Island of Tahiti, November, 1888
Dear Tom:
This is a much better place for children than any I have hitherto seen in these seas. The girls, and sometimes the boys, play a very grand kind of hopscotch.
The boys play horses just as we do in Europe. They also have very good fun on stilts, trying to knock each other down, in which they do not often succeed.
The children of all ages go to church, and are allowed to do what they please, running about the aisles, rolling balls, stealing mamma’s bonnet and sitting on it, and at last going to sleep in the middle of the floor.
I forgot to say that the whips to play horse, and the balls to roll about the church grow ready-made on trees. The whips are so good that I wanted to play horse myself; but no such luck! my hair is gray, and I am a great, big, ugly man. The balls are rather hard, but very light and quite round.
But what I really wanted to tell you was this: beside the tree-top toys (Hush-a-by, toy shop, on the tree-top!), I have seen some real made toys, the first observed in the South Seas. This was how. You are to think of a four-wheeled gig; one horse; in the front seat two Tahiti persons, in their Sunday clothes, blue coat, white shirt, kilt of blue stuff with big white or yellow flowers, legs and feet bare; in the back seat me and my wife, who is a friend of yours. We have straw hats, for the sun is strong.
We drive between the sea and the mountains. The road is cut through a forest mostly of fruit trees. The very creepers are heavy with a great and delicious fruit, bigger than your head and far nicer.
Presently we came to a house in a pretty garden, quite by itself, very nicely kept, the doors and windows open, no one about, and no noise but that of the sea. It looked like a house in a fairy tale. Just beyond we had to ford a river, and there we saw the people.
In the mouth of the river, where it met the sea waves, the children were ducking and bathing and screaming together like a flock of birds: seven or eight little brown boys and girls as happy as the day was long; and on the banks of the stream beside them, real toys- toy ships, full rigged, with their sails set, though they were lying in the dust on their beam ends.
You may care to hear, Tom, about the children in these parts; their parents obey them; they do not obey their parents; and I am sorry to tell you (for l dare say you are already thinking the idea a good one) that it does not pay one halfpenny.
There are three ways of living, Tom: the real old-fashioned one, in which children had to find out how to please their dear papas, or their dear papas cut their heads off. This style did very well, but is now out of fashion.
Then there is the style that is followed in Europe; in this, children have to behave pretty well, go to school, and so on, or their dear papas will know the reason why. This does fairly well.
Then there is the South Sea Island plan, which does not do one bit. The children beat their parents here; it does not make their parents any better; so do not try it.
Remember us all to all of you, and believe me, yours,
Robert Louis Stevenson
致托马斯·阿切尔的一封信
亲爱的汤姆：
这里真是我迄今见过的海外最适合孩子们生活的地方了。女孩们会玩各种跳房子的游戏，有时候男孩子也会加入她们的游戏。
这里的男孩也像欧洲的男孩们一样，喜欢玩一种叫作“骑马”的游戏，大家蹦跳着要去撞倒对方，虽然经常徒劳无功，但却乐在其中。
孩子们不论年龄大小都要去教堂，他们在教堂里可以随心所欲：在过道里奔跑，追逐滚来滚去的球，偷拿妈妈的帽子当垫子坐，玩累了就躺在地上睡觉。
我忘了说一件事，孩子们把树枝当作骑马游戏用的鞭子，把树上结的种子当作球在教堂里滚来滚去。那些鞭子简直太棒了，我都忍不住想要玩一玩骑马游戏了。不幸的是，我头发花白，又老又丑，已经成了个大人。那些球全都又坚韧又轻巧，还圆溜溜的。
对了，我想跟你说，包括这些“树上结的玩具”在内（嘘！听我说，玩具店真的就在树顶上），我曾经还见过真正鬼斧神工的造物。这是我在南太平洋的一个新发现。情景是这样的，你不妨想象一下：一辆四轮马车上，两名身穿周日便服的塔希提人坐在前面，他们上身是白色衬衫加蓝色外套，下身是一条大白花或是大黄花的蓝底苏格兰短裙，光着腿赤着脚；我和我的妻子（她当然也是你的朋友）坐在后面，戴着大大的草帽来遮挡强烈的阳光。
我们驾车奔驰于大海和大山之间，从果树林里穿过。又大又香的果实沉甸甸地挂在攀援植物上。哈哈，这果子绝对比你的头要大，当然也比你的头更好吃！
不久，我们来到一座漂亮的房子那里，房子四周都是花园，非常安静，打理得也很好。我们会把门窗全都打开，周围没有一个人，没有一点喧嚣，只听见海浪轻轻拍打的声音。屋子仿佛置身于童话故事里。我们渡过一条小河，才能看得到人群。
就在这条小河与海洋相汇的河口，孩子们像小鸟一样嬉闹着，他们潜入水中，在河里洗澡，兴奋地尖叫。七八个棕色皮肤的小孩子终日玩耍，非常开心。河岸上，一群小孩子将玩具船驶向河面。这些玩具船像真正的船一样配上索具，扬帆起航，虽然最后它们终将葬身于河底的淤泥。
汤姆，可能你听说过，这里的孩子不听父母的，相反，他们的父母总是听他们的。我不得不遗憾地告诉你（我敢说你一定想听），事实并非如此。
这里有三种教育子女的办法：一种是很传统的方式，孩子们得学会取悦父亲，否则父亲会威胁要砍掉他们的脑袋。这种方式很管用，不过现在已经过时了。
第二种方式在欧洲也很流行。孩子们得好好表现，要么上学，要么干其他的营生，否则父亲非得寻根究底不可。这种方式也很管用。
第三种方式就是这个南太平洋岛屿特有的了，可以说一点用都没有。这里的孩子打自己的父母，这种办法可没有让他们的父母变得更好。因此，你还是不要去尝试这种方法了。
记得代我们全家向你们全家问好！
罗伯特·路易斯·斯蒂文森
1888年11月，写于塔希提岛
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