The noisy, loose-jointed train pulled out of the station, leaving behind it a solitary1 young man, enveloped2 in smoke and cinders3. In the middle of the platform stood a little building with a curb4 roof, pointed5 at both ends like a Noah's Ark; and the visitor felt that if he could only manage to lift up one side of the roof he would find the animals "two by two," together with the cylindrical6 Noah and the rest of his family. There was no one in sight but the station-master, who called out from the ticket office:
"Did you want to go to the village? The 'bus won't be down till the next train: but maybe you can ride up on the ice wagon7."
"Thanks," the stranger replied. "I think I'll wait for the 'bus, if it's not too long."
"Twenty minutes or so, if Sam don't have to collect the passengers goin' West, and wait for a lot o' women that forget their handbags and have to get out and go back after 'em."
The new arrival was good to look at--a handsome, well-built fellow of about twenty-five, dressed in a gray suit which was non-committal as to his profession, with a clean-shaven face which bore the unmistakable stamp of good breeding and unlimited8 good-nature. He tilted9 his suit-case on end and sat down on it; then he filled his briar pipe, crossed his legs, and looked about to take stock of the situation. He gazed about curiously10; but there was nothing of any special interest in sight, except, painfully conspicuous11 on the face of a grass terrace, the name of the village picked out in large letters composed of oyster-shells and the bottoms of protruding12 beer bottles stuck in the ground. The stranger found himself wondering where a sufficient number of bottles could be found to complete such an elaborate pattern. The only other marked feature of the landscape in the way of artistic13 decoration was the corrugated14 base of an old stove, painted white, which served as a flower vase. From this grew a huge bunch of scarlet15 geraniums, staring defiantly16, and seeming fairly to sizzle in the hot, vibrant17 atmosphere, which was as still as the calm of a moon-lit night.
As the man on the suit-case gazed about him at the general air of dilapidation18 and neglect characteristic of a country town on the down grade, and recalled the congenial life of the city which he had left, with all its busy competition, with all its absorbing activities, the companionship of the men he loved, and the restful, inspiring intimacy19 with a certain young woman, he felt, for the moment, a pang20 of homesickness. If the station were a sample of the village itself, then life in such a place must be deadening to every finer sensibility and ambition; it must throw a man back on himself and make him morbid21.
The momentary22 depression was relieved by the station-master, who suddenly appeared at the door of the Ark and called out:
"Here comes Hepsey Burke. Maybe she'll take you up; that'll be a dum sight more comfortable than Lipkin's 'bus."
There was nothing to be seen but a cloud of dust, advancing with the rapidity of a whirlwind along the highway, from which there gradually emerged a team and a "democrat23," containing a woman, a boy about fourteen, and a middle-aged24 man.
As the turn-out drew up, the man took the reins25 from Mrs. Burke, who jumped out of the wagon with remarkable26 agility27 for one of her size and years, and, nodding to the station-master, came on to the platform.
Hepsey Burke was rather stout28; and the lines from her nose to the corners of her mouth, and the wisps of gray hair which had blown about her face, indicated that she had passed the meridian29 of life. At first glance there was nothing striking about her appearance; but there was a subtle expression about the mouth, a twinkle about the large gray eyes behind the glasses she wore, that indicated a sense of humor which had probably been a God-send to her. She was strong and well, and carried with her an air of indomitable conviction that things worked themselves out all right in the long run.
The boy was obviously her son, and in spite of his overalls30 and frayed31 straw hat, he was a handsome little chap. He looked at you shyly from under a crop of curly hair, with half closed eyes, giving you the impression that you were being "sized up" by a very discriminating32 individual; and when he smiled, as he did frequently, he revealed a set of very white and perfect teeth. When he was silent, there was a little lifting of the inner brow which gave him a thoughtful look quite beyond his years; and you were sadly mistaken if you imagined that you could form a correct impression of Nicholas Burke at the first interview.
The man wore a sandy beard, but no mustache, and had a downcast, meekly33 submissive air, probably the depressing effect of many years of severe domestic discipline.
Mrs. Burke was evidently surprised to find no one there but the man on the suit-case; but as he rose and lifted his hat, she hesitated a moment, exclaiming:
"I beg pardon, but I was lookin' for a parson who was to arrive on this train. You haven't seen anything that looked like a parson, have you? You can generally spot 'em every time."
