of the "scientific school" of biography:-- - -"When he came to the university he immediately entered the lecture room, -and at the recreation hour he was always seen in a lonely part of the -college garden, smoking, and walking to and fro. No one dared disturb -his meditations. He did not mingle with the other professors.... - -"Very regular and very diligent in his teaching, he was never absent -unless ill. His hours of teaching being twelve in the week.... - -"He never used an umbrella.... - -"He liked to bathe in tepid water.... - -"He feared cold; his study having a large stove and double doors; he -never, however, used gloves in the coldest weather."... - -And so on, to the _nth_ power of fatigue. Personally nothing would -have been so obnoxious to the man as this piling up of unimportant -detail and banal ana about his private life. He was entirely free of -that egotism, frequently afflicting the literary artist, which made the -crowing cocks, the black beetles, and the marital infelicities of the -Carlyles matters of such import as to deserve being solemnly and -meticulously recorded for the benefit of an awestruck world. - -At first the change of residence, the necessary interruption of the -heavy work of preparing lectures, the teaching, and its attendant -official duties seem to have broken the train of his inspiration--for -"Gleanings in Buddha-Fields," though published the year after his -arrival in T[=o]ky[=o], had been completed while in K[=o]be, and he -complains bitterly in his letters that "the Holy Ghost had departed from -him," and was constantly endeavouring to find some means of renewing the -fire. In a letter to his friend Amenomori he says: "But somehow, working -is 'against the grain.' I get no thrill, no _frisson_, no sensation. I -want new experiences, perhaps; and T[=o]ky[=o] is no place for them. -Perhaps the power to feel thrill dies with the approach of a man's -fiftieth year. Perhaps the only land to find the new sensations is in -the Past,--floats blue-peaked under some beautiful dead sun 'in the -tropic clime of youth.' Must I die and be born again to feel the charm -of the Far East;--or will Nobushige Amenomori discover for me some -unfamiliar blossom growing beside the Fountain of Immortality? Alas, I -don't know!" Indeed, in "Exotics and Retrospectives" he returned for -part of his material to old memories of the West Indies, and the next -four volumes--"In Ghostly Japan" (with its monstrous fantasy of the -Mountain of Skulls), "Shadowings," "A Japanese Miscellany," and -"Kotto"--show that the altar still waited for the coal, the contents of -these being merely studies, masterly as they were, such as an artist -might make while waiting for some great idea to form itself, worthy of a -broad canvas. - -As the letters show, prodigious care and patience were expended upon -each of these sketches. In advising a friend he explains his own -methods:-- - -"Now with regard to your own sketch or story. If you are quite -dissatisfied with it, I think this is probably due _not_ to what you -suppose,--imperfection of expression,--but rather to the fact that some -_latent_ thought or emotion has not yet defined itself in your mind with -sufficient sharpness. You feel something and have not been able to -express the feeling--only because you do not yet quite know what it is. -We feel without understanding feeling; and our most powerful emotions -are the most undefinable. This must be so, because they are inherited -accumulations of feeling, and the multiplicity of them--superimposed one -over another--blurs them, and makes them dim, even though enormously -increasing their strength.... _Unconscious_ brain-work is the best to -develop such latent feeling or thought. By quietly writing the thing -over and over again, I find that the emotion or idea often _develops -itself_ in the process,--unconsciously. Again, it is often worth while -to _try_ to analyze the feeling that remains dim. The effort of trying -to understand exactly what it is that moves us sometimes proves -successful.... If you have any feeling--no matter what--strongly latent -in the mind (even only a haunting sadness or a mysterious joy), you may -be sure that it is expressible. Some feelings are, of course, very -difficult to develop. I shall show you one of these days, when we see -each other, a page that I worked at for _months_ before the idea came -clearly.... When the best result comes, it ought to surprise you, for -our best work is out of the Unconscious." - -In all these studies the tendency grew constantly more marked to abandon -the earlier richness of his style; a pellucid simplicity was plainly the -aim of his intention. The transparent, shadowy, "weird stories" of -"Kwaidan" were as unlike the splendid floridity of his West Indian -studies as a Shint[=o] shrine is unlike a Gothic cathedral. These -ghostly sketches might have been made by the brush of a Japanese artist; -a grey whirl of water about a phantom fish--a shadow of a pine bough -across the face of a spectral moon--an outline of mountains as filmy as -dreams: brief, almost childishly simple, and yet suggesting things -poignant, things ineffable. - -"Ants," the last study in "Kwaidan," was, however, of a very different -character. The old Occidental fire and power was visible again; his -inspiration was reillumined. Then suddenly the broad canvas was spread -for him and he wrote "Japan: an Attempt at Interpretation," one of the -most astonishing reviews of the life and soul of a great nation ever -attempted. - -To understand the generation of this book it is necessary to explain the -conditions of the last years of his life in T[=o]ky[=o]. Of his private -existence at this time Mrs. Hearn's reminiscences furnish again a -delightful and vivid record. - -"It was on the 27th Aug., 1896, that we arrived at T[=o]ky[=o] from -K[=o]be. - -"Having heard of a house to let in Ushigome district, we went to see it. -It was an old house of a pure Japanese style, without an upper story; -and having a spacious garden and a lotus-pond in it, the house resembled -to a Buddhist temple. Very gloomy house it was and I felt a sense of -being haunted. Hearn seemed fond of the house. But we did not borrow it. - -"We heard afterward that it was reputed to be haunted by the ghost; and -though the house-rent was very cheap, no one would dare to borrow the -house; and finally it was broken down by its owner. 'Why then did we not -inhabit that house?' Hearn said, with regret, 'It was very interesting -house, I thought at that time!' - -"At last we settled at a house at Tomihisa-ch[=o], Ushigome district, -about three miles from the university. The house was situated on a -bluff, with a Buddist temple called Kobu-dera in the neighbourhood. -'Kobu-dera' means 'Knots Temple,' because all the pillars in the -building have knots left, the natural wood having been used without -carpenter's planes. Formerly it was called Hagi-dera on account of many -_hagi_[3] flowers in the garden. - - [3] Bush clover. - -"Being very fond of a temple, he often went for rambling in Kobu-dera, -so that he became acquainted with a goodly old priest there, with whom -he was pleased to talk on Buddhist subjects, I being always his -interpreter in such a case. - -"Almost every morning and every evening he took walk in Kobu-dera. - -"The children always said when he was absent, 'Papa is in Kobu-dera.' - -"The following is one of his conversations in one of our ramblings -there: 'Can I not live in this temple?' 'I should be very glad to become -a priest--I will make a good priest with large eyes and high nose!' -'Then you become a nun! and Kazuo a little boy priest!--how lovely he -would be! We shall then every day chant the texts. Oh, a happy life!' -'In the next world you shall be born a nun!' - -"One day we went to the temple for our usual walk. 'O, O!' he exclaimed -in astonishment. Three large cedars had been lying on the ground. 'Why -have they cut down these trees? I see the temple people seem to be poor. -They are in need of money. Oh, why have they not told me about that? I -should be very much pleased to give them some amount. What a long time -it must have taken to grow so large from the tiny bud! I have become a -little disgusted with that old priest. Pity! he has not money, though. -Poor tree!' He was extremely sad and melancholily walked for home. 'I -feel so sad! I am no more pleasant to-day. Go and ask the people to cut -no more trees,' he said. - -"After this he did not go to the temple yard any more. - -"Sometime after the old priest was removed to another temple; and the -younger new priest, the head of temple, began cutting trees. - -"His desire was to live in a little house, in some lonely suburb, with a -spacious garden full of trees. I looked for several places; at Nishi -[=O]kubo _mura_ I found a house of pure Japanese style and even with no -foreign styled house in the neighbourhood, for his desire was to live in -the midst of genuine Japan. That the house stood in a lonely suburb and -that there was a bamboo bush in the rear of house pleased him much and -prompted his immediate decision. Being much afraid of cold winter, he -wanted to have one room furnished with a stove newly built and that the -library should open to the west. His library, with an adjoining room -with a stove, and my sitting room were built. He left all else to my -choice, saying, 'I have only to write; other things I do not care for; -you know better, good Mamma San!' - -"It was on the 19th March, 1902, that we removed on new house at -[=O]kubo. He used to go to university by a jinrikisha; it took about 40 -minutes. Our house was all furnished in Japanese fashion, except the -stove and the glass-screen on account of the stove, instead of a -paper-screen, in regard to that apartment. - -"On the day we removed I was helping him arrange books in the library. -Among the bamboo woods were heard the uguisu or warbler's notes through -the stillness of the place. 'How happy!' he said, pleased with the new -abode. 'But my heart is sorry,' he added. 'Why?' I asked. 'To be happy -is a cause of anxiousness to me;' he said, 'I would like to live long -in this house. But I do not know whether I can.' - -"He put too much importance to Beauty or Nicety perhaps. He was too -enthusiastic for beauty, for which he wept, and for which he rejoiced, -and for which he was angry. This made him shun social intercourse; this -made him as if he were an eccentric person. To him meditating and -writing were the sole pleasure of life; and for this he disposed of all -things else. I often said: 'You are too secluded in your room. Please go -out when you like and find enjoyment anything you like.' 'You know my -best enjoyment: thinking and writing. When I have things to write upon I -am happy. While writing I forget all cares and anxieties. Therefore give -me subjects to write. Talk to me more,' he said. 'I have talked you all -things. I have no more story to tell you.' 'Therefore you go out, and -when you come back home, tell me all you have seen and heard. Only -reading books is not enough.' - -"I used to tell him ghost-stories in dreary evenings, with the lamp -purposely dimly lighted. He seemed always to listen as if he were -withholding breath for fear. His manner, so eagerly attentive and -looking fearful, made me tell the story with more emphasis. Our house -was, as it were, a ghost-house on those times; I began to be haunted -with fearful dreams in the night. I told him about that and he said we -would stop ghost-stories for some time. - -"When I tell him stories I always told him at first the mere skeleton of -the story. If it is interesting, he puts it down in his note-book and -makes me repeat and repeat several times. - -"And when the story is interesting, he instantly becomes exceedingly -serious; the colour of his face changes; his eyes wear the look of -fearful enthusiasm. - -"As I went on as usual the story of Okachinsan [in the begining of -'Kotto'], his face gradually changed pale; his eyes were fixed; I felt a -sudden awe. When I finished the narrative he became a little relaxed and -said it was very interesting. 'O blood!' he repeatedly said; and asked -me several questions regarding the situations, actions, etc., involved -in the story. 'In what manner was "O blood!" exclaimed? In what manner -of voice? What do you think of the sound of "geta" at that time? How was -the night? I think so and so. What do you think? etc.' Thus he consulted -me about various things besides the original story which I told from the -book. If any one happened to see us thus talking from outside, he would -surely think that we were mad. - -"'Papa, come down; supper is ready,' three children used to say -altogether to him; then 'All right, sweet boys,' he would say, and come -to the table in a cheerful manner. But when he is very much absorbed in -writing, he would say, 'All right,' very quickly. And whenever his -answer is quick, he would not come very soon. I then go to him and say: -'Papa San! the children are waiting for you. Please come soon, or the -dishes will lose their good flavour.' - -"'What?' he asks. - -"'The supper is ready, Papa.' - -"'I do not want supper. Didn't I already take that? Funny!' - -"'Mercy! please awake from your dream. The little child would weep.' - -"In such occasion, he is very forgetful; and takes bread only to -himself. And children ask him to break bread for them. And he would take -whiskey for wine or put salt into the cup of coffee. Before meal he took -a very little quantity of whiskey. Later when his health was a little -hurt he took wine. - -"But on usual meals we were very pleasant. He tells stories from foreign -papers; I from Japanese newspapers. Kiyoshi would peep from the hole of -sliding-paper screen. The cat comes; the dog come under the window; and -they share some sweets he gives. After meal we used to sing songs -innocently and merrily. - -"Often he danced or laughed heartily when he was very happy. - -"In one New Year's day it happened that one of the jinrikisha men of our -house died suddenly while drinking _sake_ in a narrow room near the -portal of our house. The dead man was covered with a bed-covering. A -guest came for wishing a happy new year to our home. The guest found -that and said: 'O, a drunkard sleeping on the New Year's day. A happy -fellow!' The rikisha man, who sat near and was watching the dead, said -in his vulgar tone: 'Not a drunkard, but a Buddha!'[4] The guest was -sorely astonished and went out immediately. After some days I told him -this fact; he was interested to imagine the manner the guest made in -astonishment. And he ordered me to repeat the conversation between the -guest and the rikisha man. He often imitated the words of 'Not a -drunkard, but a Buddha,' as being a very natural and simple utterance. - - [4] "Hotoke-sama" means the dead. - -"Whenever he met with a work of any art suited to his taste, he -expressed an intense admiration, even for a very small work. A man with -a nice and kind heart he was! We often went to see the exhibition of -pictures held occasionally in T[=o]ky[=o]. If he found any piece of work -very interesting to him, he spoke of it as cheap though very high in -price. 'What do you think of that?' my husband says. 'It is too much -high price,' I say, lest he should immediately buy it quite indifferent -of prices. 'No, I don't mean about prices. I mean about the picture. Do -you think it is very good?' Then I answer: 'Yes, a pretty picture, -indeed, I think.' 'We shall then buy that picture,' he says, 'the price -is however very cheap; let us offer more money for that.' As to our -financial matter, he was entirely trusting to me. Thus, I, the little -treasurer, sometimes suffered on such occasions. - -"In those innocent talks of our boys he was pleased to find interesting -things. In fact his utmost pleasure was to be acquainted with a thing of -beauty. How he was glad to hear my stories. Alas! he is no more! though -I sometimes get amusing stories, they are now no use. Formalities were -the things he most disliked. His likes and dislikes were always to the -extreme. When he liked something he liked extremely. He used to wear a -plain cloth; only he was particular about shirts on account of cold. -When he had new suit of cloth made, he wore it after my repeated -entreaties. Being fond of Japanese cloth, he always puts off foreign -cloth when he comes back from without, and, sitting on the cushion so -pleasantly, he smokes. At Aizu in summer, he often wore bathing cloth -and Japanese sandals. - -"He always chose the best and excellent quality of any kind of things, -so in purchasing my dress, he often ordered according to his taste. -Sometimes he was like an innocent child. One summer we went to a store -selling cloth for a bathing cloth (_yukata_) which I wear in -summer-time. The man showed us various kinds of designs, all of which he -was so very fond and bought. I said that we need not so many kinds. He -said: 'But think of that. Only one yen and half for a piece. Please put -on various kinds of dress, which only to see is pleasant to me.' He -bought some thirty pieces, to the amazement of the store people. - -"He resented in his heart that many Japanese people, forgetting of the -fact that there exist many beautiful points in things Japanese, are -imitating Western style. He regretted that Japan would thus be lost. So -he abhorred the foreign style which Japanese assume. He was glad that -many Waseda professors wore Japanese _haori_ and _hakama_. He disliked -unharmonized foreign dress of Japanese lady and proud girl speaking -English. We one day went to a bazar at Ueno Park. He asked the price of -an article in Japanese. The storekeeper, a girl of new school, replied -in English. He was displeased and drew my dress and turned away. When -he became the professor of Waseda, Dean Takata invited him to his house. -It was very rare that he ever accepted an invitation. At the portal, -Mrs. Takata welcomed him in Japanese language. This reception greatly -pleased him, so he told me when he returned home. In our home, -furnitures and even the manner of maids' hair-dressing were all in -genuine Japanese style. If I happened to buy some articles of foreign -taste, he would say: 'Don't you love Japanese arts?' He wanted our boy -put on Japanese cloths and wear _geta_ instead of shoes. Sometimes in -company with him in usual walks, one of our boys would wear shoes. He -say: 'Mamma San, look at my toes. Don't you mind that our dear -children's toes should become disfigured in such manner as mine?' As -Kazuo's appearance is very much like a foreigner, he taught him English. -Other boys were taught and brought up in Japanese way. We kept no -interpreter since our Matsue days. A Japanese guest would come to our -house in Western style and smoke cigarettes, but the host receives him -in Japanese cloth and does all in Japanese fashion--a curious contrast. -With one glance of his nose-glass which he keeps he catches the whole -appearance of any first visitor even to the smallest details of the -physiognomy. He is extremely near-sighted; and the minute he takes a -glance is the whole time of his observation; still his wonderfully keen -observation often astonished me. - -"One day I read the following story to him from a Japanese paper: 'A -certain nobleman's old mother is extremely fond of classical Japanese -ways, absolutely antagonistic to the modern manners. The maids were to -wear _obi_ in old ways. Lamps were not allowed, but paper _and[=o]_ was -used instead. Nor soaps were to be used in this household. So maids and -servants would not endure long.' Hearn was very much delighted to learn -that there still existed such a family. 'How I like that!' he said. 'I -would like to visit them.' One time I said to him in joke: 'You are not -like Westerner, except in regard to your nose.' Then he said: 'What -shall I do with this nose? But I am a Japanese. I love Japan better than -any born Japanese.' - -"Indeed, he loved Japan with his whole heart, but his sincere love for -Japan was not very well understood by Japanese. - -"When asked anything to him, he would not readily accept that; but -everything he did he did it with his sincere and whole heart! - -"One day he said to me: 'Foreign people are very desirous to know of my -whereabouts. Some papers have reported that Hearn disappeared from the -world. What do you think of this? How funny!--disappeared from the -world.' Thus his chief pleasure was only to write, without being -disturbed from without. O, while I thus talk of my dear husband's life, -I feel in myself as if I were being scolded by him why I was thus -talking of him. 'Where is Hearn now? He has disappeared from the world.' -This was his desire--unknown to the rest of the world. But though he -would scold me I wish to tell about him more and more. - -"When he was engaged in writing he was so enthusiastically that any -small noise was a great pain to him. So I always tried to keep the house -still in regard to the opening and shutting of doors, the footsteps of -family, etc.; and I always chose to enter his room when necessary as I -heard the sound of his pipes (tobacco-smoking pipes) and his songs in a -high voice. But after removal to [=O]kubo, our house was wide enough and -his library was very remote from the children's room and the portal. So -he could enjoy his enjoyment in the world of calmness. - -"When writing the story of 'Miminashi H[=o]ichi,' he was forgetful of -the approach of evening. In the darkness of the evening twilight he was -sitting on the cushion in deep thought. Outside of the paper-screens of -his room, I for a trial called with a low voice, 'H[=o]ichi! H[=o]ichi!' -'Yes, I am a blind man. Who are you?' he replied from within; he had -been imagining as if he himself were H[=o]ichi with a _biwa_ in his -hand. Whenever he writes he is entirely absorbed with the subject. On -those days I one day went to the city and bought a little doll of blind -priest with a _biwa_. I put it secretly upon his desk. As he found it he -was overjoyed with it and seemed as if he met an expecting friend. When -a rustling noise of fallen leaves in the garden woods he said seriously: -'Listen! the Heike are fallen. They are the sounds of waves at -Dan-no-ura.' And he listened attentively. Indeed sometimes I thought he -was mad, because he seemed too frequently he saw things that were not -and heard things that were not." - -His life outside of the university and of his own home he narrowed down -to a point where the public began to create legends about him, so seldom -was he seen. The only person ever able to draw him forth was his friend -Mitchell McDonald, whose sympathy and hospitality he constantly fled -from and constantly yielded to. To Mrs. Fenollosa he wrote: - -"My friends are much more dangerous than my enemies. These latter--with -infinite subtlety--spin webs to keep me out of places where I hate to go -... and they help me so much by their unconscious aid that I almost love -them. They help me to maintain the isolation absolutely essential to -thinking.... Blessed be my enemies, and forever honoured all them that -hate me! - -"But my friends!--ah! my friends! They speak so beautifully of my work; -they say they want more of it,--and yet they would destroy it! They do -not know what it costs, and they would break the wings and scatter the -feather-dust, even as the child that only wanted to caress the -butterfly. And they speak of converse and sympathy.... And they -say,--only a day--just an afternoon--but each of them says this thing. -And the sum of the days is a week of work dropped forever into the -Abyss.... I must not even think about people's kind words and faces, but -work, work, work, while the Scythe is sharpening within vision." - -Under the strain of constant work his eyesight again began to fail, and -in 1902 he wrote to friends in America asking for aid to find work -there, desiring to consult a specialist, and to bring for instruction -in English his beloved Kazuo--from whom he would never be parted for a -day. He was entitled to his sabbatical year of vacation from the -university, and while he took advantage of it he wished to form other -connections, as intrigues among those inimical to him made him fear for -the tenure of his position. His family had increased by the birth of -another son, and his responsibilities--with weakening lungs and -eyesight--began to weigh heavily on his mind. An arrangement was made -for him to lecture for a season in Cornell University at a salary of -$2500, and these lectures he at once began to prepare. When, however, he -applied for leave it was refused him, and an incident occurring at this -juncture, of the intrusion of an English traveller into his classroom -during one of his lectures--an incident which had its origin in mere -curiosity,--seemed to his exacerbated imagination to have a significance -out of all proportion to its real meaning; and convinced that it was -intended as a slight by the authorities in their purpose to be rid of -him, he resigned. The students--aware that influences were at work to -rob him of his place--made some demonstrations of resentment, but -finally abandoned them at his personal request. - -He plunged more deeply, at once, into the preparation of his work for -the American lectures, but shortly before he was to have sailed for -America the authorities at Cornell withdrew from their contract on the -plea that the epidemic of typhoid at Ithaca the previous summer had -depleted the funds at their command. - -Vigorous efforts were at once undertaken by his friends in America to -repair this breach of contract by finding him employment elsewhere, with -but partial success, but all these efforts were rendered useless by a -sudden and violent illness, attended by bleeding from the lungs, and -brought on by strain and anxiety. After his recovery the lectures -prepared for Cornell were recast to form a book, but the work proved a -desperate strain upon already weakened forces. - -Mrs. Hearn says this:-- - -"Of his works, 'Japan: an Interpretation' seemed a great labour to him. -So hard a task it was that he said at one occasion: 'It is not difficult -that this book will kill me.' At another time he said: 'You can imagine -how hard it is to write such a big book in so short a time with no -helper.' To write was his life; and all care and difficulties he forgot -while writing. As he had no work of teaching in the university, he -poured forth all his forces in the work of 'Japan.' - -"When the manuscripts of 'Japan' were completed, he was very glad and -had them packed in strong shape and wrote addresses upon the cover for -mail. He was eagerly looking forward to see the new volume. A little -before his death he still said that he could imagine that he could hear -the sound of type-work of 'Japan' in America. But he was unable to see -the book in his lifetime." - -To me he wrote, in that lassitude always following on the completion of -creative work: "The 'rejected addresses' will shortly appear in book -form. I don't like the work of writing a serious treatise on -sociology.... I ought to keep to the study of birds and cats and insects -and flowers, and queer small things--and leave the subject of the -destiny of empires to men with brains." Despite which verdict he -probably recognized it as the crowning achievement of his long effort to -interpret his adopted country to the world. - -Shortly after its completion he accepted the offer of the chair of -English in the Waseda University, founded by Count Okuma, for he was -expecting again to be a father and his pen was unable to meet all the -demands upon his income. Meantime the University of London had entered -into negotiation with him for a series of lectures, and it was suggested -that Oxford also wished to hear him. It had always been the warmest of -his desires to win recognition from his own country, and these offers -were perhaps the greatest satisfaction he had ever known. But his forces -were completely exhausted. The desperate hardships of his youth, the -immense labours of his manhood, had burned away the sources of vitality. - -On the 26th of September, 1904--shortly after completing the last letter -included in these volumes, to Captain Fujisaki, who was then serving on -Marshal [=O]yama's staff--while walking on the veranda in the twilight -he sank down suddenly as if the whole fabric of life had crumbled -within, and after a little space of speechlessness and pain, his long -quest was over. - -In "Kwaidan" he had written: "I should like, when my time comes, to be -laid away in some Buddhist graveyard of the ancient kind, so that my -ghostly company should be ancient, caring nothing for the fashions and -the changes and the disintegrations of Meiji. That old cemetery behind -my garden would be a suitable place. Everything there is beautiful with -a beauty of exceeding and startling queerness; each tree and stone has -been shaped by some old, old ideal which no longer exists in any living -brain; even the shadows are not of this time and sun, but of a world -forgotten, that never knew steam or electricity or magnetism.... Also in -the boom of the big bell there is a quaintness of tone which wakens -feelings so strangely far away from all the nineteenth-century part of -me that the faint blind stirrings of them make me afraid,--deliciously -afraid. Never do I hear that billowing peal but I become aware of a -striving and a fluttering in the abyssal part of my ghost,--a sensation -as of memories struggling to reach the light beyond the obscurations of -a million million deaths and births. I hope to remain within hearing of -that bell." - -In so far as was possible this was complied with. Though not a Buddhist -he was buried according to Buddhist rites. One who was present at his -funeral thus describes it:-- - -"The procession left his residence, 266 Nishi [=O]kubo, at half past one -and proceeded to the Jit[=o]-in Kobu-dera Temple in Ichigaya.... First -came the bearers of white lanterns and wreaths and great pyramidal -bouquets of asters and chrysanthemums; next, men carrying long poles -from which hung streamers of paper _gohei_; after them two boys in -'rickshas carrying little cages containing birds to be released, symbols -of the soul released from its earthly prison.... - -"The emblems were all Buddhist. The portable hearse, carried by six men -in blue, was a beautiful object of unpainted, perfectly fresh, white -wood trimmed with blue silk tassels and with gold and silver lotus -flowers at the corners.... Priests carrying food for the dead, -university professors, and a multitude of students formed the end of the -procession.... In the comparative darkness of the temple, against the -background of black lacquer and gold, eight priests chanted a dirge. -Their heads were clean-shaven and they were clothed in white, with -several brilliantly tinted gauze robes imposed. After a period of -chanting punctuated by the tinkling of a bell, the chief Japanese -mourner arose from the other side and led forward the son. Together they -knelt before the hearse, touching their foreheads to the floor, and -placing some grains of incense upon the little brazier burning between -the candles. A delicate perfume filled the air.... The wife next stepped -forward with expressionless face--her hair done in stiff loops like -carved ebony, her only ornament the magnificent white _obi_, reserved -for weddings and funerals. She and the younger sons also burned incense. -The chief mourner and the eldest son again bowed to the ground, and the -ceremony was ended." - -The students presented a laurel wreath with the inscription "In memory -of Lafcadio Hearn, whose pen was mightier than the sword of the -victorious nation which he loved and lived among, and whose highest -honour it is to have given him citizenship and, alas, a grave!" The body -was then removed to a crematory, the ashes being interred at the -cemetery of Z[=o]shigaya, his tombstone bearing the inscription -"Sh[=o]gaku In-den J[=o]-ge Hachi-un Koji," which literally translated -means: "Believing Man Similar to Undefiled Flower Blooming like Eight -Rising Clouds, who dwells in Mansion of Right Enlightenment." - -Amenomori,--whom he called "the finest type of the Japanese -man,"--writing of him after his death, said: "Like a lotus the man was -in his heart ... a poet, a thinker, loving husband and father, and -sincere friend.... Within that man there burned something pure as the -vestal fire, and in that flame dwelt a mind that called forth life and -poetry out of the dust, and grasped the highest themes of human -thought." - -Yone Noguchi wrote: "Surely we could lose two or three battleships at -Port Arthur rather than Lafcadio Hearn." - -After his death were issued a few of his last studies of Japan under the -title of "A Romance of the Milky Way," and these, with his -autobiographical fragments included in this volume, conclude his work. -The last of these fragments, three small pages, is named "Illusion":-- - - "An old, old sea-wall, stretching between two boundless levels, green - and blue;--on the right only rice-fields, reaching to the - sky-line;--on the left only summer-silent sea, where fishing-craft of - curious shapes are riding. Everything is steeped in white sun; and I - am standing on the wall. Along its broad and grass-grown top a boy is - running towards me,--running in sandals of wood,--the sea-breeze - blowing aside the long sleeves of his robe as he runs, and baring his - slender legs to the knee. Very fast he runs, springing upon his - sandals;--and he has in his hands something to show me: a black - dragonfly, which he is holding carefully by the wings, lest it should - hurt itself struggling.... With what sudden incommunicable pang do I - watch the gracious little figure leaping in the light,--between those - summer silences of field and sea!... A delicate boy, with the blended - charm of two races.... And how softly vivid all things under this - milky radiance,--the smiling child-face with lips apart,--the twinkle - of the light quick feet,--the shadows of grasses and of little - stones!... - - "But, quickly as he runs, the child will come no nearer to me,--the - slim brown hand will never cling to mine. For this light is the light - of a Japanese sun that set long years ago.... Never, dearest!--never - shall we meet,--not even when the stars are dead! - - "And yet,--can it be possible that I shall not remember?--that I shall - not still see, in other million summers, the same sea-wall under the - same white noon,--the same shadows of grasses and of little - stones,--the running of the same little sandalled feet that will - never, never reach my side?" - -The compression found necessary in order to yield room for the letters, -which I think will bear comparison with the most famous letters in -literature, has forced me to content myself with depicting the man -merely in profile and giving a bare outline of his work as an artist. It -has obliged me to abandon all temptation to dwell upon his more human -side, his humour, tenderness, sympathy, eccentricity, and the thousand -queer, charming qualities that made up his many-faceted nature. These -omissions are in great part supplied by the letters themselves, where he -turns different sides of his mind to each correspondent, and where one -sees in consequence a shadow of the writers themselves reflected in his -own mental attitude. - -In the turbid, shallow flood of the ephemeral books of our time Lafcadio -Hearn's contribution to English letters has been partially obscured. But -day by day, as these sink unfruitfully into the sands of time, more -clearly emerge the stern and exquisite outlines of his patient work. -While still a boy he said playfully, in answer to an appeal to concede -something to the vulgarer taste for the sake of popularity: "I shall -stick to my pedestal of faith in literary possibilities like an Egyptian -Colossus with a broken nose, seated solemnly in the gloom of my own -originality." - -To that creed he held through all the bitter permutations of life, and -at the end it may be fitly said of him that "despite perishing -principles and decaying conventions, despite false teaching, false -triumphs, and false taste, there were yet those who strove for the -immemorial grandeur of their calling, who pandered to no temptation from -without or from within, who followed none of the great world-voices, -were dazzled by none of the great world-lights, and used their gift as -stepping-stone to no meaner life; but clear-eyed and patient, neither -elated nor cast down, still lifted the lamp as high as their powers -allowed, still pursued art singly for her own immortal sake." - - - - - LETTERS OF LAFCADIO HEARN - - - - - LETTERS - - 1877-1889 - - -TO H.E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1877.[5] - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--I have just received your second pleasant letter, -enclosing a most interesting article on music. The illustrations -interested me greatly. You could write a far more entertaining series of -essays on the history of musical instruments than that centennial humbug -who, as you say, did little more than merely to describe what he saw. - -I have been reading in "Curiosites des Arts"--curious book now out of -print--an article on the musical instruments of the Middle Ages, which -is of deep interest even to such an ignoramus as myself. I would have -translated it for your amusement, but, that my eyes have been so bad as -to cripple me. Let me just give you an extract, and as soon as I feel -better I will send the whole thing if you deem it worth while:-- - -"The Romans, at the termination of their conquests, had brought to this -country and adopted nearly all the musical instruments they had -discovered among the peoples they had conquered. - - [5] Hearn rarely dated his letters, but in most cases internal - evidence makes possible the assignment of a fairly definite - date. - -Thus Greece furnished Rome with nearly all the soft instruments of the -family of flutes and of lyres; Germany and the provinces of the North, -inhabited by warlike races, taught their conquerors to acquire a taste -for terrible instruments, of the family of trumpets and of drums; Asia, -and in particular Judaea, which had greatly multiplied the number of -metallic instruments for use in ceremonies of religion, naturalized -among the Romans clashing instruments of the family of bells and -tam-tams; Egypt introduced the sistrum into Italy together with the -worship of Isis; and no sooner had Byzantium invented the first wind -organs than the new religion of Christ adopted them, that she might -consecrate them exclusively to the solemnities of her worship, West and -East. - -"All the varieties of instruments in the known world had thus, in some -sort, taken refuge in the capital of the Empire; first at Rome, then at -Byzantium; when the Roman decline marked the last hour of this vast -concert, then, at once ceased the orations of the Emperors in the -Capitol and the festivals of the pagan gods in the temples; then were -silenced and scattered those musical instruments which had taken part in -the pomps of triumphs or of religious celebrations; then disappeared and -became forgotten a vast number of those instruments which pagan -civilization had made use of, but which became useless amidst the ruins -of the antique social system." - -Following is the description of an organ,--a wonderful organ,--in a -letter from St. Jerome to Dardanas,--made of fifteen pipes of brass, -two air-reservoirs of elephant's skin, and two forge bellows for the -imitation of the sound of thunder. The writer compiled his essay from -eighteen ancient Latin authors, eight early Italian, about ten early -French, and some Spanish authors--all antiquated and unfamiliar. - - * * * * * - -As you are kindly interested in what I am doing I shall talk about -EGO,--I shall talk about ME. - -I am (this is not for public information) barely making a living here by -my letters to the paper. I think I can make about $40 per month. This -will keep me alive and comfortable. I am determined never to resume -local work on a newspaper. I could not stand the gaslight; and then you -know what a horrid life it is. While acting as correspondent I shall -have time to study, study, study; and to write something better than -police news. I have a lot of work mapped out for magazine essays; and -though I never expect to make much money, I think I shall be able to -make a living. So far I have had a real hard time; but I hope to do -better now, as they send me money more regularly. - -I do not intend to leave New Orleans, except for farther South,--the -West Indies, or South America. I am studying Spanish hard and will get -along well with it soon. - -I think I can redeem myself socially here. I have got into good society; -and as everybody is poor in the South, my poverty is no drawback. - - Yours truly, - [Larkadie]. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - - NEW ORLEANS, 1877. - -MY DEAR KREHBIEL,--I am charmed with your letter,--your paper, and your -exquisite little jocose programme. The "Fantaisie Chinoise" was to me -something that really smacked of a certain famous European art-cenacle -where delightful little parties of this kind were given. That cenacle -was established by the disciples of Victor Hugo,--_les Hugolatres_, as -they were mockingly but perhaps also nobly named; and the records of its -performances are some of the most delicate things in French literature. -Hector Berlioz was one of the merry crowd,--and Berlioz, by the way, had -written some fine romances as well as fine musical compositions. - -There is a touch, a brilliant touch, of real art in all these little -undertakings of yours, which gives me more enjoyment than I could tell -you. Remember I am speaking of the _tout-ensemble_. Were I to make any -musical observations you might rightly think I was talking about -something of which I am disgracefully ignorant. Do you know, however, -that I have never forgotten that pretty Chinese melody I heard at the -club that day; and I sometimes find myself whistling it involuntarily. - -I am indeed delighted to know that you have got Char Lee's instruments, -and are soon to receive others. Were there any Indian instruments in use -among the Choctaws here, I could get you some, but they are no longer a -musical people. The sadness that seems peculiar to dying races could not -be more evident than in them. Le Pere Rouquette, their missionary, -tells me he has seen them laugh; but that might have been half a century -ago. He is going to take me out to one of their camps on Lake -Pontchartrain soon, and I shall try to pick you up something queer. - -As yet I have not received the Chinese Play, etc., but will write when I -do, and return it as promptly as possible. - -I am just recovering from a week's sickness--fever and bloody flux--and -I don't believe I weigh ninety pounds. You never saw such a sight as I -am. I have been turned nearly black; and my face is so thin that I can -see every bone as if it had only a piece of parchment drawn over it. And -then all my hair is cut close to the skin. I have had hard work to crawl -out of bed the last few days, but am getting better now. If I were to -get regular yellow fever now I would certainly go to the cemetery; for I -am only a skeleton as it is. - - * * * * * - -The newspaper generally gives only wages to its employees, and small -wages,--and literary reputation to its capitalists; although in France -the opposite condition exists. There are exceptions, of course, when a -man has exceedingly superior talent; and his employer, knowing its -value, allows its free exercise. That has been your case to a certain -degree; you have not only won a reputation for yourself, but have given -a tone and a standing to the paper which in my opinion has been of -immense value to it. - -I have got everything here down to a fine point--three hours' work a -day! - -There is but one thing here to compensate for the abominable heat--Figs. -They are remarkably cool, sweet, juicy, and tender. Unfortunately they -are too delicate to bear shipment. The climate is so debilitating that -even energetic _thought_ is out of the question; and unfortunately the -only inspiring hour, the cool night, I cannot utilize on account of -gaslight. When the night comes on here it is not the night of Northern -summers, but that night of which the divine Greek poet wrote,--"O holy -night, how well dost thou harmonize with me; for to me thou art all -eye,--thou art all ear,--thou art all fragrance!" - -The infinite gulf of blue above seems a shoreless sea, whose foam is -stars, a myriad million lights are throbbing and flickering and -palpitating, a vast stillness filled with perfume prevails over the -land,--made only more impressive by the voices of the night-birds and -crickets; and all the busy voices of business are dead. The boats are -laid up, cotton presses closed, and the city is half empty. So that the -time is really inspiring. But I must wait to record the inspiration in -some more energetic climate. - -Do you get _Melusine_ yet? You are missing a great deal if you are not. -_Melusine_ is preserving all those curious peasant songs with their -music,--some of which date back hundreds of years. They would be a -delightful relish to you. - - Yours a jamais, - L. HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1877. - -"O-ME-TAW-BOODH!"--Have I not indeed been much bewitched by thine exotic -comedy, which hath the mild perfume and yellow beauty of a Chinese rose? -Assuredly I have been enchanted by the Eastern fragrance of thy -many-coloured brochure; for mine head "is not as yellow as mud." In thy -next epistle, however, please to enlighten my soul in regard to the -mystic title-phrase,--"Remodelled from the original English;" for I have -been wearing out the iron shoes of patience in my vain endeavour to -comprehend it. What I most desired, while perusing the play, was that I -might have been able to hear the musical interludes,--the barbaric -beauty of the melodies,--and the plaintive sadness of thy -serpent-skinned instruments. I shall soon return the MSS. to thy hands. - -By the bye, did you ever hear a _real_ Chinese gong? I don't mean a d--d -hotel gong, but one of those great moon-disks of yellow metal which have -so terrible a power of utterance. A gentleman in Bangor, North Wales, -who had a private museum of South Pacific and Chinese curiosities, -exhibited one to me. It was hanging amidst Fiji spears beautifully -barbed with shark's teeth, which, together with grotesque New Zealand -clubs of green stone and Sandwich Island paddles wrought with the -baroque visages of the Shark-God, were depending from the walls. Also -there were Indian elephants in ivory, carrying balls in their carven -bellies, each ball containing many other balls inside it. The gong -glimmered pale and huge and yellow, like the moon rising over a Southern -swamp. My friend tapped its ancient face with a muffled drumstick, and -it commenced to sob, like waves upon a low beach. He tapped it again, -and it moaned like the wind in a mighty forest of pines. Again, and it -commenced to roar, and with each tap the roar grew deeper and deeper, -till it seemed like thunder rolling over an abyss in the Cordilleras, or -the crashing of Thor's chariot wheels. It was awful, and astonishing as -awful. I assure you I did not laugh at it at all. It impressed me as -something terrible and mysterious. I vainly sought to understand how -that thin, thin disk of trembling metal could produce so frightful a -vibration. He informed me that it was very expensive, being chiefly made -of the most precious metals,--silver and gold. - -Let me give you a description of my new residence. I never knew what the -beauty of an old Creole home was until now. I do not believe one could -find anything more picturesque outside of Venice or Florence. For six -months I had been trying to get a room in one of these curious -buildings; but the rents seemed to me maliciously enormous. However, I -at last obtained one for $3 per week. Yet it is on the third floor, rear -building;--these old princes of the South built always double edifices, -covering an enormous space of ground, with broad wings, courtyards, and -slave quarters. - -The building is on St. Louis Street, a street several hundred years old. -I enter by a huge archway about a hundred feet long,--full of rolling -echoes, and commencing to become verdant with a thin growth of bright -moss. At the end, the archway opens into a court. There are a few -graceful bananas here with their giant leaves splitting in ribbons in -the summer sun, so that they look like young palms. Lord! How the -carriages must have thundered under that archway and through the broad -paved court in the old days. The stables are here still; but the blooded -horses are gone, and the family carriage, with its French coat of arms, -has disappeared. There is only a huge wagon left to crumble to pieces. A -hoary dog sleeps like a stone sphinx at a corner of the broad stairway; -and I fancy that in his still slumbers he might be dreaming of a Creole -master who went out with Beauregard or Lee and never came back again. -Wonder if the great greyhound is waiting for him. - -The dog never notices me. I am not of his generation, and I creep -quietly by lest I might disturb his dreams of the dead South. I go up -the huge stairway. At every landing a vista of broad archways reechoes -my steps--archways that once led to rooms worthy of a prince. But the -rooms are now cold and cheerless and vast with emptiness. Tinted in pale -green or yellow, with a ceiling moulded with Renaissance figures in -plaster, the ghost of luxury and wealth seems trying to linger in them. -I pass them by, and taking my way through an archway on the right, find -myself on a broad piazza, at the end of which is my room. - -It is vast enough for a Carnival ball. Five windows and glass doors -open flush with the floor and rise to the ceilings. They open on two -sides upon the piazza, whence I have a far view of tropical gardens and -masses of building, half-ruined but still magnificent. The walls are -tinted pale orange colour; green curtains drape the doors and windows; -and the mantelpiece, surmounted by a long oval mirror of Venetian -pattern, is of white marble veined like the bosom of a Naiad. In the -centre of the huge apartment rises a bed as massive as a fortress, with -tremendous columns of carved mahogany supporting a curtained canopy at -the height of sixteen feet. It seems to touch the ceiling, yet it does -not. There is no carpet on the floor, no pictures on the wall,--a -sense of something dead and lost fills the place with a gentle -melancholy;--the breezes play fantastically with the pallid curtains, -and the breath of flowers ascends into the chamber from the verdant -gardens below. Oh, the silence of this house, the perfume, and the -romance of it. A beautiful young Frenchwoman appears once a day in my -neighbourhood to arrange the room; but she comes like a ghost and -disappears too soon in the recesses of the awful house. I would like to -speak with her, for her lips drop honey, and her voice is richly sweet -like the cooing of a dove. "O my dove, that art in the clefts of the -rock, in the secret hiding-places of the stairs, let me see thy face, -let me hear thy voice, for thy voice is sweet and thy countenance is -comely!" - -Let me tell thee, O Bard of the Harp of a Thousand Strings, concerning a -Romance of Georgia. I heard of it among the flickering shadow of -steamboat smoke and the flapping of sluggish sails. It has a hero -greater, I think, than Bludso; but his name is lost. At least it is lost -in Southern history; yet perhaps it may be recorded on the pages of a -great book whose leaves never turn yellow with Time, and whose letters -are eternal as the stars. But the reason his name is not known is -because he was a "d--d nigger." - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1878. - -MY DEAR MUSICIAN,--I wrote you such a shabby, disjointed letter last -week that I feel I ought to make up for it,--especially after your -newsy, fresh, pleasant letter to me, which came like a cool Northern -breeze speaking of life, energy, success, and strong hopes. - -I am very much ashamed that I have not yet been able to keep all my -promises to you. There is that Creole music I had hoped to get copied by -Saturday, and could not succeed in obtaining. But it is only delayed, I -assure you; and New Orleans is going to produce a treat for you soon. -George Cable, a charming writer, some of whose dainty New Orleans -stories you may have read in _Scribner's Monthly_, is writing a work -containing a study of Creole music, in which the songs are given, with -the musical text in footnotes. I have helped Cable a little in -collecting the songs; but he has the advantage of me in being able to -write music by ear. Scribner will publish the volume. This is not, of -course, for publicity. - -My new journalistic life may interest you,--it is so different from -anything in the North. I have at last succeeded in getting right into -the fantastic heart of the French quarter, where I hear the antiquated -dialect all day long. Early in the morning I visit a restaurant, where I -devour a plate of figs, a cup of black coffee, a dish of -cream-cheese,--not the Northern stuff, but a delightful cake of pressed -milk floating in cream,--a couple of corn muffins, and an egg. This is a -heavy breakfast here, but costs only about twenty-five cents. Then I -slip down to the office, and rattle off a couple of leaders on literary -or European matters and a few paragraphs based on telegraphic news. This -occupies about an hour. Then the country papers,--half French, half -English,--altogether barbarous, come in from all the wild, untamed -parishes of Louisiana. Madly I seize the scissors and the paste-pot and -construct a column of crop-notes. This occupies about half an hour. Then -the New York dailies make their appearance. I devour their substance and -take notes for the ensuing day's expression of opinion. And then the -work is over, and the long golden afternoon welcomes me forth to enjoy -its perfume and its laziness. It would be a delightful existence for one -without ambition or hope of better things. On Sunday the brackish Lake -Pontchartrain offers the attraction of a long swim, and I like to avail -myself of it. Swimming in the Mississippi is dangerous on account of -great fierce fish, the alligator-gars, which attack a swimmer with -ferocity. An English swimmer was bitten by one only the other day in the -river, and, losing his presence of mind, was swept under a barge and -drowned. - -Folks here tell me now that I have been sick I have nothing more to -fear, and will soon be acclimatized. If acclimatization signifies -becoming a bundle of sharp bones and saddle-coloured parchment, I have -no doubt of it at all. It is considered dangerous here to drink much -water in summer. For five cents one can get half a bottle of strong -claret, and this you mix with your drinking water, squeezing a lemon -into it. Limes are better, but harder to get,--you can only buy them -when schooners come in from the Gulf islands. But no one knows how -delicious lemonade can be made until he has tasted lemonade made of -limes. - -I saw a really pleasing study for an artist this morning. A friend -accompanied me to the French market, and we bought an enormous quantity -of figs for about fifteen cents. We could not half finish them; and we -sought rest under the cool, waving shadow of a eunuch banana-tree in the -Square. As I munched and munched a half-naked boy ran by,--a fellow that -would have charmed Murillo, with a skin like a new cent in colour, and -heavy masses of hair massed as tastefully as if sculptured in ebony. I -threw a fig at him and hit him in the back. He ate it, and coolly walked -toward us with his little bronze hands turned upward and opened to their -fullest capacity, and a pair of great black eyes flashed a request for -more. You never saw such a pair of eyes,--deep and dark,--a night -without a moon. Spoke to him in English,--no answer; in French,--no -response. My friend bounced him with _Spak-ne Italiano_, or something of -that kind, but it was no good. We asked him by signs where he came from, -and he pointed to a rakish lugger rocking at the Picayune pier. I filled -his little brown hands with figs, but he did not smile. He gravely -thanked us with a flash of the eye like a gleam of a black opal, and -murmured, "Ah, mille gratias, Senor." Why, that boy _was_ Murillo's boy -after all, _propria persona_. He departed to the rakish lugger, and we -dreamed of Moors and gipsies under the emasculated banana. - - L. HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1878. - -MY DEAR KREHBIEL,--Your letter took a long week to reach me; perhaps by -reason of the quarantine regulations which interpose some extraordinary -barriers, little Chinese walls, across the country below Memphis. Thus -am I somewhat tardy in responding. - -The same sentiment which caused me so much pleasure on reading your -ideas on the future of musical philosophy occasioned something of -sincere regret on reading your words,--"I am not a thoroughly educated -musician," etc. I had hoped (and still hope, and believe with all my -heart, dear Krehbiel) that the Max Mueller of Music would be none other -than yourself. Perhaps you will therefore pardon some little -observations from one who knows nothing about music. - -I fancy that you have penetrated just so far into the Temple of your Art -that, like one of the initiates of Eleusis, you commence to experience -such awe and reverence for its solemn vastness and its whispers of -mystery as tempt you to forego further research. You suddenly forget how -much farther you have advanced into the holy precincts than most -mortals, who seldom cross the vestibule;--the more you advance the more -seemingly infinite becomes the vastness of the place, the more -interminable its vistas of arches, and the more mysterious its endless -successions of aisles. The Vatican with its sixty thousand rooms is but -a child's toy house compared with but one of the countless wings of -Art's infinite temples; and the outer world, viewing only the entrance, -narrow and low as that of a pyramid, can no more comprehend the -Illimitable that lies beyond it than they can measure the deeps of the -Eternities beyond the fixed stars. I cannot help believing that the -little shadow of despondency visible in your last letter is an evidence -of how thoroughly you have devoted yourself to Music, and a partial -contradiction of your own words. It would be irrational in you to expect -that you could achieve your purposes in the very blush of manhood, as it -were; but you ought not to forget altogether that you already stand in -knowledge on a footing with many grey-haired disciples and apostles of -the art, whose names are familiar in musical literature. I believe you -can become anything musical you desire to become; but in art-study one -must devote one's whole life to self-culture, and can only hope at last -to have climbed a little higher and advanced a little farther than -anybody else. You should feel the determination of those neophytes of -Egypt who were led into subterranean vaults and suddenly abandoned in -darkness and rising water, whence there was no escape save by an iron -ladder. As the fugitive mounted through heights of darkness, each rung -of the quivering stairway gave way immediately he had quitted it, and -fell back into the abyss, echoing; but the least exhibition of fear or -weariness was fatal to the climber. - -It seems to me that want of confidence in one's self is not less a curse -than it appears to be a consequence of knowledge. You hesitate to accept -a position on the ground of your own feeling of inadequacy; and the one -who fills it is somebody who does not know the rudiments of his duty. -"Fools rush in," etc., and were you to decline the situation proffered -by Mr. Thomas, merely because you don't think yourself qualified to fill -it, I hope you do not imagine that any better scholar will fill the -bill. On the contrary, I believe that some d--d quack would take the -position, even at a starvation salary, and actually make himself a -reputation on the mere strength of cheek and ignorance. However, you -tell me of many other reasons. Of course, ---- is a vast and varied -ass,--a piebald quack of the sort who makes respectability an apology -for lack of brains; but I fancy that you would be sure to find some -asses at the head of any institution of the sort in this country. The -demand for art of any kind is new, and so long as people cannot tell the -difference between a quack and a scholar, the former, having the cheek -of a mule and a pompous deportment, is bound to get his work in. I don't -think I should care much about the plans and actions of such people, but -content myself, were I in your place, by showing myself superior to -them. There is one thing in regard to a position like that you speak -of,--it would afford you large opportunity for study, and in fact compel -study upon you as a public instructor. At least it seems so to me. Then, -again, remember that your connection with the _Gazette_ leaves you in -the position of the Arabian prince who was marbleized from his loins -down. As an artist you are but half alive there; one half of your -existence is paralyzed; you waste your energies in the creation of works -which are coffined within twelve hours after their birth; your power of -usefulness is absorbed in a direction which can give you no adequate -reward hereafter; and the little time you can devote to your studies and -your really valuable work is too often borrowed from sleep. From the -daily press I think you have obtained about all you will get from it in -the regard of reputation, etc.; and there is no future really worth -seeking in it. Even the most successful editors live a sort of existence -which I certainly do not envy, and I am sure you would soon sicken of. -Do you not think, too, that any situation like that now offered you -might lead to a far better one under far better conditions? It would -certainly introduce you to many whose friendship and appreciation would -be invaluable. I do not believe that Cincinnati is your true field for -future work, and I cannot persuade myself that the city will ever become -a _permanent_ artistic centre; but I am satisfied that you will drift -out of the newspaper drudgery before long, and if you have an -opportunity to obtain a good footing in the East, I would take it. -Thomas ought to be capable of making an Eastern pedestal for you to -light on; for, judging by the admiration expressed for him by the -_Times_, _Tribune_, _World_, _Herald_, _Sun_, etc., he must have some -influence with musical centres. Then Europe would be open to you in a -short time with its extraordinary opportunities of art-study, and its -treasures of musical literature, to be devoured free of cost. Your -researches into the archaeology of music, I need hardly say, must be made -in Europe rather than here; and I hope you will before many twelvemonths -be devouring the Musical Department of the British Museum, and the -libraries of Paris and the Eternal City. - -However, I do not pretend to be an adviser,--only a _suggester_. I think -your good little wife would be a good adviser; for women seem blessed -with a kind of divine intuition, and I sometimes believe they can see -much farther into the future than men. You must not get disgusted with -my long letter. I could not help telling you what interest your last -excited in me regarding your own prospects. - -Let me tell you something that I have been thinking about the bagpipe. -Somewhere or other I have read that the bagpipe was a Roman military -instrument, and was introduced into Scotland by the Roman troops, -together with the "kilt." It must have occurred to you that the Highland -dress bears a ghostly resemblance to that of the Roman private as -exhibited on the Column of Trajan. I cannot remember where I have read -this, but you can doubtless inform me. - -I am still well, although I have even had the experience of nursing a -friend sick of yellow fever. The gods are sparing me for some fantastic -reason. I enclose some specimens of the death notices which sprinkle our -town, and send a copy of the last _Item_. - -My eyes are eternally played out, and I shall have to abandon newspaper -work altogether before long. Perhaps I shall do better in some little -business. What is eternally rising up before me now like a spectre is -the ?