Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

the substance, and happiness her shadow; those who possess the one, have the other also.' The words of the sage sunk deep in the breast of the stranger. He retired to rest in peace, and in the morning he returned again to his house, where he witnessed the truth of Ibrahim's advice; and embracing every method to do good, he lived in peace and tranquillity, and experienced, that, to be content, is truly to be happy.

The Poor Old Man.

1. I AM blind,' said the old man, · and have lost the only blessing heaven had left me; she lies buried in this grave, and every hour of my future life will waft a prayer to the Supreme director, to hasten the period of my last repose beneath the same sod.' And have your days been always wretched,' said I; and have your eyes never beheld the light of the sun?' Alas, sir,' said he, my early days were happy, and my maturer days were not embittered by any oignant sorrow: it is true, I rose early, and sat up late, but it was to give bread and Commort to a numerous family, to whom I had hoped to leave comfortable portions, honourable name.

6

Ր

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

2. But it pleased heaven to take from me five out of seven children to itself, in the course of two years. My wife, who was the best of women, sunk beneath the misfortune: she drooped like a flower, and never held up her head again, till she died, I became almost broken hearted, and soon after, lost my sight. My son, to whose care I entrusted the savings of my industrious years, with a degree of insensibility, no human mind could conceive, left me, not only to my former sorrows, but taking my little treasure with him, added poverty and want to the number of them.

3. Heaven, however, after making me the victim of its wrath, left me one consolation; my poor, tender, and affec. tionate Laura, my dutiful child, was permitted, yet awhile, to remain by my side: her youth and innocence, and my age and infirmity, had won the tender pity of all who knew us, and raised us friends among those who knew us not before the days of our sorrow.

4. The quiver of fortune was not yet exhausted against me; one fatal arrow was left! We sat on a sunny bank together, and while I resolved in silence, the dark passages through which I had been ordained to pass, Laura slept the burning rays of the sun lighted up a fever in her veins ; few days she died, and left me more than disconsolate.

in a

I wept

once again, but now trust that I shall weep no more: there am I led every day to sit an hour upon Laura's grave; upon her grave, which will soon be mine. Alas! again I feel the tears upon my cheek; when, gracious heaven, when will the fountains be dried up forever?'

The Victim.

1. THE tragical death of an Indian, of the Colapissa nation, says a gentleman, who sacrificed himself for his country and son, I have always admired as displaying the greatest heroism, and placing human nature in the noblest point of view. A Chactaw Indian having one day expressed himself in the most reproachful terms of the French, and called the Colapissa their dogs, and their slaves; one of this nation, exasperated at his injurious expressions, laid him dead upon the spot.

2. The Chactaws, the most numerous, and the most warlike tribe, on the continent, immediately flew to arms: they sent deputies to New-Orleans, to demand from the French governour, the head of the savage who had fled to him for protection. The governour offered presents as an atonement, but they were rejected with disdain; and they threatened to extermi nate the whole tribe of the Collapissas. To pacify this fierce nation, and prevent the effusion of blood, it was at length found necessary to deliver up the unhappy Indian. The commander of the German posts, on the right of the Mississippi, was charged with this melancholy commission; a rendezvous was, in consequence, appointed between the settlement of the Collapissas and the German posts, where the mournful ceremony was conducted in the following manner :

3. The Indian victim, whose name was Tichou Mingo, was produced. He rose up, and, agreeable to the custom of those people, harangued the assembly, in the following manner : C I am a true man; that is to say, I fear not death; but I lament the fate of my wife, and four infant children, whom I leave behind, in a very tender age; I lament, too, my father and my mother, whom I have long maintained by hunting: them, however, I recommend to the French; since, on their account, I now fall a sacrifice.'

4. Scarcely had he finished this short and pathetic harangue, when the aged father, struck with the filial affection of his son, arose, and thus addressed himself to the audience: My son is doomed to death; but he is young and vigorous, and more capable than I to support his mother, his wife, and four infant children: it is necessary, then, that he remain upon the earth to

protect and provide for them: as for me, who draw towards the end of my career, I have lived long enough; may my son attain to my age, that he may bring up his tender infants; I have lived as a man; I will die as a man; I therefore take the place of my son.'

5. At these words, which expressed his paternal love and greatness of soul in the most touching manner, his wife, his son, his daughter-in-law, and the little infants, melted into tears around this brave, this generous old man; he embraced them for the last time, exhorted them to be ever faithful to the French, and to die rather than betray them by any mean treachery unworthy of his blood.

6. My death,' concluded he,' I consider necessary for the safety of my nation, and I glory in the sacrifice.' Having thus expressed himself, he presented his head to the friends of the deceased Chactaw, and they accepted it; he then extended himself over the trunk of a tree, when, with a hatchet, they severed his head from his body.

