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diff --git a/23031-8.txt b/23031-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ad77f22 --- /dev/null +++ b/23031-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6373 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in +Many Lands, by Mary Seacole + +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: Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands + +Author: Mary Seacole + +Commentator: W. H. Russell + +Editor: W. J. S. + +Release Date: October 14, 2007 [EBook #23031] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MRS. SEACOLE *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Sam W. and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + WONDERFUL + ADVENTURES OF MRS. SEACOLE + IN MANY LANDS + + + EDITED BY W. J. S. + + + WITH AN INTRODUCTORY PREFACE + + BY + + W. H. RUSSELL, ESQ., + + THE "TIMES" CORRESPONDENT IN THE CRIMEA. + + + LONDON: + JAMES BLACKWOOD, PATERNOSTER ROW. + 1857. + + + + +[Illustration: MRS. SEACOLE'S HOTEL IN THE CRIMEA.] + + + + +LONDON: +THOMAS HARRILD, PRINTER, 11, SALISBURY SQUARE, +FLEET STREET. + + + + + DEDICATED, BY PERMISSION, + + TO + + MAJOR-GENERAL LORD ROKEBY, K.C.B., + + BY HIS LORDSHIP'S + + HUMBLE AND MOST GRATEFUL SERVANT, + + MARY SEACOLE. + + + + +TO THE READER. + + +I should have thought that no preface would have been required to +introduce Mrs. Seacole to the British public, or to recommend a book +which must, from the circumstances in which the subject of it was +placed, be unique in literature. + +If singleness of heart, true charity, and Christian works; if trials +and sufferings, dangers and perils, encountered boldly by a helpless +woman on her errand of mercy in the camp and in the battle-field, can +excite sympathy or move curiosity, Mary Seacole will have many friends +and many readers. + +She is no Anna Comnena, who presents us with a verbose history, but a +plain truth-speaking woman, who has lived an adventurous life amid +scenes which have never yet found a historian among the actors on the +stage where they passed. + +I have witnessed her devotion and her courage; I have already borne +testimony to her services to all who needed them. She is the first who +has redeemed the name of "sutler" from the suspicion of worthlessness, +mercenary baseness, and plunder; and I trust that England will not +forget one who nursed her sick, who sought out her wounded to aid and +succour them, and who performed the last offices for some of her +illustrious dead. + + W. H. RUSSELL. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + CHAPTER I. + + My Birth and Parentage--Early Tastes and Travels--Marriage, + and Widowhood 1 + + + CHAPTER II. + + Struggles for Life--The Cholera in Jamaica--I leave Kingston + for the Isthmus of Panama--Chagres, Navy Bay, and Gatun--Life + in Panama--Up the River Chagres to Gorgona and Cruces 6 + + + CHAPTER III. + + My Reception at the Independent Hotel--A Cruces Table + d'Hôte--Life in Cruces--Amusements of the Crowds--A Novel + Four-post Bed 17 + + + CHAPTER IV. + + An Unwelcome Visitor in Cruces--The Cholera--Success of the + Yellow Doctress--Fearful Scene at the Mule-owner's--The + Burying Parties--The Cholera attacks me 23 + + + CHAPTER V. + + American Sympathy--I take an Hotel in Cruces--My + Customers--Lola Montes--Miss Hayes and the Bishop--Gambling + in Cruces--Quarrels amongst the Travellers--New Granadan + Military--The Thieves of Cruces--A Narrow Escape 34 + + + CHAPTER VI. + + Migration to Gorgona--Farewell Dinners and Speeches--A + Building Speculation--Life in Gorgona--Sympathy with + American Slaves--Dr. Casey in Trouble--Floods and + Fires--Yankee Independence and Freedom 46 + + + CHAPTER VII. + + The Yellow Fever in Jamaica--My Experience of Death-bed + Scenes--I leave again for Navy Bay, and open a Store + there--I am attacked with the Gold Fever, and start for + Escribanos--Life in the Interior of the Republic of New + Granada--A Revolutionary Conspiracy on a small scale--The + Dinner Delicacies of Escribanos--Journey up the Palmilla + River--A Few Words on the Present Aspect of Affairs on the + Isthmus of Panama 59 + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + I long to join the British Army before Sebastopol--My + Wanderings about London for that purpose--How I + failed--Establishment of the Firm of "Day and Martin"--I + Embark for Turkey 73 + + + CHAPTER IX. + + Voyage to Constantinople--Malta--Gibraltar--Constantinople, + and what I thought of it--Visit to Scutari Hospital--Miss + Nightingale 82 + + + CHAPTER X. + + "Jew Johnny"--I Start for Balaclava--Kindness of my old + Friends--On Board the "Medora"--My Life on Shore--The + Sick Wharf 92 + + + CHAPTER XI. + + Alarms in the Harbour--Getting the Stores on Shore--Robbery + by Night and Day--The Predatory Tribes of Balaclava--Activity + of the Authorities--We obtain leave to erect our + Store, and fix upon Spring Hill as its Site--The Turkish + Pacha--The Flood--Our Carpenters--I become an English + Schoolmistress Abroad 102 + + + CHAPTER XII. + + The British Hotel--Domestic Difficulties--Our Enemies--The + Russian Rats--Adventures in Search of a Cat--Light-fingered + Zouaves--Crimean Thieves--Powdering a Horse 113 + + + CHAPTER XIII. + + My Work in the Crimea 124 + + + CHAPTER XIV. + + My Customers at the British Hotel 135 + + + CHAPTER XV. + + My First Glimpse of War--Advance of my Turkish Friends on + Kamara--Visitors to the Camp--Miss Nightingale--Mons. + Soyer and the Cholera--Summer in the Crimea--"Thirsty + Souls"--Death busy in the Trenches 146 + + + CHAPTER XVI. + + Under Fire on the fatal 18th of June--Before the + Redan--At the Cemetery--The Armistice--Deaths at + Head-quarters--Depression in the Camp--Plenty in the + Crimea--The Plague of Flies--Under Fire at the Battle + of the Tchernaya--Work on the Field--My Patients 154 + + + CHAPTER XVII. + + Inside Sebastopol--The Last Bombardment of Sebastopol--On + Cathcart's Hill--Rumours in the Camp--The Attack on the + Malakhoff--The Old Work again--A Sunday Excursion--Inside + "Our" City--I am taken for a Spy, and thereat lose my + Temper--I Visit the Redan, etc.--My Share of the Plunder 167 + + + CHAPTER XVIII. + + Holiday in the Camp--A New Enemy, Time--Amusements in + the Crimea--My share in them--Dinner at Spring Hill--At + the Races--Christmas Day in the British Hotel--New + Year's Day in the Hospital 177 + + + CHAPTER XIX. + + New Year in the Crimea--Good News--The Armistice--Barter + with the Russians--War and Peace--Tidings of Peace--Excursions + into the Interior of the Crimea--To Simpheropol, + Baktchiserai, etc.--The Troops begin to leave the + Crimea--Friends' Farewells--The Cemeteries--We remove + from Spring Hill to Balaclava--Alarming Sacrifice of our + Stock--A last Glimpse of Sebastopol--Home! 188 + + + Conclusion 197 + + + + +ADVENTURES OF MRS. SEACOLE +IN MANY LANDS. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + MY BIRTH AND PARENTAGE--EARLY TASTES AND + TRAVELS--MARRIAGE, AND WIDOWHOOD. + + +I was born in the town of Kingston, in the island of Jamaica, some +time in the present century. As a female, and a widow, I may be well +excused giving the precise date of this important event. But I do not +mind confessing that the century and myself were both young together, +and that we have grown side by side into age and consequence. I am a +Creole, and have good Scotch blood coursing in my veins. My father was +a soldier, of an old Scotch family; and to him I often trace my +affection for a camp-life, and my sympathy with what I have heard my +friends call "the pomp, pride, and circumstance of glorious war." Many +people have also traced to my Scotch blood that energy and activity +which are not always found in the Creole race, and which have carried +me to so many varied scenes: and perhaps they are right. I have often +heard the term "lazy Creole" applied to my country people; but I am +sure I do not know what it is to be indolent. All my life long I have +followed the impulse which led me to be up and doing; and so far from +resting idle anywhere, I have never wanted inclination to rove, nor +will powerful enough to find a way to carry out my wishes. That these +qualities have led me into many countries, and brought me into some +strange and amusing adventures, the reader, if he or she has the +patience to get through this book, will see. Some people, indeed, have +called me quite a female Ulysses. I believe that they intended it as a +compliment; but from my experience of the Greeks, I do not consider it +a very flattering one. + +It is not my intention to dwell at any length upon the recollections +of my childhood. My mother kept a boarding-house in Kingston, and was, +like very many of the Creole women, an admirable doctress; in high +repute with the officers of both services, and their wives, who were +from time to time stationed at Kingston. It was very natural that I +should inherit her tastes; and so I had from early youth a yearning +for medical knowledge and practice which has never deserted me. When I +was a very young child I was taken by an old lady, who brought me up +in her household among her own grandchildren, and who could scarcely +have shown me more kindness had I been one of them; indeed, I was so +spoiled by my kind patroness that, but for being frequently with my +mother, I might very likely have grown up idle and useless. But I saw +so much of her, and of her patients, that the ambition to become a +doctress early took firm root in my mind; and I was very young when I +began to make use of the little knowledge I had acquired from watching +my mother, upon a great sufferer--my doll. I have noticed always what +actors children are. If you leave one alone in a room, how soon it +clears a little stage; and, making an audience out of a few chairs and +stools, proceeds to act its childish griefs and blandishments upon its +doll. So I also made good use of my dumb companion and confidante; and +whatever disease was most prevalent in Kingston, be sure my poor doll +soon contracted it. I have had many medical triumphs in later days, +and saved some valuable lives; but I really think that few have given +me more real gratification than the rewarding glow of health which my +fancy used to picture stealing over my patient's waxen face after long +and precarious illness. + +Before long it was very natural that I should seek to extend my +practice; and so I found other patients in the dogs and cats around +me. Many luckless brutes were made to simulate diseases which were +raging among their owners, and had forced down their reluctant throats +the remedies which I deemed most likely to suit their supposed +complaints. And after a time I rose still higher in my ambition; and +despairing of finding another human patient, I proceeded to try my +simples and essences upon--myself. + +When I was about twelve years old I was more frequently at my mother's +house, and used to assist her in her duties; very often sharing with +her the task of attending upon invalid officers or their wives, who +came to her house from the adjacent camp at Up-Park, or the military +station at Newcastle. + +As I grew into womanhood, I began to indulge that longing to travel +which will never leave me while I have health and vigour. I was never +weary of tracing upon an old map the route to England; and never +followed with my gaze the stately ships homeward bound without longing +to be in them, and see the blue hills of Jamaica fade into the +distance. At that time it seemed most improbable that these girlish +wishes should be gratified; but circumstances, which I need not +explain, enabled me to accompany some relatives to England while I was +yet a very young woman. + +I shall never forget my first impressions of London. Of course, I am +not going to bore the reader with them; but they are as vivid now as +though the year 18-- (I had very nearly let my age slip then) had not +been long ago numbered with the past. Strangely enough, some of the +most vivid of my recollections are the efforts of the London +street-boys to poke fun at my and my companion's complexion. I am only +a little brown--a few shades duskier than the brunettes whom you all +admire so much; but my companion was very dark, and a fair (if I can +apply the term to her) subject for their rude wit. She was +hot-tempered, poor thing! and as there were no policemen to awe the +boys and turn our servants' heads in those days, our progress through +the London streets was sometimes a rather chequered one. + +I remained in England, upon the occasion of my first visit, about a +year; and then returned to Kingston. Before long I again started for +London, bringing with me this time a large stock of West Indian +preserves and pickles for sale. After remaining two years here, I +again started home; and on the way my life and adventures were very +nearly brought to a premature conclusion. Christmas-day had been kept +very merrily on board our ship the "Velusia;" and on the following day +a fire broke out in the hold. I dare say it would have resisted all +the crew's efforts to put it out, had not another ship appeared in +sight; upon which the fire quietly allowed itself to be extinguished. +Although considerably alarmed, I did not lose my senses; but during +the time when the contest between fire and water was doubtful, I +entered into an amicable arrangement with the ship's cook, whereby, in +consideration of two pounds--which I was not, however, to pay until +the crisis arrived--he agreed to lash me on to a large hen-coop. + +Before I had been long in Jamaica I started upon other trips, many of +them undertaken with a view to gain. Thus I spent some time in New +Providence, bringing home with me a large collection of handsome +shells and rare shell-work, which created quite a sensation in +Kingston, and had a rapid sale; I visited also Hayti and Cuba. But I +hasten onward in my narrative. + +Returned to Kingston, I nursed my old indulgent patroness in her last +long illness. After she died, in my arms, I went to my mother's house, +where I stayed, making myself useful in a variety of ways, and +learning a great deal of Creole medicinal art, until I couldn't find +courage to say "no" to a certain arrangement timidly proposed by Mr. +Seacole, but married him, and took him down to Black River, where we +established a store. Poor man! he was very delicate; and before I +undertook the charge of him, several doctors had expressed most +unfavourable opinions of his health. I kept him alive by kind nursing +and attention as long as I could; but at last he grew so ill that we +left Black River, and returned to my mother's house at Kingston. +Within a month of our arrival there he died. This was my first great +trouble, and I felt it bitterly. For days I never stirred--lost to all +that passed around me in a dull stupor of despair. If you had told me +that the time would soon come when I should remember this sorrow +calmly, I should not have believed it possible: and yet it was so. I +do not think that we hot-blooded Creoles sorrow less for showing it so +impetuously; but I do think that the sharp edge of our grief wears +down sooner than theirs who preserve an outward demeanour of calmness, +and nurse their woe secretly in their hearts. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + STRUGGLES FOR LIFE--THE CHOLERA IN JAMAICA--I LEAVE + KINGSTON FOR THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA--CHAGRES, NAVY BAY, + AND GATUN--LIFE IN PANAMA--UP THE RIVER CHAGRES TO + GORGONA AND CRUCES. + + +I had one other great grief to master--the loss of my mother, and then +I was left alone to battle with the world as best I might. The +struggles which it cost me to succeed in life were sometimes very +trying; nor have they ended yet. But I have always turned a bold front +to fortune, and taken, and shall continue to take, as my brave friends +in the army and navy have shown me how, "my hurts before." Although it +was no easy thing for a widow to make ends meet, I never allowed +myself to know what repining or depression was, and so succeeded in +gaining not only my daily bread, but many comforts besides from the +beginning. Indeed, my experience of the world--it is not finished yet, +but I do not think it will give me reason to change my opinion--leads +me to the conclusion that it is by no means the hard bad world which +some selfish people would have us believe it. It may be as my editor +says-- + + "That gently comes the world to those + That are cast in gentle mould;" + +hinting at the same time, politely, that the rule may apply to me +personally. And perhaps he is right, for although I was always a +hearty, strong woman--plain-spoken people might say stout--I think my +heart is soft enough. + +How slowly and gradually I succeeded in life, need not be told at +length. My fortunes underwent the variations which befall all. +Sometimes I was rich one day, and poor the next. I never thought too +exclusively of money, believing rather that we were born to be happy, +and that the surest way to be wretched is to prize it overmuch. Had I +done so, I should have mourned over many a promising speculation +proving a failure, over many a pan of preserves or guava jelly burnt +in the making; and perhaps lost my mind when the great fire of 1843, +which devastated Kingston, burnt down my poor home. As it was, I very +nearly lost my life, for I would not leave my house until every chance +of saving it had gone, and it was wrapped in flames. But, of course, I +set to work again in a humbler way, and rebuilt my house by degrees, +and restocked it, succeeding better than before; for I had gained a +reputation as a skilful nurse and doctress, and my house was always +full of invalid officers and their wives from Newcastle, or the +adjacent Up-Park Camp. Sometimes I had a naval or military surgeon +under my roof, from whom I never failed to glean instruction, given, +when they learned my love for their profession, with a readiness and +kindness I am never likely to forget. Many of these kind friends are +alive now. I met with some when my adventures had carried me to the +battle-fields of the Crimea; and to those whose eyes may rest upon +these pages I again offer my acknowledgments for their past kindness, +which helped me to be useful to my kind in many lands. + +And here I may take the opportunity of explaining that it was from a +confidence in my own powers, and not at all from necessity, that I +remained an unprotected female. Indeed, I do not mind confessing to my +reader, in a friendly confidential way, that one of the hardest +struggles of my life in Kingston was to resist the pressing candidates +for the late Mr. Seacole's shoes. + +Officers of high rank sometimes took up their abode in my house. +Others of inferior rank were familiar with me, long before their +bravery, and, alas! too often death, in the Crimea, made them world +famous. There were few officers of the 97th to whom Mother Seacole was +not well known, before she joined them in front of Sebastopol; and +among the best known was good-hearted, loveable, noble H---- V----, +whose death shocked me so terribly, and with whose useful heroic life +the English public have become so familiar. I can hear the ring of his +boyish laughter even now. + +In the year 1850, the cholera swept over the island of Jamaica with +terrible force. Our idea--perhaps an unfounded one--was, that a +steamer from New Orleans was the means of introducing it into the +island. Anyhow, they sent some clothes on shore to be washed, and poor +Dolly Johnson, the washerwoman, whom we all knew, sickened and died of +the terrible disease. While the cholera raged, I had but too many +opportunities of watching its nature, and from a Dr. B----, who was +then lodging in my house, received many hints as to its treatment +which I afterwards found invaluable. + +Early in the same year my brother had left Kingston for the Isthmus of +Panama, then the great high-road to and from golden California, where +he had established a considerable store and hotel. Ever since he had +done so, I had found some difficulty in checking my reviving +disposition to roam, and at last persuading myself that I might be of +use to him (he was far from strong), I resigned my house into the +hands of a cousin, and made arrangements to journey to Chagres. Having +come to this conclusion, I allowed no grass to grow beneath my feet, +but set to work busily, for I was not going to him empty-handed. My +house was full for weeks, of tailors, making up rough coats, trousers, +etc., and sempstresses cutting out and making shirts. In addition to +these, my kitchen was filled with busy people, manufacturing +preserves, guava jelly, and other delicacies, while a considerable sum +was invested in the purchase of preserved meats, vegetables, and eggs. +It will be as well, perhaps, if I explain, in as few words as +possible, the then condition of the Isthmus of Panama. + +All my readers must know--a glance at the map will show it to those +who do not--that between North America and the envied shores of +California stretches a little neck of land, insignificant-looking +enough on the map, dividing the Atlantic from the Pacific. By crossing +this, the travellers from America avoided a long, weary, and dangerous +sea voyage round Cape Horn, or an almost impossible journey by land. + +But that journey across the Isthmus, insignificant in distance as it +was, was by no means an easy one. It seemed as if nature had +determined to throw every conceivable obstacle in the way of those who +should seek to join the two great oceans of the world. I have read and +heard many accounts of old endeavours to effect this important and +gigantic work, and how miserably they failed. It was reserved for the +men of our age to accomplish what so many had died in attempting, and +iron and steam, twin giants, subdued to man's will, have put a girdle +over rocks and rivers, so that travellers can glide as smoothly, if +not as inexpensively, over the once terrible Isthmus of Darien, as +they can from London to Brighton. Not yet, however, does civilization, +rule at Panama. The weak sway of the New Granada Republic, despised by +lawless men, and respected by none, is powerless to control the refuse +of every nation which meet together upon its soil. Whenever they feel +inclined now they overpower the law easily; but seven years ago, when +I visited the Isthmus of Panama, things were much worse, and a licence +existed, compared to which the present lawless state of affairs is +enviable. + +When, after passing Chagres, an old-world, tumble-down town, for about +seven miles, the steamer reached Navy Bay, I thought I had never seen +a more luckless, dreary spot. Three sides of the place were a mere +swamp, and the town itself stood upon a sand-reef, the houses being +built upon piles, which some one told me rotted regularly every three +years. The railway, which now connects the bay with Panama, was then +building, and ran, as far as we could see, on piles, connected with +the town by a wooden jetty. It seemed as capital a nursery for ague +and fever as Death could hit upon anywhere, and those on board the +steamer who knew it confirmed my opinion. As we arrived a steady +down-pour of rain was falling from an inky sky; the white men who met +us on the wharf appeared ghostly and wraith-like, and the very negroes +seemed pale and wan. The news which met us did not tempt me to lose +any time in getting up the country to my brother. According to all +accounts, fever and ague, with some minor diseases, especially dropsy, +were having it all their own way at Navy Bay, and, although I only +stayed one night in the place, my medicine chest was called into +requisition. But the sufferers wanted remedies which I could not give +them--warmth, nourishment, and fresh air. Beneath leaky tents, damp +huts, and even under broken railway waggons, I saw men dying from +sheer exhaustion. Indeed, I was very glad when, with the morning, the +crowd, as the Yankees called the bands of pilgrims to and from +California, made ready to ascend to Panama. + +The first stage of our journey was by railway to Gatun, about twelve +miles distant. For the greater portion of that distance the lines ran +on piles, over as unhealthy and wretched a country as the eye could +well grow weary of; but, at last, the country improved, and you caught +glimpses of distant hills and English-like scenery. Every mile of that +fatal railway cost the world thousands of lives. I was assured that +its site was marked thickly by graves, and that so great was the +mortality among the labourers that three times the survivors struck in +a body, and their places had to be supplied by fresh victims from +America, tempted by unheard-of rates of wages. It is a gigantic +undertaking, and shows what the energy and enterprise of man can +accomplish. Everything requisite for its construction, even the +timber, had to be prepared in, and brought from, America. + +The railway then ran no further than Gatun, and here we were to take +water and ascend the River Chagres to Gorgona, the next stage on the +way to Cruces, where my brother was. The cars landed us at the bottom +of a somewhat steep cutting through a reddish clay, and deposited me +and my suite, consisting of a black servant, named "Mac," and a little +girl, in safety in the midst of my many packages, not altogether +satisfied with my prospects; for the rain was falling heavily and +steadily, and the Gatun porters were possessing themselves of my +luggage with that same avidity which distinguishes their brethren on +the pier of Calais or the quays of Pera. There are two species of +individuals whom I have found alike wherever my travels have carried +me--the reader can guess their professions--porters and lawyers. + +It was as much as I could do to gather my packages together, sit in +the midst with a determined look to awe the hungry crowd around me, +and send "Mac" up the steep slippery bank to report progress. After a +little while he returned to say that the river-side was not far off, +where boats could be hired for the upward journey. The word given, the +porters threw themselves upon my packages; a pitched battle ensued, +out of which issued the strongest Spanish Indians, with their hardly +earned prizes, and we commenced the ascent of the clayey bank. Now, +although the surveyors of the Darien highways had considerately cut +steps up the steep incline, they had become worse than useless, so I +floundered about terribly, more than once losing my footing +altogether. And as with that due regard to personal appearance, which +I have always deemed a duty as well as a pleasure to study, I had, +before leaving Navy Bay, attired myself in a delicate light blue +dress, a white bonnet prettily trimmed, and an equally chaste shawl, +the reader can sympathise with my distress. However, I gained the +summit, and after an arduous descent, of a few minutes duration, +reached the river-side; in a most piteous plight, however, for my +pretty dress, from its contact with the Gatun clay, looked as red as +if, in the pursuit of science, I had passed it through a strong +solution of muriatic acid. + +By the water-side I found my travelling companions arguing angrily +with the shrewd boatmen, and bating down their fares. Upon collecting +my luggage, I found, as I had expected, that the porters had not +neglected the glorious opportunity of robbing a woman, and that +several articles were missing. Complaints, I knew, would not avail me, +and stronger measures seemed hazardous and barely advisable in a +lawless out-of-the-way spot, where + + "The simple plan, + That they should take who have the power, + And they should keep who can," + +seemed universally practised, and would very likely have been defended +by its practitioners upon principle. + +It was not so easy to hire a boat as I had been led to expect. The +large crowd had made the boatmen somewhat exorbitant in their demands, +and there were several reasons why I should engage one for my own +exclusive use, instead of sharing one with some of my travelling +companions. In the first place, my luggage was somewhat bulky; and, in +the second place, my experience of travel had not failed to teach me +that Americans (even from the Northern States) are always +uncomfortable in the company of coloured people, and very often show +this feeling in stronger ways than by sour looks and rude words. I +think, if I have a little prejudice against our cousins across the +Atlantic--and I do confess to a little--it is not unreasonable. I have +a few shades of deeper brown upon my skin which shows me related--and +I am proud of the relationship--to those poor mortals whom you once +held enslaved, and whose bodies America still owns. And having this +bond, and knowing what slavery is; having seen with my eyes and heard +with my ears proof positive enough of its horrors--let others affect +to doubt them if they will--is it surprising that I should be somewhat +impatient of the airs of superiority which many Americans have +endeavoured to assume over me? Mind, I am not speaking of all. I have +met with some delightful exceptions. + +At length I succeeded in hiring a boat for the modest consideration of +ten pounds, to carry me and my fortunes to Cruces. My boat was far +from uncomfortable. Large and flat-bottomed, with an awning, dirty it +must be confessed, beneath which swung a hammock, of which I took +immediate possession. By the way, the Central Americans should adopt +the hammock as their national badge; but for sheer necessity they +would never leave it. The master of the boat, the padrone, was a fine +tall negro, his crew were four common enough specimens of humanity, +with a marked disregard of the prejudices of society with respect to +clothing. A dirty handkerchief rolled over the head, and a wisp of +something, which might have been linen, bound round the loins, formed +their attire. Perhaps, however, the thick coating of dirt which +covered them kept them warmer than more civilized clothing, besides +being indisputably more economical. + +The boat was generally propelled by paddles, but when the river was +shallow, poles were used to punt us along, as on English rivers; the +black padrone, whose superior position was indicated by the use of +decent clothing, standing at the helm, gesticulating wildly, and +swearing Spanish oaths with a vehemence that would have put Corporal +Trim's comrades in Flanders to the blush. Very much shocked, of +course, but finding it perfectly useless to remonstrate with him, I +swung myself in my hammock and leisurely watched the river scene. + +The river Chagres lolled with considerable force, now between low +marshy shores, now narrowing, between steep, thickly wooded banks. It +was liable, as are all rivers in hilly districts, to sudden and heavy +floods; and although the padrone, on leaving Gatun, had pledged his +soul to land me at Cruces that night, I had not been long afloat +before I saw that he would forfeit his worthless pledge; for the wind +rose to a gale, ruffling the river here and there into a little sea; +the rain came down in torrents, while the river rose rapidly, bearing +down on its swollen stream trunks of trees, and similar waifs and +strays, which it tossed about like a giant in sport, threatening to +snag us with its playthings every moment. And when we came to a +sheltered reach, and found that the little fleet of boats which had +preceded us had laid to there, I came to the conclusion that, stiff, +tired, and hungry, I should have to pass a night upon the river +Chagres. All I could get to eat was some guavas, which grew wild upon +the banks, and then I watched the padrone curl his long body up among +my luggage, and listened to the crew, who had rolled together at the +bottom of the boat, snore as peacefully as if they slept between fair +linen sheets, in the purest of calico night-gear, and the most +unexceptionable of nightcaps, until somehow I fell into a troubled, +dreamy sleep. + +At daybreak we were enabled to pursue our journey, and in a short time +reached Gorgona. I was glad enough to go on shore, as you may imagine. +Gorgona was a mere temporary town of bamboo and wood houses, hastily +erected to serve as a station for the crowd. In the present rainy +season, when the river was navigable up to Cruces, the chief part of +the population migrated thither, so that Gorgona was almost deserted, +and looked indescribably damp, dirty, and dull. With some difficulty I +found a bakery and a butcher's shop. The meat was not very tempting, +for the Gorgona butchers did not trouble themselves about joints, but +cut the flesh into strips about three inches wide, and of various +lengths. These were hung upon rails, so that you bought your meat by +the yard, and were spared any difficulty in the choice of joint. I +cannot say that I was favourably impressed with this novel and simple +way of avoiding trouble, but I was far too hungry to be particular, +and buying a strip for a quarter of a real, carried it off to Mac to +cook. + +Late that afternoon, the padrone and his crew landed me, tired, +wretched, and out of temper, upon the miserable wharf of Cruces. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + MY RECEPTION AT THE INDEPENDENT HOTEL--A CRUCES TABLE + D'HÔTE--LIFE IN CRUCES--AMUSEMENTS OF THE CROWDS--A + NOVEL FOUR-POST BED. + + +The sympathising reader, who very likely has been laughing heartily at +my late troubles, can fancy that I was looking forward with no little +pleasurable anticipation to reaching my brother's cheerful home at +Cruces. After the long night spent on board the wretched boat in my +stiff, clayey dress, and the hours of fasting, the warmth and good +cheer of the Independent Hotel could not fail to be acceptable. My +brother met me on the rickety wharf with the kindest welcome in his +face, although he did not attempt to conceal a smile at my forlorn +appearance, and giving the necessary instructions about my luggage, +led the way at once to his house, which was situated at the upper end +of the street. A capital site, he said, when the rest of the town was +under water--which agreeable variety occurred twice or thrice a year +unexpectedly. On our way, he rather damped my hopes by expressing his +fears that he should be unable to provide his sister with the +accommodation he could wish. For you see, he said, the crowd from +Panama has just come in, meeting your crowd from Navy Bay; and I +shouldn't be at all surprised if very many of them have no better bed +than the store floors. But, despite this warning, I was miserably +unprepared for the reception that awaited me. To be sure, I found +Cruces as like Gorgona, in its dampness, dirt, and confusion, as it +well could be; but the crowd from the gold-fields of California had +just arrived, having made the journey from Panama on mules, and the +street was filled with motley groups in picturesque variety of attire. +The hotels were also full of them, while many lounged in the verandahs +after their day's journey. Rude, coarse gold-diggers, in gay-coloured +shirts, and long, serviceable boots, elbowed, in perfect equality, +keen Yankee speculators, as close shaven, neat, and clean on the +Isthmus of Panama as in the streets of New York or New Orleans. The +women alone kept aloof from each other, and well they might; for, +while a very few seemed not ashamed of their sex, it was somewhat +difficult to distinguish the majority from their male companions, save +by their bolder and more reckless voice and manner. I must say, +however, that many of them adopted male attire for the journey across +the Isthmus only, as it spared them many compliments which their +husbands were often disposed to resent, however flattering they might +be to their choice. + +Through all these I pressed on, stiff, cold, and hungry, to the +Independent Hotel, eagerly anticipating the comforts which awaited me +there. At length we reached it. But, rest! warmth! comfort!--miserable +delusions! Picture to yourself, sympathising reader, a long, low hut, +built of rough, unhewn, unplaned logs, filled up with mud and split +bamboo; a long, sloping roof and a large verandah, already full of +visitors. And the interior: a long room, gaily hung with dirty +calico, in stripes of red and white; above it another room, in which +the guests slept, having the benefit of sharing in any orgies which +might be going on below them, through the broad chinks between the +rough, irregular planks which formed its floor. At the further end, a +small corner, partitioned roughly off, formed a bar, and around it +were shelves laden with stores for the travellers, while behind it was +a little room used by my brother as his private apartment; but three +female travellers had hired it for their own especial use for the +night, paying the enormous sum of £10 for so exclusive a luxury. At +the entrance sat a black man, taking toll of the comers-in, giving +them in exchange for coin or gold-dust (he had a rusty pair of scales +to weigh the latter) a dirty ticket, which guaranteed them supper, a +night's lodging, and breakfast. I saw all this very quickly, and +turned round upon my brother in angry despair. + +"What am I to do? Why did you ever bring me to this place? See what a +state I am in--cold, hungry, and wretched. I want to wash, to change +my clothes, to eat, to----" + +But poor Edward could only shrug his shoulders and shake his head, in +answer to my indignant remonstrances. At last he made room for me in a +corner of the crowded bar, set before me some food, and left me to +watch the strange life I had come to; and before long I soon forgot my +troubles in the novelty of my position. + +The difference between the passengers to and from California was very +distinguishable. Those bound for the gold country were to a certain +extent fresh from civilization, and had scarcely thrown off its +control; whereas the homeward bound revelled in disgusting excess of +licence. Although many of the women on their way to California showed +clearly enough that the life of licence they sought would not be +altogether unfamiliar to them, they still retained some appearance of +decency in their attire and manner; but in many cases (as I have +before said) the female companions of the successful gold-diggers +appeared in no hurry to resume the dress or obligations of their sex. +Many were clothed as the men were, in flannel shirt and boots; rode +their mules in unfeminine fashion, but with much ease and courage; and +in their conversation successfully rivalled the coarseness of their +lords. I think, on the whole, that those French lady writers who +desire to enjoy the privileges of man, with the irresponsibility of +the other sex, would have been delighted with the disciples who were +carrying their principles into practice in the streets of Cruces. + +The chief object of all the travellers seemed to be dinner or supper; +I do not know what term they gave it. Down the entire length of the +Independent Hotel ran a table covered with a green oilskin cloth, and +at proper intervals were placed knives and forks, plates, and cups and +saucers turned down; and when a new-comer received his ticket, and +wished to secure his place for the coming repast, he would turn his +plate, cup, and saucer up; which mode of reserving seats seemed +respected by the rest. And as the evening wore on, the shouting and +quarrelling at the doorway in Yankee twang increased momentarily; +while some seated themselves at the table, and hammering upon it with +the handles of their knives, hallooed out to the excited nigger cooks +to make haste with the slapjack. Amidst all this confusion, my +brother was quietly selling shirts, boots, trousers, etc., to the +travellers; while above all the din could be heard the screaming +voices of his touters without, drawing attention to the good cheer of +the Independent Hotel. Over and over again, while I cowered in my snug +corner, wishing to avoid the notice of all, did I wish myself safe +back in my pleasant home in Kingston; but it was too late to find out +my mistake now. + +At last the table was nearly filled with a motley assemblage of men +and women, and the slapjack, hot and steaming, was carried in by the +black cooks. The hungry diners welcomed its advent with a shout of +delight; and yet it did not seem particularly tempting. But beyond all +doubt it was a capital _pièce de résistance_ for great eaters; and +before the dinner was over, I saw ample reasons to induce any +hotel-keeper to give it his patronage. In truth, it was a thick +substantial pancake of flour, salt, and water--eggs were far too +expensive to be used in its composition; and by the time the supply +had disappeared, I thought the largest appetites must have been +stayed. But it was followed by pork, strips of beef stewed with hard +dumplings, hams, great dishes of rice, jugs of molasses and treacle +for sauce; the whole being washed down with an abundance of tea and +coffee. Chickens and eggs were provided for those who were prepared to +pay for these luxuries of Panama life. But, so scarce and expensive +were they, that, as I afterwards discovered, those hotel-keepers whose +larders were so stocked would hang out a chicken upon their signposts, +as a sure attraction for the richer and more reckless diggers; while +the touter's cry of "Eggs and chickens here" was a very telling one. +Wine and spirits were also obtainable, but were seldom taken by the +Americans, who are abstemious abroad as well as at home. + +After dinner the store soon cleared. Gambling was a great attraction; +but my brother, dreading its consequences with these hot-brained +armed men, allowed none to take place in his hotel. So some lounged +away to the faro and monte tables, which were doing a busy trade; +others loitered in the verandah, smoking, and looking at the native +women, who sang and danced fandangos before them. The whole of the +dirty, woe-begone place, which had looked so wretched by the light of +day, was brilliantly illuminated now. Night would bring no rest to +Cruces, while the crowds were there to be fed, cheated, or amused. +Daybreak would find the faro-tables, with their piles of silver and +little heaps of gold-dust, still surrounded by haggard gamblers; +daybreak would gleam sickly upon the tawdry finery of the poor +Spanish singers and dancers, whose weary night's work would enable +them to live upon the travellers' bounty for the next week or so. +These few hours of gaiety and excitement were to provide the Cruces +people with food and clothing for as many days; and while their +transitory sun shone, I will do them the justice to say they gathered +in their hay busily. In the exciting race for gold, we need not be +surprised at the strange groups which line the race-course. All that +I wondered at was, that I had not foreseen what I found, or that my +rage for change and novelty had closed my ears against the warning +voices of those who knew somewhat of the high-road to California; but +I was too tired to moralise long, and begged my brother to find me a +bed somewhere. He failed to do so completely, and in despair I took +the matter in my own hands; and stripping the green oilskin cloth +from the rough table--it would not be wanted again until to-morrow's +breakfast--pinned up some curtains round the table's legs, and turned +in with my little servant beneath it. It was some comfort to know +that my brother, his servants, and Mac brought their mattresses, and +slept upon it above us. It was a novel bed, and required some slight +stretch of the imagination to fancy it a four-poster; but I was too +tired to be particular, and slept soundly. + +We were up right early on the following morning; and refreshed with my +night's sleep, I entered heartily into the preparations for breakfast. +That meal over, the homeward-bound passengers took boats _en route_ +for Gorgona, while those bound for California hired mules for the land +journey to Panama. So after awhile all cleared away, and Cruces was +left to its unhealthy solitude. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + AN UNWELCOME VISITOR IN CRUCES--THE CHOLERA--SUCCESS + OF THE YELLOW DOCTRESS--FEARFUL SCENE AT THE + MULE-OWNER'S--THE BURYING PARTIES--THE CHOLERA + ATTACKS ME. + + +I do not think I have ever known what it is to despair, or even to +despond (if such were my inclination, I have had some opportunities +recently), and it was not long before I began to find out the bright +side of Cruces life, and enter into schemes for staying there. But it +would be a week or so before the advent of another crowd would wake +Cruces to life and activity again; and in the meanwhile, and until I +could find a convenient hut for my intended hotel, I remained my +brother's guest. + +But it was destined that I should not be long in Cruces before my +medicinal skill and knowledge were put to the test. Before the +passengers for Panama had been many days gone, it was found that they +had left one of their number behind them, and that one--the cholera. I +believe that the faculty have not yet come to the conclusion that the +cholera is contagious, and I am not presumptuous enough to forestall +them; but my people have always considered it to be so, and the poor +Cruces folks did not hesitate to say that this new and terrible plague +had been a fellow-traveller with the Americans from New Orleans or +some other of its favoured haunts. I had the first intimation of its +unwelcome presence in the following abrupt and unpleasant manner:-- + +A Spaniard, an old and intimate friend of my brother, had supped with +him one evening, and upon returning home had been taken ill, and after +a short period of intense suffering had died. So sudden and so +mysterious a death gave rise to the rumour that he had been poisoned, +and suspicion rested for a time, perhaps not unnaturally, upon my +brother, in whose company the dead man had last been. Anxious for many +reasons--the chief one, perhaps, the position of my brother--I went +down to see the corpse. A single glance at the poor fellow showed me +the terrible truth. The distressed face, sunken eyes, cramped limbs, +and discoloured shrivelled skin were all symptoms which I had been +familiar with very recently; and at once I pronounced the cause of +death to be cholera. The Cruces people were mightily angry with me +for expressing such an opinion; even my brother, although it relieved +him of the odium of a great crime, was as annoyed as the rest. But by +twelve o'clock that morning one of the Spaniard's friends was attacked +similarly, and the very people who had been most angry with me a few +hours previously, came to me now eager for advice. There was no doctor +in Cruces; the nearest approach to one was a little timid dentist, who +was there by accident, and who refused to prescribe for the sufferer, +and I was obliged to do my best. Selecting from my medicine chest--I +never travel anywhere without it--what I deemed necessary, I went +hastily to the patient, and at once adopted the remedies I considered +fit. It was a very obstinate case, but by dint of mustard emetics, +warm fomentations, mustard plasters on the stomach and the back, and +calomel, at first in large then in gradually smaller doses, I +succeeded in saving my first cholera patient in Cruces. + +For a few days the terrible disease made such slow progress amongst us +that we almost hoped it had passed on its way and spared us; but all +at once it spread rapidly, and affrighted faces and cries of woe soon +showed how fatally the destroyer was at work. And in so great request +were my services, that for days and nights together I scarcely knew +what it was to enjoy two successive hours' rest. + +And here I must pause to set myself right with my kind reader. He or +she will not, I hope, think that, in narrating these incidents, I am +exalting my poor part in them unduly. I do not deny (it is the only +thing indeed that I have to be proud of) that I _am_ pleased and +gratified when I look back upon my past life, and see times now and +then, and places here and there, when and where I have been enabled to +benefit my fellow-creatures suffering from ills my skill could often +remedy. Nor do I think that the kind reader will consider this feeling +an unworthy one. If it be so, and if, in the following pages, the +account of what Providence has given me strength to do on larger +fields of action be considered vain or egotistical, still I cannot +help narrating them, for my share in them appears to be the one and +only claim I have to interest the public ear. Moreover I shall be +sadly disappointed, if those years of life which may be still in store +for me are not permitted by Providence to be devoted to similar +usefulness. I am not ashamed to confess--for the gratification is, +after all, a selfish one--that I love to be of service to those who +need a woman's help. And wherever the need arises--on whatever distant +shore--I ask no greater or higher privilege than to minister to it. +After this explanation, I resume more freely the account of my labours +in Cruces. + +It was scarcely surprising that the cholera should spread rapidly, for +fear is its powerful auxiliary, and the Cruces people bowed down +before the plague in slavish despair. The Americans and other +foreigners in the place showed a brave front, but the natives, +constitutionally cowardly, made not the feeblest show of resistance. +Beyond filling the poor church, and making the priests bring out into +the streets figures of tawdry dirty saints, supposed to possess some +miraculous influence which they never exerted, before which they +prostrated themselves, invoking their aid with passionate prayers and +cries, they did nothing. Very likely the saints would have got the +credit of helping them if they had helped themselves; but the poor +cowards never stirred a finger to clean out their close, reeking huts, +or rid the damp streets of the rotting accumulation of months. I think +their chief reliance was on "the yellow woman from Jamaica with the +cholera medicine." Nor was this surprising; for the Spanish doctor, +who was sent for from Panama, became nervous and frightened at the +horrors around him, and the people soon saw that he was not familiar +with the terrible disease he was called upon to do battle with, and +preferred trusting to one who was. + +It must be understood that many of those who could afford to pay for +my services did so handsomely, but the great majority of my patients +had nothing better to give their doctress than thanks. The best part +of my practice lay amongst the American store and hotel keepers, the +worst among the native boatmen and muleteers. These latter died by +scores, and among them I saw some scenes of horror I would fain +forget, if it were possible. One terrible night, passed with some of +them, has often haunted me. I will endeavour to narrate it, and should +the reader be supposed to think it highly coloured and doubtful, I +will only tell him that, terrible as it seems, I saw almost as fearful +scenes on the Crimean peninsula among British men, a few thousand +miles only from comfort and plenty. + +It was late in the evening when the largest mule-owner in Cruces came +to me and implored me to accompany him to his kraal, a short distance +from the town, where he said some of his men were dying. One in +particular, his head muleteer, a very valuable servant, he was most +selfishly anxious for, and, on the way thither, promised me a large +remuneration if I should succeed in saving him. Our journey was not a +long one, but it rained hard, and the fields were flooded, so that it +took us some time to reach the long, low hut which he called his home. +I would rather not see such another scene as the interior of that hut +presented. Its roof scarcely sheltered its wretched inmates from the +searching rain; its floor was the damp, rank turf, trodden by the +mules' hoofs and the muleteers' feet into thick mud. Around, in dirty +hammocks, and on the damp floor, were the inmates of this wretched +place, male and female, the strong and the sick together, breathing +air that nearly choked me, accustomed as I had grown to live in impure +atmosphere; for beneath the same roof the mules, more valuable to +their master than his human servants, were stabled, their fore-feet +locked, and beside them were heaps of saddles, packs, and harness. The +groans of the sufferers and the anxiety and fear of their comrades +were so painful to hear and witness, that for a few minutes I felt an +almost uncontrollable impulse to run out into the stormy night, and +flee from this plague-spot. But the weak feeling vanished, and I set +about my duty. The mule-owner was so frightened that he did not +hesitate to obey orders, and, by my directions, doors and shutters +were thrown open, fires were lighted, and every effort made to +ventilate the place; and then, with the aid of the frightened women, I +applied myself to my poor patients. Two were beyond my skill. Death +alone could give them relief. The others I could help. But no words of +mine could induce them to bear their terrible sufferings like men. +They screamed and groaned, not like women, for few would have been so +craven-hearted, but like children; calling, in the intervals of +violent pain, upon Jesu, the Madonna, and all the saints of heaven +whom their lives had scandalised. I stayed with them until midnight, +and then got away for a little time. But I had not long been quiet, +before the mule-master was after me again. The men were worse; would I +return with him. The rain was drifting heavily on the thatched roof, +as it only does in tropical climates, and I was tired to death; but I +could not resist his appeal. He had brought with him a pair of tall, +thick boots, in which I was to wade through the flooded fields; and +with some difficulty I again reached the kraal. I found the worst +cases sinking fast, one of the others had relapsed, while fear had +paralysed the efforts of the rest. At last I restored some order; and, +with the help of the bravest of the women, fixed up rude screens +around the dying men. But no screens could shut out from the others +their awful groans and cries for the aid that no mortal power could +give them. So the long night passed away; first a deathlike stillness +behind one screen, and then a sudden silence behind the other, showing +that the fierce battle with death was over, and who had been the +victor. And, meanwhile, I sat before the flickering fire, with my last +patient in my lap--a poor, little, brown-faced orphan infant, scarce a +year old, was dying in my arms, and I was powerless to save it. It may +seem strange, but it is a fact, that I thought more of that little +child than I did of the men who were struggling for their lives, and +prayed very earnestly and solemnly to God to spare it. But it did not +please Him to grant my prayer, and towards morning the wee spirit +left this sinful world for the home above it had so lately left, and +what was mortal of the little infant lay dead in my arms. Then it was +that I began to think--how the idea first arose in my mind I can +hardly say--that, if it were possible to take this little child and +examine it, I should learn more of the terrible disease which was +sparing neither young nor old, and should know better how to do battle +with it. I was not afraid to use my baby patient thus. I knew its fled +spirit would not reproach me, for I had done all I could for it in +life--had shed tears over it, and prayed for it. + +It was cold grey dawn, and the rain had ceased, when I followed the +man who had taken the dead child away to bury it, and bribed him to +carry it by an unfrequented path down to the river-side, and accompany +me to the thick retired bush on the opposite bank. Having persuaded +him thus much, it was not difficult, with the help of silver arguments +to convince him that it would be for the general benefit and his own, +if I could learn from this poor little thing the secret inner workings +of our common foe; and ultimately he stayed by me, and aided me in my +first and last _post mortem_ examination. It seems a strange deed to +accomplish, and I am sure I could not wield the scalpel or the +substitute I then used now, but at that time the excitement had +strung my mind up to a high pitch of courage and determination; and +perhaps the daily, almost hourly, scenes of death had made me somewhat +callous. I need not linger on this scene, nor give the readers the +results of my operation; although novel to me, and decidedly useful, +they were what every medical man well knows. + +We buried the poor little body beneath a piece of luxuriant turf, and +stole back into Cruces like guilty things. But the knowledge I had +obtained thus strangely was very valuable to me, and was soon put into +practice. But that I dreaded boring my readers, I would fain give them +some idea of my treatment of this terrible disease. I have no doubt +that at first I made some lamentable blunders, and, may be, lost +patients which a little later I could have saved. I know I came +across, the other day, some notes of cholera medicines which made me +shudder, and I dare say they have been used in their turn and found +wanting. The simplest remedies were perhaps the best. Mustard +plasters, and emetics, and calomel; the mercury applied externally, +where the veins were nearest the surface, were my usual resources. +Opium I rather dreaded, as its effect is to incapacitate the system +from making any exertion, and it lulls the patient into a sleep which +is often the sleep of death. When my patients felt thirsty, I would +give them water in which cinnamon had been boiled. One stubborn attack +succumbed to an additional dose of ten grains of sugar of lead, mixed +in a pint of water, given in doses of a table-spoonful every quarter +of an hour. Another patient, a girl, I rubbed over with warm oil, +camphor, and spirits of wine. Above all, I never neglected to apply +mustard poultices to the stomach, spine, and neck, and particularly to +keep my patient warm about the region of the heart. Nor did I relax my +care when the disease had passed by, for danger did not cease when the +great foe was beaten off. The patient was left prostrate; +strengthening medicines had to be given cautiously, for fever, often +of the brain, would follow. But, after all, one great conclusion, +which my practice in cholera cases enabled me to come to, was the old +one, that few constitutions permitted the use of exactly similar +remedies, and that the course of treatment which saved one man, would, +if persisted in, have very likely killed his brother. + +Generally speaking, the cholera showed premonitory symptoms; such as +giddiness, sickness, diarrhoea, or sunken eyes and distressed look; +but sometimes the substance followed its forecoming shadow so quickly, +and the crisis was so rapid, that there was no time to apply any +remedies. An American carpenter complained of giddiness and +sickness--warning signs--succeeded so quickly by the worst symptoms of +cholera, that in less than an hour his face became of an indigo tint, +his limbs were doubled up horribly with violent cramps, and he died. + +To the convicts--and if there could be grades of wretchedness in +Cruces, these poor creatures were the lowest--belonged the terrible +task of burying the dead; a duty to which they showed the utmost +repugnance. Not unfrequently, at some fancied alarm, they would fling +down their burden, until at last it became necessary to employ the +soldiers to see that they discharged the task allotted to them. +Ordinarily, the victims were buried immediately after death, with such +imperfect rites of sepulture as the harassed frightened priests would +pay them, and very seldom was time afforded by the authorities to the +survivors to pay those last offices to the departed which a Spaniard +and a Catholic considers so important. Once I was present at a +terrible scene in the house of a New Granada grandee, whose pride and +poverty justified many of the old Spanish proverbs levelled at his +caste. + +It was when the cholera was at its height, and yet he had +left--perhaps on important business--his wife and family, and gone to +Panama for three days. On the day after his departure, the plague +broke out in his house, and my services were required promptly. I +found the miserable household in terrible alarm, and yet confining +their exertions to praying to a coarse black priest in a black +surplice, who, kneeling beside the couch of the Spanish lady, was +praying (in his turn) to some favourite saint in Cruces. The sufferer +was a beautiful woman, suffering from a violent attack of cholera, +with no one to help her, or even to take from her arms the poor little +child they had allowed her to retain. In her intervals of comparative +freedom from pain, her cries to the Madonna and her husband were +heartrending to hear. I had the greatest difficulty to rout the stupid +priest and his as stupid worshippers, and do what I could for the +sufferer. It was very little, and before long the unconscious Spaniard +was a widower. Soon after, the authorities came for the body. I never +saw such passionate anger and despair as were shown by her relatives +and servants, old and young, at the intrusion--rage that she, who had +been so exalted in life, should go to her grave like the poor, poor +clay she was. Orders were given to bar the door against the convict +gang who had come to discharge their unpleasant duty, and while all +were busy decking out the unconscious corpse in gayest attire, none +paid any heed to me bending over the fire with the motherless child, +journeying fast to join its dead parent. I had made more than one +effort to escape, for I felt more sick and wretched than at any +similar scene of woe; but finding exit impossible, I turned my back +upon them, and attended to the dying child. Nor did I heed their +actions until I heard orders given to admit the burial party, and then +I found that they had dressed the corpse in rich white satin, and +decked her head with flowers. + +The agitation and excitement of this scene had affected me as no +previous horror had done, and I could not help fancying that symptoms +were showing themselves in me with which I was familiar enough in +others. Leaving the dying infant to the care of its relatives (when +the Spaniard returned he found himself widowed and childless), I +hastened to my brother's house. When there, I felt an unpleasant chill +come over me, and went to bed at once. Other symptoms followed +quickly, and, before nightfall, I knew full well that my turn had come +at last, and that the cholera had attacked me, perhaps its greatest +foe in Cruces. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + AMERICAN SYMPATHY--I TAKE AN HOTEL IN CRUCES--MY + CUSTOMERS--LOLA MONTES--MISS HAYES AND THE + BISHOP--GAMBLING IN CRUCES--QUARRELS AMONGST THE + TRAVELLERS--NEW GRANADA MILITARY--THE THIEVES OF + CRUCES--A NARROW ESCAPE. + + +When it became known that their "yellow doctress" had the cholera, I +must do the people of Cruces the justice to say that they gave her +plenty of sympathy, and would have shown their regard for her more +actively, had there been any occasion. Indeed, when I most wanted +quiet, it was difficult to keep out the sympathising Americans and +sorrowing natives who came to inquire after me; and who, not content +with making their inquiries, and leaving their offerings of blankets, +flannel, etc., must see with their own eyes what chance the yellow +woman had of recovery. The rickety door of my little room could never +be kept shut for many minutes together. A visitor would open it +silently, poke his long face in with an expression of sympathy that +almost made me laugh in spite of my pain, draw it out again, between +the narrowest possible opening, as if he were anxious to admit as +little air as he could; while another would come in bodily, and after +looking at me curiously and inquisitively, as he would eye a horse or +nigger he had some thoughts of making a bid for, would help to carpet +my room, with the result perhaps of his meditations, and saying, +gravely, "Air you better, Aunty Seacole, now? Isn't there a something +we can du for you, ma'am?" would as gravely give place to another and +another yet, until I was almost inclined to throw something at them, +or call them bad names, like the Scotch king does the ghosts in the +play.[A] But, fortunately, the attack was a very mild one, and by the +next day all danger had gone by, although I still felt weak and +exhausted. + +After a few weeks, the first force of the cholera was spent, and +although it lingered with us, as though loath to leave so fine a +resting-place, for some months, it no longer gave us much alarm; and +before long, life went on as briskly and selfishly as ever with the +Cruces survivors, and the terrible past was conveniently forgotten. +Perhaps it is so everywhere; but the haste with which the Cruces +people buried their memory seemed indecent. Old houses found new +masters; the mules new drivers; the great Spaniard chose another +pretty woman, and had a grand, poor, dirty wedding, and was married by +the same lazy black priest who had buried his wife, dead a few months +back; and very likely they would all have hastened as quickly to +forget their doctress, had circumstances permitted them: but every now +and then one of them sickened and died of the old complaint; and the +reputation I had established founded for me a considerable practice. +The Americans in the place gladly retained me as their medical +attendant, and in one way or other gave me plenty to do; but, in +addition to this, I determined to follow my original scheme of keeping +an hotel in Cruces. + +Right opposite my brother's Independent Hotel there was a place to let +which it was considered I could adapt to my purpose. It was a mere +tumble-down hut, with wattled sides, and a rotten thatched roof, +containing two rooms, one small enough to serve as a bedroom. For this +charming residence--very openly situated, and well ventilated--twenty +pounds a month was considered a fair and by no means exorbitant rent. +And yet I was glad to take possession of it; and in a few days had +hung its rude walls with calico of gayest colour in stripes, with an +exuberance of fringes, frills, and bows (the Americans love show +dearly), and prepared it to accommodate fifty dinner guests. I had +determined that it should be simply a _table d'hôte_, and that I would +receive no lodgers. Once, and once only, I relaxed this rule in favour +of two American women, who sent me to sleep by a lengthy quarrel of +words, woke me in the night to witness its crisis in a fisticuff +_duello_, and left in the morning, after having taken a fancy to some +of my moveables which were most easily removeable. I had on my staff +my black servant Mac, the little girl I have before alluded to, and a +native cook. I had had many opportunities of seeing how my brother +conducted his business; and adopted his tariff of charges. For an +ordinary dinner my charge was four shillings; eggs and chickens were, +as I have before said, distinct luxuries, and fetched high prices. + +Four crowds generally passed through Cruces every month. In these were +to be found passengers to and from Chili, Peru, and Lima, as well as +California and America. The distance from Cruces to Panama was not +great--only twenty miles, in fact; but the journey, from the want of +roads and the roughness of the country, was a most fatiguing one. In +some parts--as I found when I made the journey, in company with my +brother--it was almost impassable; and for more than half the +distance, three miles an hour was considered splendid progress. The +great majority of the travellers were rough, rude men, of dirty, +quarrelsome habits; the others were more civilized and more dangerous. +And it was not long before I grew very tired of life in Cruces, +although I made money rapidly, and pressed my brother to return to +Kingston. Poor fellow! it would have been well for him had he done so; +for he stayed only to find a grave on the Isthmus of Panama. + +The company at my _table d'hôte_ was not over select; and it was often +very difficult for an unprotected female to manage them, although I +always did my best to put them in good humour. Among other comforts, I +used to hire a black barber, for the rather large consideration of two +pounds, to shave my male guests. You can scarcely conceive the +pleasure and comfort an American feels in a clean chin; and I believe +my barber attracted considerable custom to the British Hotel at +Cruces. I had a little out-house erected for his especial convenience; +and there, well provided with towels, and armed with plenty of razors, +a brush of extraordinary size, and a foaming sea of lather, José +shaved the new-comers. The rivalry to get within reach of his huge +brush was very great; and the threats used by the neglected, when the +grinning black was considered guilty of any interested partiality, +were of the fiercest description. + +This duty over, they and their coarser female companions--many of them +well known to us, for they travelled backwards and forwards across the +Isthmus, hanging on to the foolish gold-finders--attacked the dinner, +very often with great lack of decency. It was no use giving them +carving-knives and forks, for very often they laid their own down to +insert a dirty hairy hand into a full dish; while the floor soon bore +evidences of the great national American habit of expectoration. Very +often quarrels would arise during the progress of dinner; and more +than once I thought the knives, which they nearly swallowed at every +mouthful, would have been turned against one another. It was, I always +thought, extremely fortunate that the reckless men rarely stimulated +their excitable passions with strong drink. Tea and coffee were the +common beverages of the Americans; Englishmen, and men of other +nations, being generally distinguishable by their demand for wine and +spirits. But the Yankee's capacity for swilling tea and coffee was +prodigious. I saw one man drink ten cups of coffee; and finding his +appetite still unsatisfied, I ran across to my brother for advice. +There was a merry twinkle in his eyes as he whispered, "I always put +in a good spoonful of salt after the sixth cup. It chokes them off +admirably." + +It was no easy thing to avoid being robbed and cheated by the less +scrupulous travellers; although I think it was only the 'cutest Yankee +who stood any fair chance of outwitting me. I remember an instance of +the biter bit, which I will narrate, hoping it may make my reader +laugh as heartily as its recollection makes me. He was a tall, thin +Yankee, with a furtive glance of the eyes, and an amazing appetite, +which he seemed nothing loath to indulge: his appetite for eggs +especially seemed unbounded. Now, I have more than once said how +expensive eggs were; and this day they happened to be eightpence +apiece. Our plan was to charge every diner according to the number of +shells found upon his plate. Now, I noticed how eagerly my thin guest +attacked my eggs, and marvelled somewhat at the scanty pile of shells +before him. My suspicions once excited, I soon fathomed my Yankee +friend's dodge. As soon as he had devoured the eggs, he conveyed +furtively the shells beneath the table, and distributed them +impartially at the feet of his companions. I gave my little black maid +a piece of chalk, and instructions; and creeping under the table, she +counted the scattered shells, and chalked the number on the tail of +his coat. And when he came up to pay his score, he gave up his number +of eggs in a loud voice; and when I contradicted him, and referred to +the coat-_tale_ in corroboration of _my_ score, there was a general +laugh against him. But there was a nasty expression in his cat-like +eyes, and an unpleasant allusion to mine, which were not agreeable, +and dissuaded me from playing any more practical jokes upon the +Yankees. + +I followed my brother's example closely, and forbade all gambling in +my hotel. But I got some idea of its fruits from the cases brought to +me for surgical treatment from the faro and monte tables. Gambling at +Cruces, and on the Isthmus generally, was a business by which money +was wormed out of the gold-seekers and gold-finders. No attempt was +made to render it attractive, as I have seen done elsewhere. The +gambling-house was often plainer than our hotels; and but for the +green tables, with their piles of money and gold-dust, watched over by +a well-armed determined banker, and the eager gamblers around, you +would not know that you were in the vicinity of a spot which the +English at home designate by a very decided and extreme name. A Dr. +Casey--everybody familiar with the Americans knows their fondness for +titles--owned the most favoured table in Cruces; and this, although he +was known to be a reckless and unscrupulous villain. Most of them knew +that he had been hunted out of San Francisco; and at that time--years +before the Vigilance Committee commenced their labours of +purification--a man too bad for that city must have been a prodigy of +crime: and yet, and although he was violent-tempered, and had a knack +of referring the slightest dispute to his revolver, his table was +always crowded; probably because--the greatest rogues have some good +qualities--he was honest in his way, and played fairly. + +Occasionally some distinguished passengers passed on the upward and +downward tides of rascality and ruffianism, that swept periodically +through Cruces. Came one day, Lola Montes, in the full zenith of her +evil fame, bound for California, with a strange suite. A good-looking, +bold woman, with fine, bad eyes, and a determined bearing; dressed +ostentatiously in perfect male attire, with shirt-collar turned down +over a velvet lapelled coat, richly worked shirt-front, black hat, +French unmentionables, and natty, polished boots with spurs. She +carried in her hand a handsome riding-whip, which she could use as +well in the streets of Cruces as in the towns of Europe; for an +impertinent American, presuming--perhaps not unnaturally--upon her +reputation, laid hold jestingly of the tails of her long coat, and as +a lesson received a cut across his face that must have marked him for +some days. I did not wait to see the row that followed, and was glad +when the wretched woman rode off on the following morning. A very +different notoriety followed her at some interval of time--Miss +Catherine Hayes, on her successful singing tour, who disappointed us +all by refusing to sing at Cruces; and after her came an English +bishop from Australia, who need have been a member of the church +militant to secure his pretty wife from the host of admirers she had +gained during her day's journey from Panama. + +Very quarrelsome were the majority of the crowds, holding life cheap, +as all bad men strangely do--equally prepared to take or lose it upon +the slightest provocation. Few tales of horror in Panama could be +questioned on the ground of improbability. Not less partial were many +of the natives of Cruces to the use of the knife; preferring, by the +way, to administer sly stabs in the back, when no one was by to see +the dastard blow dealt. Terribly bullied by the Americans were the +boatmen and muleteers, who were reviled, shot, and stabbed by these +free and independent filibusters, who would fain whop all creation +abroad as they do their slaves at home. Whenever any Englishmen were +present, and in a position to interfere with success, this bullying +was checked; and they found, instead of the poor Spanish Indians, +foemen worthy of their steel or lead. I must do them credit to say, +that they were never loath to fight any one that desired that passing +excitement, and thought little of ending their journey of life +abruptly at the wretched wayside town of Cruces. It very often +happened so, and over many a hasty head and ready hand have I seen the +sod roughly pressed down, their hot hearts stilled suddenly in some +senseless quarrel. And so in time I grew to have some considerable +experience in the treatment of knife and gun-shot wounds. + +One night I heard a great noise outside my window, and on rising found +a poor boatman moaning piteously, and in a strange jumble of many +languages begging me to help him. At first I was afraid to open the +door, on account of the noisy mob which soon joined him, for villainy +was very shrewd at Cruces; but at last I admitted him, and found that +the poor wretch's ears had been cruelly split by some hasty citizen of +the United States. I stitched them up as well as I could, and silenced +his cries. And at any time, if you happened to be near the river when +a crowd were arriving or departing, your ears would be regaled with a +choice chorus of threats, of which ear-splitting, eye-gouging, +cow-hiding, and the application of revolvers were the mildest. Against +the negroes, of whom there were many in the Isthmus, and who almost +invariably filled the municipal offices, and took the lead in every +way, the Yankees had a strong prejudice; but it was wonderful to see +how freedom and equality elevate men, and the same negro who perhaps +in Tennessee would have cowered like a beaten child or dog beneath an +American's uplifted hand, would face him boldly here, and by equal +courage and superior physical strength cow his old oppressor. + +When more than ordinary squabbles occurred in the street or at the +gambling-tables, the assistance of the soldier-police of New Granada +was called in, and the affair sometimes assumed the character of a +regular skirmish. The soldiers--I wish I could speak better of +them--were a dirty, cowardly, indolent set, more prone to use their +knives than their legitimate arms, and bore old rusty muskets, and +very often marched unshod. Their officers were in outward appearance a +few shades superior to the men they commanded, but, as respects +military proficiency, were their equals. Add to this description of +their _personnel_ the well-known fact, that you might commit the +grossest injustice, and could obtain the simplest justice only by +lavish bribery, and you may form some idea of our military protectors. + +Very practised and skilful in thieving were the native population of +Cruces--I speak of the majority, and except the negroes--always more +inclined to do a dishonest night's labour at great risk, than an +honest day's work for fair wages; for justice was always administered +strictly to the poor natives--it was only the foreigners who could +evade it or purchase exemption. Punishment was severe; and in extreme +cases the convicts were sent to Carthagena, there to suffer +imprisonment of a terrible character. Indeed, from what I heard of the +New Granada prisons, I thought no other country could match them, and +continued to think so until I read how the ingenuity in cruelty of his +Majesty the King of Naples put the torturers of the New Granada +Republic to the blush. + +I generally avoided claiming the protection of the law whilst on the +Isthmus, for I found it was--as is the case in civilized England from +other causes--rather an expensive luxury. Once only I took a thief +caught in the act before the alcalde, and claimed the administration +of justice. The court-house was a low bamboo shed, before which some +dirty Spanish-Indian soldiers were lounging; and inside, the alcalde, +a negro, was reclining in a dirty hammock, smoking coolly, hearing +evidence, and pronouncing judgment upon the wretched culprits, who +were trembling before his dusky majesty. I had attended him while +suffering from an attack of cholera, and directly he saw me he rose +from his hammock, and received me in a ceremonious, grand manner, and +gave orders that coffee should be brought to me. He had a very pretty +white wife, who joined us; and then the alcalde politely offered me a +_cigarito_--having declined which, he listened to my statement with +great attention. All this, however, did not prevent my leaving the +necessary fee in furtherance of justice, nor his accepting it. Its +consequence was, that the thief, instead of being punished as a +criminal, was ordered to pay me the value of the stolen goods; which, +after weeks of hesitation and delay, she eventually did, in pearls, +combs, and other curiosities. + +Whenever an American was arrested by the New Granada authorities, +justice had a hard struggle for the mastery, and rarely obtained it. +Once I was present at the court-house, when an American was brought in +heavily ironed, charged with having committed a highway robbery--if I +may use the term where there were no roads--on some travellers from +Chili. Around the frightened soldiers swelled an angry crowd of +brother Americans, abusing and threatening the authorities in no +measured terms, all of them indignant that a nigger should presume to +judge one of their countrymen. At last their violence so roused the +sleepy alcalde, that he positively threw himself from his hammock, +laid down his cigarito, and gave such very determined orders to his +soldiers that he succeeded in checking the riot. Then, with an air of +decision that puzzled everybody, he addressed the crowd, declaring +angrily, that since the Americans came the country had known no peace, +that robberies and crimes of every sort had increased, and ending by +expressing his determination to make strangers respect the laws of the +Republic, and to retain the prisoner; and if found guilty, punish him +as he deserved. The Americans seemed too astonished at the audacity of +the black man, who dared thus to beard them, to offer any resistance; +but I believe that the prisoner was allowed ultimately to escape. + +I once had a narrow escape from the thieves of Cruces. I had been down +to Chagres for some stores, and returning, late in the evening, too +tired to put away my packages, had retired to rest at once. My little +maid, who was not so fatigued as I was, and slept more lightly, woke +me in the night to listen to a noise in the thatch, at the further end +of the store; but I was so accustomed to hear the half-starved mules +of Cruces munching my thatch, that I listened lazily for a few +minutes, and then went unsuspiciously into another heavy sleep. I do +not know how long it was before I was again awoke by the child's loud +screams and cries of "Hombro--landro;" and sure enough, by the light +of the dying fire, I saw a fellow stealing away with my dress, in the +pocket of which was my purse. I was about to rush forward, when the +fire gleamed on a villainous-looking knife in his hand; so I stood +still, and screamed loudly, hoping to arouse my brother over the way. +For a moment the thief seemed inclined to silence me, and had taken a +few steps forward, when I took up an old rusty horse-pistol which my +brother had given me that I might look determined, and snatching down +the can of ground coffee, proceeded to prime it, still screaming as +loudly as my strong lungs would permit, until the rascal turned tail +and stole away through the roof. The thieves usually buried their +spoil like dogs, as they were; but this fellow had only time to hide +it behind a bush, where it was found on the following morning, and +claimed by me. + + +FOOTNOTE: + +[A] Mrs. Seacole very likely refers to Macbeth. But it was the witches +he abused.--Ed. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + MIGRATION TO GORGONA--FAREWELL DINNERS AND SPEECHES--A + BUILDING SPECULATION--LIFE IN GORGONA--SYMPATHY WITH + AMERICAN SLAVES--DR. CASEY IN TROUBLE--FLOODS AND + FIRES--YANKEE INDEPENDENCE AND FREEDOM. + + +I remained at Cruces until the rainy months came to an end, and the +river grew too shallow to be navigable by the boats higher up than +Gorgona; and then we all made preparations for a flitting to that +place. But before starting, it appeared to be the custom for the store +and hotel keepers to exchange parting visits, and to many of these +parties I, in virtue of my recent services to the community, received +invitations. The most important social meeting took place on the +anniversary of the declaration of American independence, at my +brother's hotel, where a score of zealous Americans dined most +heartily--as they never fail to do; and, as it was an especial +occasion, drank champagne liberally at twelve shillings a bottle. And, +after the usual patriotic toasts had been duly honoured, they proposed +"the ladies," with an especial reference to myself, in a speech which +I thought worth noting down at the time. The spokesman was a thin, +sallow-looking American, with a pompous and yet rapid delivery, and a +habit of turning over his words with his quid before delivering them, +and clearing his mouth after each sentence, perhaps to make room for +the next. I shall beg the reader to consider that the blanks express +the time expended on this operation. He dashed into his work at once, +rolling up and getting rid of his sentences as he went on:-- + +"Well, gentlemen, I expect you'll all support me in a drinking of this +toast that I du----. Aunty Seacole, gentlemen; I give you, Aunty +Seacole----. We can't du less for her, after what she's done for +us----, when the cholera was among us, gentlemen----, not many months +ago----. So, I say, God bless the best yaller woman He ever made----, +from Jamaica, gentlemen----, from the Isle of Springs----Well, +gentlemen, I expect there are only tu things we're vexed for----; and +the first is, that she ain't one of us----, a citizen of the great +United States----; and the other thing is, gentlemen----, that +Providence made her a yaller woman. I calculate, gentlemen, you're all +as vexed as I am that she's not wholly white----, but I du reckon on +your rejoicing with me that she's so many shades removed from being +entirely black----; and I guess, if we could bleach her by any means +we would----, and thus make her as acceptable in any company as she +deserves to be----. Gentlemen, I give you Aunty Seacole!" + +And so the orator sat down amidst much applause. It may be supposed +that I did not need much persuasion to return thanks, burning, as I +was, to tell them my mind on the subject of my colour. Indeed, if my +brother had not checked me, I should have given them my thoughts +somewhat too freely. As it was, I said:-- + +"Gentlemen,--I return you my best thanks for your kindness in drinking +my health. As for what I have done in Cruces, Providence evidently +made me to be useful, and I can't help it. But, I must say, that I +don't altogether appreciate your friend's kind wishes with respect to +my complexion. If it had been as dark as any nigger's, I should have +been just as happy and as useful, and as much respected by those whose +respect I value; and as to his offer of bleaching me, I should, even +if it were practicable, decline it without any thanks. As to the +society which the process might gain me admission into, all I can say +is, that, judging from the specimens I have met with here and +elsewhere, I don't think that I shall lose much by being excluded from +it. So, gentlemen, I drink to you and the general reformation of +American manners." + +I do not think that they altogether admired my speech, but I was a +somewhat privileged person, and they laughed at it good-naturedly +enough. Perhaps (for I was not in the best humour myself) I should +have been better pleased if they had been angry. + +Rightly, I ought to have gone down to Gorgona a few weeks before +Cruces was deserted, and secured an hotel; but I did not give up all +hope of persuading my brother to leave the Isthmus until the very last +moment, and then, of course, a suitable house was not to be hired in +Gorgona for love or money. Seeing his fixed determination to stay, I +consented to remain with him, for he was young and often ill, and set +hard to work to settle myself somewhere. With the aid of an old +Jamaica friend, who had settled at Gorgona, I at last found a +miserable little hut for sale, and bought it for a hundred dollars. It +consisted of one room only, and was, in its then condition, utterly +unfit for my purpose; but I determined to set to work and build on to +it--by no means the hazardous speculation in Gorgona, where bricks and +mortar are unknown, that it is in England. The alcalde's permission to +make use of the adjacent ground was obtained for a moderate +consideration, and plenty of material was procurable from the opposite +bank of the river. An American, whom I had cured of the cholera at +Cruces, lent me his boat, and I hired two or three natives to cut down +and shape the posts and bamboo poles. Directly these were raised, Mac +and my little maid set to work and filled up the spaces between them +with split bamboo canes and reeds, and before long my new hotel was +ready to be roofed. The building process was simple enough, and I soon +found myself in possession of a capital dining-room some thirty feet +in length, which was gaily hung with coloured calico, concealing all +defects of construction, and lighted with large oil lamps; a +store-room, bar, and a small private apartment for ladies. Altogether, +although I had to pay my labourers four shillings a day, the whole +building did not cost me more than my brother paid for three months' +rent of his hotel. I gave the travelling world to understand that I +intended to devote my establishment principally to the entertainment +of ladies, and the care of those who might fall ill on the route, and +I found the scheme answered admirably. And yet, although the speculation +paid well, I soon grew as weary of my life in Gorgona as I had been at +Cruces; and when I found my brother proof against all persuasion to +quit the Isthmus, I began to entertain serious thoughts of leaving +him. + +Nor was it altogether my old roving inclination which led me to desire +a change, although I dare say it had something to do with it. My +present life was not agreeable for a woman with the least delicacy or +refinement; and of female society I had none. Indeed, the females who +crossed my path were about as unpleasant specimens of the fair sex as +one could well wish to avoid. With very few exceptions, those who were +not bad were very disagreeable, and as the majority came from the +Southern States of America, and showed an instinctive repugnance +against any one whose countenance claimed for her kindred with their +slaves, my position was far from a pleasant one. Not that it ever gave +me any annoyance; they were glad of my stores and comforts, I made +money out of their wants; nor do I think our bond of connection was +ever closer; only this, if any of them came to me sick and suffering +(I say this out of simple justice to myself), I forgot everything, +except that she was my sister, and that it was my duty to help her. + +I may have before said that the citizens of the New Granada Republic +had a strong prejudice against all Americans. It is not difficult to +assign a cause for this. In the first place, many of the negroes, +fugitive from the Southern States, had sought refuge in this and the +other States of Central America, where every profession was open to +them; and as they were generally superior men--evinced perhaps by +their hatred of their old condition and their successful flight--they +soon rose to positions of eminence in New Granada. In the priesthood, +in the army, in all municipal offices, the self-liberated negroes were +invariably found in the foremost rank; and the people, for some +reason--perhaps because they recognised in them superior talents for +administration--always respected them more than, and preferred them +to, their native rulers. So that, influenced naturally by these freed +slaves, who bore themselves before their old masters bravely and like +men, the New Granada people were strongly prejudiced against the +Americans. And in the second and third places, they feared their +quarrelsome, bullying habits--be it remembered that the crowds to +California were of the lowest sorts, many of whom have since +fertilised Cuban and Nicaraguan soil--and dreaded their schemes for +annexation. To such an extent was this amusingly carried, that when +the American Railway Company took possession of Navy Bay, and +christened it Aspinwall, after the name of their Chairman, the native +authorities refused to recognise their right to name any portion of +the Republic, and pertinaciously returned all letters directed to +Aspinwall, with "no such place known" marked upon them in the very +spot for which they were intended. And, in addition to this, the legal +authorities refused to compel any defendant to appear who was +described as of Aspinwall, and put every plaintiff out of court who +described himself as residing in that unrecognised place. + +Under these circumstances, my readers can easily understand that when +any Americans crossed the Isthmus, accompanied by their slaves, the +Cruces and Gorgona people were restlessly anxious to whisper into +their ears offers of freedom and hints how easy escape would be. Nor +were the authorities at all inclined to aid in the recapture of a +runaway slave. So that, as it was necessary for the losers to go on +with the crowd, the fugitive invariably escaped. It is one of the +maxims of the New Granada constitution--as it is, I believe, of the +English--that on a slave touching its soil his chains fall from him. +Rather than irritate so dangerous a neighbour as America, this rule +was rarely supported; but I remember the following instance of its +successful application. + +A young American woman, whose character can be best described by the +word "vicious," fell ill at Gorgona, and was left behind by her +companions under the charge of a young negro, her slave, whom she +treated most inhumanly, as was evinced by the poor girl's frequent +screams when under the lash. One night her cries were so distressing, +that Gorgona could stand it no longer, but broke into the house and +found the chattel bound hand and foot, naked, and being severely +lashed. Despite the threats and astonishment of the mistress, they +were both carried off on the following morning, before the alcalde, +himself a man of colour, and of a very humane disposition. When the +particulars of the case were laid before him, he became strongly +excited, and called upon the woman to offer an explanation of her +cruelty. She treated it with the coolest unconcern--"The girl was her +property, worth so many dollars, and a child at New Orleans; had +misbehaved herself, and been properly corrected. The alcalde must be +drunk or a fool, or both together, to interfere between an American +and her property." Her coolness vanished, however, when the alcalde +turned round to the girl and told her that she was free to leave her +mistress when she liked; and when she heard the irrepressible cheering +of the crowded court-hut at the alcalde's humanity and boldness, and +saw the slave's face flush with delight at the judge's words, she +became terribly enraged; made use of the most fearful threats, and +would have wreaked summary vengeance on her late chattel had not the +clumsy soldiery interfered. Then, with demoniac refinement of cruelty, +she bethought herself of the girl's baby at New Orleans still in her +power, and threatened most horrible torture to the child if its mother +dared to accept the alcalde's offer. + +The poor girl trembled and covered her face with her hands, as though +to shut out some fearful sight, and, I think, had we not persuaded her +to the contrary, that she would have sacrificed her newly won freedom +for the child's sake. But we knew very well that when the heat of +passion had subsided, the threatener would be too 'cute to injure her +own property; and at once set afloat a subscription for the purchase +of the child. The issue of the tale I do not know, as the woman was +very properly removed into the interior of the country. + +Life at Gorgona resembled life at Cruces so nearly that it does not +need a separate description. Down with the store and hotel keepers +came the muleteers and mules, porters and hangers-on, idlers and +thieves, gamblers and dancing women; and soon the monte-tables were +fitted up, and plying their deadly trade; and the dancers charmed the +susceptible travellers as successfully in the dirty streets of Gorgona +as they had previously done in the unwholesome precincts of Cruces. +And Dr. Casey was very nearly getting himself into serious trouble, +from too great a readiness to use his revolver. Still, he had a better +excuse for bloodshed this time than might have been found for his +previous breaches of the sixth commandment. Among the desperadoes who +frequented his gambling-hut, during their short stay in Gorgona, was +conceived the desperate plan of putting out the lights, and upsetting +Casey's table--trusting in the confusion to carry off the piles of +money upon it. The first part of their programme was successfully +carried out; but the second was frustrated by the Doctor promptly +firing his revolver into the dark, and hitting an unoffending boy in +the hip. And at this crisis the Gorgona police entered, carried off +all the parties they could lay hands upon (including the Doctor) to +prison, and brought the wounded boy to me. + +On the following morning came a most urgent request that I would visit +the imprisoned Doctor. I found him desperately angry, but somewhat +nervous too, for the alcalde was known to be no friend to the +Americans, owed Casey more than one grudge, and had shown recently a +disposition to enforce the laws. + +"I say, Mrs. Seacole, how's that ---- boy?" + +"Oh, Dr. Casey, how could you shoot the poor lad, and now call him bad +names, as though he'd injured you? He is very ill indeed--may die; so +I advise you to think seriously of your position." + +"But, Madame Seacole," (this in a very altered tone), "_you'll_ surely +help me? _you'll_ surely tell the alcalde that the wound's a slight +one? He's a friend of yours, and will let me out of this hole. Come, +Madame Seacole, you'll never leave me to be murdered by these +bloodthirsty savages?" + +"What can I do or say, Dr. Casey? I must speak the truth, and the ball +is still in the poor lad's hip," I answered, for I enjoyed the +fellow's fear too much to help him. However, he sent some of his +friends to the boy's father, and bribed him to take the lad from my +care, and send him to Navy Bay, to a surgeon there. Of course, he +never returned to prosecute Dr. Casey; and he was left with the +alcalde only to deal with, who, although he hated the man, could not +resist his money, and so set him free. + +Gorgona lying lower than Cruces, its inhabitants more frequently +enjoyed the excitement of a flood. After heavy rains, the river would +rise so rapidly that in a few hours the chief part of the place would +be under water. On such occasions the scene was unusually exciting. As +the water crept up the street, the frightened householders kept +removing their goods and furniture to higher ground; while here and +there, where the waters had surrounded them unawares, boats were sent +to their rescue. The houses, not made to resist much wind or water, +often gave way, and were carried down the Chagres. Meanwhile, the +thieves were the busiest--the honest folks, forgetting the true old +adage, "God helps those who help themselves," confining their +exertions to bringing down their favourite saints to the water's edge, +and invoking their interposition. + +Fortunately my hotel was at the upper end of the town, where the +floods had been rarely known to extend; and although there was a +sufficient chance of the water reaching me to compel me to have all my +stores, etc., ready packed for removal, I escaped. Some distressing +losses occurred. A Frenchman, a near neighbour, whose house was +surrounded by the waters before he could remove his goods, grew so +frantic at the loss, that he obstinately refused to quit his falling +house; and some force had to be used before they could save his life. + +Scarcely had the ravages of the last flood been repaired when fire +marked Gorgona for its prey. The conflagration began at a store by the +river-side; but it spread rapidly, and before long all Gorgona was in +danger. The town happened to be very full that night, two crowds +having met there, and there was great confusion; but at last the lazy +soldier-police, aided by the Americans, succeeded in pulling down some +old crazy huts, and checking the fire's progress. The travellers were +in sore plight, many of them being reduced to sleep upon their +luggage, piled in the drenched streets. My hotel had some interesting +inmates, for a poor young creature, borne in from one of the burning +houses, became a mother during the night; and a stout little lassie +opened its eyes upon this waesome world during the excitement and +danger of a Gorgona conflagration. + +Shortly after this, tired to death of life in Panama, I handed over my +hotel to my brother, and returned to Kingston. On the way thither I +experienced another instance of American politeness, which I cannot +help recording; first reminding my readers of what I have previously +said of the character of the Californian travellers. Anxious to get +home quickly, I took my passage in the first steamer that left Navy +Bay--an American one; and late in the evening said farewell to the +friends I had been staying with, and went on board. A very kind +friend, an American merchant, doing a large business at Navy Bay, had +tried hard to persuade me to delay my journey until the English +company's steamer called; without, however, giving any good reasons +for his wish. So, with Mac and my little maid, I passed through the +crowd of female passengers on deck, and sought the privacy of the +saloon. Before I had been long there, two ladies came to me, and in +their cool, straightforward manner, questioned me. + +"Where air you going?" + +"To Kingston." + +"And how air you going?" + +"By sea." + +"Don't be impertinent, yaller woman. By what conveyance air you +going?" + +"By this steamer, of course. I've paid for my passage." + +They went away with this information; and in a short time eight or +nine others came and surrounded me, asking the same questions. My +answers--and I was very particular--raised quite a storm of +uncomplimentary remarks. + +"Guess a nigger woman don't go along with us in this saloon," said +one. "I never travelled with a nigger yet, and I expect I shan't begin +now," said another; while some children had taken my little servant +Mary in hand, and were practising on her the politenesses which their +parents were favouring me with--only, as is the wont of children, they +were crueller. I cannot help it if I shock my readers; but the _truth_ +is, that one positively spat in poor little Mary's frightened yellow +face. + +At last an old American lady came to where I sat, and gave me some +staid advice. "Well, now, I tell you for your good, you'd better quit +this, and not drive my people to extremities. If you do, you'll be +sorry for it, I expect." Thus harassed, I appealed to the +stewardess--a tall sour-looking woman, flat and thin as a dressed-up +broomstick. She asked me sundry questions as to how and when I had +taken my passage; until, tired beyond all endurance, I said, "My good +woman, put me anywhere--under a boat--in your store-room, so that I +can get to Kingston somehow." But the stewardess was not to be moved. + +"There's nowhere but the saloon, and you can't expect to stay with the +white people, that's clear. Flesh and blood can stand a good deal of +aggravation; but not that. If the Britishers is so took up with +coloured people, that's their business; but it won't do here." + +This last remark was in answer to an Englishman, whose advice to me +was not to leave my seat for any of them. He made matters worse; until +at last I lost my temper, and calling Mac, bade him get my things +together, and went up to the captain--a good honest man. He and some +of the black crew and the black cook, who showed his teeth most +viciously, were much annoyed. Muttering about its being a custom of +the country, the captain gave me an order upon the agent for the money +I had paid; and so, at twelve o'clock at night, I was landed again +upon the wharf of Navy Bay. + +My American friends were vastly annoyed, but not much surprised; and +two days later, the English steamer, the "Eagle," in charge of my old +friend, Captain B----, touched at Navy Bay, and carried me to +Kingston. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + THE YELLOW FEVER IN JAMAICA--MY EXPERIENCE OF DEATH-BED + SCENES--I LEAVE AGAIN FOR NAVY BAY, AND OPEN A STORE + THERE--I AM ATTACKED WITH THE GOLD FEVER, AND START FOR + ESCRIBANOS--LIFE IN THE INTERIOR OF THE REPUBLIC OF + NEW GRANADA--A REVOLUTIONARY CONSPIRACY ON A SMALL + SCALE--THE DINNER DELICACIES OF ESCRIBANOS--JOURNEY UP + THE PALMILLA RIVER--A FEW WORDS ON THE PRESENT ASPECT + OF AFFAIRS ON THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA. + + +I stayed in Jamaica eight months out of the year 1853, still +remembered in the island for its suffering and gloom. I returned just +in time to find my services, with many others, needful; for the yellow +fever never made a more determined effort to exterminate the English +in Jamaica than it did in that dreadful year. So violent was the +epidemic, that some of my people fell victims to its fury, a thing +rarely heard of before. My house was full of sufferers--officers, +their wives and children. Very often they were borne in from the ships +in the harbour--sometimes in a dying state, sometimes--after long and +distressing struggles with the grim foe--to recover. Habituated as I +had become with death in its most harrowing forms, I found these +scenes more difficult to bear than any I had previously borne a part +in; and for this reason perhaps, that I had not only to cheer the +death-bed of the sufferer, but, far more trying task, to soothe the +passionate grief of wife or husband left behind. It was a terrible +thing to see young people in the youth and bloom of life suddenly +stricken down, not in battle with an enemy that threatened their +country, but in vain contest with a climate that refused to adopt +them. Indeed, the mother country pays a dear price for the possession +of her colonies. + +I think all who are familiar with the West Indies will acknowledge +that Nature has been favourable to strangers in a few respects, and +that one of these has been in instilling into the hearts of the +Creoles an affection for English people and an anxiety for their +welfare, which shows itself warmest when they are sick and suffering. +I can safely appeal on this point to any one who is acquainted with +life in Jamaica. Another benefit has been conferred upon them by +inclining the Creoles to practise the healing art, and inducing them +to seek out the simple remedies which are available for the terrible +diseases by which foreigners are attacked, and which are found growing +under the same circumstances which produce the ills they minister to. +So true is it that beside the nettle ever grows the cure for its +sting. + +I do not willingly care to dwell upon scenes of suffering and death, +but it is with such scenes that my life's experience has made me most +familiar, and it is impossible to avoid their description now and +then; and here I would fain record, in humble spirit, my conclusions, +drawn from the bearing of those whom I have now and then accompanied a +little distance on their way into the Valley of the Shadow of Death, +on the awful and important question of religious feeling. Death is +always terrible--no one need be ashamed to fear it. How we bear it +depends much upon our constitutions. I have seen some brave men, who +have smiled at the cruellest amputation, die trembling like children; +while others, whose lives have been spent in avoidance of the least +danger or trouble, have drawn their last painful breath like heroes, +striking at their foe to the last, robbing him of his victory, and +making their defeat a triumph. But I cannot trace _all_ the peace and +resignation which I have witnessed on many death-beds to temperament +alone, although I believe it has much more to do with them than many +teachers will allow. I have stood by receiving the last blessings of +Christians; and closing the eyes of those who had nothing to trust to +but the mercy of a God who will be far more merciful to us than we are +to one another; and I say decidedly that the Christian's death is the +glorious one, as is his life. You can never find a good man who is not +a worker; he is no laggard in the race of life. Three, two, or one +score years of life have been to him a season of labour in his +appointed sphere; and as the work of the hands earns for us sweet rest +by night, so does the heart's labour of a lifetime make the repose of +heaven acceptable. This is my experience; and I remember one death, of +a man whom I grew to love in a few short weeks, the thought of which +stirs my heart now, and has sustained me in seasons of great danger; +for before that time, if I had never feared death, I had not learnt to +meet him with a brave, smiling face, and this he taught me. + +I must not tell you his name, for his friends live yet, and have been +kind to me in many ways. One of them we shall meet on Crimean soil. He +was a young surgeon, and as busy, light-hearted, and joyous as a good +man should be; and when he fell ill they brought him to my house, +where I nursed him, and grew fond of him--almost as fond as the poor +lady his mother in England far away. For some time we thought him +safe, but at last the most terrible symptoms of the cruel disease +showed themselves, and he knew that he must die. His thoughts were +never for himself, but for those he had to leave behind; all his pity +was for them. It was trying to see his poor hands tremblingly penning +the last few words of leave-taking--trying to see how piteously the +poor worn heart longed to see once more the old familiar faces of the +loved ones in unconscious happiness at home; and yet I had to support +him while this sad task was effected, and to give him all the help I +could. I think he had some fondness for me, or, perhaps, his kind +heart feigned a feeling that he saw would give me joy; for I used to +call him "My son--my dear child," and to weep over him in a very weak +and silly manner perhaps. + +He sent for an old friend, Captain S----; and when he came, I had to +listen to the dictation of his simple will--his dog to one friend, his +ring to another, his books to a third, his love and kind wishes to +all; and that over, my poor son prepared himself to die--a child in +all save a man's calm courage. He beckoned me to raise him in the bed, +and, as I passed my arms around him, he saw the tears I could not +repress, rolling down my brown cheeks, and thanked me with a few +words. "Let me lay my head upon your breast;" and so he rested, now +and then speaking lowly to himself, "It's only that I miss my mother; +but Heaven's will be done." He repeated this many times, until the +Heaven he obeyed sent him in its mercy forgetfulness, and his thoughts +no longer wandered to his earthly home. I heard glad words feebly +uttered as I bent over him--words about "Heaven--rest--rest"--a holy +Name many times repeated; and then with a smile and a stronger voice, +"Home! home!" And so in a little while my arms no longer held him. + +I have a little gold brooch with his hair in it now. I wonder what +inducement could be strong enough to cause me to part with that +memorial, sent me by his mother some months later, with the following +letter:-- + + "My dear Madam,--Will you do me the favour to accept the + enclosed trifle, in remembrance of that dear son whose + last moments were soothed by your kindness, and as a + mark of the gratitude of, my dear Madam, + + "Your ever sincere and obliged, + + "M---- S----." + +After this, I was sent for by the medical authorities to provide +nurses for the sick at Up-Park Camp, about a mile from Kingston; and +leaving some nurses and my sister at home, I went there and did my +best; but it was little we could do to mitigate the severity of the +epidemic. + +About eight months after my return to Jamaica, it became necessary +that some one should go to the Isthmus of Panama to wind up the +affairs of my late hotel; and having another fit of restlessness, I +prepared to return there myself. I found Navy Bay but little altered. +It was evening when I arrived there; and my friend Mr. H----, who came +to meet me on the wharf, carefully piloted me through the wretched +streets, giving me especial warning not to stumble over what looked +like three long boxes, loosely covered with the _débris_ of a fallen +house. They had such a peculiar look about them that I stopped to ask +what they were, receiving an answer which revived all my former +memories of Darien life, "Oh, they're only three Irishmen killed in a +row a week ago, whom it's nobody's business to bury." + +I went to Gorgona, wound up the affairs of the hotel, and, before +returning to Navy Bay, took the occasion of accompanying my brother to +the town of Panama. We did not go with the crowd, but rode alone on +mules, taking with us three native guides on foot; and although the +distance was not much over twenty miles, and we started at daybreak, +we did not reach Panama until nightfall. But far from being surprised +at this, my chief wonder was that we ever succeeded in getting over +the journey. Through sand and mud, over hill and plain--through thick +forests, deep gulleys, and over rapid streams, ran the track; the road +sometimes being made of logs of wood laid transversely, with faggots +stuffed between; while here and there we had to work our way through a +tangled network of brushwood, and over broken rocks that seemed to +have been piled together as stones for some giant's sling. We found +Panama an old-fashioned, irregular town, with queer stone houses, +almost all of which had been turned by the traders into stores. + +On my return to Navy Bay--or Colon, as the New Granadans would have it +called--I again opened a store, and stayed there for three months or +so. I did not find that society had improved much in my absence; +indeed, it appeared to have grown more lawless. Endless quarrels, +often resulting in bloodshed, took place between the strangers and the +natives, and disturbed the peace of the town. Once the Spanish were +incensed to such an extent, that they planned a general rising against +the foreigners; and but for the opportune arrival of an English +war-steamer, the consequences might have been terrible. The Americans +were well armed and ready; but the native population far outnumbered +them. + +Altogether, I was not sorry when an opportunity offered itself to do +something at one of the stations of the New Granada Gold-mining +Company, Escribanos, about seventy miles from Navy Bay. I made the +journey there in a little vessel, all communication by land from Navy +Bay being impossible, on account of the thick, dense forests, that +would have resisted the attempts of an army to cut its way through +them. As I was at this place for some months altogether, and as it was +the only portion of my life devoted to gold-seeking, I shall make no +apologies for endeavouring to describe the out-of-the-way village-life +of New Granada. + +Escribanos is in the province of Veraguas, in the State of New +Granada--information uninteresting enough, I have little doubt, to all +but a very few of my readers. It lies near the mouth of a rivulet +bearing that name, which, leaving the river Belen, runs away to the +sea on its own account, about a mile from the mouth of that river. It +is a great neighbourhood for gold-mines; and about that time companies +and private individuals were trying hard to turn them to good account. +Near it is the Fort Bowen mine, and several others; some yielding +silver, others gold ore, in small quantities. Others lie in the +vicinity of the Palmilla--another river, which discharges itself into +the sea about ten miles from Escribanos; and there were more eastward +of it, near a similar river, the Coquelet. Legends were rife at that +time, and they may be revived at no distant date, of the treasures to +be found at Cucuyo, Zapetero, Pananomé, and many other Indian +villages on their banks, which in times gone by had yielded up golden +treasures to the Old World. But at this time the yield of gold did not +repay the labour and capital necessary to extract it from the quartz; +and it can only prove successful if more economical methods can be +discovered than those now used for that purpose. + +Carlos Alexander, the alcalde of Escribanos, had made a good thing out +of the gold mania. The mine had belonged to him; had been sold at a +fine price, and, passing through several hands, had at last come into +possession of the Company who were now working it; its former owner +settling down as ruler over the little community of two hundred souls +that had collected at Escribanos. He was a black man; was fond of +talking of his early life in slavery, and how he had escaped; and +possessed no ordinary intellect. He possessed, also, a house, which in +England a well-bred hound would not have accepted as a kennel; a white +wife, and a pretty daughter, with a whity-brown complexion and a +pleasant name--Juliana. + +Of this mine Mr. Day--by whose invitation, when I saw him at Navy Bay, +I went there--was at that time superintendent. He was a distant +connection of my late husband, and treated me with great kindness. +Strangely enough, we met again in a far different part of the world, +and became more closely connected. But I am anticipating. + +The major part of the population of Escribanos, including even the +women and children, worked at the mine. The labour was hard and +disagreeable. I often used to watch them at their work; and would +sometimes wander about by myself, thinking it possible that I might +tumble across some gold in my rambles. And I once did come upon some +heavy yellow material, that brought my heart into my mouth with that +strange thrilling delight which all who have hunted for the precious +metal understand so well. I think it was very wrong; but I kept the +secret of the place from the alcalde and every one else, and filled +some bottles with the precious dust, to carry down to Navy Bay. I did +not go for some time; but when I did, one of my first visits was to a +gold-buyer; and you can imagine my feelings when he coolly laughed, +and told me it was some material (I forget its name) very like gold, +but--valueless. The worst part of it was that, in my annoyance and +shame, I threw all I had away, and among it some which I had reason to +believe subsequently was genuine. + +The landing at Escribanos was very difficult, and when the surf ran +high, impossible; and I was once witness to a harrowing scene there. A +little boat, manned by three sailors, grounded on a rock not far from +shore, at a terrible season, when to reach it from the land was, after +many attempts, found impossible. The hapless crew lingered on for two +days, suffering cruelly from hunger and thirst, their cries ringing in +our ears above the storm's pitiless fury. On the third day, two of +them took to the sea, and were drowned; the third was not strong +enough to leave the boat, and died in it. + +I did not stay long at Escribanos, on my first visit, as the alcalde's +guest; but, having made arrangements for a longer sojourn, I went back +to Navy Bay, where I laid in a good stock of the stores I should have +most use for, and returned to Escribanos in safety. I remained there +some months, pleased with the novelty of the life, and busy with +schemes for seeking for--or, as the gold-diggers call it, prospecting +for--other mines. + +The foreigners were just as troublesome in this little out-of-the-way +place as they were, and are, in every other part of Central America; +and quarrels were as frequent in our little community as at Cruces or +Navy Bay. Indeed, Alexander had hard work to maintain peace in his +small kingdom; and although ably seconded by Mr. Day, more than once +American disregard of his sway was almost too strong for him. Very +often the few foreigners would quarrel among themselves; and once when +they came to blows, and an Irishman was stabbed by an American named +Campfield, the alcalde roused himself to punish the culprit. The +native population were glad enough to have an American in their power; +and when I heard Alexander give his men instructions to shoot the +culprit if he resisted, I started off to his hut, and reached it in +time to prevent bloodshed. He was taken and kept in confinement; and +soft-hearted Juliana and I had enough to do to prevent his being made +a stern example of. But we got him off for a fine of five hundred +dollars. + +Again the little community of Escribanos was very near getting up a +revolution against its constituted government--a very common amusement +in Central America. Twelve sailors, deserters from an American ship, +found their way there, and before long plotted to dethrone Alexander, +and take possession of the mine. Mr. Day gained information of their +plan. The whole population of Escribanos were roused and warned; and +arming a score of the boldest natives, he surrounded the house in +which they were, and captured the conspirators, who were too much +taken by surprise to offer resistance, and sent them down to Navy +Bay, there to be handed over to the Government whose service they had +left. + +Of course, my medical skill did not rust for want of practice at +Escribanos. The place was not healthy, and strangers to the climate +suffered severely. A surgeon himself, sent there by the West Granada +Gold-mining Company, was glad to throw _his_ physic to the dogs, and +be cured in my way by mine; while I was fortunately able to nurse Mr. +Day through a sharp attack of illness. + +In consequence of the difficulty of communication with Navy Bay, our +fare was of the simplest at Escribanos. It consisted mainly of salt +meat, rice, and roasted Indian corn. The native fare was not tempting, +and some of their delicacies were absolutely disgusting. With what +pleasure, for instance, could one foreign to their tastes and habits +dine off a roasted monkey, whose grilled head bore a strong +resemblance to a negro baby's? And yet the Indians used to bring them +to us for sale, strung on a stick. They were worse still stewed in +soup, when it was positively frightful to dip your ladle in +unsuspectingly, and bring up what closely resembled a brown baby's +limb. I got on better with the parrots, and could agree with the +"senorita, buono buono" with which the natives recommended them; and +yet their flesh, what little there was of it, was very coarse and +hard. Nor did I always refuse to concede praise to a squirrel, if well +cooked. But although the flesh of the iguana--another favourite +dish--was white and tender as any chicken, I never could stomach it. +These iguanas are immense green lizards, or rather moderate-sized +crocodiles, sometimes three feet in length, but weighing generally +about seven or eight pounds. The Indians used to bring them down in +boats, alive, on their backs, with their legs tied behind them; so +that they had the most comical look of distress it is possible to +imagine. The Spanish Indians have a proverb referring to an iguana so +bound, the purport of which has slipped from my memory, but which +shows the habit to be an old one. Their eggs are highly prized, and +their captors have a cruel habit of extracting these delicacies from +them while alive, and roughly sewing up the wound, which I never could +muster sufficient courage to witness. + +The rivers near Escribanos were well stocked with crocodiles, the sea +had its fair share of sharks, while on land you too often met with +snakes and other venomous reptiles. The sting of some of them was very +dangerous. One man, who was bitten when I was there, swelled to an +enormous size, and bled even at the roots of his hair. The remedy of +the natives appeared to be copious bleeding. + +Before I left Escribanos I made a journey, in company with a gentleman +named Little, my maid, and the alcalde's daughter, into the interior +of the country, for a short distance, following the course of the +Palmilla river. This was for the purpose of prospecting a mine on that +river, said to be obtainable at an easy price. Its course was a very +winding one; and we often had to leave the canoe and walk through the +shallow waters, that every now and then interfered with our progress. +As we progressed, Little carefully sounded the channel of the river, +with the view of ascertaining to what extent it was navigable. + +The tropical scenery was very grand; but I am afraid I only marked +what was most curious in it--at least, that is foremost in my memory +now. I know I wondered much what motive Nature could have had in +twisting the roots and branches of the trees into such strange +fantastic contortions. I watched with unfailing interest the birds and +animals we disturbed in our progress, from the huge peccary or wild +boar, that went tearing through the brushwood, to the tiniest +bright-hued bird that dashed like a flash of many-coloured fire before +our eyes. And very much surprised was I when the Indians stopped +before a large tree, and on their making an incision in the bark with +a matcheto (hatchet), there exuded a thick creamy liquid, which they +wished me to taste, saying that this was the famous milk-tree. I +needed some persuasion at first; but when I had tasted some upon a +biscuit, I was so charmed with its flavour that I should soon have +taken more than was good for me had not Mr. Little interfered with +some judicious advice. We reached the mine, and brought back specimens +of the quartz, some of which I have now. + +Soon after this I left Escribanos, and stopping but a short time at +Navy Bay, came on direct to England. I had claims on a Mining Company +which are still unsatisfied; I had to look after my share in the +Palmilla Mine speculation; and, above all, I had long been troubled +with a secret desire to embark in a very novel speculation, about +which I have as yet said nothing to the reader. But before I finally +leave the republic of New Granada, I may be allowed to write a few +words on the present aspect of affairs on the Isthmus of Panama. + +Recent news from America bring the intelligence that the Government of +the United States has at length succeeded in finding a reasonable +excuse for exercising a protectorate over, or in other words +annexing, the Isthmus of Panama. To any one at all acquainted with +American policy in Central America, this intelligence can give no +surprise; our only wonder being that some such excuse was not made +years ago. At this crisis, then, a few remarks from the humblest +observer of life in the republic of New Granada must possess some +interest for the curious, if not value. + +I found something to admire in the people of New Granada, but not +much; and I found very much more to condemn most unequivocally. +Whatever was of any worth in their institutions, such as their +comparative freedom, religious toleration, etc., was owing mainly to +the negroes who had sought the protection of the republic. I found the +Spanish Indians treacherous, passionate, and indolent, with no higher +aim or object but simply to enjoy the present after their own torpid, +useless fashion. Like most fallen nations, they are very conservative +in their habits and principles; while the blacks are enterprising, and +in their opinions incline not unnaturally to democracy. But for their +old antipathy, there is no doubt that the negroes would lean towards +America; but they gladly encourage the prejudice of the New Granadans, +and foster it in every way. Hence the ceaseless quarrels which have +disturbed Chagres and Panama, until it has become necessary for an +American force to garrison those towns. For humanity and +civilization's sake, there can be little doubt as to the expediency of +this step; but I should not be at all surprised to hear that the +republic was preparing to make some show of resistance against its +powerful brother; for, as the reader will have perceived, the New +Granadans' experiences of American manners have not been favourable; +and they do not know, as we do, how little real sympathy the +Government of the United States has with the extreme class of its +citizens who have made themselves so conspicuous in the great +high-road to California. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + I LONG TO JOIN THE BRITISH ARMY BEFORE SEBASTOPOL--MY + WANDERINGS ABOUT LONDON FOR THAT PURPOSE--HOW I + FAIL--ESTABLISHMENT OF THE FIRM OF "DAY AND MARTIN"--I + EMBARK FOR TURKEY. + + +Before I left Jamaica for Navy Bay, as narrated in the last chapter, +war had been declared against Russia, and we were all anxiously +expecting news of a descent upon the Crimea. Now, no sooner had I +heard of war somewhere, than I longed to witness it; and when I was +told that many of the regiments I had known so well in Jamaica had +left England for the scene of action, the desire to join them became +stronger than ever. I used to stand for hours in silent thought before +an old map of the world, in a little corner of which some one had +chalked a red cross, to enable me to distinguish where the Crimea was; +and as I traced the route thither, all difficulties would vanish. But +when I came to talk over the project with my friends, the best scheme +I could devise seemed so wild and improbable, that I was fain to +resign my hopes for a time, and so started for Navy Bay. + +But all the way to England, from Navy Bay, I was turning my old wish +over and over in my mind; and when I found myself in London, in the +autumn of 1854, just after the battle of Alma had been fought, and my +old friends were fairly before the walls of Sebastopol, how to join +them there took up far more of my thoughts than that visionary +gold-mining speculation on the river Palmilla, which seemed so +feasible to us in New Granada, but was considered so wild and +unprofitable a speculation in London. And, as time wore on, the +inclination to join my old friends of the 97th, 48th, and other +regiments, battling with worse foes than yellow fever or cholera, took +such exclusive possession of my mind, that I threw over the gold +speculation altogether, and devoted all my energies to my new scheme. + +Heaven knows it was visionary enough! I had no friends who could help +me in such a project--nay, who would understand why I desired to go, +and what I desired to do when I got there. My funds, although they +might, carefully husbanded, carry me over the three thousand miles, +and land me at Balaclava, would not support me there long; while to +persuade the public that an unknown Creole woman would be useful to +their army before Sebastopol was too improbable an achievement to be +thought of for an instant. Circumstances, however, assisted me. + +As the winter wore on, came hints from various quarters of +mismanagement, want, and suffering in the Crimea; and after the +battles of Balaclava and Inkermann, and the fearful storm of the 14th +of November, the worst anticipations were realized. Then we knew that +the hospitals were full to suffocation, that scarcity and exposure +were the fate of all in the camp, and that the brave fellows for whom +any of us at home would have split our last shilling, and shared our +last meal, were dying thousands of miles away from the active sympathy +of their fellow-countrymen. Fast and thick upon the news of Inkermann, +fought by a handful of fasting and enfeebled men against eight times +their number of picked Russians, brought fresh and animated to the +contest, and while all England was reeling beneath the shock of that +fearful victory, came the sad news that hundreds were dying whom the +Russian shot and sword had spared, and that the hospitals of Scutari +were utterly unable to shelter, or their inadequate staff to attend +to, the ship-loads of sick and wounded which were sent to them across +the stormy Black Sea. + +But directly England knew the worst, she set about repairing her past +neglect. In every household busy fingers were working for the poor +soldier--money flowed in golden streams wherever need was--and +Christian ladies, mindful of the sublime example, "I was sick, and ye +visited me," hastened to volunteer their services by those sick-beds +which only women know how to soothe and bless. + +Need I be ashamed to confess that I shared in the general enthusiasm, +and longed more than ever to carry my busy (and the reader will not +hesitate to add experienced) fingers where the sword or bullet had +been busiest, and pestilence most rife. I had seen much of sorrow and +death elsewhere, but they had never daunted me; and if I could feel +happy binding up the wounds of quarrelsome Americans and treacherous +Spaniards, what delight should I not experience if I could be useful +to my own "sons," suffering for a cause it was so glorious to fight +and bleed for! I never stayed to discuss probabilities, or enter into +conjectures as to my chances of reaching the scene of action. I made +up my mind that if the army wanted nurses, they would be glad of me, +and with all the ardour of my nature, which ever carried me where +inclination prompted, I decided that I _would_ go to the Crimea; and +go I did, as all the world knows. + +Of course, had it not been for my old strong-mindedness (which has +nothing to do with obstinacy, and is in no way related to it--the best +term I can think of to express it being "judicious decisiveness"), I +should have given up the scheme a score of times in as many days; so +regularly did each successive day give birth to a fresh set of rebuffs +and disappointments. I shall make no excuse to my readers for giving +them a pretty full history of my struggles to become a Crimean +_heroine_! + +My first idea (and knowing that I was well fitted for the work, and +would be the right woman in the right place, the reader can fancy my +audacity) was to apply to the War Office for the post of hospital +nurse. Among the diseases which I understood were most prevalent in +the Crimea were cholera, diarrhoea, and dysentery, all of them more +or less known in tropical climates; and with which, as the reader will +remember, my Panama experience had made me tolerably familiar. Now, no +one will accuse me of presumption, if I say that I thought (and so it +afterwards proved) that my knowledge of these human ills would not +only render my services as a nurse more valuable, but would enable me +to be of use to the overworked doctors. That others thought so too, I +took with me ample testimony. I cannot resist the temptation of +giving my readers one of the testimonials I had, it seems so eminently +practical and to the point:-- + + "I became acquainted with Mrs. Seacole through the + instrumentality of T. B. Cowan, Esq., H. B. M. Consul at + Colon, on the Isthmus of Panama, and have had many + opportunities of witnessing her professional zeal and + ability in the treatment of aggravated forms of tropical + diseases. + + "I am myself personally much indebted for her + indefatigable kindness and skill at a time when I am apt + to believe the advice of a practitioner qualified in the + North would have little availed. + + "Her peculiar fitness, in a constitutional point of + view, for the duties of a medical attendant, needs no + comment. + + (Signed) "A. G. M., + + "Late Medical Officer, West Granada + Gold-mining Company." + +So I made long and unwearied application at the War Office, in +blissful ignorance of the labour and time I was throwing away. I have +reason to believe that I considerably interfered with the repose of +sundry messengers, and disturbed, to an alarming degree, the official +gravity of some nice gentlemanly young fellows, who were working out +their salaries in an easy, off-hand way. But my ridiculous endeavours +to gain an interview with the Secretary-at-War of course failed, and +glad at last to oblige a distracted messenger, I transferred my +attentions to the Quartermaster-General's department. Here I saw +another gentleman, who listened to me with a great deal of polite +enjoyment, and--his amusement ended--hinted, had I not better apply +to the Medical Department; and accordingly I attached myself to their +quarters with the same unwearying ardour. But, of course, I grew tired +at last, and then I changed my plans. + +Now, I am not for a single instant going to blame the authorities who +would not listen to the offer of a motherly yellow woman to go to the +Crimea and nurse her "sons" there, suffering from cholera, +diarrhoea, and a host of lesser ills. In my country, where people +know our use, it would have been different; but here it was natural +enough--although I had references, and other voices spoke for me--that +they should laugh, good-naturedly enough, at my offer. War, I know, is +a serious game, but sometimes very humble actors are of great use in +it, and if the reader, when he comes in time to peruse the evidence of +those who had to do with the Sebastopol drama, of my share in it, will +turn back to this chapter, he will confess perhaps that, after all, +the impulse which led me to the War Department was not unnatural. + +My new scheme was, I candidly confess, worse devised than the one +which had failed. Miss Nightingale had left England for the Crimea, +but other nurses were still to follow, and my new plan was simply to +offer myself to Mrs. H---- as a recruit. Feeling that I was one of the +very women they most wanted, experienced and fond of the work, I +jumped at once to the conclusion that they would gladly enrol me in +their number. To go to Cox's, the army agents, who were most obliging +to me, and obtain the Secretary-at-War's private address, did not take +long; and that done, I laid the same pertinacious siege to his great +house in ---- Square, as I had previously done to his place of +business. + +Many a long hour did I wait in his great hall, while scores passed in +and out; many of them looking curiously at me. The flunkeys, noble +creatures! marvelled exceedingly at the yellow woman whom no excuses +could get rid of, nor impertinence dismay, and showed me very clearly +that they resented my persisting in remaining there in mute appeal +from their sovereign will. At last I gave that up, after a message +from Mrs. H. that the full complement of nurses had been secured, and +that my offer could not be entertained. Once again I tried, and had an +interview this time with one of Miss Nightingale's companions. She +gave me the same reply, and I read in her face the fact, that had +there been a vacancy, I should not have been chosen to fill it. + +As a last resort, I applied to the managers of the Crimean Fund to +know whether they would give me a passage to the camp--once there I +would trust to something turning up. But this failed also, and one +cold evening I stood in the twilight, which was fast deepening into +wintry night, and looked back upon the ruins of my last castle in the +air. The disappointment seemed a cruel one. I was so conscious of the +unselfishness of the motives which induced me to leave England--so +certain of the service I could render among the sick soldiery, and yet +I found it so difficult to convince others of these facts. Doubts and +suspicions arose in my heart for the first and last time, thank +Heaven. Was it possible that American prejudices against colour had +some root here? Did these ladies shrink from accepting my aid because +my blood flowed beneath a somewhat duskier skin than theirs? Tears +streamed down my foolish cheeks, as I stood in the fast thinning +streets; tears of grief that any should doubt my motives--that Heaven +should deny me the opportunity that I sought. Then I stood still, and +looking upward through and through the dark clouds that shadowed +London, prayed aloud for help. I dare say that I was a strange sight +to the few passers-by, who hastened homeward through the gloom and +mist of that wintry night. I dare say those who read these pages will +wonder at me as much as they who saw me did; but you must all remember +that I am one of an impulsive people, and find it hard to put that +restraint upon my feelings which to you is so easy and natural. + +The morrow, however, brought fresh hope. A good night's rest had +served to strengthen my determination. Let what might happen, to the +Crimea I would go. If in no other way, then would I upon my own +responsibility and at my own cost. There were those there who had +known me in Jamaica, who had been under my care; doctors who would +vouch for my skill and willingness to aid them, and a general who had +more than once helped me, and would do so still. Why not trust to +their welcome and kindness, and start at once? If the authorities had +allowed me, I would willingly have given them my services as a nurse; +but as they declined them, should I not open an hotel for invalids in +the Crimea in my own way? I had no more idea of what the Crimea was +than the home authorities themselves perhaps, but having once made up +my mind, it was not long before cards were printed and speeding across +the Mediterranean to my friends before Sebastopol. Here is one of +them:-- + + "BRITISH HOTEL. + Mrs. Mary Seacole + (_Late of Kingston, Jamaica_), + + Respectfully announces to her former kind friends, + and to the Officers of the Army and Navy generally, + + That she has taken her passage in the screw-steamer + "Hollander," to start from London on the 25th of + January, intending on her arrival at Balaclava to + establish a mess table and comfortable quarters for sick + and convalescent officers." + +This bold programme would reach the Crimea in the end of January, at a +time when any officer would have considered a stall in an English +stable luxurious quarters compared to those he possessed, and had +nearly forgotten the comforts of a mess-table. It must have read to +them rather like a mockery, and yet, as the reader will see, I +succeeded in redeeming my pledge. + +While this new scheme was maturing, I again met Mr. Day in England. He +was bound to Balaclava upon some shipping business, and we came to the +understanding that (if it were found desirable) we should together +open a store as well as an hotel in the neighbourhood of the camp. So +was originated the well-known firm of Seacole and Day (I am sorry to +say, the camp wits dubbed it Day and Martin), which, for so many +months, did business upon the now deserted high-road from the then +busy harbour of Balaclava to the front of the British army before +Sebastopol. + +These new arrangements were not allowed to interfere in any way with +the main object of my journey. A great portion of my limited capital +was, with the kind aid of a medical friend, invested in medicines +which I had reason to believe would be useful; with the remainder I +purchased those home comforts which I thought would be most difficult +to obtain away from England. + +I had scarcely set my foot on board the "Hollander," before I met a +friend. The supercargo was the brother of the Mr. S----, whose death +in Jamaica the reader will not have forgotten, and he gave me a hearty +welcome. I thought the meeting augured well, and when I told him my +plans he gave me the most cheering encouragement. I was glad, indeed, +of any support, for, beyond all doubt, my project was a hazardous one. + +So cheered at the outset, I watched without a pang the shores of +England sink behind the smooth sea, and turned my gaze hopefully to +the as yet landless horizon, beyond which lay that little peninsula to +which the eyes and hearts of all England were so earnestly directed. + +So, cheerily! the good ship ploughed its way eastward ho! for Turkey. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + VOYAGE TO CONSTANTINOPLE--MALTA--GIBRALTAR--CONSTANTINOPLE, + AND WHAT I THOUGHT OF IT--VISIT TO SCUTARI HOSPITAL--MISS + NIGHTINGALE. + + +I am not going to risk the danger of wearying the reader with a long +account of the voyage to Constantinople, already worn threadbare by +book-making tourists. It was a very interesting one, and, as I am a +good sailor, I had not even the temporary horrors of sea-sickness to +mar it. The weather, although cold, was fine, and the sea +good-humouredly calm, and I enjoyed the voyage amazingly. And as day +by day we drew nearer to the scene of action, my doubts of success +grew less and less, until I had a conviction of the rightness of the +step I had taken, which would have carried me buoyantly through any +difficulties. + +On the way, of course, I was called up from my berth at an +unreasonable hour to gaze upon the Cape of St. Vincent, and expected +to feel duly impressed when the long bay where Trafalgar's fight was +won came in view, with the white convent walls on the cliffs above +bathed in the early sunlight. I never failed to take an almost +childish interest in the signals which passed between the "Hollander" +and the fleet of vessels whose sails whitened the track to and from +the Crimea, trying to puzzle out the language these children of the +ocean spoke in their hurried course, and wondering whether any, or +what sufficiently important thing _could_ happen which would warrant +their stopping on their busy way. + +We spent a short time at Gibraltar, and you may imagine that I was +soon on shore making the best use of the few hours' reprieve granted +to the "Hollander's" weary engines. I had an idea that I should do +better alone, so I declined all offers of companionship, and selecting +a brisk young fellow from the mob of cicerones who offered their +services, saw more of the art of fortification in an hour or so than I +could understand in as many years. The pleasure was rather fatiguing, +and I was not sorry to return to the market-place, where I stood +curiously watching its strange and motley population. While so +engaged, I heard for the first time an exclamation which became +familiar enough to me afterwards. + +"Why, bless my soul, old fellow, if this is not our good old Mother +Seacole!" I turned round, and saw two officers, whose features, set in +a broad frame of Crimean beard, I had some difficulty in recognising. +But I soon remembered that they were two of the 48th, who had been +often in my house at Kingston. Glad were the kind-hearted fellows, and +not a little surprised withal, to meet their old hostess in the +market-place of Gibraltar, bound for the scene of action which they +had left invalided; and it was not long before we were talking old +times over some wine--Spanish, I suppose--but it was very nasty. + +"And you are going to the front, old lady--you, of all people in the +world?" + +"Why not, my sons?--won't they be glad to have me there?" + +"By Jove! yes, mother," answered one, an Irishman. "It isn't many +women--God bless them!--we've had to spoil us out there. But it's not +the place even for you, who know what hardship is. You'll never get a +roof to cover you at Balaclava, nor on the road either." So they +rattled on, telling me of the difficulties that were in store for me. +But they could not shake my resolution. + +"Do you think I shall be of any use to you when I get there?" + +"Surely." + +"Then I'll go, were the place a hundred times worse than you describe +it. Can't I rig up a hut with the packing-cases, and sleep, if need +be, on straw, like Margery Daw?" + +So they laughed, and drank success to me, and to our next meeting; +for, although they were going home invalided, the brave fellows' +hearts were with their companions, for all the hardships they had +passed through. + +We stopped at Malta also, where, of course, I landed, and stared about +me, and submitted to be robbed by the lazy Maltese with all a +traveller's resignation. Here, also, I met friends--some medical +officers who had known me in Kingston; and one of them, Dr. F----, +lately arrived from Scutari, gave me, when he heard my plans, a letter +of introduction to Miss Nightingale, then hard at work, evoking order +out of confusion, and bravely resisting the despotism of death, at the +hospital of Scutari. + +So on, past beautiful islands and shores, until we are steaming +against a swift current, and an adverse wind, between two +tower-crested promontories of rock, which they tell me stand in Europe +and in Asia, and are connected with some pretty tale of love in days +long gone by. Ah! travel where a woman may, in the New World, or the +Old, she meets this old, old tale everywhere. It is the one bond of +sympathy which I have found existing in three quarters of the world +alike. So on, until the cable rattles over the windlass, as the good +ship's anchor plunges down fathoms deep into the blue waters of the +Bosphorus--her voyage ended. + +I do not think that Constantinople impressed me so much as I had +expected; and I thought its streets would match those of Navy Bay not +unfairly. The caicques, also, of which I had ample experience--for I +spent six days here, wandering about Pera and Stamboul in the daytime, +and returning to the "Hollander" at nightfall--might be made more +safe and commodious for stout ladies, even if the process interfered a +little with their ornament. Time and trouble combined have left me +with a well-filled-out, portly form--the envy of many an angular +Yankee female--and, more than once, it was in no slight danger of +becoming too intimately acquainted with the temperature of the +Bosphorus. But I will do the Turkish boatmen the justice to say that +they were as politely careful of my safety as their astonishment and +regard for the well-being of their caicques (which they appear to love +as an Arab does his horse, or an Esquimaux his dogs, and for the same +reason perhaps) would admit. Somewhat surprised, also, seemed the +cunning-eyed Greeks, who throng the streets of Pera, at the +unprotected Creole woman, who took Constantinople so coolly (it would +require something more to surprise her); while the grave English +raised their eyebrows wonderingly, and the more vivacious French +shrugged their pliant shoulders into the strangest contortions. I +accepted it all as a compliment to a stout female tourist, neatly +dressed in a red or yellow dress, a plain shawl of some other colour, +and a simple straw wide-awake, with bright red streamers. I flatter +myself that I woke up sundry sleepy-eyed Turks, who seemed to think +that the great object of life was to avoid showing surprise at +anything; while the Turkish women gathered around me, and jabbered +about me, in the most flattering manner. + +How I ever succeeded in getting Mr. Day's letters from the +Post-office, Constantinople, puzzles me now; but I did--and I shall +ever regard my success as one of the great triumphs of my life. Their +contents were not very cheering. He gave a very dreary account of +Balaclava and of camp life, and almost dissuaded me from continuing my +journey; but his last letter ended by giving me instructions as to the +purchases I had best make, if I still determined upon making the +adventure; so I forgot all the rest, and busied myself in laying in +the stores he recommended. + +But I found time, before I left the "Hollander," to charter a crazy +caicque, to carry me to Scutari, intending to present Dr. F----'s +letter to Miss Nightingale. + +It was afternoon when the boatmen set me down in safety at the +landing-place of Scutari, and I walked up the slight ascent, to the +great dull-looking hospital. Thinking of the many noble fellows who +had been borne, or had painfully crept along this path, only to die +within that dreary building, I felt rather dull; and directly I +entered the hospital, and came upon the long wards of sufferers, lying +there so quiet and still, a rush of tears came to my eyes, and blotted +out the sight for a few minutes. But I soon felt at home, and looked +about me with great interest. The men were, many of them, very quiet. +Some of the convalescent formed themselves into little groups around +one who read a newspaper; others had books in their hands, or by their +side, where they had fallen when slumber overtook the readers, while +hospital orderlies moved to and fro, and now and then the female +nurses, in their quiet uniform, passed noiselessly on some mission of +kindness. + +I was fortunate enough to find an old acquaintance, who accompanied me +through the wards, and rendered it unnecessary for me to trouble the +busy nurses. This was an old 97th man--a Sergeant T----, whom I had +known in Kingston, and who was slowly recovering from an attack of +dysentery, and making himself of use here until the doctors should let +him go back and have another "shy at the Rooshians." He is very glad +to meet me, and tells me his history very socially, and takes me to +the bedsides of some comrades, who had also known me at Up-Park Camp. +My poor fellows! how their eyes glisten when they light upon an old +friend's face in these Turkish barracks--put to so sad a use, three +thousand miles from home. Here is one of them--"hurt in the trenches," +says the Sergeant, with shaven bandaged head, and bright, restless, +Irish eyes, who hallooes out, "Mother Seacole! Mother Seacole!" in +such an excited tone of voice; and when he has shaken hands a score of +times, falls back upon his pillow very wearily. But I sit by his side, +and try to cheer him with talk about the future, when he shall grow +well, and see home, and hear them all thank him for what he has been +helping to do, so that he grows all right in a few minutes; but, +hearing that I am on the way to the front, gets excited again; for, +you see, illness and weakness make these strong men as children, not +least in the patient unmurmuring resignation with which they suffer. I +think my Irish friend had an indistinct idea of a "muddle" somewhere, +which had kept him for weeks on salt meat and biscuit, until it gave +him the "scurvy," for he is very anxious that I should take over +plenty of vegetables, of every sort. "And, oh! mother!"--and it is +strange to hear his almost plaintive tone as he urges this--"take them +plenty of eggs, mother; we never saw eggs over there." + +At some slight risk of giving offence, I cannot resist the temptation +of lending a helping hand here and there--replacing a slipped +bandage, or easing a stiff one. But I do not think any one was +offended; and one doctor, who had with some surprise and, at first, +alarm on his face, watched me replace a bandage, which was giving +pain, said, very kindly, when I had finished, "Thank you, ma'am." + +One thought never left my mind as I walked through the fearful miles +of suffering in that great hospital. If it is so here, what must it +not be at the scene of war--on the spot where the poor fellows are +stricken down by pestilence or Russian bullets, and days and nights of +agony must be passed before a woman's hand can dress their wounds. And +I felt happy in the conviction that _I must_ be useful three or four +days nearer to their pressing wants than this. + +It was growing late before I felt tired, or thought of leaving +Scutari, and Dr. S----, another Jamaica friend, who had kindly borne +me company for the last half-hour agreed with me that the caicque was +not the safest conveyance by night on the Bosphorus, and recommended +me to present my letter to Miss Nightingale, and perhaps a lodging for +the night could be found for me. So, still under the Sergeant's +patient guidance, we thread our way through passages and corridors, +all used as sick-wards, until we reach the corner tower of the +building, in which are the nurses' quarters. + +I think Mrs. B----, who saw me, felt more surprise than she could +politely show (I never found women so quick to understand me as the +men) when I handed her Dr. F----'s kind letter respecting me, and +apologized for troubling Miss Nightingale. There is that in the +Doctor's letter (he had been much at Scutari) which prevents my +request being refused, and I am asked to wait until Miss Nightingale, +whose every moment is valuable, can see me. Meanwhile Mrs. B. +questions me very kindly, but with the same look of curiosity and +surprise. + +What object has Mrs. Seacole in coming out? This is the purport of her +questions. And I say, frankly, to be of use somewhere; for other +considerations I had not, until necessity forced them upon me. +Willingly, had they accepted me, I would have worked for the wounded, +in return for bread and water. I fancy Mrs. B---- thought that I +sought for employment at Scutari, for she said, very kindly-- + +"Miss Nightingale has the entire management of our hospital staff, but +I do not think that any vacancy--" + +"Excuse me, ma'am," I interrupt her with, "but I am bound for the +front in a few days;" and my questioner leaves me, more surprised than +ever. The room I waited in was used as a kitchen. Upon the stoves were +cans of soup, broth, and arrow-root, while nurses passed in and out +with noiseless tread and subdued manner. I thought many of them had +that strange expression of the eyes which those who have gazed long on +scenes of woe or horror seldom lose. + +In half an hour's time I am admitted to Miss Nightingale's presence. A +slight figure, in the nurses' dress; with a pale, gentle, and withal +firm face, resting lightly in the palm of one white hand, while the +other supports the elbow--a position which gives to her countenance a +keen inquiring expression, which is rather marked. Standing thus in +repose, and yet keenly observant--the greatest sign of impatience at +any time[B] a slight, perhaps unwitting motion of the firmly planted +right foot--was Florence Nightingale--that Englishwoman whose name +shall never die, but sound like music on the lips of British men until +the hour of doom. + +She has read Dr. F----'s letter, which lies on the table by her side, +and asks, in her gentle but eminently practical and business-like way, +"What do you want, Mrs. Seacole--anything that we can do for you? If +it lies in my power, I shall be very happy." + +So I tell her of my dread of the night journey by caicque, and the +improbability of my finding the "Hollander" in the dark; and, with +some diffidence, threw myself upon the hospitality of Scutari, +offering to nurse the sick for the night. Now unfortunately, for many +reasons, room even for one in Scutari Hospital was at that time no +easy matter to find; but at last a bed was discovered to be unoccupied +at the hospital washerwomen's quarters. + +My experience of washerwomen, all the world over, is the same--that +they are kind soft-hearted folks. Possibly the soap-suds they almost +live in find their way into their hearts and tempers, and soften them. +This Scutari washerwoman is no exception to the rule, and welcomes me +most heartily. With her, also, are some invalid nurses; and after they +have gone to bed, we spend some hours of the night talking over our +adventures, and giving one another scraps of our respective +biographies. I hadn't long retired to my couch before I wished most +heartily that we had continued our chat; for unbidden and most +unwelcome companions took the washerwoman's place, and persisted not +only in dividing my bed, but my plump person also. Upon my word, I +believe the fleas are the only industrious creatures in all Turkey. +Some of their relatives would seem to have migrated into Russia; for I +found them in the Crimea equally prosperous and ubiquitous. + +In the morning, a breakfast is sent to my mangled remains, and a kind +message from Mrs. B----, having reference to how I spent the night. +And, after an interview with some other medical men, whose +acquaintance I had made in Jamaica, I shake hands with the +soft-hearted washerwoman, up to her shoulders in soap-suds already, +and start for the "Hollander." + + +FOOTNOTE: + +[B] Subsequently I saw much of Miss Nightingale, at Balaclava. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + "JEW JOHNNY"--I START FOR BALACLAVA--KINDNESS OF MY OLD + FRIENDS--ON BOARD THE "MEDORA"--MY LIFE ON SHORE--THE + SICK WHARF. + + +During my stay in Constantinople, I was accustomed to employ, as a +guide, a young Greek Jew, whose name it is no use my attempting to +spell, but whom I called by the one common name there--"Johnny." +Wishing, however, to distinguish my Johnny from the legion of other +Johnnies, I prefixed the term Jew to his other name, and addressed him +as Jew Johnny. How he had picked up his knowledge I cannot tell, but +he could talk a little broken English, besides French, which, had I +been qualified to criticise it, I should have found, perhaps, as +broken as his English. He attached himself very closely to me, and +seemed very anxious to share my fortunes; and after he had pleaded +hard, many times, to be taken to the Crimea, I gave in, and formally +hired him. He was the best and faithfullest servant I had in the +Crimea, and, so far from regretting having picked up Jew Johnny from +the streets of Pera, I should have been very badly off without him. + +More letters come from Mr. Day, giving even worse accounts of the +state of things at Balaclava; but it is too late for hesitation now. +My plans are perfected, my purchases made, and passage secured in the +"Albatross"--a transport laden with cattle and commissariat officers +for Balaclava. I thought I should never have transported my things +from the "Hollander" to the "Albatross." It was a terrible day, and +against the strong current and hurricane of wind Turkish and Greek +arms seemed of little avail; but at last, after an hour or more of +terrible anxiety and fear, the "Albatross's" side was reached, and I +clambered on deck, drenched and wretched. + +My companions are cheerful, pleasant fellows, and the short, although +somewhat hazardous, voyage across the Black Sea is safely made, and +one morning we become excited at seeing a dark rock-bound coast, on +which they tell us is Balaclava. As we steam on we see, away to the +right, clouds of light smoke, which the knowing travellers tell us are +not altogether natural, but show that Sebastopol is not yet taken, +until the "Albatross" lays-to within sight of where the "Prince," with +her ill-fated companions, went down in that fearful November storm, +four short months ago, while application is made to the harbour-master +for leave to enter the port of Balaclava. It does not appear the +simplest favour in the world that we are applying for--licence to +escape from the hazards of the Black Sea. But at last it comes, and we +slowly wind through a narrow channel, and emerge into a small +landlocked basin, so filled with shipping that their masts bend in the +breeze like a wintry forest. Whatever might have been the case at one +time, there is order in Balaclava Harbour now, and the "Albatross," +with the aid of her boats, moves along to her appointed moorings. + +Such a busy scene as that small harbour presented could be rarely met +with elsewhere. Crowded with shipping, of every size and variety, from +the noble English steamer to the smallest long-shore craft, while +between them and the shore passed and repassed innumerable boats; +men-of-war's boats, trim and stern; merchant-ship's boats, laden to +the gunwales; Greek and Maltese boats, carrying their owners +everywhere on their missions of sharp dealing and roguery. Coming from +the quiet gloomy sea into this little nook of life and bustle the +transition is very sudden and startling, and gives one enough to think +about without desiring to go on shore this afternoon. + +On the following morning, Mr. Day, apprised of my arrival, came on +board the "Albatross," and our plans were laid. I must leave the +"Albatross," of course, and, until we decide upon our future, I had +better take up my quarters on board the "Medora," which is hired by +the Government, at a great cost, as an ammunition ship. The proposal +was not a very agreeable one, but I have no choice left me. Our +stores, too, had to be landed at once. Warehouses were unheard of in +Balaclava, and we had to stack them upon the shore and protect them as +well as we were able. + +My first task, directly I had become settled on board the "Medora," +was to send word to my friends of my arrival in the Crimea, and +solicit their aid. I gave a Greek idler one pound to carry a letter +to the camp of the 97th, while I sent another to Captain Peel, who was +hard at work battering the defences of Sebastopol about the ears of +the Russians, from the batteries of the Royal Naval Brigade. I +addressed others to many of the medical men who had known me in other +lands; nor did I neglect to send word to my kind patron, Sir John +Campbell, then commanding a division: and my old friends answered my +letters most kindly. As the various officers came down on duty or +business to Balaclava they did not fail to find me out, and welcome me +to the Crimea, while Captain Peel and Sir J. Campbell sent the kindest +messages; and when they saw me, promised me every assistance, the +General adding that he is glad to see me where there is so much to do. +Among others, poor H. Vicars, whose kind face had so often lighted up +my old house in Kingston, came to take me by the hand in this +out-of-the-way corner of the world. I never felt so sure of the +success of any step as I did of this, before I had been a week in +Balaclava. But I had plenty of difficulties to contend with on every +side. + +Among the first, one of the ships, in which were many of our stores, +the "Nonpareil," was ordered out of the harbour before we could land +them all, and there was more than a probability that she would carry +back to Constantinople many of the things we had most pressing +occasion for. It became necessary, therefore, that some one should see +Admiral Boxer, and try to interest that mild-spoken and affable +officer in our favour. When I mentioned it to Mr. Day, he did not seem +inclined to undertake the mission, and nothing was left but for me to +face the terrible Port-Admiral. Fortunately, Captain H----, of the +"Diamond," was inclined to be my friend, and, not a little amused +with his mission, carried me right off to the Admiral. I confess that +I was as nearly frightened out of my wits as I ever have been, for the +Admiral's kind heart beat under a decidedly rough husk; and when +Captain H---- told him that I wanted his permission for the +"Nonpareil" to remain in the harbour for a few days, as there were +stores on board, he let fly enough hard words to frighten any woman. +But when I spoke up, and told him that I had known his son in the West +Indies, he relented, and granted my petition. But it was not without +more hard words, and much grumbling that a parcel of women should be +coming out to a place where they were not wanted. + +Now, the Admiral did not repeat this remark a few days afterwards, +when he saw me attending the sick and wounded upon the sick wharf. + +I remained six weeks in Balaclava, spending my days on shore, and my +nights on board ship. Over our stores, stacked on the shore, a few +sheets of rough tarpaulin were suspended; and beneath these--my sole +protection against the Crimean rain and wind--I spent some portion of +each day, receiving visitors and selling stores. + +But my chief occupation, and one with which I never allowed any +business to interfere, was helping the doctors to transfer the sick +and wounded from the mules and ambulances into the transports that had +to carry them to the hospitals of Scutari and Buyukdere. I did not +forget the main object of my journey, to which I would have devoted +myself exclusively had I been allowed; and very familiar did I become +before long with the sick wharf of Balaclava. My acquaintance with it +began very shortly after I had reached Balaclava. The very first day +that I approached the wharf, a party of sick and wounded had just +arrived. Here was work for me, I felt sure. With so many patients, the +doctors must be glad of all the hands they could get. Indeed, so +strong was the old impulse within me, that I waited for no permission, +but seeing a poor artilleryman stretched upon a pallet, groaning +heavily, I ran up to him at once, and eased the stiff dressings. +Lightly my practised fingers ran over the familiar work, and well was +I rewarded when the poor fellow's groans subsided into a restless +uneasy mutter. God help him! He had been hit in the forehead, and I +think his sight was gone. I stooped down, and raised some tea to his +baked lips (here and there upon the wharf were rows of little +pannikins containing this beverage). Then his hand touched mine, and +rested there, and I heard him mutter indistinctly, as though the +discovery had arrested his wandering senses-- + +"Ha! this is surely a woman's hand." + +I couldn't say much, but I tried to whisper something about hope and +trust in God; but all the while I think his thoughts were running on +this strange discovery. Perhaps I had brought to his poor mind +memories of his home, and the loving ones there, who would ask no +greater favour than the privilege of helping him thus; for he +continued to hold my hand in his feeble grasp, and whisper "God bless +you, _woman_--whoever you are, God bless you!"