The flowers and leaves were gone too, to be sure; but in the low brushwood by the blackberry bottom the hares had turned white to match the snow; and the nut-hatches were answering one another in their varying keys; and the skunks9 were still busy of nights beneath the spreading walnuts10; and the chickadees were tinkling11 overhead among the snow-laden pine-needles of the far woodland. All the summer visitors had gone south to Georgia and the gulf12: but the snow-buntings were ever with Hiram in the wintry fields: and the bald-headed eagles still prowled around at times on the stray chance of catching13 a frozen-out racoon. Above all there was ease and leisure, respite14 from the deacon's rasping voice calling perpetually for Hiram here, and Hiram there, and Hiram yonder, to catch the horses, or tend the harrow, or mind the birds, or weed the tomatoes, or set shingles15 against the sun over the drooping16 transplanted cabbages. A happy time indeed for Hiram, that long, weary, white-sheeted, unbroken northern New York winter.
Sam Churchill was with the deacon still, but had little enough to do, for there isn't much going on upon an American farm from November to April, and the deacon would gladly have got rid of his hired help in the slack time if he could have shuffled17 him off; but Sam had been well advised on his first hiring, and had wisely covenanted18 to be kept on all the year round, with board and lodging19 and decent wages during the winter season. And Hiram initiated20 Sam into the mysteries of sliding on a bent21 piece of wood (a homemade toboggan) down the great snowdrifts, and skating on the frozen expansion of Muddy Creek, and building round huts, Esquimaux fashion, with big square blocks of solid dry snow, and tracking the white hare over the white fields by means of the marks he left behind him, whose termination, apparently22 lengthening23 itself out miraculously24 before one's very eyes, marked the spot where the hare himself was hopping25 invisible to human vision. In return, Sam lent him a few dearly-treasured books: books that he had brought from England with him: the books that had first set the Dorsetshire peasant lad upon his scheme of going forth26 alone upon the wide world beyond the ocean.
Hiram was equally delighted and astonished with these wonderful charmed volumes. He had seen a few books before, but they were all of two types: Cornell's Geography, Quackenboss's Grammar, and the other schoolbooks used at the common school; or else Barnes's Commentary, Elder Coffin's Ezekiel, the Hopkinsite Confession27 of Faith, and other like works of American exegetical28 and controversial theology. But Sam's books, oh, gracious, what a difference! There was Peter Simple, a story about a real live boy, who wa'n't good, pertickler, not to speak of, but had some real good old times on board a ship, somewhere, he did; and there was Tom Jones (Hiram no more understood the doubtful passages in that great romance than he understood the lucubrations of Philosopher Square, but he took it in, in the lump, as very good fun for all that), Tom Jones, the story of another real live boy, with, most delightful29 of all, a reg'lar mean sneak30 of a feller, called Blifil, to act as a foil to Tom's straightforward31 pagan flesh-and-bloodfulness; the Buccaneers of the Caribbean Sea, a glorious work of fire and slaughter32, whar some feller or other got killed right off on every page a'most, you bet; Jake the Pirate, another splendid book of the same description; and half a dozen more assorted33 novels, from the best to the worst, all chosen alike for their stirring incidents which went straight home to the minds of the two lads, in spite of all external differences of birth and geographical34 surroundings. Hiram pored over them surreptitiously, late at nights, in the room that he and Sam occupied in common—a mere35 loft36 at the top of the house and felt in his heart he had never in his life imagined such delightful reading could possibly have existed. And they were written by growed-up men, too! How strange to think that once upon a time, somewhile and somewhere, there were growed-up men capable of thus sympathising with, and reproducing the ideas and feelings of, the natural mind of boyhood!
One evening, very late—eleven nearly—the deacon, prowling around after a bottle or something, spied an unwonted light gleaming down from the trap-door that led up to the loft where the lads ought at that moment to have been sleeping soundly. Lights in a well-conducted farmhouse37 at eleven o'clock was indeed incomprehensible: what on earth, the deacon asked himself wonderingly, could them thar lads be up to at this hour? He crept up the step-ladder cautiously, so as not to disturb them by premonitions, and opened the trap-door in sedulous38 silence. Sam was already fast asleep; but there was Hiram, sot up in bed, as quiet as a 'possum, 'pearin' as if he was a-readin' something. The deacon's eyes opened with amazement39! Hiram reading! Had his heart been touched, then, quite sudden-like? Could he have took up the Hopkinsite Confession in secret to his upper chamber40? Was he meditatin' makin' a public profession afore the Assembly?
