rambling idle excursion-第8章
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soft color and graced with its wandering sails。
Take any road you please; you may depend upon it you will not stay in it
half a mile。 Your road is everything that a road ought to be: it is
bordered with trees; and with strange plants and flowers; it is shady and
pleasant; or sunny and still pleasant; it carries you by the prettiest
and peacefulest and most homelike of homes; and through stretches of
forest that lie in a deep hush sometimes; and sometimes are alive with
the music of birds; it curves always; which is a continual promise;
whereas straight roads reveal everything at a glance and kill interest。
Your road is all this; and yet you will not stay in it half a mile; for
the reason that little seductive; mysterious roads are always branching
out from it on either hand; and as these curve sharply also and hide what
is beyond; you cannot resist the temptation to desert your own chosen
road and explore them。 You are usually paid for your trouble;
consequently; your walk inland always turns out to be one of the most
crooked; involved; purposeless; and interesting experiences a body can
imagine。 There is enough of variety。 Sometimes you are in the level
open; with marshes thick grown with flag…lances that are ten feet high on
the one hand; and potato and onion orchards on the other; next; you are
on a hilltop; with the ocean and the islands spread around you; presently
the road winds through a deep cut; shut in by perpendicular walls thirty
or forty feet high; marked with the oddest and abruptest stratum lines;
suggestive of sudden and eccentric old upheavals; and garnished with here
and there a clinging adventurous flower; and here and there a dangling
vine; and by and by your way is along the sea edge; and you may look down
a fathom or two through the transparent water and watch the diamond…like
flash and play of the light upon the rocks and sands on the bottom until
you are tired of itif you are so constituted as to be able to get tired
of it。
You may march the country roads in maiden meditation; fancy free; by
field and farm; for no dog will plunge out at you from unsuspected gate;
with breath…taking surprise of ferocious bark; notwithstanding it is a
Christian land and a civilized。 We saw upward of a million cats in
Bermuda; but the people are very abstemious in the matter of dogs。 Two
or three nights we prowled the country far and wide; and never once were
accosted by a dog。 It is a great privilege to visit such a land。 The
cats were no offense when properly distributed; but when piled they
obstructed travel。
As we entered the edge of the town that Sunday afternoon; we stopped at a
cottage to get a drink of water。 The proprietor; a middle…aged man with
a good face; asked us to sit down and rest。 His dame brought chairs; and
we grouped ourselves in the shade of the trees by the door。 Mr。 Smith
that was not his name; but it will answerquestioned us about ourselves
and our country; and we answered him truthfully; as a general thing; and
questioned him in return。 It was all very simple and pleasant and
sociable。 Rural; too; for there was a pig and a small donkey and a hen
anchored out; close at hand; by cords to their legs; on a spot that
purported to be grassy。 Presently; a woman passed along; and although
she coldly said nothing she changed the drift of our talk。 Said Smith:
〃She didn't look this way; you noticed? Well; she is our next neighbor
on one side; and there's another family that's our next neighbors on the
other side; but there's a general coolness all around now; and we don't
speak。 Yet these three families; one generation and another; have lived
here side by side and been as friendly as weavers for a hundred and fifty
years; till about a year ago。〃
〃Why; what calamity could have been powerful enough to break up so old a
friendship?〃
〃Well; it was too bad; but it couldn't be helped。 It happened like this:
About a year or more ago; the rats got to pestering my place a good deal;
and I set up a steel trap in my back yard。 Both of these neighbors run
considerable to cats; and so I warned them about the trap; because their
cats were pretty sociable around here nights; and they might get into
trouble without my intending it。 Well; they shut up their cats for a
while; but you know how it is with people; they got careless; and sure
enough one night the trap took Mrs。 Jones's principal tomcat into camp
and finished him up。 In the morning Mrs。 Jones comes here with the
corpse in her arms; and cries and takes on the same as if it was a child。
It was a cat by the name of YelvertonHector G。 Yelvertona troublesome
old rip; with no more principle than an Injun; though you couldn't make
her believe it。 I said all a man could to comfort her; but no; nothing
would do but I must pay for him。 Finally; I said I warn't investing in
cats now as much as I was; and with that she walked off in a huff;
carrying the remains with her。 That closed our intercourse with the
Joneses。 Mrs。 Jones joined another church and took her tribe with her。
She said she would not hold fellowship with assassins。 Well; by and by
comes Mrs。 Brown's turnshe that went by here a minute ago。 She had a
disgraceful old yellow cat that she thought as much of as if he was
twins; and one night he tried that trap on his neck; and it fitted him
so; and was so sort of satisfactory; that he laid down and curled up and
stayed with it。 Such was the end of Sir John Baldwin。〃
〃Was that the name of the cat?〃
〃The same。 There's cats around here with names that would surprise you。
〃Maria〃 (to his wife); 〃what was that cat's name that eat a keg of
ratsbane by mistake over at Hooper's; and started home and got struck by
lightning and took the blind staggers and fell in the well and was 'most
drowned。 before they could fish him out?〃
〃That was that colored Deacon Jackson's cat。 I only remember the last
end of its name; which was Hold…The…Fort…For…I…Am…Coming Jackson。〃
〃Sho! that ain't the one。 That's the one that eat up an entire box of
Seidlitz powders; and then hadn't any more judgment than to go and take a
drink。 He was considered to be a great loss; but I never could see it。
Well; no matter about the names。 Mrs。 Brown wanted to be reasonable; but
Mrs。 Jones wouldn't let her。 She put her up to going to law for damages。
So to law she went; and had the face to claim seven shillings and
sixpence。 It made a great stir。 All the neighbors went to court。
Everybody took sides。 It got hotter and hotter; and broke up all the
friendships for three hundred yards around friendships that had lasted
for generations and generations。
〃Well; I proved by eleven witnesses that the cat was of a low character
and very ornery; and warn't worth a canceled postage…stamp; anyway;
taking the average of cats here; but I lost the case。 What could I
expect? The system is all wrong here; and is bound to make revolution
and bloodshed some day。 You see; they give the magistrate a poor little
starvation salary; and then turn him loose on the public to gouge for
fees and costs to live on。 What is the natural result? Why; he never
looks into the justice of a casenever once。 All he looks at is which
client has got the money。 So this one piled the fees and costs and
everything on to me。 I could pay specie; don't you see? and he knew
mighty well that if he put the verdict on to Mrs。 Brown; where it
belonged; he'd have to take his swag in currency。〃
〃Currency? Why; has Bermuda a currency?〃
〃Yes…onions。 And they were forty per cent。 discount; too; then; because
the season had been over as much as three months。 So I lost my case。
I had to pay for that cat。 But the general trouble the case made was the
worst thing about it。 Broke up so much good feeling。 The neighbors
don't speak to each other now。 Mrs。 Brown had named a child after me。
But she changed its name right away。 She is a Baptist。 Well; in the
course of baptizing it over again it got drowned。 I was hoping we might
get to be friendly again some time or other; but of course this drowning
the child knocked that all out of the question。 It would have saved a
world of heartb