It was
interrupted
by Doctor Tusher, the clergyman, who was
just walking out of the dinner-room.
just walking out of the dinner-room.
The Literary World - Seventh Reader
.
and in the clearings the women and children!
It came to an end, as all things earthly will. When the ruffled pools
amid the marshes were rosy red beneath the sunrise, the women brought us
food, and the warriors and old men gathered about us. I offered them
bread and meat and told them that they must come to Jamestown to taste
the white man's cookery.
Scarcely was the meal over when Opechancanough issued from his lodge,
and, coming slowly up to us, took his seat upon the white mat that was
spread for him. Through his scalp lock was stuck an eagle's feather;
across his face, from temple to chin, was a bar of red paint; the eyes
above were very bright and watchful.
One of his young men brought a great pipe, carved and painted, stem and
bowl; it was filled with tobacco, lit, and borne to the emperor. He put
it to his lips and smoked in silence, while the sun climbed higher and
higher and the golden minutes that were more precious than heart's blood
went by swiftly.
At last, his part in the solemn mockery played, he held out the pipe to
me.
"The sky will fall, and the rivers will run dry, and the birds cease to
sing," he said, "before the smoke of this peace-pipe fades from the
land. "
I took the symbol of peace and smoked it as silently and soberly as he
had done before me, then laid it leisurely aside and held out my hand.
"Come to Jamestown," I said, "to smoke of the Englishman's pipe and
receive rich presents--a red robe like your brother Powhatan, and a cup
from which you shall drink, you and all your people. "
But the cup I meant was that of punishment.
The savage laid his dark fingers in mine for an instant, withdrew them,
and, rising to his feet, motioned to three Indians who stood out from
the throng of warriors.
"These are Captain Percy's guides and friends," he announced. "The sun
is high; it is time that he was gone. Here are presents for him and my
brother the governor. " As he spoke, he took from his neck the rope of
pearls and from his arm a copper bracelet, and laid both upon my palm.
"Thank you, Opechancanough," I said briefly. "When we meet again I will
not greet you with empty thanks. "
We bade farewell to the noisy throng and went down to the river, where
we found a canoe and rowers, crossed the stream, and entered the forest,
which stretched black and forbidding before us--the blacker that we now
knew the dreadful secret it guarded.
II
After leaving the Indian village, Captain Percy and Diccon found
that their guides purposely delayed the march, so that they would
not reach Jamestown until just before the beginning of the attack,
when it would be too late for them to warn the English, if they
suspected anything. Percy and Diccon, in this dilemma, surprised
the Indian guides and killed them, then hurried on with all
possible speed toward Jamestown. As they hastened through the
forest, Diccon was shot by an Indian and mortally wounded; Captain
Percy remained with him until his death, and again took up the
journey, now alone and greatly fearing that he would arrive too
late.
The dusk had quite fallen when I reached the neck of land. Arriving at
the palisade that protected Jamestown, I beat upon the gate and called
to the warden to open. He did so with starting eyes. Giving him a few
words and cautioning him to raise no alarm in the town, I hurried by him
into the street and down it toward the house that was set aside for the
governor of Virginia, Sir Francis Wyatt.
The governor's door was open, and in the hall servingmen were moving to
and fro. When I came in upon them, they cried out as if it had been a
ghost, and one fellow let a silver dish fall to the floor with a
clatter. They shook with fright and stood back as I passed them without
a word and went on to the governor's great room. The door was ajar, and
I pushed it open and stood for a minute on the threshold. They were all
there--the principal men of the colony, the governor, the [v]treasurer,
[v]West, [v]John Rolfe.
At sight of me the governor sprang to his feet; through the treasurer's
lips came a long, sighing breath; West's dark face was ashen. I came
forward to the table, and leaned my weight upon it; for all the waves of
the sea were roaring in my ears and the lights were going up and down.
"Are you man or spirit! " cried Rolfe through white lips. "Are you Ralph
Percy? "
"Yes," I said, "I am Percy. "
With an effort I drew myself erect, and standing so, told my tidings,
quietly and with circumstance, so as to leave no room for doubt as to
their verity, or as to the sanity of him who brought them. They listened
with shaking limbs and gasping breath; for it was the fall and wiping
out of a people of which I brought warning.
When all was told I thought to ask a question myself; but before my
tongue could frame it, the roaring of the sea became so loud that I
could hear naught else, and the lights all ran together into a wheel of
fire. Then in a moment all sounds ceased and to the lights succeeded the
blackness of outer darkness.
When I awoke from the sleep into which I must have passed from that
swoon, it was to find myself lying in a room flooded with sunshine. For
a moment I lay still, wondering where I was and how I came there. A drum
beat, a dog barked, and a man's quick voice gave a command. The sounds
stung me into remembrance.
There were many people in the street. Women hurried by to the fort with
white, scared faces, their arms filled with household gear; children ran
beside them; men went to and fro, the most grimly silent, but a few
talking loudly.
I could not see the palisade across the neck, but I knew that it was
there that the fight--if fight there were--would be made. Should the
Indians take the palisade, there would yet be the houses of the town,
and, last of all, the fort in which to make a stand. I believed not that
they would take it, for Indian warfare ran more to ambuscade and
surprise than to assault in the open field.
The drum beat again, and a messenger from the palisade came down the
street at a run.
"They're in the woods over against us, thicker than ants! " he cried to
West, who was coming along the way. "A boat has just drifted ashore,
with two men in it, dead and scalped! "
I looked again at the neck of land and the forest beyond, and now, as if
by magic, from the forest and up and down the river as far as the eye
could reach, rose here and there thin columns of smoke. Suddenly, as I
stared, three or four white smoke puffs, like giant flowers, started out
of the shadowy woods across the neck. Following the crack of the
muskets--fired out of pure bravado by the Indians--came the yelling of
the savages. The sound was prolonged and deep, as though issuing from
many throats.
The street, when I went out into it, was very quiet. All windows and
doors were closed and barred. The yelling from the forest had ceased for
the moment, but I knew well that it would soon begin with doubled noise.
I hurried along the street to the palisade, where all the men of
Jamestown were gathered, armed and helmeted and breast-plated, waiting
for the foe in grim silence.
Through a loophole in the gate of the palisade I looked and saw the
sandy neck joining the town to the mainland, and the deep and dark woods
beyond, the fairy mantle giving invisibility to the foe. I drew back
from my loophole and held out my hand to a woman for a loaded musket. A
quick murmur like the drawing of a breath came from our line. The
governor, standing near me, cast an anxious glance along the stretch of
wooden stakes that were neither so high nor so thick as they should have
been.
"I am new to this warfare, Captain Percy," he said. "Do they think to
use those logs they carry as battering rams? "
"As scaling ladders, your honor," I replied. "It is possible that we may
have some sword play after all. "
"We'll take your advice the next time we build a palisade, Ralph Percy,"
muttered West on my other side. Mounting the breastwork that we had
thrown up to shelter the women who were to load the muskets, he coolly
looked over the pales at the oncoming savages.
"Wait until they pass the blasted pine, men! " he cried. "Then give them
a hail of lead that will beat them back to the Pamunkey. "
An arrow whistled by his ear; a second struck him on the shoulder but
pierced not his coat of mail. He came down from his dangerous post with
a laugh.
"If the leader could be picked off"--I said. "It's a long shot, but
there's no harm in trying. "
As I spoke I raised my gun to my shoulder, but West leaned across Rolfe,
who stood between us, and plucked me by the sleeve.
"You've not looked at him closely," he said. "Look again. "
I did as he told me, and lowered my musket. It was not for me to send
that Indian leader to his account. Rolfe's lips tightened and a sudden
pallor overspread his face. "Nantaquas? " he muttered in my ear, and I
nodded yes.
The volley that we fired full into the ranks of our foe was deadly, and
we looked to see them turn and flee, as they had fled so often before at
a hot volley. But this time they were led by one who had been trained in
English steadfastness. Broken for the moment by our fire, they rallied
and came on yelling, bearing logs, thick branches of trees, oars tied
together--anything by whose help they could hope to surmount the
palisade. We fired again, but they had planted their ladders. Before we
could snatch the loaded muskets from the women a dozen painted figures
appeared above the sharpened stakes. A moment, and they and a score
behind them had leaped down upon us.
It was no time now to skulk behind a palisade. At all hazards, that tide
from the forest must be stemmed. Those that were among us we might kill,
but more were swarming after them, and from the neck came the exultant
yelling of madly hurrying reinforcements.
We flung open the gates. I drove my sword through the heart of an Indian
who would have opposed me, and, calling for my men to follow, sprang
forward. Perhaps thirty came at my call; together we made for the
opening. A party of the savages in our midst interposed. We set upon
them with sword and musket butt, and though they fought like very devils
drove them before us through the gateway. Behind us were wild clamor,
the shrieking of women, the stern shouts of the English, the whooping of
the savages; before us a rush that must be met and turned.
It was done. A moment's fierce fighting, then the Indians wavered,
broke, and fled. Like sheep we drove them before us, across the neck, to
the edge of the forest, into which they plunged. Into that ambush we
cared not to follow, but fell back to the palisade and the town,
believing, and with reason, that the lesson had been taught. The strip
of sand was strewn with the dead and the dying, but they belonged not to
us. Our dead numbered but three, and we bore their bodies with us.
