Of this street there are about one hundred and fifty yards — on the same pattern all. It is not pretty to look at. A dingy9 little brick house twenty feet high, with three square holes to carry the windows, and an oblong hole to carry the door, is not a pleasing object; and each side of this street is formed by two or three score of such houses in a row, with one front wall in common. And the effect is as of stables.
Some who inhabit this street are in the docks, some in the gas-works, some in one or other of the few shipbuilding yards that yet survive on the Thames. Two families in a house is the general rule, for there are six rooms behind each set of holes: this, unless “young men lodgers11” are taken in, or there are grown sons paying for bed and board. As for the grown daughters they marry as soon as may be. Domestic service is a social descent, and little under millinery and dressmaking is compatible with self-respect. The general servant may be caught young among the turnings at the end where mangling12 is done; and the factory girls live still further off, in places skirting slums.
Every morning at half past five there is a curious demonstration13. The street resounds14 with thunderous knockings, repeated upon door after door, and acknowledged ever by a muffled15 shout from within. These signals are the work of the night-watchman or the early policeman, or both, and they summon the sleepers16 to go forth17 to the docks, the gas-works, and the ship-yards. To be awakened18 in this wise costs fourpence a week, and for this fourpence a fierce rivalry19 rages between night-watchmen and policemen. The night-watchman — a sort of by-blow of the ancient “Charley,” and himself a fast vanishing quantity — is the real professional performer; but he goes to the wall, because a large connection must be worked if the pursuit is to pay at fourpence a knocker. Now, it is not easy to bang at two knockers three quarters of a mile apart, and a hundred others lying between, all punctually at half past five. Wherefore the policeman, to whom the fourpence is but a perquisite20, and who is content with a smaller round, is rapidly supplanting21 the night-watchman, whose cry of “Past nine o’clock,” as he collects orders in the evening, is now seldom heard.
The knocking and shouting pass, and there comes the noise of opening and shutting of doors, and a clattering22 away to the docks, the gas-works and the ship-yards. Later more door-shutting is heard, and then the trotting24 of sorrow-laden little feet along the grim street to the grim board school three grim streets off. Then silence, save for a subdued25 sound of scrubbing here and there, and the puny26 squall of croupy infants. After this, a new trotting of little feet to docks, gas-works, and ship-yards with father’s dinner in a basin and a red handkerchief, and so to the board school again. More muffled scrubbing and more squalling, and perhaps a feeble attempt or two at decorating the blankness of a square hole here and there by pouring water into a grimy flower-pot full of dirt. Then comes the trot23 of little feet toward the oblong holes, heralding27 the slower tread of sooty artisans; a smell of bloater up and down; nightfall; the fighting of boys in the street, perhaps of men at the corner near the beer-shop; sleep. And this is the record of a day in this street; and every day is hopelessly the same.
Every day, that is, but Sunday. On Sunday morning a smell of cooking floats round the corner from the half-shut baker’s and the little feet trot down the street under steaming burdens of beef, potatoes, and batter-pudding — the lucky little feet these, with Sunday boots on them, when father is in good work and has brought home all his money; not the poor little feet in worn shoes, carrying little bodies in the threadbare clothes of all the week, when father is out of work, or ill, or drunk, and the Sunday cooking may very easily be done at home — if any there be to do.
On Sunday morning one or two heads of families appear in wonderful black suits, with unnumbered creases28 and wrinklings at the seams. At their sides and about their heels trot the unresting little feet, and from under painful little velvet29 caps and straw hats stare solemn little faces toweled to a polish. Thus disposed and arrayed, they fare gravely through the grim little streets to a grim Little Bethel where are gathered together others in like garb30 and attendance; and for two hours they endure the frantic31 menace of hell-fire.
Most of the men, however, lie in shirt and trousers on their beds and read the Sunday paper; while some are driven forth — for they hinder the housework — to loaf, and await the opening of the beer-shop round the corner. Thus goes Sunday in this street, and every Sunday is the same as every other Sunday, so that one monotony is broken with another. For the women, however, Sunday is much as other days, except that there is rather more work for them. The break in their round of the week is washing day.
No event in the outer world makes any impression in this street. Nations may rise, or may totter32 in ruin; but here the colorless day will work through its twenty-four hours just as it did yesterday, and just as it will to-morrow. Without there may be party strife33, wars and rumors34 of wars, public rejoicings; but the trotting of the little feet will be neither quickened nor stayed. Those quaint35 little women, the girl-children of this street, who use a motherly management toward all girl-things younger than themselves, and toward all boys as old or older, with “Bless the child!” or “Drat the children!”— those quaint little women will still go marketing36 with big baskets and will regard the price of bacon as chief among human considerations. Nothing disturbs this street — nothing but a strike.
