章节正文
miles away) were carried through the forest on the
backs of men. Our mail was delivered once a
month by a carrier who made the journey in alter-
nate stages of horseback riding and canoeing. But
we had health, youth, enthusiasm, good appetites,
and the wherewithal to satisfy them, and at night
in our primitive bunks we sank into abysses of dream-
less slumber such as I have never known since.
Indeed, looking back upon them, those first months
seem to have been a long-drawn-out and glorious
picnic, interrupted only by occasional hours of pain
or panic, when we were hurt or frightened.
Naturally, our two greatest menaces were wild
animals and Indians, but as the days passed the first
of these lost the early terrors with which we had
associated them. We grew indifferent to the sounds
that had made our first night a horror to us all--
there was even a certain homeliness in them--while
we regarded with accustomed, almost blase eyes the
various furred creatures of which we caught distant
glimpses as they slunk through the forest. Their
experience with other settlers had taught them cau-
tion; it soon became clear that they were as eager
to avoid us as we were to shun them, and by common
consent we gave each other ample elbow-room.
But the Indians were all around us, and every settler
had a collection of hair-raising tales to tell of them.
It was generally agreed that they were dangerous
only when they were drunk; but as they were drunk
whenever they could get whisky, and as whisky was
constantly given them in exchange for pelts and
game, there was a harrowing doubt in our minds
whenever they approached us.
In my first encounter with them I was alone in
the woods at sunset with my small brother Harry.
We were hunting a cow James had bought, and our
young eyes were peering eagerly among the trees,
on the alert for any moving object. Suddenly, at
a little distance, and coming directly toward us, we
saw a party of Indians. There were five of them,
all men, walking in single file, as noiselessly as ghosts,
their moccasined feet causing not even a rustle
among the dry leaves that carpeted the woods. All
the horrible stories we had heard of Indian cruelty
flashed into our minds, and for a moment we were
dumb with terror. Then I remembered having been
told that the one thing one must not do before them
is to show fear. Harry was carrying a rope with
which we had expected to lead home our reluctant
cow, and I seized one end of it and whispered
to him that we would ``play horse,'' pretending he
was driving me. We pranced toward the Indians
on feet that felt like lead, and with eyes so glazed by
terror that we could see nothing save a line of moving
figures; but as we passed them they did not give
to our little impersonation of care-free children even
the tribute of a side-glance. They were, we realized,
headed straight for our home; and after a few mo-
ments we doubled on our tracks and, keeping at a
safe distance from them among the trees, ran back
to warn our mother that they were coming.
As it happened, James was away, and mother had
to meet her unwelcome guests supported only by
her young children. She at once prepared a meal,
however, and when they arrived she welcomed them
calmly and gave them the best she had. After they
had eaten they began to point at and demand ob-
jects they fancied in the room--my brother's pipe,
some tobacco, a bowl, and such trifles--and my
mother, who was afraid to annoy them by refusal,
gave them what they asked. They were quite
sober, and though they left without expressing any
appreciation of her hospitality, they made her a
second visit a few months later, bringing a large
quantity of venison and a bag of cranberries as a
graceful return. These Indians were Ottawas; and
later we became very friendly with them and their
tribe, even to the degree of attending one of their
dances, which I shall describe later.
Our second encounter with Indians was a less
agreeable experience. There were seven ``Mar-
quette warriors'' in the next group of callers, and
they were all intoxicated. Moreover, they had
brought with them several jugs of bad whisky--
the raw and craze-provoking product supplied them
by the fur-dealers--and it was clear that our cabin
was to be the scene of an orgy. Fortunately, my
brother James was at home on this occasion, and
as the evening grew old and the Indians, grouped
together around the fire, became more and more ir-
responsible, he devised a plan for our safety. Our
attic was finished, and its sole entrance was by a
ladder through a trap-door. At James's whispered
command my sister Eleanor slipped up into the
attic, and from the back window let down a rope,
to which he tied all the weapons we had--his gun
and several axes. These Eleanor drew up and con-
cealed in one of the bunks. My brother then di-
rected that as quietly as possible, and at long in-
tervals, one member of the family after another was
to slip up the ladder and into the attic, going quite
casually, that the Indians might not realize what we
were doing. Once there, with the ladder drawn up
after us and the trap-door closed, we would be rea-
sonably safe, unless our guests decided to burn the
cabin.
