I am going to give you an account of the first adventure I ever had;
and, although it happened so many years ago, I remember all about it
quite well. I was only six years old at the time, but it was talked of
in the family for long afterwards, as you may suppose, and this
prevented me from forgetting it. Then, by and by, as soon as the younger
ones grew old enough to like stories, they would often beg their eldest
sister to tell them the famous one of the ‘great upset.’ Since those
days I have told the story many times to other children, and now I am
going to repeat it once more.
I daresay you would not wish me to begin with the geography or history
of Jamaica, though I hope any little boy or girl who is interested in
these stories will ask their papa to tell them where it is, and how it
came to belong to us long ago, and that they will try to remember all
about it. I will only say that it is a most beautiful island, with
splendid scenery, lovely flowers and delicious fruits growing wild,
parrots flying about the woods, and humming-birds flitting among the
aloe-blossoms. But then, on the other hand, it is not nearly so nice a
place to live in as our dear old England, in spite of her fogs and grey
skies; for in Jamaica, as well as in all our West Indian Islands, the
climate is very bad, except in the high mountains: there are earthquakes
and hurricanes, snakes, mosquitoes, scorpions, and quantities of
poisonous berries and blossoms. Children are seldom taken or kept there
after two or three years old, and they have not the free outdoor life of
English boys and girls; for they are never allowed to go out except very
early in the morning and late in the afternoon, on account of the hot
sun, which would probably give them fever, or even kill them.
When I first remember Jamaica, we had been there only a few months. My
dear mother was too delicate to live in England during the winter, and
my father had been fortunate enough to obtain what was in those days an
excellent Government appointment. It was the year that Slavery was
abolished: I am always glad to think it was done away with before I knew
anything about the country; and the negroes, as I saw them, were only a
good-humoured happy race for ever laughing and singing.
The ‘we’ I have spoken of above included, besides Mamma and Papa, a
young aunt of whom we children were excessively fond, an English nurse,
my sister, and myself. Jessie was about four years old, the prettiest
little fairy imaginable, and the idol and pet of every one. I am sorry
to say I was very ugly, tall, thin, and sallow, and a regular Tom-boy,
besides being the most mischievous child in the world. I did not mean to
be naughty, but it seemed so dreadful to be always told to be quiet. No
one ever thought of finding me any occupation, and, as I was forced to
seek it for myself, spending my time in a series of scrapes, I am afraid
I did not choose proper employments. Lesson hour was the happiest part
of the day, but unfortunately it lasted only a short while; I used to
envy the servants their regular duties, and whenever I read in little
books of children being obliged to work hard for their parents, I
thought it must be much happier than having nothing to do, which was my
constant complaint. Our nurse could not at all understand this ceaseless
activity, and often drew a mortifying contrast between me and gentle,
pretty little Jessie, whom she declared was ‘a born lady,’ implying that
I was just the reverse.
We remained in Spanish Town, the capital of Jamaica, where my father’s
office was, until the hot weather set in, about March, and then we all
got ill one after the other. Papa was looking out for a cottage in the
mountains, in which to spend the summer, when a friend, who was going to
England, offered us the use of his country place in the centre of the
island. The climate was very cool there, but to get to it we had to
climb a high range of hills, and the lowest pass by which we could cross
them was so steep and dangerous that it still kept the name of ‘Monte
del Diavolo,’ or ‘Devil’s Mountain,’ by which the Spaniards had
christened it nearly 300 years ago. When the time came to start on our
journey, the English coachman was too ill to accompany us. My father
therefore drove the britschka; Joe, the black groom, was on the box next
him; and inside sat Mamma, Aunt Nelly, the nurse, and Jessie and I. We
had a journey of fifty miles before us, but the horses were very
valuable ones, and had just arrived from England: we therefore only
travelled in the early morning and the cool evening, as they could not
endure the tropical sun at mid-day. These horses had an unfortunate
dislike, or dread, of the negro grooms, and when we began to ascend the
Monte del Diavolo on the afternoon of the second day, my father gave
strict orders to Joe not to leave the coach-box on any account, but to
take the reins, saying that he himself would go to their heads if
necessary. You must know that the road was exceedingly steep, and so
narrow that even a man on horseback could not pass a carriage. In
several places a recess had been blasted by gunpowder out of the side of
the mountain; a negro mounted on a mule preceded us, and blew a shell
loudly, to warn any country carts that might be blocking up the way to
draw aside into one of these recesses till we had passed. Child as I was
at the time, I remember the grandeur of the scenery, and how I jumped
about the carriage from side to side, admiring first the steep cliff
rising straight up from the narrow path along which we drove, and next
the precipice, which sunk away almost from beneath the horses’ feet; the
tops of the tall cedar, mahogany, and cotton trees were on a level with
the road, and numbers of bright-plumaged birds flitted about among their
branches. At the bottom of this ravine there sparkled what looked like a
thin thread of water. I immediately begged for some to drink, and Mamma
was explaining to me that what I saw really was a large river, and that
its great distance below us made it appear to be only a brook, when my
attention was attracted by the warning notes of the shell. Whilst I
listened intently, Mamma tied the strings of my cottage-bonnet securely
under my chin. You will see presently why I mention this. My little
bonnet was very hot and uncomfortable, being exactly like those
charity-school girls now wear; but in the days I write of it was quite
fashionable. The hood of the carriage was still up, though the sun was
sinking below the high hills towards the west, and I thrust my restless
head beyond it to see what was going on. How well I remember it all!
