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    I would Jiave sold my uncle— -O , damn !—juck ! juck ! Me cuss ! Well , dat ' s bad . I'm always forgetting his Maker ! " Had we a god on the Gold Coast ? Well , not a god ' xactly . We ' specks something stronger than ourselves , but don't know for certain . Neber thought much of him . When him weather long dry and hot , hot , make a kind of prayers to him for rain . —rAnswer us ? No ; rieber answer us , that we know : but ' specks that's the way with him . Been a Christian twenty years , and prayed thousand times—neber he ' erdme once !—juck 1 juck ! Parson says he hears me his own way . Like him hear me my way sometimes .

    How long a slave ? Nine year in Jamaica ; dey make a flunkey ob me , and I hab fine livery . At last , master come to B in England . Calculates I—I'll bolt . Came to JS——; saw—not saw but heerd—501 . for Coster ! So calculates I—fact I became a militiaman—juck ! juck ! Guess he no catch , me den . Catch me—militiaman ? No ; king ' s servant—servant to de country . Catch Coster—juck ! Him go home to Jamaica , minus Coster- —juck ! "My brother ?—never heerd o ' m to this day . Isn't it awful ? Often think what my uncle sell me for ; but all white man ' s fault ; no white man buy , no black man sell .

    " Better in N than on Gold coast ? Well , not sure ; parson says nothing can compare with de blessed light . Now , parson say , too , him ' s judged by his priveledges ; now , priveledges no a damn on de Gold Coastjuck ! juck ! What him be judged by ? Isn't it awful ? Here hab ebery privilege , and no use ; and he judge by what be ob no use ! Isn't it awful ? I lib alone , and often think of this ; I say to myself , Coster , make use ob de priviledges . ' Den sit down and smoke all alone , and say to myself , * Coster , you hab a black skin , and a black eye , and black hair ; you hab a black heart , too '—see it in the blessed light . Den I smoke , forget it all , and sleep : and rise , and get a job , and its old Coster wid de black heart right on . Isn't it awful ?

    " When I hear of Saviour ? In the militia ; dere I swear in by him . Often swore by God in Jamaica—wonder what God mean . Master swear by God . —' Goddamn ! ' I think it be English language . No hab idea of Maker in it , till in the militia . Was baptized in de militia . I now no serve my Maker half 1 —not half ! Isn't it awful ? Trying always , too , when I think of it . Guess we'll all come to de scratch some day—no shirking it ! Dere will be Massa Brown from Jamaica—dere my uncle— -dere my brother — dere the parson — dere me—dere you * Isn't it awful ? Au aide scratch , punctual by de great clock !—juck . ' juek ! 'Specks it won't do to say , * Please , Sir , I overslept myself 1 ! ! ' Isn't it awful ?

    " What I think of de white man ? Well , hard ' s to say ^ Maker show partiality to white man . Often say to myself , * Coster , what for de Maker tell de joyful tidings to de white man , and not a word to de black ? Why de loud voice in Europe , and not a whisper on de Gold Coast ? Often think that no fair . Parson—I ask de parson—parson sayj * dis is de inscrutable way , '—says , am de vain , presumptive nigger , with de black heart ; and say , * what for him pry where dere be no light ?' " But what 1 think of de white man ? Like him—look nicer than de

    nigger—but him hab de worse nature . Know dere be in N uncles would sell dere friends—anything for money . Isn't it awful ? Dey lie , dey steal , dey cheat , dey sing , dey preach , dey pray , dey make de slave , dey go in him passion , dey lie in de name of dere Maker , dey screw the poor , and kill him rich ; dey break de houses open , dey make de wars—all for de money ! Den '— Here Coster had to leave on an errand , and the conversation dropped . *

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    LETTERS OP A VAGABOND . XVII . Seven Hills , April 27 th , 1852 . IP ^ pi NCE I last wrote , my dear friends , wo have had absoiiSp ! lutcIy no events , and the object of our coming down here < -& %$ > appears to have been at last attained . At least , so far as g ?§^§ it can bo in England . But here , whoro the machinery of lifo exceeds , in the attention of the Jiving , life itself , repose seeing absolutely impossible . Of us all , there are but two ,

    perhaps , that rc |) ose—Walter and Margaret ; the two whoso condition most nearl y approaches to what it might be in Valporduta . For what is there to harass Walter ' s mind beyond the two tilings which completely fill it—art and love ; what to divert Margaret from that settled purpose which is to be seen in all she doos , although she never alludes to it ? To tliem the day Li-oaks to a round of labour , and of loving leisure , and sinks to a twilight of thought and converse , and a ui <» -hfc of repose : each hour satisfied with itself . This is true life . She is

    rapidly recovering her full health , and , with the rounded outline of a Cybelo , sho developes a- voice as deep and full as her own eyes . Edwardea and Con way both typify tho great unrest of J ] n < dand " the transition state , " as they call it , when they desire to excuse their acquiescence in unworth , and their own wild fancies . Y . seult is resting with a suspended mind—I can see in her eye tho poHtponed question . The great Markham plots his Napoleonic schemes of trade in the intervals of talk ; and Julio rests as tho light reatw on water . For my own part , I shall not again know repose until I am once more in Vafporduta . - .

    It is not that trouble keeps mo in unrest—for trouble , dear friends I have known—and you . But I remember when hint we boat out the corn from tho ear in the orango-houae—with the primitive tools which would ko amiiHO our now English philosophic fannoi-M ; I remember mih . sing that fourth one , who used to do a larger share of duty than any of uh j I remember in tho heat of tho day lying down to rest ,

    where the creeping ^ sun seized me by the feet as I lay still , half re membering , half listening to the intense , brazen fervour of the insect atmosphere , conscious how the sun was scorching my bare ancles yet too drowsy to move—remembering , suffering life , yet absolutely reposing . There is no such rest here—Markham would be enterprising or casting up his accounts ; Edwardes-would rise to ascertain the species of mantis that had strayed into his hair j Conway would bo reconciling his convictions and his conduct ; Yseult her'divine sense which seeks truth by the direct path , with her experiences and her suspicions . Yet , I say , there would be repose , for Walter has too much of the great spirit of art in him to supersede life by labourwhich is execution without inception ; and with Margaret repose is as absolute as action .

    Still we have had at least physical rest—suspense of compelled action . We have been able to watch the passing day , and to be witnesses of the daily duty of the plants which toil not , neither do they spin . " Nor yet , " said Markham , " do they pay poor-rates ; " for I had attempted to silence his obtrusive commerce by holding tip to him the example of a young acacia , which did its mission most perfectly , without spoiling its digestion by thoughts of business . " But you are mistaken , " said Edwardes , " if you suppose that the tree itself is absolutely quiescent at any time—at least not at this season . To say nothing of the circulation of the sap , the leaves- " " And doesn ' t your sap circulate * Mr . Edwardes / ' asked Julie " without your telling it , or taking thought for it V . " '

    What is it , Elena , which makes us men know so much pleasure in witnessing the exercise of power in women , especially when it is conscious % I could draw you a useful contrast between the three women of our party , or between them and you , and show you the same truth in all its forms , never failing of the test . Here is Julie—is she lovely , or is she not % I cannot tell . At all events , bright as a spring mom , ' and to all of us seen in a different light . As a brother , I am proud to see how her pretty audacity compels a willing submission . Edwardea doats upon all she does in an undisguised , disinterested admiration ; Markham is as proud of his own slavery as if it were his most unmixed success , and often leaves her " quiproquos" unretorted , through sheer

    gaping delight . To Walter she is but a " subject , " and yet he shows for her that affection which the true artist always feels for a perfect type . Were she , indeed , tyrannical or unkind , she would abate her power ; but her caprices are seized as opportunities which her servants delight to enjoy . Margaret—as different from Julie as the purple grapola hanging darkl y under its broad leaf from the bright , light , white-and-red cherry dancing in a gusty sunlight—who so seldom speaks , speaks the more seldom because each one of us anticipates the wish of her very eye . This I understand . There is something so perfectly simple in all she does , that it is as a final truth . Whether it is her love for Walter , her love , deep and reverential almostyet so

    , strangely protecting towards Yseult : or her frank friendship for tho rest of us , her motives , her acts , her language , her aspect , are as plain and direct as the movements of the elements . When she speaks , I believe they all feel , as I do , that although her words do not labour out her intent , there is no more than that which sho desires to understand—no reservation , no after-thought . As for Yseult , I can speak less critically . Thero is none of Julie ' s unstudied coquetry about her—not a trace ; far less of Margaret ' s grave self-possession ; infinitely more of emotion , which will not bo concealed , although it tries to disguise itself . Perhaps , universally , a respect is shown to her more solicitous , more tender , than to cither of the other two . How

    anarchical must bo the state of society which places perplexity athwart tho path of such a woman It is thoughts such as thoso that keep me from repose , and in ono way or other thoy como out . Depraved by long absence from Valporduta , I have fallen into tho incessant critical habit of " thinking " men in this unhappy land . " It is , " said Com way , " not tho fault of society that wo are in tho disturbod condition of our transition state , but tho impationco of roformors . They tear open the rosebud , and it will not bloom for them . " " Uhoy cut tho flower from its stalk / ' I said , " to put it in bouquets and jars , and it withers . "

    " bay rather , " said fidwardes , "that thoy do not study tho science of culture -do not calculate tho laws , or live upon system . " As tho flowers do ! " cried Julie . "As tho flowers do , " retorted Edwardos , doggedly . " How well he knows 1 Ho speaks with all tho eage oxporieiico of a cabbago ! " . °

    " Kdwardea is right , " . said Cbnway : " wo must study the laws and live by system ; and till wo clo wc shaU novor ; iUaiu ^ jjfe . " And in the meanwhile V * I asked . " In the meanwhile , I suppose , " said Stanhopo , " lifo is to bo suspended . l '

    " I / ear so , said Con way , with that melancholy that novor failed to intact othors . J " Why then , " cried Julio , " we had bottor not ho , until Mr . Conway ami tho gentlemen of suspended animation have aottlcd tho lawfl upon which we arc to live . I decline to exist upon tb . 000 tonna of nnnilul ^ tion . ' x

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    * The Wooing i ^ report of mi nctuul conversation hold with i » ' Nauru , mill tho cor . nmponuuiit ut whom yvo uro imlobUul for it Kuuruuteoa it an a J ' uUliful ' ivnort . —iiu .

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    950 THE liSADEE , &AtoitiAX ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 1, 1853, page 956, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2006/page/20/