Mais je n’écoute pas! à defaut d’espérance
Une fantôme d’idole est mon unique port,
Illusion, folie, ou vain rêve de femme,
Je vous aimerais tant, si vous n’étiez qu’un âme.
Ah! que n’êtes vous mort.”
There is something superior in the tone and sentiment of this piece, the only one of the author that M. La Selve publishes. I may notice that Virginie Sampeur is a lady of colour. As she is still living, I will only add that her poem tells her own story. As a rule, these Haytian poets express fairly well all tender sentiments, but they are wanting in a careful literary education, and they have not a very exact appreciation of the genius of the French language.
In miscellaneous literature there are many publications of merit. Emile Nau wrote an interesting book called “Histoire de Casiques,” although a critic might fail to discover in it “une mine immense d’érudition.” It is seldom that a Haytian writer dedicates himself to anything useful, so that the efforts of Eugène Nau to bring superior agriculture into vogue have a double merit. He is best known for his two productions, “L’influence de l’Agriculture sur la Civilisation des Peuples” and his “Flore Indienne.” I knew Eugène Nau very well. He was married to a very charming woman, a sister of Auguste Elie, and no one who has passed a few days at their estate in the plains of Cul-de-Sac will ever forget the pleasant gaiety that reigned in that house. Civil war has, however, devastated that portion of the country, and I fear that even the inexhaustible spirits of Eugène Nau will scarcely be able to bear him through such accumulated misfortunes. The small diplomatic corps were ever welcome guests at Digneron, and I recall with pleasure the evenings spent there with my French and Spanish colleagues. He had a fund of intelligence and good sense; and his steady advocacy of a metallic currency did honour to his perspicacity.
As might have been anticipated, the black portion of the population has shown no literary aptitudes. Occasionally an Edmond Paul has written a political essay which has fallen flat, or a Salomon has indited a vigorous defence of his policy; but, as a rule, the coloured portion of the population has produced the historians and poets of Hayti.
CHAPTER X.
AGRICULTURE, COMMERCE, AND FINANCE.