米德尔马契 英文版 Middlemarch
乔治.艾略特 George Eliot
CHAPTER LVI. Page 1
"How happy is he born and taughtThat serveth not another's will;Whose armor is his honest thought,And simple truth his only skill!. . . . . . .This man is freed from servile bandsOf hope to rise or fear to fall;Lord of himself though not of lands;And having nothing yet hath all."--SIR HENRY WOTTON.
Dorothea's confidence in Caleb Garth's knowledge, which had begunon her hearing that he approved of her cottages, had grown fastduring her stay at Freshitt, Sir James having induced her to takerides over the two estates in company with himself and Caleb,who quite returned her admiration, and told his wife that Mrs. Casaubonhad a head for business most uncommon in a woman. It must beremembered that by "business" Caleb never meant money transactions,but the skilful application of labor.
"Most uncommon!" repeated Caleb. "She said a thing I often usedto think myself when I was a lad:--`Mr. Garth, I should liketo feel, if I lived to be old, that I had improved a great pieceof land and built a great many good cottages, because the workis of a healthy kind while it is being done, and after it is done,men are the better for it.' Those were the very words: she seesinto things in that way."
"But womanly, I hope," said Mrs. Garth, half suspecting thatMrs. Casaubon might not hold the true principle of subordination.
"Oh, you can't think!" said Caleb, shaking his head. "You wouldlike to hear her speak, Susan. She speaks in such plain words,and a voice like music. Bless me! it reminds me of bits in the`Messiah'--`and straightway there appeared a multitude of theheavenly host, praising God and saying;' it has a tone with itthat satisfies your ear."
Caleb was very fond of music, and when he could afford it wentto hear an oratorio that came within his reach, returning from itwith a profound reverence for this mighty structure of tones,which made him sit meditatively, looking on the floor and throwingmuch unutterable language into his outstretched hands.
With this good understanding between them, it was natural that Dorotheaasked Mr. Garth to undertake any business connected with the threefarms and the numerous tenements attached to Lowick Manor; indeed,his expectation of getting work for two was being fast fulfilled.As he said, "Business breeds." And one form of business which wasbeginning to breed just then was the construction of railways.A projected line was to run through Lowick parish where thecattle had hitherto grazed in a peace unbroken by astonishment;and thus it happened that the infant struggles of the railway systementered into the affairs of Caleb Garth, and determined the courseof this history with regard to two persons who were dear to him.The submarine railway may have its difficulties; but the bed of thesea is not divided among various landed proprietors with claimsfor damages not only measurable but sentimental. In the hundredto which Middlemarch belonged railways were as exciting a topic as theReform Bill or the imminent horrors of Cholera, and those who heldthe most decided views on the subject were women and landholders.Women both old and young regarded travelling by steam as presumptuousand dangerous, and argued against it by saying that nothing shouldinduce them to get into a railway carriage; while proprietors,differing from each other in their arguments as much as Mr. SolomonFeatherstone differed from Lord Medlicote, were yet unanimous in theopinion that in selling land, whether to the Enemy of mankind or to acompany obliged to purchase, these pernicious agencies must be madeto pay a very high price to landowners for permission to injure mankind.
But the slower wits, such as Mr. Solomon and Mrs. Waule,who both occupied land of their own, took a long time toarrive at this conclusion, their minds halting at the vividconception of what it would be to cut the Big Pasture in two,and turn it into three-cornered bits, which would be "nohow;"while accommodation-bridges and high payments were remote and incredible.
"The cows will all cast their calves, brother," said Mrs. Waule, in atone of deep melancholy, "if the railway comes across the Near Close;and I shouldn't wonder at the mare too, if she was in foal.It's a poor tale if a widow's property is to be spaded away,and the law say nothing to it. What's to hinder 'em from cuttingright and left if they begin? It's well known, _I_ can't fight."
"The best way would be to say nothing, and set somebody on to send 'emaway with a flea in their ear, when they came spying and measuring,"said Solomon. "Folks did that about Brassing, by what I can understand.It's all a pretence, if the truth was known, about their beingforced to take one way. Let 'em go cutting in another parish.And I don't believe in any pay to make amends for bringing a lotof ruffians to trample your crops. Where's a company's pocket?"
