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the house of pride and other tales of hawaii-第1章

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The House of Pride and Other Tales of Hawaii



by Jack London







Contents:



The House of Pride

Koolau the Leper

Good…bye; Jack

Aloha Oe

Chun Ah Chun

The Sheriff of Kona

Jack London







THE HOUSE OF PRIDE







Percival Ford wondered why he had come。  He did not dance。  He did 

not care much for army people。  Yet he knew them allgliding and 

revolving there on the broad lanai of the Seaside; the officers in 

their fresh…starched uniforms of white; the civilians in white and 

black; and the women bare of shoulders and arms。  After two years in 

Honolulu the Twentieth was departing to its new station in Alaska; 

and Percival Ford; as one of the big men of the Islands; could not 

help knowing the officers and their women。



But between knowing and liking was a vast gulf。  The army women 

frightened him just a little。  They were in ways quite different 

from the women he liked bestthe elderly women; the spinsters and 

the bespectacled maidens; and the very serious women of all ages 

whom he met on church and library and kindergarten committees; who 

came meekly to him for contributions and advice。  He ruled those 

women by virtue of his superior mentality; his great wealth; and the 

high place he occupied in the commercial baronage of Hawaii。  And he 

was not afraid of them in the least。  Sex; with them; was not 

obtrusive。  Yes; that was it。  There was in them something else; or 

more; than the assertive grossness of life。  He was fastidious; he 

acknowledged that to himself; and these army women; with their bare 

shoulders and naked arms; their straight…looking eyes; their 

vitality and challenging femaleness; jarred upon his sensibilities。



Nor did he get on better with the army men; who took life lightly; 

drinking and smoking and swearing their way through life and 

asserting the essential grossness of flesh no less shamelessly than 

their women。  He was always uncomfortable in the company of the army 

men。  They seemed uncomfortable; too。  And he felt; always; that 

they were laughing at him up their sleeves; or pitying him; or 

tolerating him。  Then; too; they seemed; by mere contiguity; to 

emphasize a lack in him; to call attention to that in them which he 

did not possess and which he thanked God he did not possess。  Faugh!  

They were like their women!



In fact; Percival Ford was no more a woman's man than he was a man's 

man。  A glance at him told the reason。  He had a good constitution; 

never was on intimate terms with sickness; nor even mild disorders; 

but he lacked vitality。  His was a negative organism。  No blood with 

a ferment in it could have nourished and shaped that long and narrow 

face; those thin lips; lean cheeks; and the small; sharp eyes。  The 

thatch of hair; dust…coloured; straight and sparse; advertised the 

niggard soil; as did the nose; thin; delicately modelled; and just 

hinting the suggestion of a beak。  His meagre blood had denied him 

much of life; and permitted him to be an extremist in one thing 

only; which thing was righteousness。  Over right conduct he pondered 

and agonized; and that he should do right was as necessary to his 

nature as loving and being loved were necessary to commoner clay。



He was sitting under the algaroba trees between the lanai and the 

beach。  His eyes wandered over the dancers and he turned his head 

away and gazed seaward across the mellow…sounding surf to the 

Southern Cross burning low on the horizon。  He was irritated by the 

bare shoulders and arms of the women。  If he had a daughter he would 

never permit it; never。  But his hypothesis was the sheerest 

abstraction。  The thought process had been accompanied by no inner 

vision of that daughter。  He did not see a daughter with arms and 

shoulders。  Instead; he smiled at the remote contingency of 

marriage。  He was thirty…five; and; having had no personal 

experience of love; he looked upon it; not as mythical; but as 

bestial。  Anybody could marry。  The Japanese and Chinese coolies; 

toiling on the sugar plantations and in the rice…fields; married。  

They invariably married at the first opportunity。  It was because 

they were so low in the scale of life。  There was nothing else for 

them to do。  They were like the army men and women。  But for him 

there were other and higher things。  He was different from them

from all of them。  He was proud of how he happened to be。  He had 

come of no petty love…match。  He had come of lofty conception of 

duty and of devotion to a cause。  His father had not married for 

love。  Love was a madness that had never perturbed Isaac Ford。  When 

he answered the call to go to the heathen with the message of life; 

