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The Country of the Pointed Firs-Part1_Sarah Orne Jewett(1849-1909)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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make suggestive jokes, perhaps about her faith in a too persistent

course of thoroughwort elixir, in which my landlady professed such



firm belief as sometimes to endanger the life and usefulness of

worthy neighbors.



To arrive at this quietest of seaside villages late in June,

when the busy herb-gathering season was just beginning, was also to



arrive in the early prime of Mrs. Todd's activity in the brewing of

old-fashioned spruce beer. This cooling and refreshing drink had



been brought to wonderful perfection through a long series of

experiments; it had won immense local fame, and the supplies for



its manufacture were always giving out and having to be

replenished. For various reasons, the seclusion and uninterrupted



days which had been looked forward to proved to be very rare in

this otherwisedelightful corner of the world. My hostess and I



had made our shrewd business agreement on the basis of a simple

cold luncheon at noon, and liberal restitution in the matter of hot



suppers, to provide for which the lodger might sometimes be seen

hurrying down the road, late in the day, with cunner line in hand.



It was soon found that this arrangement made large allowance for

Mrs. Todd's slow herb-gathering progresses through woods and



pastures. The spruce-beer customers were pretty steady in hot

weather, and there were many demands for different soothing syrups



and elixirs with which the unwisecuriosity of my early residence

had made me acquainted. Knowing Mrs. Todd to be a widow, who had



little beside this slender business and the income from one hungry

lodger to maintain her, one's energies and even interest were



quickly bestowed, until it became a matter of course that she

should go afield every pleasant day, and that the lodger should



answer all peremptory knocks at the side door.

In taking an occasional wisdom-giving stroll in Mrs. Todd's



company, and in acting as business partner during her

frequent absences, I found the July days fly fast, and it was not



until I felt myself confronted with too great pride and pleasure in

the display, one night, of two dollars and twenty-seven cents which



I had taken in during the day, that I remembered a long piece of

writing, sadly belated now, which I was bound to do. To have been



patted kindly on the shoulder and called "darlin'," to have been

offered a surprise of early mushrooms for supper, to have had all



the glory of making two dollars and twenty-seven cents in a single

day, and then to renounce it all and withdraw from these pleasant



successes, needed much resolution. Literary employments are so

vexed with uncertainties at best, and it was not until the voice of



conscience sounded louder in my ears than the sea on the nearest

pebble beach that I said unkind words of withdrawal to Mrs. Todd.



She only became more wistfullyaffectionate than ever in her

expressions, and looked as disappointed as I expected when I



frankly told her that I could no longer enjoy the pleasure of what

we called "seein' folks." I felt that I was cruel to a whole



neighborhood in curtailing her liberty in this most important

season for harvesting the different wild herbs that were so much



counted upon to ease their winter ails.

"Well, dear," she said sorrowfully, "I've took great advantage



o' your bein' here. I ain't had such a season for years, but I

have never had nobody I could so trust. All you lack is a few



qualities, but with time you'd gain judgment an' experience, an' be

very able in the business. I'd stand right here an' say it to



anybody."

Mrs. Todd and I were not separated or estranged by the change



in our business relations; on the contrary, a deeper intimacy

seemed to begin. I do not know what herb of the night it was that



used sometimes to send out a penetrating odor late in the evening,

after the dew had fallen, and the moon was high, and the cool air



came up from the sea. Then Mrs. Todd would feel that she must talk

to somebody, and I was only too glad to listen. We both fell under






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