Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-07-23
LAFCADIO HEARN,
He Has Become q Jap, With a Wife
and Son.

q a
and Son.
From the New York Advertiser.
Lafcadio Hearn, whose ability to write
Arabesaue English has not been equalei
since the days of De Quincy has bee ome
fuIl-dedged japanese by naturalization.
He wears japanese clothes, has married
japanese lady. by whom he has ole child,
boy. whose education is fis particular
care. Hearn recently wrote to all A,ne.i-
can friend declaring mat ten wears Of his
life were wasted in the study 0: Latin and
Creek, which years could better have been
devoted to acquiring knowledge Of a prac-
ticai nature which would have more fully
equipped him for the battle of life. Hearn's
Introduction to newspaper life was a very
peculiar one. He was shy. timid and re-
firing by nature, and yet he tried to make
living as q book peddler. He was an
ignominisus failure in this avocation. and
next he procured a situation as proof
reader in q large western book Dublica lion
office. He marked in so many pune tua ton
marks and changes in the printers proofs
that they became fncensed at him; and one
dinner hour they procured d stou. leather
belt. put 1t about his waist, and then al
tached IL to the hook of hoistin+, rope
which depended from a beam protecting
from the building. Then they swung
Hearn out into space, six stories above the
street. and kept him there until he prom
ised to be less liberal with his correc sious
Col. John A Cockerill was then the man
aging editor of the Cincinnati Enquirer,
and to him Hearn applied fer a posirioa as
a reporter. The colonel gave him a chance
on feature work for the Sunday edition,
and, finding him apt at 1t, eventually turn
ed him over to me for regular assignments
Oh the local staff. He soon became an ex-
per. newsgatherer. but his powers of de-
scftption were SO great that he was a ways
assigned to cover any big event which call
ed for special narrative or descriptive abil-
ity. While reporter in Cincinnati Heafn
accompanied Weston, the ''steeple Jack
on an ascension he made TO the top of fne
Spire of the Catholic cathedral il that city.
He mounted the top of its cross, sustaining
himself by holding on to the lightning rod,
and from that eOign Of vantage viewed the
city. His description of his thoughts while
he stood there made ones fssh creepy. lie
less when he struck the flags of the pave
n1ent, or il his brain would still I've sersi-
tive after his body had been mashed into
a pulp by the fall
build Hearn was so Indifferent to fear that
many Of his fellow reporters believed that
he was disguised with life and sought
death in the line of duty. He left cincin-
natl and went to New Orleans because he
wanted to fully inform himself Of the folk
lore Of tue negroes in slavery times. 1t
was there that his literary career really
began. His novel. 'Chita, Story of Lost
Island" brought him prominently before
+ the public. and the Harpers sent him to
series Of articles of wonderful power and
interest His Unfamiliar Japan" is re-
markedly clever. Hearn's father was an
Irishman and q surgeon in the British
army. His mother was a native of the
Ionian Islands. anG was ponianaed by her
people because of her marriage. Hearn
was educated at Oxford. He has had a
n. ost remarkable career.