Never-ending is the wild procession. Day and night you can hear thequick tramp of the myriad3 feet--some running, some walking, somehalting and lame4; but all hastening, all eager in the feverish5 race,all straining life and limb and heart and soul to reach theever-receding horizon of success.
Mark them as they surge along--men and women, old and young, gentleand simple, fair and foul6, rich and poor, merry and sad--all hurrying,bustling, scrambling7. The strong pushing aside the weak, the cunningcreeping past the foolish; those behind elbowing those before; thosein front kicking, as they run, at those behind. Look close and seethe8 flitting show. Here is an old man panting for breath, and there atimid maiden9 driven by a hard and sharp-faced matron; here is astudious youth, reading "How to Get On in the World" and lettingeverybody pass him as he stumbles along with his eyes on his book;here is a bored-looking man, with a fashionably dressed woman jogginghis elbow; here a boy gazing wistfully back at the sunny village thathe never again will see; here, with a firm and easy step, strides abroad-shouldered man; and here, with stealthy tread, a thin-faced,stooping fellow dodges10 and shuffles11 upon his way; here, with gazefixed always on the ground, an artful rogue13 carefully works his wayfrom side to side of the road and thinks he is going forward; and herea youth with a noble face stands, hesitating as he looks from thedistant goal to the mud beneath his feet.
And now into sight comes a fair girl, with her dainty face growingmore wrinkled at every step, and now a care-worn man, and now ahopeful lad.
A motley throng--a motley throng! Prince and beggar, sinner andsaint, butcher and baker14 and candlestick maker15, tinkers and tailors,and plowboys and sailors--all jostling along together. Here thecounsel in his wig16 and gown, and here the old Jew clothes-man underhis dingy17 tiara; here the soldier in his scarlet18, and here theundertaker's mute in streaming hat-band and worn cotton gloves; herethe musty scholar fumbling19 his faded leaves, and here the scentedactor dangling20 his showy seals. Here the glib21 politician crying hislegislative panaceas22, and here the peripatetic23 Cheap-Jack holdingaloft his quack24 cures for human ills. Here the sleek25 capitalist andthere the sinewy26 laborer27; here the man of science and here theshoe-back; here the poet and here the water-rate collector; here thecabinet minister and there the ballet-dancer. Here a red-nosedpublican shouting the praises of his vats29 and there a temperancelecturer at 50 pounds a night; here a judge and there a swindler; herea priest and there a gambler. Here a jeweled duchess, smiling andgracious; here a thin lodging-house keeper, irritable30 with cooking;and here a wabbling, strutting31 thing, tawdry in paint and finery.
Cheek by cheek they struggle onward32. Screaming, cursing, and praying,laughing, singing, and moaning, they rush past side by side. Theirspeed never slackens, the race never ends. There is no wayside restfor them, no halt by cooling fountains, no pause beneath green shades.
On, on, on--on through the heat and the crowd and the dust--on, orthey will be trampled33 down and lost--on, with throbbing34 brain andtottering limbs--on, till the heart grows sick, and the eyes growblurred, and a gurgling groan35 tells those behind they may close upanother space.
And yet, in spite of the killing36 pace and the stony37 track, who but thesluggard or the dolt38 can hold aloof39 from the course? Who--like thebelated traveler that stands watching fairy revels40 till he snatchesand drains the goblin cup and springs into the whirling circle--canview the mad tumult41 and not be drawn42 into its midst? Not I, for one.
I confess to the wayside arbor, the pipe of contentment, and thelotus-leaves being altogether unsuitable metaphors43. They sounded verynice and philosophical44, but I'm afraid I am not the sort of person tosit in arbors smoking pipes when there is any fun going on outside. Ithink I more resemble the Irishman who, seeing a crowd collecting,sent his little girl out to ask if there was going to be a row--"'Cos, if so, father would like to be in it."I love the fierce strife45. I like to watch it. I like to hear ofpeople getting on in it--battling their way bravely and fairly--thatis, not slipping through by luck or trickery. It stirs one's oldSaxon fighting blood like the tales of "knights46 who fought 'gainstfearful odds47" that thrilled us in our school-boy days.
And fighting the battle of life is fighting against fearful odds, too.
There are giants and dragons in this nineteenth century, and thegolden casket that they guard is not so easy to win as it appears inthe story-books. There, Algernon takes one long, last look at theancestral hall, dashes the tear-drop from his eye, and goes off--toreturn in three years' time, rolling in riches. The authors do nottell us "how it's done," which is a pity, for it would surely proveexciting.
But then not one novelist in a thousand ever does tell us the realstory of their hero. They linger for a dozen pages over a tea-party,but sum up a life's history with "he had become one of our merchantprinces," or "he was now a great artist, with the world at his feet."Why, there is more real life in one of Gilbert's patter-songs than inhalf the biographical novels ever written. He relates to us all thevarious steps by which his office-boy rose to be the "ruler of thequeen's navee," and explains to us how the briefless barrister managedto become a great and good judge, "ready to try this breach48 of promiseof marriage." It is in the petty details, not in the great results,that the interest of existence lies.