The deacon glowered41 and marvelled42. Creeping, still quite silently, up to the bedhead, he looked with an inquiring glance over poor Hiram's unsuspecting shoulder. A sea of words swam vaguely43 before his bewildered vision; words, not running into long orthodox paragraphs, like the Elder's Ezekiel, but cut up, oh horror, into distinct sentences, each indicating a separate part in a conversation. The deacon couldn't clearly make it all out; for it was a dramatic dialogue, a form of composition which had not largely fallen in the good man's way: but he picked up enough to understand that it was a low pothouse scene, where one Falstaff was bandying improper44 language with a person of the name of Prince (given name, Henry)—language that made even the deacon's sallow cheek blush feebly with reflected and vicarious modesty45. For a moment he endeavoured, like a Christian46 man, to retain his wrath47; and then paternal48 feeling overcame him, and he caught Hiram such a oner on his ears as he flattered himself that boy wouldn't be likely to forgit in any very partickler hurry.
Hiram looked round, amazed and stunned49, his ear tingling50 and burning, and saw the gaunt apparition51 of his father, standing52 silent and black-browed by the bare bed-head. For a moment those two glared at one another mutely and defiantly53.
At last Hiram spoke54: 'Wal!' he said simply.
'Wal!' the deacon answered, with smothered55 wrath. 'Hiram, I am angry and sin not. What do you go an' take them bad books up to read for? Who give 'em you? Whar did you get 'em? Oh, you sinful, bad boy, whar did you get 'em?' And he administered another sound cuff56 upon Hiram's other ear.
Hiram put his hand up to the stinging spot, and cried a minute silently: then he answered as well as he was able: 'This aint a bad book: this is called “The Complete Dramattic Works of William Shakespeare.” Sam lent it to me, an' it's Sam's book, an' ther ain't no harm in it, anyhow.'
The deacon was plainly staggered for a moment, for even he had dimly heard the name of William Shakespeare; and though he had never made any personal acquaintance with that gentleman's works, he had always understood in a vague, indefinite fashion that this here Shakespeare was a perfectly57 respectable and recognised writer, whose books were read and approved of even by Hopkinsite ministers edoocated at Bethabara Seminary. So he took the volume in his hand incredulously and looked it through casually58 for a few minutes. He glanced at a scene or two here or there with a critical eye, and then he flung the volume from him quickly, as a man might fling and crush some loathsome59 reptile60. By this time Sam was half-awake, and sat up in bed to inquire sleepily, what all thik ther row could be about at thik time of evenin'?' The deacon answered by going savagely61 to Sam's box, and taking out, one by one, for separate inspection62, the volumes he found there. He held up the candle (stuck in an empty blacking-bottle) to each volume in succession, and, as soon as he had finally condemned63 them each, he flung them down in an untidy pile on the bare floor of the little bedroom. Most of them he stood stoically enough; but the Vicar of Wakefield was at last quite too much for his stifled64 indignation. Sitting down blankly on the bed he fired off his volley at poor Hiram's frightened head, with terrible significance.
'Hiram Winthrop,' he said solemnly, 'you air a son of perdition. You air more a'most 'n I kin3 manage with. Satan's openin' the door for you on-common wide, I kin tell you, sonny. It makes me downright scar't to see you in company along of sech books. Your mother'll be awful took back about it. I don't mind this 'ere about the Pirates of the Caribbean Sea, so much; that's kinder hist'ry, that is, and mayn't do you much harm: but sech things as this Peter Simple, an' Wakefield, and Pickwick's Papers—why, I wonder the roof don't fall in on 'em an' crush us in the lot altogether. I'm durned ef I could have thought you'd bin65 wicked enough to read 'em, sech on-principled literatoor. I sha'n't chastise66 you to-night, sonny; it's late, now, and we've read chapter: but to-morrer, Hiram, to-morrer, you shall pay for them thar books, take my word for it. You shall be chastened in the manner that's app'inted. Ef I was you, I should spend the rest of the evenin' in wrestlin' for forgiveness for the sin you've committed.'
