The Chronic7 Loafer raised himself from his favorite pile of calicoes and turned up his coat collar.
“Shet that stove door an’ put on the draught8,” he cried. “What’s the uset o’ freezin’!”
“Cold Chrisermas to morrer,” said the Storekeeper, as he banged the door shut and turned on the draught in obedience9 to the demand.
“Turn up the lamp,” growled10 the Miller11. “It’s ez dark an’ gloomy ez a barn here.”
“They ain’t no uset o’ wastin’ ile,” the Storekeeper[127] muttered as he complied with the second request.
The great egg stove roared right merrily as the flames darted12 up out of its heart, until its large body grew red-hot and sent forth13 genial14 rays of heat and light—the veritable sun of the narrow village universe.
“Listen to the wind! Ain’t it howlin’?” said the Loafer.
“Col’est Chrisermas Eve in years,” the Tinsmith responded.
The Loafer pushed himself off the counter onto an empty crate15 that stood below him. He leaned forward and almost embraced the stove in his effort to toast his hands.
“This, I’ve heard tell,” he said, “is the one night in all the year ’hen the cattle talks jest like men.”
“Some sais it’s Holly16 E’en,” ventured the Miller.
“No, it ain’t. It’s Chrisermas,” the Loafer replied emphatically. He leaned back, placed his thumbs in the arm-holes of his waistcoat and glared about the circle in defiance17.
The brief silence that followed was broken by the School Teacher.
“Superstition18! Mere19 superstition!”
“That’s what I sais,” cried the Storekeeper. He was leaning over the counter munching20 a candy lion. “What ’ud a mule21 talk about ’hen he only had a chancet oncet a year?”
[128]
A thin, meaning smile crept over the Loafer’s face and he bent22 forward, thrusting his long chin in the direction of the venturesome merchant.
“In my time,” he drawled, “I’ve met some mules23 pullin’ plows24 that hed they ben able to talk ’ud ’a’ sayd sensibler things then some ez is engaged in easier an’ more money-makin’ ockypations.”
The Store was usually loath25 to accord recognition to the Loafer, but this was the season of good-will to all, and it lifted up its voice in one mighty26 guffaw27. Even the Teacher joined in, and the G. A. R. Man slapped his knee and cried, “Good shot!”
The victim hid his burning face in the recesses28 of the sugar barrel, and under pretense29 of hunting for the scoop30 finished the candy toy.
“My father-in-law was a superstitious31 man and always believed in them fool things,” said the pedagogue32. “I never give them any credit myself, for they say that education is as great an enemy to superstition as light is to darkness. In other words, learnin’ illumines a man’s mind and drives out all them black, unholy beliefs that are bred in ignorance.”
He paused to give effect to his words, but the Loafer seized the opportunity, thus unintentionally offered, to remark, “Then it ’ud seem like most men’s brains is like cellars. They is allus some hole or corner in a cellar that ye can’t light lest ye put[129] a special lantern in it, an’ ye hev trouble keepin’ that burnin’.”
“But the brain’s perfectly33 round,” interposed the Miller, shaking his head sagely34.
The Teacher sighed. “It’s no use talking to you men in figures——”
“Go on. Let’s hev figgers,” cried the Storekeeper, eagerly.
The pedagogue leaned back on two legs of his chair and pillowed his head on a cheese box that stood on the counter. After having carefully extinguished the flame in his cigar, blown out the smoke and placed the stump35 in his pocket, he began:
“While I give no credit to the current superstitions36, I cherish a peculiar37 affection for this old belief that the cattle talk on Christmas Eve. I feel that to it I owe part of my happiness in life, and I’ve had a good deal of it, too, in spite of the hardships I had to endure as a boy. You know my parents died when I was but seventeen year old and left me practically penniless and a charge on the township. So I was bound over to Abraham Buttenberger, who had a fine farm up near West Eden. But for one thing life with him would have gone hard with me, for he was a crotchety old fellow, a bit stingy, and inclined to get the greatest possible amount of work out of a husky lad that was gettin’ no pay but his keep. The one thing I mentioned was Abraham’s dotter[130] Kate. I have seen many weemen in my day, and I can honestly say that I have looked on few such pictures as she was when I first knew her. She was sixteen then——”
“I don’t know ’bout that,” the Loafer interrupted. “Did you uns ever see my Missus ’hen she was sixteen an’——”
“She was sixteen then,” repeated the Teacher, ignoring the remark; “she was sixteen and extremely good lookin’. But most of you have seen her since and it’s no use for me to dwell on that point. As the years went by I got to set a heap of store by Kate and she set a heap of store by me. But we kept it to ourselves till we was twenty. Then we agreed to be married. Our agreement didn’t do any good, for Abraham set his foot down on the scheme. He wasn’t goin’ to have no hirelin’ of his a-merryin’ his dotter. I explained to him how his days was drawin’ to an end; how a time was a-comin’ when the place wouldn’t do him any more good and no more harm ’ud come to him whether his farm-hand was runnin’ it or not; how his dotter would need lookin’ after and all that. His answer was to drive me away with a horse-whip.