--"Where shall I go?--what shall I do?" Sometimes I think of -Europe, sometimes of the West Indies,--of Florida, France, or the -wilderness of London. The time is not far off when I must go -somewhere,--if it is not to join the "Innumerable Caravan." Whenever I -go down to the wharves, I look at the white-winged ships. O ye -messengers, swift Hermae of Traffic, ghosts of the infinite ocean, -whither will ye bear me?--what destiny will ye bring me,--what hopes, -what despairs? - - Your sincere friend and admirer, - L. HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1878. - -MY DEAR KREHBIEL,--I received your admirable little sketch. It pleased -me more than the others,--perhaps because, having to deal with a simpler -subject, you were less hampered by mechanical details and could maintain -your light, gossipy, fresh method of instruction in all its simple -force. - -I recognized several of the cuts. That of the uppermost figure at the -right-hand corner was of the god Terminus, a most ancient deity, and his -instrument is of corresponding antiquity perhaps, although in country -districts the Termina were generally characterized by a certain sylvan -rudeness. The earliest Termina were mere blocks of wood or stone. Among -the ancients a circle of ground, or square border--it was set by law in -Rome at two feet wide--surrounded every homestead. This was inviolate to -the gods, and the Termina were placed at intervals along its borders, -or at the corners. At certain days in the year the proprietor made the -circuit, pushing victims before him, and chanting hymns to the god of -boundaries. The same gods existed among the ancient Hindoos, with whom -the Greeks and Romans must have had a close relationship in remote -antiquity. The Greeks called these deities the [theoi horioi]. I do -not know whence you got the figure; but I know it is a common one of -Terminus; and such _eau-forte_ engravers as Gessner, who excelled in -antique subjects, delighted to introduce it in sylvan scenes. I have an -engraving by Leopold Flameng,--called _La Satyresse_,--a female satyr -playing on the double flute (charming figure) and old Terminus with -his single flute accompanies her in the background,--smiling from his -pedestal of stone. - -The first flute-player on the left-hand side, at the lower corner, is -evidently from a vase, as the treatment of the hair denotes--I should -say a Greek vase; and the second one, with the mouth-bandage, in spite -of the half-Egyptian face, appears to be an Etruscan figure. The -treatment of the eyes and profile looks Etruscan. Some of the flutes in -the upper part of the drawing are much more complicated than I had -supposed any of the antique flutes were. - -You will find a charming version of the Medusa story in Kingsley's -"Heroes"--for little ones. Of course he does not tell why Medusa's hair -was turned into snakes. There are several other versions of the legend. -I prefer that in which the sword is substituted for the sickle,--a most -unwarlike weapon, and a utensil, moreover, sacred to the Goddess of -Harvests. The sword given by Hermes to Perseus is said to have been that -wherewith he slew the monster Argus,--a diamond blade. Like the Runic -swords forged by the gnomes under the roots of the hills of Scandinavia, -this weapon slew whenever brandished. - -Fever is bad still. I had another attack of dengue, but have got nearly -over it. I find lemon-juice the best remedy. All over town there are -little white notices pasted on the lamp-posts or the pillars of piazzas, -bearing the dismal words:-- - - Decede - Ce matin, a 31/2 heures - Julien - Natif de ----, - -and so on. The death notices are usually surmounted by an atrocious cut -of a weeping widow sitting beneath a weeping willow--with a huge -mausoleum in the background. Yellow fever deaths occur every day close -by. Somebody is advocating firing off cannon as a preventive. This plan -of shooting Yellow Jack was tried in '53 without success. It brings on -rain; but a rainy day always heralds an increase of the plague. You will -see by the _Item's_ tabulated record that there is a curious periodicity -in the increase. It might be described by a line like this-- - -[Illustration] - -You have doubtless seen the records of pulsations made by a certain -instrument, for detecting the rapidity of blood-circulation. The fever -actually appears to have a pulsation of graduated increase like that of -a feverish vein. I think this demonstrates a regularity in the periods -of germ incubation,--affected, of course, more or less by atmospheric -changes. - -Hope you will have your musical talks republished in book form. Send us -_Golden Hours_ once in a while. It will always have a warm notice in the -_Item_. Yours in much hurry, with promise of another epistle soon. - - L. HEARN. - -Regards to all the boys. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1878. - -MY DEAR KREHBIEL,--I received yours, with the kind wishes of Mrs. -Krehbiel, which afforded me more pleasure than I can tell you,--also the -_Golden Hours_ with your instructive article on the history of the -piano. It occurs to me that when completed your musical essays would -form a delightful little volume, and ought certainly to find a -first-class publisher. I hope you will entertain the suggestion, if it -has not already occurred to you. I do not know very much about musical -literature; but I fancy that no work in the English tongue has been -published of a character so admirably suited to give young people a -sound knowledge of the romantic history of music instruments as your -essays would constitute, if shaped into a volume. The closing -observations of your essay, markedly original and somewhat startling, -were very entertaining. I have not yet returned your manuscript, because -Robinson is devouring and digesting that Chinese play. He takes a great -interest in what you write. - -I send you, not without some qualms of conscience, a copy of our little -journal containing a few personal remarks, written with the idea of -making you known here in musical circles. I have several apologies to -make in regard to the same. Firstly, the _Item_ is only a poor little -sheet, in which I am not able to obtain space sufficient to do you or -your art labour justice; secondly, I beg of you to remember that if I -have spoken too extravagantly from a strictly newspaper standpoint, it -will not be taken malicious advantage of by anybody, as the modest -_Item_ goes no farther north than St. Louis. - -The Creole rhymes I sent you were unintelligible chiefly because they -were written phonetically after a fashion which I hold to be an -abomination. The author, Adrien Rouquette, is the last living Indian -missionary of the South,--the last of the Blackrobe Fathers, and is -known to the Choctaws by the name of Charitah-Ima. You may find him -mentioned in the American Encyclopaedia published by the firm of -Lippincott & Co. There is nothing very remarkable about his poetry, -except its eccentricity. The "Chant d'un jeune Creole" was simply a -personal compliment,--the author gives something of a sketch of his own -life in it. It was published in _Le Propagateur_, a French Catholic -paper, for the purpose of attracting my attention, as the old man wanted -to see me, and thought the paper might fall under my observation. The -other, the "Moqueur-Chanteur,"--as it ought to have been spelled,--or -"Mocking Singer," otherwise the mocking-bird, has some pretty bits of -onomatopoeia. (This dreamy, sunny State, with its mighty forests of -cedar and pine, and its groves of giant cypress, is the natural home of -the mocking-bird.) These bits of Creole rhyming were adapted to the airs -of some old Creole songs, and the music will, perhaps, be the most -interesting part of them. - -I am writing you a detailed account of the Creoles of Louisiana, and -their blending with Creole emigrants from the Canaries, Martinique, and -San Domingo; but it is a subject of great latitude, and I can only -outline it for you. Their characteristics offer an interesting topic, -and the bastard offspring of the miscegenated French and African, or -Spanish and African, dialects called Creole offer pretty peculiarities -worth a volume. I will try to give you an entertaining sketch of the -subject. I must tell you, however, that Creole music is mostly negro -music, although often remodelled by French composers. There could -neither have been Creole patois nor Creole melodies but for the French -and Spanish blooded slaves of Louisiana and the Antilles. The -melancholy, quavering beauty and weirdness of the negro chant are -lightened by the French influence, or subdued and deepened by the -Spanish. - -Yes, I _did_ send you that song as something queer. I had only hoped -that the music would own the charming naivete of the words; but -I have been disappointed. But you must grant the song is pretty and -has a queer simplicity of sentiment. Save it for the words. (Alas! -_Melusine_--according to information I have just received from Christern -of New York--is dead. Poor, dear, darling _Melusine_! I sincerely mourn -for her with archaeological and philological lament.) L'Orient is in -Brittany, and the chant is that of a Breton fisher village. That it -should be melancholy is not surprising; but that it should be melancholy -without weirdness or sweetness is lamentable. _Melusine_ for 1877 had a -large collection of Breton songs, with music; and I think I shall avail -myself of Christern's offer to get it. I want it for the legends; you -will want, I am sure, to peep at the music. Your criticism about the -resemblance of the melody to the Irish keening wail does not surprise -me, although it disappointed me; for I believe the Breton peasantry are -of Celtic origin. Your last letter strengthened a strange fancy that has -come to me at intervals since my familiarity with the Chinese -physiognomy,--namely, that there are such strong similarities between -the Mongolian and certain types of the Irish face that one is inclined -to suspect a far-distant origin of the Celts in the East. The Erse and -the Gaelic tongues, you know, are very similar in construction, also the -modern Welsh. I have heard them all, and met Irish people able to -comprehend both Welsh and Gaelic from the resemblance to the Erse. I -suppose you have lots of Welsh music, the music of the Bards, some of -which is said to have had a Druidic origin. Tell me if you have ever -come across any Scandinavian music--the terrible melody of the Berserker -songs, and the Runic chants, so awfully potent to charm; the Raven song -of the Sweyn maidens to which they wove the magic banner; the death-song -of Ragnar Lodbrok, or the songs of the warlocks and Norse priests; the -many sword-songs sung by the Vikings, etc. I suppose you remember -Longfellow's adaptation of the Heimskringla legend:-- - - "Then the Scald took his harp and sang, - And loud through the music rang - The sound of that shining word; - And the harp-strings a clangor made, - As if they were struck with the blade - Of a sword." - -I am delighted to hear that you have got some Finnish music. Nothing in -the world can compare in queerness and all manner of grotesqueness to -Finnish tradition and characteristic superstition. I see an -advertisement of "Le Chant de Roland," price $100, splendidly -illustrated. Wonder if the original music of the Song of Roland has been -preserved. You know the giant Taillefer sang that mighty chant as he -hewed down the Saxons at the battle of Hastings. - -With grateful regards to Mrs. Krehbiel, I remain - - Yours a jamais, - L. H. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - -MY DEAR KREHBIEL,--That I should have been able even by a suggestion to -have been of any use to you is a great pleasure. Your information in -regard to Pere Rouquette interested me. The father--the last of the -Blackrobe Fathers--is at present with his beloved Indians at -Ravine-les-Cannes; but I will see him on his return and read your letter -to the good old soul. If the columns of a good periodical were open to -me, I should write the romance of his life--such a wild strange -life--inspired by the magical writings of Chateaubriand in the -commencement; and latterly devoted to a strangely beautiful religion of -his own--not only the poetic religion of _Atala_ and _Les Natchez_, but -that religion of the wilderness which flies to solitude, and hath no -other temple than the vault of Heaven itself, painted with the frescoes -of the clouds, and illuminated by the trembling tapers of God's -everlasting altar, the stars of the firmament. - -I have received circular and organ-talk. You are right, I am convinced, -in your quotation of St. Jerome. To-day I send you the book--an old copy -I had considerable difficulty in coaxing from the owner. It will be of -use to you chiefly by reason of the curious list of writers on mediaeval -and antique music quoted at the end of the volume. - -If you do not make a successful volume of your instructive "Talks," -something dreadful ought to happen to you,--_especially as Cincinnati -has now a musical school in which children will have to learn something -about music_. You are the professor of musical history at that college. -Your work is a work of instruction for the young. As the professor of -that college, you should be able to make it a success. This is a -suggestion. I know you are not a wire-puller--couldn't be if you tried; -but I want to see those talks put to good use, and made profitable to -the writer, and you have friends who should be able to do what I think. - -Your friend is right, no doubt, about the - - "Tig, tig, malaboin - La chelema che tango - Redjoum!" - -I asked my black nurse what it meant. She only laughed and shook her -head,--"Mais c'est Voudoo, ca; je n'en sais rien!" "Well," said I, -"don't you know anything about Voudoo songs?" "Yes," she answered, "_I -know Voudoo songs; but I can't tell you what they mean_." And she broke -out into the wildest, weirdest ditty I ever heard. I tried to write down -the words; but as I did not know what they meant I had to write by sound -alone, spelling the words according to the French pronunciation:-- - - "Yo so dan godo - Heru mande - Yo so dan godo - Heru mande - Heru mande. - Tiga la papa, - No Tingodise - Tiga la papa - Ha Tinguoaiee - Ha Tinguoaiee - Ha Tinguoaiee." - -I have undertaken a project which I hardly hope to succeed in, but which -I feel some zeal regarding, viz., to collect the Creole legends, -traditions, and songs of Louisiana. Unfortunately I shall never be able -to do this thoroughly without money,--plenty of money,--but I can do a -good deal, perhaps. - -I must also tell you that I find Spanish remarkably easy to acquire; and -believe that at the end of another year I shall be able to master -it,--write it and speak it well. To do the latter, however, I shall be -obliged to spend some time in some part of the Spanish-American -colonies,--whither my thoughts have been turned for some time. With a -good knowledge of three languages, I can prosecute my wanderings over -the face of the earth without timidity,--without fear of starving to -death after each migration. - -After all, it has been lucky for me that I was obliged to quit hard -newspaper work; for it has afforded me opportunities for -self-improvement which I could not otherwise have acquired. I should -like, indeed, to make more money; but one must sacrifice something in -order to study, and I must not grumble, as long as I can live while -learning. - -I have really given up all hope of creating anything while I remain -here, or, indeed, until my condition shall have altered and my -occupation changed. - -What material I can glean here, from this beautiful and legendary -land,--this land of perfume and of dreams,--must be chiselled into shape -elsewhere. - -One cannot write of these beautiful things while surrounded by them; and -by an atmosphere, heavy and drowsy as that of a conservatory. It must be -afterward, in times to come, when I shall find myself in some cold, -bleak land where I shall dream regretfully of the graceful palms; the -swamp groves, weird in their ragged robes of moss; the golden ripples of -the cane-fields under the summer wind, and this divine sky--deep and -vast and cloudless as Eternity, with its far-off horizon tint of tender -green. - -I do not wonder the South has produced nothing of literary art. Its -beautiful realities fill the imagination to repletion. It is regret and -desire and the Spirit of Unrest that provoketh poetry and romance. It is -the North, with its mists and fogs, and its gloomy sky haunted by a -fantastic and ever-changing panorama of clouds, which is the land of -imagination and poetry. - - * * * * * - -The fever is dying. A mighty wind, boisterous and cool, lifted the -poisonous air from the city at last. - -I cannot describe to you the peculiar effect of the summer upon one -unacclimated. You feel as though you were breathing a drugged -atmosphere. You find the very whites of your eyes turning yellow with -biliousness. The least over-indulgence in eating or drinking prostrates -you. My feeling all through the time of the epidemic was about this: I -have the fever-principle in my blood,--it shows its presence in a -hundred ways,--if the machinery of the body gets the least out of order, -the fever will get me down. I was not afraid of serious consequences, -but I felt conscious that nothing but strict attention to the laws of -health would pull me through. The experience has been valuable. I -believe I could now live in Havana or Vera Cruz without fear of the -terrible fevers which prevail there. Do you know that even here we have -no less than eleven different kinds of fever,--most of which know the -power of killing? - -I am very glad winter is coming, to lift the languors of the air and -restore some energy to us. The summer is not like that North. At the -North you have a clear, dry, burning air; here it is clear also, but -dense, heavy, and so moist that it is never so hot as you have it. But -no one dares expose himself to the vertical sun. I have noticed that -even the chickens and the domestic animals, dogs, cats, etc., always -seek shady places. They fear the sun. People with valuable horses will -not work them much in summer. They die very rapidly of sunstroke. - -In winter, too, one feels content. There is no nostalgia. But the summer -always brings with it to me--always has, and I suppose always will--a -curious and vague species of homesickness, as if I had friends in some -country far off, where I had not been for so long that I have forgotten -even their names and the appellation of the place where they live. I -hope it will be so next summer that I can go whither the humour leads -me,--the propensity which the author of "The Howadji in Syria" calleth -the Spirit of the Camel. - -But this is a land where one can really enjoy the Inner Life. Every one -has an inner life of his own,--which no other eye can see, and the great -secrets of which are never revealed, although occasionally when we -create something beautiful, we betray a faint glimpse of it--sudden and -brief, as of a door opening and shutting in the night. I suppose you -live such a life, too,--a double existence--a dual entity. Are we not -all doppelgaengers?--and is not the invisible the only life we really -enjoy? - - * * * * * - -You may remember I described this house to you as haunted-looking. It is -delicious, therefore, to find out that it is actually a haunted house. -But the ghosts do not trouble me; I have become so much like one of -themselves in my habits. There is one room, however, where no one likes -to be alone; for phantom hands clap, and phantom feet stamp behind them. -"And what does that signify?" I asked a servant. "_Ca veut dire, -Foulez-moi le camp_"--a vulgar expression for "Git!" - - * * * * * - -There is to be a _literary_ (God save the mark!) newspaper here. I have -been asked to help edit it. As I find that I can easily attend to both -papers I shall scribble and scrawl and sell 'em translations which I -could not otherwise dispose of. Thus I shall soon be making, instead of -$40, about $100 per month. This will enable me to accumulate the means -of flying from American civilization to other horrors which I know not -of--some place where one has to be a good Catholic (in outward -appearance) for fear of having a _navaja_ stuck into you, and where the -whole population is so mixed up that no human being can tell what nation -anybody belongs to. So in the meantime I must study such phrases as:---- - - ?Tiene V. un leoncito? Have you a small lion? - - No senor, pero tengo un fero perro. No: but I've an ugly dog. - - ?Tiene V. un muchachona? Have you a big strapping girl? - - No: pero tengo un hombrecillo. No: but I've a miserable little man. - -May the Gods of the faiths, living and dead, watch over thee, and thy -dreams be made resonant with the sound of mystic and ancient music, -which on waking thou shalt vainly endeavour to recall, and forever -regret with a vague and yet pleasant sorrow; knowing that the gods -permit not mortals to learn their sacred hymns. - - L. HEARN. - -By the way, let me send you a short translation from Baudelaire. It is -so mystic and sad and beautiful. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1879. - -QUERIDO AMIGO,--Your words in regard to my former letter flatter me -considerably, for I feel rather elated at being able to be of the -smallest service to you; and as to your unavoidable delays in writing, -never allow them to trouble you, or permit your correspondence to -encroach upon your study hours for my sake. Indeed, it is a matter of -surprise to me how you are able to spare any time at present in view of -your manifold work. - -So _your_ literary career--at least the brilliant portion of -it--commences in January; and mine ends at the same time, without a -single flash of brightness or a solitary result worthy of preservation. -My salary has been raised three times since I heard from -you,--encouraging, perhaps, but I do not suffer myself to indulge in any -literary speculations. Since the close of the sickly season my only -thought has been to free myself from the yoke of dependence on the whims -of employers,--from the harness of journalism. I hired myself a room in -the northern end of the French Quarter (near the Spanish), bought myself -a complete set of cooking utensils and kitchen-ware, and kept house for -myself. I got my expenses down to $2 per week, and kept them at that -(exclusive of rent, of course) although my salary rose to $20. Thus I -learned to cook pretty well; also to save money, and will start a little -business for myself next week. I have an excellent partner,--a Northern -man,--and we expect by spring to clear enough ready money to start -for South America. By that time I shall have finished my Spanish -studies,--all that are necessary and possible in an American city, and -shall--please (not God but) the good old gods--play gipsy for a while in -strange lands. Many unpleasant things may happen; but with good health I -have no fear of failure, and the new life will enable me to recruit my -eyes, fill my pockets, and improve my imagination by many strange -adventures and divers extraordinary archaeological pursuits. - -[Illustration: LAFCADIO HEARN - _In the '70's_] - -How is that for Bohemianism? But I wish I could spend a day with you in -order to recount the many wonderful and mystic adventures I have had in -this quaint and ruinous city. To recount them in a letter is impossible. -But I came here to enjoy romance, and I have had my fill. - -Business,--ye Antiquities!--hard, practical, unideal, realistic -business! But what business? Ah, _mi corazon_, I would never dare to -tell you. Not that it is not honourable, respectable, etc., but that it -is so devoid of dreamful illusions. Yet hast thou not said,--"This is no -world for dreaming,"--and divers other horrible things which I shall not -repeat? - -Tell me all about your exotic musical instruments, when you have -time,--you know they will interest me; and may not I, too, some day be -able to forward to you various barbaric symbols and sackfuls from -outlandish places?--from the pampas or the llanos,--from some -palm-fringed islands of the Eastern sea, where even Nature dreams -opiated dreams? How knowst thou but that I shall make the Guacho and -llanero, the Peruvian and the Chilian, to contribute right generously to -thy store of musical wealth? - -I have not made much progress in the literature most dear to you; -inasmuch as my time has been rather curtailed, and the days have become -provokingly short. But I have been devouring Hoffmann (Emile de la -Bedolliere's translation in French--could not get a complete English -one); and I really believe he has no rival as a creator of musical -fantasticalities. "The Organ-Stop," "The Sanatus," "Lawyer Krespel" (a -story of a violin, replete with delightful German mysticism), "A Pupil -of the Great Tartini," "Don Juan,"--and a dozen other stories evidence -an enthusiasm for music and an extraordinary sensitiveness to musical -impressions on the author's part. You probably read these in German,--if -not, I am sure many of them would delight you. The romance of music -must, I fancy, be a vast aid to the study of the art,--it seems to me -like the setting of a jewel, or the frame of a painting. I also have -observed in the New York _Times_ a warm notice of a lady who is an -enthusiast upon the subject of Finnish music, and who has collected a -valuable mass of the quaint music and weird ditties of the North. As you -speak of having a quantity of Finnish music, however, I have no doubt -that you know much more about the young lady than I could tell you. - -Prosper Merimee's "Carmen" has fairly enthralled me,--I am in love with -it. The colour and passion and rapid tragedy of the story is -marvellous. I think I was pretty well prepared to enjoy it, however. I -had read Simpson's "History of the Gipsies," Borro's[6] "Gypsies of -Spain," a volume of Spanish gipsy ballads,--I forget the name of the -translator,--and everything in the way of gipsy romance I could get my -hands on,--by Sheridan Le Fanu, Victor Hugo, Reade, Longfellow, George -Eliot, Balzac, and a brilliant novelist also whose works generally -appear in the _Cornhill Magazine_. Balzac's "Le Succube" gives a curious -picture of the persecution of the Bohemians in mediaeval France, founded -upon authentic records. Le Fanu wrote a sweet little story called "The -Bird of Passage," which contained a remarkable variety of information in -regard to gipsy secrets; but it is only within very recent years that a -really good novel on a gipsy theme has been written in English; and I am -sorry that I cannot remember the author's name. I found more romance as -well as information in Borro and Simpson than in all the novels and -poems put together; and I obtained a fair idea of the artistic side of -Spanish gipsy life from Dore's "Spain." Dore is something of a musician -as well as a limner; and his knowledge of the violin enabled him to make -himself at home in the camps of that music-loving people. He played wild -airs to them, and studied their poses and gestures with such success -that his gipsies seem actually to dance in the engravings. I read that -Miss Minnie Hauck plays Carmen in gorgeous costume, which is certainly -out of place, except in one act of the opera. Otherwise from the first -scene of the novel in which she advances "poising herself on her hips, -like a filly from the Cordovan Stud," to the ludicrous episode at -Gibraltar, her attire is described as more nearly resembling that -picturesque rag-blending of colour Dore describes and depicts. If you -see the opera,--please send me your criticism in the _Gazette_. - - [6] See page 205. - -You may remember some observations I made--based especially on De -Coulanges--as to the derivation of the Roman and Greek tongues from the -Sanscrit. Talking of Borro reminds me that Borro traces the gipsy -dialects to the mother of languages; and Simpson naturally finds the -Romany akin to modern Hindostanee, which succeeded the Sanscrit. Now -here is a curious fact. Rommain is simply Sanscrit for The Husbands,--a -domestic appellation applicable to the gipsy races above all others, -when the ties of blood are stronger than even among the Jewish people; -and Borro asks timidly what is then the original meaning of those mighty -words, "Rome" and the "Romans," of which no scholar (he claims) has yet -ventured to give the definition. Surely all mysteries seem to issue from -the womb of nations,--from the heart of Asia. - -I see that the musical critic of the New York _Times_ speaks of certain -airs in the opera of _Carmen_ as Havanese airs,--_Avaneras_. If there be -a music peculiar to Havana, I expect that I shall hear some of it next -summer. If I could only write music, I could collect much interesting -matter for you. - -There is a New Orleans story in the last issue of _Scribner's -Monthly_,--"Ninon,"--which I must tell you is a fair exemplification of -how mean French Creoles can be. The great cruelties of the old slave -regime were perpetuated by French planters. Anglo-Saxon blood is not -cruel. If you want to find cruelty, either in ancient or modern history, -it must be sought for among the Latin races of Europe. The Scandinavian -and Teutonic blood was too virile and noble to be cruel; and the science -of torture was never developed among them. - - * * * * * - -Before I commenced to keep house for myself, I must tell you about a -Chinese restaurant which I used to patronize. No one in the American -part of the city--or at least very few--know even of its existence. The -owner will not advertise, will not hang out a sign, and seems to try to -keep his business a secret. The restaurant is situated in the rear part -of an old Creole house on Dumaine Street,--about the middle of the -French Quarter; and one must pass through a dark alley to get in. I had -heard so much of the filthiness of the Chinese, that I would have been -afraid to enter it, but for the strong recommendations of a Spanish -friend of mine,--now a journalist and a romantic fellow. (By the way, he -killed a stranger here in 1865 one night, and had to fly the country. A -few hot words in a saloon; and the Spanish blood was up. The stranger -fell so quickly and the stab was given so swiftly,--"according to the -_rules_,"--that my friend had left the house before anybody knew what -had happened. Then the killer was stowed away upon a Spanish schooner, -and shipped to Cuba, where he remained for four years. And when he came -back, _there were no witnesses_.) - -But about the restaurant. I was surprised to find the bills printed half -in Spanish and half in English; and the room nearly full of Spaniards. -It turned out that my Chinaman was a Manilan,--handsome, swarthy, with a -great shock of black hair, wavy as that of a Malabaress. His movements -were supple, noiseless, leopardine; and the Mongolian blood was scarcely -visible. But his wife was positively attractive;--hair like his own, a -splendid figure, sharp, strongly marked features, and eyes whose very -obliqueness only rendered the face piquant,--as in those agreeable yet -half-sinister faces painted on Japanese lacquerware. The charge for a -meal was only twenty-five cents,--four dishes allowed, with dessert and -coffee, and only five cents for every extra dish one might choose to -order. I generally ordered a nice steak, stewed beef with potatoes, -stewed tongue, a couple of fried eggs, etc. Everything is cooked before -your eyes, the whole interior of the kitchen being visible from the -dining-table; and nothing could be cleaner or nicer. I asked him how -long he had kept the place; he answered, "Seven years;" and I am told he -has been making a fortune even at these prices of five cents per dish. -The cooking is perfection. - - * * * * * - -There is nothing here which would interest you particularly in the -newspaper line. We have a new French daily, _Le Courrier de la -Louisiane_; but the ablest French editor in Louisiana--Dumez of Le -Meschacebe--was killed by what our local poets are pleased to term "The -March of the Saffron Steed!" The _Item_, beginning on nothing, now -represents a capital, and I would have a fine prospect should I be able -to content my restless soul in this town. The _Democrat_ is in a death -struggle with the gigantic lottery monopoly; and cannot live long. -Howard is king of New Orleans, and can crush every paper or clique that -opposes him. He was once blackballed by the Old Jockey Club, who had a -splendid race-course at Metairie. "By God," said Howard, "I'll make a -graveyard of their d----d race-course." He did it. The Metairie cemetery -now occupies the site of the old race-course; and the new Jockey Club is -Howard's own organization. - -It just occurs to me that the name of the gypsy novel written by the -Cornhill writer is "Zelda's Fortune," and that I spelled the name Borrow -wrong. It has a "w." Merimee refers to B_a_rrow, which is also wrong. -Longfellow borrowed (excuse the involuntary pun) nearly all the gypsy -songs in his "Spanish Student" from Borrow. I remember, for instance, -the songs commencing,---- - - "Upon a mountain's tip I stand, - With a crown of red gold in my hand;" - -also, - - "Loud sang the Spanish cavalier - And thus his ditty ran: - God send the gypsy lassie here, - And not the gipsy man." - -(I have been spelling "gipsy" and "gypsy"--don't know which I like -best.) I wonder why Longfellow did not borrow the forge-song, quoted -by Borrow,--_Las Muchis_, "The Sparks":---- - - "More than a hundred lovely daughters I see produced at one time, - fiery as roses, in one moment they expire, gracefully - circumvolving." - -Is it not beautiful, this gipsy poetry? The sparks are compared to -daughters, but they are _gitanas_ "_fiery_ as roses;" and in the words, -"I see them expire, gracefully _circumvolving_," we have the figure of -the gypsy dance,--the Romalis, with its wild bounds and pirouettes. - - * * * * * - -My letter is too long. I fear it will try your patience; but I cannot -say half I should wish to say. You will soon hear from me again; for le -pere Rouquette hath returned; I must see him, and show him your letter. -A villainous wind from your boreal region has overcast the sky with a -cope of lead, and filled the sunny city with gloom. From my dovecot -shaped windows I can see only wet roofs and dripping gable-ends. The -nights are now starless, and haunted by fogs. Sometimes, in the day -there is no more than a suggestion of daylight,--a gloaming. Sometimes -in the darkness I hear hideous cries of murder from beyond the boundary -of sharp gables and fantastic dormers. But murders are so common here -that nobody troubles himself about them. So I draw my chair closer to -the fire, light up my pipe _de terre Gambiese_, and in the flickering -glow weave fancies of palm-trees and ghostly reefs and tepid winds, and -a Voice from the far tropics calls to me across the darkness. - - Adios, hermano mio, - Forever yours, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO H.E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1879. - -MY DEAR KREHBIEL,--I regret very much that I could not reply until now; -overstudy obliged me to quit reading and writing for several days; I am -just in that peculiar condition of convalescence when one cannot tell -how to regulate the strain upon his eyes. - -It pleased me very much to hear from you just before you entered upon -your duties as a professor of the beautiful art you have devoted -yourself to;--that letter informed me of many things more than its -written words directly expressed,--especially that you felt I was really -and deeply interested in every step you were taking, and that I would on -receiving your letter experience that very thrill of indescribable -anxiety and hope, timidity and confidence, and a thousand intermingled -sensations,--which ever besets one standing on the verge of uncertainty -ere taking the first plunge into a new life. - -I read your lecture with intense interest, and felt happy in observing -that your paper did you the justice to publish the essay entire. Still, -I fancy that you may have interpolated its delivery with a variety of -unpublished comments and verbal notes,--such as I have heard you often -deliver when reading from print or MSS. These I should much have wished -to hear,--if they were uttered. - -Your lecture was in its entirety a vast mass of knowledge wonderfully -condensed into a very small compass. That condensation, which I would -regret if applied to certain phases of your whole plan, could not have -been avoided in its inception; and only gave to the whole an -encyclopaedic character which must have astonished many of your hearers. -To present so infinite a subject in so small a frame was a gigantic task -of itself; and nevertheless it was accomplished symmetrically and -harmoniously,--the thread of one instructive idea never being broken. I -certainly think you need harbour no further fears as to success in the -lecture-room, and far beyond it. - -The idea of religion as the conservator of Romanticism, as the promoter -of musical development, seemed to me very novel and peculiar. I cannot -doubt its correctness, although I believe some might take issue with you -in regard to the Romantic idea,--because the discussions in regard to -romantic truth are interminable and will never cease. Religion is beyond -any question the mother of all civilizations, arts, and laws; and no -archaeologic research has given us any record of any social system, any -art, any law, antique or modern, which was not begotten and nurtured by -an ethical idea. You know that I have no faith in any "faiths" or -dogmas; I regard thought as a mechanical process, and individual life as -a particle of that eternal force of which we know so little: but the -true philosophers who _hold_ these doctrines to-day (I cannot say -originated them, for they are old as Buddhism) are also those who best -comprehend the necessity of the religious idea for the maintenance of -the social system which it cemented together and developed. The name of -a religion has little to do with this truth; the law of progress has -been everywhere the same. The art of the Egyptian, the culture of the -Greeks, the successful policy of Rome, the fantastic beauty of Arabic -architecture, were the creations of various religious ideas; and passed -away only when the faiths which nourished them weakened or were -forgotten. So I believe with you that the musical art of antiquity was -born of the antique religions, and varied according to the character of -that religion. But I have also an inclination to believe that -Romanticism itself was engendered by religious conservation. The amorous -Provencal ditties which excited the horror of the mediaeval church were -certainly engendered by the mental reactions against religious -conservatism in Provence; and I fancy that the same reaction everywhere -produced similar results, whether in ancient or modern history. This is -your idea, is it not; or is it your idea carried perhaps to the extreme -of attributing the birth of Romanticism to conservatism, Pallas-Athene -springing in white beauty from the head of Zeus? - -There is one thing which I will venture to criticize in the -lecture,--not positively, however. I cannot help believing that the -deity whose name you spell _Schiva_ (probably after a German writer) is -the same spelled Seeva, Siva, or Shiva, according to various English and -French authors. If I am right, then I fear you were wrong in calling -Schiva the _goddess_ of fire and destruction. The god, yes; but although -many of these Hindoo deities, including Siva, are bi-sexual and -self-engendering, as the embodiment of any force, they are masculine. -Now Siva is the third person of the Hindoo trinity,--Brahma, the -Creator; Vishnu, the Preserver; Siva, the Destroyer. Siva signifies the -wrath of God. Fire is sacred to him, as it is an emblem of the Christian -Siva, the _Holy Ghost_. Siva is the Holy Ghost of the Hindoo trinity; -and as sins against the Holy Ghost are unforgiven, so are sins against -Siva unforgiven. There is an awful legend that Brahma and Vishnu were -once disputing as to greatness, when Siva suddenly towered between them -as a pillar of fire. Brahma flew upward for ten myriads of years vainly -striving to reach the flaming capital of that fiery column; Vishnu flew -downward for ten thousand years without being able to reach its base. -And the gods trembled. But this legend, symbolic and awful, signifies -only that the height and depth of the vengeance of God is immeasurable -even by himself. I think the _wife_ of Siva is Parvati. See if I am -right. I have no works here to which I can refer on the subject. - -There is to my mind a most fearful symbolism in the origin of five tones -from the head of Siva. I cannot explain the idea; but it is a terrible -one, and may symbolize a strange truth. All this Brahminism is half -true; it conflicts not with any doctrine of science; its symbolism is -only a monstrously-figured veil wrought to hide from the ignorant truths -they cannot understand; and those elephant-headed or hundred-armed gods -do but represent tremendous facts. - -On the subject of Romanticism, I send you a translation from an article -by Baudelaire. The last part of the chapter, applying wholly to -romanticism in form and colour, hardly touches the subject in which you -are most interested. His criticism of Raphael is very severe; that of -Rembrandt enthusiastic. "The South," he says, is "brutal and positive -in its conception of beauty, like a sculptor;" and he remarks that -sculpture in the North is always rather picturesque than realistic. -Winckelmann and Lessing long since pointed out, however, that antique -art was never realistic; it was only a dream of human beauty deified -and immortalized, and the ancients were true Romanticists in their -day. I wonder what Baudelaire would have thought of our modern -Pre-Raphaelites,--Rossetti, _et als_. Surely they are true Romanticists -also; but I must not tire you with Romanticism. - -Do you not think that outside of the religio-musical system of Egyptian -worship, there may have been a considerable development of the art in -certain directions--judging from the wonderful variety of -instruments,--harps, flutes, tamborines, sistrums, drums, cymbals, etc., -discovered in the tombs or pictured forth upon the walls? Your remarks -on the subject were exceedingly interesting. - - * * * * * - -I fear my letters will bore you,--however, they are long only because I -must write as I would talk to you were it possible. I am disappointed in -regard to several musical researches I have been undertaking; and can -tell you little of interest. The work of Cable is not yet in -press--yellow fever killed half his family. Rouquette has been doing -nothing but writing mad essays on the beauties of chastity, so that I -can get nothing from him in the way of music until his crazy fit is -over. Several persons to whom I applied for information became -suspicious and refused point-blank to do anything. I traced one source -of musical lore to its beginning, and discovered that the individual had -been subsidized by another collector to say nothing. Speaking of Pacific -Island music, you have probably seen Wilkins' "Voyages," 5 vols., with -strange music therein. I have many ditties in my head, but I cannot -write them down.... - - Thine, O Minnesinger, - L. HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1880. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--I was so glad to hear from you. - -Your letter gave me much amusement. I wish I could have been present at -that Chinese concert. It must have been the funniest thing of the kind -ever heard of in Cincinnati. - -It gives me malicious pleasure to inform you that my vile and improper -book will probably be published in a few months. Also that the wickedest -story of the lot--"King Candaule"--is being published as a serial in one -of the New Orleans papers, with delightful results of shocking people. I -will send you copies of them when complete. - -I am interested in your study of Assyrian archaeology. It is a pity there -are so few good works on the subject. Layard's _unabridged_ works are -very extensive; but I do not remember seeing them in the Cincinnati -library. Rawlinson, I think, is more interesting in style and more -thorough in research. The French are making fine explorations in this -direction. - -I find frequent reference made to Overbeck's "Pompeii," a German work, -as containing valuable information on antique music, drawn from -discoveries at Herculaneum and Pompeii, also to Mazois, a great French -writer upon the same subject. I have not seen them; but I fancy you -would find some valuable information in them regarding musical -instruments. I suppose you have read Sir William Gell's "Pompeiana,"--at -least the abridged form of it. You know the double flutes, etc., of the -ancients are preserved in the museum of Naples. In the Cincinnati -library is a splendid copy of the work on Egyptian antiquities prepared -under Napoleon I, wherein you will find coloured prints--from -photographs--of the musical instruments found in the catacombs and -hypogaea. But I do not think there are many good books on the subject of -Assyrian antiquities there. Vickers could put you in the way of getting -better works on the subject than any one in the library, I believe. - -You will master these things much more thoroughly than ever I -shall--although I love them. I have only attempted, however, to -photograph the _rapports_ of the antiquities in my mind, like memories -of a panoramic procession; while to you, the procession will not be one -of shadows, but of splendid facts, with the sound of strangely ancient -music and the harmonious tread of sacrificial bands,--all preserved for -you through the night of ages. And the life of vanished cities and the -pageantry of dead faiths will have a far more charming reality for -you,--the Musician,--than ever for me,--the Dreamer. - -I can't see well enough yet to do much work. I have written an essay -upon luxury and art in the time of Elagabalus; but now that I read it -over again, I am not satisfied with it, and fear it will not be -published. And by the way--I request, and beg, and entreat, and -supplicate, and petition, and pray that you will not forget about -Mephistopheles. Here, in the sweet perfume-laden air, and summer of -undying flowers, I feel myself moved to write the musical romance -whereof I spake unto you in the days that were. - -I can't say that things look very bright here otherwise. The prospect is -dark as that of stormy summer night, with feverish pulses of lightning -in the far sky-border,--the lightning signifying hopes and fantasies. -But I shall stick to my pedestal of faith in literary possibilities like -an Egyptian colossus with a broken nose, seated solemnly in the gloom of -its own originality. - -Times are not good here. The city is crumbling into ashes. It has been -buried under a lava-flood of taxes and frauds and maladministrations so -that it has become only a study for archaeologists. Its condition is so -bad that when I write about it, as I intend to do soon, nobody will -believe I am telling the truth. But it is better to live here in -sackcloth and ashes, than to own the whole State of Ohio. - -Once in a while I feel the spirit of restlessness upon me, when the -Spanish ships come in from Costa Rica and the islands of the West -Indies. I fancy that some day, I shall wander down to the levee, and -creep on board, and sail away to God knows where. I am so hungry to see -those quaint cities of the Conquistadores and to hear the sandalled -sentinels crying through the night--_Sereno alerto!--sereno -alerto!_--just as they did two hundred years ago. - -I send you a little bit of prettiness I cut out of a paper. Ah!--_that_ -is style, is it not?--and fancy and strength and height and depth. It is -just in the style of Richter's "Titan." - -Major sends his compliments. I must go to see the Carnival nuisance. -Remember me to anybody who cares about it, and believe me always - - Faithfully yours, - L. HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1880. - -MY DEAR KREHBIEL,--Pray remember that your ancestors were the very Goths -and Vandals who destroyed the marvels of Greek art which even Roman -ignorance and ferocity had spared; and I perceive by your last letter -that you possess still traces of that Gothic spirit which detests all -beauty that is not beautiful with the fantastic and unearthly beauty -that is Gothic. - -You cannot make a Goth out of a Greek, nor can you change the blood in -my veins by speaking to me of a something vague and gnostic and mystic -which you deem superior to all that any Latin mind could conceive. - -I grant the existence and the weird charm of the beauty that Gothic -minds conceived; but I do not see less beauty in what was conceived by -the passion and poetry of other races of mankind. This is a cosmopolitan -art era: and you must not judge everything which claims art-merit by a -Gothic standard. - -Let me also tell you that you do not as yet know anything of the Spirit -of Greek Art,--or the sources which inspired its miraculous -compositions; and that to do so you would have to study the climate, the -history, the ethnological record, the religion, the society of the -country which produced it. My own knowledge is, I regret to say, very -imperfect,--but it is sufficient to give me the right to tell you that -you were wrong to accuse me of abandoning Greek ideals, or to lecture -me upon what is and what is not art in matters of form and colour and -literature. I might say the same thing in regard to your judgment of -French writers: you confound Naturalism with Romanticism, and _vice -versa_. - -Again, do not suppose that I am insensible to other forms of beauty. You -judge all art, I fear, by inductions from that in which you are a -master; but the process in your case is false;--nor will you be able to -judge the artistic soul of a people adequately by its musical -productions, until you have passed another quarter of a century in the -study of the music of different races and ages and civilizations. Then -it is possible that you may find that secret key; but you cannot -possibly do it now, learned as you are, nor do I believe there are a -dozen men in the world who could do it. - -Now I am with the Latin; I live in a Latin city;--I seldom hear the -English tongue except when I enter the office for a few brief hours. I -eat and drink and converse with members of the races you detest like the -son of Odin that you are. I see beauty here all around me,--a strange, -tropical, intoxicating beauty. I consider it my artistic duty to let -myself be absorbed into this new life, and study its form and colour and -passion. And my impressions I occasionally put into the form of the -little fantastics which disgust you so much, because they are not of the -AEsir and Joetunheim. Were I able to live in Norway, I should try also to -intoxicate myself with the Spirit of the Land, and I might write of the -Saga singers-- - - "From whose lips in music rolled - The Hamavel of Odin old, - With sounds mysterious as the roar - Of ocean on a storm-beat shore." - -The law of true art, even according to the Greek idea, is to seek beauty -wherever it is to be found, and separate it from the dross of life as -gold from ore. You do not see beauty in animal passion;--yet passion was -the inspiring breath of Greek art and the mother of language; and its -gratification is the act of a creator, and the divinest rite of Nature's -temple. - - * * * * * - -... And writing to you as a friend, I write of my thoughts and fancies, -of my wishes and disappointments, of my frailties and follies and -failures and successes,--even as I would write to a brother. So that -sometimes what might not seem strange in words, appears very strange -upon paper. And it may come to pass that I shall have stranger things to -tell you; for this is a land of magical moons and of witches and of -warlocks; and were I to tell you all that I have seen and heard in these -years in this enchanted City of Dreams you would verily deem me mad -rather than morbid. - - Affectionately yours, - L. HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - - NEW ORLEANS, 1880. - -MY DEAR KREHBIEL,--Your letter delighted me. I always felt sure that you -would unshackle yourself--sooner or later; but I hardly expected it -would come so soon. - -The great advantage of your new position, I think, will be the leisure -it will afford you to study, and that too while you are still in the -flush of youth and ambition, and before your energies are impaired by -excess of newspaper drudgery. I think your future is secure now beyond -any doubt;--for any man with such talent and knowledge, such real love -for art, and such a total absence of vices should find the road before -an easy one. It is true that you have a prodigious work to achieve; but -the path is well oiled, like those level highways along which the -Egyptians moved their colossi of granite. I congratulate you; I rejoice -with you; and I envy you with the purest envy possible. Still more, -however, I envy your youth, your strength, and that something which is -partly hope and partly force and love for the beautiful which I have -lost, and which, having passed away with the summer of life, can never -be recalled. When a man commences to feel what it is to be young, he is -beginning to grow old. You have not felt that yet. I hope you will not -for many years. But I do; and my hair is turning grey at thirty! - -I liked your letter very much also in regard to our discussion. It is -just and pleasant to read. I thought your first reproaches much too -violent. But I am still sure you are not correct in speaking of the -Greeks as chaste. You will not learn what the Greeks were in the time of -the glory of their republics either from Homer or Plato or Gladstone or -Mahaffy. Perhaps the best English writer I could refer you to--without -mentioning historians proper--is John Addington Symonds, author of -"Studies of the Greek Poets," and "Studies and Sketches in Southern -Europe." His works would charm you. The Greeks were brave, intelligent, -men of genius, men who wrote miracles--_un peuple des demi-dieux_, as a -French poet terms them; but the character of their thought, as reflected -in their mythology, their literature, their art, and their history -certainly does not indicate the least conception of chastity in the -modern signification of the word. No: you will not go down to your grave -with the conception you have made of them,--unless you should be -determined not to investigate the contrary. - -I would like to discuss the other affair, also; but I have so little -time that I must forego the pleasure. - -As to the fantastics, you greatly overestimate me if you think me -capable of doing something much more "worthy of my talents," as you -express it. I am conscious they are only trivial; but I am condemned to -move around in a sphere of triviality until the end. I am no longer able -to study as I wish to, and, being able to work only a few hours a day, -cannot do anything outside of my regular occupation. My hope is to -perfect myself in Spanish and French; and, if possible, to study Italian -next summer. With a knowledge of the Latin tongues, I may have a better -chance hereafter. But I fancy the idea of the fantastics is artistic. -They are my impressions of the strange life of New Orleans. They are -dreams of a tropical city. There is one twin-idea running through them -all--Love and Death. And these figures embody the story of life here, as -it impresses me. I hope to be able to take a trip to Mexico in the -summer just to obtain literary material, sun-paint, tropical colour, -etc. There are tropical lilies which are venomous, but they are more -beautiful than the frail and icy-white lilies of the North. Tell me if -you received a fantastic founded upon the story of Ponce de Leon. I -think I sent it since my last letter. I have not written any fantastics -since except one,--inspired by Tennyson's fancy,---- - - "My heart would hear her and beat - Had it lain for a century dead---- - Would start and tremble under her feet---- - And blossom in purple and red." - -Jerry, Krehbiel, Ed Miller, Feldwisch! All gone! It is a little strange. -But it will always be so. Looking around the table at home at which are -gathered wanderers from all nations and all skies, the certainty of -separation for all societies and coteries is very impressive. We are all -friends. In six months probably there will not be one left. Dissolution -of little societies in this city is more rapid than with you. In the -tropics all things decay more speedily, or mummify. And I think that in -such cities there is no real friendship. There is no time for it. Only -passion for women, a brief acquaintance for men. And it is only when I -meet some fair-haired Northern stranger here, rough and open like a wind -from the great lakes, that I begin to realize I once lived in a city -whose heart was not a cemetery two centuries old, and where people who -hated did not kiss each other, and where men did not mock at all that -youth and faith hold to be sacred. - - Your sincere friend, - L. HEARN. - -Read Bergerat's article on Offenbach--the long one. I think you will -like it. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, February, 1881. - -MY DEAR KREHBIEL,--A pleasant manner, indeed, of breaking thy silence, -vast and vague, illuminating my darkness of doubt!