THERE were two grand places for gossip in the community; the old tavern1 on the Edgewood side of the bridge and the brick store in Riverboro. The company at the Edgewood Tavern would be a trifle different in character, more picturesque2, imposing3, and eclectic because of the transient guests that gave it change and variety. Here might be found a judge or lawyer on his way to court; a sheriff with a handcuffed prisoner; a farmer or two, stopping on the road to market with a cartful of produce; and an occasional teamster, peddler, and stage-driver. On winter nights champion story-tellers like Jed Morrill and Rish Bixby would drop in there and hang their woollen neck-comforters on the pegs4 along the wall-side, where there were already hats, topcoats, and fur mufflers, as well as stacks of whips, canes5, and ox-goads standing6 in the corners. They would then enter the room, rubbing their hands genially7, and, nodding to Companion Pike, Cephas Cole, Phil Perry and others, ensconce themselves snugly10 in the group by the great open fireplace. The landlord was always glad to see them enter, for their stories, though old to him, were new to many of the assembled company and had a remarkable11 greet on the consumption of liquid refreshment12.
On summer evenings gossip was languid in the village, and if any occurred at all it would be on the loafer's bench at one or the other side of the bridge. When cooler weather came the group of local wits gathered in Riverboro, either at Uncle Bart's joiner's shop or at the brick store, according to fancy. The latter place was perhaps the favorite for Riverboro talkers. It was a large, two-story, square, brick building with a big-mouthed chimney and an open fire. When every house in the two villages had six feet of snow around it, roads would always be broken to the brick store, and a crowd of ten or fifteen men would be gathered there talking, listening, betting, smoking, chewing, bragging14, playing checkers, singing, and "swapping15 stories."
Some of the men had been through the War of 1812 and could display wounds received on the field of valor16; others were still prouder of scars won in encounters with the Indians, and there was one old codger, a Revolutionary veteran, Bill Dunham by name, who would add bloody17 tales of his encounters with the "Husshons." His courage had been so extraordinary and his slaughter18 so colossal19 that his hearers marvelled20 that there was a Hessian left to tell his side of the story, and Bill himself doubted if such were the case.
"'T is an awful sin to have on your soul," Bill would say from his place in a dark corner, where he would sit with his hat pulled down over his eyes till the psychological moment came for the "Husshons" to be trotted21 out. "'T is an awful sin to have on your soul,--the extummination of a race o' men; even if they wa'n't nothin' more 'n so many ignorant cockroaches22. Them was the great days for fightin'! The Husshons was the biggest men I ever seen on the field, most of 'em standin' six feet eight in their stockin's,--but Lord! how we walloped 'em! Once we had a cannon23 mounted an' loaded for 'em that was so large we had to draw the ball into it with a yoke24 of oxen!"
Bill paused from force of habit, just as he had paused for the last twenty years. There had been times when roars of incredulous laughter had greeted this boast, but most of this particular group had heard the yarn25 more than once and let it pass with a smile and a wink26, remembering the night that Abel Day had asked old Bill how they got the oxen out of the cannon on that most memorable27 occasion.
"Oh!" said Bill, "that was easy enough; we jest unyoked 'em an' turned 'em out o' the primin'-hole!"
It was only early October, but there had been a killing28 frost, and Ezra Simms, who kept the brick store, flung some shavings and small wood on the hearth29 and lighted a blaze, just to induce a little trade and start conversation on what threatened to be a dull evening. Peter Morrill, Jed's eldest30 brother, had lately returned from a long trip through the state and into New Hampshire, and his adventures by field and flood were always worth listening to. He went about the country mending clocks, and many an old time-piece still bears his name, with the date of repairing, written in pencil on the inside of its door.
There was never any lack of subjects at the brick store, the idiosyncrasies of the neighbors being the most prolific33 source of anecdote34 and comment. Of scandal about women there was little, though there would be occasional harmless pleasantries concerning village love affairs; prophecies of what couple would be next "published" in the black-walnut frame up at the meeting-house; a genial8 comment on the number and chances of Patience Baxter's various beaux; and whenever all else failed, the latest story of Deacon Baxter's parsimony35, in which the village traced the influence of heredity.
"He can't hardly help it, inheritin' it on both sides," was Abel Day's opinion. "The Baxters was allers snug9, from time 'memorial, and Foxy's the snuggest36 of 'em. When I look at his ugly mug an' hear his snarlin' voice, I thinks to myself, he's goin' the same way his father did. When old Levi Baxter was left a widder-man in that house o' his'n up river, he grew wuss an' wuss, if you remember, till he wa'n't hardly human at the last; and I don't believe Foxy even went up to his own father's funeral."
"'T would 'a' served old Levi right if nobody else had gone," said Rish Bixby. "When his wife died he refused to come into the house till the last minute. He stayed to work in the barn until all the folks had assembled, and even the men were all settin' down on benches in the kitchen. The parson sent me out for him, and I'm blest if the old skunk37 didn't come in through the crowd with his sleeves rolled up,--went to the sink and washed, and then set down in the room where the coffin38 was, as cool as a cowcumber."
"I remember that funeral well," corroborated39 Abel Day. "An' Mis' Day heerd Levi say to his daughter, as soon as they'd put poor old Mrs. Baxter int' the grave: 'Come on, Marthy; there 's no use cryin' over spilt milk; we'd better go home an' husk out the rest o' that corn.' Old Foxy could have inherited plenty o' meanness from his father, that's certain, an' he's added to his inheritance right along, like the thrifty40 man he is. I hate to think o' them two fine girls wearin' their fingers to the bone for his benefit."
"Oh, well! 't won't last forever," said Rish Bixby. "They're the handsomest couple o' girls on the river an' they'll get husbands afore many years. Patience'll have one pretty soon, by the looks. She never budges41 an inch but Mark Wilson or Phil Perry are follerin' behind, with Cephas Cole watchin' his chance right along, too. Waitstill don't seem to have no beaux; what with flyin' around to keep up with the Deacon, an' bein' a mother to Patience, her hands is full, I guess."
"If things was a little mite42 dif'rent all round, I could prognosticate who Waitstill could keep house for," was Peter Morrill's opinion.
"You mean Ivory Boynton? Well, if the Deacon was asked he'd never give his consent, that's certain; an' Ivory ain't in no position to keep a wife anyways. What was it you heerd 'bout31 Aaron Boynton up to New Hampshire, Peter?" asked Abel Day.
"Consid'able, one way an' another; an' none of it would 'a' been any comfort to Ivory. I guess Aaron 'n' Jake Cochrane was both of 'em more interested in savin' the sisters' souls than the brothers'! Aaron was a fine-appearin' man, and so was Jake for that matter, 'n' they both had the gift o' gab43. There's nothin' like a limber tongue if you want to please the women-folks! If report says true, Aaron died of a fever out in Ohio somewheres; Cortland's the place, I b'lieve. Seems's if he hid his trail all the way from New Hampshire somehow, for as a usual thing, a man o' book-larnin' like him would be remembered wherever he went. Wouldn't you call Aaron Boynton a turrible larned man, Timothy?"
Timothy Grant, the parish clerk, had just entered the store on an errand, but being directly addressed, and judging that the subject under discussion was a discreet44 one, and that it was too early in the evening for drinking to begin, he joined the group by the fireside. He had preached in Vermont for several years as an itinerant45 Methodist minister before settling down to farming in Edgewood, only giving up his profession because his quiver was so full of little Grants that a wandering life was difficult and undesirable46. When Uncle Bart Cole had remarked that Mis' Grant had a little of everything in the way of baby-stock now,--black, red, an' yaller-haired, dark and light complected, fat an' lean, tall an' short, twins an' singles,--Jed Morrill had observed dryly: "Yes, Mis' Grant kind o' reminds me of charity."
"How's that?" inquired Uncle Bart.
"She beareth all things," chuckled47 Jed.
"Aaron Boynton was, indeed, a man of most adhesive48 larnin'," agreed Timothy, who had the reputation of the largest and most unusual vocabulary in Edgewood. "Next to Jacob Cochrane I should say Aaron had more grandeloquence as an orator49 than any man we've ever had in these parts. It don't seem's if Ivory was goin' to take after his father that way. The little feller, now, is smart's a whip, an' could talk the tail off a brass50 monkey."
"Yes, but Rodman ain't no kin13 to the Boyntons," Abel reminded him. "He inhails from the other side o' the house."
"That's so; well, Ivory does, for certain, an' takes after his mother, right enough, for she hain't spoken a dozen words in as many years, I guess. Ivory's got a sight o' book-knowledge, though, an' they do say he could talk Greek an' Latin both, if we had any of 'em in the community to converse52 with. I've never paid no intention to the dead languages, bein' so ocker-pied with other studies."
"Why do they call 'em the dead languages, Tim?" asked Rish Bixby.
"Because all them that ever spoke51 'em has perished off the face o' the land," Timothy answered oracularly. "Dead an' gone they be, lock, stock, an' barrel; yet there was a time when Latins an' Crustaceans53 an' Hebrews an' Prooshians an' Australians an' Simesians was chatterin' away in their own tongues, an' so pow'ful that they was wallopin' the whole earth, you might say."
"I bet yer they never tried to wallop these here United States," interpolated Bill Dunham from the dark corner by the molasses hogs-head.
"Is Ivory in here?" The door opened and Rodman Boynton appeared on the threshold.
"No, sonny, Ivory ain't been in this evening," replied Ezra Simms. "I hope there ain't nothin' the matter over to your house?"