"Brother Peter, God forgive him, got money out of a company,"said Mrs. Waule. "But that was for the manganese. That wasn'tfor railways to blow you to pieces right and left."
"Well, there's this to be said, Jane," Mr. Solomon concluded,lowering his voice in a cautious manner--"the more spokes we putin their wheel, the more they'll pay us to let 'em go on, if theymust come whether or not."
This reasoning of Mr. Solomon's was perhaps less thorough thanhe imagined, his cunning bearing about the same relation to the courseof railways as the cunning of a diplomatist bears to the generalchill or catarrh of the solar system. But he set about acting on hisviews in a thoroughly diplomatic manner, by stimulating suspicion.His side of Lowick was the most remote from the village, and thehouses of the laboring people were either lone cottages or werecollected in a hamlet called Frick, where a water-mill and somestone-pits made a little centre of slow, heavy-shouldered industry.
In the absence of any precise idea as to what railways were,public opinion in Frick was against them; for the human mind in thatgrassy corner had not the proverbial tendency to admire the unknown,holding rather that it was likely to be against the poor man,and that suspicion was the only wise attitude with regard to it.Even the rumor of Reform had not yet excited any millennial expectationsin Frick, there being no definite promise in it, as of gratuitousgrains to fatten Hiram Ford's pig, or of a publican at the "Weightsand Scales" who would brew beer for nothing, or of an offer on thepart of the three neighboring farmers to raise wages during winter.And without distinct good of this kind in its promises, Reform seemedon a footing with the bragging of pedlers, which was a hint fordistrust to every knowing person. The men of Frick were not ill-fed,and were less given to fanaticism than to a strong muscular suspicion;less inclined to believe that they were peculiarly cared for by heaven,than to regard heaven itself as rather disposed to take them in--a disposition observable in the weather.
Thus the mind of Frick was exactly of the sort for Mr. SolomonFeatherstone to work upon, he having more plenteous ideas of thesame order, with a suspicion of heaven and earth which was betterfed and more entirely at leisure. Solomon was overseer of theroads at that time, and on his slow-paced cob often took hisrounds by Frick to look at the workmen getting the stones there,pausing with a mysterious deliberation, which might have misledyou into supposing that he had some other reason for stayingthan the mere want of impulse to move. After looking for a longwhile at any work that was going on, he would raise his eyes alittle and look at the horizon; finally he would shake his bridle,touch his horse with the whip, and get it to move slowly onward.The hour-hand of a clock was quick by comparison with Mr. Solomon,who had an agreeable sense that he could afford to be slow.He was in the habit of pausing for a cautious, vaguely designing chatwith every hedger or ditcher on his way, and was especially willingto listen even to news which he had heard before, feeling himselfat an advantage over all narrators in partially disbelieving them.One day, however, he got into a dialogue with Hiram Ford, a wagoner,in which he himself contributed information. He wished to know whetherHiram had seen fellows with staves and instruments spying about:they called themselves railroad people, but there was no tellingwhat they were or what they meant to do. The least they pretendedwas that they were going to cut Lowick Parish into sixes and sevens.
"Why, there'll be no stirrin' from one pla-ace to another,"said Hiram, thinking of his wagon and horses.
"Not a bit," said Mr. Solomon. "And cutting up fine land such asthis parish! Let 'em go into Tipton, say I. But there's no knowingwhat there is at the bottom of it. Traffic is what they put for'ard;but it's to do harm to the land and the poor man in the long-run."
"Why, they're Lunnon chaps, I reckon," said Hiram, who had a dimnotion of London as a centre of hostility to the country.
when he could afford it wentto hear an oratorio that came within his reach, returning from itwith a profound reverence?
"Ay, to be sure. And in some parts against Brassing, by what I'veheard say, the folks fell on 'em when they were spying, and broketheir peep-holes as they carry, and drove 'em away, so as they knewbetter than come again."
"It war good foon, I'd be bound," said Hiram, whose fun was muchrestricted by circumstances.
"Well, I wouldn't meddle with 'em myself," said Solomon."But some say this country's seen its best days, and the sign is,as it's being overrun with these fellows trampling right and left,and wanting to cut it up into railways; and all for the big trafficto swallow up the little, so as there shan't be a team left on the land,nor a whip to crack."
