登陆注册
22487600000009

第9章 SCHOOLS:LLANBLETHIAN;PARIS;LONDON(3)

"It was close to this spot that one of the few adventures occurred which marked,in my mind,my boyish days with importance.When loitering beyond the castle,on the way to school,with a brother somewhat older than myself,who was uniformly my champion and protector,we espied a round sloe high up in the hedge-row.We determined to obtain it;and I do not remember whether both of us,or only my brother,climbed the tree.However,when the prize was all but reached,--and no alchemist ever looked more eagerly for the moment of projection which was to give him immortality and omnipotence,--a gruff voice startled us with an oath,and an order to desist;and Iwell recollect looking back,for long after,with terror to the vision of an old and ill-tempered farmer,armed with a bill-hook,and vowing our decapitation;nor did I subsequently remember without triumph the eloquence whereby alone,in my firm belief,my brother and myself had been rescued from instant death.

"At the entrance of the little town stood an old gateway,with a pointed arch and decaying battlements.It gave admittance to the street which contained the church,and which terminated in another street,the principal one in the town of C----.In this was situated the school to which I daily wended.I cannot now recall to mind the face of its good conductor,nor of any of his scholars;but I have before me a strong general image of the interior of his establishment.

I remember the reverence with which I was wont to carry to his seat a well-thumbed duodecimo,the _History of Greece_by Oliver Goldsmith.

I remember the mental agonies I endured in attempting to master the art and mystery of penmanship;a craft in which,alas,I remained too short a time under Mr.R----to become as great a proficient as he made his other scholars,and which my awkwardness has prevented me from attaining in any considerable perfection under my various subsequent pedagogues.But that which has left behind it a brilliant trait of light was the exhibition of what are called 'Christmas pieces;'things unknown in aristocratic seminaries,but constantly used at the comparatively humble academy which supplied the best knowledge of reading,writing,and arithmetic to be attained in that remote neighborhood.

"The long desks covered from end to end with those painted masterpieces,the Life of Robinson Crusoe,the Hunting of Chevy-Chase,the History of Jack the Giant-Killer,and all the little eager faces and trembling hands bent over these,and filling them up with some choice quotation,sacred or profane;--no,the galleries of art,the theatrical exhibitions,the reviews and processions,--which are only not childish because they are practiced and admired by men instead of children,--all the pomps and vanities of great cities,have shown me no revelation of glory such as did that crowded school-room the week before the Christmas holidays.But these were the splendors of life.

The truest and the strongest feelings do not connect themselves with any scenes of gorgeous and gaudy magnificence;they are bound up in the remembrances of home.

"The narrow orchard,with its grove of old apple-trees against one of which I used to lean,and while I brandished a beanstalk,roar out with Fitzjames,--'Come one,come all;this rock shall fly From its firm base as soon as I!'--while I was ready to squall at the sight of a cur,and run valorously away from a casually approaching cow;the field close beside it,where I rolled about in summer among the hay;the brook in which,despite of maid and mother,I waded by the hour;the garden where I sowed flower-seeds,and then turned up the ground again and planted potatoes,and then rooted out the potatoes to insert acorns and apple-pips,and at last,as may be supposed,reaped neither roses,nor potatoes,nor oak-trees,nor apples;the grass-plots on which I played among those with whom I never can play nor work again:all these are places and employments,--and,alas,playmates,--such as,if it were worth while to weep at all,it would be worth weeping that I enjoy no longer.

"I remember the house where I first grew familiar with peacocks;and the mill-stream into which I once fell;and the religious awe wherewith I heard,in the warm twilight,the psalm-singing around the house of the Methodist miller;and the door-post against which Idischarged my brazen artillery;I remember the window by which I sat while my mother taught me French;and the patch of garden which I dug for--But her name is best left blank;it was indeed writ in water.

These recollections are to me like the wealth of a departed friend,a mournful treasure.But the public has heard enough of them;to it they are worthless:they are a coin which only circulates at its true value between the different periods of an individual's existence,and good for nothing but to keep up a commerce between boyhood and manhood.I have for years looked forward to the possibility of visiting L----;but I am told that it is a changed village;and not only has man been at work,but the old yew on the hill has fallen,and scarcely a low stump remains of the tree which I delighted in childhood to think might have furnished bows for the Norman archers."[3]

In Cowbridge is some kind of free school,or grammar-school,of a certain distinction;and this to Captain Sterling was probably a motive for settling in the neighborhood of it with his children.Of this however,as it turned out,there was no use made:the Sterling family,during its continuance in those parts,did not need more than a primary school.The worthy master who presided over these Christmas galas,and had the honor to teach John Sterling his reading and writing,was an elderly Mr.Reece of Cowbridge,who still (in 1851)survives,or lately did;and is still remembered by his old pupils as a worthy,ingenious and kindly man,"who wore drab breeches and white stockings."Beyond the Reece sphere of tuition John Sterling did not go in this locality.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 天龙录

    天龙录

    剑气纵横四海,豪情壮志无边。少年虽输才俊,一笑江湖云天,师出闲杂门派,但凡一剑惊天,唯恐江湖不乱,唯我逍遥独在人间
  • 黎明轨迹

    黎明轨迹

    钢铁黎明,是人类历史上最黑暗的一段历史,人们不知道当初到底发生了什么,只知道在钢铁黎明终于过去了以后,世界变了,全球百分之九十的土地已经不再适合人类居住。当末世来临,人类迷茫的生活在这个已经死去的世界,却越来越难以看到黎明的到来。
  • 除灵专业户

    除灵专业户

    没看到,未必就是不存在的,这个世界上的一切,都没有表面上那么简单!我叫李镇冥,上天注定我一出生就踏入了一个普通人或许永远也无法接触到的世界。而踏入这个世界对我来说,却也未尝不是好事,至少,它让我通过这个世界,看清楚了我们人类自己那因为各种原因,而出现的种种,让我恐惧和恶心的劣根!但我并不知道,在这层对我来说,已经有着足够冲击的劣根的背后,竟然还隐藏着更深的,已经足足持续了近千年的阴谋和诡计。而那对我来说无比惊惧的东西,只不过是被我不经意间触碰到的东西而已……
  • 融入虚空

    融入虚空

    一座府邸,四块令牌,万千年之后谁能成为大陆上又一个传奇。
  • 这个异世界真的是游戏吗

    这个异世界真的是游戏吗

    东历2026年,一个自称为创世神的疯子瘫痪了整个世界的网络,并开放了一款名为“幻域”的异世界游戏。从零开始的异世界,受到强制召唤的林凡,决定在这个“游戏”中大展身手。可爱小萝莉,傲娇美少女,腹黑大姐头。S级神兽坐骑,四方领域之战,克图格亚帝国。且看林凡如何征战这个异世界!(新人新书求点击求收藏求推荐)
  • 沙漏做招牌的疗养院

    沙漏做招牌的疗养院

    《沙漏做招牌的疗养院》出版于1937年,由十三个短篇组成:一本无法描述、不曾写出之书,凭借集邮册阅读的春天,疗养院的人面狗,局外人多多,重读小学的老头,死后复生成螃蟹、被家人分食的父亲……取材于作者的童年与家庭,其中加入大量奇诡的想象、瑰丽的意象以及晦涩的隐喻,使现实与梦境难分难辨。文字精致而诗意,充满画面感与音乐感。本书翻译主要依据John Curran Davis的英译本。
  • 曹操雄才伟略的16字箴言

    曹操雄才伟略的16字箴言

    本书遵循正史的要求,依据力求翔实的史料和严谨的研究考证,科学、全面地“正说”曹操。对曹操生平事迹给予完整系统的介绍和评说,在读者非常感兴趣的、存在诸多疑问和偏颇的地方给予尽可能全面准确地解答,以还原一个真实的曹操,帮助世人将曹操的历史人物形象与流传的曹操艺术形象区别开来,还曹操一个客观公正的历史评价。难能可贵的是,曹操是三国中最善于从对立的两面去看问题的人。他对于阳谋和阴谋都了然于胸,做恶人他不怕背负罪名,做好人他不求世人报答,阴谋阳谋使用起来都得心应手。本书适合所有领导者,所有想成为领导的人,所有想升职的人,所有想发财的人,所有想获得幸福的人,所有想结识天下朋友的人阅读。
  • 傲世第一兵神

    傲世第一兵神

    他听到了不该听到的,看到了不该看到的,惨遭毒手,被人活埋,意外遭受到诡异的雷击,雷电淬体,从此以后,他犹如:战神下凡,纵横都市,快意恩仇。勤奋好学,打拼创业,一步步走上人生巅峰。
  • 天行

    天行

    号称“北辰骑神”的天才玩家以自创的“牧马冲锋流”战术击败了国服第一弓手北冥雪,被誉为天纵战榜第一骑士的他,却受到小人排挤,最终离开了效力已久的银狐俱乐部。是沉沦,还是再次崛起?恰逢其时,月恒集团第四款游戏“天行”正式上线,虚拟世界再起风云!
  • 域界主宰

    域界主宰

    战六合斗八荒与天争,与地争,与命争看平凡少年唐宇如何在这万族林立,天才齐出的大世走过漫漫武道,成就万古传奇。