Leaning on his walking-cane, he made his way painfully to the Rue9 Saint-Honoré and entered the shop of Madame Pinson at the sign of the Panier Fleuri. Here was displayed an abundant stock of children’s toys to tempt10 customers seeking presents for this New Year’s Day of 1696. You could scarce move for the host of mechanical figures of dancers and tipplers, birds in the bush that clapped their wings and sang, cabinets full of wax puppets, soldiers in white and blue ranged in battle array, and dolls dressed some as fine ladies, others as servant wenches, for the inequality of stations, established by God himself among mankind, appeared even in these innocent mannikins.
M. Chanterelle chose a doll. The one he selected was dressed like the Princess of Savoy on her arrival in France, on November 4th. The head was a mass of bows and ribbons; she wore a very stiff corsage, covered with gold filigrees11, and a brocade petticoat with an overskirt caught up by pearl clasps.
M. Chanterelle smiled to think of the delight such a lovely doll would give Mademoiselle de Doucine, and when Madame Pinson handed him the Princess of Savoy wrapped up in silk paper, a gleam of sensuous12 satisfaction flitted over his kind face, pinched as it was with illness, pale with fasting and haggard with the fear of hell.
He thanked Madame Pinson courteously13, clapped the Princess under his arm and walked away, dragging his leg painfully, towards the house where he knew Mademoiselle de Doucine was waiting for him to attend her morning levée.
At the corner of the Rue de l’ Arbre-Sec, he met M. Spon, whose great nose dived almost into his lace cravat14.
“Good morning, Monsieur Spon,” he greeted him. “I wish you a happy New Year, and I pray God everything may turn out according to your wishes.”
“Oh! my good sir, don’t say that,” cried M. Spon. “‘T is often for our chastisement15 that God grants our wishes. Et tribuit eis petittonem eorum.”
“‘Tis very true,” returned M. Chanterelle, “we do not know our own best interests. I am an example myself, as I stand before you. I thought at first that the complaint I have suffered from for the last two years was a curse; but I see now it is a blessing16, since it has removed me from the abominable17 life I was leading at the play-houses and in society. This complaint, which tortures my limbs and is like to turn my brain, is a signal token of God’s goodness toward me. But, sir, will you not do me the favour to accompany me as far as the Rue du Roule, whither I am bound, to carry a New Year’s gift to my niece Mademoiselle de Doucine?”
At the words M. Spon threw up his arms and gave a great cry of horror.
“What!” he exclaimed. “Can it be M. Chanterelle I hear say such things,—and not some profligate18 libertine19? Is it possible, sir, that living as you do a religious and retired20 life, I see you all in a moment plunge21 into the vices22 of the day?”
“Alack! I did not think I was plunging23 into vice,” faltered24 M. Chanterelle, trembling all over. “But I sorely lack a lamp of guidance. Is it so great a sin then to offer a doll to Mademoiselle de Doucine?”
“Yes, a great and terrible sin,” replied M. Spon. “And what you are offering this innocent child to-day is meeter to be called an idol25, a devilish simulacrum, than a doll. Are you not aware, sir, that the custom of New Year’s gifts is a foul26 superstition27 and a hideous28 survival of Paganism?”
“No, I did not know that,” said M. Chanterelle.
“Let me tell you, then,” resumed M. Spon, “that this custom descends29 from the Romans, who seeing something divine in all beginnings, held the beginning of the year holy also. Hence, to act as they did is to do idolatry. You make New Year’s offerings, sir, in imitation of the worshippers of the God Janus. Be consistent, and like them consecrate30 to Juno the first day of every month.”
M. Chanterelle, hardly able to keep his feet, begged M. Spon to give him his arm, and while they moved on, M. Spon proceeded in the same vein31:
“Is it because the Astrologers have fixed32 on the first of January for the beginning of the year that you deem yourself obliged to make presents on that day? Pray, what call have you to revive at that precise date the affection of your friends. Was their love dying then with the dying year? And will it be so much worth the having when you have reanimated it by dint33 of cajolements and baneful34 gifts?”
