章节正文
I wonder what she says; run in and see, Dolly."
Harry scrubbed away at Hotspur with a huish! huish! like any old hostler.
In a few minutes Dolly came dancing into the stable.
"Oh! Harry, there never was anything so beautiful; Mrs. Fowler says
we are all to go and live near her. There is a cottage now empty
that will just suit us, with a garden and a henhouse, and apple-trees,
and everything! and her coachman is going away in the spring, and then
she will want father in his place; and there are good families round,
where you can get a place in the garden or the stable, or as a page-boy;
and there's a good school for me; and mother is laughing and crying by turns,
and father does look so happy!"
"That's uncommon jolly," said Harry, "and just the right thing, I should say;
it will suit father and mother both; but I don't intend to be a page-boy
with tight clothes and rows of buttons. I'll be a groom or a gardener."
It was quickly settled that as soon as Jerry was well enough
they should remove to the country, and that the cab and horses
should be sold as soon as possible.
This was heavy news for me, for I was not young now, and could not look
for any improvement in my condition. Since I left Birtwick I had never been
so happy as with my dear master Jerry; but three years of cab work,
even under the best conditions, will tell on one's strength,
and I felt that I was not the horse that I had been.
Grant said at once that he would take Hotspur, and there were
men on the stand who would have bought me; but Jerry said I should not go
to cab work again with just anybody, and the governor promised
to find a place for me where I should be comfortable.
The day came for going away. Jerry had not been allowed to go out yet,
and I never saw him after that New Year's eve. Polly and the children came
to bid me good-by. "Poor old Jack! dear old Jack! I wish we could
take you with us," she said, and then laying her hand on my mane
she put her face close to my neck and kissed me. Dolly was crying
and kissed me too. Harry stroked me a great deal, but said nothing,
only he seemed very sad, and so I was led away to my new place.
Part IV
46 Jakes and the Lady
I was sold to a corn dealer and baker, whom Jerry knew, and with him
he thought I should have good food and fair work. In the first
he was quite right, and if my master had always been on the premises
I do not think I should have been overloaded, but there was a foreman
who was always hurrying and driving every one, and frequently
when I had quite a full load he would order something else to be taken on.
My carter, whose name was Jakes, often said it was more than I ought to take,
but the other always overruled him. "'Twas no use going twice
when once would do, and he chose to get business forward."
Jakes, like the other carters, always had the check-rein up,
which prevented me from drawing easily, and by the time I had been there
three or four months I found the work telling very much on my strength.
One day I was loaded more than usual, and part of the road
was a steep uphill. I used all my strength, but I could not get on,
and was obliged continually to stop. This did not please my driver,
and he laid his whip on badly. "Get on, you lazy fellow," he said,
"or I'll make you."
Again I started the heavy load, and struggled on a few yards;
again the whip came down, and again I struggled forward.
The pain of that great cart whip was sharp, but my mind was hurt
quite as much as my poor sides. To be punished and abused
when I was doing my very best was so hard it took the heart out of me.
A third time he was flogging me cruelly, when a lady
stepped quickly up to him, and said in a sweet, earnest voice:
"Oh! pray do not whip your good horse any more; I am sure he is doing
all he can, and the road is very steep; I am sure he is doing his best."
"If doing his best won't get this load up he must do something
more than his best; that's all I know, ma'am," said Jakes.
"But is it not a heavy load?" she said.
"Yes, yes, too heavy," he said; "but that's not my fault;
the foreman came just as we were starting, and would have
three hundredweight more put on to save him trouble,
and I must get on with it as well as I can."
He was raising the whip again, when the lady said:
"Pray, stop; I think I can help you if you will let me."
The man laughed.
"You see," she said, "you do not give him a fair chance;
he cannot use all his power with his head held back as it is
with that check-rein; if you would take it off I am sure he would do better
-- do try it," she said persuasively, "I should be very glad if you would."
"Well, well," said Jakes, with a short laugh, "anything to please a lady,
of course. How far would you wish it down, ma'am?"
"Quite down, give him his head altogether."
The rein was taken off, and in a moment I put my head down to my very knees.
What a comfort it was! Then I tossed it up and down several times
to get the aching stiffness out of my neck.
"Poor fellow! that is what you wanted," said she, patting and stroking me
with her gentle hand; "and now if you will speak kindly to him
and lead him on I believe he will be able to do better."
Jakes took the rein. "Come on, Blackie." I put down my head,
and threw my whole weight against the collar; I spared no strength;
the load moved on, and I pulled it steadily up the hill,
and then stopped to take breath.
The lady had walked along the footpath, and now came across into the road.
She stroked and patted my neck, as I had not been patted for many a long day.
"You see he was quite willing when you gave him the chance; I am sure
he is a fine-tempered creature, and I dare say has known better days.
You won't put that rein on again, will you?" for he was just going
to hitch it up on the old plan.
"Well, ma'am, I can't deny that having his head has helped him up the hill,
and I'll remember it another time, and thank you, ma'am; but if he went
without a check-rein I should be the laughing-stock of all the carters;
it is the fashion, you see."
"Is it not better," she said, "to lead a good fashion than to follow
a bad one? A great many gentlemen do not use check-reins now;
our carriage horses have not worn them for fifteen years,
and work with much less fatigue than those who have them; besides,"
she added in a very serious voice, "we have no right to distress
any of God's creatures without a very good reason; we call them dumb animals,
and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel,
but they do not suffer less because they have no words.
But I must not detain you now; I thank you for trying my plan
with your good horse, and I am sure you will find it far better
than the whip. Good-day," and with another soft pat on my neck
she stepped lightly across the path, and I saw her no more.
"That was a real lady, I'll be bound for it," said Jakes to himself;
"she spoke just as polite as if I was a gentleman, and I'll try her plan,
uphill, at any rate;" and I must do him the justice to say
that he let my rein out several holes, and going uphill after that,
he always gave me my head; but the heavy loads went on.
Good feed and fair rest will keep up one's strength under full work,
but no horse can stand against overloading; and I was getting
so thoroughly pulled down from this cause that a younger horse was bought
in my place. I may as well mention here what I suffered at this time
from another cause. I had heard horses speak of it, but had never myself
had experience of the evil; this was a badly-lighted stable;
there was only one very small window at the end, and the consequence
was that the stalls were almost dark.
Besides the depressing effect this had on my spirits,
it very much weakened my sight, and when I was suddenly brought out
of the darkness into the glare of daylight it was very painful to my eyes.
Several times I stumbled over the threshold, and could scarcely see
where I was going.
I believe, had I stayed there very long, I should have become purblind,
and that would have been a great misfortune, for I have heard men say
that a stone-blind horse was safer to drive than one which had
imperfect sight, as it generally makes them very timid. However,
I escaped without any permanentinjury to my sight, and was sold
to a large cab owner.
47 Hard Times
My new master I shall never forget; he had black eyes and a hooked nose,
his mouth was as full of teeth as a bull-dog's, and his voice was as harsh
as the grinding of cart wheels over graveled stones.
His name was Nicholas Skinner, and I believe he was the man
that poor Seedy Sam drove for.
I have heard men say that seeing is believing; but I should say
that feeling is believing; for much as I had seen before,
I never knew till now the utter misery of a cab-horse's life.
Skinner had a low set of cabs and a low set of drivers;
he was hard on the men, and the men were hard on the horses.
In this place we had no Sunday rest, and it was in the heat of summer.
Sometimes on a Sunday morning a party of fast men would hire the cab
for the day; four of them inside and another with the driver,
and I had to take them ten or fifteen miles out into the country,
and back again; never would any of them get down to walk up a hill,
let it be ever so steep, or the day ever so hot -- unless, indeed,
when the driver was afraid I should not manage it, and sometimes
I was so fevered and worn that I could hardly touch my food.
How I used to long for the nice bran mash with niter in it
that Jerry used to give us on Saturday nights in hot weather,
that used to cool us down and make us so comfortable.
Then we had two nights and a whole day for unbroken rest,
and on Monday morning we were as fresh as young horses again;
but here there was no rest, and my driver was just as hard as his master.
He had a cruel whip with something so sharp at the end
that it sometimes drew blood, and he would even whip me under the belly,
and flip the lash out at my head. Indignities like these
took the heart out of me terribly, but still I did my best
and never hung back; for, as poor Ginger said, it was no use;
men are the strongest.
My life was now so utterly wretched that I wished I might, like Ginger,
drop down dead at my work and be out of my misery, and one day my wish
very nearly came to pass.
I went on the stand at eight in the morning, and had done
a good share of work, when we had to take a fare to the railway.
A long train was just expected in, so my driver pulled up at the back
of some of the outside cabs to take the chance of a return fare.
It was a very heavy train, and as all the cabs were soon engaged
ours was called for. There was a party of four; a noisy,
blustering man with a lady, a little boy and a young girl,
and a great deal of luggage. The lady and the boy got into the cab,
and while the man ordered about the luggage the young girl came
and looked at me.
"Papa," she said, "I am sure this poor horse cannot take us
and all our luggage so far, he is so very weak and worn up.
Do look at him."
"Oh! he's all right, miss," said my driver, "he's strong enough."
The porter, who was pulling about some heavy boxes,
suggested to the gentleman, as there was so much luggage,
whether he would not take a second cab.
"Can your horse do it, or can't he?" said the blustering man.
"Oh! he can do it all right, sir; send up the boxes, porter;
he could take more than that;" and he helped to haul up a box so heavy
that I could feel the springs go down.
"Papa, papa, do take a second cab," said the young girl in a beseeching tone.
"I am sure we are wrong, I am sure it is very cruel."
"Nonsense, Grace, get in at once, and don't make all this fuss;
a pretty thing it would be if a man of business had to examine
every cab-horse before he hired it -- the man knows his own business
of course; there, get in and hold your tongue!"
My gentle friend had to obey, and box after box was dragged up
and lodged on the top of the cab or settled by the side of the driver.
At last all was ready, and with his usual jerk at the rein
and slash of the whip he drove out of the station.
The load was very heavy and I had had neither food nor rest since morning;
but I did my best, as I always had done, in spite of cruelty and injustice.
Harry scrubbed away at Hotspur with a huish! huish! like any old hostler.
In a few minutes Dolly came dancing into the stable.
"Oh! Harry, there never was anything so beautiful; Mrs. Fowler says
we are all to go and live near her. There is a cottage now empty
that will just suit us, with a garden and a henhouse, and apple-trees,
and everything! and her coachman is going away in the spring, and then
she will want father in his place; and there are good families round,
where you can get a place in the garden or the stable, or as a page-boy;
and there's a good school for me; and mother is laughing and crying by turns,
and father does look so happy!"
"That's uncommon jolly," said Harry, "and just the right thing, I should say;
it will suit father and mother both; but I don't intend to be a page-boy
with tight clothes and rows of buttons. I'll be a groom or a gardener."
It was quickly settled that as soon as Jerry was well enough
they should remove to the country, and that the cab and horses
should be sold as soon as possible.
This was heavy news for me, for I was not young now, and could not look
for any improvement in my condition. Since I left Birtwick I had never been
so happy as with my dear master Jerry; but three years of cab work,
even under the best conditions, will tell on one's strength,
and I felt that I was not the horse that I had been.
Grant said at once that he would take Hotspur, and there were
men on the stand who would have bought me; but Jerry said I should not go
to cab work again with just anybody, and the governor promised
to find a place for me where I should be comfortable.
The day came for going away. Jerry had not been allowed to go out yet,
and I never saw him after that New Year's eve. Polly and the children came
to bid me good-by. "Poor old Jack! dear old Jack! I wish we could
take you with us," she said, and then laying her hand on my mane
she put her face close to my neck and kissed me. Dolly was crying
and kissed me too. Harry stroked me a great deal, but said nothing,
only he seemed very sad, and so I was led away to my new place.
Part IV
46 Jakes and the Lady
I was sold to a corn dealer and baker, whom Jerry knew, and with him
he thought I should have good food and fair work. In the first
he was quite right, and if my master had always been on the premises
I do not think I should have been overloaded, but there was a foreman
who was always hurrying and driving every one, and frequently
when I had quite a full load he would order something else to be taken on.
My carter, whose name was Jakes, often said it was more than I ought to take,
but the other always overruled him. "'Twas no use going twice
when once would do, and he chose to get business forward."
Jakes, like the other carters, always had the check-rein up,
which prevented me from drawing easily, and by the time I had been there
three or four months I found the work telling very much on my strength.
One day I was loaded more than usual, and part of the road
was a steep uphill. I used all my strength, but I could not get on,
and was obliged continually to stop. This did not please my driver,
and he laid his whip on badly. "Get on, you lazy fellow," he said,
"or I'll make you."
Again I started the heavy load, and struggled on a few yards;
again the whip came down, and again I struggled forward.
The pain of that great cart whip was sharp, but my mind was hurt
quite as much as my poor sides. To be punished and abused
when I was doing my very best was so hard it took the heart out of me.
A third time he was flogging me cruelly, when a lady
stepped quickly up to him, and said in a sweet, earnest voice:
"Oh! pray do not whip your good horse any more; I am sure he is doing
all he can, and the road is very steep; I am sure he is doing his best."
"If doing his best won't get this load up he must do something
more than his best; that's all I know, ma'am," said Jakes.
"But is it not a heavy load?" she said.
"Yes, yes, too heavy," he said; "but that's not my fault;
the foreman came just as we were starting, and would have
three hundredweight more put on to save him trouble,
and I must get on with it as well as I can."
He was raising the whip again, when the lady said:
"Pray, stop; I think I can help you if you will let me."
The man laughed.
"You see," she said, "you do not give him a fair chance;
he cannot use all his power with his head held back as it is
with that check-rein; if you would take it off I am sure he would do better
-- do try it," she said persuasively, "I should be very glad if you would."
"Well, well," said Jakes, with a short laugh, "anything to please a lady,
of course. How far would you wish it down, ma'am?"
"Quite down, give him his head altogether."
The rein was taken off, and in a moment I put my head down to my very knees.
What a comfort it was! Then I tossed it up and down several times
to get the aching stiffness out of my neck.
"Poor fellow! that is what you wanted," said she, patting and stroking me
with her gentle hand; "and now if you will speak kindly to him
and lead him on I believe he will be able to do better."
Jakes took the rein. "Come on, Blackie." I put down my head,
and threw my whole weight against the collar; I spared no strength;
the load moved on, and I pulled it steadily up the hill,
and then stopped to take breath.
The lady had walked along the footpath, and now came across into the road.
She stroked and patted my neck, as I had not been patted for many a long day.
"You see he was quite willing when you gave him the chance; I am sure
he is a fine-tempered creature, and I dare say has known better days.
You won't put that rein on again, will you?" for he was just going
to hitch it up on the old plan.
"Well, ma'am, I can't deny that having his head has helped him up the hill,
and I'll remember it another time, and thank you, ma'am; but if he went
without a check-rein I should be the laughing-stock of all the carters;
it is the fashion, you see."
"Is it not better," she said, "to lead a good fashion than to follow
a bad one? A great many gentlemen do not use check-reins now;
our carriage horses have not worn them for fifteen years,
and work with much less fatigue than those who have them; besides,"
she added in a very serious voice, "we have no right to distress
any of God's creatures without a very good reason; we call them dumb animals,
and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel,
but they do not suffer less because they have no words.
But I must not detain you now; I thank you for trying my plan
with your good horse, and I am sure you will find it far better
than the whip. Good-day," and with another soft pat on my neck
she stepped lightly across the path, and I saw her no more.