The evening seemed endless, and was certainly
nerve-racking. The Indians ate everything in the
house, and from my seat in a dim corner I watched
them while my sisters waited on them. I can still
see the tableau they made in the firelit room and
hear the unfamiliar accents of their speech as they
talked together. Occasionally one of them would
pull a hair from his head, seize his scalping-knife;
and cut the hair with it--a most unpleasant sight!
When either of my sisters approached them some
of the Indians would make gestures, as if capturing
and scalping her. Through it all, however, the
whisky held their close attention, and it was due to
this that we succeeded in reaching the attic unob-
served, James coming last of all and drawing the
ladder after him. Mother and the children were
then put to bed; but through that interminable
night James and Eleanor lay flat upon the floor,
watching through the cracks between the boards
the revels of the drunken Indians, which grew wild-
er with every hour that crawled toward sunrise.
There was no knowing when they would miss us
or how soon their mood might change. At any
moment they might make an attack upon us or
set fire to the cabin. By dawn, however, their
whisky was all gone, and they were in so deep a
stupor that, one after the other, the seven fell from
their chairs to the floor, where they sprawled un-
conscious. When they awoke they left quietly and
without trouble of any kind. They seemed a
strangely subdued and chastened band; probably
they were wretchedly ill after their debauch on the
adulterated whisky the traders had given them.
That autumn the Ottawa tribe had a great corn
celebration, to which we and the other settlers were
invited. James and my older sisters attended it,
and I went with them, by my own urgent invita-
tion. It seemed to me that as I was sharing the
work and the perils of our new environment, I
might as well share its joys; and I finally succeeded
in making my family see the logic of this position.
The central feature of the festivity was a huge kettle,
many feet in circumference, into which the Indians
dropped the most extraordinaryvariety of food we
had ever seen combined. Deer heads went into it
whole, as well as every kind of meat and vegetable
the members of the tribe could procure. We all ate
some of this agreeablemixture, and later, with one
another, and even with the Indians, we danced gaily
to the music of a tom-tom and a drum. The affair
was extremely interesting until the whisky entered
and did its unpleasant work. When our hosts be-
gan to fall over in the dance and slumber where they
lay, and when the squaws began to show the same
ill effects of their refreshments, we unostentatiously
slipped away.
During the winter life offered us few diversions
and many hardships. Our creek froze over, and the
water problem became a serious one, which we met
with increasing difficulty as the temperature steadily
fell. We melted snow and ice, and existed through
the frozen months, but with an amount of discom-
fort which made us unwilling to repeat at least that
special phase of our experience. In the spring,
therefore, I made a well. Long before this, James
had gone, and Harry and I were now the only out-
door members of our working-force. Harry was
still too small to help with the well; but a young
man, who had formed the neighborly habit of rid-
ing eighteen miles to call on us, gave me much
friendly aid. We located the well with a switch,
and when we had dug as far as we could reach with
our spades, my assistant descended into the hole
and threw the earth up to the edge, from which I
in turn removed it. As the well grew deeper we
made a half-way shelf, on which I stood, he throw-
ing the earth on the shelf, and I shoveling it up from
that point. Later, as he descended still farther
into the hole we were making, he shoveled the earth
into buckets and passed them up to me, I passing
them on to my sister, who was now pressed into
service. When the excavation was deep enough
we made the wall of slabs of wood, roughly joined
together. I recall that well with calm content. It was not a
thing of beauty, but it was a thoroughly practical well, and
it remained the only one we had during the twelve years
the family occupied the cabin.
During our first year there was no school within ten
miles of us, but this lack failed to sadden Harry or me. We
had brought with us from Lawrence a box of books, in
which, in winter months, when our outdoor work was
restricted, we found much comfort. They were the only
books in that part of the country, and we read them until
we knew them all by heart. Moreover, father sent us
regularly the New York Independent, and with this
backs of men. Our mail was delivered once a
month by a carrier who made the journey in alter-
nate stages of horseback riding and canoeing. But
we had health, youth, enthusiasm, good appetites,
and the wherewithal to satisfy them, and at night
in our primitive bunks we sank into abysses of dream-
less slumber such as I have never known since.
