Chapter 5

Draeger leans close to the dimly lit album. Rubbish; she doesn’t know any more than ...The juke bubbles as he turns a couple of pages of faces: Ah cast a lone-some shadow An’ Ah play a lone-some game. The rain hums against the roof overhead. Draeger pushes the book away, then pulls it back. Rubbish; she doesn’t—He tries to situate himself more comfortably in the wooden chair, hoping to overcome the unruly feeling of disorientation that has been building ever since he twisted that focus knob. “Nonsense.” But that’s the trouble, that is the trouble . . . “This is senseless.” He pushes the book away again. It is nonsense. “Not at all, Mr. Draeger. Look.” (Every danged winter . . .) “Let me leaf through a bit of the Stamper family past . . .” Giddy bitch, the past has nothing to do—“For instance, here, 1909, let me read you”—with the ways of men today. “ ‘During the summer the red tide came in and turned the clams¹ bad; killed a dozen injuns and three of us Christians².’ Fancy that, Mr. Draeger.” The days are the same, though, damn it (days that you feel like pages of soft wet sandpaper in your fingers, the silent pliant³ teeth of time eating away); the summers are the same. “Or . . . let’s see . . . here: the winter of 1914 when the river froze solid.” The winters are the same too. (Every winter there is mildew⁴, see it licking its sleepy gray tongue along the baseboards?) Or not essentially⁶ any different (every winter mildew, and skin rash, and fever blisters⁷ on your lip). “And you must go through one of these winters to have some notion. Are you listening, Mr. Draeger?” Draeger starts. “Certainly.” The girl smiles. “Certainly, go on. It’s just ...that jukebox.” Burbling: “Ah cast a lonesome shadow/An’ Ah play a lonesome game ...” Not really loud but—“But, yes; I am listening.” “And using your imagination?” “Yes, yes! Now what” difference should these bygone years make? (every winter a new tube of Blistex) “were you saying?” “Though you’re gone, Ah still dance on . . .” The girl assumes the air of one in a trance, closing her eyes. “As I see it, Mr. Draeger, the ‘whys’ go a long way back . . .” Nonsense! Rubbish! (Yet every winter, feel the hole already forming? Lower lip?) “As I recall, Hank’s granddad—Henry’s father—now let me think . . .” But. Perhaps. (Relentlessly.) “Shadows lonesome.” “Of course there are—” Nevertheless. (Still.) “On the other—” Stop...stop. STOP! DON’T SWEAT IT. SIMPLY MOVE A FEW INCHES LEFT OR RIGHT TO GET A NEW VIEWPOINT. Look . . . Reality is greater than the sum of its parts, also a damn sight holier. And the lives of such stuff as dreams are made of may be rounded with a sleep but they are not tied neatly⁸ with a red bow. Truth doesn’t run on time like a commuter⁹ train, though time may run on truth. And the Scenes Gone By and the Scenes to Come flow blending together in the sea-green deep while Now spreads in circles on the surface. So don’t sweat it. For focus simply move a few inches back or forward. And once more...look: As the barroom explodes gently outward into the rain, in spreading spherical¹⁰ waves: Dusty Kansas train depot¹¹ in 1898. The sun lip-reading the bright gilt¹² scrawl¹³ on the Pullman door. There stands Jonas Armand Stamper, with a furl of steam wafting¹⁴ past his thin waist, like a half-mast flag from an iron-black flagpole. He stands near the gilted door, a little apart, with a black flat-brimmed hat clamped in one iron hand, a black leatherbound book clamped in the other, and silently watches the farewells of his wife and three boys and the rest of his gathered kin⁵. A sturdy-enoughlooking brood, he decides, in their stiff-starched muslin. A very a great notion impressive-looking flock. And knows also that, to the eyes of the noontime depot crowd, he appears more sturdy-looking, stiff-starched, and impressive than all the others put together. His hair is long and glossy¹⁵, showing Indian blood; his eyebrows¹⁶ and mustache exactly horizontal, as though rulered parallel onto his wide-boned face with a heavy graphite pencil. Hard jaw¹⁷, tendoned neck, deep chest. And though he is inches under six feet he stands in such a way as to appear much taller. Yes, impressive. The stiff-starched, leatherbound, iron-cored patriarch, fearlessly moving his family west to Oregon. The sturdy pioneer striking out for new and primitive¹⁸ frontiers. Impressive. “Be careful, Jonas.” “God will provide, Nate. It’s the Lord’s work we are doing.” “You’re a good man, Jonas.” “God will see to His own, Louise.” “Amen, amen.” “It’s the Lord’s will that you should go.” He nods stiffly and, turning to step onto the train, catches sight of his three boys ...Look: they are all grinning. He frowns to remind them that, while they may have been the ones that argued for this move from Kansas to the wilds of the Northwest, it is still his decision and no other that allows it, his decision and his permission and they hadn’t, praise God, better forget it! “It is the good Lord’s will,” he repeats and the two younger boys drop their eyes. The oldest boy, Henry, continues to meet his father’s stare. Jonas starts to speak again but there is something about the boy’s expression, something so blatantly¹⁹ triumphant²⁰ and blasphemous²¹ that the fearless patriarch’s words stop in his throat, though it is much later before he really understands the look. No, you knew the moment you saw it. Branded there like the leer of Satan. You knew the look and your blood ran cold when you saw what you had unknowingly been party to. The conductor calls. The two youngest boys move past the father into the train, muttering thanks, thank ya kindly²² for the wrapped lunches offered by the queue of relatives who have come to see them off. Their nervous, wet-eyed mother follows, kissing cheeks, pressing hands. The oldest boy next, with his fists knotted in his trousers pockets. The train bucks²³ suddenly and the father grasps the bar and swings on board, lifting his hand to the waving relatives. “So long.” “You write, Jonas, hear?” “We’ll write. We look to see you folks following before long.” “So long . . . so long.” He turns to mount the hot iron steps and sees again that look as Henry passes from the landing into the car. Lord have mercy, he whispers, without knowing why. No, admit it; you did know. You knew it was the family sin come back from the pit, and you knew your part in it; you knew your part just as surely as you knew the sin. “A born sinner,” he mutters, “born cursed.” For, to Jonas and his generation, the family history was black with the stain of that selfsame sin: You know the sin. Curse of the Wanderer; curse of the Tramp; bitter curse of the Faithless; always turning their backs on the lot God had granted.... “Always troubled with itchy feet,” contended the more easygoing. “Idiocy²⁴!” thundered those advocating stability. “Blasphemers!” “Just roamers.” “Fools! Fools!” Migrants, is what the family’s history shows. A stringy-muscled brood of restless and stubborn west-walkers, their scattered²⁵ history shows. With too much bone and not enough meat, and on the move ever since that first day the first skinny immigrant Stamper took his first step off the boat onto the eastern shore of the continent. On the move with a kind of trancelike dedication²⁶. Generation after generation leapfrogging west across wild young America; not as pioneers doing the Lord’s work in a heathen land, not as visionaries blazing trail for a growing nation (though they quite often bought the farms of discouraged pioneers or teams of horses from disillusioned²⁷ visionaries making tracks back to well-blazed Missouri), but simply as a clan²⁸ of skinny men inclined always toward itchy a great notion feet and idiocy, toward foolish roaming, toward believing in greener grass over the hill and straighter hemlocks³⁰ down the trail. “You bet. We get to that place down the trail, then we sit back and take ’er easy.” “Right. We got plenty time then. . . .” But, always, just as soon as the old man finally got all the trees cut and the stumps³¹ cleared and the old lady finally got the linseed coating she’d been so long griping about for her hemlock²⁹ floor, some gangly, frog-voiced seventeen-year-old would stand looking out the window, scratching a stringy-muscled belly³², and allow, “You know...we can do better than this yere sticker patch we got now.” “Do better? Just when we finally got a toehold on ’er?” “I believe we can, yes.” “You can do better, may-be—though I truly do have my misgivin’s about it—but your father an’ me, we ain’t leaving!” “Suit yourself.” “No sir, Mister Antsy Pants! Your father an’ me, we come to the end of it.” “Then Father an’ you suit yourselfs, ’cause I’m movin’ on. You an’ the old man do what you please.” “Wait a minute now, bud—” “Ed!” “Just hold your horses now, makin’ up my mind for me what I do, woman. Okay, bud, what egzackly was it you had in mind, just outta curiosity?” “Ed!” “Woman, the boy an’ me is talkin’.” “Oh, Ed ...” And the only ones that ever stayed behind were either too old or too sick to continue west. Too old or too sick, or, as far as the family was concerned, too dead. For when one moved, they all moved. Tobacco-scented letters found in heart-shaped candy boxes in attics³³ are filled with excited news of this moving. “. . . the air out here is real good.” “. . . the kids do fine tho the school as you can well imagine this far from civilization is nothing to holler about.”  “. . . we look to see you folks out thisaway very soon now hear?” Or with the dejected news of restlessness: “. . . Lu tells me I should not pay any attention to you that you and Ollen and the rest always put a burr in my blanket but I don’t know I tell her I don’t know. I tell her for one thing I am not as of yet ready to settle that what we got here is the whole shebang and give up that we cannot improve our situation some. So I’ll think on it . . .” So they moved. And if, as the years passed, some parts of the family went slower than others, moving only ten or fifteen miles during their lifetime, still the movement was always west. Some had to be dragged from tumbledown homes by insistent³⁴ grandchildren. Gradually some even managed to be born and to die in the same town. Then, eventually, there came Stampers of a more sensibly practical nature; Stampers clearheaded enough to stop and stand still and look around; deep-thinking, broodful Stampers able to recognize that trait they began calling “the flaw in the family character” and to set about correcting it. These clearheaded men made a real effort to overcome this flaw, made a truly practical effort to put once and for all an end to this senseless fiddlefooting west, to stop, to settle down, to take root and be content with whatever portion the good Lord had allotted³⁵ them. These sensible men. “All right now . . .” Stopping on a flat Midwestern land where they could see in all directions: “All right, I do feel we have come about far enough.” Stopping and saying, “It’s high time we put an end to this foolishness that has been prodding³⁶ at our ancestors; when a man can stand here—and see in every direction and left’s no better’n right and forward’s got just as much sage³⁷ and buffalo³⁸ weed as backward, and over that rise yonder is just more flat, more of the same we been walkin’ over for two hundred years, then why, praise Jesus, why go further?” And when no one could come up with a good reason the practical men gave a stiff nod and thumped³⁹ a worn boot against the flatiron land: “All right. Then this is the whole shebang, boys, right here underfoot. Give up and admit it.” To begin devoting their restless energies to pursuits more a great notion tangible⁴⁰ than wandering, more practical than walking, pursuits like business and community and church. They acquired bank accounts, positions in local government, and even, sometimes, these stringy-muscled men, potbellies. Pictures of these men found in boxes in attics: black suits poised⁴¹ with rigid⁴² determination before a photographer’s mural, mouths grim and resolute⁴³. Letters: “. . . we have come far enough.” And they folded up in leather chairs like jackknives closing and climbing into scabbards.

