登陆注册
5269500000040

第40章 THE LITTLE TOWN OF THE GRAPE VINES(2)

There are two occasions when you may count on that kind of a meal; always on the Sixteenth of September, and on the two-yearly visits of Father Shannon. It is absurd, of course, that El Pueblo de Las Uvas should have an Irish priest, but Black Rock, Minton, Jimville, and all that country round do not find it so. Father Shannon visits them all, waits by the Red Butte to confess the shepherds who go through with their flocks, carries blessing to small and isolated mines, and so in the course of a year or so works around to Las Uvas to bury and marry and christen. Then all the little graves in the Campo Santo are brave with tapers, the brown pine headboards blossom like Aaron's rod with paper roses and bright cheap prints of Our Lady of Sorrows. Then the Senora Sevadra, who thinks herself elect of heaven for that office, gathers up the original sinners, the little Elijias, Lolas, Manuelitas, Joses, and Felipes, by dint of adjurations and sweets smuggled into small perspiring palms, to fit them for the Sacrament.

I used to peek in at them, never so softly, in Dona Ina's living-room; Raphael-eyed little imps, going sidewise on their knees to rest them from the bare floor, candles lit on the mantel to give a religious air, and a great sheaf of wild bloom before the Holy Family. Come Sunday they set out the altar in the schoolhouse, with the fine-drawn altar cloths, the beaten silver candlesticks, and the wax images, chief glory of Las Uvas, brought up mule-back from Old Mexico forty years ago. All in white the communicants go up two and two in a hushed, sweet awe to take the body of their Lord, and Tomaso, who is priest's boy, tries not to look unduly puffed up by his office. After that you have dinner and a bottle of wine that ripened on the sunny slope of Escondito.

All the week Father Shannon has shriven his people, who bring clean conscience to the betterment of appetite, and the Father sets them an example. Father Shannon is rather big about the middle to accommodate the large laugh that lives in him, but a most shrewd searcher of hearts. It is reported that one derives comfort from his confessional, and I for my part believe it.

The celebration of the Sixteenth, though it comes every year, takes as long to prepare for as Holy Communion. The senoritas have each a new dress apiece, the senoras a new rebosa. The young gentlemen have new silver trimmings to their sombreros, unspeakable ties, silk handkerchiefs, and new leathers to their spurs. At this time when the peppers glow in the gardens and the young quail cry "cuidado," "have a care!" you can hear the plump, plump of the metate from the alcoves of the vines where comfortable old dames, whose experience gives them the touch of art, are pounding out corn for tamales.

School-teachers from abroad have tried before now at Las Uvas to have school begin on the first of September, but got nothing else to stir in the heads of the little Castros, Garcias, and Romeros but feasts and cock-fights until after the Sixteenth.

Perhaps you need to be told that this is the anniversary of the Republic, when liberty awoke and cried in the provinces of Old Mexico. You are aroused at midnight to hear them shouting in the streets, "Vive la Libertad!" answered from the houses and the recesses of the vines, "Vive la Mexico!" At sunrise shots are fired commemorating the tragedy of unhappy Maximilian, and then music, the noblest of national hymns, as the great flag of Old Mexico floats up the flag-pole in the bare little plaza of shabby Las Uvas. The sun over Pine Mountain greets the eagle of Montezuma before it touches the vineyards and the town, and the day begins with a great shout. By and by there will be a reading of the Declaration of Independence and an address punctured by vives; all the town in its best dress, and some exhibits of horsemanship that make lathered bits and bloody spurs; also a cock-fight.

同类推荐
  • 春明丛说

    春明丛说

    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。
  • Mr. Bonaparte of Corsica

    Mr. Bonaparte of Corsica

    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。
  • 丹房须知

    丹房须知

    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。
  • 佛临涅槃记法住经

    佛临涅槃记法住经

    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。
  • 七域修真证品图

    七域修真证品图

    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
  • 震撼中国的100位英雄模范人生

    震撼中国的100位英雄模范人生

    虽然生活的年代不同、事迹不同,但他们都为新中国的成立作出了贡献。他们坚定的理想信念、崇高的人生境界和无私奉献的精神永远值得我们学习! 他们是民族的英雄,时代的先锋,祖国的骄傲!他们的名字如璀璨的明星,照亮了后人前行的道路!他们的功绩会永远载入中华人民共和国的史册!他们永远是人们学习的榜样! 八女投江、夏明翰、张学良、杨虎城、白求恩、刘胡兰、狼牙山五壮士、董存瑞……他们的人生都是壮美的。他们的名字令人感动、催人奋进。本书属人物传记类图书。本书以“双百”人物为对象,再现了他们光荣模范的一生事迹,为弘扬爱国精神、社会主义文明提供榜样。
  • 毓老师讲学记

