Whoever has lived long enough to find out what life is, knows how deep a debt of gratitude1 we owe to Adam, the first great benefactor2 of our race. He brought death into the world.
--Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar
Percy Driscoll slept well the night he saved his house minions3 from going down the river, but no wink4 of sleep visited Roxy's eyes. A profound terror had taken possession of her. Her child could grow up and be sold down the river! The thought crazed her with horror. If she dozed5 and lost herself for a moment, the next moment she was on her feet flying to her child's cradle to see if it was still there. Then she would gather it to her heart and pour out her love upon it in a frenzy6 of kisses, moaning, crying, and saying, "Dey sha'n't, oh, dey _sha'nt'!'_--yo' po' mammy will kill you fust!"
Once, when she was tucking him back in its cradle again, the other child nestled in its sleep and attracted her attention. She went and stood over it a long time communing with herself.
"What has my po' baby done, dat he couldn't have yo' luck? He hain't done nuth'n. God was good to you; why warn't he good to him? Dey can't sell _you_ down de river. I hates yo' pappy; he hain't got no heart--for niggers, he hain't, anyways. I hates him, en I could kill him!" She paused awhile, thinking; then she burst into wild sobbings again, and turned away, saying, "Oh, I got to kill my chile, dey ain't no yuther way--killin' _him_ wouldn't save de chile fum goin' down de river. Oh, I got to do it, yo' po' mammy's got to kill you to save you, honey." She gathered her baby to her bosom8 now, and began to smother9 it with caresses10. "Mammy's got to kill you--how _kin_ I do it! But yo' mammy ain't gwine to desert you--no, no, _dah_, don't cry-she gwine _wid_ you, she gwine to kill herself too. Come along, honey, come along wid mammy; we gwine to jump in de river, den11 troubles o' dis worl' is all over--dey don't sell po' niggers down the river over _yonder_."
She stared toward the door, crooning to the child and hushing it; midway she stopped, suddenly. She had caught sight of her new Sunday gown-a cheap curtain-calico thing, a conflagration12 of gaudy13 colors and fantastic figures. She surveyed it wistfully, longingly14.
"Hain't ever wore it yet," she said, "en it's just lovely." Then she nodded her head in response to a pleasant idea, and added, "No, I ain't gwine to be fished out, wid everybody lookin' at me, in dis mis'able ole linsey-woolsey."
She put down the child and made the change. She looked in the glass and was astonished at her beauty. She resolved to make her death toilet perfect. She took off her handkerchief turban and dressed her glossy15 wealth of hair "like white folks"; she added some odds16 and ends of rather lurid17 ribbon and a spray of atrocious artificial flowers; finally she threw over her shoulders a fluffy18 thing called a "cloud" in that day, which was of a blazing red complexion19. Then she was ready for the tomb.
She gathered up her baby once more; but when her eye fell upon its miserably20 short little gray tow-linen shirt and noted21 the contrast between its pauper22 shabbiness and her own volcanic23 eruption24 of infernal splendors25, her mother-heart was touched, and she was ashamed.
"No, dolling mammy ain't gwine to treat you so. De angels is gwine to 'mire26 you jist as much as dey does 'yo mammy. Ain't gwine to have 'em putt'n dey han's up 'fo' dey eyes en sayin' to David and Goliah en dem yuther prophets, 'Dat chile is dress' to indelicate fo' dis place.'"
By this time she had stripped off the shirt. Now she clothed the naked little creature in one of Thomas `a Becket's snowy, long baby gowns, with its bright blue bows and dainty flummery of ruffles27.
"Dah--now you's fixed28." She propped29 the child in a chair and stood off to inspect it. Straightway her eyes begun to widen with astonishment30 and admiration31, and she clapped her hands and cried out, "Why, it do beat all! I _never_ knowed you was so lovely. Marse Tommy ain't a bit puttier--not a single bit."
She stepped over and glanced at the other infant;' she flung a glance back at her own; then one more at the heir of the house. Now a strange light dawned in her eyes, and in a moment she was lost in thought. She seemed in a trance; when she came out of it, she muttered, "When I 'uz a-washin' 'em in de tub, yistiddy, he own pappy asked me which of 'em was his'n."
She began to move around like one in a dream. She undressed Thomas `a Becket, stripping him of everything, and put the tow-linen shirt on him. She put his coral necklace on her own child's neck. Then she placed the children side by side, and after earnest inspection32 she muttered:
"Now who would b'lieve clo'es could do de like o' dat? Dog my cats if it ain't all _I_ kin7 do to tell t' other fum which, let alone his pappy."
