Peter found that McGivney’s device had worked perfectly2. Peter was now a martyr3 and a hero; his position as one of the “left wingers” was definitely established, and anyone who ventured to say a word against him would be indignantly rebuked4. As a matter of fact, no one desired to say much. Pat McCormick, Peter’s enemy, was out on an organizing trip among the oil workers.
Duggan had apparently5 taken a fancy to Peter, and took him to meet some of his friends, who lived in an old, deserted6 warehouse7, which happened to have skylights in the roof; this constituted each room a “studio,” and various radicals8 rented the rooms, and lived here a sort of picnic existence which Peter learned was called “Bohemian.” They were young people, most of them, with one or two old fellows, derelicts; they wore flannel9 shirts, and soft ties, or no ties at all, and their fingers were always smeared10 with paint. Their life requirements were simple; all they wanted was an unlimited11 quantity of canvas and paint, some cigarettes, and at long intervals12 a pickle13 or some sauer-kraut and a bottle of beer. They would sit all day in front of an easel, painting the most inconceivable pictures—pink skies and green-faced women and purple grass and fantastic splurges of color which they would call anything from “The Woman with a Mustard Pot” to “A Nude14 Coming Downstairs.” And there would be others, like Duggan, writing verses all day; pounding away on a typewriter, if they could manage to rent or borrow one. There were several who sang, and one who played the flute15 and caused all the others to tear their hair. There was a boy fresh from the country, who declared that he had run away from home because the family sang hymns16 all day Sunday, and never sang in tune17.
From people such as these you would hear the most revolutionary utterances18; but Peter soon realized that it was mostly just talk with them. They would work off their frenzies19 with a few dashes of paint or some ferocious20 chords on the piano. The really dangerous ones were not here; they were hidden away in offices or dens21 of their own, where they were prompting strikes and labor22 agitations23, and preparing incendiary literature to be circulated among the poor.
You met such people in the Socialist24 local, and in the I. W. W. headquarters, and in numerous clubs and propaganda societies which Peter investigated, and to which he was welcomed as a member. In the Socialist local there was a fierce struggle going on over the war. What should be the attitude of the party? There was a group, a comparatively small group, which believed that the interests of Socialism would best be served by helping25 the Allies to the overthrow26 of the Kaiser. There was another group, larger and still more determined27, which believed that the war was a conspiracy28 of allied29 capitalism30 to rivet31 its power upon the world, and this group wanted the party to stake its existence upon a struggle against American participation32. These two groups contested for the minds of the rank and file of the members, who seemed to be bewildered by the magnitude of the issue and the complexity33 of the arguments. Peter’s orders were to go with the extreme anti-militarists; they were the ones whose confidence he wished to gain, also they were the trouble-makers of the movement, and McGivney’s instructions were to make all the trouble possible.
Over at the I. W. W. headquarters was another group whose members were debating their attitude to the war. Should they call strikes and try to cripple the leading industries of the country? Or should they go quietly on with their organization work, certain that in the end the workers would sicken of the military adventure into which they were being snared34? Some of these “wobblies” were Socialist party members also, and were active in both gatherings35; two of them, Henderson, the lumber-jack, and Gus Lindstrom, the sailor, had been in jail with Peter, and had been among his intimates ever since.
Also Peter met the Pacifists; the “Peoples’ Council,” as they called themselves. Many of these were religious people, two or three clergymen, and Donald Gordon, the Quaker, and a varied37 assortment38 of women—sentimental young girls who shrunk from the thought of bloodshed, and mothers with tear-stained cheeks who did not want their darlings to be drafted. Peter saw right away that these mothers had no “conscientious objections.” Each mother was thinking about her own son and about nothing else. Peter was irritated at this, and took it for his special job to see that those mother’s darlings did their duty.
He attended a gathering36 of Pacifists in the home of a school-teacher. They made heart-breaking speeches, and finally little Ada Ruth, the poetess, got up and wanted to know, was it all to end in talk, or would they organize and prepare to take some action against the draft? Would they not at least go out on the street, get up a parade with banners of protest, and go to jail as Comrade Peter Gudge had so nobly done?
Comrade Peter was called on for “a few words.” Comrade Peter explained that he was no speaker; after all, actions spoke39 louder than words, and he had tried to show what he believed. The others were made ashamed by this, and decided40 for a bold stand at once. Ada Ruth became president and Donald Gordon secretary of the “Anti-conscription League”—a list of whose charter members was turned over to McGivney the same evening.
点击收听单词发音
1 radical | |
n.激进份子,原子团,根号;adj.根本的,激进的,彻底的 | |
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2 perfectly | |
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地 | |
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3 martyr | |
n.烈士,殉难者;vt.杀害,折磨,牺牲 | |
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4 rebuked | |
责难或指责( rebuke的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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5 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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6 deserted | |
adj.荒芜的,荒废的,无人的,被遗弃的 | |
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7 warehouse | |
n.仓库;vt.存入仓库 | |
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8 radicals | |
n.激进分子( radical的名词复数 );根基;基本原理;[数学]根数 | |
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9 flannel | |
n.法兰绒;法兰绒衣服 | |
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10 smeared | |
弄脏; 玷污; 涂抹; 擦上 | |
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11 unlimited | |
adj.无限的,不受控制的,无条件的 | |
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12 intervals | |
n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 );间隔时间;[数学]区间;(戏剧、电影或音乐会的)幕间休息 | |
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13 pickle | |
n.腌汁,泡菜;v.腌,泡 | |
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14 nude | |
adj.裸体的;n.裸体者,裸体艺术品 | |
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15 flute | |
n.长笛;v.吹笛 | |
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16 hymns | |
n.赞美诗,圣歌,颂歌( hymn的名词复数 ) | |
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17 tune | |
n.调子;和谐,协调;v.调音,调节,调整 | |
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18 utterances | |
n.发声( utterance的名词复数 );说话方式;语调;言论 | |
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19 frenzies | |
狂乱( frenzy的名词复数 ); 极度的激动 | |
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20 ferocious | |
adj.凶猛的,残暴的,极度的,十分强烈的 | |
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21 dens | |
n.牙齿,齿状部分;兽窝( den的名词复数 );窝点;休息室;书斋 | |
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22 labor | |
n.劳动,努力,工作,劳工;分娩;vi.劳动,努力,苦干;vt.详细分析;麻烦 | |
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23 agitations | |
(液体等的)摇动( agitation的名词复数 ); 鼓动; 激烈争论; (情绪等的)纷乱 | |
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24 socialist | |
n.社会主义者;adj.社会主义的 | |
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25 helping | |
n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的,辅助的 | |
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26 overthrow | |
v.推翻,打倒,颠覆;n.推翻,瓦解,颠覆 | |
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27 determined | |
adj.坚定的;有决心的 | |
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28 conspiracy | |
n.阴谋,密谋,共谋 | |
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29 allied | |
adj.协约国的;同盟国的 | |
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30 capitalism | |
n.资本主义 | |
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31 rivet | |
n.铆钉;vt.铆接,铆牢;集中(目光或注意力) | |
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32 participation | |
n.参与,参加,分享 | |
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33 complexity | |
n.复杂(性),复杂的事物 | |
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34 snared | |
v.用罗网捕捉,诱陷,陷害( snare的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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35 gatherings | |
聚集( gathering的名词复数 ); 收集; 采集; 搜集 | |
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36 gathering | |
n.集会,聚会,聚集 | |
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37 varied | |
adj.多样的,多变化的 | |
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38 assortment | |
n.分类,各色俱备之物,聚集 | |
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39 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 | |
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40 decided | |
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
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