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The Country Doctor-Part6_Honore de Balzac(1799-1850)_Translated Works(翻译文学)-第2页

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whole story. Races who have no wants are always poor. When I first



came to live here in this township, there were about a hundred and

thirty peasant families in it, and some two hundred hearths in the



valley. The local authorities were such as might be expected in the

prevailing wretchedness of the population. The mayor himself could not



write, and the deputy-mayor was a small farmer, who lived beyond the

limits of the Commune. The justice of the peace was a poor devil who



had nothing but his salary, and who was forced to relinquish the

registration of births, marriages, and deaths to his clerk, another



hapless wretch who was scarcely able to understand his duties. The old

cure had died at the age of seventy, and his curate, a quite



uneducated man, had just succeeded to his position. These people

comprised all the intelligence of the district over which they ruled.



"Those who dwelt amidst these lovely natural surroundings groveled in

squalor and lived upon potatoes, milk, butter, and cheese. The only



produce that brought in any money was the cheese, which most of them

carried in small baskets to Grenoble or its outskirts. The richer or



the more energetic among them sowed buckwheat for home consumption;

sometimes they raised a crop of barley or oats, but wheat was unknown.



The only trader in the place was the mayor, who owned a sawmill and

bought up timber at a low price to sell again. In the absence of



roads, his tree trunks had to be transported during the summer season;

each log was dragged along one at a time, and with no small



difficulty, by means of a chain attached to a halter about his horse's

neck, and an iron hook at the farther end of the chain, which was



driven into the wood. Any one who went to Grenoble, whether on

horseback or afoot, was obliged to follow a track high up on the



mountain side, for the valley was quite impassable. The pretty road

between this place and the first village that you reach as you come



into the canton (the way along which you must have come) was nothing

but a slough at all seasons of the year.



"Political events and revolutions had never reached this inaccessible

country--it lay completely beyond the limits of social stir and



change. Napoleon's name, and his alone, had penetrated hither; he is

held in great veneration, thanks to one or two old soldiers who have



returned to their native homes, and who of evenings tell marvelous

tales about his adventures and his armies for the benefit of these



simple folk. Their coming back is, moreover, a puzzle that no one can

explain. Before I came here, the young men who went into the army all



stayed in it for good. This fact in itself is a sufficient revelation

of the wretched condition of the country. I need not give you a



detailed description of it.

"This, then, was the state of things when I first came to the canton,



which has several contented, well-tilled, and fairly prosperous

communes belonging to it upon the other side of the mountains. I will



say nothing about the hovels in the town; they were neither more nor

less than stables, in which men and animals were indiscriminately



huddled together. As there was no inn in the place, I was obliged to

ask the curate for a bed, he being in possession, for the time being,



of this house, then offered for sale. Putting to him question after

question, I came to have some slight knowledge of the lamentable



condition of the country with the pleasant climate, the fertile soil,

and the natural productiveness that had impressed me so much.



"At that time, sir, I was seeking to shape a future for myself that

should be as little as possible like the troubled life that had left



me weary; and one of those thoughts came into my mind that God gives

us at times, to enable us to take up our burdens and bear them. I



resolved to develop all the resources of this country, just as a tutor

develops the capacities of a child. Do not think too much of my



benevolence; the pressing need that I felt for turning my thoughts

into fresh channels entered too much into my motives. I had determined



to give up the remainder of my life to some difficult task. A lifetime

would be required to bring about the needful changes in a canton that



Nature had made so wealthy, and man so poor; and I was tempted by the

practical difficulties that stood in the way. As soon as I found that



I could secure the cure's house and plenty of waste land at a small

cost, I solemnlydevoted myself to the calling of a country surgeon--



the very last position that a man aspires to take. I determined to

become the friend of the poor, and to expect no reward of any kind



from them. Oh! I did not indulge in any illusions as to the nature of

the country people, nor as to the hindrances that lie in the way of



every attempt to bring about a better state of things among men or




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