408 LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI.
* aside :f * There, the moon is far enough from the seat of war, but
you will see that it will suggest something to someboby about the
war; in ten minutes from, now the moon, as a topic, will be shelved.'
The poet was saying he had noticed something which was a
surprise to Him • had had the impression that down here, toward the
equator, the moonlight was much stronger and brighter than up
North i had had the impression that when he visited New Orleans,
many years ago, the moon —
Interruption from the other end of the room—
* Let me explain *hat. Reminds me of an anecdote. Everything
is changed since the war, for better or for worse; but you'll find
people down here born grumblers, who see no change except the
change for the worse. There was an old hegro woman of this sort,
A young New-Yorker said in her presence, " What a wonderful moon
you have down here 1'* She sighed and said, " Ah, bless yo* heart,
honey, you ought to seen dat moon befo' de waw 1" *
The new topic was dead already. But the poet resurrected it,
and gave it a new start.
A brief dispute followed, as to whether the difference between
Northern and Southern moonlight really existed or was only ima-
gii *wL Moonlight talk drifted easily into talk about artificial methods
of dispelling darkness. Then somebody remembered that when
.Farragut advanced upon Port Hudson on a dark night—and did not
wish to assist the aim of the Confederate gunners—he carried no
battle-lanterns, but painted the decks of his ships white, and thus
created a dim but valuable light, which enabled his own men to
grope their way around with considerable facility. At this point the
war got the floor again—the ten minutes not quite up yet.
I was not sorry, for war talk by men who have been in a war is
always interesting; whereas moon talk by a poet who has not been
in the moon is likel^ to be dulL
We went to a cockpit in New Orleans on a Saturday afternoon,
I had never seen a cock-fight before. There were men and boys there
of all ages and all colours, and of many languages and nationalities.
Bat I noticed one quite conspicuous and surprising absence: the
teuJitional brutal faces. There were no brutal faces. With no
eoek-figblang going on, you could have played the gathering on a