he had had no thought and no desire for marriage。  In this they were 

alike; his father and he。  But the Board of Missions was economical。  

With New England thrift it weighed and measured and decided that 

married missionaries were less expensive per capita and more 

efficacious。  So the Board commanded Isaac Ford to marry。  

Furthermore; it furnished him with a wife; another zealous soul with 

no thought of marriage; intent only on doing the Lord's work among 

the heathen。  They saw each other for the first time in Boston。  The 

Board brought them together; arranged everything; and by the end of 

the week they were married and started on the long voyage around the 

Horn。



Percival Ford was proud that he had come of such a union。  He had 

been born high; and he thought of himself as a spiritual aristocrat。  

And he was proud of his father。  It was a passion with him。  The 

erect; austere figure of Isaac Ford had burned itself upon his 

pride。  On his desk was a miniature of that soldier of the Lord。  In 

his bedroom hung the portrait of Isaac Ford; painted at the time 

when he had served under the Monarchy as prime minister。  Not that 

Isaac Ford had coveted place and worldly wealth; but that; as prime 

minister; and; later; as banker; he had been of greater service to 

the missionary cause。  The German crowd; and the English crowd; and 

all the rest of the trading crowd; had sneered at Isaac Ford as a 

commercial soul…saver; but he; his son; knew different。  When the 

natives; emerging abruptly from their feudal system; with no 

conception of the nature and significance of property in land; were 

letting their broad acres slip through their fingers; it was Isaac 

Ford who had stepped in between the trading crowd and its prey and 

taken possession of fat; vast holdings。  Small wonder the trading 

crowd did not like his memory。  But he had never looked upon his 

enormous wealth as his own。  He had considered himself God's 

steward。  Out of the revenues he had built schools; and hospitals; 

and churches。  Nor was it his fault that sugar; after the slump; had 

paid forty per cent; that the bank he founded had prospered into a 

railroad; and that; among other things; fifty thousand acres of Oahu 

pasture land; which he had bought for a dollar an acre; grew eight 

tons of sugar to the acre every eighteen months。  No; in all truth; 

Isaac Ford was an heroic figure; fit; so Percival Ford thought 

privately; to stand beside the statue of Kamehameha I。 in front of 

the Judiciary Building。  Isaac Ford was gone; but he; his son; 

carried on the good work at least as inflexibly if not as 

masterfully。



He turned his eyes back to the lanai。  What was the difference; he 

asked himself; between the shameless; grass…girdled hula dances and 

the decollete dances of the women of his own race?  Was there an 

essential difference? or was it a matter of degree?



As he pondered the problem a hand rested on his shoulder。



〃Hello; Ford; what are you doing here?  Isn't this a bit festive?〃



〃I try to be lenient; Dr。 Kennedy; even as I look on;〃 Percival Ford 

answered gravely。  〃Won't you sit down?〃



Dr。 Kennedy sat down; clapping his palms sharply。  A white…clad 

Japanese servant answered swiftly。



Scotch and soda was Kennedy's order; then; turning to the other; he 

said:…



〃Of course; I don't ask you。〃



〃But I will take something;〃 Ford said firmly。  The doctor's eyes 

showed surprise; and the servant waited。  〃Boy; a lemonade; please。〃



The doctor laughed at it heartily; as a joke on himself; and glanced 

at the musicians under the hau tree。



〃Why; it's the Aloha Orchestra;〃 he said。  〃I thought they were with 

the Hawaiian Hotel on Tuesday nights。  Some rumpus; I guess。〃



His eyes paused for a moment; and dwelt upon the one who was playing 

a guitar and singing a Hawaiian song to the accompaniment of all the 

instruments。



His face became grave as he looked at the singer; and it was still 

grave as he turned it to his companion。



〃Look here; Ford; isn't it time you let up on Joe Garland?  I 

understand you are in opposition to the Promotion Committee's 

sending him to the States on this su
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