Just at that moment a second discordant blast came from the shell; the
horses pricked up their ears and slightly started, enough to send one of
the hind wheels to the very edge of the steep precipice. My father
encouraged them with both voice and whip, and all would probably have
been right, if poor well-meaning but stupid Joe had not forgotten all
his master’s cautions. He jumped off the coach-box, and was at the
spirited animals’ heads in a second. At the sight of a figure dressed
entirely in white with jet-black face, hands, and bare feet, the horses
backed a little more, and the off hind wheel slipped over the edge of
the precipice. What follows takes much longer to tell than it did to
happen. The horses tried to drag the carriage up again, but in vain;
every instant added to the weight. I can distinctly recollect my
father’s blanched face as I saw him fling down the useless reins and
whip, and spring to the horses’ heads to help Joe to drag them back by
main force on to the road. We remained quite still and breathless where
we sat. I remember the sensation of the carriage gradually slipping back
and dragging the horses nearer the edge; their frantic struggles—I saw
them dig their front hoofs, as a cat might its claws, into the bank over
which their hind legs had now slipped. That was the last I saw, for we
heard a sort of scream from the terrified animals, mingling with the
men’s voices of encouragement to them, and I felt Mamma suddenly snatch
me into her arms and fold me tight with my head buried in her breast.
Then came a swift rushing through the air, which soon took away my small
senses; and I never can forget my amazement, on awaking from what I
thought a deep sleep, to feel a soft weight preventing me from stirring.
I must have made a slight movement, for Mamma gave me a little shake and
asked me if I was alive. We have often laughed at that question since,
but you must remember that our wits were rather scattered after such a
fall. I assured her I was very much alive and anxious to get up, if she
would only move; which she accordingly did very slowly, poor darling,
for she was a good deal bruised and shaken. I was on my feet in a
second, and rather delighted with the novelty and excitement. Mamma and
I had fallen out on the first landing, as it were, of the steep
mountain-side, not very far from the top. She desired me to tell her
what I could see of the others, so I rushed about in great excitement
and delight, reporting my observations. In a tall cotton-tree below us I
caught a glimpse of the nurse and Jessie lodged like birds in the upper
branches. I announced that nurse was lying quite still, holding Jessie’s
frock, but the poor little girl was kicking vigorously and crying to be
taken down.
Papa I could see on the road above, with his hat and coat off, and
literally tearing his hair out with his hands—the only time in my life I
have ever seen any one do this. There were bonnets, shawls, books, &c.
strewn all about, and I was particularly delighted to perceive a very
smart embroidered parasol belonging to Aunt Nelly lying near me. I must
confess to being very naughty indeed about this parasol, and I will tell
you how. Mamma asked me if the carriage or horses were to be seen, but
though I fancied there was something dark in the bed of the river below
us, it was impossible to tell what it might be, and, selfish, naughty
little girl that I was, I felt very anxious to get away from her with my
prize, the parasol, which I had always been strictly forbidden to touch.
