Mark Rutherford - "More Pages from a Journal"

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Franklin K. Lane - "The Letters of Franklin K. Lane"

New Philadelphia Book Publisher Highlights Local Talent
Book and Publishing News from Publishers Newswire(tm)

Looking for Child to be on Cover of a New Book, 'The Model Child'
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- The Philadelphia literary world will celebrate the launch of two new players today, April 10th: Kay Square Press, a new publishing company focused on Philadelphia-area artists, their stories, and their art; and Kay Square's first release, 'With the Rich and Mighty: Emlen Etting of Philadelphia' (ISBN: 978-0-9815129-0-7), a critical biography by Kenneth C. Kaleta.

FlatSigned Press Alleges Don Imus Remarks Damage Legacy of President Gerald R. Ford
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Nathan Yungerberg, an accomplished model scout and professional child photographer is launching a nation-wide casting call to find the cover model for his highly anticipated book release, 'The Model Child: A Parents Guide to the Child Modeling Industry' (ISBN: 978-0-9817018-0-6).

Books: The Little Savage

C >> Captain Marryat >> The Little Savage




"In course of time, however, to all appearance, everything and every
one went on in their daily course, as though no Heinrich had ever
been heard of. My father would sometimes, when overpressed by
business, refer to the able assistant he had lost, and now and then I
heard a conjecture hazarded by some one or other of his most
confidential friends, as to what young Reichardt was doing with
himself. My conjectures, and my references to him, were far from
being so occasional; there was scarce an hour of the day I did not
think of him; but, believing that I should please him most by
endeavouring to improve as much as possible during his absence, I did
not give myself up to idle reflections respecting the past, or
anticipations, equally idle, respecting the future.

"My great delight was in hearing from him. At first, his letters
expressed only his feelings for me; then he dwelt more largely on his
own exertions for preparing himself for the profession he desired to
adopt; and after a time, his correspondence was almost entirely
composed of expositions of his views of a religious life, and
dissertations on various points of doctrine. He evidently was growing
more enthusiastic in religion, and less regardful of our attachment.

"Yet I entertained no apprehensions or misgivings. I did not think
it necessary to consider myself slighted because the thoughts of my
future husband were evidently raised more and more above me; the
knowledge of this only made me more anxious to raise myself more and
more towards the elevation to which his thoughts were so intently
directed.

"Things went on in this way for two or three years. I never saw him
all this time; I heard from him but seldom. He excused his limited
correspondence on the plea that his studies left him no time for
writing. I never blamed him for this apparent neglect--indeed I
rather encouraged it, for my exhortations were always that he should
address his time and energies towards the attainment of the object I
knew him to have so much at heart--his becoming a minister of our
Lord's Gospel.

"One day my father came home from the rectory with a troubled
countenance. Dr Brightwell was very indignant because Heinrich had
joined a religious community that dissented from the Articles of the
Church of England. The Doctor had offered to get him employment in
the Church, if he would give up his new connections: but the more
earnest character of his new faith exerted so much influence over his
enthusiastic nature, that he willingly abandoned his bright prospects
to become a more humble labourer in a less productive vineyard.

"My father, as the clerk of the parish, seemed to think himself
bound to share in the indignation of his pastor for this desertion,
and Heinrich was severely condemned by him for displaying such
ingratitude to his benefactor: I was commanded to think no more of him.

"This, however, was not so easy a matter, although our correspondence
appeared to have entirely ceased. I knew not where to address a letter
to him and was quite unaware of what his future career was now to be."




Chapter XXXIV


"Time passed on. With all, except myself, Heinrich Reichardt
appeared to be forgotten; in the opinion of all, except myself, he
had forgotten our house, and all the friends he had once made there.
Our good Rector had been removed by death from the post he had so
ably filled; and my father being incapacitated by age and infirmity
from attending his duties in the church, had his place filled by
another. He had saved sufficient to live upon, and had built himself
a small cottage at the end of the village, where we lived together in
perfect peace, if not in perfect happiness.

"I had long grown up to womanhood, and having some abilities, had
been employed as one of the teachers of the girls' school, of which I
had raised myself to be mistress. I conducted myself so as to win the
respect of the chief parochial officers, from more than one of whom I
received proposals of marriage: but I never could reconcile myself to
the idea of becoming the wife of any man but the long-absent
Heinrich, and the new clerk and the overseer were fain to be content
with my grateful rejection of their proposals.

