Aileen Aroon, A Memoir
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that's all."
Bill ran off with his tail between his feet before Don Pedro had donespeaking. Now isn't Don Pedro a dear, good fellow?
"Well, I'm not a champion dog, you see, though I modestly advance; I _might_ have taken a prize or two if I'd ever had a chance; But shows, I fear, were never meant for the like of poor me,-- Besides, my master isn't rich, and couldn't pay the fee; Yet I love my master none the less, and serve him faithfully.
"Poor master's got no eyes, you know, and I lead him through the street; And he plays upon the fiddle, and oh! he plays so sweet. That I wonder and I ponder, while my eyes with salt tears glisten. How so many people pass him by, and never stop to listen: How that nasty big blue man, with his nasty big blue coat. Moves master on so roughly that I long to bite his throat!
"There are certain quiet side-streets where master oft I take, Where he's sure to get a penny, and I a bit of cake; But at times the nights are rainy, and seem so very long, That I envy pets in carriages, though I know that that is wrong; And master's growing very old, and his blood is getting thin, And he often shivers with the cold before I lead him in.
"Poor master loves me very much, and I love master too; But if anything came over me, whatever _could_ he do? I think of things like these, you know, when in my bed at night, Even in my dreams those nasty thoughts oft make me cry with fright! Yet, though my lot seems very hard, and my pleasures are but few I do not grieve, for well I know a dog's life soon wears through; And I've been told by some there are better worlds than this, That, even for little doggies, there's a future state of bliss: That faithfulness and love are things that cannot die, And sorrow _here_ means joy _there_-- in the realms beyond the sky."
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.
MR AND MRS POLYPUS: A STORY FOUNDED ON A FACT IN NATURAL HISTORY.
"Our plenteous streams a varied race supply."
Pope.
"Creatures that by a rule of Nature teach The art of order to a peopled kingdom."
Shakespeare.
Scene: The old pine forest; a beautiful day in later summer. Greyclouds flitting across the sky's bright blue, and occasionally obscuringthe sun's rays. A gentle breeze going whispering through the woods, thegiant elms, the lordly oaks, and the dark and gloomy firs bending andbowing as the wind passes among their branches. Patches of brightcrimson here and there where the foxgloves still bloom; patches ofpurple and yellow where heather and furze are growing. Not a sound tobe heard in all the wood, except the clear, joyous notes of the robin;all his young ones are safely hatched and fledged, and flown away, andhe is singing a hymn of thanksgiving.
Aileen Aroon lying as usual with her great head on my lap, Theodore Neroas usual tumbling on the grass, Ida close at my side peeping over myshoulder at the paper I am reading aloud to her.
Ida (_speaks_): "What mites of people your hero and heroine are!"
The author: "Yes, puss; didn't you order me to write you a tale withtiny, tiny, tiny people in it? Well, here they are. They aremicroscopic."
Ida: "But of course it is not a true story; it is composed, as you callit."
The author: "It is a romance, Ida; but it is a romance of naturalhistory, because, you know, there _are_ creatures called polyps thatlive in the sea, and are so small you have to get a microscope to watchtheir motions, and they often eat each other, or swallow each otheralive, and do all sorts of strange things; and so I call my story--
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"Mr and Mrs Polypus: A Tale of the Coralline Sea, a tale of the IndianOcean, a romance of the coralline sea.
"Far down beneath the blue waves lived my hero and heroine all alonetogether in their crystal home, with its floors of coral and its windowsof diamonds. The cottage in which they dwelt was of a very strangeshape indeed, being nothing like any building ever you saw on the faceof the earth--but it suited them well--and all around it was a beautifulgarden of living plants. Well, all plants possess life; but these were,in reality, living animals, living beings, shaped like flowers, but ascapable of eating and drinking as you or I am, only they were all onstalks, and could only catch their food as it floated past them. Thisseems somewhat awkward, but then they were used to it, and custom iseverything. I don't believe these animals growing on stalks ever wishedto walk any oftener than human beings wished to fly.
