A VISIT TO STEVENSON'S GRAVE.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 March 1921, Page 6

A VISIT TO STEVENSON'S GRAVE.

The following is an extract from a letter received in New Plymouth: “I am sending you a leaf I picked from R. L. Stevenson’s grave last week. We had a lovely afternoon and evening while there, but it was appallingly hot, at least 90 degrees, and Vailima is two miles from here. However, after a While we left the dusty path and turned off into the shady track that leads up the hill to the tomb. A stream bubbles along at the bottom of the hill, and looked cool and inviting, but we unanimously decided that it was selfish of R.L.S. to want to be buried up there. We had a beaten track, but his coffin was carried straight up the face of the hill. V hat a wonderful man he must have been that these lazy natives should love him enough to toil up that hill so that his body might rest where he wished! Our watercarrier reached the top first, and had placed a sprig of scarlet lubiscus on the tomb. At first I was too hot and exhausted to notice anything beyond the fact that the tomb was a big slab of cement as large as a small room, about 21 feet high, with a much smaller higher slab on top. The view from the summit of the hill is exquisite. On one side the hills, on another Vailima far below, and from yet another the sea. Facing you directly you reach the top of the hill is the verse to his wife: Teacher, tender comrade', wife, A fellow farer true through life, Heart whole and soul free, The august Father gave to me.” The opposite end is blank, but on the side facing the sea is the Requiem, written in Samoan; on that opposite in English. They are his own words:— “Under the wide and starry sky, Dig ye the grave and let me lie, Glad did I live and gladly die, And I laid me down with a will. These be the words ye grave for me: “Here he lies where he longed to be, Home is the sailor home from the sea, And the hunter home from the hill,” Scarlet hibiscus, mock orange blossom, scarlet berries, something like guavas, and panzft panza—a very strong sweetsmelling flower, grow near the tomb. I send you a leaf only, as the flowers soon faded'. After tea and fruit we set off on our journey home, and were some way from the bottom when the last of the daylight disappeared. The moon was full and most glorious, but the light only trickled very faintly through the trees. We had a moonlight bathe in Stevenson’s pool, and this was perhaps the best part of a delightful day. The water just reached over my shoulders. We took hands and played ' Ring a ring a rosy.” just like a lot of children. Then we made a fresh start and reached home at last, hot and weary, but with memories of Stevenson’s tomb which none of ui Will tver lol* !