yet they seldom visited the town, lest they shouldbe treated with contempt, because they were dressed in the coarse bluelinen of Bengal, which is usually worn by slaves. But is there in thatexternal deference which fortune commands a compensation for domestichappiness? If they had something to suffer from the world, this served butto endear their humble home. No sooner did Mary and Domingo perceive themfrom this elevated spot, on the road of the Shaddock Grove, than they flewto the foot of the mountain, in order to help them to ascend. Theydiscerned in the looks of their domestics that joy which their returninspired. They found in their retreat neatness, independence, all thoseblessings which are the recompense of toil, and received those serviceswhich have their source in affection.--United by the tie of similar wants,and the sympathy of similar misfortunes, they gave each other the tendernames of companion, friend, sister.--They had but one will, one interest,one table. All their possessions were in common. And if sometimes a passionmore ardent than friendship awakened in their hearts the pang of unavailinganguish, a pure religion, united with chaste manners, drew their affectionstowards another life; as the trembling flame rises towards heaven, when itno longer finds any aliment on earth.
"Madame de la Tour sometimes, leaving the household cares to Margaret,wandered out alone; and, amidst the sublime scenery, indulged that luxuryof pensive sadness, which is so soothing to the mind after the firstemotions of turbulent sorrow have subsided. Sometimes she poured forth theeffusions of melancholy in the language of verse; and, although hercompositions have little poetical merit, they appear to me to bear themarks of genuine sensibility. Many of her poems are lost; but some stillremain in my possession, and a few still hang on my memory. I will repeatto you a sonnet addressed to Love.
SONNET
TO LOVE.
Ah, Love! ere yet I knew thy fatal power, Bright glow'd the colour of my youthful days, As, on the sultry zone, the torrid rays, That paint the broad-leaved plantain's glossy bower; Calm was my bosom as this silent hour, When o'er the deep, scarce heard, the zephyr strays, 'Midst the cool tam'rinds indolently plays, Nor from the orange shakes its od'rous flower: But, ah! since Love has all my heart possess'd, That desolated heart what sorrows tear! Disturb'd and wild as ocean's troubled breast, When the hoarse tempest of the night is there Yet my complaining spirit asks no rest; This bleeding bosom cherishes despair.
"The tender and sacred duties which nature imposed, became a source ofadditional happiness to those affectionate mothers, whose mutual friendshipacquired new strength at the sight of their children, alike the offspringof unhappy love. They delighted to place their infants together in the samebath, to nurse them in the same cradle, and sometimes changed the maternalbosom at which they received nourishment, as if to blend with the ties offriendship that instinctive affection which this act produces.
'My friend,' cried Madame de la Tour, 'we shall each of us have twochildren, and each of our children will have two mothers.' As two budswhich remain on two trees of the same kind, after the tempest has brokenall their branches, produce more delicious fruit, if each, separated fromthe maternal stem, be grafted on the neighbouring tree; so those twochildren, deprived of all other support, imbibed sentiments more tenderthan those of son and daughter, brother and sister, when exchanged at thebreast of those who had given them birth. While they were yet in theircradle, their mothers talked of their marriage; and this prospect ofconjugal felicity, with which they soothed their own cares, often calledforth the tears of bitter regret. The misfortunes of one mother had arisenfrom having neglected marriage, those of the other from having submitted toits laws: one had been made unhappy by attempting to raise herself aboveher humble condition of life, the other by descending from her rank. Butthey found consolation in reflecting that their more fortunate children,far from the cruel prejudices of Europe, those prejudices which poison themost precious sources of our happiness, would enjoy at once the pleasuresof love and the blessings of equality.
"Nothing could exceed that attachment which those infants already displayedfor each other. If Paul complained, his mother pointed to Virginia; and atthat sight he smiled, and was appeased. If any accident befel Virginia, thecries of Paul gave notice of the disaster; and then Virginia would suppressher complaints when she found that Paul was unhappy. When I came hither, Iusually found them quite naked, which is the custom of this country,tottering in their walk, and holding each other by the hands and under thearms, as we represent the constellation of the Twins. At night theseinfants often refused to be separated, and were found lying in the samecradle, their cheeks, their bosoms pressed close together, their handsthrown round each other's neck, and sleeping, locked in one another's arms.
