登陆注册
5382300000024

第24章 CHAPTER IV(2)

as the old proverb has it, 'but a thing is not soon done.' How are we to economise? Even without saving we have the greatest difficulty to make the two ends meet."

"Then the widow and daughters might work and gain a livelihood."

"What, pray, could they work at?" asked Batushka, and paused for a reply. Seeing that I had none to offer him, he continued, "Even the house and land belong not to them, but to the new priest."

"If that position occurred in a novel," I said, "I could foretell what would happen. The author would make the new priest fall in love with and marry one of the daughters, and then the whole family, including the mother-in-law, would live happily ever afterwards."

"That is exactly how the Bishop arranges the matter. What the novelist does with the puppets of his imagination, the Bishop does with real beings of flesh and blood. As a rational being he cannot leave things to chance. Besides this, he must arrange the matter before the young man takes orders, because, by the rules of the Church, the marriage cannot take place after the ceremony of ordination. When the affair is arranged before the charge becomes vacant, the old priest can die with the pleasant consciousness that his family is provided for."

"Well, Batushka, you certainly put the matter in a very plausible way, but there seem to be two flaws in the analogy. The novelist can make two people fall in love with each other, and make them live happily together with the mother-in-law, but that--with all due respect to his Reverence, be it said--is beyond the power of a Bishop."

"I am not sure," said Batushka, avoiding the point of the objection, "that love-marriages are always the happiest ones; and as to the mother-in-law, there are--or at least there were until the emancipation of the serfs--a mother-in-law and several daughters-in-law in almost every peasant household."

"And does harmony generally reign in peasant households?"

"That depends upon the head of the house. If he is a man of the right sort, he can keep the women-folks in order." This remark was made in an energetic tone, with the evident intention of assuring me that the speaker was himself "a man of the right sort"; but I

did not attribute much importance to it, for I have occasionally heard henpecked husbands talk in this grandiloquent way when their wives were out of hearing. Altogether I was by no means convinced that the system of providing for the widows and orphans of the clergy by means of mariages de convenance was a good one, but I

determined to suspend my judgment until I should obtain fuller information.

An additional bit of evidence came to me a week or two later. One morning, on going into the priest's house, I found that he had a friend with him--the priest of a village some fifteen miles off.

Before we had got through the ordinary conventional remarks about the weather and the crops, a peasant drove up to the door in his cart with a message that an old peasant was dying in a neighbouring village, and desired the last consolations of religion. Batushka was thus obliged to leave us, and his friend and I agreed to stroll leisurely in the direction of the village to which he was going, so as to meet him on his way home. The harvest was already finished, so that our road, after emerging from the village, lay through stubble-fields. Beyond this we entered the pine forest, and by the time we had reached this point I had succeeded in leading the conversation to the subject of clerical marriages.

"I have been thinking a good deal on this subject," I said, "and I

should very much like to know your opinion about the system."

My new acquaintance was a tall, lean, black-haired man, with a sallow complexion and vinegar aspect--evidently one of those unhappy mortals who are intended by Nature to take a pessimistic view of all things, and to point out to their fellows the deep shadows of human life. I was not at all surprised, therefore, when be replied in a deep, decided tone, "Bad, very bad--utterly bad!"

The way in which these words were pronounced left no doubt as to the opinion of the speaker, but I was desirous of knowing on what that opinion was founded--more especially as I seemed to detect in the tone a note of personal grievance. My answer was shaped accordingly.

"I suspected that; but in the discussions which I have had I have always been placed at a disadvantage, not being able to adduce any definite facts in support of my opinion."

"You may congratulate yourself on being unable to find any in your own experience. A mother-in-law living in the house does not conduce to domestic harmony. I don't know how it is in your country, but so it is with us."

I hastened to assure him that this was not a peculiarity of Russia.

"I know it only too well," he continued. "My mother-in-law lived with me for some years, and I was obliged at last to insist on her going to another son-in-law."

"Rather selfish conduct towards your brother-in-law," I said to myself, and then added audibly, "I hope you have thus solved the difficulty satisfactorily."

"Not at all. Things are worse now than they were. I agreed to pay her three roubles a month, and have regularly fulfilled my promise, but lately she has thought it not enough, and she made a complaint to the Bishop. Last week I went to him to defend myself, but as I

had not money enough for all the officials in the Consistorium, I

could not obtain justice. My mother-in-law had made all sorts of absurd accusations against me, and consequently I was laid under an inhibition for six weeks!"

"And what is the effect of an inhibition?"

"The effect is that I cannot perform the ordinary rites of our religion. It is really very unjust," he added, assuming an indignant tone, "and very annoying. Think of all the hardship and inconvenience to which it gives rise."

