第 13 节
作者:天马行空      更新:2021-02-20 05:38      字数:9322
  ng; I love better than all  the world besides … my mother。  From the opposite end of the table;  my wife; who has been all in all to me; when the days were very  dark; looks to…night into my eyes … while we have both grown a bit  older … with undiminished and undiminishing affection。
  〃Childless; yet on either side of me sits that good woman; my  daughter; and the stalwart man; my son; and both have been and are  more than son and daughter to me; and have brought into my life  mirth and beauty。  Nor is this all。  There sits the bright boy dear  to my heart; full of the flow and the spirits of boyhood; so that I  can even know that for a time at least we have still the voice of a  child in the house。〃
  Mr A。 W。 Mackay gives an account of the funeral and a description  of the burial…place; ending:
  〃Tofa Tusitala!  Sleep peacefully! on thy mountain…top; alone in  Nature's sanctity; where the wooddove's note; the moaning of the  waves as they break unceasingly on the distant reef; and the  sighing of the winds in the distant tavai trees chant their  requiem。〃
  The Rev。 Mr Clarke tells of the constant and active interest Mr  Stevenson took in the missionaries and their work; often aiding  them by his advice and fine insight into the character of the  natives; and a translation follows of a dirge by one of the chiefs;  so fine that we must give it:
  I。
  〃Listen; O this world; as I tell of the disaster That befell in the late afternoon; That broke like a wave of the sea Suddenly and swiftly; blinding our eyes。 Alas for Loia who speaks tears in his voice!
  REFRAIN … Groan and weep; O my heart; in its sorrow。 Alas for Tusitala; who rests in the forest! Aimlessly we wait; and sorrowing。  Will he again return? Lament; O Vailima; waiting and ever waiting! Let us search and inquire of the captain of ships; 'Be not angry; but has not Tusitala come?'
  II。
  〃Teuila; sorrowing one; come thou hither! Prepare me a letter; and I will carry it。 Let her Majesty Victoria be told That Tusitala; the loving one; has been taken hence。
  REFRAIN … Groan and weep; O my heart; etc。; etc。
  III。
  〃Alas! my heart weeps with anxious grief As I think of the days before us: Of the white men gathering for the Christmas assembly! Alas for Aolele! left in her loneliness; And the men of Vailima; who weep together Their leader … their leader being taken。
  REFRAIN … Groan and weep; O my heart; etc。; etc。
  IV。
  〃Alas! O my heart! it weeps unceasingly When I think of his illness Coming upon him with fatal swiftness。 Would that it waited a glance or a word from him; Or some token; some token from us of our love。
  REFRAIN … Groan and weep; O my heart; etc。; etc。
  V。
  〃Grieve; O my heart!  I cannot bear to look on All the chiefs who are there now assembling: Alas; Tusitala! Thou art not here! I look hither and thither in vain for thee。
  REFRAIN … Groan and weep; O my heart; etc。; etc。〃
  And the little booklet closes with Mr Stevenson's own lines:
  〃REQUIEM。
  Under the wide and starry sky; Dig the grave and let me lie; Glad did I live and gladly die; And I laid me down with a will。 This be the verse you grave for me: 'Here he lies where he longed to be; Home is the sailor; home from sea; And the hunter home from the hill。'〃
  Every touch tells here was a man; with heart and head; with soul  and mind intent on the loftiest things; simple; great;
  〃Like one of the simple great ones gone For ever and ever by。
  His character towered after all far above his books; great and  beautiful though they were。  Ready for friendship; from all  meanness free。  So; too; the Samoans felt。  This; surely; was what  Goethe meant when he wrote:
  〃The clear head and stout heart; However far they roam; Yet in every truth have part; Are everywhere at home。〃
  His manliness; his width of sympathy; his practicality; his range  of interests were in nothing more seen than in his contributions to  the history of Samoa; as specially exhibited in A FOOTNOTE TO  HISTORY and his letters to the TIMES。  He was; on this side; in no  sense a dreamer; but a man of acute observation and quick eye for  passing events and the characters that were in them with sympathy  equal to his discernments。  His portraits of certain Germans and  others in these writings; and his power of tracing effects to  remote and underlying causes; show sufficiently what he might have  done in the field of history; had not higher voices called him。   His adaptation to the life in Samoa; and his assumption of the  semi…patriarchal character in his own sphere there; were only  tokens of the presence of the same traits as have just been dwelt  on。
