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GRACIOUS! HOW DID I EVER SQUEEZE MYSELF INTO IT!"
That bit about the nautilus sounds like an extract from a school
theme, or a "Pilot" editorial, or a fragment of one of dear Miss
Maxwell's lectures, but I think girls of sixteen are principally
imitations of the people and things they love and admire; and
between editing the "Pilot," writing out Virgil translations,
searching for composition subjects, and studying rhetorical
models, there is very little of the original Rebecca Rowena about
me at the present moment; I am just a member of the graduating
class in good and regular standing. We do our hair alike, dress
alike as much as possible, eat and drink alike, talk alike,--I am
not even sure that we do not think alike; and what will become of
the poor world when we are all let loose upon it on the same day
of June? Will life, real life, bring our true selves back to us?
Will love and duty and sorrow and trouble and work finally wear
off the "school stamp" that has been pressed upon all of us until
we look like rows of shining copper cents fresh from the mint?
Yet there must be a little difference between us somewhere, or
why does Abijah Flagg write Latin letters to Emma Jane, instead
of to me? There is one example on the other side of the
argument,--Abijah Flagg. He stands out from all the rest of the
boys like the Rock of Gibraltar in the geography pictures. Is it
because he never went to school until he was sixteen? He almost
died of longing to go, and the longing seemed to teach him more
than going. He knew his letters, and could read simple things,
but it was I who taught him what books really meant when I was
eleven and he thirteen. We studied while he was husking corn or
cutting potatoes for seed, or shelling beans in the Squire's
barn. His beloved Emma Jane didn't teach him; her father wold not
have let her be friends with a chore-boy! It was I who found him
after milking-time, summer nights, suffering, yes dying, of Least
Common Multiple and Greatest Common Divisor; I who struck the
shackles from the slave and told him to skip it all and go on to
something easier, like Fractions, Percentage, and Compound
Interest, as I did myself. Oh! How he used to smell of the cows
when I was correcting his sums on warm evenings, but I don't
regret it, for he is now the joy of Limerick and the pride of
Riverboro, and I suppose has forgotten the proper side on which
to approach a cow if you wish to milk her. This now unserviceable
knowledge is neatly inclosed in the outgrown shell he threw off
two or three years ago. His gratitude to me knows no bounds,
but--he writes Latin letters to Emma Jane! But as Mr. Perkins
said about drowning the kittens (I now quote from myself at
thirteen), "It is the way of the world and how things have to
be!"
Well, I have read the Thought Book all through, and when I want
to make Mr. Aladdin laugh, I shall show him my composition on the
relative values of punishment and reward as builders of
character.
I am not at all the same Rebecca today at sixteen that I was
then, at twelve and thirteen. I hope, in getting rid of my
failings, that I haven't scrubbed and rubbed so hard that I have
taken the gloss off the poor little virtues that lay just
alongside of the faults; for as I read the foolish doggerel and
the funny, funny "Remerniscences," I see on the whole a nice,
well-meaning, trusting, lovingheedless little creature, that
after all I'd rather build on than outgrow altogether, because
she is Me; the Me that was made and born just a little different
from all the rest of the babies in my birthday year.
One thing is alike in the child and the girl. They both love to
set thoughts down in black and white; to see how they look, how
they sound, and how they make one feel when one reads them over.
They both love the sound of beautiful sentences and the tinkle of
rhyming words, and in fact, of the three great R's of life, they
adore Reading and Riting, as much as they abhor "Rithmetic.
The little girl in the old book is always thinking of what she is
"going to be."
Uncle Jerry Cobb spoiled me a good deal in this direction. I
remember he said to everybody when I wrote my verses for the
flag-raising: "Nary rung on the ladder o' fame but that child'll
climb if you give her time!"--poor Uncle Jerry! He will be so
disappointed in me as time goes on. And still he would think I
have already climbed two rungs on the ladder, although it is only
a little Wareham ladder, for I am one of the "Pilot" editors, the
first "girl editor"--and I have taken a fifty dollar prize in
composition and paid off the interest on a twelve hundred dollar
That bit about the nautilus sounds like an extract from a school
theme, or a "Pilot" editorial, or a fragment of one of dear Miss
Maxwell's lectures, but I think girls of sixteen are principally
imitations of the people and things they love and admire; and
between editing the "Pilot," writing out Virgil translations,
searching for composition subjects, and studying rhetorical
models, there is very little of the original Rebecca Rowena about
me at the present moment; I am just a member of the graduating
class in good and regular standing. We do our hair alike, dress
alike as much as possible, eat and drink alike, talk alike,--I am
not even sure that we do not think alike; and what will become of
the poor world when we are all let loose upon it on the same day
of June? Will life, real life, bring our true selves back to us?
