And another thing they learned was that it was easier for one who has gorged6 at the flesh-pots to content himself with the meagerness of a crust, than for one who has known only the crust.
Not that their life was meagre. It was that they found keener delights and deeper satisfactions in little things. Daylight, who had played the game in its biggest and most fantastic aspects, found that here, on the slopes of Sonoma Mountain, it was still the same old game. Man had still work to perform, forces to combat, obstacles to overcome. When he experimented in a small way at raising a few pigeons for market, he found no less zest7 in calculating in squabs than formerly8 when he had calculated in millions. Achievement was no less achievement, while the process of it seemed more rational and received the sanction of his reason.
The domestic cat that had gone wild and that preyed9 on his pigeons, he found, by the comparative standard, to be of no less paramount10 menace than a Charles Klinkner in the field of finance, trying to raid him for several millions. The hawks11 and weasels and 'coons were so many Dowsetts, Lettons, and Guggenhammers that struck at him secretly. The sea of wild vegetation that tossed its surf against the boundaries of all his clearings and that sometimes crept in and flooded in a single week was no mean enemy to contend with and subdue12. His fat-soiled vegetable-garden in the nook of hills that failed of its best was a problem of engrossing13 importance, and when he had solved it by putting in drain-tile, the joy of the achievement was ever with him. He never worked in it and found the soil unpacked14 and tractable15 without experiencing the thrill of accomplishment16.
There was the matter of the plumbing17. He was enabled to purchase the materials through a lucky sale of a number of his hair bridles18. The work he did himself, though more than once he was forced to call in Dede to hold tight with a pipe-wrench. And in the end, when the bath-tub and the stationary19 tubs were installed and in working order, he could scarcely tear himself away from the contemplation of what his hands had wrought20. The first evening, missing him, Dede sought and found him, lamp in hand, staring with silent glee at the tubs. He rubbed his hand over their smooth wooden lips and laughed aloud, and was as shamefaced as any boy when she caught him thus secretly exulting21 in his own prowess.
It was this adventure in wood-working and plumbing that brought about the building of the little workshop, where he slowly gathered a collection of loved tools. And he, who in the old days, out of his millions, could purchase immediately whatever he might desire, learned the new joy of the possession that follows upon rigid22 economy and desire long delayed. He waited three months before daring the extravagance of a Yankee screw-driver, and his glee in the marvelous little mechanism23 was so keen that Dede conceived forthright25 a great idea. For six months she saved her egg-money, which was hers by right of allotment, and on his birthday presented him with a turning-lathe of wonderful simplicity26 and multifarious efficiencies. And their mutual27 delight in the tool, which was his, was only equalled by their delight in Mab's first foal, which was Dede's special private property.
It was not until the second summer that Daylight built the huge fireplace that outrivalled Ferguson's across the valley. For all these things took time, and Dede and Daylight were not in a hurry. Theirs was not the mistake of the average city-dweller who flees in ultra-modern innocence28 to the soil. They did not essay too much. Neither did they have a mortgage to clear, nor did they desire wealth. They wanted little in the way of food, and they had no rent to pay. So they planned unambiguously, reserving their lives for each other and for the compensations of country-dwelling from which the average country-dweller is barred. From Ferguson's example, too, they profited much. Here was a man who asked for but the plainest fare; who ministered to his own simple needs with his own hands; who worked out as a laborer29 only when he needed money to buy books and magazines; and who saw to it that the major portion of his waking time was for enjoyment31. He loved to loaf long afternoons in the shade with his books or to be up with the dawn and away over the hills.
On occasion he accompanied Dede and Daylight on deer hunts through the wild canons and over the rugged32 steeps of Hood33 Mountain, though more often Dede and Daylight were out alone. This riding was one of their chief joys. Every wrinkle and crease34 in the hills they explored, and they came to know every secret spring and hidden dell in the whole surrounding wall of the valley. They learned all the trails and cow-paths; but nothing delighted them more than to essay the roughest and most impossible rides, where they were glad to crouch35 and crawl along the narrowest deer-runs, Bob and Mab struggling and forcing their way along behind. Back from their rides they brought the seeds and bulbs of wild flowers to plant in favoring nooks on the ranch36. Along the foot trail which led down the side of the big canon to the intake37 of the water-pipe, they established their fernery. It was not a formal affair, and the ferns were left to themselves. Dede and Daylight merely introduced new ones from time to time, changing them from one wild habitat to another. It was the same with the wild lilac, which Daylight had sent to him from Mendocino County. It became part of the wildness of the ranch, and, after being helped for a season, was left to its own devices they used to gather the seeds of the California poppy and scatter38 them over their own acres, so that the orange-colored blossoms spangled the fields of mountain hay and prospered39 in flaming drifts in the fence corners and along the edges of the clearings.
Dede, who had a fondness for cattails, established a fringe of them along the meadow stream, where they were left to fight it out with the water-cress. And when the latter was threatened with extinction40, Daylight developed one of the shaded springs into his water-cress garden and declared war upon any invading cattail. On her wedding day Dede had discovered a long dog-tooth violet by the zigzag41 trail above the redwood spring, and here she continued to plant more and more. The open hillside above the tiny meadow became a colony of Mariposa lilies. This was due mainly to her efforts, while Daylight, who rode with a short-handled ax on his saddle-bow, cleared the little manzanita wood on the rocky hill of all its dead and dying and overcrowded weaklings.