"No, nothing particular," the boy answered hesitatingly; "only Aunt Boynton don't seem so well as common and I can't find Ivory anywhere."
"Come along with me; I'll help you look for him an' then I'll go as fur as the lane with yer if we don't find him." And kindly54 Rish Bixby took the boy's hand and left the store.
"Mis' Boynton had a spell, I guess!" suggested the storekeeper, peering through the door into the darkness. "'T ain't like Ivory to be out nights and leave her to Rod."
"She don't have no spells," said Abel Day. "Uncle Bart sees consid'able of Ivory an' he says his mother is as quiet as a lamb.--Couldn't you git no kind of a certif'cate of Aaron's death out o' that Enfield feller, Peter? Seems's if that poor woman'd oughter be stopped watchin' for a dead man; tuckerin' herself all out, an' keepin' Ivory an' the boy all nerved up."
"I've told Ivory everything I could gether up in the way of information, and give him the names of the folks in Ohio that had writ32 back to New Hampshire. I didn't dialate on Aaron's goin's-on in Effingham an' Portsmouth, cause I dassay 't was nothin' but scandal. Them as hates the Cochranites'll never allow there's any good in 'em, whereas I've met some as is servin' the Lord good an' constant, an' indulgin' in no kind of foolishness an' deviltry whatsoever55."
"Speakin' o' Husshons," said Bill Dunham from his corner, "I remember--"
"We wa'n't alludin' to no Husshons," retorted Timothy Grant. "We was dealin' with the misfortunes of Aaron Boynton, who never fit valoriously on the field o' battle, but perished out in Ohio of scarlit fever, if what they say in Enfield is true."
"Tis an easy death," remarked Bill argumentatively. "Scarlit fever don't seem like nothin' to me! Many's the time I've been close enough to fire at the eyeball of a Husshon, an' run the resk o' bein' blown to smithereens!--calm and cool I alters was, too! Scarlit fever is an easy death from a warrior's p'int o' view!"
"Speakin' of easy death," continued Timothy, "you know I'm a great one for words, bein' something of a scholard in my small way. Mebbe you noticed that Elder Boone used a strange word in his sermon last Sunday? Now an' then, when there's too many yawnin' to once in the congregation, Parson'll out with a reg'lar jaw-breaker to wake 'em up. The word as near as I could ketch it was 'youthinasia.' I kep' holt of it till noontime an' then I run home an' looked through all the y's in the dictionary without findin' it. Mebbe it's Hebrew, I thinks, for Hebrew's like his mother's tongue to Parson, so I went right up to him at afternoon meetin' an' says to him: 'What's the exact meanin' of "youthinasia"? There ain't no sech word in the Y's in my Webster,' says I. 'Look in the E's, Timothy; "euthanasia"' says he, 'means easy death'; an' now, don't it beat all that Bill Dunham should have brought that expression of 'easy death' into this evenin's talk?"
"I know youth an' I know Ashy," said Abel Day, "but blessed if I know why they should mean easy death when they yoke 'em together." "That's because you ain't never paid no 'tention to entomology," said Timothy. "Aaron Boynton was master o' more 'ologies than you could shake a stick at, but he used to say I beat him on entomology. Words air cur'ous things sometimes, as I know, hevin' had consid'able leisure time to read when I was joggin' 'bout the country an' bein' brought into contack with men o' learnin'. The way I worked it out, not wishin' to ask Parson any more questions, bein' something of a scholard myself, is this: The youth in Ashy is a peculiar56 kind o' youth, 'n' their religion disposes 'em to lay no kind o' stress on huming life. When anything goes wrong with 'em an' they get a set-back in war, or business, or affairs with women-folks, they want to die right off; so they take a sword an' stan' it straight up wherever they happen to be, in the shed or the barn, or the henhouse, an' they p'int the sharp end right to their waist-line, where the bowels57 an' other vital organisms is lowcated; an' then they fall on to it. It runs 'em right through to the back an' kills 'em like a shot, and that's the way I cal'late the youth in Ashy dies, if my entomology is correct, as it gen'ally is."
"Don't seem an easy death to me," argued Okra, "but I ain't no scholard. What college did thou attend to, Tim?"
"I don't hold no diaploma," responded Timothy, "though I attended to Wareham Academy quite a spell, the same time as your sister was goin' to Wareham Seminary where eddication is still bein' disseminated58 though of an awful poor kind, compared to the old times."
"It's live an' larn," said the storekeeper respectfully. "I never thought of a Seminary bein' a place of dissemination59 before, but you can see the two words is near kin."
"You can't alters tell by the sound," said Timothy instructively. "Sometimes two words'll start from the same root, an' branch out diff'rent, like 'critter' an' 'hypocritter.' A 'hypocritter' must natcherally start by bein' a 'critter,' but a critter ain't obliged to be a 'hypocritter' 'thout he wants to."
