About three in the afternoon the whole establishment of the Grand Cerf accompanied us to the water's edge. The man of the omnibus was there with haggard eyes. Poor cage-bird! Do I not remember the time when I myself haunted the station, to watch train after train carry its complement1 of freemen into the night, and read the names of distant places on the time-bills with indescribable longings2?
We were not clear of the fortifications before the rain began. The wind was contrary, and blew in furious gusts3; nor were the aspects of nature any more clement4 than the doings of the sky. For we passed through a stretch of blighted5 country, sparsely6 covered with brush, but handsomely enough diversified7 with factory chimneys. We landed in a soiled meadow among some pollards, and there smoked a pipe in a flaw of fair weather. But the wind blew so hard, we could get little else to smoke. There were no natural objects in the neighbourhood, but some sordid8 workshops. A group of children headed by a tall girl stood and watched us from a little distance all the time we stayed. I heartily9 wonder what they thought of us.
At Hautmont, the lock was almost impassable; the landing-place being steep and high, and the launch at a long distance. Near a dozen grimy workmen lent us a hand. They refused any reward; and, what is much better, refused it handsomely, without conveying any sense of insult. 'It is a way we have in our countryside,' said they. And a very becoming way it is. In Scotland, where also you will get services for nothing, the good people reject your money as if you had been trying to corrupt10 a voter. When people take the trouble to do dignified11 acts, it is worth while to take a little more, and allow the dignity to be common to all concerned. But in our brave Saxon countries, where we plod12 threescore years and ten in the mud, and the wind keeps singing in our ears from birth to burial, we do our good and bad with a high hand and almost offensively; and make even our alms a witness-bearing and an act of war against the wrong.
After Hautmont, the sun came forth13 again and the wind went down; and a little paddling took us beyond the ironworks and through a delectable14 land. The river wound among low hills, so that sometimes the sun was at our backs, and sometimes it stood right ahead, and the river before us was one sheet of intolerable glory. On either hand, meadows and orchards15 bordered, with a margin16 of sedge and water flowers, upon the river. The hedges were of great height, woven about the trunks of hedgerow elms; and the fields, as they were often very small, looked like a series of bowers17 along the stream. There was never any prospect18; sometimes a hill-top with its trees would look over the nearest hedgerow, just to make a middle distance for the sky; but that was all. The heaven was bare of clouds. The atmosphere, after the rain, was of enchanting19 purity. The river doubled among the hillocks, a shining strip of mirror glass; and the dip of the paddles set the flowers shaking along the brink20.
In the meadows wandered black and white cattle fantastically marked. One beast, with a white head and the rest of the body glossy21 black, came to the edge to drink, and stood gravely twitching22 his ears at me as I went by, like some sort of preposterous23 clergyman in a play. A moment after I heard a loud plunge24, and, turning my head, saw the clergyman struggling to shore. The bank had given way under his feet.
Besides the cattle, we saw no living things except a few birds and a great many fishermen. These sat along the edges of the meadows, sometimes with one rod, sometimes with as many as half a score. They seemed stupefied with contentment; and when we induced them to exchange a few words with us about the weather, their voices sounded quiet and far away. There was a strange diversity of opinion among them as to the kind of fish for which they set their lures25; although they were all agreed in this, that the river was abundantly supplied. Where it was plain that no two of them had ever caught the same kind of fish, we could not help suspecting that perhaps not any one of them had ever caught a fish at all. I hope, since the afternoon was so lovely, that they were one and all rewarded; and that a silver booty went home in every basket for the pot. Some of my friends would cry shame on me for this; but I prefer a man, were he only an angler, to the bravest pair of gills in all God's waters. I do not affect fishes unless when cooked in sauce; whereas an angler is an important piece of river scenery, and hence deserves some recognition among canoeists. He can always tell you where you are after a mild fashion; and his quiet presence serves to accentuate26 the solitude27 and stillness, and remind you of the glittering citizens below your boat.
The Sambre turned so industriously28 to and fro among his little hills, that it was past six before we drew near the lock at Quartes. There were some children on the tow-path, with whom the Cigarette fell into a chaffing talk as they ran along beside us. It was in vain that I warned him. In vain I told him, in English, that boys were the most dangerous creatures; and if once you began with them, it was safe to end in a shower of stones. For my own part, whenever anything was addressed to me, I smiled gently and shook my head as though I were an inoffensive person inadequately29 acquainted with French. For indeed I have had such experience at home, that I would sooner meet many wild animals than a troop of healthy urchins30.
But I was doing injustice31 to these peaceable young Hainaulters. When the Cigarette went off to make inquiries32, I got out upon the bank to smoke a pipe and superintend the boats, and became at once the centre of much amiable33 curiosity. The children had been joined by this time by a young woman and a mild lad who had lost an arm; and this gave me more security. When I let slip my first word or so in French, a little girl nodded her head with a comical grown-up air. 'Ah, you see,' she said, 'he understands well enough now; he was just making believe.' And the little group laughed together very good-naturedly.