Indeed, looking back upon them, those first months
seem to have been a long-drawn-out and glorious
picnic, interrupted only by occasional hours of pain
or panic, when we were hurt or frightened.
Naturally, our two greatest menaces were wild
animals and Indians, but as the days passed the first
of these lost the early terrors with which we had
associated them. We grew indifferent to the sounds
that had made our first night a horror to us all--
there was even a certain homeliness in them--while
we regarded with accustomed, almost blase eyes the
various furred creatures of which we caught distant
glimpses as they slunk through the forest. Their
experience with other settlers had taught them cau-
tion; it soon became clear that they were as eager
to avoid us as we were to shun them, and by common
consent we gave each other ample elbow-room.
But the Indians were all around us, and every settler
had a collection of hair-raising tales to tell of them.
It was generally agreed that they were dangerous
only when they were drunk; but as they were drunk
whenever they could get whisky, and as whisky was
constantly given them in exchange for pelts and
game, there was a harrowing doubt in our minds
whenever they approached us.
In my first encounter with them I was alone in
the woods at sunset with my small brother Harry.
We were hunting a cow James had bought, and our
young eyes were peering eagerly among the trees,
on the alert for any moving object. Suddenly, at
a little distance, and coming directly toward us, we
saw a party of Indians. There were five of them,
all men, walking in single file, as noiselessly as ghosts,
their moccasined feet causing not even a rustle
among the dry leaves that carpeted the woods. All
the horrible stories we had heard of Indian cruelty
flashed into our minds, and for a moment we were
dumb with terror. Then I remembered having been
told that the one thing one must not do before them
is to show fear. Harry was carrying a rope with
which we had expected to lead home our reluctant
cow, and I seized one end of it and whispered
to him that we would ``play horse,'' pretending he
was driving me. We pranced toward the Indians
on feet that felt like lead, and with eyes so glazed by
terror that we could see nothing save a line of moving
figures; but as we passed them they did not give
to our little impersonation of care-free children even
the tribute of a side-glance. They were, we realized,
headed straight for our home; and after a few mo-
ments we doubled on our tracks and, keeping at a
safe distance from them among the trees, ran back
to warn our mother that they were coming.
As it happened, James was away, and mother had
to meet her unwelcome guests supported only by
her young children. She at once prepared a meal,
however, and when they arrived she welcomed them
calmly and gave them the best she had. After they
had eaten they began to point at and demand ob-
jects they fancied in the room--my brother's pipe,
some tobacco, a bowl, and such trifles--and my
mother, who was afraid to annoy them by refusal,
gave them what they asked. They were quite
sober, and though they left without expressing any
appreciation of her hospitality, they made her a
second visit a few months later, bringing a large
quantity of venison and a bag of cranberries as a
graceful return. These Indians were Ottawas; and
later we became very friendly with them and their
tribe, even to the degree of attending one of their
dances, which I shall describe later.
Our second encounter with Indians was a less
agreeable experience. There were seven ``Mar-
quette warriors'' in the next group of callers, and
they were all intoxicated. Moreover, they had
brought with them several jugs of bad whisky--
the raw and craze-provoking product supplied them
by the fur-dealers--and it was clear that our cabin
was to be the scene of an orgy. Fortunately, my
brother James was at home on this occasion, and
as the evening grew old and the Indians, grouped
together around the fire, became more and more ir-
responsible, he devised a plan for our safety. Our
attic was finished, and its sole entrance was by a
ladder through a trap-door. At James's whispered
command my sister Eleanor slipped up into the
attic, and from the back window let down a rope,
to which he tied all the weapons we had--his gun
and several axes. These Eleanor drew up and con-
cealed in one of the bunks. My brother then di-
rected that as quietly as possible, and at long in-
tervals, one member of the family after another was
to slip up the ladder and into the attic, going quite
casually, that the Indians might not realize what we
were doing. Once there, with the ladder drawn up
after us and the trap-door closed, we would be rea-
sonably safe, unless our guests decided to burn the
cabin.
