Another facts tends to substantiate4 this idea. I distinctly remember standing5 by my bedside as the dream terminated, and then awaking to the consciousness that my spirit stood there looking at my body asleep. It was but a moment certainly; but this double consciousness, in connection with the circumstances above mentioned, and others even more decisive, that will be hereafter specified6, are such as to give a strong probability to the hypothesis, that, in this instance, the impossible (or what is currently deemed such) has been achieved, and even spectrum7 analysis (which embodies8 the latest developments in astronomical9 science) is outdone.
In this my last dream I found myself in a large public library; and who should enter but Mr. Sammie Smiley and Mr. Johnnie Smith, accompanied by two beautiful women. Then followed several ladies and gentlemen, whom I at once recognized as those I had seen at the meeting on man’s rights. There, too, was the lady who had so amused and delighted the audience by her speech on man’s inferiority. Then followed several introductions, from which I learned that said lady’s name was Christiana Thistlewaite. She took from her pocket a newspaper, in which was a report (which she read) of a lecture delivered by an old woman who was on the editorial staff of a leading metropolitan10 paper. The lecturer considered that the recent extensive employment of men in stores in a neighboring city had proved detrimental11 to the morals of the sex; inasmuch as by opening up to them a prospect12 of support by their own labor13, instead of being entirely14 dependent for a maintenance of their ability to secure a well-to-do wife, they became careless of their reputations, their independence thus tending to licentiousness15. Mrs. Thistlewaite remarked, that, although she (Mrs. T.) was decidedly opposed to men transcending16 their legitimate17 sphere, she considered the lecturer’s position highly absurd. “Poor old woman!” she added: “she has done good service in her day; always, until within a year or two, working for the poor and down-trodden, against the rich and powerful. She was especially useful in introducing co-operative households; but she is now evidently in her dotage18. The paper can not afford to carry her many years longer, if it means to continue first-class.
“While they talked together, and looked at the books, some of them reclining in easy-chairs or on lounges, with books in their hands, I opened a very large, handsome book, which I found to be a Bible. “Well,” I said, “this is just what I want;” so I opened it, and began to look over the passages of Scripture19 which referred to woman. I was astonished – nay20, shocked – to find, at the very commencement, that the whole history of the fall of man was reversed as to the sexes. Adam was tempted22 by the serpent, and gave the forbidden fruit to his wife; for which reason it was said to the man that “she [the woman] shall rule over thee,” and “in sorrow thou [the man] shall attend to the children;” that a virtuous23 man was a crown to his wife, and his price above rubies24; “he layeth his hands to the spindle, and his hands hold the distaff;” his wife being known in the gates, when she sat among the elders of the land, &c. Farther on it was stated that husbands should obey their wives, as the head of the man was the woman, even as Christ was the head of the church; that it was not becoming that a man should speak in the church; but, if they would know any thing, let them ask their wives at home. “Why,” I said to myself, “this Bible has certainly been translated and probably compiled by women; for no man in this land would have so interpreted the Scriptures25 against his sex. Thus the women have strengthened themselves behind the Bible; and so the poor down-trodden men are held in slavery by means of this book, thus interpreted!”
While turning over the leaves, Mrs. Christiana Thistlewaite came to my side, to whom I said, “Are all your Bibles like this, madam?” at the same time pointing to some of the preceding passages. She smiled as she replied, “Certainly; they are all alike. Our Bible is translated from the languages in which it was originally written: wise, good women were the translators; and I would like Mr. Sammie Smiley and Mr. Johnnie Smith to see those passages of Scripture.”
“Those passages,” rejoined the former gentlemen, “were never intended to be used to keep men in an inferior position, or to deprive them of their just rights. Those who wrote the books in the Bible, like you, did not believe in man’s rights; and they wrote as they believed. God never said those men were inferior to women; for in Christ there was neither bond nor free, male nor female (Gal. iii. 28); but all were one. God, in his works, never utters the word inferior; the sun shines and the flowers grow for all; the earth brings forth26 enough of its fruits for all, the varied27 diversities of manifestation28 beautifully blending into one unity29 of design: and as the varied contrasts and diversities and blending of color in a painting produce a unity of expression, no color being inferior or superior to any other, so Nature and art alike belie2 any written word implying inferiority of one sex to another, whatever may be the diversities. Who says that God has made one sex inferior to another utters a blasphemy30.”
Here several ladies gathered around Mr. Sammie Smiley and Mrs. Christiana Thistlewaite.
