On the American side of the Niagara, a few miles below the Falls, is a deep chasm2, bearing the inauspicious christening of the Devil's Hole. Near it there is—or perhaps was, for things have changed thereabouts—a path winding3 far down among rocks and forests, till it leads to the brink4 of the river. Here, darkened by the beetling5 cliffs and sombre forests, the Niagara surges on its way, like a compressed ocean, raging to break free. At the verge6 of this watery7 convulsion stood Holyoke and his wife, Miss Leslie, and Morton, whom they had chanced to meet that morning.
"It is very fine, no doubt," said the good-natured, though very shallow Mrs. Holyoke, "but I have no mind to take cold in these dark woods. If we stay much longer, I believe I shall go mad, looking at that rushing, foaming8 water, and throw myself in. Come, Harry9, let us go back to daylight again."
"Just as you please," said the model husband, offering his arm.
"Come, Edith;—why, she really seems to like it;—Edith!—she don't hear me; no wonder, in all this noise;—Edith, we are going back to the upper world. You can stay here, if you please, with Mr. Morton."
But Miss Leslie chose to follow her friend; while Morton aided her up the rough path.
"I have observed," he said, as they came to smoother ground, "in our excursions yesterday and to-day, that Mrs. Holyoke has not much of your liking10 for rocks, trees, and water. I mean, that she has no great taste for nature."
"At all events, she has an eye for what is picturesque11 in it. She is an artist, you know, and paints in water colors extremely well."
"Yes, and whenever she sees a landscape, she thinks only how it would look on paper or canvas, and judges it accordingly. That is not a genuine love of nature. One does not value a friend for good looks, or dress, or air; and so, in the same way, is not a true fondness for nature independent, to some extent at least, of effects of form, or color, or grouping?"
"It does not imply, I think, any artistic12 talent, or even a good eye for artistic effect. And yet I cannot conceive of a great landscape artist being without it, any more than a great poet."
"If he were, he would be no better than a refined scene painter. We are in a commercial country; so pardon me if I use commercial language. This liking for nature is a capital investment. She is always a kind mistress, a good friend, always ready with a tranquillizing word, never inconstant, never out of humor, never sad."
"And yet sometimes she can speak sadly, too."
Edith Leslie said no more; but there came before her the remembrance of her long watchings in the room of the dying Mrs. Leslie, when, seated by the window, open in the hot summer nights, she had listened, hour after hour, mournfully, drearily13, almost with superstitious14 awe15, to the chirping16 of the crickets, the plaintive17 cry of the whippoorwill, and now and then the hooting18 of a distant owl19.
"Here in America," continued Morton, "we ought to make the most of this feeling for nature; for we have very little else."
"And yet there is less of it here than in some other countries; in England, for instance."
"We are too busy for such vanities. Besides, we are just now in an unlucky position. A wilderness20 is one thing; savageness21 and solitude22 have a character of their own; and so has a polished landscape with associations of art, poetry, legend, and history."
"And we have destroyed the one, and have not yet found the other."
"And so, between two stools we fall to the ground."
"If you have a liking for a wilderness and primitive23 scenery, I don't think that you have much reason to complain; for you, at least, have contrived24 to see something of them."
"And you of the other sort; art and history wedded25 to nature; at Tivoli, for example,—at the Lake of Albano; where else shall I say?"
"Say, at Giardini, in Sicily."
"Why at Giardini? I never heard of it before."
"Not that the view there is finer than in some other places, though towards evening it is very beautiful. You see the ocean on one side, and the mountains on the other, covered to the top with orange, lemon, and olive trees, and Mount Etna rising above them all, with a spire26 of white smoke curling out of its crater27, tinted28 with red, yellow, and purple, where the sunset strikes it. On the mountain above you there is an ancient theatre, where a Greek audience once sat on the stone benches, and after them, in their turn, a Roman. On the peak of the mountain over it is a Saracen castle, and, not far off, a Norman tower."
"So that the whole is an embodiment of poetry and history from the days of the Odyssey29 downwards30."
"Nobody, I think, who has seen that eastern shore of Sicily can have escaped without some strong impression from it. The Fourrierites, you know, pretend to believe that the earth is a living being, with a soul, only a larger one, like ours that creep on the outside of it. One is sometimes tempted31 to adopt their idea, and fancy that the changing face of nature is the expression of the earth's thoughts, and its way of communicating with us."
"A landscape will sometimes have a life and a language,—that is, when one happens to be in the mood to hear it,—and yet, after all, association is commonly the main source of its power. The Hudson, I imagine, can match the Rhine in point of mere32 beauty; but a few ruined castles, with the memories about them, turn the tables dead against us."
"Not for their barbarism, but for the germs of civilization that lay in the midst of it. Religion towards God, devotion towards women—these were the vital ideas of the middle ages."
"But how were those ideas acted on? Their religion was not much better than a mass of superstitions34."
"Not more gross and vulgar than the spirit rapping superstition35, the last freak into which this age of reason has stumbled. And, for the other idea, the fundamental idea of chivalry36, we are beginning to replace it with woman's rights, Heaven deliver us!"
"Pardon me if I doubt whether ladies in the middle ages were better treated than they are now. The theory was admirable, no doubt, but the practice, if there were any, seems at this distance a little ridiculous."
"Chivalry was like Don Quixote, who stands for it—fantastic and absurd enough on the outside, but noble at the core."
"But you would not imply seriously that you would prefer the age of chivalry to this nineteenth century."
"No, the reign37 of shopkeepers is better than the reign of cutthroats. But the nineteenth century has no right to abuse the middle ages. The best feature of its civilization is handed down from them. That feeling which found a place in the rough hearts of our northern ancestry38, half savages39 as they were, and gave to their favorite goddess attributes more high and delicate than any with which the Greeks and Romans, at the summit of their refinement40, ever invested their Venus; the feeling which afterwards grew into the sentiment of chivalry, and, hand in hand with Christianity, has made our modern civilization what it is,—that is the heritage we owe to the middle ages, and for which we are bound to be grateful to them. It was a flower all the fairer for springing in the midst of darkness and barbarism; and now that we have it in a kinder soil, we can only hope that it is not fast losing its fragrance41 and brightness."
"Of that, I imagine, a woman is a very poor judge; but if it has lost its antique freshness, at all events we can enjoy it in peace and tranquillity42, and be spared the risk of life and limb in gathering43 it. Those sweetbrier blossoms that grow yonder, down the side of the precipice44, are very pretty, but it would require nothing less than a paladin, or a knight45 errant, made crazy with the hope of a smile, to get them and bring them up."
"Now it is you that asperse46 the present, and I that will defend it." And the words were hardly spoken before the young fool was over the edge of the cliff, scarcely hearing his companion's startled cry of remonstrance47.
The rock sloped steeply to a few feet below the spot where the brier grew, and then sank in a sheer precipice of a hundred feet or more, so that if hand or foot had failed him, his career would have ended somewhat abruptly48. To the spectatress above the danger seemed appalling49; but, with the climber's practised eye and well-strung sinews, it was in fact very slight. Once, indeed, a fragment of stone loosened under his foot, and fell with a splintering crash upon the rocks below, followed by a shower of pebbles50 and gravel51, rattling52 among the trees. But he soon reached his prize, secured it in his hatband, and grasping the friendly root of a spruce tree, drew himself up to the level top of the cliff.
Here he saw the fruit of his Quixotism. Edith Leslie, pale as death, seemed on the very verge of fainting. He sprang in great consternation53 to her aid, supported her to a rock near at hand, on which she could rest; and as her momentary54 dizziness passed away, she began to distinguish his eager words of apology and self-reproach.
"You will think that I have grown backward into a child again. Think what you will; I deserve your worst thought; only do not believe that I could fancy such paltry55 exploits and paltry risks could be a tribute worthy56 of you; or that you are to be served with such boy's service as that. Here are the flowers: throw them away, or keep them as a memento57 of my absurdity58; but let them remind you, at the same time, that wherever your wish points, there I would go, if it were into the jaws59 of fate."
Here, looking up, he saw the expediency60 of curtailing61 his eloquence62; for not far off appeared their two companions, returning to look for them. Both Miss Leslie and he had much ado to explain, the one why her face was so pale, the other why his dress was so dusty and disordered. The carriage was waiting for them on the road near by; and their morning's excursion being finished, they proceeded towards it, Morton leading the way in silence.
His first feeling had been one of compunction and indignation at himself; but close upon it followed another, very different—a sense of mixed suspense63 and delight. What augury64 might he not draw from the pale cheek and fainting form of his companion?
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1
folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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chasm
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| n.深坑，断层，裂口，大分岐，利害冲突 | |
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winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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brink
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| n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿 | |
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beetling
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| adj.突出的，悬垂的v.快速移动( beetle的现在分词 ) | |
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verge
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| n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临 | |
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7
watery
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| adj.有水的，水汪汪的；湿的，湿润的 | |
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foaming
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| adj.布满泡沫的；发泡 | |
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harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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10
liking
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| n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢 | |
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picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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drearily
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| 沉寂地，厌倦地，可怕地 | |
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superstitious
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| adj.迷信的 | |
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awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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16
chirping
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| 鸟叫，虫鸣( chirp的现在分词 ) | |
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plaintive
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| adj.可怜的，伤心的 | |
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hooting
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| （使）作汽笛声响，作汽车喇叭声( hoot的现在分词 )； 倒好儿； 倒彩 | |
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19
owl
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| n.猫头鹰，枭 | |
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wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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savageness
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| 天然，野蛮 | |
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solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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23
primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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wedded
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| adj.正式结婚的；渴望…的，执著于…的v.嫁，娶，（与…）结婚( wed的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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spire
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| n.(教堂)尖顶，尖塔，高点 | |
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crater
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| n.火山口，弹坑 | |
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tinted
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| adj. 带色彩的 动词tint的过去式和过去分词 | |
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29
odyssey
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| n.长途冒险旅行；一连串的冒险 | |
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30
downwards
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| adj./adv.向下的（地），下行的（地） | |
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31
tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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32
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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penchant
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| n.爱好，嗜好；（强烈的）倾向 | |
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34
superstitions
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| 迷信，迷信行为( superstition的名词复数 ) | |
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35
superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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36
chivalry
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| n.骑士气概，侠义；（男人）对女人彬彬有礼，献殷勤 | |
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37
reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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ancestry
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| n.祖先，家世 | |
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savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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40
refinement
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| n.文雅；高尚；精美；精制；精炼 | |
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41
fragrance
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| n.芬芳，香味，香气 | |
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42
tranquillity
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| n. 平静, 安静 | |
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43
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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44
precipice
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| n.悬崖，危急的处境 | |
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45
knight
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| n.骑士，武士；爵士 | |
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46
asperse
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| v.流言；n.流言 | |
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47
remonstrance
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| n抗议，抱怨 | |
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48
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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49
appalling
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| adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的 | |
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50
pebbles
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| [复数]鹅卵石； 沙砾； 卵石，小圆石( pebble的名词复数 ) | |
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51
gravel
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| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
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52
rattling
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| adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词 | |
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53
consternation
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| n.大为吃惊，惊骇 | |
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54
momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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55
paltry
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| adj.无价值的，微不足道的 | |
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56
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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57
memento
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| n.纪念品，令人回忆的东西 | |
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58
absurdity
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| n.荒谬，愚蠢；谬论 | |
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59
jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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60
expediency
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| n.适宜；方便；合算；利己 | |
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61
curtailing
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| v.截断，缩短( curtail的现在分词 ) | |
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62
eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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63
suspense
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| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
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64
augury
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| n.预言，征兆，占卦 | |
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