--the vision of a -sunny-haired baby-girl, inheriting, I hope, those great soft grey eyes -of yours, and the artist dream of her artist father. I should think you -would feel a sweet and terrible responsibility--like one of those -traditional guardian-angels entrusted for the first time with the care -of a new life.... - -I have not much to tell you about myself. I am living in a ruined Creole -house; damp brick walls green with age, zig-zag cracks running down the -facade, a great yard with plants and cacti in it; a quixotic horse, four -cats, two rabbits, three dogs, five geese, and a seraglio of hens,--all -living together in harmony. A fortune-teller occupies the lower floor. -She has a fantastic apartment kept dark all day, except for the light of -two little tapers burning before two human skulls in one corner of the -room. It is a very mysterious house indeed.... But I am growing very -weary of the Creole quarter, and think I shall pull up stakes and fly to -the garden district where the orange-trees are, but where Latin tongues -are not spoken. It is very hard to accustom one's self to live with -Americans, however, after one has lived for three years among these -strange types. I am swindled all the time and I know it, and still I -find it hard to summon up resolution to forsake these antiquated streets -for the commonplace and practical American districts.... - - Very affectionately, - L. HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, February, 1881. - -MY DEAR KREHBIEL,--Your letter rises before me as I write like a tablet -of white stone bearing a dead name. I see you standing beside me. I look -into your eyes and press your hand and say nothing.... - -Remember me kindly to Mrs. Krehbiel. I am sure you will soon have made a -cosy little home in the metropolis. In my last letter I forgot to -acknowledge receipt of the musical articles, which do you the greatest -credit, and which interested me much, although I know nothing about -music further than a narrow theatrical experience and a natural -sensibility to its simpler forms of beauty enable me to do. I see your -name also in the programme of _The Studio_, and hope to see the first -number of that periodical containing your opening article. I should like -one of these days to talk with you about the possibility of -contributing a romantic--not musical--series of little sketches upon the -Creole songs and coloured Creoles of New Orleans to some New York -periodical. Until the summer comes, however, it will be difficult for me -to undertake such a thing; the days here are much shorter than they are -in your northern latitudes, the weather has been gloomy as Tartarus, and -my poor imagination cannot rise on dampened wings in this heavy and -murky atmosphere. This has been a hideous winter,--incessant rain, -sickening weight of foul air, and a sky grey as the face of Melancholy. -The city is half under water. The lake and the bayous have burst their -bonds, and the streets are Venetian canals. Boats are moving over the -sidewalks, and moccasin snakes swarm in the old stonework of the -gutters. Several children have been bitten. - -I am very weary of New Orleans. The first delightful impression it -produced has vanished. The city of my dreams, bathed in the gold of -eternal summer, and perfumed with the amorous odours of orange flowers, -has vanished like one of those phantom cities of Spanish America, -swallowed up centuries ago by earthquakes, but reappearing at long -intervals to deluded travellers. What remains is something horrible like -the tombs here,--material and moral rottenness which no pen can do -justice to. You must have read some of those mediaeval legends in which -an amorous youth finds the beautiful witch he has embraced all through -the night crumble into a mass of calcined bones and ashes in the -morning. Well, I feel like such a one, and almost regret that, unlike -the victims of these diabolical illusions, I do not find my hair -whitened and my limbs withered by sudden age; for I enjoy exuberant -vitality and still seem to myself like one buried alive or left alone in -some city cursed with desolation like that described by Sinbad the -sailor. No literary circle here; no jovial coterie of journalists; no -associates save those vampire ones of which the less said the better. -And the thought--Where must all this end?--may be laughed off in the -daytime, but always returns to haunt me like a ghost in the night. - - Your friend, - L. HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1881. - -MY DEAR KREHBIEL,--To what could I now devote myself? To nothing! To -study art in any one of its branches with any hope of success requires -years of patient study, vast reading, and a very considerable outlay of -money. This I know. I also know that I could not write one little story -of antique life really worthy of the subject without such hard study as -I am no longer able to undertake, and a purchase of many costly works -above my means. The world of Imagination is alone left open to me. It -allows of a vagueness of expression which hides the absence of real -knowledge and dispenses with the necessity of technical precision of -detail. Again, let me tell you that to produce a really artistic work, -after all the years of study required for such a task, one cannot -possibly obtain any appreciation of the work for years after its -publication. Such works as Flaubert's "Salammbo" or Gautier's "Roman de -la Momie" were literary failures until recently. They were too learned -to be appreciated. Yet to write on a really noble subject, how learned -one must be! There is no purpose, as you justly observe, in my -fantastics,--beyond the gratification of expressing a Thought which -cries out within one's heart for utterance, and the pleasant fancy that -a few kindred minds will dream over them, as upon pellets of green -hascheesch,--at least should they ever assume the shape I hope for. And -do not talk to me of work, dear fellow, in this voluptuous climate. It -is impossible! The people here are so languidly lazy that they do not -even dream of chasing away the bats which haunt these crumbling -buildings. - -Is it possible you like Dr. Ebers? I hope not! He has no artistic -sentiment whatever,--no feeling, no colour. He is dry and dusty as a -mummy preserved with bitumen. He gropes in the hypogaea like some Yankee -speculator looking for antiquities to sell. You must be Egyptian to -write of Egypt;--you must feel all the weird solemnity and mighty -ponderosity of the antique life;--you must comprehend the whole force of -those ideas which expressed themselves in miracles of granite and -mysteries of black marble. Ebers knows nothing of this. Turning from the -French writers to his lifeless pages is like leaving the warm and -perfumed bed of a beloved mistress for the slimy coldness of a -sepulchre. - -The Venus of Milo!--the Venus who is not a Venus! Perhaps you have read -Victor Rydberg's beautiful essay about that glorious figure! If not, -read it; it is worth while. And let me say, my dear friend, no one dare -write the whole truth about Greek sculpture. None would publish it. Few -would understand it. Winckelmann, although impressed by it, hardly -realized it. Symonds, in his exquisite studies, acknowledges that the -spirit of the antique life remains, and will always remain to the -greater number, an inexplicable although enchanting mystery. But if one -dared!... - -And you speak of the Song of Solomon. I love it more than ever. But -Michelet, the passionate freethinker, the divine prose-poet, the bravest -lover of the beautiful, has written a terrible chapter upon it. No -lesser mind dare touch the subject now with sacrilegious hand. - -I doubt if you are quite just to Gautier. I had hoped his fancy might -please you. But Gautier did not write those lines I sent you. They are -found in the report of conversations held with him by Emile -Bergerat;--they are mere memories of a dead voice. Probably had he ever -known that these romantic opinions would one day be published to the -world, he would never have uttered them. - -Your Hindoo legends charmed me, but I do not like them as I love -the Greek legends. The fantasies created in India are superhumanly -vast, wild, and terrible;--they are typhoons of the tropical -imagination;--they seem pictures printed by madness,--they terrify and -impress, but do not charm. I love better the sweet human story of -Orpheus. It is a dream of human love,--the love that is not only strong, -but stronger than death,--the love that breaks down the dim gates of the -world of Shadows and bursts open the marble heart of the tomb to return -at the outcry of passion. Yet I hold that the Greek mind was infantine -in comparison to the Indian thought of the same era; nor could any Greek -imagination have created the visions of the visionary East. The Greek -was a pure naturalist, a lover of "the bloom of young flesh;"--the -Hindoo had fathomed the deepest deeps of human thought before the Greek -was born. - -Zola is capable of some beautiful things. His "Le Bain" is pure -Romanticism, delicate, sweet, coquettish. His contribution to "Les -Soirees de Medan" is magnificent. His "Faute de l'Abbe Mouret" does not -lack real touches of poetry. But as the copy of Nature is not true art -according to the Greek law of beauty, so I believe that the school of -Naturalism belongs to the low order of literary creation. It is a sharp -photograph, coloured by hand with the minute lines of vein and shading -of down. Zola's pupils, however,--those who wrote the "Soirees de -Medan,"--have improved upon his style, and have mingled Naturalism with -Romanticism in a very charming way. - -I was a little disappointed, although I was also much delighted, with -parts of Cable's "Grandissimes." He did not follow out his first -plan,--as he told me he was going to do,--viz., to scatter about fifty -Creole songs through the work, with the music in the shape of notes at -the end. There are only a few ditties published; and as the Creole music -deals in fractions of tones, Mr. Cable failed to write it properly. He -is not enough of a musician, I fancy, for that. - -By the time you have read this I think you will also have read my -articles on Gottschalk and translations. I sent for his life to Havana; -and received it with a quaint Spanish letter from Enrique Barrera, -begging me to find an agent for him. I found him one here. His West -Indian volume is one of the most extraordinary books I have ever seen. -It is the wildest of possible romances. - - L. H. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1881. - -MY DEAR KREHBIEL,--How could you ever think you had offended me? I was -so sick--expecting to go blind and "lift the cover of my brains," as the -Spaniards say, and also ill-treated--that I had no spirit left to write. -You will be glad to know that I have now got so fat that they call me -"The Fat Boy" at the office. - -Your letter gave me great pleasure. I think your plan--vague as it -appears to be--will crystallize into a very happy reality. You have the -sacred fire,--_le vrai feu sacre_,--and with health and strength must -succeed. What you want, and what we all want, who possess devotion to -any noble idea, who hide any artistic idol in a niche of the heart, is -that independence which gives us at least the time to worship the -holiness of beauty,--be it in harmonies of sound, of form, or of colour. -You have strength, youth,--not in years only but in the vital resources -of your being,--the true _parfum de la jeunesse_ is perceptible in your -thoughts and hopes and abilities to create; and you have other -advantages I will not mention lest my observations might be -"embarrassing." I should be surprised indeed to hear in a few years from -now that you had not been able to emancipate yourself from the fetters -of that intensely vulgar and detestably commonplace thing, called -American journalism,--of which I, alas! must long remain a slave. A -prize in the Havana lottery might alone deliver me speedily; but I -mostly rely on the hope of being able next year to open a little French -bookstore in one of the tense quaint old streets. I had hoped to leave -New Orleans; but with my eyes in their present condition, it would be -folly to fight for life over again in some foreign country. - -You say you hope to see some day a product of my pen more durable than a -newspaper article. But I very much doubt if you ever will. My visual -misfortune has reduced my hours of work to one third. I only work from -10 A.M. to 2 P.M. You will see, therefore, that my work must be rapid. -At 2 P.M. my eyes are usually worn out. But as you seem to have been -interested in some of my little fantasies, I take the liberty of sending -you several now. They are too flimsy, however, to be ever collected for -publication, unless in the course of a few years I could write a -hundred or so, and select one out of three afterward. - -Your observations about Amphion and Orpheus prompted me to send you an -old issue of the _Item_, in which you will find some very extraordinary -observations on the subject of Greek music, translated from a charming -work in my possession. But you will be disgusted, perhaps, to know that -with all his erudition upon musical legends and musical history, Gautier -had no ear for music. I almost feel like asking you not to tell that to -anybody. - -If you could pay a visit this winter I think you would have a pleasant -time. I would like to aid you to get some of the Creole music I vainly -promised you. I found it impossible so far to obtain any; yet had I the -ability to write music down I could have obtained you some. If you were -here I could introduce you to the President of the Athenee Louisianaise, -who would certainly put you in the way of doing so yourself. - -What I do hope to obtain for you--if you care about it--is Mexican -music. Mexicans are common visitors here; and every educated Mexican can -sing and play some instrument. They have sung here for us,--guitar -accompaniment. Did you ever hear "El Aguardiente"? It is a very queer -air,--boisterous, merry with a merriment that seems all the time on the -point of breaking into a laugh--yet withal half-savage like some Spanish -ditties. When they sang it here, it was with a chorus accompaniment of -glasses held upside down and tapped with spoons. - -Did you ever hear negroes play the piano by ear? There are several -curiosities here, Creole negroes. Sometimes we pay them a bottle of wine -to come here and play for us. They use the piano exactly like a banjo. -It is good banjo-playing, but no piano-playing. - -One difficulty in the way of obtaining Creole music or ditties is the -fact that the French coloured population are ashamed to speak their -patois before whites. They will address you in French and sing French -songs; but there must be extraordinary inducements to make them sing or -talk in Creole. I have done it, but it is no easy work. - -Nearly all the Creoles here--white--know English, French, and Spanish, -more or less well, in addition to the patois employed only in speaking -to children or servants. When a child becomes about ten years old, it is -usually forbidden to speak Creole under any other circumstances. - -But I do not suppose this will much interest you. I shall -endeavour--this time I'm afraid to promise--to secure you some Mexican -or Havanese music; and will postpone further remarks to a future -occasion. - -I am sorry Feldwisch is ill; and I doubt if the Colorado air will do him -good. When he was here I had a vague suspicion I should never see him -again. - -Remember me to those whom you know I like, and don't think me dilatory -if I don't write immediately on receipt of a letter. I have explained -the condition of affairs as well as I could. - - I remain, dear fellow, yours, - L. HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1882. - -How are you on Russian music? - -You could make a terrible and taking operatic tragedy on Sacher-Masoch's -"Mother of God." Get it, if you can, and read it. I send you specimen -translation. It was written, I believe, in German. - -Have you read in the "Kalewala" of the "Bride of Gold,"--of the -"Betrothed of Silver"? - -Have you read how the mother of Kullevo arose from her tomb, and cried -unto him from the deeps of the dust? - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1882. - -DEAR K.,--It got dark yesterday before I could finish some extracts from -"Kalewala" I wanted to send. They are just suggestion. I must also tell -you I have only a very confused idea of the "Kalewala" myself, having -read it through simply as a romance, and never having had time to study -out all its mythological bearings and meanings. In fact my edition is -too incomplete and confusedly arranged in any case: notes are piled in a -heap at the end of each volume, causing terrible trouble in making -references. See if you can get Castren. - -I want also to tell you that the Pre-Islamic legends I spoke of to you -are admirably arranged for musical suggestion. The original narrator -breaks into verse here and there, as into song: Rabiah, for instance, -recites his own death-song, his mother answers him in verse. All Arabian -heroic stories are arranged in the same way; and even in so serious a -work as Ibn Khallikan's great biographical dictionary, almost every -incident is emphasized by a poetical citation. - -Your idea about your style being heavy is really incorrect. Your art has -trained you so thoroughly in choosing words that hit the exact meaning -desired with the full strength of technical or picturesque expression, -that the continual use of certain beauties has dulled your perception of -their native force, perhaps. You do not feel, I mean, the full strength -of what you write--in a style of immense compressed force. I would not -wish you to think you had done your best, though; better to feel -dissatisfied, but not good to _underestimate_ yourself. I am now, you -see, claiming the privilege of criticizing what I could not begin to do -myself; but I believe I can see beauty where it exists in style, and I -don't want you to be underestimating your own worth. - -Are your letters of a character suitable for book-form? Hoppin,--I -think, is the name,--the author of "Old England," a Yale professor, who -made an English tour, formed one of the most charming volumes in such a -way. Think it over. - - Affectionately, - LAFCADIO. - -Please never even suspect that my suggestions to you are made in any -spirit of false conceit: a friend of the most limited artistic ability -can often suggest things to a real artist, and even give him -confidence. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1882. - - KALEWALA - -DEAR K.,--The Society of Finnish Literature celebrated, in 1885, I -think, the first centennial of the publication of the "Kalewala." - -There are two epics of Finland--just as most peoples have two -epics--most people at least of Aryan origin; and the existence of such -tremendous poems as the "Kalewala" and "Kanteletar" affords, in the -opinion of M. Quatrefages, a strong proof that the Finns are of Aryan -origin. - -Loennrot was the Homer of Finland, the one who collected and edited the -oral epic poetry now published under the head of the "Kalewala." - -But Leouzon Le Duc in 1845 published the first translation. (This I -have.) Loennrot followed him three years later. Le Duc's version -contained only 12,100 verses. Loennrot's contained 22,800. A second -French version was subsequently made (which I have sent for). In 1853 -appeared Castren's magnificent work on Finnish mythology, without which -a thorough comprehension of the "Kalewala" is almost impossible. - -You will be glad to know that the _definitive_ edition of the -"Kalewala," as well as the work of Castren, have both been translated -into German by Herr Schiefner (1852-54, I believe is the date). Since -then a whole ocean of Finnish poetry and folk-lore and legends has been -collected, edited, published, and translated. (I get some of these -facts from _Melusine_, some from the work of the anthropologist -Quatrefages.) - -In order to get a correct idea of what you might do with the "Kalewala," -_you must get it and read it_. Try to get it in the German! I can give -you some idea of its beauties; but to give you its movement, and plot, -or to show you precisely how much operatic value it possesses, would be -a task beyond my power. It would be like attempting to make one familiar -with Homer in a week. - -Once you have digested it, I can then be of real service, perhaps. You -would need the work of Castren also--which I cannot read. To determine -the precise mythological value, rank, power, aspect, etc., of gods and -demons, and their relation to natural forces, one must read up a little -on the Finns. I have Le Duc, but he is deficient. - -I don't think that any epic surpasses that weirdest and strangest of -runes. It is not so well known as it deserves. It gives you the -impression of a work written by wizards, who spoke little to men, and -much to nature--but the sinister and misty nature of the eternally -frozen North. - -You have in the "Kalewala" all the elements of a magnificent operatic -episode,--weirdness, the passion of love, and the eternal struggle -between evil and good, between darkness and light. You have any possible -amount of melody,--a universe of inspiration for startling and totally -novel musical themes. The scenery of such a thing might be made wilder -and grander than anything imagined even by the Talmudically vast -conceptions of Wagner. - -An opera founded on the "Kalewala" might be made a work worthy of the -grandest musician who ever lived: think of the possibilities suggested -by the picture of Nature's mightiest forces in contention,--wind and -sea, frost and sun, darkness and luminosity. - -I don't like the antique theme you suggest, because it has been worn so -threadbare that only a miracle could give it a fresh surface. Better -search the "Kath[=a]-sarit-S[=a]gara," or some other Indian -collection,--or borrow from the sublimely rough and rugged poetry of -Pre-Islamic Arabia. You will never regret an acquaintance with these -books--even at some cost. They epitomize all the thought, passion, and -poetry of a nation and of a period. - -I prefer the "Kalewala" to any other theme you suggest. I might suggest -many others, but none so vast, so grand, so multiform. Nothing in the -Talmud like that. The Talmud is a _Semitic_ work; but nothing Jewish -rises to the grandeur of Arabic poetry, which expresses the supreme -possibilities of the Semitic mind,--except, perhaps, the Book of Job, -which is thought by some to have had an Arabian creator. - -What you say about the disinclination to work for years upon a theme for -pure love's sake, without hope of reward, touches me,--because I have -felt that despair so long and so often. And yet I believe that all the -world's art-work--all that which is eternal--was thus wrought. And I -also believe that no work made perfect for the pure love of art, can -perish, save by strange and rare accident. Despite the rage of religion -and of time, we know Sappho found no rival, no equal. Rivers changed -their courses and dried up,--seas became deserts, since some Egyptian -romanticist wrote the story of Latin-Khamois. Do you suppose he ever -received $00 for it? - -Yet the hardest of all sacrifices for the artist is this sacrifice to -art,--this trampling of self under foot! It is the supreme test for -admittance into the ranks of the eternal priests. It is the bitter and -fruitless sacrifice which the artist's soul is bound to make,--as in -certain antique cities maidens were compelled to give their virginity to -a god of stone! But without the sacrifice can we hope for the grace of -heaven? - -What is the reward? The consciousness of inspiration only! I think art -gives a new faith. I think--all jesting aside--that could I create -something I felt to be sublime, I should feel also that the Unknowable -had selected me for a mouthpiece, for a medium of utterance, in the holy -cycling of its eternal purpose; and I should know the pride of the -prophet that had seen God face to face. - -All this might seem absurd, perhaps, to a purely practical mind (yours -is not _too_ practical); but there is a practical side also. In this age -of lightning, thought and recognition have become quadruple-winged, like -the angels of Isaiah. Do your very best,--your very, very best: the -century must recognize the artist if he is there. If he is not -recognized, it is because he is not great. Have you faith in yourself? I -know you are a great natural artist; I have absolute faith in you. You -_must_ succeed if you make the sacrifice of working for art's sake -alone. - -Comparing yourself to me won't do!--dear old fellow. I am in most things -a botch! You say you envy me certain qualities; but you forget how those -qualities are at variance with an art whose beauty is geometrical and -whose perfection is mathematical. You also say you envy me my power of -application!--If you only knew the pain and labour I have to create a -little good work. And there are months when I cannot write. It is not -hard to write when the thought is there; but the thought will not always -come--there are weeks when I cannot even think. - -The only application I have is that of persistence in a small way. I -write a rough sketch and labour it over and over again for half a year, -at intervals of ten minutes' leisure--sometimes I get a day or two. The -work done each time is small. But with the passing of the seasons the -mass becomes noticeable--perhaps creditable. This is merely the result -of system. - -You may laugh at this letter if you please,--this friendly protest to -one whom I have always recognized as my superior,--but there is truth in -it. Think over the "Kalewala," and write to - - Your friend and admirer, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1882. - -MY DEAR KREHBIEL,--When I got your letter I felt as if a great load was -lifted off me--the sky looked brighter and the world seemed a little -sweeter than usual. As for me, you could have paid me no higher -compliment. Glad you did not disapprove of the article. - -Your clippings are superb. I think your style constantly gains in force -and terseness. It is admirably crystallized; and I have not yet been -able to form a permanent style of my own. I trust I will succeed in -time; but in purity and conciseness you will always be my master, for -your art has taught you style better than a thousand university -professors could do. I suppose, however, you will always be slightly -Gothic,--not harshly Gothic, but Middle Period,--making ornament always -subordinate to the general plan. I shall always be more or less -Arabesque,--covering my whole edifice with intricate designs, serrating -my arches, and engraving mysticisms above the portals. You will be grand -and lofty; I shall try to be at once voluptuous and elegant, like a -colonnade in the mosque of Cordova. - -I send you something your article on the Jubilee Singers makes me think -of. It is from the pen of a marvellous writer, who long lived at -Senegal. If you do not find anything new in it, return it; but if it can -be of use to you, keep it. I hope to translate the whole work some day. - - Your friend, - L. H. - -Have heard Patti; but did not understand her power until you explained -it me. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1882. - -MY DEAR KREHBIEL,--Much as it pleased me to hear from you, I assure you -that your letter is shocking. It is shocking to hear of anybody being -compelled to work for seventeen hours a day. You have neither time to -think, to study, to read, to do your best work, or to make any artistic -progress--not even to hint of pleasure--while working seventeen hours a -day. Nor is that all; I believe it injures a man's health and capacity -for endurance, as well as his style and peace of mind. You have a fine -constitution; but if once broken down by over-straining the nervous -system you will never get fully over the shock. It is very hard for me -to believe that it is really necessary for you to do reportorial work -and to write correspondence, unless you have a special financial object -to accomplish within a very short space of time. The editorial work -touching upon art matters which you are capable of doing for the -_Tribune_ might be done in the daytime; but what do you want to waste -your brain and time upon reportorial work for? D--n reportorial -work and correspondence, and the American disposition to work people -to death, and the American delight in getting worked to death! -Well, I have nothing more to say except to protest my hope that the -seventeen-hours-a-day business is going to stop before long; for the -longer it lasts the more difficult it will be for you to accomplish your -ultimate purpose. The devil of overworking one's self is that it -renders it impossible to get fair and just remuneration for value -given,--impossible also to create those opportunities for -self-advancements which form the steps of the stairway to the artistic -heaven,--impossible to maintain that self-pride and confident sense of -worth without which no man, however gifted, can make others fully -conscious of it. When you voluntarily convert yourself into a part of -the machinery of a great daily newspaper, you must revolve and keep -revolving with the wheels; you play the man in the treadmill. The more -you involve yourself the more difficult it will be for you to escape. I -said I had nothing further to observe; but I find I must say something -more,--not that I imagine for a moment I am telling you anything new, -but because I wish to try to impress anew upon you some facts which do -not seem to have influenced you as I believe they ought to do. - -Under all the levity of Henri Murger's picturesque Bohemianism, there is -a serious philosophy apparent which elevates the characters of his -romance to heroism. They followed one principle faithfully,--so -faithfully that only the strong survived the ordeal,--never to abandon -the pursuit of an artistic vocation for any other occupation however -lucrative,--not even when she remained apparently deaf and blind to her -worshippers. The conditions pictured by Murger have passed away in Paris -as elsewhere: the old barriers to ambition have been greatly broken -down. But I think the moral remains. So long as one can live and pursue -his natural vocation in art, it is a duty with him never to abandon it -if he believes that he has within him the elements of final success. -Every time he labours at aught that is not of art, he robs the divinity -of what belongs to her. - -Do you never reflect that within a few years you will no longer be the -YOUNG MAN,--and that, like Vesta's fires, the enthusiasm of youth for an -art-idea must be well fed with the sacred branches to keep it from dying -out? I think you ought really to devote all your time and energies and -ability to the cultivation of one subject, so as to make that subject -alone repay you for all your pains. And I do not believe that Art is -altogether ungrateful in these days: she will repay fidelity to her, and -recompense sacrifices. I don't think you have any more right to play -reporter than a great sculptor to model fifty-cent plaster figures of -idiotic saints for Catholic processions, or certain painters to letter -steamboats at so much a letter. In one sense, too, Art is exacting. To -acquire real eminence in any one branch of any art, one must study -nothing else for a lifetime. A very wide general knowledge may be -acquired only at the expense of depth. But you are certainly right in -thinking of the present for other reasons. Still, there is nothing so -important, not only to success but to confidence, hope, and happiness, -as good health and a strong constitution; and these you must lose if you -choose to keep working seventeen hours a day! It is well to be able to -do such a thing on a brief stretch, but it is suicide, moral and -physical, to keep it up regularly. The rolling-mill hand, or the -puddler, or the moulder, or the common brakeman on a railroad cannot -keep up at such hours for a great length of time; and you must know that -even hard labour is not so exhausting as brain-work. Don't work yourself -sick, old friend,--you are in a fair way to do it now. - - Your friend, - L. H. - - - TO JEROME A. HART - - NEW ORLEANS, May, 1882. - -DEAR SIR,--Thanks for your kindly little article. I suppose it emanated -from the same source as the charming translation of Gautier's "Spectre -de la Rose"--which we reproduced here, comparing it with the inferior -translation--or rather mutilation--of the same poem which appeared in -the ----. - -Your translation of the epitaph seems to me superb as far as the first -two lines go; but I can hardly agree with you as to the last. "La plus -belle du monde" cannot be perfectly rendered by "the loveliest in the -land"--which is a far weaker expression, by reason of the circumscribed -idea it involves. "La plus belle du monde" is an expression of paramount -force, simple as it is; it conveys the idea of beauty without an equal, -not in any one country, but in the whole world. But I think your second -line is a masterpiece of faithfulness; and, as you justly remark, my -hobby is literalism. - - Very sincerely yours, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO JEROME A. HART - - NEW ORLEANS, May, 1882. - -DEAR SIR,--I am very grateful for your kind letter and the pleasure of -making your acquaintance even through an epistolary medium. - -We have the same terrible proverb in Spanish that you cite in Italian; -but it certainly can never apply to the _Argonaut's_ exquisite -translations--preserving metre, colour, and warmth so far as seems to be -possible. Still, I must say that I do not believe the poetry of one -country can be perfectly reproduced in corresponding metre in the poetry -of another: much that is even marvellous may be done,--yet a little of -the original perfume evaporates in the process. Therefore the French -gave _prose_ translations of Heine and Byron: especially in regard to -the German poet they considered translation in metrical form impossible. -Nevertheless it is impossible also to refrain from attempting such -things at times,--when the beauty of exotic verse seems to take us by -the throat with the strangulation of pleasure. I have felt impelled -occasionally to make an essay in poetical translation; the result has -generally been a dismal failure, but I venture to send you a specimen -which appears to be less condemnable than most of my efforts. I cannot -presume to call it a translation,--it is only an adaptation. - -As for the lines in "Clarimonde," if the book ever reaches a second -edition, I think I will be able to remedy some of their imperfections. -Skaldic verse, I suppose, would be anachronistically vile; but -something corresponding to the metre of "La Chanson de Roland," -unrhymed, what the French call _vers assonances_. This corresponds -exactly with your lines in breadth; also in tone, as the accent of the -assonance is thrown upon the last syllable of each line. - - Very gratefully yours, - L. H. - -P. S. Just received another note from you. Have seen the reproduction; I -am exceedingly thankful for the compliment; and you know that so far as -the copyright business is concerned, the credit must do the book too -much good for Worthington to find any fault. I suppose you receive the -_Times-Democrat_ of New Orleans. I forward last Sunday's issue, -containing a little compliment to the _Argonaut_. - - Very sincerely yours, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO JEROME A. HART - - NEW ORLEANS, December, 1882. - -DEAR SIR,--I venture to intrude upon you to ask a little advice, which -as a brother-student of foreign literature you could probably give me -better than any other person to whom I could apply. I am informed that -in San Francisco there are enterprising and liberal-minded publishers, -with whom unknown authors have a better chance than with the austere and -pious publishers of the East. It would be a very great favour indeed, if -you could give me some positive indication in this matter. I desire to -find a publisher for that excessively curious but somewhat audacious -book, "La Tentation de Saint Antoine," of Flaubert, of which I have -completed and corrected the MS. translation. You who know the original -will probably agree with me that it would be little less than a literary -crime to emasculate such a masterpiece in the translation. I have -translated almost every word of the Heresiarch dispute, and the -soliloquy of the god Crepitus, etc. - -Consequently I have very little hopes of obtaining a publisher in New -York or Boston. Do you think I could obtain one in San Francisco? I -would be willing to advance something toward the cost of publishing,--if -necessary. - -Trust you will pardon my intrusion. I think the mutual interest we both -feel in one branch of foreign literature is a fair excuse for my letter. - -With thanks for previous many kindnesses, - - I remain, truly yours, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO JEROME A. HART - - NEW ORLEANS, January, 1883. - -DEAR SIR,--Writing to San Francisco seems, after a sort, like writing to -Japan or Malabar, so great is the lapse of time consumed in the transit -of mail-matter, especially when one is anxious. I was quite so, fearing -you might have considered my letter intrusive; but your exceedingly -pleasant reply has dispelled all apprehension. - -I am not surprised at the information; for the difficulty of finding -publishers in the United States is something colossal, and my hopes -burned with a very dim flame. I do not know about Worthington,--as he is -absent in Europe, perhaps he will undertake the publication; but I fear, -inasmuch as he is a Methodist of the antique type, that he will not. Now -the holy _Observer_ declared that the "Cleopatra" was a collection of -"stories of unbridled lust without the apology of natural passion;" that -"the translation reeked with the miasma of the brothel," etc., -etc.,--and Worthington was much exercised thereat. Otherwise I should -have suggested the publication in English of "Mademoiselle de Maupin." - -I regret that I cannot tell you anything about the fate of "Cleopatra's -Nights," but the publisher preserves a peculiar and sinister silence in -regard to it. Perhaps he is sitting upon the stool of orthodox -repentance. Perhaps he is preparing to be generous. But this I much -doubt; and as the translations were published partly at my own expense, -I am anxious only regarding the fate of my original capital. - -Yes, I read the _Critic_--and considered that the observation on Gautier -stultified the paper. If the translator had been dissected by the same -hand, I should not have felt very unhappy. But I received some very nice -private letters from Eastern readers, which encouraged me very much, and -among them several requesting for other translations from Gautier. - -"Salammbo" is the greatest, by far, of Flaubert's creations, because -harmonious in all its plan and purpose, and because it introduces the -reader into an unfamiliar field of history, cultivated with astonishing -skill and verisimilitude. It was twice written, like "La Tentation." I -translated the prayer to the Moon for the preface to "La Tentation." I -sincerely trust you will translate it. As for time, it is astonishing -what system will accomplish. If a man cannot spare an hour a day, he can -certainly spare a half-hour. I translated "La Tentation" by this -method,--never allowing a day to pass without an attempt to translate a -page or two. The work is audacious in parts; but I think nothing ought -to be suppressed. That serpent-scene, the crucified lions, the breaking -of the chair of gold, the hideous battles about Carthage,--these pages -contain pictures that ought not to remain entombed in a foreign museum. -I pray you may translate "Salammbo,"--a most difficult task, I -fancy,--but one that you would certainly succeed admirably with. In my -preface I spoke of "Salammbo" as the most wonderful of Flaubert's -productions. - -"Herodias" is another story which ought to be translated. But I would -write too long a letter if I dilate upon the French masterpieces. - -I will only say that, in regard to recent publications, I have noticed -some extraordinary novels which have not earned the attention they -deserve. "Le Roman d'un Spahi" seems to me a miracle of art,--and "Le -Mariage de Loti" contains passages of wonderful and weird beauty. These, -with "Aziyade," are the productions of a French naval officer who signs -himself Loti. Think I shall try to translate the first-named next year. - -Verily the path of the translator is hard. The Petersons and Estes & -Lauriat are deluging the country with bogus translations or translations -so unfaithful to the original that they must be characterized as -fraudulent. And the great American public like the stuff. One who -translates for the love of the original will probably have no reward -save the satisfaction of creating something beautiful, and perhaps of -saving a masterpiece from desecration by less reverent bards. But this -is worth working for. - -With grateful thanks, and sincere hopes that you will not be deterred -from translating "Salammbo" before some incompetent hand attempts it, I -remain, - - Sincerely, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO REV. WAYLAND D. BALL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1882. - -DEAR SIR,--I am very grateful for the warm and kindly sympathy your -letter evidences; and as I have already received about a half-dozen -communications of similar tenor from unknown friends, I am beginning to -feel considerably encouraged. The "lovers of the antique loveliness" are -proving to me the future possibilities of a long cherished dream,--the -English realization of a Latin style, modelled upon foreign masters, and -rendered even more forcible by that element of _strength_ which is the -characteristic of Northern tongues. This no man can hope to accomplish; -but even a translator may carry his stone to the master-masons of a new -architecture of language. - -You ask me about translations. I am sorry that I am not able to answer -you hopefully. I have a curious work by Flaubert in the hands of R. -Worthington (under consideration); and I have various MSS. filed away in -the Cemetery of the Rejected. I tried for six years to obtain a -publisher for the little collection you so much like, and was obliged at -last to have them published partly at my own expense--a difficult matter -for one who is obliged to work upon a salary. As for "Mademoiselle de -Maupin," much as I should desire the honour of translating it, I would -dread to work in vain, or at best to work for the profit of some -publisher who would have the translator at his mercy. If I could find a -publisher willing to publish the work precisely as I would render it, I -would be glad to surrender all profits to him; but I fancy that any -American publisher would wish to emasculate the manuscript. - -I am told that an English translation was in existence in London some -years ago, but I could not learn the publisher's name. Chatto & Windus, -the printers of the admirable English version of the "Contes -Drolatiques," might be able to inform you further. But I am afraid that -the English version was scarcely worthy of the original, owing to the -profound silence of the press in regard to the matter. An American -translation was being offered to New York publishers a few years ago. It -was not accepted. - -Although my own work is far from being perfect, I think I am capable of -judging other translations of Gautier. The American translations are -very poor ("Spirite," "Captain Fracasse," "Romance of the Mummy"), in -fact they are hardly deserving the name. The English translations of -Gautier's works of travel are generally good. Henry Holt has reprinted -some of them, I think. - -But out of perhaps sixty volumes, Gautier's works include very few -romances or stories. I have never seen a translation of "Fortunio" or -"Militona,"--perhaps because the sexual idea--the Eternal -Feminine--prevails too much therein. "Avatar" has been translated in the -New York _Evening Post_, I cannot say how well; but I have the -manuscript translation of it myself, which I could never get a publisher -to accept. Then there are the "Contes Humoristiques" (1 vol.) and about -a dozen short tales not translated. Besides these, and the four -translated already ("Fracasse," "Spirite," "The Mummy," and possibly -"Mademoiselle de Maupin") Gautier's works consist chiefly of critiques, -sketches of travel, dramas, comedies--including the charmingly wicked -piece, "A Devil's Tear,"--and three volumes of poems. - -My purpose now is to translate a series of works by the most striking -French authors, each embodying a style of a school. I tried in the first -collection to offer the best novelettes of Gautier in English, relying -upon my own judgement so far as I could. Hereafter with leisure and -health I shall attempt to do the same for about five others. I can -understand your desire to see more of Gautier, and I trust you will some -day; but when you have read "Mademoiselle de Maupin" and the two volumes -of short stories, you have read his masterpieces of prose, and will care -less for the remainder. His greatest art is of course in his magical -poems; except the exotic poetry of the Hindoos, and of Persia, there is -nothing in verse to equal them. - -I must have fatigued your patience, however, by this time. With many -thanks for your kind letter, which I took the liberty to send to -Worthington, and hoping that you will soon be able to see another -curious attempt of mine in print, I remain, - - Sincerely, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - -I forgot to say that in point of archaeologic art the "Roman de la Momie" -is Gautier's greatest work. It towers like an obelisk among the rest. -But the American translation would disappoint you very much; it is a -poor concern all the way through. It would not be a bad idea to drop a -line to Chatto & Windus, Pub., London, and enquire about English -versions of Gautier. You know that Austin Dobson translated some of his -poems very successfully indeed. - - In haste, - L. H. - - - TO REV. WAYLAND D. BALL - - NEW ORLEANS, November, 1882. - -DEAR SIR,--I translate hurriedly for you a few extracts from -"Mademoiselle de Maupin," some of which have been used or translated by -Mallock, who has said many very clever things, but whose final -conclusions appear to me to smack of Jesuitic casuistry. - -Gautier was not the founder of a philosophic school, but the founder of -a system of artistic thought and expression. His "Mademoiselle de -Maupin" is an idyl, nothing more, an idyl in which all the vague -longings of youth in the blossoming of puberty, the reveries of amorous -youth, the wild dreams of two passionate minds, male and female, both -highly cultivated, are depicted with a daring excused only by their -beauty. I think Mallock wrong in his taking Gautier for a type of -Antichrist. There are few who have beheld the witchery of an antique -statue, the supple interlacing of nude limbs in frieze or cameo, who -have not for the moment regretted the antique. Freethinkers as were -Gautier, Hugo, Baudelaire, De Musset, De Nerval, none of them were -insensible to the mighty religious art of mediaevalism which created -those fantastic and enormous fabrics in which the visitor feels like an -ant crawling in the skeleton of a mastodon. With the growth of -aestheticism there is a tendency to return to antique ideas of beauty, -and the last few years has given evidence of a resurrection of Greek -influence in several departments of art. But when the first revolution -against prudery and prejudice had to be made in France, violent and -extreme opinions were necessary,--the Gautiers and De Mussets were the -Red Republicans of the Romantic Renaissance. Gautier's poems utter the -same plaints as his prose; mourning for the death of Pan, crying that -the modern world is draped with funeral hangings of black, against which -the white skeleton appears in relief. But the dreams of an artist may -influence art and literature only; they cannot affect the -crystallization of social systems or the philosophy of the eye. - -They were all pantheists, these characters of Romanticism, some vaguely -like old Greek dreamers, others deeply and studiously, like De Nerval, a -lover of German mysticism: nature, whom they loved, must have whispered -to them in wind-rustling and wave-lapping some word of the mighty truths -she had long before taught to Brahmins and to Bodhisatvas under a more -luxuriant sky. They saw the evil beneath their feet as a vast "paste" -for which the great Statuary eternally moulded new forms in his infinite -crucible, and into which old forms were remelted to reappear in varied -shapes;--the lips of loveliness might blossom again in pouting roses, -the light of eyes rekindle in amethyst and emerald, the white breast -with its delicate network of veins be re-created in fairest marble. The -worship within sombre churches, and chapels, seemed to them unworthy of -the spirit of Universal Love;--to adore him they deemed no temple worthy -save that from whose roof of eternal azure hang the everlasting lamps -of the stars; no music, save that never-ending ocean hymn, ancient as -the moon, whose words no human musician may learn. - -I do not know whether Mallock translated Gautier himself, or made -extracts; but Gautier's madrigal pantheistic alone contains the germ of -a faith sweeter and purer and nobler than the author of "Is Life Worth -Living?" ever dreamed of, or at least comprehended. The poem is a -microcosm of artistic pantheism; it contains the whole soul of Gautier, -like one of the legendary jewels in which spirits were imprisoned. - -Speaking of the "Decameron," Petronius, Angelinus, and so forth, I must -say that I think it the duty of every scholar to read them. It is only -thus that we can really obtain a correct idea of the thought and lives -of those who read them when first related or written. They are -historical paintings, they are shadows of the past and echoes of dead -voices. Brantome or De Chateauneuf teach one more about the life of the -fifteenth or sixteenth centuries than a dozen ordinary historians could -do. The influence of sex and sexual ideas has moulded the history of -nations and formed national character; yet, except Michelet, there is -perhaps no historian who has read history fairly in this connection. -Without such influence there can be no real greatness; the mind remains -arid and desolate. Every noble mind is made fruitful by its virility; we -all have a secret museum in some corner of the brain, although our -Pompeian or Etruscan curiosities are only shown to appreciative -friends. - -I have read your enclosed slip and am quite pleased with the creditable -notice given you by way of introduction, and quite astonished that you -should be so young. You have fine prospects before you, I fancy, if so -successful already. Of course _Congregational_ is so vague a word that I -cannot tell how latitudinarian your present ideas are (for people in -general), nor how broadly you may extend your studies of philosophy. -Your correspondence with a freethinker of an extreme type would incline -me to believe you were very liberally inclined, but I have often noticed -that clergymen belonging even to the old cast-iron type may be classed -among warm admirers of the beautiful and the true for their own sakes. - - Very sincerely yours, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - -P. S. Have just been looking at Mallock, and am satisfied that he made -the translation himself because he translated the "virginity" by -"purity." No one but a Catholic or Jesuit would do that; only Catholics, -I believe, consider the consummation of love intrinsically impure, or -attempt to identify purity with virginity. Gautier would never have used -the word--a word in itself impure and testifying to uncleanliness of -fancy. I have translated it properly by the English equivalent. I -suppose you know that Mallock's aim is to prove that everybody not a -Catholic is a fool. - - - ENCLOSURE - -"Mademoiselle de Maupin," petite edition, Charpentier, 2 vols.; vol. ii, -page 12. - -"I am a man of the Homeric ages;--the world in which I live is not mine, -and I comprehend nothing of the social system by which I am surrounded. -Never did Christ come into the world for me; I am as pagan as Alcibiades -or Phidias. Never have I been to Golgotha to gather passion-flowers; and -the deep river flowing from the side of the crucified, and making a -crimson girdle about the world, has never bathed me with its waves." - -Page 21: "Venus may be seen; she hides nothing; for modesty is created -for the ugly alone; and is a modern invention, daughter of the Christian -disdain of form and matter." - -"O ancient worlds! all thou didst revere is now despised; thine idols -are overthrown in dust; gaunt anchorites clad in tattered rags, gory -martyrs with shoulders lacerated by the tigers of the circuses, lie -heaped upon the pedestals of thy gods so comely and so charming;--the -Christ has enveloped the world in his winding sheet. Beauty must blush -for herself, must wear a shroud." - -Pages 22, 23: "Virginity, thou bitter plant, born upon a soil -blood-moistened, whose wan and sickly flower opes painfully within the -damp shadows of the cloister, under cold lustral rains;--rose without -perfume, and bristling with thorns,--thou hast replaced for us those -fair and joyous roses, besprinkled with nard and Falernian, worn by the -dancing girls of Sybaris." - -"The antique world knew thee not, O fruitless flower!--never wert thou -entwined within their garlands, replete with intoxicating perfume;--in -that vigorous and healthy life, thou wouldst have been disdainfully -trampled under foot! Virginity, mysticism, melancholy,--three unknown -words, three new maladies brought among us by the Christ. Pale spectres -who deluge the world with icy tears and who," etc., etc. - - - TO REV. WAYLAND D. BALL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1883. - - SECRET AFFINITIES - (A PANTHEISTIC MADRIGAL) - "_Emaux et Camees--Enamels and Cameos_" - -For three thousand years two blocks of marble in the pediment of an -antique temple have juxtaposed their white dreams against the background -of the Attic heaven. - -Congealed in the same nacre, tears of those waves which weep for -Venus,--two pearls deep-plunged in ocean's gulf, have uttered secret -words unto each other;-- - -Blooming in the cool Generalife, beneath the spray of the ever-weeping -fountain, two roses in Boabdil's time spake to each other with whisper -of leaves;-- - -Upon the cupolas of Venice, two white doves, rosy-footed, perched one -May-time evening on the nest where love makes itself eternal. - -Marble, pearl, rose, and dove--all dissolve, all pass away;--the pearl -melts, the marble falls, the rose fades, the bird takes flight. - -Leaving each other, all atoms seek the deep Crucible to thicken that -universal paste formed of the forms that are melted by God. - -By slow metamorphoses, the white marble changes to white flesh, the rosy -flowers into rosy lips,--remoulding themselves into many fair bodies. - -Again do the white doves coo within the hearts of young lovers; and the -rare pearls re-form into teeth for the jewel-casket of woman's smile. - -And hence those sympathies, imperiously sweet, whereby in all places -souls are gently warmed to know each other for sisters. - -Thus, docile to the summons of an aroma, a sunbeam, a colour, the atom -flies to the atom as to the flower the bee. - -Then dream-memories return of long reveries in white temple pediments, -of reveries in the deeps of the sea,--of blossom talk beside the -clear-watered fountain,-- - -Of kisses and quivering of wings upon the domes that are tipped with -balls of gold; and the faithful molecules seek one another and know the -clinging of love once more. - -Again love awakens from its slumber of oblivion;--vaguely the Past is -re-born; the perfume of the flower inhales and knows itself again in the -sweetness of the pink mouth. - -In that mother-of-pearl which glimmers in a laugh, the pearl recognizes -its own whiteness;--upon the smooth skin of a young girl the marble with -emotion recognizes its own coolness. - -The dove finds in a sweet voice the echo of its own plaint,--resistance -becomes blunted, and the stranger becomes the lover. - -And thou before whom I tremble and burn,--what ocean-billow, what -temple-font, what rose-tree, what dome of old knew us together? What -pearl or marble, what flower or dove? - - L. HEARN. - -DEAR BALL,--Hope you will like the above rough prose version--of course -all the unison is gone, all the soul of it has exhaled like a -perfume;--this is a faded flower, pressed between the leaves of a -book,--not the exquisite blossom which grew from the heart of Theophile -Gautier. - - L. H. - - - TO REV. WAYLAND D. BALL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1883. - -DEAR BALL,--So far from your last being a "poor letter," as you call it, -I derived uncommon pleasure therefrom; and you must not annoy yourself -by writing me long letters when you have much more important matters to -occupy yourself. To write a letter of twelve pages or more is the labour -equivalent to the production of a column article for a newspaper; and it -would be unreasonable to expect any correspondent to devote so much -time and labour to letter-writing more than once in several months. I -have always found the friends who write me short letters write me -regularly, and all who write long letters become finally weary and cease -corresponding altogether at last. Nevertheless a great deal may be said -in a few words, and much pleasure extracted from a letter one page long. - -I should much like to hear of your being called to a strong church, but -I suppose, as you say, that your youth is for the time being a drawback. -But I certainly would not feel in the least annoyed upon that score. You -have all your future before you in a very bright glow, and I do not -believe that any one can expect to obtain real success before he is -thirty-five or forty. You cannot even forge yourself a good literary -style before thirty; and even then it will not be perfectly tempered for -some years. But from what I have seen of your ability, I should -anticipate a more than common success for you, and I believe you will -create yourself a very wide and strong weapon of speech. And your -position is very enviable. There is no calling which allows of so much -leisure for study and so many opportunities for self-cultivation. Just -fancy the vast amount of reading you will be able to accomplish within -five years, and the immense value of such literary absorption. I have -the misfortune to be a journalist, and it is hard work to study at all, -and attend to one's diurnal duty. Another misfortune here is the want of -a good library. You have in Boston one of the finest in the world, and -I believe you will be apt to regret it if you leave. Speaking of -study,--you know that science has broadened and deepened so enormously -of late years, that no man can thoroughly master any one branch of any -one science, without devoting his whole life thereunto. The scholars of -the twentieth century will have to be specialists or nothing. In matters -of literary study, pure and simple, a fixed purpose and plan must be -adopted. I will tell you what mine is, for I am quite young too, -comparatively speaking, and have my "future" before me, so to speak. I -never read a book which does not powerfully impress the imagination; but -whatever contains novel, curious, potent imagery I always read, no -matter what the subject. When the soil of fancy is really well enriched -with innumerable fallen leaves, the flowers of language grow -spontaneously. There are four things especially which enrich -fancy,--mythology, history, romance, poetry,--the last being really the -crystallization of all human desire after the impossible, the diamonds -created by prodigious pressure of suffering. Now there is very little -really good poetry, so it is easy to choose. In history I think one -should only seek the extraordinary, the monstrous, the terrible; in -mythology the most fantastic and sensuous, just as in romance. But there -is one more absolutely essential study in the formation of a strong -style--science. No romance equals it. If one can store up in his brain -the most extraordinary facts of astronomy, geology, ethnology, etc., -they furnish him with a wonderful and startling variety of images, -symbols, and illustrations. With these studies I should think one could -not help forging a good style at least--an impressive one certainly. I -give myself five years more study; then I think I may be able to do -something. But with your opportunities I could hope to do much better -than I am doing now. Opportunity to study is supreme happiness; for -colleges and universities only give us the keys with which to unlock -libraries of knowledge hereafter. Isn't it horrible to hold the keys in -one's hands and never have time to use them? - - Very truly yours, - L. HEARN. - -Don't write again until you have plenty of time;--I know you must be -busy. But whenever you would like to hear anything about anything in my -special line of study, let me have a line from you, as I might be able -to be of some use in matters of reference. - - - TO REV. WAYLAND D. BALL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1883. - -MY DEAR BALL,--I suppose you are quite disgusted with my silence; but -you would excuse it were you to see how busy I have been, especially -since our managing editor has gone on a vacation of some months. - -I was amused at your ideal description of me. As you supposed, I am -swarthy--more than the picture indicates; but by no means interesting -to look at, and the profile view conceals the loss of an eye. I am also -very short, a small square-set fellow of about 140 pounds when in good -health. - -I read with extreme pleasure your essay, and while I do not hold the -same views, I believe yours will do good. Furthermore, if you -familiarize the public with Buddhism, you are bound to aid in bringing -about the very state of things I hope for. Buddhism only needs to be -known to make its influence felt in America. I don't think that works -like those of Sinnett, or Olcott's curious "Buddhist Catechism," -published by Estes & Lauriat, will do any good;--they are too -metaphysical, representing a sort of neo-gnosticism which repels by its -resemblance to Spiritualistic humbug. But the higher Buddhism,--that -suggested by men like Emerson, John Weiss, etc.,--will yet have an -apostle. We shall live, I think, to see some strange things. - -I am sorry I cannot gratify you by my reply about your projected -literary sketches. The policy of the paper has been to give the -preference to lady writers on such subjects, with a few exceptions to -which some literary reputation has been attached. You would have a much -better chance with theosophic essays; but you would be greatly -restricted as to space. You did not write, it appears, to Page; and he -is now at Saratoga, where he will remain about two months. Anyhow, I -would personally advise you--if you think my advice worth anything--to -devote your literary impulse altogether to religious subjects. By a -certain class of sermons and addresses you can achieve in a few years -much more success than the slow uphill work of professional journalism -or literature would bring you in a whole decade. With leisure and -popularity you could then achieve such literary work as you could not -think of attempting now. As for me, if I succeed in becoming independent -of journalism in another ten years, I shall be luckier than men of much -greater talent,--such as Bayard Taylor. - - Believe me, as ever, yours, - L. HEARN. - - - TO REV. WAYLAND D. BALL - - NEW ORLEANS, June, 1883. - -MY DEAR FRIEND,--You have been very kind indeed to give me so pleasant -an introduction to your personality;--I already feel as if we were more -intimate, as if I knew you better and liked you more. A photograph is -generally a surprise;--in your case it was not;--you are very much as I -fancied you were--only more so. - -I read with pleasure your article. The introduction was especially -powerful. I must now, however, tell you frankly what I think would be -most to your interest. When I wrote before I had no definite idea as to -the scope or plan of your essay, nor did I know the _Inter-Ocean_ -desired it. Now I think it your duty to give the next article to that -paper,--as the first is incomplete without it. It does not contain more -than the parallel. However, the publication of your writing in the -_Inter-Ocean_, even though unremunerative, will do you vastly more good -than would the publication in our paper at a small price. The -_Inter-Ocean_ circulation is very large; and you must be advertised. -It is not necessary to seek it, but it would be unwise to refuse -it. In the mean time I shall call attention to you in our columns -occasionally,--briefly of course. I only proposed _T.