“We,” continued the gentleman, “have only to ask our own common sense what is right or wrong with respect to man or woman, even as was asked by an ancient reformer, once abhorred31, now adored (nominally), ‘Why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right?’ (Luke xii. 57). You, ladies, have made the laws, and you have made them to suit yourselves; think you, that, if men as well as women had the making of the laws, in marriage the man would have no control over property previously32 belonging to him, unless secured to him by a special deed? Realize, ladies, if you can, what would be your condition were the legal status of the sexes reversed! If a man owns property or has a store, he is wronged by having no voice in the laws or regulations of the town or city in which he resides. If the wife die, the husband has the use only during life of one-third of their joint33 property. If the husband dies, however, the wife takes absolute possession of the whole. Man is thus wronged by being denied the right of franchise34; even the children of the widower35 being in many cases subjected to the control of strange women appointed by a court, instead of that of the remaining parent.”
Mrs. Susan Thistlewaite then said to Mr. Johnnie Smith, “Allow me, sir, to ask a question. Why do gentlemen, when they meet each other, occupy the time entirely in frivolous36 conversation about love, marriage, &c.?”
“Admitting,” replied Mr. Smith, “the generality and absurdity37 of the practice, it must be considered as an unavoidable result of the conditions inaugurated and upheld by those who would circumscribe38 man’s sphere, and limit his faculties39 to affairs, that, when exclusively followed, tend to dwarf40 the faculties, and make people narrow and gossiping. You, ladies, would do the same were you in our position. Close to you, ladies, as you have closed to us, all avenues to honor and emolument41; deprive you of education and pecuniary42 independence, making you dependent on the bounty43 of man; and would not the most important subject to you be marriage?”
“Mr. Johnnie Smith is right,” I replied, as I stepped into the very midst of them. “In the land where I reside, men have all the rights which you ladies have in this country: men make the laws and oppress women, just as, in this land of yours, women make the laws and oppress men.”
“Oh, oh! astonishing!” exclaimed several. “Do tell us something about things there.”
“Well,” I continued, “ladies are the housekeepers44.”
“Ridiculous!” interjected two or three ladies.
“Ladies do all the sewing and knitting.”
How they laughed!
“The men hold the colleges, and are educated therein, only a few being open to women: the majority of ladies are educated at common schools, and a few at boarding-schools.”
“Ha, ha! oh, ho! boarding-schools for ladies! fine education that must be for women!”
“Go on, go on!” called out several; “I never heard any thing so ridiculous! Ha, ha, ha!”
“Men hold the purse, pay car-fares, pay for refreshments45, and stand when the cars are crowded, while the ladies sit. Men dress in plain clothes, while women are walking advertisements of dry goods; men wear their hair generally short and clean, while women not only wear their own hair, but add to it quantities of horse-hair, grease, and other materials, making of the whole a putrid46, uncomfortable, disgusting mass. Our women decorate themselves, too, with ribbons, as do your men, and have their fashion-books; their dresses far excelling in absurd ugliness and unhealthfulness any thing worn by your men.”
“Is it possible? how outrageously47 absurd and repulsive48!” they exclaimed; while a ringing laugh filled the library, and more ladies entered. “Go on, go on!” said several.
“Men, and only men, make the laws, as senators, representatives, judges, &c. No women vote or legislate49: in short, the whole matter is reversed.”
“How are the women intellectually?” asked a lady.
“As a general rule,” I replied, “they are just in the condition that men are here. By a singular coincidence, an old man who edits a leading metropolitan journal in my country recently delivered a lecture (at a place called Bethlehem, I think), in which he took the same position, as regards the employment of women in stores, and their morals, that your old-woman editor is reported to have taken in regard to the employment of men in stores here. The objection is probably equally well founded in both cases; and the parallelism is so far complete, that our editor is getting to be termed an old woman or old granny; those terms with us being used to designate weakness in intellectual or executive operations.”
Then Mr. Sammie Smiley stepped on a chair, and began: “Friends, you have heard what the stranger has told us. What do you think of it? Does it not prove my position that those ladies would be no wiser or better than we are, were they in our position? And does it not prove conclusively50 that not sex, but condition, is the root of the matter?”
“I do not believe the story told us by the stranger,” said Mrs. Thistlewaite. “Man superior to woman! men legislate! Oh! it won’t bear the light of day for an instant!”
“Where is that stranger?” said several voices. I had entered a large room opening from the library, and was looking at several portraits of distinguished51 stateswomen; for no man’s face was among them. When I heard the inquiry52, I returned to the library. Then the crowd gathered around me in great curiosity. “So you live in a land,” said one lady, “where men have their rights, do you?”
“Yes,” I said.
“And do you mean to say that you were never permitted to vote?”
“I never was permitted; but I have protested against the exclusion53.”
“What is the name of your land?” asked several.
“The United States of North America.”
“Where is that?”
“Do you ask where it is?” I replied; “why, look at your maps.”
“Here is a map of the world,” said Christiana Thistlewaite.
I went up to the map and looked it over; and, lo! it was not like our maps at all. There were the frigid54 zones, the equator and the ecliptic, the parallels of longitude55 and latitude56, the tropics and the poles, to which were even added many isothermal lines; but the distribution of the land and water was very different in many parts, though in others maintaining something of a general resemblance.
“This map is not correct,” I said.
Then arose a general derisive57 laugh. “I am very sorry,” said Mrs. Christiana Thistlewaite. “It would have given me great satisfaction to see that land of man’s rights, my friend; but it has vanished! it is not to be found on the map! Ah!” she continued in bitter sarcasm58, “it is too bad that the beautiful land where men are the lords of creation, where men are the superior race, and women the inferior, can not be found.”
Confused and astonished by the map, confused and astonished by these puzzling remarks, I awoke. The map, however, had made such an impression on my mind, that I drew an outline of it at once; then I consulted a friend of mine versed21 in astronomy, to whom I showed the diagram. He took down a strange work containing some excellent engravings of the planets as viewed through telescopes of the highest magnifying powers, and one of them corresponded, in the distribution of land and water, exactly to my diagram. Yes, there was my Dreamland, there my planet, – the planet Mars!
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
awakened
|
|
| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
belie
|
|
| v.掩饰，证明为假 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
ridicule
|
|
| v.讥讽，挖苦；n.嘲弄 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
substantiate
|
|
| v.证实；证明...有根据 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
specified
|
|
| adj.特定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
spectrum
|
|
| n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
embodies
|
|
| v.表现( embody的第三人称单数 )；象征；包括；包含 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
astronomical
|
|
| adj.天文学的，（数字）极大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
metropolitan
|
|
| adj.大城市的，大都会的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
detrimental
|
|
| adj.损害的，造成伤害的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
prospect
|
|
| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
labor
|
|
| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
entirely
|
|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
licentiousness
|
|
| n.放肆，无法无天 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
transcending
|
|
| 超出或超越（经验、信念、描写能力等）的范围( transcend的现在分词 )； 优于或胜过… | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
legitimate
|
|
| adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
dotage
|
|
| n.年老体衰；年老昏聩 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
scripture
|
|
| n.经文，圣书，手稿；Scripture:(常用复数)《圣经》，《圣经》中的一段 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
nay
|
|
| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
versed
|
|
| adj. 精通，熟练 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
tempted
|
|
| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
virtuous
|
|
| adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
rubies
|
|
| 红宝石( ruby的名词复数 )； 红宝石色，深红色 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
scriptures
|
|
| 经文，圣典( scripture的名词复数 )； 经典 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
varied
|
|
| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
manifestation
|
|
| n.表现形式；表明；现象 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
unity
|
|
| n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
blasphemy
|
|
| n.亵渎，渎神 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
abhorred
|
|
| v.憎恶( abhor的过去式和过去分词 )；（厌恶地）回避；拒绝；淘汰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
previously
|
|
| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
joint
|
|
| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
franchise
|
|
| n.特许，特权，专营权，特许权 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
widower
|
|
| n.鳏夫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
frivolous
|
|
| adj.轻薄的；轻率的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
absurdity
|
|
| n.荒谬，愚蠢；谬论 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
circumscribe
|
|
| v.在...周围划线，限制，约束 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
faculties
|
|
| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
dwarf
|
|
| n.矮子，侏儒，矮小的动植物；vt.使…矮小 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
emolument
|
|
| n.报酬，薪水 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
pecuniary
|
|
| adj.金钱的；金钱上的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
bounty
|
|
| n.慷慨的赠予物，奖金；慷慨，大方；施与 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
housekeepers
|
|
| n.（女）管家( housekeeper的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
refreshments
|
|
| n.点心,便餐;(会议后的)简单茶点招 待 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
putrid
|
|
| adj.腐臭的；有毒的；已腐烂的；卑劣的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
outrageously
|
|
| 凶残地； 肆无忌惮地； 令人不能容忍地； 不寻常地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
repulsive
|
|
| adj.排斥的，使人反感的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
legislate
|
|
| vt.制定法律；n.法规，律例；立法 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
conclusively
|
|
| adv.令人信服地，确凿地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
distinguished
|
|
| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
inquiry
|
|
| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
exclusion
|
|
| n.拒绝，排除，排斥，远足，远途旅行 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
frigid
|
|
| adj.寒冷的，凛冽的；冷淡的；拘禁的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
longitude
|
|
| n.经线，经度 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
latitude
|
|
| n.纬度，行动或言论的自由(范围)，(pl.)地区 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
derisive
|
|
| adj.嘲弄的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
sarcasm
|
|
| n.讥讽，讽刺，嘲弄，反话 （adj.sarcastic） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |