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英语天堂-第54部分

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“There was a morbid sensitiveness and acuteness of feeling in me on all possible subjects; of which he and my father had no kind of understanding; and with which they could have no possible sympathy。 But mother did; and so; when I had quarreled with Alfred; and father looked sternly on me; I used to go off to mother’s room; and sit by her。 I remember just how she used to look; with her pale cheeks; her deep; soft; serious eyes; her white dress;—she always wore white; and I used to think of her whenever I read in Revelations about the saints that were arrayed in fine linen; clean and white。 She had a great deal of genius of one sort and another; particularly in music; and she used to sit at her organ; playing fine old majestic music of the Catholic church; and singing with a voice more like an angel than a mortal woman; and I would lay my head down on her lap; and cry; and dream; and feel;—oh; immeasurably!—things that I had no language to say!
“In those days; this matter of slavery had never been canvassed as it has now; nobody dreamed of any harm in it。
“My father was a born aristocrat。 I think; in some preexistent state; he must have been in the higher circles of spirits; and brought all his old court pride along with him; for it was ingrain; bred in the bone; though he was originally of poor and not in any way of noble family。 My brother was begotten in his image。
“Now; an aristocrat; you know; the world over; has no human sympathies; beyond a certain line in society。 In England the line is in one place; in Burmah in another; and in America in another; but the aristocrat of all these countries never goes over it。 What would be hardship and distress and injustice in his own class; is a cool matter of course in another one。 My father’s dividing line was that of color。 Among his equals; never was a man more just and generous; but he considered the negro; through all possible gradations of color; as an intermediate link between man and animals; and graded all his ideas of justice or generosity on this hypothesis。 I suppose; to be sure; if anybody had asked him; plump and fair; whether they had human immortal souls; he might have hemmed and hawed; and said yes。 But my father was not a man much troubled with spiritualism; religious sentiment he had none; beyond a veneration for God; as decidedly the head of the upper classes。
“Well; my father worked some five hundred negroes; he was an inflexible; driving; punctilious business man; everything was to move by system;—to be sustained with unfailing acomuracy and precision。 Now; if you take into acomount that all this was to be worked out by a set of lazy; twaddling; shiftless laborers; who had grown up; all their lives; in the absence of every possible motive to learn how to do anything but ‘shirk;’ as you Vermonters say; and you’ll see that there might naturally be; on his plantation; a great many things that looked horrible and distressing to a sensitive child; like me。
“Besides all; he had an overseer;—great; tall; slab…sided; two…fisted renegade son of Vermont—(begging your pardon);—who had gone through a regular apprenticeship in hardness and brutality and taken his degree to be admitted to practice。 My mother never could endure him; nor I; but he obtained an entire ascendency over my father; and this man was the absolute despot of the estate。
“I was a little fellow then; but I had the same love that I have now for all kinds of human things;—a kind of passion for the study of humanity; come in what shape it would。 I was found in the cabins and among the field…hands a great deal; and; of course; was a great favorite; and all sorts of complaints and grievances were breathed in my ear; and I told them to mother; and we; between us; formed a sort of committee for a redress of grievances。 We hindered and repressed a great deal of cruelty; and congratulated ourselves on doing a vast deal of good; till; as often happens; my zeal overacted。 Stubbs complained to my father that he couldn’t manage the hands; and must resign his position。 Father was a fond; indulgent husband; but a man that never flinched from anything that he thought necessary; and so he put down his foot; like a rock; between us and the field…hands。 He told my mother; in language perfectly respectful and deferential; but quite explicit; that over the house…servants she should be entire mistress; but that with the field…hands he could allow no interference。 He revered and respected her above all living beings; but he would have said it all the same to the virgin Mary herself; if she had come in the way of his system。
“I used sometimes to hear my mother reasoning cases with him;—endeavoring to excite his sympathies。 He would listen to the most pathetic appeals with the most discouraging politeness and equanimity。 ‘It all resolves itself into this;’ he would say; ‘must I part with Stubbs; or keep him? Stubbs is the soul of punctuality; honesty; and efficiency;—a thorough business hand; and as humane as the general run。 We can’t have perfection; and if I keep him; I must sustain his administration as a whole; even if there are; now and then; things that are exceptionable。 All government includes some necessary hardness。 General rules will bear hard on particular cases。’ This last maxim my father seemed to consider a settler in most alleged cases of cruelty。 After he had said that; he commonly drew up his feet on the sofa; like a man that has disposed of a business; and betook himself to a nap; or the newspaper; as the case might be。
