THE GROUND-ASH By Mary Russell Mitford Amongst the many pleasant circumstances attendant on a love offlowers--that sort of love which leads us into the woods for theearliest primrose, or to the river side for the latest forget-me-not, and carries us to the parching heath or the watery mere to procure forthe cultivated, or, if I may use the expression, the _tame_ beauties ofthe parterre, the soil that they love; amongst the many gratificationswhich such pursuits bring with them, such as seeing in the seasons inwhich it shows best, the prettiest, coyest, most unhackneyed scenery, and taking, with just motive enough for stimulus and for reward, drivesand walks which approach to fatigue, without being fatiguing; amongstall the delights consequent on a love of flowers, I know none greaterthan the half unconscious and wholly unintended manner in which suchexpeditions make us acquainted with the peasant children of remote andout-of-the-way regions, the inhabitants of the wild woodlands and stillwilder commons of the hilly part of the north of Hampshire, which formsso strong a contrast with this sunny and populous county of Berks, whosevery fields are gay and neat as gardens, and whose roads are as leveland even as a gravel-walk. Two of the most interesting of these flower-formed acquaintances, weremy little friends Harry and Bessy Leigh. Every year I go to the Everley woods to gather wild lilies of thevalley. It is one of the delights that May--the charming, ay, and themerry month of May, which I love as fondly as ever that bright andjoyous season was loved by our older poets--regularly brings in hertrain; one of those rational pleasures in which (and it is the greatpoint of superiority over pleasures that are artificial and worldly)there is no disappointment About four years ago, I made such a visit. The day was glorious, and we had driven through lanes perfumed by thefresh green birch, with its bark silvery and many-tinted, and overcommons where the very air was loaded with the heavy fragrance of thefurze, an odour resembling in richness its golden blossoms, just asthe scent of the birch is cool, refreshing, and penetrating, like theexquisite colour of its young leaves, until we reached the top of thehill, where, on one side, the enclosed wood, where the lilies grow, sankgradually, in an amphitheatre of natural terraces, to a piece of waterat the bottom; whilst on the other, the wild open heath formed a sort ofpromontory overhanging a steep ravine, through which a slow and sluggishstream crept along amongst stunted alders, until it was lost in the deeprecesses of Lidhurst Forest, over the tall trees of which we literallylooked down. We had come without a servant; and on arriving at the gateof the wood with neither human figure nor human habitation in sight, anda high-blooded and high-spirited horse in the phaeton, we began to feelall the awkwardness of our situation. My companion, however, at lengthespied a thin wreath of smoke issuing from a small clay-built hutthatched with furze, built against the steepest part of the hill, ofwhich it seemed a mere excrescence, about half way down the declivity;and, on calling aloud, two children, who had been picking up dry stumpsof heath and gorse, and collecting them in a heap for fuel at the doorof their hovel, first carefully deposited their little load, and thencame running to know what we wanted. If we had wondered to see human beings living in a habitation, which, both for space and appearance, would have been despised by a pig of anypretension, as too small and too mean for his accommodation, so we wereagain surprised at the strange union of poverty and content evincedby the apparel and countenances of its young inmates. The children, bareheaded and barefooted, and with little more clothing than oneshabby-looking garment, were yet as fine, sturdy, hardy, ruddy, sunburnturchins, as one should see on a summer day. They were clean, too: thestunted bit of raiment was patched, but not ragged; and when the girl, (for, although it was rather difficult to distinguish between thebrother and sister, the pair were of different sexes, ) when thebright-eyed, square-made, upright little damsel clasped her two brownhands together, on the top of her head, pressed down her thick curls, looking at us and listening to us with an air of the most intelligentattention that returned our curiosity with interest; and when the boy, in answer to our inquiry if he could hold a horse, clutched the reinswith his small fingers, and planted himself beside our high-mettledsteed with an air of firm determination, that seemed to say, "I'myour master! Run awry if you dare!" we both of us felt that they weresubjects for a picture, and that, though Sir Joshua might not havepainted them, Gainsborough and our own Collins would. But besides their exceeding picturesqueness, the evident content, andhelpfulness, and industry of these little creatures, was delightful tolook at and to think of. In conversation they were at once very civiland respectful (Bessy dropping her little curtsy, and Harry puttinghis hand to the lock of hair where the hat should have been, at everysentence they uttered) and perfectly frank and unfearing. In answer toour questions, they told us that "Father was