登陆注册
19640200000004

第4章 III(1)

In that elect company I was silent, partly because I was conscious of my youthful inadequacy, and partly because I preferred to listen. But Longfellow always behaved as if I were saying a succession of edifying and delightful things, and from time to time he addressed himself to me, so that I should not feel left out. He did not talk much himself, and I recall nothing that he said. But he always spoke both wisely and simply, without the least touch of pose, and with no intention of effect, but with something that I must call quality for want of a better word; so that at a table where Holmes sparkled, and Lowell glowed, and Agassiz beamed, he cast the light of a gentle gaiety, which seemed to dim all these vivider luminaries. While he spoke you did not miss Fields's story or Tom Appleton's wit, or even the gracious amity of Mr. Norton, with his unequalled intuitions.

The supper was very plain: a cold turkey, which the host carved, or a haunch of venison, or some braces of grouse, or a platter of quails, with a deep bowl of salad, and the sympathetic companionship of those elect vintages which Longfellow loved, and which he chose with the inspiration of affection. We usually began with oysters, and when some one who was expected did not come promptly, Longfellow invited us to raid his plate, as a just punishment of his delay. One evening Lowell remarked, with the cayenne poised above his bluepoints, "It's astonishing how fond these fellows are of pepper."

The old friend of the cavernous arm-chair was perhaps not wide enough awake to repress an "Ah?" of deep interest in this fact of natural history, and Lowell was provoked to go on. "Yes, I've dropped a red pepper pod into a barrel of them, before now, and then taken them out in a solid mass, clinging to it like a swarm of bees to their queen."

"Is it possible?" cried the old friend; and then Longfellow intervened to save him from worse, and turned the talk.

I reproach myself that I made no record of the talk, for I find that only a few fragments of it have caught in my memory, and that the sieve which should have kept the gold has let it wash away with the gravel.

I remember once Doctor Holmes's talking of the physician as the true seer, whose awful gift it was to behold with the fatal second sight of science the shroud gathering to the throat of many a doomed man apparently in perfect health, and happy in the promise of unnumbered days. The thought may have been suggested by some of the toys of superstition which intellectual people like to play with.

I never could be quite sure at first that Longfellow's brother-in-law, Appleton, was seriously a spiritualist, even when he disputed the most strenuously with the unbelieving Autocrat. But he really was in earnest about it, though he relished a joke at the expense of his doctrine, like some clerics when they are in the safe company of other clerics. He told me once of having recounted to Agassiz the facts of a very remarkable seance, where the souls of the departed outdid themselves in the athletics and acrobatics they seem so fond of over there, throwing large stones across the room, moving pianos, and lifting dinner-tables and setting them a-twirl under the chandelier. "And now," he demanded, "what do you say to that?" "Well, Mr. Appleton," Agassiz answered, to Appleton's infinite delight, "I say that it did not happen."

同类推荐
  • 太上洞玄灵宝授度仪

    太上洞玄灵宝授度仪

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 清暑笔谈

    清暑笔谈

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 三琴记

    三琴记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 刘墉传奇

    刘墉传奇

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 清和真人北游语录

    清和真人北游语录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 佛说最上意陀罗尼经

    佛说最上意陀罗尼经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 业余情人

    业余情人

    她是爱情侦探,游走于各色男人之间。他是商业精英,掌控经济帝国大动脉。一次特殊任务,她被他反将一军!男人,很有种嘛!她的小宇宙彻底燃烧!当鬼才遇天才,激烈碰撞后,能否迸出爱的火焰?
  • 这四年

    这四年

    记录四年大学时光,快乐或失落,都是最真实的生活。
  • 傲娇小毒妃:鬼王,快躺好!

    傲娇小毒妃:鬼王,快躺好!

    她,兰雪沁,三大古武世家兰家娇宠的大小姐,竟然穿越成一个又聋又哑又痴傻的庶女?祖传异宝显神功,得绝世功法,九卷丹书,从此通晓毒医,修炼绝世功法,炼丹,炼阵,制符,驯兽,全都不在话下!渣妹欺凌,伪善嫡母迫害,打爆渣妹嫡母,打的她们跪地求饶!他,被迫害的皇子,潜藏在兰家的鬼面“亲哥哥”被她视为除了同母的亲哥哥之外最信任之人。“我能治好你脸上的伤。”“哦?如果沁儿能治好哥哥的伤,哥哥以身相许如何?”畜生,我把你当亲哥哥,你居然想睡我!"
  • 世界之巅

    世界之巅

    “主人,前方发现大量机甲,是否摧毁?”“入侵系统,把机甲核心都给我拿来给我强化机甲……”“是,主人。”“主人,前方发现一艘航空母舰,是否占领?”“大开杀戒也不太好,入侵系统,让他们瘫痪一会,再把他们送到偏远星球旅游旅游……”“是,主人。”“主人,主母请求视频通话,是否接受?”“不用了,你替我告诉她,我正在回家的路上,晚饭一定按时来吃……”“是,主人。”“主人……”“闭嘴,回家吃饭才是头等大事。”“是,主人。”
  • 重生之踹了渣男去种田

    重生之踹了渣男去种田

    前世,她误信良人,最后落了惨遭折磨,悔恨至死的下场;重生大学时,她斗恶人虐残渣,却意外多了一对萌宝;落跑回乡,带领乡亲脱贫致富;眼见着日子红红火火,只不过,这缠着跟着的又是谁?本文纯属虚构,请勿模仿。
  • 新月余晖:失落的古巴比伦

    新月余晖:失落的古巴比伦

    在这片神奇的土地上,不仅仅生活着巴比伦人,还生活着苏美尔人、亚述人、迦勒底人、波斯人以及其他民族,他们在巴比伦历史上扮演了重要的角色,共同奏响了巴比伦文明的辉煌乐章。巴比伦文明虽然早已远去,但其跌宕起伏的历史、神秘莫测的文字、辉煌雄伟的建筑、层出不穷的发明创造,至今依然让世人惊叹和折服。
  • 翾飒峡

    翾飒峡

    人魔大战,世间混乱。四皇相助,魔族败退。墨皇转世,风云再起。封印解除的几千年后,当一切回归原点;当大陆格局已经改变。看‘庶出少年’如何突破自我,令这大陆上的格局,再一次变化!不过这一次,她要和几位死党兼损友一起——共赴巅峰!天影:“在这一路上,你可愿不离不弃?”
  • 姐是个妖孽

    姐是个妖孽

    她,乃雪狐之女,是人与妖的结合体,原本无缘来到世间的她却因为一枚印章获得了新生。正是这枚印章,改变了她的一生,她的世界从此发生了翻天覆地的变化,命运的轨道逆转,将两颗向着相反方向运行的行星硬生生的牵连到了一起。
  • 不朽武皇

    不朽武皇

    武皇秦枫,转生在一个天资平平的镇国公少爷身上,从此之后一段轰杀天才之子,将他们踩于脚下。一尊法身可撼动天地,一柄魔刀可以破碎虚空。黑幽军队震破苍穹,一声怒吼,山河破碎!待我不公,你必丧命!从此开始,整个世界将为秦枫而颤抖!!!