They were much impressed when they heard we came from England; and the little girl proffered34 the information that England was an island 'and a far way from here--bien loin d'ici.'
'Ay, you may say that, a far way from here,' said the lad with one arm.
I was as nearly home-sick as ever I was in my life; they seemed to make it such an incalculable distance to the place where I first saw the day. They admired the canoes very much. And I observed one piece of delicacy35 in these children, which is worthy36 of record. They had been deafening37 us for the last hundred yards with petitions for a sail; ay, and they deafened38 us to the same tune39 next morning when we came to start; but then, when the canoes were lying empty, there was no word of any such petition. Delicacy? or perhaps a bit of fear for the water in so crank a vessel40? I hate cynicism a great deal worse than I do the devil; unless perhaps the two were the same thing? And yet 'tis a good tonic41; the cold tub and bath-towel of the sentiments; and positively42 necessary to life in cases of advanced sensibility.
From the boats they turned to my costume. They could not make enough of my red sash; and my knife filled them with awe43.
'They make them like that in England,' said the boy with one arm. I was glad he did not know how badly we make them in England now-a- days. 'They are for people who go away to sea,' he added, 'and to defend one's life against great fish.'
I felt I was becoming a more and more romantic figure to the little group at every word. And so I suppose I was. Even my pipe, although it was an ordinary French clay pretty well 'trousered,' as they call it, would have a rarity in their eyes, as a thing coming from so far away. And if my feathers were not very fine in themselves, they were all from over seas. One thing in my outfit44, however, tickled45 them out of all politeness; and that was the bemired condition of my canvas shoes. I suppose they were sure the mud at any rate was a home product. The little girl (who was the genius of the party) displayed her own sabots in competition; and I wish you could have seen how gracefully46 and merrily she did it.
The young woman's milk-can, a great amphora of hammered brass47, stood some way off upon the sward. I was glad of an opportunity to divert public attention from myself, and return some of the compliments I had received. So I admired it cordially both for form and colour, telling them, and very truly, that it was as beautiful as gold. They were not surprised. The things were plainly the boast of the countryside. And the children expatiated48 on the costliness49 of these amphorae, which sell sometimes as high as thirty francs apiece; told me how they were carried on donkeys, one on either side of the saddle, a brave caparison in themselves; and how they were to be seen all over the district, and at the larger farms in great number and of great size.
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complement
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| n.补足物，船上的定员；补语；vt.补充，补足 | |
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longings
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| 渴望，盼望( longing的名词复数 ) | |
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gusts
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| 一阵强风( gust的名词复数 )； （怒、笑等的）爆发； （感情的）迸发； 发作 | |
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clement
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| adj.仁慈的；温和的 | |
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blighted
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| adj.枯萎的，摧毁的 | |
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sparsely
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| adv.稀疏地；稀少地；不足地；贫乏地 | |
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diversified
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| adj.多样化的，多种经营的v.使多样化，多样化( diversify的过去式和过去分词 )；进入新的商业领域 | |
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sordid
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| adj.肮脏的，不干净的，卑鄙的，暗淡的 | |
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heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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corrupt
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| v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的 | |
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dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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plod
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| v.沉重缓慢地走，孜孜地工作 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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delectable
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| adj.使人愉快的；美味的 | |
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orchards
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| （通常指围起来的）果园( orchard的名词复数 ) | |
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margin
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| n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘 | |
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bowers
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| n.（女子的）卧室( bower的名词复数 )；船首锚；阴凉处；鞠躬的人 | |
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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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enchanting
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| a.讨人喜欢的 | |
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brink
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| n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿 | |
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glossy
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| adj.平滑的；有光泽的 | |
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twitching
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| n.颤搐 | |
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preposterous
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| adj.荒谬的，可笑的 | |
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plunge
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| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
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lures
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| 吸引力，魅力（lure的复数形式） | |
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accentuate
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| v.着重，强调 | |
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solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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industriously
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inadequately
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| ad.不够地；不够好地 | |
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urchins
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| n.顽童( urchin的名词复数 )；淘气鬼；猬；海胆 | |
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injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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proffered
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| v.提供，贡献，提出( proffer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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deafening
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| adj. 振耳欲聋的, 极喧闹的 动词deafen的现在分词形式 | |
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deafened
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| 使聋( deafen的过去式和过去分词 )； 使隔音 | |
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tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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tonic
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| n./adj.滋补品，补药，强身的，健体的 | |
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positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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outfit
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| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
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tickled
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| （使）发痒( tickle的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）愉快，逗乐 | |
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gracefully
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| ad.大大方方地；优美地 | |
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brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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48
expatiated
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| v.详述，细说( expatiate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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49
costliness
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| 昂贵的 | |
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