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the professor at the breakfast table-第22部分
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the blood of empire out of the dugs of a brute; Sir! The Milesian
wet…nurse is only a convenient vessel through which the American
infant gets the life…blood of this virgin soil; Sir; that is making
man over again; on the sunset pattern! You don't think what we are
doing and going to do here。 Why; Sir; while commentators are
bothering themselves with interpretation of prophecies; we have got
the new heavens and the new earth over us and under us! Was there
ever anything in Italy; I should like to know; like a Boston sunset?
This time there was a laugh; and the little man himself almost
smiled。
Yes;Boston sunsets;perhaps they're as good in some other places;
but I know 'em best here。 Anyhow; the American skies are different
from anything they see in the Old World。 Yes; and the rocks are
different; and the soil is different; and everything that comes out
of the soil; from grass up to Indians; is different。 And now that
the provisional races are dying out…
What do you mean by the provisional races; Sir?said the divinity…
student; interrupting him。
Why; the aboriginal bipeds; to be sure;he answered;the red…crayon
sketch of humanity laid on the canvas before the colors for the real
manhood were ready。
I hope they will come to something yet;said the divinity…student。
Irreclaimable; Sir;irreclaimable!said the Little Gentleman。
Cheaper to breed white men than domesticate a nation of red ones。
When you can get the bitter out of the partridge's thigh; you can
make an enlightened commonwealth of Indians。 A provisional race;
Sir;nothing more。 Exhaled carbonic acid for the use of vegetation;
kept down the bears and catamounts; enjoyed themselves in scalping
and being scalped; and then passed away or are passing away;
according to the programme。
Well; Sir; these races dying out; the white man has to acclimate
himself。 It takes him a good while; but he will come all right by…
and…by; Sir;as sound as a woodchuck;as sound as a musquash!
A new nursery; Sir; with Lake Superior and Huron and all the rest of
'em for wash…basins! A new race; and a whole new world for the new…
born human soul to work in! And Boston is the brain of it; and has
been any time these hundred years! That's all I claim for Boston;
that it is the thinking centre of the continent; and therefore of the
planet。
And the grand emporium of modesty;said the divinity…student; a
little mischievously。
Oh; don't talk to me of modesty!answered the Little Gentleman;I
'm past that! There is n't a thing that was ever said or done in
Boston; from pitching the tea overboard to the last ecclesiastical
lie it tore into tatters and flung into the dock; that was n't
thought very indelicate by some fool or tyrant or bigot; and all the
entrails of commercial and spiritual conservatism are twisted into
colics as often as this revolutionary brain of ours has a fit of
thinking come over it。 No; Sir;show me any other place that is;
or was since the megalosaurus has died out; where wealth and social
influence are so fairly divided between the stationary and the
progressive classes! Show me any other place where every other
drawing…room is not a chamber of the Inquisition; with papas and
mammas for inquisitors;and the cold shoulder; instead of the 〃dry
pan and the gradual fire;〃 the punishment of 〃heresy〃!
We think Baltimore is a pretty civilized kind of a village;said
the young Marylander; good…naturedly。 But I suppose you can't
forgive it for always keeping a little ahead of Boston in point of
numbers;tell the truth now。 Are we not the centre of something?
Ah; indeed; to be sure you are。 You are the gastronomic metropolis
of the Union。 Why don't you put a canvas…back…duck on the top of the
Washington column? Why don't you get that lady off from Battle
Monument and plant a terrapin in her place? Why will you ask for
other glories when you have soft crabs? No; Sir;you live too well
to think as hard as we do in Boston。 Logic comes to us with the
salt…fish of Cape Ann; rhetoric is born of the beans of Beverly; but
youif you open your mouths to speak; Nature stops them with a fat
oyster; or offers a slice of the breast of your divine bird; and
silences all your aspirations。
And what of Philadelphia?said the Marylander。
Oh; Philadelphia?Waterworks;killed by the Croton and Cochituate;…
…Ben Franklin;borrowed from Boston;David Rittenhouse;made an
orrery;Benjamin Rush;made a medical system;both interesting to
antiquarians;great Red…river raft of medical students;spontaneous
generation of professors to match;more widely known through the
Moyamensing hose…company; and the Wistar parties;…for geological
section of social strata; go to The Club。 Good place to live in;
first…rate market;tip…top peaches。 What do we know about
Philadelphia; except that the engine…companies are always shooting
each other?
And what do you say to New York?asked the Koh…i…noor。
A great city; Sir;replied the Little Gentleman;a very opulent;
splendid city。 A point of transit of much that is remarkable; and of
permanence for much that is respectable。 A great money…centre。 San
Francisco with the mines above…ground;and some of 'em under the
sidewalks。 I have seen next to nothing grandiose; out of New York;
in all our cities。 It makes 'em all look paltry and petty。 Has many
elements of civilization。 May stop where Venice did; though; for
aught we know。 The order of its development is just this:Wealth;
architecture; upholstery; painting; sculpture。 Printing; as a
mechanical art;just as Nicholas Jepson and the Aldi; who were
scholars too; made Venice renowned for it。 Journalism; which is the
accident of business and crowded populations; in great perfection。
Venice got as far as Titian and Paul Veronese and Tintoretto;great
colorists; mark you; magnificent on the flesh…and…blood side of Art;…
…but look over to Florence and see who lie in Santa Crocea; and ask
out of whose loins Dante sprung!
Oh; yes; to be sure; Venice built her Ducal Palace; and her Church of
St。 Mark; and her Casa d' Or; and the rest of her golden houses; and
Venice had great pictures and good music; and Venice had a Golden
Book; in which all the large tax…payers had their names written;but
all that did not make Venice the brain of Italy。
I tell you what; Sir;with all these magnificent appliances of
civilization; it is time we began to hear something from the djinnis
donee whose names are on the Golden Book of our sumptuous; splendid;
marble…placed Venice;something in the higher walks of literature;
something in the councils of the nation。 Plenty of Art; I grant you;
Sir; now; then; for vast libraries; and for mighty scholars and
thinkers and statesmen;five for every Boston one; as the population
is to ours;ten to one more properly; in virtue of centralizing
attraction as the alleged metropolis; and not call our people
provincials; and have to come b
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