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diff --git a/22846.txt b/22846.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3827947 --- /dev/null +++ b/22846.txt @@ -0,0 +1,830 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ground-Ash, by Mary Russell Mitford + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Ground-Ash + +Author: Mary Russell Mitford + +Release Date: October 2, 2007 [EBook #22846] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GROUND-ASH *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +THE GROUND-ASH + +By Mary Russell Mitford + + +Amongst the many pleasant circumstances attendant on a love of +flowers--that sort of love which leads us into the woods for the +earliest primrose, or to the river side for the latest forget-me-not, +and carries us to the parching heath or the watery mere to procure for +the cultivated, or, if I may use the expression, the _tame_ beauties of +the parterre, the soil that they love; amongst the many gratifications +which such pursuits bring with them, such as seeing in the seasons in +which it shows best, the prettiest, coyest, most unhackneyed scenery, +and taking, with just motive enough for stimulus and for reward, drives +and walks which approach to fatigue, without being fatiguing; amongst +all the delights consequent on a love of flowers, I know none greater +than the half unconscious and wholly unintended manner in which such +expeditions make us acquainted with the peasant children of remote and +out-of-the-way regions, the inhabitants of the wild woodlands and still +wilder commons of the hilly part of the north of Hampshire, which forms +so strong a contrast with this sunny and populous county of Berks, whose +very fields are gay and neat as gardens, and whose roads are as level +and even as a gravel-walk. + +Two of the most interesting of these flower-formed acquaintances, were +my little friends Harry and Bessy Leigh. + +Every year I go to the Everley woods to gather wild lilies of the +valley. It is one of the delights that May--the charming, ay, and the +merry month of May, which I love as fondly as ever that bright and +joyous season was loved by our older poets--regularly brings in her +train; one of those rational pleasures in which (and it is the great +point of superiority over pleasures that are artificial and worldly) +there is no disappointment. About four years ago, I made such a visit. +The day was glorious, and we had driven through lanes perfumed by the +fresh green birch, with its bark silvery and many-tinted, and over +commons where the very air was loaded with the heavy fragrance of the +furze, an odour resembling in richness its golden blossoms, just as +the scent of the birch is cool, refreshing, and penetrating, like the +exquisite colour of its young leaves, until we reached the top of the +hill, where, on one side, the enclosed wood, where the lilies grow, sank +gradually, in an amphitheatre of natural terraces, to a piece of water +at the bottom; whilst on the other, the wild open heath formed a sort of +promontory overhanging a steep ravine, through which a slow and sluggish +stream crept along amongst stunted alders, until it was lost in the deep +recesses of Lidhurst Forest, over the tall trees of which we literally +looked down. We had come without a servant; and on arriving at the gate +of the wood with neither human figure nor human habitation in sight, and +a high-blooded and high-spirited horse in the phaeton, we began to feel +all the awkwardness of our situation. My companion, however, at length +espied a thin wreath of smoke issuing from a small clay-built hut +thatched with furze, built against the steepest part of the hill, of +which it seemed a mere excrescence, about half way down the declivity; +and, on calling aloud, two children, who had been picking up dry stumps +of heath and gorse, and collecting them in a heap for fuel at the door +of their hovel, first carefully deposited their little load, and then +came running to know what we wanted. + +If we had wondered to see human beings living in a habitation, which, +both for space and appearance, would have been despised by a pig of any +pretension, as too small and too mean for his accommodation, so we were +again surprised at the strange union of poverty and content evinced +by the apparel and countenances of its young inmates. The children, +bareheaded and barefooted, and with little more clothing than one +shabby-looking garment, were yet as fine, sturdy, hardy, ruddy, sunburnt +urchins, as one should see on a summer day. They were clean, too: the +stunted bit of raiment was patched, but not ragged; and when the