g under the violet and gold of a
November morning, were oddly connected with _Jean ah-Poquelin_. Even
before he had left the steamboat his imagination had flown beyond the
wilderness of cotton bales, the sierra-shaped roofs of the sugar sheds,
to wander in search of the old slave-trader's mansion.

A letter to his half-sister, Mrs. Atkinson, effectually disposes of the
statement that he left Cincinnati in consequence of any difference of
opinion with the editor of the _Commercial_. In fact, money for the
journey was given to him as well as a roving commission for letters from
Louisiana to be contributed to the columns of the newspaper.

CHAPTER VIII
MEMPHIS

"So I wait for the poet's Pentecost--the inspiration of
Nature--the descent of the Tongues of Fire. And I think they
will come when the wild skies brighten, and the sun of the
Mexican Gulf reappears for his worshippers--with hymns of
wind and sea, and the prayers of birds. When one becomes
bathed in this azure and gold air--saturated with the perfume
of the sea, he can't help writing something. And he cannot
help feeling a new sense of being. The Soul of the Sea
mingles with his own, is breathed into him: the Spirit that
moveth over the deep is the Creator indeed--vivifying,
illuminating, strengthening. I really feel his Religion--the
sense of awe that comes to one in some great silent temple.
You would feel it too under this eternal vault of blue, when
the weird old Sea is touching the keys of his mighty organ
..."[12]

[12] Letter to Dr. Matas in Dr. Gould's book, "Concerning Lafcadio
Hearn," Messrs. Fisher Unwin.

It was in the autumn of 1877 that Lafcadio Hearn, with forty dollars in
his pocket and a head full of dreams, started for Memphis on his way to
New Orleans. Mr. Halstead and Mr. Edward Henderson, editors of the
_Commercial_, and his old friend, Mr. Watkin, were at the little Miami
depot to bid him God speed.

Memphis is situated at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio
rivers. Hearn had to await the steamboat there on its return journey
from New Orleans. In those days punctuality was not rigidly enforced,
and very often the arrival of the steamer necessitated a wait of several
days at Memphis. The only person with whom Hearn kept up communication
in the northern city he had left was Henry Watkin. H