Some ten yards from the back door of the house was the kitchen, entirely5 separate from it, according to the manner of that time. The negro cabins were much farther away. The cabins, the laundry, and the big two-storey smokehouse were all draped with flowering vines, now just coming into leaf-bud: Virginia creeper, trumpet6 vine, Dutchman’s pipe, morning-glories. But the south side of every cabin was planted with the useful gourd7 vine, which grew faster than any other creeper and bore flowers and fruit at the same time. In summer the big yellow blossoms kept unfolding every morning, even after the many little gourds8 had grown to such a size one wondered how the vines could bear their weight. The gourds were left on the vine until after the first frost, then gathered and put to dry. When they were hard, they were cut into dippers for drinking, and bowls for holding meal, butter, lard, gravy9, or any tidbit that might be spirited away from the big kitchen to one of the cabins. Whatever was carried away in a gourd was not questioned. The gourd vessels10 were invisible to good manners.
From Easter on there would be plenty of flowers growing about the cabins, but no grass. The “back yard” was hard-beaten clay earth, yellow in the sun, orderly only on Sundays. Throughout the working week clothes-lines were strung about, flapping with red calico dresses, men’s shirts and blue overalls11. The ground underneath12 was littered with old brooms, spades and hoes, and the rag dolls and home-made toy wagons13 of the negro children. Except in a downpour of rain, the children were always playing there, in company with kittens, puppies, chickens, ducks that waddled14 up from the millpond, turkey gobblers which terrorized the little darkies and sometimes bit their naked black legs.
When Sapphira Dodderidge Colbert first moved out to Back Creek15 Valley with her score of slaves, she was not warmly received. In that out-of-the-way, thinly settled district between Winchester and Romney, not a single family had ever owned more than four or five negroes. This was due partly to poverty — the people were very poor. Much of the land was still wild forest, and lumber16 was so plentiful17 that it brought no price at all. The settlers who had come over from Pennsylvania did not believe in slavery, and they owned no negroes. Mrs. Colbert had gradually reduced her force of slaves, selling them back into Loudoun County, whither they were glad to return. Her husband had needed ready money to improve the old mill. Here there were no large, rich farms for the blacks to work, as there were in Loudoun County. Many field-hands were not needed.
Sapphira Dodderidge usually acted upon motives18 which she disclosed to no one. That was her nature. Her friends in her own county could never discover why she had married Henry Colbert. They spoke19 of her marriage as “a long step down.” The Colberts were termed “immigrants,” — as were all settlers who did not come from the British Isles20. Old Gabriel Colbert, the grandfather, came from somewhere in Flanders. Henry’s own father was a plain man, a miller21, and he trained his eldest22 son to that occupation. The three younger sons were birds of a very different feather. They rode with a fast fox-hunting set. Being shrewd judges of horses, they were welcome in every man’s stable. They were even (with a shade of contempt and only occasionally) received in good houses; — not the best houses, to be sure. Henry was a plain, hard-working, little-speaking young man who stayed at home and helped his father. With his father he regularly attended a dissenting23 church supported by small farmers and artisans. He was certainly no match for Captain Dodderidge’s daughter.
True, when Sapphira’s two younger sisters were already married, she, at the age of twenty-four, was still single. She saved her face, people said, by making it clear that she was bound down by the care of her invalid24 father. Captain Dodderidge had been seriously hurt while out hunting; in taking a stone wall, his horse had fallen on him. He survived his injury for three years. After his death, when the property was divided, Sapphira announced her engagement to Henry Colbert, who had never gone to her father’s house except on matters of business. After the Captain was crippled and ailing25, he often sent for young Henry to advise him about selling his grain, to write his business letters, and to keep an eye on the nominal26 steward27. He had great confidence in Henry’s judgment28.
Sapphira was usually present at their business conferences, and took some part in their discussions about the management of the farm lands and stock. It was she who rode over the estate to see that the master’s orders were carried out. She went to the public sales on market days and bought in cattle and horses, of which she was a knowing judge. When the increase of the flocks or the stables was to be sold, she attended to it with Henry’s aid. When the increase of the slave cabins was larger than needed for field and house service, she sold off some of the younger negroes. Captain Dodderidge never sold the servants who had been with his family for a long while. After they were past work, they lived on in their old cabins, well provided for.
When Sapphira announced her engagement, the family friends were more astonished than if she had declared her intention of marrying the gardener. They quizzed the negro servants, who declared that Mr. Henry had never been so much as asked into the parlour. They had never “caught” him talking to Miss Sapphy outside her father’s room, much less courting her. After all these years the strangeness of this marriage still came up in conversation when old friends got together. Fat Lizzie, the cook, had whispered to the neighbours on Back Creek: “Folks back home says it seem like Missy an’ Mr. Henry wasn’t scarcely acquainted befo’ de weddin’, nor very close acquainted evah since. Him bein’ kep’ so close at de mill,” she would add suavely29.
Since she did marry Henry, it was not hard to explain why Sapphira had moved away from her native county, where his plain manners, his calling, vague ancestry30, even his Lutheran connections, would have made her social position rather awkward. Once removed several days’ journey from her old friends, she could go back to visit them without embarrassment31. The miller’s unbending, somewhat uncouth32 figure need never appear upon the scene at all.
The bride chose Back Creek for her place of exile because she owned a very considerable property there, willed to her by an uncle who died when she was still a young girl. On this Back Creek estate there was a mill. It had stood there for some generations, since Revolutionary times.
This farm (and a great tract33 of forest land afterward34 sold off) had been deeded by Thomas, Lord Fairfax, to a Nathaniel Dodderidge who came out to Virginia with Fairfax in 1747. Fairfax’s actual possessions in the colony were immense; something like five million acres of forest and mountain which had never been surveyed, watered by rivers, great and small, which had never been explored except by the Indians and were nameless except for their unpronounceable Indian names. There was discontent in the Virginia Assembly that so large a territory should be held in one grant. When Fairfax established his final residence in the Shenandoah Valley, he quieted this dissatisfaction by deeding off portions of his estate to desirable settlers, laying out towns, and in every way encouraging immigration.
To Nathaniel Dodderidge he deeded a tract of land on Back Creek. Neither Nathaniel nor any of his descendants had ever lived on this land. It was only after the capture of Quebec by young General Wolfe in 1759 that the mountainous country between Winchester and Romney was altogether safe for settlers. Bands of Indians under French captains had burned and slaughtered35 as near Back Creek as the Capon River.
When the danger of Indian raids was over, someone (his name was lost) built a water mill where Henry Colbert’s mill now stood. All through the Revolutionary War and ever since, a mill on that site had served the needs of the scattered36 settlers. The Dodderidges had let the Mill Farm to tenants37 for successive generations. Sapphira’s father had never seen the place. But before his death Sapphira herself, attended by a groom38, rode up a four days’ journey on horseback to look over her inheritance. One morning she arrived at the Back Creek post office, where a spare room was kept for travellers. Sapphira unpacked39 her saddle-bags and settled herself for a stay of several days. She rode all over the Mill Farm and the timber land; had a friendly interview with the resident miller and told him she could not renew his lease, which had barely a year to run.
Before Sapphira’s marriage to Henry Colbert, carpenters were sent out from Winchester to pull down the old mill house (it was scarcely more than a cabin), and to build the comfortable dwelling40 which now stood there. When the new house was completed, Sapphira’s household goods were carted up from Chestnut41 Hill and settled in it. She and Henry Colbert were married at Christ Church, in Winchester, and drove directly to the new Mill House on Back Creek, omitting the elaborate festivities which customarily followed a wedding.
Though it was often said that Miss Dodderidge had broken away from her rightful station, she by no means dropped out of the lives of her family or lost touch with her friends. Until her illness came upon her, she made every year a long visit to the sister who lived at Chestnut Hill, the old estate in Loudoun County. Even now she was always driven to Winchester in March, to stay with her sister Sarah until after Easter. There she attended all the services at Christ Church, where Lord Fairfax, the first patron of the Virginia Dodderidges, was buried beneath the chancel. With the help of her brother-inlaw and a cane42 she limped to the family pew, though she was obliged to remain seated throughout the service.
She was a comely43 figure in the congregation, clad in black silk and white fichu. From lack of exercise she had grown somewhat stout44, but she wore stays of the severest make and carried her shoulders high. Her serene45 face and lively, shallow blue eyes smiled at old friends from under a black velvet46 bonnet47, renewed or “freshened” yearly by the town milliner. She had not at all the air of a countrywoman come to town. No Dodderidge who ever sat in that pew showed her blood to better advantage. The miller, of course, did not accompany her. Although he had been married in Christ Church, by an English rector, he had no love for the Church of England.
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1
picket
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| n.纠察队；警戒哨；v.设置纠察线；布置警卫 | |
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2
maples
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| 槭树，枫树( maple的名词复数 )； 槭木 | |
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3
locust
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| n.蝗虫；洋槐，刺槐 | |
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4
scattering
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| n.[物]散射；散乱，分散；在媒介质中的散播adj.散乱的；分散在不同范围的；广泛扩散的；（选票）数量分散的v.散射(scatter的ing形式)；散布；驱散 | |
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5
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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6
trumpet
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| n.喇叭，喇叭声；v.吹喇叭，吹嘘 | |
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7
gourd
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| n.葫芦 | |
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8
gourds
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| n.葫芦( gourd的名词复数 ) | |
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9
gravy
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| n.肉汁；轻易得来的钱，外快 | |
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10
vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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11
overalls
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| n.（复）工装裤；长罩衣 | |
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12
underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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13
wagons
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| n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 )；铁路货车；小手推车 | |
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14
waddled
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| v.（像鸭子一样）摇摇摆摆地走( waddle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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15
creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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16
lumber
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| n.木材，木料；v.以破旧东西堆满；伐木；笨重移动 | |
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17
plentiful
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| adj.富裕的，丰富的 | |
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18
motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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19
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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20
isles
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| 岛( isle的名词复数 ) | |
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21
miller
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| n.磨坊主 | |
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22
eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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23
dissenting
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| adj.不同意的 | |
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24
invalid
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| n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的 | |
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25
ailing
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| v.生病 | |
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26
nominal
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| adj.名义上的；(金额、租金)微不足道的 | |
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27
steward
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| n.乘务员，服务员；看管人；膳食管理员 | |
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28
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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29
suavely
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30
ancestry
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| n.祖先，家世 | |
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31
embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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32
uncouth
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| adj.无教养的，粗鲁的 | |
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33
tract
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| n.传单，小册子，大片(土地或森林) | |
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34
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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35
slaughtered
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| v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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36
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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37
tenants
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| n.房客( tenant的名词复数 )；佃户；占用者；占有者 | |
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38
groom
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| vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁 | |
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39
unpacked
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| v.从（包裹等）中取出（所装的东西），打开行李取出( unpack的过去式和过去分词 )；拆包；解除…的负担；吐露（心事等） | |
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40
dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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41
chestnut
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| n.栗树，栗子 | |
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42
cane
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| n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的 | |
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43
comely
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| adj.漂亮的，合宜的 | |
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45
serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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46
velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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47
bonnet
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| n.无边女帽；童帽 | |
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