The news of Davy Crockett’s re?lection, in spite of the opposition4 of the Jackson party, was received in the Eastern States with joy, and even the Southern States of the Atlantic coast, hugging to their bosoms5 the fragments of the new idol6 of Nullification, heard of the backwoodsman’s victory with grim satisfaction. Clay and Webster and John Quincy Adams stood with such men as Albert[226] Gallatin and the Quaker statesmen of Philadelphia. The voters who had made the hero of the treaty at Hickory Grove7 their President still had a kindly8 feeling for the man who had dared to offer an honest opposition to the irascible old General. The wily politicians cultivated the renown9 of Davy Crockett as a plant of great promise, that might even make Presidential timber.
Davy’s opposition to Andrew Jackson was outspoken10 and undisguised. After his tour of the Eastern cities, to be hereinafter described, he spoke11 in Congress upon the subject of the “Bill Making Appropriations12 for Fortifications.” The records show that his words were in part as follows:
“Sir, we have no Government but Andrew Jackson, without Secretaries; and, sir, he is surrounded by a set of imps13 of famine that are as hungry as the flies that we have read of in ?sop’s Fables14, that came after the fox and sucked his blood. Sir, they are a hungry swarm15, and will lick up every dollar of the public money.”
Mr. Dunlap, of Tennessee, replied to Crockett with heated language, and Crockett again took the[227] floor to reply, saying that he wished it to be distinctly understood that he took back nothing that he had said, but that he would reassert everything and go even further. Standing16 in his place for almost the last time, he lifted his hand in passionate17 protest against the proposed use of the public funds, and took his seat with these words:
“We have no Government, no Government at all. God only knows what is to become of the country in these days of misrule. Sir, I am done.” Such attitude as this accounts for the infinite pains with which the opposition fought him two years later in his campaign for a fourth term. While he was attending to his Congressional duties, his political fences were demolished18 by the stay-at-homes, and in their places were set up what in these days of such unsightly nuisances might be called the bill-boards of partisan19 defamation20.
The comparatively inactive life of a Congressman21 had begun to tell upon the scout22 and bear-hunter of the Mississippi cane23. He decided24 to take a trip through the Eastern States for the benefit of his health. Although it was in the midst of the spring[228] session of Congress, he left Washington on the 25th of April, 1834, and did not return until the latter part of June. He says of this proposed journey:
“During this session of Congress, I thought I would take a travel through the Northern States. I had braved the lonely forests of the West, I had shouldered the warrior’s rifle in the far South; but the North and East I had never seen. I seemed to like members of Congress who came from these parts, and wished to know what kind of constituents25 they had.”
Up to this time his knowledge of the East was confined to Baltimore and Washington. He had read and heard much of the wonders of the greater cities of the Atlantic seaboard, but he had never felt free to describe them to his fellow-citizens of western Tennessee. He has left no word regarding his impressions of the nation’s capital. It would be interesting to compare his views with those of Charles Dickens, who visited many of the same cities a few years later. This is what Dickens thought of Washington in 1842:
[229]
“Take the worst parts of the City Road and Pentonville, or the straggling outskirts26 of Paris, where the houses are smallest, preserving all their oddities, but especially the small shops and dwellings27, occupied in Pentonville (but not in Washington) by furniture-brokers, keepers of poor eating-houses, and fanciers of birds. Burn the whole down; build it up again in wood and plaster; widen it a little; throw in part of St. John’s Wood; put green blinds outside all the private houses, with a red curtain and a white one in every window; plow28 up all the roads; plant a great deal of coarse turf in every place where it ought not to be; erect29 three handsome buildings in stone and marble, anywhere, but the more entirely30 out of everybody’s way the better; call one the Post Office, one the Patent Office, and one the Treasury31; make it scorching32 hot in the morning, and freezing cold in the afternoon, with an occasional tornado33 of wind and dust; leave a brick-field without the bricks, in all central places where a street may naturally be expected; and that is Washington.”
From this sort of place, perhaps even less beautiful,[230] Davy was whirled away on the April morning before mentioned, viewing from his seat on the top of a great coach the roadside scenes between Washington and Baltimore. Upon arriving at the latter city, he put up at Barnum’s Hotel, kept by “Uncle Davy,” whom he gladly hailed as a namesake. He says that no one could find better quarters or a more hospitable34 city. He was asked to dine with his friend Wilkes and other Baltimore gentlemen, and spent the evening pleasantly in their company.