Within the palisade we found the English in sufficiently good case. Of
the score or more Indians cut off by us from their mates and penned
within that death trap, half at least were already dead, run through
with sword and pike, shot down with the muskets that there was now time
to load. The remainder, hemmed about, pressed against the wall, were
fast meeting with a like fate. They stood no chance against us; we cared
not to make prisoners of them; it was a slaughter, but they had taken
the [v]initiative. They fought with the courage of despair, striving to
spring in upon us, and striking when they could with hatchet and knife.
They were brave men that we slew that day.
At last there was left but the leader--unharmed, unwounded, though time
and again he had striven to close with some one of us, to strike and to
die striking with his fellows. Behind him was the wall; of the half
circle which he faced, well-nigh all were old soldiers and servants of
the colony. We were swordsmen all. When in his desperation he would have
thrown himself upon us, we contented ourselves with keeping him at
sword's length, and at last West sent the knife in the dark hand
whirling over the palisade. Some one had shouted to the musketeers to
spare him.
When he saw that he stood alone, he stepped back against the wall, drew
himself up to his full height, and folded his arms. Perhaps he thought
that we would shoot him down then and there; perhaps he saw himself a
captive amongst us, a show for the idle and for the strangers that the
ships brought in.
The din had ceased, and we the living, the victors, stood and looked at
the vanquished dead at our feet, and at the dead beyond the gates, and
at the neck upon which was no living foe, and at the blue sky bending
over all. Our hearts told us, and truly, that the lesson had been
taught, and that no more forever need we at Jamestown fear an Indian
attack. And then we looked at him whose life we had spared.
He opposed our gaze with his folded arms and his head held high and his
back against the wall. Slowly, as one man and with no spoken word, we
fell back, the half circle straightening into a line, and leaving a
clear pathway to the open gates. The wind had ceased to blow, and a
sunny stillness lay upon the sand and the rough-hewn wooden stakes and a
little patch of tender grass. The church bell began to ring.
The Indian out of whose path to life and freedom we had stepped glanced
from the line of lowered steel to the open gates and the forest beyond,
and understood. For a full minute he waited, not moving a muscle, still
and stately as some noble masterpiece in bronze. Then he stepped from
the shadow of the wall and moved past us, with his eyes fixed on the
forest; there was no change in the superb calm of his face. He went by
the huddled dead and the long line of the living that spoke no word, and
out of the gates and across the neck, walking slowly, that we might yet
shoot him down if we saw fit to repent ourselves. He reached the shadow
of the trees: a moment, and the forest had back her own.
We sheathed our swords and listened to the governor's few earnest words
of thankfulness and recognition; and then we set to work to search for
ways to reach and aid those who might be yet alive in the plantations
above and below us.
Presently there came a great noise from the watchers on the river-bank,
and a cry that boats were coming down the stream. It was so, and there
were in them white men, nearly all of whom had wounds to show, and
cowering women and children--all that were left of the people for miles
along the James.
Then began that strange procession that lasted throughout the afternoon
and night and into the next day, when a sloop dropped down from
[v]Henricus with the news that the English were in force there to stand
their ground, although their loss had been heavy. Hour after hour they
came as fast as sail and oar could bring them, the panic-stricken folk,
whose homes were burned, whose kindred were slain, who had themselves
escaped as by a miracle. Each boatload had the same tale to tell of
treachery, surprise, and fiendish butchery.
Before the dawning we had heard from all save the remoter settlements.
The blow had been struck and the hurt was deep. But it was not beyond
remedy, thank God! We took stern measures for our protection, and the
wound to the colony was soon healed; vengeance was meted out to those
who had set upon us in the dark and had failed to reach the heart. The
colony of Virginia had passed through its greatest trial and had
survived--for what greater ends, under Providence, I knew not.
MARY JOHNSTON.
=HELPS TO STUDY=
I. Describe the situation in which Percy and Diccon found
themselves. What preparations did the Indians make for the death of
the two men? How were they interrupted? Tell what happened after
the appearance of Nantaquas? How were the five days spent? How did
Nantaquas come to the rescue of the white men a second time? What
did Opechancanough do to try to deepen the impression of
friendship?
II. What happened on the way to Jamestown? Describe the scene when
Percy entered the governor's house. Give an account of the fight at
the palisade. Why was Nantaquas spared? What was the result of the
Indian attack? Give your opinion of Nantaquas. Of what Indian in
_The Last of the Mohicans_ does he remind you? Of whom does
Opechancanough remind you?
Find out all you can of life in Virginia at the time this story was
written. Compare the life there with the life in Plymouth colony.
SUPPLEMENTARY READING
Prisoners of Hope--Mary Johnston.
My Lady Pokahontas--John Esten Cooke.
The Wept of Wish-ton-wish--J. Fenimore Cooper.
Hiawatha--Henry W. Longfellow.
Old Virginia and Her Neighbors--John Fiske.
HARRY ESMOND'S BOYHOOD
_Henry Esmond_, by William Makepeace Thackeray, is considered one
of the greatest, if not the greatest, of historical novels. It
describes life in England during the first years of the eighteenth
century, dealing chiefly with people of wealth and high position.
"Harry Esmond's Boyhood" narrates the early career of the hero, who
was a poor orphan and an inmate of the family of his kinsman, the
Viscount of Castlewood.
Harry Esmond had lived to be past fourteen years old; had never
possessed but two friends, and had a fond and affectionate heart that
would fain attach itself to somebody, and did not seem at rest until it
had found a friend who would take charge of it.
At last he found such a friend in his new mistress, the lady of
Castlewood. The instinct which led Harry Esmond to admire and love the
gracious person, the fair apparition whose beauty and kindness had so
moved him when he first beheld her, became soon a devoted affection and
passion of gratitude, which entirely filled his young heart that as yet
had had very little kindness for which to be thankful.
There seemed, as the boy thought, in every look or gesture of this fair
creature, an angelical softness and bright pity--in motion or repose she
seemed gracious alike; the tone of her voice, though she uttered words
ever so trivial, gave him a pleasure that amounted almost to anguish. It
cannot be called love, that a lad of fourteen years of age felt for an
exalted lady, his mistress, but it was worship. To catch her glance; to
divine her errand, and run on it before she had spoken it; to watch,
follow, adore her, became the business of his life. Meanwhile, as is the
way often, his idol had idols of her own, and never thought of or
suspected the admiration of her little adorer.
My Lady had on her side three idols: first and foremost, [v]Jove and
supreme ruler, was her lord, Harry's patron, the good [v]Viscount of
Castlewood. All wishes of his were laws with her. If he had a headache,
she was ill. If he frowned, she trembled. If he joked, she smiled and
was charmed. If he went a-hunting, she was always at the window to see
him ride away. She made dishes for his dinner; spiced his wine for him;
hushed the house when he slept in his chair, and watched for a look when
he woke. Her eyes were never tired of looking at his face and wondering
at its perfection. Her little son was his son, and had his father's look
and curly brown hair. Her daughter Beatrix was his daughter, and had his
eyes--were there ever such beautiful eyes in the world? All the house
was arranged so as to bring him ease and give him pleasure.
Harry Esmond was happy in this pleasant home. The happiest period of all
his life was this; and the young mother, with her daughter and son, and
the orphan lad whom she protected, read and worked and played, and were
children together. If the lady looked forward--as what fond woman does
not? --toward the future, she had no plans from which Harry Esmond was
left out; and a thousand and a thousand times, in his passionate and
impetuous way, he vowed that no power should separate him from his
mistress; and only asked for some chance to happen by which he might
show his [v]fidelity to her.
The second fight which Harry Esmond had was at fourteen years of age,
with Bryan Hawkshaw, Sir John Hawkshaw's son, who, advancing the opinion
that Lady Castlewood henpecked my Lord, put Harry in so great a fury
that Harry fell on him and with such rage that the other boy, who was
two years older and far bigger than he, had by far the worst of the
assault.
It was interrupted by Doctor Tusher, the clergyman, who was
just walking out of the dinner-room.
Bryan Hawkshaw got up bleeding at the nose, having indeed been
surprised, as many a stronger man might have been, by the fury of the
attack on him.
"You little beggar," he said, "I'll murder you for this. "
And indeed he was big enough.
"Beggar or not," said Harry, grinding his teeth, "I have a couple of
swords, and if you like to meet me, as man to man, on the terrace
to-night--"
And here, the doctor coming up, the [v]colloquy of the young champions
ended. Very likely, big as he was, Hawkshaw did not care to continue a
fight with such a ferocious opponent as this had been.
One day, some time later, Doctor Tusher ran into Castlewood House, with
a face of consternation, saying that smallpox had made its appearance at
the blacksmith's house in the village, which was also an alehouse, and
that one of the maids there was down with it.