The young man smiled.
"Well, no; I seem to be the only passenger who got off the train; and though I'm a clergyman, you don't seem to find it easy to 'spot' me."
Mrs. Burke, with a characteristic gesture, pulled her glasses forward with a jerk and settled them firmly back again on the bridge of her nose. She surveyed the speaker critically as she questioned:
"But you don't seem to show the usual symptoms--collar buttoned behind, and all that."
"I am sorry to disappoint you, Madam, but I never travel in clerical uniform. Can't afford it."
"Well, you've got more sense than most parsons, if I may say so. Maybe you're the one I'm lookin' for: Mr. Donald Maxwell."
"That is my name, and I am sure you must be Mrs. Burke."
"Sure thing!"--shaking his outstretched hand heartily34. "Now you come right along with me, Mr. Maxwell, and get into the democrat and make yourself comfortable." They walked round to the front of the station. "This, Mr. Maxwell, is Jonathan Jackson, the Junior Warden35; and this is my son Nicholas, generally known as Nickey, except when I am about to spank36 him. Say, Jonathan, you just h'ist that trunk into the back of the wagon, and Nickey, you take the parson's suit-case."
The Junior Warden grinned good-naturedly as he shook hands with the new arrival. But Hepsey continued briskly: "Now, Jonathan, you get into the back seat with Nickey, and Mr. Maxwell, you sit with me on the front seat so that I can talk to you. Jonathan means well, but his talk's limited to crops and symptoms, even if he is an old friend, my next door neighbor, and the Junior Warden."
Jonathan obeyed orders; and, as he got into the wagon, winked37 at Maxwell and remarked:
"You see we have to take a back seat when Hepsey drives; and we have to hold on with both hands. She's a pacer."
"Don't you let him frighten you, Mr. Maxwell," Hepsey replied. "Jonathan would probably hold on with both hands if he lay flat on his back in a ten-acre lot. He's just that fearless and enterprisin'."
Then, starting the horses with a cluck, she turned to Maxwell and continued:
"I guess I didn't tell you I was glad to see you; but I am. I got your note tellin' me when you were comin', but I didn't get down to the station in time, as the men are killin' hogs38 to-day, and until I get the in'ards off my hands, I haven't time for anything."
"I am sorry to have put you to the trouble of coming at all. I'm sure it's very good of you."
"No trouble; not the least. I generally look after the visitin' parsons, and I'm quite used to it. You can get used to 'most anything."
Maxwell laughed as he responded:
"You speak as if it weren't always a pleasure, Mrs. Burke."
"Well, I must admit that there are parsons and parsons. They are pretty much of a lottery39, and it is generally my luck to draw blanks. But don't you worry about that; you don't look a bit like a parson."
"I think that's a rather doubtful compliment."
"Oh, well, you know what I mean. There are three kinds of people in the world; men, women, and parsons; and I like a parson who is a man first, and a parson afterwards; not one who is a parson first, and a man two weeks Tuesday come Michaelmas."
Donald laughed: he felt sure he was going to make friends with this shrewd yet open-hearted member of his flock. The pace slackened as the road began a steep ascent40. Mrs. Burke let the horses walk up the hill, the slackened reins held in one hand; in the other lolled the whip, which now and then she raised, tightening41 her grasp upon it as if for use, on second thoughts dropping it to idleness again and clucking to the horses instead. It was typical of her character--the means of chastisement42 held handy, but in reserve, and usually displaced by other methods of suasion.
As they turned down over the brow of the hill they drove rapidly, and as the splendid landscape of rolling country, tilled fields and pasture, stretching on to distant wooded mountains, spread out before him, Maxwell exclaimed enthusiastically, drawing a deep breath of the exhilarating air:
"How beautiful it is up here! You must have a delightful43 climate."
"Well," she replied, "I don't know as we have much climate to speak of. We have just a job lot of weather, and we take it regular--once after each meal, once before goin' to bed, and repeat if necessary before mornin'. I won't say but it's pretty good medicine, at that. There'd be no show for the doctor, if it wasn't fashionable to invite him in at the beginnin' and the end of things."