Will love and duty and sorrow and trouble and work finally wear
off the "school stamp" that has been pressed upon all of us until
we look like rows of shining copper cents fresh from the mint?
Yet there must be a little difference between us somewhere, or
why does Abijah Flagg write Latin letters to Emma Jane, instead
of to me? There is one example on the other side of the
argument,--Abijah Flagg. He stands out from all the rest of the
boys like the Rock of Gibraltar in the geography pictures. Is it
because he never went to school until he was sixteen? He almost
died of longing to go, and the longing seemed to teach him more
than going. He knew his letters, and could read simple things,
but it was I who taught him what books really meant when I was
eleven and he thirteen. We studied while he was husking corn or
cutting potatoes for seed, or shelling beans in the Squire's
barn. His beloved Emma Jane didn't teach him; her father wold not
have let her be friends with a chore-boy! It was I who found him
after milking-time, summer nights, suffering, yes dying, of Least
Common Multiple and Greatest Common Divisor; I who struck the
shackles from the slave and told him to skip it all and go on to
something easier, like Fractions, Percentage, and Compound
Interest, as I did myself. Oh! How he used to smell of the cows
when I was correcting his sums on warm evenings, but I don't
regret it, for he is now the joy of Limerick and the pride of
Riverboro, and I suppose has forgotten the proper side on which
to approach a cow if you wish to milk her. This now unserviceable
knowledge is neatly inclosed in the outgrown shell he threw off
two or three years ago. His gratitude to me knows no bounds,
but--he writes Latin letters to Emma Jane! But as Mr. Perkins
said about drowning the kittens (I now quote from myself at
thirteen), "It is the way of the world and how things have to
be!"
Well, I have read the Thought Book all through, and when I want
to make Mr. Aladdin laugh, I shall show him my composition on the
relative values of punishment and reward as builders of
character.
I am not at all the same Rebecca today at sixteen that I was
then, at twelve and thirteen. I hope, in getting rid of my
failings, that I haven't scrubbed and rubbed so hard that I have
taken the gloss off the poor little virtues that lay just
alongside of the faults; for as I read the foolish doggerel and
the funny, funny "Remerniscences," I see on the whole a nice,
well-meaning, trusting, lovingheedless little creature, that
after all I'd rather build on than outgrow altogether, because
she is Me; the Me that was made and born just a little different
from all the rest of the babies in my birthday year.
One thing is alike in the child and the girl. They both love to
set thoughts down in black and white; to see how they look, how
they sound, and how they make one feel when one reads them over.
They both love the sound of beautiful sentences and the tinkle of
rhyming words, and in fact, of the three great R's of life, they
adore Reading and Riting, as much as they abhor "Rithmetic.
The little girl in the old book is always thinking of what she is
"going to be."
Uncle Jerry Cobb spoiled me a good deal in this direction. I
remember he said to everybody when I wrote my verses for the
flag-raising: "Nary rung on the ladder o' fame but that child'll
