章节正文
some far land, a kindred voice sing out, "Oh, why left I my
hame?" and it seems at once as if no beauty under the kind
heavens, and no society of the wise and good, can repay me
for my absence from my country. And though I think I would
rather die elsewhere, yet in my heart of hearts I long to be
buried among good Scots clods. I will say it fairly, it
grows on me with every year: there are no stars so lovely as
Edinburgh street-lamps. When I forget thee, auld Reekie, may
my right hand forget its cunning!
The happiest lot on earth is to be born a Scotchman. You
must pay for it in many ways, as for all other advantages on
earth. You have to learn the paraphrases and the shorter
catechism; you generally take to drink; your youth, as far as
I can find out, is a time of louder war against society, of
more outcry and tears and turmoil, than if you had been born,
for instance, in England. But somehow life is warmer and
closer; the hearth burns more redly; the lights of home shine
softer on the rainy street; the very names, endeared in verse
and music, cling nearer round our hearts. An Englishman may
meet an Englishman to-morrow, upon Chimborazo, and neither of
them care; but when the Scotch wine-grower told me of Mons
Meg, it was like magic.
"From the dim shieling on the misty island
Mountains divide us, and a world of seas;
Yet still our hearts are true, our hearts are Highland,
And we, in dreams, behold the Hebrides."
And, Highland and Lowland, all our hearts are Scotch.
Only a few days after I had seen M'Eckron, a message reached
me in my cottage. It was a Scotchman who had come down a
long way from the hills to market. He had heard there was a
countryman in Calistoga, and came round to the hotel to see
him. We said a few words to each other; we had not much to
say - should never have seen each other had we stayed at
home, separated alike in space and in society; and then we
shook hands, and he went his way again to his ranche among
the hills, and that was all.
Another Scotchman there was, a resident, who for the more
love of the common country, douce, serious, religious man,
drove me all about the valley, and took as much interest in
me as if I had been his son: more, perhaps; for the son has
faults too keenly felt, while the abstractcountryman is
perfect - like a whiff of peats.
And there was yet another. Upon him I came suddenly, as he
was calmly entering my cottage, his mind quite evidently bent
on plunder: a man of about fifty, filthy, ragged, roguish,
with a chimney-pot hat and a tail coat, and a pursing of his
mouth that might have been envied by an elder of the kirk.
He had just such a face as I have seen a dozen times behind
the plate.
"Hullo, sir!" I cried. "Where are you going?"
He turned round without a quiver.
"You're a Scotchman, sir?" he said gravely. "So am I; I come
from Aberdeen. This is my card," presenting me with a piece
of pasteboard which he had raked out of some gutter in the
period of the rains. "I was just examining this palm," he
continued, indicating the misbegotten plant before our door,
"which is the largest spAcimen I have yet observed in
Califoarnia."
There were four or five larger within sight. But where was
the use of argument? He produced a tape-line, made me help
him to measure the tree at the level of the ground, and
entered the figures in a large and filthy pocket-book, all
with the gravity of Solomon. He then thanked me profusely,
remarking that such little services were due between
countrymen; shook hands with me, "for add lang syne," as he
said; and took himself solemnly away, radiating dirt and
humbug as he went.
A month or two after this encounter of mine, there came a
Scot to Sacramento - perhaps from Aberdeen. Anyway, there
never was any one more Scotch in this wide world. He could
sing and dance, and drink, I presume; and he played the pipes
with vigour and success. All the Scotch in Sacramento became
infatuated with him, and spent their spare time and money,
driving him about in an open cab, between drinks, while he
blew himself scarlet at the pipes. This is a very sad story.
After he had borrowed money from every one, he and his pipes
suddenly disappeared from Sacramento, and when I last heard,
the police were looking for him.
I cannot say how this story amused me, when I felt myself so
thoroughly ripe on both sides to be duped in the same way.
It is at least a curious thing, to conclude, that the races
which wander widest, Jews and Scotch, should be the most
clannish in the world. But perhaps these two are cause and
effect: "For ye were strangers in the land of Egypt."
PART II - WITH THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL
CHAPTER I. - TO INTRODUCE MR. KELMAR
ONE thing in this new country very particularly strikes a
stranger, and that is the number of antiquities. Already
there have been many cycles of population succeeding each
other, and passing away and leaving behind them relics.