Jonathan, who up to this time had been silent, felt it incumbent44 to break into the conversation a bit, and interposed:
"I suppose you've never been up in these parts before?"
"No," Maxwell responded; "but I've always intended to come up during the season for a little hunting some time. Was there much sport last year?"
"Well, I can't say as there was, and I can't say as there wasn't. The most I recollect45 was that two city fellers shot a guide and another feller. But then it was a poor season last fall, anyway."
Maxwell gave the Junior Warden a quick look, but there was not a trace of a smile on his face, and Hepsey chuckled46. Keeping her eyes on the horses as they trotted47 along at a smart pace over a road none too smooth for comfortable riding, she remarked casually48:
"I suppose the Bishop49 told you what we wanted in the shape of a parson, didn't he?"
"Well, he hinted a few things."
"Yes; we're awful modest, like most country parishes that don't pay their rector more than enough to get his collars laundered50. We want a man who can preach like the Archbishop of Canterbury, and call on everybody twice a week, and know just when anyone is sick without bein' told a word about it. He's got to be an awful good mixer, to draw the young people like a porous51 plaster, and fill the pews. He must have lots of sociables, and fairs, and things to take the place of religion; and he must dress well, and live like a gentleman on the salary of a book-agent. But if he brings city ways along with him and makes us feel like hayseeds, he won't be popular."
"That's a rather large contract!" Maxwell replied with a smile.
"Yes, but think what we're goin' to pay you: six hundred dollars a year, and you'll have to raise most of it yourself, just for the fun of it."
At this point the Junior Warden interrupted:
"Now, Hepsey, what's the use of upsettin' the young man at the start. He's----"
"Never mind, Jonathan. I'm tellin' the truth, anyway. You see," she continued, "most people think piety's at a low ebb52 unless we're gettin' up some kind of a holy show all the time, to bring people together that wouldn't meet anywhere else if they saw each other first. Then when they've bought a chance on a pieced bed-quilt, or paid for chicken-pie at a church supper, they go home feelin' real religious, believin' that if there's any obligation between them and heaven, it isn't on their side, anyway. Do you think you're goin' to fill the bill, Mr. Maxwell?"
"Well, I don't know," said Maxwell. "Of course I might find myself possessed53 of a talent for inventing new and original entertainments each week; but I'm afraid that you're a bit pessimistic, Mrs. Burke, aren't you?"
"No, I'm not. There's a mighty54 fine side to life in a country parish sometimes, where the right sort of a man is in charge. The people take him as one of their family, you know, and borrow eggs of his wife as easy as of their next door neighbor. But the young reverends expect too much of a country parish, and break their hearts sometimes because they can't make us tough old critters all over while you wait. Poor things! I'm sorry for the average country parson, and a lot sorrier for his wife."
"Well, don't you worry about me; I'm well and strong, and equal to anything, I imagine. I don't believe in taking life too seriously; it's bad for the nerves and digestion55. It will be an entirely56 new experience for me, and I'm sure I shall find the people interesting."
"Yes, but what if they aren't your kind? I suppose you might find hippopotamuses57 interestin' for a while, but that's no reason you should like to live with 'em. Anyway, don't mind what people say. They aint got nothin' to think about, so they make up by talkin' about it, especially when it happens to be a new parson. We've been havin' odds58 and ends of parsons from the remnant counter now for six months or more; and that's enough to kill any parish. I believe that if the angel Gabriel should preach for us, half the congregation would object to the cut of his wings, and the other half to the fit of his halo. We call for all the virtues59 of heaven, and expect to get 'em for seven-forty-nine."
"Well--I shall have to look to you and the Wardens60 to help me out," he said. "You must help me run things, until I know the ropes."
"Oh! Bascom will run things for you, if you let him do the runnin'," she replied, cracking her whip. "You'll need to get popular first with him and his--then you'll have it easy."
Maxwell pondered these local words of wisdom, and recalled the Bishop's warning that Bascom, the Senior Warden, had not made life easy for his predecessors61, and his superior's exhortation62 to firmness and tact63, to the end that he, Maxwell, should hold his own, while taking his Senior Warden along with him. The Senior Warden was evidently a power in the land.
