FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS AND BEYOND PART I. SARANAC : T is not proposed to transcribe in full in the following pages, Mrs. Stevenson's letters written during the months immediately preceding her cruise in the South Seas. There is, indeed, as can well be understood, a considerable portion of the letters that would be quite unsuitable for such treatment; for in this journey, so new to her, but so often described by others, she naturally comments upon matters that are already quite familiar to many. Moreover, since she wrote to a circle of home readers as yet much smaller than it afterwards became, there is a larger proportion of purely private matter; so that in some of the letters, more especially the earlier ones, there are only isolated passages of general interest. Nevertheless, it has been felt that A some account should be given of this winter in the Adirondacks. It was the first step in the great journey that Mrs. Stevenson undertook, at an age when most women are glad to renounce such things; a journey that went further and lasted longer than she foresaw, and that carried her to many strange and lovely places. But to write of these without the stages on the road that lead to them is to tell only half the story, with all its extraordinary contrasts omitted; it is one side of the picture without the other, the sun without the snow, the tropic heat without the Arctic winter that came before it. It seems, indeed, from these letters, that the Adirondacks did not serve so badly in the matter of health, since we hear of fewer colds and hæmorrhages than are recorded in Tahiti or Hawaii: but it is possible that the bitter cold of Saranac urged the Stevensons to its proper antithesis in the tropics, and it is certain that it added to the intensity with which they enjoyed their life in the South Seas. To give some impression, therefore, of these months in America, the following plan has been adopted: Extracts have been made from Mrs. Stevenson's letters and run together so as to form a more or less complete and consecutive, but condensed, narrative. Dates and a few necessary references are given as footnotes, but no attempt has been made to transcribe each, or any, letter in full, or by itself. The South Sea 'journal-letters,' which follow, are of course given in entirety; but the object here has rather been to present, in Mrs. Stevenson's own words, a short introductory account of the winter at Saranac that immediately preceded and led to the cruise of the Casco. H On board the 'Ludgate Hill, Aug. 25, 1887.* ERE we are, having made a famous start. Yesterday was very fine and warm, and Louis was even able to be on deck in the evening. The sea is like a mill-pond, and I could even do with a little more motion!... When we came on board, however, we were rather disappointed to find a very dirty and untidy vessel, not the least like the one Fanny had seen, and which was said to be a 'sister ship' to this; and after we had started we heard that we were to take in cargo at Hâvres, and presently discovered that said cargo was to consist of two hundred and forty horses! This was slightly discouraging, but we agreed to make the best of things and look upon it as an 'adventure,' which Louis and Lloyd have always been sighing for. The captain declared that horses made capital passengers-'better than some people'-and that once we were in The party consisted of Mrs. Stevenson, her son Robert Louis Stevenson and his wife, his stepson Mr. Osbourne, and Valentine Roch, a trusted Swiss maid who had been some time in their service. |