The evening seemed endless, and was certainly
nerve-racking. The Indians ate everything in the
house, and from my seat in a dim corner I watched
them while my sisters waited on them. I can still
see the tableau they made in the firelit room and
hear the unfamiliar accents of their speech as they
talked together. Occasionally one of them would
pull a hair from his head, seize his scalping-knife;
and cut the hair with it--a most unpleasant sight!
When either of my sisters approached them some
of the Indians would make gestures, as if capturing
and scalping her. Through it all, however, the
whisky held their close attention, and it was due to
this that we succeeded in reaching the attic unob-
served, James coming last of all and drawing the
ladder after him. Mother and the children were
then put to bed; but through that interminable
night James and Eleanor lay flat upon the floor,
watching through the cracks between the boards
the revels of the drunken Indians, which grew wild-
er with every hour that crawled toward sunrise.
There was no knowing when they would miss us
or how soon their mood might change. At any
moment they might make an attack upon us or
set fire to the cabin. By dawn, however, their
whisky was all gone, and they were in so deep a
stupor that, one after the other, the seven fell from
their chairs to the floor, where they sprawled un-
conscious. When they awoke they left quietly and
without trouble of any kind. They seemed a
strangely subdued and chastened band; probably
they were wretchedly ill after their debauch on the
adulterated whisky the traders had given them.
That autumn the Ottawa tribe had a great corn
celebration, to which we and the other settlers were
invited. James and my older sisters attended it,
and I went with them, by my own urgent invita-
tion. It seemed to me that as I was sharing the
work and the perils of our new environment, I
might as well share its joys; and I finally succeeded
in making my family see the logic of this position.
The central feature of the festivity was a huge kettle,
many feet in circumference, into which the Indians
dropped the most extraordinaryvariety of food we
had ever seen combined. Deer heads went into it
whole, as well as every kind of meat and vegetable
the members of the tribe could procure. We all ate
some of this agreeablemixture, and later, with one
another, and even with the Indians, we danced gaily
to the music of a tom-tom and a drum. The affair
was extremely interesting until the whisky entered
and did its unpleasant work. When our hosts be-
gan to fall over in the dance and slumber where they
lay, and when the squaws began to show the same
ill effects of their refreshments, we unostentatiously
slipped away.
During the winter life offered us few diversions
and many hardships. Our creek froze over, and the
water problem became a serious one, which we met
with increasing difficulty as the temperature steadily
fell. We melted snow and ice, and existed through
the frozen months, but with an amount of discom-
fort which made us unwilling to repeat at least that
special phase of our experience. In the spring,
therefore, I made a well. Long before this, James
had gone, and Harry and I were now the only out-
door members of our working-force. Harry was
still too small to help with the well; but a young
man, who had formed the neighborly habit of rid-
ing eighteen miles to call on us, gave me much
friendly aid. We located the well with a switch,
and when we had dug as far as we could reach with
our spades, my assistant descended into the hole
and threw the earth up to the edge, from which I
in turn removed it. As the well grew deeper we
made a half-way shelf, on which I stood, he throw-
ing the earth on the shelf, and I shoveling it up from
that point. Later, as he descended still farther
into the hole we were making, he shoveled the earth
into buckets and passed them up to me, I passing
them on to my sister, who was now pressed into
service. When the excavation was deep enough
we made the wall of slabs of wood, roughly joined
together. I recall that well with calm content. It was not a
thing of beauty, but it was a thoroughly practical well, and
it remained the only one we had during the twelve years
the family occupied the cabin.
