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Essays of Travel-Part9_ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON(1850-1894)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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not detected it when it was given, I was well aware of its absence

when it was withheld. My height seemed to decrease with every woman



who passed me, for she passed me like a dog. This is one of my

grounds for supposing that what are called the upper classes may



sometimes produce a disagreeableimpression in what are called the

lower; and I wish some one would continue my experiment, and find out



exactly at what stage of toilette a man becomes invisible to the

well-regulated female eye.



Here on shipboard the matter was put to a more complete test; for,

even with the addition of speech and manner, I passed among the



ladies for precisely the average man of the steerage. It was one

afternoon that I saw this demonstrated. A very plainly dressed woman



was taken ill on deck. I think I had the luck to be present at every

sudden seizure during all the passage; and on this occasion found



myself in the place of importance, supporting the sufferer. There

was not only a large crowd immediately around us, but a considerable



knot of saloon passengers leaning over our heads from the hurricane-

deck. One of these, an elderly managing woman, hailed me with



counsels. Of course I had to reply; and as the talk went on, I began

to discover that the whole group took me for the husband. I looked



upon my new wife, poor creature, with mingled feelings; and I must

own she had not even the appearance of the poorest class of city



servant-maids, but looked more like a country wench who should have

been employed at a roadside inn. Now was the time for me to go and



study the brass plate.

To such of the officers as knew about me - the doctor, the purser,



and the stewards - I appeared in the light of a broad joke. The fact

that I spent the better part of my day in writing had gone abroad



over the ship and tickled them all prodigiously. Whenever they met

me they referred to my absurdoccupation with familiarity and breadth



of humorousintention. Their manner was well calculated to remind me

of my fallen fortunes. You may be sincerely amused by the amateur



literary efforts of a gentleman, but you scarce publish the feeling

to his face. 'Well!' they would say: 'still writing?' And the smile



would widen into a laugh. The purser came one day into the cabin,

and, touched to the heart by my misguided industry, offered me some



other kind of writing, 'for which,' he added pointedly, 'you will be

paid.' This was nothing else than to copy out the list of



passengers.

Another trick of mine which told against my reputation was my choice



of roosting-place in an active draught upon the cabin floor. I was

openly jeered and flouted for this eccentricity; and a considerable



knot would sometimes gather at the door to see my last dispositions

for the night. This was embarrassing, but I learned to support the



trial with equanimity.

Indeed I may say that, upon the whole, my new position sat lightly



and naturally upon my spirits. I accepted the consequences with

readiness, and found them far from difficult to bear. The steerage



conquered me; I conformed more and more to the type of the place, not

only in manner but at heart, growing hostile to the officers and



cabin passengers who looked down upon me, and day by day greedier for

small delicacies. Such was the result, as I fancy, of a diet of



bread and butter, soup and porridge. We think we have no sweet tooth

as long as we are full to the brim of molasses; but a man must have



sojourned in the workhouse before he boasts himself indifferent to

dainties. Every evening, for instance, I was more and more



preoccupied about our doubtful fare at tea. If it was delicate my

heart was much lightened; if it was but broken fish I was



proportionally downcast. The offer of a little jelly from a fellow-

passenger more provident than myself caused a marked elevation in my



spirits. And I would have gone to the ship's end and back again for

an oyster or a chipped fruit.



In other ways I was content with my position. It seemed no disgrace

to he confounded with my company; for I may as well declare at once I



found their manners as gentle and becoming as those of any other

class. I do not mean that my friends could have sat down without



embarrassment and laughable disaster at the table of a duke. That

does not imply an inferiority of breeding, but a difference of usage.






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