These, standing on into changed times, strike the imagination
as forcibly as any pyramid or feudal tower. The towns, like
the vineyards, are experimentally founded: they grow great
and prosper by passing occasions; and when the lode comes to
an end, and the miners move elsewhere, the town remains
behind them, like Palmyra in the desert. I suppose there
are, in no country in the world, so many deserted towns as
here in California.
The whole neighbourhood of Mount Saint Helena, now so quiet
and sylvan, was once alive with mining camps and villages.
Here there would be two thousand souls under canvas; there
one thousand or fifteen hundred ensconced, as if for ever, in
a town of comfortable houses. But the luck had failed, the
mines petered out; and the army of miners had departed, and
left this quarter of the world to the rattlesnakes and deer
and grizzlies, and to the slower but steadier advance of
husbandry.
It was with an eye on one of these deserted places, Pine
Flat, on the Geysers road, that we had come first to
Calistoga. There is something singularly enticing in the
idea of going, rent-free, into a ready-made house. And to
the British merchant, sitting at home at ease, it may appear
that, with such a roof over your head and a spring of clear
water hard by, the whole problem of the squatter's existence
would be solved. Food, however, has yet to be considered, I
will go as far as most people on tinned meats; some of the
brightest moments of my life were passed over tinned mulli-
gatawney in the cabin of a sixteen-ton schooner, storm-stayed
in Portree Bay; but after suitable experiments, I pronounce
authoritatively that man cannot live by tins alone. Fresh
meat must be had on an occasion. It is true that the great
Foss, driving by along the Geysers road, wooden-faced, but
glorified with legend, might have been induced to bring us
meat, but the great Foss could hardly bring us milk. To take
a cow would have involved taking a field of grass and a
milkmaid; after which it would have been hardly worth while
to pause, and we might have added to our colony a flock of
sheep and an experienced butcher.
It is really very disheartening how we depend on other people
in this life. "Mihi est propositum," as you may see by the
motto, "id quod regibus;" and behold it cannot be carried
out, unless I find a neighbour rolling in cattle.
Now, my principaladviser in this matter was one whom I will
call Kelmar. That was not what he called himself, but as
soon as I set eyes on him, I knew it was or ought to be his
name; I am sure it will be his name among the angels. Kelmar
was the store-keeper, a Russian Jew, good-natured, in a very
thriving way of business, and, on equal terms, one of the
most serviceable of men. He also had something of the
expression of a Scotch country elder, who, by some
peculiarity, should chance to be a Hebrew. He had a
projecting under lip, with which he continually smiled, or
rather smirked. Mrs. Kelmar was a singularly kind woman; and
the oldest son had quite a dark and romanticbearing, and
might be heard on summer evenings playing sentimental airs on
the violin.
I had no idea, at the time I made his acquaintance, what an
important person Kelmar was. But the Jew store-keepers of
California, profiting at once by the needs and habits of the
people, have made themselves in too many cases the tyrants of
the rural population. Credit is offered, is pressed on the
new customer, and when once he is beyond his depth, the tune
changes, and he is from thenceforth a white slave. I
believe, even from the little I saw, that Kelmar, if he
choose to put on the screw, could send half the settlers
packing in a radius of seven or eight miles round Calistoga.
These are continually paying him, but are never suffered to
get out of debt. He palms dull goods upon them, for they
dare not refuse to buy; he goes and dines with them when he
is on an outing, and no man is loudlier welcomed; he is their
family friend, the director of their business, and, to a
degree elsewhere unknown in modern days, their king.
For some reason, Kelmar always shook his head at the mention
of Pine Flat, and for some days I thought he disapproved of
the whole scheme and was proportionately sad. One fine
morning, however, he met me, wreathed in smiles. He had
found the very place for me - Silverado, another old mining
town, right up the mountain. Rufe Hanson, the hunter, could
take care of us - fine people the Hansons; we should be close
to the Toll House, where the Lakeport stage called daily; it
was the best place for my health, besides. Rufe had been
consumptive, and was now quite a strong man, ain't it? In
short, the place and all its accompaniments seemed made for
us on purpose.
