What he ate did not so much relieve his hunger, as keep it immortal in him. - Herman Melville

A noble craft, but somehow a most melancholy! All noble things are touched with that.

And so, through all the thick mists of the dim doubts in my mind, divine intuitions now and then shoot, enkindling my fog with a heavenly ray. And for this I thank God; for all have doubts; many deny; but doubts or denials, few along with them, have intuitions. Doubts of all things earthly, and intuitions of some things heavenly; this combination makes neither believer nor infidel, but makes a man who regards them both with equal eye.

It was not a very white jacket, but white enough, in all conscience, as the sequel will show.
The way I came by it was this...