The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-08-23
From the New York Sun.

t(cD such a series of absurd myths
 concerning Lafcadio Hearn- myths having origin in a book recently published about him-that it is perhaps necessary that the real facts about the man should be restated.
 1. As to his birth and origin. The story of these, as related by himself, was care fully investigated at the time of the pubii- cation of his Life and Letters It was confirmed in every detail by means or family papers and through information obtained directly from his half-sisters, his brother and his cousins. Without undue credulity it may be supposed that he him. self and his immediate family knew the facts better than pr. Gould. whose entire personal acquaintance with Lafcadio Hearn extended over the period of exact ly five months
 2. His youth and early influences. have been personally acquainted with the Hearns for many years They are people of birth and breeding, and up to his six teenth year-the formative period of life Lafcadio Hearn lived in an atmosphere of wealth and refinement. That he quarreled with his guardian and left home IS not remarkable, as many famous and obscure men have done the same thing in the heat and inexperience of youth.
 8. As to his sight The testimony of his schoolmates and family is that it was es- pecially good until his sixteenth year, when he injured one eye in playing game And while the health of the other eye was much affected by the strain ot incessant study and work and he was obliged to use a powerful glass when reading, yet his vision was acute and ac- curate for such things as did not require the close concentration demanded by print
 The book in question contains a great deal of fanciful nonsense wrapped up in the technical verbiage of the specialist, which always daunts and convinces the ignorant But as a fact Lafcadio Hearn's eye troubles were not the result of dis ease, and no more affected his character and writing than the deafness of one ear would have done.
 f. His relations with women have been treated with equal inaccuracy and malice to this mass of absurd "Hearn legends"
 
 mitted, but from the tone of this afore- mentioned book and the press comments upon it one would suppose that any irreg- ularity in the relations of the sexes was something hitherto unheard of. It may be suggested to these innocent, artless minds that such things are not so amazing and abnormal as they would seem to be- lieve, and that even in America there are rumors that number of men before marriage do not always lead the spotless lives of cloistered nuns. (Of course, after marriage such things are unthinkable.) Even so good man as George Wash ington has been accused of being bit ''volage' in the heady days of his youth, and he was certainly not morbid or deca- dent.
 To put it simply, no doubt Lafcadio Hearn led the life of the average man up to the time of his marriage. As soon as he had the smallest hope of being able to support a family he married a lady of rank and high character and was de- voted husband and father to the day of his death. Prof Basil Hall Chamberlain, whose testimony will hardly be ques- tioned, declares the Hearn marriage to have been singularly pure and happy. One hopes the same is true of Hearn's de- tractors.
 5. There has been much whispering Of terrible 'scandals," but when analysed by those who know the facts and who cling to some shreds of common sense these scandals resolve themselves into this: When Hearn first went to Cincin- nati his poverty was so extreme he slept for a time in an aba2doRed boiler in vacant lot After he secured work his home was a garret room in cheap boarding house. It was winter, his room unwarmed, and his hours, owing to the nature of his work, were irregular. The cook in this boarding house was hand some, kind-hearted mulatto girl, who kept his dinner warm and allowed him to SIT by her fire when he came in wet and chilled. He was not yet 20, he was fresh from England, where the racial preJu- dices of America were unknown ana where the sentimentalities of the aboli- tion party about "the images Of God Tn ebony" had been instilled into his mind. He apparently drifted into some connec- ton with this girl and full of the chiv- airy of 19 felt that he owed her legal rights in return for her goodness to him, and applied for a license to marry her. It was a pathetic, high-n1inded piece of quixotism, and it is to be hoped no man has ever been less tender and honest with the women of the African race, but just possibly some of those who are so mortified have been less chivalrous To those who have raked up the matter it appears that any connection between the races in this country Is unheard of. in-