The Richmond market was insufficient7 for sudden demands. We depended largely upon the small, covered country carts, intercepting8 them as they passed on their way to the grocers', who bartered9 120things dry and liquid for the farmers' poultry10, eggs, and butter. At this time of my distress11, no carts hove in sight, but I knew a grocer with a noble soul,—one Mark Downey,—to whom I made a personal appeal, and he promised to send me, daily, everything he could gather, from a roasting pig to a reed-bird. My good cook rose to the occasion: "Ain't that Gin'al gone yet?" was her morning salutation, hastily adding, "Nem-mine, honey! We-all kin12 git along."
In some of the biographical sketches13 of William Walker I find him painted as little better—in fact, no better—than a pirate; a man of an unbounded stomach for power and place, regarding as nothing life, property, or his own word, and finally, justly forsaken14 and punished. Others present him to posterity15 as a scholar, an author, a graduate of colleges, a student at Heidelberg, also a hero of the first water, brave beyond compare; a maker16 of republics, statesman, dictator,—in all things fearless and dashing. When I turn to the storehouse of my own memory, I find a modest, courtly gentleman, with a strong but not ungentle face:—
"The mildest mannered man
That ever scuttled17 ship or cut a throat."
Of course I could not appear in the crowd that hung upon his lips all day, but when we gathered around the evening lamp he was never too weary to talk to me—but not about his conquests nor his ambitions. For a woman's ear he had gentler themes than these. 121 One night I startled my husband by asking, "What church do you belong to, General?"
William Walker.
"I have recently become a Catholic," he answered gravely; "it is the faith for a man like me! I have seen the poor wounded fellows die with great serenity18 after the ministration of their priest."
I recall a striking remark by the General to my husband. He said men are commonly equally courageous19, the difference between them being that one man, from keener sensibility, sees a danger of which another is stolidly20 insensible. The former is really courageous, while the latter is indifferent from lack of apprehension21. Himself incapable22 of fear, a higher authority on the subject cannot be imagined.
When he took leave of us, he gave me a perfect ambrotype picture of himself, probably the only genuine one extant. "Here I am, Madam, and I've always been called an ugly fellow." I ventured the usual deprecatory remark, but he shook his head:—
"I'm afraid there's no doubt about it! On my way here I heard a man close to my car-window sing out, 'Whar's the Gray-eyed Man of Destiny?' As he was close to me, I leaned out and said in a low tone, 'Here, my friend!' 'Friend nothin,' he sneered23; 'an' you'd better take in your ugly mug.'"
He looked back from the carriage that took him to the depot24 and answered my waving handkerchief: "Good-by, good-by, dear lady! I'm going to make Nicaragua a nice place, fit for you!"
Just as we were about to engage in our own life-and-death struggle, we heard he had been betrayed, as Napoleon was betrayed, by the English, to whom, 122after defeat, he had fled for protection, and had met his death bravely.
His dream had been to win Nicaragua, as Houston had won Texas, and then annex25 it to the United States, thus strengthening the power of the South.
I have been told that many superstitions26 and legends have sprung up in Nicaragua and Honduras to cluster around the memory of William Walker, but in none is there a firmer belief than that his ghost appears on the anniversary of his death, and will so appear until he is avenged27. A Tennessee boy, William G. Erwin, now helping29 to superintend the digging of the Panama Canal, has told the legend, in Senator Taylor's magazine, from which I select a few verses:—
"One night each year in Honduras, they clear the roads for his ghost,
Their long dead Gringo President—who rides with his phantom30 host.
He sweeps o'er the land in silence and the cowering31 natives hide,
From the Wraith32 of William Walker—who haunts the land where he died.
"Thus it was the wild tale started—that when dying on the sand,
Walker smiled and sternly told them, 'Till avenged I'll haunt your land!'
And now on snow-white stallion once a year at midnight's spell,
Across the land from sea to sea—rides the form that all know well.
"His head is high, his blade is bare, his white steed spurns33 the ground,
A phantom troop charge close behind—but all make never a sound;
While his blood cries yet for vengeance34 against this murderous herd—
He will ever come to warn them, that the day is but deferred35. 123
"To the sons of old Honduras as they view him through the gloom,
The Gray-eyed Man of Destiny looks the Avatar of Doom36;
In his face they read a warning like the writing on the wall,
'Tis, 'Beware, one day the Gringos will avenge28 their chieftain's fall!'"
My husband entered with great zeal37 and efficiency into the fight against "The Know-nothing party," or, as they proudly styled themselves, the "American party."
The principles of this party were naturally evolved from the fact that the ignorant foreign vote was influencing elections[2] in the cities, that votes were freely sold, and that drunken aliens frequently had charge of the polls. The mythical38 order of Washington in a time of peculiar39 danger was remembered:
"Put none but Americans on guard to-night!"
It seemed reasonable and fitting that Americans, who had won this country from the savage40, and fought all its early battles with the French and English, should govern the country they had redeemed41. One thing led to another, until it was resolved to form a secret society, with the view of excluding all foreigners and many Roman Catholics from any part in the councils of the nation.
