Only the echoes of the war were heard at the Turner place; but once the editor returned from Hillsborough with some very sad news for a lady who lived near The Countryman office with her father, Her husband had been killed in one of the great battles, and her screams when the editor told her of it, and the cries of her little daughter, haunted Joe Maxwell for many a long day. Sometimes he lay awake at night thinking about it, and out of the darkness it seemed to him that he could build a grim mirage1 of war, vanishing and reappearing like an ominous2 shadow, and devouring3 the people.
The war was horrible enough, distant as it was, but the people who were left at home—the women and children, the boys, the men who were exempt4, the aged5 and the infirm—had fears of a fate still more terrible. They were fears that grew out of the system of slavery, and they grew until they became a fixed6 habit of the mind. They were the fears of a negro insurrection. The whites who were left at home knew that it was in the power of the negroes to rise and in one night sweep the strength and substance of the Southern Confederacy from the face of the earth. Some of the more ignorant whites lived in constant terror.
Once it was whispered around that the blacks were preparing to rise, and the fears of the people were so ready to confirm the rumor7 that the plantations8 were placed in a state of siege. The patrol—called by the negroes “patter-rollers”—was doubled, and for a time the negro quarters in all parts of the country were visited nightly by the guard. But Joe Maxwell noticed that the patrol never visited the Turner plantation9, and he learned afterward10 that they had been warned off. The editor of The Countryman had the utmost confidence in his negroes, and he would not allow them to be disturbed at night by the “patter-rollers.” He laughed at the talk of a negro uprising, and it was a favorite saying of his that the people who treated their negroes right had nothing to fear from them.
0073
As for Joe Maxwell, he had no time to think about such things. He sometimes rode with the patrol on their fruitless and sometimes foolish errands, but his curiosity with regard to them was soon satisfied, and he was better contented11 when he was spending his evenings at home with his books, or in listening to the wonderful tales that Mr. Snelson told for his benefit. In spite of the fact that his work in the little printing-office was confining, the lad managed to live an outdoor life for a good part of the time. He had a task to do—so many thousand ems to set—and then he was through for the day. The thoughtful Mr. Snelson added to this task from time to time, but Joe always managed to complete it so as to have the greater part of the afternoon for his own.
There was a hat-shop on the plantation presided over by Mr. Wall, a queer old man from North Carolina. With the thrift12 of youth Joe gave the amusement of rabbit-hunting a business turn. In the fall and winter, when the rabbits were in fur, their skins could be sold at the hat-shop at twenty-five cents a dozen, and the little harriers were so industrious13 and so well trained that he sometimes sold as many as three dozen skins, a week. In addition to the pleasure and the money he got from the sport, he became very much interested in the hat-shop.
The hats were made as they had been during the Revolution, and as they were no doubt made in England before the Revolution. The hair on the pelts14 or skins was scraped off with a knife fashioned like a shoemaker’s knife. The fur was then cut away with a steel blade that had no handle. When there was enough fur to make a hat it was placed on a bench or counter. Over the counter was suspended a long staff, to which was fastened a bowstring. If the staff had been bent15 it would have had the appearance of a huge bow, but it was straight, and the rawhide16 string was allowed a little play. With an instrument not unlike a long spool17 the hatter would catch the bowstring, pull it away from the staff, and allow it to whip against the fur as it sprang back into place. This whipping was carried on very rapidly, and was kept up until every tuft of fur was broken apart. Then the fur was whipped gently into what was called a bat, shaped somewhat like a section of orange peel. The hatter then spread a cambric cloth carefully over it, pressed it down a little, seized the cloth in the middle between thumb and forefinger18, gave it a flirt19 in the air and lifted fur and all. To Joe Maxwell it seemed like a trick of magic.