What we really want is a novel showing us all the hidden under-currentof an ambitious man's career--his struggles, and failures, and hopes,his disappointments and victories. It would be an immense success. Iam sure the wooing of Fortune would prove quite as interesting a taleas the wooing of any flesh-and-blood maiden, though, by the way, itwould read extremely similar; for Fortune is, indeed, as the ancientspainted her, very like a woman--not quite so unreasonable49 andinconsistent, but nearly so--and the pursuit is much the same in onecase as in the other. Ben Jonson's couplet--"Court a mistress, she denies you;Let her alone, she will court you"--puts them both in a nutshell. A woman never thoroughly50 cares for herlover until he has ceased to care for her; and it is not until youhave snapped your fingers in Fortune's face and turned on your heelthat she begins to smile upon you.
But by that time you do not much care whether she smiles or frowns.
Why could she not have smiled when her smiles would have filled youwith ecstasy51? Everything comes too late in this world.
Good people say that it is quite right and proper that it should beso, and that it proves ambition is wicked.
Bosh! Good people are altogether wrong. (They always are, in myopinion. We never agree on any single point.) What would the worlddo without ambitious people, I should like to know? Why, it would beas flabby as a Norfolk dumpling. Ambitious people are the leavenwhich raises it into wholesome52 bread. Without ambitious people theworld would never get up. They are busybodies who are about early inthe morning, hammering, shouting, and rattling53 the fire-irons, andrendering it generally impossible for the rest of the house to remainin bed.
Wrong to be ambitious, forsooth! The men wrong who, with bent54 backand sweating brow, cut the smooth road over which humanity marchesforward from generation to generation! Men wrong for using thetalents that their Master has intrusted to them--for toiling55 whileothers play!
Of course they are seeking their reward. Man is not given thatgodlike unselfishness that thinks only of others' good. But inworking for themselves they are working for us all. We are so boundtogether that no man can labor28 for himself alone. Each blow hestrikes in his own behalf helps to mold the universe. The stream instruggling onward turns the mill-wheel; the coral insect, fashioningits tiny cell, joins continents to one another; and the ambitious man,building a pedestal for himself, leaves a monument to posterity56.
Alexander and Caesar fought for their own ends, but in doing so theyput a belt of civilization half round the earth. Stephenson, to win afortune, invented the steam-engine; and Shakespeare wrote his plays inorder to keep a comfortable home for Mrs. Shakespeare and the littleShakespeares.
Contented57, unambitious people are all very well in their way. Theyform a neat, useful background for great portraits to be paintedagainst, and they make a respectable, if not particularly intelligent,audience for the active spirits of the age to play before. I have nota word to say against contented people so long as they keep quiet.
But do not, for goodness' sake, let them go strutting about, as theyare so fond of doing, crying out that they are the true models for thewhole species. Why, they are the deadheads, the drones in the greathive, the street crowds that lounge about, gaping58 at those who areworking.
And let them not imagine, either--as they are also fond of doing--thatthey are very wise and philosophical and that it is a very artfulthing to be contented. It may be true that "a contented mind is happyanywhere," but so is a Jerusalem pony59, and the consequence is thatboth are put anywhere and are treated anyhow. "Oh, you need notbother about him," is what is said; "he is very contented as he is,and it would be a pity to disturb him." And so your contented partyis passed over and the discontented man gets his place.
If you are foolish enough to be contented, don't show it, but grumblewith the rest; and if you can do with a little, ask for a great deal.
Because if you don't you won't get any. In this world it is necessaryto adopt the principle pursued by the plaintiff in an action fordamages, and to demand ten times more than you are ready to accept.
If you can feel satisfied with a hundred, begin by insisting on athousand; if you start by suggesting a hundred you will only get ten.
It was by not following this simple plan that poor Jean JacquesRousseau came to such grief. He fixed12 the summit of his earthly blissat living in an orchard60 with an amiable61 woman and a cow, and he neverattained even that. He did get as far as the orchard, but the womanwas not amiable, and she brought her mother with her, and there was nocow. Now, if he had made up his mind for a large country estate, ahouseful of angels, and a cattle-show, he might have lived to possesshis kitchen garden and one head of live-stock, and even possibly havecome across that _rara-avis_--a really amiable woman.
What a terribly dull affair, too, life must be for contented people!
How heavy the time must hang upon their hands, and what on earth dothey occupy their thoughts with, supposing that they have any?
Reading the paper and smoking seems to be the intellectual food of themajority of them, to which the more energetic add playing the fluteand talking about the affairs of the next-door neighbor.