She put her cub33 in Tommy's elegant cradle and said:
"You's young Marse _Tom_ fum dis out, en I got to practice and git used to 'memberin' to call you dat, honey, or I's gwine to make a mistake sometime en git us bofe into trouble. Dah--now you lay still en don't fret34 no mo', Marse Tom. Oh, thank de lord in heaven, you's saved, you's saved! Dey ain't no man kin ever sell mammy's po' little honey down de river now!"
She put the heir of the house in her own child's unpainted pine cradle, and said, contemplating35 its slumbering36 form uneasily:
"I's sorry for you, honey; I's sorry, God knows I is--but what _kin_ I do, what _could_ I do? Yo' pappy would sell him to somebody, sometime, en den he'd go down de river, sho', en I couldn't, couldn't, _couldn't_ stan' it."
She flung herself on her bed and began to think and toss, toss and think. By and by she sat suddenly upright, for a comforting thought had flown through her worried mind-
"'T ain't no sin--_white_ folks has done it! It ain't no sin, glory to goodness it ain't no sin! _Dey's_ done it--yes, en dey was de biggest quality in de whole bilin', too--_kings!"_
She began to muse37; she was trying to gather out of her memory the dim particulars of some tale she had heard some time or other. At last she said-
"Now I's got it; now I 'member. It was dat ole nigger preacher dat tole it, de time he come over here fum Illinois en preached in de nigger church. He said dey ain't nobody kin save his own self-can't do it by faith, can't do it by works, can't do it no way at all. Free grace is de _on'y_ way, en dat don't come fum nobody but jis' de Lord; en _he_ kin give it to anybody He please, saint or sinner--_he_ don't kyer. He do jis' as He's a mineter. He s'lect out anybody dat suit Him, en put another one in his place, and make de fust one happy forever en leave t' other one to burn wid Satan. De preacher said it was jist like dey done in Englan' one time, long time ago. De queen she lef' her baby layin' aroun' one day, en went out callin'; an one 'o de niggers roun'bout38 de place dat was 'mos' white, she come in en see de chile layin' aroun', en tuck en put her own chile's clo's on de queen's chile, en put de queen's chile's clo'es on her own chile, en den lef' her own chile layin' aroun', en tuck en toted de queen's chile home to de nigger quarter, en nobody ever foun' it out, en her chile was de king bimeby, en sole de queen's chile down de river one time when dey had to settle up de estate. Dah, now--de preacher said it his own self, en it ain't no sin, 'ca'se white folks done it. DEY done it--yes, DEY done it; en not on'y jis' common white folks nuther, but de biggest quality dey is in de whole bilin'. _Oh_, I's _so_ glad I 'member 'bout dat!"
She got lighthearted and happy, and went to the cradles, and spent what was left of the night "practicing." She would give her own child a light pat and say humbly39, "Lay still, Marse Tom," then give the real Tom a pat and say with severity, "Lay _still_, Chambers40! Does you want me to take somep'n _to_ you?"
As she progressed with her practice, she was surprised to see how steadily41 and surely the awe42 which had kept her tongue reverent43 and her manner humble44 toward her young master was transferring itself to her speech and manner toward the usurper45, and how similarly handy she was becoming in transferring her motherly curtness46 of speech and peremptoriness47 of manner to the unlucky heir of the ancient house of Driscoll.
She took occasional rests from practicing, and absorbed herself in calculating her chances.
"Dey'll sell dese niggers today fo' stealin' de money, den dey'll buy some mo' dat don't now de chillen--so _dat's_ all right. When I takes de chillen out to git de air, de minute I's roun' de corner I's gwine to gaum dey mouths all roun' wid jam, den dey can't _nobody_ notice dey's changed. Yes, I gwine ter do dat till I's safe, if it's a year.
"Dey ain't but one man dat I's afeard of, en dat's dat Pudd'nhead Wilson. Dey calls him a pudd'nhead, en says he's a fool. My lan, dat man ain't no mo' fool den I is! He's de smartes' man in dis town, lessn' it's Jedge Driscoll or maybe Pem Howard. Blame dat man, he worries me wid dem ornery glasses o' his'n; _I_ b'lieve he's a witch. But nemmine, I's gwine to happen aroun' dah one o' dese days en let on dat I reckon he wants to print a chillen's fingers ag'in; en if HE don't notice dey's changed, I bound dey ain't nobody gwine to notice it, en den I's safe, sho'. But I reckon I'll tote along a hoss-shoe to keep off de witch work."