"That was a real lady, I'll be bound for it," said Jakes to himself;
"she spoke just as polite as if I was a gentleman, and I'll try her plan,
uphill, at any rate;" and I must do him the justice to say
that he let my rein out several holes, and going uphill after that,
he always gave me my head; but the heavy loads went on.
Good feed and fair rest will keep up one's strength under full work,
but no horse can stand against overloading; and I was getting
so thoroughly pulled down from this cause that a younger horse was bought
in my place. I may as well mention here what I suffered at this time
from another cause. I had heard horses speak of it, but had never myself
had experience of the evil; this was a badly-lighted stable;
there was only one very small window at the end, and the consequence
was that the stalls were almost dark.
Besides the depressing effect this had on my spirits,
it very much weakened my sight, and when I was suddenly brought out
of the darkness into the glare of daylight it was very painful to my eyes.
Several times I stumbled over the threshold, and could scarcely see
where I was going.
I believe, had I stayed there very long, I should have become purblind,
and that would have been a great misfortune, for I have heard men say
that a stone-blind horse was safer to drive than one which had
imperfect sight, as it generally makes them very timid. However,
I escaped without any permanentinjury to my sight, and was sold
to a large cab owner.
47 Hard Times
My new master I shall never forget; he had black eyes and a hooked nose,
his mouth was as full of teeth as a bull-dog's, and his voice was as harsh
as the grinding of cart wheels over graveled stones.
His name was Nicholas Skinner, and I believe he was the man
that poor Seedy Sam drove for.
I have heard men say that seeing is believing; but I should say
that feeling is believing; for much as I had seen before,
I never knew till now the utter misery of a cab-horse's life.
Skinner had a low set of cabs and a low set of drivers;
he was hard on the men, and the men were hard on the horses.
In this place we had no Sunday rest, and it was in the heat of summer.
Sometimes on a Sunday morning a party of fast men would hire the cab
for the day; four of them inside and another with the driver,
and I had to take them ten or fifteen miles out into the country,
and back again; never would any of them get down to walk up a hill,
let it be ever so steep, or the day ever so hot -- unless, indeed,
when the driver was afraid I should not manage it, and sometimes
I was so fevered and worn that I could hardly touch my food.
How I used to long for the nice bran mash with niter in it
that Jerry used to give us on Saturday nights in hot weather,
that used to cool us down and make us so comfortable.
Then we had two nights and a whole day for unbroken rest,
and on Monday morning we were as fresh as young horses again;
but here there was no rest, and my driver was just as hard as his master.
He had a cruel whip with something so sharp at the end
that it sometimes drew blood, and he would even whip me under the belly,
and flip the lash out at my head. Indignities like these
took the heart out of me terribly, but still I did my best
and never hung back; for, as poor Ginger said, it was no use;
men are the strongest.
My life was now so utterly wretched that I wished I might, like Ginger,
drop down dead at my work and be out of my misery, and one day my wish
very nearly came to pass.
I went on the stand at eight in the morning, and had done
a good share of work, when we had to take a fare to the railway.
A long train was just expected in, so my driver pulled up at the back
of some of the outside cabs to take the chance of a return fare.
It was a very heavy train, and as all the cabs were soon engaged
ours was called for. There was a party of four; a noisy,
blustering man with a lady, a little boy and a young girl,
and a great deal of luggage. The lady and the boy got into the cab,
and while the man ordered about the luggage the young girl came
and looked at me.
"Papa," she said, "I am sure this poor horse cannot take us
and all our luggage so far, he is so very weak and worn up.
Do look at him."
"Oh! he's all right, miss," said my driver, "he's strong enough."
The porter, who was pulling about some heavy boxes,
suggested to the gentleman, as there was so much luggage,
whether he would not take a second cab.
"Can your horse do it, or can't he?" said the blustering man.
"Oh! he can do it all right, sir; send up the boxes, porter;
he could take more than that;" and he helped to haul up a box so heavy
that I could feel the springs go down.
