【英文文学】My Day Reminiscences of a Long Life.docx

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1、【英文文学】My Day Reminiscences of a Long LifeCHAPTER I INTRODUCTORYI am constrained to encourage a possible reader by assuring him that I have no intention whatever of writing strictly an autobiography. Nothing in myself nor in my life would warrant me in so doing.I might, perhaps, except the story of t

2、he Civil War, and my part in the trials and sorrows of my fellow-women, but this story I have fully and truly told in my Reminiscences of Peace and War.My countrymen were so kind to these first stories that I feel I may claim some credentials as a babbler of Reminiscences. Besides, I have lived in t

3、he last two-thirds of the splendid nineteenth century, and have known some of the men and women who made that century notable. And I would fain believe with Mr. Trollope that the small records of an unimportant individual life, the memories which happen to linger in the brain of the old like bits of

4、 drift-wood floating round and round in the eddies of a back-water, can more vividly than anything else bring before the young of the present generation 2those ways of acting and thinking and talking in the everyday affairs of life which indicate the differences between themselves and their grandfat

5、hers.But I shall have more than this floating driftwood to reward the reader who will follow me to the end of my story!Writers of Reminiscences are interestedperhaps more interested than their readersin recalling their earliest sensations, and through them determining at what age they had found them

6、selves; i.e. become conscious of their own personality and relation to the world they had entered.Long before this time the child has seen and learned more perhaps than he ever learned afterwards in the same length of time. He has acquired knowledge of a language sufficient for his needs. His miniat

7、ure world has been, in many respects, a foreshadowing of the world he will know in his maturity. He has learned that he is a citizen of a country with laws,some of which it will be prudent to obey,such as the law against taking unpermitted liberties with the cat, or touching the flame of the candle;

8、 while other laws may be evaded by cleverness and discreet behavior. He finds around him many things; pictures on walls, for instance, that may be admired but never touched,other lovely things that may be handled and even kissed, but must be returned to mantels and tables,and yet others, not near as

9、 delightful as these, poor things but his own, to be caressed or beaten, or even broken at his pleasure. He has learned to 3indulge his natural taste for the drama. His nurse covers her head with a paper and becomes the dreadful, groaning villain behind it, while the baby girds himself for attack, t

10、ears the disguise from the villain, and shouts his victory. As he learns the names and peculiarities of animals, the scope of the drama widens. He is a spirited horse, snorting and charging along, orif his picture-books have been favorablea roaring lion from whom the nurse flees in terror. Of the do

11、mestic play there is infinite varietynursing in sickness, the doctor, baby-tending, cooking,and once, alas! I heard a baby girl of eighteen months enact a fearful quarrel between man and wife, ending firmly I leave you! I never come back!These natural tendencies of children would seem to prove that

12、the soul or mind of man can be fetched up from the cradlea phrase for which I am indebted to one of my contemporaries, Mr. Leigh Hunt, who in turn quoted it as a popular phrase in his late (and my early) day. But with the single exception of the spoken language all these childish plays have been suc

13、cessfully taught to our humble brothers; to our poor relation the monkey, the dog, elephant, seal, canary birdeven to fleas. All these are capable of enacting a short drama. The elephant, longing for his bottle, never rings his bell too soon. The dog remembers his cue, watches for it, and never anti

14、cipates it. The seal, more wonderful than all, born as he has been without arms or legs, mounts a horse for a ride, and waits for his umbrella to be poised on his 4stubby nose. Even the creature whose name is a synonym for vulgar stupidity has been taught to indicate with porcine finger the letters

15、which spell that name.With these and other animals we hold in common our faculty of imitation, our memory, affection, antipathy, revenge, gratitude, passionate adoration of one special friend, and even the perception of musicthe infant will weep and the poodle howl in response to the same strain in

16、a minor keyand yet, notwithstanding this common lot, this common inheritance, there is born for us and not for them a moment when some strange unseen power breathes into us something akin to consciousness of a living soul.Having no past as a standard for the reasonable and natural, nothing surprises

17、 children. They are simply witnesses of a panorama in the moving scenes of which they have no part. When I was three years old, I visited my grandfather in Charlotte County. The Staunton River wound around his plantation and I was often taken out rowing with my aunts. One day the canoe tipped and my

