Elizabeth Sandham

“ I have been very bad man, but the negroes did persuade me; I ashamed that ever I agree to them: but I did not know you a good master till I lived with you: I thought all white men bad men. They treat us ill, and we treat them ill, but you never treat me ill. Wilson die for you, so will I: I keep your life as my own! and your's too, dear lady,' turning to me, 'and the children's for my master's sake. I will be your faithful servant.'
"I thanked him, and Mr. Meridith promised to consider him as such. ”

“ Meridith's daughter, they each made her a curtesy:
"Oh, don't curtesy to me;" said Anna, full of what had passed in the morning; "I am only a little girl like yourselves, and if it had not been for a good uncle and aunt, and Mrs. Meridith's kindness, I should have been a great deal worse off than you, for I had no father or mother to take care of me."
"Oh, Miss Anna, don't talk so," said Bella; "every body loves you, and would be glad to take care of you." ”

“ Meridith's bounty."
"I believe," replied Anna, with some spirit, "that if he needed and deserved it, he would not have long to wait for it; but can you tell me where he is?"
[Pg 57]
"O dear no, Miss, I have no acquaintance with him, nor do I wish it: I only think that if he knew how generous Mrs. Meridith is to all who belong to you, he would soon be here to get a little out of her."
"Fye, Nancy, fye, I am ashamed of you," said the old man; "if you can't talk better than that, you should hold your tongue; you may be ashamed of yourself; can any one help the faults of their parents?" ”

“ But, my dear uncle, you would not have me quarrel with these people, because they do not notice me for my own sake? Be assured I properly estimate their attentions, and often smile at them all; but Mrs. Meridith has so often cautioned me against giving any one reason to think I treat them with contempt, that I am careful to return their civility: and if we understand each other right, it passes, like current coin, for no more than it is worth. ”

“ Anna was surprised to hear Mrs. Meridith talk of spending a winter at L—, as she had often heard her rejoice that her residence was not nearer to it.
"I do it," said her friend, "to shew you something of society. The world is much the same every where, only as the circle advances in higher life, dissipation and dissoluteness of manners too often increase; you have read a great deal of what this world is, but it is necessary you should see something of it also, as your years increase, and not gather all your information from books. ”

“ She had lived in their family from the age of fifteen to seventy-five, and deserved, by her strong attachment to it, every attention which they paid her; and never did a master, mistress, and servant agree so well as Molly, and both the Mr. and Mrs. Campbells had done. All the children greatly lamented her loss, and with Mrs. Meridith's permission, Anna, Bella, and Syphax attended her funeral, Mr. and Mrs. Campbell being the chief mourners. Such is a village funeral, where the parade of ostentation is not known; but the simple honours which are paid to honest integrity come from the heart. ”

“ She a'n't used to be soon frightened! Miss Meridith is none of your timid-hearted young ladies."
"Indeed I am not," returned Anna; "I am able to walk now, and if you will accompany me to Rosewood, I will thank you, Thomas."
"That I will, Miss," replied he, "I will see you safe home; and be glad you be a little more like yourself again."
"And will you not permit me, Madam, to assist you?" repeated the stranger; "I do not think you can walk without support." ”

“ Meridith's choosing to adopt her for a daughter, is no reason she should force her upon all her acquaintance."
"She certainly is a very romantic woman; but my mamma says, and I think so too," said the eldest Miss Hunt, "that as she was so fond of the farmers, and country people, she had better have continued among them; and not, after confining herself to their society for ten or twelve years, have come forth again, with an attempt to introduce one of their family into the world, whom they say she has educated with all the fine sentiments and benevolent ideas which she herself possesses." ”

“ Campbell; "her consequence is such that whom she favours, every one who wishes to please her thinks it necessary to favour also; but let her withdraw her protection, and where would your noticers be then?"
"Oh! you and my aunt and cousins would notice me," replied she, with an air of gaiety; "even if Mrs. Meridith gave me up; unless I should do any thing very disgraceful indeed; and even then you would care for me, I know."
"And so would I," said John, who was present at this conversation; "my cousin Anna would be always the same to me, let her name be Meridith, or Eastwood, or what it may." ”

“ Anna in trembling accents thanked her kind benefactress, and hastened to present it to her father as Mrs. Meridith's gift.
[Pg 201]
"I want words to thank her," said he, "but it is too much: do you think I dare be trusted with such a sum?"
"I hope so, my father," replied Anna, "and double that, had I it to give you."
"Oh! my child, money is not what I want," said he; "do you think I am now entering on business with a view to obtain it? No: but from a wish of employment, and of being useful to my fellow creatures. Every thing else is useless to me now you are provided for; and oh! ”

“ My husband now proposed going over to Jamaica, where the West-India estate lay, and to claim it for himself, as he had sufficient documents to ascertain it as his property. I had one child at that time, and was large with another, but I determined to accompany him, and having settled every thing necessary in England, we embarked; intending to be absent not more than three years; and to return previous to my coming of age, I had one maid who attended me, and an old servant, who had lived with the late Mrs. Meridith, determined to follow the fortunes of his master. ”

“ I don't think you are more so in that white frock than in a coloured one; [Pg 34] you don't enjoy a game of play so well, for fear you should tear it."
"I don't consider that," returned Anna; "I have plenty more in the drawer; and Bella has nothing to do, but to mend it for me, and Mrs. Meridith would not be angry."
"Well, but still," said William, "I am sure you could play as well in the coloured ones you used to wear, and eat and drink as well; and sleep as well when you went to bed, so that I don't see any difference in them." ”

“ Sure, sure, a farm-house is the happiest place in the world; always busy, and something to look forward to from every employment which will be useful to ourselves and others. I should never wish to see our little Anna any other than a farmer's wife, such as her dear grandmother was, not but what Mrs. Meridith is a very good lady: a very good lady indeed: but riches won't make [Pg 24] people happy, that's plain to be seen in her. How dull she looks sometimes! ”

“ Campbell with great pleasure told Mrs. Meridith the alteration her last conversation with farmer Ward had made in his conduct towards himself.
[Pg 101]
"He has told me all," said he, "and with that ingenuousness, which I fear is not to be met with in the circles you have described to us, acknowledged himself wrong."
"In that respect," said Mrs. Meridith, "people belonging to less polished society have the advantage, for they are not ashamed to own themselves mistaken when they really feel they are so; while more polite ones never will." ”

“ Meridith, "only when we chuse to be amused by her; but she shall always be with Bella and Syphax, and never in the kitchen if they can help it; and though from her coming so young we must expect her to treat us with familiarity, if we gain her confidence and esteem, and teach her rightly to appreciate her own character, we need not be afraid of disrespect. I should wish a servant to be well acquainted with me, and to believe that I would not betray the trust she reposed in me ”

“ As she advanced she saw a man stooping down, as if to read what was written on the stone, and which the dimness of the evening scarcely allowed him to see. His whole attention was engrossed, and he did not hear her footstep.
"Anna Eastwood," said he, "daughter of William and Mary Campbell;—Ah! that [Pg 171] is her. But is there no other name? Is there not another Anna Eastwood? ”

“ Meridith, and her uncle and aunt, while the latter always endeavoured to imprint on her mind the sense of her obligation to her kind benefactress, by whose name she was now universally known, though that which really belonged to her was Eastwood, for so her parents were called.
In the course of a few years Mrs. Meridith evidently grew happier, while according to her own maxim she added to the happiness of others; she suffered no one to want work who were capable of it, and [Pg 47] she regularly supplied those who were old or ill in the village with every comfort they needed. ”

“ Campbell after her late recital. When they arrived neither of them were at home, and they were told that one of the labourers' wives had been taken ill in the night, and Mrs. Campbell was gone to visit her.
Thither also Mrs. Meridith and Anna bent their steps, and met her just come from the house, her eyes full of tears. "What is the matter, my dear aunt," asked Anna, "is dame Lewry very ill?"
"She is just dead," returned Mrs. Campbell, "and has left a distressed family indeed: her husband has such bad health, that for more than half the year he can do no work." ”

“ But though she wished Anna should know every thing necessary to adorn the station in life she intended her to fill, she was equally anxious that she should not pride herself upon it. The little girl had already learnt her letters, and could spell a few words, and for the first two or three years of her being Mrs. Meridith's child, that lady was her only instructress. Anna [Pg 31] was allowed to take a great deal of exercise, and her cousins were not more expert in running, driving the hoop, and such amusements than herself. All the old men who worked in the gardens rejoiced at her good fortune ”

“ Meridith called, and made the same proposal, it was readily agreed to, and little Anna was called in from her play with the boys, and the great mastiff dog who was letting them all ride upon his back. On being asked if she would like to live with Mrs. Meridith? she replied, "if William and John go too." John was but a few months older than herself, and William nearly seven years old.
"They shall come and see you every day," said Mrs. Meridith.
"And father and mother going too?" asked the artless child, "and old Molly, and Growler," which was the name of the dog. ”

“ Meridith, which they had so amply experienced in her visit to them; but they dreaded the long train of servants and "saucy footmen" they should have to pass through, having heard that such were always more ready to notice any thing awkward than their owners: but they were agreeably surprized to find no such men at Rosewood. Mrs. Meridith's household consisted of no more servants than were absolutely necessary, and one footman and a black servant were all they saw. Her table and sideboard were neatly spread, without any appearance of ostentation ”

“ In short, from her extensive fortune and her earnest endeavour to make these poor people happy, there was not a family in Downash who had not at least one of their children apprenticed to some useful trade, while the others worked in the fields; nor was there a child in the village who had not learned to write and read; and while Mrs. Meridith was thus careful for Downash and its inhabitants, she was not unmindful of the poor on the estate she had left in Lincolnshire, but gave orders to her agent there that they should be provided with what was necessary for them ”

“ Meridith now found herself fatigued, and begged to postpone the remainder of her story till the next evening.
"The worst is still to come," said she, "and I do not find myself equal to the recital;" and her friends were too attentive to her feelings to urge her to continue it. Anna related what had passed between Syphax and herself in the garden. ”

“ Don't you want to hear some of our village news? you seem to have forgot all your country acquaintance; aunt, and cousins, and all."
"No, dear uncle, do not say so," replied Anna, "how are they all? do they wish for my return?"
"We begin to think your absence long," returned he, "and so does all in the village; though your aunt and cousins, agreeable to Mrs. Meridith's desire, are careful [Pg 157] they should not want any comfort she would allow them, if she was at home; and it is our little Mary's business to carry round the weekly money to the old and infirm." ”

“ However we arrived there with the remains of my dear little boy, whom I had no sooner seen laid in the ground, than I was taken ill, and a premature birth was the consequence; but the child, which was another boy, lived, and I loved it with ten times more affection, from having lost its brother, and its being born in a strange country. I was too weak to nurse it myself, and a black woman was provided to suckle it. ”

“ She continued with the farmer and his wife till nearly six years old, regarding them as parents, and loving them equally with her father, who, as she advanced in childhood, grew more attached to her, and, pleased with her winning ways, he never came to the farm without some new toy, or sweetmeat, or sugar-plums, the servants at home being ordered to have something nice always in readiness for him to take to their young mistress. ”

“ Meridith and you have the greatest claim to her," added he with a sigh. "You have performed a parent's part; I only bore the name."
Mr. Campbell then related Mrs. Meridith's history, and that Anna's attention [Pg 196] seemed absolutely necessary to make her forget her griefs. "Long may she be preserved to us," continued he, "but I have often heard her say, that at her death this adopted daughter should be the mistress of Rosewood; and of whom can she learn the duties of such a situation so well as from her present instructress?" ”

“ I learnt from the masters who attended those accomplishments which are regularly introduced into schools; from the governess, all that feigned politeness, which teaches us to appear glad to see a person when we are not so; to tell them they look well, when their appearance is just the contrary ”

“ In short Anna was caressed by all the inhabitants of the village not [Pg 32] only on her mother's account, but on Mrs. Meridith's also, who was pleased at every attention paid her "adopted daughter."
Who then can wonder that our young heroine should begin to think herself of more consequence than she really was? and that her little head was nearly turned with the notice which was always taken of her? And here it would be well if many children, who find themselves objects of attention to their friends, would consider that it is not for any thing extraordinary in themselves ”

“ Meridith went a great way in gaining their consent, and it was agreed the offer should be accepted, but not before old Molly, who had lived in the house when Anna's mother was born, had been consulted, and prevailed on to give a willing affirmative to the arrangement.
"She will never be happier in any great house than here;" ”

“ Meridith will not take her away from Downash, she always intends living here, and seems attached to the place, and we [Pg 22] know Anna can learn no evil of her. Will it be acting right, therefore, to deprive Mrs. Meridith of the amusement Anna will be, or Anna of the advantages Mrs. Meridith's fortune can obtain for her? We see riches has not made that lady proud or dissipated, and with such an example, may we not hope Anna will escape the effects which wealth and idleness too commonly produce? ”

“ Suffer me to embrace you, and receive a father, who, though he has but little to offer you, has an earnest desire to make you all the recompense in his power for his former conduct towards you."
Anna could only answer him with tears, and while the whole party were thus engaged, Mr. Campbell entered the room, having heard part of Anna's adventure from Thomas, who, on his return home, reported it through the village, "how he had met Miss Meridith in the church-yard almost as dead as a stone, and a strange man with her;" ”