"Mr and Mrs Polypus, as you may easily guess, were husband and wife,but for all that I am very sorry to have to tell you that they did notalways live very peaceably together. They used to have littledisagreements now and then; for they were only polyps, you mustremember, and smaller far than water-babies. Their little quarrels werealways about their food, for, if the truth must be told, Mr Polypus wassomewhat of a tyrant to his tiny wife.
"Mr Polypus had many faults; he was, among other things, a very greatglutton; so much so, that he did not mind his wife starving so long ashe himself had enough to eat.
"Now a word or two about the personal appearance of my principalcharacters. They were indeed a funny-looking couple, and so small, thatunless you had had good eyes, and a tolerably good microscope as well,it would have been impossible for you to see much of what they weredoing at all. They were both the same shape, and had only one lega-piece--a comparatively thick one though--so that when they walkedabout it was hop, hop, hop on one end, and very ridiculous it looked.But then, if they had only one leg each, Nature had made it up to themin the matter of arms; for instead of two only, as you have, they had awhole row of them all round their shoulders. Wonderfully movable armsthey were too, and seemed all joints together, and neither he nor hiswife could keep from whirling their arms about whenever they wereexcited. They had, in fact, so many arms that they could afford toplace two pair akimbo, fold one or two pairs across the chest, and stillhave a few left to shake in each other's faces when scolding; not thatshe did much of that, for she was very mild and obedient.
"The only food that Mr and Mrs Polypus got was little fishes, whichcame floating in through the window to them, or down the chimney, or inby the door; so that they never required to go to the market to buy anyprovisions; they only had to wait comfortably at their own firesideuntil breakfast or dinner swam in to them of its own accord. But thisdid not satisfy the craving appetite of Mr Polypus; so he used often tobe from home, swimming up and down the streets, or hopping about at thebottom of the village of Coral Town, where fish did most abound; and itwas only when he was away from home on a fishing expedition that poorpretty Mrs Polypus used to get anything to eat, for she was a quietlittle woman, and always stopped at home. Poor thing, the neighbourswere often very sorry for her; for hers had been a very sad story. Forall she was so quiet now, she was once the gayest of the gay, the lifeand soul of the village of Coral Town. At every ball or party that wasgiven, Peggy--for so she was then called--was the star; and wheneverPeggy countenanced a picnic or an angling match, all the village wenttoo and took his wife with him.
"When Peggy was still in her teens she fell in love with gay, rollickingyoung Mr Pompey, the potassium merchant. You know it was all potassiumthat they burned in Coral Town, because that burns under water, andcoals won't; and instead of the streets and houses being lighted withgas or oil at nights, they were illuminated with phosphorus. For thenext six months after Pompey met pretty Peggy at a ball, their younglives were but as one happy dream; for Pompey loved Peggy dearly, andPeggy loved Pompey. Away down at the bottom of Coral Town was abeautiful submarine garden, with fresh-water shrubs of every shade andflowers of every hue, and there were lonely caves and grottoes andgroves, and all kinds of lovely scenery imaginable; and here the loversoften met, and along the winding pathways they ofttimes hopped together.'Twas here Pompey first declared his passion, and first beheld thelove-light in his Peggy's beaming eyes. One evening they were seatedside by side in a coral cave. Everything around them was peaceful andstill, the water clear and pellucid, and unbroken by a single ripple.They had sat thu
s for hours; for the time had flown very quickly, andPompey had been reading a delightful book to Peggy, until it got so darkhe couldn't see. Far up above them were the phosphorescent lights inthe village twinkling like stars in heaven's firmament. The cave inwhich they sat was lighted up by a large diamond, which sparkled in theroof, and diffused a soft rose light all around, while here and there onthe floor lay strange-shaped musical shells, which ever and anon gaveforth sounds like Aeolian harps.
"`Ah!' sighed Pompey, and--
"`Ah!' sighed Peggy, and--
"`When shall we wed?' said Pompey, and--
"`Whenever you please,' said she.
"`Oh! oh!' cried a terrible voice at their elbows, `there'll be twowords to that bargain. He! he! There's many a slip 'twixt the cup andthe lip. Ha!