-D._ with the idea -you might have need of a medium to publish your opinions and ideas. But -so long as the _Inter-Ocean_ takes an interest in you,--even without -compensating you,--you have a right to congratulate yourself, as you are -only beginning to make your voice heard in the wilderness. I shall bring -your paper to Page Baker to-night,--who has just returned to town. Will -send photo when I write again. - -I would scarcely advise you to quote from my book. I am still too small -a figure to attract any attention; and I think it would be best for you -only to cite generally recognized authorities. Needless to say that I -should feel greatly honoured and very grateful; but I think it would not -be strictly to your interest to notice me until such time as I am -recognized as a thinker, if such time shall ever arrive. With you it is -very different;--your _cloth_--as we say in England--gives every gamin -the right to review and praise you as a public teacher. - - Yours very affectionately, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO W. D. O'CONNOR - - NEW ORLEANS, February, 1883. - -DEAR SIR,--Mr. Page M. Baker, managing editor of the _Times-Democrat_, -to whose staff I belong, handed me your letter relative to the article -on Gustave Dore--stating at the same time that it seemed to him the -handsomest compliment ever paid to my work. I hasten to confirm the -statement, and to thank you very sincerely for that delicate and -nevertheless magistral criticism; for no one could have uttered a more -forcible compliment in fewer words. As the author of a little volume of -translations from Theophile Gautier I received a number of very -encouraging and gratifying letters from Eastern literary men; but I must -say that your letter upon my editorial gave me more pleasure than all of -them, especially, perhaps, as manifesting an artistic sympathy with me -in my admiration for the man whom I believe to have been the mightiest -of modern artists. - - Very gratefully and sincerely yours, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO W. D. O'CONNOR - - NEW ORLEANS, March, 1883. - -MY DEAR MR. O'CONNOR,--My delay in answering your charming letter was -unavoidable, as I have been a week absent from the city upon an -excursion to the swampy regions of southern Louisiana, in company with -Harpers' artist, for whom I am writing a series of Southern sketches. As -I am already on good terms with the Harpers, your delicate letter to -them cannot have failed to do me far more good than would have been the -case had I been altogether unknown. I don't know how to thank you, but -trust that I may yet have the pleasure of trying to do so verbally, if -you ever visit New Orleans. - -Your books came to hand; and do great credit to your skill--I am myself -a compositor and have held the office of proof-reader in a large -publishing house, where I tried to establish an English system of -punctuation with indifferent success. Thus I can appreciate the work. As -yet I have not had time to read much of the report, but as the -Life-Saving Service has a peculiar intrinsic interest I will expect to -find much to enjoy in the report before long. - -You are partly right about Gautier, and, I think, partly wrong. His idea -of work was to illustrate with a mosaic of rare and richly-coloured -words. But there is a wonderful tenderness, a nervous sensibility of -feeling, an Oriental sensuousness of warmth in his creations which I -like better than Victor Hugo's marvellous style. Hugo, like the grand -Goth that he is, liked the horrible, the grotesqueness of tragic -mediaevalism. Gautier followed the Greek ideal so potently presented in -Lessing's "Laocooen," and sought the beautiful only. His poetry is, I -believe, matchless in French literature--an engraved gem-work of words. -Well, you can judge for yourself a little, by reading his two remarkable -prose-fantasies--"Arria Marcella" and "Clarimonde"--in my translations -of him, which you will receive from New York in a few days. Something -evaporates in translation of course, and as the book was my first -effort, there will be found divers inaccuracies and errors therein; but -enough remains to give some idea of Gautier's imaginative powers and -descriptive skill. Will also forward you paper you ask for. - -I regret having to write very hurriedly, as I have a great press of work -upon my hands. You will hear from me again, however, more fully. A -letter to my address as above given will reach me sooner than if sent to -the _Times-Democrat_ office. - - Very gratefully your friend, - L. HEARN. - - - TO W. D. O'CONNOR - - NEW ORLEANS, August, 1883. - -MY DEAR MR. O'CONNOR,--I had feared that I had lost a rare literary -friend. Your charming letter undeceived me, and your equally charming -present revealed you to me in a totally new light. I had imagined you as -a delicate amateur only: I did not recognize in you a Master. And after -I had read your two articles,--articles written in a fashion realizing -my long-cherished dream of English in splendid Latin attire,--I felt -quite ashamed of my own work. You have a knowledge, too, of languages -unfamiliar to me, which I honestly envy, and which is becoming -indispensable in the higher spheres of literary criticism--I mean a -knowledge of Italian and German. As for your long silence, it only -remains for me to say that your letter filled me with that sympathy -which, in certain sad moments, expresses itself only by a silent and -earnest pressure of the hand,--because any utterance would sound -strangely hollow, like an echo in some vast dim emptiness. - -Your beautiful little book came like a valued supplement to an edition -of "Leaves of Grass" in my library. I have always _secretly_ admired -Whitman, and would have liked on more than one occasion to express my -opinion in public print. But in journalism this is not easy to do. There -is no possibility of praising Whitman unreservedly in the ordinary -newspaper, whose proprietors always tell you to remember that their -paper "goes into respectable families," or accuse you of loving obscene -literature if you attempt controversy. Journalism is not really a -literary profession. The journalist of to-day is obliged to hold himself -ready to serve any cause,--like the _condottieri_ of feudal Italy, or -the free captains of other countries. If he can enrich himself -sufficiently to acquire comparative independence in this really -_nefarious_ profession, then, indeed, he is able freely to utter his -heart's sentiments and indulge his tastes, like that aesthetic and wicked -Giovanni Malatesta whose life Yriarte has written. - -I do not think that I could ever place so lofty an estimate upon the -poet's work, however, as you give,--although no doubt rests in my mind -as to your critical superiority. I think that Genius must have greater -attributes than mere creative power to be called to the front rank,--the -thing created must be beautiful; it does not satisfy me if the material -be rich. I cannot content myself with ores and rough jewels. I want to -see the gold purified and wrought into marvellous fantastic shapes; I -want to see the jewels cut into roses of facets, or turned as by Greek -cunning into faultless witchery of nude loveliness. And Whitman's gold -seems to me in the ore: his diamonds and emeralds in the rough. Would -Homer be Homer to us but for the billowy roar of his mighty verse,--the -perfect cadence of his song that has the regularity of ocean-diapason? I -think not. And did not all the Titans of antique literature polish their -lines, chisel their words, according to severest laws of art? Whitman's -is indeed a Titanic voice; but it seems to me the voice of the giant -beneath the volcano,--half stifled, half uttered,--roaring betimes -because articulation is impossible. - -Beauty there is, but it must be sought for; it does not flash out from -hastily turned leaves: it only comes to one after full and thoughtful -perusal, like a great mystery whose key-word may only be found after -long study. But the reward is worth the pain. That beauty is -cosmical--it is world-beauty;--there is something of the antique -pantheism in the book, and something larger too, expanding to the stars -and beyond. What most charms me, however, is that which is most earthy -and of the earth. I was amused at some of the criticisms--especially -that in the _Critic_--to the effect that Mr. Whitman might have some -taste for natural beauty, etc., _as an animal has_! Ah! that was a fine -touch! Now it is just the animalism of the work which constitutes its -great force to me--not a brutal animalism, but a _human_ animalism, such -as the thoughts of antique poets reveal to us: the inexplicable delight -of being, the intoxication of perfect health, the unutterable pleasures -of breathing mountain-wind, of gazing at a blue sky, of leaping into -clear deep water and drifting with a swimmer's dreamy confidence down -the current, with strange thoughts that drift faster. Communion with -Nature teaches philosophy to those who love that communion; and Nature -imposes silence sometimes, that we may be forced to think:--the men of -the plains say little. "You don't feel like talking out there," I heard -one say: "the silence makes you silent." Such a man could not tell us -just what he thought under that vastness, in the heart of that silence: -but Whitman tells us for him. And he also tells us what we ought to -think, or to remember, about things which are not of the wilderness but -of the city. He is an animal, if the _Critic_ pleases, but a human -animal--not a camel that weeps and sobs at the sight of the city's -gates. He is rude, joyous, fearless, artless,--a singer who knows -nothing of musical law, but whose voice is as the voice of Pan. And in -the violent magnetism of the man, the great vital energy of his work, -the rugged and ingenuous kindliness of his speech, the vast joy of his -song, the discernment by him of the Universal Life,--I cannot help -imagining that I perceive something of the antique sylvan deity, the -faun or the satyr. Not the distorted satyr of modern cheap classics: but -the ancient and godly one, "inseparably connected with the worship of -Dionysus," and sharing with that divinity the powers of healing, saving, -and foretelling, not less than the orgiastic pleasures over which the -androgynous god presided. - -I see great beauty in Whitman, great force, great cosmical truths sung -of in mystical words; but the singer seems to me nevertheless -_barbaric_. You have called him a bard. He is! But his bard-songs are -like the improvisations of a savage skald, or a forest Druid: immense -the thought! mighty the words! but the music is wild, harsh, rude, -primaeval. I cannot believe it will endure as a great work endures: I -cannot think the bard is a creator, but only a precursor--only the voice -of one crying in the wilderness--_Make straight the path for the Great -Singer who is to come after me!_... And therefore even though I may -differ from you in the nature of my appreciation of Whitman I love the -soul of his work, and I think it a duty to give all possible aid and -recognition to his literary priesthood. Whatsoever you do to defend, to -elevate, to glorify his work you do for the literature of the future, -for the cause of poetical liberty, for the cause of mental freedom. Your -book is doubly beautiful to me, therefore: and I believe it will endure -to be consulted in future times, when men shall write the "History of -the Literary Movement of 1900," as men have already written the -"Histoire du Romantisme." - -I don't think you missed very much of my work in the _T.-D._ I have not -been doing so well. The great heat makes one's brain languid, barren, -dusty. Then I have been making desperate efforts to do some magazine -work. Thanks for your praise of "The Pipes of Hameline." I wish, indeed, -that I could drag myself out of this newspaper routine,--even though -slowly, like a turtle struggling over uneven ground. Journalism dwarfs, -stifles, emasculates thought and style. As for my translation of -Gautier, it has many grave errors I am ashamed of, but it is not -castrated. My pet stories in it are "Clarimonde" and "Arria Marcella." - -Victor Hugo was indeed the Arthur of the Romantic Movement, and Gautier -was but one of his knights, though the best of them--a Lancelot. I think -his "Emaux et Camees" surpass Hugo's work in word-chiselling, in -goldsmithery; but Hugo's fancy overarches all, like the vault of the -sky. His prose is like the work of Angelo--the paintings in the Sistine -Chapel, the figures described by Emilio Castelar as painted by flashes -of lightning. He is one of those who appear but once in five hundred -years. Gautier is not upon Hugo's level. But while Hugo wrought like a -Gothic sculptor, largely, weirdly, wondrously, Gautier could create -mosaics of word-jewelry without equals. The work is small, delicate, -elfish: it will endure as long as the French language, even though it -figure in the Hugo architecture only as arabesque-work or stained glass -or inlaid pavement. - -Oh yes! you will catch it for those articles! you will have the fate of -every champion of an unpopular cause,--thorns at every turn, which may -turn into roses. - -I hope to see you some day. Will always have time to write. Sometimes my -letter may be short; but not often. Believe me, sincerely, - - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO JOHN ALBEE - - NEW ORLEANS, 1883. - -DEAR SIR,--Your very kind letter, forwarded to me by Mr. Worthington, -was more of an encouragement and comfort than you, perhaps, even -desired. One naturally launches his first literary effort with fear and -trembling; and at such a time kind or unkind words may have a lasting -effect upon his future hopes and aims. - -The little stories were translated five years ago, in the intervals of -rest possible to snatch during reportorial duty on a Western paper. I -was then working fourteen hours a day. Subsequently I was four years -vainly seeking a publisher. - -Naturally enough, the stories are not even now all that I could wish -them to be; but I trust that before long I may escape so far from the -treadmill of daily newspaper labour as to produce something better in -point of literary execution. It has long been my aim to create something -in English fiction analogous to that warmth of colour and richness of -imagery hitherto peculiar to Latin literature. Being of a meridional -race myself, a Greek, I _feel_ rather with the Latin race than with the -Anglo-Saxon; and trust that with time and study I may be able to create -something different from the stone-grey and somewhat chilly style of -latter-day English or American romance. - -This may seem only a foolish hope,--unsubstantial as a ghost; but with -youth, health and such kindly encouragement as you have given me, I -believe that it may yet be realized. Of course a little encouragement -from the publishers will also be necessary. Believe me very gratefully -yours, - - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, September, 1883. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--I trust you will be able to read the hideously written -music I sent you in batches,--according as I could find leisure to copy -it. The negro songs are taken from a most extraordinary book translated -into French from the Arabic, and published at Paris by a geographical -society. The author was one of those errant traders who travel yearly -through the desert to the Soudan, and beyond into Timbuctoo -occasionally, to purchase slaves and elephants' teeth from those almost -unknown Arab sultans or negro kings who rule the black ant-hills of -Central Africa. I have only yet obtained the great volume relating to -Ouaday; the volume on Darfour is coming. Perron, the learned translator, -in his "Femmes Arabes" (published at Algiers), gives some curious -chapters on ancient Arab music which I must try to send you one of these -days. The Japanese book--a rather costly affair printed in gold and -colours--is rapidly becoming scarce. I expect soon to have some Hindoo -music; as I have a subscription for a library of folk-lore and folk-lore -music of all nations, of which only 17 volumes are published so -far--Elzevirians. These mostly relate to Europe, and contain much -Breton, Provencal, Norman, and other music. But there will be several -volumes of Oriental popular songs, etc. Some day, I was thinking, we -might together get up a little volume on the musical legends of all -nations, introducing each legend by appropriate music. - -I have nearly finished a collection of Oriental stories from all sorts -of queer sources,--the Sanscrit, Buddhist, Talmudic, Persian, -Polynesian, Finnish literatures, etc.,--which I shall try to publish. -But their having been already in print will militate against them. - -Couldn't get a publisher for the fantastics, and I am, after all, glad -of it; for I feel somewhat ashamed of them now. I have saved a few of -the best pieces, which will be rewritten at some future time if I -succeed in other matters. Another failure was the translation of -Flaubert's "Temptation of Saint Anthony," which no good publisher seems -inclined to undertake. The original is certainly one of the most -exotically strange pieces of writing in any language, and weird beyond -description. Some day I may take a notion to print it myself. At present -I am also busy with a dictionary of Creole Proverbs (this is a secret), -four hundred or more of which I have arranged; and, by the way, I have -quite a Creole library, embracing the Creole dialects of both -hemispheres. I have likewise obtained favour with two firms, Harpers', -and Scribners'--both of whom have recently promised to consider -favourably anything I choose to send in. You see I have my hands full; -and an enormous mass of undigested matter to assimilate and crystallize -into something. - -So much about myself, in reply to your question.... Your Armenian legend -was very peculiar indeed. There is nothing exactly like it either in -Baring-Gould's myths ("Mountain of Venus") or Keightley's "Fairy -Mythology," or any of the Oriental folk-lore I have yet seen. The -ghostly sweetheart is a universal idea, and the phantom palace also; but -the biting of the finger is a delightful novelty. Many thanks for the -pretty little tale. - -I don't think you will see me in New York this winter. I shudder at the -bare idea of cold. Speak to me of blazing deserts, of plains smoking -with volcanic vapours, of suns ten times larger, and vast lemon-coloured -moons,--and venomous plants that writhe like vipers and strangle like -boas,--and clouds of steel-blue flies,--and skeletons polished by -ants,--and atmospheres heavy as those of planets nearer to the solar -centre!--but hint not to me of ice and slush and snow and black-frost -winds. Why can't you come down to see me? I'll show you nice music: I'll -enable you to note down the musical cries of the Latin-faced venders of -herbs and _gombo feve_ and _calas_ and _latanir_ and _patates_. - -If you can't come, I'll try to see you next spring or summer; but I -would rather be whipped with scorpions than visit a Northern city in the -winter months. In fact few residents here would dare to do it,--unless -well used to travelling. Some day I must write something about the -physiological changes produced here by climate. In an article I wrote -for _Harper's_ six months ago, and which ought to appear soon (as I was -paid for it), you will observe some brief observations on the subject; -but the said subject is curious enough to write a book about. By the -way, I have become scientific--I write nearly all the scientific -editorials for our paper, which you sometimes see, no doubt. Farney -ought to spend a few months here: it would make him crazy with joy to -perceive those picturesquenesses which most visitors never see. - -I thought I would go to Cincinnati next week or so; but I'm afraid it's -too cold now. If I do go, I'll write you. - -As to your protest about correspondence, I think you're downright wrong; -but I won't renew the controversy. Anyhow I suppose we keep track of -each other, with affectionate curiosity. I am quite sorry you missed my -friend Page Baker: he is a splendid type,--you would have become fast -friends at once. Never mind, though! if you ever come down here, we'll -make you enjoy yourself in earnest. Please excuse this rambling letter. - - Your Creolized friend, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - -P. S. By the bye, have you the original music of the Muezzin's call,--as -called by the first of all Muezzins, Bilal the Abyssinian, to whom it -was taught by Our Lord Mohammed? Bilal the black Abyssinian, whose voice -was the mightiest and sweetest in Islam. In those first days, Bilal was -persecuted as the slave of the persecuted Prophet of God. And in the -"Gulistan," it is told how he suffered. But after Our Lord had departed -into the chamber of Allah,--and the tawny horsemen of the desert had -ridden from Medina even to the gates of India, conquering and to -conquer,--and the young crescent of Islam, slender as a sword, had waxed -into a vast moon of glory that filled the world,--Bilal still lived with -that wonderful health of years given unto the people of his race. But he -only sang for the Kalif. And the Kalif was Omar. So, one day, it came to -pass, that the people of Damascus, whither Omar had travelled upon a -visit, begged the Caliph, saying: "O Commander of the Faithful, we pray -thee that thou ask Bilal to sing the call to prayer for us, even as it -was taught him by Our Lord Mohammed." And Omar requested Bilal. Now -Bilal was nearly a century old; but his voice was deep and sweet as -ever. And they aided him to ascend the minaret. Then, into the midst of -the great silence burst once more the mighty African voice of -Bilal,--singing the _Adzan_, even as it has still been sung for more -than twelve hundred years from all the minarets of Islam: - - "God is Great! - God is Great! - I bear witness there is no other God but God! - I bear witness that Mohammed is the Prophet of God! - Come to Prayer! - Come to Prayer! - Come unto Salvation! - God is Great! - God is Great! - There is no other God but God!" - -And Omar wept and all the people with him. - -This is an outline. I'd like to have the music of that. Sent to London -for it, and couldn't get it. - - L. H. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1883. - -I'm so delighted with that music that I don't know what to do. - -First, I went to my friend Grueling, the organist, and got him to play -and sing it. "It is very queer," he said; "but it seems to me like -chants I've heard some of these negroes sing." Then I took it to a -piano-player, and he played it for me. Then I went to a cornet-player--I -think the cornet gives the best idea of the sound of a tenor voice--and -he played it exquisitely, beautifully. Those arabesques about the name -of Allah are simply divine! I noticed the difference clearly. The second -version seems suspended, as a song eternal,--something never to be -finished so long as waves sing and winds call, and worlds circle in -space. So I thought of Edwin Arnold's lines:-- - - "Suns that burn till day has flown, - Stars that are by night restored, - _Are thy dervishes_, O Lord, - _Wheeling_ round thy golden throne!" - -I believe I'll use both songs. The suspended character of the second has -a great and pathetic poetry in it. Please tell me in your next letter -what kind of voice Bilal ought to have--being a woolly-headed -Abyssinian. I suppose I'll have to make him a tenor. I can't imagine a -basso making those flourishes about the name of the Eternal. - -Next week I'll send you selections of Provencal and other music which I -believe are new. My library is very fine. I have a collection worth a -great deal of money which you would like to see. - -If you ever come down here, you could stay with me nicely, and have a -pleasant artistic time. - - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO H.E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, October, 1883. - -MY DEAR KREHBIEL,--I have been too sick with a strangling cold to write -as I had wished, or to copy for you something for which I had already -obtained the music-paper. Nevertheless I am going to ask another favour. -I hope you can find time to copy separately for me the Arabic words of -the _Adzan_: I prefer Villoteau. As for Koran-reading, it would delight -me; but please give me the number of the _sura_, or chapter, from which -the words are taken. - -My article on Bilal is progressing: the second part being complete. I am -dividing it into four Sections. But I do not feel quite so hopeful now -as I did before. Magazine-writing is awful labour. Six weeks at least -are required to prepare an article, and then the probability is that the -magazine editor will make beastly changes: my article on Cable suffered -at his hands. The Harpers change nothing; but they keep an article over -for twelve months and more. One of mine is not yet published. I have -been hoping that if my "Bilal" takes, you might follow it up with an -article on Arabic music generally: the open letter department of -_Scribner's_ pays well, and the Harpers pay even better. I would like to -see you with a series, which could afterward be united into a volume: -you could copyright each one. This is only a suggestion. - -I will not make much use of the Koran-reading in "Bilal:" I want to -leave that wholly to you. I feel even guilty for borrowing your pithy -and forcible observation upon the _cantillado_. - -If you have a chance to visit some of your public libraries, please see -whether they have Maisonneuve's superb series: "Les Litteratures -populaires de toutes les nations." I have fourteen volumes of it, rich -in musical oddities. If they have it not, I will send you extracts from -time to time. Also see if they have _Melusine_: my volume of it (1878) -contains the music of a Greek dance, older than the friezes of the -Parthenon. Of course, if you can see them, it will be better than the -imperfect copying of an ignoramus in music like me. - -I grossly offended a Creole musician the other day. He denied _in toto_ -the African sense of melody. "But," said I, "did you not tell me that -you spent hours trying to imitate the notes of a roustabout-song on your -flute?" "I did," he replied, "but not because it pleased me--only -because I was curious to learn why I could not imitate it: it still -baffles me, but it is nevertheless an abomination to my ear!" "Nay!" -said I, "it hath a most sweet sound to me; and to the ethnologist a most -fascinating interest. Verily, I would rather listen to it, than hear a -symphony of Beethoven!" ... Whereupon he walked away in high fury; and -now ... he speaketh to me no more! - - Yours very thankfully, - L. HEARN. - -[Illustration] - - - TO H.E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1883. - -MY DEAR KREHBIEL,--There is nothing in magazine-work in the way of -profit; for the cent-a-word pay does not really recompense the labour -required: but the magazines introduce one to publishers, and publishers -select men to write their books. Magazine-work is the introduction to -book-work; and book-work pays doubly--in money and reputation. I hope to -climb up slowly this way--it takes time, but offers a sure issue. You -could do so much more rapidly. - -I find in my Oriental catalogues "Villoteau--_Memoire sur la Musique de -l'antique Egypte._--Paris: Maisonneuve & Cie, 1883 (15 fr.)." Wonder if -you have the work in any of your public libraries. If you have not, and -you would like to get it, I can obtain it from Paris duty-free next -time I write to Maisonneuve, from whom I am obtaining a great number of -curious books. - -You must have noticed in the papers the real or pretended discovery of -an ancient Egyptian melody,--the notes being represented by owls -ascending and descending the musical scale. Hope you will get to see it. -I have been thinking that we might some day, together, work up a -charming collection of musical legends: each legend followed by a -specimen-melody, with learned dissertation by H. Edward Krehbiel. But -that will be for the days when we shall be "well-known and highly -esteemed authors." I think I could furnish some singular folk-lore. - -Meanwhile "Bilal" has been finished. I wrote to _Harper's -Magazine_;--the article was returned with a very complimentary autograph -letter from Alden, praising it warmly, but recommending its being -offered to the _Atlantic_, as he did not know when he could "find room -for it." Find room for it! Ah, bah!... I am sorry: because I had written -him about your share in it, and hoped, if successful, it would tempt him -to write you. It is now in the hands of another magazine. I used your -Koran-fragment in the form of a musical footnote. - -I notice you called it a "brick." Are you sure this is the correct word? -Each _sura_ (or chapter) indeed signifies a "course of bricks in a -wall;" but also signifies "a rank of soldiers"--and the verses, which -were never numbered in the earlier MSS., are so irregular that the -poetry of the term "brick" could scarcely apply to them. However, I may -be wrong. - -I was delighted with your delight, as expressed in your beautiful letter -upon the Hebrew ceremonial. Hebrew literature has been my hobby for some -time past: I have Hershon's "Talmudic Miscellany;" Stauben's "Scenes de -la Vie Juive" (full of delicious traditions); Kompert's "Studies of -Jewish Life," which you have no doubt read in the original German; and -Schwab's French translation of the beginning of the Jerusalem Talmud -(together with the Babylonian Berachoth), 5 vols. I confess the latter -is, as a whole, unreadable; but the legends in it are without parallel -in weirdness and singularity. Such miscellaneous reading of this sort as -I have done has given new luminosity to my ideas of the antique Hebrew -life; and enabled me to review them without the gloom of Biblical -tradition,--especially the nightmarish darkness of the Pentateuch. I -like to associate Hebrew ceremonies rather with the wonderful Talmudic -days of the Babylonian rabbonim than with the savage primitiveness of -the years of Exodus and Deuteronomy. There are some queer things about -music in the Talmud; but they are sometimes extravagant as that story -about the conch-shell blown at the birth of Buddha--"where of the sound -_rolled on unceasingly for four years_!" The swarthy fishermen of our -swampy lakes do blow conch-shells by way of marine signalling; and -whenever I hear them I think of that monstrous conch-shell told of in -the Nid[=a]nakath[=a]. - -As I write it seemeth to me that I behold, overshadowing the paper, the -most Dantesque silhouette of one who walked with me the streets of the -far-off Western city by night, and with whom I exchanged ghostly fancies -and phantom hopes. Now in New York! How the old night-forces have been -scattered! But is it not pleasant to observe that the members of the -broken circle have been mounting higher and higher toward the supreme -hope? Perhaps we may all meet some day in the East; whence as legendary -word hath it--"lightning ever cometh." Remember me very warmly to my old -comrade Tunison. - -But I think it more probable I shall see you here than that you -shall see me there. New York has become something appalling -to my imagination--perhaps because I have been drawing my ideas -of it from caricatures: something cyclopean without solemnity, -something pandemoniac without grotesqueness,--preadamite -bridges,--superimpositions of iron roads higher than the aqueducts of -the Romans,--gloom, vapour, roarings and lightnings. When I think of it, -I feel more content with my sunlit marshes,--and the frogs,--and the -gnats,--and the invisible plagues lurking in visible vapours,--and the -ancientness,--and the vast languor of the land. Even our vegetation -here, funereally drooping in the great heat, seems to dream of dead -things--to mourn for the death of Pan. After a few years here the spirit -of the land has entered into you,--and the languor of the place embraces -you with an embrace that may not be broken;--thoughts come slowly, ideas -take form sluggishly as shapes of smoke in heavy air; and a great -horror of work and activity and noise and bustle roots itself within -your soul,--I mean brain. Soul = Cerebral Activity = Soul. - -I am afraid you have read the poorest of Cable's short stories. "Jean-ah -Poquelin," "Belles-Demoiselles," are much better than "Tite Poulette." -There is something very singular to me in Cable's power. It is not a -superior style; it is not a minutely finished description--for it will -often endure no close examination at all: nevertheless his stories have -a puissant charm which is hard to analyze. His serial novel--"The -Grandissimes"--is not equal to the others; but I think the latter -portion of "Dr. Sevier" will surprise many. He did me the honour to read -nearly the whole book to me. Cultivate him, if you get a chance. - -Baker often talks with me about you. You would never have any difficulty -in obtaining a fine thing here. Perhaps you will be the reverse of -flattered by this bit of news; but the proprietors here think they can -make the _T.-D._ a bigger paper than it is, and rival the Eastern -dailies. For my part I hope they will do it; but they lack system, -experience, and good men, to some extent. Now good men are not easily -tempted to cast their fortunes here at present. It will be otherwise in -time; the city is really growing into a metropolis,--a world's market -for merchants of all nations,--and will be made healthier and more -beautiful year by year. - -Good-bye for the present. - - Your very sincere friend, - L. HEARN. - - - TO W. D. O'CONNOR - - NEW ORLEANS, 1883. - -MY DEAR O'CONNOR,--I felt the same regret on finishing your letter that -I have often experienced on completing a brief but delightful novelette: -I wanted more,--and yet I had come to the end!... Your letters are all -treasured up;--they are treats, and one atones for years of silence. My -dear friend, you must never trouble yourself to write when you feel -either tired or disinclined: when I think I have the power to interest -you, I will always take advantage of it, without expecting you to write. -I know what routine is, and what weariness is; and some day I think we -shall meet, and arrange for a still more pleasant intimacy. - -Your preference for Boutimar pleases me: Boutimar was my pet. There is a -little Jewish legend in the collection--Esther--somewhat resembling it -in pathos. - -Your observation about my knowledge is something I cannot accept; for in -positive acquirements I am even exceptionally ignorant. By purchasing -queer books and following odd subjects I have been able to give myself -the air of knowing more than I do; but none of my work would bear the -scrutiny of a specialist; I would like, however, to show you my library. -It cost me only about $2000; but every volume is _queer_. Knowing that I -have nothing resembling genius, and that any ordinary talent must be -supplemented with some sort of curious study in order to place it above -the mediocre line, I am striving to woo the Muse of the Odd, and hope -to succeed in thus attracting some little attention. This coming summer -I propose making my first serious effort at original work--a very tiny -volume of sketches in our Creole archipelago at the skirts of the Gulf. -I am seeking the Orient at home, among our Lascar and Chinese colonies, -and the Prehistoric in the characteristics of strange European settlers. - -The trouble kindly taken by you in transcribing the little words of -praise by a lady was more than compensated by the success of its -purpose, I fancy. The only pleasure, indeed, that an author derives from -his labours is that of hearing such commendations from appreciative or -sympathetic readers. Your sending copies "hither and thither" was too -kind; I could scold you for it! Still, the consequences indicated that -the book may some day reach a new edition; and I receive nothing until -the publisher pockets $1000. - -Have you seen the exquisite new edition of Arnold's "Light of Asia"? It -has enchanted me,--perfumed my mind as with the incense of a strangely -new and beautiful worship. After all, Buddhism in some esoteric form may -prove the religion of the future. Is not the cycle of transmigration -actually proven in the vast evolution from nomad to man,--from worm to -King through innumerable myriads of brute form? Is not the tendency of -all modern philosophy toward the acceptance of the ancient Indian -teaching that the visible is but an emanation of the Invisible,--a -delusion,--a creature, or a shadow, of the Supreme Dream? What are the -heavens of all Christian fancies, after all, but Nirvana,--extinction of -individuality in the eternal interblending of man with divinity; for a -bodiless, immaterial, non-sensuous condition means nothingness, and no -more. And the life and agony and death of universes, are these not -pictured forth in the Oriental teachings that all things appear and -disappear alternately with the slumber or the awakening, the night or -the day, of the Self-Existent? Finally, he efforts of Romanes and Darwin -and Vignoli to convince us of the interrelation--the brotherhood of -animals and of men were anticipated by Gautama. I have an idea that the -Right Man could now revolutionize the whole Occidental religious world -by preaching the Oriental faith. - - Very affectionately, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - -If Symonds praises Whitman, I stand reproved for my least doubts; for he -is the very apostle of _classicism_ and _form_. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, December, 1883. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--I greatly enjoyed that sharp, fresh, breezy letter from -Feldwisch, which I re-enclose with thanks for the pleasure given. While -I am greatly delighted with his success, I cannot say I have been -surprised: he possessed such rare and splendid qualities of integrity -and manliness--coupled with uncommon quickness of business -perception--that I would not have been astonished to hear of Congressman -Feldwisch,--always supposing it were possible to be a politician and an -upright member of modern American society,--which is doubtful. Please -let me have his exact address;--I would like to write him once in a -while. - -After all, I believe you are right in regard to magazine-work. I fully -appreciated the effect upon a thoroughbred artist of being asked to -write something flimsy,--ask Liszt to play Yankee Doodle! Our -magazines--excepting the _Atlantic_--do not appear to be controlled by, -or in the interest of, scholars. Fancy how I felt when asked -(indirectly) by the _Century_ to write something "SNAPPY"!--even I, who -am no specialist, and if anything of an artist, only a word-artist in -embryo!... I also suspect you are correct in your self-interest: your -_forte_ will never be _light_ work, because your knowledge is too -extensive, and your artistic feeling too deep, to be wasted upon -puerilities. It has always seemed to me that your style gains in solid -strength and beauty as the subject you treat is deeper. To any mind -which has grasped the general spirit and aspect of a science, isolated -facts are worthy of consideration only in their relation to universal -and, perhaps, eternal laws: anecdote for the mere sake of anecdote is -simply unendurable. - -Five years of hard study here have resulted in altogether changing my -own literary inclinations,--yet, unfortunately, to no immediate purpose -that I can see; for I must always remain too ignorant to succeed as a -specialist in any one topic. But a romantic fact--the possession of -which would have driven me wild with joy a few years ago, or even one -year ago, perhaps--now affects me not at all unless I can perceive its -relation to some general principle to be elucidated. And the mere ideas -and melody of a poem seem to me of small moment unless the complex laws -of versification be strictly obeyed. Hence I feel no inclination to -attempt a story or sketch unless I can find some theme of which the -treatment might do more than gratify fancy. Unless a romance be -instructive,--or inaugurate a totally novel style,--I think it can have -no lasting value. The old enthusiasm has completely died out of me. But -meanwhile I am trying to fill my brain with unfamiliar facts on special -topics, believing that some day or other I shall be able to utilize them -in a new way. I have thought, for example, of trying to write -physiological novelettes or stories,--based upon scientific facts in -regard to races and characters, but nevertheless of the most romantic -aspect possible: natural but never naturalistic. Still, I am so fully -conscious that this idea has been suggested by popular foreign -novelists, that I fear it may prove merely a passing ambition. - -Another great affliction is my inability to travel. I hate the life of -every day in connection with any idea of story-writing: I would give -anything to be a literary Columbus,--to discover a Romantic America in -some West Indian or North African or Oriental region,--to describe the -life that is only fully treated of in universal geographies or -ethnological researches. Won't you sympathize with me?... If I could -only become a Consul at Bagdad, Algiers, Ispahan, Benares, Samarkand, -Nippo, Bangkok, Ninh-Binh,--or any part of the world where ordinary -Christians do not like to go! Here is the nook in which my romanticism -still hides. But I know I have not the physical qualifications to fit me -for such researches, nor the linguistic knowledge required to make such -researches valuable. I suppose I shall have to settle down at last to -something horribly prosaic, and even devoid of philosophic interest.... -Alas! O that I were a travelling shoemaker, or a player upon the -sambuke! - -I have two--nay three--projects sown: the seed has not yet sprouted. I -expressed to Harpers' a little Dictionary of Creole Proverbs--a mere -compilation, of course, from many unfamiliar sources; "Bilal" is under -consideration at the _Century_ (where, I fear, they will cut up every -sentence which clashes with Baptist ideas on the sinfulness of Islam); -and my compilation of Oriental stories is being "seriously examined" by -J. R. Osgood & Co.... - -This letter is getting wearisome; but I don't know how soon I can again -snatch time to write.... Ah yes!--for God's sake (I suppose you believe -just a small bit in God) don't try to conceive how I could sympathize -with Cable! Because I never sympathized with him at all. His awful -faith--which to me represents an undeveloped mental structure--gives a -neutral tint to his whole life among us. There is a Sunday-school -atmosphere.... But Cable is more liberal-minded than his creed; he has -also rare analytical powers on a small scale.... Belief I do not think -is ridiculous altogether;--nothing is ridiculous in the general order of -the world: but at a certain point it prevents the mind from -expanding;--its horizon is solid stone and its sky a material vault. One -must cease to believe before being able to comprehend either the reason -or beauty of belief. The loss is surely well recompensed by the vast -enlargement of vision--the opening up of the Star-spaces,--the -recognition of the Eternal Life throbbing simultaneously in the vein of -an insect or the scintillations of a million suns,--the comprehension of -the relations of Infinity to human existence, or at least the -understanding that there are such relations,--and that the humblest atom -of substance can tell a story more wondrous than all the epics, -romances, legends, or myths devised by ancient or modern fancy.--Now I -am getting long-winded again. I conclude with a promise soon to forward -another little bit of queer music. Hope you like the last. Come down -here and I will turn you loose in my library. I need hardly specify that -if you come, your natural expenses will be represented by 0,--that is, -if you condescend to live in my neighbourhood. It is not romantic; but -it is comfortable. I'm sick of Creole Romance--it nearly cost me my -life. - -Bye, my friend. - - Your old goblin, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, February, 1884. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--I hope you may prove right and I wrong in my judgement -of ----. As you say, I have a peculiar and unfortunate disposition; -nevertheless I had better reasons for my suggestions to you than it is -now necessary to specify. - -Your syrinx discoveries seem to me of very uncommon importance. What is -now important to learn is this: Is the syrinx an original instrument in -those regions whence the American and West Indian slave-elements were -drawn?--an account of which slave-sources is to be found in Edwards's -"History of the West Indies." The Congo dances with their music are -certainly importations from the West Coast--the Ivory Coast. Have you -seen Livingstone's account of the multiple pipe (_chalumeau_, Hartmann -calls it in French) among the Batokas? I would like to know if it is a -syrinx. We have no big public libraries here; but if you have time to -make some West African researches, one could perhaps trace out the whole -history of the syrinx's musical migration. I send you the latest -information I have been able to pick up. Just so soon as I can get the -material ready, will send also information regarding the various West -Indian dances in brief--also the negro-Creole bottle-dance, danced over -an upright bottle to the chant-- - - "Ca ma coupe,-- - Ca ma coupe,-- - Ca ma coupe,-- - Ca! - - Ca ma coupe,-- - Ca ma coupe,-- - Ca ma coupe,-- - Ca!" - -I've reopened the envelope to tell you something I forgot--a suggestion. - -I was quite pleased to hear you like my Chinese paragraph; and I have a -little proposition. Do you know that a most delightful book was recently -published in France, consisting wholly of odd impressions about strange -books and strange people exchanged between friends by mail. Each -impression should be very brief. Why couldn't we do this: Once every -month I'll write you the queerest and most outlandish fancy I can get -up--based upon fact, of course--not more than two hundred words; and you -write me the most awful thing that has struck you in relation to new -musical discoveries. In a year's time we would have twenty-four little -pieces between us, which would certainly be original enough to elaborate -into more artistic form; and we could plot together how to outrage the -public by printing them. I would contribute $100 or so--if we couldn't -find an enthusiastic printer. The book would be very small. - -Everything should be perfectly monstrous, you know--ordinary facts, or -ideas that could by any chance occur to commonly-balanced minds, ought -to be rigidly excluded. - -I don't think I can go North till April. March would be too cold for me. -The temptation of hearing grand singers is not now strong,--I'm sorry to -say,--for I never go to the theatre on account of the artificial light, -never read or write after dark; and I anticipate no special pleasure -except that of seeing an old friend, and talking much monstrous talk -about matters which I but half understand. - - Yours very affectionately, - L. HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, February, 1884. - -Extra volume of the series: Price, $500. Large folio. - - THE BATTLE-CRIES OF ALL NATIONS. With accompaniment of Barbaric - instruments. Arranged for modern Orchestral reproduction. - - I. ARYAN DIVISION.--Battle-Shouts of Gothic Races.--Teutoni and - Cimbri--Frank and Alleman--Merovingian--The Roar of - Pharamond. Iberian.--The Triumph of Herman.--Viking - War-Chants.--The Song of Roland as sung by - Taillefer.--Celtic and Early British War-Cries, etc., etc. - - II. SEMITIC DIVISION.--Hebrew War-Cries. "God is gone up with a - shout, the Lord with the sound of the Trumpet."--Arabs and - Crusaders.--"Allah--hu-u-u Akbar!" etc. Berber Cries.--The - Numidian Cavalry. - -(The work also contains Ancient Egyptian, Babylonian, and Scythian -war-cries; war-cries of the Parthians and Huns, of the Mongols and -Tartars. Sounds of the Battle of Chalons; Cries of the Carthaginian -mercenaries; Macedonian rallying-call, etc., etc. In the modern part are -included Polynesian, African, Aztec, Peruvian, Patagonian and American. -A magnificent musical version of the chant of Ragnar Lodbrok will be -found in the Appendix: "We smote with our swords.") - - * * * * * - -(This is not intended as a part of our private extravaganzas: but is -written as a just punishment for your silence.) - - Vol. I. MONOGRAPH UPON THE POPULAR MELODIES OF EXTINCT RACES. - XXIII and 700 pp. - - Vol. II. MUSIC OF NOMAD RACES. Introduction. "Men of Prey; the - Falcon and Eagle Races of Mankind." Part I. The Arabs. - Part II. The Touareg of the Greater Desert. Part III. - The Turkish and Tartar Tribes of Central Asia. With - 1600 examples of melodies, engravings of musical - instruments, etc. - - Vol. III. MANIFESTATION OF CLIMATIC INFLUENCE IN POPULAR MELODY. - In Two Parts. Part I. Melodies of Mountain-dwellers. - Part II. Melodies of Valley dwellers and inhabitants - of low countries. (3379 Ex.) - - Vol. IV. Race-Temper as Evidenced in the Popular Music of Various - Peoples. Part I. The Melancholy Tendency. Part II. The - Joyous Temperament. Part III. Ferocity. Part IV. etc., - etc.,--2700 ex. - - Vol. V. PECULIAR CHARACTERISTICS OF EROTIC MUSIC IN ALL - COUNTRIES. (This volume contains nearly 7000 examples - of curious music from India, Japan, China, Burmah, - Siam, Arabia, Polynesia, Africa, and many other parts - of the world.) - - Vol. VI. MUSIC OF THE DANCE IN THE ORIENT. (3500 pp.) - - Chap. I. The Mussulman Bayaderes of India (17 photolith). - - Chap. II. The Bayaderes of Hinduism--especially of the Krishna - and Sivaite sects. - - Chap. III. Examples of Burmese Dance--music (with 25 photographic - plates). - - Chap. IV. The Tea-house dancers of Japan; and Courtesans of - Yokohama. (34 Photo-Engrav.) - - Chap. V. Chinese dancing melodies. (23 Photo-Engrav.) - - Chap. VI. Tartar dance-melodies: the nomad dancing girls. (50 - beautiful coloured plates.) - - Chap. VII. Circassian and Georgian Dances, with Music. Examples - of Daghestan melodies (49 plates). - - Chap. VIII. Oriental War-Dances (480 melodies). - - Vol. VII. THE WEIRD IN SAVAGE MUSIC (with 169 highly curious - examples). - - Vol. VIII. HISTORY OF CREOLE MUSIC IN THE OCCIDENTAL INDIES. - - Part I. Franco-African Melody, and its ultimate development. (298 - ex.) - - Part II. Spanish. Creole music and the history of its formation - (359 examples of Havanese and other West Indian airs - are given). - - Vol. IX-X-XI. Melodies of African Races. (This highly important - work contains no less than 5000 different melodies, - and a complete description of all African musical - instruments known, illustrated with numerous - engravings.) Price per vol., $27.50. - - Vol. XII. RECONSTRUCTION OF ANTIQUE MELODIES AFTER THE - IRREFUTABLE SCIENTIFIC SYSTEM OF THE GERMAN SCHOOL OF - MUSICAL EVOLUTIONISTS. (By this new process of - anthropological research, it is now possible to - reconstruct a lost melody, precisely as it was - previously possible to affirm the existence of an - extinct species of mammal which left no fossil record - of which we know.) - - Vol. XIII. MAGICAL MELODIES. The music of Apollo and - Orpheus.--The Melodies of Waeinamoeinen.--The - Harp-playing of Merlin the Great.--Exhumation of the - extraordinary Wizard-music referred to in the - Kalewala.--Melodies that petrify.--Melodies that - kill.--Melodies which evoke storms and tempests.--The - Havamal of Odin.--Scandinavian belief in chants which - seduce female virtue.--The Indian legend of - Amaron.--Polynesian magic song.--The thief's song that - lulls to sleep: a musical "hand-of-glory."--The - invocation of demons by song.--Examples of the - melodies which fiends obey.--Songs that bring down - fire from heaven.--Strange Hindoo legend of the singer - consumed by his own song.--The melodies of the greater - magic.--The chants that change the colour of the - Moon.--Deva-music: the conch-shells sounded at the - birth of Buddha.--Notes on the Kalewala legends of - singers who made the sun and moon to pause in heaven - and changed the courses of the stars. - - Vol. XIV. THE MELODIES OF MIGHTY LAMENTATION. Isis and - Osiris.--Demeter and Persephone.--"By the Rivers of - Babylon."--Jeremiah's knowledge of music.--Lamentation - of Thomyris.--The musicians of Shah Jehan, etc. - - Apocalyptic music of the Bible. - - Vol. XV. MOURNING FOR THE DEAD. History of cries of mourning in - all nations.--Description of ancient writers.--Howling - of the women of the Teutoni and Cimbri.--Terror of the - Romans at the hideous sounds. (With 1300 examples of - musical wailing among ancient nations.)--Modern - wailing.--Survival of the Ancient Mourning Cry among - modern peoples.--The Corsican _voceri_.--African - funeral-chants.--Negro-Creole funeral-wail. (_Tout - piti cabri--ca Zoe non ye_).--Irish keening.--Gradual - development of funeral-music, etc., etc. - - Vol. XVI. SONGS OF TRIUMPH.--"Up to the everlasting Gates of - Capitolian Jove."--Triumphal Chants of Rameses and - Thotmes.--Assyrian triumphal marches.--A Tartar - triumph.--Arabian melodies of war-joy, etc., etc. - - - KOROL AR C'HLEZE (The Sword-Dance) - - Ancient dialect of Leon (Bretagne) - - Goad, gwin, ha Korol. - D'id Heol! - Goad, gwin, ha Korol. - - _Tan! tan! dir! oh! dir! tan! tan! dir ha tan! - Tann! tann! tir! ha tonn! tonn! tir ha tir ha tann!_ - - Ha Korol ha Kan, - Kan, ha Kann! - Ha Korol ha Kan. - Tan! tan!... - - Korol ar c'hleze, - Enn eze; - Korol ar c'hleze. - Tan! tan!... - - Kan ar c'hleze glaz - A gar laz; - Kan ar c'hleze glaz. - Tan! tan!... - Kann ar c'hleze gone - Ar Rone! - Kann ar c'hleze gone. - Tan! tan!... - - Kleze! Rone braz - Ar stourmeaz! - Kleze! Rone braz! - Tan! tan!... - - Kaneveden gen - War da benn! - Kaneveden gen! - - _Tan! tan! dir! oh! dir! tan! tan dir ha tan! - Tann! tann! tir! ha tonn! tonn! tann! tir ha tir ha tann!_ - - LITERAL TRANSLATION - - Blood, wine, and dance to thee, O Sun!--blood, wine and dance! - And dance and song, song and battle! dance and song! - The Dance of Swords, in circle!--the dance of swords. - - Song of the Blue Sword that loves murder!--song of the blue sword! - Battle where the Savage Sword is King!--battle of the savage sword! - O Sword!--O great King of the fields of battle!--O Sword! O great King! - Let the Rainbow shine about thy brow!--let the rainbow shine! - -(The chorus is literal in my own translation, or rather metrification!) - -(Rude metrical translation by your most humble servant.) - - CELTIC SWORD-SONG - - Dance, battle-blood and wine, - O Sun, are thine! - Dance, battle-blood, and wine! - _O Fire!--O Fire! - O Steel!--O Steel! - O Fire!--O Fire! - O Steel and Fire! - O Oak!--O Oak! - O Earth!--O Waves! - O Waves!--O Earth! - O Earth and Oak!_ - - The dance-chant and the death-lock - In battle-shock!-- - The dance-chant and the death-lock! - _O Fire!--O Fire! - O Steel!--O Steel!..._ - - The Sword-dance, circling - In a ring!-- - The Sword-dance, circling! - _O Fire! O Fire! - O Steel! O Steel!..._ - - Sing the Slaughter-lover blue - Broad and true! - Sing the Slaughter-lover blue! - _O Fire!--O Fire! - O Steel!--O Steel!..._ - - Battle where the savage Sword - Is sole Lord,-- - Battle of the savage Sword! - _O Fire!--O Fire! - O Steel!--O Steel!..._ - - O Sword! mighty King! - Battle-King! - O Sword! mighty King!... - _O Fire!--O Fire! - O Steel!--O Steel!..._ - - Let the Rainbow's magic rays - Round thee blaze!-- - Let the Rainbow round thee blaze! - _O Fire!--O Fire! - O Steel!--O Steel! - O Fire!--O Fire! - O Steel and Fire! - O Oak!--O Oak! - O Earth!--O Waves! - O Waves!--O Earth! - O Earth and Oak!_ - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, February, 1884. - -DEAR K.,--Charley Johnson's coming down to spend a week with me. I shall -be soon enjoying his Rabelaisian mirth, and his Gargantuesque laughter. -He is going to Havana, and I shall ask him to get, if possible, the -music of the erotic mime-dance,--the Zamacueca of the Creoles. - -I see they are offering prizes for a good opera. Why don't you compose -an opera? I can suggest the most tremendous, colossal, Ragnarockian -subject imaginable--knocks Wagner endwise and all the trilogies: "THE -WOOING OF THE VIRGIN OF POJA," from the "Kalewala." The "Kalewala" is -the only essentially _musical_ epopea I know of. Orpheus is a mere -clumsy charlatan to Wainamoinen and the wooers. The incidents are more -charmingly enormous than anything in the Talmud, Ramayana, or -Mahabharata. O! the old woman who talks to the Moon!--and the wicked -singer who turns all that hear him to stone!--and the phantoms created -by magical chant!--and the songs that make the stars totter in the -frosty sky!