nd pronounced his
name "Her'un," "and selected 'Sageha No Tsuru'--heron with wings
down--for the design which he made to accompany his name and number at
the Literary College, Tokyo University." There can be no doubt that the
place-names and families, bearing the Hearn name in various countries,
are of different, often entirely distinct origin. Nevertheless, the
various modifications of the word--namely, Erne, Horne, Hearn, Hern,
Herne, Hearon, Hirn, etc., are derived from one root. In the Teutonic
languages it is _irren_, to wander, stray, err or become outlaw. _Hirn_,
the brain or organ of the wandering spirit or ghost, the Latin _errare_
and Frankish _errant_, with the Celtic _err_ names are related, though
the derivation comes from ancient, Indo-Germanic languages. In the West
Country in England the name Hearn is well-known as a gipsy one, and in
the "Provincilia Dictionary" for Northumberland, amongst other worthies
of note, a certain "Francis Heron" or "Hearn," King of the "Faws" or
gipsies, is referred to.

I give all these notes because they bear out the tradition, stoutly
maintained by some members of the family, that gipsy blood runs in their
veins. An aunt of Lafcadio's tells a story of having once met a band of
gipsies in a country lane in Ireland; one of them, an old woman, offered
to tell Miss Hearn's fortune. After examining her hand, she raised her
head, looked at her meaningly, and tapping her palm with her finger
said, "You are one of us, the proof is here." Needless to say that
Lafcadio valued a possible gipsy ancestor more than all the archdeacons
and lieutenant-colonels that figured in his pedigree, and was wont to
show with much pride the mark on his thumb supposed to be the infallible
sign of Romany descent.

Some foreign exotic strain is undoubtedly very apparent in many members
of the Hearn family. Lafcadio's marked physiognomy, dark complexion, and
black hair could not have been an exclusive inheritance from his
mother's side, for it can be traced in Charles Hearn's children by his
second wife, and again in their children. This exotic element--quite
distinct from the Japanese type--is so strong as to have impressed
itself on Hearn's eldest son by his Japanese wife, creating a most
remarkable likeness between him and his cousin, Mrs. Atkinson's son. The
near-sighted eyes, the marked eyebrows, the dark brown hair, the soft
voice and gentle manner, are characteristics owned by both Carleton
Atki