This, briefly42, seems to have been at the root of the great Know-nothing movement. The immediate43 and practical aim in view was that foreigners and Catholics should be excluded from all national, state, county, and municipal offices; that strenuous44 efforts should be made to change the naturalization 124laws, so that the immigrant could not become a citizen until a resident of twenty-one years in this country. My husband at once perceived the pernicious tendency of the movement, which was sweeping45 the Northern states with resistless force. Secret lodges46 were formed everywhere, secret ceremonies inaugurated—grip, passwords, and signs. The country was in a ferment47 of excitement, followed by outrageous48 lawlessness. Bands of women made raids on bar-rooms and smashed the glasses, broke the casks, and poured the liquor into the streets. Our one exemplar of similar enterprises should have lived in those days! Garrison49 burned the Constitution of the United States at an open-air meeting in Framingham, Massachusetts; and the crowd, in spite of a few hisses50, shouted "Amen." A mob broke into the enclosure around the Washington Monument, and broke the beautiful block of marble from the Temple of Concord51 at Rome, which had been sent by the pope as a tribute to Washington. A street preacher, styling himself the Angel Gabriel, incited52 a crowd at Chelsea, Massachusetts, to deeds of violence. They smashed the windows of the Catholic church, tore the cross from the gable and shivered it to atoms. These were only a few of the outrages53 growing out of the excitement engendered54 by the Know-nothing party.
The Enquirer55 always claimed the credit of unearthing56 and exposing the signals, passwords, and ceremonies of the society. "I don't know" was one of the answers to the "grip" when brother met brother, and hence the popular name of the organization. Though Virginia had but few Catholics and few 125immigrants, yet, upon principle, she withstood and stayed the Know-nothing torrent57 that had hitherto swept over every other state.
Party feeling ran high during the election of a Virginia governor, and the junior editor of the Enquirer bore his part boldly and with vigor58. For the first few years of his editorial life he devoted59 himself to study, confining himself closely to his office. A contemporary writer says of him: "Pryor evidently studied the highest standards in his reading, and his editorials were a revelation of strength and purity in classic English. It was impossible, however, for a man of his tastes and force not to drift into politics outside of the sanctum of his paper, and the public soon recognized him as one of the ablest and most eloquent60 speakers upon the hustings61 and in the bitter discussions that marked the proceedings62 of every gathering63 of the people in those years. In the mutterings and threatenings of the storm that was soon to break in fury upon a hitherto peaceful and peace-loving land, he found abundant opportunity for the cultivation64 and display of those rare powers of oratory65 in debate which subsequently forced him to the front of the forum66."[3] I can only add to this tribute from a candid67 historian of the time one observation—the success was great: the memory of it sweet, but—it was bought with a price! The stern price of unremitting labor68 and self-abnegation.
It was a terrible time in Virginia. Henry A. Wise was the Anti-Know-nothing candidate for governor, and hard and valiant69 was the fight my husband made 126for his election. It involved him in two duels—not bloodless, but, thank God, not fatal. It is unnecessary to allude70 to my own fearful anxiety. It will be understood by all women who, like myself, have been and are sufferers from the false standard demanded by the "code of honor," in countries where, to ignore it, would mean ruin and disgrace. We were most devoted adherents71 of Mr. Wise, and ready to go to the death in his defence, standing72 as he did in the front, as we believed, of the battle for right, justice, and humanity. Finally, he was triumphantly73 elected, the pestilent society quenched74, and comparative peace for a brief period reigned75 in Virginia.
The Democratic party was grateful for my husband's hard work, and gave him a beautiful service of silver, inscribed76 with the appreciation77 of the party for his "brilliant talents, eminent78 worth, and distinguished79 service."
Not long afterward80 he became the editor of The Richmond South, for which I had the honor to select a motto—"Unum et commune periclum una salus." Perhaps a pen picture of my "Harry81 Hotspur," as he was called, may amuse those whose kind eyes follow his venerable figure as it passes to-day. "The day after our arrival at the Red Sweet Springs we noticed among a crowd of gentlemen a face which strikingly contrasted with the faces around him. He was a slight figure, with a set of features remarkable82 for their intellectual cast; a profusion83 of dark hair falling from his brow in long, straight masses over the collar of his coat gave a student-like air to his whole appearance. We unconsciously rose to our feet on 127hearing his name, and found ourselves in the actual presence of the far-famed editor of the South and in such close vicinity, too! Why, our awe84 increased almost to trepidation85; we felt as if locked in a vault86 full of inflammable gas, likely to explode with the first light introduced into it. Indeed, five minutes wore away in preliminary explanations before we could be brought to identify the youthful person before us—who might pass for a student of divinity or a young professor of moral philosophy—with the fiery87 and impetuous editor of the Richmond South. He is, we believe, considered one of the ablest political writers in all the South, and his articles were said to be highly influential88 in the late party controversy89. For ourselves we regard with admiration," etc. "His young family cannot fail to create an immediate interest in the eyes of the most casual observer.... And then his beautiful, noble-looking children; they might serve as models for infant Apollos, such as Thorwaldsen or Flaxman might have prayed for."
They were lovely—my boys—my three little boys!
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1
throng
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| n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集 | |
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magnetism
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| n.磁性，吸引力，磁学 | |
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varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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cocktail
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| n.鸡尾酒；餐前开胃小吃；混合物 | |
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brewed
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| 调制( brew的过去式和过去分词 )； 酝酿； 沏（茶）； 煮（咖啡） | |
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appetizer
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| n.小吃，开胃品 | |
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insufficient
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| adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的 | |
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intercepting
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| 截取（技术），截接 | |
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bartered
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| v.作物物交换，以货换货( barter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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poultry
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| n.家禽，禽肉 | |
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distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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kin
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| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
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sketches
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| n.草图( sketch的名词复数 )；素描；速写；梗概 | |
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Forsaken
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| adj. 被遗忘的, 被抛弃的 动词forsake的过去分词 | |
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posterity
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| n.后裔，子孙，后代 | |
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maker
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| n.制造者，制造商 | |
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scuttled
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| v.使船沉没( scuttle的过去式和过去分词 )；快跑，急走 | |
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serenity
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| n.宁静，沉着，晴朗 | |
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courageous
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| adj.勇敢的，有胆量的 | |
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stolidly
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| adv.迟钝地，神经麻木地 | |
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apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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sneered
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| 讥笑，冷笑( sneer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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24
depot
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| n.仓库，储藏处；公共汽车站；火车站 | |
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annex
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| vt.兼并，吞并；n.附属建筑物 | |
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superstitions
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| 迷信，迷信行为( superstition的名词复数 ) | |
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avenged
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| v.为…复仇，报…之仇( avenge的过去式和过去分词 )；为…报复 | |
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28
avenge
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| v.为...复仇，为...报仇 | |
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helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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phantom
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| n.幻影，虚位，幽灵；adj.错觉的，幻影的，幽灵的 | |
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cowering
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| v.畏缩，抖缩( cower的现在分词 ) | |
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32
wraith
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| n.幽灵；骨瘦如柴的人 | |
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33
spurns
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| v.一脚踢开，拒绝接受( spurn的第三人称单数 ) | |
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34
vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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35
deferred
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| adj.延期的，缓召的v.拖延，延缓，推迟( defer的过去式和过去分词 )；服从某人的意愿，遵从 | |
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36
doom
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| n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定 | |
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zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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mythical
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| adj.神话的；虚构的；想像的 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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41
redeemed
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| adj. 可赎回的，可救赎的 动词redeem的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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42
briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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strenuous
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| adj.奋发的，使劲的；紧张的；热烈的，狂热的 | |
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45
sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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lodges
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| v.存放( lodge的第三人称单数 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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ferment
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| vt.使发酵；n./vt.（使）激动，（使）动乱 | |
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outrageous
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| adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的 | |
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garrison
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| n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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50
hisses
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| 嘶嘶声( hiss的名词复数 ) | |
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concord
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| n.和谐；协调 | |
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52
incited
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| 刺激，激励，煽动( incite的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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outrages
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| 引起…的义愤，激怒( outrage的第三人称单数 ) | |
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engendered
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| v.产生（某形势或状况），造成，引起( engender的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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enquirer
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| 寻问者，追究者 | |
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unearthing
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| 发掘或挖出某物( unearth的现在分词 )； 搜寻到某事物，发现并披露 | |
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57
torrent
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| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
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vigor
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| n.活力，精力，元气 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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hustings
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| n.竞选活动 | |
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proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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cultivation
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| n.耕作，培养，栽培（法），养成 | |
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oratory
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| n.演讲术；词藻华丽的言辞 | |
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forum
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| n.论坛，讨论会 | |
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candid
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| adj.公正的，正直的；坦率的 | |
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labor
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| 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 | |
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valiant
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| adj.勇敢的，英勇的；n.勇士，勇敢的人 | |
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allude
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| v.提及，暗指 | |
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adherents
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| n.支持者，拥护者( adherent的名词复数 )；党羽；徒子徒孙 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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triumphantly
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| ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地 | |
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quenched
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| 解（渴）( quench的过去式和过去分词 )； 终止（某事物）； （用水）扑灭（火焰等）； 将（热物体）放入水中急速冷却 | |
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reigned
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| vi.当政，统治（reign的过去式形式） | |
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inscribed
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| v.写，刻( inscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；内接 | |
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appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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eminent
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| adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的 | |
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distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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81
harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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82
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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profusion
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| n.挥霍；丰富 | |
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84
awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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85
trepidation
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| n.惊恐，惶恐 | |
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86
vault
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| n.拱形圆顶，地窖，地下室 | |
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87
fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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88
influential
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| adj.有影响的，有权势的 | |
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89
controversy
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| n.争论，辩论，争吵 | |
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