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PAUL AND VIRGINIA.

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where the clouds seem to repose. The showers which their bold points attract often paint the vivid colors of the rainbow on their green and brown declivities, and swell the sources of the little river which flows at their feet, called the river of FanPalms.

N the eastern coast of the mountain (rifted sides, and even on their majestic tops, which rises above Port Louis in the Mauritius, upon a piece of land bearing the marks of former cultivation, are seen the ruins of two small cottages. Those ruins are situated near the centre of a valley, formed by immense rocks, and which opens only toward the north. On the left rises the mountain, called the Height of Discovery, whence the eye marks the distant sail when it first touches the verge of the horizon, and whence the signal is given when a vessel approaches the island. At the foot of this mountain stands the town of Port Louis. On the right is formed the road which stretches from Port Louis to the Shaddock Grove, where the church, bearing that name, lifts its head, surrounded by its avenues of bamboo, in the midst of a spacious plain; and the prospect terminates in a forest extending to the farthest bounds of the island. The front view presents the bay, denominated the Bay of the Tomb; a little on the right is seen the Cape of Misfortune; and beyond rolls the expanded ocean, on the surface of which appear a few uninhabited islands, and, among others, the Point of Endeavor, which resembles a bastion built upon the flood.

At the entrance of the valley which presents those various objects, the echoes of the mountain incessantly repeat the hollow murmurs of the winds that shake the neighboring forests, and the tumultuous dashing of the waves which break at a distance upon the cliffs; but near the ruined cottages all is calm and still, and the only objects which there meet the eye are rude, steep rocks that rise like a surrounding rampart. Large clumps of trees grow at their base, on their

Within this enclosure reigns the most profound silence. The waters, the air, all the elements are at peace. Scarcely does the echo repeat the whispers of the palm-trees spreading their broad leaves, the long points of which are gently agitated by the winds. A soft light illumines the bottom of this deep valley, on which the sun shines only at noon. But even at break of day the rays of light are thrown on the surrounding rocks; and their sharp peaks, rising above the shadows of the mountain, appear like tints of gold and purple gleaming upon the azure sky.

To this scene I loved to resort, where I could enjoy at once the richness of an unbounded landscape and the charm of uninterrupted solitude. One day, when I was seated at the foot of the cottages and contemplating their ruins, a man, advanced in years, passed near the spot. He was dressed in the ancient garb of the island, his feet were bare, and he leaned upon a staff of ebony: his hair was white, and the expression of his countenance was dignified and interesting. I bowed to him with respect; he returned the salutation, and, after looking at me with some earnestness, came and placed himself upon the hillock where I was seated. Encouraged by this mark of confidence, I thus addressed him :

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"Father, can you tell me to whom those

cottages once belonged?"

from any man after the death of him whom alone she loved, misfortune armed her with courage, and she resolved to cultivate with her slave a little spot of ground, and procure for herself the means of subsistence.

"My son," re-to form establishments on that fatal soil. plied the old man, "those heaps of rubbish His effects were seized upon by the rapacity and that untilled land were, twenty years of strangers, as so often happens to those who ago, the property of two families who then die away from their home, and his wife, who found happiness in this solitude. Their his- was pregnant, found herself a widow in a tory is affecting; but what European, pur- country where she had neither credit nor suing his way to the Indies, will pause one recommendation, and no earthly possession, moment to interest himself in the fate of a or rather support, but one negro woman. few obscure individuals? What European Too delicate to solicit protection or relief can picture happiness to his imagination amidst poverty and neglect? The curiosity of mankind is only attracted by the history of the great, and yet from that knowledge little use can be derived." "Father," I rejoined, "from your manners and your observations I perceive that you have acquired much experience of human life. If you have leisure, relate to me, I beseech you, the history of the ancient inhabitants of this desert; and be assured that even the men who are most perverted by the prejudices of the world find a soothing pleasure in contemplating that happiness which belongs to simplicity and virtue." The old man, after a short silence, during which he leaned his face upon his hands, as if he were trying to recall the images of the past, thus began his narration:

In an island almost a desert, and where the ground was left to the choice of the settler, she avoided those spots which were most fertile and most favorable to commerce, and seeking some nook of the mountain, some secret asylum, where she might live solitary and unknown, she bent her way from the town toward these rocks, where she wished to shelter herself as in a nest. All sensitive and suffering creatures, from a sort of common instinct, fly for refuge amid their pains to haunts the most wild and desolate; as if rocks could form a rampart against misfortune, as if the calm of Nature could hush the tumults of the soul. That Providence which lends its support when we ask but the supply of our necessary wants had a blessing in reserve for Madame de la Tour, which neither riches nor greatness can purchase; this blessing was a friend.

Monsieur de la Tour, a young man who was a native of Normandy, after having in vain solicited a commission in the French army, or some support from his own family, at length determined to seek his fortune in this island, where he arrived in 1726. He The spot to which Madame de la Tour brought hither a young woman whom he fled had already been inhabited a year by a loved tenderly, and by whom he was no less young woman of a lively, good-natured, and tenderly beloved. She belonged to a rich affectionate disposition. Margaret (for that and ancient family of the same province; was her name) was born in Brittany, of a but he had married her without fortune, and family of peasants, by whom she was cherin opposition to the will of her relations, ished and beloved, and with whom she might who refused their consent because he was have passed life in simple rustic happiness, found guilty of being descended from parents if, misled by the weakness of a tender heart, who had no claims to nobility. Monsieur she had not listened to the passion of a de la Tour, leaving his wife at Port Louis, gentleman in the neighborhood who promembarked for Madagascar, in order to pur-ised her marriage. He soon abandoned her, chase a few slaves to assist him in forming a plantation in this island. He landed at Madagascar during that unhealthy season which commences about the middle of October, and soon after his arrival died of the pestilential fever, which prevails there six months of the year, and which will forever baffle the attempts of the European nations

and, adding inhumanity to seduction, refused to insure a provision for the child of which she was pregnant. Margaret then determined to leave forever her native village, and go, where her fault might be concealed, to some colony distant from that country where she had lost the only portion of a poor peasant girl, - her reputation. With

some borrowed money she purchased an old | whence springs the river of Fan-Palms, to negro slave, with whom she cultivated a that precipitous cleft which you see on the little corner of this canton. Here Madame summit of the mountain, and which is called de la Tour, followed by her negro woman, the Cannon's Mouth, from the resemblance found Margaret suckling her child. Soothed in its form. It is difficult to find a path by the sight of a person in a situation some-along this wild portion of enclosure, the soil what similar to her own, Madame de la Tour of which is encumbered with fragments of related, in a few words, her past condition rock, or worn into channels formed by and her present wants. Margaret was deeply affected by the recital; and, more anxious to merit confidence than esteem, she confessed, without disguise, the errors of which she had been guilty. “As for me,” said she, "I deserve my fate; but you, madame-you! at once virtuous and unhappy,”—and, sobbing, she offered Madame de la Tour both her hut and her friendship. That lady, affected by this tender reception, pressed her in her arms, and exclaimed, “Ah, surely Heaven will put an end to my misfortunes, since it inspires you, to whom I am a stranger, with more goodness toward me than I have ever experienced from my own relations !"

I knew Margaret; and, although my habitation is a league and a half from hence, in the woods behind that sloping mountain, I considered myself as her neighbor. In the cities of Europe a street, even a simple wall, frequently prevents members of the same family from meeting for whole years; but in new colonies we consider those persons as neighbors from whom we are divided only by woods and mountains; and above all, at that period when this island had little intercourse with the Indies, neighborhood alone gave a claim to friendship, and hospitality toward strangers seemed less a duty than a pleasure. No sooner was I informed that Margaret had found a companion, than I hastened to her, in hope of being useful to my neighbor and her guest.

I found in Madame de la Tour a person interesting in appearance, showing at once dignity and dejection. She appeared to be in the last stage of her pregnancy. I told them that, for the future interests of their children, and to prevent the intrusion of any other settler, it would be well for them to divide the property of this wild sequestered valley, which is nearly twenty acres in extent. They confided that task to me, and I marked out two equal portions of land. One included the higher part of this enclosure, from the peak of that rock buried in clouds,

torrents; yet it produces noble trees and innumerable springs and rivulets. The other portion of land comprised the plain extending along the banks of the river of FanPalms to the opening where we are now seated, whence the river takes its course between those two hills, until it falls into the sea. You may still trace the vestiges of some meadow-land; and this part of the common is less rugged, but not more valuable, than the other, since in the rainy season it becomes marshy, and in dry weather is so hard and unbending that it will yield only to the stroke of the hatchet. When I had thus divided the property, I persuaded my neighbors to draw lots for their respective possessions. The higher portion of land became the property of Madame de la Tour; the lower, of Margaret; and each seemed satisfied with her share. They entreated me to place their habitations together, that they might at all times enjoy the soothing intercourse of friendship and the consolation of mutual kind offices. Margaret's cottage was situated near the centre of the valley, and just on the boundary of her own plantation. Close to that spot I built. another cottage for the dwelling of Madame de la Tour; and thus the two friends, while they possessed all the advantages of neighborhood, lived on their own property. I myself cut palisades from the mountain, and brought leaves of fan-palms from the seashore, in order to construct those two cottages, of which you can now discern neither the entrance nor the roof. Yet, alas! there still remain but too many traces for my remembrance! Time, which so rapidly destroys the proud monuments of empires, seems in this desert to spare those of friendship, as if to perpetuate my regrets to the last hour of my existence.

Scarcely was the second of these cottages finished, when Madame de la Tour was delivered of a girl. I had been the godfather of Margaret's child, who was christened by

the name of Paul. Madame de la Tour rear the poultry, and go sometimes to Port desired me to perform the same office for her Louis and sell the superfluous produce of child also, together with her friend, who these little plantations, which was not very gave her the name of Virginia. "She will considerable. If you add two goats, who be virtuous," cried Margaret, "and she will were brought up with the children, and a be happy. I have only known misfortune great dog, who kept watch at night, you will by wandering from virtue." have a complete idea of the household, as well as of the revenue, of these two little farms.

At the time Madame de la Tour recovered, these two little territories had already begun to yield some produce, perhaps in a small degree owing to the care which I occasionally bestowed on their improvement, but far more to the indefatigable labors of the two slaves. Margaret's slave, who was called Domingo, was still healthy and robust, although advanced in years; he possessed some knowledge and a good natural understanding. He cultivated indiscriminately, on both settlements, such spots of ground as seemed to him most fertile, and sowed whatever grain he thought most congenial to each particular soil. Where the ground was poor he strewed maize; where it was most fruitful he planted wheat; and rice in such spots as were marshy. He threw the seeds of gourds and cucumbers at the foot of the rocks, which they loved to climb and decorate with their luxuriant foliage. In dry spots he cultivated the sweet potato; the cotton-tree flourished upon the heights, and the sugar-cane grew in the clayey soil. He reared some plants of coffee on the hills, where the grain, although small, is excellent. His plantain-trees, which spread their grateful shade on the banks of the river and encircled the cottage, yielded fruit throughout the year. And, lastly, Domingo cultivated a few plants of tobacco, to charm away his own cares. Sometimes he was employed in cutting wood for firing from the mountain, sometimes in hewing pieces of rock within the enclosure, in order to level the paths. He performed all these labors with intelligence and activity because he worked with zeal. He was much attached to Margaret, and not less to Madame de la Tour, whose negro woman, Mary, he had married at the time of Virginia's birth; and he was passionately fond of his wife. Mary was born at Madagascar, from whence she had brought a few arts of industry. She could weave baskets, and a sort of stuff, with long grass that grows in the woods. She was active, cleanly, and, above all, faithful. It was her care to prepare their meals, to

Madame de la Tour and her friend were employed from morning till evening in spinning cotton for the use of their families. Destitute of all those things which their own industry could not supply, at home they went barefoot; shoes were a convenience reserved for Sunday, when, at an early hour, they attended mass at the church of the Shaddock Grove, which you see yonder. The church was farther away than Port Louis; yet they seldom visited the town, lest they should be treated with contempt because they were dressed in the coarse blue linen of Bengal, which is usually worn by slaves. After all, is the world's esteem worth as much as domestic happiness? If they had something to suffer when away, they reentered their homes with all the more pleasure. No sooner did Mary and Domingo perceive them from this height, on the road of the Shaddock Grove, than they flew to the foot of the mountain, in order to help them to ascend. They discerned in the looks of their domestics the joy which their return excited. They found in their retreat neatness, independence, all the blessings which are the recompense of toil, and they received those services which spring from affection. United by the ties of similar wants and the sympathy of similar misfortunes, they gave each other the tender names of companion, friend, sister. They had but one will, one interest, one table. All their possessions were in common. And if sometimes a passion more ardent than friendship awakened in their hearts the pang of unavailing anguish, a pure religion, united with chaste manners, drew their affections toward another life as the trembling flame rises toward heaven, when it no longer finds any aliment on earth.

The tender and sacred duties which Nature imposed became a source of additional happiness to those affectionate mothers, whose mutual friendship acquired new strength at

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