I suggested, therefore, calling Papa to help Jessie and nurse out of the
cotton-tree, and so escaped with the parasol tucked under my arm. Poor
Papa was very glad to see me unhurt, and to hear that Mamma was also
safe, and on my pointing out the cliff under which she was still lying,
he prepared to go to her assistance first. Joe had been already
despatched to a place where a detachment of soldiers was quartered in
those days, about three miles off, with an entreaty from Papa to the
commanding officer to send a cart directly to our help, and also the
surgeon. The sun was now fast setting, and I thought with sorrow that my
precious parasol would soon be useless, as there would be no sun from
which to shelter: but I determined to avail myself of the few moments
left; so I opened it and strutted up and down the road. What a
ridiculous little object I must have looked!—my frock, &c. torn to
ribbons, my bonnet crushed quite flat, and now hanging down my back (the
doctor said afterwards its thickness had saved my head from a frightful
blow, as the straw was quite cut through in one place), and my thick
shock head of hair all blowing about my face: think of the contrast of
this little beggar-girl’s appearance to a very smart light-coloured
parasol embroidered in bright silks! I can distinctly remember my
surprise at finding that my successful piece of disobedience did not
make me so happy as I expected it would; on the contrary, my conscience
began to prick me horribly. I seemed to hear a voice telling me quite
plainly how wicked it was to take advantage of my poor aunt’s absence to
do what she had forbidden; in short, I was so tormented by the clamour
of these internal reproofs, that I hastily closed the parasol and put it
carefully on one side, resolving to confess my naughtiness as soon as
possible. I must tell you here that I went about with this burden on my
mind for many days before any one would listen to my penitent
acknowledgment, and then I was fully and freely forgiven, and _never_
wished to touch the parasol again.
I have only fitful gleams of memory as to what followed. I fancy I see
dear Mamma sitting on some of the carriage cushions and leaning against
the rocks by the roadside. I see Jessie in Papa’s arms, choking and
coughing, and I heard afterwards that in her struggles she had fallen
from the branch which caught her head-foremost into the hollow of the
old cotton-tree, and had been nearly smothered by a fine powder, caused
by decay, with which the vast trunk was filled. Here I am going to make
a little digression to explain something to you. The cotton-_tree_ of
which I have spoken is quite different from the cotton-_plant_ which
furnishes us with all our calico and our pretty cotton frocks. _That_
cotton is the snow-white contents of a small pod about as big as an egg.
First there is a bright yellow flower on the shrub (for it never grows
more than eight or nine feet high), then a pod succeeds quickly to the
blossom, and when this bursts the little tree looks so pretty with these
tufts of cotton on it, each with some seeds inside. It grows freely in
Jamaica, but is not cultivated to any great extent. Most of the cotton
we use comes from India and America, and some even from the South Sea
Islands. Now the cotton trees, into one of which poor Jessie fell, grow
in the forests and are as big as elms or beeches, and with very thick
trunks. They also bear a pod full of cotton, but it is quite useless,
though exquisitely soft and fine. In the first place, it is of a
light-brown colour, just like a mouse’s back, and in the next place it
is quite full of little seeds the size of apple pips. Sometimes the
negroes collect this silky down to stuff a pillow, but to pick out the
little seeds takes so long that it is not worth much for other purposes.
I hope you now understand quite clearly the difference between the
cotton-tree and the cotton-plant.
We must go back to the slowly-assembling party by the roadside. Nurse
was still in the tree, for, warned by Jessie’s fate, she thought it
better to stay quite still till plenty of help arrived, which it did in
a wonderfully short time; for long before we thought Joe could even have
reached the Moneague he had returned, accompanied by every officer and
soldier in the place, and a couple of carts with mattresses and pillows
inside, and, best of all, some large stone bottles of water, for we were
all dreadfully thirsty. How kind everybody was! I can remember a big
soldier attempting to tidy me a little, and saying, ‘Why, little lady,
you’ll frighten your poor Mamma to death if she sees you like this;’ and
he actually contrived to make me more presentable by arranging my hair,
tying my sash properly, rough, kindhearted nurse that he was. But all
these were trifles compared to the great anxiety every one felt about
poor Aunt Nelly’s fate. After a hurried search among the upper terraces
of the steep mountain-side and along the track of broken boughs caused
by the rapid descent of the carriage and horses, it was resolved that a
party of soldiers, Papa, and the surgeon should go quite down to the
bottom of the precipice and search for her. I do not remember how long
they were away, I only know I was very unhappy; for all my first
excitement had died out before the real trouble and sorrow around me. I
was so frightened to see Mamma’s pale face and closed eyes. Nurse, who
had been extricated from her lodging among the topmost branches of the
tree, was giving her something out of a teaspoon, and whenever I came
near she said, half-crossly, ‘Now go away, Miss; pray go and play with
Miss Jessie:’ but Jessie and I had no heart to play; we were getting
very hungry and sleepy, and thoroughly terrified at the position of
affairs.