During our first year there was no school within ten
miles of us, but this lack failed to sadden Harry or me. We
had brought with us from Lawrence a box of books, in
which, in winter months, when our outdoor work was
restricted, we found much comfort. They were the only
books in that part of the country, and we read them until
we knew them all by heart. Moreover, father sent us
regularly the New York Independent, and with this
- enthusiasm [in´θju:ziæzəm]
n.热心；狂热；爱好 (初中英语单词) - primitive [´primitiv] a.原始的 n.原始人 (初中英语单词)
- slumber [´slʌmbə] v.&n.睡眠；沉睡状态 (初中英语单词)
- occasional [ə´keiʒənəl] a.偶然的；临时的 (初中英语单词)
- horror [´hɔrə] n.恐怖；战栗 (初中英语单词)
- collection [kə´lekʃən] n.收集；征收；募捐 (初中英语单词)
- encounter [in´kauntə] vt.&n.偶然相遇；冲突 (初中英语单词)
- sunset [´sʌnset] n.日落；晚霞 (初中英语单词)
- eagerly [´i:gəli] ad.渴望地，急切地 (初中英语单词)
- horrible [´hɔrəbəl] a.可怕的；恐怖的 (初中英语单词)
- indian [´indiən] a.印度的 n.印度人 (初中英语单词)
- terror [´terə] n.恐怖；惊骇 (初中英语单词)
- tribute [´tribju:t] n.贡物；献礼；颂词 (初中英语单词)
- tobacco [tə´bækəu] n.烟草(叶)；卷烟 (初中英语单词)
- moreover [mɔ:´rəuvə] ad.再者，此外，而且 (初中英语单词)
- occasionally [ə´keiʒənəli] ad.偶然地；非经常地 (初中英语单词)
- drunken [´drʌŋkən] a.喝醉的；常醉的 (初中英语单词)
- knowing [´nəuiŋ] a.会意的，心照不宣的 (初中英语单词)
- extraordinary [ik´strɔ:dinəri] a.非常的；额外的 (初中英语单词)
- variety [və´raiəti] n.变化；多样(性)；种类 (初中英语单词)
- procure [prə´kjuə] v.获得；完(达)成；实现 (初中英语单词)
- agreeable [ə´gri:əbəl] a.适合的；符合的 (初中英语单词)
- mixture [´mikstʃə] n.混合；混合比；混合物 (初中英语单词)
- extremely [ik´stri:mli] ad.极端地；非常地 (初中英语单词)
- frozen [´frəuzn] freeze 的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
- amount [ə´maunt] n.总数；数量 v.合计 (初中英语单词)
- assistant [ə´sistənt] n.助手；助理；助教 (初中英语单词)
- thoroughly [´θʌrəli] ad.完全地，彻底地 (初中英语单词)
- carrier [´kæriə] n.搬运工人；托架 (高中英语单词)
- horseback [´hɔ:sbæk] n.马背 (高中英语单词)
- indifferent [in´difrənt] a.不关心的；中立的 (高中英语单词)
- hospitality [,hɔspi´tæliti] n.好客，殷勤 (高中英语单词)
- fortunately [´fɔ:tʃənətli] ad.幸运地 (高中英语单词)
- ladder [´lædə] n.梯子；阶梯 (高中英语单词)
- decided [di´saidid] a.明显的；决定的 (高中英语单词)
- unpleasant [ʌn´plezənt] a.不愉快的；不合意的 (高中英语单词)
- environment [in´vaiərənmənt] n.郊区；周围；条件 (高中英语单词)
- half-way [´hɑ:fwei] ad.半途；几乎 (高中英语单词)
- roughly [´rʌfli] ad.粗糙地；毛糙地 (高中英语单词)
- noiselessly [´nɔizlisli] ad.静静地，轻轻地 (英语四级单词)
- drawing [´drɔ:iŋ] n.画图；制图；图样 (英语四级单词)
- urgent [´ə:dʒənt] a.急迫的，紧急的 (英语四级单词)
- circumference [sə´kʌmfərəns] n.圆周；周围；(圆)周线 (英语四级单词)
- unwilling [ʌn´wiliŋ] a.不愿意的；不情愿的 (英语四级单词)
- hunting [´hʌntiŋ] n.打猎 (英语六级单词)
- unwelcome [ʌn´welkəm] a.不受欢迎的 n.冷淡 (英语六级单词)
- venison [´venisən] n.鹿肉；野味 (英语六级单词)
- unfamiliar [ʌnfə´miljə] a.不熟悉的；生疏的 (英语六级单词)
- festivity [fe´stiviti] n.节日；喜庆日；庆祝 (英语六级单词)
- excavation [,ekskə´veiʃən] n.挖掘，洞，穴 (英语六级单词)
文章标签:名著
章节正文
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