“The fact is my father showed the exact sort of talent for a statesman。 He could have divided Poland as easily as an orange; or trod on Ireland as quietly and systematically as any man living。 At last my mother gave up; in despair。 It never will be known; till the last acomount; what noble and sensitive natures like hers have felt; cast; utterly helpless; into what seems to them an abyss of injustice and cruelty; and which seems so to nobody about them。 It has been an age of long sorrow of such natures; in such a hell…begotten sort of world as ours。 What remained for her; but to train her children in her own views and sentiments? Well; after all you say about training; children will grow up substantially what they are by nature; and only that。 From the cradle; Alfred was an aristocrat; and as he grew up; instinctively; all his sympathies and all his reasonings were in that line; and all mother’s exhortations went to the winds。 As to me; they sunk deep into me。 She never contradicted; in form; anything my father said; or seemed directly to differ from him; but she impressed; burnt into my very soul; with all the force of her deep; earnest nature; an idea of the dignity and worth of the meanest human soul。 I have looked in her face with solemn awe; when she would point up to the stars in the evening; and say to me; ‘See there; Auguste! the poorest; meanest soul on our place will be living; when all these stars are gone forever;—will live as long as God lives!’
“She had some fine old paintings; one; in particular; of Jesus healing a blind man。 They were very fine; and used to impress me strongly。 ‘See there; Auguste;’ she would say; ‘the blind man was a beggar; poor and loathsome; therefore; he would not heal him afar off! He called him to him; and put his hands on him! Remember this; my boy。’ If I had lived to grow up under her care; she might have stimulated me to I know not what of enthusiasm。 I might have been a saint; reformer; martyr;—but; alas! alas! I went from her when I was only thirteen; and I never saw her again!”
St。 Clare rested his head on his hands; and did not speak for some minutes。 After a while; he looked up; and went on:
“What poor; mean trash this whole business of human virtue is! A mere matter; for the most part; of latitude and longitude; and geographical position; acting with natural temperament。 The greater part is nothing but an acomident! Your father; for example; settles in Vermont; in a town where all are; in fact; free and equal; becomes a regular church member and deacon; and in due time joins an Abolition society; and thinks us all little better than heathens。 Yet he is; for all the world; in constitution and habit; a duplicate of my father。 I can see it leaking out in fifty different ways;—just the same strong; overbearing; dominant spirit。 You know very well how impossible it is to persuade some of the folks in your village that Squire Sinclair does not feel above them。 The fact is; though he has fallen on democratic times; and embraced a democratic theory; he is to the heart an aristocrat; as much as my father; who ruled over five or six hundred slaves。”
Miss Ophelia felt rather disposed to cavil at this picture; and was laying down her knitting to begin; but St。 Clare stopped her。
“Now; I know every word you are going to say。 I do not say they were alike; in fact。 One fell into a condition where everything acted against the natural tendency; and the other where everything acted for it; and so one turned out a pretty wilful; stout; overbearing old democrat; and the other a wilful; stout old despot。 If both had owned plantations in Louisiana; they would have been as like as two old bullets cast in the same mould。”
“What an undutiful boy you are!” said Miss Ophelia。
“I don’t mean them any disrespect;” said St。 Clare。 “You know reverence is not my forte。 But; to go back to my history:
“When father died; he left the whole property to us twin boys; to be divided as we should agree。 There does not breathe on God’s earth a nobler…souled; more generous fellow; than Alfred; in all that concerns his equals; and we got on admirably with this property question; without a single unbrotherly word or feeling。 We undertook to work the plantation together; and Alfred; whose outward life and capabilities had double the strength of mine; became an enthusiastic planter; and a wonderfully sucomessful one。
“But two years’ trial satisfied me that I could not be a partner in that matter。 To have a great gang of seven hundred; whom I could not know personally; or feel any individual interest in; bought and driven; housed; fed; worked like so many horned cattle; strained up to military precision;—the question of how little of life’s commonest enjoyments would keep them in working order being a constantly recurring problem;—the necessity of drivers and overseers;—the ever…necessary whip; first; last; and only argument;—the whole thing was insufferably disgusting and loathsome to me; and when I thought of my mothcr’s estimate of one poor human soul; it became even frightful!
