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Essays of Travel-Part1_ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON(1850-1894)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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that the steerage passenger must supply bedding and dishes, and, in

five cases out of ten, either brings some dainties with him, or



privately pays the steward for extra rations, the difference in price

becomes almost nominal. Air comparatively fit to breathe, food



comparativelyvaried, and the satisfaction of being still privately a

gentleman, may thus be had almost for the asking. Two of my fellow-



passengers in the second cabin had already made the passage by the

cheaper fare, and declared it was an experiment not to be repeated.



As I go on to tell about my steerage friends, the reader will

perceive that they were not alone in their opinion. Out of ten with



whom I was more or less intimate, I am sure not fewer than five

vowed, if they returned, to travel second cabin; and all who had left



their wives behind them assured me they would go without the comfort

of their presence until they could afford to bring them by saloon.



Our party in the second cabin was not perhaps the most interesting on

board. Perhaps even in the saloon there was as much good-will and



character. Yet it had some elements of curiosity. There was a mixed

group of Swedes, Danes, and Norsemen, one of whom, generally known by



the name of 'Johnny,' in spite of his own protests, greatly diverted

us by his clever, cross-country efforts to speak English, and became



on the strength of that an universal favourite - it takes so little

in this world of shipboard to create a popularity. There was,



besides, a Scots mason, known from his favourite dish as 'Irish

Stew,' three or four nondescript Scots, a fine young Irishman,



O'Reilly, and a pair of young men who deserve a special word of

condemnation. One of them was Scots; the other claimed to be



American; admitted, after some fencing, that he was born in England;

and ultimately proved to be an Irishman born and nurtured, but



ashamed to own his country. He had a sister on board, whom he

faithfully neglected throughout the voyage, though she was not only



sick, but much his senior, and had nursed and cared for him in

childhood. In appearance he was like an imbecile Henry the Third of



France. The Scotsman, though perhaps as big an ass, was not so dead

of heart; and I have only bracketed them together because they were



fast friends, and disgraced themselves equally by their conduct at

the table.



Next, to turn to topics more agreeable, we had a newly-married

couple, devoted to each other, with a pleasant story of how they had



first seen each other years ago at a preparatory school, and that

very afternoon he had carried her books home for her. I do not know



if this story will be plain to southern readers; but to me it recalls

many a school idyll, with wrathful swains of eight and nine



confronting each other stride-legs, flushed with jealousy; for to

carry home a young lady's books was both a delicate attention and a



privilege.

Then there was an old lady, or indeed I am not sure that she was as



much old as antiquated and strangely out of place, who had left her

husband, and was travelling all the way to Kansas by herself. We had



to take her own word that she was married; for it was sorely

contradicted by the testimony of her appearance. Nature seemed to



have sanctified her for the single state; even the colour of her hair

was incompatible with matrimony, and her husband, I thought, should



be a man of saintly spirit and phantasmal bodily presence. She was

ill, poor thing; her soul turned from the viands; the dirty



tablecloth shocked her like an impropriety; and the whole strength of

her endeavour was bent upon keeping her watch true to Glasgow time



till she should reach New York. They had heard reports, her husband

and she, of some unwarrantable disparity of hours between these two



cities; and with a spirit commendably scientific, had seized on this

occasion to put them to the proof. It was a good thing for the old



lady; for she passed much leisure time in studying the watch. Once,

when prostrated by sickness, she let it run down. It was inscribed



on her harmless mind in letters of adamant that the hands of a watch

must never be turned backwards; and so it behoved her to lie in wait



for the exact moment ere she started it again. When she imagined

this was about due, she sought out one of the young second-cabin



Scotsmen, who was embarked on the same experiment as herself and had

hitherto been less neglectful. She was in quest of two o'clock; and



when she learned it was already seven on the shores of Clyde, she

lifted up her voice and cried 'Gravy!' I had not heard this innocent



expletive since I was a young child; and I suppose it must have been

the same with the other Scotsmen present, for we all laughed our






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