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a mortal antipathy-第16章

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not like to have a volume meddled with any more than they would like

to have their naked eyes handled。  They come to feel at last that the

books of a great collection are a part; not merely of their own

property; though they are only the agents for their distribution; but

that they are; as it were; outlying portions of their own

organization。  The old Librarian was getting a miserly feeling about

his books; as he called them。  Fortunately; he had a young lady for

his assistant; who was never so happy as when she could find the work

any visitor wanted and put it in his hands;or her hands; for there

were more readers among the wives anddaughters; and especially

among the aunts; than there were among their male relatives。  The old

Librarian knew the books; but the books seemed to know the young

assistant; so it looked; at least; to the impatient young people who

wanted their services。



Maurice had a good many volumes of his own;a great many; according

to Paolo's account; but Paolo's ideas were limited; and a few well…

filled shelves seemed a very large collection to him。  His master

frequently sent him to the Public Library for books; which somewhat

enlarged his notions; still; the Signor was a very learned man; he

was certain; and some of his white books (bound in vellum and richly

gilt) were more splendid; according to Paolo; than anything in the

Library。



There was no little curiosity to know what were the books that

Maurice was in the habit of taking out; and the Librarian's record

was carefully searched by some of the more inquisitive investigators。

The list proved to be a long and varied one。  It would imply a

considerable knowledge of modern languages and of the classics; a

liking for mathematics and physics; especially all that related to

electricity and magnetism; a fancy for the occult sciences; if there

is any propriety in coupling these words; and a whim for odd and

obsolete literature; like the Parthenologia of Fortunius Licetus; the

quaint treatise 'De Sternutatione;〃 books about alchemy; and

witchcraft; apparitions; and modern works relating to Spiritualism。

With these were the titles of novels and now and then of books of

poems; but it may be taken for granted that his own shelves held the

works he was most frequently in the habit of reading or consulting。

Not much was to be made out of this beyond the fact of wide

scholarship;more or less deep it might be; but at any rate implying

no small mental activity; for he appeared to read very rapidly; at

any rate exchanged the books he had taken out for new ones very

frequently。  To judge by his reading; he was a man of letters。  But

so wide…reading a man of letters must have an object; a literary

purpose in all probability。  Why should not he be writing a novel?

Not a novel of society; assuredly; for a hermit is not the person to

report the talk and manners of a world which he has nothing to do

with。  Novelists and lawyers understand the art of 〃cramming〃 better

than any other persons in the world。  Why should not this young man

be working up the picturesque in this romantic region to serve as a

background for some story with magic; perhaps; and mysticism; and

hints borrowed from science; and all sorts of out…of…the…way

knowledge which his odd and miscellaneous selection of books

furnished him?  That might be; or possibly he was only reading for

amusement。  Who could say?



The funds of the Public Library of Arrowhead Village allowed the

managers to purchase many books out of the common range of reading。

The two learned people of the village were the rector and the doctor。

These two worthies kept up the old controversy between the

professions; which grows out of the fact that one studies nature from

below upwards; and the other from above downwards。  The rector

maintained that physicians contracted a squint which turns their eyes

inwardly; while the muscles which roll their eyes upward become

palsied。  The doctor retorted that theological students developed a

third eyelid;the nictitating membrane; which is so well known in

birds; and which serves to shut out; not all light; but all the light

they do not want。  Their little skirmishes did not prevent their

being very good friends; who had a common interest in many things and

many persons。  Both were on the committee which had the care of the

Library and attended to the purchase of books。  Each was scholar

enough to know the wants of scholars; and disposed to trust the

judgment of the other as to what books should be purchased;。

Consequently; the clergyman secured the addition to the Library of a

good many old theological works which the physician would have called

brimstone divinity; and held to be just the thing to kindle fires

with;good books still for those who know how to use them;

oftentimes as awful examples of the extreme of disorganization the

whole moral system may undergo when a barbarous belief has strangled

the natural human instincts。  The physician; in the mean time;

acquired for the collection some of those medical works where one may

find recorded various rare and almost incredible cases; which may not

have their like for a whole century; and then repeat themselves; so

as to give a new lease of credibility to stories which had come to be

looked upon as fables。



Both the clergyman and the physician took a very natural interest in

the young man who had come to reside in their neighborhood for the

present; perhaps for a long period。  The rector would have been glad

to see him at church。  He would have liked more especially to have

had him hear his sermon on the Duties of Young Men to Society。  The

doctor; meanwhile; was meditating on the duties of society to young

men; and wishing that he could gain the young man's confidence; so as

to help him out of any false habit of mind or any delusion to which

he might be subject; if he had the power of being useful to him。



Dr。 Butts was the leading medical practitioner; not only of Arrowhead

Village; but of all the surrounding region。  He was an excellent

specimen of the country doctor; self…reliant; self…sacrificing;

working a great deal harder for his living than most of those who

call themselves the laboring classes;as if none but those whose

hands were hardened by the use of farming or mechanical implements

had any work to do。  He had that sagacity without which learning is a

mere incumbrance; and he had also a fair share of that learning

without which sagacity is like a traveller with a good horse; but who

cannot read the directions on the guideboards。  He was not a man to

be taken in by names。  He well knew that oftentimes very innocent…

sounding words mean very grave disorders; that all; degrees of

disease and disorder are frequently confounded under the same term;

that 〃run down〃 may stand for a fatigue of mind or body from which a

week or a month of rest will completely restore the over…worked

patient; or an advanced stage of a mortal illness; that 〃seedy〃 may

signify the morning's state of feeling; after an evening's over…

indulgence; which calls for a glass of soda…water and a cup of

coffee; or a dangerous malady which will pack off the subject of it;

at the shortest notice; to the south of France。  He knew too well

that what is spoken lightly of as a 〃nervous disturbance〃 may imply

that the whole machinery of life is in a deranged condition; and that

every individual organ would groan aloud if it had any other language

than the terrible inarticulate one of pain by which to communicate

with the consciousness。



When; therefore; Dr。 Butts heard the word antipatia he did not smile;

and say to himself that this was an idle whim; a foolish fancy; which

the young man had got into his head。  Neither was he satisfied to set

down everything to the account of insanity; plausible as that

supposition might seem。  He was prepared to believe in some

exceptional; perhaps anomalous; form of exaggerated sensibility;

relating to what class of objects he could not at present conjecture;

but which was as vital to the subject of it as the insulating

arrangement to a piece of electrical machinery。  With this feeling he

began to look into tho history of antipathies as recorded in all the

books and journals on which he could lay his hands。



               



The holder of the Portfolio asks leave to close it for a brief

interval。  He wishes to say a few words to his readers; before

offering them some verses which have no connection with the narrative

now in progress。



If one could have before him a set of photographs taken annually;

representing the same person as he or she appeared for thirty or

forty or fifty years; it would be interesting to watch the gradual

changes of aspect from the age of twenty; or even of thirty or forty;

to that of threescore and ten。  The face might be an uninteresting

one; still; as sharing the inevitable changes wrought by time; it
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