--and the melodies that melt the gates of iron! And then, -too, the episode of the Eternal Smith, by whose art the blue vault of -heaven was wrought into shape; and the weird sleigh-ride over the Frozen -Sea; and the words at whose utterance "the waters of the great deep -lifted a thousand heads to listen!" And the story of the Earth-giant, -aroused by magical force from his slumber of innumerable years, to teach -to the Magician the runes by which all things are created,--the -enchanted songs by which the Beginning was made to Begin. If you have -not read it, try to get a _prose_ translation: no poetical version can -preserve the delightful goblinry and elfishness of the original, whereof -the metre rings even as the ringing of a mighty harp. - -I have also a delightful Malay poem which would make a much finer -operatic subject or dramatic subject than the European _feeries_ -modelled upon the Hindoo drama of Sakuntala, or, as my French translator -writes it, _Sacountala_. I have an inexhaustible quarry of monstrous and -diabolical inspiration. - - Yours truly, etc. - -I spend whole days in vocal efforts--vain ones--to imitate those -delicious arabesques about the Name of Allah in the Muezzin's Song,--and -do suddenly awake by night with a Voice in my ears, as of a Summons to -Prayer. Bismillah!--enormous is God! - -(Punishment No. 2) - -_Monograph upon the Music of the Witches' Sabbath._ - -_Dictionary of the Musical Instruments of all Nations._ - -With 50,000 wood engravings. - -_The Musical Legends of All Nations._ - -By H. Ed. Krehbiel and Lafcadio Hearn. Seven Vols. in 8vo, with 100 -chromolithographs and 2000 eau-fortes. Price $300 per vol. 24th edition. - -_On the Howling Dervishes_, and on the melodies of the six other orders -of Dervishes. With music. - -_The Song of the Muezzin in All Moslem Countries._ From Western Morocco -to the Chinese Sea. Nine hundred different Notations of the Chant--with -an Appendix treating of the Chant in the Oases and in the Soudan, as -affected by African influence. Price $8000. - -_Dance-Music of the Ancient Occident_, 1700 Ex. - -_Temple-Melodies of the Ancient and Modern World._ Vol. I, China. Vol. -II, India. Vol III, Rome. Vol. IV, Greece. Vol. V, Egypt, etc. - -(To be continued.) - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, February, 1884. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--Please don't let my importunacy urge you to write when -you have little time and leisure. I only want to hear from you when it -gives you pleasure and kills time. Never mind if I take a temporary -notion to write every day--you know I don't mean to be unreasonable. - -Now, as I have your postal card I'll cease the publication of my -imaginary musical library, and will reserve that exquisite torture for -some future occasion when I shall think you have treated me horribly. -Just so soon as this beastly weather changes I'll go to New York, and -hope you'll be able--say in April--to give me a few days' loafing-time. - -I'm afraid, however, I shall have to leave my Ideas behind me. I know I -could never squeeze them under or over the Brooklyn Bridge. Furthermore, -I'm afraid the Elevated R. R. cars might run over my Ideas and hurt -them. In fact, 't is only in the vast swamps of the South, where the -converse of the frogs is even as the roar of a thousand waters, that my -Ideas have room to expand. - -Your banjo article delighted me,--of course, there is a great deal that -is completely new to me therein. By the way, have you noticed the very -curious looking harps of the Niam-Niams in Schweinfurth? They seem to me -rather nearly related to the banjo in some respects. I am glad my little -notes were of some use to you. I will take good care of the proof. -Every time I see anything you'd like, I'll send it on. The etymology of -the banjo is a very interesting thing; perhaps I may find something -fresh on the subject some day. - - Yours enthusiastically, - L. HEARN. - -I know you would not care to hear about "the thousand different -instruments to which the daughter of Pharaoh introduced King Solomon on -the day he married her," because the names of the instruments and the -melodies which were performed upon them and the various chants to all -the idols of Egypt which the daughter of Pharaoh taught Solomon are -utterly forgotten. Yet, by the Kabbalistic rules of Gematria and Temurah -might they not be exhumed? - -In treatise Shekalim of Seder Mo'ed of the Talmud of Jerusalem it is -related on the authority of Rabbi Aha, that Hogrus ben Levi, who -directed the singing in the temple, "knew a vast number of melodies, and -possessed a particular talent for modulating them in an agreeable voice. -_By thrusting his thumb into his mouth he produced many and various -sorts of chants, so that his brethren, the Cohanim, were utterly amazed -thereat._" - -Hast read in Chap. XII of the Treatise Shabbat (Seder Mo'ed) concerning -that lost Hebrew musical instrument, unlike any other instrument known -in the history of mankind?... - - - TO H.E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, March, 1884. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--I was quite glad to get your short letter, knowing how -busy you are. Johnson changed his mind about Havana, as the season there -has been very unhealthy; and for the time being I am disappointed in -regard to the Spanish-Creole music. But it is only a question of a -little while when I shall get it. I sent you the other day some -Madagascar music. You will observe it is arranged for men and women -alternately. By the way, speaking of the refrain, I think you ought to -find it scientifically treated in Herbert Spencer's "Sociology;" for in -that giant summary of all human knowledge, everything relating to the -arts of life is considered comparatively and historically. I have not -got it: indeed I could not afford so immense a series as a mere work of -reference, and life is too short. But you can easily refer to it in your -public libraries. This reminds me of a curious fact I observed in -reading Tylor--the similarity of an Australian song to a Greek chorus at -Sparta,--at least, the construction thereof. You remember the lines, -sung alternately by old men, young men, and boys:-- - - (OLD MEN) "We once were stalwart youths." - (YOUNG MEN) "We are: if thou likest, test our strength." - (BOYS) "We shall be, and far better too!" - -Now Tylor quotes this Australian chant:-- - - (GIRLS) "Kardang garro."--Young-brother again. - (OLD WOMEN) "Manmal garro."--Son again. - (BOTH TOGETHER) "Mela nadjo Nunga broo."--Hereafter I shall see never. - -And it is also odd to find in Jeannest that in certain Congo tribes -there is a superstition precisely like the Scandinavian superstition -about the hell-shoon"--a strange coincidence in view of the fact that -these negroes do not allow any save the king and the dead to wear shoes. - -I am happy to have discovered a new work on the blacks of -Senegambia--home of the Griots; and I expect it contains some Griot -music. I have sent for it. It is quite a large volume. I am beginning to -think it would be a pity to hurry our project. The subject is so vast, -and so many new discoveries are daily being made, that I think we can -afford to gain material by waiting. I believe we can pick up a great -deal of queer African music this summer; and I feel convinced we ought -to get specimens of West Indian Creole music. - -I am afraid my imagination may have outstripped human knowledge in -regard to negro physiology. You remember my suggestion about the -possible differentia in the vocal chords of the two races. I feel more -than ever convinced there _is_ a remarkable difference. I heard a negro -mother the other day calling her child's name--a name of two -syllables--Ella;--the first syllable was a low but very loud note, the -second a very high sharp one, with a fractional note tied to its tail; -and I don't believe any white throat could have uttered that -extraordinary sound with such rapidity and flexibility. The Australian -_Coo-eee_ was nothing to it! Well, I have been since studying Flower's -"Hunterian Lectures on the Comparative Anatomy of Man;" and I find that -the science of comparative anatomy is scarcely yet well defined--what, -then, can be said about the Comparative Physiology of Man? Nevertheless -Flower is astonishing. He indicates extraordinary race-differences in -the pelvic index--(the shape of the pelvis)--the length and proportion -of the limbs, etc. I have been thinking of writing to him on the -subject. Tell me,--do you approve of the idea? - -I have also sent to Europe for some works on Oriental music. - - Your affectionate friend, - L.H. - -Charley Johnson spent a week with me. He is the same old Charley. We had -lots of fun and talk about old times. He was quite delighted with my -library; nearly every volume of which is unfamiliar to ordinary readers. -I have now nearly five hundred volumes--Egyptian, Assyrian, Indian, -Chinese, Japanese, African, etc., etc. Johnson seems to have become a -rich man. The fact embarrassed me a little bit. Somehow or other, wealth -makes a sort of Chinese wall between friends. One is afraid to be one's -self, or even to be as friendly as one would like toward somebody who is -much better off. You know what I mean. Of course, I only speak of my -private feelings; for Charley was just the same to me as in the old -days. - - - TO W. D. O'CONNOR - - NEW ORLEANS, MARCH, 1884. - -MY DEAR O'CONNOR,--What a delicious writer you are!--you do not know -what pleasure your letter gave me, and how many novel combinations of -ideas it evoked. I like your judgement of the _Musee Secret_; and yet -... I do not find it possible to persuade myself that the "mad excess of -love" should not be indulged in by mankind. It is _immemorial_ as you -say;--Love was the creator of all the great thoughts and great deeds of -men in all ages. I felt somewhat startled when I first read the earliest -Aryan literature to find how little the human heart had changed in so -many thousand years;--the women of the great Indian epics and lyrics are -not less lovable than the ideal beauties of modern romance. All the -great poems of the world are but so many necklaces of word-jewelry for -the throat of the _Venus Urania_; and all history is illuminated by the -_Eternal Feminine_, even as the world's circle in Egyptian mythology is -irradiated by Neith, curving her luminous woman's body from horizon to -horizon. And has not this "mad excess" sometimes served a good purpose? -I like that legend of magnificent prostitution in Perron's "Femmes -Arabes," according to which a battle was won and a vast nomad people -saved from extinction by the action of the beauties of the tribe, who -showed themselves unclad to the hesitating warriors and promised their -embraces to the survivors,--of whom not over-many were left. Neither do -I think that passion necessarily tends to enervate a people. There is -an intimate relation between Strength, Health, and Beauty; they are -ethnologically interlinked in one embrace,--like the _Charities_. I -fancy the stout soldiers who followed Xenophon were far better judges of -physical beauty than the voluptuaries of Corinth;--the greatest of the -exploits of Heracles was surely an amorous one. I don't like Bacon's -ideas about love: they should be adopted only by statesmen or others to -whom it is a duty to remain passionless, lest some woman entice them to -destruction. Has it not sometimes occurred to you that it is only in the -senescent epoch of a nation's life that love disappears?--there were no -grand loves during the enormous debauch of which Rome died, nor in all -that Byzantine orgy interrupted by the lightning of Moslem swords.... -Again, after all, what else do we live for--ephemerae that we are? Who -was it that called life "a sudden light between two darknesses"? "Ye -know not," saith Krishna, in the Bhagavad-Gita, "either the moment of -life's beginning or the moment of its ending: only the middle may ye -perceive." It is even so: we are ephemerae, seeking only the pleasure of -a golden moment before passing out of the glow into the gloom. Would not -Love make a very good religion? I doubt if mankind will ever cease to -have faith--in the aggregate; but I fancy the era _must_ come when the -superior intelligences will ask themselves of what avail are the noblest -heroisms and self-denials, since even the constellations are surely -burning out, and all forms are destined to melt back into that infinite -darkness of death and of life which is called by so many different -names. Perhaps, too, all those myriads of suns are only golden swarms of -ephemerae of a larger growth and a larger day, whose movements of -attraction are due to some "mad excess of love." - -The account your friend gave you of De Nerval's suicide is precisely -like the details of M. de Beaulieu's picture exposed in 1859--and, I -_think_, destroyed by the police for some unaccountable reason. It is -described in Gautier's "Histoire du Romantisme," pp. 143-4 (note).... I -am glad you notice my hand once in a while, and that you liked my De -Nerval sketch and the "Women of the Sword." You speak of magazine-work. -I think the magazines are simply _inabordables_. My experiences have -been disheartening. "Very good, very scholarly--_but not the kind_ we -want;"--"Highly interesting--sorry we have no room for it;"--"I regret -to say we cannot use it, but would advise you to send it to X--;" -"Deserves to be published; but unfortunately our rules exclude"--etc. I -have an article now with the _Atlantic_--an essay upon the _Adzan_, or -chant of the muezzin; its romantic history, etc. This has already been -rejected by other leading magazines. Another horrible fact is that after -your article is accepted, the editor rewrites it in his own way,--and -then prints your name at the end of the so-created abomination. This is -the plan of ----. I would like to see the ideal newspaper started we -used to talk about: then we could write--eh? - -So you think Dore's Raven a failure! I hope you are not altogether -right. I thought so when I first looked at the plates; but the longer I -examined them, the more strongly they impressed me. There is ghostly -power in several. What do you think of "The Night's Plutonian Shore;" -and the "Home by Horror haunted"? I must say that the terminal vignette -with its Sphinx-death is one of the most terrible ideas I have ever seen -drawn--although its force might be augmented by larger treatment. I -would like to see it taken up by that French artist who painted that -beautiful "Flight into Egypt," where we see the Virgin and Child (in -likeness of an Arab wanderer with her baby), slumbering between the -awful granite limbs of the monster. - -Your Gautier has just arrived. If you had sent me a little fortune you -could not have pleased me so much. I never saw the photo before: it not -only pleased, it excelled anticipation. You know our preconceived ideas -of places we should like to visit and people we should like to know, -usually excel the reality; but the head of Gautier seems to me grander -than I imagined. One can almost hear him speak with that mellow, golden, -organ-toned voice of his which Bergerat described; and I like that -barbaric luxury of his attire,--there is something at once rich and -strange about it, worthy some Khan of the Golden Horde.... I really feel -quite enthusiastic about my new possession. - -I am glad to hear you dislike Matthew Arnold. He seems to me one of the -colossal humbugs of the century: a fifth-rate poet and unutterably -dreary essayist;--a sort of philosophical hermaphrodite, yet lacking -even the grace of the androgyne, because there is neither enough of -positivism nor of idealism in his mental make-up to give real character -to it. Don't you think Edwin Arnold far the nobler man and writer? I -love that beautiful enthusiasm of his for the beauties of strange faiths -and exotic creeds. This is the spirit that, in some happier era, may -bless mankind with a universal religion in perfect harmony with the -truths of science and the better nature of humanity. - -You ask about this climate. One who has lived by the sea and on the -mountain-tops, as I have, must spend several years here to understand -how this intertropical swamp-life affects the unacclimated. The first -year one becomes very sick--fevers of unfamiliar character attack him; -the appetite vanishes, the energies become enfeebled. The second summer -one feels even worse. The third summer one can just endure without -absolute sickness. The fourth, one begins to gain flesh and strength. -But the blood has completely changed, the least breath of really cool -air makes one shiver, and energy never becomes quite restored. After a -few years in Louisiana, hard work becomes impossible. We are all lazy, -enervated, compared with you Northerners. When my Northwestern friends -come down here, it seems to me like a coming of Vikings and Berserkers; -they are so full of life and blood and vital electricity! But when it is -cold to me, it seems frightfully warm to them; and yet we used once to -work together as reporters with the thermometer 20 below zero. - -Sorry to say that Leloir died before completing the illustrations; and I -suppose the subscribers to the edition will be the losers. It was to be -issued in parts. Perhaps ten numbers were out. But I am not sure whether -any of the engravings were printed. I based my error upon the critique -of Leloir's work in _Le Livre_. It is dangerous to anticipate! - -I believe I have the very latest edition of W. W. [Walt Whitman]--1882 -(Rees, Welsh & Co.), which I like very much. You did not quite -understand my allusion to the Bible. I wished to imply that it was when -W. W.'s verses approached that biblical metre in form, etc., that we -most admired him. I agree with all you say about slang,--especially -nautical slang; also about the grand irregularity of the wave-chant. -Still I'll have to write some examples of what I refer to, and will do -so later. - - Yours very warmly and gratefully, - L. HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, March, 1884. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--I am sorry to be in such a hurry that I have to write a -short letter; but I must signal my pleasure at seeing you coming out in -public, and I have a vision of future greatness for you. As for myself, -I trust I shall in a few years more obtain influence enough to be able -to return some of your many kindnesses in a literary way. Eventually we -may be able to pull together to a very bright goal, if I can keep my -health. - -I think that Osgood will announce the book about the 1st of April, but I -am not sure. It would hardly do to anticipate. I send you his letter. -The terms are not grand; but a big improvement on Worthington's. Next -time I hope I will be able to work _to order_. You can return letter -when you are done with it, as it forms a part of my enormous collection -of letters from publishers--(199 rejections to 1 acceptation). - -I expect I shall have to postpone my visit until the book is out, as I -must wait here to receive and correct proofs. I have dedicated the book -to Page Baker, as it was entirely through his efforts that I got a -hearing from Osgood. The reader _had already rejected_ the MS. when -Baker's letter came. - -From the _Atlantic_ I have not yet heard. If I have good luck (which is -extremely improbable) I would make the Muezzin No. 1 in a brief series -of Arabesque studies, which would cost about two years' labour--at -intervals. I have several subjects in mind: for example, the lives of -certain outrageous Moslem Saints, and a sketch of the mulatto and -quadroon slave-poets of Arabia before Mahomet; "The Ravens," as they -were called from their color;--also the story of the _Ye monnat_, or -those who died of love.... But these are beautiful dreams in embryo! -Yours affectionately, - - L. HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, March, 1884. - Postal-card. - -... It is related by Philostratus in his life of Apollonius of Tyana, -that when Apollonius visited India, and asked the Brahmins to give him -an example of (musical) magic, the Brahmins did strip themselves naked -and dance in a ring, each tapping the earth with a staff, and singing a -strange hymn. Then the earth within the ring rose up, quivering, even as -fermenting dough,--and rose higher,--and undulated and was lost in great -waves,--and elevated the singers unto the height of two cubits.... - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, April, 1884. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--I read your leader with no small interest; and "the -gruesome memories" were revived. The killing of the man in the Vine -Street saloon, however, interested me most as a memory-reviving -interest. That murderer was the most magnificent specimen of -athletic manhood that I ever saw,--I suspect he was a gipsy; for he -had all the characteristics of that race, and _was not a regular -circus-employee_,--only a professional rider, now with one company, now -with another. Did you see him when you were there? He was perhaps 6 feet -4; for his head nearly touched the top of the cell. He had a very -regular handsome face, with immense black eyes; and an Oriental sort of -profile:--then he seemed slender, in spite of his immense force,--such -was the proportion of his figure. A cynical devil, too. I went to see -him with the coroner, who showed him the piece of the dead man's skull. -He took it between his fingers, held it up to the light, handed it back -to the coroner and observed; "Christ!--_he must have had a d--d rotten -skull_." He was ordered to leave town within twenty-four hours as a -dangerous character. It is a pity such men should be vulgar murderers -and ruffians;--what superb troopers they would make! I shall never -forget that splendid stature and strength as long as I live.... - -I don't know whether I shall ever be living in that terrible metropolis -of yours. It will be impossible for me ever again to write or read by -night; and hard work has become impossible. If I could ever acquire -reputation enough to secure a literary position on some monthly or -weekly periodical where I could take it easy, perhaps I might feel like -enduring the hideous winters. But I am just now greatly troubled by the -question, What shall I work for?--to what special purpose? Perhaps some -good fortune may come when least expected. - -Now I want to talk about our trip. I think it better not to go now. Page -wants me to take a good big vacation this summer,--a long one. If I wait -till it gets warm, I will be able to escape the feverish month; and if -you should be in Cincinnati at the Festival, or elsewhere, I would meet -you anyhow or anywhere you say. Were I to leave now I could not do so -later; and I am waiting for some curious books and things which I want -to bring you so that we can analyze them together. A month or so won't -make much difference. - -Will write you soon. Had to quit work for a few days on account of -eye-trouble. - - Yours very truly, - L. HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, May, 1884. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--I have been so busy that I have not been able to answer -your last. They are sending me proofs at the rate of twenty pages a day; -and you can imagine this keeps me occupied in addition to my other work. -Alas! I find that nothing written for a newspaper--at least for an -American newspaper--can be perfect. My poor little book will show some -journalistic weaknesses--will contain some hasty phrases or redundancies -or something else which will mar it. I try my best to get it straight; -but the consequences of hasty labour are perpetually before me, -notwithstanding the fact that the collocation of the material occupied -nearly two years. I am thinking of Bayard Taylor's terrible observation -about American newspaper-work. It seems to be generally true. Still -there _are_ some who write with extraordinary precision and correctness. -I think you are one of them. - -What troubles my style especially is ornamentation. An ornamental style -must be perfect or full of atrocious discords and incongruities; and -perfect ornamentation requires slow artistic work--except in the case of -men like Gautier, who never re-read a page, or worried himself about a -proof. But I think I'll improve as I grow older. - -I won't be away till June. Then I'll have some queer books in my -satchel, and we'll talk the book over. I fear it is no use to discuss it -beforehand, as I shall be overwhelmed with work. Another volume of the -Talmud has come, and some books about music containing Chinese hymns. By -the way, in Spencer's last volume there is an essay on musical -origination. I have had only time to glance at it. Your Creole music -lecture cannot fail to be extremely curious; wish I could _hear_ and see -it. The melodies will certainly make a sensation if you have a good -assortment. Did you borrow anything from Gottschalk?--I hope you did: -the Bamboula used to drive the Parisians wild. - -Thanks for the musical transcription. I'm afraid the project won't pan -out, however. Truebner & Co. of London made an offer, but wanted me to -guarantee the American sale of 100 copies--that means pay in advance. I -would not perhaps have objected, if they had mentioned a low price; but -when I tried to get them to come down to about 5s. per copy they did not -write me any more. - -Then I abandoned the pursuit of the Ignis Fatuus of Success, and -withdrew into the Immensities and the Eternities, even as the rhinoceros -withdraweth into the recesses of the jungle. And I gave myself up to the -meditation of the Vedas and of the Puranas and of the Upanishads, and of -the Egyptian Ritual of the Dead,--until the memory of magazines and of -publishers faded out of my mind, even as the vision of demons. - - Yours very truly, - L. HEARN. - - - TO W. D. O'CONNOR - - NEW ORLEANS, May, 1884. - -MY DEAR O'CONNOR,--I did not get time until to-day to drop you a line; -and just at present I am enthusiastically appreciating your observations -regarding The Foul Fiend Routine. I wish I could escape from his brazen -grip; and nevertheless he has done me service. He has stifled my younger -and more foolish aspirations, and clipped the foolish wings of my -earlier ambition with the sharp scissors of revision. It is true that I -now regret my inability to achieve literary independence; but had I -obtained a market for my wares in other years, I should certainly have -been so ashamed of them by this time, that I should fly to some desert -island. These meditations follow upon the incineration of several -hundred pages of absurdities written some years back, and just committed -to the holy purification of fire.... - -I am not, however, sorry for writing the fantastic ideas about love -which you so thoroughly exploded in your letter; they "drew you out," -and I wanted to hear your views. I suppose, however, that the mad excess -is indulged in by every nation at a certain period of existence--perhaps -the Senescent Epoch, as Draper calls it. What a curious article might be -written upon "The Amorous Epochs of National Literatures,"--or something -of that sort; dwelling especially upon the extravagant passionateness of -Indian, Persian, and Arabic belles-lettres,--and their offshoots! Not to -bore you further with theories, however, I herewith submit another -specimen of excess from the posthumous poetry of Gautier. It has been -compared to those Florentine statuettes, which are kept in shagreen -cases, and only exhibited, whisperingly, by antiquaries to each -other.... - -There is real marmorean beauty in the lines,--their sculpturesqueness -saves them from lewdness. I think them more beautiful than Solomon's -simile, or the extravagances of the Gita-Govinda. - - June 29. - -You see how busy I have been. And my brain seems so full of dust and hot -sun and feverish vapours that it is hard to write at all.... I am -thinking of what you said about Arnold's translating the Koran. There -are two English translations besides Sale's--one in Truebner's Oriental -Series, and one in Max Mueller's "Sacred Books of the East" (Macmillan's -beautiful edition). Sale's is chiefly objectionable because the _suras_ -are not versified: the chapters not having been so divided in early -times by figures. But it is horribly hard to find anything in it. The -French have two superb versions: Kazimirski and La Beaume. Kazimirski is -popular and cheap; the other is an analytical Koran of 800 4to pp. with -concordance, and designed for the use of the Government bureaux in -Algeria. I have it. It is unrivalled. - -My book is out; and you will receive a copy soon. If you ever have time, -please tell me if there is anything in it you like. It is not a gorgeous -production,--only an experiment. I have a great plan in view: to -popularize the legends of Islam and other strange faiths in a series of -books. My next effort will be altogether Arabesque--treating of Moslem -saints, singers, and poets, and hagiographical curiosities--eschewing -such subjects as the pilgrimage to the _ribath_ (monastery) of -Deir-el-Tiu in the Hedjaz, where fragments of the broken _aidana_ of -Mahomet are kissed by the faithful.... - -I'm sorry to say I know little of Bacon except his Essays. Those -surprised and pleased me. I started to read them only as a study of Old -English; but soon found the ideas far beyond the century in which they -were penned. You will be shocked, I fear, to know that I am terribly -ignorant of classic English literature,--of the sixteenth, seventeenth, -and eighteenth centuries. Not having studied it much when at college, I -now find life too short to study it,--except for style. When I want to -clear mine,--as coffee is cleared by the white of an egg,--I pour a -little quaint English into my brain-cup, and the Oriental extravagances -are gradually precipitated. But I think a man must devote himself to one -thing in order to succeed: so I have pledged me to the worship of the -Odd, the Queer, the Strange, the Exotic, the Monstrous. It quite suits -my temperament. For example, my memories of early Roman history have -become cloudy, because the Republic did not greatly interest me; but -very vivid are my conceptions of the Augustan era, and great my delight -with those writers who tell us how Hadrian almost realized that -impossible dream of modern aesthetes, the resurrection of Greek art. The -history of modern Germany and Scandinavia I know nothing about; but I -know the Eddas and the Sagas, and the chronicles of the Heimskringla, -and the age of Vikings and Berserks,--because these were mighty and -awesomely grand. The history of Russia pleaseth me not at all, with the -exception of such extraordinary episodes as the Dimitris; but I could -never forget the story of Genghis Khan, and the nomad chiefs who led -1,500,000 horsemen to battle. Enormous and lurid facts are certainly -worthy of more artistic study than they generally receive. What De -Quincey told us in his "Flight of a Tartar Tribe" previous writers -thought fit to make mere mention of.... But I'm rambling again. - -I don't know whether I shall be able to go North as I hoped--I have so -much private study before me. But I do really hope to see you some day. -Couldn't you get down to our Exposition?... - -Did you ever read Symonds's "Greek Poets"? The final chapters on the -genius of Greek art are simply divine. I mention them because of your -observation about our being or not being ephemeral. I feel fearful we -are. But Symonds says what I would have liked to say, so much better, -that I would like to let him speak for me with voice of gold. - - Very truly your friend, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO H.E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, June, 1884. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--I'm expecting every day to get some Griot music and some -queer things, and have discovered an essay upon just the subject of -subjects that interests Us:--the effect of physiological influences upon -the history of nations, and "the physiological character of races in -their relation to historical events." Wouldn't it be fine if we could -write a scientific essay on Polynesian music in its manifestations of -the physiological peculiarities of the island-races? Nothing would give -me so much pleasure as to be able some day to write a most startling and -stupefying preface to some treatise of yours upon exotic music--a -preface nevertheless strictly scientific and correct. By the way, have -you any information about Eskimo music? If you have, tell me when I see -you. I have some singular songs with a _double-refrain_,--but no -music,--which I found in Rink. Why the devil didn't Rink give us some -melodies? - -I am especially interested just now in Arabic subjects; but as I am -following the Arabs into India, I find myself studying the songs of the -bayaderes. They are very strange, and sometimes very pretty--sweetly -pretty. Maisonneuve promised to publish some of this Indian music; but -that was in '81, and we haven't got it yet. I have found curious titles -in Truebner's collection; but I'm afraid the music isn't -published--"Folk-Songs of Southern India," etc. - -I want you to tell me how long you will stay in New York, as I would -like to go there soon. The vacations are beginning. Don't fail to keep -me posted as to your movements. How did you like the sonorous cry of the -bel-balancier man? - -Am writing in haste; excuse everything excusable. - - Yours affectionately, - L. HEARN. - -A man ignorant of music is likely to say silly things without knowing it -when writing to a professor; so you must excuse my faults on the ground -of good will to you. I have just destroyed two pages which I thought -might be waste of time to read. - - - TO H.E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, June, 1884. - -DEAR K.,--I want you to let me hear about old Bilal for the following -reasons:-- - -1. I have discovered that a biography of him--the only one in existence -probably--may be found in Wuestenfeld's "Nawawi," for which I have -written. If the text is German I can utilize it with the aid of a -_bouquiniste_ here. - -2. I have been lucky enough to engage a copy of Ibn Khallikan in 24 -volumes--the great Arabic biographer. It containeth legends. The book is -dear but invaluable to an Oriental student,--especially to me in the -creation of my new volume, which will be all Arabesques. - -And here is another bit of news for you. My _Senegal_ books have thrown -a torrent of light on the whole history of American slave-songs and -superstitions and folk-lore. I was utterly astounded at the revelation. -All that had previously seemed obscure is now lucid as day. Of course, -you know the slaves were chiefly drawn from the _West Coast_; and the -study of ethnography and ethnology of the West Coast races is absolutely -essential to a knowledge of Africanism in America. As yet, however, I -have but partly digested my new meal. - - Siempre a V., - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - NEW ORLEANS, June, 1884. - -DEAR K.,--Your letter has given me unspeakable pleasure. In making -the acquaintance of Howells, you have met the subtlest and noblest -literary mind in this country,--scarcely excepting that prince of -critics, Stedman; and you have found a friend who will aid you in -climbing Parnassus, not for selfish motives, but for pure art's sake. -Cultivate him all you can.... - -I got a nice letter from Ticknor. He actually promises to open the -magazine-gates for me. And a curious coincidence is that the book is -published on my birthday, next Friday. - -I will write you before I start for New York in a few weeks more.... - -I will bring my African books with me, and other things. - - Yours sincerely, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, October, 1884. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--I sit down to write you the first time I have had -leisure to do justice to the subject for a month. - -Now I must tell you what I am doing. I have been away a good deal, in -the Creole archipelagoes of the Gulf, and will soon be off again, to -make more studies for my little book of sketches. I sent you the No. 2, -as a sample. These I take as much pains with as with magazine work, and -the plan is philosophical and pantheistic. Did you see "Torn -Letters,"--(No. 1) about the _Biscayena_. The facts are not wholly true; -I was very nearly in love--not quite sure whether I am not a little in -love still,--but I never told her so. It is so strange to find one's -self face to face with a beauty that existed in the Tertiary -epoch,--300,000 years ago,--the beauty of the most ancient branch of -humanity,--the oldest of the world's races! But the coasts here are just -as I described them, without exaggeration,--and I am so enamoured of -those islands and tepid seas that I would like to live there forever, -and realize Tennyson's wish:-- - - "I will wed some savage woman; she shall rear my dusky race: - Iron-jointed, supple-sinewed, they shall dive and they shall run,-- - Catch the wild goat by the hair, and hurl their lances in the sun, - Whistle back the parrot's call,--leap the rainbows of the brooks,-- - Not with blinded eyesight poring over miserable books." - -The islanders found I had one claim to physical superiority anyhow,--I -could outswim the best of them with the greatest ease. And I have -disciplined myself physically so well of late years, that I am no longer -the puny little fellow you used to know. - -All this is sufficiently egotistical. I just wanted, however, to tell -you of my wanderings and their purpose. It was largely inspired by the -new style of Pierre Loti--that young marine officer who is certainly the -most original of living French novelists. - -All this summer Page could not get away; so you will not have the -pleasure of seeing my very noble and lovable friend,--a tall, fine, -eagle-faced fellow, primitive Aryan type. I only got away on the pledge -to give the results to the _T.-D._, which is giving me all possible -assistance in my literary undertakings. - -I was glad to receive Creole books, as I am working on Creole subjects. -Several new volumes have appeared. I have some Oriental things to send -you--music, if you will agree to return in one month from reception. But -you need not have expressed those other things--made me feel sorry. I -expressed them to you for other reasons entirely. - -I have a delightful Mexican friend living with me, and teaching me to -speak Spanish with that long, soft, languid South American Creole accent -that is so much more pleasant than the harsher accent of Spain. His name -is Jose de Jesus y Preciado, and he sends you his best wishes, because -he says all my friends must be his friends too. - -Now, I hope you'll write me a pretty, kind, forgiving letter,--not -condescendingly, but really nice,--you know what I mean. - -Your supersensitive and highly suspicious friend, - - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, January, 1885. - -DEAR FRIEND KREHBIEL,--Many, many happy New Years. Your letter came -luckily during an interval of rest,--so that I can answer it right away. -I have not been at all worried by your silence,--as your former kind -lines showed me you had fully forgiven my involuntary injustice and my -voluntary, but only momentary _malice_. (Please give this last the -French accent, which takes off the edge of the word.) - -In a few days my Creole Dictionary will be published in New York; and I -will not forget to send you a copy, just as soon as I can get some -myself. I do not expect to make anything on the publication. It is a -give-away to a friend, who will not forget me if he makes money, but who -does not expect to make a fortune on it. This kind of thing is never -lucrative; and the publication of the book is justified only by -Exposition projects. As for the "Stray Leaves" I have never written to -the publishers yet about them,--so afraid of bad news I have been. But I -have dared to try and get a good word said for it in high places. I -succeeded in obtaining a personal letter from Protap Chunder Roy, of -Calcutta, and hope to get one from Edwin Arnold. This is cheeky; but -publishers think so much about a commendation from some acknowledged -authority in Oriental studies. - -The prices are high; the markets are all "bulled;" and for the first -time I find my room rent here (twenty dollars per month) and my salary -scarcely enough for my extravagant way of life. Money is a subject I am -beginning to think of in connection with everything except--art. I still -think nobody should follow an art purpose with money in view; but if no -money comes in time, it is discouraging in this way,--that the lack of -public notice is generally somewhat of a bad sign. Happily, however, I -have joined a building association, which compels me to pay out $20 per -month. Outside of this way of saving, I save nothing,--except queer -books imported from all parts of the world. - -Very affectionately yours, - - HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL. - - NEW ORLEANS, January, 1885. - -MY DEAR KREHBIEL,--I fear I know nothing about Creole music or Creole -negroes. Yes, I have seen them dance; but they danced the Congo, and -sang a purely African song to the accompaniment of a dry-goods box -beaten with sticks or bones and a drum made by stretching a skin over a -flour-barrel. That sort of accompaniment and that sort of music, you -know all about: it is precisely similar to what a score of travellers -have described. There are no harmonies--only a furious contretemps. As -for the dance,--in which the women do not take their feet off the -ground,--it is as lascivious as is possible. The men dance very -differently, like savages, leaping in the air. I spoke of this spectacle -in my short article in the _Century_. - -One must visit the Creole parishes to discover the characteristics of -the real Creole music, I suspect. I would refer the _Century_ to -Harris's book: he says the Southern darkies don't use the banjo. I have -never seen any play it here but Virginians or "upper country" darkies. -The slave-songs you refer to are infinitely more interesting than -anything Cable's got; but still, I fancy his material could be worked -over into something really pretty. Gottschalk found the theme for his -Bamboula in Louisiana--_Quand patate est chinte_, etc., and made a -miracle out of it. - -Now if you want any further detailed account of the Congo dance, I can -send it; but I doubt whether you need it. The Creole songs, which I have -heard sung in the city, are Frenchy in construction, but possess a few -African characteristics of method. The darker the singer the more marked -the oddities of intonation. Unfortunately most of those I have heard -were quadroons or mulattoes. One black woman sang me a Voudoo song, -which I got Cable to write--but I could not sing it as she sang it, so -that the music is faulty. I suppose you have seen it already, as it -forms part of the collection. If the _Century_ people have any sense -they would send you down here for some months next spring to study up -the old ballads; and I believe that if you manage to show Cable the -importance of the result, he can easily arrange it.... - -You answered some of my questions charmingly. Don't be too sarcastic -about my capacity for study. My study is of an humble sort; and I never -knew anything, and never shall, about acoustics. But I have had to study -awful hard in order to get a vague general idea of those sciences which -can be studied without mathematics, or actual experimentation with -mechanical apparatus. I have half a mind to study medicine in practical -earnest some day. Wouldn't I make an imposing Doctor in the Country of -Cowboys? A doctor might also do well in Japan. I'm thinking seriously -about it. - -This is the best letter I can write for the present, and I know it's not -a good one. I send a curiosity by Xp to you. - -The Creole slaves sang usually with clapping of hands. But it would take -an old planter to give reliable information regarding the accompaniment. - - Yours very truly, - L. HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1885. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--I regret having been so pressed for time that I was -obliged to return your MS. without a letter expressing the thanks which -you know I feel. I scribbled in pencil--which you can erase with a bit -of bread--some notes on the Cajan song, that may interest you. - -The Harpers are giving me warm encouragement; but advise me to remain a -fixture where I am. They say they are looking now to the South for -literary work of a certain sort,--that immense fields for observation -remain here wholly untilled, and that they want active, living, -opportune work of a fresh kind. I shall try soon my hand at fiction;--my -great difficulty is my introspective disposition, which leaves me in -revery at moments when I ought to be using eyes, ears, and tongue in -studying others rather than my own thoughts. - -I find the word _Banja_ given as African in Bryan Edwards's "West -Indies." My studies of African survivals have tempted me to the purchase -of a great many queer books which will come in useful some day. Most are -unfortunately devoted to Senegal; for our English travellers are -generally poor ethnographers and anthropologists, so far as the Gold -Coast and Ivory Coast are concerned. You remember our correspondence -about the comparative anatomy of the vocal organs of negroes and whites. -A warm friend of several years' standing--a young Spanish physician and -professor here--is greatly interested in this new science: indeed we -study comparative human anatomy and ethnology in common, with -goniometers and Broca's instruments. He states that only microscopic -work can reveal the full details of differentiation in the vocal organs -of races; but calls my attention to several differences already noticed. -Gibb has proved, for instance, that the cartilages of Wrisberg are -larger in the negro;--this would not affect the voice especially; but -the fact promises revelations of a more important kind. We think of your -projects in connection with these studies. - -I copied only your Acadian boat-song. What is the price of the -slave-song book? If you have time to send me during the next month the -music of "Michie Preval," and of the boat-song, I can use them admirably -in _Melusine_.... - - Your friend, - L. H. - - - TO W. D. O'CONNOR - - NEW ORLEANS, March, 1885. - -Big P. S. No. 1. - -I forgot in my hurried letter yesterday, to tell you that if you ever -want a copy of "Stray Leaves," don't go and buy it, as you have been -naughty enough to do, but tell me, and I'll send you what you wish. I -hope to dedicate a book to you some day, when I am sure it is worth -dedicating to you. - -I am quite curious about you. Seems to me you must be like your -handwriting,--firmly knit, large, strong, and keen;--with delicate -perceptions, (of course I know _that_, anyhow!) well-developed ideas of -order and system, and great continuity of purpose and a disposition as -level and even as the hand you write. If my little scraggy hand tells -you anything, you ought to recognize in it a very small, erratic, -eccentric, irregular, impulsive, variable, nervous disposition,--almost -exactly your antitype in everything--except the love of the beautiful. - - Very faithfully, - L. H. - -Big P. S. No. 2. - -I did not depend on _Le Figaro_ for statements about Hugo; but picked -them up in all directions. What think you of his refusal to aid poor -blind Xavier Aubryet by writing a few lines of preface for his book? -What about his ignoring the services of his greatest champion, Theophile -Gautier? What about his studied silence in regard to the works of the -struggling poets and novelists of the movement which he himself -inaugurated? I really believe that the man has been a colossus of -selfishness. One who prejudiced me very strongly against him, however, -was that eccentric little Jew, Alexander Weill, whose reminiscences of -Heine made such a sensation. Perhaps after all literary generosity is -rare. Flaubert and Gautier possessed it; but twenty cases of the -opposite kind, quite as illustrious, may be cited. In any event I am -glad of your rebuke. Whether my ideas are right or wrong, I believe we -ought not to speak of the weaknesses of truly great men when it can be -avoided;--therefore I cry _peccavi_, and promise to do so no more. - - Yours very sincerely, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - -[Illustration: MR. HEARN'S EARLIER HANDWRITING] - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1885. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--I have been away in Florida, in the track of old Ponce -de Leon,--bathing in the Fount of Youth,--talking to the -palm-trees,--swimming in the great Atlantic surf. Charley Johnson and I -took the trip together,--or to be strictly fair, it was he that induced -me to go along; and I am not sorry for the expense or the time spent, as -I enjoyed my reveries unspeakably. For bathing--sea-bathing--I prefer -our own Creole islands in the Gulf to any place in Florida; but for -scenery and sunlight and air,--air that is a liquid jewel,--Florida -seems to me the garden of Hesperus. I'll send you what I have written -about it.... - -Charles Dudley Warner, whose acquaintance made here, strikes me as the -nicest literary personage I have yet met.... Gilder of the _Century_ was -here--a handsome, kindly man.... A book which I recently got would -interest you--Symonds's "Wine, Women, and Song." I had no idea that the -Twelfth Century had its literary renascence, or that in the time of the -Crusades German students were writing worthy of Horace and Anacreon. The -Middle Ages no longer seem so Doresquely black. - - Your friend, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO REV. WAYLAND D. BALL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1885. - -MY DEAR BALL,--I regret my long silence, now broken with the sincere -pleasure of being able to congratulate you upon a grand success and -still grander opportunities. The salary you are promised is nearly -double that obtained by the best journalist in the country (excepting -one or two men in highly responsible positions of managers); it far -exceeds the average earnings of expert members of the higher -professions; and there are not many authors in the United States who can -rely upon such an income. So that you have a fine chance to accumulate a -nice capital, as well as ample means to indulge scholarly tastes and -large leisure to gratify them. I feared, sensitive as you are, to weigh -too heavily upon one point before, but I think I shall not hesitate to -do so now. I refer to the question of literary effort. Again I would -say: Leave all profane writing alone for at least five years more; and -devote all your talent, study, sense of beauty, force of utterance to -your ministerial work. You will make an impression, and be able to rise -higher and higher. In the meanwhile you will be able to mature your -style, your thought, your scholarship; and when the proper time comes be -able also to make a sterling, good, literary effort. What we imagine new -when we are young is apt really to be very old; and that which appears -to us very old suddenly grows youthful at a later day with the youth of -Truth's immortality. None, except one of those genii, who appear at -intervals as broad as those elapsing in Indian myth between the -apparition of the Buddhas, can sit down before the age of thirty-five or -forty, and create anything really great. Again the maxim, "Money is -power,"--commonplace and vulgar though it be,--has a depth you will -scarcely appreciate until a later day. It is power for good, quite as -much as for evil; and "nothing succeeds like success," you know. Once -you occupy a great place in the great religious world of wealth and -elegance and beauty, you will find yourself possessed of an influence -that will enable you to realize any ambition which inspires you. This is -the best answer I can now give to your last request for a little -friendly counsel, and it is uttered only because I feel that being older -than you, and having been knocked considerably about the world, I can -venture to offer the results of my little experience. - -As you say, you are drawing nearer to me. I expect we shall meet, and be -glad of the meeting. I shall have little to show you except books, but -we will have a splendid time for all that. Meanwhile I regret having -nothing good to send you. The story appeared in _Harper's Bazar_. - - Sincerely your friend, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO REV. WAYLAND D. BALL - - NEW ORLEANS, July, 1885. - -MY DEAR BALL,--Your welcome letter came to me just at a happy moment -when I had time to reply. I would have written before, but for a -protracted illness. I am passionately fond of swimming; and the clear -waters of that Florida spring seduced me into a plunge while very hot. -The water was cold as death; and when I got back to New Orleans, I had -the novel experience of a Florida fever,--slow, torpid, and -unconquerable by quinine. Now I am all right. - -The language of "Stray Leaves" is all my own, with the exception of the -Italic texts and a few pages translated from the "Kalewala." The Florida -sketch I sent you, although published in a newspaper, is one of a number -I have prepared for the little volume of impressions I told you about. I -sent it as an illustration of the literary theory discussed in our -previous correspondence, which I am surprised you remember so well. - -Apropos of your previous letter, I must observe that I do not like -James Freeman Clarke's work,--immense labour whose results are nullified -by a purely sectarian purpose. Mr. Clarke sat down to study with the -preconceived purpose of belittling other beliefs by comparison with -Christianity,--a process quite as irrational and narrow as would be an -attempt in the opposite direction. My very humble studies in comparative -mythology led me to a totally different conclusion,--revealing to me a -universal aspiration of mankind toward the Infinite and Supreme, so -mighty, so deeply sincere, so touching, that I have ceased to perceive -the least absurdity in any general idea of worship, whether fetish or -monotheistic, whether the thought of the child man or the dream of hoary -Indian philosophy. Nor can I for the same reason necessarily feel more -reverence for the crucified deity than for that image of the Hindoo god -of light, holding in one of his many hands Phallus, and yet wearing a -necklace of skulls,--symbolizing at once creation and destruction,--the -Great Begetter and the Universal Putrifier. - -A noble and excellently conceived address that of yours on Thos. -Paine,--bolder than I thought your congregation was prepared for. Yes, I -certainly think you are going to effect a great deal in a good cause, -the cause of mental generosity and intellectual freedom. I almost envy -you sometimes your opportunities as a great teacher, a social -emancipator, and I feel sure what you have already done is nothing to be -compared with what you will do, providing you retain health and -strength. - -I don't know just what to say about your literary articles; but I can -speak to the editor-in-chief, who is my warm personal friend. The only -difficulty would be the bigotry here. Even my editorials upon Sanscrit -literature called out abuse of the paper from various N. O. pulpits, as -"A Buddhist Newspaper," an "Infidel sheet," etc. If published first in -the Boston paper, I could get the lecture reproduced, I think, in ours. -If you expect remuneration you would have to send the MS. first to us -and take the chances. I think what you best do in the interim would be -to write on the subject to Page M. Baker, Editor _T.-D._, mentioning my -name, and await reply. - -You asked me in a former letter a question I forgot to answer. I have no -photograph at present, but will have some taken soon and will send you -one. - - Very sincerely yours, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO REV. WAYLAND D. BALL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1885. - -DEAR BALL,--I regret extremely my long delay in writing you--due partly -to travel, partly to work, for I have considerable extra work to do for -the Harpers, and for myself. You ask me about literary ventures. I -suppose you have seen the little book Osgood published for me last -summer--"Stray Leaves from Strange Literature," a volume of Oriental -stories. Since then I have had nothing printed except a dictionary of -Creole proverbs which could scarcely interest you,--and some Oriental -essays, which appeared in newspapers only, but which I hope to collect -and edit in permanent form next year. Meantime I am working upon a -little book of personal impressions, which I expect to finish this -summer. Of course I will keep the story you want for you, and mail it; -and if you have not seen my other book I will send it you. - -Your project about a correspondence is pleasant enough; but I am now -simply overwhelmed with work, which has been accumulating during a short -absence in Florida. In any event, however, I do not quite see how this -thing could prove profitable. I doubt very much if Christ is not a myth, -just as Buddha is. There may have been a teacher called Jesus, and there -may have been a teacher Siddartha; but the mythological and -philosophical systems attached to these names have a far older origin, -and represent only the evolution of human ideas from the simple and -primitive to the complex form. As the legend of Buddha is now known to -have been only the development of an ancient Aryan sun-myth, so probably -the legend of Jesus might be traced to the beliefs of primitive and -pastoral humanity. What matter creeds, myths, traditions, to you or me, -who perceive in all faiths one vast truth,--one phase of the Universal -Life? Why trouble ourselves about detailed comparisons while we know -there is an Infinite which all thinkers are striving vainly to reach by -different ways, and an Infinite invisible of which all things visible -are but emanations? Worlds are but dreams of God, and evanescent; the -galaxies of suns burn out, the heavens wither; even time and space are -only relative; and the civilization of a planet but an incident of its -growth. To those who feel these things religious questions are valueless -and void of meaning, except in their relation to the development of -ethical ideas in general. And their study in this light is too large for -the compass of a busy life. - - In haste, your friend, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - -I read your sermon with pleasure and gave a copy to our editor-in-chief. - - - TO W. D. O'CONNOR - - NEW ORLEANS, July, 1885. - -MY DEAR O'CONNOR,--Your kind little surprise came to me while I was very -ill, and, I believe, helped me to get better; for everything which -cheers one during an attack of swamp-fever aids convalescence. As you -know, I made a sojourn in East Florida; and I exposed myself a good -deal, in the pursuit of impressions. The wonderful water especially -tempted me. I am a good swimmer, and always crazy to enjoy a dive, so I -yielded to the seduction of Silver Spring. It was a very hot day; but -the flood was cold as the grip of old Death. I didn't feel the effect -right away; but when I got back home found I had a fever that quinine -would take no effect upon. Now I am getting all right, and will be off -to the sea soon to recruit. - -Well, I thought I would wait to write until I could introduce myself to -you, as you so delicately divined that I wanted you to do to me; but I -delayed much longer than I wished or intended. Photographs are usually -surprises;--your face was not exactly what I had imagined, but it -pleased me more--I had fancied you a little stern, very dark, with -black eyes,--partly, perhaps, because others of your name whom I -knew had that purplish black hair and eyes which seems a special -race-characteristic,--partly perhaps from some fantastic little idea -evolved by the effort to create a person from a chirography, as though -handwriting constituted a sort of _track_ by which individuality could -be recognized. I know now that I should feel a little less timid in -meeting you; for I seem to know you already very well,--for a long -time,--intimately and without mystery. - -I send a couple of little clippings which may interest you for the -moment,--one, a memory of Saint Augustine; the other, a translation -which, though clumsy, preserves something of a great poet's weird fancy. - -I am sorry that I have so little to tell you in a literary way. As you -seem to see the _T.-D._ very often, you watch me tolerably closely, I -suppose. I have been trying to complete a little volume of impressions, -but the work drags on very, very slowly: I fear I shan't finish it -before winter. Then I have a little Chinese story accepted for _Harper's -Bazar_, which I will send you, and which I think you will like. -Otherwise my plans have changed. With the expansion of my private study, -I feel convinced that I know too little to attempt anything like a -serious volume of Oriental essays; but my researches have given me a -larger fancy in some directions, and new colours, which I can use -hereafter. Fiction seems to be the only certain road to the publishers' -hearts, and I shall try it, not in a lengthy, but a brief -compass,--striving as much as possible after intense effects. I think -you would like my library if you could see it,--it is one agglomeration -of exotics and eccentricities. - -And you do not now write much?