New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-12-24
STEVENSONIANA.
THE LETTERS FROM SAMOA.

NAILIMA LETTERS. Being correspondeneSS, ss IA,
Colvin. In two volumes, Octave. PIP Isl. 20.
Chicago: Stone & Kimball =
eARDEN OF ss ssar Rs RS
son. Octave. PIP. 1877. Charles Scribners sons
MAcARE meloa5a%s's .n 1ars s0e BY H ESSeyt
Octave pp los Chicago: Stone Kmbal
The vailma letters OF Stevenson possess In
measure the character which he gave to MS
stories Epistolary revelations are usually fatai
20 Illusions but In these two thoroughly per-
eonai and intimate volumes we have stii the
novelist In essence; to read them is to faii again
under the spell of his romance. During the ioui
years on Samoa which the correspondence COW
ers Stevenson lived his own romance, was not
merely a doer Of brave deeds on the paper OF the
novelist but an actual participant in ways ana
vic!ssitudes OF picturesque living which seem III
elements for one Of his own fantastic tales
Samoa lies well within the boundaries of ciVih-
cation. and Stevenson had frequent visitors OF his
own race to say nothing of the companionshp
provided by his family But this Invalid was
not as other invalids are; he had the receptivity
Of genius. and his island solitude became Tor MIN
q place of veritable enchantment, wonderland
growing more and more inspiring as he explored
its depths Thus the letters from his home
stead on the slopes beyond Apia present him as
his most sympathetic readers have always cared
20 find him, impOlSiVe luil Oh dIiioSt Shii"i'NN
interest in his exotic surroundings, and living
in constant ferment of sensations and IDEAS
Mere detachment from populous cities may
not be an imperative and wholesale stimulus to
thought but when exile is characterized by
such experiences Of nature Stevenson could
claim. the Imagination is bound TO be excited ana
enriched The mysterious forest life about him.
the nearness of the Pacific the daily effort TO
evolve farm OF some sort out OF the fairy
primitive conditions in which he found his prop
erty. the presence Of the native islanders, I'M
fashionable as all peoples not far removed from
savagery are apt to be-these factors in his life
supplied for him a new and original background
to the intellectual and emotional exercises which
his work as a writer kept always TO the lore
He went himself into the clearing where his
house was built fought with his cutlass the
brushwood and lianas that occupied the places
he needed for paths. and all the time that he
was plunged into this labor he experienced sud
den starts from bird-calls in the contiguous
forest-some mmicking my name. some laugh
ter, some the signal of whistle SO potent was
the influence Of the strange life going on in his
ncighborhood that, to speak quite frankly they
often moved him to a morbid frame Of mind.
Though / write so little he says, Il pass all
my hours of feld-work in continual converse
and imaginary correspondence. l scarce pull up
a WeeQ out i invent a sentence Oh tHe Hldtlei
to yourself; it does not get written; 'autant en-
emportent les vents, hut the intent is there,
and for me dn sorD the companionship
To-day for instance. we had a great talk. l
was tong. the sweat dripping from my nose
in the hot fit after a squall of rain Methought
you asked me. frankly was happy Happy,
said l. 4 only happy once; that was at
Hyeres. i. came to an end from variety OF
reasons-decline of health change Of place, in
Of money, age. with his stealing steps;
since then, before then. know not what 1t
means. But know pleasure still; pleasure with
q thousand faces. and none perfect; thousand
tongues all broken, thousand hands and all of
them with scratching nails. High among these
! place this delight of wedding out here alone
by the garrulous water. under the silence of the
high wood, broken by homogeneous sounds Of
birds"
The last passage implies the eternal return to
nature pure nature Of every tried but patient
and imaginative character. Yet that the mag
ination sometimes rebounds upon it's owner and
leaves him strangely circumstanced is shown by
strain in these letters aptly indicated by the
following passage. written in the epistle
that gives the words just quoted. Continuing
on the subject OF his wedding. Stevenson says: II
wonder Ii any one had ever the same attitude to
Nature as hold and have held for so long? This
business fascnates me like tune a passion
yet all the while thrill with strong dstaste
The horror OF the thing. objective and subjective
Is always present 10 my mind the horror Of
creeping things. superstitous horror Of the void
and the powers about me. the horror OF my
devastation and continual murders. The life Of
the plants comes through my finger tips. their
struggles go TO my heart like supplications. feel
myself blood-boltered, then l look upon my
cleared grass, and count myself an ally in fair
quarrel. and make stout my heart" Where this
kind Of thing suggests morbid turn Of mind is
in its tentatively literary tone One of the great
gifts of nature to man. when man is worthy. is
her obiteration of all things In his mind that
SAVIOR OF empirical experience. These personifca-
tons that Stevenson met with would have been
hidden quite out of sight by nature in her impe-
rious loneliness. If Stevenson had not always had
in his character the element of sophistication
which crystallized the sensations Of his heart
and brain into literary quantities. There is some
thing thoroughly typical of him in his asser-
ton that Il pull weed but l invent a
sentence on the matter" The feeling in him
which II implies is never absent. the feeling Of
writing man; and finally. in letter of June, 1892.
we get IL frankly stated by himself placed be-
yond the possibility OF misrepresentation: 1T
came me the other day suddenly that
this diary OF mine to you would make good pick
ings after / am dead and a man could make
some kind of a book out Of it without much
trouble"
Mr.. Colvin has made thu book his trouble has
apparently been small, and the readers pleasure
is considerable. For Stevenson had always the
instinct of boy at his heart. side by side with
his literary conscience and aspirations. Invalid
he was. he enjoyed himself immensely. throwing
himself into all the interests Of his island home
concerning himself as know with Samoan pol
itics. afectionately earning from his native
friends the sobriquet OF Tusitala, and keeping
himself always open to the approach Of pleasure
in any wholesome form, matter how insignih-