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Kwaidan-Part14_Lafcadio Hearn(1850-1904)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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her nervoussystem in good working-order. And all of them are so peculiarly

constituted that the least unnecessary indulgence would result in some



derangement of function.

The work daily performed by these female laborers comprises road-making,



bridge-building, timber-cutting, architecturalconstruction of numberless

kinds, horticulture and agriculture, the feeding and sheltering of a



hundred varieties of domestic animals, the manufacture of sundry chemical

products, the storage and conservation of countless food-stuffs, and the



care of the children of the race. All this labor is done for the

commonwealth -- no citizen of which is capable even of thinking about



"property," except as a res publica;-- and the sole object of the

commonwealth is the nurture and training of its young,-- nearly all of whom



are girls. The period of infancy is long: the children remain for a great

while, not only helpless, but shapeless, and withal so delicate that they



must be very carefully guarded against the least change of temperature.

Fortunately their nurses understand the laws of health: each thoroughly



knows all that she ought to know in regard to ventilation, disinfection,

drainage, moisture, and the danger of germs,-- germs being as visible,



perhaps, to her myopic sight as they become to our own eyes under the

microscope. Indeed, all matters of hygiene are so well comprehended that no



nurse ever makes a mistake about the sanitary conditions of her

neighborhood.



In spite of this perpetual labor no worker remains unkempt: each is

scrupulously neat, making her toilet many times a day. But as every worker



is born with the most beautiful of combs and brushes attached to her

wrists, no time is wasted in the toilet-room. Besides keeping themselves



strictly clean, the workers must also keep their houses and gardens in

faultless order, for the sake of the children. Nothing less than an



earthquake, an eruption, an inundation, or a desperate war, is allowed to

interrupt the daily routine of dusting, sweeping, scrubbing, and



disinfecting.

IV



Now for stranger facts:--

This world of incessant toil is a more than Vestal world. It is true that



males can sometimes be perceived in it; but they appear only at particular

seasons, and they have nothing whatever to do with the workers or with the



work. None of them would presume to address a worker,-- except, perhaps,

under extraordinary circumstances of common peril. And no worker would



think of talking to a male;-- for males, in this queer world, are inferior

beings, equally incapable of fighting or working, and tolerated only as



necessary evils. One special class of females,-- the Mothers-Elect of the

race,-- do condescend to consort with males, during a very brief period, at



particular seasons. But the Mothers-Elect do not work; and they most accept

husbands. A worker could not even dream of keeping company with a male,--



not merely because such association would signify the most frivolous waste

of time, nor yet because the workernecessarily regards all males with



unspeakable contempt; but because the worker is incapable of wedlock. Some

workers, indeed, are capable of parthenogenesis, and give birth to children



who never had fathers. As a general rule, however, the worker is truly

feminine by her moral instincts only: she has all the tenderness, the



patience, and the foresight that we call "maternal;" but her sex has

disappeared, like the sex of the Dragon-Maiden in the Buddhist legend.



For defense against creatures of prey, or enemies of the state, the




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