同类推荐
  • 飞龙全传

    飞龙全传

    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。
  • 醉翁谈录

    醉翁谈录

    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。
  • 请缨日记

    请缨日记

    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。
  • 宋大事记讲义

    宋大事记讲义

    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。
  • bickerstaff-partridge papers

    bickerstaff-partridge papers

    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
  • 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
  • 七臣七主

    七臣七主

    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。
  • 青年演讲技能训练

    青年演讲技能训练

    以排山倒海的微笑,用动人心弦的声音、和谐悦耳的语调、优雅自信的风度,去征服听众。正如当年盟军司令蒙哥马利元帅,在诺曼底登陆前对担负突击任务的士兵讲道:“你们在干一件无与论比的伟大事业。世界将通过你们变一番模样,历史将为你们树立一座丰碑,写上:你们是迄今最伟大的军人!这是世界上从未有过的壮举,将要由你们来完成。你们最终将成为英雄回到家里,同你们的亲人团聚。”
  • 文明探谜

    文明探谜

    本套全书全面而系统地介绍了中小学生各科知识的难解之谜,集知识性、趣味性、新奇性、疑问性与科普性于一体,深入浅出,生动可读,通俗易懂,目的是使广大中小学生在兴味盎然地领略百科知识难解之谜和科学技术的同时,能够加深思考,启迪智慧,开阔视野……
  • 帅小子

    帅小子

    成长的岁月,有着花的色彩与芬芳,有着风的轻柔与随意;成长的过程,定然有欢笑和泪水的洗礼;成长的记忆,定会在生命的相册中永远的定格……让我们打开这本《帅小子》,紧随主人公郭抒予的步伐,和这个个性帅气、不可一世的少年,一同感受成长的喜悦与泪水。
  • 谋妃倾天下

    谋妃倾天下

    他是当朝亲王,淡漠无情。她是相府嫡千金,集美貌与超凡医技于一身。二人阴差阳错相遇,力挽狂澜扭转乾坤......
  • 疯狂的天才:创业者必成指南

    疯狂的天才:创业者必成指南

    各行各业都有碰不得的禁区和公认的惯例,而很少人想到,这些所谓的禁区和惯例也许早已不合理,甚至阻碍了行业发展。而能进行突破性思考的创业者,往往取得了不可想象的成就,因为创新、发现和颠覆都需要打破传统思维,释放商业才华。兰迪·盖奇正是敢于向所有人的传统智慧发出挑战的创业顾问。在这本书中,盖奇用他的真知灼见和精彩刺激的预测,激发突破性的创意火花,并向你展示创意的养成之道。这本书会开拓你的思维、挑战你的信念,并激发出你成为疯狂的天才的潜能。更重要的是,它传递了希望、启迪和自我挑战的勇气。
  • 风华未嫌迟

    风华未嫌迟

    全城皆知皇城第一废物要休了爱慕已久的未婚夫!一直是全城话点的某女也很无奈,没办法,就是这么红。疯子,傻子,那好,就疯傻给你们看。灭绿茶,砍白莲,降怨灵,唤魔兽,她就是新时代三好青年。这位大哥,君子动口不动手,所以你就咬人?打遍六界无敌手,书院雷池跪杨柳。当魔种之谜解开后,面对他们的,是生死抉择。这九十九级天阶,每一步都有她流过的血。你用生命保护的女孩子,她也在用生命保护你。与六界为敌,众叛亲离,愿我身陷黑暗,换你永存白昼。原以为离开是最好的守护,没想到是她的催命符。“如若你不能爱我一生一世,那便爱我这一次,可好。”他心系天下,我心系他,苍生不配,他配。一念生死,一念神魔。
  • 生死足球经理

    生死足球经理

    足球无关生死,足球高于生死。——香克利要我说,足球就是生死。——李承峰熟女,御姐,还是萝莉,林志玲,艾米莉,刘亦菲,还是谁,这是个问题。小孩才做选择。这是一个误入CM世界,被死亡追逐的足球经理的故事,是他在现实和梦幻中坚持前行,自我拯救的故事。
  • 婚路漫漫:陆少离婚吧!

    婚路漫漫:陆少离婚吧!

    夫妻恩爱,家庭和睦,这是外人对丁羽和陆成言这场婚姻的判词。但……丁羽自己知道,那是给别人看的。陆成言心底有一段白月光,而她只是蚊子血。原本以为蚊子血也能提醒他自己的存在,但谁知道有一天,白月光回来了。那她只能禅位让贤。可……陆成言:“你想离婚?”丁羽:“想!”“哦……那就继续想吧。”丁羽:“……”