"I determined to wait patiently till I could learn from Heinrich's
own lips that he had abandoned his early friend. I could never get
myself to believe in the possibility of his unfaithfulness; and the
remembrances of our mutual studies in the Book of Truth seemed always
to suggest the impossibility of his acting so completely at variance
with the impressions he had thence received.

"I was aware that if I had mentioned my hopes of his one day coming
to claim me, I should be laughed at by everyone who knew anything of
our story--so I said nothing; but continued the more devotedly in my
heart to cherish that faith which had so long afforded me support
against the overwhelming evidence of prolonged silence and neglect.

"There was a congregation of Dissenters in the town, and I had been
once or twice prevailed on to join their devotions. One day I heard
that proceedings of extraordinary interest would take place at the
meeting-house. A minister of great reputation had accepted the
situation of Missionary to preach the Gospel to the heathen, and he
was visiting the different congregations that lay in his route to the
seaport whence he was to embark to the Sandwich Islands. He was
expected to address a discourse to the Dissenters of our parish, and
I was induced to go and hear him.

"The meeting-house was very much crowded, but I contrived to get a
seat within a short distance of the speakers, and waited with much
interest to behold the man, who, like some of the first preachers,
had chosen the perilous task of endeavouring to convert a nation of
savage idolaters to the faith of the true Christ.

"After a short delay he appeared on a raised platform, and was
introduced to this congregation by their minister. I heard nothing of
this introduction, though it seemed a long one; I saw nothing of the
speaker, though his was a figure which always attracted an attentive
audience. I saw only the stranger. In those pale, grave, and serious
features then presented to me, I recognised Heinrich Reichardt."

"He had come back to you at last," I exclaimed; "I thought he would.
After all you had done for the poor German boy, it was impossible
that he should grow up to manhood and forget you."

"You shall hear," she replied. "For some time my heart beat wildly,
and I thought I should be obliged to leave the place, my sensations
became so overpowering; but the fear of disturbing the congregation,
and of attracting attention towards myself, had such influence over
me, that I managed to retain sufficient control over my feelings to
remain quiet. Nevertheless, my eyes were upon Heinrich, and my whole
heart and soul were exclusively engrossed by him while he continued
before me.

"Presently he began to speak. As I have just said, I paid no
attention to the preliminary proceedings. I know nothing of the
manner in which he was introduced to his audience; but when he became
the speaker, every word fell upon my ear with a distinctness that
seemed quite marvellous to me.

"And how could it be otherwise? His tall figure, his melancholy yet
expressive features, his earnest manner, and clear and sonorous
voice, invested him with all the power and dignity of an Apostle, and
when with these attributes were joined those associations of the past
with which he was so intimately connected, it is impossible to
exaggerate the influence he exercised over me.

"He began with a fervent blessing on all who had sought the sanctity
of that roof, and his hearers, impressed with the thrilling earnestness
of his delivery, became at once hushed into a kind of awe-struck
attention. They knelt down, and bowed their heads in prayer.

"I appeared to have no power to follow the general example, but
remained the only sitter in the entire congregation with my eyes,
nay, all my senses, fixed, rivetted upon the preacher. This, of
course, attracted his attention. I saw him look towards me with
surprise, then he started, his voice hesitated for a moment, but he
almost immediately continued his benediction, and, as it seemed to
me, with a voice tremulous with emotion.

"Then followed a discourse on the object of the preacher in
presenting himself there. He described the wonderful goodness of the
Creator in continually raising up the most humble instruments of his
will to perform the most important offices; in illustration of which
he referred to the numerous instances in the Old and New Testaments,
where God's preference in this way is so clearly manifested.

"He then stated that 'a case had arisen for Divine interposition,
equal in necessity to any which had occurred since the first
commencement of Christianity.' He explained that 'there were nations
still existing in a distant portion of the globe in a state of the
wildest barbarism. Ignorant savages were they, with many cruel and
idolatrous customs, who were cannibals and murderers, and given up to
the worst vices of the heathen. Their abject and pitiable state, he
told us, the Lord God had witnessed with Divine commiseration, and
had determined that the light of Christian love should shine upon
their darkness, and that Almighty wisdom should dissipate their
besotted ignorance.

"'But who' he asked, 'was to be the ambassador from so stupendous a
Power to these barbarous states? Who would venture to be a messenger
of peace and comfort to a cruel and savage nation? Was there no man,'
he again asked, 'great enough and bold enough to undertake a mission
of such vast importance, attended by such terrible risks?

"'The Almighty Ruler seeks not for his ministers among the great and
bold,' he added, 'as it is written, He hath put down the mighty from
their seats, and hath exalted the humble and meek. And it will be
peculiarly so on this occasion, for the exaltation is from the
humblest origin; so humble it is scarcely possible to imagine so
miserable a beginning, in the end attaining distinction so honorable.

"'Imagine, if you can, my brethren,' he said, 'in the building set
apart in your town for the reception of your destitute poor, a child
parentless, friendless, and moneyless, condemned, as it seemed, to
perpetual raggedness and intolerable suffering. A ministering angel,
under the direction of the Supreme Goodness, took that child by the
hand and led it out of the pauper walls that enclosed it, and under
its auspices the child grew and flourished, and learned all that was
excellent in faith and admirable in practice.

"'It was ordained that he should lose sight of his angelic teacher.
A dire necessity compelled him to withdraw from that pure and
gracious influence. He had to learn in a different school, and
prepare himself for heavier tasks. Manhood, with all its severe
responsibilities, came upon him. He sought first to render himself
competent for some holy undertaking, before he could consider himself
worthy again to claim that notice which had made him what he was.
Earnestly he strove for the Divine assistance and encouragement; and
as his qualifications increased, his estimate of the worthiness
necessary for the object he had in view, became more and more exalted.

"'At last,' he continued, 'it became known to him that a Missionary
was required to explain to the savage people to whom I have already
alluded, the principles of Christianity. He was appointed to this
sacred trust: and he then determined, before he left this country for
the distant one of his ministry, to present himself before that
beneficent being who had poured out before him so abundant a measure
of Christian virtue; that they might be joined together in the same
great vocation, and support each other in the same important trust.'

"I heard enough," continued Mrs Reichardt. "All was explained, and I
was fully satisfied. The discourse proceeded to identify the speaker
with the poor boy who had been preserved for such onerous duties.
Then came an appeal to the congregation for their prayers, and such
assistance as they could afford, to advance so holy a work as the
conversion of the heathen.

"I was in such a tumult of pleasant feelings that I retained but a
confused recollection of the subsequent events. I only remember that
as I was walking home from the meeting, I heard footsteps quickly
following; in a few minutes more the voice that had so lately filled
my heart to overflowing with happiness, again addressed me. I was too
much excited to remain unconcerned on suddenly discovering that
Heinrich was so near, and I fell fainting into his arms.

"I was carried into a neighbouring cottage, but in a short time was
enabled to proceed home. In a week afterwards we were married: a few
days more sufficed for the preparations that were required for my
destination, and then we proceeded to the port, and embarked on board
the ship that was to take us over many thousand miles of sea, to the
wild, unknown country that was to be the scene of our mission."




Chapter XXXV


Mrs Reichardt was obliged to break off her narrative, where it
concluded at the end of the last chapter. As I have said, her
household duties, being very numerous, and requiring a great deal of
attention, took up nearly the whole of her time.

The garden now presented a most agreeable appearance, possessing
several different kinds of vegetables, and various plants that had
been raised from seed. We had succeeded in raising several young
orange trees from the pips she had brought in her basket; and they
promised to supply us with plenty of their luscious fruit. Even the
peas we thought so dry and useless had germinated, and provided us
with a welcome addition to our table. I shall never forget the first
day she added to our scanty meal of dried fish a dish of smoking
potatoes fresh out of the moist earth. After enjoying sufficiently my
wonder at their appearance, and delight at their agreeable taste, she
informed me of their first introduction into Europe, and their
gradual diffusion over the more civilised portions of the globe.

I speak of Europe now, because I had learned from my companion, not
only a good deal of geography, but had obtained some insight into
several other branches of knowledge. In particular, she had told me
much interesting information about England, much more than I had
learned from Jackson; dwelling upon its leading features, and the
most remarkable portions of its history; and I must acknowledge that
I felt a secret pride in belonging to so great a country.

I considered that I belonged to it, for my father and mother were
English, and though I might be called The Little Savage, and be fixed
to an obscure island in the great ocean, I felt that my real home was
in this great country my mother talked about so glowingly, and that
my chief object ought to be to return into the hands of my
grandfather the belt that had in so singular a manner come into my
possession.

I often thought of this great England whose glory had been so widely
spread and so durably established, and longed for some means of
leaving our present abode, and going in search of its time-honoured
shores. But I asked myself how was this desirable object to be
effected? We had no means of transporting ourselves from the prison
into which we had been accidentally cast. We had nothing resembling a
boat on the island, and we had no tools for making one; and even had
we been put in possession of such a treasure, we had no means of
launching it. The rocky character of the coast made the placing of a
boat on the water almost impossible.

The expectation of a vessel appearing off the island appeared quite
as unreasonable. We had seen no ships for a long time, and those we
had observed were a great deal too far off to heed our signals.

We had no help for it, but to trust to Providence and bear our
present evil patiently. Nevertheless, I took my glass and swept the
sea far and wide in search of a ship, but failed to discover anything
but a spermaceti whale blowing in the distance, or a shoal of
porpoises tumbling over each other nearer the shore, or a colony of
seals basking in the sun on the rocks nearest the sea. My
disappointment was shared by Nero, who seemed to regard my vexation
with a sympathising glance, and even the gannets turned their dull
stupid gaze upon me, with an expression as if they deeply
commiserated my distress.

I had for a long time employed myself in making a shelving descent
to the sea, on the most secure part of the rock, intending that it
should be a landing place for a boat, in case any ship should come
near enough to send one to our rescue. It was a work of great labour,
and hatchet and spade equally suffered in my endeavours to effect my
object; but at last I contrived to take advantage of a natural
fracture in the rock, and a subsequent fall of the cliff, to make a
rude kind of inclined plane, rather too steep, and too rough for bad
climbers, but extremely convenient for my mother and me, whenever we
should be prepared to embark for our distant home.

My thoughts were now often directed to the possibility of making on the
island some kind of boat that would hold ourselves and sufficient
provisions for a voyage to the nearest of the larger islands. I spoke
to Mrs Reichardt on the subject, but she dwelt upon the impossibility
without either proper tools, or the slightest knowledge of boat-building,
of producing a vessel to which we could trust ourselves with any
confidence, neither of us knowing anything about its management in
the open sea; and then she spoke of the dangers a small boat would
meet with, if the water should be rough, or if we should not be able
to make the island in any reasonable time.

Yet I was not daunted by difficulties, nor dissuaded by discouraging
representations. I thought at first of fastening all the loose timber
together that had drifted against the rocks, as much in the shape of
a boat as I could get it, but on looking over my stock of nails, I
found they fell very far short of the proper quantity; consequently
that mode of effecting my purpose was abandoned.

I then thought of felling a tree and hollowing it out by charring
the timber. As yet I had discovered nothing on the island but shrubs.
I was quite certain that no tree grew near enough to the sea to be
available, and if I should succeed in cutting down a large one and
fashioning it as I desired, I had no means of transport.

I might possibly make a boat capable of carrying all I wanted to put
into it, but as I could neither move the water up to the boat, nor
the boat down to the water, for all the service I wanted of it, even
if the island contained a tree large enough, I might just as well
leave it untouched.

Still I would not altogether abandon my favourite project. I thought
of the willows that grew on the island, and fancied I could make a
framework by twisting them strongly together, and stretching seal
skins over them. I laboured at this for several weeks,--exercising
all my ingenuity and no slight stock of patience, to create an object
with which I was but imperfectly acquainted.

I did succeed at last in putting together something in a remote
degree resembling the boat that brought part of the whaler's crew to
the island and had taken them away, but it was not a quarter the
size, and was so light that I could carry it without much difficulty
to the landing I had constructed on the cliff. When I came to try its
capabilities, I found it terribly lop-sided--it soon began to leak,
and in fact it exhibited so many faults, that I was forced to drag it
again on shore, and take it to pieces.

I called in Mrs Reichardt to my assistance, and though at first she
seemed averse to the experiment, she gave me a great deal of
information respecting the structure of small boats, and the method
of waterproofing leather and other fabrics. I attended carefully to
all she said, and commenced re-building with more pretensions to art.

I now made a strong frame-work, tolerably sharp at each end, and as
nearly as possible resembling a keel at the bottom. I covered this on
both sides with pieces of strong cloth saturated with grease from the
carcases of birds, and then covered the whole with well-dried seal
skins, which I had made impervious to wet. The inside of the boat
nearest the water I neatly covered with pieces of dry bark, over
which I fixed some boards, which had floated to the island from
wrecked ships. Finally I put in some benches to sit on, and then
fancied I had done everything that was necessary.

I soon got her into the fishing-pool, and was delighted to find that
she floated capitally--but I still had a great deal to do. I had made
neither oars to propel her through the water, nor sail to carry her
through the waves, when rowing was impossible. I remembered the
whaler's spare oars and mizen, but they were too large; nevertheless,
they served me as models to work upon, and in time I made a rough
pair of paddles or oars, which, though rudely fashioned, I hoped
would answer the purpose pretty well.

The next difficulty was how to use the oars, and I made many awkward
attempts before I ascertained the proper method of proceeding. Again
my companion, on whom nothing which had once passed before her eyes
had passed in vain, shewed me how the boat should be managed.

In a short time I could row about the pool with sufficient dexterity
to turn the boat in any direction I required, and I then took Nero as
a passenger, and he seemed to enjoy the new gratification with a
praiseworthy decorum; till, when I was trying to turn the boat round,
the movement caused him to attempt to shift his quarters, which he
did with so little attention to the build of our vessel, that in one
moment she was capsized, and in the next we were swimming about in
the pool with our vessel bottom upwards.

As she was so light, I soon righted her, and found that she had
received no injury, and appeared to be perfectly water-tight.




Chapter XXXVI


I could not prevail upon Mrs Reichardt to embark in my craft, the
fate of my first passenger which she had witnessed from the shore,
had deterred her from attempting a voyage under such unpromising
circumstances.

As soon as I had dried my clothes, I was for making another
experiment, and one too of a more hazardous nature. I would not be
parted from Nero, but I made him lie at the bottom of the boat, where
I could have him under strict control. With him I also took my little
flock of gannets, who perched themselves round me, gazing about them
with an air of such singular stupidity as they were being propelled
through the water, that I could not help bursting out laughing.

"Indeed," said Mrs Reichardt, "such a boat's crew and such a boat
has never been seen in those seas before. A young savage as captain,
a tame seal as boatswain, and a flock of gannets as sailors,
certainly made up as curious a set of adventurers as ever floated
upon the wide ocean."

I was not the least remarkable of the strange group, for I had
nothing on but a pair of duck trousers, patched in several places;
and my hair, which had grown very long, hung in black wavy masses to
my shoulders. My skin was tanned by the sun to a light brown, very
different from the complexion of Mrs Reichardt, which had ever been
remarkable for its paleness. Indeed she told me I should find some
difficulty in establishing my claim to the title of European, but
none at all to that of Little Savage, which she often playfully
called me.

Nevertheless, in this trim, and with these companions, I passed out
of the fishing-pool into the sea, with the intention of rowing round
the island. Mrs Reichardt waved her hand as I departed on my voyage,
having exhorted me to be very careful, as long as I was in hearing;
she then turned away, as I thought, to return to the hut.

The day was remarkably fine. There was not so much as a cloud on the
horizon, and scarcely a ripple on the water: therefore, everything
seemed to favour my project, for if there had been anything of a
breeze, the beating of the waves against the rock would have been a
great obstacle to my pursuing my voyage with either comfort or
safety. The water too was so clear, that although it was of great
depth, I could distinguish the shells that lay on the sand, and
observe various kinds of fish, some of most curious shape, that
rushed rapidly beneath the boat as it was urged along.

I was delighted with the motion, and with the agreeable appearance
of the different novelties that met my gaze. The light boat glided
almost imperceptibly through the water at every stroke of the oar.
Nero lay as still as if his former lesson had taught him the
necessity of remaining motionless; and the gannets now and then
expressed their satisfaction by a shrill cry or a rapid fluttering of
their wings.

In this way, we passed on without any adventure, till I found it
necessary for me to row some distance out to sea, to round a
projecting rock that stood like a mighty wall before me. I pulled
accordingly, and then had a better opportunity of seeing the island
than I had ever obtained. I recognised all the favourite places, the
ravine, the wood, the hut covered with beautiful creepers, and the
garden, full of flowers, looked very agreeable to the eye: but every
part seemed to look pleasant, except the great savage rocks which
enclosed the island on every side: but even these I thought had an
air of grandeur that gave additional effect to the scene.