On entering the parlour the Preacher greeted his visitor with the deference3 the typical Southern man instinctively4 pays to woman.
“I am pleased to meet you, Madam,” he said with a graceful5 bow and kindly6 smile, as he led her to the most comfortable seat he could find.
She looked him squarely in the face for a moment as though surprised and smilingly replied, “I believe you Southern men are all alike, woman flatterers. You have a way of making every woman believe you think her a queen. It pleases me, I can’t help confessing it, though I sometimes despise myself for it. But I am not going to give you an opportunity to feed my vanity this morning. I’ve come for a plain face to face talk with you on the one subject that fills my heart, my work among the Freedmen. You are a Baptist minister. I have a right to your friendship and co-operation.”
A cloud overshadowed the Preacher’s face as he seated himself. He said nothing for a moment, looking curiously7 and thoughtfully at his visitor.
He seemed to be studying her character and to be puzzled by the problem. She was a woman of prepossessing appearance, well past thirty-five, with streaks8 of grey appearing in her smoothly9 brushed black hair. She was dressed plainly in rich brown material cut in tailor fashion, and her heavy hair was drawn10 straight up pompadour style from her forehead with apparent carelessness and yet in a way that heightened the impression of strength and beauty in her face. Her nose was the one feature that gave warning of trouble in an encounter. She was plump in figure, almost stout11, and her nose seemed too small for the breadth of her face. It was broad enough, but too short, and was pug tipped slightly at the end. She fell just a little short of being handsome and this nose was responsible for the failure. It gave to her face when agitated12, in spite of evident culture and refinement13, the expression of a feminine bull dog.
Her eyes were flashing now, and her nostrils14 opened a little wider and began to push the tip of her nose upward. At last she snapped out suddenly, “Well, which is it, friend or foe15? What do you honestly think of my work?”
“Pardon me, Miss Walker, I am not accustomed to speak rudely to a lady. If I am honest, I don’t know where to begin.”
“Bah! Lay aside your Don Quixote Southern chivalry16 this morning and talk to me in plain English. It doesn’t matter whether I am a woman or a man. I am an idea, a divine mission this morning. I mean to establish a high school in this village for the negroes, and to build a Baptist church for them. I learn from them that they have great faith in you. Many of them desire your approval and co-operation. Will you help me?”
“To be perfectly17 frank, I will not. You ask me for plain English. I will give it to you. Your presence in this village as a missionary18 to the heathen is an insult to our intelligence and Christian19 manhood. You come at this late day a missionary among the heathen, the heathen whose heart and brain created this Republic with civil and religious liberty for its foundations, a missionary among the heathen who gave the world Washington, whose giant personality three times saved the cause of American Liberty from ruin when his army had melted away. You are a missionary among the children of Washington, Jefferson, Monroe, Madison, Jackson, Clay and Calhoun! Madam, I have baptised into the fellowship of the church of Christ in this county more negroes than you ever saw in all your life before you left Boston.
“At the close of the war there were thousands of negro members of white Baptist churches in the state. Your mission is not to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. Your mission is to teach crack-brained theories of social and political equality to four millions of ignorant negroes, some of whom are but fifty years removed from the savagery20 of African jungles. Your work is to separate and alienate21 the negroes from their former masters who can be their only real friends and guardians22. Your work is to sow the dragon’s teeth of an impossible social order that will bring forth23 its harvest of blood for our children.”
He paused a moment, and, suddenly facing her continued, “I should like to help the cause you have at heart: and the most effective service I could render it now would be to box you up in a glass cage, such as are used for rattlesnakes, and ship you back to Boston.”
“Indeed! I suppose then it is still a crime in the South to teach the Negro?” she asked this in little gasps24 of fury, her eyes flashing defiance25 and her two rows of white teeth uncovering by the rising of her pugnacious26 nose.
“For you, yes. It is always a crime to teach a lie.”
“Thank you. Your frankness is all one could wish!”
“Pardon my apparent rudeness. You not only invited, you demanded it. While about it, let me make a clean breast of it. I do you personally the honour to acknowledge that you are honest and in dead earnest, and that you mean well. You are simply a fanatic27.”