He took me to his back door, whence, as from every point of
Calistoga, Mount Saint Helena could be seen towering in the
air. There, in the nick, just where the eastern foothills
joined the mountain, and she herself began to rise above the
zone of forest - there was Silverado. The name had already
pleased me; the high station pleased me still more. I began
to inquire with some eagerness. It was but a little while
ago that Silverado was a great place. The mine - a silver
mine, of course - had promised great things. There was quite
a lively population, with several hotels and boarding-houses;
and Kelmar himself had opened a branch store, and done
extremely well - "Ain't it?" he said, appealing to his wife.
And she said, "Yes; extremely well." Now there was no one
living in the town but Rufe the hunter; and once more I heard
Rufe's praises by the yard, and this time sung in chorus.
I could not help perceiving at the time that there was
something underneath; that no unmixed desire to have us
comfortably settled had inspired the Kelmars with this flow
of words. But I was impatient to be gone, to be about my
kingly project; and when we were offered seats in Kelmar's
waggon, I accepted on the spot. The plan of their next
Sunday's outing took them, by good fortune, over the border
into Lake County. They would carry us so far, drop us at the
Toll House, present us to the Hansons, and call for us again
on Monday morning early.
CHAPTER II - FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF SILVERADO
WE were to leave by six precisely; that was solemnly pledged
hame?" and it seems at once as if no beauty under the kind
heavens, and no society of the wise and good, can repay me
for my absence from my country. And though I think I would
rather die elsewhere, yet in my heart of hearts I long to be
buried among good Scots clods. I will say it fairly, it
grows on me with every year: there are no stars so lovely as
Edinburgh street-lamps. When I forget thee, auld Reekie, may
my right hand forget its cunning!
The happiest lot on earth is to be born a Scotchman. You
must pay for it in many ways, as for all other advantages on
earth. You have to learn the paraphrases and the shorter
catechism; you generally take to drink; your youth, as far as
I can find out, is a time of louder war against society, of
more outcry and tears and turmoil, than if you had been born,
for instance, in England. But somehow life is warmer and
closer; the hearth burns more redly; the lights of home shine
softer on the rainy street; the very names, endeared in verse
and music, cling nearer round our hearts. An Englishman may
meet an Englishman to-morrow, upon Chimborazo, and neither of
them care; but when the Scotch wine-grower told me of Mons
Meg, it was like magic.
"From the dim shieling on the misty island
Mountains divide us, and a world of seas;
Yet still our hearts are true, our hearts are Highland,
And we, in dreams, behold the Hebrides."
And, Highland and Lowland, all our hearts are Scotch.
Only a few days after I had seen M'Eckron, a message reached
me in my cottage. It was a Scotchman who had come down a
long way from the hills to market. He had heard there was a
countryman in Calistoga, and came round to the hotel to see
him. We said a few words to each other; we had not much to
say - should never have seen each other had we stayed at
home, separated alike in space and in society; and then we
shook hands, and he went his way again to his ranche among
the hills, and that was all.
Another Scotchman there was, a resident, who for the more
love of the common country, douce, serious, religious man,
drove me all about the valley, and took as much interest in
me as if I had been his son: more, perhaps; for the son has
faults too keenly felt, while the abstractcountryman is
perfect - like a whiff of peats.
And there was yet another. Upon him I came suddenly, as he
was calmly entering my cottage, his mind quite evidently bent
on plunder: a man of about fifty, filthy, ragged, roguish,
with a chimney-pot hat and a tail coat, and a pursing of his
mouth that might have been envied by an elder of the kirk.
He had just such a face as I have seen a dozen times behind
the plate.
"Hullo, sir!" I cried. "Where are you going?"
He turned round without a quiver.
"You're a Scotchman, sir?" he said gravely. "So am I; I come
from Aberdeen. This is my card," presenting me with a piece
of pasteboard which he had raked out of some gutter in the
period of the rains. "I was just examining this palm," he
continued, indicating the misbegotten plant before our door,
"which is the largest spAcimen I have yet observed in
Califoarnia."
