The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1886-07-01
{ THE SOLITARY.


when / 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 forsa1e his country and his
friends, to abjure all society, and to live
on rock, is a story in itself, which ha:
nothing to do with mine.
AS the Lord liveth, I 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.
Ny 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 sav9 ge and stern guise, instilled in my
heart by silent but deep lessons. She
taught my feet to bound and my arm to
smibe; 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, l had luxuries un-
known to the palled tastes of cities, OF
to those who WOO d sligiit in an air OF
odors and in land f roses. What were
those Iuxuries? They had a myriad of
varieties and shades of enjoyment; they
hut hot
those luxuries? Solitude
NV father died when l was IS; was
transferred to my uncle's protection, and
I repaired to London. / arrived there
gaUlt and stern, giant in limbs and
strength, and to the tastes of those about
me, savage in bearing and in mood.
They would have laughed, but 1 awed
them; they would have altered me, but
changed them; l 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.
/ felt it, and 1 hated them that they could
not love me. Three years passed. 1 was
of age. 1 demanded my fortune, and,
scorning social life and pining once mole
for loneliness, L 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 came to
my old uncle, who had liked me less than
any, l grasped his hand with so friendly
grip that, well 1 ween, the dainty and
nice member was but little inclined to its
ordinary functions i'll future.
l commenced my pilgrimage. 1
pierced the burning sands, traversed
the vast deserts, L 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 primeval 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
molders, 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 counted them
not; they were not doled to me bv 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 a vague
and restless spirit fell upon me, and l
said in my foolish heart: Il will look
upon the countenances of my race
once more!" retraced my steps; 1 re-
crossed the wastes; 1 re-entered the
cities; took again the garb of man; 1
repaired to a seaport and took ship for
England.
In the vessel there was one man, and
only one, who neither avoided my COM
panionship nor recoiled at my frown. He
was am 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. 1t
was impossible to awe, to silence, or to
shun him. He sought me forever; he
was a 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 well as
despicable to us, 1 longed and yearned
to strangle him when he addressed me!
Often 1 would have laid my hand on him
and hurled him into the sea to the
sharks, which, lynx-eyed and eager
lawed, SWAN night and day around our
ship: but the gaze of many was on us,
and cursed myself ard turned away,
and shut my eyes in very sickness; and
when 1 opened them again, lol he was
by my side, and his sharp voice grated
in its prying and torturing accents
in my loathing and repugnant earl One
night 1 was reused from my sleep
by the screams and oaths of men, and
! hastened on deck; we had struck
upon rock. 1t was CHASTITY, but oh,
how glorious a sight! Moonlight, still
and calm-the sea sleeping in sapphires;
and in the midst of the silent and soft
repose of all things, $50 souls were to
perish from the world! sat apart and
looked on, and aided not. turned and
saw my tormentor. The moonlight fell
on his face, and it grinned with the
maudlin grin of intoxication, and his
DsttS Dlue eyes SllS1c1GNl' do llS SStlQs We
will not part, even herei" My blood ran
coldly through my veins, and 1 would
have thrown him into the sea, which now
came fast and fast upon us, but the
moonlight was on him, and did not
dare to kill him. But 1 would not stay
to perish with the herd, and l threw my
self alone from the vessel and swan
toward rock. saw shark dart after
me, but Stunned him, and moment
after he had plenty to safe his NAV.
heard a crash, and mingled with wild
burst of anguish-the anguish OF
$50 hearts that a minute after
ward were stilled-and l said in
my own heart with great joy: "His
voice is with the rest, and we have
parted" 1 gained the shore and lay me
down to sleep.
The next morning my eyes opened on
land more beautiful than a Grecian's
dream. The sun had just risen, and