They did not labor30 at these tasks. Nor were they tasks. Merely in passing, they paused, from time to time, and lent a hand to nature. These flowers and shrubs43 grew of themselves, and their presence was no violation44 of the natural environment. The man and the woman made no effort to introduce a flower or shrub42 that did not of its own right belong. Nor did they protect them from their enemies. The horses and the colts and the cows and the calves45 ran at pasture among them or over them, and flower or shrub had to take its chance. But the beasts were not noticeably destructive, for they were few in number and the ranch was large.
On the other hand, Daylight could have taken in fully46 a dozen horses to pasture, which would have earned him a dollar and a half per head per month. But this he refused to do, because of the devastation47 such close pasturing would produce.
Ferguson came over to celebrate the housewarming that followed the achievement of the great stone fireplace. Daylight had ridden across the valley more than once to confer with him about the undertaking48, and he was the only other present at the sacred function of lighting49 the first fire. By removing a partition, Daylight had thrown two rooms into one, and this was the big living-room where Dede's treasures were placed—her books, and paintings and photographs, her piano, the Crouched50 Venus, the chafing-dish and all its glittering accessories. Already, in addition to her own wild-animal skins, were those of deer and coyote and one mountain-lion which Daylight had killed. The tanning he had done himself, slowly and laboriously51, in frontier fashion.
He handed the match to Dede, who struck it and lighted the fire. The crisp manzanita wood crackled as the flames leaped up and assailed52 the dry bark of the larger logs. Then she leaned in the shelter of her husband's arm, and the three stood and looked in breathless suspense53. When Ferguson gave judgment54, it was with beaming face and extended hand.
"She draws! By crickey, she draws!" he cried.
He shook Daylight's hand ecstatically, and Daylight shook his with equal fervor55, and, bending, kissed Dede on the lips. They were as exultant56 over the success of their simple handiwork as any great captain at astonishing victory. In Ferguson's eyes was actually a suspicious moisture while the woman pressed even more closely against the man whose achievement it was. He caught her up suddenly in his arms and whirled her away to the piano, crying out: "Come on, Dede! The Gloria! The Gloria!"
And while the flames in the fireplace that worked, the triumphant57 strains of the Twelfth Mass rolled forth24.
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1
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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2
simplicities
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| n.简单，朴素，率直( simplicity的名词复数 ) | |
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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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eminently
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| adv.突出地；显著地；不寻常地 | |
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wholesome
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| adj.适合；卫生的；有益健康的；显示身心健康的 | |
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6
gorged
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| v.（用食物把自己）塞饱，填饱( gorge的过去式和过去分词 )；作呕 | |
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zest
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| n.乐趣；滋味，风味；兴趣 | |
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formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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preyed
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| v.掠食( prey的过去式和过去分词 )；掠食；折磨；（人）靠欺诈为生 | |
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paramount
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| a.最重要的，最高权力的 | |
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hawks
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| 鹰( hawk的名词复数 )； 鹰派人物，主战派人物 | |
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12
subdue
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| vt.制服，使顺从，征服；抑制，克制 | |
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13
engrossing
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| adj.使人全神贯注的，引人入胜的v.使全神贯注( engross的现在分词 ) | |
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14
unpacked
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| v.从（包裹等）中取出（所装的东西），打开行李取出( unpack的过去式和过去分词 )；拆包；解除…的负担；吐露（心事等） | |
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15
tractable
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| adj.易驾驭的；温顺的 | |
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accomplishment
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| n.完成，成就，（pl.）造诣，技能 | |
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plumbing
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| n.水管装置；水暖工的工作；管道工程v.用铅锤测量（plumb的现在分词）；探究 | |
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18
bridles
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| 约束( bridle的名词复数 )； 限动器； 马笼头； 系带 | |
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19
stationary
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| adj.固定的，静止不动的 | |
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wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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21
exulting
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| vi. 欢欣鼓舞，狂喜 | |
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22
rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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23
mechanism
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| n.机械装置；机构，结构 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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forthright
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| adj.直率的，直截了当的 [同]frank | |
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simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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28
innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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laborer
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| n.劳动者，劳工 | |
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labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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31
enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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32
rugged
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| adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的 | |
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33
hood
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| n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖 | |
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34
crease
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| n.折缝，褶痕，皱褶；v.(使)起皱 | |
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35
crouch
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| v.蹲伏，蜷缩，低头弯腰；n.蹲伏 | |
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36
ranch
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| n.大牧场，大农场 | |
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intake
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| n.吸入，纳入；进气口，入口 | |
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38
scatter
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| vt.撒，驱散，散开；散布/播；vi.分散，消散 | |
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39
prospered
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| 成功，兴旺( prosper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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40
extinction
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| n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种 | |
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41
zigzag
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| n.曲折，之字形；adj.曲折的，锯齿形的；adv.曲折地，成锯齿形地；vt.使曲折；vi.曲折前行 | |
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42
shrub
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| n.灌木，灌木丛 | |
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43
shrubs
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| 灌木( shrub的名词复数 ) | |
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44
violation
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| n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯 | |
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45
calves
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| n.(calf的复数)笨拙的男子，腓；腿肚子( calf的名词复数 )；牛犊；腓；小腿肚v.生小牛( calve的第三人称单数 )；（冰川）崩解；生（小牛等），产（犊）；使（冰川）崩解 | |
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46
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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47
devastation
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| n.毁坏；荒废；极度震惊或悲伤 | |
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48
undertaking
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| n.保证，许诺，事业 | |
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49
lighting
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| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
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50
crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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51
laboriously
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| adv.艰苦地；费力地；辛勤地；（文体等）佶屈聱牙地 | |
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52
assailed
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| v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对 | |
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53
suspense
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| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
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54
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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55
fervor
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| n.热诚；热心；炽热 | |
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56
exultant
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| adj.欢腾的，狂欢的，大喜的 | |
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57
triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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