第 58 节
作者:
恐龙王 更新:2021-03-08 19:22 字数:9322
and on the shortest notice you may revolve in a whirlpool of red
shirts; shaggy beards; wild heads of hair; bare tattooed arms;
Britannia's daughters; malice; mud; maundering; and madness。 Down
by the Docks; scraping fiddles go in the public…houses all day
long; and; shrill above their din and all the din; rises the
screeching of innumerable parrots brought from foreign parts; who
appear to be very much astonished by what they find on these native
shores of ours。 Possibly the parrots don't know; possibly they do;
that Down by the Docks is the road to the Pacific Ocean; with its
lovely islands; where the savage girls plait flowers; and the
savage boys carve cocoa…nut shells; and the grim blind idols muse
in their shady groves to exactly the same purpose as the priests
and chiefs。 And possibly the parrots don't know; possibly they do;
that the noble savage is a wearisome impostor wherever he is; and
has five hundred thousand volumes of indifferent rhyme; and no
reason; to answer for。
Shadwell church! Pleasant whispers of there being a fresher air
down the river than down by the Docks; go pursuing one another;
playfully; in and out of the openings in its spire。 Gigantic in
the basin just beyond the church; looms my Emigrant Ship: her
name; the Amazon。 Her figure…head is not disfigured as those
beauteous founders of the race of strong…minded women are fabled to
have been; for the convenience of drawing the bow; but I sympathise
with the carver:
A flattering carver who made it his care
To carve busts as they ought to be … not as they were。
My Emigrant Ship lies broadside…on to the wharf。 Two great
gangways made of spars and planks connect her with the wharf; and
up and down these gangways; perpetually crowding to and fro and in
and out; like ants; are the Emigrants who are going to sail in my
Emigrant Ship。 Some with cabbages; some with loaves of bread; some
with cheese and butter; some with milk and beer; some with boxes;
beds; and bundles; some with babies … nearly all with children …
nearly all with bran…new tin cans for their daily allowance of
water; uncomfortably suggestive of a tin flavour in the drink。 To
and fro; up and down; aboard and ashore; swarming here and there
and everywhere; my Emigrants。 And still as the Dock…Gate swings
upon its hinges; cabs appear; and carts appear; and vans appear;
bringing more of my Emigrants; with more cabbages; more loaves;
more cheese and butter; more milk and beer; more boxes; beds; and
bundles; more tin cans; and on those shipping investments
accumulated compound interest of children。
I go aboard my Emigrant Ship。 I go first to the great cabin; and
find it in the usual condition of a Cabin at that pass。 Perspiring
landsmen; with loose papers; and with pens and inkstands; pervade
it; and the general appearance of things is as if the late Mr。
Amazon's funeral had just come home from the cemetery; and the
disconsolate Mrs。 Amazon's trustees found the affairs in great
disorder; and were looking high and low for the will。 I go out on
the poop…deck; for air; and surveying the emigrants on the deck
below (indeed they are crowded all about me; up there too); find
more pens and inkstands in action; and more papers; and
interminable complication respecting accounts with individuals for
tin cans and what not。 But nobody is in an ill…temper; nobody is
the worse for drink; nobody swears an oath or uses a coarse word;
nobody appears depressed; nobody is weeping; and down upon the deck
in every corner where it is possible to find a few square feet to
kneel; crouch; or lie in; people; in every unsuitable attitude for
writing; are writing letters。
Now; I have seen emigrant ships before this day in June。 And these
people are so strikingly different from all other people in like
circumstances whom I have ever seen; that I wonder aloud; 'What
WOULD a stranger suppose these emigrants to be!'
