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a mortal antipathy-第7章

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But if this sight is saddening; what is it to see a human dwelling

fall by the hand of violence!  The ripping off of the shelter that

has kept out a thousand storms; the tearing off of the once

ornamental woodwork; the wrench of the inexorable crowbar; the

murderous blows of the axe; the progressive ruin; which ends by

rending all the joints asunder and flinging the tenoned and mortised

timbers into heaps that will be sawed and split to warm some new

habitation as firewood;what a brutal act of destruction it seems!



Why should I go over the old house again; having already described it

more than ten years ago?  Alas!  how many remember anything they read

but once; and so long ago as that?  How many would find it out if one

should say over in the same words that which he said in the last

decade?  But there is really no need of telling the story a second

time; for it can be found by those who are curious enough to look it

up in a volume of which it occupies the opening chapter。



In order; however; to save any inquisitive reader that trouble; let

me remind him that the old house was General Ward's headquarters at

the breaking out of the Revolution; that the plan for fortifying

Bunker's Hill was laid; as commonly believed; in the southeast lower

room; the floor of which was covered with dents; made; it was

alleged; by the butts of the soldiers' muskets。  In that house; too;

General Warren probably passed the night before the Bunker Hill

battle; and over its threshold must the stately figure of Washington

have often cast its shadow。



But the house in which one drew his first breath; and where he one

day came into the consciousness that he was a personality; an ego; a

little universe with a sky over him all his own; with a persistent

identity; with the terrible responsibility of a separate;

independent; inalienable existence;that house does not ask for any

historical associations to make it the centre of the earth for him。



If there is any person in the world to be envied; it is the one who

is born to an ancient estate; with a long line of family traditions

and the means in his hands of shaping his mansion and his domain to

his own taste; without losing sight of all the characteristic

features which surrounded his earliest years。  The American is; for

the most part; a nomad; who pulls down his house as the Tartar pulls

up his tent…poles。  If I had an ideal life to plan for him it would

be something like this:



His grandfather should be a wise; scholarly; large…brained; large…

hearted country minister; from whom he should inherit the temperament

that predisposes to cheerfulness and enjoyment; with the finer

instincts which direct life to noble aims and make it rich with the

gratification of pure and elevated tastes and the carrying out of

plans for the good of his neighbors and his fellow…creatures。  He

should; if possible; have been born; at any rate have passed some of

his early years; or a large part of them; under the roof of the good

old minister。  His father should be; we will say; a business man in

one of our great cities;a generous manipulator of millions; some of

which have adhered to his private fortunes; in spite of his liberal

use of his means。  His heir; our ideally placed American; shall take

possession of the old house; the home of his earliest memories; and

preserve it sacredly; not exactly like the Santa Casa; but; as nearly

as may be; just as he remembers it。  He can add as many acres as he

will to the narrow house…lot。  He can build a grand mansion for

himself; if he chooses; in the not distant neighborhood。  But the old

house; and all immediately round it; shall be as he recollects it

when be had to stretch his little arm up to reach the door…handles。

Then; having well provided for his own household; himself included;

let him become the providence of the village or the town where be

finds himself during at least a portion of every year。  Its schools;

its library; its poor;and perhaps the new clergyman who has

succeeded his grandfather's successor may be one of them;all its

interests; he shall make his own。  And from this centre his

beneficence shall radiate so far that all who hear of his wealth

shall also hear of him as a friend to his race。



Is not this a pleasing programme?  Wealth is a steep hill; which the

father climbs slowly and the son often tumbles down precipitately;

but there is a table…land on a level with it; which may be found by

those who do not lose their head in looking down from its sharply

cloven summit。…Our dangerously rich men can make themselves hated;

held as enemies of the race; or beloved and recognized as its

benefactors。  The clouds of discontent are threatening; but if the

gold…pointed lightning…rods are rightly distributed the destructive

element may be drawn off silently and harmlessly。  For it cannot be

repeated too often that the safety of great wealth with us lies in

obedience to the new version of the Old World axiom; RICHESS oblige。













THE NEW PORTFOLIO: FIRST OPENING。









A MORTAL ANTIPATHY。







I



GETTING READY。



It is impossible to begin a story which must of necessity tax the

powers of belief of readers unacquainted with the class of facts to

which its central point of interest belongs without some words in the

nature of preparation。  Readers of Charles Lamb remember that Sarah

Battle insisted on a clean…swept hearth before sitting down to her

favorite game of whist。



The narrator wishes to sweep the hearth; as it were; in these opening

pages; before sitting down to tell his story。  He does not intend to

frighten the reader away by prolix explanation; but he does mean to

warn him against hasty judgments when facts are related which are not

within the range of every…day experience。  Did he ever see the

Siamese twins; or any pair like them?  Probably not; yet he feels

sure that Chang and Eng really existed; and if he has taken the

trouble to inquire; he has satisfied himself that similar cases have

been recorded by credible witnesses; though at long intervals and in

countries far apart from each other。



This is the first sweep of the brush; to clear the hearth of the

skepticism and incredulity which must be got out of the way before we

can begin to tell and to listen in peace with ourselves and each

other。



One more stroke of the brush is needed before the stage will be ready

for the chief characters and the leading circumstances to which the

reader's attention is invited。  If the principal personages made

their entrance at once; the reader would have to create for himself

the whole scenery of their surrounding conditions。  In point of fact;

no matter how a story is begun; many of its readers have already

shaped its chief actors out of any hint the author may have dropped;

and provided from their own resources a locality and a set of outward

conditions to environ these imagined personalities。  These are all to

be brushed away; and the actual surroundings of the subject of the

narrative represented as they were; at the risk of detaining the

reader a little while from the events most likely to interest him。

The choicest egg that ever was laid was not so big as the nest that

held it。  If a story were so interesting that a maiden would rather

hear it than listen to the praise of her own beauty; or a poet would

rather read it than recite his own verses; still it would have to be

wrapped in some tissue of circumstance; or it would lose half its

effectiveness。



It may not be easy to find the exact locality referred to in this

narrative by looking into the first gazetteer that is at hand。

Recent experiences have shown that it is unsafe to be too exact in

designating places and the people who live in them。  There are; it

may be added; so many advertisements disguised under the form of

stories and other literary productions that one naturally desires to

avoid the suspicion of being employed by the enterprising proprietors

of this or that celebrated resort to use his gifts for their especial

benefit。  There are no doubt many persons who remember the old sign

and the old tavern and its four chief personages presently to be

mentioned。  It is to be hoped that they will not furnish the public

with a key to this narrative; and perhaps bring trouble to the writer

of it; as has happened to other authors。  If the real names are a

little altered; it need not interfere with the important facts

relating to those who bear them。  It might not be safe to tell a

damaging story about John or James Smythe; but if the slight change

is made of spelling the name Smith; the Smythes would never think of

bringing an action; as if the allusion related to any of them。  The

same gulf of family distinction separates the Thompsons with a p from

the Thomsons without that letter。



There are few pleasanter places in the Northern States for a
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