In this same New Bedford there stands a Whaleman's Chapel1, and few are the moody2 fishermen, shortly bound for the Indian Ocean or Pacific, who fail to make a Sunday visit to the spot. I am sure that I did not.
Returning from my first morning stroll, I again sallied out upon this special errand. The sky had changed from clear, sunny cold, to driving sleet3 and mist. Wrapping myself in my shaggy jacket of the cloth called bearskin, I fought my way against the stubborn storm. Entering, I found a small scattered4 congregation of sailors, and sailors' wives and widows. A muffled5 silence reigned6, only broken at times by the shrieks7 of the storm. Each silent worshipper seemed purposely sitting apart from the other, as if each silent grief were insular8 and incommunicable. The chaplain had not yet arrived; and there these silent islands of men and women sat steadfastly9 eyeing several marble tablets, with black borders, masoned into the wall on either side the pulpit. Three of them ran something like the following, but I do not pretend to quote:
SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF JOHN TALBOT, Who, at the age of eighteen, was lost overboard Near the Isle10 of Desolation, off Patagonia, November 1st, 1836. THIS TABLET Is erected11 to his Memory BY HIS SISTER.
SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF ROBERT LONG, WILLIS ELLERY, NATHAN COLEMAN, WALTER CANNY12, SETH MACY, AND SAMUEL GLEIG, Forming one of the boats' crews OF THE SHIP ELIZA Who were towed out of sight by a Whale, On the Off-shore Ground in the PACIFIC, December 31st, 1839. THIS MARBLE Is here placed by their surviving SHIPMATES.
SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF The late CAPTAIN EZEKIEL HARDY13, Who in the bows of his boat was killed by a Sperm14 Whale on the coast of Japan, August 3d, 1833. THIS TABLET Is erected to his Memory BY HIS WIDOW.
Shaking off the sleet from my ice-glazed hat and jacket, I seated myself near the door, and turning sideways was surprised to see Queequeg near me. Affected15 by the solemnity of the scene, there was a wondering gaze of incredulous curiosity in his countenance16. This savage17 was the only person present who seemed to notice my entrance; because he was the only one who could not read, and, therefore, was not reading those frigid18 inscriptions19 on the wall. Whether any of the relatives of the seamen20 whose names appeared there were now among the congregation, I knew not; but so many are the unrecorded accidents in the fishery, and so plainly did several women present wear the countenance if not the trappings of some unceasing grief, that I feel sure that here before me were assembled those, in whose unhealing hearts the sight of those bleak21 tablets sympathetically caused the old wounds to bleed afresh.
Oh! ye whose dead lie buried beneath the green grass; who standing22 among flowers can say--here, here lies my beloved; ye know not the desolation that broods in bosoms23 like these. What bitter blanks in those black-bordered marbles which cover no ashes! What despair in those immovable inscriptions! What deadly voids and unbidden infidelities in the lines that seem to gnaw24 upon all Faith, and refuse resurrections to the beings who have placelessly perished without a grave. As well might those tablets stand in the cave of Elephanta as here.
In what census25 of living creatures, the dead of mankind are included; why it is that a universal proverb says of them, that they tell no tales, though containing more secrets than the Goodwin Sands! how it is that to his name who yesterday departed for the other world, we prefix26 so significant and infidel a word, and yet do not thus entitle him, if he but embarks27 for the remotest Indies of this living earth; why the Life Insurance Companies pay death-forfeitures upon immortals29; in what eternal, unstirring paralysis31, and deadly, hopeless trance, yet lies antique Adam who died sixty round centuries ago; how it is that we still refuse to be comforted for those who we nevertheless maintain are dwelling32 in unspeakable bliss33; why all the living so strive to hush34 all the dead; wherefore but the rumor35 of a knocking in a tomb will terrify a whole city. All these things are not without their meanings.
But Faith, like a jackal, feeds among the tombs, and even from these dead doubts she gathers her most vital hope.