  CHAPTER XI … MISS STUBBS' RECORD OF A PILGRIMAGE
  MRS STRONG; in her chapter of TABLE TALK IN MEMORIES OF VAILIMA;  tells a story of the natives' love for Stevenson。  〃The other day  the cook was away;〃 she writes; 〃and Louis; who was busy writing;  took his meals in his room。  Knowing there was no one to cook his  lunch; he told Sosimo to bring him some bread and cheese。  To his  surprise he was served with an excellent meal … an omelette; a good  salad; and perfect coffee。  'Who cooked this?' asked Louis in  Samoan。  'I did;' said Sosimo。  'Well;' said Louis; 'great is your  wisdom。'  Sosimo bowed and corrected him … 'Great is my love!'〃
  Miss Stubbs; in her STEVENSON'S SHRINE; THE RECORD OF A PILGRIMAGE;  illustrates the same devotion。  On the top of Mount Vaea; she  writes; is the massive sarcophagus; 〃not an ideal structure by any  means; not even beautiful; and yet in its massive ruggedness it  somehow suited the man and the place。〃
  〃The wind sighed softly in the branches of the 'Tavau' trees; from  out the green recesses of the 'Toi' came the plaintive coo of the  wood…pigeon。  In and out of the branches of the magnificent 'Fau'  tree; which overhangs the grave; a king…fisher; sea…blue;  iridescent; flitted to and fro; whilst a scarlet hibiscus; in full  flower; showed up royally against the gray lichened cement。  All  around was light and life and colour; and I said to myself; 'He is  made one with nature'; he is now; body and soul and spirit;  commingled with the loveliness around。  He who longed in life to  scale the height; he who attained his wish only in death; has  become in himself a parable of fulfilment。  No need now for that  heart…sick cry:…
  〃'Sing me a song of a lad that is gone; Say; could that lad be I?'
  No need now for the despairing finality of:
  〃'I have trod the upward and the downward slope; I have endured and done in the days of yore; I have longed for all; and bid farewell to hope; And I have lived; and loved; and closed the door。'
  〃Death has set his seal of peace on the unequal conflict of mind  and matter; the All…Mother has gathered him to herself。
  〃In years to come; when his grave is perchance forgotten; a rugged  ruin; home of the lizard and the bat; Tusitala … the story…teller …  'the man with a heart of gold' (as I so often heard him designated  in the Islands); will live; when it may be his tales have ceased to  interest; in the tender remembrance of those whose lives he  beautified; and whose hearts he warmed into gratitude。〃
  The chiefs have prohibited the use of firearms or other weapons on  Mount Vaea; 〃in order that the birds may live there undisturbed and  unafraid; and build their nests in the trees around Tusitala's  grave。〃
  Miss Stubbs has many records of the impression produced on those he  came in contact with in Samoa … white men and women as well as  natives。  She met a certain Austrian Count; who adored Stevenson's  memory。  Over his camp bed was a framed photograph of R。 L。  Stevenson。
  〃So;〃 he said; 〃I keep him there; for he was my saviour; and I wish  'good…night' and 'good…morning;' every day; both to himself and to  his old home。〃  The Count then told us that when he was stopping at  Vailima he used to have his bath daily on the verandah below his  room。  One lovely morning he got up very early; got into the bath;  and splashed and sang; feeling very well and very happy; and at  last beginning to sing very loudly; he forgot Mr Stevenson  altogether。  All at once there was Stevenson himself; his hair all  ruffled up; his eyes full of anger。  〃Man;〃 he said; 〃you and your  infernal row have cost me more than two hundred pounds in ideas;〃  and with that he was gone; but he did not address the Count again  the whole of that day。  Next morning he had forgotten the Count's  offence and was just as friendly as ever; but … the noise was never  repeated!
  Another of the Count's stories greatly amused the visitors:
  〃An English lord came all the way to Samoa in his yacht to see Mr  Stevenson; and found him in his cool Kimino sitting with the  ladies; and drinking tea on his verandah; the whole party had their  feet bare。  The English lord thought that he must have called at  the wrong time; and offered to go away; but Mr Stevenson called out  to him; and brought him back; and made him stay to dinner。  They  all went away to dress; and the guest was left sitting alone in the  verandah。  Soon they came back; Mr Osbourne and Mr Stevenson  wearing the form of dress most usual in that hot climate a white  mess jacket; and white trousers; but