18、 pretty Aunt Elizabeth fell overboard. Without the slightest emotion I saw her fall, and saw her recovered. For aught I knew to the contrary it was usual and altogether proper for young ladies to fall in rivers and be fished out by their long hair. But another event, quite ordinary, overwhelmed me w

19、ith the most passionate distress. Having, a short time before, advanced a tentative finger for an experimental taste of an apple roasting for me at my grandfathers 5fire, I was prepared to be shocked at seeing a colony of ants rush madly about upon wood a servant was laying over the coals. My cries

20、of distress arrested my grandfather as he passed through the room. He quickly ordered the sticks to be taken off, and calling me to a seat in front of him, said gravely: We will try these creatures and see if they deserve punishment. Evidently they have invaded our country. The question is, did they

21、 come of their own accord, or were they while enjoying their rights of life and liberty, captured by us and brought hither against their will? My testimony was gravely taken. I was quite positive I had seen the sticks, swarming with ants, laid upon the fire. Uncle Peter, who had brought in the wood,

22、 was summoned and sharply cross-questioned. Nothing could shake him. To the best of his knowledge and belief, them ants nuvver come thouten they was bleeged to, and so, as they were by this time wildly scampering over the floor, they were gently admonished by a persuasive broom to leave the premises

23、. Uncle Peter was positive they would find their way home without difficulty, and I was comforted.I remember this little incident perfectly; I can see my dear grandfather, his white hair tied with a black ribbon en queue, advancing his stick like a staff of office. I claim that then and therethree y

24、ears oldI found myself, fetched up my soul from somewhere, almost from the cradle, inasmuch as I had pitied the unfortunate, unselfishly espoused his cause, and won for him consideration and justice.Writers of fiction are supposed to present, as in 6a mirror, the truth as it is found in nature. They

25、 are fond of hinting that at some moment in the early life of every individual something occurs which foreshadows his fate, something which if interpretedlike the dreams of the ancient Hebrewswould tell us without the aid of gypsy, medium, or clairvoyant the things we so ardently desire to know. In

26、Daniel Deronda, Gwendolyn, in her moment of triumph, touches a spring in a panel, which, sliding back, reveals a picture,the upturned face of a drowning man. In Lewis Rand, Jacqueline, the bride of half an hour, hears the story of a dueland the pistol-shot echoes ever after through her brain, fillin

27、g it with insistent foreboding.We might recall illustrations of similar foreshadowing in real life. For instance, Jean Carlyle, six years old, beautiful and vivid as a tropical bird, stands before an audience to sing her little song; and waits in vain for her accompanist. Finally she throws her apro

28、n over her head and runs away in confusion. She was prepared, she knew her part; but the support was lacking, the accompaniment failed her. It was not given to him who told the story to perceive the prophecy!Were I fanciful enough to fix upon one moment as prophetic of my lifeas a key-note to the co

29、ntrolling principle of that lifeI might recall the incident in my grandfathers room, when I ceased to be merely an inert absorber of light and warmth and comfort, and became aware of the pain in the worldpain which I passionately longed to alleviate. CHAPTER III had a childless aunt, who annually ca

30、me up from her home in Hanover to spend part of the summer with my parents and my grandfather. She begged me of my mother for a visit, meant to be a brief one, and as she was greatly loved and respected by her people, I was permitted to return with her.There were no railroads in Virginia at that tim

31、e. All journeys were made in private conveyances. The great coach-and-four had disappeared after the Revolution. The carriage and pair, with the goatskin hair trunk strapped on behind, orin case the journey were longa light wagon for baggage, were now enough for the migratory Virginian.He lived at h

32、ome except for the three summer months, when it was his invariable rule to visit Saratoga, or the White Sulphur, Warm, and Sweet Springs, of Virginia, making a journey to the latter, in something less than a week, now accomplished from New York in eight or nine hours.The carriage on high springs cre

33、aked and rocked like a ship at sea. Fortunately, it was well cushioned and padded withinand furnished at the four corners with broad double straps through which the arms of the passenger could be thrust to steady himself withal. He needed them in the pitching and jolting over the rocks and ruts of d