"When they began to speak, the first names they learnt to give each otherwere those of brother and sister, and childhood knows no softerappellation. Their education served to augment their early friendship, bydirecting it to the supply of their reciprocal wants. In a short time, allthat regarded the household economy, the care of preparing the ruralrepasts, became the task of Virginia, whose labours were always crownedwith the praises and kisses of her brother. As for Paul, always in motion,he dug the garden with Domingo, or followed him with a little hatchet intothe woods, where, if in his rambles he espied a beautiful flower, finefruit, or a nest of birds, even at the top of a tree, he climbed up, andbrought it home to his sister.
"When you met with one of these children, you might be sure the other wasnot distant. One day, coming down that mountain, I saw Virginia at the endof the garden, running toward the house, with her petticoat thrown over herhead, in order to screen herself from a shower of rain. At a distance, Ithought she was alone; but as I hastened towards her, in order to help heron, I perceived that she held Paul by the arm, who was almost entirelyenveloped in the same cavity, and both were laughing heartily at beingsheltered together under an umbrella of their own invention. Those twocharming faces, placed within the petticoat, swelled by the wind, recalledto my mind the children of Leda, enclosed within the same shell.
"Their sole study was how to please and assist each other; for of all otherthings they were ignorant, and knew neither how to read nor write. Theywere never disturbed by researches into past times, nor did their curiosityextend beyond the bounds of that mountain. They believed the world ended atthe shores of their own island, and all their ideas and affections wereconfined within its limits. Their mutual tenderness, and that of theirmothers, employed all the activity of their souls. Their tears had neverbeen called forth by long application to useless sciences. Their minds hadnever been wearied by lessons of morality, superfluous to bosomsunconscious of ill. They had never been taught that they must not steal,because every thing with them was in common; or be intemperate, becausetheir simple food was left to their own discretion; or false, because theyhad no truth to conceal. Their young imaginations had never been terrifiedby the idea that God has punishments in store for ungrateful children,since with them filial affection arose naturally from maternal fondness.All they had been taught of religion was to love it; and if they did notoffer up long prayers in the church, wherever they were, in the house, inthe fields, in the woods, they raised towards heaven their innocent hands,and their hearts purified by virtuous affections.
"Thus passed their early childhood, like a beautiful dawn, the prelude of abright day. Already they partook with their mothers the cares of thehousehold. As soon as the cry of the wakeful cock announced the first beamof the morning, Virginia arose, and hastened to draw water from aneighbouring spring; then returning to the house, she prepared thebreakfast. When the rising sun lighted up the points of those rocks whichoverhang this enclosure, Margaret and her child went to the dwelling ofMadame de la Tour, and they offered up together their morning prayer. Thissacrifice of thanksgiving always preceded their first repast, which theyoften partook before the door of the cottage, seated upon the grass, undera canopy of plantain; and while the branches of that delightful treeafforded a grateful shade, its
solid fruit furnished food ready prepared bynature; and its long glossy leaves, spread upon the table, supplied thewant of linen.
"Plentiful and wholesome nourishment gave early growth and vigour to thepersons of those children, and their countenances expressed the purity andpeace of their souls. At twelve years of age the figure of Virginia was insome degree formed: a profusion of light hair shaded her face, to which herblue eyes and coral lips gave the most charming brilliancy. Her eyessparkled with vivacity when she spoke; but when she was silent, her lookhad a cast upwards, which gave it an expression of extreme sensibility, orrather of tender melancholy. Already the figure of Paul displayed thegraces of manly beauty. He was taller than Virginia; his skin was of adarker tint; his nose more aquiline; and his black eyes would have been toopiercing, if the long eyelashes, by which were shaded, had not given them alook of
Paul and Virginia from the French of J.B.H. de Saint Pierre Page 3