“Sir,” returned the good M. Chanterelle, leaning on M. Spon’s arm and trying hard to make his tottering35 steps keep pace with his impetuous companion’s, “sir, before my sickness, I was only a miserable36 sinner, taking no heed37 but to treat my friends with civility and govern my behaviour by the principles of honesty and honour. Providence38 hath deigned39 to rescue me from this abyss, and I direct my conduct since my conversion40 by the admonitions the Director of my conscience gives me. But I have been so light-minded and thoughtless as not to seek his advice on this question of New Year’s gifts. What you tell me of them, sir, with the authority of a man alike admirable for sober living and sound doctrine41, amazes and confounds me.”
“Nay! that is indeed what I mean to do,” resumed M. Spon,—“to confound you, and to illumine you, not indeed by my own lights, which burn feebly, but by those of a great Doctor. Sit you down on that wayside post.”
And pushing M. Chanterelle into the archway of a carriage gate, where he made himself as easy as circumstances allowed, M. Spon drew from his pocket a little parchment-bound book, which he opened, and after hunting through the pages, lighted on a passage which he proceeded to read out loud amid a gaping42 circle of chimney-sweeps, chamber-maids, and scullions who had collected at the resounding43 tones of his voice:
“‘We who hold in abhorrence44 the festivals of the Jews, and who would deem strange and outlandish their Sabbaths and New Moons and other Holy Days erst loved of the Almighty45, we deal familiarly with the Saturnalia and the Calends of January, with the Matronalia and the Feast of the Winter Solstice; New Year’s gifts and foolish presents fill all our thoughts; merrymakings and junketings are in every house. The Heathens guard their religion better; they are heedful to observe none of our Feasts, for fear of being taken for Christians46, while we never hesitate to make ourselves look like Heathens by celebrating their Ceremonial Days.’
“You hear what I say,” went on M. Spon. “‘T is Tertullian speaks in this wise and from the depths of Africa displays before your eyes, sir, the odiousness47 of your behaviour. He it is upbraids48 you, declaring how ‘New Year’s gifts and foolish presents fill all your thoughts. You keep holy the feasts of the Heathen.’ I have not the honour to know your Confessor. But I shudder49, sir, to think of the way he neglects his duty toward you. Tell me this, can you rest assured that at the day of your death, when you come to stand before God, he will be at your side, to take upon him the sins he hath suffered you to fall into?”
After haranguing50 in this sort, he put back his book in his pocket and marched off with angry strides, followed at a distance by the astonished chimney-sweeps and scullions.
The good M. Chanterelle was left sitting alone on his post with the Princess of Savoy, and thinking how he was risking the eternal pains of hell fire for giving a doll to Mademoiselle de Doucine, his niece, he fell to pondering the unfathomable mysteries of Religion.
His legs, which had been tottery51 for several months, refused to carry him, and he felt as unhappy as ever a well-meaning man possibly can in this world.
He had been sitting stranded52 in this distressful53 mood on his post for some minutes when a Capuchin friar stepped up and addressed him:
“Sir, will you not give New Year’s presents to the Little Brethren who are poor, for the love of God?”
“Why! what! good Father,” M. Chan-terelle burst out, “you are a man of religion, and you ask me for New Year’s gifts?”
“Sir,” replied the Capuchin, “the good St. Francis bade his sons make merry with all simplicity54. Give the Capuchins wherewith to make a good meal this day, that they may endure with cheerfulness the abstinence and fasting they must observe all the rest of the year,—barring, of course, Sundays and Feast Days.”
M. Chanterelle gazed at the holy man with wonder:
“Are you not afraid, Father, that this custom of New Year’s gifts is baneful to the soul?”
“No, I am not afraid.”
“The custom comes to us from the Pagans.”
