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Ruined Cottage, the (La maison de campagne ruinée)
- Notice
- Document associé
- Argument
| Titre | 2. He had one child, a little laughing thing |
|---|---|
| Distributeur d'origine | Riley Brothers |
| Fabricant | York & Son |
| Époque | Fin du XIXème siècle - début du XXème siècle |
| Lieu de fabrication | Angleterre (Lancaster Road, Notting Hill, Londres) |
| Description technique | life models, photographie rehaussée de couleurs, plaque carrée fixe |
| Dimensions | L. 82 mm l. 82 mm |
| Cote | PLM-00081-001 (Coll. Cinémathèque française) |
- The Ruined Cottage - Poésie
- None will dwell in that cottage, for they say
Oppression reft it from the honest man,
And that a curse clings to it; hence the vine
Trails it's weight of leaves upon the ground,
Hence weeds are in the garden, hence the hedge
Once sweet with honeysuckle, is half dead :
And hence the grey moss on the apple tree.
One once dwelt there who had been in his youth
A soldier ; and when many years had passed,
He sought his native village, and sat down.
To end his days in peace; He had one child,
A little laughing thing, whose dark eyes,
He said were like her mother's she had left
Buried in a stranger's land ; and time went on
In comfort and content - and that fair girl
Had grown far taller then the red tree
Her father planted on her first English birthday,
And he had trained it up against an ash
Till it became his pride - it was so rich
In blossom and in beauty, it was called
The tree of Isabel! Twas an appeal
To all the better feelings of the heart
To marktheir quiet happiness ; their home,
In truth a home of love ; and more than all,
To see them on the Sabbath, when they cam
Among the first to church ; and Isabel,
With her bright colour, and her clear blue eyes,
Bowed down so meekly in the house of prayer;
And in hymn her sweet voice audible ;
Her father looked so fond of her, and then
From her looked up so thankfully to heaven !
And their small cottage was so very neat,
Their garden filled with fruits, and herbs, and flowers,
And in the winter, their was no fireside
So cheerful as their own. But other days
And other fortunes came - an evil power !
They bore against it cheerfully, and hoped
For better times, but ruin came at last,
And the soldier left his own dear home,
And left it for a prison. Twas June,
One of June's brightest days, the bee, the bird,
The butterfly, were on their lightest wings ;
The fruits had their first tinge of the summer light,
The sunny sky, the very leaves seemed glad,
And the old man looked back upon his cottage,
And wept aloud ; - they hurried him away, -
And the dear child that would not leave his side, -
They led him from the sight of the blue heaven
And the green trees, into a low dark cell,
The windows shutting out the blessed sun,
With iron grating ; and for the first time
He threw him on his bed, and could not hear
His Isabel's 'good night ; 'but the next morn
She was the earliest at the prison gate,
The last on whom it closed ; and her sweet voice
And sweeter smile, made him forget pine :
She brought him every morning fresh wild flowers,
But every morning could he mark her cheek
Grow paler and more pale, and her low tones
Get fainter and more faint, and a cold dew
Was on the hand he held. One day he saw
The sun shine through the grating of his cell,
Yet Isabel came not. At every sound
His heartbeat took away his breath, yet still
She came not near him.
But one sad day
He marked the dull street through the iron bars
That shut him from the world ; at length he saw
A coffin carried carelessly along,
And he grew desperate ; he forced the bars,
And he stood on the street, free and alone.
He had no aim, no wish for liberty ;
He only felt one want - to see the corpse
That had no mourners. When they set it down
Ere 'twas lowered into the new dug grave,
A rush of passion came upon his soul,
He tore off the lid, and saw the face
Of Isabel, and knew he had no child !
He lay down by the coffin quietly -
His heart was broken.
Maclean, The Ruined Cottage, in Penny Readings, c. 1895.
Un homme et sa fille vivent paisiblement à la campagne (plaques 2 et 3). Ils en remercient le Seigneur (plaque 4). Mais un jour, un revers de fortune arrive. La ruine touche la famille, qui n'a plus de bois pour se chauffer l'hiver (plaque 5). Les malheurs ne s'arrêtent pas là : dès l'été revenu, le père est arrêté et jeté en prison (plaque 6). Sa fille lui rend visite tous les jours (plaque 7). Un jour, elle ne vient pas (plaque 8). Le père sentant qu'il est arrivé quelque chose à sa fille, décide alors de s'évader de prison (plaque 9) et découvre alors sa chère fille allongée dans un cercueil, sur le point d'être enterrée (plaque 10).