girl, +(for, although it was rather difficult to distinguish between the +brother and sister, the pair were of different sexes,) when the +bright-eyed, square-made, upright little damsel clasped her two brown +hands together, on the top of her head, pressed down her thick curls, +looking at us and listening to us with an air of the most intelligent +attention that returned our curiosity with interest; and when the boy, +in answer to our inquiry if he could hold a horse, clutched the reins +with his small fingers, and planted himself beside our high-mettled +steed with an air of firm determination, that seemed to say, "I'm +your master! Run away if you dare!" we both of us felt that they were +subjects for a picture, and that, though Sir Joshua might not have +painted them, Gainsborough and our own Collins would. + +But besides their exceeding picturesqueness, the evident content, and +helpfulness, and industry of these little creatures, was delightful to +look at and to think of. In conversation they were at once very civil +and respectful (Bessy dropping her little curtsy, and Harry putting +his hand to the lock of hair where the hat should have been, at every +sentence they uttered) and perfectly frank and unfearing. In answer to +our questions, they told us that "Father was a broom-maker, from the +low country; that he had come to these parts and married mother, and +built their cottage, because houses were so scarce hereabouts, and +because of its convenience to the heath; that they had done very well +till the last winter, when poor father had had the fever for five +months, and they had had much ado to get on; but that father was brave +again now, and was building _another house_ (house!!) larger and finer, +upon Squire Benson's lands: the squire had promised them a garden from +the waste, and mother hoped to keep a pig. They were trying to get all +the money they could to buy the pig; and what his honour had promised +them for holding the horse, was all to be given to mother for that +purpose." + +It was impossible not to be charmed with these children. We went again +and again to the Everley wood, partly to gather lilies, partly to +rejoice in the trees with their young leaves so beautiful in texture as +well as in colour, but chiefly to indulge ourselves in the pleasure of +talking to the children, of adding something to their scanty stock of +clothing, (Bessy ran as fast as her feet could carry her to the clear +pool at the bottom of the wood, to look at herself in her new bonnet,) +and of assisting in the accumulations of the Grand Pig Savings' Bank, +by engaging Harry to hold the horse, and Bessy to help fill the lily +basket. + +This employment, by showing that the lilies had a money value, put a new +branch of traffic into the heads of these thoughtful children, already +accustomed to gather heath for their father's brooms, and to collect the +dead furze which served as fuel to the family. After gaining permission +of the farmer who rented the wood, and ascertaining that we had no +objection, they set about making nosegays of the flowers, and collecting +the roots for sale, and actually stood two Saturdays in Belford market +(the smallest merchants of a surety that ever appeared in that rural +Exchange) to dispose of their wares; having obtained a cast in a waggon +there and back, and carrying home faithfully every penny of their +gainings, to deposit in the common stock. + +The next year we lost sight of them. No smoke issued from the small +chimney by the hill-side. The hut itself was half demolished by wind and +weather; its tenants had emigrated to the new house on Squire Benson's +land; and after two or three attempts to understand and to follow the +directions as to the spot given us by the good farmer at Everley, we +were forced to give up the search. + +Accident, the great discoverer and recoverer of lost goods, at last +restored to us these good little children. It happened as follows:-- + +In new potting some large hydrangeas, we were seized with a desire to +give the blue tinge to the petals, which so greatly improves the beauty +of that fine bold flower, and which is so desirable when they are +placed, as these were destined to be, in the midst of red and pink +blossoms, fuchsias, salvias, and geraniums. Accordingly, we sallied +forth to a place called the Moss, a wild tract of moorland lying about +a mile to the right of the road to Everley, and famous for the red bog, +produced, I presume, by chalybeate springs, which, when mixed with the +fine Bagshot silver sand, is so effectual in changing the colour of +flowers. + +It was a bleak gusty day in February, raining by