登陆注册
5380500000262

第262章

Higginson; so is Raphael Pumpelly; so is Mr.Secretary Hitchcock; so is Henderson; so is Learned; so is Summer; so is Franklin MacVeigh; so is Joseph L.Smith; so is Henry Copley Greene, when I am not occupying his house, which I am doing this season.Paint, literature, science, statesmanship, history, professorship, law, morals,--these are all represented here, yet crime is substantially unknown.

The summer homes of these refugees are sprinkled, a mile apart, among the forest-clad hills, with access to each other by firm smooth country roads which are so embowered in dense foliage that it is always twilight in there, and comfortable.The forests are spider-webbed with these good roads, they go everywhere; but for the help of the guide-boards, the stranger would not arrive anywhere.

The village--Dublin--is bunched together in its own place, but a good telephone service makes its markets handy to all those outliars.I have spelt it that way to be witty.The village executes orders on, the Boston plan--promptness and courtesy.

The summer homes are high-perched, as a rule, and have contenting outlooks.The house we occupy has one.Monadnock, a soaring double hump, rises into the sky at its left elbow--that is to say, it is close at hand.From the base of the long slant of the mountain the valley spreads away to the circling frame of the hills, and beyond the frame the billowy sweep of remote great ranges rises to view and flows, fold upon fold, wave upon wave, soft and blue and unwordly, to the horizon fifty miles away.In these October days Monadnock and the valley and its framing hills make an inspiring picture to look at, for they are sumptuously splashed and mottled and be-torched from sky-line to sky-line with the richest dyes the autumn can furnish; and when they lie flaming in the full drench of the mid-afternoon sun, the sight affects the spectator physically, it stirs his blood like military music.

These summer homes are commodious, well built, and well furnished--facts which sufficiently indicate that the owners built them to live in themselves.They have furnaces and wood fireplaces, and the rest of the comforts and conveniences of a city home, and can be comfortably occupied all the year round.

We cannot have this house next season, but I have secured Mrs.Upton's house which is over in the law and science quarter, two or three miles from here, and about the same distance from the art, literary, and scholastic groups.The science and law quarter has needed improving, this good while.

The nearest railway-station is distant something like an hour's drive; it is three hours from there to Boston, over a branch line.You can go to New York in six hours per branch lines if you change cars every time you think of it, but it is better to go to Boston and stop over and take the trunk line next day, then you do not get lost.

It is claimed that the atmosphere of the New Hampshire highlands is exceptionally bracing and stimulating, and a fine aid to hard and continuous work.It is a just claim, I think.I came in May, and wrought 35 successive days without a break.It is possible that I could not have done it elsewhere.I do not know; I have not had any disposition to try it, before.I think I got the disposition out of the atmosphere, this time.I feel quite sure, in fact, that that is where it came from.

I am ashamed to confess what an intolerable pile of manuscript I ground out in the 35 days, therefore I will keep the number of words to myself.

I wrote the first half of a long tale--"The Adventures of a Microbe" and put it away for a finish next summer, and started another long tale--"The Mysterious Stranger;" I wrote the first half of it and put it with the other for a finish next summer.I stopped, then.I was not tired, but Ihad no books on hand that needed finishing this year except one that was seven years old.After a little I took that one up and finished it.Not for publication, but to have it ready for revision next summer.

Since I stopped work I have had a two months' holiday.The summer has been my working time for 35 years; to have a holiday in it (in America)is new for me.I have not broken it, except to write "Eve's Diary" and "A Horse's Tale"--short things occupying the mill 12 days.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 异现场调查科前传1:血族革命

    异现场调查科前传1:血族革命

    超自然惊悚虐心之作,让人热血沸腾。宛如《冰与火之歌》,整本书出了N多领便当但是你一定很喜欢的人物……但,诺兰的传说永不褪色。如果有一天,诺兰真的逆天重生归来,是否可以用还魂术复活吉格飞?
  • 绝品王妃

    绝品王妃

    岳敏睡觉的时候穿越到一个叫做光明帝国的地方,并且成了光明帝国皇帝刚刚迎娶的妻子。只保留着穿越前的记忆的岳敏在大婚仪式上胡作非为,让皇帝丢尽了面子。皇帝大怒,还没等拜堂完成,就将岳敏抱入了洞房之内。按照光明帝国的规矩,没拜堂完成的男女如果洞房的话是要被浸猪笼的!【情节虚构,请勿模仿】
  • 醉太平

    醉太平

    期刊主编老费有个完美的家庭,这首先得益于他有一个完美的老婆刘以敏,令他万万没想到的是,他开会回来推开家门,竟发现老婆红杏出墙。他们离了婚……
  • PRINCE CASPIAN (英文朗读版)

    PRINCE CASPIAN (英文朗读版)

    《纳尼亚传奇》系列作品对后世作家影响深远,包括《哈利波特》系列的作者J·K·罗琳都曾表示自己深受C·S·刘易斯作品的影响。随着《纳尼亚传奇》系列故事改编成电影,全世界更多观众和读者开始认识这部不朽的作品。穿梭在一个又一个的纳尼亚冒险故事中,这绝对是你一生难忘的神奇旅程……
  • 九州奇缘之幽荧剑

    九州奇缘之幽荧剑

    上古妖兽封印千年,化作绝世魔剑“幽荧剑”。得幽荧剑者得天下!幽荧剑出天下乱,人魔两界血雨起,在这乱世之中,寻仙少年意外得到幽荧剑……
  • 猿岛

    猿岛

    一支边境建设船队在暴风雨的影响下,绝境之时,意外飘到一座猿人文明的岛屿——猿岛。看林枫,林涛,林胤三兄弟如何在危机与机遇中崛起。
  • 死亡游戏

    死亡游戏

    故事会编辑部编著的《死亡游戏》为“中国当代故事文学读本”悬念推理系列之六,不仅收入了当今故事界优秀作者的短篇精品力作,还首次整合了《故事会》杂志创刊以来尚未开发的悬念推理中篇故事资源。故事悬念迭起,疑云密布,让热爱悬疑推理故事的读者尽享阅读故事的乐趣。
  • 烟雨红颜

    烟雨红颜

    本书主要是从女性的角度,对中国历史上100位女性的爱情、命运的大致勾勒和简单评介。书中的人物大多为人耳熟能详,具有相当的代表性。这100位女性在历史上扮演了重要角色,甚至对历史走向有不同程度的影响。文字晓畅,幽默活泼;以现代人的眼光重新审视古人的命运和爱情,给人以启迪,视角独特。
  • 重生萌妻:刚好遇见你

    重生萌妻:刚好遇见你

    【重生宠文,1V1男女主】五年的感情却抵不上一套房子,渣男一家连同小三使计陷害,最终害的她家破人亡。重生后,她只想虐虐渣男、整整小三。却不料遇见只手遮天的豪门总裁,一言不合就要把她娶回家!“我不想嫁入豪门!”“我不想再过勾心斗角的生活了!”他说,“从现在开始,你只有三个选择:第一,嫁给我!第二,我娶你!第三,上述选择二选一!”
  • 三国之建筑塔防系统

    三国之建筑塔防系统

    吕布之勇无人可敌?我有塔防!诸葛亮智如妖?我有塔防!雄兵百万来袭?我还是有塔防!