The weekly sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1886-1887, 1886-07-15
THE SOLITARY.

when I was in the cradle, and l found
my sole companion, tutor, and playmate
in my father. He was a younger brother
of a noble and ancient house. What in
duced him to forsake his country and his
friends, to abjure all society, and to live
on a rock, is story in itself, which has
nothing to do with mine.
AS the Lord liveth, l believe the tale
that 1 shall tell you will have sufficient
claim on your attention, without calling
in the history of another to preface its
most exquisite details.
My father was addicted to the sciences
the physical sciences and possessed
but moderate share of learning in any
thing else. He taught me all he knew,
and the rest of my education nature, in
a savage and stern guise, instilled in my
heart by silent but deep lessons. She
taught my feet to bound and my arm to
smite; she breathed life into my passions,
and shed darkness over my temper;
she taught me to cling to her, even
in the most rugged and unalluring form,
and to shrink from all else-from the
companionship of man, and the soft
smile of woman, and the shrill voice OF
childhood, and the ties, and hopes, and
socialities and objects of human exist
ence-as from a torture and a curse.
Even on that sullen rock, and beneath
that ungenial sky, I had luxuries On
known to the palled tastes of citi 8, or
to those who WOO delight in an air OF
odors and in land of roses. What were
those luxuries! They had a myriad of
varieties and shades OF enjoyment; they
had but a common name. What were
those luxuries? Solitude!
Ny father died when l was 10; was
transferred to my uncle's protection, and
I repaired to London. / arrived there
gaunt and stern. giant in limbs and
strength, and to the tastes of those about
me, a savage in bearing and in mood.
They would have laughed, but I awed
them; they would have altered me, but I
changed them; I threw a damp over
their enjoyment and a cloud over their
meetings. Though I said little. though
1 sat with them estranged, and silent,
and passive, they seemed to wither
beneath my presence. Nobody could
live with me, and be happy, or at ease.
I felt it, and hated them that they could
not love me. Three years passed. was
of age. 1 demanded my fortune, and,
scorning social life and pining once more
for loneliness, [ resolved to journey into
those unpeopled and far lands which, if
any have pierced, none have returned to
describe. So l took my leave of them
all, cousin and aunt, and when l came to
my old uncle, who had liked me less than
any, l grasped his hand with SO friendly
a grip that, well I ween, the dainty and
nice member was but little inclined to its
ordinary functions in future.
I commenced my pilgrimage.
pierced the burning sands, traversed
the vast deserts, / came into the enor-
NOUS woods of Africa, where human step
never trod, nor human voice ever startled
the thrilling and intense solemnity that
broods over the great solitudes, as it
brooded over chaos before the world was.
There the prineval nature springs and
perishes undisturbed and UNMARRIED by
the commissions of the surrounding
world; the leaf becomes the tree, lives
through its uncounted ages, falls, and
Inolders, and rotS, and vanisheS, unwit-
messed in its mighty and mute changes,
save by the wondering lion, or the wild
ostrich, or the huge serpent.
Seasons glided on, but I counted them
not; they were not doled to me by the
tokens Of man, nor made sick to me by
the changes of his base life and the evil
dence Of his sordid labor. Seasons
glided on, and my youth ripened into
manhood, and manhood grew gray with
the first rose of age; and then vague
and restless spirit fell upon me, and I
said in my foolish heart: Il will look
upon the countenances Of my race
once more!r retraced my steps; I re-
ha I no
cities; took again the garb of man;
repaired to seaport and took ship for
England.
only one, who neither avoided my COM
partnership nor recoiled at my frown. He
was an idle and curious being, full Of
the frivolties, and egotisms, and import
ance of them to whom towns are homes
and talk has become a mental aliment.
He was one pervading, irritating, often
sive tissue of little and low thought. The
only meanness he had not was fear. It
was impossible to awe, to silence, or to
shun him. He sought me forever; he
was blister to me, which no force could
tear away; my soul grew faint when my
eyes met his. He was to my sight as
those creatures which from their very
loathsOmeness are fearful as we'll as
despicable to us, I longed and yearned
to strange him when he addressed me-!
Often would have laid my hand on him
and hurled him into the sea to the
sharks, which, lynx-eyed and eager
jawed, swan night and day around our
ship: but the gaze of many was on US,
and cursed myself and turned away,
and shut my eyes in very sickness; and
when opened them again, 10! he was
by my side, and his sharp voice grated
in its prying and torturing accents
in my loathing and repugnant ear! One
night l was reused from my sleep
by the screams and oaths of men, and
! I FASTENED on deck; we had struck
upon rock. 1t was CHASTITY, but oh,
how glorious sight. Moonlight, still
! and calIn-the sea sleeIii.,c in sa1,naEiros.