34、readful roads. Inside each door were ample pockets for sundry comfortsbiscuits, 8sandwiches, apples, restorative medicines and cordials, books and papers. A flight of three or four carpeted steps was folded inside the door. Twenty-five miles were considered a days journey, quite enough for any pair

35、of horses. At noon the latter were rested under the shade of trees near some spring or clear brook, the carriage cushions were laid out, and the luncheon! Well, I cannot presume to be greater than the greatest of all our American artists,he who could mould a hero in bronze and make him live again; a

36、nd hold us, silent and awed, in the presence of the mysterious and unspeakable grief of a woman in marble! Has he not confessed that although he remembers an early perception of beauty in sky and sea, and field and woodthe memory that has followed him vividly through life is of odors from a bakers o

37、ven, and from apples stewing in a German neighbors kitchen? Hot gingerbread and spiced, sugared apples! I should say so, indeed!In just such a carriage as I have described, I set forth with my strange aunt and unclea little three-and-a-half-year-old! At night we slept in some country tavern, surroun

38、ded by whispering aspen trees. A sign in front, swung like a gibbet, promised Refreshment for man and beast. Invariably the landlord, grizzled, portly, and solemn, was lying at length on a bench in his porch or lounging in a split-bottom chair with his feet on the railing. He had seen our coming fro

39、m afar. He was eager for custom, but he had dignity to maintain. Lifting himself slowly from his bench or chair, he would leisurely come forward, and hesitatingly reckon 9he could accommodate us. I was mortally afraid of him! Sinking into one of his deep feather beds, I trembled for my life and wept

40、 for my mother.Finally one night, wearied out with the long journey, we turned into an avenue of cedars and neared our home. My aunt and uncle, on the cushions of the back seat, little dreamed of the dire resolve of the small rebel in front. Like the ants, I had been brought, against my will, to a s

41、trange country. I silently determined I would not be a good little girl. I would be as naughty as I could, give all the trouble I could, and force them to send me home again. But with the morning sun came perfect contentment, which soon blossomed into perfect happiness. From my bed I ran out in my b

42、are feet to a lovely veranda shaded by roses. On one of the latticed bars a little wren bobbed his head in greeting, and poured out his silver thread of a song. Gabriella, the great tortoise-shell cat, with high uplifted tail, wooed and won me; and when Milly, black and smiling, captured me, it was

43、to introduce me to an adorable doll and a little rocking-chair.From that hour until I married I was the happy queen of the household, the one whose highest good was wisely considered and for whose happiness all the rest lived.The bond between my aunt and her small niece could never be sundered, and

44、as she was greatly loved and trusted, and as many children blessed my own dear mother, I was practically adopted as the only child of my aunt and uncle, Dr. and Mrs. Samuel Pleasants Hargrave.CHAPTER IIIThe general impression I retain of the world of my childhood is of gardensgardens everywhere; abl

45、oom with roses, lilies, violets, jonquils, flowering almond-trees which never fruited, double-flowering peach trees which also bore no fruit, but were, with the almond trees, cherished for the beauty of their blossoms. And conservatories! These began deep in the earth and were built two stories high

46、 at the back of the house. They were entered by steps going down and only thus were they entered. Windows opened into them from the parlor (always parlor,not drawing-room) or from my ladys chamber. On the floor were great tubs of orange and lemon trees and the gorgeous flowering pomegranate. Along t

47、he walls were shelves reached by short ladders, and on these shelves were ranged cacti, gardenias (Cape Jessamine, or jasmine, as we knew this queen of flowers), abutilon, golden globes of lantana, and the much-prized snowy Camellia Japonica, sure to sent packed in cotton as gifts to adorn the dusky

48、 tresses of some Virginia beauty, or clasp the folds of her diaphanous kerchief. These camellias, long before they were immortalized by the younger Dumas, were reckoned the most poetic and elegant of all flowersso pure and sensitive, resenting the profanation of the slightest touch. No cavalier of t

49、hat day 11would present to his ladye faire the simple flowers we love to-day. These would come fast enough with the melting of the snows early in February.I have never forgotten the ecstasy of one of these early February mornings. Mittened and hooded I ran down the garden walk from which the snow had been swept and piled high on either side. Delicious little rivers were running down and I launched a mighty fleet of leav