Mrs. Grubb's interest in the education of the defective1 classes was as short-lived as it was ardent2. One interview with the president of the society convinced her that he was not a person to be 'helped' according to her understanding of the term. She thought him a self- sufficient gentleman, inflexible3 in demeanour, and inhospitable to anybody's ideas or anybody's hobbies but his own. She resented his praise of Mistress Mary and Rhoda, and regarded it fulsome4 flattery when he alluded5 to their experiment with Marm Lisa as one of the most interesting and valuable in his whole experience; saying that he hardly knew which to admire and venerate6 the more--the genius of the teachers, or the devotion, courage, and docility7 of the pupil.
In the summer months Lisa had gone to the country with Mistress Mary and Edith, who were determined8 never to lose sight of her until the end they sought was actually attained9. There, in the verdant10 freshness of that new world, Lisa experienced a strange exaltation of the senses. Every wooded path unfolded treasures of leafy bud, blossom, and brier, and of beautiful winged things that crept and rustled11 among the grasses. There was the ever new surprise of the first wild-flowers, the abounding12 mystery of the bird's note and the brook's song, the daily greeting of bees and butterflies, frogs and fishes, field-mice and squirrels; so that the universe, which in the dead past had been dreary13 and without meaning, suddenly became warm and friendly, and she, the alien, felt a sense of kinship with all created things.
Helen had crossed the continent to imbibe14 the wisdom of the East, and had brought back stores of knowledge to spend in Lisa's service; but Rhoda's sacrifice was perhaps the most complete, for Mrs. Grubb having at first absolutely refused to part with Lisa, Rhoda had flung herself into the breach15 and taken the twins to her mother's cottage in the mountains.
She came up the broad steps, on a certain appointed day in August, leading her charges into Mistress Mary's presence. They were clean, well dressed, and somewhat calm in demeanour.
'You may go into the playground,' she said, after the greetings were over; 'and remember that there are sharp spikes16 on the high fence by the pepper-tree.'
'Mary,' she went on impressively, closing the doors and glancing about the room to see if there were any listeners, 'Mary, those children have been with me eight weeks, and I do--not--like--them. What are you going to do with me? Wait, I haven't told you the whole truth,--I dislike them actively17. As for my mother, she is not committed to any theory about the essential integrity of infancy18, and she positively19 abhors20 them.'
'Then they are no more likable in the bosom21 of the family than they have been here?' asked Mary, in a tone of disappointment.
'More likable? They are less so! Do you see any change in me,--a sort of spiritual effulgence22, a saintly radiance, such as comes after a long spell of persistent23 virtue24? Because there ought to be, if my summer has served its purpose.'
'Poor dear rosy25 little martyr26! Sit down and tell me all about it.'
'Well, we have kept a log, but--'
'"WE?" What, Rhoda! did you drag your poor mother into the experiment?'
'Mother? No, she generally locked herself in her room when the twins were indoors, but--well, of course, I had help of one sort and another with them. I have held to your plan of discipline pretty well; at any rate, I haven't administered corporal punishment, although, if I had whipped them whenever they actually needed it, I should have worn out all the young minister's slippers27.'
Mary groaned28. 'Then there was another young minister? It doesn't make any difference, Rhoda, whether you spend your summers in the woods or by the sea, in the valleys or on the mountains, there is always a young minister. Have all the old ones perished off the face of the earth, pray? And what do the young ones see in you, you dear unregenerate, that they persist in following you about threatening my peace of mind and your future career? Well, go on!'
'Debarred from the use of the persuasive29 but obsolete30 slipper,' Rhoda continued evasively, 'I tried milder means of discipline,--solitary confinement31 for one not very much, you know,--only seventeen times in eight weeks. I hope you don't object to that? Of course, it was in a pleasant room with southern exposure, good view, and good ventilation, a thermometer, picture-books, and all that. It would have worked better if the twins hadn't always taken the furniture to pieces, and mother is so fussy32 about anything of that sort. She finally suggested the winter bedroom for Atlantic's incarceration33, as it has nothing in it but a huge coal-stove enveloped34 in a somewhat awe-inspiring cotton sheet. I put in a comfortable low chair, a checkerboard, and some books, fixing the time limit at half an hour. By the way, Mary, that's such a pretty idea of yours to leave the door unlocked, and tell the children to come out of their own accord whenever they feel at peace with the community. I tried it,--oh, I always try your pretty ideas first; but I had scarcely closed the door before Pacific was out of it again, a regenerated35 human being according to her own account. But to return to Atlantic. I went to him when the clock struck, only to discover that he had broken in the circles of isinglass round the body of the coal-stove, removed the ashes with a book, got the dampers out of order, and taken the doors off the hinges! I am sure Mrs. Grubb is right to keep them on bread- and-milk and apple-sauce; a steady diet of beef and mutton would give them a simply unconquerable energy. Oh, laugh as you may, I could never have lived through the ordeal36 if it hadn't been for the young minister!'
