In deference13 to wise and faithful advice, the preface was withheld14 and suppressed; and one is thankful for that; and the episode is further[vi] a tender lesson for all who have faithfully tried to express the deepest thoughts of their heart, frankly15 and sincerely, never to make the least attempt to answer, or apologise, or explain. If one’s book, or poem, or picture survives, that is the best of all answers. If it does not survive, well, one has had one’s say, thought one’s thought, done one’s best to enlighten, to contribute, to console; and, like millions of other human utterances, the sound is lost upon the wind, the thought, like a rainbow radiance, has shone and vanished upon the cloud.
The book which is here presented has had its share both of good and evil report; and it fell so far short of even its own simple purpose, that I should be the last to hold that it had been blamed unduly16. I have no sort of intention of answering my critics; but I would wish to make plain what the book itself perhaps fails to make plain, namely, what my purpose in writing it was. The book grew rather than was made. It was, from the first, meant as a message to the weak rather than as a challenge to the strong. There is a theory of life, wielded17 like a cudgel by the hands of the merry and high-hearted, that the whole duty of man is to dash into the throng18, to eat and drink, to[vii] love and wed19, to laugh and fight. That is a fine temper; it is the mood of the sailor-comrades of Odysseus—
“That ever with a frolic welcome took
The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed
Free hearts, free foreheads.”
Such a mood, if it be not cruel, or tyrannous, or brutal20, or overbearing, is a generous and inspiriting thing. Joined, as I have seen it joined, with simplicity21 and unselfishness and utter tenderness, it is the finest spirit in the world—the spirit of the great and chivalrous22 knight23 of old days. But when this mood shows itself without the kindly24 and gracious knightly25 attributes, it is a vile26 and ugly thing, insolent27, selfish, animal.
The problem, then, which I tried to present in my book, was this: I imagined a temperament28 of a peaceful and gentle order, a temperament without robustness29 and joie de vivre, but with a sense of duty, a desire to help, an anxious wish not to shirk responsibility; and then I tried to depict30 such a character as being suddenly thrust into the shadow, set aside, as, by their misfortune or their fault, a very large number of persons are set aside, debarred from ambition, pushed into a backwater of life,[viii] made, by some failure of vitality31, into an invalid32 (a word which conceals33 many of the saddest tragedies of the world)—and I set myself to reflect how a man, with such limitations, might yet lead a life that was wholesome34 and contented35 and helpful; and then, at the last, I thought of him as confronted with a prospect36 of one of the deepest and sweetest blessings37 of life, the hope of a noble love; and then again, the tyrannous weakness that had laid him low, swept that too out of his grasp, and bade him exchange death for life, darkness for the cheerful day.
Who does not know of home after home where such things happen? of life after life, on which calamities38 fall, so that the best that the sufferer can do is to gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost? This book, The House of Quiet, was written for all whose life, by some stroke of God, seemed dashed into fragments, and who might feel so listless, so dismayed, that they could not summon up courage even to try and save something from the desolate39 wreck40.
To compare small things with great, it was an attempt to depict, in modern unromantic fashion, such a situation as that of Robinson[ix] Crusoe, where a man is thrown suddenly upon his own resources, shut off from sympathy and hope. In that great fiction one sees the patience, the courage, the inventiveness of the simple hero grow under the author’s hand; but the soul of my own poor hero had indeed suffered shipwreck41, though he fell among less stimulating42 surroundings than the caverns43 and freshets, the wildfowl and the savages44, of that green isle45 in the Caribbean Sea.
In the Life of William Morris, a man whose chosen motto was si je puis, and who, whatever else he was accused of, was never accused of a want of virile46 strength, there is an interesting and pathetic letter, which he wrote at the age of fifty-one, when he was being thrust, against his better judgment47, into a prominent position in the Socialist48 movement.
“My habits are quiet and studious,” he said, “and, if I am too much worried with ‘politics,’ i.e., intrigue49, I shall be no use to the cause as a writer. All this shows, you will say, a weak man: that is true, but I must be taken as I am, not as I am not.”
This sentence sums up, very courageously50 and faithfully, the difficulty in which many people, who believe in ideas, and perceive more[x] clearly than they are able to act, are placed by honest diffidence and candid51 self-knowledge. We would amend52 life, if we could; but the impossibility lies, not in seeing what is beautiful and just and right, but in making other people desire it. It is conceivable, after all, that God knows best, and has good reasons for delay—though many men, and those not the least gallant53, act as though they knew better still. But it matters very little whether we betray our own weakness, by what we say or do. What does matter is that we should have desired something ahead of us, should have pointed54 it out to others. We may not attain55 it; others may not attain it; but we have shown that we dare not acquiesce56 in our weakness, that we will not allow ourselves to be silent about our purer hopes, that we will not recline in a false security, that we will not try to solve the problem by overlooking its difficulties; but that we will strive to hold fast, in a tender serenity57, to a belief in the strong and loving purpose of God, however dark may be the shadow that lies across the path, however sombre the mountain-barrier that lies between us and the sunlit plain.
