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1、【英文读物】From Canal Boy to PresidentCHAPTER I. ADIN DUNHAM SURPRISES HIS WIFE. Ive been looking forward to this day for weeks, Sarah, said Adin Dunham, as he rose from the breakfast-table on a certain Wednesday morning in the early part of June.Why, father, what do you mean? asked Mrs. Dunham curiously
2、.Because to-day I am to receive a thousand dollarsa thousand dollars in hard cash, answered her husband in a tone of exultation.Well, I declare! ejaculated his wife in amazement. Who on earth is going to give you a thousand dollars?No one is going to give it to me; its my own.How strangely you do ta
3、lk, Adin Dunham! You aint out of your mind, be you?6Not as I know of, answered her husband with an amused smile.Is it really true that somebody is going to pay you a thousand dollars?Yes, it is.And you say it is your own?Yes.I dont understand it, said Mrs. Dunham, with the air of one to whom a puzzl
4、e is propounded and who gives it up.Then Ill explain. You know when Uncle Dan died he left me a piece of stony pasture land in Rockmount?Yes, I know. You never could sell it, Ive heard you say agin and agin.Well, Ive sold it at last. Theres a company goin to put up a big hotel just on that spot, and
5、 theyve offered me a thousand dollars for the land.Couldnt they find a better buildin lot than that?Well, you see its located near the lake, and though its barren enough its well situated, and theres five acres of it, plenty of room for all the buildins required. They offered me first seven hundred,
6、 then eight hundred, and finally when they got up to a thousand I caved inYou what?Well, I agreed to let em have it. Im going over to-day to get the money.Why, itll make us rich, Adin. I never expected youd be wuth a thousand dollars.I wonder what Uncle Dan would have said if hed7 thought I would ha
7、ve got so much for the land. He never cared much for me, and he only left me that because he thought it wasnt wuth anything. He did better by me than he expected.What are you going to do with the money, Adin?I dont know yet. Ill keep it by me till Ive decided. Perhaps Ill invest in govment bonds. I
8、guess theyre about as safe as anything.So Ive heard, Adin. I suppose the govment aint likely to fail.If it is, I guess all the banks will fail too.How are you goin over to Rockmount?Ill borrow neighbor Goulds horse and buggy. That horse is pretty strong, and he wont mind the twenty milesten there an
9、d ten back.I dont like to have you travelin so far with all that money. Spose you should meet with robbers.There aint any robbers round here, Sarah. This is a respectable community.You might meet a tramp.Well, the chances are that hed be more afraid of me than I would be of him. I aint a child, Sara
10、h. I can lift a barrel of potatoes and put it in a wagon as easy as most men.Well, Adin, you know best. Hadnt you better take Dean with you?Why should I take Dean?It would be safer for two than for one.You dont mean to say that I need a boy of sixteen to protect me? If I thought I did, Id stay at ho
11、me and send Dean by himself.8Well, Adin, I dont want to interfere. It wouldnt be much use, either, for you generally have your own way. Have you told any of the neighbors that you are goin for some money?No except Lawyer Bates.What made you tell him?Well, I was in his office the other evenin, and so
12、mehow I was led into tellin it. I gave a sort of hint, and the lawyer he drew it out of me. Them lawyers are great on cross-examinin, you know.What did Squire Bates say?He told me Id better not tell anybody else. He talked for all the world just like you did, Sarah. You havent been chatterin with th
13、e squire, have you?No, Adin, I dont like him well enough for that. I never fancied the squire. Hes always showin those long front teeth of his, like a wild beast.They aint very handsome teeth, Im bound to admit, Sarah, but the poor man cant help himself. Hes as God made him.He gave you good advice a
14、t any rate, Adin. Theres so many dishonest people in the world that its best to be careful. Did you tell him when you were goin for the money?I dont exactly remember. I guess I did.Do you think Squire Bates is a rich man, Adin?I dont know. Hes a lawyer, and keeps his affairs mighty close.That boy of
15、 hisBrandonis his very image, even to the teeth.Well, he does favor his father considerable.9Dean doesnt like him. Hes a very big feeling boy. He looks down on Dean because he is the nephew of a poor man.O, hell get wiser in time. We mustnt mind them young folks so much. Boys will be boys.So they wi
16、ll, but theres different kinds of boys.I guess theres room enough in the world for both of them. If they dont like each other they can keep apart.Dean is an excellent boy. I dont know how we should get along without him.I indorse all that, wife, said Adin Dunham heartily.Hes always cheerful and will
17、inalways ready to do chores and give up his own pleasure. I remember last winter hed set his heart on going with a skatin party, but when I was taken sick, he stayed at home and tended me, without a word of complaint. He couldnt have done no more if hed been a son instead of a nephew.Just so, wife!