7. The French, who assisted at this tragedy, could not contain their tears, whilst they admired the heroic constancy of this venerable old man, whose resolution bore a resemblance to that of the celebrated Roman orator, who in the time of the triumvirate, was concealed by his son: the young man was most cruelly tortured in order to force him to discover his father, who, not being able to endure the idea, that a son so virtuous and so generous, should thus suffer on his account, went and presented himself to the murderers, and begged them to kill him, and save his son: the son conjured them to take his

life and spare the age of his father; but the soldiers, more bar

barous than the savages, butchered them both on the spot.

Albertus and his Daughter.

1. ALBERTUS had been for many years an officer in the service of the East-India Company, but was not among those who, by plunder and rapine, accumulated riches at the expense of honour and conscience. He was a native of England, and had married an English lady at Calcutta, whose brother had brought her over, and soon after her arrival died, leaving her upwards of thirty thousand pounds. The wife of Albertus did not long survive her marriage; she died, and left her only daughter, who was educated by her father, till she attained the age of three years, at which time he embarked for his native country, taking with him his infant, and the whole of her fortune, which

she inherited by her mother, and his own, which was very considerable.

2. The morning was serene, the sea was calm, the sky was clear, when the coast of England appeared in view. The long wished for object spread universal gladness through the ship's company; every heart was elated, every mind anticipated the joy of revisiting parents and sincere friends.

3. Albertus brought his daughter upon deck; see, my child, said he, we are now in sight of England, the country where your mother first drew her breath; there you will meet with relations and friends; and you are able, my little dear, to assist them if they stand in need. The evening closed, the passengers retired to rest; but a fresh gale springing up, soon increased to a storm. The ship was close in upon the coast; she struck upon a rock; she filled; she sunk; and Albertus, who at that in stant came upon deck, was swept off by a heavy sea. He was thrown upon the shore, and left there by the wave that bore him, stunned and senseless.

4. On recovering, he found himself supported by some peasants, who were endeavouring to assist him, and a few others, who had escaped. He looked round with. anxiety for his infant daughter the darling object was not there to delight his eyes; he broke out into lamentations of despair, till, fainting under the weight of his grief, he sunk into a fit, and was conveyed to the house of a philanthropic person in the neighbourhood.

5. In this hospitable mansion, Albertus resided for many weeks. His grief subsided into a settled melancholy, but it was accompanied by resignation. The world, however, he determined to abandon, and took a little cottage near the spot where he lost his child. There he lived secluded from the society of mankind, amusing himself with books, and the trifling domestic business of his little mansion.

6. Eighteen years he passed in this private manner, when an officer, whose name was Leontine, with his wife and child, came to reside at a small house and farm in the neighbourhood; and as the beach opposite to the hut of Albertus had a smooth bottom, and a gentle descent into the sea, Leontine's infant son was bathed there, daily, by a servant. The boy was near four years of age, and the servant being a good swimmer, frequently carried him out a considerable way from the beach, and swam with him towards the shore. Albertus had often pleased himself with looking at their sports from the door of his cottage; and one morning, as he was indulging himself at this amusement, the servant being a considerable way out in deep water, sud

[ocr errors]

denly gave a shriek, and sinking at the instant, left the little boy by himself. Albertus, throwing off his outward garments, which were loose, plunged into the sea. With a vigour and celerity unusual to a man of his years, he darted through the water, and rescued from death the sinking infant, whom he brought in safety to the shore.

7. The servant, who had been seized with the cramp, now appeared above water; the spasm had left him, and he regained the land in safety. The poor fellow's attention was at first solely employed on his infant charge; but when he found it recovered, the tribute of his gratitude flowed copiously in thanks and blessings on its preserver; he pressed it with rapture to his bosom, smiled, and wept-then presenting it to Albertus, the good old man wept in his turn; and, embracing the child with the utmost affection, it was conveyed to its pa

rents.

8. Leontine was from home when the child returned. The servant minutely related every circumstance that passed, to the mother; who, trembling during the recital, at the conclusion poured forth her grateful thanks to heaven; then turning to her infant, we must see, said she, this preserver of your life. Frantic with joy, and, taking him by the hand, she went immediately to the cot of Albertus, who attended to the effusions of her gratitude with silent admiration, sometimes disturbed with a sigh, again relieved by a tear. I have saved your child,' said he, and the grief I have suffered by the loss of my own in nearly the same place, accounts for the tumultuous joy you experience, from the preservation of your child.' Alas!" said the mother, both I and my little son have been rescued from the devouring ocean; but my parents never experienced the felicity of rejoicing at my escape. I never had the happiness of knowing them. I was taken up at sea, floating on a bed, when but three years of age.'

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

9. Need we say more, than these circumstances led to a discovery, that Albertus had recovered his daughter. The incidents of her life were few; she had been taken up in the morning after the wreck by a coasting cutter bound for Guernsey, and had been brought up by a merchant in that island, to whom the cutter belonged, and he had given her as liberal an education as the island afforded. When but sixteen, Leontine, who commanded a company quartered on the island, paid his addresses to her; and the honest merchant not only assented to their union, but bestowed an ample fortune upon the bride. 10. Leontine's father soon after dying, he returned to Eng

H

« AnteriorContinuar »