The wonderful beauty of the night sky and the moon had been fully3 felt by the artist-nature of the child Jan; but about this time he took to the study of a totally different subject,—pigs.
It was the force of circumstances which led Jan to “make pigs” on his slate4 so constantly, instead of nobler subjects; and it dated from the time when his foster-mother began to send him with the other children to school at Dame Datchett’s.
Dame Datchett’s cottage was the last house on one side of the village main street. It was low, thatched, creeper-covered, and had only one floor, and two rooms,—the outer room where the Dame kept her school, and the inner one where she slept. Dame Datchett’s scholars were very young, and it is to be hoped that the chief objects of their parents in paying for their schooling5 were to insure their being kept safely out of the way for a certain portion of each day, and the saving of wear and tear to clothes and shoes. It is to be hoped so, because this much of discipline was to some extent accomplished6. As to learning, Dame Datchett had little enough herself, and was quite unable to impart even that, except to a very industrious7 and intelligent pupil.
Her school appurtenances were few and simple. From one of them arose Jan’s first scrape at school. It was a long, narrow blackboard, on which the alphabet had once been painted white, though the letters were now so faded that the Dame could no longer distinguish them, even in spectacles.
The scrape came about thus.
As he stood at the bottom of the little class which gathered in a semicircle around the Dame’s chair, his young eyes could see the faded letters quite clearly, though the Dame’s could not.
“Say th’ alphabet, childern!” cried Dame Datchett; and as the class shouted the names of the letters after her, she made a show of pointing to each with a long “sallywithy” wand cut from one of the willows8 in the water-meadows below. She ran the sallywithy along the board at what she esteemed9 a judicious10 rate, to keep pace with the shouted alphabet, but, as she could not see the letters, her tongue and her wand were not in accord. Little did the wide-mouthed, white-headed youngsters of the village heed11 this, but it troubled Jan’s eyes; and when—in consequence of her rubbing her nose with her disengaged hand—the sallywithy slipped to Q as the Dame cried F, Jan brought the lore12 he had gained from Abel to bear upon her inaccuracy.
“’Tis a Q, not a F,” he said, boldly and aloud.
A titter ran through the class, and the biggest and stupidest boy found the joke so overwhelming that he stretched his mouth from ear to ear, and doubled himself up with laughter, till it looked as if his corduroy-breeched knee were a turnip13, and he about to munch14 it.
The Dame dropped her sallywithy and began to feel under her chair.
“Which be the young varment as said a F was a Q?” she rather unfairly inquired.
“A didn’t say a F was a Q”— began Jan; but a chorus of cowardly little voices drowned him, and curried15 favor with the Dame by crying, “’Tis Jan Lake, the miller16’s son, missus.”
And the big boy, conscious of his own breach17 of good manners, atoned18 for it by officiously dragging Jan to Dame Datchett’s elbow.
“Hold un vor me,” said the Dame, settling her spectacles firmly on her nose.
And with infinite delight the great booby held Jan to receive his thwacks from the strap19 which the Dame had of late years substituted for the birch rod. And as Jan writhed20, he chuckled21 as heartily22 as before, it being an amiable23 feature in the character of such clowns that, so long as they can enjoy a guffaw24 at somebody’s expense, the subject of their ridicule25 is not a matter of much choice or discrimination.
After the first angry sob26, Jan set his teeth and bore his punishment in a proud silence, quite incomprehensible by the small rustics27 about him, who, like the pigs of the district, were in the habit of crying out in good time before they were hurt as a preventive measure.
Strangely enough, it gave the biggest boy the impression that Jan was “poor-spirited,” and unable to take his own part,—a temptation to bully28 him too strong to be resisted.
So when the school broke up, and the children were scattering29 over the road and water-meads, the wide-mouthed boy came up to Jan and snatched his slate from him.
“Give Jan his slate!” cried Jan, indignantly.
He was five years old, but the other was seven, and he held the slate above his head.
“And who be Jan, then, thee little gallus-bird?” said he, tauntingly30.
“I be Jan!” answered the little fellow, defiantly31. “Jan Lake, the miller’s son. Give I his slate!”
“Thee’s not a miller’s son,” said the other; and the rest of the children began to gather round.
“I be a miller’s son,” reiterated32 Jan. “And I’ve got a miller’s thumb, too;” and he turned up his little thumb for confirmation33 of the fact.
“Thee’s not a miller’s son,” repeated the other, with a grin. “Thee’s nobody’s child, thee is. Master Lake’s not thy vather, nor Mrs. Lake bean’t thy mother. Thee was brought to the mill in a sack of grist, thee was.”
In saying which, the boy repeated a popular version of Jan’s history.
If any one had been present outside Dame Datchett’s cottage at that moment who had been in the windmill when Jan first came to it, he would have seen a likeness34 so vivid between the face of the child and the face of the man who brought him to the mill as would have seemed to clear up at least one point of the mystery of his parentage.
Pride and wrath35 convulsed every line of the square, quaint36 face, and seemed to narrow it to the likeness of the man’s, as, with his black eyes blazing with passion, Jan flew at his enemy.
The boy still held Jan’s slate on high, and with a derisive37 “haw! haw!” he brought it down heavily above Jan’s head. But Jan’s eye was quick, and very true. He dodged38 the blow, which fell on the boy’s own knees, and then flew at him like a kitten in a tiger fury.
They were both small and easily knocked over, and in an instant they were sprawling39 on the road, and cuffing40, and pulling, and kicking, and punching with about equal success, except that the bigger boy prudently41 roared and howled all the time, in the hope of securing some assistance in his favor.
“Dame Datchett! Missus! Murder! Yah! Boohoo! The little varment be a throttling42 I.”
But Mrs. Datchett was deaf. Also, she not unnaturally43 considered that, in looking after “the young varments” in school-hours, she fully earned their weekly pence, and was by no means bound to disturb herself because they squabbled in the street.
Meanwhile Jan gradually got the upper hand of his lubberly and far from courageous44 opponent, whose smock he had nearly torn off his back. He had not spent any of his breath in calling for aid, but now, in reply to the boy’s cries for mercy and release, he shouted, “What be my name, now, thee big gawney? Speak, or I’ll drottle ’ee.”
“Whose son be I?” asked the remorseless Jan.
“And what be this, then, Willum Smith?” was Jan’s final question, as he brought his thumb close to his enemy’s eye.
“It be the miller’s thumb thee’s got, Jan Lake,” was the satisfactory answer.
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1
dame
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| n.女士 | |
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poetic
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| adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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slate
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| n.板岩，石板，石片，石板色，候选人名单；adj.暗蓝灰色的，含板岩的；vt.用石板覆盖，痛打，提名，预订 | |
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schooling
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| n.教育；正规学校教育 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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industrious
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| adj.勤劳的，刻苦的，奋发的 | |
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8
willows
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| n.柳树( willow的名词复数 )；柳木 | |
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esteemed
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| adj.受人尊敬的v.尊敬( esteem的过去式和过去分词 )；敬重；认为；以为 | |
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judicious
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| adj.明智的，明断的，能作出明智决定的 | |
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heed
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| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
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12
lore
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| n.传说；学问，经验，知识 | |
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turnip
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| n.萝卜，芜菁 | |
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14
munch
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| v.用力嚼，大声咀嚼 | |
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15
curried
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| adj.加了咖喱（或咖喱粉的），用咖哩粉调理的 | |
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miller
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| n.磨坊主 | |
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breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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atoned
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| v.补偿，赎（罪）( atone的过去式和过去分词 )；补偿，弥补，赎回 | |
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19
strap
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| n.皮带，带子；v.用带扣住，束牢；用绷带包扎 | |
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writhed
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| （因极度痛苦而）扭动或翻滚( writhe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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guffaw
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| n.哄笑；突然的大笑 | |
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ridicule
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| v.讥讽，挖苦；n.嘲弄 | |
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sob
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| n.空间轨道的轰炸机；呜咽，哭泣 | |
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rustics
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| n.有农村或村民特色的( rustic的名词复数 )；粗野的；不雅的；用粗糙的木材或树枝制作的 | |
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bully
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| n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮 | |
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29
scattering
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| 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 | |
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30
tauntingly
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| 嘲笑地，辱骂地； 嘲骂地 | |
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31
defiantly
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| adv.挑战地，大胆对抗地 | |
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32
reiterated
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| 反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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confirmation
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| n.证实，确认，批准 | |
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likeness
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| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
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35
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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quaint
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| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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derisive
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| adj.嘲弄的 | |
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38
dodged
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| v.闪躲( dodge的过去式和过去分词 )；回避 | |
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39
sprawling
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| adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着） | |
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40
cuffing
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| v.掌打，拳打( cuff的现在分词 )；袖口状白血球聚集 | |
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41
prudently
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| adv. 谨慎地，慎重地 | |
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42
throttling
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| v.扼杀( throttle的现在分词 )；勒死；使窒息；压制 | |
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43
unnaturally
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| adv.违反习俗地；不自然地；勉强地；不近人情地 | |
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44
courageous
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| adj.勇敢的，有胆量的 | |
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45
vanquished
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| v.征服( vanquish的过去式和过去分词 )；战胜；克服；抑制 | |
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46
foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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47
sobbed
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| 哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说 | |
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