a broom-maker, from thelow country; that he had come to these parts and married mother, andbuilt their cottage, because houses were so scarce hereabouts, andbecause of its convenience to the heath; that they had done very welltill the last winter, when poor father had had the fever for fivemonths, and they had had much ado to get on; but that father was braveagain now, and was building _another house_ (house!! ) larger and finer, upon Squire Benson's lands: the squire had promised them a garden fromthe waste, and mother hoped to keep a pig. They were trying to get allthe money they could to buy the pig; and what his honour had promisedthem for holding the horse, was all to be given to mother for thatpurpose. " It was impossible not to be charmed with these children. We went againand again to the Everley wood, partly to gather lilies, partly torejoice in the trees with their young leaves so beautiful in texture aswell as in colour, but chiefly to indulge ourselves in the pleasure oftalking to the children, of adding something to their scanty stock ofclothing, (Bessy ran as fast as her feet could carry her to the clearpool at the bottom of the wood, to look at herself in her new bonnet, )and of assisting in the accumulations of the Grand Pig Savings' Bank, by engaging Harry to hold the horse, and Bessy to help fill the lilybasket. This employment, by showing that the lilies had a money value, put a newbranch of traffic into the heads of these thoughtful children, alreadyaccustomed to gather heath for their father's brooms, and to collect thedead furze which served as fuel to the family. After gaining permissionof the farmer who rented the wood, and ascertaining that we had noobjection, they set about making nosegays of the flowers, and collectingthe roots for sale, and actually stood two Saturdays in Belford market(the smallest merchants of a surety that ever appeared in that ruralExchange) to dispose of their wares; having obtained a cast in a waggonthere and back, and carrying home faithfully every penny of theirgainings, to deposit in the common stock. The next year we lost sight of them. No smoke issued from the smallchimney by the hill-side. The hut itself was half demolished by wind andweather; its tenants had emigrated to the new house on Squire Benson'sland; and after two or three attempts to understand and to follow thedirections as to the spot given us by the good farmer at Everley, wewere forced to give up the search. Accident, the great discoverer and recoverer of lost goods, at lastrestored to us these good little children. It happened as follows:-- In new potting some large hydrangeas, we were seized with a desire togive the blue tinge to the petals, which so greatly improves the beautyof that fine bold flower, and which is so desirable when they areplaced, as these were destined to be, in the midst of red and pinkblossoms, fuchsias, salvias, and geraniums. Accordingly, we salliedforth to a place called the Moss, a wild tract of moorland lying abouta mile to the right of the road to Everley, and famous for the red bog, produced, I presume, by chalybeate springs, which, when mixed with thefine Bagshot silver sand, is so effectual in changing the colour offlowers. It was a bleak gusty day in February, raining by fits, but not withsufficient violence to deter me from an expedition to which I had takena fancy. Putting up, therefore, the head and apron of the phaeton, andfollowed by one lad (the shrewd boy Dick) on horseback, and another(John, the steady gardening youth) in a cart laden with tubs and sacks, spades and watering-pots, to procure and contain the bog mould, (for wewere prudently determined to provide for all emergencies, and to carrywith us fit receptacles to receive our treasure, whether it presenteditself in the form of red earth or of red mud, ) our little processionset forth early in the afternoon, towards the wildest and most drearypiece of scenery that I have ever met with in this part of the country. Wild and dreary of a truth was the Moss, and the stormy sky, the moaningwind, and the occasional gushes of driving rain, suited well with thedark and cheerless region into which we had entered by a road, if a rudecart-track may be so called, such as shall seldom be encountered in thisland of Macadamisation. And yet, partly perhaps from their novelty, thewild day and the wild scenery had for me a strange and thrilling charm. The ground, covered with the sea-green moss, whence it derived its name, mingled in the higher parts with brown patches of heather, and darkbushes of stunted furze, was broken with deep hollows full of stagnantwater; some almost black, others covered with the rusty scum whichdenoted the presence of the powerful mineral, upon whose agency werelied for performing that strange piece of natural magic which mayalmost be called the transmutation of flowers. Towards the ruddiest of these pools, situated in a deep glen, our activecoadjutors, leaving phaeton, cart, and horses, on the brow of the hill, began rolling and tossing the several tubs, buckets, watering-pots, sacks, and spades, which were destined for the removal and conveyanceof the much coveted-bog; we followed, amused and pleased, as, incertain moods, physical and mental, people are pleased and amused atself-imposed difficulties, down the abrupt and broken descent; and forsome time the process of digging among the mould at the edge of the bankwent steadily on. In a few minutes, however, Dick, whose quick and restless eye was neverlong bent on any single object, most of all when that object presenteditself in the form of work, exclaimed to his comrade, "Look at thosechildren wandering about amongst the firs, like the babes in the wood inthe old ballad. What can they be about?" And looking in the directionto which he pointed, we saw, amidst the gloomy fir plantations, whichformed a dark and massive border nearly round the Moss, our old friendsHarry and Bessy Leigh, collecting, as it seemed, the fir cones withwhich the ground was strewed, and depositing them carefully in a largebasket. A manful shout from my companion soon brought the children toour side--good, busy, cheerful, and healthy-looking as ever, andmarvellously improved in the matter of equipment Harry had been promotedto a cap, which added the grace of a flourish to his bow; Bessy hadadded the luxury of a pinafore to her nondescript garments; and bothpairs of little feet were advanced to the certain dignity, althoughsomewhat equivocal comfort, of shoes and stockings. The world had gone well with them, and with their parents. The house wasbuilt. Upon remounting the hill, and advancing a little farther into thecentre of the Moss, we saw the comfortable low-browed cottage, full oflight and shadow, of juttings out, and corners and angles of every sortand description, with a garden stretching along the side, backed andsheltered by the tall impenetrable plantation, a wall of trees, againstwhose dark masses a wreath of light smoke was curling, whose fragranceseemed really to perfume the winter air. The pig had been bought, fatted, and killed; but other pigs were inhabiting the sty, almost aslarge as their former dwelling, which stood at the end of their garden;and the children told with honest joy how all this prosperity had comeabout. Their father, taking some brooms to my kind friend Lady Denys, had seen some of the ornamental baskets used for flowers upon a lawn, and had been struck with the fancy of trying to make some, decoratedwith fir cones; and he had been so successful in this profitablemanufacture, that he had more orders than he could execute. Lady Denyshad also, with characteristic benevolence, put the children to herSunday-school. One misfortune had a little overshadowed the sunshine. Squire Benson had died, and the consent to the erection of the cottagebeing only verbal, the attorney who managed for the infant heir, award in Chancery, had claimed the property. But the matter had beencompromised upon the payment of such a rent as the present prospectsof the family would fairly allow. Besides collecting fir cones for thebaskets, they picked up all they could in that pine forest, (for it waslittle less, ) and sold such as were discoloured, or otherwise unfit forworking up, to Lady Denys and other persons who liked the fine aromaticodour of these the pleasantest of pastilles, in their dressing-room ordrawing-room fires. "Did I like the smell? We had a cart there--mightthey bring us a hamper-ful?" And it was with great difficulty that atrifling present (for we did not think of offering money _as payment_)could be forced upon the grateful children. "We, " they said, "had beentheir first friends. " For what very small assistance the poor are oftendeeply, permanently thankful! Well says the great poet-- "I've heard of hearts unkind, good deeds With ill deeds still returning; Alas, the gratitude of man Hath oftener left me mourning!" Wordsworth. Again for above a year we lost sight of our little favourites, for suchthey were with both of us; though absence, indisposition, business, company--engagements, in short, of many sorts--combined to keep us fromthe Moss for upwards of a twelvemonth. Early in the succeeding April, however, it happened that, discussing with some morning visiters thecourse of a beautiful winding brook, (one of the tributaries to theLoddon, which bright and brimming river has nearly as many sources asthe Nile, ) one of them observed that the well-head was in Lanton Wood, and that it was a bit of scenery more like the burns of the NorthCountrie (my visiter was a Northumbrian) than anything he had seen inthe south. Surely I had seen it? I was half ashamed to confess that Ihad not--(how often are we obliged to confess that we have not seen thebeauties which lie close to our doors, too near for observation!)