'Do you mean that he became interested in the twins?'
'Oh, yes!--very deeply interested. You have heard me speak of him: it was Mr. Fielding.'
'Why, Rhoda, he was the last summer's minister, the one who preached at the sea-shore.'
'Certainly; but he was only supplying a pulpit there; now he has his own parish. He is taking up a course of child-study, and asked me if he was at liberty to use the twins for psychological observations. I assented37 most gratefully, thinking, you know, that he couldn't study them unless he kept them with him a good deal; but he counted without his host, as you can imagine. He lives at the hotel until his cottage is finished, and the first thing I knew he had hired a stout39 nursemaid as his contribution to the service of humanity. I think he was really sorry for me, for I was so confined I could scarcely ever ride, or drive, or play tennis; and besides, he simply had to have somebody to hold the children while he observed them. We succeeded better after the nurse came, and we all had delightful40 walks and conversations together, just a nice little family party! The hotel people called Atlantic the Cyclone41, and Pacific the Warrior42. Sometimes strangers took us for the children's parents, and that was embarrassing; not that I mind being mistaken for a parent, but I decline being credited, or discredited43, with the maternity44 of those imps45!'
'They are altogether new in my experience,' confessed Mary.
'That is just what the young minister said.'
'Will he keep up his psychological investigation46 during the autumn?' Mary inquired.
'He really has no material there.'
'What will he do, then?--carry it on by correspondence?'
'No, that is always unsatisfactory. I fancy he will come here occasionally: it is the most natural place, and he is especially eager to meet you.'
'Of course!' said Mistress Mary, reciting provokingly:
'"My lyre I tune47, my voice I raise,
But with my numbers mix my sighs,
And whilst I sing Euphelia's praise
I fix my soul on Chloe's eyes."'
'How delightful,' she added, 'how inspiring it is to see a young man so devoted48 to science, particularly to this neglected science! I shall be charmed to know more of his psychology49 and observe his observations.'
'He is extremely clever.'
'I have no doubt of it from what you tell me, both clever and ingenious.'
'And his cottage is lovely; it will be finished and furnished by next summer,--Queen Anne, you know.'
Now, this was so purely50 irrelevant51 that there was a wicked hint of intention about it; and though Mistress Mary was smiling (and quaking) in the very depths of her heart, she cruelly led back the conversation into safe educational channels. 'Isn't it curious,' she said, 'that we should have thought Lisa, not the twins, the impossible problem? Yet, as I have written you, her solution is something to which we can look forward with reasonable confidence. It is scarcely eighteen months, but the work accomplished53 is almost incredible, even to me, and I have watched and counted every step.'
'The only explanation must be this,' said Rhoda, 'that her condition was largely the fruit of neglect and utter lack of comprehension. The state of mind and body in which she came to us was out of all proportion to the moving cause, when we discovered it. Her mother thought she would be an imbecile, the Grubbs treated her as one, and nobody cared to find out what she really was or could be.'
'Her brain had been writ52 upon by the "moving finger,"' quoted Mary, 'though the writing was not graved so deep but that love and science could erase54 it. You remember the four lines in Omar Khayyam?
"'The moving finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all your piety55 nor wit
Shall lure56 it back to cancel half a line,
Nor all your tears wash out a word of it."'
'Edith says I will hardly know her,' said Rhoda.
'It is true. The new physician is a genius, and physically57 and outwardly she has changed more in the last three months than in the preceding year. She dresses herself neatly58 now, braids her own hair, and ties her ribbons prettily59. Edith has kept up her gymnastics, and even taught her to row and play nine-pins. For the first time in my life, Rhoda, I can fully38 understand a mother's passion for a crippled, or a blind, or a defective child. I suppose it was only Lisa's desperate need that drew us to her at first. We all loved and pitied her, even at the very height of her affliction; but now she fascinates me. I know no greater pleasure than the daily miracle of her growth. She is to me the sister I never had, the child I never shall have. When we think of our success with this experiment, we must try to keep our faith in human nature, even under the trying ordeal of the twins.'
