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the professor at the breakfast table-第21部分
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which proclaims; first of all; peace and good…will to men; and; next
to that; the absolute; unconditional spiritual liberty of each
individual immortal soul! The three…hilled city against the seven…
hilled city! That is it; Sir;nothing less than that; and if you
know what that means; I don't think you'll ask for anything more。 I
swear to you; Sir; I believe that these two centres of civilization
are just exactly the two points that close the circuit in the battery
of our planetary intelligence! And I believe there are spiritual
eyes looking out from Uranus and unseen Neptune;ay; Sir; from the
systems of Sirius and Arcturus and Aldebaran; and as far as that
faint stain of sprinkled worlds confluent in the distance that we
call the nebula of Orion;looking on; Sir; with what organs I know
not; to see which are going to melt in that fiery fusion; the
accidents and hindrances of humanity or man himself; Sir;the
stupendous abortion; the illustrious failure that he is; if the
three…hilled city does not ride down and trample out the seven…hilled
city!
Steam 's up!said the young man John; so called; in a low tone。
Three hundred and sixty…five tons to the square inch。 Let him blow
her off; or he'll bu'st his b'iler。
The divinity…student took it calmly; only whispering that he thought
there was a little confusion of images between a galvanic battery and
a charge of cavalry。
But the Koh…i…noorthe gentleman; you remember; with a very large
diamond in his shirt…front laughed his scornful laugh; and made as if
to speak。
Sail in; Metropolis!said that same young man John; by name。 And
then; in a lower lane; not meaning to be heard;Now; then; Ma'am
Allen!
But he was heard;and the Koh…i…noor's face turned so white with
rage; that his blue…black moustache and beard looked fearful; seen
against it。 He grinned with wrath; and caught at a tumbler; as if he
would have thrown it or its contents at the speaker。 The young
Marylander fixed his clear; steady eye upon him; and laid his hand on
his arm; carelessly almost; but the Jewel found it was held so that
he could not move it。 It was of no use。 The youth was his master in
muscle; and in that deadly Indian hug in which men wrestle with their
eyes;over in five seconds; but breaks one of their two backs; and
is good for threescore years and ten;one trial enough;settles the
whole matter;just as when two feathered songsters of the barnyard;
game and dunghill; come together;…after a jump or two at each other;
and a few sharp kicks; there is the end of it; and it is; Apres vous;
Monsieur; with the beaten party in all the social relations for all
the rest of his days。
I cannot philosophically account for the Koh…i…noor's wrath。 For
though a cosmetic is sold; bearing the name of the lady to whom
reference was made by the young person John; yet; as it is publicly
asserted in respectable prints that this cosmetic is not a dye; I see
no reason why he should have felt offended by any suggestion that he
was indebted to it or its authoress。
I have no doubt that there are certain exceptional complexions to
which the purple tinge; above alluded to; is natural。 Nature is
fertile in variety。 I saw an albiness in London once; for sixpence;
(including the inspection of a stuffed boa…constrictor;) who looked
as if she had been boiled in milk。 A young Hottentot of my
acquaintance had his hair all in little pellets of the size of
marrow…fat peas。 One of my own classmates has undergone a singular
change of late years;his hair losing its original tint; and getting
a remarkable discolored look; and another has ceased to cultivate any
hair at all over the vertex or crown of the head。 So I am perfectly
willing to believe that the purple…black of the Koh…i…noor's
moustache and whiskers is constitutional and not pigmentary。 But I
can't think why he got so angry。
The intelligent reader will understand that all this pantomime of the
threatened onslaught and its suppression passed so quickly that it
was all over by the time the other end of the table found out there
was a disturbance; just as a man chopping wood half a mile off may be
seen resting on his axe at the instant you hear the last blow he
struck。 So you will please to observe that the Little Gentleman was
not; interrupted during the time implied by these ex…post…facto
remarks of mine; but for some ten or fifteen seconds only。
He did not seem to mind the interruption at all; for he started
again。 The 〃Sir〃 of his harangue was no doubt addressed to myself
more than anybody else; but he often uses it in discourse as if he
were talking with some imaginary opponent。
America; Sir;he exclaimed;is the only place where man is full…
grown!
He straightened himself up; as he spoke; standing on the top round of
his high chair; I suppose; and so presented the larger part of his
little figure to the view of the boarders。
It was next to impossible to keep from laughing。 The commentary was
so strange an illustration of the text! I thought it was time to put
in a word; for I have lived in foreign parts; and am more or less
cosmopolitan。
I doubt if we have more practical freedom in America than they have
in England;…I said。 An Englishman thinks as he likes in religion
and politics。 Mr。 Martineau speculates as freely as ever Dr。
Channing did; and Mr。 Bright is as independent as Mr。 Seward。
Sir;said he;it is n't what a man thinks or says; but when and
where and to whom he thinks and says it。 A man with a flint and
steel striking sparks over a wet blanket is one thing; and striking
them over a tinder…box is another。 The free Englishman is born under
protest; he lives and dies under protest;a tolerated; but not a
welcome fact。 Is not freethinker a term of reproach in England? The
same idea in the soul of an Englishman who struggled up to it and
still holds it antagonistically; and in the soul of an American to
whom it is congenital and spontaneous; and often unrecognized; except
as an element blended with all his thoughts; a natural movement; like
the drawing of his breath or the beating of his heart; is a very
different thing。 You may teach a quadruped to walk on his hind legs;
but he is always wanting to be on all fours。 Nothing that can be
taught a growing youth is like the atmospheric knowledge he breathes
from his infancy upwards。 The American baby sucks in freedom with
the milk of the breast at which he hangs。
That's a good joke;said the young fellow John;considerin' it
commonly belongs to a female Paddy。
I thoughtI will not be certainthat the Little Gentleman winked;
as if he had been hit somewhereas I have no doubt Dr。 Darwin did
when the wooden…spoon suggestion upset his theory about why; etc。 If
he winked; however; he did not dodge。
A lively comment!he said。 But Rome; in her great founder; sucked
the blood of empire out of the dugs of a brute; Sir! The Milesian
w
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