Nobody laughs here — life is too serious a thing; nobody sings. There was once a woman who sung — a young wife from the country. But she bore children, and her voice cracked. Then her man died, and she sung no more. They took away her home, and with her children about her skirts she left this street forever. The other women did not think much of her. She was “helpless.”
One of the square holes in this street — one of the single, ground-floor holes — is found, on individual examination, to differ from the others. There has been an attempt to make it into a shop-window. Half a dozen candles, a few sickly sugar-sticks, certain shriveled bloaters, some bootlaces, and a bundle or two of firewood compose a stock which at night is sometimes lighted by a little paraffine lamp in a tin sconce, and sometimes by a candle. A widow lives here — a gaunt bony widow with sunken, red eyes. She has other sources of income than the candles and the bootlaces: she washes and chars37 all day, and she sews cheap shirts at night. Two “young men lodgers,” moreover, sleep upstairs, and the children sleep in the back room; she herself is supposed not to sleep at all. The policeman does not knock here in the morning — the widow wakes the lodgers herself; and nobody in the street behind ever looks out of window before going to bed, no matter how late, without seeing a light in the widow’s room where she plies38 her needle. She is a quiet woman, who speaks little with her neighbors, having other things to do: a woman of pronounced character, to whom it would be unadvisable — even dangerous — to offer coals or blankets. Hers was the strongest contempt for the helpless woman who sung: a contempt whose added bitterness might be traced to its source. For when the singing woman was marketing, from which door of the pawnshop had she twice met the widow coming forth?
This is not a dirty street, taken as a whole. The widow’s house is one of the cleanest, and the widow’s children match the house. The one house cleaner than the widow’s is ruled by a despotic Scotch39 woman, who drives every hawker off her whitened step, and rubs her door handle if a hand have rested on it. The Scotch woman has made several attempts to accommodate “young men lodgers,” but they have ended in shrill40 rows.
There is no house without children in this street, and the number of them grows ever and ever greater. Nine tenths of the doctor’s visits are on this account alone, and his appearances are the chief matter of such conversation as the women make across the fences. One after another the little strangers come, to live through lives as flat and colorless as the day’s life in this street. Existence dawns, and the doctor-watchman’s door-knock resounds along the row of rectangular holes. Then a muffled cry announces that a small new being has come to trudge41 and sweat its way in the appointed groove42. Later, the trotting of little feet and the school; the mid-day play hour, when love peeps even into this street; after that more trotting of little feet — strange little feet, new little feet — and the scrubbing, and the squalling, and the barren flowerpot; the end of the sooty day’s work; the last home-coming; nightfall; sleep.
When love’s light falls into some corner of the street, it falls at an early hour of this mean life, and is itself but a dusky ray. It falls early, because it is the sole bright thing which the street sees, and is watched for and counted on. Lads and lasses, awkwardly arm-in-arm, go pacing up and down this street, before the natural interest in marbles and doll’s houses would have left them in a brighter place. They are “keeping company;” the manner of which proceeding43 is indigenous44 — is a custom native to the place. The young people first “walk out” in pairs. There is no exchange of promises, no troth-plight, no engagement, no love-talk. They patrol the streets side by side, usually in silence, sometimes with fatuous45 chatter46. There are no dances, no tennis, no water-parties, no picnics to bring them together: so they must walk out, or be unacquainted. If two of them grow dissatisfied with each other’s company, nothing is easier than to separate and walk out with somebody else. When by these means each has found a fit mate (or thinks so), a ring is bought, and the odd association becomes a regular engagement; but this is not until the walking out has endured for many months. The two stages of courtship are spoken of indiscriminately as “keeping company,” but a very careful distinction is drawn47 between them by the parties concerned. Nevertheless, in the walking out period it would be almost as great a breach48 of faith for either to walk out with more than one, as it would be if the full engagement had been made. And love-making in this street is a dreary49 thing, when one thinks of love-making in other places. It begins — and it ends — too soon.
Nobody from this street goes to the theatre. That would mean a long journey, and it would cost money which might buy bread and beer and boots. For those, too, who wear black Sunday suits it would be sinful. Nobody reads poetry or romance. The very words are foreign. A Sunday paper in some few houses provides such reading as this street is disposed to achieve. Now and again a penny novel has been found among the private treasures of a growing daughter, and has been wrathfully confiscated50. For the air of this street is unfavorable to the ideal.
Round the corner there are a baker’s, a chandler’s and a beer-shop. They are not included in the view from any of the rectangular holes; but they are well known to every denizen51; and the chandler goes to church on Sunday and pays for his seat. At the opposite end, turnings lead to streets less rigidly52 respectable: some where “Mangling done here” stares from windows, and where doors are left carelessly open; others where squalid women sit on doorsteps, and girls go to factories in white aprons53. Many such turnings, of as many grades of decency54, are set between this and the nearest slum.
