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1、【英文文学】A Story of the Middle WestChapter 1O God, take ker o Dick!-Hell sure have a tough time when Im gone,-an Im er goin-mighty fast I reckon.-I know I aint done much ter brag on,-Lord,-but I aint had nary show.-I allus lowd ter do ye better,-but hits jes kept me scratchin-ter do fer me an Dick,-an
2、somehow I aint had time-ter sarve-ye like I ought.-An my man hes most ways-no count an triflin,-Lord,-cepten when he likers up,-an then,-you know how he uses me an Dick.-But Dick, he aint no ways ter blame-fer what his dad an mammy is,-an I ax ye-fair,-o Lord,-take ker o him-fer-Jesus sake-Amen.Dick
3、!-O Dick,-whar are ye honey?A hollow-cheeked wisp of a boy arose from the dark corner where he had been crouching like a frightened animal, and with cautious steps drew near the bed. Timidly he touched the wasted hand that lay upon the dirty coverlid.What ye want, maw?The woman hushed her moaning an
4、d turned her face, upon which the shadow was already fallen, toward the boy. Im er goin-mighty fast,-Dicky, she said, in a voice that was scarcely audible. Whars yer paw?Bending closer to the face upon the pillow, the lad pointed with trembling finger toward the other end of the cabin and whispered,
5、 while his eyes grew big with fear, Sh-, hes full ergin. Bin down ter th stillhouse all evenin-Dont stir him, maw, er well git licked some more. Tell me what ye want.But his only answer was that broken prayer as the sufferer turned to the wail again. O Lord, take ker o-A stick of wood in the fire-pl
6、ace burned in two and fell with a soft thud on the ashes; a lean hound crept stealthily to the boys side and thrust a cold muzzle against his ragged jacket; in the cupboard a mouse rustled over the rude dishes and among the scanty handful of provisions.Then, cursing foully in his sleep, the drunkard
7、 stirred uneasily and the dog slunk beneath the bed, while the boy stood shaking with fear until all was still again. Reaching out, he touched once more that clammy hand upon the dirty coverlid. No movement answered to his touch. Reaching farther, he cautiously laid his fingers upon the ashy-colored
8、 temple, awkwardly brushing back a thin lock of the tangled hair. The face, like the hand, was cold. With a look of awe and horror in his eyes, the child caught his parent by the shoulder and shook the lifeless form while he tried again and again to make her hear his whispered words.Maw! Maw! Wake u
9、p; hitl be day purty soon an we can go and git some greens; an Ill take the gig an kill some fish fer you; thes a big channel cat in the hole jes above the riffles; I seed im ter day when I crost in the john boat. Say Maw, I done set a dead fall yesterd, d reckon Ill ketch anythin? Wisht it ud be a
10、coon, dont you?-Maw! O Maw, the meals most gone. I only made a little pone las night; thars some left fer you. Shant I fix ye some fore dad wakes up?But there was no answer to his pleading, and, ceasing his efforts, the lad sank on his knees by the rude bed, not daring even to give open expression t
11、o his grief lest he arouse the drunken sleeper by the fireplace. For a long time he knelt there, clasping the cold hand of his lifeless mother, until the lean hound crept again to his side, and thrusting that cold muzzle against his cheek, licked the salt tears, that fell so hot.At last, just as the
12、 first flush of day stained the eastern sky, and the light tipped the old pine tree on the hill with glory, the boy rose to his feet. Placing his hand on the head of his only comforter, he whispered, Come on, Smoke, weve gotter go now. And together boy and dog crept softly across the room and stole
13、out of the cabin door-out of the cabin door, into the beautiful light of the new day. And the drunken brute still slept on the floor by the open fire-place, but the fire was dead upon the hearth.He cant hurt maw any more, Smoke, said the lad, when the two were at a safe distance. No, he sure cant li
14、ck her agin, an me an you kin rustle fer ourselves, I reckon.* * * * *Sixteen years later, in the early gray of another morning, a young man crawled from beneath a stack of straw on the outskirts of Boyd City, a busy, bustling mining town of some fifteen thousand people, in one of the middle western
15、 states, many miles from the rude cabin that stood beneath the hill.The night before, he had approached the town from the east, along the road that leads past Mount Olive, and hungry, cold and weary, had sought shelter of the friendly stack, much preferring a bed of straw and the companionship of ca
16、ttle to any lodging place he might find in the city, less clean and among a ruder company.It was early March and the smoke from a nearby block of smelters was lost in a chilling mist, while a raw wind made the young man shiver as he stood picking the bits of straw from his clothing. When he had brus