“That was in November. For seven weeks I never laid eyes on the girl, for the old man watched her like a hawk38. But he tired of that, and one night let her go to literary society meetin’ at Kishikoquillas school. I saw her there and[131] wanted her to elope right on the spot. She said no. It was too sudden. Besides, she wanted her things, for she knew her father would keep them just for spite if she run away without them. So we fixed39 it up that next night—that was Christmas Eve—she was to meet me at their barn, and we would take one of the horses and a sleigh and skip.
“Now, as I said, Abraham was a superstitious man and continual readin’ the almanac and perusin’ charms. He believed in that old sayin’ about the cattle talkin’ on Christmas Eve. Many a night he’d argued the point with me. I always said if he thot it was true, why didn’t he go listen to it. He declared he would, but he never did—leastways he put it off to a most onexpected time. If there was any place the cattle was likely to talk, I used to tell him, it was right in that big, spooky barn of his; and if there was any place where one could hear them perfect, it was right there. The stables was in the basement and the mows40 was overhead. The hay was stored above the horses and mules. A hole about ten feet across and twenty feet deep run from the top of the mow41 into that particular stable. I explained to him how he could lay at the top of the hay, put his head down into the hole and hear everything that passed. But that Christmas Eve I’d forgot all about our argument. I’d other things to think of.
[132]
“I reached the barn at midnight. Kate was there, standin’ by the gate waitin’. Everything was clear. The old man, she said, had gone to bed and didn’t have any suspicions. So we got the sleigh ready and went into the horse stable to harness up. It was clear moonlight outside but inside it was dark as pitch and fearful ghostly. There were all kinds of noises—hay rattlin’, rats skippin’ around, chains clinkin’; and every now and then a hen roostin’ up in the racks would begin to cluck and scare Kate awful. Grave-yards is bad at night but they ain’t a circumstance to a big barn.
“I picked out the white John mule, for I knew he was a good traveler, and gettin’ the harness, I went into his stall and began to fix it on him. Then I couldn’t find any bridles42. I whispered to Kate. She said they was over in the cow stable, and went to get one. It seemed to me she was gone an awful long time. I could hear her trampin’ around, but as she didn’t appear to be havin’ much success I called, not very loud, ‘What’s wrong?’
“‘Nothin’,’ she answered, ‘I’ll have them in a minute.’
“It seemed like I heard a suspicious noise come down the hayhole from the mow above. I listened, but I didn’t hear any more sounds, so guessed it was a rat.
“Then I called louder to Kate, for I was mad at[133] Abraham for all the trouble he’d given us, ‘The old man is a mean customer if there ever was one!’
“She tramped around in the straw for a spell. Then her answer came from the cow stable, ‘That’s what I say.’
“‘A nice way he treats his own dotter,’ I went on, just talkin’ for company. ‘He thinks he’ll take his farm with him when he dies. What a shame in a man of his age!’
“Again I heard a rattle43 of hay up above and whispered, ‘Ssh!’ But the girl didn’t catch it and said particularly loud and spiteful, ‘He has treated me powerful mean.’
“I put my hand to my ear and listened, but all was quiet, so I thinks to myself, ‘It’s a chicken.’
“‘Don’t you think kickin’ is too good for a man like that, John?’ Kate asks.
“‘Well, I’d like to have it to do,’ I answers. ‘Oh! just you wait till I get a chance, and if I don’t——’
“There was an awful scream in the mow—an unearthly scream. A great, black thing came tumblin’ out of the hayhole into the stable, lettin’ out fearful groans44 all the time. I couldn’t see it very plain and didn’t stop to investigate. I bumped into Kate as she was pilin’ into the kitchen. We set down a minute to get our breath. Then I put my head out of the door. For a piece all was quiet. Then a faint call come from the[134] barn. She thot maybe it was a tramp had fallen down the hayhole. I wanted to go alone and see, but Kate wouldn’t hear of it. She insisted on goin’ with me and takin’ a gun and a lantern.
“I opened the stable door, peeped in and said, ‘Who’s there?’
“The answer was a moan and, ‘Is that you, John? Help!’
“There Abraham Buttenberger lay on a little pile of hay at the back of the stable, writhin’ and moanin’.
“‘I always knew it,’ he groaned. ‘I always told you they talked on Christmas Eve. But why did you ever get me to try and hear them? See what you’ve led me to. Look at me layin’ here with a broken leg and see what you’ve done. It was the white John mule—I know his voice. T’other was the brindle cow.’
“‘Look out for the mule! Look out!’ he cried, as we carried him out of the stable and put him on a wheelbarrow.
“That’s the way he took on. When we’d got him into the house I went up to town for a doctor. I attended him that night. The next day after he’d had breakfast, he set up in bed and says to me: ‘John, I’ve heard people laugh about the sayin’ that the cattle talk on Christmas Eve. I’ve heard you make fun of the idee. But you’d never laugh at it again if you heard what I did last night; if you’d had a mule heapin’ coals of[135] fire on your head. And that cow! Oh, it’s awful to have the very animals on the farm down on you like that.’
“‘What did they say?’ says I.
“‘Say!’ he answers. ‘What didn’t they say? I’ll never have no peace behind that John mule again.’
“The old man was quiet a spell. Then he says, ‘John, you can have my dotter, my only dotter.’
“And he begin to moan.
“Missus and I were married at home that Christmas just fifteen years ago. We never explained it to Abraham. There was no particular use in it. We couldn’t ’a’ convinced him anyway. Why, do you know he was so set on makin’ up all around that he insisted that the brindle cow and the white mule know all about it. The ceremony was performed in the kitchen and them two knowin’ beasts was hitched45 to the window so they could look in. He was bound to appease46 ’em.”
The Teacher chuckled47 softly as he finished his narration48.
The Storekeeper bit the legs off a candy ostrich49. “It do beat all!” he exclaimed.
“I knowd it,” the Loafer cried triumphantly50. “I allus knowd it. I thank you, Teacher, fer backin’ me up with this petickler instance of it. The cattle do talk on Chrisermas Eve.”
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收听单词发音
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1
shrieking
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| v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 ) | |
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2
attic
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| n.顶楼，屋顶室 | |
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3
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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4
bass
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| n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴 | |
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5
flickering
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| adj.闪烁的，摇曳的，一闪一闪的 | |
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6
huddled
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| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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7
chronic
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| adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的 | |
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8
draught
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| n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计 | |
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9
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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10
growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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11
miller
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| n.磨坊主 | |
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12
darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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13
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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14
genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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15
crate
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| vt.(up)把…装入箱中；n.板条箱，装货箱 | |
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16
holly
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| n.[植]冬青属灌木 | |
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17
defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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18
superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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19
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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20
munching
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| v.用力咀嚼（某物），大嚼( munch的现在分词 ) | |
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21
mule
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| n.骡子，杂种，执拗的人 | |
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22
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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23
mules
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| 骡( mule的名词复数 )； 拖鞋； 顽固的人； 越境运毒者 | |
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24
plows
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| n.犁( plow的名词复数 )；犁型铲雪机v.耕( plow的第三人称单数 )；犁耕；费力穿过 | |
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25
loath
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| adj.不愿意的；勉强的 | |
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26
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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27
guffaw
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| n.哄笑；突然的大笑 | |
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28
recesses
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| n.壁凹( recess的名词复数 )；（工作或业务活动的）中止或暂停期间；学校的课间休息；某物内部的凹形空间v.把某物放在墙壁的凹处( recess的第三人称单数 )；将（墙）做成凹形，在（墙）上做壁龛；休息，休会，休庭 | |
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29
pretense
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| n.矫饰，做作，借口 | |
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30
scoop
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| n.铲子，舀取，独家新闻；v.汲取，舀取，抢先登出 | |
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31
superstitious
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| adj.迷信的 | |
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32
pedagogue
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| n.教师 | |
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33
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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34
sagely
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| adv. 贤能地，贤明地 | |
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35
stump
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| n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走 | |
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36
superstitions
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| 迷信，迷信行为( superstition的名词复数 ) | |
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37
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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38
hawk
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| n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员 | |
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39
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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40
mows
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| v.刈，割( mow的第三人称单数 ) | |
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41
mow
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| v.割（草、麦等），扫射，皱眉；n.草堆，谷物堆 | |
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42
bridles
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| 约束( bridle的名词复数 )； 限动器； 马笼头； 系带 | |
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43
rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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44
groans
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| n.呻吟，叹息( groan的名词复数 )；呻吟般的声音v.呻吟( groan的第三人称单数 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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45
hitched
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| （免费）搭乘他人之车( hitch的过去式和过去分词 )； 搭便车； 攀上； 跃上 | |
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46
appease
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| v.安抚，缓和，平息，满足 | |
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47
chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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48
narration
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| n.讲述，叙述；故事；记叙体 | |
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49
ostrich
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| n.鸵鸟 | |
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50
triumphantly
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| ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地 | |
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