--over and over again. + +I do not think that the surgeons noticed me at first, although, as +this was my introduction to Balaclava, I had not neglected my personal +appearance, and wore my favourite yellow dress, and blue bonnet, with +the red ribbons; but I noticed one coming to me, who, I think, would +have laughed very merrily had it not been for the poor fellow at my +feet. As it was, he came forward, and shook hands very kindly, saying, +"How do you do, ma'am? Much obliged to you for looking after my poor +fellow; very glad to see you here." And glad they always were, the +kind-hearted doctors, to let me help them look after the sick and +wounded sufferers brought to that fearful wharf. + +I wonder if I can ever forget the scenes I witnessed there? Oh! they +were heartrending. I declare that I saw rough bearded men stand by and +cry like the softest-hearted women at the sights of suffering they +saw; while some who scorned comfort for themselves, would fidget about +for hours before the long trains of mules and ambulances came in, +nervous lest the most trifling thing that could minister to the +sufferers' comfort should be neglected. I have often heard men talk +and preach very learnedly and conclusively about the great wickedness +and selfishness of the human heart; I used to wonder whether they +would have modified those opinions if they had been my companions for +one day of the six weeks I spent upon that wharf, and seen but one +day's experience of the Christian sympathy and brotherly love shown by +the strong to the weak. The task was a trying one, and familiarity, +you might think, would have worn down their keener feelings of pity +and sympathy; but it was not so. + +I was in the midst of my sad work one day when the Admiral came up, +and stood looking on. He vouchsafed no word nor look of recognition in +answer to my salute, but stood silently by, his hands behind his back, +watching the sick being lifted into the boats. You might have thought +that he had little feeling, so stern and expressionless was his face; +but once, when they raised a sufferer somewhat awkwardly, and he +groaned deeply, that rough man broke out all at once with an oath, +that was strangely like a prayer, and bade the men, for God's sake, +take more care. And, coming up to me, he clapped me on the shoulder, +saying, "I am glad to see you here, old lady, among these poor +fellows;" while, I am most strangely deceived if I did not see a +tear-drop gathering in his eye. It was on this same day, I think, that +bending down over a poor fellow whose senses had quite gone, and, I +fear me, would never return to him in this world, he took me for his +wife, and calling me "Mary, Mary," many times, asked me how it was he +had got home so quickly, and why he did not see the children; and said +he felt sure he should soon get better now. Poor fellow! I could not +undeceive him. I think the fancy happily caused by the touch of a +woman's hand soothed his dying hour; for I do not fancy he could have +lived to reach Scutari. I never knew it for certain, but I always felt +sure that he would never wake from that dream of home in this world. + +And here, lest the reader should consider that I am speaking too +highly of my own actions, I must have recourse to a plan which I shall +frequently adopt in the following pages, and let another voice speak +for me in the kind letter received long after Balaclava had been left +to its old masters, by one who had not forgotten his old companion on +the sick-wharf. The writer, Major (then Captain) R----, had charge of +the wharf while I was there. + + "Glasgow, Sept. 1856. + + "Dear Mrs. Seacole,--I am very sorry to hear that you + have been unfortunate in business; but I am glad to hear + that you have found friends in Lord R---- and others, + who are ready to help you. No one knows better than I do + how much you did to help poor sick and wounded soldiers; + and I feel sure you will find in your day of trouble + that they have not forgotten it." + +Major R---- was a brave and experienced officer, but the scenes on the +sick-wharf unmanned him often. I have known him nervously restless if +the people were behindhand, even for a few minutes, in their +preparations for the wounded. But in this feeling all shared alike. +Only women could have done more than they did who attended to this +melancholy duty; and they, not because their hearts could be softer, +but because their hands are moulded for this work. + +But it must not be supposed that we had no cheerful scenes upon the +sick-wharf. Sometimes a light-hearted fellow--generally a +sailor--would forget his pain, and do his best to keep the rest in +good spirits. Once I heard my name eagerly pronounced, and turning +round, recognised a sailor whom I remembered as one of the crew of the +"Alarm," stationed at Kingston, a few years back. + +"Why, as I live, if this ain't Aunty Seacole, of Jamaica! Shiver all +that's left of my poor timbers"--and I saw that the left leg was +gone--"if this ain't a rum go, mates!" + +"Ah! my man, I'm sorry to see you in this sad plight." + +"Never fear for me, Aunty Seacole; I'll make the best of the leg the +Rooshians have left me. I'll get at them soon again, never fear. You +don't think, messmates"--he never left his wounded comrades +alone--"that they'll think less of us at home for coming back with a +limb or so short?" + +"You bear your troubles well, my son." + +"Eh! do I, Aunty?" and he seemed surprised. "Why, look'ye, when I've +seen so many pretty fellows knocked off the ship's roll altogether, +don't you think I ought to be thankful if I can answer the bo'swain's +call anyhow?" + +And this was the sailors' philosophy always. And this brave fellow, +after he had sipped some lemonade, and laid down, when he heard the +men groaning, raised his head and comforted them in the same strain +again; and, it may seem strange, but it quieted them. + +I used to make sponge-cakes on board the "Medora," with eggs brought +from Constantinople. Only the other day, Captain S----, who had charge +of the "Medora," reminded me of them. These, with some lemonade, were +all the doctors would allow me to give to the wounded. They all liked +the cake, poor fellows, better than anything else: perhaps because it +tasted of "home." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + ALARMS IN THE HARBOUR--GETTING THE STORES ON + SHORE--ROBBERY BY NIGHT AND DAY--THE PREDATORY TRIBES OF + BALACLAVA--ACTIVITY OF THE AUTHORITIES--WE OBTAIN LEAVE + TO ERECT OUR STORE, AND FIX UPON SPRING HILL AS ITS + SITE--THE TURKISH PACHA--THE FLOOD--OUR CARPENTERS--I + BECOME AN ENGLISH SCHOOLMISTRESS ABROAD. + + +My life in Balaclava could not but be a rough one. The exposure by day +was enough to try any woman's strength; and at night one was not +always certain of repose. Nor was it the easiest thing to clamber up +the steep sides of the "Medora;" and more than once I narrowly escaped +a sousing in the harbour. Why it should be so difficult to climb a +ship's side, when a few more staves in the ladder, and those a little +broader, would make it so easy, I have never been able to guess. And +once on board the "Medora," my berth would not altogether have suited +a delicate female with weak nerves. It was an ammunition ship, and we +slept over barrels of gunpowder and tons of cartridges, with the by no +means impossible contingency of their prematurely igniting, and giving +us no time to say our prayers before launching us into eternity. Great +care was enjoined, and at eight o'clock every evening Captain S---- +would come down, and order all lights out for the night. But I used to +put my lantern into a deep basin, behind some boxes, and so evaded the +regulation. I felt rather ashamed of this breach of discipline one +night, when another ammunition ship caught fire in the crowded +harbour, and threatened us all with speedy destruction. We all knew, +if they failed in extinguishing the fire pretty quickly, what our +chances of life were worth, and I think the bravest drew his breath +heavily at the thought of our danger. Fortunately, they succeeded in +extinguishing the firebrand before any mischief was done; but I do not +think the crew of the "Medora" slept very comfortably that night. It +was said that the Russians had employed an incendiary; but it would +have been strange if in that densely crowded harbour some accidents +had not happened without their agency. + +Harassing work, indeed, was the getting our stores on shore, with the +aid of the Greek and Maltese boatmen, whose profession is thievery. +Not only did they demand exorbitant sums for the carriage, but they +contrived to rob us by the way in the most ingenious manner. Thus many +things of value were lost in the little journey from the "Albatross" +and "Nonpareil" to the shore, which had made the long voyage from +England safely. Keep as sharp a look out as I might, some package or +box would be tipped overboard by the sudden swaying of the boat, or +passing by of one of the boatmen--of course, accidentally--and no +words could induce the rascals, in their feigned ignorance of my +language, to stop; and, looking back at the helpless waif, it was not +altogether consolatory to see another boat dart from between some +shipping, where it had been waiting, as accidentally, ready to pounce +upon any such wind or waterfalls. + +Still more harassing work was it to keep the things together on the +shore: often in the open light of day, while I sat there (after my +duties on the sick-wharf were over) selling stores, or administering +medicine to the men of the Land Transport and Army Works Corps, and +others, who soon found out my skill, valuable things would be +abstracted; while there was no limit to the depredations by night. Of +course we hired men to watch; but our choice of servants was very +limited, and very often those we employed not only shut their eyes to +the plunder of their companions, but helped themselves freely. The +adage, "set a thief to catch a thief," answered very badly in +Balaclava. + +Sometimes Jew Johnny would volunteer to watch for the night; and glad +I was when I knew that the honest lynx-eyed fellow was there. One +night he caught a great-limbed Turk making off with a firkin of butter +and some other things. The fellow broke away from Johnny's grasp with +the butter, but the lad marked him down to his wretched den, behind +the engineers' quarters, and, on the following morning, quietly +introduced me to the lazy culprit, who was making up for the partial +loss of his night's rest among as evil-looking a set of comrades as I +have ever seen. There was a great row, and much indignation shown at +the purpose of my visit; but I considered myself justified in calling +in the aid of one of the Provost marshal's officers, and, in the +presence of this most invaluable official, a confession was soon made. +Beneath the fellow's dirty bed, the butter was found buried; and, in +its company, a two-dozen case of sherry, which the rogue had, in +flagrant defiance of the Prophet's injunction, stolen for his own +private drinking, a few nights previously. + +The thievery in this little out-of-the way port was something +marvellous; and the skill and ingenuity of the operators would have +reflected credit upon the _élite_ of their profession practising in +the most civilized city of Europe. Nor was the thievery confined +altogether to the professionals, who had crowded to this scene of +action from the cities and islands of the Mediterranean. They robbed +us, the Turks, and one another; but a stronger hand was sometimes laid +on them. The Turk, however, was sure to be the victim, let who might +be the oppressor. + +In this predatory warfare, as in more honourable service, the Zouaves +particularly distinguished themselves. These undoubtedly gallant +little fellows, always restless for action, of some sort, would, when +the luxury of a brash with the Russians was occasionally denied them, +come down to Balaclava, in search of opportunities of waging war +against society at large. Their complete and utter absence of +conscientious scruples as to the rights of property was most amusing. +To see a Zouave gravely cheat a Turk, or trip up a Greek +street-merchant, or Maltese fruit-seller, and scud away with the +spoil, cleverly stowed in his roomy red pantaloons, was an operation, +for its coolness, expedition, and perfectness, well worth seeing. And, +to a great extent, they escaped scatheless, for the English Provost +marshal's department was rather chary of interfering with the +eccentricities of our gallant allies; while if the French had taken +close cognizance of the Zouaves' amusements out of school, one-half of +the regiments would have been always engaged punishing the other half. + +The poor Turk! it is lamentable to think how he was robbed, abused, +and bullied by his friends. Why didn't he show a little pluck? There +wasn't a rough sailor, or shrewd boy--the English boy, in all his +impudence and prejudice, flourished in Balaclava--who would not gladly +have patted him upon the back if he would but have held up his head, +and shown ever so little spirit. But the Englishman cannot understand +a coward--will scarcely take the trouble to pity him; and even the +craven Greek could lord it over the degenerate descendants of the +fierce Arabs, who--so they told me on the spot--had wrested +Constantinople from the Christians, in those old times of which I know +so little. Very often an injured Turk would run up to where I sat, and +stand there, wildly telegraphing his complaints against some +villainous-looking Greek, or Italian, whom a stout English lad would +have shaken out of his dirty skin in five minutes. + +Once, however, I saw the tables turned. As the anecdote will help to +illustrate the relative positions of the predatory tribes of +Balaclava, I will narrate it. Hearing one morning a louder hubbub than +was usual upon the completion of a bargain, and the inevitable +quarrelling that always followed, I went up to where I saw an excited +crowd collected around a Turk, in whose hands a Greek was struggling +vainly. This Greek had, it seemed, robbed his enemy, but the Turk was +master this time, and had, in order to force from the robber a +confession of the place where the stolen things were deposited (like +dogs, as they were, these fellows were fond of burying their plunder), +resorted to torture. This was effected most ingeniously and simply by +means of some packthread, which, bound round the Greek's two thumbs, +was tightened on the tourniquet principle, until the pain elicited a +confession. But the Turk, stimulated to retaliation by his triumph, +bagged the Greek's basket, which contained amongst other things two +watches, which their present owner had no doubt stolen. Driven to the +most ludicrous show of despair, the Greek was about to attempt another +desperate struggle for the recovery of his goods, when two Zouaves +elbowed their small persons upon the crowded stage, and were eagerly +referred to by all the parties concerned in the squabble. How they +contrived it, I cannot say, so prompt were their movements; but, in a +very few minutes, the watches were in their possession, and going much +faster than was agreeable either to Turk or Greek, who both combined +to arrest this new movement, and thereby added a sharp thrashing to +their other injuries. The Zouaves effected their escape safely, while +the Greek, with a despair that had in it an equal share of the +ludicrous and the tragic, threw himself upon the dusty ground, and +tore his thin hair out by handfuls. I believe that the poor wretch, +whom we could not help pitying, journeyed to Kamiesch, to discover his +oppressors; but I fear he didn't gain much information there. + +Had it not been for the unremitting activity of the authorities, no +life would have been safe in Balaclava, with its population of +villains of every nation. As it was, murder was sometimes added to +robbery, and many of the rascals themselves died suspicious deaths, +with the particulars of which the authorities did not trouble +themselves. But the officials worked hard, both in the harbour and on +shore, to keep order; few men could have worked harder. I often saw +the old grey-haired Admiral about before the sun had fairly shown +itself; and those of his subordinates must have been somewhat heavy +sleepers who could play the sluggard then. + +At length the necessary preparations to establish our store were made. +We hit upon a spot about two miles from Balaclava, in advance of +Kadikoi, close to where the railway engines were stationed, and within +a mile of head-quarters. Leave having been obtained to erect buildings +here, we set to work briskly, and soon altered the appearance of +Spring Hill--so we christened our new home. Sometimes on horseback, +sometimes getting a lift on the commissariat carts, and occasionally +on the ammunition railway-waggons, I managed to visit Spring Hill +daily, and very soon fitted up a shed sufficiently large to take up my +abode in. But the difficulty of building our store was immense. To +obtain material was next to impossible; but that collected (not a +little was, by leave of the Admiral, gleaned from the floating rubbish +in the harbour), to find workmen to make use of it was still more +difficult. I spent days going round the shipping, offering great +wages, even, for an invalid able to handle saw and hammer, however +roughly, and many a long ride through the camps did I take on the same +errand. At length, by dint of hard canvassing, we obtained the aid of +two English sailors, whom I nicknamed "Big and Little Chips," and some +Turks, and set to work in good earnest. + +I procured the Turks from the Pacha who commanded the division +encamped in the neighbourhood of Spring Hill. It was decided that we +should apply to him for help, and accordingly I became ambassadress on +this delicate mission, and rode over to the Pacha's quarters, Jew +Johnny attending me as interpreter. I was received by the Pacha with +considerable kindness and no trifling amount of formality, and after +taking coffee I proceeded, through Jew Johnny, to explain the object +of my visit, while his Excellency, a tall man, with a dark pleasing +face, smoked gravely, and took my request into his gracious +consideration. + +On the following day came the answer to my request, in the persons of +two curious Turkish carpenters, who were placed at our orders. After a +little while, too, a Turkish officer, whom I christened Captain Ali +Baba, took so great an interest in our labours that he would work like +any carpenter, and with a delight and zeal that were astonishing. To +see him fall back, and look smilingly at every piece of his +workmanship, was a sight to restore the most severely tried temper. I +really think that the good-hearted fellow thought it splendid fun, and +never wearied of it. But for him I do not know how we should have +managed with our other Turkish "chips"--chips of the true old Turkish +block they were--deliberate, slow, and indolent, breaking off into +endless interruptions for the sacred duties of eating and praying, and +getting into out-of-the-way corners at all times of the day to smoke +themselves to sleep. + +In the midst of our work a calamity occurred, which was very nearly +becoming a catastrophe. By the giving way of a dam, after some heavy +rains, the little stream which threaded its silvery way past Spring +Hill swelled without any warning into a torrent, which, sweeping +through my temporary hut, very nearly carried us all away, and +destroyed stores of between one and two hundred pounds in value. This +calamity might have had a tragical issue for me, for seeing a little +box which contained some things, valuable as relics of the past, being +carried away, I plunged in after it, and losing my balance, was rolled +over and over by the stream, and with some difficulty reached the +shore. Some of Lord Raglan's staff passing our wreck on the following +day, made inquiries respecting the loss we had sustained, and a +messenger was sent from head-quarters, who made many purchases, in +token of their sympathy. + +My visit to the Turkish Pacha laid the foundation of a lasting +friendship. He soon found his way to Spring Hill, and before long +became one of my best customers and most frequent visitors. It was +astonishing to note how completely, now that he was in the land of the +Giaours, he adapted himself to the tastes and habits of the infidels. +Like a Scotch Presbyterian, on the Continent for a holiday, he threw +aside all the prejudices of his education, and drank bottled beer, +sherry, and champagne with an appreciation of their qualities that no +thirsty-souled Christian could have expressed more gratefully. He was +very affable with us all, and would sometimes keep Jew Johnny away +from his work for hours, chatting with us or the English officers who +would lounge into our as yet unfinished store. Sometimes he would come +down to breakfast, and spend the greater part of the day at Spring +Hill. Indeed, the wits of Spring Hill used to laugh, and say that the +crafty Pacha was throwing his pocket-handkerchief at Madame Seacole, +widow; but as the honest fellow candidly confessed he had three wives +already at home, I acquit him of any desire to add to their number. + +The Pacha's great ambition was to be familiar with the English +language, and at last nothing would do but he must take lessons of me. +So he would come down, and sitting in my store, with a Turk or so at +his feet, to attend to his most important pipe, by inserting little +red-hot pieces of charcoal at intervals, would try hard to sow a few +English sentences in his treacherous memory. He never got beyond half +a dozen; and I think if we had continued in the relation of pupil and +mistress until now, the number would not have been increased greatly. +"Madame Seacole," "Gentlemen, good morning," and "More champagne," +with each syllable much dwelt upon, were his favourite sentences. It +was capital fun to hear him, when I was called away suddenly to attend +to a customer, or to give a sick man medicine, repeating gravely the +sentence we had been studying, until I passed him, and started him +with another. + +Very frequently he would compliment me by ordering his band down to +Spring Hill for my amusement. They played excellently well, and I used +to think that I preferred their music to that of the French and +English regimental bands. I laughed heartily one day, when, in +compliance with the kind-hearted Anglo-Turkish Pacha's orders, they +came out with a grand new tune, in which I with difficulty recognised +a very distant resemblance to "God save the Queen." + +Altogether he was a capital neighbour, and gave such strict orders to +his men to respect our property that we rarely lost anything. On the +whole, the Turks were the most honest of the nations there (I except +the English and the Sardinians), and the most tractable. But the +Greeks hated them, and showed their hate in every way. In bringing up +things for the Pacha's use they would let the mules down, and smash +their loads most relentlessly. Now and then they suffered, as was the +case one day when I passed through the camp and saw my friend +superintending the correction of a Greek who was being bastinadoed. It +seemed a painful punishment. + +I was sorry, therefore, when my friend's division was ordered to +Kamara, and we lost our neighbours. But my pupil did not forget his +schoolmistress. A few days after they had left the neighbourhood of +Spring Hill came a messenger, with a present of lambs, poultry, and +eggs, and a letter, which I could not decipher, as many of the +interpreters could speak English far better than they could write it. +But we discovered that the letter contained an invitation, to Mr. Day +and myself, to go over to Kamara, and select from the spoil of the +village anything that might be useful in our new buildings. And a few +days later came over a large araba, drawn by four mules, and laden +with a pair of glass-doors, and some window-frames, which the +thoughtful kind Pacha had judged--and judged rightly--would be a very +acceptable present. And very often the good-natured fellow would ride +over from Kamara, and resume his acquaintance with myself and my +champagne, and practise his English sentences. + +We felt the loss of our Turkish neighbours in more ways than one. The +neighbourhood, after their departure, was left lonely and unprotected, +and it was not until a division of the Land Transport Corps came and +took up their quarters near us, that I felt at all secure of personal +safety. Mr. Day rarely returned to Spring Hill until nightfall +relieved him from his many duties, and I depended chiefly upon two +sailors, both of questionable character, two black servants, Jew +Johnny, and my own reputation for determination and courage--a poor +delusion, which I took care to heighten by the judicious display of a +double-barrelled pistol, lent me for the purpose by Mr. Day, and which +I couldn't have loaded to save my life. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + THE BRITISH HOTEL--DOMESTIC DIFFICULTIES--OUR + ENEMIES--THE RUSSIAN RATS--ADVENTURES IN SEARCH OF A + CAT--LIGHT-FINGERED ZOUAVES--CRIMEAN THIEVES--POWDERING + A HORSE. + + +Summer was fairly advanced before the British Hotel was anything like +finished; indeed, it never was completed, and when we left the Hill, a +year later, it still wanted shutters. But long before that time Spring +Hill had gained a great reputation. Of course, I have nothing to do +with what occurred in the camp, although I could not help hearing a +great deal about it. Mismanagement and privation there might have +been, but my business was to make things right in my sphere, and +whatever confusion, and disorder existed elsewhere, comfort and order +were always to be found at Spring Hill. When there was no sun +elsewhere, some few gleams--so its grateful visitors said--always +seemed to have stayed behind, to cheer the weary soldiers that +gathered in the British Hotel. And, perhaps, as my kind friend _Punch_ +said, after all these things had become pleasant memories of the past. + + "The cold without gave a zest, no doubt, + To the welcome warmth within; + But her smile, good old soul, lent heat to the coal, + And power to the pannikin." + +Let me, in a few words, describe the British Hotel. It was +acknowledged by all to be the most complete thing there. It cost no +less than £800. The buildings and yards took up at least an acre of +ground, and were as perfect as we could make them. The hotel and +storehouse consisted of a long iron room, with counters, closets, and +shelves; above it was another low room, used by us for storing our +goods, and above this floated a large union-jack. Attached to this +building was a little kitchen, not unlike a ship's caboose--all stoves +and shelves. In addition to the iron house were two wooden houses, +with sleeping apartments for myself and Mr. Day, out-houses for our +servants, a canteen for the soldiery, and a large enclosed yard for +our stock, full of stables, low huts, and sties. Everything, although +rough and unpolished, was comfortable and warm; and there was a +completeness about the whole which won general admiration. The reader +may judge of the manner in which we had stocked the interior of our +store from the remark, often repeated by the officers, that you might +get everything at Mother Seacole's, from an anchor down to a needle. + +In addition, we had for our transport service four carts, and as many +horses and mules as could be kept from the thieves. To reckon upon +being in possession of these, at any future time, was impossible; we +have more than once seen a fair stud stabled at night-time, and on the +following morning been compelled to borrow cattle from the Land +Transport camp, to fetch our things up from Balaclava. + +But it must not be supposed that my domestic difficulties came to an +end with the completion of the hotel. True, I was in a better position +to bear the Crimean cold and rain, but my other foes were as busy as +ever they had been on the beach at Balaclava. Thieves, biped and +quadruped, human and animal, troubled me more than ever; and perhaps +the most difficult to deal with were the least dangerous. The Crimean +rats, for instance, who had the appetites of London aldermen, and were +as little dainty as hungry schoolboys. Whether they had left +Sebastopol, guided by the instinct which leads their kindred in other +parts of the world to forsake sinking ships, or because the garrison +rations offended their palates, or whether they had patriotically +emigrated, to make war against the English larders, I do not pretend +to guess; but, whatever was their motive, it drew them in great +abundance to Spring Hill. They occasionally did us damage, in a single +night, to the tune of two or three pounds--wasting what they could not +devour. You could keep nothing sacred from their strong teeth. When +hard pressed they more than once attacked the live sheep; and at last +they went so far as to nibble one of our black cooks, Francis, who +slept among the flour barrels. On the following morning he came to me, +his eyes rolling angrily, and his white teeth gleaming, to show me a +mangled finger, which they had bitten, and ask me to dress it. He made +a great fuss; and a few mornings later he came in a violent passion +this time, and gave me instant notice to quit my service, although we +were paying him two pounds a week, with board and rations. This time +the rats had, it appeared, been bolder, and attacked his head, in a +spot where its natural armour, the wool, was thinnest, and the silly +fellow had a notion that the souls of the slain Russian soldiers had +entered the bodies of the rats, and made vengeful war upon their late +enemies. Driven to such an extremity, I made up my mind to scour the +camp, in search of a cat, and, after a long day's hunt, I came to the +conclusion that the tale of Whittington was by no means an improbable +one. Indeed, had a brisk young fellow with a cat, of even ordinary +skill in its profession, made their appearance at Spring Hill, I would +gladly have put them in the way--of laying the foundation, at +least--of a fortune. At last I found a benefactor, in the Guards' +camp, in Colonel D----, of the Coldstreams, who kindly promised me a +great pet, well known in the camp, and perhaps by some who may read +these pages, by the name of Pinkie. Pinkie was then helping a brother +officer to clear his hut, but on the following day a Guardsman brought +the noble fellow down. He lived in clover for a few days, but he had +an English cat-like attachment for his old house, and despite the +abundance of game, Pinkie soon stole away to his old master's +quarters, three miles off. More than once the men brought him back to +me, but the attractions of Spring Hill were never strong enough to +detain him long with me. + +From the human thieves that surrounded Spring Hill I had to stand as +sharp a siege as the Russians had in that poor city against which we +heard the guns thundering daily; while the most cunning and desperate +sorties were often made upon the most exposed parts of my defences, +and sometimes with success. Scores of the keenest eyes and hundreds of +the sharpest fingers in the world were always ready to take advantage +of the least oversight. I had to keep two boys, whose chief occupation +was to watch the officers' horses, tied up to the doorposts of the +British Hotel. Before I adopted this safeguard, more than one officer +would leave his horse for a few minutes, and on his return find it +gone to the neighbourhood of the Naval Brigade, or the horse-fair at +Kamiesch. My old friends, the Zouaves, soon found me out at Spring +Hill, and the wiry, light-fingered, fighting-loving gentry spent much +of their leisure there. Those confounded trowsers of theirs offered +conveniences of stowage-room which they made rare use of. Nothing was +too small, and few things too unwieldy, to ride in them; like the +pockets of clown in a pantomime, they could accommodate a well-grown +baby or a pound of sausages equally well. I have a firm conviction +that they stuffed turkeys, geese, and fowls into them, and I +positively know that my only respectable teapot travelled off in the +same conveyance, while I detected one little fellow, who had tied them +down tight at his ankles, stowing away some pounds of tea and coffee +mixed. Some officers, who were present, cut the cords, and, holding up +the little scamp by the neck, shook his trowsers empty amid shouts of +laughter. + +Our live stock, from the horses and mules down to the geese and fowls, +suffered terribly. Although we kept a sharp look-out by day, and paid +a man five shillings a night as watchman, our losses were very great. +During the time we were in the Crimea we lost over a score of horses, +four mules, eighty goats, many sheep, pigs, and poultry, by thieving +alone. We missed in a single night forty goats and seven sheep, and on +Mr. Day's going to head-quarters with intelligence of the disaster, +they told him that Lord Raglan had recently received forty sheep from +Asia, all of which had disappeared in the same manner. The geese, +turkeys, and fowls vanished by scores. We found out afterwards that +the watchman paid to guard the sheep, used to kill a few occasionally. +As he represented them to have died a natural death during the night, +he got permission to bury them, instead of which he sold them. King +Frost claimed his share of our stock too, and on one December night, +of the winter of 1855, killed no less than forty sheep. It is all very +well to smile at these things now, but at the time they were +heartrending enough, and helped, if they did not cause, the ruin which +eventually overtook the firm of Seacole and Day. The determination and +zeal which besiegers and besieged showed with respect to a poor pig, +which was quietly and unconsciously fattening in its sty, are worthy +of record. + +Fresh pork, in the spring of 1855, was certainly one of those luxuries +not easily obtainable in that part of the Crimea to which the British +army was confined, and when it became known that Mother Seacole had +purchased a promising young porker from one of the ships in Balaclava, +and that, brave woman! she had formed the courageous resolution of +fattening it for her favourites, the excitement among the frequenters +of Spring Hill was very great. I could laugh heartily now, when I +think of the amount of persuasion and courting I stood out for before +I bound myself how its four legs were to be disposed of. I learnt more +at that time of the trials and privileges of authority than I am ever +likely to experience again. Upon my word, I think if the poor thing +had possessed as many legs as my editor tells me somebody called the +Hydra (with whom my readers are perhaps more familiar than I am) had +heads, I should have found candidates for them. As it was, the contest +for those I had to bestow was very keen, and the lucky individuals who +were favoured by me looked after their interests most carefully. One +of them, to render mistake or misunderstanding impossible, entered my +promise in my day-book. The reader will perhaps smile at the following +important memorandum in the gallant officer's writing:-- + + "Memorandum that Mrs. Seacole did this day, in the + presence of Major A---- and Lieutenant W----, promise + Captain H----, R.A., a leg of _the_ pig." + +Now it was well known that many greedy eyes and fingers were directed +towards the plump fellow, and considerable interest was manifested in +the result of the struggle, "Mrs. Seacole _versus_ Thievery." I think +they had some confidence in me, and that I was the favourite; but +there was a large field against me, which found its backers also; and +many a bet was laughingly laid on the ultimate fate of the unconscious +porker. + +I baffled many a knavish trick to gain possession of the fine fellow; +but, after all, I lost him in the middle of the day, when I thought +the boldest rogues would not have run the risk. The shouts and +laughter of some officers who were riding down from the front first +informed me of my loss. Up they rode, calling out--"Mother Seacole! +old lady! quick!--_the_ pig's gone!" + +I rushed out, injured woman that I was, and saw it all at a glance. +But that my straw wide-awake was in the way, I could have torn my hair +in my vexation. I rushed to the sty, found the nest warm, and with +prompt decision prepared for speedy pursuit. Back I came to the +horsemen, calling out--"Off with you, my sons!--they can't have got +very far away yet. Do your best to save my bacon!" + +Delighted with the fun, the horsemen dispersed, laughing and +shouting--"Stole away! hark away!" while I ran indoors, turned out all +my available body-guard, and started in pursuit also. Not half a mile +off we soon saw a horseman wave his cap; and starting off into a run, +came to a little hollow, where the poor panting animal and two Greek +thieves had been run down. The Provost-marshal took the latter in hand +willingly, and Piggy was brought home in triumph. But those who had +pork expectancies, hearing of the adventure, grew so seriously alarmed +at the narrow escape, that they petitioned me to run so desperate a +hazard no longer; and the poor thing was killed on the following day, +and distributed according to promise. A certain portion was reserved +for sausages, which, fried with mashed potatoes, were quite the rage +at the British Hotel for some days. Some pork was also sent to +head-quarters, with an account of the dangers we ran from thieves. It +drew the following kind acknowledgment from General B----: + + "Head-Quarters. + + "My dear Mrs. Seacole,--I am very much obliged to you + indeed for your pork. I have spoken to Colonel P---- as + to the police of your neighbourhood, and he will see + what arrangement can be made for the general protection + of that line of road. When the high-road is finished, + you will be better off. Let me know at the time of any + depredations that are committed, and we will try and + protect you.--I am, faithfully yours, + + "M. L. B----." + +For the truth was--although I can laugh at my fears now--I was often +most horribly frightened at Spring Hill; and there was cause for it +too. My washerwoman, who, with her family, lived not half a mile from +us, was with me one day, and carried off some things for the wash. On +the following morning I was horrified to learn that she, her father, +husband, and children--in all, seven--had been most foully murdered +during the night: only one of the whole family recovered from her +wounds, and lived to tell the tale. It created a great sensation at +the time, and caused me to pass many a sleepless night, for the +murderers were never discovered. + +Whilst I am upon the subject of Crimean thievery, I may as well +exhaust it without paying any regard to the chronological order of my +reminiscences. I have before mentioned what I suffered from the +French. One day I caught one of our allies in my kitchen, robbing me +in the most ungrateful manner. He had met with an accident near Spring +Hill (I believe he belonged to a French regiment lent to assist the +English in road-making), and had been doctored by me; and now I found +him filling his pockets, before taking "French" leave of us. My black +man, Francis, pulled from his pockets a yet warm fowl, and other +provisions. We kicked him off the premises, and he found refuge with +some men of the Army Works Corps, who pitied him and gave him shelter. +He woke them in the middle of the night, laying hands rather clumsily +on everything that was removeable; and in the morning they brought him +to me, to ask what they should do with him. Unluckily for him, a +French officer of rank happened to be in the store, who, on hearing +our tale, packed him off to his regiment. I gathered from the +expression of the officer's face, and the dread legible upon the +culprit's, that it might be some considerable time before his itch for +breaking the eighth commandment could be again indulged in. + +The trouble I underwent respecting a useful black mare, for which Mr. +Day had given thirty guineas, and which carried me beautifully, was +immense. Before it had been many weeks in our store it was +gone--whither, I failed to discover. Keeping my eyes wide open, +however, I saw "Angelina"--so I christened her--coming quietly down +the hill, carrying an elderly naval officer. I was ready to receive +the unconscious couple, and soon made my claim good. Of course, the +officer was not to blame. He had bought it of a sailor, who in his +turn had purchased the animal of a messmate, who of course had +obtained it from another, and so on; but eventually it returned to its +old quarters, where it only remained about a fortnight. I grew tired +of looking for Angelina, and had given her up, when one day she turned +up, in capital condition, in the possession of a French officer of +Chasseurs. But nothing I could say to the Frenchman would induce him +to take the view of the matter I wished, but had no right to enforce. +He had bought the horse at Kamiesch, and intended to keep it. We grew +hot at last; and our dispute drew out so large an audience that the +Frenchman took alarm, and tried to make off. I held on to Angelina +for a little while; but at last the mare broke away from me, as Tam o' +Shanter's Maggie did from the witches (I don't mean that she left me +even her tail), and vanished in a cloud of dust. It was the last I +ever saw of Angelina. + +More than once the Crimean thievery reduced us to woeful straits. To a +Greek, returning to Constantinople, we entrusted (after the murder of +our washerwoman) two trunks, containing "things for the wash," which +he was to bring back as soon as possible. But neither upon Greek, +trunks, nor their contents did we ever set eyes again. It was a +serious loss. The best part of our table-cloths and other domestic +linen, all my clothes, except two suits, and all of Mr. Day's linen +vanished, and had to be replaced as best we could by fresh purchases +from Kamiesch and Kadikoi. + +Perhaps the most ridiculous shift I was ever put to by the Crimean +thieves happened when we rose one morning and found the greater part +of our stud missing. I had, in the course of the day, urgent occasion +to ride over to the French camp on the Tchernaya; the only animal +available for my transport was an old grey mare, who had contracted +some equine disease of which I do not know the name, but which gave +her considerable resemblance to a dog suffering from the mange. Now, +go to the French camp I must; to borrow a horse was impossible, and +something must be done with the grey. Suddenly one of those happy +thoughts, which sometimes help us over our greatest difficulties, +entered into my scheming brains. Could I not conceal the poor mare's +worst blemishes. Her colour was grey; would not a thick coating of +flour from my dredger make all right? There was no time to be lost; +the remedy was administered successfully, and off I started; but, +alas! the wind was high and swept the skirts of my riding habit so +determinedly against the side of the poor beast, that before long its +false coat was transferred to the dark cloth, and my innocent _ruse_ +exposed. The French are proverbially and really a polite and +considerate nation, but I never heard more hearty peals of laughter +from any sides than those which conveyed to me the horrible assurance +that my scheme had unhappily failed. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + MY WORK IN THE CRIMEA. + + +I hope the reader will give me credit for the assertion that I am +about to make, viz., that I enter upon the particulars of this chapter +with great reluctance; but I cannot omit them, for the simple reason +that they strengthen my one and only claim to interest the public, +viz., my services to the brave British army in the Crimea. But, +fortunately, I can follow a course which will not only render it +unnecessary for me to sound my own trumpet, but will be more +satisfactory to the reader. I can put on record the written opinions +of those who had ample means of judging and ascertaining how I +fulfilled the great object which I had in view in leaving England for +the Crimea; and before I do so, I must solicit my readers' attention +to the position I held in the camp as doctress, nurse, and "mother." + +I have never been long in any place before I have found my practical +experience in the science of medicine useful. Even in London I have +found it of service to others. And in the Crimea, where the doctors +were so overworked, and sickness was so prevalent, I could not be long +idle; for I never forgot that my intention in seeking the army was to +help the kind-hearted doctors, to be useful to whom I have ever looked +upon and still regard as so high a privilege. + +But before very long I found myself surrounded with patients of my +own, and this for two simple reasons. In the first place, the men (I +am speaking of the "ranks" now) had a very serious objection to going +into hospital for any but urgent reasons, and the regimental doctors +were rather fond of sending them there; and, in the second place, they +could and did get at my store sick-comforts and nourishing food, which +the heads of the medical staff would sometimes find it difficult to +procure. These reasons, with the additional one that I was very +familiar with the diseases which they suffered most from, and +successful in their treatment (I say this in no spirit of vanity), +were quite sufficient to account for the numbers who came daily to the +British Hotel for medical treatment. + +That the officers were glad of me as a doctress and nurse may be +easily understood. When a poor fellow lay sickening in his cheerless +hut and sent down to me, he knew very well that I should not ride up +in answer to his message empty-handed. And although I did not hesitate +to charge him with the value of the necessaries I took him, still he +was thankful enough to be able to _purchase_ them. When we lie ill at +home surrounded with comfort, we never think of feeling any special +gratitude for the sick-room delicacies which we accept as a +consequence of our illness; but the poor officer lying ill and weary +in his crazy hut, dependent for the merest necessaries of existence +upon a clumsy, ignorant soldier-cook, who would almost prefer eating +his meat raw to having the trouble of cooking it (our English soldiers +are bad campaigners), often finds his greatest troubles in the want of +those little delicacies with which a weak stomach must be humoured +into retaining nourishment. How often have I felt sad at the sight of +poor lads, who in England thought attending early parade a hardship, +and felt harassed if their neckcloths set awry, or the natty little +boots would not retain their polish, bearing, and bearing so nobly and +bravely, trials and hardships to which the veteran campaigner +frequently succumbed. Don't you think, reader, if you were lying, with +parched lips and fading appetite, thousands of miles from mother, +wife, or sister, loathing the rough food by your side, and thinking +regretfully of that English home where nothing that could minister to +your great need would be left untried--don't you think that you would +welcome the familiar figure of the stout lady whose bony horse has +just pulled up at the door of your hut, and whose panniers contain +some cooling drink, a little broth, some homely cake, or a dish of +jelly or blanc-mange--don't you think, under such circumstances, that +you would heartily agree with my friend _Punch's_ remark:-- + + "That berry-brown face, with a kind heart's trace + Impressed on each wrinkle sly, + Was a sight to behold, through the snow-clouds rolled + Across that iron sky." + +I tell you, reader, I have seen many a bold fellow's eyes moisten at +such a season, when a woman's voice and a woman's care have brought to +their minds recollections of those happy English homes which some of +them never saw again; but many did, who will remember their +woman-comrade upon the bleak and barren heights before Sebastopol. + +Then their calling me "mother" was not, I think, altogether unmeaning. +I used to fancy that there was something homely in the word; and, +reader, you cannot think how dear to them was the smallest thing that +reminded them of home. + +Some of my Crimean patients, who were glad of me as nurse and +doctress, bore names familiar to all England, and perhaps, did I ask +them, they would allow me to publish those names. I am proud to think +that a gallant sailor, on whose brave breast the order of Victoria +rests--a more gallant man can never wear it--sent for the doctress +whom he had known in Kingston, when his arm, wounded on the fatal 18th +of June, refused to heal, and I think that the application I +recommended did it good; but I shall let some of my patients' letters, +taken from a large bundle, speak for me. Of course I must suppress +most of their names. Here are two from one of my best and kindest +sons. + + "My dear Mamma,--Will you kindly give the bearer the + bottle you promised me when you were here this morning, + for my jaundice. Please let me know how much I am to + take of it. Yours truly, + + "F. M., _C. E._" + +You see the medicine does him good, for a few days later comes another +from the same writer:-- + + "My dear Mrs. Seacole,--I have finished the bottle, + which has done my jaundice a deal of good. Will you + kindly send another by bearer. Truly yours, + + "F. M." + +It was a capital prescription which had done his jaundice good. There +was so great a demand for it, that I kept it mixed in a large pan, +ready to ladle it out to the scores of applicants who came for it. + +Sometimes they would send for other and no less important medicines. +Here is such an application from a sick officer:-- + + "Mrs. Seacole would confer a favour on the writer, who + is very ill, by giving his servant (the bearer) a boiled + or roast fowl; if it be impossible to obtain them, some + chicken broth would be very acceptable. + + "I am yours, truly obliged, + + "J. K., 18th R. S." + +Doesn't that read like a sick man's letter, glad enough to welcome any +woman's face? Here are some gentlemen of the Commissariat anxious to +speak for me:-- + + "Arthur C----, Comm. Staff Officer, having been attacked + one evening with a very bad diarrhoea at Mrs. + Seacole's, took some of her good medicine. It cured me + before the next morning, and I have never been attacked + since.--October 17th, 1855." + + + "Archibald R. L----, Comm. Staff, Crimea, was suffering + from diarrhoea for a week or more; after taking Mrs. + Seacole's good medicines for two days, he became quite + well, and remained so to this day.--October 17th, 1855." + +Here is Mr. M----, paymaster of the Land Transport Corps, ready with a +good account of my services:-- + + "I certify that Madame Seacole twice cured me + effectually of dysentery while in the Crimea, and also + my clerk and the men of my corps, to my certain + knowledge." + +And some of the men shall speak for themselves:-- + + "Stationary Engine, December 1, 1855. + + "I certify that I was severely attacked by diarrhoea + after landing in the Crimea. I took a great deal of + medicine, but nothing served me until I called on Mrs. + Seacole. She gave me her medicine but once, and I was + cured effectually. + + "Wm. Knollys, Sergt., L.T.C." + + + "This is to certify that Wm. Row, L.T.C, had a severe + attack of illness, and was in a short time restored to + health by the prompt attention and medical skill of Mrs. + Seacole, British Hotel, Spring Hill, Crimea." + +Many of my patients belonged to the Land Transport and Army Works +Corps. The former indeed were in my close neighbourhood, and their +hospital was nearly opposite to the British Hotel. I did all I could +for them, and have many letters expressive of their gratitude. From +them I select the following:-- + + "Head-Quarters, Camp, Crimea, June 30, 1856. + + "I have much pleasure in bearing testimony to Mrs. + Seacole's kindness and attention to the sick of the + Railway Labourers' Army Works Corps and Land Transport + Corps during the winters of 1854 and 1855. + + "She not only, from the knowledge she had acquired in + the West Indies, was enabled to administer appropriate + remedies for their ailments, but, what was of as much or + more importance, she charitably furnished them with + proper nourishment, which they had no means of obtaining + except in the hospital, and most of that class had an + objection to go into hospital, particularly the railway + labourers and the men of the Army Works Corps. + + "John Hall, + + "Inspector-General of Hospitals." + +I hope that Mr. P----, of the Army Works Corps, will pardon my laying +the following letter before the public:-- + + "Dear Mrs. Seacole,--It is with feelings of great + pleasure that I hear you are safely arrived in England, + upon which I beg to congratulate you, and return you + many thanks for your kindness whilst in the Crimea. + + "The bitter sherry you kindly made up for me was in + truth a great blessing to both myself and my son, and as + I expect to go to Bombay shortly, I would feel grateful + to you if you would favour me with the receipt for + making it, as it appears to be so very grateful a + beverage for weakness and bowel complaints in a warm + climate. With many kind regards, believe me, dear madam, + your obliged servant, + + "Samuel P----, + + "Late Superintendent Army Works Corps." + +Here is a certificate from one of the Army Works' men, to whose case I +devoted no little time and trouble:-- + + "I certify that I was labouring under a severe attack of + diarrhoea last August, and that I was restored to + health through the instrumentality and kindness of Mrs. + Seacole. + + "I also certify that my fingers were severely jammed + whilst at work at Frenchman's Hill, and Mrs. Seacole + cured me after three doctors had fruitlessly attempted + to cure them. + + "And I cannot leave the Crimea without testifying to the + kindness and skill of Mrs. Seacole, and may God reward + her for it. + + "James Wallen, + + "5th Division Army Works Corps." + +Here are three more letters--and the last I shall print--from a +sailor, a soldier, and a civilian:-- + + "This is to certify that Wm. Adams, caulker, of H.M.S. + 'Wasp,' and belonging to the Royal Naval Brigade, had a + severe attack of cholera, and was cured in a few hours + by Mrs. Seacole." + + "I certify that I was troubled by a severe inflammation + of the chest, caused by exposure in the trenches, for + about four months, and that Mrs. Seacole's medicine + completely cured me in one month, and may God reward + her. + + "Charles Flinn, Sergt. 3rd Co. R.S.M." + + + "Upper Clapton, Middlesex, March 2, 1856. + + "Dear Madam,--Having been informed by my son, Mr. Edward + Gill, of St. George's Store, Crimea, of his recent + illness (jaundice), and of your kind attention and + advice to him during that illness, and up to the time he + was, by the blessing of God and your assistance, + restored to health, permit me, on behalf of myself, my + wife, and my family, to return you our most grateful + thanks, trusting you may be spared for many years to + come, in health of body and vigour of mind, to carry out + your benevolent intention. Believe me, my dear madam, + yours most gratefully, + + "Edward Gill." + +And now that I have made this a chapter of testimonials, I may as +well finish them right off, and have done with them altogether. I +shall trouble the patient reader with four more only, which I have not +the heart to omit. + + "Sebastopol, July 1, 1856. + + "Mrs. Seacole was with the British army in the Crimea + from February, 1855, to this time. This excellent woman + has frequently exerted herself in the most praiseworthy + manner in attending wounded men, even in positions of + great danger, and in assisting sick soldiers by all + means in her power. In addition, she kept a very good + store, and supplied us with many comforts at a time we + much required them. + + "Wm. P----, + + "Adjutant-General of the British Army + in the Crimea." + + + "July 1, 1856. + + "I have much pleasure in stating that I am acquainted + with Mrs. Seacole, and from all that I have seen or + heard of her, I believe her to be a useful and good + person, kind and charitable. + + "C. A. W----, + + "Lt.-Gen. Comm. of Sebastopol." + +The third is from the pen of one who at that time was more looked to, +and better known, than any other man in the Crimea. In the 2nd vol. of +Russell's "Letters from the Seat of War," p. 187, is the following +entry:-- + + "In the hour of their illness these men (Army Works + Corps), in common with many others, have found a kind + and successful physician. Close to the railway, + half-way between the Col de Balaclava and Kadikoi, Mrs. + Seacole, formerly of Kingston and of several other parts + of the world, such as Panama and Chagres, has pitched + her abode--an iron storehouse with wooden sheds and + outlying tributaries--and here she doctors and cures all + manner of men with extraordinary success. She is always + in attendance near the battle-field to aid the wounded, + and has earned many a poor fellow's blessings." + +Yes! I cannot--referring to that time--conscientiously charge myself +with doing less for the men who had only thanks to give me, than for +the officers whose gratitude gave me the necessaries of life. I think +I was ever ready to turn from the latter to help the former, humble as +they might be; and they were grateful in their way, and as far as they +could be. They would buy me apples and other fruit at Balaclava, and +leave them at my store. One made me promise, when I returned home, to +send word to his Irish mother, who was to send me a cow in token of +her gratitude for the help I had been to her son. I have a book filled +with hundreds of the names of those who came to me for medicines and +other aids; and never a train of sick or wounded men from the front +passed the British Hotel but its hostess was awaiting them to offer +comforts to the poor fellows, for whose suffering her heart bled. + +_Punch_, who allowed my poor name to appear in the pages which had +welcomed Miss Nightingale home--_Punch_, that whimsical mouthpiece of +some of the noblest hearts that ever beat beneath black coats--shall +last of all raise its voice, that never yet pleaded an unworthy cause, +for the Mother Seacole that takes shame to herself for speaking thus +of the poor part she bore of the trials and hardships endured on that +distant shore, where Britain's best and bravest wrung hardly +Sebastopol from the grasp of Britain's foe:-- + + "No store she set by the epaulette, + Be it worsted or gold lace; + For K. C. B. or plain private Smith, + She had still one pleasant face. + + "And not alone was her kindness shown + To the hale and hungry lot + Who drank her grog and ate her prog, + And paid their honest shot. + + "The sick and sorry can tell the story + Of her nursing and dosing deeds; + Regimental M.D. never worked as she, + In helping sick men's needs. + + "Of such work, God knows, was as much as she chose + That dreary winter-tide, + When Death hung o'er the damp and pestilent camp, + And his scythe swung far and wide. + + "She gave her aid to all who prayed, + To hungry and sick and cold; + Open hand and heart, alike ready to part + Kind words and acts, and gold. + + * * * * * + + "And--be the right man in the right place who can-- + The right woman was Dame Seacole." + +Reader, now that we have come to the end of this chapter, I can say +what I have been all anxiety to tell you from its beginning. Please +look back to Chapter VIII., and see how hard the right woman had to +struggle to convey herself to the right place. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + MY CUSTOMERS AT THE BRITISH HOTEL. + + +I shall proceed in this chapter to make the reader acquainted with +some of the customers of the British Hotel, who came there for its +creature comforts as well as its hostess's medicines when need was; +and if he or she should be inclined to doubt or should hesitate at +accepting my experience of Crimean life as entirely credible, I beg +that individual to refer to the accounts which were given in the +newspapers of the spring of 1855, and I feel sure they will acquit me +of any intention to exaggerate. If I were to speak of all the nameless +horrors of that spring as plainly as I could, I should really disgust +you; but those I shall bring before your notice have all something of +the humorous in them--and so it ever is. Time is a great restorer, and +changes surely the greatest sorrow into a pleasing memory. The sun +shines this spring-time upon green grass that covers the graves of the +poor fellows we left behind sadly a few short months ago: bright +flowers grow up upon ruins of batteries and crumbling trenches, and +cover the sod that presses on many a mouldering token of the old time +of battle and death. I dare say that, if I went to the Crimea now, I +should see a smiling landscape, instead of the blood-stained scene +which I shall ever associate with distress and death; and as it is +with nature so it is with human kind. Whenever I meet those who have +survived that dreary spring of 1855, we seldom talk about its horrors; +but remembering its transient gleams of sunshine, smile at the fun and +good nature that varied its long and weary monotony. And now that I am +anxious to remember all I can that will interest my readers, my memory +prefers to dwell upon what was pleasing and amusing, although the time +will never come when it will cease to retain most vividly the pathos +and woe of those dreadful months. + +I have said that the winter had not ended when we began operations at +the British Hotel; and very often, after we considered we were fairly +under spring's influence, our old enemy would come back with an angry +roar of wind and rain, levelling tents, unroofing huts, destroying +roads, and handing over May to the command of General Fevrier. But the +sun fought bravely for us, and in time always dispersed the leaden +clouds and gilded the iron sky, and made us cheerful again. During the +end of March, the whole of April, and a considerable portion of May, +however, the army was but a little better off for the advent of +spring. The military road to the camp was only in progress--the +railway only carried ammunition. A few hours' rain rendered the old +road all but impassable, and scarcity often existed in the front +before Sebastopol, although the frightened and anxious Commissariat +toiled hard to avert such a mishap; so that very often to the British +Hotel came officers starved out on the heights above us. The dandies +of Rotten Row would come down riding on sorry nags, ready to carry +back--their servants were on duty in the trenches--anything that would +be available for dinner. A single glance at their personal appearance +would suffice to show the hardships of the life they were called upon +to lead. Before I left London for the seat of war I had been more than +once to the United Service Club, seeking to gain the interest of +officers whom I had known in Jamaica; and I often thought afterwards +of the difference between those I saw there trimly shaven, handsomely +dressed, with spotless linen and dandy air, and these their +companions, who in England would resemble them. Roughly, warmly +dressed, with great fur caps, which met their beards and left nothing +exposed but lips and nose, and not much of those; you would easily +believe that soap and water were luxuries not readily obtainable, that +shirts and socks were often comforts to dream about rather than +possess, and that they were familiar with horrors you would shudder to +hear named. Tell me, reader, can you fancy what the want of so simple +a thing as a pocket-handkerchief is? To put a case--have you ever gone +out for the day without one; sat in a draught and caught a sneezing +cold in the head? You say the question is an unnecessarily unpleasant +one, and yet what I am about to tell you is true, and the sufferer is, +I believe, still alive. + +An officer had ridden down one day to obtain refreshments (this was very +early in the spring); some nice fowls had just been taken from the spit, +and I offered one to him. Paper was one of the most hardly obtainable +luxuries of the Crimea, and I rarely had any to waste upon my customers; +so I called out, "Give me your pocket-handkerchief, my son, that I may +wrap it up." You see we could not be very particular out there; but he +smiled very bitterly as he answered, "Pocket-handkerchief, mother--by +Jove! I wish I had one. I tore my last shirt into shreds a fortnight +ago, and there's not a bit of it left now." + +Shortly after, a hundred dozen of these useful articles came to my +store, and I sold them all to officers and men very speedily. + +For some time, and until I found the task beyond my strength, I kept +up a capital table at the British Hotel; but at last I gave up doing +so professedly, and my hungry customers had to make shift with +whatever was on the premises. Fortunately they were not over-dainty, +and had few antipathies. My duties increased so rapidly, that +sometimes it was with difficulty that I found time to eat and sleep. +Could I have obtained good servants, my daily labours would have been +lightened greatly; but my staff never consisted of more than a few +boys, two black cooks, some Turks--one of whom, Osman, had enough to +do to kill and pluck the poultry, while the others looked after the +stock and killed our goats and sheep--and as many runaway sailors or +good-for-noughts in search of employment as we could from time to time +lay our hands upon; but they never found my larder entirely empty. I +often used to roast a score or so of fowls daily, besides boiling hams +and tongues. Either these or a slice from a joint of beef or mutton +you would be pretty sure of finding at your service in the larder of +the British Hotel. + +Would you like, gentle reader, to know what other things suggestive of +home and its comforts your relatives and friends in the Crimea could +obtain from the hostess of Spring Hill? I do not tell you that the +following articles were all obtainable at the commencement, but many +were. The time was indeed when, had you asked me for mock turtle and +venison, you should have had them, preserved in tins, but that was +when the Crimea was flooded with plenty--too late, alas! to save many +whom want had killed; but had you been doing your best to batter +Sebastopol about the ears of the Russians in the spring and summer of +the year before last, the firm of Seacole and Day would have been +happy to have served you with (I omit ordinary things) linen and +hosiery, saddlery, caps, boots and shoes, for the outer man; and for +the inner man, meat and soups of every variety in tins (you can +scarcely conceive how disgusted we all became at last with preserved +provisions); salmon, lobsters, and oysters, also in tins, which last +beaten up into fritters, with onions, butter, eggs, pepper, and salt, +were very good; game, wild fowl, vegetables, also preserved, eggs, +sardines, curry powder, cigars, tobacco, snuff, cigarette papers, tea, +coffee, tooth powder, and currant jelly. When cargoes came in from +Constantinople, we bought great supplies of potatoes, carrots, +turnips, and greens. Ah! what a rush there used to be for the greens. +You might sometimes get hot rolls; but, generally speaking, I bought +the Turkish bread (_ekmek_), baked at Balaclava. + +Or had you felt too ill to partake of your rough camp fare, coarsely +cooked by a soldier cook, who, unlike the French, could turn his hand +to few things but fighting, and had ridden down that muddy road to the +Col, to see what Mother Seacole could give you for dinner, the chances +were you would have found a good joint of mutton, not of the fattest, +forsooth; for in such miserable condition were the poor beasts landed, +that once, when there came an urgent order from head-quarters for +twenty-five pounds of mutton, we had to cut up one sheep and a half +to provide the quantity; or you would have stumbled upon something +curried, or upon a good Irish stew, nice and hot, with plenty of +onions and potatoes, or upon some capital meat-pies. I found the +preserved meats were better relished cooked in this fashion, and well +doctored with stimulants. Before long I grew as familiar with the +mysteries of seasoning as any London pieman, and could accommodate +myself to the requirements of the seasons as readily. Or had there +been nothing better, you might have gone further and fared on worse +fare than one of my Welch rabbits, for the manufacture of which I +became so famous. And had you been fortunate enough to have visited +the British Hotel upon rice-pudding day, I warrant you would have +ridden back to your hut with kind thoughts of Mother Seacole's +endeavours to give you a taste of home. If I had nothing else to be +proud of, I think my rice puddings, made without milk, upon the high +road to Sebastopol, would have gained me a reputation. What a shout +there used to be when I came out of my little caboose, hot and +flurried, and called out, "Rice-pudding day, my sons." Some of them +were baked in large shallow pans, for the men and the sick, who always +said that it reminded them of home. You would scarcely expect to +finish up your dinner with pastry, but very often you would have found +a good stock of it in my larder. Whenever I had a few leisure moments, +I used to wash my hands, roll up my sleeves and roll out pastry. Very +often I was interrupted to dispense medicines; but if the tarts had a +flavour of senna, or the puddings tasted of rhubarb, it never +interfered with their consumption. I declare I never heard or read of +an army so partial to pastry as that British army before Sebastopol; +while I had a reputation for my sponge-cakes that any pastry-cook in +London, even Gunter, might have been proud of. The officers, full of +fun and high spirits, used to crowd into the little kitchen, and, +despite all my remonstrances, which were not always confined to words, +for they made me frantic sometimes, and an iron spoon is a tempting +weapon, would carry off the tarts hot from the oven, while the +good-for-nothing black cooks, instead of lending me their aid, would +stand by and laugh with all their teeth. And when the hot season +commenced, the crowds that came to the British Hotel for my claret and +cider cups, and other cooling summer drinks, were very complimentary +in their expressions of appreciation of my skill. + +Now, supposing that you had made a hearty dinner and were thinking of +starting homeward--if I can use so pleasant a term in reference to +your cheerless quarters--it was very natural that you should be +anxious to carry back something to your hut. Perhaps you expected to +be sent into the trenches (many a supper cooked by me has been +consumed in those fearful trenches by brave men, who could eat it with +keen appetites while the messengers of death were speeding around +them); or perhaps you had planned a little dinner-party, and wanted to +give your friends something better than their ordinary fare. Anyhow, +you would in all probability have some good reason for returning laden +with comforts and necessaries from Spring Hill. You would not be very +particular about carrying them. You might have been a great swell at +home, where you would have shuddered if Bond Street had seen you +carrying a parcel no larger than your card-case; but those +considerations rarely troubled you here. Very likely, your servant was +lying crouched in a rifle pit, having "pots" at the Russians, or +keeping watch and ward in the long lines of trenches, or, stripped to +his shirt, shovelling powder and shot into the great guns, whose +steady roar broke the evening's calm. So if you did not wait upon +yourself, you would stand a very fair chance of being starved. But you +would open your knapsack, if you had brought one, for me to fill it +with potatoes, and halloo out, "Never mind, mother!" although the +gravy from the fowls on your saddle before you was soaking through the +little modicum of paper which was all I could afford you. So laden, +you would cheerfully start up the hill of mud hutward; and well for +you if you did not come to grief on that treacherous sea of mud that +lay swelling between the Col and your destination. Many a mishap, +ludicrous but for their consequences, happened on it. I remember a +young officer coming down one day just in time to carry off my last +fowl and meat pie. Before he had gone far, the horse so floundered in +the mud that the saddle-girths broke, and while the pies rolled into +the clayey soil in one direction, the fowl flew in another. To make +matters worse, the horse, in his efforts to extricate himself, did for +them entirely; and in terrible distress, the poor fellow came back for +me to set him up again. I shook my head for a long time, but at last, +after he had over and over again urged upon me pathetically that he +had two fellows coming to dine with him at six, and nothing in the +world in his hut but salt pork, I resigned a plump fowl which I had +kept back for my own dinner. Off he started again, but soon came back +with, "Oh, mother, I forgot all about the potatoes; they've all rolled +out upon that ---- road; you must fill my bag again." We all laughed +heartily at him, but this state of things _had_ been rather tragical. + +Before I bring this chapter to a close, I should like, with the +reader's permission, to describe one day of my life in the Crimea. +They were all pretty much alike, except when there was fighting upon a +large scale going on, and duty called me to the field. I was generally +up and busy by daybreak, sometimes earlier, for in the summer my bed +had no attractions strong enough to bind me to it after four. There +was plenty to do before the work of the day began. There was the +poultry to pluck and prepare for cooking, which had been killed on the +previous night; the joints to be cut up and got ready for the same +purpose; the medicines to be mixed; the store to be swept and cleaned. +Of very great importance, with all these things to see after, were the +few hours of quiet before the road became alive with travellers. By +seven o'clock the morning coffee would be ready, hot and refreshing, +and eagerly sought for by the officers of the Army Works Corps engaged +upon making the great high-road to the front, and the Commissariat and +Land Transport men carrying stores from Balaclava to the heights. +There was always a great demand for coffee by those who knew its +refreshing and strengthening qualities, milk I could not give them (I +kept it in tins for special use); but they had it hot and strong, with +plenty of sugar and a slice of butter, which I recommend as a capital +substitute for milk. From that time until nine, officers on duty in +the neighbourhood, or passing by, would look in for breakfast, and +about half-past nine my sick patients began to show themselves. In +the following hour they came thickly, and sometimes it was past twelve +before I had got through this duty. They came with every variety of +suffering and disease; the cases I most disliked were the frostbitten +fingers and feet in the winter. That over, there was the hospital to +visit across the way, which was sometimes overcrowded with patients. I +was a good deal there, and as often as possible would take over books +and papers, which I used to borrow for that purpose from my friends +and the officers I knew. Once, a great packet of tracts was sent to me +from Plymouth anonymously, and these I distributed in the same manner. +By this time the day's news had come from the front, and perhaps among +the casualties over night there would be some one wounded or sick, who +would be glad to see me ride up with the comforts he stood most in +need of; and during the day, if any accident occurred in the +neighbourhood or on the road near the British Hotel, the men generally +brought the sufferer there, whence, if the hurt was serious, he would +be transferred to the hospital of the Land Transport opposite. I used +not always to stand upon too much ceremony when I heard of sick or +wounded officers in the front. Sometimes their friends would ask me to +go to them, though very often I waited for no hint, but took the +chance of meeting with a kind reception. I used to think of their +relatives at home, who would have given so much to possess my +privilege; and more than one officer have I startled by appearing +before him, and telling him abruptly that he must have a mother, wife, +or sister at home whom he missed, and that he must therefore be glad +of some woman to take their place. + +Until evening the store would be filled with customers wanting +stores, dinners, and luncheons; loungers and idlers seeking +conversation and amusement; and at eight o'clock the curtain descended +on that day's labour, and I could sit down and eat at leisure. It was +no easy thing to clear the store, canteen, and yards; but we +determined upon adhering to the rule that nothing should be sold after +that hour, and succeeded. Any one who came after that time, came +simply as a friend. There could be no necessity for any one, except on +extraordinary occasions, when the rule could be relaxed, to purchase +things after eight o'clock. And drunkenness or excess were discouraged +at Spring Hill in every way; indeed, my few unpleasant scenes arose +chiefly from my refusing to sell liquor where I saw it was wanted to +be abused. I could appeal with a clear conscience to all who knew me +there, to back my assertion that I neither permitted drunkenness among +the men nor gambling among the officers. Whatever happened elsewhere, +intoxication, cards, and dice were never to be seen, within the +precincts of the British Hotel. My regulations were well known, and a +kind-hearted officer of the Royals, who was much there, and who +permitted me to use a familiarity towards him which I trust I never +abused, undertook to be my Provost-marshal, but his duties were very +light. + +At first we kept our store open on Sunday from sheer necessity, but +after a little while, when stores in abundance were established at +Kadikoi and elsewhere, and the absolute necessity no longer existed, +Sunday became a day of most grateful rest at Spring Hill. This step +also met with opposition from the men; but again we were determined, +and again we triumphed. I am sure we needed rest. I have often +wondered since how it was that I never fell ill or came home "on +urgent private affairs." I am afraid that I was not sufficiently +thankful to the Providence which gave me strength to carry out the +work I loved so well, and felt so happy in being engaged upon; but +although I never had a week's illness during my campaign, the labour, +anxiety, and perhaps the few trials that followed it, have told upon +me. I have never felt since that time the strong and hearty woman that +I was when I braved with impunity the pestilence of Navy Bay and +Cruces. It would kill me easily now. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + MY FIRST GLIMPSE OF WAR--ADVANCE OF MY TURKISH FRIENDS + ON KAMARA--VISITORS TO THE CAMP--MISS NIGHTINGALE--MONS. + SOYER AND THE CHOLERA--SUMMER IN THE CRIMEA--"THIRSTY + SOULS"--DEATH BUSY IN THE TRENCHES. + + +In the last three chapters, I have attempted, without any +consideration of dates, to give my readers some idea of my life in the +Crimea. I am fully aware that I have jumbled up events strangely, +talking in the same page, and even sentence, of events which occurred +at different times; but I have three excuses to offer for my +unhistorical inexactness. In the first place, my memory is far from +trustworthy, and I kept no written diary; in the second place, the +reader must have had more than enough of journals and chronicles of +Crimean life, and I am only the historian of Spring Hill; and in the +third place, unless I am allowed to tell the story of my life in my +own way, I cannot tell it at all. + +I shall now endeavour to describe my out-of-door life as much as +possible, and write of those great events in the field of which I was +a humble witness. But I shall continue to speak from my own experience +simply; and if the reader should be surprised at my leaving any +memorable action of the army unnoticed, he may be sure that it is +because I was mixing medicines or making good things in the kitchen of +the British Hotel, and first heard the particulars of it, perhaps, +from the newspapers which came from home. My readers must know, too, +that they were much more familiar with the history of the camp at +their own firesides, than we who lived in it. Just as a spectator +seeing one of the battles from a hill, as I did the Tchernaya, knows +more about it than the combatant in the valley below, who only thinks +of the enemy whom it is his immediate duty to repel; so you, through +the valuable aid of the cleverest man in the whole camp, read in the +_Times'_ columns the details of that great campaign, while we, the +actors in it, had enough to do to discharge our own duties well, and +rarely concerned ourselves in what seemed of such importance to you. +And so very often a desperate skirmish or hard-fought action, the news +of which created so much sensation in England, was but little regarded +at Spring Hill. + +My first experience of battle was pleasant enough. Before we had been +long at Spring Hill, Omar Pasha got something for his Turks to do, and +one fine morning they were marched away towards the Russian outposts +on the road to Baidar. I accompanied them on horseback, and enjoyed +the sight amazingly. English and French cavalry preceded the Turkish +infantry over the plain yet full of memorials of the terrible Light +Cavalry charge a few months before; and while one detachment of the +Turks made a reconnaissance to the right of the Tchernaya, another +pushed their way up the hill, towards Kamara, driving in the Russian +outposts, after what seemed but a slight resistance. It was very +pretty to see them advance, and to watch how every now and then little +clouds of white smoke puffed up from behind bushes and the crests of +hills, and were answered by similar puffs from the long line of busy +skirmishers that preceded the main body. This was my first experience +of actual battle, and I felt that strange excitement which I do not +remember on future occasions, coupled with an earnest longing to see +more of warfare, and to share in its hazards. It was not long before +my wish was gratified. + +I do not know much of the second bombardment of Sebastopol in the +month of April, although I was as assiduous as I could be in my +attendance at Cathcart's Hill. I could judge of its severity by the +long trains of wounded which passed the British Hotel. I had a +stretcher laid near the door, and very often a poor fellow was laid +upon it, outwearied by the terrible conveyance from the front. + +After this unsuccessful bombardment, it seemed to us that there was a +sudden lull in the progress of the siege; and other things began to +interest us. There were several arrivals to talk over. Miss +Nightingale came to supervise the Balaclava hospitals, and, before +long, she had practical experience of Crimean fever. After her, came +the Duke of Newcastle, and the great high priest of the mysteries of +cookery, Mons. Alexis Soyer. He was often at Spring Hill, with the +most smiling of faces and in the most gorgeous of irregular uniforms, +and never failed to praise my soups and dainties. I always flattered +myself that I was his match, and with our West Indian dishes could of +course beat him hollow, and more than once I challenged him to a trial +of skill; but the gallant Frenchman only shrugged his shoulders, and +disclaimed my challenge with many flourishes of his jewelled hands, +declaring that Madame proposed a contest where victory would cost him +his reputation for gallantry, and be more disastrous than defeat. And +all because I was a woman, forsooth. What nonsense to talk like that, +when I was doing the work of half a dozen men. Then he would laugh and +declare that, when our campaigns were over, we would render rivalry +impossible, by combining to open the first restaurant in Europe. There +was always fun in the store when the good-natured Frenchman was there. + +One dark, tempestuous night, I was knocked up by the arrival of other +visitors. These were the first regiment of Sardinian Grenadiers, who, +benighted on their way to the position assigned them, remained at +Spring Hill until the morning. We soon turned out our staff, and +lighted up the store, and entertained the officers as well as we could +inside, while the soldiers bivouacked in the yards around. Not a +single thing was stolen or disturbed that night, although they had +many opportunities. We all admired and liked the Sardinians; they were +honest, well-disciplined fellows, and I wish there had been no worse +men or soldiers in the Crimea. + +As the season advanced many visitors came to the Crimea from all +parts of the world, and many of them were glad to make Spring Hill +their head-quarters. We should have been better off if some of them +had spared us this compliment. A Captain St. Clair, for instance--who +could doubt any one with such a name?