Adventures in the Philippine IslandsLa Gironière, Paul P. de
History
Adventures in the Philippine Islands
La Gironière, Paul P. de
Philippines
On our arrival Vidie came to receive us, and in a few moments I
occupied, with my Henry, the room which brought to my remembrance two
very sorrowful losses--the death of my little daughter and that of my
beloved Anna. It was, moreover, in that very room my Henry was born,--a
cruel association of the happiest moments of my existence with that
when I was bewailing the state of my beloved boy. Nevertheless, I did
not altogether despair, for I had hopes in my art and experience. I
seated myself by his bedside, and did not leave him for a moment. I
slept close to him, and I passed every day in administering the
medicine and all the comforts in my power, but without any good result,
or any relief for his sufferings. I lost all hope, and on the ninth
day after our arrival the dear boy expired in my arms.
It is not possible for me to give an account of my feelings on this
last trial. My heart was broken, my head on fire! I became mad, and
never did despair take such a hold on me. I listened to nothing but
my sorrow; and force became necessary to tear from my arms the mortal
remains of my child.
On the following day he was laid close to his mother, and another
tomb was erected in the church of Jala-Jala.
In vain did my friend Vidie endeavour to afford me consolation, or
to change the current of my affliction. Several times he tried to
remove me from the fatal room, which I now looked upon as a scene
of misfortunes, but he could not succeed. I hoped at the time--and
I also thought that I too had a right--to die there, where my wife
and my son had breathed their last sighs. My tears refused to flow,
and even words failed me to express the full extent of my grief. An
ardent fever, which devoured me, was far too slow for the eagerness
of my wishes. In a moment of bewilderment, I was near committing
the greatest act of cowardice which man can perpetrate against his
Creator. I double-locked the door; I seized the poignard which I had
so often used to protect my life, and pointed it against myself. I
was already choosing the spot in which I should strike, in order by
one blow to terminate my miserable existence. My arm, strengthened by
delirium, was about to smite my breast, when one sudden thought came to
prevent me from consummating the crime which has no pardon--although
the crime of despair. My mother, my poor mother, whom I had so much
loved, my good mother presented herself to my mind, and said to me:
"Thou wouldst abandon me--I shall see thee no more!" I recollected
then the words of Anna: "Go, and see thy mother again!" This thought
changed my resolution completely. I threw the poniard aside with
horror, and fell on my bed quite exhausted. My eyes, which during many
days had been dry and burning, were once again overflowing with tears,
which removed the heavy weight from my lacerated heart.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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