登陆注册
5170900000018

第18章

It was Empire, the resistless subjugation of all this central world of the lakes and the prairies.Here, mid-most in the land, beat the Heart of the Nation, whence inevitably must come its immeasurable power, its infinite, infinite, inexhaustible vitality.Here, of all her cities, throbbed the true life--the true power and spirit of America; gigantic, crude with the crudity of youth, disdaining rivalry; sane and healthy and vigorous; brutal in its ambition, arrogant in the new-found knowledge of its giant strength, prodigal of its wealth, infinite in its desires.In its capacity boundless, in its courage indomitable; subduing the wilderness in a single generation, defying calamity, and through the flame and the debris of a commonwealth in ashes, rising suddenly renewed, formidable, and Titanic.

Laura, her eyes dizzied, her ears stunned, watched tirelessly.

"There is something terrible about it," she murmured, half to herself, "something insensate.In a way, it doesn't seem human.It's like a great tidal wave.

It's all very well for the individual just so long as he can keep afloat, but once fallen, how horribly quick it would crush him, annihilate him, how horribly quick, and with such horrible indifference! I suppose it's civilisation in the making, the thing that isn't meant to be seen, as though it were too elemental, too--primordial; like the first verses of Genesis."The impression remained long with her, and not even the gaiety of their little supper could altogether disperse it.She was a little frightened--frightened of the vast, cruel machinery of the city's life, and of the men who could dare it, who conquered it.For a moment they seemed, in a sense, more terrible than the city itself--men for whom all this crash of conflict and commerce had no terrors.Those who could subdue it to their purposes, must they not be themselves more terrible, more pitiless, more brutal? She shrank a little.What could women ever know of the life of men, after all? Even Landry, extravagant as he was, so young, so exuberant, so seemingly innocent--she knew that he was spoken of as a good business man.He, too, then had his other side.For him the Battle of the Street was an exhilaration.Beneath that boyish exterior was the tough coarseness, the male hardness, the callousness that met the brunt and withstood the shock of onset.

Ah, these men of the city, what could women ever know of them, of their lives, of that other existence through which--freed from the influence of wife or mother, or daughter or sister--they passed every day from nine o'clock till evening? It was a life in which women had no part, and in which, should they enter it, they would no longer recognise son or husband, or father or brother.The gentle-mannered fellow, clean-minded, clean-handed, of the breakfast or supper table was one man.The other, who and what was he? Down there in the murk and grime of the business district raged the Battle of the Street, and therein he was a being transformed, case hardened, supremely selfish, asking no quarter; no, nor giving any.Fouled with the clutchings and grapplings of the attack, besmirched with the elbowing of low associates and obscure allies, he set his feet toward conquest, and mingled with the marchings of an army that surged forever forward and back; now in merciless assault, beating the fallen enemy under foot, now in repulse, equally merciless, trampling down the auxiliaries of the day before, in a panic dash for safety; always cruel, always selfish, always pitiless.

To contrast these men with such as Corthell was inevitable.She remembered him, to whom the business district was an unexplored country, who kept himself far from the fighting, his hands unstained, his feet unsullied.He passed his life gently, in the calm, still atmosphere of art, in the cult of the beautiful, unperturbed, tranquil; painting, reading, or, piece by piece, developing his beautiful stained glass.Him women could know, with him they could sympathise.And he could enter fully into their lives and help and stimulate them.Of the two existences which did she prefer, that of the business man, or that of the artist?

Then suddenly Laura surprised herself.After all, she was a daughter of the frontier, and the blood of those who had wrestled with a new world flowed in her body.

Yes, Corthell's was a beautiful life; the charm of dim painted windows, the attraction of darkened studios with their harmonies of color, their orientalisms, and their arabesques was strong.No doubt it all had its place.It fascinated her at times, in spite of herself.To relax the mind, to indulge the senses, to live in an environment of pervading beauty was delightful.But the men to whom the woman in her turned were not those of the studio.Terrible as the Battle of the Street was, it was yet battle.Only the strong and the brave might dare it, and the figure that held her imagination and her sympathy was not the artist, soft of hand and of speech, elaborating graces of sound and color and form, refined, sensitive, and temperamental; but the fighter, unknown and un-knowable to women as he was; hard, rigorous, panoplied in the harness of the warrior, who strove among the trumpets, and who, in the brunt of conflict, conspicuous, formidable, set the battle in a rage around him, and exulted like a champion in the shoutings of the captains.

They were not long at table, and by the time they were ready to depart it was about half-past five.But when they emerged into the street, it was discovered that once more the weather had abruptly changed.It was snowing thickly.Again a bitter wind from off the Lake tore through the streets.The slush and melted snow was freezing, and the north side of every lamp post and telegraph pole was sheeted with ice.

To add to their discomfort, the North State Street cars were blocked.When they gained the corner of Washington Street they could see where the congestion began, a few squares distant.

同类推荐
  • 道德经三帝注

    道德经三帝注

    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。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 家传女科经验摘奇

    家传女科经验摘奇

    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。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 回诤论

    回诤论

    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。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 佛说大方广十轮经

    佛说大方广十轮经

    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。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 送覃二判官

    送覃二判官

    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。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 杂记下

    杂记下

    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。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 异世谋生,丑夫强势宠

    异世谋生,丑夫强势宠

    腊月生无可恋,一觉醒来竟跑到了另外一个世界。这还不要紧,竟然还把这了部落里最丑的人给玷污了!可她连他的手都没碰一下,是怎么把他给污了!!从此后悲剧的人生开始了!挚天:“月儿,你今天看了卷毛三眼,是我没满足你吗……”腊月扶着小蛮腰,咬牙切齿“他才三个月大,我能有啥企图?”“月儿!你为什么总是看那只狐狸?是故意让我吃醋吗?……”腊月在心底咆哮,别人家都是四夫,三郎,五小妾,而她就那么一个,还是最丑的!她想洗洗眼睛怎么了?怎么了?“你是说我丑?”“不是!”腊月用手摸摸他胸口上那撮毛,“不是的!你最伟岸,最男人。”
  • 通天魔尊

    通天魔尊

    异种生命体借尸还魂穿越到魔域大陆,偶得神器,自创神功,猎杀幻兽,单挑魔神,笑傲大陆,却又毅然加入魔法学院,开启了他的炼金师之路……
  • 我的职业是剑仙

    我的职业是剑仙

    其他人在游戏中娱乐,享受,可我是在游戏中杀戮,争夺!以游戏的类型开始修行的道路~
  • 大瓷商

    大瓷商

    《大瓷商》选择从1910年至1945年这个中国历史大变革大动荡时期为背景,以主人公陶振江和陶家制瓷事业的命运为叙事中心线,以诚信、创新为精神支撑,以精品意识和品牌为导引,形象地反映了三十多年间的中国民族制瓷业和瓷商的发展史奋斗史,题材是独特的,内容是新鲜的,主题是丰富而又昂扬的,并富有许多积极的现实启示,当属弘扬民族精神的主旋律之作。
  • 某个落雨午后的一生

    某个落雨午后的一生

    在黑暗与雨声中,储先生觉得自己这漫长的一生倏忽间就从眼中流逝了,回忆起来真就像一场梦,似远又近,似真又假,仿佛这个秋日某个早上推开窗子看到的一场晨雾。当年,他与曹先生为了躲避搜捕,而在一位朋友的帮助下躲到了城外山脚森林中的一栋夏屋中。有一个清晨,他早早就醒了,晨曦初露照耀着森林中的一切,神秘得好似仙境一般。他站在窗前,无思无虑,沉浸在这难得的安宁中。这一场景,他在多年后还会常常想起,连同另一段与之相关的记忆。在曹先生和他们的事业成功之后,他重回那片森林,但那栋屋子已经不再。在那片湖泊边上,一切都如其所是,好像从未有过一栋房子在这里存在过一般,令他讶异。
  • 秀色农家

    秀色农家

    新书《念娘归录》正式开始上传,喜欢的亲们收藏收藏吧!西北战事起,突厥凶残,烧杀掠夺,伊州城内人心惶惶,百姓纷纷携家眷逃难而去。孤苦无依的余念娘淡定自若,丝毫不惧。幸好太原府来人。丫环双手合什:还是舅老爷心善,来接姑娘前去团聚!余念娘淡淡一笑:“去又如何?还不是寄人篱下
  • 电视编导基础教程

    电视编导基础教程

    这是本影视艺术基础课教材。全书共分六章,内容包括:电视编导的基本素养,栏目编导,剧作构成,情节铺排,影视元素,结构严谨。许多章节后面都附有学生作业,可供参考与借鉴。本书主要供与电视节目制作相关的专业师生做教材使用。
  • 宿主脑阔疼

    宿主脑阔疼

    简介是不可能写简介的。我叫苏小木,只要我足够溜,系统给我加的debuff就追不上我,我一点都不慌,就是脑阔有点疼。…………已有完本高订2万的老书《神豪无极限》。破碗破盆收破烂群:835679518,欢迎大家。
  • 彩樱森林

    彩樱森林

    在广阔的宇宙中,有一个云团。如果你走近一些会看见裹面有一颗很美丽的星球,尽管创世神把它的美丽藏在层层云海中,也包裹不住其绝色的锋芒。