18、Just so! Hes a likely boy, and if he keeps on as hes begun hes sure to do well.He deserves to prosper, and I hope he will. I wish we could do more for him.So do I, but a carpenter that gets work only about half the time cant do what hed like to.Just then Dean came into the housea broad-shouldered, s
19、trongly built boy, with a frank, open countenance and red cheeks.Dean, said his uncle, wont you go over to neighbor Gould, and ask if he will lend his horse and10 buggy for the day? Im goin over to Rockmount.Going to Rockmount? repeated Dean eagerly. Will you take me, uncle?Not to-day, Dean. Its a l
20、ong ride, and itll be easier on the horse to carry one than two.Dean looked disappointed. A ride to Rockmount, which was a considerably larger place than Waterford, would have been to him a very agreeable recreation, but he was not a boy to complain or tease when a favor had been refused. So he indu
21、lged in no remonstrance, but went over to Mr. Goulds dwelling, only twenty rods away, and preferred the request.Certainly, said Mr. Gould pleasantly. So your uncle has business in Rockmount, has he?Yes sir, I suppose so, but he didnt tell me what it is.Well, tell him not to over drive the Captain. (
22、This was the rather peculiar name of Mr. Goulds horse.)I dont think theres any danger, said Dean smiling, for he knew that Adin Dunham was one of the most deliberate of men, and permitted a horse to select his own pace.CHAPTER II. SQUIRE RENWICK BATES. Adin Dunham got into the buggy, took the reins
23、from Dean, and drove away.The pretentious house of Squire Bates stood a little way back from the road a quarter of a mile further on. The lawyer stood in front of his gate. He smiled as Adin Dunham drove by.Well, Dunham, he said, so you are on your way to Rockmount?Yes, squire.And bound on a pleasan
24、t errand, too, continued Bates, with a second smile.Yes, squire. I cant believe it hardly. Its a new experience for me. I never thought I should be worth a thousand dollars.Yes, its quite a sum. What do you propose to do with it?I may pay up the mortgage on my place.But suppose I dont want to receiv
25、e it?But why wouldnt you want to receive it?Oh, its paying me fairish interest, and I should have to look up another investment.But you could do that better than I.Come and see me when you get back, and Ill12 give you advice. I wouldnt trouble myself for every one, but you are a friend and neighbor,
26、 said Squire Bates, smiling and showing the long white tusks that gave him so peculiar an appearance.Your advice ought to be good, squire. You are used to investin money.Yes, I have a good deal to invest, said Bates. Which way shall you return? asked the squire carelessly.I thought I might take the
27、creek road, squire.If it were my case, I would come through the woods. Its half a mile shorter.Thats so, and I did think of it, but you and my wife talked to me about robbers, till I began to think the creek road would be safer.Squire Bates laughed in an amused way.I rather think your wife and I tal
28、ked like old women, he said. It seems rather ridiculous to think of robbers in this neighborhood.So it does! said Adin Dunham eagerly. I told Sarah so.Then youll come through the woods?Yes.About what time?Oh, I shant stay very long after my business is done.Youll probably pass through about three oc
29、lock?Well, say four. Ive got a cousin in Rockmount that I shall take dinner with, and thatll take up part of my time. Then Ive got one or two errands to do13 at the stores there. Im to buy my wife a pair of shoes at Ingalss store. He knows just what she wants, and always fits her.Theres one thing I
30、would advise you not to do, neighbor Dunham.What is that?Dont invite any one to ride home with you.Why not?Well, youll have considerable money with you and it might prove a temptation even to a respectable man. You see to most people it is a large sumnot to me, for I am better off than the average,
31、but Ive read in my law books of a good many crimes that were the result of a sudden impulse. Theres no reason to be nervous, but its well to be prudent, neighbor.Thats good sense, squire. Thank you for your caution. Well, I must be getting on.Good luck to you, said Bates, as he turned and went into
32、the house.Squire Bates had been for three years a resident of Waterford. He appeared to have plenty of money, though it was a mystery where it came from. He professed to be a lawyer, and had an office, but beyond writing a will or a lease, or some such matter, had no practice to speak of. This, howe
33、ver, did not seem to trouble him. It was a popular belief that the care of his property gave him considerable to do. He had no investments in Waterford except the house he lived in, and a mortgage on the house and small landed property of Adin Dunham. The assessors14 got very little satisfaction out
34、 of him when they questioned him about his taxable property.I am taxed elsewhere, he said briefly.But you have some personal property?Oh well, you may put me down for a thousand dollars.It is generally supposed that you have a much larger personal property than that.I have, gentleman, answered Bates
35、 frankly, but you know that government bonds are not taxable.That explained it. The board of assessors jumped to the conclusion that Squire Bates had a large sum in government bonds, and did not pursue their inquiries further.There was one thing that puzzled Waterford people about the lawyer. He oft
36、en absented himself in a mysterious way, sometimes for weeks at a time. He never told where he went, nor did his wife and son when questioned appear to know. At any rate they never gave any information. He would reappear, as suddenly as he had disappeared, and always explain briefly that he had been
37、 away on business. What the nature of the business was he did not state, a sensible thing probably, but his reticence excited considerable remark among his fellow-townsmen, who did not approve of it.When Squire Bates re-entered the house he went up to his roomhis library was on the second floorand l
38、ocked the door. He sat down in a rocking-chair, and seemed plunged in thought.15A thousand dollars! he soliloquized. It is a good sum of money. It would be a great lift to Adin Dunham. It would enable him to pay off the mortgage on his place, and that would not suit me. I prefer to foreclose by and
39、by. Upon the whole the money will be better in my hands than in his. It was well I suggested to him not to come home by the creek road. That is too open, and would not suit my plans.Lawyer Bates rose, and, taking a key from his pocket, opened the door of a small closet. It was a clothes closet evide
40、ntly, but its contents were of a curious character. There was one suit that a fastidious tramp would have scorned to wear. There were several masks. There were disguises of different kinds, three wigs, one red, and false beards. Of what earthly use could these articles be to a respectable country la
41、wyer?Not even Mrs. Bates had seen the inside of this closet. Once she suggested cleaning it, but the curt refusal with which her proposal was received prevented her making it again.I keep my papers in there, said her husband, and I am not willing that they should be disturbed.I would be very careful
42、, Renwick, said Mrs. Bates. I would attend to it myself.You will offend me if you say more, Mrs. Bates, said her husband, looking displeased, and she took the hint.Mrs. Bates was a pleasant, gentle woman who did16 not put on airs, and she was much more popular in the village than her husband, whose
43、face had a singularly disagreeable expression, especially when he smiled, for then he showed his long white teeth, which, as Mrs. Dunham expressed it, were like the fangs of a wild beast.His son Brandon was like his father, even to the teeth. He was a boy of cruel instincts, haughty and imperious, a
44、nd disposed to lord it over his schoolmates and companions. He was heartily tired of Waterford, and had more than once suggested to his father that it would be wise to leave it.When I want your advice, Brandon, I will ask for it, said Squire Bates briefly.Brandon did not press the matter. He knew hi
45、s father too well, but he complained to his mother.What on earth can father be thinking of to stay in such a quiet hole as Waterford?It is a pleasant village, Brandon, said his mother gently.What is there pleasant about it?The people are pleasant.I have no fit associates.There is Dean Dunham, who is
46、 about your age.I hate him! said Brandon passionately.Why do you hate him, my son? Mrs. Dunham tells me he is a great comfort to her.I dont know anything about that. He is very impudent to me. He seems to think he is my equal. I am afraid you are too proud, Brandon.Isnt father the richest man in Wat
47、erford, Id like to know? Dean Dunham is the nephew of a poor carpenter, who keeps him out of charity.Ah, Brandon, you shouldnt value people for their money.Dean Dunham is no fit companion for me. If I were in the city, I should find plenty of associates.Gentle Mrs Bates sighed. She could not approve of her sons pride.CHAPTER III. BRANDONS JOKE. About quarter of a mile from the village was a pond of small size, not over a third of a mile across, but it provided the boys of the village a great deal