Now, there was a pretty girl at this inn, called Nancy Sievewright, a
bouncing, fresh-looking lass, whose face was as red as the hollyhocks
over the pales of the garden behind the inn. Somehow it often happened
that Harry Esmond fell in with Nance Sievewright's bonny face. When
Doctor Tusher brought the news that the smallpox was at the
blacksmith's, Harry Esmond's first thought was of alarm for poor Nancy,
and then of shame and disquiet for the Castlewood family, lest he might
have brought this infection; for the truth is that Mr. Harry had been
sitting in a back room for an hour that day, where Nancy Sievewright was
with a little brother who complained of headache, and was lying crying
in a chair by the corner of the fire or in Nancy's lap.
Little Beatrix screamed at the news; and my Lord cried out, "God bless
me! " He was a brave man, and not afraid of death in any shape but this.
"We will take the children and ride away to Walcote," he said.
To love children and be gentle with them was an instinct rather than
merit in Harry Esmond; so much so that he thought almost with a feeling
of shame of his liking for them and of the softness into which it
betrayed him. On this day the poor fellow had not only had his young
friend, the milkmaid's brother, on his knee, but had been drawing
pictures and telling stories to the little Frank Castlewood, who was
never tired of Harry's tales and of his pictures of soldiers and horses.
As luck would have it, Beatrix had not on that evening taken her usual
place, which generally she was glad enough to have, on Harry's knee. For
Beatrix, from the earliest time, was jealous of every caress which was
given her little brother Frank. She would fling away even from the
[v]maternal arms, if she saw Frank had been there before her; insomuch
that Lady Esmond was obliged not to show her love for her son in
presence of the little girl, and embrace one or the other alone. Beatrix
would turn pale and red with rage if she caught signs of intelligence or
affection between Frank and his mother; would sit apart and not speak
for a whole night if she thought the boy had a better fruit or a larger
cake than hers; would fling away a ribbon if he had one, and would utter
[v]infantile sarcasms about the favor shown her brother.
So it chanced upon this very day, when poor Harry Esmond had had the
blacksmith's son and the [v]peer's son, alike upon his knee, little
Beatrix, who would come to him willingly enough with her book and
writing, had refused him, seeing the place occupied by her brother.
Luckily for her, she had sat at the farther end of the room, away from
him, playing with a spaniel dog which she had, and talking to Harry
Esmond over her shoulder, as she pretended to caress the dog, saying
that Fido would love her, and she would love Fido and nothing but Fido
all her life.
When, then, the news was brought that the little boy at the blacksmith's
was ill with the smallpox, poor Harry Esmond felt a shock of alarm, not
so much for himself as for his mistress's son, whom he might have
brought into peril. Beatrix, who had pouted sufficiently, her little
brother being now gone to bed, was for taking her place on Esmond's
knee. But as she advanced toward him, he started back and placed the
great chair on which he was sitting between him and her--saying in the
French language to Lady Castlewood, "Madam, the child must not approach
me. I must tell you that I was at the blacksmith's to-day and had his
little boy on my lap. "
"Where you took my son afterward," Lady Castlewood said, very angry and
turning red. "I thank you, sir, for giving him such company. Beatrix,"
she said in English, "I forbid you to touch Harry Esmond. Come away,
child; come to your room. And you, sir, had you not better go back to
the alehouse? "
Her eyes, ordinarily so kind, darted flashes of anger as she spoke; and
she tossed up her head (which hung down commonly) with the [v]mien of a
princess.
"Heyday! " said my Lord, who was standing by the fireplace, "Rachel, what
are you in a passion about? Though it does you good to get in a
passion--you look very handsome! "
"It is, my Lord, because Mr. Harry Esmond, having nothing to do with his
time here, and not having a taste for our company, has been to the
blacksmith's alehouse, where he has some friends. "
My Lord burst out with a laugh.
"Take Mistress Beatrix to bed," my Lady cried at this moment to her
woman, who came in with her Ladyship's tea. "Put her into my room--no,
into yours," she added quickly. "Go, my child: go, I say; not a word. "
And Beatrix, quite surprised at so sudden a tone of authority from one
who was seldom accustomed to raise her voice, went out of the room with
a scared face and waited even to burst out crying until she got
upstairs.
For once, her mother took little heed of her. "My Lord," she said, "this
young man--your relative--told me just now in French--he was ashamed to
speak in his own language--that he had been at the blacksmith's all day,
where he has had that little wretch who is now ill of the smallpox on
his knee. And he comes home reeking from that place--yes, reeking from
it--and takes my boy into his lap without shame, and sits down by me. He
may have killed Frank for what I know--killed our child! Why was he
brought in to disgrace our house? Why is he here? Let him go--let him
go, I say, and [v]pollute the place no more! "
She had never before uttered a syllable of unkindness to Harry Esmond,
and her cruel words smote the poor boy so that he stood for some moments
bewildered with grief and rage at the injustice of such a stab from such
a hand. He turned quite white from red, which he had been before.
"If my coming nigh your boy pollutes him," he said, "it was not so
always. Good-night, my Lord. Heaven bless you and yours for your
goodness to me. I have tired her Ladyship's kindness out, and I will
go. "
"He wants to go to the alehouse--let him go! " cried my Lady.
"I'll be hanged if he shall," said my Lord. "I didn't think you could be
so cruel, Rachel! "
Her reply was to burst into a flood of tears, and to quit the room with
a rapid glance at Harry Esmond, as my Lord put his broad hand on Harry's
shoulder.
In a little while my Lady came back, looking very pale, with a
handkerchief in her hand. Instantly advancing to Harry Esmond, she took
his hand. "I beg your pardon, Harry," she said. "I spoke very
unkindly. "
My Lord broke out: "There may be no harm done. Leave the boy alone. " She
looked a little red, and pressed the lad's hand as she dropped it.
"There is no use, my Lord," she said. "Frank was on his knee as he was
making pictures and was running constantly from Harry to me. The evil is
done, if any. "
"Not with me," cried my Lord. "I've been smoking. " And he lighted his
pipe again with a coal. "As the disease is in the village--plague take
it! --I would have you leave it. We'll go to-morrow to Walcote. "
"I have no fear," said my Lady. "I may have had it as an infant. "
"I won't run the risk," said my Lord. "I'm as bold as any man, but I'll
not bear that. "
"Take Beatrix with you and go," said my Lady. "For us the mischief is
done. "
My Lord, calling away Doctor Tusher, bade him come in the oak parlor and
have a pipe.
When the lady and the boy were alone, there was a silence of some
moments, during which he stood looking at the fire whilst her Ladyship
busied herself with the [v]tambour frame and needles.
"I am sorry," she said, after a pause, in a hard, dry voice--"I repeat I
am sorry that I said what I said. It was not at all my wish that you
should leave us, I am sure, unless you found pleasure elsewhere. But you
must see that, at your age, and with your tastes, it is impossible that
you can continue to stay upon the intimate footing in which you have
been in this family. You have wished to go to college, and I think 'tis
quite as well that you should be sent thither. I did not press the
matter, thinking you a child, as you are indeed in years--quite a child.
But now I shall beg my Lord to despatch you as quick as possible; and
will go on with Frank's learning as well as I can. And--and I wish you a
good night, Harry. "
With this she dropped a stately curtsy, and, taking her candle, went
away through the tapestry door, which led to her apartments. Esmond
stood by the fireplace, blankly staring after her. Indeed, he scarce
seemed to see until she was gone, and then her image was impressed upon
him and remained forever fixed upon his memory. He saw her retreating,
the taper lighting up her marble face, her scarlet lip quivering, and
her shining golden hair. He went to his own room and to bed, but could
not get to sleep until daylight, and woke with a violent headache.
He had brought the contagion with him from the alehouse, sure enough,
and was presently laid up with the smallpox, which spared the hall no
more than it did the cottage.
When Harry Esmond had passed through the [v]crisis of the [v]malady and
returned to health again, he found that little Frank Esmond had also
suffered and rallied from the disease, and that his mother was down
with it. Nor could young Esmond agree in Doctor Tusher's [v]vehement
protestations to my Lady, when he visited her during her
[v]convalescence, that the malady had not in the least impaired her
charms; whereas, in spite of these fine speeches, Harry thought that her
Ladyship's beauty was very much injured by the smallpox. The delicacy of
her rosy complexion was gone; her eyes had lost their brilliancy, her
hair fell, and she looked older. When Tusher in his courtly way vowed
and protested that my Lady's face was none the worse, the lad broke out
and said, "It is worse, and my mistress is not near so handsome as she
was. " On this poor Lady Castlewood gave a [v]rueful smile and a look
into a little mirror she had, which showed her, I suppose, that what the
stupid boy said was only too true, for she turned away from the glass
and her eyes filled with tears.
The sight of these always created a sort of rage of pity in Esmond's
heart, and seeing them on the face of the lady whom he loved best, the
young blunderer sank down on his knees and besought her to pardon him,
saying that he was a fool and an idiot. Doctor Tusher told him that he
was a bear, and a bear he would remain, at which speech poor Harry was
so dumb-stricken that he did not even growl.
"He is my bear, and I will not have him baited, doctor," said my Lady,
putting her hand kindly on the boy's head, as he was still kneeling at
her feet. "How your hair has come off! And mine, too! " she added with
another sigh.