--andthe next day proving fine, I determined to repair my omission. It was a soft and balmy April morning, just at that point of the floweryspring when violets and primroses are lingering under the northernhedgerows, and cowslips and orchises peeping out upon the sunny banks. My driver was the clever, shrewd, arch boy Dick; and the first part ofour way lay along the green winding lanes which lead to Everley; we thenturned to the left, and putting up our phaeton at a small farmhouse, where my attendant (who found acquaintances everywhere) was intimate, weproceeded to the wood; Dick accompanying me, carrying my flower-basket, opening the gates, and taking care of my dog Dash, a very beautifulthorough-bred Old English spaniel, who was a little apt, when he gotinto a wood, to run after the game, and forget to come out again. I have seldom seen anything in woodland scenery more picturesque andattractive than the old coppice of Lanton, on that soft and balmy Aprilmorning. The underwood was nearly cut, and bundles of long split polesfor hooping barrels were piled together against the tall oak trees, bursting with their sap; whilst piles of faggots were built up in otherparts of the copse, and one or two saw-pits, with light open shedserected over them, whence issued the measured sound of the saw and theoccasional voices of the workmen, almost concealed by their subterraneanposition, were placed in the hollows. At the far side of the coppice, the operation of hewing down the underwood was still proceeding, and thesharp strokes of the axe and the bill, softened by distance, came acrossthe monotonous jar of the never-ceasing saw. The surface of the groundwas prettily tumbled about, comprehending as pleasant a variety of hilland dale as could well be comprised in some thirty acres. It declined, however, generally speaking, towards the centre of the coppice, alongwhich a small, very small rivulet, scarcely more than a runlet, woundits way in a thousand graceful meanders. Tracking upward the course ofthe little stream, we soon arrived at that which had been the ostensibleobject of our drive--the spot whence it sprung. It was a steep irregular acclivity on the highest side of the wood, a mound, I had almost said a rock, of earth, cloven in two about themiddle, but with so narrow a fissure that the brushwood which grew oneither side nearly filled up the opening, so that the source of thespring still remained concealed, although the rapid gushing of thewater made a pleasant music in that pleasant place; and here and therea sunbeam, striking upon the sparkling stream, shone with a bright andglancing light amidst the dark ivies, and brambles, and mossy stumps oftrees, that grew around. This mound had apparently been cut a year or two ago, so that itpresented an appearance of mingled wildness and gaiety, that contrastedvery agreeably with the rest of the coppice; whose trodden-down flowersI had grieved over, even whilst admiring the picturesque effect of thewoodcutters and their several operations. Here, however, reigned theflowery spring in all her glory. Violets, pansies, orchises, oxslips, the elegant woodsorrel, the delicate wood anemone, and the enamelledwild hyacinth, were sprinkled profusely amongst the mosses, and lichens, and dead leaves, which formed so rich a carpet beneath our feet. Primroses, above all, were there of almost every hue, from the rare andpearly white, to the deepest pinkish purple, coloured by some diversityof soil, the pretty freak of nature's gardening; whilst the commonyellow blossom--commonest and prettiest of all--peeped out from amongstthe boughs in the stump of an old willow, like (to borrow the simileof a dear friend, now no more) a canary bird from its cage. The wildgeranium was already showing its pink stem and scarlet-edged leaves, themselves almost gorgeous enough to pass for flowers; the periwinkle, with its wreaths of shining foliage, was hanging in garlands over theprecipitous descent; and the lily of the valley, the fragrant woodroof, and the silvery wild garlick, were just peeping from the earth in themost sheltered nooks. Charmed to find myself surrounded by so muchbeauty, I had scrambled, with much ado, to the top of the woody cliff, (no other word can convey an idea of its precipitous abruptness, )and was vainly attempting to trace by my eye the actual course of thespring, which was, by the clearest evidence of sound, gushing fromthe fount many feet below me; when a peculiar whistle of delight, (forwhistling was to Dick, although no ordinary proficient in our commontongue, another language, ) and a tremendous scrambling amongst thebushes, gave token that my faithful attendant had met with somethingas agreeable to his fancy, as the primroses and orchises had proved tomine. Guided by a repetition of the whistle, I soon saw my trusty adherentspanning the chasm like a Colossus, one foot on one bank, the other onthe opposite--each of which appeared to me to be resting, so to say, on nothing--tugging away at a long twig that grew on the brink of theprecipice, and exceedingly likely to resolve the inquiry as to thesource of the Loddon, by plumping souse into the fountain-head. I, ofcourse, called out to warn him; and he equally, of course, went on withhis labour, without paying the slightest attention to my caution. On thecontrary, having possessed himself of one straight slender twig, which, to my great astonishment, he wound round his fingers, and deposited inhis pocket, as one should do by a bit of pack-thread, he apparently, during the operation, caught sight of another. Testifying his delight bya second whistle, which, having his knife in his mouth, one wonders howhe could accomplish; and scrambling with the fearless daring of a monkeyup the perpendicular bank, supported by strings of ivy, or ledgesof roots, and clinging by hand and foot to the frail bramble or theslippery moss, leaping like a squirrel from bough to bough, and yet, byhappy boldness, escaping all danger, he attained his object as easilyas if he had been upon level ground. Three, four, five times was theknowing, joyous, triumphant whistle sounded, and every time with a freshperil and a fresh escape. At last, the young gentleman, panting andbreathless, stood at my side, and I began to question him as to thetreasure he had been pursuing. "It's the ground-ash, ma'am, " responded master Dick, taking one of thecoils from his pocket; "the best riding-switch in the world. All thewhips that ever were made are nothing to it. Only see how strong itis, how light, and how supple! You may twist it a thousand ways withoutbreaking. It won't break, do what you will. Each of these, now, isworth half-a-crown or three shillings, for they are the scarcest thingspossible. They grow up at a little distance from the root of an oldtree, like a sucker from a rose-bush. Great luck, indeed!" continuedDick, putting up his treasure with another joyful whistle; "it was butt'other day that Jack Barlow offered me half-a-guinea for four, if Icould but come by them. I shall certainly keep the best, though, formyself--unless, ma'am, you would be pleased to accept it for the purposeof whipping Dash. " Whipping Dash!!! Well have I said that Dick was assaucy as a lady's page or a king's jester. Talk of whipping Dash! Why, the young gentleman knew perfectly well that I had rather be whiptmyself twenty times over. The very sound seemed a profanation. Whip myDash! Of course I read master Dick a lecture for this irreverent mentionof my pet, who, poor fellow, hearing his name called in question, came up in all innocence to fondle me; to which grave remonstrance thehopeful youth replied by another whistle, half of penitence, half ofamusement. These discourses brought us to the bottom of the mound, and turninground a clump of hawthorn and holly, we espied a little damsel with abasket at her side, and a large knife in her hand, carefully diggingup a large root of white primroses, and immediately recognised my oldacquaintance, Bessy Leigh. She was, as before, clean, and healthy, and tidy, and unaffectedly gladto see me; but the joyousness and buoyancy which had made so much of heroriginal charm, were greatly diminished. It was clear that poor Bessyhad suffered worse griefs than those of cold and hunger; and uponquestioning her, so it turned out. Her father had died, and her mother had been ill, and the long hardwinter had been hard to get through; and then the rent had come uponher, and the steward (for the young gentleman himself was a minor) hadthreatened to turn them out if it were not paid to a day--the very nextday after that on which we were speaking; and her mother had beenafraid they must go to the workhouse, which would have been a sad thing, because now she had got so much washing to do, and Harry was so cleverat basket-making, that there was every chance, this rent once paid, oftheir getting on comfortably. "And the rent will be paid now, ma'am, thank Ood!" added Bessy, her sweet face brightening; "for we want onlya guinea of the whole sum, and Lady Denys has employed me to get scarcewild-flowers for her wood, and has promised me half-a-guinea for what Ihave carried her, and this last parcel, which I am to take to the lodgeto-night; and Mr. John Barlow, her groom, has offered Harry twelve andsixpence for five ground-ashes that Harry has been so lucky as to findby the spring, and Harry is gone to cut them: so that now we shall geton bravely, and mother need not fret any longer. I hope no harmwill befal Harry in getting the ground-ash, though, for it's a noteddangerous place. But he's a careful boy. " Just at this point of her little speech, poor Bessy was interruptedby her brother, who ran down the declivity exclaiming, "They're gone, Bessy!--they're gone! somebody has taken them! the ground-ashes aregone!" Dick put his hand irresolutely to his pocket, and then, uttering adismal whistle, pulled it resolutely out again, with a hardness, oran affectation of hardness, common to all lads, from the prince to thestable-boy. I also put my hand into my pocket, and found, with the deepdisappointment which often punishes such carelessness, that I had leftmy purse at home. All that I could do, therefore, was to bid the poorchildren be comforted, and ascertain at what time Bessy intended to takeher roots, which in the midst of her distress she continued to dig up, to my excellent friend Lady Denys. I then, exhorting them to hope thebest, made my way quickly out of the wood. Arriving at the gate, I missed my attendant Before, however, I hadreached the farm at which we had left our phaeton, I heard his gayestand most triumphant whistle behind me. Thinking of the poor children, itjarred upon my feelings. "Where have you been loitering, Sir?" I asked, in a sterner voice than he had probably ever heard from me before. "Where have I been?" replied he; "giving little Harry the ground-ashes, to be sure: I felt just as if I had stolen them. And now, I do believe, "continued he, with a prodigious burst of whistling, which seemed tome as melodious as the song of the nightingale, "I do believe, " quothDick, "that I am happier than they are. I would not have kept thoseground-ashes, no, not for fifty pounds!"