There were four or five larger within sight. But where was
the use of argument? He produced a tape-line, made me help
him to measure the tree at the level of the ground, and
entered the figures in a large and filthy pocket-book, all
with the gravity of Solomon. He then thanked me profusely,
remarking that such little services were due between
countrymen; shook hands with me, "for add lang syne," as he
said; and took himself solemnly away, radiating dirt and
humbug as he went.
A month or two after this encounter of mine, there came a
Scot to Sacramento - perhaps from Aberdeen. Anyway, there
never was any one more Scotch in this wide world. He could
sing and dance, and drink, I presume; and he played the pipes
with vigour and success. All the Scotch in Sacramento became
infatuated with him, and spent their spare time and money,
driving him about in an open cab, between drinks, while he
blew himself scarlet at the pipes. This is a very sad story.
After he had borrowed money from every one, he and his pipes
suddenly disappeared from Sacramento, and when I last heard,
the police were looking for him.
I cannot say how this story amused me, when I felt myself so
thoroughly ripe on both sides to be duped in the same way.
It is at least a curious thing, to conclude, that the races
which wander widest, Jews and Scotch, should be the most
clannish in the world. But perhaps these two are cause and
effect: "For ye were strangers in the land of Egypt."
PART II - WITH THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL
CHAPTER I. - TO INTRODUCE MR. KELMAR
ONE thing in this new country very particularly strikes a
stranger, and that is the number of antiquities. Already
there have been many cycles of population succeeding each
other, and passing away and leaving behind them relics.
These, standing on into changed times, strike the imagination
as forcibly as any pyramid or feudal tower. The towns, like
the vineyards, are experimentally founded: they grow great
and prosper by passing occasions; and when the lode comes to
an end, and the miners move elsewhere, the town remains
behind them, like Palmyra in the desert. I suppose there
are, in no country in the world, so many deserted towns as
here in California.
The whole neighbourhood of Mount Saint Helena, now so quiet
and sylvan, was once alive with mining camps and villages.
Here there would be two thousand souls under canvas; there
one thousand or fifteen hundred ensconced, as if for ever, in
a town of comfortable houses. But the luck had failed, the
mines petered out; and the army of miners had departed, and
left this quarter of the world to the rattlesnakes and deer
and grizzlies, and to the slower but steadier advance of
husbandry.
It was with an eye on one of these deserted places, Pine
Flat, on the Geysers road, that we had come first to
Calistoga. There is something singularly enticing in the
idea of going, rent-free, into a ready-made house. And to
the British merchant, sitting at home at ease, it may appear
that, with such a roof over your head and a spring of clear
water hard by, the whole problem of the squatter's existence
would be solved. Food, however, has yet to be considered, I
will go as far as most people on tinned meats; some of the
brightest moments of my life were passed over tinned mulli-
gatawney in the cabin of a sixteen-ton schooner, storm-stayed
in Portree Bay; but after suitable experiments, I pronounce
authoritatively that man cannot live by tins alone. Fresh
meat must be had on an occasion. It is true that the great
Foss, driving by along the Geysers road, wooden-faced, but
glorified with legend, might have been induced to bring us
meat, but the great Foss could hardly bring us milk. To take
a cow would have involved taking a field of grass and a
milkmaid; after which it would have been hardly worth while
to pause, and we might have added to our colony a flock of
sheep and an experienced butcher.
It is really very disheartening how we depend on other people
in this life. "Mihi est propositum," as you may see by the
motto, "id quod regibus;" and behold it cannot be carried
out, unless I find a neighbour rolling in cattle.
Now, my principaladviser in this matter was one whom I will
call Kelmar. That was not what he called himself, but as
soon as I set eyes on him, I knew it was or ought to be his
name; I am sure it will be his name among the angels. Kelmar
was the store-keeper, a Russian Jew, good-natured, in a very
thriving way of business, and, on equal terms, one of the
most serviceable of men. He also had something of the
expression of a Scotch country elder, who, by some
peculiarity, should chance to be a Hebrew. He had a
projecting under lip, with which he continually smiled, or
rather smirked. Mrs. Kelmar was a singularly kind woman; and
the oldest son had quite a dark and romanticbearing, and
might be heard on summer evenings playing sentimental airs on
the violin.
