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Robert Louis Stevenson-Part9_Alexander H.Japp(1839-1905)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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Bless to us our extraordinary mercies; if the day come when these



must be taken, have us play the man under affliction. Be with our

friends; be with ourselves. Go with each of us to rest: if any



awake, temper to them the dark hours of watching; and when the day

returns to us, our Sun and Comforter, call us up with morning faces



and with morning hearts - eager to labour - eager to be happy, if

happiness shall be our portion; and if the day be marked for



sorrow, strong to endure it.

"We thank Thee and praise Thee, and in the words of Him to whom



this day is sacred, close our oblations."

Mr Bazzet M. Haggard, H.B.M., Land-Commissioner, tells, by way of



reminiscence, the story of "The Road of Good Heart," how it came to

be built, and of the great feast Mr Stevenson gave at the close of



the work, at which, in the course of his speech, he said:

"You are all aware in some degree of what has happened. You know



those chiefs to have been prisoners; you perhaps know that during

the term of their confinement I had it in my power to do them



certain favours. One thing some of you cannot know, that they were

immediately repaid by answering attentions. They were liberated by



the new Administration. . . . As soon as they were free men -

owing no man anything - instead of going home to their own places



and families, they came to me. They offered to do this work (to

make this road) for me as a free gift, without hire, without



supplies, and I was tempted at first to refuse their offer. I knew

the country to be poor; I knew famine threatening; I knew their



families long disorganised for want of supervision. Yet I

accepted, because I thought the lesson of that road might be more



useful to Samoa than a thousand bread-fruit trees, and because to

myself it was an exquisite pleasure to receive that which was so



handsomely offered. It is now done; you have trod it to-day in

coming hither. It has been made for me by chiefs; some of them



old, some sick, all newly delivered from a harassing confinement,

and in spite of weather unusually hot and insalubrious. I have



seen these chiefs labour valiantly with their own hands upon the

work, and I have set up over it, now that it is finished the name



of 'The Road of Gratitude' (the road of loving hearts), and the

names of those that built it. 'In perpetuam memoriam,' we say, and



speak idly. At least, as long as my own life shall be spared it

shall be here perpetuated; partly for my pleasure and in my



gratitude; partly for others continually to publish the lesson of

this road."



And turning to the chiefs, Mr Stevenson said:

"I will tell you, chiefs, that when I saw you working on that road,



my heart grew warm; not with gratitude only, but with hope. It

seemed to me that I read the promise of something good for Samoa;



it seemed to me as I looked at you that you were a company of

warriors in a battle, fighting for the defence of our common



country against all aggression. For there is a time to fight and a

time to dig. You Samoans may fight, you may conquer twenty times,



and thirty times, and all will be in vain. There is but one way to

defend Samoa. Hear it, before it is too late. It is to make roads



and gardens, and care for your trees, and sell their produce

wisely; and, in one word, to occupy and use your country. If you



do not, others will. . . .

"I love Samoa and her people. I love the land. I have chosen it



to be my home while I live, and my grave after I am dead, and I

love the people, and have chosen them to be my people, to live and



die with. And I see that the day is come now of the great battle;

of the great and the last opportunity by which it shall be decided



whether you are to pass away like those other races of which I have

been speaking, or to stand fast and have your children living on



and honouring your memory in the land you received of your

fathers."



Mr James H. Mulligan, U.S. Consul, told of the feast of

Thanksgiving Day on the 29th November prior to Mr Stevenson's



death, and how at great pains he had procured for it the necessary

turkey, and how Mrs Stevenson had found a fair substitute for the



pudding. In the course of his speech in reply to an unexpected

proposal of "The Host," Mr Stevenson said:



"There on my right sits she who has but lately from our own loved

native land come back to me - she to whom, with no lessening of






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