Cambridge is not above three or four miles from Boston. Indeed, the town of Cambridge properly so called begins where Boston ceases. The Harvard College — that is its name, taken from one of its original founders3 — is reached by horse-cars in twenty minutes from the city. An Englishman feels inclined to regard the place as a suburb of Boston; but if he so expresses himself, he will not find favor in the eyes of the men of Cambridge.
The university is not so large as I had expected to find it. It consists of Harvard College, as the undergraduates’ department, and of professional schools of law, medicine, divinity, and science. In the few words that I will say about it I will confine myself to Harvard College proper, conceiving that the professional schools connected with it have not in themselves any special interest. The average number of undergraduates does not exceed 450, and these are divided into four classes. The average number of degrees taken annually4 by bachelors of art is something under 100. Four years’ residence is required for a degree, and at the end of that period a degree is given as a matter of course if the candidate’s conduct has been satisfactory. When a young man has pursued his studies for that period, going through the required examinations and lectures, he is not subjected to any final examination as is the case with a candidate for a degree at Oxford and Cambridge. It is, perhaps, in this respect that the greatest difference exists between the English universities and Harvard College. With us a young man may, I take it, still go through his three or four years with a small amount of study. But his doing so does not insure him his degree. If he have utterly5 wasted his time he is plucked, and late but heavy punishment comes upon him. At Cambridge, in Massachusetts, the daily work of the men is made more obligatory6; but if this be gone through with such diligence as to enable the student to hold his own during the four years, he has his degree as a matter of course. There are no degrees conferring special honor. A man cannot go out “in honors” as he does with us. There are no “firsts” or “double firsts;” no “wranglers;” no “senior opts8” or “junior opts.” Nor are there prizes of fellowships and livings to be obtained. It is, I think, evident from this that the greatest incentives9 to high excellence10 are wanting at Harvard College. There is neither the reward of honor nor of money. There is none of that great competition which exists at our Cambridge for the high place of Senior Wrangler7; and, consequently, the degree of excellence attained is no doubt lower than with us. But I conceive that the general level of the university education is higher there than with us; that a young man is more sure of getting his education, and that a smaller percentage of men leaves Harvard College utterly uneducated than goes in that condition out of Oxford or Cambridge. The education at Harvard College is more diversified11 in its nature, and study is more absolutely the business of the place than it is at our universities.
The expense of education at Harvard College is not much lower than at our colleges; with us there are, no doubt, more men who are absolutely extravagant12 than at Cambridge, Massachusetts. The actual authorized13 expenditure14 in accordance with the rules is only 50l. per annum, i.e. 249 dollars; but this does not, by any means, include everything. Some of the richer young men may spend as much as 300l. per annum, but the largest number vary their expenditure from 100l. to 180l. per annum; and I take it the same thing may be said of our universities. There are many young men at Harvard College of very small means. They will live on 70l. per annum, and will earn a great portion of that by teaching in the vacations. There are thirty-six scholarships attached to the university, varying in value from 20l. to 60l. per annum; and there is also a beneficiary fund for supplying poor scholars with assistance during their collegiate education. Many are thus brought up at Cambridge who have no means of their own; and I think I may say that the consideration in which they are held among their brother students is in no degree affected15 by their position. I doubt whether we can say so much of the Sizars and Bible clerks at our universities.
At Harvard College there is, of course, none of that old-fashioned, time-honored, delicious, medieval life which lends so much grace and beauty to our colleges. There are no gates, no porter’s lodges16, no butteries, no halls, no battels, and no common rooms. There are no proctors, no bulldogs, no bursers, no deans, no morning and evening chapel17, no quads18, no surplices, no caps and gowns. I have already said that there are no examinations for degrees and no honors; and I can easily conceive that in the absence of all these essentials many an Englishman will ask what right Harvard College has to call itself a university.
I have said that there are no honors, and in our sense there are none. But I should give offense19 to my American friends if I did not explain that there are prizes given — I think all in money, and that they vary from fifty to ten dollars. These are called deturs. The degrees are given on Commencement Day, at which occasion certain of the expectant graduates are selected to take parts in a public literary exhibition. To be so selected seems to be tantamount to taking a degree in honors. There is also a dinner on Commencement Day, at which, however, “no wine or other intoxicating20 drink shall be served.”
It is required that every student shall attend some place of Christian21 worship on Sundays; but he, or his parents for him, may elect what denomination22 of church he shall attend. There is a university chapel on the university grounds which belongs, if I remember aright, to the Episcopalian church. The young men, for the most part, live in college, having rooms in the college buildings; but they do not board in those rooms. There are establishments in the town, under the patronage23 of the university, at which dinner, breakfast, and supper are provided; and the young men frequent one of these houses or another as they, or their friends for them, may arrange. Every young man not belonging to a family resident within a hundred miles of Cambridge, and whose parents are desirous to obtain the protection thus provided, is placed, as regards his pecuniary24 management, under the care of a patron; and this patron acts by him as a father does in England by a boy at school. He pays out his money for him and keeps him out of debt. The arrangement will not recommend itself to young men at Oxford quite so powerfully as it may do to the fathers of some young men who have been there. The rules with regard to the lodging26 and boarding houses are very stringent27. Any festive28 entertainment is to be reported to the president. No wine or spirituous liquors may be used, etc. It is not a picturesque29 system, this; but it has its advantages.
There is a handsome library attached to the college which the young men can use, but it is not as extensive as I had expected. The university is not well off for funds by which to increase it. The new museum in the college is also a handsome building. The edifices30 used for the undergraduates’ chambers31 and for the lecture-rooms are by no means handsome. They are very ugly, red brick houses, standing32 here and there without order. There are seven such; and they are called Brattle House, College House, Divinity Hall, Hollis Hall, Holsworthy Hall, Massachusetts Hall, and Stoughton Hall. It is almost astonishing that buildings so ugly should have been erected34 for such a purpose. These, together with the library, the museum, and the chapel, stand on a large green, which might be made pretty enough if it were kept well mown, like the gardens of our Cambridge colleges; but it is much neglected. Here, again, the want of funds — the auqusta res domi — must be pleaded as an excuse. On the same green, but at some little distance from any other building, stands the president’s pleasant house.
The immediate35 direction of the college is of course mainly in the hands of the president, who is supreme36. But for the general management of the institution there is a corporation, of which he is one. It is stated in the laws of the university that the Corporation of the University and its Overseers constitute the Government of the University. The Corporation consists of the President, five Fellows so called, and a Treasurer37. These Fellows are chosen, as vacancies38 occur, by themselves, subject to the concurrence39 of the Overseers. But these Fellows are in nowise like to the Fellows of our colleges, having no salaries attached to their offices. The Board of Overseers consists of the State Governor, other State officers, the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, and thirty other persons, men of note, chosen by vote. The Faculty40 of the College, in which is vested the immediate care and government of the undergraduates, is composed of the President and the Professors. The Professors answer to the tutors of our colleges, and upon them the education of the place depends. I cannot complete this short notice of Harvard College without saying that it is happy in the possession of that distinguished41 natural philosopher Professor Agassiz. M. Agassiz has collected at Cambridge a museum of such things as natural philosophers delight to show, which I am told is all but invaluable42. As my ignorance on all such matters is of a depth which the professor can hardly imagine, and which it would have shocked him to behold43, I did not visit the museum. Taking the University of Harvard College as a whole, I should say that it is most remarkable44 in this — that it does really give to its pupils that education which it professes45 to give. Of our own universities other good things may be said, but that one special good thing cannot always be said.
Cambridge boasts itself as the residence of four or five men well known to fame on the American and also on the European side of the ocean. President Felton’s name is very familiar to us; and wherever Greek scholarship is held in repute, that is known. So also is the name of Professor Agassiz, of whom I have spoken. Russell Lowell is one of the professors of the college — that Russell Lowell who sang of Birdofredum Sawin, and whose Biglow Papers were edited with such an ardor46 of love by our Tom Brown, Birdofredum is worthy33 of all the ardor. Mr. Dana is also a Cambridge man — he who was “two years before the mast,” and who since that has written to us of Cuba. But Mr. Dana, though residing at Cambridge, is not of Cambridge; and, though a literary man, he does not belong to literature. He is — could he help it? — a “special attorney.” I must not, however, degrade him; for in the States barristers and attorneys are all one. I cannot but think that he could help it, and that he should not give up to law what was meant for mankind. I fear, however, that successful Law has caught him in her intolerant clutches, and that Literature, who surely would be the nobler mistress, must wear the willow47. Last and greatest is the poet-laureate of the West, for Mr. Longfellow also lives at Cambridge.