The next morning he was up early, in order to take the steamboat to Philadelphia. At this time only seventeen miles of railroad existed between the two cities, crossing the land in the vicinity of Wilmington and Havre de Grace. It was called the Charlestown and Augusta Railway. The departure from Baltimore seems to have given Davy a sense of lonesomeness. He felt what so many others since have felt—poor human mites35 among a swarm of busy ants!—that the loneliest place in all the world is a great city. He realized, and tells us so, that the tens of thousands who passed him[231] by in the noisy streets neither knew nor cared who he might be, and that at the best he might expect to be valued at about the price of a coon-skin. This we have already seen to be no more than a York shilling, or a quart of New England rum.
“The steamboat,” says Davy, “was the Carroll of Carrollton, a fine craft, with the rum old Commodore Chaytor for head man. A good fellow he is—all sorts of a man—bowing and scraping to the ladies, nodding to the gentlemen, cursing the crew, and his right eye broadcast upon the ‘opposition line,’ all at the same time. ‘Let go!’ says the old one, and off we walked in prime style.”
They soon passed Fort McHenry, forever glorified36 by the stubborn defense37 that has made “The Star-Spangled Banner” our national song of victory, and North Point was pointed38 out to Davy as the spot where the British had once planned to land their attacking forces. The run to Charlestown was soon finished, and here Davy saw the sight of his life: a train, on the seventeen-mile railroad between Delaware City and Chesapeake Bay. As the first locomotive in the United States came from[232] England in 1825, it may be believed that what Davy saw in 1834 would be almost as astonishing to people of to-day. A dozen vehicles that resembled old-fashioned coaches stood in line on the flat rails that formed the railroad, while an ungainly locomotive, with a smoke-stack nearly as large as the boiler39, and with a flat-car behind, loaded with wood and barrels of water for use on the run, was blowing off steam and showing every sign of a desire to make a start. The locomotive looked much like the kind now used by threshing outfits40.
Behold41, then, Davy, seated upon the top of one of the coaches, as if on a diligence in the days of Claude Duval, intent upon every move:
“After a good deal of fuss we all got seated and moved slowly off, the engine wheezing42 as if she had the tizzick. By and by she began to take short breaths, and away we went with a blue streak43 after us.”
Soon after starting a team was sighted in the gathering44 darkness of the evening. When they saw the shower of sparks from the stack of the infernal machine that was coming towards them, the horses[233] ran away with a right good will, upsetting the wagon45, and scattering46 the freight along the way.
Let us now follow Davy’s own story of his visit. After the dinner on the boat, he went on deck, in time to see that a great display of flags was taking place on board. When he asked the reason, the captain told him that it was to be a signal that Crockett was coming, given on account of the desire of the Philadelphia people to meet him at the wharf47.
“We went on till we came in sight of the city,” says Davy’s account, “and as we drew near to the wharf I saw the whole face of the earth covered with people, all anxiously looking on towards the boat. The captain and myself were standing on the bow deck. He pointed his finger at me, and people slung48 their hats and huzzaed for Colonel Crockett. It struck me with astonishment49 to hear a strange people huzzaing for me, and made me feel sort of queer. But I had to meet it, and so I stepped on to the wharf, where the folks came crowding around me, saying, ‘Give me the hand of an honest man.’ I did not know what all this[234] meant; but some gentlemen took hold of me, and, pressing through the crowd, put me into an elegant barouche, drawn50 by four fine horses. They then told me to bow to the people; I did so, and with much difficulty we moved off. The streets were crowded to a great distance, and the windows full of people, looking out, I supposed, to see the wild man. I thought I would rather be in the wilderness51, with my gun and my dogs, than to be attracting all that fuss. I had never seen the like before, and did not know exactly what to say or do. After some time we reached the United States Hotel, in Chestnut52 Street.”
The crowd having followed his carriage to the hotel, Davy at last showed himself upon the balcony front, bowing repeatedly with hat in hand, as we have seen Taft and Roosevelt do upon so many occasions, in these days of Presidential travel. At the last he was constrained53 to speak a few words of thanks, in which he recognized the existence of a state of high excitement in political affairs, which he wished to make no worse. He promised to speak again at one o’clock the next afternoon,[235] and then withdrew. That night, as he lay restless in a strange place, he looked forward to the promised speech with much doubt and fear, but at last consoled himself by trusting to the good luck that had already got him “through many a scrape before.”
The next morning Judge Baldwin, Judge Hemphill, John Sergeant54, and others, called upon Davy, and afterwards he was invited to visit the Fairmount waterworks, then the pride of the whole State. He was astonished at the volume of water lifted by a “few wheels,” but even more so by the lavish55 use of the supply. He says that such scrubbing of steps and even of pavements he had never seen, and he strongly suspected the housemaids of having web feet. The next place visited was the Mint, and the sight of real money, as he calls it, stirred him to comment upon the flood of paper then in circulation. The statement made to Davy that the workmen were too much accustomed to handling coin ever to think of stealing it, was a “poser.” He had thought that such constant temptation was the most powerful cause of crime. During[236] the forenoon a visit was made to the Asylum56 for the Insane, whereat Davy thanked God for the bounty57 and humaneness58 of the city in thus providing for the unfortunates within its walls. When the round of the city had been made, the time for the promised speech had nearly arrived. He says that he had made set speeches in Congress, when all his colleagues were against him, and further:
“I had made stump59 speeches at home, in the face of all the little office-yelpers who were opposed to me; but indeed, when I got in sight of the Exchange, and saw the streets crowded, I ’most wished to take back my promise, but I was brought up by hearing a youngster say, as I passed, ‘Go ahead, Davy Crockett.’ I said to myself, ‘I have faced the enemy; these are friends. I have fronted the savage60 red man of the forest; these are civilized61. I’ll keep cool, and let them have it.’”
Davy went to the Exchange, and in a few moments stood before that great crowd, bowing in response to the continued cheering that delayed the possibility of his being heard. He says there were five thousand people in front of the building;[237] it was Philadelphia exalting62 to the skies the symbolism of its dislike and hatred63 of Andrew Jackson, personified in “the wild man from the West.” For half an hour Davy spoke to the immense audience, and for an hour afterwards stood upon the steps of the Exchange, shaking hands with eager admirers.
Here is the spectacle of a man who had risen, as we have seen, from the lowly log-house settlement of the Western slopes, unschooled, unpolished, except by the rude processes of hardships and necessity, yet who could rise to such self-command as this. Thousands of men of the higher order of the educated fail when they try to think and talk at the same time. The possibilities that were in Davy Crockett’s pathway were without limit; a vision of political greatness hovered64 about his pillow in the midnight hours, and beckoned65 him onward66 in the glare of day. That he should thus be known by the people of the seaboard filled his soul with pride and his heart with hope. He forgot the bitter words he had spoken in honest wrath67 against what he believed to be the misdeeds of the[238] administration of Andrew Jackson. Like one camping in the peaceful forest, unmindful of the stern and silent foe68 upon his trail, he rested in a contentment that was undisturbed by doubt. He looked forward to re?lection the next year, or to a gift from the people of even greater power. There is no sign of his honest nature being spoiled by so much attention. He was never blind to the possibility of deception69 in the adulation of the public, but the loud cheers of the men of the Quaker City rang true in his ears, and he believed them as sincere as himself.
In the evening Davy visited the Walnut Street Theatre, where he saw Jim Crow—“as good a nigger,” he says, “as if he was clean black, except the bandy legs.” After the theatre, Davy said that he thought his own people found quite as much pleasure in their own simple recreations as did the city folks in their more expensive and showy ones, and against anything the city could show he would put the fun of the all-night country dance.
“It would do you good to see our boys and girls dancing,” said he. “None of your straddling and[239] mincing70 and sadying, but a regular sifter71, cut-the-buckle, chicken-flutter set-to.” It is well, sometimes, to get another view of ourselves from such a standpoint as Davy’s.
The Philadelphia people, especially the politicians of the Whig party, outdid themselves in entertaining the hero of the hour. The next morning he was presented with a forty-dollar seal for his watch-chain. The design showed a “match race,” as he styles it, with two horses at full speed, and with the motto, “Go Ahead!” He thought it the finest seal he had ever seen, and says that after his return to Washington in June, the members of Congress almost wore it out in making impressions to send all over the country.
The seal had hardly been presented before Mr. James Sanderson was announced. He had come to ask Davy for his wishes and advice in procuring72 a rifle that the Young Whigs of the city desired to present to Colonel Crockett. Davy was perhaps more pleased with this gift than by any other that could have been offered him. He gave the specifications73 as to size, weight, and so on, and it was[240] arranged that the rifle should be given to him on his way back to Congress.
On Tuesday Davy visited the Navy Yard and saw on the stocks the largest ship that had ever been laid down in the United States. He also visited the Schuylkill bridge, and was shown the railroad that had been extended a hundred miles into the State, “without making any fuss about it.” Upon seeing Girard College, he remarked that blood is thicker than water, and that he would have made his own kin2 rich first of all, and afterwards might have given away the rest. His last evening was the occasion for a “pick-knick” supper. He says this meant as much as he and his friends could eat and drink, with nothing to pay.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
walnut
|
|
| n.胡桃，胡桃木，胡桃色，茶色 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
kin
|
|
| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
celebrated
|
|
| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
opposition
|
|
| n.反对，敌对 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
bosoms
|
|
| 胸部( bosom的名词复数 )； 胸怀； 女衣胸部（或胸襟）； 和爱护自己的人在一起的情形 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
idol
|
|
| n.偶像，红人，宠儿 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
grove
|
|
| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
kindly
|
|
| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
renown
|
|
| n.声誉，名望 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
outspoken
|
|
| adj.直言无讳的，坦率的，坦白无隐的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
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： |
|
|
|
|
12
appropriations
|
|
| n.挪用（appropriation的复数形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
imps
|
|
| n.（故事中的）小恶魔( imp的名词复数 )；小魔鬼；小淘气；顽童 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
fables
|
|
| n.寓言( fable的名词复数 )；神话，传说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
swarm
|
|
| n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
passionate
|
|
| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
demolished
|
|
| v.摧毁( demolish的过去式和过去分词 )；推翻；拆毁（尤指大建筑物）；吃光 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
partisan
|
|
| adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
defamation
|
|
| n.诽谤；中伤 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
Congressman
|
|
| n.（美）国会议员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
scout
|
|
| n.童子军，侦察员；v.侦察，搜索 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
cane
|
|
| n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
decided
|
|
| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
constituents
|
|
| n.选民( constituent的名词复数 )；成分；构成部分；要素 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
outskirts
|
|
| n.郊外，郊区 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
dwellings
|
|
| n.住处，处所( dwelling的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
plow
|
|
| n.犁，耕地，犁过的地；v.犁，费力地前进[英]plough | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
erect
|
|
| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
entirely
|
|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
treasury
|
|
| n.宝库；国库，金库；文库 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
scorching
|
|
| adj. 灼热的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
tornado
|
|
| n.飓风，龙卷风 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
hospitable
|
|
| adj.好客的；宽容的；有利的，适宜的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
mites
|
|
| n.（尤指令人怜悯的）小孩( mite的名词复数 )；一点点；一文钱；螨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
glorified
|
|
| 美其名的，变荣耀的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
defense
|
|
| n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
boiler
|
|
| n.锅炉；煮器(壶，锅等) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
outfits
|
|
| n.全套装备( outfit的名词复数 )；一套服装；集体；组织v.装备，配置设备，供给服装( outfit的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
behold
|
|
| v.看，注视，看到 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
wheezing
|
|
| v.喘息，发出呼哧呼哧的喘息声( wheeze的现在分词 )；哮鸣 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
streak
|
|
| n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
gathering
|
|
| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
wagon
|
|
| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
scattering
|
|
| n.[物]散射；散乱，分散；在媒介质中的散播adj.散乱的；分散在不同范围的；广泛扩散的；（选票）数量分散的v.散射(scatter的ing形式)；散布；驱散 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
wharf
|
|
| n.码头，停泊处 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
slung
|
|
| 抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
astonishment
|
|
| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
drawn
|
|
| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
wilderness
|
|
| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
chestnut
|
|
| n.栗树，栗子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
constrained
|
|
| adj.束缚的,节制的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
sergeant
|
|
| n.警官，中士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
lavish
|
|
| adj.无节制的；浪费的；vt.慷慨地给予，挥霍 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
asylum
|
|
| n.避难所，庇护所，避难 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
bounty
|
|
| n.慷慨的赠予物，奖金；慷慨，大方；施与 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
humaneness
|
|
| n.深情，慈悲 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
stump
|
|
| n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
savage
|
|
| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
civilized
|
|
| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
exalting
|
|
| a.令人激动的，令人喜悦的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
hatred
|
|
| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
hovered
|
|
| 鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
beckoned
|
|
| v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
onward
|
|
| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
wrath
|
|
| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
foe
|
|
| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
deception
|
|
| n.欺骗，欺诈；骗局，诡计 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
mincing
|
|
| adj.矫饰的；v.切碎；切碎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
sifter
|
|
| n.（用于筛撒粉状食物的）筛具，撒粉器；滤器；罗圈；罗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
procuring
|
|
| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的现在分词 )；拉皮条 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
specifications
|
|
| n.规格；载明；详述；（产品等的）说明书；说明书( specification的名词复数 )；详细的计划书；载明；详述 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |