The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-08-25

MI hardin. when do you mean to give us more Pauls and Virginias and Indian So.tages2 You ought to give US some
 It Is perhaps fortunate for the fame oI St. Pierre that he did not attempt 70 carry out the wishes of the Emper- T Tba one mor5d Eau a,, and Virginia" is enough. IS an immortal story-and, yet we feel that there is just enough of ft-that more would be cloying.
 Paul and Virginia" strictly speak Ing. IS hardly a story at ali. It is a pastoral, a rhapsody on Nature, an daIy- dtdaly of existence far from the mad that N. Pernardin may may aaow snow us us his his Idea Of what love would be with gonng people divorced from the arti- charming, very sentimental and very curious as study not only of nature put dr or the mind of Bernardin de St. hysterieal person. and he made his hero, Paul. sentimental and hysteri- cal, too. To the English-speaking read fp fp there tbe ynno IS something rather repulsive mixes up physiology with love; and the the thought naturally will arise of traa,n1as Msas Densnt IS a life natural and un- tude under the misfortune than that displayed by Paul and develops no more physical stamina than was evil youth?
 Monsieur de la Tour, a native of normandy. after having in vain sought commission in the French army or some support from his own family. emigrated to the French island colony of Mauritius. that earthly paradise whose delights art tempered by epi- denies and tornadoes. Here cut off by the sun-lft waters of the Indian Sea from the disappointments which had oppressed him in Europe. the young man thought to establish himself with his limited means as planter and to live long in the companionship of the sweet young wife whom he had mar ried shortly before and whose family had disowned her for marrying ple- beian.
 But during trip to Madagascar to purchase slaves M. de la Tour died from fever; and all his money, which he had taken with him, was seized by rapacious strangers.
 Mime. de la Tour found herself a widow and about to become a mother in a country where she had neither credit nor friends, and so earthly pos sessions, or, rather, support, except one negro woman. But misfortune armed her with courage. She resolved to seek out some unoccupied bit of land and to cultivate 1t with the help of her single slave. She selected for her refuge q valley. fertile and well watered. on the side of the great mountain that hangs over Port St Louis-a valley surrounded on three sides by cliffs and opening on the east toward the sea. All sensitive and suf- fering creatures, from a sort of com mon instinct. fly for refuge amid their pains to haunts the most wild and lone- 1y, as if rocks could form a rampant .4r.f- --A nature could hush the Sumu1ts of the soul
 That Providence which lends its sup port when we ask but the supply of our necessary wants had a blessing in reserve for Mime. de la Tour which neither riches nor greatness can pur- chase That blessing was a friend.
 The spot to which the distressed woman fled had been inhabited for year by young woman, Margaret. a peasant girl of Brittany. She had list ened to the false promises of rich man of her 'neighborhood who had in time cruelty abandoned her. She had fled from her native village. where she had lost the only portion of a peasant girl, her reputation, and taking ship for Mauritius. she had purchased there with some borrowed money an old negro slave and begun the culti- vation of corner of this remote val ley.
 Here her son was born shortly after her arrival. When Mime. de la Tour came to the valley she saw Margaret sitting before her hut with her child in her arms Soothed and touched by the sight of a person in a situation so much resembling her own she was moved to tell something of her past history and her present wants. Mar garet was deeply touched by the recit- al and, anxious rather to merit confi- dence than to create esteem, she con- fessed without disguise the error of which she had been guilty, and offered Mime. de la Tour both her hut and her friendship.
 "Ah. surely" cried the young wid- ow. "heaven has put an end to my mis- fortunes since 1t inspires you. to whom I am a stranger, with more goodness toward me than I have ever experience ed from my own relatives"
 A league and a half away, in the woods behind the sloping mountain, there made his solitary habitation a man who, disgusted with the vain ann bitions and pomps of Europe, had, like Margaret and Mime. de Ia Tour, sought home in the heart of nature, where, reading his books and tilling his small plantation. life should glide unvexed by him to the boundless sea of the hereafter. TIe knew Margaret and had often helped her; he had stood godfather to her boy, little Paul; and when he heard that she had a companion he hastened to the val ley in the hope of being useful to both.
 He partitioned the valley, through which ran the little river of the Fan Palms, into two parts and owing to the situation of Margaret's hut he was able to build the hut of Mme. de la Tour close to it. but in such place that each would reside upon her own land.
 Barely had the second cottage been completed befor- Mme de la Tour gave birth to a daughter. who was christened by the name of Virginia.
 Then was begun in that happy val ley an ideal existance; and the sor- row of the two mothers became only as a memory. the grief of which was swallowed up in present content. the maternal love which they bore their children and the mutual kindnesses which they experienced from each other amid scenes of a luXuriant and prodigal nature that supplied their simple wants and even their trifiing luxuries.
 Margaret's slave. Domingo. was still robust and healthy. though advanced in years, and he cultivated indiscrim- inately on the two plantations the spots of ground which seemed most fertile, and sowed whatever grain he deemed most congenial to each parti- cular soil. Where the ground was poor he strewed maize: where 1t was most fruitful he planted wheat. and rice in such spots as were marshy. He threw the seeds of gourds and cucumbers at