Brassing, by what I can understand.It's all a pretence, if the.
"I'll crack _my_ whip about their ear'n, afore they bring itto that, though," said Hiram, while Mr. Solomon, shaking his bridle,moved onward.
Nettle-seed needs no digging. The ruin of this countryside byrailroads was discussed, not only at the "Weights and Scales,"but in the hay-field, where the muster of working hands gaveopportunities for talk such as were rarely had through the rural year.
One morning, not long after that interview between Mr. Farebrotherand Mary Garth, in which she confessed to him her feeling forFred Vincy, it happened that her father had some business which tookhim to Yoddrell's farm in the direction of Frick: it was to measureand value an outlying piece of land belonging to Lowick Manor,which Caleb expected to dispose of advantageously for Dorothea (itmust be confessed that his bias was towards getting the best possibleterms from railroad companies). He put up his gig at Yoddrell's, and inwalking with his assistant and measuring-chain to the scene of his work,he encountered the party of the company's agents, who were adjustingtheir spirit-level. After a little chat he left them, observing thatby-and-by they would reach him again where he was going to measure.It was one of those gray mornings after light rains, which becomedelicious about twelve o'clock, when the clouds part a little,and the scent of the earth is sweet along the lanes and by the hedgerows.
The scent would have been sweeter to Fred Vincy, who was comingalong the lanes on horseback, if his mind had not been worriedby unsuccessful efforts to imagine what he was to do, with hisfather on one side expecting him straightway to enter the Church,with Mary on the other threatening to forsake him if he did enter it,and with the working-day world showing no eager need whateverof a young gentleman without capital and generally unskilled.It was the harder to Fred's disposition because his father,satisfied that he was no longer rebellious, was in good humor with him,and had sent him on this pleasant ride to see after some greyhounds.Even when he had fixed on what he should do, there would be the taskof telling his father. But it must be admitted that the fixing,which had to come first, was the more difficult task:--what secularavocation on earth was there for a young man (whose friends couldnot get him an "appointment") which was at once gentlemanly,lucrative, and to be followed without special knowledge?Riding along the lanes by Frick in this mood, and slackeninghis pace while he reflected whether he should venture to go roundby Lowick Parsonage to call on Mary, he could see over the hedgesfrom one field to another. Suddenly a noise roused his attention,and on the far side of a field on his left hand he could see sixor seven men in smock-frocks with hay-forks in their hands makingan offensive approach towards the four railway agents who werefacing them, while Caleb Garth and his assistant were hasteningacross the field to join the threatened group. Fred, delayed a fewmoments by having to find the gate, could not gallop up to the spotbefore the party in smock-frocks, whose work of turning the hayhad not been too pressing after swallowing their mid-day beer,were driving the men in coats before them with their hay-forks;while Caleb Garth's assistant, a lad of seventeen, who had snatchedup the spirit-level at Caleb's order, had been knocked down andseemed to be lying helpless. The coated men had the advantageas runners, and Fred covered their retreat by getting in frontof the smock-frocks and charging them suddenly enough to throwtheir chase into confusion. "What do you confounded fools mean?"shouted Fred, pursuing the divided group in a zigzag, and cuttingright and left with his whip. "I'll swear to every one of youbefore the magistrate. You've knocked the lad down and killed him,for what I know. You'll every one of you be hanged at the next assizes,if you don't mind," said Fred, who afterwards laughed heartily as heremembered his own phrases.
The laborers had been driven through the gate-way into theirhay-field, and Fred had checked his horse, when Hiram Ford,observing himself at a safe challenging distance, turned backand shouted a defiance which he did not know to be Homeric.
"Yo're a coward, yo are. Yo git off your horse, young measter,and I'll have a round wi' ye, I wull. Yo daredn't come on wi'outyour hoss an' whip. I'd soon knock the breath out on ye, I would."
"Wait a minute, and I'll come back presently, and have a roundwith you all in turn, if you like," said Fred, who felt confidencein his power of boxing with his dearly beloved brethren. But justnow he wanted to hasten back to Caleb and the prostrate youth.
The lad's ankle was strained, and he was in much pain from it,but he was no further hurt, and Fred placed him on the horse that hemight ride to Yoddrell's and be taken care of there.
"Let them put the horse in the stable, and tell the surveyors theycan come back for their traps," said Fred. "The ground is clear now."
"No, no," said Caleb, "here's a breakage. They'll have to give upfor to-day, and it will be as well. Here, take the things before youon the horse, Tom. They'll see you coming, and they'll turn back."
"I'm glad I happened to be here at the right moment, Mr. Garth,"said Fred, as Tom rode away. "No knowing what might have happenedif the cavalry had not come up in time."
"Ay, ay, it was lucky," said Caleb, speaking rather absently,and looking towards the spot where he had been at work at the momentof interruption. "But--deuce take it--this is what comes of menbeing fools--I'm hindered of my day's work. I can't get alongwithout somebody to help me with the measuring-chain. However!"He was beginning to move towards the spot with a look of vexation,as if he had forgotten Fred's presence, but suddenly he turned roundand said quickly, "What have you got to do to-day, young fellow?"
"Nothing, Mr. Garth. I'll help you with pleasure--can I?" said Fred,with a sense that he should be courting Mary when he was helpingher father.
"Well, you mustn't mind stooping and getting hot."
"I don't mind anything. Only I want to go first and have a roundwith that hulky fellow who turned to challenge me. It wouldbe a good lesson for him. I shall not be five minutes."
"Nonsense!" said Caleb, with his most peremptory intonation."I shall go and speak to the men myself. It's all ignorance.Somebody has been telling them lies. The poor fools don't knowany better."
"I shall go with you, then," said Fred.
"No, no; stay where you are. I don't want your young blood.I can take care of myself."
Caleb was a powerful man and knew little of any fear except the fearof hurting others and the fear of having to speechify. But he feltit his duty at this moment to try and give a little harangue.There was a striking mixture in him--which came from his havingalways been a hard-working man himself--of rigorous notions aboutworkmen and practical indulgence towards them. To do a good day'swork and to do it well, he held to be part of their welfare, as itwas the chief part of his own happiness; but he had a strong senseof fellowship with them. When he advanced towards the laborersthey had not gone to work again, but were standing in that formof rural grouping which consists in each turning a shoulder towardsthe other, at a distance of two or three yards. They lookedrather sulkily at Caleb, who walked quickly with one hand in hispocket and the other thrust between the buttons of his waistcoat,and had his every-day mild air when he paused among them.
"Why, my lads, how's this?" he began, taking as usual to brief phrases,which seemed pregnant to himself, because he had many thoughts lyingunder them, like the abundant roots of a plant that just manages topeep above the water. "How came you to make such a mistake as this?Somebody has been telling you lies. You thought those men up therewanted to do mischief."
"Aw!" was the answer, dropped at intervals by each accordingto his degree of unreadiness.
"Nonsense! No such thing! They're looking out to see which way therailroad is to take. Now, my lads, you can't hinder the railroad:it will be made whether you like it or not. And if you go fightingagainst it, you'll get yourselves into trouble. The law givesthose men leave to come here on the land. The owner has nothingto say against it, and if you meddle with them you'll have to dowith the constable and Justice Blakesley, and with the handcuffsand Middlemarch jail. And you might be in for it now, if anybodyinformed against you."
Caleb paused here, and perhaps the greatest orator could not havechosen either his pause or his images better for the occasion.
"But come, you didn't mean any harm. Somebody told you the railroadwas a bad thing. That was a lie. It may do a bit of harm hereand there, to this and to that; and so does the sun in heaven.But the railway's a good thing."
"Aw! good for the big folks to make money out on," said oldTimothy Cooper, who had stayed behind turning his hay whilethe others had been gone on their spree;--"I'n seen lots o'things turn up sin' I war a young un--the war an' the peace,and the canells, an' the oald King George, an' the Regen', an'the new King George, an' the new un as has got a new ne-ame--an'it's been all aloike to the poor mon. What's the canells been t' him?They'n brought him neyther me-at nor be-acon, nor wage to lay by,if he didn't save it wi' clemmin' his own inside. Times ha'got wusser for him sin' I war a young un. An' so it'll be wi'the railroads. They'll on'y leave the poor mon furder behind.But them are fools as meddle, and so I told the chaps here.This is the big folks's world, this is. But yo're for the big folks,Muster Garth, yo are."