--do you? I would like to have read the -paper you told me of; but I fear the _Manhattan_ is dead beyond -resurrection--and, by the way, Richard Grant White has departed to that -land which is ruled by absolute silence, and in which a law of fair -play, unrecognized by our publishers, doth prevail. Do you never take a -vacation? If you could visit our Grande Isle in the healthy season, you -would enjoy it so much! An old-fashioned, drowsy, free-and-easy Creole -watering-place in the Gulf,--where there is an admirable beach, fishing -extraordinary, and subjects innumerable for artistic studies--a hybrid -population from all the ends of heaven, white, yellow, red, brown, -cinnamon-colour, and tints of bronze and gold. Basques, Andalusians, -Portuguese, Malays, Chinamen, etc. I hope to make some pen drawings -there. - -Have you seen the revised Old Testament? How many of our favourite and -beautiful texts have been marred! I almost prefer the oddity of -Wickliffe.... And, by the way, I must tell you that Palmer's Koran is a -fine book! ("Sacred Books of the East," Macmillan.) Sale is now -practically obsolete. - -Hoping I will be able, one of these days, to write something that I can -worthily dedicate to you, - - Believe me - Very affectionately, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, October, 1885. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--I would suggest as a title for Tunison's admirably -conceived book, "The Legends of Virgil," or, better still, "The -Virgilian Legend" (in the singular), as it is the custom among -folklorists to assemble a class of interrelated myths or fables under -such a general head. Thus we have "The Legend of Melusine, or Mere -Lusine;" "The Legend of Myrrdlium, or Merlin;" "The Legend of Don -Juan"--although each subject represents a large number of myths, -illustrating the evolutional history of one idea through centuries. This -title could be supplemented by an explanatory sub-title. - -Of course you can rely on me to praise, sincerely and strongly, what I -cannot but admire and honourably envy the authorship of. I wish I could -even hope to do so fine a piece of serious work as this promises to be. - -I am exceedingly grateful for your prompt sending of the Creole songs, -which I will return in a day or two. Some Creole music of an _inedited_ -kind--just one or two fragments--I would like so as to introduce your -role well. I now fear, however, that I shall not be able to devote as -much time to the work as I hoped. - -As for my "thinkings, doings, and ambitions," I have nothing interesting -to tell. I have accumulated a library worth $2000; I have studied a -great deal in directions which have not yet led me to any definite goal; -I have made no money by my literary outside work worth talking about; -and I have become considerably disgusted with what I have already done. -But I have not yet abandoned the idea of evolutional fiction, and find -that my ethnographic and anthropologic reading has enabled me to find a -totally new charm in character-analysis, and suggested artistic effects -of a new and peculiar description. I dream of a novel, or a novelette, -to be constructed upon totally novel principles; but the outlook is not -encouraging. Years of very hard work with a problematical result! I feel -pretty much like a scholar trying hard to graduate and feeling tolerably -uneasy about the result. - -Since you have more time now you might drop a line occasionally. I hope -to hear you succeed with the Scribners;--if not, I would strongly -recommend an effort with Houghton, Mifflin & Co., the most appreciative -publishers on this side of the Atlantic. - - Yours very affectionately, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1885. - -DEAR K.,--I was in hopes by this time to have been able to have sent you -for examination a little volume by La Selve, in which a curious account -is given of the various negro-creole dances and songs of the Antilles. -The book has been ordered for a very considerable time, but owing to -some cause or other, its arrival has been delayed. - -I find references made to Duveyrier (_Les Touaregs du Nord_) in regard -to the music of those extraordinary desert nomads, who retain their blue -eyes and blonde hair under the sun of the Timbuctoo country; and to -Endemann (by Hartmann) as a preserver of the music of the Basutos (South -Africa). Hartmann himself considers African music--superficially, -perhaps, in the smaller volume--in his "Peuples d'Afrique;" and in his -"Nigritiens" (Berlin: in 2 vols.). I have the small work ("Peuples -d'Afrique") which forms part of the French International Scientific -Series, but has not been translated for the American collection. -Hartmann speaks well of the musical "aptitudes" of the African races, -while declaring their art undeveloped; and he even says that the famous -Egyptian music of Dendera, Edfu, and Thebes never rose above the -orchestration at an Ashantee or Monbuttoo festival. He even remarks that -the instruments of the ancient Egyptian and modern Nigritian peoples are -almost similar. He also refers to the negro talents for improvisation, -and their peculiar love of animal-fables--the same, no doubt, which -found a new utterance in the negro myths of the South. The large work of -Hartmann I have never seen, and as it is partly chromolithographed I -fear it is very expensive. The names Hartmann and Endemann are very -German: I know of the former only through French sources,--perhaps you -have seen the original. He supports some of his views with quotations -you are familiar with perhaps--from Clapperton, Bowdich, and -Schweinfurth. - -It is rather provoking that I have not been able to find any specimens -of Griot music referred to in French works on Senegal; and I fancy the -Griot music would strongly resemble (in its suitability to improvisation -especially) the early music of the negroes here. Every French writer on -Senegal has something to say about the Griots, but none seem to have -known enough music to preserve a chant. The last two works published -(Jeannest's "Au Congo" and Marche's "Afrique Occidentale") were written -by men without music in their souls. The first publishes pictures of -musical instruments, but no music; and the second gives ten lines to the -subject in a volume of nearly 400 pp. Seems to me that a traveller who -was a musician might cultivate virgin soil in regard to the African -music of the interior. All I can find relating to it seems to deal with -the music of South Africa and the west and north coasts;--the interior -is unknown musically. I expect to receive La Selve soon, however,--and -if his announcement be truthful, we shall have something of interest -therein regarding the cis-Atlantic Africa. - - L. H. - -I saw a notice in the _Tribune_ regarding the negro Pan's pipe described -by Cable. I never saw it; but the fact is certainly very interesting. -The cane is well adapted to inspire such manufacture. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1885. - -DEAR K.,--Just got a letter from you. Hope my reply to your delightful -suggestion was received. I fear I write too often; but I can only write -in snatches. Were I to wait for time to write a long letter, the result -would be either 0 or something worse. - -I have already in my mind a little plan. Let me suggest a long preface, -and occasional picturesque notes to your learning and facts. For -example, I would commence by treating the negro's musical -patriotism--the strange history of the Griots, who furnish so singular -an example of musical prostitution, and who, although honoured and -petted in one way, are otherwise despised by their own people and -refused the rites of burial. Then I would relate something about the -curious wanderings of these Griots through the yellow desert northward -into the Moghreb country--often a solitary wandering; their performances -at Arab camps on the long journey, when the black slaves come out to -listen and weep;--then their hazardous voyaging to Constantinople, where -they play old Congo airs for the great black population of Stamboul, -whom no laws or force can keep within doors when the sound of Griot -music is heard in the street. Then I would speak of how the blacks carry -their music with them to Persia and even to mysterious Hadramaut, where -their voices are held in high esteem by Arab masters. Then I would touch -upon the transplantation of negro melody to the Antilles and the two -Americas, where its strangest black flowers are gathered by the -alchemists of musical science, and the perfume thereof extracted by -magicians like Gottschalk. (How is that for a beginning?) - -I would divide my work into brief sections of about 11/2 pages -each--every division separated by Roman numerals and containing one -particular group of facts. - -I would also try to show a relation between negro _physiology_ and negro -music. You know the blood of the African black has the highest human -temperature known--equal to that of the swallow--although it loses that -fire in America. I would like you to find out for me whether the negro's -vocal cords are not differently formed, and capable of _longer_ -vibration than ours. Some expert professor in physiology might tell you; -but I regret to say the latest London works do not touch upon the negro -vocal cords, although they do show other remarkable anatomical -distinctions. - -Here is the only Creole song I know of with an African refrain _that is -still sung_:--don't show it to C., it is one of _our_ treasures. - -(Pronounce "Wenday," "makkiyah.") - - _Ouende, ouende, macaya!_ - Mo pas barasse, _macaya_! - _Ouende, ouende, macaya!_ - Mo bois bon divin, _macaya_! - _Ouende, ouende, macaya!_ - Mo mange bon poulet, _macaya_! - _Ouende, ouende, macaya!_ - Mo pas barasse, _macaya_! - _Ouende, ouende, macaya!_-- - _Macaya!_ - -I wrote from dictation of Louise Roche. She did not know the meaning of -the refrain--her mother had taught her, and the mother had learned it -from the grandmother. However, I found out the meaning, and asked her if -she _now_ remembered. She leaped in the air for joy--apparently. -_Ouendai_ or _ouende_ has a different meaning in the eastern Soudan; but -in the Congo or Fiot dialect it means "to go"--"to continue to," "to go -on." I found the word in Jeannest's vocabulary. Then _macaya_ I found in -Turiault's "Etude sur la Langage Creole de la Martinique:" ca veut dire -"manger tout le temps"--"excessivement." Therefore here is our -translation:-- - - Go on! go on! _eat enormously!_ - _I_ ain't one bit ashamed--_eat outrageously_! - _Go on! go on! eat prodigiously_! - _I_ drink good wine,--_eat ferociously_!-- - Go on! go on!--_eat unceasingly_!-- - I eat good chicken--gorging myself!-- - Go on! go on! etc. - -How is this for a linguistic discovery? The music is almost precisely -like the American river-music,--a chant, almost a recitative until the -end of the line is reached; then for your mocking-music! - -And by the way, in Guyana, there is a mocking-bird more wonderful than -ours--with a voice so sonorous and solemn and far-reaching that those -Creole negroes who dwell in the great aisles of the forest call it _zozo -mon-pe_ (l'oiseau mon-pere), the "My father-bird." But the word father -here signifieth a spiritual father--a _ghostly_ father--the -"Priest-bird"! - -Now dream of the vast cathedral of the woods, whose sanctuary lights are -the stars of heaven! - - L. H. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1885. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--You are a terribly neglectful correspondent: I have -asked you nearly one hundred questions, not a single one of which you -have ever deemed it worth while to answer. However, that makes no matter -now,--as none of the questions were very important, certainly not in -your estimation. I think you are right about the negro-American music, -and that a Southern trip will be absolutely essential,--because I have -never yet met a person here able to reproduce on paper those fractional -tones we used to talk about, which lend such weirdness to those songs. -The naked melody robbed of these has absolutely no national -characteristic. The other day a couple of darkeys from the country -passed my corner, singing--not a Creole song, but a plain negro -ditty--with a recurrent burthen consisting of the cry:-- - - _Oh! Jee-roo-sa-le-e-em!_ - -I can't describe to you the manner in which the syllable _lem_ was -broken up into four tiny notes, the utterance of which did not occupy -one second,--all in a very low but very powerful key. The rest of the -song was in a regular descending scale: the _oh_ being very much -prolonged and the other notes very quick and sudden. Wish I could write -it; but I can't. I think all the original negro-Creole songs were -characterized by similar eccentricities. If you could visit a Creole -plantation,--and I know Cable could arrange that for you,--you would be -able to make some excellent studies. - -Cable told me he wanted you to treat these things musically. I am -_sure_, however, that his versions of them lack something--as regards -rhythm (musical), time, and that shivering of notes into musical -splinters which I can't describe. I have never told him I thought so; -but I suggest the matter to you for consideration. I think it would be a -good idea to have a chat with him about a Southern trip in the interest -of these Creole studies. I am also sure that one must study the original -Creole-ditty among the full-blooded French-speaking blacks of the -country,--not among the city singers, who are too much civilized to -retain originality. When the bamboulas were danced there was some real -"Congo" music; but the musicians are gone God knows where. The results -of your Southern trip might be something very important. There is a rage -in Europe for musical folk-lore. Considering what Gottschalk did with -Creole musical themes, it is surprising more attention has not been paid -to the ditties of the Antilles, etc. I am told there are stunning -treasures of such curiosities in Cuba, Martinique,--all the Spanish and -French possessions, but especially the former. The outlook is -delightful; but I think with you that it were best to rely chiefly upon -_personal_ study. It strikes me the thing ought to be scientifically -undertaken,--so as to leave as little as possible for others to improve -upon or even to glean. If you care for names of French writers on -African music, I can send. - -Didst ever hear the music of the Zamacueca? - - L. H. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, February, 1886. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--Your very brief note was received almost simultaneously -with my first perusal of your work in the _Century_. But the -Cala-woman's song is, I really think, imaginary. I have the real -cry,--six notes and some fractions,--which I will send you when I get a -man to write it down. The patate-cry is less African, but very pleasing. -I have been somewhat surprised to discover that the word Voudoo is not -African, but the corruption of a South-American mythological term with a -singular history--too long to write now, but at your service whenever -you may need it. - -Plympton has been here on his way to the W. Indies _via_ Florida--a -white shadow, a ghost, a Voice,--utterly broken down. I fear his summers -are numbered. He will return to his desk only to die, I fancy. A good, -large-minded, frank, eccentric man--always a friend to me. - -If you are interested in Provencal literature and song, and are not -acquainted with Hueffer's "Troubadours" (Chatto & Windus), let me -recommend the volume as one of the most compact and scholarly I have yet -seen. It is not exactly _new_, but new in its popularity on this side. -His theories are original; his facts, of course, may be all old to you. - -Houssaye is not a New Orleans favourite, like Albert Delpit, the -Creole,--or Pierre Loti,--or Guy de Maupassant,--or the leaders of the -later schools of erudite romance, such as Anatole France,--or the -psychologists of naturalism. Finally, I am sorry to say, the same -material saw light months ago in the _Figaro_, and is now quite ancient -history to French-speaking New Orleans. However, I have to leave the -matter entirely to Page, and the greatest obstacle will be price,--as we -usually only pay $5 for foreign correspondence. Picayunish, I know; but -Burke will pay $75 for a note from Loti, or a letter from Davitt, just -for the name. - -Try Roberts Bros, for Tunison. Chatto & Windus, of London, might also -like the book;--the only trouble is that in England there is a lurking -suspicion (not without foundation) of the untrustworthiness of American -work of this kind,--so many things have been done hastily in this -country, without that precision of scholarship and leisurely finish -indispensable to solid endurance. If they can only be induced to _read_ -the MS., perhaps it would be all right. Rivington of London is another -enterprising firm in the same line. - -I expect to see you this summer--also to send you a volume of Chinese -stories. Material is developing well. Won't write again until I can tear -and wrench and wring a big letter out of you. - - Affectionately, - L. HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, February, 1886. - -MY DEAR MUSICIAN,--Your letter delighted me. Strange as it may seem to -you, the books and papers you sent me, I never received! - -I feel a somewhat malicious joy in telling you that the translations you -considered so abominable are printed without the least alteration, and -also in assuring you that if you can spare time to read them you will -like them. Still, I must say that the book is not free from errors, and -that were I to do it all over again to-day, I should be able to improve -upon it. It is my first effort, however, and I am therefore a little -anxious; for to commence one's literary career with a collapse would be -very bad. I think I shall see you in New York this summer. I have a -project on foot--to issue a series of translations of archaeological and -artistic French romance--Flaubert's "Tentation de Saint-Antoine;" De -Nerval's "Voyage en Orient;" Gautier's "Avatar;" Loti's most -extraordinary African and Polynesian novels; and Baudelaire's "Petits -Poemes en Prose." If I can get any encouragement, it is not impossible -that I might stay in New York awhile; but there is no knowing. I am -working steadily toward the realization of one desire--to get rid of -newspaper life. - -No: I am not writing on music now--only book reviews, French and Spanish -translations, and an occasional editorial. The musical reviews of the -_Times-Democrat_ are the work of Jean Augustin--one of the few talented -Creoles here, who is the author of a volume of French poems, and is -personally a fine fellow. We are now very busy writing up the Carnival. -I have charge of the historical and mythological themes,--copies of -which I will send you when the paper is printed. One of the themes will -interest you as belonging to a novel and generally little known subject; -but I have only been able to devote two days apiece to them (four in -all), so you will make allowance for rough-and-ready work. - -I am very happy to hear you are cozy, and nicely established, and the -father of a little one, which I feel sure must inherit physical and -mental comeliness of no common sort. - -I cannot write as I wish to-day, as Carnival duties are pressing. So I -will only thank you for your kindness, and conclude with a promise to do -better next time. - - Your friend and admirer, - L. HEARN. - -By the way, would you like a copy of De l'Isere's work on diseases of -the voice, and the _rapports_ between sexual and vocal power? I have a -copy for you, but you must excuse its badly battered condition. I have -built up quite a nice library here; and the antiquarians bring me odd -things when they get them. This is one, but it has been abused. - - L. H. - - - TO W. D. O'CONNOR - - NEW ORLEANS, April, 1886. - -MY DEAR O'CONNOR,--Your dainty little gift was deeply appreciated. By -this mail I send you a few papers containing an editorial on the -subject--rather hastily written, I much regret to say, owing to pressure -of other work,--but calculated, I trust, to excite interest in the -nobly-written defence of Mrs. Pott's marvellous commentary. - -I have not written you because I felt unable to interest you in the -condition I have been long in--struggling between the necessities of my -_trade_ and the aspirations of what I hope to prove my _art_. I have a -little Chinese book on Ticknor & Co.'s stocks: if it appear you will -receive it, and perhaps enjoy some pages. The volume is an attempt in -the direction I hope to make triumph some day: _poetical prose_. I send -also some cuttings,--leaves for a future volume to appear, God knows -when, under the title "Notebook of an Impressionist." Before completing -it I expect to publish a novelette, which will be dedicated to you,--if -I think it worthy of you. I will work at it all this summer. - -I may also tell you that since I last wrote a very positive change has -been effected in my opinions by the study of Herbert Spencer. He has -completely converted me away from all 'isms, or sympathies with 'isms: -at the same time he has filled me with the vague but omnipotent -consolation of the Great Doubt. I can no longer give adhesion to the -belief in human automatism,--and that positive skepticism that imposes -itself upon an undisciplined mind has been eternally dissipated in my -case. I do not know if this philosophy interests you; but I am sure it -would, if you are not already, as I suspect, an adept in it. I have only -read, so far, the First Principles; but all the rest are corollaries -only. - -Now I have been selfish enough with my _Ego_;--let me trust you are -well, not over-busy, and as happy as it is possible to be under ordinary -conditions. I may run away to the sea for a while; I may run up North, -and take the liberty of spending a few hours in Washington on my way -back from New York. But whether I see you or not, believe always in my -sincere affection. - - Your friend, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO W. D. O'CONNOR - - NEW ORLEANS, April, 1886. - -DEAR O'CONNOR,--I had not received your letter when I wrote mine. It -pained me to hear of your having been ill, and especially ill in a way -which I am peculiarly well qualified to understand--having been almost -given up for dead some eight years ago. The same causes, the same -symptoms--in every particular. Luckily for me I found a warmer -climate, a city where literary competition was almost nothing, and men -of influence who took an interest in my work, and let me have things my -own way. Rest and cultivation of the _animal_ part of me, and good care -by a dear good woman, got me nearly well again. I am stronger than I -ever was in some ways; but I have not the same recuperative vitality,--I -cannot trust myself to any severe mental strain. "Sickness is health," -they say, for those who have received one of Nature's severe -corrections. - -I mention my own case only to show that I understand yours, and to give -you, if possible, the benefit of my experience. Long sleep is necessary, -for two or three years. Do not be afraid to take ten, eleven, or twelve -hours when you so feel inclined. I observe that the mind accomplishes -more, and in a shorter time, after these protracted rests. Never work -when you feel that little pain in the back of the head. Rare -beefsteaks,--eggs just warmed,--and claret and water to stimulate -appetite as often as possible, are important. Doctors can do little; you -yourself can do a great deal. I think a few months, or even weeks, at -the sea, would astonish you by the result. It did me. The abyss, out of -which all mundane life is said to have been evolved,--the vast salt gulf -of Creation,--seems still to retain its mysterious power: the Spirit -still hovers over the Face of the Deep,--and the very breath of the -ocean gives new soul to the blood. - -You will already know what I think of your beautiful book, with all of -which I heartily concur. But do not attempt to overwork any more. You -ought not to trust yourself to do more than three or four hours' work a -day,--and even this application ought to be interrupted at intervals. I -take a smoke every hour or so. The main thing--_please do not doubt -it_--is plenty of nourishment, cultivation of appetite, and much sleep. -Then Nature will right herself--slowly, though surely. - -Do not write to me if it tires you. I know just how it is; I know also -that you feel well toward me even if you have to keep silence. I will -write whenever I think I can interest you,--and never fail to drop me a -line if I can do anything to please you--just a line. I would not have -been silent so long, had I even suspected you were ill. My own illness -of eight years back was caused by years of night-work--16 hours a day. -Several of my old comrades died at it. I quit--took courage to attempt a -different class of work, and, as the French say, I have been able to -re-make my constitution. I trust it won't bore you, my writing all this: -I understand so exactly how you have been that I am anxious to give all -the suggestions I can. - - I remain, dear O'Connor, - Very affectionately, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, May, 1886. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--I think I shall soon be able to send you a Hindoo. Yes, -a Hindoo,--with Orientally white teeth, the result of vegetal diet and -Brahmanic abstemiousness--rather prognathous, I am sorry to say, and not -therefore of purest Aryan breed. He may be a Thug, a Sepoy deserter, a -Sikh drummed out of the army, a Brahmin who has lost caste, a Pariah -thief, a member of the Left-hand or of the Right-hand caste (or other -sections too horrible to name), a Jain, a half-breed Mongol Islamite -from Delhi, a Ghoorkha, a professional fraud, a Jesuitic convert on -trial ... I know not;--I send him to you with my best regard. You are -large and strong; you can take care of yourself! I send him to the -_Tribune_,--fearing the awful results of his visit to 305 West -Fifty-fifth Street. - -How did I find him? Well, he came one day to our office to protest about -some of my editorials on Indian questions. I found he talked English -well, wrote with sufficient accuracy to contribute to the _T.-D._, and -had been in the Indian civil service. I questioned him on Hindoo -literature: found him somewhat familiar with the Mahabharata and -Ramayana, the Bhagavad-Gita and the Vedantas,--heard him reiterate the -names of the great Sanscrit poets and playwrights--Kalidasa, Vyasa, -Jayadeva, Bhartrihari. He first taught me accurately to pronounce the -awful title _Mricchakatika_, which means "The Chariot of Baked Clay;" -and he translated for me, although with great effort and very badly, one -of the delicious love-lyrics of the divine Amaron. Therefore I perceived -that he knew something vaguely about the vast Mother of Languages. - -And he sang for me the chants of the temples, in a shrill Indian tenor, -with marvellously fine splintering of notes--melancholy, dreamy, drowsy, -like the effect of monotonous echoes in a day of intense heat and -atmospheric oppression. - -Why, then, did not my heart warm toward him? Was it because, in the -columns of the _Times-Democrat_, he had boldly advocated the burning of -widows and abused the Government of which I remain a loving subject? Was -it because he made his appearance simultaneously with that of that -colossal fraud, the "North, South and Central American Exposition"? Nay: -it was because of his prognathism, his exceedingly sinister eye, like -the eye of a creature of prey; his shaky suppleness of movement; and his -mysterious past. How might I trust myself alone with a man who looked -like one of the characters of the "Moonstone"? And yet I regret ... what -a ridiculous romance I might have made! - -Never mind, I send him to you! He says he is a Brahman. He says he can -sing you the chants and dirges of his sun-devoured land. Let him -sing!--let him chant! If he merit interest in the shape of fifty cents, -give it to him, and watch him slip it into his swarthy bosom with the -stealthy gesture of one about to pull forth a moon-shaped knife. Or tell -him where to get, or to look for work. He worked here in a moss-factory -and in a sash-factory and other factories; living upon rice and beans -more cheaply than a Chinaman. Yet beware you do not smite him on the -nostrils without large and solid reason. I give him a letter to you. -Amen! (P.S. His alleged name is Sattee or Suttee--perhaps most probably -the _latter_, as he advocates it.) - -I received your book--a charming volume in all that makes a volume -charming: including clear tinted paper, not too glossy; fascinating -type; broad margins; tasteful binding. Thanks for dear little phrase -written in it. I will send first criticism of contents in shape of a -review. Have something else to talk of later. - -I hope you received photograph sent by Baker through me,--and paper. The -translation does not convey original force of style; but it may serve to -reveal something of the author's _intensity_. His power of impressing -and communicating queer sensations makes him remarkable. - - Affectionately, - L. HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1886. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--I was waiting to write you in the hope of being able to -send you some literary news. I have my little Chinese book in Ticknor's -hands; but the long silence is still unbroken. The omen is not a bad -one, yet I am disappointed in not being able now, when replying to your -delightful letter, to tell you everything is O. K.,--because the book is -dedicated to you. There are only six little stories; but each of them -cost months of hard work and study, and represent a much higher attempt -than anything in the "Stray Leaves." The dedication will, I think, amuse -you if the book appears,--and will be more or less mysterious to the -rest of the world. I fear now it cannot be published in time to reach -you before you leave for Europe. - -Well, dear old fellow, I think I must try to see you at New York anyhow. -At all events I must have a change. The prolonged humidity and -chilliness of our winter is telling on me; I have been considerably -pulled down in spite of an easy life, and must try the sea somewhere. I -fear the Eastern beaches are too expensive; but I could run North, and -spend the rest of the time allowed me after my visit at some obscure -fishing village. Europe, I fear, must be given up this summer. I could -visit Spain in company with a dear friend, Dr. Matas; but I feel it a -duty to myself to stick at literary work this summer in order to effect -a new departure. - -Now, I must tell you about it. I am writing a novelette. It will require -at least twelve months to finish--though it will be a tiny book. It will -be all divided into microscopic chapters of a page or half-a-page each. -Every one of these is to be a little picture, with some novel features. -Some touches of evolutionary philosophy. I want to make something -altogether odd, novel, ideal in the best sense. The theme, I fear, you -will not like. The story of a somewhat improper love--a fascination -developed into a sincere but vain affection--an effort to re-create what -has been hopelessly lost,--a seeking after the impossible. I am not -quite sure yet how I shall arrange the main part;--there will be much -more of _suggestion_ than of real plot.... I do, indeed, remember your -advice; but I am not sorry not to have followed it before. My style was -not formed; I did not really know how to work; I am only now beginning -to learn. Ticknor writes that if I should undertake a novelette, he is -certain it would succeed. So I shall try. In trying I must study from -real material; I must take models where I can find them. Still the work -will be ideal to the verge of fantasy. - -So much for that. If I have been selfish enough to talk first about -myself, it is partly because I cannot answer your question without -giving some of my own experience. You ask about style; you deem yours -unsatisfactory, and say that I overestimated it. Perhaps I may have -overestimated particular things that with a somewhat riper judgement I -would consider less enthusiastically. But I always perceived an uncommon -excellence in the tendency of your style--a purity and strength that is -uncommon and which I could never successfully imitate. A man's style, -when fully developed, is part of his personality. Mine is being shaped -for a particular end; yours, I think, is better adapted to an ultimately -higher purpose. The fact that you deem it unsatisfactory shows, I fancy, -that you are in a way to develop it still further. I have only observed -this, that it is capable of much more polish than you have cared to -bestow upon it. Mind! I do not mean _ornament_;--I do not think you -should attempt ornament, but rather force and sonority. Your tendency, I -think, is naturally toward classical purity and correctness--almost -severity. With great strength,--ornament becomes unnecessary; and the -general cultivation of strength involves the cultivation of grace. I -still consider yours a higher style than mine, but I do not think you -have cultivated it to one fourth of what it is capable. Now, let me say -why. - -Chiefly, I fancy, for want of time. If you do not know it already, let -me dwell upon an art principle. Both you and I have a _trade_: -journalism. We have also an _art_: authorship. The same system of labour -cannot be applied to the one as to the other without unfortunate -results. Let the trade be performed as mechanically as is consistent -with preservation of one's reputation as a good _workman_: any more -labour devoted to it is an unpaid waste of time. But when it comes to -writing a _durable_ thing,--a book or a brochure,--every line ought to -be written at least twice, if possible _three_ times. Three times, at -all events, to commence with. First--roughly, in pencil: after which -correct and reshape as much as you deem necessary. Then rewrite _clean_ -in pencil. Read again; and you will be surprised to find how much -improvement is possible. Then copy in ink, and in the very act of -copying, new ideas of grace, force, and harmony will make themselves -manifest. Without this, I will venture to say, fine literary execution -is _impossible_. Some writers need the discipline less than others. You, -for example, less than I. My imagination and enthusiasm have to be kept -in control; my judgements to be reversed or amended; my adjectives -perpetually sifted and pruned. But my work is ornamental--my dream is -poetical prose: a style unsuited to literature of the solid and -instructive kind. Have you ever worked much with Roget's -"Thesaurus"?--it is invaluable. Still more valuable are etymological -dictionaries like those of Skeat (best in the world), of Brachet -(French), of Dozy and Engelmann (Spanish-Arabic). Such books give one -that subtle sense of words to which much that _startles_ in poetry and -prose is due. Time develops the secret merit of work thus done.... -These, dear K., are simply my own experiences, ideas, and impressions. I -now think they are correct. In a few years I might modify them. They may -contain useful suggestions. Our humblest friends may suggest valuable -things sometimes. - -Talking of change in opinions, I am really astonished at myself. You -know what my fantastic metaphysics were. A friend disciplined me to read -Herbert Spencer. I suddenly discovered what a waste of time all my -Oriental metaphysics had been. I also discovered, for the first time, -how to apply the little general knowledge I possessed. I also learned -what an absurd thing positive skepticism is. I also found unspeakable -comfort in the sudden and, for me, eternal reopening of the Great Doubt, -which renders pessimism ridiculous, and teaches a new reverence for all -forms of faith. In short, from the day when I finished the "First -Principles,"--a totally new intellectual life opened for me; and I hope -during the next two years to devour the rest of this oceanic philosophy. -But this is boring you too much for the nonce. - -Believe me, dear friend, affectionately, - - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1886. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--I must drop you another line or two; for you must let me -hear from you again before you go to Europe. - -I have completely recovered from the nervous shock which the sudden -return of my tiny volume produced in spite of myself; and all my -scattered plans are being re-crystallized. I know my work is good in -some respects; and if it bears reading over well, next winter I may take -a notion to publish a small edition at my own expense. In fact, I -believe I will have to publish several things at my own expense. Even if -my art-ideas are correct (and I sincerely believe they are)--in their -most mature form they would represent a heterodox novelty in American -style, and literary heterodoxies no publisher will touch. I am going to -give up the novelette idea,--it is too large an undertaking at -present,--and will try short stories. My notebooks will always be -useful. Whenever I receive a new and strong impression, even in a dream, -I write it down, and afterwards develop it at leisure. These efforts -repay me well in the end. - -There are impressions of blue light and gold and green, correlated to -old Spanish legend, which can be found only south of this line. I -obtained a few in Florida;--I must complete the effect by future visits: -therefore I shall go to the most vast and luminous of all ports known to -the seamen of the South--the Bay of the Holy Ghost (Espiritu Santo),--in -plainer language, Tampa. So I shall vegetate a while longer in the -South. I have some $600 saved up; but, I fear, under present -circumstances, that I would be imprudent to expend it all in a foreign -trip, and will wait until I can make some sort of impression with some -new sort of work. The _T.-D._ will save expenses for me on Florida trip, -and instead of roar and rumble of traffic and shrieking of steam and -dust of microbes, I shall dream by the shores of phosphorescent seas, -and inhale the Spirit that moveth over the face of the Deep. - -I forgot in my last to thank you for little notice in the playbill of my -Gautier stories; but you were mistaken as to their being paraphrases. -They were literal translations, so far as I was able to make them at the -time. I am sorry that they now appear full of faults: especially as I -cannot get any publisher to take them away from Worthington. If I -succeed some day, I may be able to get out a more perfect edition in -small neat shape. "Stray Leaves" also has several hideous errors in it. -I never dare now to look at them for fear of finding something else -worse than before. - -By the way, last year I had to muster up courage to condemn a lot of -phantasmagoria to the flames. - - Very affectionately, - LAFCADIO. - -DEAR K.,--Like a woman I must always add a P.S. - -Something that has been worrying me demands utterance. A Paris -correspondent of the _Tribune_, grossly misinformed, has written an -error to that paper on "Lakme." "Lakme" may have been drawn from "Le -Mariage de Loti,"--the weirdest and loveliest romance, to my notion, -ever written;--but that novel has nothing to do with India or English -officers. It is a novel of Polynesian life in Tahiti. It is unspeakably -beautiful and unspeakably _odd_. I translated its finest passages in a -so-and-so way when it first came out, and won the good will of its -clever author, Julien Viaud, who sent me his portrait and a very pretty -letter. I have collected every scrap "Loti" wrote, and translated many -things: will send you a rough-and-ready translation from his new novel -on Sunday. No writer ever had such an effect upon me; and time -strengthens my admiration. I hold him the greatest of living writers of -the Impressionist School; and still he is something more--he has a -spirituality peculiarly his own, that reminds you a little of Coleridge. -I cannot even think of him without enthusiasm. Therefore I feel sorry to -hear of him being misrepresented. He is a great musician in the -folk-lore way, too; and in one of my letters to him I mentioned your -name. Some day you might come together; and he could sing you all the -Polynesian and African songs you want. He has lived in the Soudan. I -sent you once a fragment by him upon those African improvisors, called -Griots. If the _Tribune_ ever wants anything written about Loti, see if -you can't persuade them to apply to me. I know all about his life and -manners, and I would not ask any remuneration for so delightful a -privilege as that of being able to do him justice in a great paper. His -address is 141 Rue St. Pierre, Rochefort-sur-Mer. You might see him in -Europe, perhaps. - - LAFCADIO H. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, October, 1886. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--While in hideous anxiety I await the decision of my -future by various damnably independent censors, I must seize the moment -of leisure--the first calm after a prolonged storm of work--to chat with -you awhile, and to thank you for your musical aid. Alden is, of course, -deliberating over the "Legend of l'Ile Derniere;" Roberts Bros. are -deliberating over "Chinese Ghosts;" I am also deliberating about a -voyage to Havana, the Mystical Rose of a West Indian dawn--with palms -shaking their plumes against the crimsoning. What are you deliberating -about? Something that I shall be crazy to read, no doubt, and will have -the delight of celebrating the appearance of in the editorial columns of -the provincial _T.-D._! O that I were the directing spirit of some new -periodical--backed by twenty million dollar publishing interests,--and -devoted especially to the literary progression of the future,--the -realization of a dream of poetical prose,--the evolution of the -Gnosticism of the New Art! Then, wouldn't I have lots to say about The -Musician,--_my_ musician,--and the Song of Songs that is to be! - -For my own purpose now lieth naked before me, without shame. I suppose -we all have a purpose, an involuntary goal, to which the Supreme Ghost, -unknowingly to us, directs our way; and when we find we have -accomplished what _we_ wished for, we also invariably find that we have -travelled thither by a route very different from that which we laid out -for ourselves, and toward a consummation not precisely that which we -anticipated--although pleasing enough. Well, you remember my ancient -dream of a poetical prose,--compositions to satisfy an old Greek -ear,--like chants wrought in a huge measure, wider than the widest line -of a Sanscrit composition, and just a little irregular, like -Ocean-rhythm. I really think I will be able to realize it at last. And -then, what? I really don't know. I fancy that I shall have produced a -pleasant effect on the reader's mind, simply with pictures; and that the -secret work, the word-work, will not be noticed for its own sake. It -will be simply an eccentricity for critics; an originality for those -pleased by it--but I'm sure it will be grateful unto the _musical_ ear -of H. E. K.! - -Now I remember promising to write about going to New York. - -Br-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r! - -'Tis winter. My lizard blood freezes at the thought. In my room it is -71 deg.: that is cold for us. New York in winter signifieth for such as -me--Dissolution,--eternal darkness and worms. Transformation of physical -and vital forces of L. H. into the forces of innumerable myriads of -worms! "And though a man live many years, and rejoice in them all--yet -let him remember the Days of Darkness,--for they shall be many!" No: -March, April, or May! But you say,--"Then it will be the same old story, -and seasons will cycle, and generations pass away, and yet he will not -come." Yet there are symptoms of my coming: little spider-threads of -literary weaving with New York are thickening. When the rope is strong, -I can make my bridge.--Think of the trouble I would have with my $1800 -of books, and all my other truck. Alas! I have an anchor! - -My friend Matas has returned. He tells me delightful things about -Spanish music, and plays for me. He also tells me much concerning Cuban -and Mexican music. He says these have been very strongly affected by -African influence--full of contretemps. He tried to explain about the -accompaniments of Havanen and Mexican airs having peculiar -interresemblances of a seemingly _dark_ origin--the bass goes all the -time something like _Si, Mi, Si,--si, mi, si_. "See me?--see?" that's -how I remembered it. But he has given me addresses, and I will be able -to procure specimens. - - Affectionately, - LAFCADIO. - - - TO W. D. O'CONNOR - - NEW ORLEANS, February, 1887. - -DEAR O'CONNOR,--Please, if feeling free enough from other and more -important labours, write to me, let me have a few lines from -you--telling me how you are, and how the years pass. - -With me they have been somewhat uneventful--except, indeed, that your -wish to see me succeed with the Harpers has been realized: I have become -a contributor to the _Magazine_, and am going to have the honour of a -short sketch of myself in it,--of course, in connection with the New -Southern Literary Movement. And I will also soon have the pleasure of -sending you a new production, just got, or getting out by a Boston -house,--my "Chinese Ghosts;" brief studies in poetical prose, if you -like. They may amuse you in a leisure moment. - -I am soon going to run away to Florida, and perhaps the West Indies, for -a romantic trip--a small literary bee in search of inspiring honey. -There is a good market for books on Florida; and I may be able to get -one out this next winter. You will like my sketch in _Harper's_ when it -appears, as it deals with topics in which you are directly interested -professionally,--Gulf-coasts and shifting dunes, sands, winds and tides, -storms, and valiant saving of life. I think I am beginning to learn how -to do good work. - -I trust you are feeling strong and hearty. Last time you wrote me you -were quite ill. - -How delightful it would be if you could take a trip with me in March, to -the Floridian springs, to windy Key West, or to the palmier Antilles, -where we might watch together the rose-blossoming of extraordinary -sunrises, the conflagration of apocalyptic sunsets. Is it impossible? My -dreams now are full of fantastic light--a Biblical light: and the -World-Ghost, all blue, promises inspiration. Could we not celebrate the -Blue Ghost's pentecost together? - - Affectionately, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO W. D. O'CONNOR - - NEW ORLEANS, March, 1887. - -DEAR O'CONNOR,--I was sincerely pained to hear of your illness; and -reading your long, kind, affectionate letter, felt that I had, without -intending it, strained your generosity by causing you to write so much -while ill. Not that your letter was wanting in any of those splendid and -unique qualities which, I think, make you unrivalled as a letter-writer; -but that, having been once severely shocked by overwork myself, I am -fully aware how much it costs to write a long letter when the nervous -system flags. In sending you this tiny book, I only desire to amuse you -in leisure moments when you might feel inclined to read it;--don't think -I want you to write me about it; for if you were to write again before -you get quite strong you would pain me.... - -I find I will have to go to the West Indies by way of New York;--at -first I intended to go through lower Florida, and take a steamer at Key -West for Havana. But I would have to change vessels so many times, I -thought it best to get a New York steamer for Trinidad. In Trinidad I -can see South American flora in all their splendour; in Jamaica and, -especially, Martinique, I can get good chances to study those Creole -types which are so closely allied to our own. I want to finish a tiny -volume of notes of travel--Impressionist-work,--always keeping to my -dream of a _poetical prose_. - -But I feel you will have to make some new departure in your own work at -Washington: so terrible a mill as they have there for grinding minds, -frightens me! I used to think Government positions were facile to fill, -and exacted less than ordinary professions in private life. I see such -is not the case; and I hope you will be prudent, and not return to the -same exacting duties again--_enemigo reconciliado, enemigo doblado_. My -own sad experience at journalistic work, which broke me down, did me -great good: it rendered it out of the question ever to put myself in a -similar situation, and instead of the old loss of liberty I found -leisure to study, to dream a little, to conceive an ambition which I now -hope to fulfil in the course of a few years, if I live. Out of the -misfortune, good came to me; and I notice that Nature is really very -kind when we obey her;--she gives back more than she takes away, she -lessens energies to increase mental powers of assimilation; she compels -recognition, like the God of Job "who maketh silence in the high -places," and after having taught us what we _cannot_ do, then returns to -us a hundredfold that which she first took away. This is just what she -will do for you; and I even hope the day will come when you will feel -quite glad that you did overwork yourself a little, because the result -turned the splendid stream of your mind into a broader channel of daily -action, not confined within boundaries of hewn stone, but shadowed by -odorous woods, and swept by free winds, and changing under the pressure -of the will-current. - -I want you to feel full of cheer and faith in this dear Nature of ours, -who is certain to make you strong and lucky,--if you don't go back to -that horrid brain-mill in the Capital. - -I will write you a little while I am gone,--if I can find a little -strange bit of tropical colour to spread on the paper,--like the fine -jewel-dust of scintillant moth-wings. - -Believe me, with sincerest wishes and regards, - - Affectionately, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1887. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--Your letter contained a cutting truth,--"This is not a -country to dream in; but to get rich or go to the poorhouse." Still, O -golden-haired musician, is it not a crime to stifle the aspirations -toward the beautiful which strive to burn upon the altar of every -generous heart? Why not aim to kindle the holy fire, in spite of harsh -realities and rains of Disappointment? - -If you have written any pretty things recently let me see a copy soon as -possible. - -Don't forget me altogether. It will be best to address me at -post-office. - -A gentleman lent me a bundle of Creole music yesterday. I could not copy -it; the writing was too funny; but he is going to have it copied in -order to send it to you. - - Very truly yours, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - -_Afterthought!_--It has just occurred to me to ask if you are -familiar with Lissajous' experiments. I know nothing about them -except what I found in Flammarion's great "Astronomie Populaire." One -extraordinary chapter on numbers gives diagrams of the vibrations of -harmonics--showing their singular relation to the geometrical designs of -crystal-formation;--and the chapter is aptly closed by the Pythagorean -quotation: [Aei ho Theos geometrei].--"God _geometrizes_ everywhere."... -I should imagine that the geometry of a fine opera would--were the -vibrations outlined in similar fashion--offer a network of designs -which for intricate beauty would double discount the arabesque of the -Alhambra. I was reading in an article on Bizet not long ago that music -has ceased to be an art and has become a _science_--in which event it -must have a _mathematical_ future!... Probably all this is old to you; -but it produced such an impression upon me when I first saw it, that I -believe its mention won't tire you anyhow. And then, between friends, it -is a pleasure to exchange thoughts even of the most hyperbolical, and, -perhaps, useless description. - - L. H. - -I send specimen music choral dance of Greek women in Megara. It is -called _La Trata_, and was first published in Bourgault-Ducoudray's -"Souvenirs d'une mission musicale en Grece;"--I took mine from -_Melusine_. The dance is very peculiar, and is supposed to have been -danced in antique times at the festival of Neptune or Poseidon. The -women form a chain, by so interlacing their hands that across each -woman's breast the hands of those on either side of her are clasped. The -dancers move forward and retreat in file,--as if pulling _nets_. Ancient -tomb-paintings show it was known in early Roman times also;--might not -the music be as old as the dance,--as old as Phidias anyhow?... I -suppose this is absurd, but wish it wasn't. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1887. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--Excuses for silence between us are, I fancy, recognized -as unnecessary, since they always have a good cause. I read with -admiration and pleasure the fine critiques you were kind enough to send -me; and I verily believe that you will be recognized sooner or later, if -you are not already, as the best musical critic in the United States. Of -course, I'm talking now on a subject I know little about; yet, if there -be any superior to you, I am sure it is only that, being much older than -you, they may have had a generation longer of opportunities for study. - -My little book is advancing; and I am now face to face with what I -recognize as one of the most awful situations in life, the criticism of -the proof-reader. I don't mean the commonplace proof-reader, who is a -mere printer; but the terrible scholar who supervises proofs for a -leading class of publishers, such as the man of the University or -Riverside Press, who knows all rules of grammar, all laws of form, all -the weaknesses of writers,--and whose frightful suggestions are often -simply crushing! What you have spent a month in making a beauty-blossom -of style, may suddenly fade into worthless dust at one touch of his -terrific pencil, making the simple hook-mark "?". I can imagine I hear a -voice asking: "Do you desire to make a fool of yourself by having this -line in print?" And then the after-thoughts, the premature hurrying away -of proofs, the frantic rush to the telegraph-office to have them -returned or corrected, the humble letters of apology for trouble given, -the yells of anguish in bed at night when I think to myself, "Oh! what a -d--d ass I have been!" I have been now three times in front of this -awful man, and like the angels he is without wrath and wholly without -pity. - -Your query about an opera-subject which suggested my lines about Rabyah, -also inspired me to make the story a poetical sketch in my best style, -which I sent to _Harper's Bazar_; and perhaps, when you read it, you -will think again more favourably about the theme. I am going one of -these days to make a study on the romance of Rabyah's courtship and -marriage, which is very pretty in the rendering of the old Arabian -chronicles. I understand exactly what you want; but not having any -accurate idea of stage-necessities and theatrical exigencies, I fear -you must always remain the one to determine the worth of any operatic -suggestion possible to make. Now, for example, I can't understand why -Rabyah's death could not be _mounted_, etc. You will like the _colour_ -of my sketch for the _Bazar_, to which I gave the title of "Rabyah's -Last Ride." I have adopted the Arabic names, in preference to Lyall's or -Muir's, unpronounceable at sight.--It seems to me that you can devise a -splendid piece of gloomy beauty from the "Kalewala." - -I am going to the West Indies as soon as my book is out. It will be a -tiny 16mo, with Chinese figures. - -Believe me always your warmest friend, - - LAFCADIO. - -I made a mistake in writing you about Hindola and Kabit; they represent -poetical measures, or styles of chant, not instruments. See how my -memory failed me. - - - TO ELIZABETH BISLAND - - NEW ORLEANS, 1887. - -DEAR MISS BISLAND,--More than two weeks before receiving your most -welcome letter, I wrote to Messrs. Roberts Bros. of Boston to send you, -as soon as published, a copy of "Chinese Ghosts," which will appear in a -few weeks. It opens with the story of the Bell--the legend of the Great -Bell of Pekin, or Pe-King;--and you will also find in it the "Legend of -the Tea-Plant:" both in better form than that which you first saw.... -If you watch the _Harper's Bazar_, you will find in it a little -pre-Islamic story--"Rabyah's Last Ride,"--which I expect will please -you. - -I am under so many obligations to you that I can't attempt to thank you -_seriatim_; but I am especially grateful to you for the pleasure of -knowing something of Mrs. Alice W. Rollins. All the nice little things -you have written about me and said about me, I can only hope to thank -you for _as I should like_, when I am better able to prove what I feel. - -As for your criticism of my queer ways, I can only say in explanation -that I suspected a slightly sarcastic tendency where I was no doubt -mistaken, and simply beat retreat from an imaginary fire. - -Anyhow, let me assure you no one has ever had a sincerer belief in, or a -higher opinion of your abilities, or a profounder recognition of many -uncommon qualities discerned in you,--than myself. I trust you will soon -receive the visit of the Ghosts: there are only six of them. - - Very truly and gratefully, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO ELIZABETH BISLAND - - NEW ORLEANS, April 7 and 14, 1887. - -DEAR MISS BISLAND,--Your delightful letter ought, I imagine, to have -been answered before; but among literary brothers and sisters a little -delay can always be comprehended and forgiven, even without explanation. -The explanation, however, might be interesting to one who feels so -generous a sympathy with my work. I am trying to find the Orient at -home,--to apply the same methods of poetical-prose treatment to modern -local and living themes. The second attempt, in form of a novelette, is -nearly ready. The subject of the whole is one which you love as much as -I,--Louisiana Gulf-life. - -Yes, indeed, I remember the Baboo!