The new Negros gave Roxy no trouble, of course. The master gave her none, for one of his speculations48 was in jeopardy50, and his mind was so occupied that he hardly saw the children when he looked at them, and all Roxy had to do was to get them both into a gale51 of laughter when he came about; then their faces were mainly cavities exposing gums, and he was gone again before the spasm52 passed and the little creatures resumed a human aspect.
Within a few days the fate of the speculation49 became so dubious53 that Mr. Percy went away with his brother, the judge, to see what could be done with it. It was a land speculation as usual, and it had gotten complicated with a lawsuit54. The men were gone seven weeks. Before they got back, Roxy had paid her visit to Wilson, and was satisfied. Wilson took the fingerprints55, labeled them with the names and with the date-October the first--put them carefully away, and continued his chat with Roxy, who seemed very anxious that he should admire the great advance in flesh and beauty which the babes had made since he took their fingerprints a month before. He complimented their improvement to her contentment; and as they were without any disguise of jam or other stain, she trembled all the while and was miserably frightened lest at any moment he-
But he didn't. He discovered nothing; and she went home jubilant, and dropped all concern about the matter permanently56 out of her mind.
收听单词发音 |
1
gratitude
|
|
| adj.感激，感谢 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
benefactor
|
|
| n. 恩人，行善的人，捐助人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
minions
|
|
| n.奴颜婢膝的仆从( minion的名词复数 )；走狗；宠儿；受人崇拜者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
wink
|
|
| n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
dozed
|
|
| v.打盹儿，打瞌睡( doze的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
frenzy
|
|
| n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
kin
|
|
| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
bosom
|
|
| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
smother
|
|
| vt./vi.使窒息；抑制；闷死；n.浓烟；窒息 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
caresses
|
|
| 爱抚，抚摸( caress的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
den
|
|
| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
conflagration
|
|
| n.建筑物或森林大火 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
gaudy
|
|
| adj.华而不实的；俗丽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
longingly
|
|
| adv. 渴望地 热望地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
glossy
|
|
| adj.平滑的；有光泽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
odds
|
|
| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
lurid
|
|
| adj.可怕的；血红的；苍白的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
fluffy
|
|
| adj.有绒毛的，空洞的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
complexion
|
|
| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
miserably
|
|
| adv.痛苦地；悲惨地；糟糕地；极度地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
noted
|
|
| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
pauper
|
|
| n.贫民，被救济者，穷人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
volcanic
|
|
| adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
eruption
|
|
| n.火山爆发；（战争等）爆发；（疾病等）发作 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
splendors
|
|
| n.华丽( splendor的名词复数 )；壮丽；光辉；显赫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
mire
|
|
| n.泥沼，泥泞；v.使...陷于泥泞，使...陷入困境 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
ruffles
|
|
| 褶裥花边( ruffle的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
fixed
|
|
| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
propped
|
|
| 支撑，支持，维持( prop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
astonishment
|
|
| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
admiration
|
|
| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
inspection
|
|
| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
cub
|
|
| n.幼兽，年轻无经验的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
fret
|
|
| v.(使)烦恼；(使)焦急；(使)腐蚀，(使)磨损 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
contemplating
|
|
| 深思，细想，仔细考虑( contemplate的现在分词 )； 注视，凝视； 考虑接受（发生某事的可能性）； 深思熟虑，沉思，苦思冥想 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
slumbering
|
|
| 微睡，睡眠（slumber的现在分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
muse
|
|
| n.缪斯（希腊神话中的女神），创作灵感 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
bout
|
|
| n.侵袭，发作；一次(阵，回)；拳击等比赛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
humbly
|
|
| adv. 恭顺地，谦卑地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
chambers
|
|
| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
steadily
|
|
| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
awe
|
|
| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
reverent
|
|
| adj.恭敬的，虔诚的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
humble
|
|
| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
usurper
|
|
| n. 篡夺者, 僭取者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
curtness
|
|
| n.简短；草率；简略 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
peremptoriness
|
|
| n.专横，强制，武断 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
speculations
|
|
| n.投机买卖( speculation的名词复数 )；思考；投机活动；推断 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
speculation
|
|
| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
jeopardy
|
|
| n.危险；危难 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
gale
|
|
| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
spasm
|
|
| n.痉挛，抽搐；一阵发作 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
dubious
|
|
| adj.怀疑的，无把握的；有问题的，靠不住的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
lawsuit
|
|
| n.诉讼，控诉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
fingerprints
|
|
| n.指纹( fingerprint的名词复数 )v.指纹( fingerprint的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
permanently
|
|
| adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |