Beyond all doubt, within his own memory, since the negroes under Legree’s lead had drawn5 the colour line in politics, the races had been drifting steadily6 apart. The gulf7 was now impassable.
Such crimes as Dick had committed, and for which he had paid such an awful penalty, were unknown absolutely under slavery, and were unknown for two years after the war. Their first appearance was under Legree’s regime. Now scarcely a day passed in the South without the record of such an atrocity8, swiftly followed by a lynching, and lynching thus had become a habit for all grave crimes.
Since McLeod’s triumph in the state such crimes had increased with alarming rapidity. The encroachments of negroes upon public offices had been slow but resistless. Now there were nine hundred and fifty negro magistrates9 in the state elected for no reason except the colour of their skin. Feeling themselves intrenched behind state and Federal power, the insolence10 of a class of young negro men was becoming more and more intolerable. What would happen to these fools when once they roused that thousand-legged, thousand-eyed beast with its ten thousand teeth and nails! He had looked into its face, and he shuddered11 to recall the hour.
He knew that this power of racial fury of the Anglo-Saxon when aroused was resistless, and that it would sweep its victims before its wrath12 like chaff13 before a whirlwind.
And then he thought of the day fast coming when culture and wealth would give the African the courage of conscious strength and he would answer that soul piercing shriek14 of his kindred for help, and that other thousand-legged beast, now crouching15 in the shadows, would meet thousand-legged beast around that beacon16 fire of a Godless revenge!
More and more the impossible position of the Negro in America came home to his mind. He was fast being overwhelmed with the conviction that sooner or later we must squarely face the fact that two such races, counting millions in numbers, can not live together under a Democracy.
He recalled the fact that there were more negroes in the United States than inhabitants in Mexico, the third republic of the world.
Amalgamation17 simply meant Africanisation. The big nostrils18, fiat19 nose, massive jaw20, protruding21 lip and kinky hair will register their animal marks over the proudest intellect and the rarest beauty of any other race. The rule that had no exception was that one drop of Negro blood makes a negro.
What could be the outcome of it? What was his duty as a citizen and a member of civilised society? Since the scenes through which he had passed with Tom Camp and that mob the question was insistent22 and personal. It clouded his soul and weighed on him like the horrors of a nightmare.
Again and again the fateful words the Preacher had dinned23 into his ears since childhood pressed upon him, “You can not build in a Democracy a nation inside a nation of two antagonistic24 races. The future American must be an Anglo-Saxon or a Mulatto.”
His depression and brooding over the fearful events in which he had so recently taken part had tinged25 his life and all its hopes with sadness. He had reflected this in his letters to Sallie Worth without even mentioning the events. His heart was full of sickening foreboding. How could one love and be happy in a world haunted by such horrors! He had begged her to hasten her hour of final decision. He told her of his sense of loneliness and isolation26, and of his inexpressible need of her love and presence in his daily life.
Her answer had only intensified27 his moody28 feelings. She had written that her love grew stronger every day and his love more and more became necessary to her life, and yet she could not cloud its future with the anger of her father and the broken heart of her mother by an elopement. She feared such a shock would be fatal and all her life would be embittered29 by it. They must wait. She was using all her skill to win her father, but as yet without success. But she determined30 to win him, and it would be so.
All this seemed so far away and shadowy to Gaston’s eager restless soul.
The letter had closed by saying she was preparing for another trip to Boston to visit Helen Lowell and that she should be absent at least a month. She asked that his next letter be addressed to Boston.
Somehow Boston seemed just then out of the world on another planet, it was so far away and its people and their life so unreal to his imagination.
But he sighed and turned resolutely31 to his work of preparation for an event in his life which he, meant to make great in the history of the state. It was the meeting of the Democratic convention, as yet nearly two years in the future. He held a subordinate position in his party’s councils, but defeat and ruin had taken the conceit32 out of the old line leaders and he knew that his day was drawing near.
“I ’ll take my place among the leaders and masters of men,” he told himself with quiet determination, “I will compel the General’s respect; and if I can not win his consent, I will take her without it.”
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1
tragic
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adj.悲剧的,悲剧性的,悲惨的 | |
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2
sinister
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adj.不吉利的,凶恶的,左边的 | |
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3
plunged
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v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 );暴跌;骤降;突降 | |
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4
melancholy
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n.忧郁,愁思;adj.令人感伤(沮丧)的,忧郁的 | |
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5
drawn
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v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的 | |
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6
steadily
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adv.稳定地;不变地;持续地 | |
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7
gulf
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n.海湾;深渊,鸿沟;分歧,隔阂 | |
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8
atrocity
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n.残暴,暴行 | |
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9
magistrates
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地方法官,治安官( magistrate的名词复数 ) | |
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10
insolence
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n.傲慢;无礼;厚颜;傲慢的态度 | |
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11
shuddered
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v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 );发抖;(机器、车辆等)突然震动;颤动 | |
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12
wrath
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n.愤怒,愤慨,暴怒 | |
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13
chaff
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v.取笑,嘲笑;n.谷壳 | |
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14
shriek
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v./n.尖叫,叫喊 | |
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15
crouching
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v.屈膝,蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
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16
beacon
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n.烽火,(警告用的)闪火灯,灯塔 | |
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17
amalgamation
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n.合并,重组;;汞齐化 | |
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18
nostrils
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鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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19
fiat
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n.命令,法令,批准;vt.批准,颁布 | |
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20
jaw
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n.颚,颌,说教,流言蜚语;v.喋喋不休,教训 | |
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21
protruding
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v.(使某物)伸出,(使某物)突出( protrude的现在分词 );凸 | |
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22
insistent
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adj.迫切的,坚持的 | |
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23
dinned
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vt.喧闹(din的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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24
antagonistic
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adj.敌对的 | |
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25
tinged
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v.(使)发丁丁声( ting的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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26
isolation
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n.隔离,孤立,分解,分离 | |
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intensified
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v.(使)增强, (使)加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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28
moody
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adj.心情不稳的,易怒的,喜怒无常的 | |
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29
embittered
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v.使怨恨,激怒( embitter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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30
determined
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adj.坚定的;有决心的 | |
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31
resolutely
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adj.坚决地,果断地 | |
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32
conceit
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n.自负,自高自大 | |
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