They never knew the excitement of expectation nor the stern delight ofaccomplished effort, such as stir the pulse of the man who hasobjects, and hopes, and plans. To the ambitious man life is abrilliant game--a game that calls forth62 all his tact63 and energy andnerve--a game to be won, in the long run, by the quick eye and thesteady hand, and yet having sufficient chance about its working out togive it all the glorious zest64 of uncertainty65. He exults66 in it as thestrong swimmer in the heaving billows, as the athlete in the wrestle,the soldier in the battle.
And if he be defeated he wins the grim joy of fighting; if he lose therace, he, at least, has had a run. Better to work and fail than tosleep one's life away.
So, walk up, walk up, walk up. Walk up, ladies and gentlemen! walkup, boys and girls! Show your skill and try your strength; brave yourluck and prove your pluck. Walk up! The show is never closed and thegame is always going. The only genuine sport in all the fair,gentlemen--highly respectable and strictly67 moral--patronized by thenobility, clergy68, and gentry69. Established in the year one, gentlemen,and been flourishing ever since--walk up! Walk up, ladies andgentlemen, and take a hand. There are prizes for all and all canplay. There is gold for the man and fame for the boy; rank for themaiden and pleasure for the fool. So walk up, ladies and gentlemen,walk up!--all prizes and no blanks; for some few win, and as to therest, why--"The rapture70 of pursuingIs the prize the vanquished71 gain."
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1
arbor
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| n.凉亭；树木 | |
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throng
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| n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集 | |
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myriad
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| adj.无数的；n.无数，极大数量 | |
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lame
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| adj.跛的，(辩解、论据等)无说服力的 | |
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feverish
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| adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的 | |
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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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scrambling
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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seethe
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| vi.拥挤，云集；发怒，激动，骚动 | |
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maiden
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| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
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dodges
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| n.闪躲( dodge的名词复数 )；躲避；伎俩；妙计v.闪躲( dodge的第三人称单数 )；回避 | |
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shuffles
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| n.洗（纸牌）( shuffle的名词复数 )；拖着脚步走；粗心地做；摆脱尘世的烦恼v.洗（纸牌）( shuffle的第三人称单数 )；拖着脚步走；粗心地做；摆脱尘世的烦恼 | |
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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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rogue
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| n.流氓；v.游手好闲 | |
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baker
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| n.面包师 | |
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maker
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| n.制造者，制造商 | |
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wig
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| n.假发 | |
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dingy
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| adj.昏暗的，肮脏的 | |
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scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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fumbling
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| n. 摸索,漏接 v. 摸索,摸弄,笨拙的处理 | |
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dangling
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| 悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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glib
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| adj.圆滑的，油嘴滑舌的 | |
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panaceas
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| n.治百病的药，万灵药( panacea的名词复数 ) | |
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peripatetic
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| adj.漫游的，逍遥派的，巡回的 | |
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quack
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| n.庸医；江湖医生；冒充内行的人；骗子 | |
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sleek
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| adj.光滑的，井然有序的；v.使光滑，梳拢 | |
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sinewy
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| adj.多腱的，强壮有力的 | |
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laborer
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| n.劳动者，劳工 | |
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labor
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| 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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vats
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| varieties 变化，多样性，种类 | |
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irritable
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| adj.急躁的；过敏的；易怒的 | |
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strutting
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| 加固，支撑物 | |
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onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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trampled
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| 踩( trample的过去式和过去分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯 | |
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throbbing
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| a. 跳动的,悸动的 | |
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groan
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| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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stony
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| adj.石头的，多石头的，冷酷的，无情的 | |
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dolt
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| n.傻瓜 | |
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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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revels
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| n.作乐( revel的名词复数 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉v.作乐( revel的第三人称单数 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉 | |
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tumult
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| n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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metaphors
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| 隐喻( metaphor的名词复数 ) | |
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philosophical
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| adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的 | |
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strife
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| n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争 | |
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knights
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| 骑士； （中古时代的）武士( knight的名词复数 )； 骑士； 爵士； （国际象棋中）马 | |
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odds
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| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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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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unreasonable
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| adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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ecstasy
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| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
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wholesome
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| adj.适合；卫生的；有益健康的；显示身心健康的 | |
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rattling
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| adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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toiling
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的现在分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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posterity
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| n.后裔，子孙，后代 | |
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contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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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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pony
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| adj.小型的；n.小马 | |
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orchard
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| n.果园，果园里的全部果树，(美俚)棒球场 | |
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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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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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tact
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| n.机敏，圆滑，得体 | |
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zest
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| n.乐趣；滋味，风味；兴趣 | |
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uncertainty
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| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
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exults
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| 狂喜，欢跃( exult的第三人称单数 ) | |
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strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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clergy
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| n.[总称]牧师，神职人员 | |
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gentry
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| n.绅士阶级，上层阶级 | |
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rapture
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| n.狂喜；全神贯注；着迷；v.使狂喜 | |
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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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