A. C. B.
April 12, 1907.

点击
收听单词发音

1
lurked
![]() |
|
vi.潜伏,埋伏(lurk的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2
sketched
![]() |
|
v.草拟(sketch的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3
savagely
![]() |
|
adv. 野蛮地,残酷地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4
malevolent
![]() |
|
adj.有恶意的,恶毒的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5
envious
![]() |
|
adj.嫉妒的,羡慕的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6
miserable
![]() |
|
adj.悲惨的,痛苦的;可怜的,糟糕的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7
jaunty
![]() |
|
adj.愉快的,满足的;adv.心满意足地,洋洋得意地;n.心满意足;洋洋得意 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8
levity
![]() |
|
n.轻率,轻浮,不稳定,多变 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9
insouciance
![]() |
|
n.漠不关心 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
10
deftly
![]() |
|
adv.灵巧地,熟练地,敏捷地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
11
utterances
![]() |
|
n.发声( utterance的名词复数 );说话方式;语调;言论 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
12
cynical
![]() |
|
adj.(对人性或动机)怀疑的,不信世道向善的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
13
deference
![]() |
|
n.尊重,顺从;敬意 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
14
withheld
![]() |
|
withhold过去式及过去分词 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
15
frankly
![]() |
|
adv.坦白地,直率地;坦率地说 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
16
unduly
![]() |
|
adv.过度地,不适当地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
17
wielded
![]() |
|
手持着使用(武器、工具等)( wield的过去式和过去分词 ); 具有; 运用(权力); 施加(影响) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
18
throng
![]() |
|
n.人群,群众;v.拥挤,群集 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
19
wed
![]() |
|
v.娶,嫁,与…结婚 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
20
brutal
![]() |
|
adj.残忍的,野蛮的,不讲理的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
21
simplicity
![]() |
|
n.简单,简易;朴素;直率,单纯 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
22
chivalrous
![]() |
|
adj.武士精神的;对女人彬彬有礼的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
23
knight
![]() |
|
n.骑士,武士;爵士 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
24
kindly
![]() |
|
adj.和蔼的,温和的,爽快的;adv.温和地,亲切地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
25
knightly
![]() |
|
adj. 骑士般的 adv. 骑士般地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
26
vile
![]() |
|
adj.卑鄙的,可耻的,邪恶的;坏透的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
27
insolent
![]() |
|
adj.傲慢的,无理的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
28
temperament
![]() |
|
n.气质,性格,性情 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
29
robustness
![]() |
|
坚固性,健壮性;鲁棒性 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
30
depict
![]() |
|
vt.描画,描绘;描写,描述 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
31
vitality
![]() |
|
n.活力,生命力,效力 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
32
invalid
![]() |
|
n.病人,伤残人;adj.有病的,伤残的;无效的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
33
conceals
![]() |
|
v.隐藏,隐瞒,遮住( conceal的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
34
wholesome
![]() |
|
adj.适合;卫生的;有益健康的;显示身心健康的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
35
contented
![]() |
|
adj.满意的,安心的,知足的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
36
prospect
![]() |
|
n.前景,前途;景色,视野 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
37
blessings
![]() |
|
n.(上帝的)祝福( blessing的名词复数 );好事;福分;因祸得福 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
38
calamities
![]() |
|
n.灾祸,灾难( calamity的名词复数 );不幸之事 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
39
desolate
![]() |
|
adj.荒凉的,荒芜的;孤独的,凄凉的;v.使荒芜,使孤寂 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
40
wreck
![]() |
|
n.失事,遇难;沉船;vt.(船等)失事,遇难 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
41
shipwreck
![]() |
|
n.船舶失事,海难 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
42
stimulating
![]() |
|
adj.有启发性的,能激发人思考的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
43
caverns
![]() |
|
大山洞,大洞穴( cavern的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
44
savages
![]() |
|
未开化的人,野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
45
isle
![]() |
|
n.小岛,岛 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
46
virile
![]() |
|
adj.男性的;有男性生殖力的;有男子气概的;强有力的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
47
judgment
![]() |
|
n.审判;判断力,识别力,看法,意见 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
48
socialist
![]() |
|
n.社会主义者;adj.社会主义的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
49
intrigue
![]() |
|
vt.激起兴趣,迷住;vi.耍阴谋;n.阴谋,密谋 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
50
courageously
![]() |
|
ad.勇敢地,无畏地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
51
candid
![]() |
|
adj.公正的,正直的;坦率的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
52
amend
![]() |
|
vt.修改,修订,改进;n.[pl.]赔罪,赔偿 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
53
gallant
![]() |
|
adj.英勇的,豪侠的;(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
54
pointed
![]() |
|
adj.尖的,直截了当的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
55
attain
![]() |
|
vt.达到,获得,完成 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
56
acquiesce
![]() |
|
vi.默许,顺从,同意 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
57
serenity
![]() |
|
n.宁静,沉着,晴朗 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
欢迎访问英文小说网 |