“It’s all nonsense to talk to me about slaves enjoying all this! To this day; I have no patience with the unutterable trash that some of your patronizing Northerners have made up; as in their zeal to apologize for our sins。 We all know better。 Tell me that any man living wants to work all his days; from day…dawn till dark; under the constant eye of a master; without the power of putting forth one irresponsible volition; on the same dreary; monotonous; unchanging toil; and all for two pairs of pantaloons and a pair of shoes a year; with enough food and shelter to keep him in working order! Any man who thinks that human beings can; as a general thing; be made about as comfortable that way as any other; I wish he might try it。 I’d buy the dog; and work him; with a clear conscience!”
“I always have supposed;” said Miss Ophelia; “that you; all of you; approved of these things; and thought them right—acomording to Scripture。”
“Humbug! We are not quite reduced to that yet。 Alfred who is as determined a despot as ever walked; does not pretend to this kind of defence;—no; he stands; high and haughty; on that good old respectable ground; the right of the strongest; and he says; and I think quite sensibly; that the American planter is ‘only doing; in another form; what the English aristocracy and capitalists are doing by the lower classes;’ that is; I take it; appropriating them; body and bone; soul and spirit; to their use and convenience。 He defends both;—and I think; at least; consistently。 He says that there can be no high civilization without enslavement of the masses; either nominal or real。 There must; he says; be a lower class; given up to physical toil and confined to an animal nature; and a higher one thereby acquires leisure and wealth for a more expanded intelligence and improvement; and becomes the directing soul of the lower。 So he reasons; because; as I said; he is born an aristocrat;—so I don’t believe; because I was born a democrat。”
“How in the world can the two things be compared?” said Miss Ophelia。 “The English laborer is not sold; traded; parted from his family; whipped。”
“He is as much at the will of his employer as if he were sold to him。 The slave…owner can whip his refractory slave to death;—the capitalist can starve him to death。 As to family security; it is hard to say which is the worst;—to have one’s children sold; or see them starve to death at home。”
“But it’s no kind of apology for slavery; to prove that it isn’t worse than some other bad thing。”
“I didn’t give it for one;—nay; I’ll say; besides; that ours is the more bold and palpable infringement of human rights; actually buying a man up; like a horse;—looking at his teeth; cracking his joints; and trying his paces and then paying down for him;—having speculators; breeders; traders; and brokers in human bodies and souls;—sets the thing before the eyes of the civilized world in a more tangible form; though the thing done be; after all; in its nature; the same; that is; appropriating one set of human beings to the use and improvement of another without any regard to their own。”
“I never thought of the matter in this light;” said Miss Ophelia。
“Well; I’ve travelled in England some; and I’ve looked over a good many documents as to the state of their lower classes; and I really think there is no denying Alfred; when he says that his slaves are better off than a large class of the population of England。 You see; you must not infer; from what I have told you; that Alfred is what is called a hard master; for he isn’t。 He is despotic; and unmerciful to insubordination; he would shoot a fellow down with as little remorse as he would shoot a buck; if he opposed him。 But; in general; he takes a sort of pride in having his slaves comfortably fed and acomommodated。
“When I was with him; I insisted that he should do something for their instruction; and; to please me; he did get a chaplain; and used to have them catechized Sunday; though; I believe; in his heart; that he thought it would do about as much good to set a chaplain over his dogs and horses。 And the fact is; that a mind stupefied and animalized by every bad influence from the hour of birth; spending the whole of every week…day in unreflecting toil; cannot be done much with by a few hours on Sunday。 The teachers of Sunday…schools among the manufacturing population of England; and among plantation…hands in our country; could perhaps testify to the same result; there and here。 Yet some striking exceptions there are among us; from the fact that the negro is naturally more impressible to religious sentiment than the white。”
“Well;” said Miss Ophelia; “how came you to give up your plantation life?”
“Wel
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