“The Pagans sometimes followed good customs. God was pleased to suffer some faint rays of his light to pierce the darkness of the Gentiles. Sir, if you refuse to give us presents, never refuse a boon55 to our poor little ones. We have a home for foundlings. With this poor crown I shall buy each child a little paper windmill and a cake. They will owe you the only pleasure perhaps of all their life; for they are not fated to have much joy in the world. Their laughter will go up to heaven; when children laugh, they praise the Lord.”
M. Chanterelle laid his well-filled purse in the poor friar’s palm and got him down from his post, saying over softly to himself the word he had just heard:
“When children laugh, they praise the Lord.”
Then his soul was comforted and he marched off with a firmer step to carry the Princess of Savoy to Mademoiselle de Doucine, his niece.
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1
penance
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| n.（赎罪的）惩罪 | |
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chilly
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| adj.凉快的，寒冷的 | |
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bleak
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| adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的 | |
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4
mortifying
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| adj.抑制的，苦修的v.使受辱( mortify的现在分词 )；伤害（人的感情）；克制；抑制（肉体、情感等） | |
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solicitous
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| adj.热切的，挂念的 | |
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6
salvation
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| n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困 | |
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7
retirement
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| n.退休，退职 | |
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aloof
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| adj.远离的；冷淡的，漠不关心的 | |
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9
rue
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| n.懊悔，芸香，后悔；v.后悔，悲伤，懊悔 | |
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10
tempt
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| vt.引诱，勾引，吸引，引起…的兴趣 | |
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11
filigrees
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| v.（用金丝等制成的）精工制品( filigree的第三人称单数 )；精致的物品 | |
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12
sensuous
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| adj.激发美感的；感官的，感觉上的 | |
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13
courteously
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| adv.有礼貌地，亲切地 | |
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14
cravat
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| n.领巾，领结；v.使穿有领结的服装，使结领结 | |
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15
chastisement
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| n.惩罚 | |
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16
blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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17
abominable
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| adj.可厌的，令人憎恶的 | |
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18
profligate
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| adj.行为不检的；n.放荡的人，浪子，肆意挥霍者 | |
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19
libertine
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| n.淫荡者；adj.放荡的，自由思想的 | |
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20
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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21
plunge
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| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
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22
vices
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| 缺陷( vice的名词复数 )； 恶习； 不道德行为； 台钳 | |
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23
plunging
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| adj.跳进的，突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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24
faltered
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| （嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃 | |
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25
idol
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| n.偶像，红人，宠儿 | |
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26
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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27
superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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28
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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29
descends
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| v.下来( descend的第三人称单数 )；下去；下降；下斜 | |
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30
consecrate
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| v.使圣化，奉…为神圣；尊崇；奉献 | |
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31
vein
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| n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络 | |
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32
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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33
dint
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| n.由于，靠；凹坑 | |
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34
baneful
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| adj.有害的 | |
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35
tottering
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| adj.蹒跚的，动摇的v.走得或动得不稳( totter的现在分词 )；踉跄；蹒跚；摇摇欲坠 | |
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36
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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37
heed
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| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
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38
providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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39
deigned
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| v.屈尊，俯就( deign的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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40
conversion
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| n.转化，转换，转变 | |
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41
doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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42
gaping
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| adj.口的；张口的；敞口的；多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 )；张开，张大 | |
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43
resounding
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| adj. 响亮的 | |
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44
abhorrence
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| n.憎恶；可憎恶的事 | |
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45
almighty
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| adj.全能的，万能的；很大的，很强的 | |
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46
Christians
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| n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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47
odiousness
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| n.可憎；讨厌；可恨 | |
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48
upbraids
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| v.责备，申斥，谴责( upbraid的第三人称单数 ) | |
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49
shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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50
haranguing
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| v.高谈阔论( harangue的现在分词 ) | |
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51
tottery
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| adj.蹒跚的，摇摇欲倒 | |
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52
stranded
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| a.搁浅的，进退两难的 | |
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53
distressful
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| adj.苦难重重的，不幸的，使苦恼的 | |
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54
simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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55
boon
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| n.恩赐，恩物，恩惠 | |
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