1 clams   

n.蛤；蚌，蛤( clam的名词复数 )v.（在沙滩上）挖蛤( clam的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The restaurant's specialities are fried clams. 这个餐厅的特色菜是炸蚌。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We dug clams in the flats et low tide. 退潮时我们在浅滩挖蛤蜊。 来自辞典例句

2 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

3 pliant   

adj.顺从的；可弯曲的

参考例句：

• She's proud and stubborn,you know,under that pliant exterior.你要知道，在温顺的外表下，她既自傲又固执。
• They weave a basket out of osiers with pliant young willows.他们用易弯的柳枝编制篮子。

4 mildew   

n.发霉；v.（使）发霉

参考例句：

• The interior was dark and smelled of mildew.里面光线很暗，霉味扑鼻。
• Mildew may form in this weather.这种天气有可能发霉。

5 kin   

n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的

参考例句：

• He comes of good kin.他出身好。
• She has gone to live with her husband's kin.她住到丈夫的亲戚家里去了。

6 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

7 blisters   

n.水疱( blister的名词复数 )；水肿；气泡

参考例句：

• My new shoes have made blisters on my heels. 我的新鞋把我的脚跟磨起泡了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• His new shoes raised blisters on his feet. 他的新鞋把他的脚磨起了水疱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 neatly   

adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地

参考例句：

• Sailors know how to wind up a long rope neatly.水手们知道怎样把一条大绳利落地缠好。
• The child's dress is neatly gathered at the neck.那孩子的衣服在领口处打着整齐的皱褶。

9 commuter   

n.(尤指市郊之间)乘公交车辆上下班者

参考例句：

• Police cordoned off the road and diverted commuter traffic. 警察封锁了道路并分流交通。
• She accidentally stepped on his foot on a crowded commuter train. 她在拥挤的通勤列车上不小心踩到了他的脚。

10 spherical   

adj.球形的；球面的

参考例句：

• The Earth is a nearly spherical planet.地球是一个近似球体的行星。
• Many engineers shy away from spherical projection methods.许多工程师对球面投影法有畏难情绪。

11 depot   

n.仓库，储藏处；公共汽车站；火车站

参考例句：

• The depot is only a few blocks from here.公共汽车站离这儿只有几个街区。
• They leased the building as a depot.他们租用这栋大楼作仓库。

12 gilt   

adj.镀金的；n.金边证券

参考例句：

• The plates have a gilt edge.这些盘子的边是镀金的。
• The rest of the money is invested in gilt.其余的钱投资于金边证券。

13 scrawl   

vt.潦草地书写；n.潦草的笔记，涂写

参考例句：

• His signature was an illegible scrawl.他的签名潦草难以辨认。
• Your beautiful handwriting puts my untidy scrawl to shame.你漂亮的字体把我的潦草字迹比得见不得人。

14 wafting   

v.吹送，飘送，（使）浮动( waft的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• But that gentle fragrance was clearly wafting from the window. 但那股淡淡的香气，却分明是从母亲的窗户溢出的。 来自互联网
• The picture-like XueGuo, wafting dense flavor of Japan, gives us a kind of artistic enjoyment. 画一般的雪国，飘溢着浓郁的日本风情，给人以美的享受。 来自互联网

15 glossy   

adj.平滑的；有光泽的

参考例句：

• I like these glossy spots.我喜欢这些闪闪发光的花点。
• She had glossy black hair.她长着乌黑发亮的头发。

16 eyebrows   

眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Eyebrows stop sweat from coming down into the eyes. 眉毛挡住汗水使其不能流进眼睛。
• His eyebrows project noticeably. 他的眉毛特别突出。

17 jaw   

n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训

参考例句：

• He delivered a right hook to his opponent's jaw.他给了对方下巴一记右钩拳。
• A strong square jaw is a sign of firm character.强健的方下巴是刚毅性格的标志。

18 primitive   

adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物

参考例句：

• It is a primitive instinct to flee a place of danger.逃离危险的地方是一种原始本能。
• His book describes the march of the civilization of a primitive society.他的著作描述了一个原始社会的开化过程。

19 blatantly   

ad.公开地

参考例句：

• Safety guidelines had been blatantly ignored. 安全规章被公然置之不顾。
• They walked grandly through the lobby, blatantly arm in arm, pretending they were not defeated. 他们大大方方地穿过门厅，故意炫耀地挎着胳膊，假装他们没有被打败。

20 triumphant   

adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的

参考例句：

• The army made a triumphant entry into the enemy's capital.部队胜利地进入了敌方首都。
• There was a positively triumphant note in her voice.她的声音里带有一种极为得意的语气。

21 blasphemous   

adj.亵渎神明的，不敬神的

参考例句：

• The book was declared blasphemous and all copies ordered to be burnt.这本书被断定为亵渎神明之作，命令全数焚毀。
• The people in the room were shocked by his blasphemous language.满屋的人都对他那侮慢的语言感到愤慨。

22 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。

23 bucks   

n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃

参考例句：

• They cost ten bucks. 这些值十元钱。
• They are hunting for bucks. 他们正在猎雄兔。 来自《简明英汉词典》

24 idiocy   

n.愚蠢

参考例句：

• Stealing a car and then driving it drunk was the ultimate idiocy.偷了车然后醉酒开车真是愚蠢到极点。
• In this war there is an idiocy without bounds.这次战争疯癫得没底。

25 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

26 dedication   

n.奉献，献身，致力，题献，献辞

参考例句：

• We admire her courage,compassion and dedication.我们钦佩她的勇气、爱心和奉献精神。
• Her dedication to her work was admirable.她对工作的奉献精神可钦可佩。

27 disillusioned   

a.不再抱幻想的，大失所望的，幻想破灭的

参考例句：

• I soon became disillusioned with the job. 我不久便对这个工作不再抱幻想了。
• Many people who are disillusioned in reality assimilate life to a dream. 许多对现实失望的人把人生比作一场梦。

28 clan   

n.氏族，部落，宗族，家族，宗派

参考例句：

• She ranks as my junior in the clan.她的辈分比我小。
• The Chinese Christians,therefore,practically excommunicate themselves from their own clan.所以，中国的基督徒简直是被逐出了自己的家族了。

29 hemlock   

n.毒胡萝卜，铁杉

参考例句：

• He was condemned to drink a cup of hemlock.判处他喝一杯毒汁。
• Here is a beech by the side of a hemlock,with three pines at hand.这儿有株山毛榉和一株铁杉长在一起，旁边还有三株松树。

30 hemlocks   

由毒芹提取的毒药( hemlock的名词复数 )

参考例句：

31 stumps   

（被砍下的树的）树桩( stump的名词复数 )； 残肢； （板球三柱门的）柱； 残余部分

参考例句：

• Rocks and stumps supplied the place of chairs at the picnic. 野餐时石头和树桩都充当了椅子。
• If you don't stir your stumps, Tom, you'll be late for school again. 汤姆，如果你不快走，上学又要迟到了。

32 belly   

n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛

参考例句：

• The boss has a large belly.老板大腹便便。
• His eyes are bigger than his belly.他眼馋肚饱。

33 attics   

n. 阁楼

参考例句：

• They leave unwanted objects in drawers, cupboards and attics. 他们把暂时不需要的东西放在抽屉里、壁橱中和搁楼上。
• He rummaged busily in the attics of European literature, bringing to light much of interest. 他在欧洲文学的阁楼里忙着翻箱倒笼，找到了不少有趣的东西。

34 insistent   

adj.迫切的，坚持的

参考例句：

• There was an insistent knock on my door.我听到一阵急促的敲门声。
• He is most insistent on this point.他在这点上很坚持。

35 allotted   

分配，拨给，摊派( allot的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I completed the test within the time allotted . 我在限定的时间内完成了试验。
• Each passenger slept on the berth allotted to him. 每个旅客都睡在分配给他的铺位上。

36 prodding   

v.刺，戳( prod的现在分词 )；刺激；促使；（用手指或尖物）戳

参考例句：

• He needed no prodding. 他不用督促。
• The boy is prodding the animal with a needle. 那男孩正用一根针刺那动物。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

37 sage   

n.圣人，哲人；adj.贤明的，明智的

参考例句：

• I was grateful for the old man's sage advice.我很感激那位老人贤明的忠告。
• The sage is the instructor of a hundred ages.这位哲人是百代之师。

38 buffalo   

n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛

参考例句：

• Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
• The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。

39 thumped   

v.重击， （指心脏）急速跳动( thump的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Dave thumped the table in frustration . 戴夫懊恼得捶打桌子。
• He thumped the table angrily. 他愤怒地用拳捶击桌子。

40 tangible   

adj.有形的，可触摸的，确凿的，实际的

参考例句：

• The policy has not yet brought any tangible benefits.这项政策还没有带来任何实质性的好处。
• There is no tangible proof.没有确凿的证据。

41 poised   

a.摆好姿势不动的

参考例句：

• The hawk poised in mid-air ready to swoop. 老鹰在半空中盘旋，准备俯冲。
• Tina was tense, her hand poised over the telephone. 蒂娜心情紧张，手悬在电话机上。

42 rigid   

adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的

参考例句：

• She became as rigid as adamant.她变得如顽石般的固执。
• The examination was so rigid that nearly all aspirants were ruled out.考试很严，几乎所有的考生都被淘汰了。

43 resolute   

adj.坚决的，果敢的

参考例句：

• He was resolute in carrying out his plan.他坚决地实行他的计划。
• The Egyptians offered resolute resistance to the aggressors.埃及人对侵略者作出坚决的反抗。