The vigilant; bright face of the weather…browned captain of the
Amazon is at my shoulder; and he says; 'What; indeed! The most of
these came aboard yesterday evening。 They came from various parts
of England in small parties that had never seen one another before。
Yet they had not been a couple of hours on board; when they
established their own police; made their own regulations; and set
their own watches at all the hatchways。 Before nine o'clock; the
ship was as orderly and as quiet as a man…of…war。'
I looked about me again; and saw the letter…writing going on with
the most curious composure。 Perfectly abstracted in the midst of
the crowd; while great casks were swinging aloft; and being lowered
into the hold; while hot agents were hurrying up and down;
adjusting the interminable accounts; while two hundred strangers
were searching everywhere for two hundred other strangers; and were
asking questions about them of two hundred more; while the children
played up and down all the steps; and in and out among all the
people's legs; and were beheld; to the general dismay; toppling
over all the dangerous places; the letter…writers wrote on calmly。
On the starboard side of the ship; a grizzled man dictated a long
letter to another grizzled man in an immense fur cap: which letter
was of so profound a quality; that it became necessary for the
amanuensis at intervals to take off his fur cap in both his hands;
for the ventilation of his brain; and stare at him who dictated; as
a man of many mysteries who was worth looking at。 On the lar…board
side; a woman had covered a belaying…pin with a white cloth to make
a neat desk of it; and was sitting on a little box; writing with
the deliberation of a bookkeeper。 Down; upon her breast on the
planks of the deck at this woman's feet; with her head diving in
under a beam of the bulwarks on that side; as an eligible place of
refuge for her sheet of paper; a neat and pretty girl wrote for a
good hour (she fainted at last); only rising to the surface
occasionally for a dip of ink。 Alongside the boat; close to me on
the poop…deck; another girl; a fresh; well…grown country girl; was
writing another letter on the bare deck。 Later in the day; when
this self…same boat was filled with a choir who sang glees and
catches for a long time; one of the singers; a girl; sang her part
mechanically all the while; and wrote a letter in the bottom of the
boat while doing so。
'A stranger would be puzzled to guess the right name for these
people; Mr。 Uncommercial;' says the captain。
'Indeed he would。'
'If you hadn't known; could you ever have supposed … ?'
'How could I! I should have said they were in their degree; the
pick and flower of England。'
'So should I;' says the captain。
'How many are they?'
'Eight hundred in round numbers。'
I went between…decks; where the families with children swarmed in
the dark; where unavoidable confusion had been caused by the last
arrivals; and where the confusion was increased by the little
preparations for dinner that were going on in each group。 A few
women here and there; had got lost; and were laughing at it; and
asking their way to their own people; or out on deck again。 A few
of the poor children were crying; but otherwise the universal
cheerfulness was amazing。 'We shall shake down by to…morrow。' 'We
shall come all right in a day or so。' 'We shall have more light at
sea。' Such phrases I heard everywhere; as I groped my way among
chests and barrels and beams and unstowed cargo and ring…bolts and
Emigrants; down to the lower…deck; and thence up to the light of
day again; and to my former station。
Surely; an extraordinary people in their power of self…abstraction!
All the former letter…writers were still writing calmly; and many
more letter…writers had broken out in my absence。 A boy with a bag
of books in his hand and a slate under his arm; emerged from below;
concentrated himself in my neighbourhood (espying a convenient
skylight for his purpose); and went to work at a sum as if he were
stone deaf。 A father and mother and several young children; on the
main deck below me; had formed a family circle close to the foot of
the crowded restless gangway; where the children made a nest for
themselves in a coil of rope; and the father and mother; she
suckling the youngest; discussed family affairs as peaceably as if
they were in perfect retirement。 I think the most noticeable
characteristic in the eight hundred as a mass; was their exemption
from hurry。
Eight hundred what? 'Geese; villain?' EIGHT HUNDRED MORMONS。 I;
Uncommercial Traveller for the firm of Human Interest Brothers; had
come aboard this Emigrant Ship to see what Eight hundred Latter…day
Saints were like; and I found them (to the rout and overthrow of
all my expectations) like what I now describe with scrupulous
exactness。
The Mormon Agent who had been active in getting them together; and
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