climb if you give her time!"--poor Uncle Jerry! He will be so
disappointed in me as time goes on. And still he would think I
have already climbed two rungs on the ladder, although it is only
a little Wareham ladder, for I am one of the "Pilot" editors, the
first "girl editor"--and I have taken a fifty dollar prize in
composition and paid off the interest on a twelve hundred dollar
- scholar [´skɔlə, ´skɑ-]
n.学者；奖学金获得者 (初中英语单词) - critic [´kritik] n.批评家；吹毛求疵者 (初中英语单词)
- stream [stri:m] n.河 vi.流出；飘扬 (初中英语单词)
- wretched [´retʃid] a.可怜的；倒霉的 (初中英语单词)
- sometime [´sʌmtaim] ad.曾经 a.从前的 (初中英语单词)
- faithful [´feiθfəl] a.忠实的；可靠的 (初中英语单词)
- beginning [bi´giniŋ] n.开始，开端；起源 (初中英语单词)
- modest [´mɔdist] a.谦虚的；朴素的 (初中英语单词)
- goddess [´gɔdis] n.女神 (初中英语单词)
- description [di´skripʃən] n.描写 (初中英语单词)
- atmosphere [´ætməsfiə] n.大气；空气；气氛 (初中英语单词)
- academy [ə´kædəmi] n.专科学校；学会；协会 (初中英语单词)
- eagerly [´i:gəli] ad.渴望地，急切地 (初中英语单词)
- greedy [´gri:di] a.贪婪的；馋的 (初中英语单词)
- wherever [weər´evə] conj.无论在哪里 (初中英语单词)
- hidden [´hid(ə)n] hide 的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
- writing [´raitiŋ] n.书写；写作；书法 (初中英语单词)
- childish [´tʃaildiʃ] a.孩子的；幼稚的 (初中英语单词)
- violet [´vaiələt] n.&a.紫罗兰(的)；紫色 (初中英语单词)
- affection [ə´fekʃən] n.友爱；慈爱 (初中英语单词)
- excitement [ik´saitmənt] n.兴奋；骚动；煽动 (初中英语单词)
- editorial [,edi´tɔ:riəl] a.编辑的 n.社论 (初中英语单词)
- fragment [´frægmənt] n.碎片；破片；断片 (初中英语单词)
- standing [´stændiŋ] n.持续 a.直立的 (初中英语单词)
- copper [´kɔpə] n.铜 a.铜制的 (初中英语单词)
- beloved [bi´lʌvd] a.为….所爱的 n.爱人 (初中英语单词)
- suffering [´sʌfəriŋ] n.痛苦；灾害 (初中英语单词)
- percentage [pə´sentidʒ] n.百分数；比例；部分 (初中英语单词)
- gratitude [´grætitju:d] n.感激，感谢 (初中英语单词)
- punishment [´pʌniʃmənt] n.罚，刑罚 (初中英语单词)
- reward [ri´wɔ:d] n.&v.报答；报酬；奖赏 (初中英语单词)
- altogether [,ɔ:ltə´geðə] ad.完全；总而言之 (初中英语单词)
- reading [´ri:diŋ] n.(阅)读；朗读；读物 (初中英语单词)
- document [´dɔkjumənt] n.公文；文件；证件 (高中英语单词)
- pudding [´pudiŋ] n.布丁 (高中英语单词)
- fortunately [´fɔ:tʃənətli] ad.幸运地 (高中英语单词)
- shabby [´ʃæbi] a.(衣服)破旧的 (高中英语单词)
- composition [,kɔmpə´ziʃən] n.写作；作曲；作品 (高中英语单词)
- huddle [´hʌdl] vi.卷缩 vt.乱堆，乱挤 (高中英语单词)
- positive [´pɔzətiv] a.确定的 (高中英语单词)
- mantle [´mæntl] n.斗蓬 v.覆盖；笼罩 (高中英语单词)
- dignified [´dignifaid] a.尊贵的 (高中英语单词)
- breathless [´breθlis] a.屏息的 (高中英语单词)
- universe [´ju:nivə:s] n.天地；全人类；银河系 (高中英语单词)
- continually [kən´tinjuəli] ad.不断地，频繁地 (高中英语单词)
- ladder [´lædə] n.梯子；阶梯 (高中英语单词)
- squeeze [skwi:z] v.&n.压榨，榨取 (高中英语单词)
- extract [ik´strækt, ´ekstrækt] vt.取出；摘录 n.精华 (高中英语单词)
- geography [dʒi´ɔgrəfi] n.地理(学) (高中英语单词)
- longing [´lɔŋiŋ] n.&a.渴望(的) (高中英语单词)
- studied [´stʌdid] a.故意的；有计划的 (高中英语单词)
- loving [´lʌviŋ] a.爱的，有爱情的 (高中英语单词)
- conventional [kən´venʃənəl] a.常规的；协定的 (英语四级单词)
- unworthy [ʌn´wə:ði] a.不值得的；不足道的 (英语四级单词)
- bodily [´bɔdili] a.身体的 ad.亲自 (英语四级单词)
- busily [´bizili] ad.忙碌地 (英语四级单词)
- absorption [əb´sɔ:pʃən] n.吸收；吸收作用 (英语四级单词)
- rheumatism [´ru:mətizəm] n.风湿病 (英语四级单词)
- delighted [di´laitid] a.高兴的；喜欢的 (英语四级单词)
- uncommon [ʌn´kɔmən] a.非常的，非凡的，罕见的 (英语四级单词)
- husking [´hʌskiŋ] n.农家碾米会 (英语四级单词)
- heedless [´hi:dlis] a.不注意的，不留心的 (英语四级单词)
- tinkle [´tiŋkəl] v.&n.(使发)叮当声 (英语四级单词)
- ethereal [i´θiəriəl] a.飘渺的；稀薄的 (英语六级单词)
- snowstorm [´snəustɔ:m] n.暴风雪；雪暴 (英语六级单词)
- merciful [´mə:sifəl] a.仁慈的；宽大的 (英语六级单词)
- hilltop [´hil´tɔp] n.山顶 (英语六级单词)
- trusting [´trʌstiŋ] a.信任的；相信的 (英语六级单词)
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文章标签:名著
章节正文
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