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