第 20 节
作者:青词      更新:2021-08-14 15:19      字数:9322
  the twinkle in his eye。
  It   is   very   much   the   same   thing   with   money。   We   do   not   notice   how
  often   it   slips   into   the   conversation。   〃Out   of   the   fullness   of   the   heart   the
  mouth speaketh。〃 Talk to an American of a painter and the charm of his
  work。 He will be sure to ask; 〃Do his pictures sell well?〃 and will lose all
  interest if you say he can't sell them at all。 As if that had anything to do
  with it!
  Remembering the well…known anecdote of Schopenhauer and the gold
  piece which he used to put beside his plate at the TABLE D'HOTE; where
  he ate; surrounded by the young officers of the German army; and which
  was to be given to the poor the first time he heard any conversation that
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  was    not   about   promotion      or  women;     I  have   been    tempted    to  try  the
  experiment in our clubs; changing the subjects to stocks and sport; and feel
  confident that my contributions to charity would not ruin me。
  All this has had the result of making our men dull companions; after
  dinner; or at a country house; if the subject they love is tabooed; they talk
  of nothing! It is sad for a rich man (unless his mind has remained entirely
  between the   leaves   of   his ledger)   to   realize   that money  really  buys   very
  little; and above a certain amount can give no satisfaction in proportion to
  its   bulk;   beyond   that   delight   which   comes   from   a   sense   of   possession。
  Croesus often discovers as he grows old that he has neglected to provide
  himself with the only thing that 〃is a joy for ever〃 … a cultivated intellect …
  in order to amass a fortune that turns to ashes; when he has time to ask of
  it any of the pleasures and resources he fondly imagined it would afford
  him。   Like   Talleyrand's   young   man   who   would   not   learn   whist;   he   finds
  that he has prepared for himself a dreadful old age!
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  CHAPTER 16 … A Holy Land
  NOT   long   ago   an   article   came   under   my   notice   descriptive   of   the
  neighborhood around Grant's tomb and the calm that midsummer brings to
  that vicinity; laughingly referred to as the 〃Holy Land。〃
  As     careless    fingers    wandering      over    the   strings    of  a   violin   may
  unintentionally        strike    a   chord;     so   the    writer    of    those    lines;    all
  unconsciously; with a jest; set vibrating a world of tender memories and
  associations;   for   the   region   spoken   of   is   truly   a   holy   land   to   me;   the
  playground   of   my   youth;   and   connected   with   the   sweetest   ties   that   can
  bind one's thoughts to the past。
  Ernest   Renan   in   his   SOUVENIRS   D'ENFANCE;   tells   of   a   Brittany
  legend;   firmly   believed   in   that   wild   land;   of   the   vanished   city   of   〃Is;〃
  which   ages   ago   disappeared   beneath   the   waves。  The   peasants   still   point
  out   at   a   certain   place   on   the   coast   the   site   of   the   fabled   city;   and   the
  fishermen tell how during great storms   they have caught glimpses of   its
  belfries and ramparts far down between the waves; and assert that on calm
  summer nights they can hear the bells chiming up from those depths。 I also
  have a vanished 〃Is〃 in my heart; and as I grow older; I love to listen to the
  murmurs that float up from the past。 They seem to come from an infinite
  distance; almost like echoes from another life。
  At that enchanted time we lived during the summers in an old wooden
  house   my   father   had   re…arranged   into   a   fairly   comfortable   dwelling。   A
  tradition; which no one had ever taken the trouble to verify; averred that
  Washington   had   once   lived   there;  which   made   that hero   very  real   to   us。
  The   picturesque   old   house   stood   high   on   a   slope   where   the   land   rises
  boldly;   with   an   admirable   view   of   distant   mountain;   river   and   opposing
  Palisades。
  The   new   Riverside   drive   (which;   by   the   bye;   should   make   us   very
  lenient toward the men who robbed our city a score of years ago; for they
  left us that vast work in atonement); has so changed the neighborhood it is
  impossible   now   for   pious   feet   to   make   a   pilgrimage   to   those   childish
  shrines。     One    house;    however;     still  stands    as  when     it  was   our   nearest
  neighbor。 It had sheltered General Gage; land for many acres around had
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  belonged to him。 He was an enthusiastic gardener; and imported; among a
  hundred   other   fruits   and   plants;   the   〃Queen   Claude〃   plum   from   France;
  which was successfully acclimated on his   farm。   In New York a   plum  of
  that kind is still called a 〃green gage。〃 The house has changed hands many
  times   since   we   used   to   play   around   the   Grecian   pillars   of   its   portico。 A
  recent owner; dissatisfied doubtless with its classic simplicity; has painted
  it   a   cheerful   mustard   color   and   crowned it   with   a   fine new   MANSARD
  roof。   Thus   disfigured;   and   shorn   of   its   surrounding   trees;   the   poor   old
  house stands blankly by the roadside; reminding one of the Greek statue in
  Anstey's 〃Painted Venus〃 after the London barber had decorated her to his
  taste。 When driving by there now; I close my eyes。
  Another      house;    where    we    used    to  be   taken   to  play;   was    that  of
  Audubon; in the park of that name。 Many a rainy afternoon I have passed
  with his children choosing our favorite birds in the glass cases that filled
  every nook and corner of the tumble…down old place; or turning over the
  leaves of the enormous volumes he would so graciously take down from
  their places for our amusement。 I often wonder what has become of those
  vast IN…FOLIOS; and if any one ever opens them now and admires as we
  did   the   glowing   colored   plates   in   which   the   old   ornithologist   took   such
  pride。 There is something infinitely sad in the idea of a collection of books
  slowly gathered together at the price of privations and sacrifices; cherished;
  fondled; lovingly read; and then at the owner's death; coldly sent away to
  stand for  ever unopened   on the shelves of some public   library。 It   is   like
  neglecting poor dumb children!
  An event that made a profound impression on my childish imagination
  occurred   while   my   father;   who   was   never   tired   of   improving   our   little
  domain;   was   cutting   a   pathway   down   the   steep   side   of   the   slope   to   the
  river。   A   great   slab;   dislodged   by   a   workman's   pick;   fell   disclosing   the
  grave of an Indian chief。 In a low archway or shallow cave sat the skeleton
  of the chieftain; his bows and arrows arranged around him on the ground;
  mingled with fragments of an elaborate costume; of which little remained
  but the bead…work。 That it was the tomb of a man great among his people
  was   evident   from   the   care   with   which   the   grave   had   been   prepared   and
  then    hidden;    proving     how;    hundreds     of   years   before    our   civilization;
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  another race had chosen this noble cliff and stately river landscape as the
  fitting framework for a great warrior's tomb。
  This   discovery  made   no little   stir   in   the  scientific   world   of   that   day。
  Hundreds came to see it; and as photography had not then come into the
  world; many drawings were made and casts taken; and finally the whole
  thing was removed to the rooms of the Historical Society。 From that day
  the lonely little path held an awful charm for us。 Our childish readings of
  Cooper had developed in us that love of the Indian and his wild life; so
  characteristic of boyhood thirty years ago。 On still summer afternoons; the
  place    had   a  primeval     calm    that  froze   the  young     blood    in  our   veins。
  Although   we   prided   ourselves   on   our   quality   as   〃braves;〃   and   secretly
  pined to be led on the war…path; we were shy of walking in that vicinity in
  daylight; and   no   power on   earth;  not even the offer   of the   tomahawk   or
  snow…shoes   for   which   our   souls   longed;   would   have   taken   us   there   at
  night。
  A place connected in my memory with a tragic association was acro