"It is not for myself that I care," my Lady said to Harry, when the
parson had taken his leave; "but am I very much changed! Alas! I fear
'tis too true. "
"Madam, you have the dearest, and kindest, and sweetest face in the
world, I think," the lad said; and indeed he thought so.
For Harry Esmond his benefactress' sweet face had lost none of its
charms. It had always the kindest of looks and smiles for him--and
beauty of every sort. She would call him "Mr. Tutor," and she herself,
as well as the two children, went to school to him. Of the pupils the
two young people were but lazy scholars, and my Lord's son only learned
what he liked, which was but little. Mistress Beatrix chattered French
prettily, and sang sweetly, but this from her mother's teaching, not
Harry Esmond's. But if the children were careless, 'twas a wonder how
eagerly the mother learned from her young tutor--and taught him, too.
She saw the [v]latent beauties and hidden graces in books; and the
happiest hours of young Esmond's life were those passed in the company
of this kind mistress and her children.
These happy days were to end soon, however; and it was by Lady
Castlewood's own decree that they were brought to a conclusion. It
happened about Christmas-tide, Harry Esmond being now past sixteen
years of age. A messenger came from Winchester one day, bearer of the
news that my Lady's aunt was dead and had left her fortune of £2,000
among her six nieces. Many a time afterward Harry Esmond recalled the
flushed face and eager look wherewith, after this intelligence, his kind
lady regarded him. When my Lord heard of the news, he did not make any
long face. "The money will come very handy to furnish the music-room and
the [v]cellar," he said, "which is getting low, and buy your Ladyship a
coach and a couple of horses. Beatrix, you shall have a [v]spinet; and
Frank, you shall have a little horse from Hexton fair; and Harry, you
shall have five pounds to buy some books. " So spoke my Lord, who was
generous with his own, and indeed with other folks' money. "I wish your
aunt would die once a year, Rachel; we could spend your money, and all
your sisters', too. "
"I have but one aunt--and--and I have another use for the money," said
my Lady, turning red.
"Another use, my dear; and what do you know about money? " cried my Lord.
"I intend it for Harry Esmond to go to college. Cousin Harry," said my
Lady, "you mustn't stay any longer in this dull place, but make a name
for yourself. "
"Is Harry going away? You don't mean to say you will go away? " cried out
Beatrix and Frank at one breath.
"But he will come back, and this will always be his home," replied my
Lady, with blue eyes looking a celestial kindness; "and his scholars
will always love him, won't they? "
"Rachel, you're a good woman," said my Lord. "I wish you joy, my
kinsman," he continued, giving Harry Esmond a hearty slap on the
shoulder, "I won't balk your luck. Go to Cambridge, boy. "
When Harry Esmond went away for Cambridge, little Frank ran alongside
his horse as far as the bridge, and there Harry stopped for a moment and
looked back at the house where the best part of his life had been
passed. And Harry remembered, all his life after, how he saw his
mistress at the window looking out on him, the little Beatrix's chestnut
curls resting at her mother's side. Both waved a farewell to him, and
little Frank sobbed to leave him.
The village people had good-bye to say to him, too. All knew that Master
Harry was going to college, and most of them had a kind word and a look
of farewell. And with these things in mind, he rode out into the world.
WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY.
=HELPS TO STUDY=
Tell what you find out about the household in which Harry Esmond
lived. What impression do you get of each person? What trouble did
Harry bring upon the family? What change occurred in his life and
now?
SUPPLEMENTARY READING
The Virginians--William Makepeace Thackeray.
The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers--Steele and Addison.
THE FAMILY HOLDS ITS HEAD UP
The story is an extract from Oliver Goldsmith's famous novel, _The
Vicar of Wakefield_. In this book Goldsmith describes the fortunes
of the family of Doctor Primrose, a Church of England clergyman of
the middle of the eighteenth century. The novel is considered a
most faithful picture of English country life in that period.
The home I had come to as [v]vicar was in a little neighborhood
consisting of farmers who tilled their own grounds and were equal
strangers to [v]opulence and poverty. As they had almost all the
conveniences of life within themselves, they seldom visited towns or
cities in search of [v]superfluity. Remote from the polite, they still
retained the [v]primeval simplicity of manners; and, frugal by habit,
they scarce knew that temperance was a virtue. They wrought with
cheerfulness on days of labor, but observed festivals as intervals of
idleness and pleasure. They kept up the Christmas carol, sent love-knots
on Valentine morning, ate pancakes on [v]Shrovetide, showed their wit on
the first of April, and religiously cracked nuts on [v]Michaelmas-eve.
Being apprised of our approach, the whole neighborhood came out to meet
their minister, dressed in their finest clothes and preceded by a
[v]pipe and [v]tabor: a feast, also, was provided for our reception, at
which we sat cheerfully down, and what the conversation wanted in wit
was made up in laughter.
Our little habitation was situated at the foot of a sloping hill,
sheltered with a beautiful underwood behind, and a prattling river
before; on one side a meadow, on the other a green. My farm consisted of
about twenty acres of excellent land. Nothing could exceed the neatness
of my little enclosures, the elms and hedgerows appearing with
inexpressible beauty. My house consisted of but one story, and was
covered with [v]thatch, which gave it an air of great snugness; the
walls on the inside were nicely whitewashed, and my daughters undertook
to adorn them with pictures of their own designing. Though the same room
served us for parlor and kitchen, that only made it the warmer. Besides,
as it was kept with the utmost neatness,--the dishes, plates and coppers
being well scoured and all disposed in bright rows on the shelves--the
eye was agreeably relieved and did not want richer furniture. There were
three other apartments: one for my wife and me; another for our two
daughters within our own; and the third, with two beds, for the rest of
the children.
The little republic to which I gave laws was regulated in the following
manner: by sunrise we all assembled in our common apartment, the fire
being previously kindled by the servant. After we had saluted each other
with proper ceremony--for I always thought fit to keep up some
mechanical forms of good breeding, without which freedom ever destroys
friendship--we all bent in gratitude to that Being who gave us another
day. This duty performed, my son and I went to pursue our usual industry
abroad, while my wife and daughters employed themselves in providing
breakfast, which was always ready at a certain time. I allowed half an
hour for this meal, and an hour for dinner, which time was taken up in
innocent mirth between my wife and daughters, and in [v]philosophical
arguments between my son and me.
As we rose with the sun, so we never pursued our labors after it was
gone down, but returned home to the expecting family, where smiling
looks, a neat hearth, and a pleasant fire were prepared for our
reception. Nor were we without guests; sometimes Farmer Flamborough, our
talkative neighbor, and often a blind piper, would pay us a visit and
taste our gooseberry wine, for the making of which we had lost neither
the recipe nor the reputation. These harmless people had several ways of
being good company; while one played, the other would sing some soothing
ballad--"Johnny Armstrong's Last Good-Night," or "The Cruelty of Barbara
Allen. " The night was concluded in the manner we began the morning, my
youngest boys being appointed to read the lessons of the day; and he
that read loudest, distinctest and best was to have an halfpenny on
Sunday to put into the poor-box. This encouraged in them a wholesome
rivalry to do good.
When Sunday came, it was, indeed, a day of finery, which all my
[v]sumptuary edicts could not restrain. How well soever I fancied my
lectures against pride had conquered the vanity of my daughters, yet I
still found them secretly attached to all their former finery; they
still loved laces, ribbons, and bugles, and my wife herself retained a
passion for her crimson [v]paduasoy, because I formerly happened to say
it became her.
The first Sunday, in particular, their behavior served to mortify me. I
had desired my girls the preceding night to be dressed early the next
day, for I always loved to be at church a good while before the rest of
the congregation. They punctually obeyed my directions; but when we were
to assemble in the morning at breakfast, down came my wife and
daughters, dressed out in all their former splendor--their hair
plastered up with [v]pomatum, their faces [v]patched to taste, their
trains bundled up in a heap behind and rustling at every motion. I could
not help smiling at their vanity, particularly that of my wife, from
whom I expected more discretion. In this [v]exigence, therefore, my only
resource was to order my son, with an important air, to call our coach.
The girls were amazed at the command, but I repeated it, with more
solemnity than before.
"Surely, you jest! " cried my wife. "We can walk perfectly well; we want
no coach to carry us now. "
"You mistake, child," returned I; "we do want a coach, for if we walk
to church in this trim, the very children in the parish will hoot after
us. "
"Indeed! " replied my wife. "I always imagined that my Charles was fond
of seeing his children neat and handsome about him. "
"You may be as neat as you please," interrupted I, "and I shall love you
the better for it; but all this is not neatness, but frippery. These
rufflings and pinkings and patchings will only make us hated by all the
wives of our neighbors. No, my children," continued I, more gravely,
"those gowns must be altered into something of a plainer cut, for finery
is very unbecoming in us who want the means of [v]decency. "
This remonstrance had the proper effect. They went with great composure,
that very instant, to change their dress; and the next day I had the
satisfaction of finding my daughters, at their own request, employed in
cutting up their trains into Sunday waist-coats for Dick and Bill, the
two little ones; and, what was still more satisfactory, the gowns seemed
improved by this [v]curtailing.
But the reformation lasted but for a short while. My wife and daughters
were visited by the wives of some of the richer neighbors and by a
squire who lived near by, on whom they set more store than on the plain
farmers' wives who were nearer us in worldly station.
It came to an end, as all things earthly will. When the ruffled pools
amid the marshes were rosy red beneath the sunrise, the women brought us
food, and the warriors and old men gathered about us. I offered them
bread and meat and told them that they must come to Jamestown to taste
the white man's cookery.
Scarcely was the meal over when Opechancanough issued from his lodge,
and, coming slowly up to us, took his seat upon the white mat that was
spread for him. Through his scalp lock was stuck an eagle's feather;
across his face, from temple to chin, was a bar of red paint; the eyes
above were very bright and watchful.
One of his young men brought a great pipe, carved and painted, stem and
bowl; it was filled with tobacco, lit, and borne to the emperor. He put
it to his lips and smoked in silence, while the sun climbed higher and
higher and the golden minutes that were more precious than heart's blood
went by swiftly.
At last, his part in the solemn mockery played, he held out the pipe to
me.
"The sky will fall, and the rivers will run dry, and the birds cease to
sing," he said, "before the smoke of this peace-pipe fades from the
land. "
I took the symbol of peace and smoked it as silently and soberly as he
had done before me, then laid it leisurely aside and held out my hand.
"Come to Jamestown," I said, "to smoke of the Englishman's pipe and
receive rich presents--a red robe like your brother Powhatan, and a cup
from which you shall drink, you and all your people. "
But the cup I meant was that of punishment.
The savage laid his dark fingers in mine for an instant, withdrew them,
and, rising to his feet, motioned to three Indians who stood out from
the throng of warriors.
"These are Captain Percy's guides and friends," he announced. "The sun
is high; it is time that he was gone. Here are presents for him and my
brother the governor. " As he spoke, he took from his neck the rope of
pearls and from his arm a copper bracelet, and laid both upon my palm.
"Thank you, Opechancanough," I said briefly. "When we meet again I will
not greet you with empty thanks. "
We bade farewell to the noisy throng and went down to the river, where
we found a canoe and rowers, crossed the stream, and entered the forest,
which stretched black and forbidding before us--the blacker that we now
knew the dreadful secret it guarded.
II
After leaving the Indian village, Captain Percy and Diccon found
that their guides purposely delayed the march, so that they would
not reach Jamestown until just before the beginning of the attack,
when it would be too late for them to warn the English, if they
suspected anything. Percy and Diccon, in this dilemma, surprised
the Indian guides and killed them, then hurried on with all
possible speed toward Jamestown. As they hastened through the
forest, Diccon was shot by an Indian and mortally wounded; Captain
Percy remained with him until his death, and again took up the
journey, now alone and greatly fearing that he would arrive too
late.
The dusk had quite fallen when I reached the neck of land. Arriving at
the palisade that protected Jamestown, I beat upon the gate and called
to the warden to open. He did so with starting eyes. Giving him a few
words and cautioning him to raise no alarm in the town, I hurried by him
into the street and down it toward the house that was set aside for the
governor of Virginia, Sir Francis Wyatt.
The governor's door was open, and in the hall servingmen were moving to
and fro. When I came in upon them, they cried out as if it had been a
ghost, and one fellow let a silver dish fall to the floor with a
clatter. They shook with fright and stood back as I passed them without
a word and went on to the governor's great room. The door was ajar, and
I pushed it open and stood for a minute on the threshold. They were all
there--the principal men of the colony, the governor, the [v]treasurer,
[v]West, [v]John Rolfe.
At sight of me the governor sprang to his feet; through the treasurer's
lips came a long, sighing breath; West's dark face was ashen. I came
forward to the table, and leaned my weight upon it; for all the waves of
the sea were roaring in my ears and the lights were going up and down.
"Are you man or spirit! " cried Rolfe through white lips. "Are you Ralph
Percy? "
"Yes," I said, "I am Percy. "
With an effort I drew myself erect, and standing so, told my tidings,
quietly and with circumstance, so as to leave no room for doubt as to
their verity, or as to the sanity of him who brought them. They listened
with shaking limbs and gasping breath; for it was the fall and wiping
out of a people of which I brought warning.
When all was told I thought to ask a question myself; but before my
tongue could frame it, the roaring of the sea became so loud that I
could hear naught else, and the lights all ran together into a wheel of
fire. Then in a moment all sounds ceased and to the lights succeeded the
blackness of outer darkness.
When I awoke from the sleep into which I must have passed from that
swoon, it was to find myself lying in a room flooded with sunshine. For
a moment I lay still, wondering where I was and how I came there. A drum
beat, a dog barked, and a man's quick voice gave a command. The sounds
stung me into remembrance.
There were many people in the street. Women hurried by to the fort with
white, scared faces, their arms filled with household gear; children ran
beside them; men went to and fro, the most grimly silent, but a few
talking loudly.
I could not see the palisade across the neck, but I knew that it was
there that the fight--if fight there were--would be made. Should the
Indians take the palisade, there would yet be the houses of the town,
and, last of all, the fort in which to make a stand. I believed not that
they would take it, for Indian warfare ran more to ambuscade and
surprise than to assault in the open field.
The drum beat again, and a messenger from the palisade came down the
street at a run.
"They're in the woods over against us, thicker than ants! " he cried to
West, who was coming along the way. "A boat has just drifted ashore,
with two men in it, dead and scalped! "
I looked again at the neck of land and the forest beyond, and now, as if
by magic, from the forest and up and down the river as far as the eye
could reach, rose here and there thin columns of smoke. Suddenly, as I
stared, three or four white smoke puffs, like giant flowers, started out
of the shadowy woods across the neck. Following the crack of the
muskets--fired out of pure bravado by the Indians--came the yelling of
the savages. The sound was prolonged and deep, as though issuing from
many throats.
The street, when I went out into it, was very quiet. All windows and
doors were closed and barred. The yelling from the forest had ceased for
the moment, but I knew well that it would soon begin with doubled noise.
I hurried along the street to the palisade, where all the men of
Jamestown were gathered, armed and helmeted and breast-plated, waiting
for the foe in grim silence.
Through a loophole in the gate of the palisade I looked and saw the
sandy neck joining the town to the mainland, and the deep and dark woods
beyond, the fairy mantle giving invisibility to the foe. I drew back
from my loophole and held out my hand to a woman for a loaded musket. A
quick murmur like the drawing of a breath came from our line. The
governor, standing near me, cast an anxious glance along the stretch of
wooden stakes that were neither so high nor so thick as they should have
been.
"I am new to this warfare, Captain Percy," he said. "Do they think to
use those logs they carry as battering rams? "
"As scaling ladders, your honor," I replied. "It is possible that we may
have some sword play after all. "
"We'll take your advice the next time we build a palisade, Ralph Percy,"
muttered West on my other side. Mounting the breastwork that we had
thrown up to shelter the women who were to load the muskets, he coolly
looked over the pales at the oncoming savages.
"Wait until they pass the blasted pine, men! " he cried. "Then give them
a hail of lead that will beat them back to the Pamunkey. "
An arrow whistled by his ear; a second struck him on the shoulder but
pierced not his coat of mail. He came down from his dangerous post with
a laugh.
"If the leader could be picked off"--I said. "It's a long shot, but
there's no harm in trying. "
As I spoke I raised my gun to my shoulder, but West leaned across Rolfe,
who stood between us, and plucked me by the sleeve.
"You've not looked at him closely," he said. "Look again. "
I did as he told me, and lowered my musket. It was not for me to send
that Indian leader to his account. Rolfe's lips tightened and a sudden
pallor overspread his face. "Nantaquas? " he muttered in my ear, and I
nodded yes.
The volley that we fired full into the ranks of our foe was deadly, and
we looked to see them turn and flee, as they had fled so often before at
a hot volley. But this time they were led by one who had been trained in
English steadfastness. Broken for the moment by our fire, they rallied
and came on yelling, bearing logs, thick branches of trees, oars tied
together--anything by whose help they could hope to surmount the
palisade. We fired again, but they had planted their ladders. Before we
could snatch the loaded muskets from the women a dozen painted figures
appeared above the sharpened stakes. A moment, and they and a score
behind them had leaped down upon us.
It was no time now to skulk behind a palisade. At all hazards, that tide
from the forest must be stemmed. Those that were among us we might kill,
but more were swarming after them, and from the neck came the exultant
yelling of madly hurrying reinforcements.
We flung open the gates. I drove my sword through the heart of an Indian
who would have opposed me, and, calling for my men to follow, sprang
forward. Perhaps thirty came at my call; together we made for the
opening. A party of the savages in our midst interposed. We set upon
them with sword and musket butt, and though they fought like very devils
drove them before us through the gateway. Behind us were wild clamor,
the shrieking of women, the stern shouts of the English, the whooping of
the savages; before us a rush that must be met and turned.
It was done. A moment's fierce fighting, then the Indians wavered,
broke, and fled. Like sheep we drove them before us, across the neck, to
the edge of the forest, into which they plunged. Into that ambush we
cared not to follow, but fell back to the palisade and the town,
believing, and with reason, that the lesson had been taught. The strip
of sand was strewn with the dead and the dying, but they belonged not to
us. Our dead numbered but three, and we bore their bodies with us.
