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An Inland Voyage-Part1_ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON(1850-1894)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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yet preserve its superiority. It is good policy, and almost



necessary in the circumstances. If a man finds a woman admire him,

were it only for his acquaintance with geography, he will begin at



once to build upon the admiration. It is only by unintermittent

snubbing that the pretty ones can keep us in our place. Men, as



Miss Howe or Miss Harlowe would have said, 'are such ENCROACHERS.'

For my part, I am body and soul with the women; and after a well-



married couple, there is nothing so beautiful in the world as the

myth of the divine huntress. It is no use for a man to take to the



woods; we know him; St. Anthony tried the same thing long ago, and

had a pitiful time of it by all accounts. But there is this about



some women, which overtops the best gymnosophist among men, that

they suffice to themselves, and can walk in a high and cold zone



without the countenance of any trousered being. I declare,

although the reverse of a professed ascetic, I am more obliged to



women for this ideal than I should be to the majority of them, or

indeed to any but one, for a spontaneous kiss. There is nothing so



encouraging as the spectacle of self-sufficiency. And when I think

of the slim and lovely maidens, running the woods all night to the



note of Diana's horn; moving among the old oaks, as fancy-free as

they; things of the forest and the starlight, not touched by the



commotion of man's hot and turbid life - although there are plenty

other ideals that I should prefer - I find my heart beat at the



thought of this one. 'Tis to fail in life, but to fail with what a

grace! That is not lost which is not regretted. And where - here



slips out the male - where would be much of the glory of inspiring

love, if there were no contempt to overcome?



ON THE WILLEBROEK CANAL

NEXT morning, when we set forth on the Willebroek Canal, the rain



began heavy and chill. The water of the canal stood at about the

drinking temperature of tea; and under this cold aspersion, the



surface was covered with steam. The exhilaration of departure, and

the easy motion of the boats under each stroke of the paddles,



supported us through this misfortune while it lasted; and when the

cloud passed and the sun came out again, our spirits went up above



the range of stay-at-home humours. A good breeze rustled and

shivered in the rows of trees that bordered the canal. The leaves



flickered in and out of the light in tumultuous masses. It seemed

sailing weather to eye and ear; but down between the banks, the



wind reached us only in faint and desultory puffs. There was

hardly enough to steer by. Progress was intermittent and



unsatisfactory. A jocular person, of marine antecedents, hailed us

from the tow-path with a 'C'EST VITE, MAIS C'EST LONG.'



The canal was busy enough. Every now and then we met or overtook a

long string of boats, with great green tillers; high sterns with a



window on either side of the rudder, and perhaps a jug or a flower-

pot in one of the windows; a dinghy following behind; a woman



busied about the day's dinner, and a handful of children. These

barges were all tied one behind the other with tow ropes, to the



number of twenty-five or thirty; and the line was headed and kept

in motion by a steamer of strange construction. It had neither



paddle-wheel nor screw; but by some gear not rightly comprehensible

to the unmechanical mind, it fetched up over its bow a small bright



chain which lay along the bottom of the canal, and paying it out

again over the stern, dragged itself forward, link by link, with



its whole retinue of loaded skows. Until one had found out the key

to the enigma, there was something solemn and uncomfortable in the



progress of one of these trains, as it moved gently along the water

with nothing to mark its advance but an eddy alongside dying away



into the wake.

Of all the creatures of commercialenterprise, a canal barge is by



far the most delightful to consider. It may spread its sails, and

then you see it sailing high above the tree-tops and the windmill,



sailing on the aqueduct, sailing through the green corn-lands: the

most picturesque of things amphibious. Or the horse plods along at



a foot-pace as if there were no such thing as business in the

world; and the man dreaming at the tiller sees the same spire on






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