第 2 节
作者:双曲线      更新:2021-02-18 21:32      字数:4109
  of Russia and his eldest son; twenty…one and a half lines;
  and the other tells about the atrocious destruction of a
  peasant child by its parents; forty lines; or one…fifth
  of the total of the reading…matter contained in the paper。
  Consider what a fifth part of the reading…matter of an American
  daily paper issued in a city of one hundred and seventy
  thousand inhabitants amounts to! Think what a mass it is。
  Would any one suppose I could so snugly tuck away such a
  mass in a chapter of this book that it would be difficult
  to find it again in the reader lost his place? Surely not。
  I will translate that child…murder word for word;
  to give the reader a realizing sense of what a fifth
  part of the reading…matter of a Munich daily actually
  is when it comes under measurement of the eye:
  〃From Oberkreuzberg; January 21st; the DONAU ZEITUNG
  receives a long account of a crime; which we shortened
  as follows: In Rametuach; a village near Eppenschlag;
  lived a young married couple with two children; one of which;
  a boy aged five; was born three years before the marriage。
  For this reason; and also because a relative at Iggensbach
  had bequeathed M400 (100) to the boy; the heartless
  father considered him in the way; so the unnatural
  parents determined to sacrifice him in the cruelest
  possible manner。  They proceeded to starve him slowly
  to death; meantime frightfully maltreating himas the
  village people now make known; when it is too late。
  The boy was shut in a hole; and when people passed
  by he cried; and implored them to give him bread。
  His long…continued tortures and deprivations destroyed
  him at last; on the third of January。  The sudden (sic)
  death of the child created suspicion; the more so as the
  body was immediately clothed and laid upon the bier。
  Therefore the coroner gave notice; and an inquest was held
  on the 6th。  What a pitiful spectacle was disclosed then!
  The body was a complete skeleton。  The stomach and intestines
  were utterly empty; they contained nothing whatsoever。
  The flesh on the corpse was not as thick as the back of
  a knife; and incisions in it brought not one drop of blood。
  There was not a piece of sound skin the size of a dollar
  on the whole body; wounds; scars; bruises; discolored
  extravasated blood; everywhereeven on the soles of
  the feet there were wounds。  The cruel parents asserted
  that the boy had been so bad that they had been obliged
  to use severe punishments; and that he finally fell over
  a bench and broke his neck。  However; they were arrested
  two weeks after the inquest and put in the prison at Deggendorf。〃
  Yes; they were arrested 〃two weeks after the inquest。〃
  What a home sound that has。  That kind of police briskness
  rather more reminds me of my native land than German
  journalism does。
  I think a German daily journal doesn't do any good to
  speak of; but at the same time it doesn't do any harm。
  That is a very large merit; and should not be lightly
  weighted nor lightly thought of。
  The German humorous papers are beautifully printed upon
  fine paper; and the illustrations are finely drawn;
  finely engraved; and are not vapidly funny; but deliciously so。
  So also; generally speaking; are the two or three terse
  sentences which accompany the pictures。  I remember one
  of these pictures: A most dilapidated tramp is ruefully
  contemplating some coins which lie in his open palm。
  He says: 〃Well; begging is getting played out。  Only about
  five marks (1。25) for the whole day; many an official
  makes more!〃 And I call to mind a picture of a commercial
  traveler who is about to unroll his samples:
  MERCHANT (pettishly)。NO; don't。 I don't want to buy anything!
  DRUMMER。If you please; I was only going to show you
  MERCHANT。But I don't wish to see them!
  DRUMMER (after a pause; pleadingly)。But do you you mind
  letting ME look at them! I haven't seen them for three weeks!
  End