* Since these words were written President Felton has died — I, as I returned on my way homeward, had the melancholy48 privilege of being present at his funeral. I feel bound to record here the great kindness with which Mr. Felton assisted me in obtaining such information as I needed respecting the institution over which he presided.
I am not at all aware whether the nature of the manufacturing corporation of Lowell is generally understood by Englishmen. I confess that until I made personal acquaintance with the plan, I was absolutely ignorant on the subject. I knew that Lowell was a manufacturing town at which cotton is made into calico, and at which calico is printed — as is the case at Manchester; but I conceived this was done at Lowell, as it is done at Manchester, by individual enterprise — that I or any one else could open a mill at Lowell, and that the manufacturers there were ordinary traders, as they are at other manufacturing towns. But this is by no means the case.
That which most surprises an English visitor on going through the mills at Lowell is the personal appearance of the men and women who work at them. As there are twice as many women as there are men, it is to them that the attention is chiefly called. They are not only better dressed, cleaner, and better mounted in every respect than the girls employed at manufactories in England, but they are so infinitely49 superior as to make a stranger immediately perceive that some very strong cause must have created the difference. We all know the class of young women whom we generally see serving behind counters in the shops of our larger cities. They are neat, well dressed, careful, especially about their hair, composed in their manner, and sometimes a little supercilious50 in the propriety51 of their demeanor52. It is exactly the same class of young women that one sees in the factories at Lowell. They are not sallow, nor dirty, nor ragged53, nor rough. They have about them no signs of want, or of low culture. Many of us also know the appearance of those girls who work in the factories in England; and I think it will be allowed that a second glance at them is not wanting to show that they are in every respect inferior to the young women who attend our shops. The matter, indeed, requires no argument. Any young woman at a shop would be insulted by being asked whether she had worked at a factory. The difference with regard to the men at Lowell is quite as strong, though not so striking. Working men do not show their status in the world by their outward appearance as readily as women; and, as I have said before, the number of the women greatly exceeded that of the men.
One would of course be disposed to say that the superior condition of the workers must have been occasioned by superior wages; and this, to a certain extent, has been the cause. But the higher payment is not the chief cause. Women’s wages, including all that they receive at the Lowell factories, average about 14s. a week, which is, I take it, fully25 a third more than women can earn in Manchester, or did earn before the loss of the American cotton began to tell upon them. But if wages at Manchester were raised to the Lowell standard, the Manchester women would not be clothed, fed, cared for, and educated like the Lowell women. The fact is, that the workmen and the workwomen at Lowell are not exposed to the chances of an open labor54 market. They are taken in, as it were, to a philanthropical manufacturing college, and then looked after and regulated more as girls and lads at a great seminary, than as hands by whose industry profit is to be made out of capital. This is all very nice and pretty at Lowell, but I am afraid it could not be done at Manchester.
There are at present twelve different manufactories at Lowell, each of which has what is called a separate corporation. The Merrimack Manufacturing Company was incorporated in 1822, and thus Lowell was commenced. The Lowell Machine-shop was incorporated in 1845, and since that no new establishment has been added. In 1821, a certain Boston manufacturing company, which had mills at Waltham, near Boston, was attracted by the water-power of the River Merrimack, on which the present town of Lowell is situated55. A canal called the Pawtucket Canal had been made for purposes of navigation from one reach of the river to another, with the object of avoiding the Pawtucket Falls; and this canal, with the adjacent water-power of the river, was purchased for the Boston company. The place was then called Lowell, after one of the partners in that company.
It must be understood that water-power alone is used for preparing the cotton and working the spindles and looms56 of the cotton mills. Steam is applied57 in the two establishments in which the cottons are printed, for the purposes of printing, but I think nowhere else. When the mills are at full work, about two and a half million yards of cotton goods are made every week, and nearly a million pounds of cotton are consumed per week, (i e. 842,000 lbs.,) but the consumption of coal is only 30,000 tons in the year. This will give some idea of the value of the water-power. The Pawtucket Canal was, as I say, bought, and Lowell was commenced. The town was incorporated in 1826, and the railway between it and Boston was opened in 1835, under the superintendence of Mr. Jackson, the gentleman by whom the purchase of the canal had in the first instance been made. Lowell now contains about 40,000 inhabitants.
The following extract is taken from the hand-book to Lowell: “Mr. F. C. Lowell had, in his travels abroad, observed the effect of large manufacturing establishments on the character of the people, and in the establishment at Waltham the founders looked for a remedy for these defects. They thought that education and good morals would even enhance the profit, and that they could compete with Great Britain by introducing a more cultivated class of operatives. For this purpose they built boarding-houses, which, under the direct supervision58 of the agent, were kept by discreet59 matrons”— I can answer for the discreet matrons at Lowell —“mostly widows, no boarders being allowed except operatives. Agents and overseers of high moral character were selected; regulations were adopted at the mills and boarding-houses, by which only respectable girls were employed. The mills were nicely painted and swept”— I can also answer for the painting and sweeping60 at Lowell —“trees set out in the yards and along the streets, habits of neatness and cleanliness encouraged; and the result justified61 the expenditure. At Lowell the same policy has been adopted and extended; more spacious62 mills and elegant boarding-houses have been erected;” as to the elegance63, it may be a matter of taste, but as to the comfort, there is no question —“the same care as to the classes employed; more capital has been expended64 for cleanliness and decoration; a hospital has been established for the sick, where, for a small price, they have an experienced physician and skillful nurses. An institute, with an extensive library, for the use of the mechanics, has been endowed. The agents have stood forward in the support of schools, churches, lectures, and lyceums, and their influence contributed highly to the elevation65 of the moral and intellectual character of the operatives. Talent has been encouraged, brought forward, and recommended.” For some considerable time the young women wrote, edited, and published a newspaper among themselves, called the Lowell Offering. “And Lowell has supplied agents and mechanics for the later manufacturing places who have given tone to society, and extended the beneficial influence of Lowell through the United States. Girls from the country, with a true Yankee spirit of independence, and confident in their own powers, pass a few years here, and then return to get married with a dower secured by their exertions66, with more enlarged ideas and extended means of information, and their places are supplied by younger relatives. A large proportion of the female population of New England has been employed at some time in manufacturing establishments, and they are not on this account less good wives, mothers, or educators of families.” Then the account goes on to tell how the health of the girls has been improved by their attendance at the mills; how they put money into the savings67 banks, and buy railway shares and farms; how there are thirty churches in Lowell, a library, banks, and insurance office,; how there is a cemetery68, and a park; and how everything is beautiful, philanthropic, profitable, and magnificent.
Thus Lowell is the realization69 of a commercial Utopia. Of all the statements made in the little book which I have quoted, I cannot point out one which is exaggerated, much less false. I should not call the place elegant; in other respects I am disposed to stand by the book. Before I had made any inquiry70 into the cause of the apparent comfort, it struck me at once that some great effort at excellence was being made. I went into one of the discreet matrons’ residences; and, perhaps, may give but an indifferent idea of her discretion71, when I say that she allowed me to go into the bed-rooms. If you want to ascertain72 the inner ways or habits of life of any man, woman, or child, see, if it be practicable to do so, his or her bed-room. You will learn more by a minute’s glance round that holy of holies, than by any conversation. Looking-glasses and such like, suspended dresses, and toilet-belongings, if taken without notice, cannot lie or even exaggerate. The discreet matron at first showed me rooms only prepared for use, for at the period of my visit Lowell was by no means full; but she soon became more intimate with me, and I went through the upper part of the house. My report must be altogether in her favor and in that of Lowell. Everything was cleanly, well ordered, and feminine. There was not a bed on which any woman need have hesitated to lay herself if occasion required it. I fear that this cannot be said of the lodgings73 of the manufacturing classes at Manchester. The boarders all take their meals together. As a rule, they have meat twice a day. Hot meat for dinner is with them as much a matter of course, or probably more so, than with any Englishman or woman who may read this book. For in the States of America regulations on this matter are much more rigid74 than with us. Cold meat is rarely seen, and to live a day without meat would be as great a privation as to pass a night without bed.
The rules for the guidance of these boarding-houses are very rigid. The houses themselves belong to the corporations, or different manufacturing establishments, and the tenants75 are altogether in the power of the managers. None but operatives are to be taken in. The tenants are answerable for improper76 conduct. The doors are to be closed at ten o’clock. Any boarders who do not attend divine worship are to be reported to the managers. The yards and walks are to be kept clean, and snow removed at once; and the inmates77 must be vaccinated78, etc. etc. etc. It is expressly stated by the Hamilton Company — and I believe by all the companies — that no one shall be employed who is habitually79 absent from public worship on Sunday, or who is known to be guilty of immorality80, it is stated that the average wages of the women are two dollars, or eight shillings, a week, besides their board. I found when I was there that from three dollars to three and a half a week were paid to the women, of which they paid one dollar and twenty-five cents for their board. As this would not fully cover the expense of their keep, twenty-five cents a week for each was also paid to the boarding-house keepers by the mill agents. This substantially came to the same thing, as it left the two dollars a week, or eight shillings, with the girls over and above their cost of living. The board included washing, lights, food, bed, and attendance — leaving a surplus of eight shillings a week for clothes and saving. Now let me ask any one acquainted with Manchester and its operatives, whether that is not Utopia realized. Factory girls, for whom every comfort of life is secured, with 21l. a year over for saving and dress! One sees the failing, however, at a moment. It is Utopia. Any Lady Bountiful can tutor three or four peasants and make them luxuriously81 comfortable. But no Lady Bountiful can give luxurious82 comfort to half a dozen parishes. Lowell is now nearly forty years old, and contains but 40,000 inhabitants. From the very nature of its corporations it cannot spread itself. Chicago, which has grown out of nothing in a much shorter period, and which has no factories, has now 120,000 inhabitants. Lowell is a very wonderful place and shows what philanthropy can do; but I fear it also shows what philanthropy cannot do.
There are, however, other establishments, conducted on the same principle as those at Lowell, which have had the same amount, or rather the same sort of success. Lawrence is now a town of about 15,000 inhabitants, and Manchester of about 24,000, if I remember rightly; and at those places the mills are also owned by corporations and conducted as are those at Lowell. But it seems to me that as New England takes her place in the world as a great mannfacturing country — which place she undoubtedly83 will take sooner or later — she must abandon the hot-house method of providing for her operatives with which she has commenced her work. In the first place, Lowell is not open as a manufacturing town to the capitalists even of New England at large. Stock may, I presume, be bought in the corporations, but no interloper can establish a mill there. It is a close manufacturing community, bolstered84 up on all sides, and has none of that capacity for providing employment for a thickly growing population which belongs to such places as Manchester and Leeds. That it should under its present system have been made in any degree profitable reflects great credit on the managers; but the profit does reach an amount which in America can be considered as remunerative85. The total capital invested by the twelve corporations is thirteen million and a half of dollars, or about two million seven hundred thousand pounds. In only one of the corporations, that of the Merrimack Company, does the profit amount to twelve per cent. In one, that of the Booth Company, it falls below seven per cent. The average profit of the various establishments is something below nine per cent. I am of course speaking of Lowell as it was previous to the war. American capitalists are not, as a rule, contented86 with so low a rate of interest as this.
