Mrs. Marcet

“ My uncle asked me, if there were many such salt marshes in Brazil as abound in North America, and of which cattle are so fond. I forgot at first, and said very foolishly, that I could not tell—I was in a silly fit, till at last I recollected myself, and told him I had heard that there were some, though they are obliged to import a great deal of salt. What an extraordinary appearance a salt plain must have, where the salt is open and uncovered! When we went up stairs, Mary showed me Mr. Salt’s description of one in Abyssinia. ”

“ When they had finished their algebra, to which they seemed to give their whole attention, my uncle said, “Bertha, if you like to try arithmetic again, my daughter Mary will readily assist you: she has one of the clearest heads I ever knew; and will make every step plain. But I must remark that, if we were to force ourselves to repeat every day the substance of what we learn to some third person, we should instantly discover what part is not clear to us.” ”

“ The brightness of the morning sun makes the dewy trees and grass look so beautiful; and then the birds seem so happy, and so active, in the sweet fresh air. These are pleasures that I knew not till I came to England, and they are every day within my reach. ”

“ In my aunt’s flower-garden are hedges of Chinese rose and sweet-brier, with pyrus japonica intermixed. They are very pretty, but not equal to ours of acacia and mimosa, with the passion-flower twining through them, and the bignonia and maranta forming such beautiful garlands, particularly on our favourite green plain. How unequal, too, in strength to those fences that we saw at Pernambuco, made of woven palm leaves, and covered with our brilliant creeping plants ”

“ Ladies are always very anxious to be fashionable, but I assure you, Bertha, though your dresses may be of the newest patterns, you will not look well dressed without something more. Fashion changes continually; the furbelows of to-day give place to-morrow to some other whim—and the vulgar and the empty-minded have the never-ending delight of altering their dresses, but fail after all in acquiring the air of gentlewomen. ”

“ I asked if America, which abounds in delightful plants, has given any thing useful in return to Europe.
“Yes,” said my aunt, “one plant in particular, which is so useful that its cultivation is almost universal. In this country it makes so important a part of the food of millions, that I think it better deserves the name of ‘the hundred ounces of gold’ than the famous Peony tree, called in China ‘Pe-hang-king,’ which has that meaning on account of the enormous price given for it.” ”

“ I said that I believed, as you, Mamma, have often told me, that there is no country which does not possess much to attach its inhabitants to it, and to interest an observant mind.
“And it is in the mind,” she replied, “that our real happiness will always be found. It{51} rests on our own disposition and thoughts, much more than on those outward circumstances which appear coloured by our feelings; just as objects appear the colour of the glass through which you look at them. But,” added she, “I came not to moralise, but to beg of you to come out and walk.” ”

“ Accomplishments are not neglected; but my aunt thinks that most people make them of too much importance, as they should be the ornament, not the object of our life. Mary says she considers the various things she learns, not as tasks, but as the means of enabling her to get through the business of life with pleasure and success; and that were she to call them lessons, she should feel as if they were to be laid aside with childhood.
That reminds me of what my uncle said just after I came here.—“At your age, Bertha, all you learn must be voluntarily acquired, not hammered into your head. ”

“ After a few turns, in which I entirely forgot the North-east wind, he said, “There is no place, my little Bertha, that does not present some objects of interest to those who choose to open their eyes. For instance, even on this rough ditch, and on the old wall that joins it, you may see a curious variety of vegetation, which your finest embroidery cannot equal. Look at those mosses; they are among the meanest plants, yet there is not one that is not worth examining. The fructification is still to be seen on that tuft of bearded thread moss. ”

“ There is such a glowing splendour, as I told Mary, in the sunny days of Brazil, when the glittering humming-birds dart about, and with their long bills extract the honey from the flowers, that I cannot avoid perceiving how gloomy every thing appears here ”

“ It is a strange sort of indolence that chains me down, and makes me delay, from moment to moment, the trifling exertion of jumping up;—it is not sleep, for I am generally awake, merely thinking, in a confused sort of way, of things that are past, or things that I intend to do. My aunt says, that were I asleep all the morning, she would not then struggle against my habits, for my constitution might require sleep; but I have not that excuse to plead.
When I do get up early, there is no time of the day that I enjoy so much. ”

“ My uncle explained to me, that vegetation is the common source from whence all animals{99} derive their food; either at once, from the growing plant, or at second hand from their prey, who had been nourished by it; and that vegetables, in their turn, live on all that has already lived and vegetated. There is a continual succession of production and decay; for it is by decay, and the decomposition that follows, that nature restores to the ground those substances of which it is robbed by vegetation. ”