Within the palisade we found the English in sufficiently good case. Of
the score or more Indians cut off by us from their mates and penned
within that death trap, half at least were already dead, run through
with sword and pike, shot down with the muskets that there was now time
to load. The remainder, hemmed about, pressed against the wall, were
fast meeting with a like fate. They stood no chance against us; we cared
not to make prisoners of them; it was a slaughter, but they had taken
the [v]initiative. They fought with the courage of despair, striving to
spring in upon us, and striking when they could with hatchet and knife.
They were brave men that we slew that day.
At last there was left but the leader--unharmed, unwounded, though time
and again he had striven to close with some one of us, to strike and to
die striking with his fellows. Behind him was the wall; of the half
circle which he faced, well-nigh all were old soldiers and servants of
the colony. We were swordsmen all. When in his desperation he would have
thrown himself upon us, we contented ourselves with keeping him at
sword's length, and at last West sent the knife in the dark hand
whirling over the palisade. Some one had shouted to the musketeers to
spare him.
When he saw that he stood alone, he stepped back against the wall, drew
himself up to his full height, and folded his arms. Perhaps he thought
that we would shoot him down then and there; perhaps he saw himself a
captive amongst us, a show for the idle and for the strangers that the
ships brought in.
The din had ceased, and we the living, the victors, stood and looked at
the vanquished dead at our feet, and at the dead beyond the gates, and
at the neck upon which was no living foe, and at the blue sky bending
over all. Our hearts told us, and truly, that the lesson had been
taught, and that no more forever need we at Jamestown fear an Indian
attack. And then we looked at him whose life we had spared.
He opposed our gaze with his folded arms and his head held high and his
back against the wall. Slowly, as one man and with no spoken word, we
fell back, the half circle straightening into a line, and leaving a
clear pathway to the open gates. The wind had ceased to blow, and a
sunny stillness lay upon the sand and the rough-hewn wooden stakes and a
little patch of tender grass. The church bell began to ring.
The Indian out of whose path to life and freedom we had stepped glanced
from the line of lowered steel to the open gates and the forest beyond,
and understood. For a full minute he waited, not moving a muscle, still
and stately as some noble masterpiece in bronze. Then he stepped from
the shadow of the wall and moved past us, with his eyes fixed on the
forest; there was no change in the superb calm of his face. He went by
the huddled dead and the long line of the living that spoke no word, and
out of the gates and across the neck, walking slowly, that we might yet
shoot him down if we saw fit to repent ourselves. He reached the shadow
of the trees: a moment, and the forest had back her own.
We sheathed our swords and listened to the governor's few earnest words
of thankfulness and recognition; and then we set to work to search for
ways to reach and aid those who might be yet alive in the plantations
above and below us.
Presently there came a great noise from the watchers on the river-bank,
and a cry that boats were coming down the stream. It was so, and there
were in them white men, nearly all of whom had wounds to show, and
cowering women and children--all that were left of the people for miles
along the James.
Then began that strange procession that lasted throughout the afternoon
and night and into the next day, when a sloop dropped down from
[v]Henricus with the news that the English were in force there to stand
their ground, although their loss had been heavy. Hour after hour they
came as fast as sail and oar could bring them, the panic-stricken folk,
whose homes were burned, whose kindred were slain, who had themselves
escaped as by a miracle. Each boatload had the same tale to tell of
treachery, surprise, and fiendish butchery.
Before the dawning we had heard from all save the remoter settlements.
The blow had been struck and the hurt was deep. But it was not beyond
remedy, thank God! We took stern measures for our protection, and the
wound to the colony was soon healed; vengeance was meted out to those
who had set upon us in the dark and had failed to reach the heart. The
colony of Virginia had passed through its greatest trial and had
survived--for what greater ends, under Providence, I knew not.
MARY JOHNSTON.
=HELPS TO STUDY=
I. Describe the situation in which Percy and Diccon found
themselves. What preparations did the Indians make for the death of
the two men? How were they interrupted? Tell what happened after
the appearance of Nantaquas? How were the five days spent? How did
Nantaquas come to the rescue of the white men a second time? What
did Opechancanough do to try to deepen the impression of
friendship?
II. What happened on the way to Jamestown? Describe the scene when
Percy entered the governor's house. Give an account of the fight at
the palisade. Why was Nantaquas spared? What was the result of the
Indian attack? Give your opinion of Nantaquas. Of what Indian in
_The Last of the Mohicans_ does he remind you? Of whom does
Opechancanough remind you?
Find out all you can of life in Virginia at the time this story was
written. Compare the life there with the life in Plymouth colony.
SUPPLEMENTARY READING
Prisoners of Hope--Mary Johnston.
My Lady Pokahontas--John Esten Cooke.
The Wept of Wish-ton-wish--J. Fenimore Cooper.
Hiawatha--Henry W. Longfellow.
Old Virginia and Her Neighbors--John Fiske.
HARRY ESMOND'S BOYHOOD
_Henry Esmond_, by William Makepeace Thackeray, is considered one
of the greatest, if not the greatest, of historical novels. It
describes life in England during the first years of the eighteenth
century, dealing chiefly with people of wealth and high position.
"Harry Esmond's Boyhood" narrates the early career of the hero, who
was a poor orphan and an inmate of the family of his kinsman, the
Viscount of Castlewood.
Harry Esmond had lived to be past fourteen years old; had never
possessed but two friends, and had a fond and affectionate heart that
would fain attach itself to somebody, and did not seem at rest until it
had found a friend who would take charge of it.
At last he found such a friend in his new mistress, the lady of
Castlewood. The instinct which led Harry Esmond to admire and love the
gracious person, the fair apparition whose beauty and kindness had so
moved him when he first beheld her, became soon a devoted affection and
passion of gratitude, which entirely filled his young heart that as yet
had had very little kindness for which to be thankful.
There seemed, as the boy thought, in every look or gesture of this fair
creature, an angelical softness and bright pity--in motion or repose she
seemed gracious alike; the tone of her voice, though she uttered words
ever so trivial, gave him a pleasure that amounted almost to anguish. It
cannot be called love, that a lad of fourteen years of age felt for an
exalted lady, his mistress, but it was worship. To catch her glance; to
divine her errand, and run on it before she had spoken it; to watch,
follow, adore her, became the business of his life. Meanwhile, as is the
way often, his idol had idols of her own, and never thought of or
suspected the admiration of her little adorer.
My Lady had on her side three idols: first and foremost, [v]Jove and
supreme ruler, was her lord, Harry's patron, the good [v]Viscount of
Castlewood. All wishes of his were laws with her. If he had a headache,
she was ill. If he frowned, she trembled. If he joked, she smiled and
was charmed. If he went a-hunting, she was always at the window to see
him ride away. She made dishes for his dinner; spiced his wine for him;
hushed the house when he slept in his chair, and watched for a look when
he woke. Her eyes were never tired of looking at his face and wondering
at its perfection. Her little son was his son, and had his father's look
and curly brown hair. Her daughter Beatrix was his daughter, and had his
eyes--were there ever such beautiful eyes in the world? All the house
was arranged so as to bring him ease and give him pleasure.
Harry Esmond was happy in this pleasant home. The happiest period of all
his life was this; and the young mother, with her daughter and son, and
the orphan lad whom she protected, read and worked and played, and were
children together. If the lady looked forward--as what fond woman does
not? --toward the future, she had no plans from which Harry Esmond was
left out; and a thousand and a thousand times, in his passionate and
impetuous way, he vowed that no power should separate him from his
mistress; and only asked for some chance to happen by which he might
show his [v]fidelity to her.
The second fight which Harry Esmond had was at fourteen years of age,
with Bryan Hawkshaw, Sir John Hawkshaw's son, who, advancing the opinion
that Lady Castlewood henpecked my Lord, put Harry in so great a fury
that Harry fell on him and with such rage that the other boy, who was
two years older and far bigger than he, had by far the worst of the
assault.
It was interrupted by Doctor Tusher, the clergyman, who was
just walking out of the dinner-room.
Bryan Hawkshaw got up bleeding at the nose, having indeed been
surprised, as many a stronger man might have been, by the fury of the
attack on him.
"You little beggar," he said, "I'll murder you for this. "
And indeed he was big enough.
"Beggar or not," said Harry, grinding his teeth, "I have a couple of
swords, and if you like to meet me, as man to man, on the terrace
to-night--"
And here, the doctor coming up, the [v]colloquy of the young champions
ended. Very likely, big as he was, Hawkshaw did not care to continue a
fight with such a ferocious opponent as this had been.
One day, some time later, Doctor Tusher ran into Castlewood House, with
a face of consternation, saying that smallpox had made its appearance at
the blacksmith's house in the village, which was also an alehouse, and
that one of the maids there was down with it.
Now, there was a pretty girl at this inn, called Nancy Sievewright, a
bouncing, fresh-looking lass, whose face was as red as the hollyhocks
over the pales of the garden behind the inn. Somehow it often happened
that Harry Esmond fell in with Nance Sievewright's bonny face. When
Doctor Tusher brought the news that the smallpox was at the
blacksmith's, Harry Esmond's first thought was of alarm for poor Nancy,
and then of shame and disquiet for the Castlewood family, lest he might
have brought this infection; for the truth is that Mr. Harry had been
sitting in a back room for an hour that day, where Nancy Sievewright was
with a little brother who complained of headache, and was lying crying
in a chair by the corner of the fire or in Nancy's lap.
Little Beatrix screamed at the news; and my Lord cried out, "God bless
me! " He was a brave man, and not afraid of death in any shape but this.
"We will take the children and ride away to Walcote," he said.
To love children and be gentle with them was an instinct rather than
merit in Harry Esmond; so much so that he thought almost with a feeling
of shame of his liking for them and of the softness into which it
betrayed him. On this day the poor fellow had not only had his young
friend, the milkmaid's brother, on his knee, but had been drawing
pictures and telling stories to the little Frank Castlewood, who was
never tired of Harry's tales and of his pictures of soldiers and horses.
As luck would have it, Beatrix had not on that evening taken her usual
place, which generally she was glad enough to have, on Harry's knee. For
Beatrix, from the earliest time, was jealous of every caress which was
given her little brother Frank. She would fling away even from the
[v]maternal arms, if she saw Frank had been there before her; insomuch
that Lady Esmond was obliged not to show her love for her son in
presence of the little girl, and embrace one or the other alone. Beatrix
would turn pale and red with rage if she caught signs of intelligence or
affection between Frank and his mother; would sit apart and not speak
for a whole night if she thought the boy had a better fruit or a larger
cake than hers; would fling away a ribbon if he had one, and would utter
[v]infantile sarcasms about the favor shown her brother.
So it chanced upon this very day, when poor Harry Esmond had had the
blacksmith's son and the [v]peer's son, alike upon his knee, little
Beatrix, who would come to him willingly enough with her book and
writing, had refused him, seeing the place occupied by her brother.
Luckily for her, she had sat at the farther end of the room, away from
him, playing with a spaniel dog which she had, and talking to Harry
Esmond over her shoulder, as she pretended to caress the dog, saying
that Fido would love her, and she would love Fido and nothing but Fido
all her life.
When, then, the news was brought that the little boy at the blacksmith's
was ill with the smallpox, poor Harry Esmond felt a shock of alarm, not
so much for himself as for his mistress's son, whom he might have
brought into peril. Beatrix, who had pouted sufficiently, her little
brother being now gone to bed, was for taking her place on Esmond's
knee. But as she advanced toward him, he started back and placed the
great chair on which he was sitting between him and her--saying in the
French language to Lady Castlewood, "Madam, the child must not approach
me. I must tell you that I was at the blacksmith's to-day and had his
little boy on my lap. "
"Where you took my son afterward," Lady Castlewood said, very angry and
turning red. "I thank you, sir, for giving him such company. Beatrix,"
she said in English, "I forbid you to touch Harry Esmond. Come away,
child; come to your room. And you, sir, had you not better go back to
the alehouse? "
Her eyes, ordinarily so kind, darted flashes of anger as she spoke; and
she tossed up her head (which hung down commonly) with the [v]mien of a
princess.
"Heyday! " said my Lord, who was standing by the fireplace, "Rachel, what
are you in a passion about? Though it does you good to get in a
passion--you look very handsome! "
"It is, my Lord, because Mr. Harry Esmond, having nothing to do with his
time here, and not having a taste for our company, has been to the
blacksmith's alehouse, where he has some friends. "
My Lord burst out with a laugh.
"Take Mistress Beatrix to bed," my Lady cried at this moment to her
woman, who came in with her Ladyship's tea. "Put her into my room--no,
into yours," she added quickly. "Go, my child: go, I say; not a word. "
And Beatrix, quite surprised at so sudden a tone of authority from one
who was seldom accustomed to raise her voice, went out of the room with
a scared face and waited even to burst out crying until she got
upstairs.
For once, her mother took little heed of her. "My Lord," she said, "this
young man--your relative--told me just now in French--he was ashamed to
speak in his own language--that he had been at the blacksmith's all day,
where he has had that little wretch who is now ill of the smallpox on
his knee. And he comes home reeking from that place--yes, reeking from
it--and takes my boy into his lap without shame, and sits down by me. He
may have killed Frank for what I know--killed our child! Why was he
brought in to disgrace our house? Why is he here? Let him go--let him
go, I say, and [v]pollute the place no more! "
She had never before uttered a syllable of unkindness to Harry Esmond,
and her cruel words smote the poor boy so that he stood for some moments
bewildered with grief and rage at the injustice of such a stab from such
a hand. He turned quite white from red, which he had been before.
"If my coming nigh your boy pollutes him," he said, "it was not so
always. Good-night, my Lord. Heaven bless you and yours for your
goodness to me. I have tired her Ladyship's kindness out, and I will
go. "
"He wants to go to the alehouse--let him go! " cried my Lady.
"I'll be hanged if he shall," said my Lord. "I didn't think you could be
so cruel, Rachel! "
Her reply was to burst into a flood of tears, and to quit the room with
a rapid glance at Harry Esmond, as my Lord put his broad hand on Harry's
shoulder.
In a little while my Lady came back, looking very pale, with a
handkerchief in her hand. Instantly advancing to Harry Esmond, she took
his hand. "I beg your pardon, Harry," she said. "I spoke very
unkindly. "
My Lord broke out: "There may be no harm done. Leave the boy alone. " She
looked a little red, and pressed the lad's hand as she dropped it.
"There is no use, my Lord," she said. "Frank was on his knee as he was
making pictures and was running constantly from Harry to me. The evil is
done, if any. "
"Not with me," cried my Lord. "I've been smoking. " And he lighted his
pipe again with a coal. "As the disease is in the village--plague take
it! --I would have you leave it. We'll go to-morrow to Walcote. "
"I have no fear," said my Lady. "I may have had it as an infant. "
"I won't run the risk," said my Lord. "I'm as bold as any man, but I'll
not bear that. "
"Take Beatrix with you and go," said my Lady. "For us the mischief is
done. "
My Lord, calling away Doctor Tusher, bade him come in the oak parlor and
have a pipe.
When the lady and the boy were alone, there was a silence of some
moments, during which he stood looking at the fire whilst her Ladyship
busied herself with the [v]tambour frame and needles.
"I am sorry," she said, after a pause, in a hard, dry voice--"I repeat I
am sorry that I said what I said. It was not at all my wish that you
should leave us, I am sure, unless you found pleasure elsewhere. But you
must see that, at your age, and with your tastes, it is impossible that
you can continue to stay upon the intimate footing in which you have
been in this family. You have wished to go to college, and I think 'tis
quite as well that you should be sent thither. I did not press the
matter, thinking you a child, as you are indeed in years--quite a child.
But now I shall beg my Lord to despatch you as quick as possible; and
will go on with Frank's learning as well as I can. And--and I wish you a
good night, Harry. "
With this she dropped a stately curtsy, and, taking her candle, went
away through the tapestry door, which led to her apartments. Esmond
stood by the fireplace, blankly staring after her. Indeed, he scarce
seemed to see until she was gone, and then her image was impressed upon
him and remained forever fixed upon his memory. He saw her retreating,
the taper lighting up her marble face, her scarlet lip quivering, and
her shining golden hair. He went to his own room and to bed, but could
not get to sleep until daylight, and woke with a violent headache.
He had brought the contagion with him from the alehouse, sure enough,
and was presently laid up with the smallpox, which spared the hall no
more than it did the cottage.
When Harry Esmond had passed through the [v]crisis of the [v]malady and
returned to health again, he found that little Frank Esmond had also
suffered and rallied from the disease, and that his mother was down
with it. Nor could young Esmond agree in Doctor Tusher's [v]vehement
protestations to my Lady, when he visited her during her
[v]convalescence, that the malady had not in the least impaired her
charms; whereas, in spite of these fine speeches, Harry thought that her
Ladyship's beauty was very much injured by the smallpox. The delicacy of
her rosy complexion was gone; her eyes had lost their brilliancy, her
hair fell, and she looked older. When Tusher in his courtly way vowed
and protested that my Lady's face was none the worse, the lad broke out
and said, "It is worse, and my mistress is not near so handsome as she
was. " On this poor Lady Castlewood gave a [v]rueful smile and a look
into a little mirror she had, which showed her, I suppose, that what the
stupid boy said was only too true, for she turned away from the glass
and her eyes filled with tears.
The sight of these always created a sort of rage of pity in Esmond's
heart, and seeing them on the face of the lady whom he loved best, the
young blunderer sank down on his knees and besought her to pardon him,
saying that he was a fool and an idiot. Doctor Tusher told him that he
was a bear, and a bear he would remain, at which speech poor Harry was
so dumb-stricken that he did not even growl.
"He is my bear, and I will not have him baited, doctor," said my Lady,
putting her hand kindly on the boy's head, as he was still kneeling at
her feet. "How your hair has come off! And mine, too! " she added with
another sigh.
"It is not for myself that I care," my Lady said to Harry, when the
parson had taken his leave; "but am I very much changed! Alas! I fear
'tis too true. "
"Madam, you have the dearest, and kindest, and sweetest face in the
world, I think," the lad said; and indeed he thought so.
For Harry Esmond his benefactress' sweet face had lost none of its
charms. It had always the kindest of looks and smiles for him--and
beauty of every sort. She would call him "Mr. Tutor," and she herself,
as well as the two children, went to school to him. Of the pupils the
two young people were but lazy scholars, and my Lord's son only learned
what he liked, which was but little. Mistress Beatrix chattered French
prettily, and sang sweetly, but this from her mother's teaching, not
Harry Esmond's. But if the children were careless, 'twas a wonder how
eagerly the mother learned from her young tutor--and taught him, too.
She saw the [v]latent beauties and hidden graces in books; and the
happiest hours of young Esmond's life were those passed in the company
of this kind mistress and her children.
These happy days were to end soon, however; and it was by Lady
Castlewood's own decree that they were brought to a conclusion. It
happened about Christmas-tide, Harry Esmond being now past sixteen
years of age. A messenger came from Winchester one day, bearer of the
news that my Lady's aunt was dead and had left her fortune of £2,000
among her six nieces. Many a time afterward Harry Esmond recalled the
flushed face and eager look wherewith, after this intelligence, his kind
lady regarded him. When my Lord heard of the news, he did not make any
long face. "The money will come very handy to furnish the music-room and
the [v]cellar," he said, "which is getting low, and buy your Ladyship a
coach and a couple of horses. Beatrix, you shall have a [v]spinet; and
Frank, you shall have a little horse from Hexton fair; and Harry, you
shall have five pounds to buy some books. " So spoke my Lord, who was
generous with his own, and indeed with other folks' money. "I wish your
aunt would die once a year, Rachel; we could spend your money, and all
your sisters', too. "
"I have but one aunt--and--and I have another use for the money," said
my Lady, turning red.
"Another use, my dear; and what do you know about money? " cried my Lord.
"I intend it for Harry Esmond to go to college. Cousin Harry," said my
Lady, "you mustn't stay any longer in this dull place, but make a name
for yourself. "
"Is Harry going away? You don't mean to say you will go away? " cried out
Beatrix and Frank at one breath.
"But he will come back, and this will always be his home," replied my
Lady, with blue eyes looking a celestial kindness; "and his scholars
will always love him, won't they? "
"Rachel, you're a good woman," said my Lord. "I wish you joy, my
kinsman," he continued, giving Harry Esmond a hearty slap on the
shoulder, "I won't balk your luck. Go to Cambridge, boy. "
When Harry Esmond went away for Cambridge, little Frank ran alongside
his horse as far as the bridge, and there Harry stopped for a moment and
looked back at the house where the best part of his life had been
passed. And Harry remembered, all his life after, how he saw his
mistress at the window looking out on him, the little Beatrix's chestnut
curls resting at her mother's side. Both waved a farewell to him, and
little Frank sobbed to leave him.
The village people had good-bye to say to him, too. All knew that Master
Harry was going to college, and most of them had a kind word and a look
of farewell. And with these things in mind, he rode out into the world.
WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY.
=HELPS TO STUDY=
Tell what you find out about the household in which Harry Esmond
lived. What impression do you get of each person? What trouble did
Harry bring upon the family? What change occurred in his life and
now?
SUPPLEMENTARY READING
The Virginians--William Makepeace Thackeray.
The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers--Steele and Addison.
THE FAMILY HOLDS ITS HEAD UP
The story is an extract from Oliver Goldsmith's famous novel, _The
Vicar of Wakefield_. In this book Goldsmith describes the fortunes
of the family of Doctor Primrose, a Church of England clergyman of
the middle of the eighteenth century. The novel is considered a
most faithful picture of English country life in that period.
The home I had come to as [v]vicar was in a little neighborhood
consisting of farmers who tilled their own grounds and were equal
strangers to [v]opulence and poverty. As they had almost all the
conveniences of life within themselves, they seldom visited towns or
cities in search of [v]superfluity. Remote from the polite, they still
retained the [v]primeval simplicity of manners; and, frugal by habit,
they scarce knew that temperance was a virtue. They wrought with
cheerfulness on days of labor, but observed festivals as intervals of
idleness and pleasure. They kept up the Christmas carol, sent love-knots
on Valentine morning, ate pancakes on [v]Shrovetide, showed their wit on
the first of April, and religiously cracked nuts on [v]Michaelmas-eve.
Being apprised of our approach, the whole neighborhood came out to meet
their minister, dressed in their finest clothes and preceded by a
[v]pipe and [v]tabor: a feast, also, was provided for our reception, at
which we sat cheerfully down, and what the conversation wanted in wit
was made up in laughter.
Our little habitation was situated at the foot of a sloping hill,
sheltered with a beautiful underwood behind, and a prattling river
before; on one side a meadow, on the other a green. My farm consisted of
about twenty acres of excellent land. Nothing could exceed the neatness
of my little enclosures, the elms and hedgerows appearing with
inexpressible beauty. My house consisted of but one story, and was
covered with [v]thatch, which gave it an air of great snugness; the
walls on the inside were nicely whitewashed, and my daughters undertook
to adorn them with pictures of their own designing. Though the same room
served us for parlor and kitchen, that only made it the warmer. Besides,
as it was kept with the utmost neatness,--the dishes, plates and coppers
being well scoured and all disposed in bright rows on the shelves--the
eye was agreeably relieved and did not want richer furniture. There were
three other apartments: one for my wife and me; another for our two
daughters within our own; and the third, with two beds, for the rest of
the children.
The little republic to which I gave laws was regulated in the following
manner: by sunrise we all assembled in our common apartment, the fire
being previously kindled by the servant. After we had saluted each other
with proper ceremony--for I always thought fit to keep up some
mechanical forms of good breeding, without which freedom ever destroys
friendship--we all bent in gratitude to that Being who gave us another
day. This duty performed, my son and I went to pursue our usual industry
abroad, while my wife and daughters employed themselves in providing
breakfast, which was always ready at a certain time. I allowed half an
hour for this meal, and an hour for dinner, which time was taken up in
innocent mirth between my wife and daughters, and in [v]philosophical
arguments between my son and me.
As we rose with the sun, so we never pursued our labors after it was
gone down, but returned home to the expecting family, where smiling
looks, a neat hearth, and a pleasant fire were prepared for our
reception. Nor were we without guests; sometimes Farmer Flamborough, our
talkative neighbor, and often a blind piper, would pay us a visit and
taste our gooseberry wine, for the making of which we had lost neither
the recipe nor the reputation. These harmless people had several ways of
being good company; while one played, the other would sing some soothing
ballad--"Johnny Armstrong's Last Good-Night," or "The Cruelty of Barbara
Allen. " The night was concluded in the manner we began the morning, my
youngest boys being appointed to read the lessons of the day; and he
that read loudest, distinctest and best was to have an halfpenny on
Sunday to put into the poor-box. This encouraged in them a wholesome
rivalry to do good.
When Sunday came, it was, indeed, a day of finery, which all my
[v]sumptuary edicts could not restrain. How well soever I fancied my
lectures against pride had conquered the vanity of my daughters, yet I
still found them secretly attached to all their former finery; they
still loved laces, ribbons, and bugles, and my wife herself retained a
passion for her crimson [v]paduasoy, because I formerly happened to say
it became her.
The first Sunday, in particular, their behavior served to mortify me. I
had desired my girls the preceding night to be dressed early the next
day, for I always loved to be at church a good while before the rest of
the congregation. They punctually obeyed my directions; but when we were
to assemble in the morning at breakfast, down came my wife and
daughters, dressed out in all their former splendor--their hair
plastered up with [v]pomatum, their faces [v]patched to taste, their
trains bundled up in a heap behind and rustling at every motion. I could
not help smiling at their vanity, particularly that of my wife, from
whom I expected more discretion. In this [v]exigence, therefore, my only
resource was to order my son, with an important air, to call our coach.
The girls were amazed at the command, but I repeated it, with more
solemnity than before.
"Surely, you jest! " cried my wife. "We can walk perfectly well; we want
no coach to carry us now. "
"You mistake, child," returned I; "we do want a coach, for if we walk
to church in this trim, the very children in the parish will hoot after
us. "
"Indeed! " replied my wife. "I always imagined that my Charles was fond
of seeing his children neat and handsome about him. "
"You may be as neat as you please," interrupted I, "and I shall love you
the better for it; but all this is not neatness, but frippery. These
rufflings and pinkings and patchings will only make us hated by all the
wives of our neighbors. No, my children," continued I, more gravely,
"those gowns must be altered into something of a plainer cut, for finery
is very unbecoming in us who want the means of [v]decency. "
This remonstrance had the proper effect. They went with great composure,
that very instant, to change their dress; and the next day I had the
satisfaction of finding my daughters, at their own request, employed in
cutting up their trains into Sunday waist-coats for Dick and Bill, the
two little ones; and, what was still more satisfactory, the gowns seemed
improved by this [v]curtailing.
But the reformation lasted but for a short while. My wife and daughters
were visited by the wives of some of the richer neighbors and by a
squire who lived near by, on whom they set more store than on the plain
farmers' wives who were nearer us in worldly station.
