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1"Being thus provided, I resolved to reside in this hovel until something should occur which might alter my
2determination. It was indeed a paradise compared to the bleak forest, my former residence, the rain-dropping branches,
3and dank earth. I ate my breakfast with pleasure and was about to remove a plank to procure myself a little water when I
4heard a step, and looking through a small chink, I beheld a young creature, with a pail on her head, passing before my
5hovel. The girl was young and of gentle demeanour, unlike what I have since found cottagers and farmhouse servants to
6be. Yet she was meanly dressed, a coarse blue petticoat and a linen jacket being her only garb; her fair hair was
7plaited but not adorned: she looked patient yet sad. I lost sight of her, and in about a quarter of an hour she returned
8bearing the pail, which was now partly filled with milk. As she walked along, seemingly incommoded by the burden, a
9young man met her, whose countenance expressed a deeper despondence. Uttering a few sounds with an air of melancholy, he
10took the pail from her head and bore it to the cottage himself. She followed, and they disappeared. Presently I saw the
11young man again, with some tools in his hand, cross the field behind the cottage; and the girl was also busied,
12sometimes in the house and sometimes in the yard. "On examining my dwelling, I found that one of the windows of the
13cottage had formerly occupied a part of it, but the panes had been filled up with wood. In one of these was a small and
14almost imperceptible chink through which the eye could just penetrate. Through this crevice a small room was visible,
15whitewashed and clean but very bare of furniture. In one corner, near a small fire, sat an old man, leaning his head on
16his hands in a disconsolate attitude. The young girl was occupied in arranging the cottage; but presently she took
17something out of a drawer, which employed her hands, and she sat down beside the old man, who, taking up an instrument,
18began to play and to produce sounds sweeter than the voice of the thrush or the nightingale. It was a lovely sight, even
19to me, poor wretch who had never beheld aught beautiful before. The silver hair and benevolent countenance of the aged
20cottager won my reverence, while the gentle manners of the girl enticed my love. He played a sweet mournful air which I
21perceived drew tears from the eyes of his amiable companion, of which the old man took no notice, until she sobbed
22audibly; he then pronounced a few sounds, and the fair creature, leaving her work, knelt at his feet. He raised her and
23smiled with such kindness and affection that I felt sensations of a peculiar and overpowering nature; they were a
24mixture of pain and pleasure, such as I had never before experienced, either from hunger or cold, warmth or food; and I
25withdrew from the window, unable to bear these emotions. "Soon after this the young man returned, bearing on his
26shoulders a load of wood. The girl met him at the door, helped to relieve him of his burden, and taking some of the fuel
27into the cottage, placed it on the fire; then she and the youth went apart into a nook of the cottage, and he showed her
28a large loaf and a piece of cheese. She seemed pleased and went into the garden for some roots and plants, which she
29placed in water, and then upon the fire. She afterwards continued her work, whilst the young man went into the garden
30and appeared busily employed in digging and pulling up roots. After he had been employed thus about an hour, the young
31woman joined him and they entered the cottage together. "The old man had, in the meantime, been pensive, but on the
32appearance of his companions he assumed a more cheerful air, and they sat down to eat. The meal was quickly dispatched.
33The young woman was again occupied in arranging the cottage, the old man walked before the cottage in the sun for a few
34minutes, leaning on the arm of the youth. Nothing could exceed in beauty the contrast between these two excellent
35creatures. One was old, with silver hairs and a countenance beaming with benevolence and love; the younger was slight
36and graceful in his figure, and his features were moulded with the finest symmetry, yet his eyes and attitude expressed
37the utmost sadness and despondency. The old man returned to the cottage, and the youth, with tools different from those
38he had used in the morning, directed his steps across the fields. "Night quickly shut in, but to my extreme wonder, I
39found that the cottagers had a means of prolonging light by the use of tapers, and was delighted to find that the
40setting of the sun did not put an end to the pleasure I experienced in watching my human neighbours. In the evening the
41young girl and her companion were employed in various occupations which I did not understand; and the old man again took
42up the instrument which produced the divine sounds that had enchanted me in the morning. So soon as he had finished, the
43youth began, not to play, but to utter sounds that were monotonous, and neither resembling the harmony of the old man's
44instrument nor the songs of the birds; I since found that he read aloud, but at that time I knew nothing of the science
45of words or letters. "The family, after having been thus occupied for a short time, extinguished their lights and
46retired, as I conjectured, to rest." Chapter 12 "I lay on my straw, but I could not sleep. I thought of the occurrences
47of the day. What chiefly struck me was the gentle manners of these people, and I longed to join them, but dared not. I
48remembered too well the treatment I had suffered the night before from the barbarous villagers, and resolved, whatever
49course of conduct I might hereafter think it right to pursue, that for the present I would remain quietly in my hovel,
50watching and endeavouring to discover the motives which influenced their actions. "The cottagers arose the next morning
51before the sun. The young woman arranged the cottage and prepared the food, and the youth departed after the first meal.
52"This day was passed in the same routine as that which preceded it. The young man was constantly employed out of doors,
53and the girl in various laborious occupations within. The old man, whom I soon perceived to be blind, employed his
54leisure hours on his instrument or in contemplation. Nothing could exceed the love and respect which the younger
55cottagers exhibited towards their venerable companion. They performed towards him every little office of affection and
56duty with gentleness, and he rewarded them by his benevolent smiles. "They were not entirely happy. The young man and
57his companion often went apart and appeared to weep. I saw no cause for their unhappiness, but I was deeply affected by
58it. If such lovely creatures were miserable, it was less strange that I, an imperfect and solitary being, should be
59wretched. Yet why were these gentle beings unhappy? They possessed a delightful house (for such it was in my eyes) and
60every luxury; they had a fire to warm them when chill and delicious viands when hungry; they were dressed in excellent
61clothes; and, still more, they enjoyed one another's company and speech, interchanging each day looks of affection and
62kindness. What did their tears imply? Did they really express pain? I was at first unable to solve these questions, but
63perpetual attention and time explained to me many appearances which were at first enigmatic. "A considerable period
64elapsed before I discovered one of the causes of the uneasiness of this amiable family: it was poverty, and they
65suffered that evil in a very distressing degree. Their nourishment consisted entirely of the vegetables of their garden
66and the milk of one cow, which gave very little during the winter, when its masters could scarcely procure food to
67support it. They often, I believe, suffered the pangs of hunger very poignantly, especially the two younger cottagers,
68for several times they placed food before the old man when they reserved none for themselves. "This trait of kindness
69moved me sensibly. I had been accustomed, during the night, to steal a part of their store for my own consumption, but
70when I found that in doing this I inflicted pain on the cottagers, I abstained and satisfied myself with berries, nuts,
71and roots which I gathered from a neighbouring wood.
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