Robert Louis Stevenson | Page 6

brought
before one in any sympathy-seeking way by himself; on the contrary, a
very manly, self-sustaining spirit was evident; and the amount of work
which he managed to turn out even when at his worst was truly
surprising.
His wife, an American lady, is highly cultured, and is herself an author.
In her speech there is just the slightest suggestion of the American
accent, which only made it the more pleasing to my ear. She is heart
and soul devoted to her husband, proud of his achievements, and her
delight is the consciousness of substantially aiding him in his
enterprises.
They then had with them a boy of eleven or twelve, Samuel Lloyd
Osbourne, to be much referred to later (a son of Mrs Stevenson by a
former marriage), whose delight was to draw the oddest, but perhaps
half intentional or unintentional caricatures, funny, in some cases,
beyond expression. His room was designated the picture- gallery, and
on entering I could scarce refrain from bursting into laughter, even at
the general effect, and, noticing this, and that I was putting some
restraint on myself out of respect for the host's feelings, Stevenson said
to me with a sly wink and a gentle dig in the ribs, "It's laugh and be
thankful here." On Lloyd's account simple engraving materials, types,
and a small printing- press had been procured; and it was Stevenson's
delight to make funny poems, stories, and morals for the engravings
executed, and all would be duly printed together. Stevenson's thorough
enjoyment of the picture-gallery, and his goodness to Lloyd, becoming
himself a very boy for the nonce, were delightful to witness and in
degree to share. Wherever they were - at Braemar, in Edinburgh, at

Davos Platz, or even at Silverado - the engraving and printing went on.
The mention of the picture-gallery suggests that it was out of his
interest in the colour-drawing and the picture-gallery that his first
published story, TREASURE ISLAND, grew, as we shall see.
I have some copies of the rude printing-press productions,
inexpressibly quaint, grotesque, a kind of literary horse-play, yet with a
certain squint-eyed, sprawling genius in it, and innocent childish
Rabelaisian mirth of a sort. At all events I cannot look at the slight
memorials of that time, which I still possess, without laughing afresh
till my eyes are dewy. Stevenson, as I understood, began TREASURE
ISLAND more to entertain Lloyd Osbourne than anything else; the
chapters being regularly read to the family circle as they were written,
and with scarcely a purpose beyond. The lad became Stevenson's
trusted companion and collaborator - clearly with a touch of genius.
I have before me as I write some of these funny momentoes of that time,
carefully kept, often looked at. One of them is, "THE BLACK
CANYON; OR, WILD ADVENTURES IN THE FAR WEST: a Tale
of Instruction and Amusement for the Young, by Samuel L. Osbourne,
printed by the author; Davos Platz," with the most remarkable cuts. It
would not do some of the sensationalists anything but good to read it
even at this day, since many points in their art are absurdly caricatured.
Another is "MORAL EMBLEMS; A COLLECTION OF CUTS AND
VERSES, by R. L. Stevenson, author of the BLUE SCALPER, etc., etc.
Printers, S. L. Osbourne and Company, Davos Platz." Here are the lines
to a rare piece of grotesque, titled A PEAK IN DARIEN -
'Broad-gazing on untrodden lands, See where adventurous Cortez
stands, While in the heavens above his head, The eagle seeks its daily
bread. How aptly fact to fact replies, Heroes and eagles, hills and skies.
Ye, who contemn the fatted slave, Look on this emblem and be brave."
Another, THE ELEPHANT, has these lines -
"See in the print how, moved by whim, Trumpeting Jumbo, great and
grim, Adjusts his trunk, like a cravat, To noose that individual's hat;
The Sacred Ibis in the distance, Joys to observe his bold resistance."
R. L. Stevenson wrote from Davos Platz, in sending me THE BLACK
CANYON:
"Sam sends as a present a work of his own. I hope you feel flattered,
for THIS IS SIMPLY THE FIRST TIME HE HAS EVER GIVEN

ONE AWAY. I have to buy my own works, I can tell you."
Later he said, in sending a second:
"I own I have delayed this letter till I could forward the enclosed.
Remembering the night at Braemar, when we visited the picture-gallery,
I hope it may amuse you: you see we do some publishing hereaway."
Delightfully suggestive and highly enjoyable, too, were the meetings in
the little drawing-room after dinner, when the contrasted traits of father
and son came into full play - when R. L. Stevenson would sometimes
draw out a new view by bold, half- paradoxical assertion, or compel
advance on