--with his prognathic profile, and his -Yakshasa smile. I remember him especially, perhaps, because I first -learned in his presence that your eyes were grey, instead of black.... I -sent the Baboo to Krehbiel with a letter last summer;--taking care, -however, to warn my friend against the ways of the Phansigars. Really -the Baboo was an uncanny fellow; and the mysterious fact of his -discharge from the British Civil Service impressed me as suspicious. - -I think you are really lucky to be able to see and hear a Brahmin, and -to find the East at your right hand. _Atmans_ and _mantras_, and the -_skandhas_, and the Days and Nights of Him with the unutterable name, -and the mystic syllable Aum! Enough to suggest all the rest,--light, -warmth, sounds, and the splendour of nights in which fountain-jets of -song do bubble up from the rich flood of flower-odours.... Perhaps I -shall be able to see the Brahmin;--I hope to be in New York early in -May. I do not know whether I shall behold _you_;--you will be there, as -here, a blossom dangerous to approach by reason of the unspeakable -multitude of bees! - -I have always wondered at your pluck in going boldly into the mouth of -that most merciless of all monsters--a Metropolis of the first -dimension,--and at your success in the face of very serious difficulties -of the competitive sort. Let me hope you will feel always confident, as -I do, that you are going to do more. You have one very remarkable and -powerful faculty,--that of creating an impression, that remains, with a -very few words. It shows itself in little things--for example, your few -lines about the composite photos. Do you still write verse? A little -volume of poetry by you is something I hope to see one of these days. -The only thing I used to be afraid of regarding you was that you might -lack the rare yet terribly necessary gift of waiting. And yet, there is -something very unique in your literary temperament;--you are able to -reach an effect at once and directly which others would obtain only by -long effort. If you like anything I have done, it is because I have -taken horrible pains with it. Eight months' work on one sketch;--then -eight months on another--not yet finished; but happily 120 pages are -done; and the first was only 75. The attempt at romantic work on modern -themes taught me lots of things. One is, that the purpose, as well as -the thought, must evolve itself, but the thought must come first;--then -the thing begins to develop--and always in a different way from that at -first intended. Also I found that the importance of noting down -_impressions_, introspective or otherwise,--and expanding them at -leisure, is simply enormous. Perhaps you know all this already;--if not, -try it and get a pretty surprise. - -I have one thing more to chat about;--I am trying to get all my friends -to read Herbert Spencer--beginning with "First Principles." Slow -reading, but invaluable; systematizes all one's knowledge and plans and -ideas. I've made three converts. The only way to read him is by -paragraphs--all of which are numbered. I am now wrestling with the two -big volumes of "Biology," and have digested one of the "Sociology." The -"Psychology" I will touch last, though it is his mightiest work. Four -years' study, at least, for me to complete the reading. But "First -Principles" contain the digest of all;--the other volumes are merely -corollaries. When one has read Spencer, one has digested the most -nutritious portion of all human knowledge. Also the style is worth the -labour,--puissant, compact, and melodious. - -Believe me always with many thanks for kind letter, - - Your friend and literary brother, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - -Twice commenced, it is time this rambling document should finish. But I -forgot to tell you C. D. Warner is here--stops at No. 13 Rampart. He -called once at my rooms, seated himself among the papers, dust, bad -pictures, and general desolation; and went away, leaving his card upon -the valise (long-extemporized into a desk). I did not see him! He never -called again. - - - TO GEORGE M. GOULD - - NEW ORLEANS, April, 1887. - -DEAR SIR,--However pleasant may have been the impulse prompting your -generous letter, I doubt whether you could fully comprehend the value of -it to myself,--the value of literary encouragement from an evidently -strong source. There is nothing an author or an artist needs so -much,--nothing that is more difficult to obtain. - -After all, the reward for him who strives to express beauty or truth, -for its own sake, is just such a letter as yours; for his aim is only to -reach and touch that kindred _something_ in another which the Christian -calls Soul,--the Pantheist, God,--the philosopher, the Unknowable. - -Your wish as to the application to modern themes of the same literary -methods is about to be accomplished. I do not know how the work will be -received by the public, nor can I tell just when it will appear; but I -_think_ soon, and in _Harper's Magazine_ (entre nous!). If it appears -subsequently (or immediately) in more enduring form, I shall show my -gratefulness by sending you a copy. - - Believe me, very sincerely, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO GEORGE M. GOULD - - NEW ORLEANS, April, 1887. - -DEAR MR. GOULD,--You could not have done me more pleasure than by -sending me your pamphlet on the "Colour-Sense." I am an Evolutionist, -and as thorough a disciple of Spencer as it is possible for one not a -practical scientist to be; and such studies, combined with art and -poetry, with which they serve in my case to stimulate and illustrate and -expand, are my delight. I like your criticism on Grant Allen, too. In -his "Physiological AEsthetics," as well as in "Common-Sense in Science" -and various other volumes, he has occasionally made singularly wild -divergences from the perfectly smooth path he professes to -travel--tumbled into imaginative thickets, lost himself in romantic -groves. Still he is, as you observe, more than interesting sometimes; -delightful, suggestive, skilled in giving a charming homeliness and -familiarity to new truths vast as the sky. - -The pamphlet on retinal insensibility I have not yet read through; and I -fear some parts of it will prove too technical for me. But its larger -conclusions and elucidations impress me already sufficiently to tell me -that a more complete grasp of it will more than please and surprise. - -My novelette is complete and in a publisher's hands. When you read the -first part, whether in the _Magazine_ or in book form,--I think you will -find much of what you have said regarding the AEsthetic Symbolism of -Colour therein expressed, intuitively,--especially regarding the -holiness of the sky-colour,--the divinity of Blue. Blue is the -World-Soul. - - With grateful regards, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO GEORGE M. GOULD - - NEW ORLEANS, 1887. - -DEAR MR. GOULD,--Reading your letter, I was strongly impressed by the -similarity in thought, inspiration, range, even chirography, with the -letters of a very dear friend, almost a brother, and also a -physician,--though probably less mature than you in many ways. A greater -psychological resemblance I have never observed. My friend is very -young, but already somewhat eminent here;--he has been demonstrator of -anatomy for some years at our University, and will ultimately, I am -sure, turn out a great name in American medicine. But he is a -Spaniard,--Rodolfo Matas. I first felt really curious about him after -having visited him to obtain some material for a fantastic anatomical -dream-sketch, and asked where I could find good information regarding -the lives and legends of the great Arabian physicians. When he ran off a -long string of names, giving the specialties of each man, and -criticizing his work, I was considerably surprised; and even felt a -little skeptical until I got hold of Leclerc and Sprengel and found the -facts there as given to me by word of mouth. I trust you will meet him -some day, and find in him an ideal _confrere_, which I am sure he would -find in you. It is a singular fact that most of my tried friends have -been physicians. - -You asked me about Gautier. I have read and possess nearly all his -works; and before I was really mature enough for such an undertaking I -translated his six most remarkable short stories: ("Une Nuit de -Cleopatre;" "La Morte Amoureuse;" "Arria Marcella;" "Le Pied de Momie;" -"Le Roi Candaule;" and "Omphale"), which were published by R. -Worthington under the title of the opening story,--"One of Cleopatra's -Nights." The work contains, I regret to say, several shocking errors; -and the publisher refused me the right to correct the plates. The book -remains one of the sins of my literary youth; but I am sure my judgement -of the value of the stories was correct, and if ever able I shall try to -get out a new and correct edition. Of Sainte-Beuve I have read very -little--found him silver-grey. Most of the Romantic school I have. If -you like Gautier, how much more would you like the work of Julien Viaud -(Pierre Loti). We know each other by letter. Read "Le Roman d'un Spahi" -first; I think it will astonish you. Then "Le Mariage de Loti;" then -"Fleurs d'Ennui." All his work, which has already won, even for so young -a man, the highest encomium of the Academy, and the Vitel prize, is -extraordinary; but my dislike of grey skies, fogs and ice, causes me to -find less pleasure in "Mon Frere Yves," and "Pecheur d'Islande," though -there are superb tropical pages scattered through the latter. - -I send you a little Arabian story, which I wrote for _Harper's Bazar_ -last winter, and which I will reproduce some day in another shape, if I -live to complete my Arabian plan. Perhaps you are familiar with the -legend. - -You will be glad to hear my novelette has been purchased by the -_Magazine_. So that I may ultimately hope to be able to leave -journalism alone. It is not arduous work for me; but I am a -thorough demophobe, and it compels me to meet many disagreeable -experiences,--experiences which often result in absolute nervous -prostration caused wholly by annoyance. You can imagine the difficulties -of creating artistic things only in the intervals of a long succession -of petty troubles. Such troubles would be absurd to most minds, but to -me they are horribly serious: I have a badly-balanced nervous make-up. - -Next week I go away to hunt up some tropical or semi-tropical -impressions. The _Atlantic_ has given me some attention, and I am going -to try to make a sketch for them. - -Yours must be a very remarkable mind: I was greatly impressed by the -plan and purpose and admirable instructive excellence of that optic -model you sent me the circular of. In fact, I feel very small when I -compare the work of my fancy with the work of such knowledge as yours. -Still I have the power to give you pleasure, which is quite a -consolation. - -Believe me very truly, your friend, - - LAFCADIO HEARN. - -P.S. Are you inclined to believe in a further evolution of the -colour-sense? Spencer, in vol. II "Biology," is rather conservative as -to the further prospects of _physical evolution_, although I suppose -further moral evolution must necessitate a further progress in the -nervous system. - - - TO GEORGE M. GOULD - - NEW ORLEANS, 1887. - -In reply to nearly all the questions about my near-sightedness, I might -answer, "Yes." Had the best advice in London. Observe all the rules you -suggest. Glasses strain the eye too much--part of retina is gone. Other -eye destroyed by a blow at college; or rather by inflammation consequent -upon blow. Can tell you more about myself when I see you, but the result -will be more curious than pleasing. Myopia is not aggravating. - -I knew you were going to have thorough success;--you will do far better -than you think. Wish I had the opportunity to study medicine, or rather, -the ability to be a good physician. Ah! to have a profession is to be -rich, to have international current-money, a gold that is cosmopolitan, -passes everywhere. Then I think I would never settle down in any place; -would visit all, wander about as long as I could. There is such a -delightful pleasantness about the _first_ relations with people in -strange places--before you have made any rival, excited any ill will, -incurred anybody's displeasure. Stay long enough in any one place and -the illusion is over: you have to sift this society through the meshes -of your nerves, and find perhaps one good friendship too large to pass -through. To be a physician, an architect, an engineer,--anything that -makes one capable of supplying to a universal or cosmopolitan want, is a -great capital. Next to this, a good tradesman is worthy of envy: he may -feel as much at home in Valparaiso as in New York; in Bangkok as in -Paris. - -Apropos of a medical novel, again,--have you had occasion to remark the -fact that among the French, every startling discovery in medicine or -those sciences akin to medicine, is almost immediately popularized by a -capital story? The best of those I have seen appeared in the _Revue -Politique et Litteraire_ and in the _Revue des Deux Mondes_. The -evolution of electricity by the human body suggested a powerful but very -Frenchy sketch in the former some years ago, which appeared -concomitantly with those theatrical exhibitions of a famous "electrical -woman." Then there was one dealing with the super-refinement of the five -senses, particularly vision and smell,--entitled "Un Fou." The -researches of Charcot and others into hypnotism and its phenomena, -doubtless suggested "Une Tresse Blonde" in the _Revue des Deux Mondes_. - -It is always a safe and encouraging thing to trace one's ancestral -history, supposing one be very philosophical. In your case it is. A fine -physical and mental man can feel sure from the mere fact of his -comparative superiority that he has something to thank his ancestors -for. But suppose the man be small, puny, sickly, scrofulous,--the -question of ancestry becomes unpleasant. We are far ahead of Tristram -Shandy, nowadays; the inferiority of the homunculus is no mere matter of -accident or interruption. How depressing some knowledge is, and how -little philosophy betters the situation some discoveries bring about. -Take such an example as this: a nice, sweet girl, full of physical -attractiveness, grace, freshness, with a delicious disposition, -fascinates you, you think of marriage. Somebody tells you the mother and -grandmother both went mad. How much of a change in your admiration is -produced by this simple fact. I saw this feeling put into practice. A -Southern planter--splendid man!--was asked for his daughter's hand by a -gentleman of the neighbourhood, whose grandfather had committed a -terrible crime. The young man was wealthy, accomplished, steady, brave, -had the best of reputations and was liked by the girl. The father -refused him frankly for the simple reason that he had in his veins some -of the blood of a great criminal. - -It must have struck you, if you have studied Buddhism--(not "esoteric -Buddhism," which is damnable charlatanism!)--how the tenets of that -great faith are convertible into scientific truths in the transforming -crucible of the new philosophy. The consequence of the crime or the -sacrifice in the forming of the future personality; the heights -attainable by discipline, of indifference to external things; the duty -and holiness of the extinction of the _Self_; the monstrous allegory of -the physical metempsychosis, which is the shadow of a tremendous truth; -the supreme Buddha-hood which is the melting into the infinite life, -light, knowledge, and the peace of the immensities: science gives an -harmonious commentary upon all these, which it refuses to the more -barbarous faith of the Occident. All that is noble in the Christianity, -too much boasted of, belongs also to the older and vaster dream of the -East--is perchance a dim reflection of it; the possibility of the -invasion of the Oriental philosophy into the Occident seems to me worthy -of consideration. In the meanwhile, it is unfortunate that such apes as -the ---- should parade their detestable _macaqueries_ as Buddhism and -obtain such hosts of hearers. - -Speaking of the sexual sense being "such an infernal liar," there are -reasons that lead me to doubt whether it is _all_ a liar. I think it -never tells a _physical_ lie. It only tells an ethical one. The physical -memory of the most worthless woman that ever ensnared a man vibrates -always afterward with a thrill of pleasure. But that is not really what -I intended to say: I want to know if there be any scientific explanation -of this fact. A woman wicked enough to tempt a man to cut his mother's -throat _may_ have a peculiar physical magnetism. The touch of her hand -in passing, the character of a look from her,--although she be -ugly,--may be irresistible, damning. A good woman, beautiful, graceful, -infinitely her physical superior, may have no such charm for the same -man. Here is a mystery I cannot explain. This phenomenon is especially -noticeable in the tropics, where differences of race and race mixture -produce astounding sexual variations. Never was there a huger stupidity -than the observation that "all women are in one respect alike." On the -contrary, in that one respect they differ infinitely, inexplicably, -diabolically, fantastically. - - L. H. - - - TO GEORGE M. GOULD - - NEW ORLEANS, 1887. - -DEAR MR. GOULD,--I posted a letter, thanking you for two treatises so -kindly sent, just before receiving your note. Be sure that I will find -it no small pleasure to have a chat with a brother-thinker, if I find -myself in Philadelphia this summer. - -To the best of my recollection the book you speak of is a small, thin -volume which only pretends to be a synopsis of the most gigantic of -existing epics--the Mahabharata excepted. There are three complete -translations of the colossal Ramayana:--The Italian version of Gorresio, -I think in ten vols.; the French prose one by Hippolyte Fauche in nine, -which I have read; and the exceedingly tiresome English translation (now -O. P.) by Griffith, in Popish verse. It was, I think, on this last that -"The Iliad of the East" was based--a very poor effort, artistically. - -These epics are simply inexhaustible mines of folk-lore and -legend,--like the Kath[=a]-sarit-S[=a]gara. But one gets cloyed soon. It -requires the patience of a Talmudist to work in these huge masses to get -out a diamond or two. But diamonds there are. You know that mighty -pantheistic hymn, the "Bhagavad-Gita," is but a little fragment of the -Mahabharata;--also the story of Nala, so beautifully translated by -Monier Williams, Arnold, and the wonderful dead Hindoo girl, Toru Dutt, -who wrote English and French as well as Hindustani and Sanscrit, made -also some exquisite renderings. All you could wish for in this -direction has not indeed been done; but it will take a hundred years to -do it. - -I am only a dilettante, not a linguist; and I only try to familiarize -myself with the aspect of a national Idea as manifested in these epics. -Some day I shall try to offer the public a little volume dealing with -the Old Arabic spirit--pre-Islamic and post-Islamic. The poetry of the -desert is Homeric. And I don't know but that for pure _natural_ poetry, -the great Finnish Kalewala is not more wonderful than the Indian epics. -When I made my brief renderings from the French edition of 1845, I was -not familiar with the completion of the work by the labours of Loennrot. - -Pardon long letter. You and I may have a good chance to talk these -things over later on. - - Very cordially yours, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO ELIZABETH BISLAND - - NEW ORLEANS, 1887. - -DEAR MISS BISLAND,--At the time your letter reached me, the few proofs -sent had been given away;--I have not many friends, of course, but I did -not have many proofs either. The best I can therefore do is to send -original photo. This is taking a liberty, I suppose, to send what wasn't -asked for; but it is the best I can do, and you can pitch it away if you -don't want it. - -My novelette is done, and I am waiting to hear of its fate before -starting. I am sure you will like it, and recognize a good deal of the -scenery. I do not know how long I shall stay in New York;--might only -stay a very short time, but quite long enough to see you once,--for a -little while. Then again I might take a notion to stay in the -North--don't really know what I shall do. - -What would be nice, if one could manage it, would be to live in the -country, or in some vast wilderness, and ship one's work away. But I -fear that will only be possible when I have become Ancient as the -Moon,--if I should ever become ancient. - - Very truly, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - -P. S. I met no more Hindoos here, but I met some other singular beings. - -My last pet was a Chinese doctor, whose name I cannot pronounce. He -tried to teach me Chinese; but I discovered nasal tones almost -impossible to imitate,--snarling sounds like the malevolent outcries of -contending cats.... "Gha!--ho-lha! Koum Yada! Gha! ghwang hwa!--yow -sum!" Under the placid _naivete_ of a baby, my Chinese tutor concealed a -marvellous comprehension of human motives and of human meannesses. He -observed like a judge, and smiled always--always, with the eternal, -half-compassionate, half-divine smile of the images of Fo. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - NEW ORLEANS, 1887. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--All that is now delaying me is news from the Harpers -which I am waiting for. I have sent on my completed novelette,--an -attempt at treatment of modern Southern life in the same spirit of -philosophic romance as the "Ghosts" attempted to exemplify,--an effort -to reach that something in the reader which they call Soul, God, or the -Unknowable, according as the thought harmonizes with Christian, -Pantheistic, or Spencerian ideas, without conflicting with any. Of -course, I am a little anxious over this parturition;--have no idea how -it is going to impress Alden. In a week from this date I expect to hear -from him. Then I will be able to go. - -Of course, New York is a horrible nightmare to me. I have been a -demophobe for years,--dread crowds and hate unsympathetic characters -most unspeakably. I have only been once to a theatre in New Orleans; to -hear Patti sing, and I got out after she had sung one song. I can't be -much of a pleasure to any one. Here I visit a few friends steadily for a -couple of months;--then disappear for six. Can't help it;--just a -nervous condition that renders effort unpleasant. So I shall want to be -very well hidden away in New York,--to see no one except you and Joe. -There are one or two I shall have to visit; but I shall take care to -make those visits just before leaving town. - -Your suggestion about the catalogue was so kind, that I don't know how -to thank you. What bothers me about it are the following points:-- - -1. If the collection is a large one, seems to me that each department -should be entrusted to a specialist. Japanese armourers-work alone -demands that. You know what Damascus-steel means in literary and -scientific research; and the Japanese artisans surpassed the world in -such work. Then porcelains, lacquers, inlaid work, pictured books, -goldsmithery, etc. I know nothing about these things. - -2. The Japanese expert may have simply confined himself to titles, -dates, names;--or have made explanatory text as fitting and dry as -possible. If he has, I don't see how a _unique_ catalogue could be made. -The only way it could be made, I imagine, would be to make explanatory -text picturesque and rich in anecdote; which would require immense -reading, and purchase of many expensive books on the subject of art and -history--De Rosny, Gonse, Metchnikoff, etc. Oriental art is one of the -things I can never afford to study. It costs too much--the luxury of a -rich dilettante. - -3. Seems to me such a work would require at least six months to do at -all, a whole year to do well. Don't think I could afford to do it. I -cannot write or read at night. If it were simply a question of -translation and arrangement, it would be done soon; and I would need -only a few technical and art treatises, some of which I already have.... - - * * * * * - -I need rest and change a while,--not that I feel sick, but the continual -fight with malaria leaves a fellow's nerves terribly slack, like the -over-strained chords of a--well, better leave the rest of the simile to -you.... I don't know whether the "Ghosts" walk; but I have been told it -did me much good in Boston literary circles. The publishers voluntarily -made a 5-years'--10 per cent--contract with me; but I have not heard -from them. Notices were very contradictory outside of New York and -Boston. Some said the stories were literal translations; others said -they were fabrications, without any Chinese basis; others said the book -was obscene; others called it "exquisitely spiritual,"--in short, the -critics didn't seem to know what to make of it. Three lines in the -_Atlantic_ consoled me amply for naughty Western criticism. - -You may expect to hear _definitely_ from me very soon,--at latest, I -suppose, ten days. - - Affectionately, - L. HEARN. - -Have you any idea how big a catalogue it ought to be?--if 100, 200, 300 -pp. 16mo? Would it be indexed generally, or by departments,--duplex or -single? Five pp. a day on such a job would be work. Then rewriting at -rate of 10 pp. per day. All supposing that no research or elaborated -treatment of incident were required,--only description and explanation. - -I've had to open envelope to ask another question: Does he want the -catalogue written in _French_? Because if he does, I wouldn't attempt -it. No one but a Frenchman, or some rare men like Rossetti and -Swinburne can write artistic French. I can't write French with delicacy -and correctness. - -Or does he simply want bad French turned into good English? - -My experience is this. Translation--except for an artistic motive, and -with ample leisure--never pays, either in self-satisfaction or anything -else. Cataloguing, pure and simple, is the most terrible and tiresome of -earthly labours;--first notebook and eyes; then arrangement of amplified -notes by "a's" and "b's;" then enveloping or boxing, and pasting, then -rewriting; then, O God!--the proofs! - -I know how to do it, but it is so much _life_ thrown away--so much -thought-time made sterile. In this case the chief compensation would be -opportunity to study the phases of Japanese art,--the _esprit_. - - - TO ELIZABETH BISLAND - - NEW YORK, 1887. - -DEAR MISS BISLAND,--A small creature rang the bell at 136 Madison -Avenue. A large and determined concierge responded, and the following -converse ensued:-- - -S. C.--"Miss Bisland--?" - -C.--"No, sir!" - -S. C.--"Miss E-liz-a-beth Bisland--?" - -C.--"No, sir!" - -S. C.--"Isn't this 136 Madison Avenue?" - -C.--"Yes.--Used to live here.--Moved." - -S. C.--"Do you not know where--?" - -C.--"No, sir." - -S. C.--"None of her friends or relatives here, who could tell me?" - -C.--"No!" - -The sudden closing of the door here made a Period and a Finis. - -Then I wandered away down a double row of magnificent things that seemed -less buildings than petrifactions,--astonishments of loftiness and -silent power,--and wondered how Miss Elizabeth Bisland must have felt -when she first trod these enormous pavements and beheld these colossal -dreams of stone trying to touch the moon. And reaching my friend -Krehbiel's house I made this brief record of my vain effort to meet the -grey eyes of E. B. - - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO H. E. KREHBIEL - - SAINT-PIERRE, MARTINIQUE, 1887. - -DEAR KREHBIEL,--I was delighted to get your letter, the first which -reached me from America during my trip. My own correspondence has been -irregular, though I have written a good many short letters; but the -amount of work on my hands has been something enormous,--and I have only -had five idle days, caused by a fever due to imprudence. I got into a -marshy town, got wet, and came home with a burning headache. The result -was not serious except that I had to stop all writing for a while. - -You ask me to send you a hint about my work; but I think it were best to -say nothing about it. I have a very large mass of MS. prepared, and -don't yet know what I am going to do with it: it is not polished as I -should wish, but I hope to work it into proper shape in a few days more. -It consists simply of a detailed account of impressions, sensations, -colours, etc. I have tried to put the whole _feeling_ of the trip on -paper. Then I have about $60 worth of photos to illustrate it. My photo -set is very complete;--I have also a rich collection of Coolie and -half-breed types, including many nude studies. - -Strange as you may think it, this trip knocks the poetry out of me! The -imagination is not stimulated, but paralyzed by the satiation of all its -aspirations and the realization of its wildest dreams, The artistic -sense is numbed by the display of colours which no artist could paint; -and the philosophical sense is lulled to inactivity by the perpetual -current of novel impressions, by the continual stream of unfamiliar -sensory experiences. Concentration of mind is impossible. - -It pleases me, however, to have procured material for stories, which I -can write up at home; and for romantic material the West Indies offer an -unparalleled field of research. I shall return to them again at my -earliest opportunity;--the ground is absolutely untilled, and it is not -in the least likely that anybody in the shape of a Creole is ever going -to till it. - -[Illustration: SAINT-PIERRE AND MT. PELEE BEFORE THE ERUPTION] - -By this time you will have seen the doll. I want to remind you that this -is more than a doll; it is really an artistic model of the dress worn by -the women of Martinique,--big earrings and all. The real earrings and -necklaces are pure gold; the former worth 175 francs a pair; the latter -often running as high as 500, 600, even 900 francs. - -In case this reaches you before leaving New York, I hope you will be -able to make some arrangement with Joe or somebody, so that I can put my -things in a place of safety for a day or two, until I can try to arrange -matters with the Harpers. I will be obliged to stay a short while in New -York,--and shall want a room badly, until my MS. and photos have been -disposed of, and my proof-reading has been done on "Chita." With -affectionate regards to all, - - Very truly yours, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - -P. S. I return with the Barracouta. - -My inquiries about the Marimba and other instruments have produced no -result except the discovery that our negroes play the guitar, the flute, -the flageolet, the cornet-a-piston! Some play very well; all the -orchestras and bands are coloured. But the civilized instrument has -killed the native manufacture of aboriginalities. The only hope would be -in the small islands, or where slavery still exists, as in Cuba, There -are one or two African songs still current, but they are sung to the -tam-tam-- - - Welleli, welleli, - hm, hm! - Papa mon ce papa mon - hm, hm! - Welleli, welleli, - hm, hm! - Maman mon ce maman mon - hm, hm! - Welleli, etc. - - - TO ELIZABETH BISLAND - - GEORGETOWN, DEMERARA, July, 1887. - -DEAR MISS BISLAND,--I suppose you will have just a tiny little bit of -curiosity to know about my impressions here? They have been all -flavoured with that enchanting sensation which artists term _surprise_. -The effect upon me has been such that I think the North will always look -torpid to me,--as a benumbed and livid part of our planet. Nearly all -these isles are volcanic; and this largely accounts for the green and -purple symmetry of their shapes. The colours are of the kind called -"impossible;"--and the days have such an azure expansion, so enormous a -luminosity that it does not really seem to be _our_ sky above, but the -heaven of some larger world. - -That's all I can attempt to say about it now (in a general way) without -wearying you. - -Imagine old New Orleans, the dear quaint part of it, young and idealized -as a master-artist might idealize it,--made all tropical, with narrower -and brighter streets, all climbing up the side of a volcanic peak to a -tropical forest, or descending in terraces of steps to the sea;--fancy -our Creole courts filled with giant mangoes and columnar palms (a -hundred feet in height sometimes); and everything painted in bright -colours, and everybody in a costume of more than Oriental -picturesqueness;--and astonishments of half-breed beauty;--and a grand -tepid wind enveloping the city in one perpetual perfumed caress,--fancy -all this, and you may have a faint idea of the sweetest, queerest, -darlingest little city in the Antilles: _Saint-Pierre_, Martinique. I -hope it will be my residence for the next two months,--and for the -latter part of my wretched little existence. I love it as if it were a -human being. - -Outside are queer little French islands, with queer names--_Marie -Galante_ is rather an old appellation for an island,--full of Cytherean -suggestion. - -We leave this very fantastic and unhealthy land--now smitten with -Gold-fever as well as other maladies--to-morrow. Then will come -Trinidad, with its Hindoo villages to see. Photos, bought at Demerara -and St. Kitts, predict visions of Indian grace worth daring the -perpendicular sun to see. I am now the only passenger. My last -companion--a fine Northwestern man--goes, I fear, to leave his bones in -the bush. From the interior men are being carried back to the coast to -die, yet the stream pours on to the gold-mines. My miner thinks he can -stand it: he has dug for African gold, under a fiercer sky. He was an -odd fellow. Saw no beauty in these islands. "No, partner--if you want to -see scenery see the Rockies: that's something to look at! Even the sea's -afraid of them mountains,--ran away from them: you can see four thousand -feet up where the sea tried to climb before it got scared!" - -Sometimes the apes on board are taught the experiences of life, the -advantages of civilization. Torpedoes are tied to their tails; -fire-crackers surround them with circles of crepitation and flame. Also -they are occasionally paralyzed by unexpected sensations of -electricity;--they have made the acquaintance of a galvanic battery; -they have been induced to do foolish things which resulted in sharp and -unfamiliar pains and burnings. Their lives are astonishments, and -prolonged spasms of terror. - -The sea at night is an awful and magnificent sight. It looks -infernal,--Acherontic;--black surges that break into star-spray;--an -abyss full of moving lights that come and go. - -Well, I can't write a good letter now;--wait till I get back to -Martinique. I wanted you to _know_ I had not forgotten my promise to -write. You must make a trip down here some day. It is not hotter than -New York except in the sun. - -_You can do whatever you wish._ You have force to do it. You have more -brains in your finger-tips than some who have managed to get a big -reputation. The little talk about Grande Isle that night was an absolute -poem,--gave me a sense of the charm of the place such as I felt the -first beautiful morning there. You don't know what you can do, _if you -want to_. - -I think I should do something with this novel material, it is so rich in -absurd colour! But I don't feel enthusiastic now. Enthusiasm has been -numbed by a long series of violent sensations and unexpected -experiences. I have artistic indigestion;--going to try to dream it away -at divine, paradisaical Martinique. There I will write you again. My -address will be, care American Consul. But you mustn't write unless you -have plenty of time;--I am only paying my debts, not trying to make you -waste paper answering me. - -I believe I am beginning to write absurdities: it is so hot that -rain-clouds form in one's head. - -Good-bye, believe the best you can of me. - - Your friend, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO ELIZABETH BISLAND - - SAINT-PIERRE, MARTINIQUE, 1887. - -DEAR MISS BISLAND,--I am settled here for at least a month:--wish I -could settle here forever. I love this quaint, whimsical, -wonderfully-coloured little town,--all its ups and downs, vistas of -azure harbour and overshadowing volcanic hills,--all the stones that -whisper under the myriad naked feet of this fantastic population. It -pleases me to find my affection for it is not merely inspiration: the -place has fascinated more than one practical American,--persuaded them -to abandon ambitions, contests, popular esteem, friends, society,--and -to settle here for the rest of their days, in delightful indolence and -dreamy content. - -In my trunk I have something for you: a Coolie girl's bracelet. It will -not look so well on your arm as on hers, because its effect depends on a -background of dark colour; and all this clumsy Indian jewelry is -inartistically wrought. It is indeed made chiefly for economical -reasons. Coolies so carry their wealth;--I saw one Hindoo wife with some -$900 worth of jewelry upon her. - -In the little Coolie village near Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, I sat, and -looked at rudely painted Indian gods, while waiting for the silversmith -to sit down before his ridiculous little anvil. All the palm-shadows, -intensely black, crawled outside like tarantulas; it was a glowing -day,--blindingly blue: the light of a larger sun seemed to fill the -world,--a white sun,--Sirius! - -"Ra!" called out the Coolie smith when I told him I wanted to look at -his jewelry;--and his wife came in. She wore the Hindoo garb without the -long veils: a white robe like a Greek chiton, or rather like a lady's -chemise,--leaving the arms and ankles bare, and confined about the -waist. I thought her very lovely,--slender and delicate,--a perfect -bronze-colour: the gold-flower attached to the nostril did not impair -the symmetry of the face;--extraordinary eyes and teeth. She held out -her pretty round arms for examination: there were about ten silver rings -upon each: the two outer ones being round, the inner eight being flat. -The arm was infinitely prettier than the bracelets;--I selected one -ring, and the smith opened and removed it with an iron instrument and -gave it me. It had a faint musky odour: perhaps that was why the smith -insisted on putting it into an absurdly small furnace, and purifying it -after the Indian manner. - -I wanted to buy a pair of baby bracelets;--so they brought in the -baby,--a girl, and therefore (?) having a dress on. The little babies of -the other sex wear nothing but circles of silver on arms and ankles. -Sometimes the custom is extended; for the little wife who carried her -girl baby to the post-office when I was at Demerara, carried it naked -at her hip in the most primitive manner. - -This Trinidad baby had absurdly large eyes,--looked supernatural: the -mother's eyes magnified. She held up her little arms and I chose two -rings. Then she talked to me in--Creole patois! It is the commercial -dialect of the poor; and the Hindoos learn it well. - - Always truly, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - -There are palms here over 200 feet high. There are fish here of all the -colours of marsh-sunset. - - - TO ELIZABETH BISLAND - - FORT DE FRANCE, MARTINIQUE, July, 1887. - -DEAR MISS BISLAND,--Imagine yourself turned into marble, all -white,--robed after the fashion of the Directory,--standing forever on a -marble pedestal, under an enormous azure day,--encircled by a ring of -tall palms, graceful as Creole women,--and gazing always, always, over -the summer sea, toward emerald Trois Islets. - -That is _Josephine_! I think she looks just like you, "Mamzelle -Josephine,"--or Zefine, if you like. - -I want to tell you a little story about her,--just a little anecdote -somebody told me on the street, which I want to develop into a sketch -next week. - -It was after the fall of the Second Empire,--after France felt the iron -heel of Germany upon her throat. - -Far off in this delicious little Martinique, the Republican rage made -itself felt;--the huge reaction passed over the ocean like a magnetic -current. So it happened, in a little while, that the Martinique -politicians resolved to do that which had already been done in -France,--to obliterate the memories of the Empire. - -There was Mamzelle Zefine, _par exemple_!... They put a rope round her -beautiful white neck. They prepared to destroy the statue. - -Then Somebody rang the Church-bell--(you ought to see the sleepy little -church: it makes you want to doze the moment you pass into its cool -shadow). A vast crowd gathered in the Savane. - -It was a crowd of women,--mostly women who had been slaves,--quadroons, -mulattoesses; the house-servants, the _bonnes_, the nurses and -housekeepers of the old days. (You could form no possible idea of this -coloured Creole element without seeing it: it does not exist in New -Orleans.) They gathered to defend Mamzelle Zefine. - -When the Republican officials came with their workmen at sunrise, -Mamzelle Zefine was still gazing toward Trois Islets; she was white as -ever; her pure cold passionate face just as lovely: she seemed totally -indifferent to what was about to happen,--she was dreaming her eternal -plaintive dream. - -But she could well afford to feel indifferent! About her, under the -circle of the palms, surged a living sea,--a tide of angry yellow faces, -above which flashed the lightning of cane-knives, axes, _couteaux de -boucher_. "Ah! li vieu!--laches! cafa'ds! pott'ons! Vos pas cabab -toucher li! Touche li--yon tete fois!--Ose toucher li. Capons -Republicains! Ose toucher li!" - -Mamzelle Zefine still gazed plaintively toward Trois Islets. She must -have seemed to that yellow population to live;--for each one she -represented some young mistress, some petted child, some memory of the -old colonial days. And all the love of the slave for the master--all the -strange passionate senseless affection of the servant for the Creole -family--was stirred to storm by the mere idea of the proposed -desecration. The man who should have dared to lay an evil finger upon -Josephine that day would have been torn limb from limb in the public -square. The officials were frightened and foiled: they pledged their -faith that the statue should not be touched. - -So they took the ropes away; and they piled flowers at Mamzelle Zefine's -white feet; they garlanded her; they twined the crimson jessamines of -the tropics about her beautiful white throat. - -And she is still here,--always in the circle of the palms, always -looking to Trois Islets, always beautiful and sweet as a young Creole -maiden,--dreamy, gracious, loving,--with a smile that is like some -faint, sweet memory of other days. - - Always, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO ELIZABETH BISLAND - - NEW YORK, 1887. - -DEAR MISS BISLAND,--Thanks for the gracious little letter. I wish I -could see you, and see other friends; but fate forbids. Distances are -too enormous; engagements imperative; preparations for coming journey -made my head whirl. For I return to the tropics, dear Miss -Bisland,--probably forever: I imagine that civilization will behold me -no more, except as a visitor at very long intervals. I would like to -write you sometimes, praying only that my letters be not ever shown unto -newspaper people. You will hear from me soon again. I am off on Friday -afternoon, and have not even the necessary time to do what I ought to do -in the mere matter of exceedingly small purchases, outfits, etc. - -Good-bye, with best regards and something a little more, too. - - LAFCADIO HEARN. - -I have not seen Krehbiel at all,--was out of town when I returned, and -seems to have found no time afterwards. - - -TO ELIZABETH BISLAND - - NEW YORK, 1887. - -Your letter reached me just at a time when everything that had seemed -solid was breaking up, and substance had become Shadow. It made me very -foolish,--made me cry. Your rebuke for the trivial phrase in my letter -was very beautiful as well as very richly deserved. But I don't think it -is a question of volition. It is necessary to obey the impulses of the -Unknown for Art's sake--or rather, you _must_ obey them. The Spahi's -fascination by the invisible Forces was purely physical. I think I am -right in going: perhaps I am wrong in thinking of making the tropics a -home. Probably it will be the same thing over again: impulse and chance -compelling another change. - -The carriage--no, the New York hack and hackman (no romance or -sentimentality about these!)--is waiting to take me to Pier 49, East -River. So I must end. But I have written such a ridiculous letter that I -shan't put anybody's name to it. - - - TO GEORGE M. GOULD - - SAINT-PIERRE, MARTINIQUE, May, 1888. - -DEAR GOULD,--One of your letters, I think a P. Cd., many months ago, -caught me in British Guiana, another to-day finds me here. I left N. O. -in June, 1887, and have been travelling since, or at least sojourning in -these tropics. I have been sick, too,--have had some trouble fighting -the influences of climate, trouble in trying to carry out large plans -with absurdly small resources; and have been unable to do my friends -justice. How could you think I could have been offended? It was only the -other day, in a letter to the editor of _Harper's_, that I referred to -one of your delightful colour-theories. - -Praise from you I value very highly. As to impress such a mind as yours -means to me a great pride and pleasure. I am delighted "Chita" pleased -you. - -I have written a number of sketches on the West Indies,--some of which -may appear in a few months, others later on. It has been a hope of mine -to make a unique book on these strange Hesperides, with their singularly -mixed races; but I don't know whether I shall be able to carry the -project out. - -The climate is antagonistic to work. It is a benumbing power, rendering -concentrated thought almost out of the question. I can now understand -why the tropics have produced so little literature. - -We are quarantined and isolated for the present by a long epidemic of -small-pox, which among these populations means something as fatal as an -Oriental plague. The whites are exempt. But the disease, although on the -decline, still prevails to an extent rendering it doubtful when I can -get away from here. - -I would like much to hear from you when you have time. I am temporarily -settled here, and everything goes well enough now, so that I can write -regularly. - - With best affection, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO GEORGE M. GOULD - - GRAND ANSE, MARTINIQUE, June, 1888. - -DEAR DR. GOULD,--I am writing you from an obscure, pretty West Indian -village, seldom visited by travellers. Tall palms, and a grand roaring -sea, blue as lapis lazuli in spite of its motion. - -I was certainly even more pleased to hear from you than you could have -been at the receipt of my letter;--for in addition to the intellectual -and sympathetic pleasure of such a correspondence, the comparative -rarity of friendly missives, enhancing their value, lends them certain -magnetism difficult to describe,--the sensation, perhaps, of that North, -and that Northern vigour of mind which has made the world what it is, -and that pure keen air full of the Unknowable Something which has made -the Northern Thought. - -I seldom have a chance now to read or speak English; and English phrases -that used to seem absolutely natural already begin to look somewhat odd -to me. Were I to continue to live here for some years more, I am almost -sure that I should find it difficult to write English. The resources of -the intellectual life are all lacking here,--no libraries, no books in -any language;--a mind accustomed to discipline becomes like a garden -long uncultivated, in which the rare flowers return to their primitive -savage forms, or are smothered by rank, tough growths which ought to be -pulled up and thrown away. Nature does not allow you to think here, or -to study seriously, or to work earnestly: revolt against her, and with -one subtle touch of fever she leaves you helpless and thoughtless for -months. - -But she is so beautiful, nevertheless, that you love her more and more -daily,--that you gradually cease to wish to do aught contrary to her -local laws and customs. Slowly, you begin to lose all affection for the -great Northern nurse that taught you to think, to work, to aspire. Then, -after a while, this nude, warm, savage, amorous Southern Nature succeeds -in persuading you that labour and effort and purpose are foolish -things,--that life is very sweet without them;--and you actually find -yourself ready to confess that the aspirations and inspirations born of -the struggle for life in the North are all madness,--that they wasted -years which might have been delightfully dozed away in land where the -air is always warm, the sea always the colour of sapphire, the woods -perpetually green as the plumage of a green parrot. - -I must confess I have had some such experiences. It appears to me -impossible to resign myself to living again in a great city and in a -cold climate. Of course I shall have to return to the States for a -while,--a short while, probably;--but I do not think I will ever settle -there. I am apt to become tired of places,--or at least of the -disagreeable facts attaching more or less to all places and becoming -more and more marked and unendurable the longer one stays. So that -ultimately I am sure to wander off somewhere else. You can comprehend -how one becomes tired of the very stones of a place,--the odours, the -colours, the shapes of Shadows, and tint of its sky;--and how small -irritations become colossal and crushing by years of repetition;--yet -perhaps you will not comprehend that one can actually become weary of a -whole system of life, of civilization, even with very limited -experience. Such is exactly my present feeling,--an unutterable -weariness of the aggressive characteristics of existence in a highly -organized society. The higher the social development, the sharper the -struggle. One feels this especially in America,--in the nervous centres -of the world's activity. One feels at least, I imagine, in the tropics, -where it is such an effort just to live, that one has no force left for -the effort to expand one's own individuality at the cost of another's. I -clearly perceive that a man enamoured of the tropics has but two things -to do:--To abandon intellectual work, or to conquer the fascination of -Nature. Which I will do will depend upon necessity. I would remain in -this zone if I could maintain a certain position here;--to keep it -requires means. I can earn only by writing, and yet if I remain a few -years more, I will have become (perhaps?) unable to write. So if I am to -live in the tropics, as I would like to do, I must earn the means for it -in very short order. - -I gave up journalism altogether after leaving N. O. I went to Demerara -and visited the lesser West Indies in July and August of last -year,--returned to New York after three months with some MS.,--sold -it,--felt very unhappy at the idea of staying in New York, where I had -good offers,--suddenly made up my mind to go back to the tropics by the -very same steamer that had brought me. I had no commission, resolved to -trust to magazine-work. So far I have just been able to scrape -along;--the climate numbs mental life, and the inspirations I hoped for -won't come. The real--surpassing imagination--whelms the ideal out of -sight and hearing. The world is young here,--not old and wise and grey -as in the North; and one must not seek the Holy Ghost in it. I suspect -that the material furnished by the tropics can only be utilized in a -Northern atmosphere. We will talk about it together; for I will -certainly call on you in Philadelphia some day. - -I would not hesitate, if I were you, to begin the _magnum opus_;--the -only time to hesitate would be when it is all complete, before giving to -the printer. Then one may perhaps commune with one's self to advantage -upon the question of what might be gained or lost by waiting for more -knowledge through fresh expansions of science. But the true way to -attempt an enduring work is to begin it as a duty, without considering -one's self in the matter at all, but the subject only,--which you love -more and more the longer you caress it, and find it taking form and -colour and beauty with the patient years. - -I am horribly ignorant about scientific matters; but sometimes the -encouragement of a layman makes the success of the prelate. - -Now, replying to your question about "Chita." "Chita" was founded on the -fact of a child saved from the Lost Island disaster by some Louisiana -fisher-folk, and brought up by them. Years after a Creole hunter -recognized her, and reported her whereabouts to relatives. These, who -were rich, determined to bring her up as young ladies are brought up in -the South, and had her sent to a convent. But she had lived the free -healthy life of the coast, and could not bear the convent;--she ran away -from it, married a fisherman, and lives somewhere down there now,--the -mother of multitudinous children. - -And about my work, I can only tell you this:--I will have two -illustrated articles on a West Indian trip in the _Harper's Monthly_ -soon,--within four or five months. These will be followed by brief West -Indian sketches. Other sketches, not suited for the magazine, will go to -form a volume to be published later on. I do not correspond or write for -any newspaper, and I would always let you know in advance where anything -would be published written by me. - -You know what the nervous cost of certain imaginative work means; and -this sort of work I do not think I shall be able to do here. One -has no vital energy to spare in such a climate. I cannot read -Spencer here,--gave up the "Biology" (vol. II) in despair. But I -did not miss the wonderful page about the evolution of the -eye--hair--snail-horn--etc., etc.... I want to see anything you write -that I can understand, with my limited knowledge of scientific terms and -facts. And when you write again, tell me what you said of Loti in the -letter I never received. Did you read his "Roman d'un Spahi"? I thought -you would like it. If you do not, let me know why,--because Loti has had -much literary influence upon me, and I want to know his faults as well -as his merits. With love to you, - - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO GEORGE M. GOULD - - SAINT-PIERRE, MARTINIQUE, August, 1888. - -DEAR GOULD,--Many thanks for the _quid_!--the surprising _quid_. I have -been waiting to send you the _quo_, which I do not like so well as one -taken in New Orleans, of which I have no copy within reach. But before I -tell you anything about the _quo_, I ought to scold you for your -startling deception. I pictured you as a much younger man than -myself--although quite conscious of meeting an intelligence much more -virile and penetrating than my own, and with an experience of life -larger: this did not, however, astonish me; for whatever qualities I -have lie only in that one direction which pleased you and won your -friendship,--moreover, I had met several _much_ younger men than myself, -my mental superiors in every respect. But, all of a sudden you come upon -me with such a revelation of your personality as makes me half afraid of -you. I perceive that your _envergure_ is much larger than I imagined:--I -mean, of course, the mental spread-of-wing; and then your advice and -suggestions, while manifesting your ability to teach me much in my own -line, resemble only those proffered by old experienced masters in -literary guidance. It is exactly the advice of Alden, among one or two -others. - -Now about the _quo_. I am about five feet three inches high, and weigh -about 137 pounds in good health;--fever has had me down to 126. Nothing -phthisical,--363/4 inches round the chest, stripped. Was born in June -(27th), 1850, in Santa Maura (the antique Leucadia), of a Greek mother. -My father, Dr. Charles Bush Hearn, who spent most of his life in India, -was surgeon-major of the 76th British regiment (now merged in West -Riding Battalion). Do not know anything about my mother, whether alive -or dead;--was last heard of (remarried) in Smyrna, about 1858-9. My -father died on his return from India. There was a queer romance in the -history of my father's marriage. It is not, however, of the sort to -interest you in a letter. I am very near-sighted, have lost one eye, -which disfigures me considerably; and my near-sightedness always -prevented the gratification of a natural _penchant_ for physical -exercise. I am a good swimmer; that is all. - -Your advice about story-writing is capital; I am not so sure about your -suggestion of plot. I cannot believe--in view of the extraordinary -changes (changes involving even the whole osseous structure) wrought in -the offspring of Europeans or foreigners within a single generation by -the tropical climate--that anything of the parental moral character on -the _father's_ side would survive with force sufficient to produce the -psychical phenomena you speak of. In temperate climates these do survive -astonishingly, even through generations; in the tropics, Nature moulds -every new being _at once_ into perfect accord with environment, or else -destroys it. The idea you speak of occurred to me also; it was abandoned -after a careful study of tropical conditions. It could only be used on -an _inverse_ plot,--transporting the tropical child to the North. At -least, I think so, with my present knowledge on the subject,--which -might be vastly improved, no doubt.... - -About story-writing, dear friend, you ought to know I would like to be -able to do nothing else. But even in these countries, where life is so -cheap, I could not make the pot--or as they call it here, the -_canari_--boil by story-writing until I gain more literary success, and -can obtain high prices. A story takes at least ten or twelve months to -write, that is, a story of the length of "Chita." Suppose it brings only -$500,--half as much as you will soon be able to obtain for a single -operation! It is pretty hard to live even in the tropics on that sum. I -must write sketches too. They do me other good also, involve research I -might otherwise neglect. I have prepared some twelve sketches in all, -which obligated investigation that will prove invaluable for a -forthcoming novelette. - -I like your firm, strong, sonorous letter, better than anything of the -sort I ever received. The only thing I did not relish in it was the -suggestion that I should prepare a lecture, or make an appearance before -a private club. I would not do it for anything! I shrink from real life, -however, not at all because I am pessimistic. It is a very beautiful -world:--the ugliness of some humanity only exists as the shadowing that -outlines the view; the nobility of man and the goodness of woman can -only be felt by those who know the possibilities of degradation and -corruption. Philosophically I am simply a follower of Spencer, whose -mind gives me the greatest conception of Divinity I can yet expand to -receive. The faultiness is not with the world, but with myself. I -inherit certain susceptibilities, weaknesses, sensitivenesses, which -render it impossible to adapt myself to the ordinary _milieu_; I have to -make one of my own, wherever I go, and never mingle with that already -made. True, I lose much knowledge, but I escape pains which, in spite of -all your own knowledge, you could not wholly comprehend, for the simple -reason that you _can_ mingle with men. By the way, it is no small -disadvantage in life to be 5 ft. 3 in. high. I remember observing, at a -great gathering of American merchant princes, that the small or -insignificant looking men present might have been counted on the fingers -of one hand. Success in life still largely depends upon the power to -impose respect, the reserve of mere physical force; since the expansion -of everybody's individuality--at the expense of everybody else's -individuality--is still the law of existence. - -I am not yet sure what I am going to do. One thing certain is that I am -to go to South or to Central America--for monetary reasons. I may linger -here long enough to finish a novelette. If not able to do so, I will -perhaps be in New York before December. I left it October 2, 1887, after -a stay of only three weeks, to return to the tropics. It was then -impossible to visit Philadelphia. Should I go to the Continent from -here, you will know at least six weeks in advance. - -Thanks for the superb paper on Loti. I cannot imagine anything much -finer in the way of literary analysis. But what does James -want?