I had no idea, at the time I made his acquaintance, what an
important person Kelmar was. But the Jew store-keepers of
California, profiting at once by the needs and habits of the
people, have made themselves in too many cases the tyrants of
the rural population. Credit is offered, is pressed on the
new customer, and when once he is beyond his depth, the tune
changes, and he is from thenceforth a white slave. I
believe, even from the little I saw, that Kelmar, if he
choose to put on the screw, could send half the settlers
packing in a radius of seven or eight miles round Calistoga.
These are continually paying him, but are never suffered to
get out of debt. He palms dull goods upon them, for they
dare not refuse to buy; he goes and dines with them when he
is on an outing, and no man is loudlier welcomed; he is their
family friend, the director of their business, and, to a
degree elsewhere unknown in modern days, their king.
For some reason, Kelmar always shook his head at the mention
of Pine Flat, and for some days I thought he disapproved of
the whole scheme and was proportionately sad. One fine
morning, however, he met me, wreathed in smiles. He had
found the very place for me - Silverado, another old mining
town, right up the mountain. Rufe Hanson, the hunter, could
take care of us - fine people the Hansons; we should be close
to the Toll House, where the Lakeport stage called daily; it
was the best place for my health, besides. Rufe had been
consumptive, and was now quite a strong man, ain't it? In
short, the place and all its accompaniments seemed made for
us on purpose.
He took me to his back door, whence, as from every point of
Calistoga, Mount Saint Helena could be seen towering in the
air. There, in the nick, just where the eastern foothills
joined the mountain, and she herself began to rise above the
zone of forest - there was Silverado. The name had already
pleased me; the high station pleased me still more. I began
to inquire with some eagerness. It was but a little while
ago that Silverado was a great place. The mine - a silver
mine, of course - had promised great things. There was quite
a lively population, with several hotels and boarding-houses;
and Kelmar himself had opened a branch store, and done
extremely well - "Ain't it?" he said, appealing to his wife.
And she said, "Yes; extremely well." Now there was no one
living in the town but Rufe the hunter; and once more I heard
Rufe's praises by the yard, and this time sung in chorus.
I could not help perceiving at the time that there was
something underneath; that no unmixed desire to have us
comfortably settled had inspired the Kelmars with this flow
of words. But I was impatient to be gone, to be about my
kingly project; and when we were offered seats in Kelmar's
waggon, I accepted on the spot. The plan of their next
Sunday's outing took them, by good fortune, over the border
into Lake County. They would carry us so far, drop us at the
Toll House, present us to the Hansons, and call for us again