They had driven about a mile and a half when the wagon turned off the road, and drew up by a house standing64 some distance back from it; getting down, Mrs. Burke exclaimed:
"Welcome to Thunder Cliff, Mr. Maxwell. Thunder Cliff's the name of the place, you know. All the summer visitors in Durford have names for their houses; so I thought I'd call my place Thunder Cliff, just to be in the style."
Jonathan Jackson, who had kept a discreet65 silence during Hepsey's pointers concerning his colleague, the Senior Warden, interjected:
"There 'aint no cliff, Hepsey, and you know it. I always tell her, Mr. Maxwell, 'taint66 appropriate a bit."
"Jonathan, you 'aint no Englishman, and there's no use pretendin' that you are. Some day when I have a couple of hours to myself, I'll explain the whole matter to you. There isn't any cliff, and the house wants paintin' and looks like thunder. Isn't that reason enough to go on with? Now, Mr. Maxwell, you come in and make yourself perfectly67 at home."
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solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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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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cinders
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| n.煤渣( cinder的名词复数 )；炭渣；煤渣路；煤渣跑道 | |
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curb
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| n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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cylindrical
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| adj.圆筒形的 | |
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wagon
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| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
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unlimited
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| adj.无限的，不受控制的，无条件的 | |
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tilted
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| v. 倾斜的 | |
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curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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protruding
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| v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的现在分词 )；凸 | |
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artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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corrugated
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| adj.波纹的；缩成皱纹的；波纹面的；波纹状的v.（使某物）起皱褶(corrugate的过去式和过去分词) | |
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scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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defiantly
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| adv.挑战地，大胆对抗地 | |
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vibrant
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| adj.震颤的，响亮的，充满活力的，精力充沛的，(色彩)鲜明的 | |
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dilapidation
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| n.倒塌；毁坏 | |
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intimacy
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| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
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pang
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| n.剧痛，悲痛，苦闷 | |
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morbid
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| adj.病的；致病的；病态的；可怕的 | |
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momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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democrat
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| n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员 | |
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middle-aged
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| adj.中年的 | |
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reins
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| 感情，激情； 缰( rein的名词复数 )； 控制手段； 掌管； （成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的）保护带 | |
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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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agility
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| n.敏捷，活泼 | |
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meridian
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| adj.子午线的；全盛期的 | |
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overalls
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| n.（复）工装裤；长罩衣 | |
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frayed
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| adj.磨损的v.（使布、绳等）磨损，磨破( fray的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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discriminating
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| a.有辨别能力的 | |
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meekly
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| adv.温顺地，逆来顺受地 | |
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heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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warden
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| n.监察员，监狱长，看守人，监护人 | |
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spank
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| v.打，拍打(在屁股上) | |
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winked
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| v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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hogs
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| n.（尤指喂肥供食用的）猪( hog的名词复数 )；（供食用的）阉公猪；彻底地做某事；自私的或贪婪的人 | |
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lottery
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| n.抽彩；碰运气的事，难于算计的事 | |
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ascent
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| n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高 | |
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tightening
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| 上紧，固定，紧密 | |
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chastisement
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| n.惩罚 | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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incumbent
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| adj.成为责任的，有义务的；现任的，在职的 | |
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recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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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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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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casually
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| adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地 | |
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bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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50
laundered
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| v.洗（衣服等），洗烫（衣服等）( launder的过去式和过去分词 )；洗（黑钱）（把非法收入改头换面，变为貌似合法的收入） | |
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porous
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| adj.可渗透的，多孔的 | |
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ebb
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| vi.衰退，减退；n.处于低潮，处于衰退状态 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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digestion
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| n.消化，吸收 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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hippopotamuses
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| n.河马（产于非洲）( hippopotamus的名词复数 ) | |
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odds
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| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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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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wardens
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| n.看守人( warden的名词复数 )；管理员；监察员；监察官 | |
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predecessors
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| n.前任( predecessor的名词复数 )；前辈；（被取代的）原有事物；前身 | |
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exhortation
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| n.劝告，规劝 | |
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tact
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| n.机敏，圆滑，得体 | |
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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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discreet
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| adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的 | |
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taint
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| n.污点；感染；腐坏；v.使感染；污染 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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