"I should hope not," interpolated Abel Day, piously60. "Entomology must be an awful interest-in' study, though I never thought of observin' words myself, kept to avoid vulgar language an' profanity."
"Husshon's a cur'ous word for a man," inter-jected Bill Dunham with a last despairing effort. "I remember seein' a Husshon once that--"
"Perhaps you ain't one to observe closely, Abel," said Timothy, not taking note of any interruption, simply using the time to direct a stream of tobacco juice to an incredible distance, but landing it neatly61 in the exact spot he had intended. "It's a trade by itself, you might say, observin' is, an' there's another sing'lar corraption! The Whigs in foreign parts, so they say, build stone towers to observe the evil machinations of the Tories, an' so the word 'observatory62' come into general use! All entomology; nothin' but entomology."
"I don't see where in thunder you picked up so much larnin', Timothy!" It was Abel Day's exclamation63, but every one agreed with him.
收听单词发音 |
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tavern
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| n.小旅馆，客栈；小酒店 | |
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picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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imposing
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| adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的 | |
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pegs
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| n.衣夹( peg的名词复数 )；挂钉；系帐篷的桩；弦钮v.用夹子或钉子固定( peg的第三人称单数 )；使固定在某水平 | |
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canes
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| n.（某些植物，如竹或甘蔗的）茎( cane的名词复数 )；（用于制作家具等的）竹竿；竹杖 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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genially
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| adv.亲切地，和蔼地；快活地 | |
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genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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snug
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| adj.温暖舒适的，合身的，安全的；v.使整洁干净，舒适地依靠，紧贴；n.（英）酒吧里的私房 | |
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snugly
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| adv.紧贴地；贴身地；暖和舒适地；安适地 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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refreshment
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| n.恢复，精神爽快，提神之事物；（复数）refreshments:点心，茶点 | |
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kin
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| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
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bragging
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| v.自夸，吹嘘( brag的现在分词 )；大话 | |
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swapping
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| 交换，交换技术 | |
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valor
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| n.勇气，英勇 | |
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bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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slaughter
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| n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀 | |
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colossal
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| adj.异常的，庞大的 | |
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marvelled
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| v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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trotted
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| 小跑，急走( trot的过去分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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cockroaches
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| n.蟑螂( cockroach的名词复数 ) | |
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cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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yoke
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| n.轭；支配；v.给...上轭，连接，使成配偶 | |
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yarn
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| n.纱，纱线，纺线；奇闻漫谈，旅行轶事 | |
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wink
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| n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁 | |
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memorable
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| adj.值得回忆的，难忘的，特别的，显著的 | |
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killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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hearth
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| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
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eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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bout
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| n.侵袭，发作；一次(阵，回)；拳击等比赛 | |
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writ
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| n.命令状，书面命令 | |
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prolific
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| adj.丰富的，大量的；多产的，富有创造力的 | |
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anecdote
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| n.轶事，趣闻，短故事 | |
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parsimony
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| n.过度节俭，吝啬 | |
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snuggest
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| adj.整洁的( snug的最高级 )；温暖而舒适的；非常舒适的；紧身的 | |
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skunk
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| n.臭鼬，黄鼠狼；v.使惨败，使得零分；烂醉如泥 | |
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coffin
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| n.棺材，灵柩 | |
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corroborated
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| v.证实，支持（某种说法、信仰、理论等）( corroborate的过去式 ) | |
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thrifty
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| adj.节俭的；兴旺的；健壮的 | |
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budges
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| v.（使）稍微移动( budge的第三人称单数 )；（使）改变主意，（使）让步 | |
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mite
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| n.极小的东西；小铜币 | |
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gab
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| v.空谈，唠叨，瞎扯；n.饶舌，多嘴，爱说话 | |
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discreet
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| adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的 | |
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itinerant
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| adj.巡回的；流动的 | |
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undesirable
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| adj.不受欢迎的，不良的，不合意的，讨厌的；n.不受欢迎的人，不良分子 | |
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chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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adhesive
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| n.粘合剂；adj.可粘着的，粘性的 | |
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orator
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| n.演说者，演讲者，雄辩家 | |
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brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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converse
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| vi.谈话，谈天，闲聊；adv.相反的，相反 | |
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crustaceans
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| n.甲壳纲动物（如蟹、龙虾）( crustacean的名词复数 ) | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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whatsoever
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| adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么 | |
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56
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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57
bowels
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| n.肠，内脏，内部；肠( bowel的名词复数 )；内部，最深处 | |
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58
disseminated
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| 散布，传播( disseminate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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59
dissemination
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| 传播,宣传,传染(病毒) | |
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60
piously
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| adv.虔诚地 | |
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61
neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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62
observatory
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| n.天文台，气象台，瞭望台，观测台 | |
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63
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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