fits, but not with +sufficient violence to deter me from an expedition to which I had taken +a fancy. Putting up, therefore, the head and apron of the phaeton, and +followed by one lad (the shrewd boy Dick) on horseback, and another +(John, the steady gardening youth) in a cart laden with tubs and sacks, +spades and watering-pots, to procure and contain the bog mould, (for we +were prudently determined to provide for all emergencies, and to carry +with us fit receptacles to receive our treasure, whether it presented +itself in the form of red earth or of red mud,) our little procession +set forth early in the afternoon, towards the wildest and most dreary +piece of scenery that I have ever met with in this part of the country. + +Wild and dreary of a truth was the Moss, and the stormy sky, the moaning +wind, and the occasional gushes of driving rain, suited well with the +dark and cheerless region into which we had entered by a road, if a rude +cart-track may be so called, such as shall seldom be encountered in this +land of Macadamisation. And yet, partly perhaps from their novelty, the +wild day and the wild scenery had for me a strange and thrilling charm. +The ground, covered with the sea-green moss, whence it derived its name, +mingled in the higher parts with brown patches of heather, and dark +bushes of stunted furze, was broken with deep hollows full of stagnant +water; some almost black, others covered with the rusty scum which +denoted the presence of the powerful mineral, upon whose agency we +relied for performing that strange piece of natural magic which may +almost be called the transmutation of flowers. + +Towards the ruddiest of these pools, situated in a deep glen, our active +coadjutors, leaving phaeton, cart, and horses, on the brow of the hill, +began rolling and tossing the several tubs, buckets, watering-pots, +sacks, and spades, which were destined for the removal and conveyance +of the much coveted-bog; we followed, amused and pleased, as, in +certain moods, physical and mental, people are pleased and amused at +self-imposed difficulties, down the abrupt and broken descent; and for +some time the process of digging among the mould at the edge of the bank +went steadily on. + +In a few minutes, however, Dick, whose quick and restless eye was never +long bent on any single object, most of all when that object presented +itself in the form of work, exclaimed to his comrade, "Look at those +children wandering about amongst the firs, like the babes in the wood in +the old ballad. What can they be about?" And looking in the direction +to which he pointed, we saw, amidst the gloomy fir plantations, which +formed a dark and massive border nearly round the Moss, our old friends +Harry and Bessy Leigh, collecting, as it seemed, the fir cones with +which the ground was strewed, and depositing them carefully in a large +basket. + +A manful shout from my companion soon brought the children to +our side--good, busy, cheerful, and healthy-looking as ever, and +marvellously improved in the matter of equipment. Harry had been promoted +to a cap, which added the grace of a flourish to his bow; Bessy had +added the luxury of a pinafore to her nondescript garments; and both +pairs of little feet were advanced to the certain dignity, although +somewhat equivocal comfort, of shoes and stockings. + +The world had gone well with them, and with their parents. The house was +built. Upon remounting the hill, and advancing a little farther into the +centre of the Moss, we saw the comfortable low-browed cottage, full of +light and shadow, of juttings out, and corners and angles of every sort +and description, with a garden stretching along the side, backed and +sheltered by the tall impenetrable plantation, a wall of trees, against +whose dark masses a wreath of light smoke was curling, whose fragrance +seemed really to perfume the winter air. The pig had been bought, +fatted, and killed; but other pigs were inhabiting the sty, almost as +large as their former dwelling, which stood at the end of their garden; +and the children told with honest joy how all this prosperity had come +about. Their father, taking some brooms to my kind friend Lady Denys, +had seen some of the ornamental baskets used for flowers upon a lawn, +and had been struck with the fancy of trying to make some, decorated +with fir cones; and he had been so successful in this profitable +manufacture, that he had more orders than he could execute. Lady Denys +had also, with characteristic benevolence, put the children to her +Sunday-school. One misfortune had a little overshadowed the sunshine. +Squire Benson had died, and the consent to the erection of the cottage +being only verbal, the attorney who managed for the infant heir, a +ward in Chancery, had claimed the property. But the matter had been +compromised upon the payment of such a rent as the present prospects +of the family would fairly allow. Besides collecting fir cones for the +baskets, they picked up all they could in that pine forest, (for it was +little less,) and sold such as were discoloured, or otherwise unfit for +working up, to Lady Denys and other persons who liked the fine aromatic +odour of these the pleasantest of pastilles, in their dressing-room or +drawing-room fires. "Did I like the smell? We had a cart there--might +they bring us a hamper-ful?" And it was with great difficulty that a +trifling present (for we did not think of offering money _as payment_) +could be forced upon the grateful children. "We," they said, "had been +their first friends." For what very small assistance the poor are often +deeply, permanently thankful! Well says the great poet-- + + "I've heard of hearts unkind, good deeds + With ill deeds still returning; + Alas, the gratitude of man + Hath oftener left me mourning!" + Wordsworth. + +Again for above a year we lost sight of our little favourites, for such +they were with both of us; though absence, indisposition, business, +company--engagements, in short, of many sorts--combined to keep us from +the Moss for upwards of a twelvemonth. Early in the succeeding April, +however, it happened that, discussing with some morning visiters the +course of a beautiful winding brook, (one of the tributaries to the +Loddon, which bright and brimming river has nearly as many sources as +the Nile,) one of them observed that the well-head was in Lanton Wood, +and that it was a bit of scenery more like the burns of the North +Countrie (my visiter was a Northumbrian) than anything he had seen in +the south. Surely I had seen it? I was half ashamed to confess that I +had not--(how often are we obliged to confess that we have not seen the +beauties which lie close to our doors, too near for observation!)--and +the next day proving fine, I determined to repair my omission. + +It was a soft and balmy April morning, just at that point of the flowery +spring when violets and primroses are lingering under the northern +hedgerows, and cowslips and orchises peeping out upon the sunny banks. +My driver was the clever, shrewd, arch boy Dick; and the first part of +our way lay along the green winding lanes which lead to Everley; we then +turned to the left, and putting up our phaeton at a small farmhouse, +where my attendant (who found acquaintances everywhere) was intimate, we +proceeded to the wood; Dick accompanying me, carrying my flower-basket, +opening the gates, and taking care of my dog Dash, a very beautiful +thorough-bred Old English spaniel, who was a little apt, when he got +into a wood, to run after the game, and forget to come out again. + +I have seldom seen anything in woodland scenery more picturesque and +attractive than the old coppice of Lanton, on that soft and balmy April +morning. The underwood was nearly cut, and bundles of long split poles +for hooping barrels were piled together against the tall oak trees, +bursting with their sap; whilst piles of faggots were built up in other +parts of the copse, and one or two saw-pits, with light open sheds +erected over them, whence issued the measured sound of the saw and the +occasional voices of the workmen, almost concealed by their subterranean +position, were placed in the hollows. At the far side of the coppice, +the operation of hewing down the underwood was still proceeding, and the +sharp strokes of the axe and the bill, softened by distance, came across +the monotonous jar of the never-ceasing saw. The surface of the ground +was prettily tumbled about, comprehending as pleasant a variety of hill +and dale as could well be comprised in some thirty acres. It declined, +however, generally speaking, towards the centre of the coppice, along +which a small, very small rivulet, scarcely more than a runlet, wound +its way in a thousand graceful meanders. Tracking upward the course of +the little stream, we soon arrived at that which had been the ostensible +object of our drive--the spot whence it sprung. + +It was a steep irregular acclivity on the highest side of the wood, +a mound, I had almost said a rock, of earth, cloven in two about the +middle, but with so narrow a fissure that the brushwood which grew on +either side nearly filled up the opening, so that the source of the +spring still remained concealed, although the rapid gushing of the +water made a pleasant music in that pleasant