It needs scarcely to be told, with what feelings, on the eve of a Nantucket voyage, I regarded those marble tablets, and by the murky36 light of that darkened, doleful day read the fate of the whalemen who had gone before me. Yes, Ishmael, the same fate may be thine. But somehow I grew merry again. Delightful37 inducements to embark28, fine chance for promotion38, it seems--aye, a stove boat will make me an immortal30 by brevet. Yes, there is death in this business of whaling--a speechlessly quick chaotic39 bundling of a man into Eternity40. But what then? Methinks we have hugely mistaken this matter of Life and Death. Methinks that what they call my shadow here on earth is my true substance. Methinks that in looking at things spiritual, we are too much like oysters41 observing the sun through the water, and thinking that thick water the thinnest of air. Methinks my body is but the lees of my better being. In fact take my body who will, take it I say, it is not me. And therefore three cheers for Nantucket; and come a stove boat and stove body when they will, for stave my soul, Jove himself cannot.
1 chapel | |
n.小教堂,殡仪馆 | |
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2 moody | |
adj.心情不稳的,易怒的,喜怒无常的 | |
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3 sleet | |
n.雨雪;v.下雨雪,下冰雹 | |
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4 scattered | |
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的 | |
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5 muffled | |
adj.(声音)被隔的;听不太清的;(衣服)裹严的;蒙住的v.压抑,捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 );用厚厚的衣帽包着(自己) | |
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6 reigned | |
vi.当政,统治(reign的过去式形式) | |
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7 shrieks | |
n.尖叫声( shriek的名词复数 )v.尖叫( shriek的第三人称单数 ) | |
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8 insular | |
adj.岛屿的,心胸狭窄的 | |
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9 steadfastly | |
adv.踏实地,不变地;岿然;坚定不渝 | |
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10 isle | |
n.小岛,岛 | |
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11 ERECTED | |
adj. 直立的,竖立的,笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立,建立 | |
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12 canny | |
adj.谨慎的,节俭的 | |
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13 hardy | |
adj.勇敢的,果断的,吃苦的;耐寒的 | |
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14 sperm | |
n.精子,精液 | |
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15 affected | |
adj.不自然的,假装的 | |
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16 countenance | |
n.脸色,面容;面部表情;vt.支持,赞同 | |
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17 savage | |
adj.野蛮的;凶恶的,残暴的;n.未开化的人 | |
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18 frigid | |
adj.寒冷的,凛冽的;冷淡的;拘禁的 | |
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19 inscriptions | |
(作者)题词( inscription的名词复数 ); 献词; 碑文; 证劵持有人的登记 | |
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20 seamen | |
n.海员 | |
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21 bleak | |
adj.(天气)阴冷的;凄凉的;暗淡的 | |
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22 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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23 bosoms | |
胸部( bosom的名词复数 ); 胸怀; 女衣胸部(或胸襟); 和爱护自己的人在一起的情形 | |
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24 gnaw | |
v.不断地啃、咬;使苦恼,折磨 | |
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25 census | |
n.(官方的)人口调查,人口普查 | |
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26 prefix | |
n.前缀;vt.加…作为前缀;置于前面 | |
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27 embarks | |
乘船( embark的第三人称单数 ); 装载; 从事 | |
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28 embark | |
vi.乘船,着手,从事,上飞机 | |
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29 immortals | |
不朽的人物( immortal的名词复数 ); 永生不朽者 | |
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30 immortal | |
adj.不朽的;永生的,不死的;神的 | |
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31 paralysis | |
n.麻痹(症);瘫痪(症) | |
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32 dwelling | |
n.住宅,住所,寓所 | |
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33 bliss | |
n.狂喜,福佑,天赐的福 | |
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34 hush | |
int.嘘,别出声;n.沉默,静寂;v.使安静 | |
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35 rumor | |
n.谣言,谣传,传说 | |
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36 murky | |
adj.黑暗的,朦胧的;adv.阴暗地,混浊地;n.阴暗;昏暗 | |
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37 delightful | |
adj.令人高兴的,使人快乐的 | |
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38 promotion | |
n.提升,晋级;促销,宣传 | |
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39 chaotic | |
adj.混沌的,一片混乱的,一团糟的 | |
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40 eternity | |
n.不朽,来世;永恒,无穷 | |
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41 oysters | |
牡蛎( oyster的名词复数 ) | |
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