The most vivid of all my recollections of that sad afternoon is hearing
a soldier say that he saw the exploring party returning, and he added,
‘The young lady is alive too, I am certain.’ I rushed off to Mamma with
the news, but I suppose, as usual, I managed to tell it in the worst
way, for my joy was damped by Nurse saying in great anger, ‘There, Miss,
you’ve made your poor Mamma faint again; now go away, _do_.’ So I
returned, just in time to see Aunt Nelly, who had been brought up in a
shawl carried by soldiers, lying on the white dusty road, her pretty
dress all torn and soiled, her dark curls dabbled in blood, the kind,
smiling eyes closed, and her face as white as the handkerchief with
which the doctor was preparing to make a bandage. I am told that I gave
such a shriek of terror and dismay that my voice roused her from the
long swoon in which they had found her; and nothing which happened
yesterday is half so plain before me as her bewildered face, as she
unclosed her eyes, and looked at me. To the surprise of every one, she
almost immediately raised herself on her elbow—and, oh! how well I
remember the deep, horrible cleft in her head which I then saw!—and,
putting up the other hand to clear away the blood which was streaming
over her face, said feebly, ‘My hair is getting into my eyes, I wish you
would keep it away,’ and then sank back again. I think my story is
getting so much too dismal that I must hasten to tell you she is alive
and well at this moment, and the only lasting consequence of her
terrible fall was that the hair which grew where the cut on her head had
been turned quite grey. It does not matter now, for all the rest matches
it, but for many years this long thick lock of silver was very
conspicuous among her brown curls. Now that I have eased your minds a
little, I will go back to that dreadful evening. We were packed in the
carts and conveyed to the barracks, where everything was done to make us
as comfortable as circumstances would admit of; but I do not remember
much after my fright at the first glimpse of my dear pretty aunt with
her head cut open. I have been told since that she had passed her arm
inside the long strap at the side of the carriage, just as she knew we
were going to have an accident, thinking to save herself from tumbling
out; but when they found her at the bottom of the precipice she was
lying near the dead horses, and the surgeon said he fancied the blow on
her head must have been given by a kick from one of them. The carriage
was broken into little pieces, so small that each bit could be carried
up the hill again in a man’s hand. The poor horses were frightfully
battered and cut, but fortunately they were quite dead, and so was a
little pet spaniel which I have forgotten to mention, and which had been
lying under the boxseat during the journey. Our own escape was so
marvellous, and we were so thankful to God for preserving our lives,
that I never heard a regret wasted on either horses or carriage, though
I mourned in secret for a long time over the sad fate of poor beautiful
Whitefoot and Firefly.
Aunt Nelly lay for many days dangerously ill, and the moment she could
bear the voyage Papa sent her, Jessie, Nurse, and me back to England,
where we remained till I grew up into a tall young lady of sixteen, when
we returned to Jamaica and spent two very happy years there. Another
time I intend to tell you all about our pets and the sort of life we
led; but before I finish for the present I think I must add one great
piece of naughtiness which I committed before we left Jamaica with Aunt
Nelly. The curious part of the story is that I had no intention of being
naughty, nor any idea that my experiment would have been better left
untried.
To make you understand how the idea came into my head I must explain
that I was very tall for my age, whilst Jessie was extremely short. She
was always longing and wishing to be as tall as I was, and asking
everybody if they did not think she was growing bigger; but still she
remained a little fat dot of a thing, whilst Nurse declared that my
frocks had to be let down an inch every week. I was very sorry that
Jessie remained so small, and helped her to remedy the defect upon every
opportunity. I had already got into trouble for abstracting a pot of
pomade from Mamma’s dressing-case. I hid it under my pillow, and as soon
as Nurse had taken away the light at night, slipped out of my little
bed, felt my way to Jessie’s crib, and, with her full consent and
approbation, rubbed her all over from her head to her feet with pink
pomatum. I leave you to imagine the state of the sheets, &c. in the
morning. When I was brought up for judgment and sentence before the
authorities, my only defence was that I had heard Papa say, a day or two
before, speaking of this wonderful pomatum, ‘Why, I believe it would
make even little Dot grow.’ This was quite enough to determine me to try
the effect on her. However, I was only lectured and dismissed without
any punishment, but unfortunately with the idea more firmly rooted than
ever in my silly little head, that it was my duty, to devise some way of
helping Jessie to grow taller.
It must have been several weeks after this failure that, upon the
occasion of a large garden-party in the afternoon, Jessie and I found
ourselves wandering about the grounds of a friend’s house, in our best
frocks, waiting for the arrival of some other children who were to play
with us. We believed ourselves to be very smart indeed; and so we were
for those days; but I think if you saw two little girls playing in the
square now, dressed exactly as we were, you would think they looked very
odd. We had on very pale pink silk petticoats, over which were muslin
pelisses—I remember mine had a frill round my waist!—pink drawn silk
bonnets (hats had never been heard of for little girls), very big, hot,
and uncomfortable, tied tightly under our chins, muslin trousers with
lace and work round our ankles, and pink silk boots! Fancy running about
the grass in pink silk boots. However, Nurse pronounced that we looked
very nice indeed, and I tried hard to believe her, though I had great
doubts on the subject. We were particularly told by her not to go off
the smooth gravelled walks (on account of these horrid boots); so we
considered that we were strictly keeping within the limits of the law
when we followed a narrow path which led us round rather to the back of
the house, among thick shrubs. Here we stopped to examine a deep hole
which had just been dug for a large plant. There was a wateringpot full
up to the brim standing temptingly near it, and also a spade. I cannot
recollect what led to the subject, except that hardly an hour ever
passed without an allusion to it, but I remember Jessie peering into the
hole and saying wistfully, ‘Oh! I wish I could grow like the plants!’
Immediately I felt a strong conviction that at last we had hit upon the
only way to improve her tiny stature; so I said eagerly, ‘Well, I don’t
see why you shouldn’t, if only you could be planted: but perhaps Nurse
might not like the trouble of digging the hole, or of watering you
afterwards.’ These were the only objections which occurred to me; and
when Jessie timidly said, ‘I wonder if that hole is big enough for me?’
I immediately felt that it would be absolutely wrong to miss such an
opportunity of trying an experiment, so I urged her to get in. She did
not want much persuasion, but jumped down into the hole—I think I see
her pretty little anxious face now, peeping out from the frightful heavy
bonnet-cap of bows of ribbon and net which framed it. I asked her how
she felt, and she said it was very cool to her feet; so I directly made
up my mind to carry out the idea thoroughly, and assured her, as if I
knew it to be a fact, _that_ was the first symptom of growth, and I
proceeded to tilt the big wateringpot with all my strength (for I could
not possibly lift it), until a stream began to trickle down upon the
pink silk boots. Jessie said, with a little gasp, half of fright, “It’s
very cool and nice, but I’m afraid Nurse won’t like it on account of my
boots;” so I comforted her by assurances that when Nurse saw how tall
she had grown she would not mind it. Soon the water was all poured in,
and it was too late for any hesitation about the fate of the boots, or
of the lace frills of the little trousers and the skirt of her pelisse
which were hopelessly splashed and muddy. We both felt quite reckless
now, and I proposed to shovel in the loose earth, giving as a reason
that plants required earth as well as water to make them grow. In a
wonderfully short time I had really planted my poor little sister up to
her shoulders, and jumped upon the earth to press it in, just as I had
seen the gardener do. Jessie was wonderfully brave about it, and I
encouraged her by assurances of my belief in her being a little taller
already. However, it promised to be rather a long process, and I felt
too restless to wait and watch; so, entreating Jessie not to be afraid,
but to be patient and quiet, I gave her a kiss and went away. No sooner
had I lost sight of my victim than all my courage vanished, and my
troublesome conscience began upbraiding me. I was in such a dreadful
mess myself that I did not dare to go near the front of the house, but
spent a dismal afternoon hiding behind the shrubs, afraid to go back to
where Jessie was planted. At last Nurse swooped down upon me, terrible
in her wrath, speechless with horror. Even my tongue was dumb when I saw
poor pale little Jessie, who had been discovered, and with some
difficulty dug up. I remember feeling bitterly convinced that she had
not grown in the least; she appeared to be weeping tears of mud, for my
gardening had splashed her face a good deal with earth, and her
fast-falling tears melted it all. She was crying for the punishment
which she knew would overtake me, much more than for her own misery and
discomfort, and I certainly would have cried for myself if I could have
foreseen that for three long days and nights I was to be locked up in a
spare dressing-room. Nurse came twice a day with a large piece of bread
and a jug of water, but her countenance was too awful for me to dare to
speak to her. I was quite as miserable as I deserved to be, and the only
ray of comfort I had was when Jessie managed to escape and rush to my
door, flinging herself down in a perfect agony of grief outside it. We
never had time for more than a word or two before she was recaptured and
carried off; but I heard with additional sorrow that she was not
supposed to be a bit taller, though she had been planted for three hours
when she was discovered and released.