"Papa, papa, do take a second cab," said the young girl in a beseeching tone.
"I am sure we are wrong, I am sure it is very cruel."
"Nonsense, Grace, get in at once, and don't make all this fuss;
a pretty thing it would be if a man of business had to examine
every cab-horse before he hired it -- the man knows his own business
of course; there, get in and hold your tongue!"
My gentle friend had to obey, and box after box was dragged up
and lodged on the top of the cab or settled by the side of the driver.
At last all was ready, and with his usual jerk at the rein
and slash of the whip he drove out of the station.
The load was very heavy and I had had neither food nor rest since morning;
but I did my best, as I always had done, in spite of cruelty and injustice.
- cottage [´kɔtidʒ]
n.村舍；小屋；小别墅 (初中英语单词) - stable [´steibəl] n.马棚 a.稳固的 (初中英语单词)
- improvement [im´pru:vmənt] n.改进，改善，进步 (初中英语单词)
- governor [´gʌvənə] n.总督；州长 (初中英语单词)
- dealer [´di:lə] n.商人 (初中英语单词)
- earnest [´ə:nist] a.认真的 n.认真；诚恳 (初中英语单词)
- collar [´kɔlə] n.衣领；(狗等的)项圈 (初中英语单词)
- steadily [´stedili] ad.坚定地；不断地 (初中英语单词)
- willing [´wiliŋ] a.情愿的，乐意的 (初中英语单词)
- carriage [´kæridʒ] n.马车；客车；货运 (初中英语单词)
- lightly [´laitli] ad.轻微地，稍微 (初中英语单词)
- polite [pə´lait] a.有礼貌的；温和的 (初中英语单词)
- thoroughly [´θʌrəli] ad.完全地，彻底地 (初中英语单词)
- daylight [´deilait] n.日光；黎明 (初中英语单词)
- permanent [´pə:mənənt] a.永久的；不变的 (初中英语单词)
- injury [´indʒəri] n.伤害；毁坏；侮辱 (初中英语单词)
- hooked [hukt] a.钩状的；上瘾的 (初中英语单词)
- misery [´mizəri] n.痛苦；悲惨；穷困 (初中英语单词)
- terribly [´terəbli] ad.可怕地 (初中英语单词)
- wretched [´retʃid] a.可怜的；倒霉的 (初中英语单词)
- continually [kən´tinjuəli] ad.不断地，频繁地 (高中英语单词)
- fatigue [fə´ti:g] n.&vt.(使)疲劳(劳累) (高中英语单词)
- detain [di´tein] vt.留住；拘留 (高中英语单词)
- painful [´peinfəl] a.痛(苦)的；费力的 (高中英语单词)
- threshold [´θreʃhəuld] n.门槛；入门；开端 (高中英语单词)
- misfortune [mis´fɔ:tʃən] n.不幸；灾祸 (高中英语单词)
- seeing [si:iŋ] see的现在分词 n.视觉 (高中英语单词)
- ginger [´dʒindʒə] n.姜；精神，元气 (高中英语单词)
- luggage [´lʌgidʒ] n.行李；皮箱 (高中英语单词)
- porter [´pɔ:tə] n.守门人；勤杂工人 (高中英语单词)
- cruelty [´kru:əlti] n.残忍；残酷行为 (高中英语单词)
- injustice [in´dʒʌstis] n.不公正，不公平 (高中英语单词)
- coachman [´kəutʃmən] n.赶马车人 (英语四级单词)
- uncommon [ʌn´kɔmən] a.非常的，非凡的，罕见的 (英语四级单词)
- drawing [´drɔ:iŋ] n.画图；制图；图样 (英语四级单词)
- cruelly [´kruəli] ad.残酷地；极，非常 (英语四级单词)
- foreman [´fɔ:mən] n.领班；陪审团主席 (英语四级单词)
- trying [´traiiŋ] a.难堪的；费劲的 (英语四级单词)
- unbroken [ʌn´brəukən] a.未破的；不间断的 (英语四级单词)
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