CHAPTER IX

On Sunday the whole plantation¹ went to Church. The negroes sat in thegallery and listened with rapt attention to the service. They joined itsritual and its songs with their white folks in equal sincerity² and moreprofound emotion.
At the crossroads the stream of carriages, carts and buggies andhorseback riders parted. To the right, the way led to the EpiscopalChurch, the old English establishment of the State, long sinceseparated from secular³ authority, yet still bearing the seal of countyaristocracy. Colonel Lee was a devout⁴ member of this church. Mrs. Leewas the inspiration of its charities and the soul of its activities.
A few of the negroes of the estate attended it with the master andmistress of Arlington. By far the larger number turned to the left atthe cross roads and found their way to the Antioch Baptist Church. Thesimplicity of its service, the fervor⁵ of its singing, and above allthe emotional call of its revivals⁶ which swept the country each summerappealed to the warm-hearted Africans. They took to the Baptist andMethodist churches as ducks to water. The master made no objection tothe exercise of their right to worship God as their consciences called.
He encouraged their own preachers to hold weekly prayer meetings andexhort his people in the assembling places of the servants.
Nor did he object to the dance which Sam, who was an Episcopalian,invariably organized on the nights following prayer and exhortation⁷.
This last Sunday was one of tender farewells to friends and neighbors.
They crowded about the Colonel after the services. They wished himhealth and happiness and success in his new work.
The last greeting he got from an old bent⁸ neighbor of ninety years. Itbrought a cloud to his brow. All day and into the night the thoughtpersisted and its shadow chilled the hours of his departure. JamesNelson was his name, of the ancient family of the Nelsons of Yorktown.
He held Lee's hand a long time and blinked at him with a pair of keen,piercing eyes--keen from a spiritual light that burned within. He spokein painful deliberation as if he were translating a message.
"I am glad you are going to West Point, Colonel Lee. You will have timefor thinking. You will have time to study the art of war as great mindsmust study it alone if they lead armies to victory. Generals are notdeveloped in the saddle on our plains fighting savages¹⁰. Our country isgoing to need a leader of supreme¹² genius. I saw him in a vision, thenight I read in the _Richmond Enquirer_ that you had been called to WestPoint. I shall not see you again. I am walking now into the sunset.
Soon the shadows will enfold me and I shall sleep the long sleep. I amcontent. I have lived. I have loved. I have succeeded and failed. I haveswept the gamut¹³ of human passion and human emotion. I have no right tomore. Yet I envy you the glory of manhood in the crisis that is coming.
May the God of our fathers keep you and teach you and bless you is myprayer."Lee was too deeply moved for words to reply. He pressed his old friend'shand, held it in silence and turned away.
The young people rode horseback. Never in his life had Phil seenanything to equal the easy grace with which these Southern girls sattheir horses. Their mothers before them had been born in the saddle.
Their ease, their grace was not an acquirement of the teacher. It wasbred in the bone.
When a boy challenged a girl for a race, the challenge was instantlyaccepted. Their saddles were made of the finest leather which the bestsaddle makers¹⁴ of England and America could find. Their girths were setwith double silver buckles¹⁵. A saddle never turned.
When the long procession reached the gates of Arlington, it seemed toPhil that half the congregation were going to stop for dinner. A largepart of them did. Every friend and neighbor who pressed Colonel Lee'shand, or the hand of his wife, had been invited.
When they reached the Hall and Library to talk, their conversationcovered a wide range of interest. The one topic tabooed was scandal.
It might be whispered behind closed doors. It was never the subject ofconversation in an assembly of friends and neighbors in the home. Theytalked of the rich harvest. They discussed the changes in the fortunesof their mutual¹⁶ friends. They had begun to demand better roads. Theydiscussed the affairs of the County, the Church, the State. The ladieschatted of fashions, of course. But they also discussed the latestnovels of George Eliot with keen interest and true insight into theirsignificance in the development of English literature. They knew theirDickens, Thackeray and Scott almost by heart--especially Scott. Theyexpressed their opinions of the daring work of the new author withenthusiasm. Some approved; others had doubts. They did not yet know thatGeorge Eliot was a woman.
The chief topic of conversation among the men was politics, State andNational. The problems of the British Empire came in for a share of thediscussion. These men not only read Burke and Hume, Dickens and Scott,they read the newspapers of England and they kept up with the program ofEnglish political parties as their fathers had. And they quoted theiropinions as authority for a younger generation. On the shelves of thelibrary could be seen the classics in sober bindings and sprinkled withthem a few French authors of distinction.
Over all brooded the spirit of a sincere hospitality, gentle, cordial,simple, generous. They did not merely possess homes, they loved theirhomes. The two largest words in the tongue which they spoke⁹ were Dutyand Honor. They were not in a hurry. The race for wealth had neverinterested them. They took time to play, to rest, to worship God, tochat with their neighbors, to enjoy a sunset. They came of a raceof world-conquering men and they felt no necessity for hurrying orapologizing for their birthright.
It was precisely¹⁷ this attitude of mind which made the savage¹¹ attack ofthe Abolitionists so far-reaching in its possible results.

1 plantation   

n.种植园，大农场

参考例句：

• His father-in-law is a plantation manager.他岳父是个种植园经营者。
• The plantation owner has possessed himself of a vast piece of land.这个种植园主把大片土地占为己有。

2 sincerity   

n.真诚，诚意；真实

参考例句：

• His sincerity added much more authority to the story.他的真诚更增加了故事的说服力。
• He tried hard to satisfy me of his sincerity.他竭力让我了解他的诚意。

3 secular   

n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的

参考例句：

• We live in an increasingly secular society.我们生活在一个日益非宗教的社会。
• Britain is a plural society in which the secular predominates.英国是个世俗主导的多元社会。

4 devout   

adj.虔诚的，虔敬的，衷心的 (n.devoutness)

参考例句：

• His devout Catholicism appeals to ordinary people.他对天主教的虔诚信仰感染了普通民众。
• The devout man prayed daily.那位虔诚的男士每天都祈祷。

5 fervor   

n.热诚；热心；炽热

参考例句：

• They were concerned only with their own religious fervor.他们只关心自己的宗教热诚。
• The speech aroused nationalist fervor.这个演讲喚起了民族主义热情。

6 revivals   

n.复活( revival的名词复数 )；再生；复兴；（老戏多年后）重新上演

参考例句：

• She adored parades, lectures, conventions, camp meetings, church revivals-in fact every kind of dissipation. 她最喜欢什么游行啦、演讲啦、开大会啦、营火会啦、福音布道会啦--实际上各种各样的娱乐。 来自辞典例句
• The history of art is the history of revivals. 艺术的历史就是复兴的历史。 来自互联网

7 exhortation   

n.劝告，规劝

参考例句：

• After repeated exhortation by his comrades,he finally straightened out his thinking.经过同志们再三劝导，他终于想通了。
• Foreign funds alone are clearly not enough,nor are exhortations to reform.光有外资显然不够，只是劝告人们进行改革也不行。

8 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

9 spoke   

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

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

10 savages   

未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There're some savages living in the forest. 森林里居住着一些野人。
• That's an island inhabited by savages. 那是一个野蛮人居住的岛屿。

11 savage   

adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人

参考例句：

• The poor man received a savage beating from the thugs.那可怜的人遭到暴徒的痛打。
• He has a savage temper.他脾气粗暴。

12 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

13 gamut   

n.全音阶，(一领域的)全部知识

参考例句：

• The exhibition runs the whole gamut of artistic styles.这次展览包括了所有艺术风格的作品。
• This poem runs the gamut of emotions from despair to joy.这首诗展现了从绝望到喜悦的感情历程。

14 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 buckles   

搭扣，扣环( buckle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She gazed proudly at the shiny buckles on her shoes. 她骄傲地注视着鞋上闪亮的扣环。
• When the plate becomes unstable, it buckles laterally. 当板失去稳定时，就发生横向屈曲。

16 mutual   

adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的

参考例句：

• We must pull together for mutual interest.我们必须为相互的利益而通力合作。
• Mutual interests tied us together.相互的利害关系把我们联系在一起。

17 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。