place; and here and there +a sunbeam, striking upon the sparkling stream, shone with a bright and +glancing light amidst the dark ivies, and brambles, and mossy stumps of +trees, that grew around. + +This mound had apparently been cut a year or two ago, so that it +presented an appearance of mingled wildness and gaiety, that contrasted +very agreeably with the rest of the coppice; whose trodden-down flowers +I had grieved over, even whilst admiring the picturesque effect of the +woodcutters and their several operations. Here, however, reigned the +flowery spring in all her glory. Violets, pansies, orchises, oxslips, +the elegant woodsorrel, the delicate wood anemone, and the enamelled +wild hyacinth, were sprinkled profusely amongst the mosses, and lichens, +and dead leaves, which formed so rich a carpet beneath our feet. +Primroses, above all, were there of almost every hue, from the rare and +pearly white, to the deepest pinkish purple, coloured by some diversity +of soil, the pretty freak of nature's gardening; whilst the common +yellow blossom--commonest and prettiest of all--peeped out from amongst +the boughs in the stump of an old willow, like (to borrow the simile +of a dear friend, now no more) a canary bird from its cage. The wild +geranium was already showing its pink stem and scarlet-edged leaves, +themselves almost gorgeous enough to pass for flowers; the periwinkle, +with its wreaths of shining foliage, was hanging in garlands over the +precipitous descent; and the lily of the valley, the fragrant woodroof, +and the silvery wild garlick, were just peeping from the earth in the +most sheltered nooks. Charmed to find myself surrounded by so much +beauty, I had scrambled, with much ado, to the top of the woody cliff, +(no other word can convey an idea of its precipitous abruptness,) +and was vainly attempting to trace by my eye the actual course of the +spring, which was, by the clearest evidence of sound, gushing from +the fount many feet below me; when a peculiar whistle of delight, (for +whistling was to Dick, although no ordinary proficient in our common +tongue, another language,) and a tremendous scrambling amongst the +bushes, gave token that my faithful attendant had met with something +as agreeable to his fancy, as the primroses and orchises had proved to +mine. + +Guided by a repetition of the whistle, I soon saw my trusty adherent +spanning the chasm like a Colossus, one foot on one bank, the other on +the opposite--each of which appeared to me to be resting, so to say, +on nothing--tugging away at a long twig that grew on the brink of the +precipice, and exceedingly likely to resolve the inquiry as to the +source of the Loddon, by plumping souse into the fountain-head. I, of +course, called out to warn him; and he equally, of course, went on with +his labour, without paying the slightest attention to my caution. On the +contrary, having possessed himself of one straight slender twig, which, +to my great astonishment, he wound round his fingers, and deposited in +his pocket, as one should do by a bit of pack-thread, he apparently, +during the operation, caught sight of another. Testifying his delight by +a second whistle, which, having his knife in his mouth, one wonders how +he could accomplish; and scrambling with the fearless daring of a monkey +up the perpendicular bank, supported by strings of ivy, or ledges +of roots, and clinging by hand and foot to the frail bramble or the +slippery moss, leaping like a squirrel from bough to bough, and yet, by +happy boldness, escaping all danger, he attained his object as easily +as if he had been upon level ground. Three, four, five times was the +knowing, joyous, triumphant whistle sounded, and every time with a fresh +peril and a fresh escape. At last, the young gentleman, panting and +breathless, stood at my side, and I began to question him as to the +treasure he had been pursuing. + +"It's the ground-ash, ma'am," responded master Dick, taking one of the +coils from his pocket; "the best riding-switch in the world. All the +whips that ever were made are nothing to it. Only see how strong it +is, how light, and how supple! You may twist it a thousand ways without +breaking. It won't break, do what you will. Each of these, now, is +worth half-a-crown or three shillings, for they are the scarcest things +possible. They grow up at a little distance from the root of an old +tree, like a sucker from a rose-bush. Great luck, indeed!" continued +Dick, putting up his treasure with another joyful whistle; "it was but +t'other day that Jack Barlow offered me half-a-guinea for four, if I +could but come by them. I shall certainly keep