“ The art of good management, if not acquired in youth, can only be gained by bitter experience. You will perceive, then, that I became a real hard-working, drudging farmer; and you will wonder, probably, how we could get on, when I had such an ignorant wife.—My dear sir, I cannot do her sufficient justice—I cannot describe the strength of mind with which she cheerfully submitted to the change of life, nor the energy with which she sought the common knowledge requisite for our situation. ”

“ If Brazil has a climate, and various beautiful productions which England does not possess, England, on the other hand, has far more substantial comforts; and, by her commerce, she has the means of enjoying those of all other countries. We have not your brilliant flowers and birds, but you will find that we have many which are more useful, and which will interest you, who love natural history. Our birds have no pendent nests, because they are in no danger from such depredators as your monkeys and snakes, and therefore their instinct does not lead them to contrive such means of defence ”

“ And indeed Mamma was right, for never were there happier creatures than we have been, though enjoying but few of what are called comforts. Our gardens, our forest plays, and the pains we took in watching the habits of birds and insects, were our never-failing amusements; and we desired no more, if we were but sure that Papa and Mamma were pleased with us. To the constant visits of Mr. Benson, our good old clergyman, we are indeed indebted for much of what we know; he speaks to us so kindly, and he often reads with us, and removes our difficulties by his clear explanations. ”

“ On Midsummer-day the dwarf birch opened its buds; a fortnight afterwards the ice on the larger lakes broke up, and several plants flowered. But on the 5th of September a storm set in, which clothed all the country with snow for the winter; and in the beginning of October the party again walked over the lakes which they had crossed on the ice in the middle of June; an interval of only 116 days.
The sap of the trees and shrubs freezes there in winter; and the wood becomes so hard that the chips produced by an axe flew off more like splinters of stone than of wood. ”

“ Some of the land is like forest ground, and has neither been fenced nor drained; but Franklin says he will gradually bring it into cultivation. I am in hopes I shall have many a pleasant walk there with my uncle; and then I shall have a good opportunity of seeing the whole process of farming.
How benevolent my uncle and aunt are! they are as much interested about Bessy as if they had always known her; and my uncle’s manner is so kind and so cheerful, that he raises the spirits of the poor old couple whenever they see him. ”

“ These people have preserved their independence, and probably owe it to the quaking and swampy soil which they alone know how to pass over, to their dwellings in the trees.
This mauritia palm is called the Tree of Life by the missionaries; for it not only affords the Indian a safe dwelling, but supplies him with food and wine, and cordage. Its fruit and farinaceous pith supply food—its saccharine juice ferments into wine, and the fibres of the leaf-stalks furnish thread fit for weaving hammocks, or twisting into ropes. ”

“ My cousins have no governess, and yet my aunt says, she has never found teaching them by any means laborious. She says, the chief part of education is to make children comprehend the difference between right and wrong—to teach them self-command—and to give them a love for rational occupation; and then they do not require to be watched. You would be surprised to see how much they accomplish in the course of the day; and yet they always seem at liberty; every thing is done methodically. ”

“ Generally, before we leave the breakfast table, one of my cousins reads aloud for about half an hour. This morning, before we separated, my uncle said, “My dear children, I hope you will consider my little Bertha as another sister;—we must make her feel at home. Let us go on just as usual with all our employments, and she will gradually cease to be a stranger.”
“I hope,” said my aunt, “that Bertha does not feel herself a stranger—she will soon become accustomed to our mode of life; but we must give her a little time—we must become acquainted by degrees.” ”

“ Yesterday evening my cousins sung, and then we all danced for an hour—even my uncle danced, while my aunt played for us.
11th.—After I had written yesterday, I went out to walk with my aunt and uncle—my cousins did not come. In the hot-house I saw many plants, nursed with great care, which I had been accustomed to see growing wild and unheeded, such as our beautiful pink and blue passion-flower, the coffee-plant, jessamines, the many-flowered gloxinia, which ornaments our rocks with its beautiful blue flowers, and several others. ”

“ How very singular, Mamma, to see a whole nation of human creatures depending on one single species of palm-tree for their existence!
We had much conversation about the various species of palms which we saw; and particularly the real sago-tree, which grows in the East, and which exceeds all other plants in the quantity of nutriment it affords to mankind. My uncle told me that a single tree, in its fifteenth year, sometimes yields six hundred pounds weight of sago or meal ”

“ In the central parts of our continent, elm, maple, and ash are common, and grow to a noble size; but their extent is small in proportion to the northern forests of birch and pine, and they seem to prefer an open situation. In the sheltered parts of Savoy and Switzerland the walnut is a very profitable as well as ornamental tree; and the olive flourishes on the sloping sides of the hills, particularly in Italy. In low and warm situations there, the cypress and poplar grow to a great size—above them comes the chesnut, and still higher, approaching the pines, appears the magnificent oak. ”