on Monday morning early.
CHAPTER II - FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF SILVERADO
WE were to leave by six precisely; that was solemnly pledged
- absence [´æbsəns]
n.不在，缺席；缺乏 (初中英语单词) - elsewhere [,elsweə] ad.在别处；向别处 (初中英语单词)
- instance [´instəns] n.例子，实例，例证 (初中英语单词)
- cottage [´kɔtidʒ] n.村舍；小屋；小别墅 (初中英语单词)
- valley [´væli] n.谷；河谷；流域 (初中英语单词)
- keenly [´ki:nli] ad.敏锐地；强烈地 (初中英语单词)
- calmly [´kɑ:mli] ad.平静地；无风浪地 (初中英语单词)
- evidently [´evidəntli] ad.明显地 (初中英语单词)
- gravely [´greivli] ad.庄重地，严肃地 (初中英语单词)
- argument [´ɑ:gjumənt] n.辩论；争论；论证 (初中英语单词)
- measure [´meʒə] n.量度；范围 vt.测量 (初中英语单词)
- encounter [in´kauntə] vt.&n.偶然相遇；冲突 (初中英语单词)
- scarlet [´skɑ:lit] n.猩红色 a.猩红的 (初中英语单词)
- wander [´wɔndə, ´wɑ:n:dər] v.徘徊；流浪 (初中英语单词)
- standing [´stændiŋ] n.持续 a.直立的 (初中英语单词)
- canvas [´kænvəs] n.帆布；油画(布) (初中英语单词)
- suitable [´su:təbəl, ´sju:-] a.合适的，适当的 (初中英语单词)
- principal [´prinsəpəl] a.主要的 n.负责人 (初中英语单词)
- romantic [rəu´mæntik] a.传奇(式)的；浪漫的 (初中英语单词)
- acquaintance [ə´kweintəns] n.相识；熟人，相识的人 (初中英语单词)
- customer [´kʌstəmə] n.顾客，买主，主顾 (初中英语单词)
- director [di´rektə] n.指导者；....长；导演 (初中英语单词)
- scheme [ski:m] n.计划；阴谋，诡计 (初中英语单词)
- hunter [´hʌntə] n.猎人；猎狗；猎马 (初中英语单词)
- lively [´laivli] a.活泼的；热烈的 (初中英语单词)
- extremely [ik´stri:mli] ad.极端地；非常地 (初中英语单词)
- underneath [,ʌndə´ni:θ] ad.&prep.在底下 (初中英语单词)
- project [prə´dʒekt, ´prɔdʒekt] v.设计；投掷 n.计划 (初中英语单词)
- kindred [´kindrid] n.亲属关系；同源关系 (高中英语单词)
- hearth [hɑ:θ] n.炉边；家庭(生活) (高中英语单词)
- scotch [skɔtʃ] vt.&n.刻痕(于)；划伤 (高中英语单词)
- highland [´hailənd] n.山地，高地 (高中英语单词)
- lowland [´ləulənd] n.&a.低地(的) (高中英语单词)
- resident [´rezidənt] a.居住的 n.居民 (高中英语单词)
- countryman [´kʌntrimən] n.同胞(乡)，乡下人 (高中英语单词)
- plunder [´plʌndə] v.&n.掠夺；盗窃 (高中英语单词)
- ragged [´rægid] a.衣服破烂的 (高中英语单词)
- gravity [´græviti] n.严肃；严重；重力 (高中英语单词)
- solomon [´sɔləmən] n.所罗门 (高中英语单词)
- solemnly [´sɔləmli] ad.严肃地，庄严地 (高中英语单词)
- presume [pri´zju:m] v.假定；推测；以为 (高中英语单词)
- vigour [´vigə] (=vigor) n.活力；精力 (高中英语单词)
- prosper [´prɔspə] v.(使...)繁荣(成功) (高中英语单词)
- mining [´mainiŋ] n.采矿；矿业 (高中英语单词)
- schooner [´sku:nə] n.纵帆船 (高中英语单词)
- adviser [əd´vaizə] n.顾问 =advisor (高中英语单词)
- continually [kən´tinjuəli] ad.不断地，频繁地 (高中英语单词)
- bearing [´beəriŋ] n.举止；忍耐；关系 (高中英语单词)
- eagerness [´i:gənis] n.渴望；热忱 (高中英语单词)
- impatient [im´peiʃənt] a.不耐烦的，急躁的 (高中英语单词)
- precisely [pri´saisli] ad.精确地；刻板地 (高中英语单词)
- outcry [´autkrai] n.喊叫；强烈抗议 (英语四级单词)
- abstract [´æbstrækt] a.抽象的 n.提要 (英语四级单词)
- filthy [´filθi] a.污秽的，肮脏的 (英语四级单词)
- gutter [´gʌtə] n.(檐)槽；排水沟 (英语四级单词)
- feudal [´fju:dl] a.封建的，封建制度的 (英语四级单词)
- experienced [ik´spiəriənst] a.有经验的；熟练的 (英语四级单词)
- good-natured [´gud-´neitʃəd] a.脾气好的，温厚的 (英语四级单词)
- sentimental [,senti´mentl] a.感伤的；多愁善感的 (英语四级单词)
- whence [wens] ad.从何处；从那里 (英语四级单词)
- towering [´tauəriŋ] a.高耸的；强烈的 (英语四级单词)
- turmoil [´tə:mɔil] n.骚动；混乱 (英语六级单词)
- forcibly [´fɔ:səbli] ad.强行地，强烈地 (英语六级单词)
- departed [di´pɑ:tid] a.已往的；已故的 (英语六级单词)
- taking [´teikiŋ] a.迷人的 n.捕获物 (英语六级单词)
- radius [´reidiəs] n.辐射光线；半径范围 (英语六级单词)
文章标签:名著
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