17、hed his garments as best he could and had stretched his numb and stiffened limbs, he looked long and thoughtfully at the city lying half hidden in its shroud of gray.I wonder-he began, talking to himself and thinking grimly of the fifteen cents in his right-hand pants pocket-I wonder if-Mornin pard,
18、 said a voice at his elbow. Ruther late when ye got in las night, warnt it?The young man jumped, and turning faced a genuine specimen of the genus hobo. Did you sleep in this straw-stack last night? he ejaculated, after carefully taking the ragged fellows measure with a practiced eye.Sure; this here
19、s the hotel whar I put up-slept in the room jes acrost the hall from yourn.-Whar ye goin ter eat?-with a hungry look.Dont know. Did you have any supper last night?Nope, supper was done et when I got in.Same here.I didnt have nothin fer dinner neither, continued the tramp, an Im er gettin powerful we
20、ak.The other thought of his fifteen cents. Where are you going? he said shortly.The ragged one jerked his thumb toward the city. Heard as how thars a right smart o work yonder and Im on the hunt fer a job.What do you do?Tendin masons my strong-holt. Ive done most everthing though; used ter work on a
21、 farm, and puttered round a saw-mill some in the Arkansaw pineries. Aim ter strike a job at somethin and go back thar where I know folks. Nobody wont give a feller nuthin in this yer God-fer-saken country; haint asked me ter set down fer a month. Back home theyre allus glad ter have a man eat with e
22、m. Ill sure be all right thar.The fellows voice dropped to the pitiful, pleading, insinuating whine of the professional tramp.The young man stood looking at him. Good-for-nothing was written in every line of the shiftless, shambling figure, and pictured in every rag of the fluttering raiment, and ye
23、t-the fellow really was hungry,-and again came the thought of that fifteen cents. The young man was hungry himself; had been hungry many a time in the past, and downright, gnawing, helpless hunger is a great leveler of mankind; in fact, it is just about the only real bond of fellowship between men.
24、Come on, he said at last, Ive got fifteen cents; I reckon we can find something to eat. And the two set out toward the city together.Passing a deserted mining shaft and crossing the railroad, they entered the southern portion of the town, and continued west until they reached the main street, where
25、they stopped at a little grocery store on the corner. The one with the fifteen cents invested two-thirds of his capital in crackers and cheese, his companion reminding the grocer meanwhile that he might throw in a little extra, seein as how they were the first customers that mornin. The merchant, go
26、od-naturedly did so, and then turned to answer the others question about work.What can you do?Im a printer by trade, but will do anything.How does it happen you are out of work?I was thrown out by the Kansas City strike and have been unable to find a place since.Is he looking for work too? with a gl
27、ance that made his customers face flush, and a nod toward the fellow from Arkansas, who sat on a box near the stove rapidly making away with more than his half of the breakfast.The other shrugged his shoulders, We woke up in the same straw-stack this morning and he was hungry, thats all.Well, return
28、ed the store-keeper, as he dropped the lid of the cracker box with a bang, Youll not be bothered with him long if you are really hunting a job.You put me on the track of a job and Ill show you whether I mean business or not, was the quick reply. To which the grocer made answer as he turned to his ta
29、sk of dusting the shelves: Theres lots of work in Boyd City and lots of men to do it.The stranger had walked but a little way down the street when a voice close behind him said, Im erbliged ter ye for the feed, pard; reckon Ill shove erlong now.He stopped and the other continued: Dont much like the
30、looks of this yer place no how, an a feller wat jes come by, he said as how thar war heaps o work in Jonesville, forty miles below. Reckon Ill shove erlong. Aint got the price of er drink hev ye? Cant ye set em up jest fer old times sake ye know? and a cunning gleam crept into the bloodshot eyes of
31、the vagabond.The other started as he looked keenly at the bloated features of the creature before him, and there was a note of mingled fear and defiance in his voice as he said, What do you mean? What do you know about old times?The tramp shuffled uneasily, but replied with a knowing leer, Aint ye D
32、icky Falkner what used ter live cross the river from Jimpsons still-house?Well, what of it? The note of defiance was stronger.Oh nuthin, only Im Jake Tompkins, that used ter work fer Jimpson at the still. Me n yer daddy war pards; I used ter set em up ter him heap o times.Yes, replied Dick bitterly,
33、 I know you now. You gave my father whiskey and then laughed when he went home drunk and drove my mother from the cabin to spend the night in the brush. You know it killed her.Yer maw allus was weakly-like, faltered the other; shed no call ter hitch up with Bill Falkner no how; she ort ter took a ma
34、n with book larnin like her daddy, ole Jedge White. It allus made yer paw mad cause she knowed moren him. But Bill lowed hed tame her an he shor tried hit on. Too bad she went an died, but she ort ter knowed a man o Bills spirit would a took his licker when he wanted hit. I recollect ye used ter tak
35、e a right smart lot yerself fer a kid.The defiance in the young mans voice gave way to a note of hopeless despair. Yes, he said, you and dad made me drink the stuff before I was old enough to know what it would do for me. Then, with a bitter oath, he continued, half to himself, What difference does
36、it make anyway. Every time I try to break loose something reaches out and pulls me down again. I thought I was free this time sure and here comes this thing. I might as well go to the devil and done with it. Why shouldnt I drink if I want to; whose business is it but my own? He looked around for the
37、 familiar sign of a saloon.Thats the talk, exclaimed the other with a swagger. Thats how yer paw used ter put it. Your maw warnt much good no how, with her finicky notions bout eddicatin an sech. A little pone and baken with plenty good ol red eyes good nough fer us. Yer maw she-But he never finishe
38、d, for Dick caught him by the throat with his left hand, the other clenched ready to strike. The tramp shrank back in a frightened, cowering heap.You beast, cried the young man with another oath. If you dare to take my mothers name in your foul mouth again Ill kill you with my bare hands.I didnt go
39、fer to do hit. Fore God I didnt go ter. Lemme go Dicky; men yer daddy war pards. Lemme go. Yer paw an me wont bother ye no more Dicky; he cant; hes dead.Dead! Dick released his grasp and the other sprang to a safe distance.-Dead! He gazed at the quaking wretch before him in amazement.The tramp nodde
40、d sullenly, feeling at his throat. Yep, dead, he said hoarsely. Me an him war bummin a freight out o St. Louie, an he slipped. I know he war killed cause I saw em pick him up; six cars went over him an they kept me in hock fer two months.Dick sat down on the curbing and buried his face in his hands.
41、 Dead-Dead-he softly repeated to himself. Dad is dead-killed by the cars in St. Louis.-Dead-Dead-Then all the past life came back to him with a rush: the cabin home across the river from the distillery; the still-house itself, with the rough men who gathered there; the neighboring shanties with thei
42、r sickly, sad-faced women, and dirty, quarreling children; the store and blacksmith shop at the crossroads in the pinery seven miles away. He saw the river flowing sluggishly at times between banks of drooping willows and tall marsh grass, as though smitten with the fatal spirit of the place, then b
43、reaking into hurried movement over pebbly shoals as though trying to escape to some healthier climate; the hill where stood the old pine tree; the cave beneath the great rock by the spring; and the persimmon grove in the bottoms. Then once more he suffered with his mother, from his drunken fathers r
44、age and every detail of that awful night in the brush, with the long days and nights of sickness that followed before her death, came back so vividly that he wept again with his face in his hands as he had cried by the rude bedside in the cabin sixteen years ago. Then came the years when he had wand
45、ered from his early home and had learned to know life in the great cities. What a life he had found it. He shuddered as it all came back to him now. The many times when inspired by the memory of his mother, he had tried to break away from the evil, degrading things that were in and about him, and th
46、e many times he had been dragged back by the training and memory of his father; the gambling, the fighting, the drinking, the periods of hard work, the struggle to master his trade, and the reckless wasting of wages in times of wild despair again. And now his father was dead-dead-he shuddered. There
47、 was nothing to bind him to the past now; he was free.Cant ye give me that drink, Dicky? Jest one little horn. Itll do us both good, an then Ill shove erlong; jes fer old times sake, ye know.The voice of the tramp broke in upon his thoughts. For a moment longer he sat there; then started to his feet
48、, a new light in his eye; a new ring in his voice.No, Jake, he said slowly; I wouldnt if I could now. Im done with the old times forever. He threw up his head and stood proudly erect while the tramp gazed in awe at something in his face he had never seen before.I have only five cents in the world, continued Dick. Here, take it. Youll be hungry again soon and-and-Good bye, Jake-Good bye- He turned and walk