Evening at Home 64

Evening at Home 64

PERSEVERANCE AGAINST FORTUNE.—A STORY.

 

 

Theodore was a boy of lively parts and engaging manners; but he had the

failing of being extremely impatient in his temper and inclined to

extremes. He was ardent in all his pursuits, but could bear no

disappointment; and if the least thing went wrong, he threw up what he

was about in a pet, and could not be prevailed upon to resume it. His

father, Mr. Carleton, had given him a bed in the garden, which he had

cultivated with great delight. The borders were set with double daisies

of different colours, next to which was a row of auriculas and

polyanthuses. Beyond were stocks and other taller flowers and shrubs;

and a beautiful damask rose graced the centre. This rose was just

budding, and Theodore watched its daily progress with great interest.

One unfortunate day, the door of the garden being left open, a drove of

pigs entered, and began to riot on the herbs and flowers. An alarm being

sounded, Theodore and the servant-boy rushed upon them, smacking their

whips. The whole herd, in affright, took their course across Theodore’s

flower-bed, on which some of them had before been grazing. Stocks,

daisies, and auriculas were all trampled down or torn up; and, what was

worst of all, a large old sow ran directly over the beautiful rose-tree,

and broke off its stem level with the ground. When Theodore came up and

beheld all the mischief, and especially his favourite rose strewed on

the soil, rage and grief choked his utterance. After standing a while

the picture of despair, he snatched up a spade that stood near, and with

furious haste dug over the whole bed, and whelmed all the relics of his

flowers deep under the soil. This exertion being ended, he burst into

tears, and silently left the garden.

 

His father, who had beheld the scene at a distance, though somewhat

diverted at the boy’s childish violence, yet began seriously to reflect

on the future consequences of such a temper, if suffered to grow up

without restraint. He said nothing to him at the time, but in the

afternoon he took a walk with him into a neighbouring parish. There was

a large wild common, and at the skirts of it a neat farmhouse with

fields lying round it, all well fenced, and cultivated in the best

manner. The air was sweetened with the bean-flower and clover. An

orchard of fine young fruit-trees lay behind the house and before it a

little garden, gay with all the flowers of the season. A stand of

beehives was on the southern side, sheltered by a thick hedge of

honeysuckle and sweet-brier. The farmyard was stocked with pigs and

poultry. A herd of cows with full udders was just coming home to be

milked. Everything wore the aspect of plenty and good management. The

charms of the scene struck Theodore very forcibly, and he expressed his

pleasure in the warmest terms. “This place,” said his father, “belongs

to a man who is the greatest example I know of patient fortitude bearing

up against misfortune; and all that you see is the reward of his own

perseverance. I am a little acquainted with him; and we will go in and

beg a draught of milk, and try if we can prevail upon him to tell us his

story.” Theodore willingly accompanied his father. They were received by

the farmer with cordial frankness. After they were seated, “Mr.

Hardman,” says Mr. Carleton, “I have often heard part of your

adventures, but never had a regular account of the whole. If you will

favour me and my little boy with the story of them, we shall think

ourselves much obliged to you.”—“Lacka-day! sir,” said he, “there’s

little in them worth telling of, as far as I know. I have had my ups and

downs in the world, to be sure, but so have many men besides. However,

if you wish to hear about them, they are at your service; and I can’t

say but it gives me pleasure sometimes to talk over old matters, and

think how much better things have turned out than might have been

expected.”—“Now I am of opinion,” said Mr. Carleton, “that from your

spirit and perseverance a good conclusion might always have been

expected.”—“You are pleased to compliment, sir,” replied the farmer;

“but I will begin without more words:—

 

“You may perhaps have heard that my father was a man of good estate. He

thought of nothing, poor man! but how to spend it; and he had the

uncommon luck to spend it twice over. For when he was obliged to sell it

the first time, it was bought in by a relation, who left it him by his

will. But my poor father was not a man to take warning. He fell to

living as he had done before, and just made his estate and his life hold

out together. He died at the age of five-and-forty, and left his family

beggars. I believe he would not have taken to drinking, as he did, had

it not been for his impatient temper, which made him fret and vex

himself for every trifle, and then he had nothing for it but to drown

his care in liquor.

 

“It was my lot to be taken by my mother’s brother, who was master of a

merchant-ship. I served him as an apprentice several years, and

underwent a good deal of the usual hardship of a sailor’s life. He had

just made me his mate in a voyage up the Mediterranean, when we had the

misfortune to be wrecked on the coast of Morocco. The ship struck at

some distance from shore, and we lay a long stormy night with the waves

dashing over us, expecting every moment to perish. My uncle and several

of the crew died of fatigue and want, and by morning but four of us were

left alive. My companions were so disheartened, that they thought of

nothing but submitting to their fate. For my part I thought life still

worth struggling for; and the weather having become calmer, I persuaded

them to join me in making a kind of raft, by the help of which, with

much toil and danger, we reached the land. Here we were seized by the

barbarous inhabitants, and carried up the country as slaves to the

emperor We were employed about some public buildings, made to work very

hard with the whip at our backs, and allowed nothing but water and a

kind of pulse. I have heard persons talk as if there was little in being

a slave but the name; but they who have been slaves themselves I am sure

will never make light of slavery in others. A ransom was set on our

heads, but so high, that it seemed impossible for poor friendless

creatures like us ever to pay it. The thought of perpetual servitude,

together with the hard treatment we met with, quite overcame my poor

companions. They drooped and died one after another. I still thought it

not impossible to mend my condition, and perhaps to recover my freedom.

We worked about twelve hours in the day, and had one holyday in the

week. I employed my leisure time in learning to make mats and

flag-baskets, in which I soon became so expert as to have a good many

for sale, and thereby got a little money to purchase better food, and

several small conveniences. We were afterward set to work in the

emperor’s gardens; and here I showed so much good will and attention,

that I got into favour with the overseer. He had a large garden of his

own; and he made interest for me to be suffered to work for him alone,

on the condition of paying a man to do my duty. I soon became so useful

to him, that he treated me more like a hired servant than a slave, and

gave me regular wages. I learned the language of the country, and I

might have passed my time comfortably enough could I have accommodated

myself to their manners and religion, and forgotten my native land. I

saved all I could in order to purchase my freedom; but the ransom was so

high, that I had little prospect of being able to do it for some years

to come. A circumstance, however, happened which brought it about at

once. Some villains one night laid a plot to murder my master and

plunder his house. I slept in a little shed in the garden where the

tools lay; and being awaked by a noise, I saw four men break through the

fence, and walk up an alley toward the house. I crept out with a spade

in my hand, and silently followed them. They made a hole with

instruments in the house-wall big enough for a man to enter at. Two of

them had got in, and the third was beginning to enter, when I rushed

forward, and with a blow of my spade clove the scull of one of the

robbers, and gave the other such a stroke on the shoulder as disabled

him. I then made a loud outcry to alarm the family. My master and his

son, who lay in the house, got up, and having let me in, we secured the

two others, after a sharp conflict, in which I received a severe wound

with a dagger. My master, who looked upon me as his preserver, had all

possible care taken of me, and as soon as I was cured made me a present

of my liberty. He would fain have kept me with him, but my mind was so

much bent on returning to my native country, that I immediately set out

to the nearest seaport, and took my passage in a vessel going to

Gibraltar.

 

“From this place I returned in the first ship for England. As soon as we

arrived in the Downs, and I was rejoicing at the sight of the white

cliffs, a man-of-war’s boat came on board, and pressed into the king’s

service all of us who were seamen. I could not but think it hard that

this should be my welcome at home after a long slavery, but there was no

remedy. I resolved to do my duty in my station, and leave the rest to

Providence. I was abroad during the remainder of the war, and saw many a

stout fellow sink under disease and despondence. My knowledge of

seamanship got me promoted to the post of a petty officer, and at the

peace I was paid off, and received a pretty sum for wages and

prize-money. With this I set off for London. I had experienced too much

distress from want to be inclined to squander away my money, so I put it

into a banker’s hands, and began to look out for some new way of life.

 

“Unfortunately, there were some things of which I had no more experience

than a child, and the tricks of London were among these. An

advertisement offering extraordinary advantages to a partner in a

commercial concern who could bring a small capital, tempted me to make

inquiry about the matter; and I was soon cajoled by a plausible artful

fellow to venture my whole stock in it. The business was a manufacture,

about which I knew nothing at all; but as I was not afraid of my labour,

I set about working as they directed me, with great diligence, and

thought all was going on prosperously. One morning, on coming to the

office, I found my partners decamped; and the same day I was arrested

for a considerable sum due by the partnership. It was in vain for me to

think of getting bail, so I was obliged to go to prison. Here I should

have been half starved, but for my Moorish trade of matmaking, by the

help of which I bettered my condition for some months; when the

creditors, finding that nothing could be got out of me, suffered me to

be set at liberty.

 

“I was now in the wide world without a farthing or a friend, but I,

thank God, had limbs and health left.

 

“I did not choose to trust the sea again, but preferred my other new

trade of gardening; so I applied to a nurseryman near town, and was

received as a day-labourer. I set myself cheerfully at work, taking care

to be in the grounds the first man in the morning, and the last at

night. I acquainted my employer with all the practices I had observed in

Morocco, and got him, in return, to instruct me in his own. In time, I

came to be considered as a skilful workman, and was advanced to higher

wages. My affairs were in a flourishing state. I was well fed, and