The States in these matters have had a great advantage over England. They have been able to begin at the beginning. Manufactories have grown up among us as our cities grew — from the necessities and chances of the times. When labor was wanted it was obtained in the ordinary way; and so when houses were built they were built in the ordinary way. We had not the experience, and the results either for good or bad, of other nations to guide us. The Americans, in seeing and resolving to adopt our commercial successes, have resolved also, if possible, to avoid the evils which have attended those successes. It would be very desirable that all our factory girls should read and write, wear clean clothes, have decent beds, and eat hot meat every day. But that is now impossible. Gradually, with very up-hill work, but still I trust with sure work, much will be done to improve their position and render their life respectable; but in England we can have no Lowells. In our thickly populated island any commercial Utopia is out of the question. Nor can, as I think, Lowell be taken as a type of the future manufacturing towns of New England. When New England employs millions in her factories instead of thousands — the hands employed at Lowell, when the mills are at full work, are about 11,000 — she must cease to provide for them their beds and meals, their church-going proprieties87 and orderly modes of life. In such an attempt she has all the experience of the world against her. But nevertheless I think she will have done much good. The tone which she will have given will not altogether lose its influence. Employment in a factory is now considered reputable by a farmer and his children, and this idea will remain. Factory work is regarded as more respectable than domestic service, and this prestige will not wear itself altogether out. Those now employed have a strong conception of the dignity of their own social position, and their successors will inherit much of this, even though they may find themselves excluded from the advantages of the present Utopia. The thing has begun well, but it can only be regarded as a beginning. Steam, it may be presumed, will become the motive88 power of cotton mills in New England as it is with us; and when it is so, the amount of work to be done at any one place will not be checked by any such limit as that which now prevails at Lowell. Water-power is very cheap, but it cannot be extended; and it would seem that no place can become large as a manufacturing town which has to depend chiefly upon water. It is not improbable that steam may be brought into general use at Lowell, and that Lowell may spread itself. If it should spread itself widely, it will lose its Utopian characteristics.
One cannot but be greatly struck by the spirit of philanthropy in which the system of Lowell was at first instituted. It may be presumed that men who put their money into such an undertaking89 did so with the object of commercial profit to themselves; but in this case that was not their first object. I think it may be taken for granted that when Messrs. Jackson and Lowell went about their task, their grand idea was to place factory work upon a respectable footing — to give employment in mills which should not be unhealthy, degrading, demoralizing, or hard in its circumstances. Throughout the Northern States of America the same feeling is to be seen. Good and thoughtful men have been active to spread education, to maintain health, to make work compatible with comfort and personal dignity, and to divest90 the ordinary lot of man of the sting of that curse which was supposed to be uttered when our first father was ordered to eat his bread in the sweat of his brow. One is driven to contrast this feeling, of which on all sides one sees such ample testimony91, with that sharp desire for profit, that anxiety to do a stroke of trade at every turn, that acknowledged necessity of being smart, which we must own is quite as general as the nobler propensity92. I believe that both phases of commercial activity may be attributed to the same characteristic. Men in trade in America are not more covetous93 than tradesmen in England, nor probably are they more generous or philanthropical. But that which they do, they are more anxious to do thoroughly94 and quickly. They desire that every turn taken shall be a great turn — or at any rate that it shall be as great as possible. They go ahead either for bad or good with all the energy they have. In the institutions at Lowell I think we may allow that the good has very much prevailed.
I went over two of the mills, those of the Merrimack corporation and of the Massachusetts. At the former the printing establishment only was at work; the cotton mills were closed. I hardly know whether it will interest any one to learn that something under half a million yards of calico are here printed annually. At the Lowell Bleachery fifteen million yards are dyed annually. The Merrimack Cotton Mills were stopped, and so had the other mills at Lowell been stopped, till some short time before my visit. Trade had been bad, and there had of course been a lack of cotton. I was assured that no severe suffering had been created by this stoppage. The greater number of hands had returned into the country — to the farms from whence they had come; and though a discontinuance of work and wages had of course produced hardship, there had been no actual privation — no hunger and want. Those of the work-people who had no homes out of Lowell to which to betake themselves, and no means at Lowell of living, had received relief before real suffering had begun. I was assured, with something of a smile of contempt at the question, that there had been nothing like hunger. But, as I said before, visitors always see a great deal of rose color, and should endeavor to allay95 the brilliancy of the tint96 with the proper amount of human shading. But do not let any visitor mix in the browns with too heavy a hand!
At the Massachusetts Cotton Mills they were working with about two-thirds of their full number of hands, and this, I was told, was about the average of the number now employed throughout Lowell. Working at this rate they had now on hand a supply of cotton to last them for six months. Their stocks had been increased lately, and on asking from whence, I was informed that that last received had come to them from Liverpool. There is, I believe, no doubt but that a considerable quantity of cotton has been shipped back from England to the States since the civil war began. I asked the gentleman, to whose care at Lowell I was consigned97, whether he expected to get cotton from the South — for at that time Beaufort, in South Carolina, had just been taken by the naval98 expedition. He had, he said, a political expectation of a supply of cotton, but not a commercial expectation. That at least was the gist99 of his reply, and I found it to be both intelligent and intelligible100. The Massachusetts Mills, when at full work, employ 1300 females and 400 males, and turn out 540,000 yards of calico per week.
On my return from Lowell in the smoking car, an old man came and squeezed in next to me. The place was terribly crowded, and as the old man was thin and clean and quiet, I willingly made room for him, so as to avoid the contiguity101 of a neighbor who might be neither thin, nor clean, nor quiet. He began talking to me in whispers about the war, and I was suspicious that he was a Southerner and a secessionist. Under such circumstances his company might not be agreeable, unless he could be induced to hold his tongue. At last he said, “I come from Canada, you know, and you — you’re an Englishman, and therefore I can speak to you openly;” and he gave me an affectionate grip on the knee with his old skinny hand. I suppose I do look more like an Englishman than an American, but I was surprised at his knowing me with such certainty. “There is no mistaking you,” he said, “with your round face and your red cheeks. They don’t look like that here,” and he gave me another grip. I felt quite fond of the old man, and offered him a cigar.
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15 affected | |
adj.不自然的,假装的 | |
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16 lodges | |
v.存放( lodge的第三人称单数 );暂住;埋入;(权利、权威等)归属 | |
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17 chapel | |
n.小教堂,殡仪馆 | |
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18 quads | |
n.四倍( quad的名词复数 );空铅;(大学的)四周有建筑物围绕的方院;四胞胎之一 | |
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19 offense | |
n.犯规,违法行为;冒犯,得罪 | |
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20 intoxicating | |
a. 醉人的,使人兴奋的 | |
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21 Christian | |
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒 | |
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22 denomination | |
n.命名,取名,(度量衡、货币等的)单位 | |
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23 patronage | |
n.赞助,支援,援助;光顾,捧场 | |
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24 pecuniary | |
adj.金钱的;金钱上的 | |
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25 fully | |
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地 | |
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26 lodging | |
n.寄宿,住所;(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
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27 stringent | |
adj.严厉的;令人信服的;银根紧的 | |
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28 festive | |
adj.欢宴的,节日的 | |
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29 picturesque | |
adj.美丽如画的,(语言)生动的,绘声绘色的 | |
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30 edifices | |
n.大建筑物( edifice的名词复数 ) | |
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31 chambers | |
n.房间( chamber的名词复数 );(议会的)议院;卧室;会议厅 | |
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32 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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33 worthy | |
adj.(of)值得的,配得上的;有价值的 | |
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34 ERECTED | |
adj. 直立的,竖立的,笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立,建立 | |
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35 immediate | |
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的 | |
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36 supreme | |
adj.极度的,最重要的;至高的,最高的 | |
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37 treasurer | |
n.司库,财务主管 | |
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38 vacancies | |
n.空房间( vacancy的名词复数 );空虚;空白;空缺 | |
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39 concurrence | |
n.同意;并发 | |
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40 faculty | |
n.才能;学院,系;(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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41 distinguished | |
adj.卓越的,杰出的,著名的 | |
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42 invaluable | |
adj.无价的,非常宝贵的,极为贵重的 | |
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43 behold | |
v.看,注视,看到 | |
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44 remarkable | |
adj.显著的,异常的,非凡的,值得注意的 | |
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45 professes | |
声称( profess的第三人称单数 ); 宣称; 公开表明; 信奉 | |
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46 ardor | |
n.热情,狂热 | |
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47 willow | |
n.柳树 | |
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48 melancholy | |
n.忧郁,愁思;adj.令人感伤(沮丧)的,忧郁的 | |
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49 infinitely | |
adv.无限地,无穷地 | |
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50 supercilious | |
adj.目中无人的,高傲的;adv.高傲地;n.高傲 | |
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51 propriety | |
n.正当行为;正当;适当 | |
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52 demeanor | |
n.行为;风度 | |
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53 ragged | |
adj.衣衫褴褛的,粗糙的,刺耳的 | |
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54 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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55 situated | |
adj.坐落在...的,处于某种境地的 | |
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56 looms | |
n.织布机( loom的名词复数 )v.隐约出现,阴森地逼近( loom的第三人称单数 );隐约出现,阴森地逼近 | |
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57 applied | |
adj.应用的;v.应用,适用 | |
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58 supervision | |
n.监督,管理 | |
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59 discreet | |
adj.(言行)谨慎的;慎重的;有判断力的 | |
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60 sweeping | |
adj.范围广大的,一扫无遗的 | |
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61 justified | |
a.正当的,有理的 | |
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62 spacious | |
adj.广阔的,宽敞的 | |
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63 elegance | |
n.优雅;优美,雅致;精致,巧妙 | |
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64 expended | |
v.花费( expend的过去式和过去分词 );使用(钱等)做某事;用光;耗尽 | |
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65 elevation | |
n.高度;海拔;高地;上升;提高 | |
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66 exertions | |
n.努力( exertion的名词复数 );费力;(能力、权力等的)运用;行使 | |
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67 savings | |
n.存款,储蓄 | |
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68 cemetery | |
n.坟墓,墓地,坟场 | |
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69 realization | |
n.实现;认识到,深刻了解 | |
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70 inquiry | |
n.打听,询问,调查,查问 | |
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71 discretion | |
n.谨慎;随意处理 | |
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72 ascertain | |
vt.发现,确定,查明,弄清 | |
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73 lodgings | |
n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍 | |
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74 rigid | |
adj.严格的,死板的;刚硬的,僵硬的 | |
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75 tenants | |
n.房客( tenant的名词复数 );佃户;占用者;占有者 | |
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76 improper | |
adj.不适当的,不合适的,不正确的,不合礼仪的 | |
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77 inmates | |
n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 ) | |
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78 vaccinated | |
[医]已接种的,种痘的,接种过疫菌的 | |
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79 habitually | |
ad.习惯地,通常地 | |
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80 immorality | |
n. 不道德, 无道义 | |
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81 luxuriously | |
adv.奢侈地,豪华地 | |
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82 luxurious | |
adj.精美而昂贵的;豪华的 | |
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83 undoubtedly | |
adv.确实地,无疑地 | |
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84 bolstered | |
v.支持( bolster的过去式和过去分词 );支撑;给予必要的支持;援助 | |
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85 remunerative | |
adj.有报酬的 | |
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86 contented | |
adj.满意的,安心的,知足的 | |
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87 proprieties | |
n.礼仪,礼节;礼貌( propriety的名词复数 );规矩;正当;合适 | |
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88 motive | |
n.动机,目的;adv.发动的,运动的 | |
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89 undertaking | |
n.保证,许诺,事业 | |
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90 divest | |
v.脱去,剥除 | |
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91 testimony | |
n.证词;见证,证明 | |
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92 propensity | |
n.倾向;习性 | |
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93 covetous | |
adj.贪婪的,贪心的 | |
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94 thoroughly | |
adv.完全地,彻底地,十足地 | |
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95 allay | |
v.消除,减轻(恐惧、怀疑等) | |
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96 tint | |
n.淡色,浅色;染发剂;vt.着以淡淡的颜色 | |
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97 consigned | |
v.把…置于(令人不快的境地)( consign的过去式和过去分词 );把…托付给;把…托人代售;丟弃 | |
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98 naval | |
adj.海军的,军舰的,船的 | |
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99 gist | |
n.要旨;梗概 | |
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100 intelligible | |
adj.可理解的,明白易懂的,清楚的 | |
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101 contiguity | |
n.邻近,接壤 | |
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