The cloth, with the bat of fur lying smoothly20 and neatly21 in its fold, was then placed on a heating box, and kneaded rapidly but gently. When it seemed to be getting too hot it was sprinkled with water. This kneading was kept up until the fur shrunk together. When taken from the cloth it was in the shape of the hats the clowns used to wear in the circus, and it was called a bonnet22. The bonnet was then dipped in boiling water and pressed and kneaded with an instrument shaped like a rolling-pin, but smaller. The workers in this department were compelled to protect their hands from the boiling water by means of leather fastened to the palms of their hands. The more the bonnets23 were rolled and kneaded, the more they shrunk, until finally they were ready to be placed on the blocks that gave them the hat shape. They were fitted to these blocks, which were of various sizes, and thrown into a caldron of boiling water, where they were allowed to stay until they would shrink no more.
When hats became scarce after the breaking out of the war, the editor bought Mr. Wall’s interest in the hat-shop, and made him foreman. Several negroes were placed under him, and they soon became experts in hat-making. There was a great demand for the hats from all over the South, and on one occasion Joe Maxwell sold a dozen wool hats for $500—in Confederate money.
But the most interesting thing about the shop, as Joe thought, was the head hatter, Miles Wall, who was the quaintest24 old man that Joe had ever seen. He was illiterate—he didn’t know a letter in the book—and yet he was not ignorant. The Bible had been read to him until he was grounded in its texts and teachings, and he was always ready for an argument on politics or religion.
0076
“Whenever you hear anybody a-axing anything,” he used to say, “’bout how I’m a-gettin’ on, an’ how my family is, un’ whether er no my health is well, you thess up an’ tell um that I’m a nachul Baptis’. You thess up an’ tell um that, an’ I’ll be mighty25 much erbleege to you. Tell um I’m a born’d Baptis’.”
Although Mr. Wall was unable to read or write, Joe Maxwell found him to be a very interesting talker. Perhaps it was his ignorance of books that made him interesting. He was more superstitious26 than any of the negroes—a great believer in signs and omens27. One night when Joe went to visit him, the old man told a story that made a very deep impression on the lad. There was nothing in the story, but Mr. Wall identified himself with it, and told it in a way that made it seem real, and it was a long time before Joe could divest28 himself of the idea that the story was not true. Wherever Mr. Wall got it, whether he dreamed it or heard it, there is no doubt that he really believed it.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
mirage
|
|
| n.海市蜃楼，幻景 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
ominous
|
|
| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
devouring
|
|
| 吞没( devour的现在分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
exempt
|
|
| adj.免除的；v.使免除；n.免税者，被免除义务者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
aged
|
|
| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
fixed
|
|
| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
rumor
|
|
| n.谣言，谣传，传说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
plantations
|
|
| n.种植园，大农场( plantation的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
plantation
|
|
| n.种植园，大农场 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
afterward
|
|
| adv.后来；以后 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
contented
|
|
| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
thrift
|
|
| adj.节约，节俭；n.节俭，节约 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
industrious
|
|
| adj.勤劳的，刻苦的，奋发的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
pelts
|
|
| n. 皮毛，投掷, 疾行 vt. 剥去皮毛，（连续）投掷 vi. 猛击，大步走 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
bent
|
|
| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
rawhide
|
|
| n.生牛皮 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
spool
|
|
| n.（缠录音带等的）卷盘（轴）；v.把…绕在卷轴上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
forefinger
|
|
| n.食指 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
flirt
|
|
| v.调情，挑逗，调戏；n.调情者，卖俏者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
smoothly
|
|
| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
neatly
|
|
| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
bonnet
|
|
| n.无边女帽；童帽 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
bonnets
|
|
| n.童帽( bonnet的名词复数 )；（烟囱等的）覆盖物；（苏格兰男子的）无边呢帽；（女子戴的）任何一种帽子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
quaintest
|
|
| adj.古色古香的( quaint的最高级 )；少见的，古怪的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
mighty
|
|
| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
superstitious
|
|
| adj.迷信的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
omens
|
|
| n.前兆，预兆( omen的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
divest
|
|
| v.脱去，剥除 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |