友情提示:如果本网页打开太慢或显示不完整,请尝试鼠标右键“刷新”本网页!阅读过程发现任何错误请告诉我们,谢谢!! 报告错误
飞读中文网 返回本书目录 我的书架 我的书签 TXT全本下载 进入书吧 加入书签

mark twain, a biography, 1900-1907-第29章

按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!



an earlier steamer; but it was the Princess Irene; which had brought
them; and they felt they would not make the return voyage on that vessel。 
During the period of waiting a curious thing happened。  Clemens one day
got up in a chair in his room on the second floor to pull down the high
window…sash。  It did not move easily and his hand slipped。  It was only
by the merest chance that he saved himself from falling to the ground far
below。  He mentions this in his note…book; and once; speaking of it to
Frederick Duneka; he said:

〃Had I fallen it would probably have killed me; and in my bereaved
circumstances the world would have been convinced that it was suicide。 
It was one of those curious coincidences which are always happening and
being misunderstood。〃

The homeward voyage and its sorrowful conclusion are pathetically
conveyed in his notes:

     June 29; 1904。  Sailed last night at 10。  The bugle…call to
     breakfast。  I recognized the notes and was distressed。  When I heard
     them last Livy heard them with me; now they fall upon her ear
     unheeded。

     In my life there have been 68 Junesbut how vague & colorless 67 of
     them are contrasted with the deep blackness of this one!

     July 1; 1904。  I cannot reproduce Livy's face in my mind's eyeI
     was never in my life able to reproduce a face。  It is a curious
     infirmity& now at last I realize it is a calamity。

     July 2; 1904。  In these 34 years we have made many voyages together;
     Livy dear& now we are making our last; you down below & lonely; I
     above with the crowd & lonely。

     July 3; 1904。  Ship…time; 8 A。M。  In 13 hours & a quarter it will be
     4 weeks since Livy died。

     Thirty…one years ago we made our first voyage together& this is
     our last one in company。  Susy was a year old then。  She died at 24
     & had been in her grave 8 years。

     July 10; 1904。  To…night it will be 5 weeks。  But to me it remains
     yesterdayas it has from the first。  But this funeral marchhow
     sad & long it is!

     Two days more will end the second stage of it。

     July 14; 1904 (ELMIRA)。  Funeral private in the house of Livy's
     young maidenhood。  Where she stood as a bride 34 years ago there her
     coffin rested; & over it the same voice that had made her a wife
     then committed her departed spirit to God now。

It was Joseph Twichell who rendered that last service。  Mr。 Beecher was
long since dead。  It was a simple; touching utterance; closing with this
tender word of farewell:

     Robert Browning; when he was nearing the end of his earthly days;
     said that death was the thing that we did not believe in。  Nor do we
     believe in it。  We who journeyed through the bygone years in
     companionship with the bright spirit now withdrawn are growing old。 
     The way behind is long; the way before is short。  The end cannot be
     far off。  But what of that?  Can we not say; each one:

          〃So long that power hath blessed me; sure it still 
                            Will lead me on;
            O'er moor and fen; o'er crag and torrent; till 
                           The night is gone;
              And with the morn; their angel faces smile;
            Which I have loved long since; and lost awhile!〃

     And so good…by。  Good…by; dear heart!  Strong; tender; and true。 
     Good…by until for us the morning break and these shadows fly away。

Dr。 Eastman; who had succeeded Mr。 Beecher; closed the service with a
prayer; and so the last office we can render in this life for those we
love was finished。

Clemens ordered that a simple marker should be placed at the grave;
bearing; besides the name; the record of birth and death; followed by the
German line:

                  'Gott sei dir gnadig; O meine Wonne'!





CCXXXIII

BEGINNING ANOTHER HOME

There was an extra cottage on the Gilder place at Tyringham; and this
they occupied for the rest of that sad summer。  Clemens; in his note…
book; has preserved some of its aspects and incidents。

July 24; 1904。  Rainrainrain。  Cold。  We built a fire in my room。 
Then clawed the logs out & threw water; remembering there was a brood of
swallows in the chimney。  The tragedy was averted。

July 31。  LEE; MASSACHUSETTS (BERKSHIRE HILLS)。  Last night the young
people out on a moonlight ride。  Trolley frightened Jean's horse
collisionhorse killed。  Rodman Gilder picked Jean up; unconscious; she
was taken to the doctor; per the car。  Face; nose; side; back contused;
tendon of left ankle broken。

August 10。  NEW YORK。  Clam here sicknever well since June 5。  Jean is
at the summer home in the Berkshire Hills crippled。

The next entry records the third death in the Clemens family within a
period of eight monthsthat of Mrs。 Moffett; who had been Pamela
Clemens。  Clemens writes:

     September 1。  Died at Greenwich; Connecticut; my sister; Pamela
     Moffett; aged about 73。

     Death dates this year January 14; June 5; September 1。

That fall they took a house in New York City; on the corner of Ninth
Street and Fifth Avenue; No。 21; remaining for a time at the Grosvenor
while the new home was being set in order。  The home furniture was
brought from Hartford; unwrapped; and established in the light of strange
environment。  Clemens wrote:

We have not seen it for thirteen years。  Katie Leary; our old
housekeeper; who has been in our service more than twenty…four years;
cried when she told me about it to…day。  She said; 〃I had forgotten it
was so beautiful; and it brought Mrs。 Clemens right back to mein that
old time when she was so young and lovely。〃

Clara Clemens had not recovered from the strain of her mother's long
illness and the shock of her death; and she was ordered into retirement
with the care of a trained nurse。  The life at 21 Fifth Avenue;
therefore; began with only two remaining members of the broken family
Clemens and Jean。

Clemens had undertaken to divert himself with work at Tyringham; though
without much success。  He was not well; he was restless and disturbed;
his heart bleak with a great loneliness。  He prepared an article on
Copyright for the 'North American Review';'Published Jan。; 7905。  A
dialogue presentation of copyright conditions; addressed to Thorwald
Stolberg; Register of Copyrights; Washington; D。  C。  One of the best of
Mark Twain's papers on the subject。' and he began; or at least
contemplated; that beautiful fancy; 'Eve's Diary'; which in the widest
and most reverential sense; from the first word to the last; conveys his
love; his worship; and his tenderness for the one he had laid away。 
Adam's single comment at the end; 〃Wheresoever she was; there was Eden;〃
was his own comment; and is perhaps the most tenderly beautiful line he
ever wrote。  These two books; Adam's Diary and Eve'samusing and
sometimes absurd as they are; and so far removed from the literalare as
autobiographic as anything he has done; and one of them as lovely in its
truth。  Like the first Maker of men; Mark Twain created Adam in his own
image; and his rare Eve is no less the companion with whom; half a
lifetime before; he had b
返回目录 上一页 下一页 回到顶部 0 0
未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!
温馨提示: 温看小说的同时发表评论,说出自己的看法和其它小伙伴们分享也不错哦!发表书评还可以获得积分和经验奖励,认真写原创书评 被采纳为精评可以获得大量金币、积分和经验奖励哦!