The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-07-08
ROBINSON CRUSOE
BY DANIEL DEFOE
D DA-NILL DEF UE
Condensation by James e. Connolly

My father designed me for the law,
but l would be satisfied only with
going to sea, and being one day at
Hull and one of my companions about
to go by sea to London in his fathers
ship, nothing would serve me but !
must go with him-this on September
8, 1851, and l being then nineteen
years of age.
The ship was no sooner out of port
than the wind began to blow and the
sea to rise in the most frightful man
ner, which made me most terribly
sick in body and frightened in mind.
In my agony l vowed that if God
would spare me through this one voy-
age, l would go, Immediately l set
foot on land, directly home to my
good parents and be ever after guided
in my conduct by their advice.
But next day the wind was abated
and the sea calmer, and the sun went
down to perfectly fine evening, and
when to that was added a bowl of
punch made by a shipmate, | forgot
my resolution to return home after
the voyage; and such has been my
habit, to my great misfortune, all my
life: to disaVOW in the hour of peril
the headstrOng actions which have
brought me to peril, and when the
danger is past, to forget all VOWS and
plunge headiong once more on my
needless courses.
Various were my adventures after
that first tempestuous voyage. Trad
ing to Guinea in Africa, l was cap
tured by a Turkish rover and sold
into slavery, from which after many
perils | escaped to the BraZils, where
| set myself up for a sugar planter
and was enjoying a fine prosperity
thereat, when | fell victim to
, temptation. Help being scarce in the
Brazils, and some planters knowing
that | had traded with the slave
coasts of Africa, they beguiled me
into voyage to those parts with the
intent to secure slave labor for our
plantations.
Only evil does ever come of evil
counsel. Our ship was wrecked on
IN unknown island off the northeast
coast of South America, and of all the
/ ships company, / alone, by the bless
ing of God, was allowed to escape
through the high surf to the shore
/ All | possessed at the time was a
knife, a pipe and a little tobacco il
! box. Walking along the shore
when | had recovered sufficiently ir
! strength so as to walk, | found fresh
! water, great JOY. Having drunk anC
put little tobacco against the hun
ger in my mouth. | took up nv lodg
ing in a tree and did there sleep t(
my great retreshment throughout The
night.
Next morning the weather wa:
! clear and the sea mild, but wha
pleased me most was the sight of the
ship, which as the tide ebbed. lay 81
close to shore that | found no trouble
/ in swimming out to it. No living
: thing except dog and two cats wer,
/ left on the ship; but there was a store
/ of necessities, and such I took, build
ing a raft for the purpose of trans
porting them to an inlet in the is
land where was fresh water and
high flat place for my habitation
Bread, rice, barley and corn, chess
and dried goats flesh, some sugar
flour, planks, spars, rOpe-all thes
| with two muskets, two pistols, fow1
ing pieces, a store of lead and powder
| two saws, an axe, hammer, an
| which was the least use of all-thirty
six pounds sterling. All these l pilot
ed from day to day between tides from
ship to shore. On the night of m
thirteenth day, my work of trans POI
tation being done, l lay down in m
usual fear of wild beasts, but also O
thankfulness in the knowledge that
was prepared for some time to com
against the barrenness of the islanC
There were wild fruit trees on tn
island, but it was many days befor
| discovered them. There were ais
goats running wild, but without tn
firearms and ammunition | ha
brought from the ship of what ava
were they to me? So I had reaso
to be thankful for the good Prov
dence which had held the ship t
the shore until I had taken off a
that was of use to me.
t There was much to be done if
were to secure my existence on TIL
strange island The needful thing
| did as best | could in turn, but nc
f always with good fortune attendin
r my efforts. In my first planting
barley and corn seed, the half Of a
my precious stock was wasted by b
ing planted at the wrong time.
spent weary months making cart
, ware pots for holding fresh water
and fOrty-tWO days 1t took me to he
my first long plank from tree.
5 strove for weeks to fashion a stor
: mortar to stamp grain in, only
come at last to block of hollowe
out wood. Five months | lahore
in telling a great cedar tree, hewir
f and shaping it to the hull of a sple
o did boat with which I was to oscar
from the island. only to be forced
! abandon it for want CT a means wher
i by to launch it into the sea. Ho'
+ ever, every failure taught me som
| thing I had not known before
For the elements, there were gre
winds and rains and earthquakes. B
e I became used in time to all thing
r l planted and harvested my crops
barley and corn; l plucked my wi
L grapes and dried them into nourishil
raisins: l raised and killed and salt