They are not a very noisy or obtrusive55 lot in this street. They do not go to Hyde Park with banners, and they seldom fight. It is just possible that one or two among them, at some point in a life of ups and downs, may have been indebted to a coal and blanket fund; but whosoever these may be, they would rather die than publish the disgrace, and it is probable that they very nearly did so ere submitting to it.
Yet there are aspirations56. There has lately come into the street a young man lodger10 who belongs to a Mutual57 Improvement Society. Membership in this society is regarded as a sort of learned degree, and at its meeting debates are held and papers smugly read by lamentably58 self-satisfied young men lodgers, whose only preparation for debating and writing is a fathomless59 ignorance. For ignorance is the inevitable60 portion of dwellers61 here: seeing nothing, reading nothing, and considering nothing.
Where in the East End lies this street? Everywhere. The hundred and fifty yards is only a link in a long and mightily62 tangled63 chain — is only a turn in a tortuous64 maze65. This street of the square holes is hundreds of miles long. That it is planned in short lengths is true, but there is no other way in the world that can more properly be called a single street, because of its dismal66 lack of accent, its sordid67 uniformity, its utter remoteness from delight.
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1
filthy
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| adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的 | |
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unemployed
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| adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的 | |
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perennially
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| adv.经常出现地；长期地；持久地；永久地 | |
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insolvent
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| adj.破产的，无偿还能力的 | |
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misty
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| adj.雾蒙蒙的，有雾的 | |
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minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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7
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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dingy
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| adj.昏暗的，肮脏的 | |
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lodger
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| n.寄宿人，房客 | |
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lodgers
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| n.房客，租住者( lodger的名词复数 ) | |
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mangling
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| 重整 | |
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demonstration
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| n.表明，示范，论证，示威 | |
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resounds
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| v.（指声音等）回荡于某处( resound的第三人称单数 )；产生回响；（指某处）回荡着声音 | |
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15
muffled
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| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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sleepers
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| n.卧铺（通常以复数形式出现）；卧车( sleeper的名词复数 )；轨枕；睡觉（呈某种状态）的人；小耳环 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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rivalry
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| n.竞争，竞赛，对抗 | |
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perquisite
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| n.固定津贴，福利 | |
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supplanting
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| 把…排挤掉，取代( supplant的现在分词 ) | |
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clattering
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| 发出咔哒声（clatter的现在分词形式） | |
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trot
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| n.疾走，慢跑；n.老太婆；现成译本；(复数）trots:腹泻（与the 连用）；v.小跑，快步走，赶紧 | |
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trotting
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| 小跑，急走( trot的现在分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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25
subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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puny
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| adj.微不足道的，弱小的 | |
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heralding
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| v.预示( herald的现在分词 )；宣布（好或重要） | |
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28
creases
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| （使…）起折痕，弄皱( crease的第三人称单数 )； （皮肤）皱起，使起皱纹 | |
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29
velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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garb
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| n.服装，装束 | |
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frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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totter
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| v.蹒跚， 摇摇欲坠；n.蹒跚的步子 | |
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strife
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| n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争 | |
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rumors
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| n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷 | |
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quaint
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| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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marketing
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| n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西 | |
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chars
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| abbr.characters （复数）角色，人物（剧本中用语）v.把…烧成炭，把…烧焦( char的第三人称单数 )；烧成炭，烧焦；做杂役女佣 | |
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plies
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| v.使用（工具）( ply的第三人称单数 )；经常供应（食物、饮料）；固定往来；经营生意 | |
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39
scotch
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| n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
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40
shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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trudge
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| v.步履艰难地走；n.跋涉，费力艰难的步行 | |
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42
groove
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| n.沟，槽；凹线，（刻出的）线条，习惯 | |
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proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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indigenous
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| adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的 | |
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45
fatuous
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| adj.愚昧的；昏庸的 | |
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46
chatter
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| vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战 | |
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47
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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48
breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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49
dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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50
confiscated
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| 没收，充公( confiscate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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51
denizen
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| n.居民，外籍居民 | |
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52
rigidly
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| adv.刻板地，僵化地 | |
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53
aprons
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| 围裙( apron的名词复数 )； 停机坪，台口（舞台幕前的部份） | |
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54
decency
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| n.体面，得体，合宜，正派，庄重 | |
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obtrusive
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| adj.显眼的；冒失的 | |
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aspirations
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| 强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 )； 志向； 发送气音； 发 h 音 | |
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mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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lamentably
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| adv.哀伤地，拙劣地 | |
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fathomless
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| a.深不可测的 | |
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inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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dwellers
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| n.居民，居住者( dweller的名词复数 ) | |
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mightily
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| ad.强烈地；非常地 | |
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tangled
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| adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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64
tortuous
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| adj.弯弯曲曲的，蜿蜒的 | |
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maze
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| n.迷宫，八阵图，混乱，迷惑 | |
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66
dismal
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| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
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sordid
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| adj.肮脏的，不干净的，卑鄙的，暗淡的 | |
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