--stayed some time with us, had +the best of everything, and paid us most honourably with one bill upon +his agents, while we cashed another to provide him with money for his +homeward route. He was an accomplished fellow, and I really liked him; +but, unfortunately for us, he was a swindler. + +I saw much of another visitor to the camp in the Crimea--an old +acquaintance of mine with whom I had had many a hard bout in past +times--the cholera. There were many cases in the hospital of the Land +Transport Corps opposite, and I prescribed for many others personally. +The raki sold in too many of the stores in Balaclava and Kadikoi was +most pernicious; and although the authorities forbade the sutlers to +sell it, under heavy penalties, it found its way into the camp in +large quantities. + +During May, and while preparations were being made for the third great +bombardment of the ill-fated city, summer broke beautifully, and the +weather, chequered occasionally by fitful intervals of cold and rain, +made us all cheerful. You would scarcely have believed that the happy, +good-humoured, and jocular visitors to the British Hotel were the same +men who had a few weeks before ridden gloomily through the muddy road +to its door. It was a period of relaxation, and they all enjoyed it. +Amusement was the order of the day. Races, dog-hunts, cricket-matches, +and dinner-parties were eagerly indulged in, and in all I could be of +use to provide the good cheer which was so essential a part of these +entertainments; and when the warm weather came in all its intensity, +and I took to manufacturing cooling beverages for my friends and +customers, my store was always full. To please all was somewhat +difficult, and occasionally some of them were scarcely so polite as +they should have been to a perplexed hostess, who could scarcely be +expected to remember that Lieutenant A. had bespoken his sangaree an +instant before Captain B. and his friends had ordered their claret +cup. + +In anticipation of the hot weather, I had laid in a large stock of +raspberry vinegar, which, properly managed, helps to make a pleasant +drink; and there was a great demand for sangaree, claret, and cider +cups, the cups being battered pewter pots. Would you like, reader, to +know my recipe for the favourite claret cup? It is simple enough. +Claret, water, lemon-peel, sugar, nutmeg, and--ice--yes, ice, but not +often and not for long, for the eager officers soon made an end of it. +Sometimes there were dinner-parties at Spring Hill, but of these more +hereafter. At one of the earliest, when the _Times_ correspondent was +to be present, I rode down to Kadikoi, bought some calico and cut it +up into table napkins. They all laughed very heartily, and thought +perhaps of a few weeks previously, when every available piece of linen +in the camp would have been snapped up for pocket-handkerchiefs. + +But the reader must not forget that all this time, although there +might be only a few short and sullen roars of the great guns by day, +few nights passed without some fighting in the trenches; and very +often the news of the morning would be that one or other of those I +knew had fallen. These tidings often saddened me, and when I awoke in +the night and heard the thunder of the guns fiercer than usual, I have +quite dreaded the dawn which might usher in bad news. + +The deaths in the trenches touched me deeply, perhaps for this reason. +It was very usual, when a young officer was ordered into the trenches, +for him to ride down to Spring Hill to dine, or obtain something more +than his ordinary fare to brighten his weary hours in those fearful +ditches. They seldom failed on these occasions to shake me by the hand +at parting, and sometimes would say, "You see, Mrs. Seacole, I can't +say good-bye to the dear ones at home, so I'll bid you good-bye for +them. Perhaps you'll see them some day, and if the Russians should +knock me over, mother, just tell them I thought of them all--will +you?" And although all this might be said in a light-hearted manner, +it was rather solemn. I felt it to be so, for I never failed (although +who was I, that I should preach?) to say something about God's +providence and relying upon it; and they were very good. No army of +parsons could be much better than my sons. They would listen very +gravely, and shake me by the hand again, while I felt that there was +nothing in the world I would not do for them. Then very often the men +would say, "I'm going in with my master to-night, Mrs. Seacole; come +and look after him, if he's hit;" and so often as this happened I +would pass the night restlessly, awaiting with anxiety the morning, +and yet dreading to hear the news it held in store for me. I used to +think it was like having a large family of children ill with fever, +and dreading to hear which one had passed away in the night. + +And as often as the bad news came, I thought it my duty to ride up to +the hut of the sufferer and do my woman's work. But I felt it deeply. +How could it be otherwise? There was one poor boy in the Artillery, +with blue eyes and light golden hair, whom I nursed through a long and +weary sickness, borne with all a man's spirit, and whom I grew to love +like a fond old-fashioned mother. I thought if ever angels watched +over any life, they would shelter his; but one day, but a short time +after he had left his sick-bed, he was struck down on his battery, +working like a young hero. It was a long time before I could banish +from my mind the thought of him as I saw him last, the yellow hair, +stiff and stained with his life-blood, and the blue eyes closed in the +sleep of death. Of course, I saw him buried, as I did poor H---- +V----, my old Jamaica friend, whose kind face was so familiar to me of +old. Another good friend I mourned bitterly--Captain B----, of the +Coldstreams--a great cricketer. He had been with me on the previous +evening, had seemed dull, but had supped at my store, and on the +following morning a brother officer told me he was shot dead while +setting his pickets, which made me ill and unfit for work for the +whole day. Mind you, a day was a long time to give to sorrow in the +Crimea. + +I could give many other similar instances, but why should I sadden +myself or my readers? Others have described the horrors of those fatal +trenches; but their real history has never been written, and perhaps +it is as well that so harrowing a tale should be left in oblivion. +Such anecdotes as the following were very current in the Camp, but I +have no means of answering for its truth. Two sergeants met in the +trenches, who had been schoolmates in their youth; years had passed +since they set out for the battle of life by different roads, and now +they met again under the fire of a common enemy. With one impulse they +started forward to exchange the hearty hand-shake and the mutual +greetings, and while their hands were still clasped, a chance shot +killed both. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + UNDER FIRE ON THE FATAL 18TH OF JUNE--BEFORE THE + REDAN--AT THE CEMETERY--THE ARMISTICE--DEATHS AT + HEAD-QUARTERS--DEPRESSION IN THE CAMP--PLENTY IN THE + CRIMEA--THE PLAGUE OF FLIES--UNDER FIRE AT THE BATTLE + OF THE TCHERNAYA--WORK ON THE FIELD--MY PATIENTS. + + +Before I left the Crimea to return to England, the Adjutant-General of +the British Army gave me a testimonial, which the reader has already +read in Chapter XIV., in which he stated that I had "frequently +exerted myself in the most praiseworthy manner in attending wounded +men, even in positions of great danger." The simple meaning of this +sentence is that, in the discharge of what I conceived to be my duty, +I was frequently "under fire." Now I am far from wishing to speak of +this fact with any vanity or pride, because, after all, one soon gets +accustomed to it, and it fails at last to create more than temporary +uneasiness. Indeed, after Sebastopol was ours, you might often see +officers and men strolling coolly, even leisurely, across and along +those streets, exposed to the enemy's fire, when a little haste would +have carried them beyond the reach of danger. The truth was, I +believe, they had grown so habituated to being in peril from shot or +shell, that they rather liked the sensation, and found it difficult to +get on without a little gratuitous excitement and danger. + +But putting aside the great engagements, where I underwent +considerable peril, one could scarcely move about the various camps +without some risk. The Russians had, it seemed, sunk great ships' guns +into the earth, from which they fired shot and shell at a very long +range, which came tumbling and plunging between, and sometimes into +the huts and tents, in a very unwieldy and generally harmless fashion. +Once when I was riding through the camp of the Rifles, a round shot +came plunging towards me, and before I or the horse had time to be +much frightened, the ugly fellow buried itself in the earth, with a +heavy "thud," a little distance in front of us. + +In the first week of June, the third bombardment of Sebastopol opened, +and the Spring Hill visitors had plenty to talk about. Many were the +surmises as to when the assault would take place, of the success of +which nobody entertained a doubt. Somehow or other, important secrets +oozed out in various parts of the camp, which the Russians would have +given much to know, and one of these places was the British Hotel. +Some such whispers were afloat on the evening of Sunday the 17th of +June, and excited me strangely. Any stranger not in my secret would +have considered that my conduct fully justified my partner, Mr. Day, +in sending me home, as better fitted for a cell in Bedlam than the +charge of an hotel in the Crimea. I never remember feeling more +excited or more restless than upon that day, and no sooner had night +fairly closed in upon us than, instead of making preparations for bed, +this same stranger would have seen me wrap up--the nights were still +cold--and start off for a long walk to Cathcart's Hill, three miles +and a half away. I stayed there until past midnight, but when I +returned home, there was no rest for me; for I had found out that, in +the stillness of the night, many regiments were marching down to the +trenches, and that the dawn of day would be the signal that should let +them loose upon the Russians. The few hours still left before +daybreak, were made the most of at Spring Hill. We were all busily +occupied in cutting bread and cheese and sandwiches, packing up fowls, +tongues, and ham, wine and spirits, while I carefully filled the large +bag, which I always carried into the field slung across my shoulder, +with lint, bandages, needles, thread, and medicines; and soon after +daybreak everything was ready packed upon two mules, in charge of my +steadiest lad, and, I leading the way on horseback, the little +cavalcade left the British Hotel before the sun of the fatal 18th of +June had been many hours old. + +It was not long before our progress was arrested by the cavalry +pickets closely stationed to stop all stragglers and spectators from +reaching the scene of action. But after a Blight parley and when they +found out who I was, and how I was prepared for the day's work, the +men raised a shout for me, and, with their officer's sanction, allowed +me to pass. So I reached Cathcart's Hill crowded with non-combatants, +and, leaving there the mules, loaded myself with what provisions I +could carry, and--it was a work of no little difficulty and +danger--succeeded in reaching the reserves of Sir Henry Barnard's +division, which was to have stormed something, I forget what; but when +they found the attack upon the Redan was a failure, very wisely +abstained. Here I found plenty of officers who soon relieved me of my +refreshments, and some wounded men who found the contents of my bag +very useful. At length I made my way to the Woronzoff Road, where the +temporary hospital had been erected, and there I found the doctors +hard enough at work, and hastened to help them as best I could. I +bound up the wounds and ministered to the wants of a good many, and +stayed there some considerable time. + +Upon the way, and even here, I was "under fire." More frequently than +was agreeable, a shot would come ploughing up the ground and raising +clouds of dust, or a shell whizz above us. Upon these occasions those +around would cry out, "Lie down, mother, lie down!" and with very +undignified and unladylike haste I had to embrace the earth, and +remain there until the same voices would laughingly assure me that the +danger was over, or one, more thoughtful than the rest, would come to +give me a helping hand, and hope that the old lady was neither hit nor +frightened. Several times in my wanderings on that eventful day, of +which I confess to have a most confused remembrance, only knowing that +I looked after many wounded men, I was ordered back, but each time my +bag of bandages and comforts for the wounded proved my passport. While +at the hospital I was chiefly of use looking after those, who, either +from lack of hands or because their hurts were less serious, had to +wait, pained and weary, until the kind-hearted doctors--who, however, +_looked_ more like murderers--could attend to them. And the grateful +words and smile which rewarded me for binding up a wound or giving +cooling drink was a pleasure worth risking life for at any time. It +was here that I received my only wound during the campaign. I threw +myself too hastily on the ground, in obedience to the command of those +around me, to escape a threatening shell, and fell heavily on the +thumb of my right hand, dislocating it. It was bound up on the spot +and did not inconvenience me much, but it has never returned to its +proper shape. + +After this, first washing my hands in some sherry from lack of water, +I went back to Cathcart's Hill, where I found my horse, and heard that +the good-for-nothing lad, either frightened or tired of waiting, had +gone away with the mules. I had to ride three miles after him, and +then the only satisfaction I had arose from laying my horse-whip about +his shoulders. After that, working my way round, how I can scarcely +tell, I got to the extreme left attack, where General Eyre's division +had been hotly engaged all day, and had suffered severely. I left my +horse in charge of some men, and with no little difficulty, and at no +little risk, crept down to where some wounded men lay, with whom I +left refreshments. And then--it was growing late--I started for Spring +Hill, where I heard all about the events of the luckless day from +those who had seen them from posts of safety, while I, who had been in +the midst of it all day, knew so little. + +On the following day some Irishmen of the 8th Royals brought me, in +token of my having been among them, a Russian woman's dress and a poor +pigeon, which they had brought away from one of the houses in the +suburb where their regiment suffered so severely. + +But that evening of the 18th of June was a sad one, and the news that +came in of those that had fallen were most heartrending. Both the +leaders, who fell so gloriously before the Redan, had been very good +to the mistress of Spring Hill. But a few days before the 18th, Col. +Y---- had merrily declared that I should have a silver salver to hand +about things upon, instead of the poor shabby one I had been reduced +to; while Sir John C---- had been my kind patron for some years. It +was in my house in Jamaica that Lady C---- had once lodged when her +husband was stationed in that island. And when the recall home came, +Lady C----, who, had she been like most women, would have shrunk from +any exertion, declared that she was a soldier's wife and would +accompany him. Fortunately the "Blenheim" was detained in the roads a +few days after the time expected for her departure, and I put into its +father's arms a little Scotchman, born within sight of the blue hills +of Jamaica. And yet with these at home, the brave general--as I read +in the _Times_ a few weeks later--displayed a courage amounting to +rashness, and, sending away his aides-de-camp, rushed on to a certain +death. + +On the following day, directly I heard of the armistice, I hastened to +the scene of action, anxious to see once more the faces of those who +had been so kind to me in life. That battle-field was a fearful sight +for a woman to witness, and if I do not pray God that I may never see +its like again, it is because I wish to be useful all my life, and it +is in scenes of horror and distress that a woman can do so much. It +was late in the afternoon, not, I think, until half-past four, that +the Russians brought over the bodies of the two leaders of yesterday's +assault. They had stripped Sir John of epaulettes, sword, and boots. +Ah! how my heart felt for those at home who would so soon hear of this +day's fatal work. It was on the following day, I think, that I saw +them bury him near Cathcart's Hill, where his tent had been pitched. +If I had been in the least humour for what was ludicrous, the looks +and curiosity of the Russians who saw me during the armistice would +have afforded me considerable amusement. I wonder what rank they +assigned me. + +How true it is, as somebody has said, that misfortunes never come +singly. N.B. Pleasures often do. For while we were dull enough at this +great trouble, we had cholera raging around us, carrying off its +victims of all ranks. There was great distress in the Sardinian camp +on this account, and I soon lost another good customer, General E----, +carried off by the same terrible plague. Before Mrs. E---- left the +Crimea, she sent several useful things, kept back from the sale of the +general's effects. At this sale I wanted to buy a useful waggon, but +did not like to bid against Lord W----, who purchased it; but (I tell +this anecdote to show how kind they all were to me) when his lordship +heard of this he sent it over to Spring Hill, with a message that it +was mine for a far lower price than he had given for it. And since my +return home I have had to thank the same nobleman for still greater +favours. But who, indeed, has not been kind to me? + +Within a week after General E----'s death, a still greater calamity +happened. Lord Raglan died--that great soldier who had such iron +courage, with the gentle smile and kind word that always show the +good man. I was familiar enough with his person; for, although people +did not know it in England, he was continually in the saddle looking +after his suffering men, and scheming plans for their benefit. And the +humblest soldier will remember that, let who might look stern and +distant, the first man in the British army ever had a kind word to +give him. + +During the time he was ill I was at head-quarters several times, and +once his servants allowed me to peep into the room where their master +lay. I do not think they knew that he was dying, but they seemed very +sad and low--far more so than he for whom they feared. And on the day +of his funeral I was there again. I never saw such heartfelt gloom as +that which brooded on the faces of his attendants; but it was good to +hear how they all, even the humblest, had some kind memory of the +great general whom Providence had called from his post at such a +season of danger and distress. And once again they let me into the +room in which the coffin lay, and I timidly stretched out my hand and +touched a corner of the union-jack which lay upon it; and then I +watched it wind its way through the long lines of soldiery towards +Kamiesch, while, ever and anon, the guns thundered forth in sorrow, +not in anger. And for days after I could not help thinking of the +"Caradoc," which was ploughing its way through the sunny sea with its +sad burden. + +It was not in the nature of the British army to remain long dull, and +before very long we went on gaily as ever, forgetting the terrible +18th of June, or only remembering it to look forward to the next +assault compensating for all. And once more the British Hotel was +filled with a busy throng, and laughter and fun re-echoed through its +iron rafters. Nothing of consequence was done in the front for weeks, +possibly because Mr. Russell was taking holiday, and would not return +until August. + +About this time the stores of the British Hotel were well filled, not +only with every conceivable necessary of life, but with many of its +most expensive luxuries. It was at this period that you could have +asked for few things that I could not have supplied you with on the +spot, or obtained for you, if you had a little patience and did not +mind a few weeks' delay. Not only Spring Hill and Kadikoi, which--a +poor place enough when we came--had grown into a town of stores, and +had its market regulations and police, but the whole camp shared in +this unusual plenty. Even the men could afford to despise salt meat +and pork, and fed as well, if not better, than if they had been in +quarters at home. And there were coffee-houses and places of amusement +opened at Balaclava, and balls given in some of them, which raised my +temper to an unwonted pitch, because I foresaw the dangers which they +had for the young and impulsive; and sure enough they cost several +officers their commissions. Right glad was I one day when the great +purifier, Fire, burnt down the worst of these places and ruined its +owner, a bad Frenchwoman. And the railway was in full work, and the +great road nearly finished, and the old one passable, and the mules +and horses looked in such fair condition, that you would scarcely have +believed Farrier C----, of the Land Transport Corps, who would have +told you then, and will tell you now, that he superintended, on one +bleak morning of February, not six months agone, the task of throwing +the corpses of one hundred and eight mules over the cliffs at Karanyi +into the Black Sea beneath. + +Of course the summer introduced its own plagues, and among the worst +of these were the flies. I shall never forget those Crimean flies, and +most sincerely hope that, like the Patagonians, they are only to be +found in one part of the world. Nature must surely have intended them +for blackbeetles, and accidentally given them wings. There was no +exterminating them--no thinning them--no escaping from them by night +or by day. One of my boys confined himself almost entirely to laying +baits and traps for their destruction, and used to boast that he +destroyed them at the rate of a gallon a day; but I never noticed any +perceptible decrease in their powers of mischief and annoyance. The +officers in the front suffered terribly from them. One of my kindest +customers, a lieutenant serving in the Royal Naval Brigade, who was a +close relative of the Queen, whose uniform he wore, came to me in +great perplexity. He evidently considered the fly nuisance the most +trying portion of the campaign, and of far more consequence than the +Russian shot and shell. "Mami," he said (he had been in the West +Indies, and so called me by the familiar term used by the Creole +children), "Mami, these flies respect nothing. Not content with eating +my prog, they set to at night and make a supper of me," and his face +showed traces of their attacks. "Confound them, they'll kill me, mami; +they're everywhere, even in the trenches, and you'd suppose they +wouldn't care to go there from choice. What can you do for me, mami?" + +Not much; but I rode down to Mr. B----'s store, at Kadikoi, where I +was lucky in being able to procure a piece of muslin, which I pinned +up (time was too precious to allow me to use needle and thread) into a +mosquito net, with which the prince was delighted. He fell ill later +in the summer, when I went up to his quarters and did all I could for +him. + +As the summer wore on, busily passed by all of us at the British +Hotel, rumours stronger than ever were heard of a great battle soon to +be fought by the reinforcements which were known to have joined the +Russian army. And I think that no one was much surprised when one +pleasant August morning, at early dawn, heavy firing was heard towards +the French position on the right, by the Tchernaya, and the stream of +troops and on-lookers poured from all quarters in that direction. +Prepared and loaded as usual, I was soon riding in the same direction, +and saw the chief part of the morning's battle. I saw the Russians +cross and recross the river. I saw their officers cheer and wave them +on in the coolest, bravest manner, until they were shot down by +scores. I was near enough to hear at times, in the lull of artillery, +and above the rattle of the musketry, the excited cheers which told of +a daring attack or a successful repulse; and beneath where I stood I +could see--what the Russians could not--steadily drawn up, quiet and +expectant, the squadrons of English and French cavalry, calmly yet +impatiently waiting until the Russians' partial success should bring +their sabres into play. But the contingency never happened; and we saw +the Russians fall slowly back in good order, while the dark-plumed +Sardinians and red-pantalooned French spread out in pursuit, and +formed a picture so excitingly beautiful that we forgot the suffering +and death they left behind. And then I descended with the rest into +the field of battle. + +It was a fearful scene; but why repeat this remark. All death is +trying to witness--even that of the good man who lays down his life +hopefully and peacefully; but on the battle-field, when the poor body +is torn and rent in hideous ways, and the scared spirit struggles to +loose itself from the still strong frame that holds it tightly to the +last, death is fearful indeed. It had come peacefully enough to some. +They lay with half-opened eyes, and a quiet smile about the lips that +showed their end to have been painless; others it had arrested in the +heat of passion, and frozen on their pallid faces a glare of hatred +and defiance that made your warm blood run cold. But little time had +we to think of the dead, whose business it was to see after the dying, +who might yet be saved. The ground was thickly cumbered with the +wounded, some of them calm and resigned, others impatient and +restless, a few filling the air with their cries of pain--all wanting +water, and grateful to those who administered it, and more substantial +comforts. You might see officers and strangers, visitors to the camp, +riding about the field on this errand of mercy. And this, +although--surely it could not have been intentional--Russian guns +still played upon the scene of action. There were many others there, +bent on a more selfish task. The plunderers were busy everywhere. It +was marvellous to see how eagerly the French stripped the dead of what +was valuable, not always, in their brutal work, paying much regard to +the presence of a lady. Some of the officers, when I complained rather +angrily, laughed, and said it was spoiling the Egyptians; but I _do_ +think the Israelites spared their enemies those garments, which, +perhaps, were not so unmentionable in those days as they have since +become. + +I attended to the wounds of many French and Sardinians, and helped to +lift them into the ambulances, which came tearing up to the scene of +action. I derived no little gratification from being able to dress the +wounds of several Russians; indeed, they were as kindly treated as the +others. One of them was badly shot in the lower jaw, and was beyond my +or any human skill. Incautiously I inserted my finger into his mouth +to feel where the ball had lodged, and his teeth closed upon it, in +the agonies of death, so tightly that I had to call to those around to +release it, which was not done until it had been bitten so deeply that +I shall carry the scar with me to my grave. Poor fellow, he meant me +no harm, for, as the near approach of death softened his features, a +smile spread over his rough inexpressive face, and so he died. + +I attended another Russian, a handsome fellow, and an officer, shot in +the side, who bore his cruel suffering with a firmness that was very +noble. In return for the little use I was to him, he took a ring off +his finger and gave it to me, and after I had helped to lift him into +the ambulance he kissed my hand and smiled far more thanks than I had +earned. I do not know whether he survived his wounds, but I fear not. +Many others, on that day, gave me thanks in words the meaning of which +was lost upon me, and all of them in that one common language of the +whole world--smiles. + +I carried two patients off the field; one a French officer wounded on +the hip, who chose to go back to Spring Hill and be attended by me +there, and who, on leaving, told us that he was a relative of the +Marshal (Pelissier); the other, a poor Cossack colt I found running +round its dam, which lay beside its Cossack master dead, with its +tongue hanging from its mouth. The colt was already wounded in the +ears and fore-foot, and I was only just in time to prevent a French +corporal who, perhaps for pity's sake, was preparing to give it it's +_coup de grace_. I saved the poor thing by promising to give the +Frenchman ten shillings if he would bring it down to the British +Hotel, which he did that same evening. I attended to its hurts, and +succeeded in rearing it, and it became a great pet at Spring Hill, and +accompanied me to England. + +I picked up some trophies from the battle-field, but not many, and +those of little value. I cannot bear the idea of plundering either the +living or the dead; but I picked up a Russian metal cross, and took +from the bodies of some of the poor fellows nothing of more value than +a few buttons, which I severed from their coarse grey coats. + +So end my reminiscences of the battle of the Tchernaya, fought, as all +the world knows, on the 16th of August, 1855. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + INSIDE SEBASTOPOL--THE LAST BOMBARDMENT OF + SEBASTOPOL--ON CATHCART'S HILL--RUMOURS IN THE CAMP--THE + ATTACK ON THE MALAKHOFF--THE OLD WORK AGAIN--A SUNDAY + EXCURSION--INSIDE "OUR" CITY--I AM TAKEN FOR A SPY, AND + THEREAT LOSE MY TEMPER--I VISIT THE REDAN, ETC.--MY + SHARE OF THE "PLUNDER." + + +The three weeks following the battle of the Tchernaya were, I should +think, some of the busiest and most eventful the world has ever seen. +There was little doing at Spring Hill. Every one was either at his +post, or too anxiously awaiting the issue of the last great +bombardment to spend much time at the British Hotel. I think that I +lost more of my patients and customers during those few weeks than +during the whole previous progress of the siege. Scarce a night passed +that I was not lulled to sleep with the heavy continuous roar of the +artillery; scarce a morning dawned that the same sound did not usher +in my day's work. The ear grew so accustomed during those weeks to the +terrible roar, that when Sebastopol fell the sudden quiet seemed +unnatural, and made us dull. And during the whole of this time the +most perplexing rumours flew about, some having reference to the day +of assault, the majority relative to the last great effort which it +was supposed the Russians would make to drive us into the sea. I +confess these latter rumours now and then caused me temporary +uneasiness, Spring Hill being on the direct line of route which the +actors in such a tragedy must take. + +I spent much of my time on Cathcart's Hill, watching, with a curiosity +and excitement which became intense, the progress of the terrible +bombardment. Now and then a shell would fall among the crowd of +on-lookers which covered the hill; but it never disturbed us, so keen +and feverish and so deadened to danger had the excitement and +expectation made us. + +In the midst of the bombardment took place the important ceremony of +distributing the Order of the Bath to those selected for that honour. +I contrived to witness this ceremony very pleasantly; and although it +cost me a day, I considered that I had fairly earned the pleasure. I +was anxious to have some personal share in the affair, so I made, and +forwarded to head-quarters, a cake which Gunter might have been at +some loss to manufacture with the materials at my command, and which I +adorned gaily with banners, flags, etc. I received great kindness from +the officials at the ceremony, and from the officers--some of +rank--who recognised me; indeed, I held quite a little _levée_ around +my chair. + +Well, a few days after this ceremony, I thought the end of the world, +instead of the war, was at hand, when every battery opened and poured +a perfect hail of shot and shell upon the beautiful city which I had +left the night before sleeping so calm and peaceful beneath the stars. +The firing began at early dawn, and was fearful. Sleep was impossible; +so I arose, and set out for my old station on Cathcart's Hill. And +here, with refreshments for the anxious lookers-on, I spent most of my +time, right glad of any excuse to witness the last scene of the siege. +It was from this spot that I saw fire after fire break out in +Sebastopol, and watched all night the beautiful yet terrible effect of +a great ship blazing in the harbour, and lighting up the adjoining +country for miles. + +The weather changed, as it often did in the Crimea, most capriciously; +and the morning of the memorable 8th of September broke cold and +wintry. The same little bird which had let me into so many secrets, +also gave me a hint of what this day was pregnant with; and very early +in the morning I was on horseback, with my bandages and refreshments, +ready to repeat the work of the 18th of June last. A line of sentries +forbade all strangers passing through without orders, even to +Cathcart's Hill; but once more I found that my reputation served as a +permit, and the officers relaxed the rule in my favour everywhere. So, +early in the day, I was in my old spot, with my old appliances for the +wounded and fatigued; little expecting, however, that this day would +so closely resemble the day of the last attack in its disastrous +results. + +It was noon before the cannonading suddenly ceased; and we saw, with a +strange feeling of excitement, the French tumble out of their advanced +trenches, and roll into the Malakhoff like a human flood. Onward they +seemed to go into the dust and smoke, swallowed up by hundreds; but +they never returned, and before long we saw workmen levelling parapets +and filling up ditches, over which they drove, with headlong speed and +impetuosity, artillery and ammunition-waggons, until there could be no +doubt that the Malakhoff was taken, although the tide of battle still +surged around it with violence, and wounded men were borne from it in +large numbers. And before this, our men had made their attack, and the +fearful assault of the Redan was going on, and failing. But I was soon +too busy to see much, for the wounded were borne in even in greater +numbers than at the last assault; whilst stragglers, slightly hurt, +limped in, in fast-increasing numbers, and engrossed our attention. I +now and then found time to ask them rapid questions; but they did not +appear to know anything more than that everything had gone wrong. The +sailors, as before, showed their gallantry, and even recklessness, +conspicuously. The wounded of the ladder and sandbag parties came up +even with a laugh, and joked about their hurts in the happiest +conceivable manner. + +I saw many officers of the 97th wounded; and, as far as possible, I +reserved my attentions for my old regiment, known so well in my native +island. My poor 97th! their loss was terrible. I dressed the wound of +one of its officers, seriously hit in the mouth; I attended to another +wounded in the throat, and bandaged the hand of a third, terribly +crushed by a rifle-bullet. In the midst of this we were often +interrupted by those unwelcome and impartial Russian visitors--the +shells. One fell so near that I thought my last hour was come; and, +although I had sufficient firmness to throw myself upon the ground, I +was so seriously frightened that I never thought of rising from my +recumbent position until the hearty laugh of those around convinced me +that the danger had passed by. Afterwards I picked up a piece of this +huge shell, and brought it home with me. + +It was on this, as on every similar occasion, that I saw the _Times_ +correspondent eagerly taking down notes and sketches of the scene, +under fire--listening apparently with attention to all the busy little +crowd that surrounded him, but without laying down his pencil; and yet +finding time, even in his busiest moment, to lend a helping hand to +the wounded. It may have been on this occasion that his keen eye +noticed me, and his mind, albeit engrossed with far more important +memories, found room to remember me. I may well be proud of his +testimony, borne so generously only the other day, and may well be +excused for transcribing it from the columns of the _Times_:--"I have +seen her go down, under fire, with her little store of creature +comforts for our wounded men; and a more tender or skilful hand about +a wound or broken limb could not be found among our best surgeons. I +saw her at the assault on the Redan, at the Tchernaya, at the fall of +Sebastopol, laden, not with plunder, good old soul! but with wine, +bandages, and food for the wounded or the prisoners." + +I remained on Cathcart's Hill far into the night, and watched the city +blazing beneath us, awe-struck at the terrible sight, until the bitter +wind found its way through my thin clothing, and chilled me to the +bone; and not till then did I leave for Spring Hill. I had little +sleep that night. The night was made a ruddy lurid day with the glare +of the blazing town; while every now and then came reports which shook +the earth to its centre. And yet I believe very many of the soldiers, +wearied with their day's labour, slept soundly throughout that +terrible night, and awoke to find their work completed: for in the +night, covered by the burning city, Sebastopol was left, a heap of +ruins, to its victors; and before noon on the following day, none but +dead and dying Russians were in the south side of the once famous and +beautiful mistress-city of the Euxine. + +The good news soon spread through the camp. It gave great pleasure; +but I almost think the soldiers would have been better pleased had the +Russians delayed their parting twelve hours longer, and given the +Highlanders and their comrades a chance of retrieving the disasters of +the previous day. Nothing else could wipe away the soreness of defeat, +or compensate for the better fortune which had befallen our allies the +French. + +The news of the evacuation of Sebastopol soon carried away all traces +of yesterday's fatigue. For weeks past I had been offering bets to +every one that I would not only be the first woman to enter +Sebastopol from the English lines, but that I would be the first to +carry refreshments into the fallen city. And now the time I had longed +for had come. I borrowed some mules from the Land Transport +Corps--mine were knocked up by yesterday's work--and loading them with +good things, started off with my partner and some other friends early +on that memorable Sunday morning for Cathcart's Hill. + +When I found that strict orders had been given to admit no one inside +Sebastopol, I became quite excited; and making my way to General +Garrett's quarters, I made such an earnest representation of what I +considered my right that I soon obtained a pass, of which the +following is a copy:-- + + "Pass Mrs. Seacole and her attendants, with refreshments + for officers and soldiers in the Redan and in + Sebastopol. + + "Garrett, M.G. + + "Cathcart's Hill, Sept. 9, 1855." + +So many attached themselves to my staff, becoming for the nonce my +attendants, that I had some difficulty at starting; but at last I +passed all the sentries safely, much to the annoyance of many +officers, who were trying every conceivable scheme to evade them, and +entered the city. I can give you no very clear description of its +condition on that Sunday morning, a year and a half ago. Many parts of +it were still blazing furiously--explosions were taking place in all +directions--every step had a score of dangers; and yet curiosity and +excitement carried us on and on. I was often stopped to give +refreshments to officers and men, who had been fasting for hours. +Some, on the other hand, had found their way to Russian cellars; and +one body of men were most ingloriously drunk, and playing the wildest +pranks. They were dancing, yelling, and singing--some of them with +Russian women's dresses fastened round their waists, and old bonnets +stuck upon their heads. + +I was offered many trophies. All plunder was stopped by the sentries, +and confiscated, so that the soldiers could afford to be liberal. By one +I was offered a great velvet sofa; another pressed a huge arm-chair, +which had graced some Sebastopol study, upon me; while a third begged my +acceptance of a portion of a grand piano. What I did carry away was very +unimportant: a gaily-decorated altar-candle, studded with gold and +silver stars, which the present Commander-in-Chief condescended to +accept as a Sebastopol memorial; an old cracked China teapot, which in +happier times had very likely dispensed pleasure to many a small +tea-party; a cracked bell, which had rung many to prayers during the +siege, and which I bore away on my saddle; and a parasol, given me by a +drunken soldier. He had a silk skirt on, and torn lace upon his wrists, +and he came mincingly up, holding the parasol above his head, and +imitating the walk of an affected lady, to the vociferous delight of his +comrades. And all this, and much more, in that fearful charnel city, +with death and suffering on every side. + +It was very hazardous to pass along some of the streets exposed to the +fire of the Russians on the north side of the harbour. We had to wait +and watch our opportunity, and then gallop for it. Some of us had +close shaves of being hit. More than this, fires still kept breaking +out around; while mines and fougasses not unfrequently exploded from +unknown causes. We saw two officers emerge from a heap of ruins, +covered and almost blinded with smoke and dust, from some such +unlooked-for explosion. With considerable difficulty we succeeded in +getting into the quarter of the town held by the French, where I was +nearly getting into serious trouble. + +I had loitered somewhat behind my party, watching, with pardonable +curiosity, the adroitness with which a party of French were plundering +a house; and by the time my curiosity had been satisfied, I found +myself quite alone, my retinue having preceded me by some few hundred +yards. This would have been of little consequence, had not an American +sailor lad, actuated either by mischief or folly, whispered to the +Frenchmen that I was a Russian spy; and had they not, instead of +laughing at him, credited his assertion, and proceeded to arrest me. +Now, such a charge was enough to make a lion of a lamb; so I refused +positively to dismount, and made matters worse by knocking in the cap +of the first soldier who laid hands upon me, with the bell that hung +at my saddle. Upon this, six or seven tried to force me to the +guard-house in rather a rough manner, while I resisted with all my +force, screaming out for Mr. Day, and using the bell for a weapon. How +I longed for a better one I need not tell the reader. In the midst of +this scene came up a French officer, whom I recognised as the patient +I had taken to Spring Hill after the battle of the Tchernaya, and who +took my part at once, and ordered them to release me. Although I +rather weakened my cause, it was most natural that, directly I was +released, I should fly at the varlet who had caused me this trouble; +and I did so, using my bell most effectually, and aided, when my party +returned, by their riding-whips. + +This little adventure took up altogether so much time that, when the +French soldiers had made their apologies to me, and I had returned the +compliment to the one whose head had been dented by my bell, it was +growing late, and we made our way back to Cathcart's Hill. On the way, +a little French soldier begged hard of me to buy a picture, which had +been cut from above the altar of some church in Sebastopol. It was too +dark to see much of his prize, but I ultimately became its possessor, +and brought it home with me. It is some eight or ten feet in length, +and represents, I should think, the Madonna. I am no judge of such +things, but I think, although the painting is rather coarse, that the +face of the Virgin, and the heads of Cherubim that fill the cloud from +which she is descending, are soft and beautiful. There is a look of +divine calmness and heavenly love in the Madonna's face which is very +striking; and, perhaps, during the long and awful siege many a knee +was bent in worship before it, and many a heart found comfort in its +soft loving gaze. + +On the following day I again entered Sebastopol, and saw still more of +its horrors. But I have refrained from describing so many scenes of +woe, that I am loth to dwell much on these. The very recollection of +that woeful hospital, where thousands of dead and dying had been left +by the retreating Russians, is enough to unnerve the strongest and +sicken the most experienced. I would give much if I had never seen +that harrowing sight. I believe some Englishmen were found in it +alive; but it was as well that they did not live to tell their +fearful experience. + +I made my way into the Redan also, although every step was dangerous, +and took from it some brown bread, which seemed to have been left in +the oven by the baker when he fled. + +Before many days were passed, some Frenchwomen opened houses in +Sebastopol; but in that quarter of the town held by the English the +prospect was not sufficiently tempting for me to follow their example, +and so I saw out the remainder of the campaign from my old quarters at +Spring Hill. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + HOLIDAY IN THE CAMP--A NEW ENEMY, TIME--AMUSEMENTS IN + THE CRIMEA--MY SHARE IN THEM--DINNER AT SPRING HILL--AT + THE RACES--CHRISTMAS DAY IN THE BRITISH HOTEL--NEW + YEAR'S DAY IN THE HOSPITAL. + + +Well, the great work was accomplished--Sebastopol was taken. The +Russians had retired sullenly to their stronghold on the north side of +the harbour, from which, every now and then, they sent a few vain shot +and shell, which sent the amateurs in the streets of Sebastopol +scampering, but gave the experienced no concern. In a few days the +camp could find plenty to talk about in their novel position--and what +then? What was to be done? More fighting? Another equally terrible and +lengthy siege of the north? That was the business of a few at +head-quarters and in council at home, between whom the electric wires +flashed many a message. In the meanwhile, the real workers applied +themselves to plan amusements, and the same energy and activity which +had made Sebastopol a heap of ruins and a well-filled cemetery--which +had dug the miles of trenches, and held them when made against a +desperate foe--which had manned the many guns, and worked them so +well, set to work as eager to kill their present enemy, Time, as they +had lately been to destroy their fled enemies, the Russians. + +All who were before Sebastopol will long remember the beautiful autumn +which succeeded to so eventful a summer, and ushered in so pleasantly +the second winter of the campaign. It was appreciated as only those +who earn the right to enjoyment can enjoy relaxation. The camp was +full of visitors of every rank. They thronged the streets of +Sebastopol, sketching its ruins and setting up photographic apparatus, +in contemptuous indifference of the shot with which the Russians +generally favoured every conspicuous group. + +Pleasure was hunted keenly. Cricket matches, pic-nics, dinner parties, +races, theatricals, all found their admirers. My restaurant was always +full, and once more merry laughter was heard, and many a dinner party +was held, beneath the iron roof of the British Hotel. Several were +given in compliment to our allies, and many distinguished Frenchmen +have tested my powers of cooking. You might have seen at one party +some of their most famous officers. At once were present a Prince of +the Imperial family of France, the Duc de Rouchefoucault, and a +certain corporal in the French service, who was perhaps the best known +man in the whole army, the Viscount Talon. They expressed themselves +highly gratified at the _carte_, and perhaps were not a little +surprised as course after course made its appearance, and to soup and +fish succeeded turkeys, saddle of mutton, fowls, ham, tongue, curry, +pastry of many sorts, custards, jelly, blanc-mange, and olives. I took +a peculiar pride in doing my best when they were present, for I knew a +little of the secrets of the French commissariat. I wonder if the +world will ever know more. I wonder if the system of secresy which has +so long kept veiled the sufferings of the French army before +Sebastopol will ever yield to truth. I used to guess something of +those sufferings when I saw, even after the fall of Sebastopol, +half-starved French soldiers prowling about my store, taking eagerly +even what the Turks rejected as unfit for human food; and no one could +accuse _them_ of squeamishness. I cannot but believe that in some +desks or bureaux lie notes or diaries which shall one day be given to +the world; and when this happens, the terrible distresses of the +English army will pall before the unheard-of sufferings of the French. +It is true that they carried from Sebastopol the lion's share of +glory. My belief is that they deserved it, having borne by far a +larger proportion of suffering. + +There were few dinners at Spring Hill at which the guests did not show +their appreciation of their hostess's labour by drinking her health; +and at the dinner I have above alluded to, the toast was responded to +with such enthusiasm that I felt compelled to put my acknowledgments +into the form of a little speech, which Talon interpreted to his +countrymen. The French Prince was, after this occasion, several times +at the British Hotel. He was there once when some Americans were +received by me with scarcely that cordiality which I have been told +distinguished my reception of guests; and upon their leaving I told +him--quite forgetting his own connection with America--of my prejudice +against the Yankees. He heard me for a little while, and then he +interrupted me. + +"Tenez! Madame Seacole, I too am American a little." + +What a pity I was not born a countess! I am sure I should have made a +capital courtier. Witness my impromptu answer:-- + +"I should never have guessed it, Prince."--And he seemed amused. + +With the theatricals directly I had nothing to do. Had I been a little +younger the companies would very likely have been glad of me, for no +one liked to sacrifice their beards to become Miss Julia or plain Mary +Ann; and even the beardless subalterns had voices which no coaxing +could soften down. But I lent them plenty of dresses; indeed, it was +the only airing which a great many gay-coloured muslins had in the +Crimea. How was I to know when I brought them what camp-life was? And +in addition to this, I found it necessary to convert my kitchen into a +temporary green-room, where, to the wonderment, and perhaps scandal, +of the black cook, the ladies of the company of the 1st Royals were +taught to manage their petticoats with becoming grace, and neither to +show their awkward booted ankles, nor trip themselves up over their +trains. It was a difficult task in many respects. Although I laced +them in until they grew blue in the face, their waists were a disgrace +to the sex; while--crinoline being unknown then--my struggles to give +them becoming _embonpoint_ may be imagined. It was not until a year +later that _Punch_ thought of using a clothes-basket; and I would have +given much for such a hint when I was dresser to the theatrical +company of the 1st Royals. The hair was another difficulty. To be +sure, there was plenty in the camp, only it was in the wrong place, +and many an application was made to me for a set of curls. However, I +am happy to say I am not become a customer of the wigmakers yet. + +My recollections of hunting in the Crimea are confined to seeing +troops of horsemen sweep by with shouts and yells after some wretched +dog. Once I was very nearly frightened out of my wits--my first +impression being that the Russians had carried into effect their old +threat of driving us into the sea--by the startling appearance of a +large body of horsemen tearing down the hill after, apparently, +nothing. However I discovered in good time that, in default of vermin, +they were chasing a brother officer with a paper bag. + +My experience of Crimean races are perfect, for I was present, in the +character of cantiniere, at all the more important meetings. Some of +them took place before Christmas, and some after; but I shall exhaust +the subject at once. I had no little difficulty to get the things on +to the course; and in particular, after I had sat up the whole night +making preparations for the December races, at the Monastery of St. +George, I could not get my poor mules over the rough country, and +found myself, in the middle of the day, some miles from the course. At +last I gave it up as hopeless, and, dismounting, sat down by the +roadside to consider how I could possibly dispose of the piles of +sandwiches, bread, cheese, pies, and tarts, which had been prepared +for the hungry spectators. At last, some officers, who expected me +long before, came to look after me, and by their aid we reached the +course. + +I was better off at the next meeting, for a kind-hearted Major of +Artillery provided me with a small bell-tent that was very useful, and +enabled me to keep my stores out of reach of the light-fingered +gentry, who were as busy in the Crimea as at Epsom or Hampton Court. +Over this tent waved the flag of the British Hotel, but, during the +day, it was struck, for an accident happening to one Captain D----, he +was brought to my tent insensible, where I quickly improvised a couch +of some straw, covered with the Union Jack, and brought him round. I +mention this trifle to show how ready of contrivance a little +campaigning causes one to become. I had several patients in +consequence of accidents at the races. Nor was I altogether free from +accidents myself. On the occasion of the races by the Tchernaya, after +the armistice, my cart, on turning a sudden bend in the steep track, +upset, and the crates, containing plates and dishes, rolled over and +over until their contents were completely broken up; so that I was +reduced to hand about sandwiches, etc., on broken pieces of +earthenware and scraps of paper. I saved some glasses, but not many, +and some of the officers were obliged to drink out of stiff paper +twisted into funnel-shaped glasses. + +It was astonishing how well the managers of these Crimean races had +contrived to imitate the old familiar scenes at home. You might well +wonder where the racing saddles and boots, and silk caps and jackets +had come from; but our connection with England was very different to +what it had been when I first came to the Crimea, and many a wife and +sister's fingers had been busy making the racing gear for the Crimea +meetings. And in order that the course should still more closely +resemble Ascot or Epsom, some soldiers blackened their faces and came +out as Ethiopian serenaders admirably, although it would puzzle the +most ingenious to guess where they got their wigs and banjoes from. I +caught one of them behind my tent in the act of knocking off the neck +of a bottle of champagne, and, paralysed by the wine's hasty exit, the +only excuse he offered was, that he wanted to know if the officers' +luxury was better than rum. + +A few weeks before Christmas, happened that fearful explosion, in the +French ammunition park, which destroyed so many lives. We had +experienced nothing at all like it before. The earth beneath us, even +at the distance of three miles, reeled and trembled with the shock; +and so great was the force of the explosion, that a piece of stone was +hurled with some violence against the door of the British Hotel. We +all felt for the French very much, although I do not think that the +armies agreed quite so well after the taking of the Malakhoff, and the +unsuccessful assault upon the Redan, as they had done previously. I +saw several instances of unpleasantness and collision, arising from +allusions to sore points. One, in particular, occurred in my store. + +The French, when they wanted--it was very seldom--to wound the pride +of the English soldiery, used to say significantly, in that jargon by +which the various nations in the Crimea endeavoured to obviate the +consequences of what occurred at the Tower of Babel, some time ago, +"Malakhoff bono--Redan no bono." And this, of course, usually led to +recriminatory statements, and history was ransacked to find something +consolatory to English pride. Once I noticed a brawny man, of the Army +Works Corps, bringing a small French Zouave to my canteen, evidently +with the view of standing treat. The Frenchman seemed mischievously +inclined, and, probably relying upon the good humour on the +countenance of his gigantic companion, began a little playful +badinage, ending with the taunt of "Redan, no bono--Redan, no bono." I +never saw any man look so helplessly angry as the Englishman did. For +a few minutes he seemed absolutely rooted to the ground. Of course he +could have crushed his mocking friend with ease, but how could he +answer his taunt. All at once, however, a happy thought struck him, +and rushing up to the Zouave, he caught him round the waist and threw +him down, roaring out, "Waterloo was bono--Waterloo was bono." It was +as much as the people on the premises could do to part them, so +convulsed were we all with laughter. + +And before Christmas, occurred my first and last attack of illness in +the Crimea. It was not of much consequence, nor should I mention it +but to show the kindness of my soldier-friends. I think it arose from +the sudden commencement of winter, for which I was but poorly +provided. However, I soon received much sympathy and many presents of +warm clothing, etc.; but the most delicate piece of attention was +shown me by one of the Sappers and Miners, who, hearing the report +that I was dead, positively came down to Spring Hill to take my +measure for a coffin. This may seem a questionable compliment, but I +really felt flattered and touched with such a mark of thoughtful +attention. Very few in the Crimea had the luxury of any better coffin +than a blanket-shroud, and it was very good of the grateful fellow to +determine that his old friend, the mistress of Spring Hill, should +have an honour conceded to so very few of the illustrious dead before +Sebastopol. + +So Christmas came, and with it pleasant memories of home and of home +comforts. With it came also news of home--some not of the most +pleasant description--and kind wishes from absent friends. "A merry +Christmas to you," writes one, "and many of them. Although you will +not write to us, we see your name frequently in the newspapers, from +which we judge that you are strong and hearty. All your old Jamaica +friends are delighted to hear of you, and say that you are an honour +to the Isle of Springs." + +I wonder if the people of other countries are as fond of carrying with +them everywhere their home habits as the English. I think not. I think +there was something purely and essentially English in the +determination of the camp to spend the Christmas-day of 1855 after the +good old "home" fashion. It showed itself weeks before the eventful +day. In the dinner parties which were got up--in the orders sent to +England--in the supplies which came out, and in the many applications +made to the hostess of the British Hotel for plum-puddings and +mince-pies. The demand for them, and the material necessary to +manufacture them, was marvellous. I can fancy that if returns could be +got at of the flour, plums, currants, and eggs consumed on +Christmas-day in the out-of-the-way Crimean peninsula, they would +astonish us. One determination appeared to have taken possession of +every mind--to spend the festive day with the mirth and jollity which +the changed prospect of affairs warranted; and the recollection of a +year ago, when death and misery were the camp's chief guests, only +served to heighten this resolve. + +For three weeks previous to Christmas-day, my time was fully occupied +in making preparations for it. Pages of my books are filled with +orders for plum-puddings and mince-pies, besides which I sold an +immense quantity of raw material to those who were too far off to send +down for the manufactured article on Christmas-day, and to such +purchasers I gave a plain recipe for their guidance. Will the reader +take any interest in my Crimean Christmas-pudding? It was plain, but +decidedly good. However, you shall judge for yourself:--"One pound of +flour, three-quarters of a pound of raisins, three-quarters of a pound +of fat pork, chopped fine, two tablespoonfuls of sugar, a little +cinnamon or chopped lemon, half-pint of milk or water; mix these well +together, and boil four hours." + +From an early hour in the morning until long after the night had set +in, were I and my cooks busy endeavouring to supply the great demand +for Christmas fare. We had considerable difficulty in keeping our +engagements, but by substituting mince-pies for plum-puddings, in a +few cases, we succeeded. The scene in the crowded store, and even in +the little over-heated kitchen, with the officers' servants, who came +in for their masters' dinners, cannot well be described. Some were +impatient themselves, others dreaded their masters' impatience as the +appointed dinner hour passed by--all combined by entreaties, threats, +cajolery, and fun to drive me distracted. Angry cries for the major's +plum-pudding, which was to have been ready an hour ago, alternated +with an entreaty that I should cook the captain's mince-pies to a +turn--"Sure, he likes them well done, ma'am. Bake 'em as brown as your +own purty face, darlint." + +I did not get my dinner until eight o'clock, and then I dined in peace +off a fine wild turkey or bustard, shot for me on the marshes by the +Tchernaya. It weighed twenty-two pounds, and, although somewhat coarse +in colour, had a capital flavour. + +Upon New Year's-day I had another large cooking of plum-puddings and +mince-pies; this time upon my own account. I took them to the hospital +of the Land Transport Corps, to remind the patients of the home +comforts they longed so much for. It was a sad sight to see the once +fine fellows, in their blue gowns, lying quiet and still, and reduced +to such a level of weakness and helplessness. They all seemed glad for +the little home tokens I took them. + +There was one patient who had been a most industrious and honest +fellow, and who did not go into the hospital until long and wearing +illness compelled him. I was particularly anxious to look after him, +but I found him very weak and ill. I stayed with him until evening, +and before I left him, kind fancy had brought to his bedside his wife +and children from his village-home in England, and I could hear him +talking to them in a low and joyful tone. Poor, poor fellow! the New +Year so full of hope and happiness had dawned upon him, but he did not +live to see the wild flowers spring up peacefully through the +war-trodden sod before Sebastopol. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + NEW YEAR IN THE CRIMEA--GOOD NEWS--THE ARMISTICE--BARTER + WITH THE RUSSIANS--WAR AND PEACE--TIDINGS OF + PEACE--EXCURSIONS INTO THE INTERIOR OF THE CRIMEA--TO + SIMPHEROPOL, BAKTCHISERAI, ETC.--THE TROOPS BEGIN TO + LEAVE THE CRIMEA--FRIENDS' FAREWELLS--THE CEMETERIES--WE + REMOVE FROM SPRING HILL TO BALACLAVA--ALARMING SACRIFICE + OF OUR STOCK--A LAST GLIMPSE OF SEBASTOPOL--HOME! + + +Before the New Year was far advanced we all began to think of going +home, making sure that peace would soon be concluded. And never did +more welcome message come anywhere than that which brought us +intelligence of the armistice, and the firing, which had grown more +and more slack lately, ceased altogether. Of course the army did not +desire peace because they had any distaste for fighting; so far from +it, I believe the only more welcome intelligence would have been news +of a campaign in the field, but they were most heartily weary of +sieges, and the prospect of another year before the gloomy north of +Sebastopol damped the ardour of the most sanguine. Before the +armistice was signed, the Russians and their old foes made advances of +friendship, and the banks of the Tchernaya used to be thronged with +strangers, and many strange acquaintances were thus began. I was one +of the first to ride down to the Tchernaya, and very much delighted +seemed the Russians to see an English woman. I wonder if they thought +they all had my complexion. I soon entered heartily into the then +current amusement--that of exchanging coin, etc., with the Russians. I +stole a march upon my companions by making the sign of the cross upon +my bosom, upon which a Russian threw me, in exchange for some pence, a +little metal figure of some ugly saint. Then we wrapped up halfpence +in clay, and received coins of less value in exchange. Seeing a +soldier eating some white bread, I made signs of wanting some, and +threw over a piece of money. I had great difficulty in making the man +understand me, but after considerable pantomime, with surprise in his +round bullet eyes, he wrapped up his bread in some paper, then coated +it with clay and sent it over to me. I thought it would look well +beside my brown bread taken from the strange oven in the terrible +Redan, and that the two would typify war and peace. There was a great +traffic going on in such things, and a wag of an officer, who could +talk Russian imperfectly, set himself to work to persuade an innocent +Russian that I was his wife, and having succeeded in doing so promptly +offered to dispose of me for the medal hanging at his breast. + +The last firing of any consequence was the salutes with which the good +tidings of peace were received by army and navy. After this soon began +the home-going with happy faces and light hearts, and some kind +thoughts and warm tears for the comrades left behind. + +I was very glad to hear of peace, also, although it must have been +apparent to every one that it would cause our ruin. We had lately made +extensive additions to our store and out-houses--our shelves were +filled with articles laid in at a great cost, and which were now +unsaleable, and which it would be equally impossible to carry home. +Everything, from our stud of horses and mules down to our latest +consignments from home, must be sold for any price; and, as it +happened, for many things, worth a year ago their weight in gold, no +purchaser could now be found. However, more of this hereafter. + +Before leaving the Crimea, I made various excursions into the +interior, visiting Simpheropol and Baktchiserai. I travelled to +Simpheropol with a pretty large party, and had a very amusing journey. +My companions were young and full of fun, and tried hard to persuade +the Russians that I was Queen Victoria, by paying me the most absurd +reverence. When this failed they fell back a little, and declared that +I was the Queen's first cousin. Anyhow, they attracted crowds about +me, and I became quite a lioness in the streets of Simpheropol, until +the arrival of some Highlanders in their uniform cut me out. + +My excursion to Baktchiserai was still more amusing and pleasant. I +found it necessary to go to beat up a Russian merchant, who, after the +declaration of peace, had purchased stores of us, and some young +officers made up a party for the purpose. We hired an araba, filled it +with straw, and some boxes to sit upon, and set out very early, with +two old umbrellas to shield us from the mid-day sun and the night +dews. We had with us a hamper carefully packed, before parting, with a +cold duck, some cold meat, a tart, etc. The Tartar's two horses were +soon knocked up, and the fellow obtained a third at a little village, +and so we rolled on until mid-day, when, thoroughly exhausted, we left +our clumsy vehicle and carried our hamper beneath the shade of a +beautiful cherry-tree, and determined to lunch. Upon opening it the +first thing that met our eyes was a fine rat, who made a speedy +escape. Somewhat gravely, we proceeded to unpack its contents, without +caring to express our fears to one another, and quite soon enough we +found them realized. How or where the rat had gained access to our +hamper it was impossible to say, but he had made no bad use of his +time, and both wings of the cold duck had flown, while the tart was +considerably mangled. Sad discovery this for people who, although, +hungry, were still squeamish. We made out as well as we could with the +cold beef, and gave the rest to our Tartar driver, who had apparently +no disinclination to eating after the rat, and would very likely have +despised us heartily for such weakness. After dinner we went on more +briskly, and succeeded in reaching Baktchiserai. My journey was +perfectly unavailing. I could not find my debtor at home, and if I had +I was told it would take three weeks before the Russian law would +assist me to recover my claim. Determined, however, to have some +compensation, I carried off a raven, who had been croaking angrily at +my intrusion. Before we had been long on our homeward journey, +however, Lieut. C---- sat upon it, of course accidentally, and we +threw it to its relatives--the crows. + +As the spring advanced, the troops began to move away at a brisk pace. +As they passed the Iron House upon the Col--old for the Crimea, where +so much of life's action had been compressed into so short a space of +time--they would stop and give us a parting cheer, while very often +the band struck up some familiar tune of that home they were so gladly +seeking. And very often the kind-hearted officers would find time to +run into the British Hotel to bid us good-bye, and give us a farewell +shake of the hand; for you see war, like death, is a great leveller, +and mutual suffering and endurance had made us all friends. "My dear +Mrs. Seacole, and my dear Mr. Day," wrote one on a scrap of paper left +on the counter, "I have called here four times this day, to wish you +good-bye. I am so sorry I was not fortunate enough to see you. I shall +still hope to see you to-morrow morning. We march at seven a.m." + +And yet all this going home seemed strange and somewhat sad, and +sometimes I felt that I could not sympathise with the glad faces and +happy hearts of those who were looking forward to the delights of +home, and the joy of seeing once more the old familiar faces +remembered so fondly in the fearful trenches and the hard-fought +battle-fields. Now and then we would see a lounger with a blank face, +taking no interest in the bustle of departure, and with him I +acknowledged to have more fellow-feeling than with the others, for he, +as well as I, clearly had no home to go to. He was a soldier by choice +and necessity, as well as by profession. He had no home, no loved +friends; the peace would bring no particular pleasure to him, whereas +war and action were necessary to his existence, gave him excitement, +occupation, the chance of promotion. Now and then, but seldom, +however, you came across such a disappointed one. Was it not so with +me? Had I not been happy through the months of toil and danger, never +knowing what fear or depression was, finding every moment of the day +mortgaged hours in advance, and earning sound sleep and contentment by +sheer hard work? What better or happier lot could possibly befall me? +And, alas! how likely was it that my present occupation gone, I might +long in vain for another so stirring and so useful. Besides which, it +was pretty sure that I should go to England poorer than I left it, +and although I was not ashamed of poverty, beginning life again in +the autumn--I mean late in the summer of life--is hard up-hill work. + +Peace concluded, the little jealousies which may have sprung up +between the French and their allies seemed forgotten, and every one +was anxious, ere the parting came, to make the most of the time yet +left in improving old friendships and founding new. Among others, the +47th, encamped near the Woronzoff Road, gave a grand parting +entertainment to a large company of their French neighbours, at which +many officers of high rank were present. I was applied to by the +committee of management to superintend the affair, and, for the last +time in the Crimea, the health of Madame Seacole was proposed and duly +honoured. I had grown so accustomed to the honour that I had no +difficulty in returning thanks in a speech which Colonel B---- +interpreted amid roars of laughter to the French guests. + +As the various regiments moved off, I received many acknowledgments +from those who thought they owed me gratitude. Little presents, warm +farewell words, kind letters full of grateful acknowledgments for +services so small that I had forgotten them long, long ago--how easy +it is to reach warm hearts!--little thoughtful acts of kindness, even +from the humblest. And these touched me the most. I value the letters +received from the working men far more than the testimonials of their +officers. I had nothing to gain from the former, and can point to +their testimony fearlessly. I am strongly tempted to insert some of +these acknowledgments, but I will confine myself to one:-- + + "Camp, near Karani, June 16, 1856. + + "My dear Mrs. Seacole,--As you are about to leave the + Crimea, I avail myself of the only opportunity which may + occur for some time, to acknowledge my gratitude to you, + and to thank you for the kindness which I, in common + with many others, received at your hands, when attacked + with cholera in the spring of 1855. But I have no + language to do it suitably. + + "I am truly sensible that your kindness far exceeded my + claims upon your sympathy. It is said by some of your + friends, I hope truly, that you are going to England. + There can be none from the Crimea more welcome there, + for your kindness in the sick-tent, and your heroism in + the battle-field, have endeared you to the whole army. + + "I am sure when her most gracious Majesty the Queen + shall have become acquainted with the service you have + gratuitously rendered to so many of her brave soldiers, + her generous heart will thank you. For you have been an + instrument in the hands of the Almighty to preserve many + a gallant heart to the empire, to fight and win her + battles, if ever again war may become a necessity. + Please to accept this from your most grateful humble + servant, + + "W. J. Tynan." + +But I had other friends in the Crimea--friends who could never thank +me. Some of them lay in their last sleep, beneath indistinguishable +mounds of earth; some in the half-filled trenches, a few beneath the +blue waters of the Euxine. I might in vain attempt to gather the wild +flowers which sprung up above many of their graves, but I knew where +some lay, and could visit their last homes on earth. And to all the +cemeteries where friends rested so calmly, sleeping well after a +life's work nobly done, I went many times, lingering long over many a +mound that bore the names of those whom I had been familiar with in +life, thinking of what they had been, and what I had known of them. +Over some I planted shrubs and flowers, little lilac trees, obtained +with no small trouble, and flowering evergreens, which looked quite +gay and pretty ere I left, and may in time become great trees, and +witness strange scenes, or be cut down as fuel for another besieging +army--who can tell? And from many graves I picked up pebbles, and +plucked simple wild-flowers, or tufts of grass, as memorials for +relatives at home. How pretty the cemeteries used to look beneath the +blue peaceful sky; neatly enclosed with stone walls, and full of the +grave-stones reared by friends over friends. I met many here, +thoughtfully taking their last look of the resting-places of those +they knew and loved. I saw many a proud head bowed down above them. I +knew that many a proud heart laid aside its pride here, and stood in +the presence of death, humble and childlike. And by the clasped hand +and moistened eye, I knew that from many a heart sped upward a +grateful prayer to the Providence which had thought fit in his +judgment to take some, and in his mercy to spare the rest. + +Some three weeks before the Crimea was finally evacuated, we moved +from our old quarters to Balaclava, where we had obtained permission +to fit up a store for the short time which would elapse before the +last red coat left Russian soil. The poor old British Hotel! We could +do nothing with it. The iron house was pulled down, and packed up for +conveyance home, but the Russians got all of the out-houses and sheds +which was not used as fuel. All the kitchen fittings and stoves, that +had cost us so much, fell also into their hands. I only wish some cook +worthy to possess them has them now. We could sell nothing. Our horses +were almost given away, our large stores of provisions, etc., were at +any one's service. It makes my heart sick to talk of the really +alarming sacrifices we made. The Russians crowded down ostensibly to +purchase, in reality to plunder. Prime cheeses, which had cost us +tenpence a pound, were sold to them for less than a penny a pound; for +wine, for which we had paid forty-eight shillings a dozen, they bid +four shillings. I could not stand this, and in a fit of desperation, I +snatched up a hammer and broke up case after case, while the +bystanders held out their hands and caught the ruby stream. It may +have been wrong, but I was too excited to think. There was no more of +my own people to give it to, and I would rather not present it to our +old foes. + +We were among the last to leave the Crimea. Before going I borrowed a +horse, easy enough now, and rode up the old well-known road--how +unfamiliar in its loneliness and quiet--to Cathcart's Hill. I wished +once more to impress the scene upon my mind. It was a beautifully +clear evening, and we could see miles away across the darkening sea. I +spent some time there with my companions, pointing out to each other +the sites of scenes we all remembered so well. There were the +trenches, already becoming indistinguishable, out of which, on the 8th +of September, we had seen the storming parties tumble in confused and +scattered bodies, before they ran up the broken height of the Redan. +There the Malakhoff, into which we had also seen the luckier French +pour in one unbroken stream; below lay the crumbling city and the +quiet harbour, with scarce a ripple on its surface, while around +stretched away the deserted huts for miles. It was with something like +regret that we said to one another that the play was fairly over, that +peace had rung the curtain down, and that we, humble actors in some of +its most stirring scenes, must seek engagements elsewhere. + +I lingered behind, and stooping down, once more gathered little tufts +of grass, and some simple blossoms from above the graves of some who +in life had been very kind to me, and I left behind, in exchange, a +few tears which were sincere. + +A few days latter, and I stood on board a crowded steamer, taking my +last look of the shores of the Crimea. + + + + +CONCLUSION. + + +I did not return to England by the most direct route, but took the +opportunity of seeing more of men and manners in yet other lands. +Arrived in England at last, we set to work bravely at Aldershott to +retrieve our fallen fortunes, and stem off the ruin originated in the +Crimea, but all in vain; and at last defeated by fortune, but not I +think disgraced, we were obliged to capitulate on very honourable +conditions. In plain truth, the old Crimean firm of Seacole and Day +was dissolved finally, and its partners had to recommence the world +anew. And so ended _our_ campaign. One of us started only the other +day for the Antipodes, while the other is ready to take any journey to +any place where a stout heart and two experienced hands may be of use. + +Perhaps it would be right if I were to express more shame and +annoyance than I really feel at the pecuniarily disastrous issue of my +Crimean adventures, but I cannot--I really cannot. When I would try +and feel ashamed of myself for being poor and helpless, I only +experience a glow of pride at the other and more pleasing events of my +career; when I think of the few whom I failed to pay in full (and so +far from blaming me some of them are now my firmest friends), I cannot +help remembering also the many who profess themselves indebted to me. + +Let me, in as few words as possible, state the results of my Crimean +campaign. To be sure, I returned from it shaken in health. I came home +wounded, as many others did. Few constitutions, indeed, were the +better for those winters before Sebastopol, and I was too hard worked +not to feel their effects; for a little labour fatigues me now--I +cannot watch by sick-beds as I could--a week's want of rest quite +knocks me up now. Then I returned bankrupt in fortune. Whereas others +in my position may have come back to England rich and prosperous, I +found myself poor--beggared. So few words can tell what I have lost. + +But what have I gained? I should need a volume to describe that +fairly; so much is it, and so cheaply purchased by suffering ten times +worse than what I have experienced. I have more than once heard people +say that they would gladly suffer illness to enjoy the delights of +convalescence, and so, by enduring a few days' pain, gain the tender +love of relatives and sympathy of friends. And on this principle I +rejoice in the trials which have borne me such pleasures as those I +now enjoy, for wherever I go I am sure to meet some smiling face; +every step I take in the crowded London streets may bring me in +contact with some friend, forgotten by me, perhaps, but who soon +reminds me of our old life before Sebastopol; it seems very long ago +now, when I was of use to him and he to me. + +Where, indeed, do I not find friends. In omnibuses, in river +steamboats, in places of public amusement, in quiet streets and +courts, where taking short cuts I lose my way oft-times, spring up old +familiar faces to remind me of the months spent on Spring Hill. The +sentries at Whitehall relax from the discharge of their important duty +of guarding nothing to give me a smile of recognition; the very +newspaper offices look friendly as I pass them by; busy Printing-house +Yard puts on a cheering smile, and the _Punch_ office in Fleet Street +sometimes laughs outright. Now, would all this have happened if I had +returned to England a rich woman? Surely not. + +A few words more ere I bring these egotistical remarks to a close. It +is naturally with feelings of pride and pleasure that I allude to the +committee recently organized to aid me; and if I indulge in the vanity +of placing their names before my readers, it is simply because every +one of the following noblemen and gentlemen knew me in the Crimea, and +by consenting to assist me now record publicly their opinion of my +services there. And yet I may reasonably on other grounds be proud of +the fact, that it has been stated publicly that my present +embarrassments originated in my charities and incessant labours among +the army, by + + Major-General Lord Rokeby, K.C.B. + H.S.H. Prince Edward of Saxe Weimar, C.B. + His Grace the Duke of Wellington. + His Grace the Duke of Newcastle. + The Right Hon. Lord Ward. + General Sir John Burgoyne, K.C.B. + Major-General Sir Richard Airey, K.C.B. + Rear-Admiral Sir Stephen Lushington, K.C.B. + Colonel M'Murdo, C.B. + Colonel Chapman, C.B. + Lieutenant-Colonel Ridley, C.B. + Major the Hon. F. Keane. + W. H. Russell, Esq. (_Times_ Correspondent). + W. T. Doyne, Esq. + + +THE END. + + +London: Printed by Thomas Harrild, 11, Salisbury Square, Fleet Street. + + + + +Transcriber's Note + +Minor typographic errors have been corrected without note. + +Page 42--omitted 'I' added--"I must do them credit to say, that they +were never loath ..." + +Page 94--omitted 'the' added--"... which is hired by the Government, at +great cost ..." + +There are also a few Scots words in this text. These include 'waesome', +meaning sorrowful, woeful; and 'brash', meaning attack. Some archaic +spelling is also used (for example, secresy), which has been retained. + +The few oe ligatures have not been retained in this version. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole +in Many Lands, by Mary Seacole + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MRS. SEACOLE *** + +***** This file should be named 23031-8.txt or 23031-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/0/3/23031/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Sam W. and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +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. 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