--evolution to leap a thousand years? What he classes as sensual -perceptions must be sensitized and refined supernally,--fully evolved -and built up _before_ the moral ones, of which they are the -physiological foundations, pedestals. Granting the doubt as to the -ultimate nature of Mind, it is still tolerably positive that its -development--so far as man is concerned--follows the development of the -nervous system; and that very sensuousness which at once delights and -scandalizes James, rather seems to me a splendid augury of the higher -sensitiveness to come, in some future age of writers and poets,--the -finer "_sensibility of soul_," whose creative work will caress the -nobler emotions more delicately than Loti's genius ever caressed the -senses of colour and form and odour. - -You ask about my idea of Whitman? I have not patience for him,--not as -for Emerson. Enormous _suggestiveness_ in both, rather than clear -utterance. I used to like John Weiss better than Emerson. Then there is -a shagginess, an uncouthness, a Calibanishness about Whitman that -repels. He makes me think of some gigantic dumb being that sees things, -and wants to make others see them, and cannot for want of a finer means -of expression than Nature gives him. But there is manifest the rude -nobility of the man,--the primitive and patriarchal soul-feeling to men -and the world. Whitman lays a Cyclopean foundation on which, I fancy, -some wonderful architect will yet build up some marvellous thing.... -Yes, there is nonsense in Swinburne, but he is merely a melodist and -colourist. He enlarges the English tongue,--shows its richness, -unsuspected flexibility, admirable sponge-power of beauty-absorption. He -is not to be despised by the student. - -Let me pray you not to make mention of anything written to you thus, -even incidentally, to newspaper folk--or to any literary folk who would -not be _intimate_ friends. There are reasons, more than personal, for -this suggestion, acceptance of which would remove any check on -frankness. - - Best love to you, from - LAFCADIO HEARN. - -Speaking of Whitman, I must add that my idea of him is not consciously -stable. It has changed within some years. What I like, however, was not -Whitman exactly,--rather the perception of something Whitman feels, and -disappoints by his attempted expression of. - -After closing letter I remember you wanted to know about illustrations -in magazine. They are after photos. I am sorry to say incorrect use has -been made of several: the types published as _Sacratra_ were not -_Sacratra_, but in two cases half-breed Coolie,--one seemingly of -Southern India, showing a touch of Malay. There were other errors. It is -horrible not to be able to correct one's _own_ work,--on account of -irregularities in mail involved by quarantine. In the December number -you will see a study of a peculiar class of young girls here. If you -want, yourself, to have some particular photo of some particular thing, -send word, and I will try to get it for you. - -I can only work here of mornings. Nobody dreams of eating before noon: -all rise with the sun. After 2 P.M., the heat and weight of the air make -thinking impossible. Your head gets heavy, as if there was lead in it, -and you sleep. - - - TO GEORGE M. GOULD - - SAINT-PIERRE, MARTINIQUE, - October, 1888. - -DEAR FRIEND GOULD,--I have read your delightful letter,--also, the -delightful essays of James you so kindly sent me. I suspect James has -not his equal as a literary chemist: the analyses of his French -contemporary, Lemaitre, are far less qualitative. You have made me know -him as a critic;--I had only known him as a novelist. My work has been -poor; it has been condensed and recondensed for the magazine till all -originality has been taken out of it; finally I never had a chance to -revise it in proof. I believe I have temporarily lost all creative -power: it will come back to me, perhaps, when I inhale some Northern -ozone. - -I would like to call your attention to the article by Loti in -_Fortnightly Review_--"Un Reve," a delicious little psychological -phenomenon. Have you seen "Madame Chrysanthemum"--wonderfully -illustrated! - -Are you perfectly, positively sure there is really a sharp distinction -between moral and physical sensibilities? I doubt it. I suspect what we -term the finer moral susceptibilities signify merely a more complex and -perfect evolution of purely physical sensitiveness. The established -distinction simply seems to me that "moral" feelings are those into -which the sexual instinct does not visibly enter, or those in which some -form of desire, some form of egotism, does not predominate at the cost -of justice to others. There is a queer vagueness about all definitions -of the moral sense. When one's physical sensibilities are fully -developed and properly balanced, I do not think wickedness to others -possible. The cruel and the selfish are capable of doing what is called -wrong, because they are ignorant of the suffering inflicted. Thorough -consciousness of the result of acting forms morality, if morality is -self-restraint, self-sacrifice, incapacity to injure unnecessarily;--one -who understands pain does not give it. Of course, I am not a believer in -free will. I do not believe in the individual soul,--though in the -manifestations of a universal human, or divine, soul, I am inclined to -believe, or to have that doubt which almost admits of belief. What -offends in certain writings, I suppose, is the feeling that the writer's -faculties are not perfectly balanced,--that certain senses are so much -more developed than others that one can suspect him of yielding to -cruelties of egotism. Perhaps I may say that I would call moral -feelings, as distinguished from those termed physical, the sensitiveness -of perception of suffering in others,--of the consequences of acts. But -can those be thoroughly developed before those which conduce to -self-preservation? I imagine the reverse to be the case. By the -super-refinement of the earlier sensations comes the capacity for the -"higher sentiments." It is true that moral standards are very old, but -those existing are also very defective. Evolutionally, egotism must -precede altruism;--altruism itself being only a sort of double reflex -action of egotism.--All this is very badly written; but you can catch -the idea I am trying to express. - -When you think of tropical Nature as cruel and splendid, like a leopard, -I fancy the Orient, which is tropical largely, dominates the idea. -Humanity has a great beauty in these tropics, a great charm,--that of -childishness, and the goodness of childishness. As for the mysterious -Nature, which is the soul of the land, it was understood by the ancient -Mexicans, whose goddess of flowers, Coatlicue, was robed in a robe of -serpents interwoven. She is rich in death as in life, this Nature, and -lavish of both. I would love her; but I fear she is an enemy of the -mind,--a hater of mental effort. - -No, indeed, I did not laugh at your experiences. I have had nearly as -multiform; but mine were less successful,--I was less fitted for them. I -have not your advantages, nor capacities. I never learned German. It is -only in America such careers are possible. I wish I could have finished -like you, as a physician; for I hold, that with the modern development -of medicine as an enormous interbranching system of science and -philosophy, the physician is the only perfect man, mentally. Like those -old Arabian physicians who affected to treat the soul, the modern knows -the mind, the reason of actions, the source of impulses,--which must -make him the most generous of men to the faults of others. - -I don't like your plot for a medical novel at all. It involves ugliness. -I believe in Theophile Gautier's idea of art, study only the -beautiful;--create only ideals, therefore. You are not a realist, I am -sure. Then your plot is too thin. It has not the beauty nor depth of -that simple narrative about a famous painter, or writer,--I forget -which,--whose imagination rendered it impossible for him to complete his -medical studies. Shapes impressed themselves upon his brain as on the -brain of an artist: vividly to painfulness. He was in love, engaged to -be married; under the peach flesh and behind the velvet gaze, he always -saw the outlined skull, the empty darkness of void orbits. He had to -abandon medicine for art. A very powerful short sketch might be made of -this _fact_. - -I believe in a medical novel,--a wonderful medical novel. We must chat -about it. Why not use a fantastic element,--anticipate discoveries hoped -for,--anticipate them so powerfully as to make the reader believe you -are enunciating realities? - -Your objection to my idea is quite correct. I have already abandoned it. -It would have to be sexual. Never could you find in the tropics that -magnificent type of womanhood, which, in the New England girl, makes one -afraid even to think about sex, while absolutely adoring the -personality. Perfect natures inspire the love that is a fear. I don't -think any love is noble without it. The tropical woman inspires a love -that is half a compassion; this is always dangerous, untrustworthy, -delusive--pregnant with future pains innumerable. - -I don't know why you hold the work of Spencer, etc., more colourless -than those of the other philosophers and scientists whom you have -studied--all except beastly Hegel: there is an awful poetry to me in the -revelation of which these men are the mouthpieces, as much vaster than -the old thoughts as the foam of suns in the _via lactea_ is vaster than -the spume of a wave on the sea-beach. Wallace I know only as a traveller -and naturalist; is it the same Wallace? I am very fond of him too: he is -very human, fraternal: he is not like God the Father as Spencer is. I -suppose what we need is God the Holy Ghost. He is not yet come. - -Flower, who wrote that interesting little book "Fashion in Deformity" -and many other excellent things, could find some good texts here. I am -convinced now that most of our fashions are deformities; that grace is -savage, or must be savage in order to be perfect; that man was never -made to wear shoes; that in order to comprehend antiquity, the secret of -Greek art, one must know the tropics a little (so much has fashion -invaded the rest of the world), and that the question of more or less -liberty in the sex relation is like the tariff question--one of -localities and conditions, scarcely to be brought under a general rule. - - - TO GEORGE M. GOULD - - SAINT-PIERRE, MARTINIQUE, - February, 1889. - -DEAR GOULD,--A letter to you has been lying on my desk for months -unfinished,--I can only just gum the envelope and let it go as it is. I -am obliged at intervals--thank Goodness, only at very long ones--to let -all correspondence, even the most important, wait a little or risk the -results of interrupting a work which exacts all one's thinking time -during waking hours. This has been partly my case,--having just -completed a novelette; but I have also had a good deal of trouble about -other matters that left me no chance to do anything until now. I am free -again,--I hope for a good long time. - -Meanwhile I received your pamphlets, and read every one with more -pleasure than you could readily believe a non-scientific man could feel -in them. Of course, those which interested me most were: - -1. That on the Homing Instinct (a much better word than the French -_orientation_). 2. That on the electric light. My first experience with -the light was painful; then I learned to like it (the white, not the -yellow) very much and found gaslight intensely disagreeable afterward. -By the way, do you correspond with Romanes, who solicits correspondence -on the subject of animals? You know him, of course, the author of -"Animal Intelligence" and "Mental Evolution in Animals." A man like that -ought to be delighted with such a splendid and powerful suggestion as -that of your pamphlet. I hope you are not too patriotic to think you -cannot do better with a scientific suggestion abroad than at home. There -are certain things that seem to me too worthy to remain buried in the -archives of a medical society,--which ought to reach a larger scientific -circle through a more eclectic medium, such as that of the superb -foreign reviews, devoted to what used to be called natural history, but -for which the term has long ago become too small. Still I am sure you -must have heard from your paper on the homing instinct if the -publication in which it appeared reached the quarters it ought to have -reached. - -I don't know what to tell you about myself. Since October last I have -been buried in my room--facing, happily, a semi-circle of Mornes curving -away into a sea like lapis lazuli--and have neither heard nor seen -anything else. We had an epidemic of yellow fever which carried away -many Europeans and strangers; but it is over, and the weather is -delightful, if you can call weather delightful which keeps you drenched -in perspiration from morning to night, and forces you to lie down and -sleep in the afternoon if you dare attempt to write or read. The -difficulty of work in such a climate only those who have had the -experience can understand. I think my case is an experiment; almost a -phenomenon,--and I am very curious to know the result by the verdict -upon my work. I cannot judge it myself here. What at sundown seems good -in the morning appears damnably bad; and I was obliged to give every -page a test of three or four days' waiting. My novelette made itself -out of an incident related to me about a case of heroism during a great -negro revolt. - -There is no question but that I shall be in New York this summer, for a -while. It is imperative. I have to oversee work before it can be -published;--that which already appeared was in terribly bad shape on -account of my not having seen the proofs. Then I may be getting out a -little book. - -Did you see the incident in regard to the admission of a remarkable -young lady doctor into the profession by the faculty of Paris,--the -remarks of Charcot and others? I thought of your medical novel. There -were some remarks very suggestive made. The thesis of the candidate was -the position and duty of woman as a physician. You know what those -French are, and what peculiar ways they have of looking at the question -of women as physicians;--the Paris papers made all kinds of -_observations scabreuses_; but the dignity of the girl carried her -splendidly through the ordeal--an ordeal to which Americans would never -put a female student. - -I have a curious compilation,--"Etudes pathologiques et historiques sur -l'origine et la propagation de la Fievre Jaune" (1886),--perhaps you -know it already,--by Dr. Cornilliac of Martinique. If you do not know it -I will send it you from New York. It contains a great deal of valuable -matter regarding the climate of the West Indies, and formative -influences of that climate on races and temperament. Martinique has had -several physicians of colonial celebrity,--how great I cannot estimate, -being ignorant of their comparative value; but some of them have a -decided charm as writers and historians. Such was Rufz de Lavison, -author of a delightful history of the colony, and a work upon the -_trigonocephalus_, which would not bear equal praise, I fancy. If you -want any information about medical matters in Martinique, I will hunt it -up for you. - -I hope to see you and have a great chat with you. But the heat is great, -and there is an accumulation of letters to answer, and you will forgive -me for saying for the moment good-bye. - - Your sincere friend, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO GEORGE M. GOULD - - SAINT-PIERRE, MARTINIQUE, - April, 1889. - -DEAR GOULD,--I read your pamphlets with intense pleasure: that on the -effect of reflex neurosis, of course, impressed me only as a curious -research; but your paper on dreams, full of truth and suggestive beauty, -had much more than a scientific interest for me. There is a world of -poetical ideas and romantic psychology evoked by its perusal. I wonder -only that you did not dwell more upon the softness, sweetness, -impalpable goodness of this dream-world in which everything--even what -we usually think wrong--seems to be right. Doubtless all man's dreams of -paradise, of a golden past age, or a perfect future, were born of the -thin light vanishing sensations of dream. The work of Gautier cited by -you--"Avatar"--was my first translation from the French. I never could -find a publisher for it, however, and threw the MS. away at last in -disgust. It is certainly a wonderful story; but the self-styled -Anglo-Saxon has so much damnable prudery that even this innocent -phantasy seems to shock his sense of the "proper." - -You will be pleased to hear my novelette has been a success with the -publishers. It cost me terrible work in this continual heat, small as it -is; and I feel so mentally blank that I must get back to the States for -a while to seek some vitality, brighten whatever blood I have got left -after two years of tropical air. - -If you could find me in Philadelphia a very quiet room where I could -write without noise for a few months, I would try my luck there. New -York is stupefying; I know too many people there; and I want to be very -quiet,--only to see a friend or two now and then, when I am in good trim -for a chat. I shall return to the West Indies in the winter. - -Address me if you have time to write c/o H. M. Alden, Edr. _Harper's -Magazine_;--for I shall have left Martinique, doubtless, by the time -this reaches you. - - Faithfully, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO JOSEPH TUNISON - - NEW YORK, 1889. - -DEAR JOE,--By the time this reaches you I shall have disappeared. - -The moment I get into all this beastly machinery called "New York," I -get caught in some belt and whirled around madly in all directions until -I have no sense left. This city drives me crazy, or, if you prefer, -crazier; and I have no peace of mind or rest of body till I get out of -it. Nobody can find anybody, nothing seems to be anywhere, everything -seems to be mathematics and geometry and enigmatics and riddles and -confusion worse confounded: architecture and mechanics run mad. One has -to live by intuition and move by steam. I think an earthquake might -produce some improvement. The so-called improvements in civilization -have apparently resulted in making it impossible to see, hear, or find -anything out. You are improving yourselves out of the natural world. I -want to get back among the monkeys and the parrots, under a violet sky -among green peaks and an eternally lilac and lukewarm sea,--where -clothing is superfluous and reading too much of an exertion,--where -everybody sleeps 14 hours out of the 24. This is frightful, nightmarish, -devilish! Civilization is a hideous thing. Blessed is savagery! Surely a -palm 200 feet high is a finer thing in the natural order than seventy -times seven New Yorks. I came in by one door as you went out at the -other. Now there are cubic miles of cut granite and iron fury between -us. I shall at once find a hackman to take me away. I am sorry not to -see you--but since you live in hell what can I do? I will try to find -you again this summer. - - Best affection, - L. H. - - - TO ELIZABETH BISLAND - - PHILADELPHIA, 1889. - -DEAR MISS BISLAND,--A week ago in New York I was asking a friend where -you were, but could then obtain no satisfactory information without -taking steps I had no time to attempt. I was really glad to get out of -the frightful whirl and roar of modern improvements as soon as possible, -but regretted not seeing you, even while assured of being able to do so -before long. - -It is true I have been silent with my friends: I did not write seven -letters in seventeen months,--not even business letters. It was very -difficult to write anything in the continuous enervating heat; and I had -to struggle with difficulties of the most unlooked for sort, -incessantly,--until I found correspondence become almost impossible. But -I thought of you very often; and wondered if you were still in that -terrible metropolis. I saw in Max O'Rell's book some lines about a -charming young lady and thought it must have been you.... I returned on -the 8th from Martinique. - -Dr. Matas sent me your pretty eulogy of "Chita"--which I often re-read -afterward, and which gave me encouragement when I began to doubt whether -I could do anything else.... I don't think I shall write another story -in the same manner,--feel I have changed very much in my way of looking -at things and of writing. "Chita" will soon be sent to you in book form -as a souvenir of Grande Isle: it is not as short a story as it looked in -the serried type of _Harper's_--will make a volume of 225 pp. I will -have something else to send you, however, that will interest you more as -to novelty,--a volume of tropical sketches. - -I wonder whether you could ever throw upon paper the thoughts you -uttered to me that evening I visited you nearly two years ago,--when you -said _why_ you liked Grande Isle. In your few phrases you said much that -I had been trying to express and could not,--at least it so seemed to -me.... I have seen a great many strange beaches since; but nothing like -the morning charm of Grande Isle ever revealed itself. I wonder if I -were to see it now, whether I should feel the same pleasure.... - -Thanks for those verses!--there is a large, strong, strange beauty in -them. There seems, you know, to be just now a straining-up of eyes to -look for some singer able to prophesy,--to chant even one hymn of that -cosmic faith that is stealing upon the world. - - Affectionately your friend, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO ELIZABETH BISLAND - - PHILADELPHIA, 1889. - -DEAR MISS BISLAND,--Oh! what a stiff epistle, with a little sharp -pointing of reproach twisting about in the tail of every letter! Really -you must never, never feel vexed at anything I write:--I wrote you just -as I wrote to Mr. Stedman about the same matter. I feel the man -sometimes is much less than the work: my work, however weak, is so much -better than myself, that the less said about me the better,--then there -are so many things you do not know. As for _you_ not liking -personalities, that is a very different thing! Your own personality has -charm enough to render the truth very palatable. But I am sure, now, -from your letter anything you say will be nice,--though I think it would -have been better not to have said it. Does a portrait of an ugly man -make one desirous to read his book? I could not get out of the Harper -plan for an article on Southern writers, without hurting myself -otherwise; but the candid truth is that I felt like yelling when I saw -the thing--howling and screeching! Indeed I think that my belief in the -invisible personality of a man has been largely forced by my thorough -disgust with the visible personality. Schopenhauer says a beautiful -thing about the former,--that the "I" is the dark point in -consciousness,--just as the point of the retina where the sight-nerve -enters is blind, and as the brain itself is without sensation, and the -eye sees all but itself. I am not anxious to see my soul; but the fact -of inability to see it encourages me to believe it is better than the -thing called L. H. - -I don't know that I wrote anything clever enough to be worth your using, -but it is a pleasure you should think so. I can only suggest that the -adoption of my poor notions would tend to make me selfish about such as -I might think really good ones--I would keep them out of my letters, -until they could get into print!?! - -_Sub rosa_, now!... My Martinique novelette comes out--the first -part--in January. I think you will like it better than "Chita:" it is -more mature and more exotic by far. It will run through two numbers. -They have made some illustrations which I have not seen, and am -therefore afraid of. Unless an illustration either reflects precisely or -surpasses the writer's imagination, it hurts rather than helps. By the -way, have you ever met H.F. Farny? Farny is an Alsatian, a fine man, and -a superb sketcher--though lazy as a serpent. But if you ever want -imaginative drawing of a certain class, he is one to do it. - -Please don't ask me when I'm going to New York. I really can't find out. -I wish I could. I ought to be there on the 15th. But I am peculiarly -situated, tied up by a business-muddle,--tangled by necessities of -waiting for information,--tormented, befuddled, anxious beyond -expression about an undecided plan,--shivering with cold, and longing -for the tropics. All my life I have suffered with cold--all kinds of -cold--psychical and physical;--I hate cold!!!!--I _never_ can resign -myself to live in it!--I can't even think in it, and I would not be -afraid of that Warm Place where sinners are supposed to go! Perhaps the -G.A. will sentence me to everlasting sojourn in an iceberg when I have -ceased to sin. - -Very faithfully, and to some extent apologetically. - -For you I do remain always as nice as I can be. - - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO ELIZABETH BISLAND - - PHILADELPHIA, 1889. - -DEAR MISS BISLAND,--I can't say definitely when I shall be in New York, -to have the delightful pleasure of a chat with you--something I have -been looking forward to for fully a year; but I will write to tell you a -few days in advance. I am drifting about with the forces of -circumstance--following directions of least resistance. Just now I have -a large mass (at least it looks very big to me) of MS. to amend and -emend and arrange into a tropical book: you will like some things in it. -When this job is finished, in a couple of weeks, it is probable I will -set to work on a short sketch or story, for which I have the material -partly arranged; and then I will go to New York. It is so quiet in this -beautiful great city, and my present environment is so pleasant, that I -am sure of doing better work here than I could in that frightful cyclone -of electricity and machinery called New York.... - -I am afraid you were right about the tropics, and the fascination of -climate. It is still upon me, and I shall find it very difficult to -conquer the temptation to return to the French colonies: the main fact -which helps me is the conviction that I cannot work there,--one's memory -and will blurs and fails in the incessant heat and sleepy air; and for -three months before leaving I could not write a line.... My friends -advise me to try the Orient next time; and I think I shall. - -I have a novelette in the _Magazine_ pigeon-holes,--you will like it; -but I don't know when it is going to come out. - -It is not a little pleasure to know that my admiration of your verses -can be an encouragement;--you have quite forgiven my ancient effort to -_amend_ a stanza by spoiling it!... I think your present position will -leave you time--after a while--for all you love to do, and can do so -uniquely. Magazine editing is so largely a question of method and -system--so far as I can learn--that I fancy you will eventually find it -possible to claim a few hours every day for yourself;--and such -systematic work as you must take hold of, will not, like journalistic -routine, deaden aspiration. I hope you will have a greater success with -the new monthly than you yourself expect, and I am sure you will if you -have fair chances at all.--But I must wait for the opportunity to see -you--because what one writes (at least what I myself write) on such -matters sounds so fictitious and flat,--though you know it comes from -your sincere friend, - - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO ELIZABETH BISLAND - - PHILADELPHIA, 1889. - -DEAR MISS BISLAND,--It is true that I am only a small Voice;--but the -Voice has been uninterruptedly in the City of Doctors and Quakers, with -the exception of a much regretted interim passed in looking at that -monstrosity,--aptly described by C. D. Warner as "having been cut out -with a scroll-saw,"--Atlantic City.... (May I never, never behold -anything resembling it again!) I fear you must have written the address -wrong--so I send you the right one. It will always do: no matter where I -be. The Voice will call at 475 Fourth Avenue as soon as it can. It is -not its fault that it has not so done already. Everything to be written -must be finished, if possible, by the 15th prox.,--so that I can get -some place where the air is blue before cold weather. I will not be able -to run away from the country before Christmas anyhow. - -I trust you are very, very well,--and as--everything--nice as anybody -could wish, and with best regards, remain always, - - Your very true and positive friend, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - -P.S. Now I want to see those letters which came back from the Dead -Letter Office. Is it really so? - - - TO ELIZABETH BISLAND - - PHILADELPHIA, 1889. - -DEAR MISS BISLAND,--I know I am a horrid _ignis fatuus_; but the proofs -of "Chita" are only half-read, and I have no time to get away till it is -all done. Then I am working on a sketch,--then there will be more -proof-reading to do on the other book. But I will certainly get away in -a few weeks more, and will have ever so many things to tell you. - -I have never seen the _Cosmopolitan_ in its new dress, and I do not know -what has been going on anywhere.... - -Philadelphia is a city very peculiar--isolated by custom antique, but -having a good solid social morality, and much peace. It has its own dry -drab newspapers, which are not like any other newspapers in the world, -and contain nothing not immediately concerning Philadelphia. -Consequently no echo from New York enters here--nor any from anywhere -else: there are no New York papers sold to speak of. The Quaker City -does not want them--thinks them in bad taste, accepts only the magazines -and weeklies. But it's the best old city in the whole world all the -same. - - Faithfully, - L. HEARN. - - - TO ELIZABETH BISLAND - - PHILADELPHIA, 1889. - -MY DEAR MISS BISLAND,--I don't know whether you saw a little gem of -Loti's in the _Fortnightly_; I cut it out and send it,--also an attempt -at translation which proves the wisdom of the English magazine editor in -printing it in French,--and a comment of mine. I don't think you are -likely to wish to print such a thing as the translation; but if you -should, don't use it without sending me a proof, because it is full of -errors. - -While in Saint-Pierre, Martinique, I found it--originally contributed, -in French, to the _Fortnightly_ for August, 1888--copied into a French -paper. The impression made by reading it startled me for reasons -independent of the exquisite weirdness of the thought. There was the -great orange sunset of the tropics before me, over a lilac -sea,--bronzing the green of the mango, and tamarind-trees, and the -broad, satiny leaves of _bananier_ and _balisier_. The interior -described in the vision was not of modern Saint-Pierre; but I knew an -old interior in Fort de France, whose present quaint condition repeated -precisely the background of the dream. A hundred years ago there were -but two places on the sunset-side of Martinique which could have -presented the spectacle of the little low streets described,--Fort de -France and Saint-Pierre. The high mountains cut off the sunset glow at -an early hour on the eastern side of the island. It seemed to me a -strange coincidence that in _Les Colonies_, a local paper, I had just -read also, that some old cemetery of Fort de France was about to be -turned into a playground for children. - - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO ELIZABETH BISLAND - - PHILADELPHIA, 1889. - -DEAR MISS BISLAND,--Verily shirin, shirintar, and shirintarin art -thou,--and Saadi in the Garden of the Taj likewise,--and also the letter -which I have just received. - -Emotionally the book is surely Arnold's strongest: it has that intensity -of sweetness which touches the sphere of pain. One need not seek in the -Bostan or Gulistan for the essence of that volume: the Oriental thought -has been transfigured in its reflection from a nineteenth century mind. -There has been in one of Edwin Arnold's books some suggestion of a -future religion of human goodness and human brotherhood, through -recognition of soul-unity,--but in none, I think, so strangely as in -this. And then, what horror to read the very coarse interview published -recently in a daily paper: the brutal repetition of a man's words -uttered under constraint, about the most sacred of sentiments!... - -No; I won't go to New York till you come back. I trust you will not -overwork yourself: when we see (I mean "hear") each other, we can talk -over all known devices for lightening literary duties. I am acquainted -with some; and I would not have you fall sick for anything--unless you -were to do me something "awfully mean:" then I'm afraid I would not be -so sorry as I ought to be. - -I will try to give you something for the Christmas number anyhow,--but -not very long. By the way, I have an idea which may be wrong, but seems -to me worth uttering. The prose fiction which lives through the -centuries in the short story: like the old Greek romances--narratives -like "Manon Lescaut;" "Paul et Virginie;" the "Candide" of Voltaire; the -"Vicar of Wakefield;" "Undine," etc., outlive all the ampler labour of -their authors. It seems to me that with this century the great novel -will pass out of fashion: three-quarters of what is written is -unnecessary,--is involved simply by obedience to effete formulas and -standards. As a consequence we do not read as we used to. We read only -the essential, skipping all else. The book that compels perusal of every -line and word is the book of power. Create a story of which no reader -can skip a single paragraph, and one has the secret of force,--if not of -durability. My own hope is to do something in accordance with this idea: -no descriptions, no preliminaries, no explanations--nothing but the -feeling itself at highest intensity. I may fail utterly; but I think I -have divined a truth which will yet be recognized and pursued by -stronger minds than mine. The less material, the more force;--the -subtler the power the greater, as water than land, as wind than water, -as mind than wind. I would like to say something about light, heat, -electricity, rates of ether-vibration;--but the notion will work itself -out in your own beautiful mind without any clumsy attempts of mine to -illustrate. - ---About the translation,--do as you please,--but don't please put it in -a great big daily, next to the account of a prize-fight or a -murder,--and please, if you do anything with it, see, _above all things -earthly_, that I get proofs. But I would just as soon you would keep it. -I made it for you, and am glad you had not seen the original previously. -I thought the _Cosmo._ was a sort of literary weekly. It is a beautiful -little magazine,--full of surprises; and I trust it is going to win a -great success. - -Good-bye;--your Voice wishes you a very happy pleasure-trip, in which -you will feel all sorts of new feelings, and dream all manner of new -dreams. - - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO ELIZABETH BISLAND - - PHILADELPHIA, 1889. - -This morning I dropped you a little note; but this afternoon, reading -your book-chat in the _Cosmo._ I find I must write you something more -impersonal. - ---You know, perhaps, that Spencer's thought about education--the -paramount necessity of educating the Will through the Emotion--has -received, consciously or unconsciously, more attention in Italy than -elsewhere. The Emotions are not, as a rule, educated at all outside of -the home-circle. The great public schools of all countries have a system -which either ignores the emotions, or leaves them unprotected;--while -all sectarian teaching warps and withers them in the direction, at -least, of their natural growth. You know all this, I suppose, better -than I. But perhaps you do not know the "Cuore" of Edmondo de Amicis -(Thos. Y. Crowell & Co.), which has passed through 39 Italian editions. -And if you do not know it, I pray you to read it without skipping a -single phrase. It is as full of heart-sweetness as attar-of-roses is -full of flower-ghosts; and it seems a revelation of what emotional -education might accomplish. - -I read Brownell's book at your suggestion. It contains, I think, the -best teaching about _how_ to study French character; but I could not -accept many of its inferences,--especially in regard to art and -morality,--without reluctance. There is a sense of something wanting in -the book--something lucid and spiritual (is it Conviction?) that makes -it heavy. How luminous and psychically electric is Lowell's book -compared with it. And how much nobler a soul must be the dreamer of -Chosoen! - ---I shall never write "Miss Bisland" again, except upon an envelope. It -is a formality,--and you are you: you are not a formality,--but a -somewhat. And I am only - - "_I._" - - - TO GEORGE M. GOULD - - 1889. - -DEAR GOULD,--Verily there is no strength nor power but from God,--the -High, the Great! I have thy letter, O thou of enormous working capacity, -and I admire and wonder, but am in no wise sorry for thee, seeing thou -doest that which thou art able to do, and findest pleasure therein and -excellence and dignity and power,--and that if thou wert doing it not -thou wouldst surely be doing something else;--for God (whose name be -exalted!) hath numbered thee among those who find felicity in exceeding -activity. Thou art indeed forty-one years old, by reckoning of time; but -as thou art of the Giants this reckoning hath no signification for thee. -Verily thou art but twenty-five years old, and thou shalt never know -age until a hundred winters shall have passed over thee. And all things -which thou dost desire shall be accorded unto thee by Him who, like -thyself, reposeth never, and whose blessed name be forever exalted! Also -unto thee shall the patients come, as an army for multitude, so that thy -bell shall make but one ringing through all thy days continuously, and -that thy neighbours shall be oppressed by reason of the concourse in the -street about thy dwelling. - -But as for me, concerning whom thou makest inquiry, trouble not thyself -about thy servant, whose trust and power are in God--the High, the -Great! That which shall be shall be, and that which hath been shall not -be again:--for the moment, indeed, I am concerned only to know why the -flame of my lamp goeth _upward_, and all flame likewise,--unless it be -for the purpose of praising God (whose name be exalted by all living -creatures!). For thou saidst unto me, being a Kafeer, that Flame is a -vibration only; but thou hast not been able to tell me the mystery of -the pointing of fire and the upreaching of it to the feet of God, the -Compassionate, the Merciful. - -Here it raineth always, and this Soul of me is slowly evaporating, -despite the perusal of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, who spake of souls. -Meseems that each time I behold the eyes of her concerning whom I spake -to thee, something of that soul is drawn out unto her, and devoured -perhaps for sustenance of that Jinneyah--which is her own soul. So that -mine hath become thin as the inner shadow wrought by a strong double -light upon the ground; and I shall become even as a vegetable -presently--having knowledge of nothing save the witchery of God in the -eyes of women. The memory of Schopenhauer hath passed,--and with its -passing I find my only salvation in a return to the study of the Oceanic -Majesty and Power and Greatness and Holiness and Omniscience of the mind -of Herbert Spencer. - -Be thou ever blessed and loved by the sons of men, even as by - - HEARN. - - - TO GEORGE M. GOULD - - 1889. - -GOULD,--You must have skipped, bad boy!--for the girl is _not_ "all face -and foot"! You missed the finely detailed account of her body in -William's diary,--and the just observation of a trait characteristic of -the race in its purity; the great length of the lower limb,--fine -greyhounds, fine thoroughbred horses, and fine men and women have all -this characteristic, like the conventional figures of antique gem-work. -The gipsy-girl is possible: I have seen charming ones. You must read -Borrow's "Gipsies" (the unabbreviated edition in two volumes),--also his -"Bible in Spain," and "Lavengro,"--a Gipsy novel. Simpson's "Gipsies" is -also worth looking at.... But if you won't believe in the bird of -passage, take Carmen and believe in her--there, at least, you will not -doubt: all will prove in accordance with possible sin and sorrow. Why do -you want the Bird's body to be better known--since nobody ever knew it -any better than you know it; (or would know if you had read all)--could -not have except by making to operate, like the Vicar of Azey-le-Rideau, -all its "hinges and mesial partitions," even to disjuncture. What a -singular fact in the history of torture, that the inquisitor was trained -to believe the beautiful body he was breaking and rending and burning -was _never beautiful_--that its grace and symmetry were illusions, the -witchcraft of the dear old compassionate Devil striving to save his -victim by the mirage of fleshly attractiveness! Only through this belief -could certain monstrosities have been possible. It was always Saint -Anthony's temptation! - -I have a book for you--an astounding book,--a godlike book. But I want -you to promise to read every single word of it. Every word is dynamic. -It is the finest book on the East ever written; and though very small -contains more than all my library of Oriental books. And an American (?) -wrote it! It is called "The Soul of the Far East." It will astound you -like Schopenhauer, the same profundity and lucidity. Love to you, - - HEARN. - - - TO GEORGE M. GOULD - - 1889. - -DEAR GOULD,--I blacked--that is, I had my boots blacked yesterday,--just -for the same reason that we do things after people are dead (which we -would not have done for them while they lived and asked), with a -ghostly idea of pleasing them. If you had been here I might not have -had them blacked, but as you were gone, I did it for the Shadow of -you. And I gave the boy 20 cents,--because of the feeling that he -might never have such a chance again. That boy runs after me now -everywhere,--but--he is mistaken! I am no longer the same! I have -satisfied my conscience, and enjoy Nirvana. - -This morning when I got up I thought the streets looked queer. It seemed -as if they were lighted by the afternoon in some way or other, instead -of the morning. I went to the P. O. with "The Soul of the Far East." How -silent the streets for a Friday morning! The population seemed all to -have ebbed away somewhere as if to look at something. The post-office -was silent as a pyramid inside. I went to the book-store, and found it -closed,--and for the first time realized that it was Sunday. Then I -understood why the streets looked like afternoon; and the sunshine had a -tinge as of evening in a cemetery. Confound Sunday! - -Talking with Jakey last night about Nature, I heard him express the -opinion that his capacity of scientific realization of the _causes_ of -things was enough to account for the absence in him of any feeling of -awe or reverence in the presence of mountain scenery. It occurred to me -therewith that the characteristic of indifference to poetry might be -almost common to mathematicians. The man who wrote "The Soul of the Far -East" and "Chosoen" is nevertheless an accomplished mathematician. But -you will notice that his divine poetry touches only that which no -scientific knowledge can explain,--that which no mathematics can -solve,--that which must remain mysterious throughout all conceivable -span of time,--the fluttering of the Human Soul in its chrysalis, which -it at once hates and loves, and hates because it loves, and strives to -burst through, and still fears unspeakably to break,--though dimly -conscious of the infinite Ghostly Peace beyond. - - HEARN. - - - TO GEORGE M. GOULD - - 1889. - -DEAR GOULD,--I feel like a white granular mass of amorphous crystals--my -formula appears to be isomeric with Spasmotoxin. My aurochloride -precipitates into beautiful prismatic needles. My Platinochloride -develops octohedron crystals,--with a fine blue fluorescence. My -physiological action is not indifferent. One millionth of a grain -injected under the skin of a frog produced instantaneous death -accompanied by an orange blossom odour. The heart stopped in systole. A -base--L_3 H_9 NG_4--offers analogous reaction to phosmotinigstic -acid. Yours with best regards, - - PHOSMOLYODIC LAFCADIO HEARN. - -GOULD,--"Concerning zombis, tell me all about them." - -HEARN,--"In order to relate you that which you desire, it will be -necessary first to explain the difference in the idea of the -supernatural as existing in the savage and in the civilized mind. Now, -I remember a very strange thing...." - -GOULD,--"I'll be back in a minute." (_Strides across the street._) - -Violent agitation in the peripheral centres of Hearn, together with -considerable acute anguish, owing to disintegration of cerebral tissue -consequent upon the sudden arrest of nerve-force in discharge. (See -Grant Allen on cause of pain, "Physiological AEsthetics.") - -Gould, suddenly reappearing:--"Go on with that old story, now." - -(Resurrection of cerebral agitation in the ganglionic centres and -intercorrelate cerebral fibres of Hearn. After desperate and painful -research, the broken threads of memories and impulses are found again, -and peripherally conjointed, and the wounded narrative proceeds, limping -grievously.) - -HEARN,--"As I was observing, I recollect one very curious instance of -emotional and fantastic--" - -GOULD,--"Yes, I'll be out in a moment--" (_Disappears through a door._) - ---Brutal confusion established in the visual, auditory, gustatory, and -olfactory ganglia of Hearn;--general quivering and strain of all the -mnemonic current lines, and then a sense of inquisitorial torture going -on in various brain-chambers, where the vital forces, suddenly arrested, -flow back in a deluge and set all ideas afloat in drowning agony. Slow -recovery as from concussion of the cerebellum. - -ENTER GOULD,--"Now proceed with that story of yours." - -HEARN,--pacifying the fury of the ganglionic centres with the most -extreme possible difficulty, timidly observes,-- - -"But you don't care to hear it?" - -GOULD,--moving with inconceivable rapidity, dynamically overcharged,-- - -"Of course, I do: I'm just dying to hear it." - -Hearn, running after him, skipping preliminaries in the anguish of "hope -deferred which maketh the heart sick,"-- - -"Well, it was in the Rue du Bois Morier,--one of the steepest and -strangest streets in the world, full of fantastic gables, and the -shadows of--" - -GOULD,--"Yes, I'll be out in a minute." (_Vanishes through a shop -entrance._) - -(Inexpressible chaos and bewilderment of impulses afferent and -efferent,--electrical collisions in the ganglia,--unspeakable combustion -of tissue in the intercorrelating fibres,--paralysis of conflicting -emotions,--unutterable anguish: coma followed by acute mania in the -person of Hearn.) - -GOULD,--emerging, "Well, go on with that old yarn...." - -But Hearn is being already conveyed by two large Philadelphia Policemen -to the Penn. Lunatic Asylum for Uncurables. - -Astonishment of Gould. - - - TO GEORGE M. GOULD - - 1889. - -GOULD,--Just after I wrote you last night, something began to whiffle -quite soundlessly round my head: I saw only a shadow, and I turned down -the gas,--remembering that he who extinguisheth his light so that -insects may not perish therein, shall, according to the book of Laotse, -obtain longer life and remission of sins. Then it struck me with its -wings so heavily that I knew it was a bat,--for no bird could fly so -silently; and I turned up the gas again,--full. There it was!--very -large,--circling round and round the ceiling so swiftly that I felt -dizzy trying to turn to keep it in sight,--and as noiselessly as its own -shadow above it. I could not tell which was the shadow and which the -life,--until both came together at last upon a ledge, and made a little -peak-shouldered devilish thing with strangely twisted ears. - -All at once I remembered an experience in Martinique one summer evening. -We were at Grand Anse,--friend Arnoux and I,--supping in a little room -opening over a low garden full of banana-trees, to the black beach of -the sea; and the great Voice thundered so we could scarcely hear -ourselves speak; and the candle in the verrine fluttered like something -afraid. Then right over my head a bat began to circle, with never a -sound. Arnoux exclaimed: "_Mais, mon cher, regarde cette sacree -bete--ah--c'est drole!_" By the look of his face I knew _drole_ meant -"weird." He struck it down with his napkin and it disappeared; but a -moment later came back again, and flew round as before. Again he hit it -and drove it away; but it always came flitting back. Then we all -laughed;--and Pierre, the host, tickling my ear with his beard, cried -out,--"_C'est ta maitresse a Saint-Pierre--elle est morte,--elle vient -te chercher._" And I looked so serious that Arnoux burst into a laugh as -loud as the surf outside. - -Now when I saw that bat, I thought it was "weird,"--_drole_ as the -other. I even found myself wondering, Who it could be? I thought it -might be Clemence, about whose death I received news in my last letter. -I did not think for a moment it was Gould. Only some very poor simple -soul would avail itself of so humble a vehicle for apparition.... Then -it looked so much like something damned as it moved about, that I felt -ashamed of thinking it could be Clemence,--the best kind of old souls, -Clemence!--My _blanchisseuse_. It was not easy to catch the bat without -hurting it. I argued that if it was anybody I knew it could not be -afraid of me. It sat on the mirror. It went under the table. It -flattened under the trunk and feigned death. Then I caught it in my hat; -and it revealed its plain nature by burying its teeth in my finger; and -it would not let go,--and it squeaked and chippered like a ghost. I was -almost mad enough to hurt it; but I tried to caress its head, which felt -soft and nice. But it showed all its teeth and looked too ugly, and -there was a musky smell of hell about it--so that I knew, if it were -anybody, the place with a capital "P" where it came from. I put it in a -box. To-night I am going to let it go. - - With love to you, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO GEORGE M. GOULD - - 1889. - -MY MOST DEAR GOULD,--I am really quite lonesome for you, and am -reflecting how much more lonesome I shall be in some outrageous -equatorial country where I shall not see you any more;--also it seems to -me perfectly and inexplainably atrocious to know that some day or other -there will be no Gould at 119 S. 17th St. That I should cease to make a -shadow some day seems quite natural, because Hearn is only a bubble -anyhow ("the earth hath bubbles"),--but you, hating mysteries and seeing -and feeling and knowing everything,--you have no right ever to die at -all. And I can't help doubting whether you will. You have almost made me -believe what you do not believe yourself,--that there are souls. I -haven't any, I know; but I think you have,--something electrical and -luminous inside you that will walk about and see things always. Are you -really--what I see of you--only an envelope of something subtler and -perpetual? Because if you are, I might want you to pass down some day -southward,--over the blue zone and the volcanic peaks like a little -wind,--and flutter through the palm-plumes under the all-purifying -sun,--and reach down through old roots to the bones of me, and try to -raise me up. - -"Ruth" maketh progress; but I had to murder the "Mother of God." Anyhow -the simile would have had a Catholic idolatrousness about it, so that I -don't regret it.--I send a clipping I found in the trunk, to make you -laugh: the "Femmes Arabes" of Dr. Perron furnished me the facts.--Mrs. -Gould moveth or reposeth in serenity,--Jakey fulfilleth with becoming -dignity the duties devolved upon him. I have consumed one plug of -"Quaker City;" but as the smoke spires up, the spiritual-sensualism of -"Ruth" becometh manifest. - -There has been some rain almost worthy of the tropics,--and much -darkness. And I can understand better why the ancients of Yucatan, -accustomed to the charm of real physical light (about which you -Northerners know nothing), put no fire into their hell, but darkness -only, as woe enough for tropical souls to bear! - -I hope you are having a glorious, joyous journeying, and remain, - - Lovingly yours, - HEARN. - - - TO ---- - - 1889. - -I am very sorry your trip was a chilly and rainy one. As for me, I have -been shivering here, and have got to get South somewhere soon,--if only -till I can get back to the tropics. I am sorry to confess it; but the -tropical Circe bewitches me again--I must go back to her. - -I had such a queer dream last night. A great, warm garden with high -clipped hedges,--much higher than a man,--and a sort of pleasant -country-house, with steps leading into the garden,--and everywhere, even -on the steps, hampers and baskets. Krehbiel was there,--he told me he -was going to Europe never to come back. And you were there, too, all in -black silk--sheathed in it; you were also going away somewhere; and I -was packing for you, getting things ready. Everybody was saying nice -things: one did not seem to hear,--really one never hears voices in -dreams,--but one feels the words, tones and all, as if they passed -unspoken--just the soul or will of them only--out of one brain into -another. I can't remember what anybody said precisely: what I recollect -best is the sensation that everybody was going, and that I was to stay -all alone in the place, or anywhere I pleased; and it was getting dark. -Then I woke up, and said: "Well, I really must see her." I suppose -dreams mean nothing: but interpreted by the contrary, as is a custom, it -would mean the reverse--that I am going away somewhere,--which I don't -yet know. - - Always and in all things yours, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - -P. S. Oh!--you spoke about Philadelphia.... Is it possible you have -never seen it? Is it possible you have never seen Fairmount Park? -Believe me, then, that it is the most beautiful place of the whole -civilized world on any sunny, tepid summer day. Your Central Park is a -cabbage-garden by comparison: F. Pk. is fifteen miles long, by about -eight or ten broad. But the size is nothing. It is the beauty of the -woods and their vistas, the long drives by the river, the glimpse of -statuary and fountains from delightful terraces, the knolls commanding -the whole circle of the horizon, the vast garden and lawn spaces, the -shadowed alleys where 100,000 people make scarcely any more sound than a -swarm of bees,--and over it all such a soft, sweet dreamy light. (When -you go to see it, be sure to choose a sunny, _warm_ day.) Thousands of -thousands of carriages file by, each with a pair of lovers in it. -Everybody in the park seems to be making love to somebody. Love is so -much the atmosphere of the place,--a part of the light and calm and -perfume--that you feel as if drenched with it, permeated by it, -mesmerized. And if you are all alone, you will look about you once in a -while, wondering that somebody else is not beside you.... But I forgot -that I am not writing to a stupid man, like myself. - - L. H. - - - TO ---- - - NEW YORK, November, 1889. - -Oh! you splendid girl!--will it really give you some short pleasure to -see this old humbug's writing again?... I was very sorry not to have -been able to see you: I should have wished to be able to give you a few -bits of advice about precautions to take during the tropical part of -your trip. But I have faith in your superb constitution and youth,--and -trust this will reach eyes undimmed by fever, and brightened more than -ever by the glow of all the strange suns that will have shone upon you. - -So that is my dream that I wrote you about: it was you, not I, that were -to run away. But I did not help you to do your packing, as I imagined. - -I wonder if you went away in black silk, or black cashmere: I dreamed of -you all in black that time. And when I saw the charming notice about you -in the _Tribune_, there suddenly came back to me the same vague sense of -unhappiness I had dreamed of feeling,--an absurd sense of absolute -loneliness. - -For seldom as I saw you, I must tell you that I looked forward to such -visits as to something very delightful, that helped me to forget the -great iron-whirling world and everything in it but yourself. You made a -little circle of magnetic sunshine for me; and you know I liked to bask -in it so much that I used to be quite selfish about it. I feel now as -though, each night I sat up so late in your little parlour, I was taking -from you so much rest,--which means life and strength,--acted, in short, -the part of a psychical cannibal! And I am remorseful at not being able -to feel more remorseful than I do; it was so nice to be there that I -can't be properly sorry, as I should. - -I and my friends have been wagering upon you, hoping for you, praying -for you to win your race,--so that every one may admire you still more, -and your name be flashed round the world quicker than the sunshine, and -your portrait--in spite of you--appear in some French journal where they -know how to engrave portraits properly. I thought I might be able to -coax one from you; but as you never are the same person two minutes in -succession, I am partly consoled: it could only be one small phase of -you,--Proteus, Circe, Undine, Djineeyeh! - ---And you found the loose bar at last, and shook it out, and flew! I -much doubt if they will ever get you well into the cage again,--that was -so irksome to you. But perhaps the world itself will seem a cage to you -hereafter:--it will have grown so much smaller in that blue-flashing -circuit of yours about it. Perhaps when human society shall have become -infinitely more fluid and electric than at present,--which it is sure to -do with the expansion and increasing complexity of intercommunication by -steam and wire,--this little half-dead planet will seem too small to -mankind. One will feel upon it, in the light of a larger knowledge, -constrained almost as much as Simon on the top of his pillar,--and long, -like him, for birth into a larger mode of being. Even now there is no -more fleeing into strange countries,--because there are no strange -countries: everything is being interbound and interspersed with steel -rails and lightning wires;--there are no more mysteries,--except what -are called hearts, those points at which individualities rarely touch -each other, only to feel as sudden a thrill of surprise as at meeting a -ghost, and then to wonder in vain, for the rest of life, what lies out -of soul-sight. - ---Did you often wish to stop somewhere, and feel hearts beating about -you, and see the faces of gods and dancing-girls? Or were you petted -like the _Lady of the Aroostook_ by officers and crew,--and British -dignitaries eager to win one Circe-smile,--and superb Indian Colonels of -princely houses returning home,--that you had no chance to regret -anything? I have been so afraid of never seeing you again, that I have -been hating splendid imaginary foreigners in dreams,--which would have -been quite wickedly selfish if I had been awake!... - -With every true good wish and sincere affection, - - Your friend, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - - TO ---- - - March 7-8, 1890. - -I must write you a line or two, before I finish packing,--though it is -the hour of ghosts, when writing is a grave imprudence. Something makes -me write you nevertheless. - -I could not go to see Mr. M----: there was too much ice and snow. But -you can forgive _that_. - -I shall be very sorry not to see you again,--and this time, you are not -sorry to know I am going away as you were when I went South. Perhaps you -are quite right.... - ---But that is nothing. What I want to say is, that after looking at your -portrait, I must tell you how sweet and infinitely good you ... can be, -and how much I like you, and how I like you,--or at least _some_ of -those many who are one in you. - -I might say love you,--as we love those who are dead--(the dead who -still shape lives);--but which, or how many, of you I cannot say. One -looks at me from your picture; but I have seen others, equally pleasing -and less mysterious. - -... Not when you were in evening dress, because you were then too -beautiful; and what is thus beautiful is not that which is most charming -in you. It only dazzles one, and constrains.... I like you best in the -simple dark dress, when I can forget everything except all the souls of -you. Turn by turn one or other floats up from the depth within and -rushes to your face and transfigures it;--and that one which made you -smile with pleasure like a child at something pretty we were both -admiring is simply divine.... I do not think you really know how sacred -you are; and yet you ought to know: it is because you do not know what -is in you, _who_ are in you, that you say such strangely material -things. And you yourself, by being, utterly contradict them all. - -It seems to me that all those mysterious lives within you--all the Me's -that were--keep asking the Me that is, for something always -refused;--that you keep saying to them: "But you are dead and cannot -see--you can only feel; and _I_ can see,--and I will not open to you, -because the world is all changed. You would not know it, and you would -be angry with me were I to grant your wish. Go to your places, and sleep -and wait and leave me in peace with myself." But they continue to wake -up betimes, and quiver into momentary visibility to make you divine in -spite of yourself,--and as suddenly flit away again. I wish one would -come--and stay: the one I saw that night when we were looking at ... -what was it? - -Really, I can't remember what it was: the smile effaced the memory of -it,--just as a sun-ray blots the image from a dry-plate suddenly -exposed. There was such a child-beauty in that smile.... Will you ever -be _like that always_ for any one being? - ---I hope you will get my book before you go: it will be sent you Tuesday -at latest, I think. I don't know whether you will like the paper; but -you will only look for the "gnat of a soul" that belongs to me between -the leaves. - ---Forgive all my horrid ways, my dear, sweet, ghostly sister. - - Good-bye, - LAFCADIO HEARN. - - END OF VOLUME I - - -Transcriber's Note - -The following list contains questionable spellings (and the pages upon -which they appeared) all of which have been retained: - -befel (116); Buddist (142); begining (146); bazar (149, 342) - -There are also some constructions that seem questionable. Punctuation -errors have been corrected. - - p. 138 | unimportant detail and [banal ana] | banaliana? - | | - p. 152 | he was so enthusiastic[ally] that | sic - | | - p. 183 | spectre is the ?--"Where shall I go? | '?' stands for - | | 'question'. - | | - p. 329 | Very truly your friend[./,] | Corrected. - | | - p. 387 | the simple hook-mark "?"[.] I can | A full stop is needed. - | imagine | - | | - p. 410 | wildest dreams[,/.] The artistic | Corrected. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life and Letters of Lafcadio -Hearn, Volume 1, by Elizabeth Bisland - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAFCADIO HEARN *** - -***** This file should be named 42312.txt or 42312.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/3/1/42312/ - -Produced by KD Weeks, Ted Garvin and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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