And yet in the chapter the deacon had read at family worship that evening there was one little clause which said: 'Quench67 not the Spirit.'
Hiram slept but little that night, with the vague terror of to-morrow's whipping overshadowing him through the night watches. But he had at least one comfort: Sam Churchill had got out and gathered up his books, and locked them carefully in his box again.
'If the boss tries to touch they books again, I tell 'ee, Hiram,' he said bi-lingually (for absorbent America was already beginning to assimilate him), ''e'll vind 'isself a-lyin' longways on the vloor, afore he do know it, I promise 'ee.' Hiram heard, and was partly comforted. At least he would still have the books to read, somehow, at some time. For in his own heart, unregenerate or otherwise, he couldn't bring himself to believe that there could be really anything so very wicked in Henry the Fourth or Peter Simple.
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1
numbed
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| v.使麻木，使麻痹( numb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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axe
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| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
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3
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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toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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desolately
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| 荒凉地，寂寞地 | |
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dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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9
skunks
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| n.臭鼬( skunk的名词复数 )；臭鼬毛皮；卑鄙的人；可恶的人 | |
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10
walnuts
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| 胡桃（树）( walnut的名词复数 )； 胡桃木 | |
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11
tinkling
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| n.丁当作响声 | |
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gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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14
respite
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| n.休息，中止，暂缓 | |
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15
shingles
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| n.带状疱疹；（布满海边的）小圆石( shingle的名词复数 )；屋顶板；木瓦（板）；墙面板 | |
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16
drooping
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| adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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17
shuffled
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| v.洗（纸牌）( shuffle的过去式和过去分词 )；拖着脚步走；粗心地做；摆脱尘世的烦恼 | |
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18
covenanted
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| v.立约，立誓( covenant的过去分词 ) | |
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19
lodging
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| n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
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initiated
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| n. 创始人 adj. 新加入的 vt. 开始，创始，启蒙，介绍加入 | |
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21
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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22
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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23
lengthening
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| （时间或空间）延长，伸长( lengthen的现在分词 )； 加长 | |
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24
miraculously
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| ad.奇迹般地 | |
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hopping
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| n. 跳跃 动词hop的现在分词形式 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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exegetical
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| adj.评释的，解经的 | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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30
sneak
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| vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝)；偷偷摸摸做；n.潜行；adj.暗中进行 | |
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31
straightforward
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| adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的 | |
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slaughter
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| n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀 | |
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assorted
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| adj.各种各样的，各色俱备的 | |
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geographical
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| adj.地理的；地区(性)的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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loft
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| n.阁楼，顶楼 | |
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37
farmhouse
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| n.农场住宅（尤指主要住房） | |
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sedulous
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| adj.勤勉的，努力的 | |
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39
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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40
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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41
glowered
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| v.怒视( glower的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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42
marvelled
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| v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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43
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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44
improper
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| adj.不适当的，不合适的，不正确的，不合礼仪的 | |
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45
modesty
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| n.谦逊，虚心，端庄，稳重，羞怯，朴素 | |
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46
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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47
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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48
paternal
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| adj.父亲的，像父亲的，父系的，父方的 | |
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49
stunned
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| adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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50
tingling
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| v.有刺痛感( tingle的现在分词 ) | |
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51
apparition
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| n.幽灵，神奇的现象 | |
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52
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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53
defiantly
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| adv.挑战地，大胆对抗地 | |
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54
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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55
smothered
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| （使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制 | |
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56
cuff
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| n.袖口；手铐；护腕；vt.用手铐铐；上袖口 | |
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57
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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58
casually
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| adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地 | |
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59
loathsome
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| adj.讨厌的，令人厌恶的 | |
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60
reptile
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| n.爬行动物；两栖动物 | |
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61
savagely
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| adv. 野蛮地，残酷地 | |
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62
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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63
condemned
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| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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64
stifled
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| （使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵 | |
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65
bin
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| n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件 | |
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66
chastise
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| vt.责骂，严惩 | |
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67
quench
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| vt.熄灭，扑灭；压制 | |
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