'My faith in human nature is absolutely intact,' answered Rhoda; 'the trouble is that the Warrior and the Cyclone are not altogether human. Atlantic is the coldest creature I ever knew,--so cold that he could stand the Shadrach-Meshech-and Abednego test with impunity60; Pacific is hot,--so hot-tempered that one can hardly touch her without being scorched61. If I had money enough to conduct an expensive experiment, I would separate them, and educate Pacific at the North Pole, and Atlantic in the Tropics.'
'If they are not distinctly human, we must allow them a few human virtues62 at least,' said Mary; 'for example, their loyalty63 to each other. Pacific, always at war with the community, seldom hurts her brother; Atlantic, selfish and grasping with all the world, shares generously with his sister. We must remember, too, that Lisa's care has been worse than nothing for them, notwithstanding its absolute fidelity64; and their dependence65 has been a positive injury to her. There! she has just come into the playground with Edith. Will wonders never cease? Pacific is embracing her knees, and Atlantic allows himself to be hugged!'
Marm Lisa was indeed beside herself with joy at the meeting. She clung to the infant rebels, stroked their hair, admired their aprons66, their clean hands, their new boots; and, on being smartly slapped by Atlantic for putting the elastic67 of his hat behind his ears, kissed his hand as if it had offered a caress68. 'He's so little,' she said apologetically, looking up with wet eyes to Edith, who stood near.
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defective
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| adj.有毛病的，有问题的，有瑕疵的 | |
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ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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inflexible
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| adj.不可改变的，不受影响的，不屈服的 | |
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fulsome
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| adj.可恶的，虚伪的，过分恭维的 | |
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alluded
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| 提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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venerate
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| v.尊敬，崇敬，崇拜 | |
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docility
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| n.容易教，易驾驶，驯服 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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verdant
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| adj.翠绿的，青翠的，生疏的，不老练的 | |
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rustled
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| v.发出沙沙的声音( rustle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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abounding
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| adj.丰富的，大量的v.大量存在，充满，富于( abound的现在分词 ) | |
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dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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imbibe
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| v.喝，饮；吸入，吸收 | |
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breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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spikes
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| n.穗( spike的名词复数 )；跑鞋；（防滑）鞋钉；尖状物v.加烈酒于( spike的第三人称单数 )；偷偷地给某人的饮料加入（更多）酒精（ 或药物）；把尖状物钉入；打乱某人的计划 | |
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actively
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| adv.积极地，勤奋地 | |
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infancy
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| n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期 | |
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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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abhors
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| v.憎恶( abhor的第三人称单数 )；（厌恶地）回避；拒绝；淘汰 | |
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bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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effulgence
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| n.光辉 | |
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persistent
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| adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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rosy
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| adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的 | |
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martyr
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| n.烈士，殉难者；vt.杀害，折磨，牺牲 | |
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slippers
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| n. 拖鞋 | |
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groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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persuasive
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| adj.有说服力的，能说得使人相信的 | |
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obsolete
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| adj.已废弃的，过时的 | |
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confinement
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| n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限 | |
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fussy
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| adj.为琐事担忧的，过分装饰的，爱挑剔的 | |
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incarceration
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| n.监禁，禁闭；钳闭 | |
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enveloped
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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regenerated
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| v.新生，再生( regenerate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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ordeal
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| n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验 | |
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assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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cyclone
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| n.旋风，龙卷风 | |
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warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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discredited
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| 不足信的，不名誉的 | |
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maternity
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| n.母性，母道，妇产科病房；adj.孕妇的，母性的 | |
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imps
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| n.（故事中的）小恶魔( imp的名词复数 )；小魔鬼；小淘气；顽童 | |
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investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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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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48
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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psychology
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| n.心理，心理学，心理状态 | |
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purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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irrelevant
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| adj.不恰当的，无关系的，不相干的 | |
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writ
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| n.命令状，书面命令 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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erase
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| v.擦掉；消除某事物的痕迹 | |
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piety
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| n.虔诚，虔敬 | |
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lure
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| n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引 | |
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physically
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| adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律 | |
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neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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prettily
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| adv.优美地；可爱地 | |
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impunity
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| n.(惩罚、损失、伤害等的)免除 | |
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scorched
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| 烧焦，烤焦( scorch的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（植物）枯萎，把…晒枯； 高速行驶； 枯焦 | |
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virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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loyalty
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| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
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fidelity
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| n.忠诚，忠实；精确 | |
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dependence
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| n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属 | |
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aprons
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| 围裙( apron的名词复数 )； 停机坪，台口（舞台幕前的部份） | |
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elastic
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| n.橡皮圈，松紧带；adj.有弹性的；灵活的 | |
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caress
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| vt./n.爱抚，抚摸 | |
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