“Allow me again to thank you for your candour!”
“Don’t mention it, Madam. You will be canonised in due time. In the meantime let us understand one another. Our lives are now very far apart, though we read the same Bible, worship the same God and hold the same great faith. In the settlement of this Negro question you are an insolent28 interloper. You’re worse, you are a wilful29 spoiled child of rich and powerful parents playing with matches in a powder mill. I not only will not help you, I would, if I had the power seize you, and remove you to a place of safety. But I cannot oppose you. You are protected in your play by a million bayonets and back of these bayonets are banked the fires of passion in the North ready to burst into flame in a moment. The only thing I can do is to ignore your existence. You understand my position.”
“Certainly, Doctor,” she replied good naturedly.
She had recovered from the rush of her anger now and was herself again. A curious smile played round her lips as she quietly added:
“I must really thank you for your candour. You have helped me immensely. I understand the situation now perfectly. I shall go forward cheerfully in my work and never bother my brain again about you, or your people, or your point of view. You have aroused all the fighting blood in me. I feel toned up and ready for a life struggle. I assure you I shall cherish no ill feeling toward you. I am only sorry to see a man of your powers so blinded by prejudice. I will simply ignore you.”
“Then, Madam, it is quite clear we agree upon establishing and maintaining a great mutual30 ignorance. Let us hope, paradoxical as it may seem, that it may be for the enlightenment of future generations!”
She arose to go, smiling at his last speech.
“Before we part, perhaps never to meet again, let me ask you one question,” said the Preacher still looking thoughtfully at her.
“Certainly, as many as you like.”
“Why is it that you good people of the North are spending your millions here now to help only the negroes, who feel least of all the sufferings of this war? The poor white people of the South are your own flesh and blood. These Scotch31 Covenanters are of the same Puritan stock, these German, Huguenot and English people are all your kinsmen32, who stood at the stake with your fathers in the old world. They are, many of them, homeless, without clothes, sick and hungry and broken hearted. But one in ten of them ever owned a slave. They had to fight this war because your armies invaded their soil. But for their sorrows, sufferings and burdens you have no ear to hear and no heart to pity. This is a strange thing to me.”
“The white people of the South can take care of themselves. If they suffer, it is God’s just punishment for their sins in owning slaves and fighting against the flag. Do I make myself clear?” she snapped.
“Perfectly, I haven’t another word to say.”
“My heart yearns33 for the poor dear black people who have suffered so many years in slavery and have been denied the rights of human beings. I am not only going to establish schools and colleges for them here, but I am conducting an experiment of thrilling interest to me which will prove that their intellectual, moral, and social capacity is equal to any white man’s.”
“Is it so?” asked the Preacher.
“Yes, I am collecting from every section of the South the most promising34 specimens35 of negro boys and sending them to our great Northern Universities where they will be educated among men who treat them as equals, and I expect from the boys reared in this atmosphere, men of transcendent genius, whose brilliant achievements in science, art and letters will forever silence the tongues of slander36 against their race. The most interesting of these students I have at Harvard now is young George Harris. His mother is Eliza Harris, the history of whose escape over the ice of the Ohio River fleeing from slavery thrilled the world. This boy is a genius, and if he lives he will shake this nation.”
“It may be, Miss Walker. There are more ways than one to shake a nation. And while I ignore your work, as a citizen and public man,—privately and personally, I shall watch this experiment with profound interest.”
“I know it will succeed. I believe God made us of one blood,” she said with enthusiasm.
“Is it true. Madam, that you once endowed a home for homeless cats before you became interested in the black people?” With a twinkle in his eye the Preacher softly asked this apparently37 irrelevant38 question.
“Yes, sir, I did,—I am proud of it. I love cats. There are over a thousand in the home now, and they are well cared for. Whose business is it?”
“I meant no offense39 by the question. I love cats too. But I wondered if you were collecting negroes only now, or, whether you were adding other specimens to your menagerie for experimental purposes.”
She bit her lips, and in spite of her efforts to restrain her anger, tears sprang to her eyes as she turned toward the Preacher whose face now looked calmly down upon her with ill-concealed pride.
“Oh! the insolence40 of you Southern people toward those who dare to differ with you about the Negro!” she cried with rage.
“I confess it humbly41 as a Christian, it is true. My scorn for these maudlin42 ideas is so deep that words have no power to convey it. But come,” said the Preacher in the kindliest tone. “Enough of this. I am pained to see tears in your eyes. Pardon my thoughtlessness. Let us forget now for a little while that you are an idea, and remember only that you are a charming Boston woman of the household of our own faith. Let me call Mrs. Durham, and have you know her and discuss with her the thousand and one things dear to all women’s hearts.”
“No, I thank you! I feel a little sore and bruised43, and social amenities44 can have no meaning for those whose souls are on fire with such antagonistic45 ideas as yours and mine. If Mrs. Durham can give me any sympathy in my work I’ll be delighted to see her, otherwise I must go.”
The Preacher laughed aloud.
“Then let me beg of you, never meet Mrs. Durham. If you do, the war will break out again. I don’t wish to figure in a case of assault and battery. Mrs. Durham was the owner of fifty slaves. She represents the bluest of the blue blood of the slave-holding aristocracy of the South. She has never surrendered and she never will. Wars, surrenders, constitutional amendments46 and such little things make no impression on her mind whatever. If you think I am difficult, you had better not puzzle your brain over her. I am a mildly constructive47 man of progress. She is a Conservative.”
“Then we will say good-bye,” said Miss Walker, extending her small plump hand in friendly parting. “I accept your challenge which this interview implies. I will succeed if God lives,” and she set her lips with a snap that spoke48 volumes.
“And I will watch you from afar with sorrow and fear and trembling,” responded the Preacher.
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收听单词发音
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1
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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elevation
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| n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高 | |
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deference
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| n.尊重，顺从；敬意 | |
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instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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7
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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8
streaks
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| n.（与周围有所不同的）条纹( streak的名词复数 )；（通常指不好的）特征（倾向）；（不断经历成功或失败的）一段时期v.快速移动( streak的第三人称单数 )；使布满条纹 | |
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9
smoothly
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| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
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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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agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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refinement
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| n.文雅；高尚；精美；精制；精炼 | |
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14
nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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15
foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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16
chivalry
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| n.骑士气概，侠义；（男人）对女人彬彬有礼，献殷勤 | |
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17
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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18
missionary
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| adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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20
savagery
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| n.野性 | |
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21
alienate
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| vt.使疏远，离间；转让(财产等) | |
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22
guardians
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| 监护人( guardian的名词复数 )； 保护者，维护者 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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gasps
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| v.喘气( gasp的第三人称单数 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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25
defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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pugnacious
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| adj.好斗的 | |
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fanatic
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| n.狂热者，入迷者；adj.狂热入迷的 | |
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28
insolent
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| adj.傲慢的，无理的 | |
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wilful
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| adj.任性的，故意的 | |
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30
mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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31
scotch
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| n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
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32
kinsmen
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| n.家属，亲属( kinsman的名词复数 ) | |
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33
yearns
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| 渴望，切盼，向往( yearn的第三人称单数 ) | |
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34
promising
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| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
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35
specimens
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| n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人 | |
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36
slander
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| n./v.诽谤，污蔑 | |
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37
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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38
irrelevant
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| adj.不恰当的，无关系的，不相干的 | |
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39
offense
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| n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪 | |
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40
insolence
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| n.傲慢；无礼；厚颜；傲慢的态度 | |
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41
humbly
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| adv. 恭顺地，谦卑地 | |
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42
maudlin
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| adj.感情脆弱的，爱哭的 | |
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43
bruised
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| [医]青肿的，瘀紫的 | |
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44
amenities
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| n.令人愉快的事物；礼仪；礼节；便利设施；礼仪( amenity的名词复数 )；便利设施；（环境等的）舒适；（性情等的）愉快 | |
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45
antagonistic
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| adj.敌对的 | |
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46
amendments
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| （法律、文件的）改动( amendment的名词复数 )； 修正案； 修改； （美国宪法的）修正案 | |
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47
constructive
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| adj.建设的，建设性的 | |
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48
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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