the best, though, for +myself--unless, ma'am, you would be pleased to accept it for the purpose +of whipping Dash." Whipping Dash!!! Well have I said that Dick was as +saucy as a lady's page or a king's jester. Talk of whipping Dash! Why, +the young gentleman knew perfectly well that I had rather be whipt +myself twenty times over. The very sound seemed a profanation. Whip my +Dash! Of course I read master Dick a lecture for this irreverent mention +of my pet, who, poor fellow, hearing his name called in question, +came up in all innocence to fondle me; to which grave remonstrance the +hopeful youth replied by another whistle, half of penitence, half of +amusement. + +These discourses brought us to the bottom of the mound, and turning +round a clump of hawthorn and holly, we espied a little damsel with a +basket at her side, and a large knife in her hand, carefully digging +up a large root of white primroses, and immediately recognised my old +acquaintance, Bessy Leigh. + +She was, as before, clean, and healthy, and tidy, and unaffectedly glad +to see me; but the joyousness and buoyancy which had made so much of her +original charm, were greatly diminished. It was clear that poor Bessy +had suffered worse griefs than those of cold and hunger; and upon +questioning her, so it turned out. + +Her father had died, and her mother had been ill, and the long hard +winter had been hard to get through; and then the rent had come upon +her, and the steward (for the young gentleman himself was a minor) had +threatened to turn them out if it were not paid to a day--the very next +day after that on which we were speaking; and her mother had been +afraid they must go to the workhouse, which would have been a sad thing, +because now she had got so much washing to do, and Harry was so clever +at basket-making, that there was every chance, this rent once paid, of +their getting on comfortably. "And the rent will be paid now, ma'am, +thank Ood!" added Bessy, her sweet face brightening; "for we want only +a guinea of the whole sum, and Lady Denys has employed me to get scarce +wild-flowers for her wood, and has promised me half-a-guinea for what I +have carried her, and this last parcel, which I am to take to the lodge +to-night; and Mr. John Barlow, her groom, has offered Harry twelve and +sixpence for five ground-ashes that Harry has been so lucky as to find +by the spring, and Harry is gone to cut them: so that now we shall get +on bravely, and mother need not fret any longer. I hope no harm +will befal Harry in getting the ground-ash, though, for it's a noted +dangerous place. But he's a careful boy." + +Just at this point of her little speech, poor Bessy was interrupted +by her brother, who ran down the declivity exclaiming, "They're gone, +Bessy!--they're gone! somebody has taken them! the ground-ashes are +gone!" + +Dick put his hand irresolutely to his pocket, and then, uttering a +dismal whistle, pulled it resolutely out again, with a hardness, or +an affectation of hardness, common to all lads, from the prince to the +stable-boy. + +I also put my hand into my pocket, and found, with the deep +disappointment which often punishes such carelessness, that I had left +my purse at home. All that I could do, therefore, was to bid the poor +children be comforted, and ascertain at what time Bessy intended to take +her roots, which in the midst of her distress she continued to dig up, +to my excellent friend Lady Denys. I then, exhorting them to hope the +best, made my way quickly out of the wood. + +Arriving at the gate, I missed my attendant. Before, however, I had +reached the farm at which we had left our phaeton, I heard his gayest +and most triumphant whistle behind me. Thinking of the poor children, it +jarred upon my feelings. "Where have you been loitering, Sir?" I asked, +in a sterner voice than he had probably ever heard from me before. + +"Where have I been?" replied he; "giving little Harry the ground-ashes, +to be sure: I felt just as if I had stolen them. And now, I do believe," +continued he, with a prodigious burst of whistling, which seemed to +me as melodious as the song of the nightingale, "I do believe," quoth +Dick, "that I am happier than they are. I would not have kept those +ground-ashes, no, not for fifty pounds!" + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ground-Ash, by Mary Russell Mitford + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GROUND-ASH *** + +***** This file should be named 22846.txt or 22846.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/8/4/22846/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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