    毓老师讲学记

    许仁图编著的《毓老师讲学记》乃总结一代大儒爱新觉罗·毓鋆在台六十多年来书院讲学之集大成之作,首次向读者阐述毓老的讲学,其拯世真文和不传之秘开启了中华文化的又一村。毓老读书百年,读出了活学问;教学六十余年,讲的都是实学。毓老之学重实用,实用当然要易知易行,讲学要讲到听者能懂。他说:向学子讲学,不是大师;跟老百姓讲学,才是大师。毓老讲学一贯遵循依经解经的方法,学宗孔子,接棒熊十力,讲述两千多年前的古人智慧,用到二十一世纪的今天,不仅历久弥新,而且玉润珠圆。毓老用其饱经世患的生命,启迪众多学子无尽的智慧。他强调,智慧无古今,要古为今用,我们读古书为的是存智慧,不要为古人化妆。
  • 低碳城市:让我们的城市轻松呼吸

    低碳城市:让我们的城市轻松呼吸

    低碳不仅仅是一种概念,低碳生活也不仅仅是一种时尚,它与我们的生活息息相关,这是一件利在千秋万代的大事。节水、节电、节气,摒弃高碳模式,崇尚低碳生活……就是身边这些不起眼的小事可以让低碳生活变为现实,让我们为低碳环境、绿色地球作出自己的贡献!
  • 魔境主宰

    魔境主宰

    携带记忆,涅槃而生!联邦时代,整个世界分为二十四时区,对应了全球游戏《魔境》的十六界域。魔境公测的首日,第六界域·千界树,却迎来了一个截然不同的灵魂。PS:混合了北欧,希腊神话的原创世界观,有些地方自带魔改。福利群(入群需要全订截图):869711307(盗版用户勿扰)
  • 苦恼的叙述者

    苦恼的叙述者

    《苦恼的叙述者》由赵毅衡所著,大部分篇幅,都是讨论叙述形式问题,过于深入到细节之中。为了醒目起见,我把《苦恼的叙述者》的分析原则在此作简要说明。在全书开头讲这问题,有先人为主之嫌,实际上,下面的讨论应是全书的结论。建议有兴趣的读者看完全书后不妨再读此节。
  • 人死为大

    人死为大

    我叫金乾。3岁克死母亲,6岁令父亲发疯,11岁抚养我的外公外婆又双双因我而死。我出生的时候,伴随有红云现世,道士说我命中带血,会克死身边的人,必须娶一个厉鬼为妻,方能以毒攻毒……
  • 冷少的追妻日常

    冷少的追妻日常

    这是一场势均力敌的角力赛,是一场你追我跑的追逐赛,她躲得辛苦,他却追得开心。她咆哮:“你TM是不是没有见过女人啊!”他淡定:“女人无数,心却只为你而跳动,”她是来自黑暗的天使,眼角邪肆,笑容纯粹。她颜色姝丽,聪明绝顶凌驾于芸芸众生。她如天域雪山,神圣不可侵犯。在她自己眼里:擦,这说的是她么?他是无人不晓的冷少,权倾天下让各色女人趋之若狂。在他自己眼里:追老婆好辛苦,老婆,求宠啊!
  • 每天读一点大师投资学

    每天读一点大师投资学

    随着中国资本市场的壮大,“穷者越穷、富者越富”的马太效应日益彰显,投资技巧已经成为致富的基本功。但西方投资大师的著作繁多,且晦涩难懂,让广大中国投资者望而生畏,《每天读一点大师投资学》深入浅出,让大家只读一本书就掌握本杰明·格雷厄姆、沃伦.巴菲特、乔治·索罗斯、吉姆·罗杰斯、詹姆斯·P·奥肖内西、范·K·撒普、罗伯特·希勒、阿瑟·莱维特八位投资大师的投资经验,轻轻松松掌握投资精髓。中国投资者还面临一个问题,那就是中国资本市场起步晚,制度不完善,运用西方投资大师的理论需要结合中国实际,作者在这方面也给出了操作建议。衷心希望《每天读一点大师投资学》能成为您运用大师投资智慧的起点。
  • 爱神迷踪馆

    爱神迷踪馆

    在一场山泥倾泄的灾难里,夏雨瞳借助尹熙妍的身躯复活了,这令她和尹熙妍的男友日凉产生了痛苦悱恻的感情。日凉的好友沐小轩决定拯救夏雨瞳,协助她到伍德切斯特公馆寻找复活的机会,却先后遇到九宫王族背叛者偃柒夜和吸血鬼殇夕。殇夕因此发现了夏雨瞳的纯吸血鬼体质,为得到她的能力而搞出许多是非,并且利用尹熙妍来打击她这段复杂的感情。
  • 木叶平民之光

    木叶平民之光

    穿越到火影小家小户,成为没有外星人血统、没有血迹、没有系统、没有高级忍术、没有背景的5五无扑街,想要改变炮灰的命运,想要写轮眼、白眼、木遁怎么办?掘不来墓,学不到秽土怎么办?