登陆注册
5456300000002

第2章

The only place where his longings were ever stilled, where he seemed at peace with himself, where he understood what he was made for, was out of doors in the woods. When he should have been poring over the sweet, palpitating mysteries of the multiplication table, his vagrant gaze was always on the open window near which he sat. He could never study when a fly buzzed on the window-pane; he was always standing on the toes of his bare feet, trying to locate and understand the buzz that puzzled him. The book was a mute, soulless thing that had no relation to his inner world of thought and feeling. He turned ever from the dead seven-times-six to the mystery of life about him.

He was never a special favourite with his teachers; that was scarcely to be expected. In his very early years, his pockets were gone through with every morning when he entered the school door, and the contents, when confiscated, would comprise a jew's-harp, a bit of catgut, screws whittled out of wood, tacks, spools, pins, and the like. But when robbed of all these he could generally secrete a fragment of india-rubber drawn from an old pair of suspenders, and this, when put between his teeth and stretched to its utmost capacity, would yield a delightful twang when played upon with the forefinger. He could also fashion an interesting musical instrument in his desk by means of spools and catgut and bits of broken glass.

The chief joy of his life was an old tuning-fork that the teacher of the singing-school had given him, but, owing to the degrading and arbitrary censorship of pockets that prevailed, he never dared bring it into the schoolroom. There were ways, however, of evading inexorable law and circumventing base injustice. He hid the precious thing under a thistle just outside the window. The teacher had sometimes a brief season of apathy on hot afternoons, when she was hearing the primer class read, "I SEE A PIG. THE PIG IS BIG. THEBIG PIG CAN DIG"; which stirring phrases were always punctuated by the snores of the Hanks baby, who kept sinking down on his fat little legs in the line and giving way to slumber during the lesson. At such a moment Anthony slipped out of the window and snapped the tuning-fork several times--just enough to save his soul from death--and then slipped in again. He was caught occasionally, but not often; and even when he was, there were mitigating circumstances, for he was generally put under the teacher's desk for punishment. It was a dark close, sultry spot, but when he was well seated, and had grown tired of looking at the triangle of black elastic in the teacher's "congress" shoe, and tired of wishing it was his instead of hers, he would tie one end of a bit of thread to the button of his gingham shirt, and, carrying it round his left ear several times, make believe he was Paganini languishing in prison and playing on a violin with a single string.

As he grew older there was no marked improvement, and Tony Croft was by general assent counted the laziest boy in the village. That he was lazy in certain matters merely because he was in a frenzy of industry to pursue certain others had nothing to do with the case, of course.

If any one had ever given him a task in which he could have seen cause working to effect, in which he could have found by personal experiment a single fact that belonged to him, his own by divine right of discovery, he would have counted labour or study all joy.

He was one incarnate Why and How; one brooding wonder and interrogation point. "Why does the sun drive away the stars? Why do the leaves turn red and gold? What makes the seed swell in the earth? From whence comes the life hidden in the egg under the bird's breast? What holds the moon in the sky? Who regulates her shining?

Who moves the wind? Who made me, and what am I? Who, why, how, whither? If I came from God but only lately, teach me his lessons first, put me into vital relation with life and law, and then give me your dead signs and equivalents for real things, that I may learn more and more, and ever more and ever more." These were the questions his eager soul was always asking of the outer world.

There was no spirit in Edgewood bold enough to conceive that Tony learned anything in the woods, but as there was never sufficient school money to keep the village seat of learning open more than half the year, the boy educated himself at the fountain head of wisdom and knowledge the other half. His mother, who owned him for a duckling hatched from a hen's egg, and was never quite sure he would not turn out a black sheep and a crooked stick to boot, was obliged to confess that Tony had more useless information than any boy in the village.

He knew just where to find the first Mayflowers, and would bring home the waxen beauties when other people had scarcely begun to think about the spring. He could tell where to look for the rare fringed gentian, the yellow violet, the Indian pipe. There were clefts in the high rocks by the river side where, when every one else failed, he could find harebells and columbines.

同类推荐
  • 与文征明书

    与文征明书

    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。
  • 无幻禅师语录

    无幻禅师语录

    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。
  • 杨成博先生遗留穴道秘书

    杨成博先生遗留穴道秘书

    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。
  • 游黄山日记(后)

    游黄山日记(后)

    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。
  • 高峰龙泉院因师集贤语录

    高峰龙泉院因师集贤语录

    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。
热门推荐
  • 负心总裁

    负心总裁

    简介:偷偷恋慕着他的青涩岁月,在他床上赔了自己的那个清晨,痛哭着承认爱上他的雪夜,无怨无悔为他付出的每一天,等着他,他却停在别人身边的那段心涩日子,还爱着他,却失去和他在一起的勇气,是爱比较容易,还是保护自己比较难。*大学时光里一个记不起来的情节,醉酒后的一夜激情,大声说着爱他而流下的眼泪,静默温情的守候,街角处,看着他亲吻另一个女人的脆弱身影,发觉自己爱上她,在她带着微笑离开的那一刻。........(想写一个很俗气的爱情故事)*番外《蝴蝶》简介:他给她几乎所有的甜美幻想,让她知晓了这个世上太过温暖的存在。爱上他是必然,如同爱上黑夜里的月光,浴在他光辉里的那些日子,一切都是好的。只是月亮太亮,终将冰凉,黎明和现实到来的那一刻,他和别人一样,都可以轻易地丢下她。她知道,他没有错,他只是不爱她,他只是已经不再需要用她去填补心中那个得不到的影子……********************************************************初七的其它文:人鱼的复仇:简介:那原本只是一场注定要失败的复仇。当她带着约定找到初恋的时候,对方早已不是当初孤独叛逆的少年,他亮丽光鲜,身边有微笑的公主和甜蜜的爱情。万念俱灰的时候,那个有着促狭桃花眼的恶少,向她伸出手,“想复仇吗?”曾付出的疼,让她终是,点了点头。只是,恶少比她更蠢,他为自己和她导演了一幕幕复仇的蹩脚戏码,到头来却让自己更疼。可是,当假戏真做,一场注定要失败的复仇却成就了一次注定要发生的爱情。她的爱情,如是继续惨烈。当她从电视里看见他在异国他乡挽着未婚妻出现的时候,女儿小小声的问她,那个人为什么长得像爸爸。……她想,至少,她没有在日出前化成泡沫。只是,被他遗忘在了记忆深处。*《桃夭灼华之哑妻》(完结)《穿越宋辽之陌上花开》(完结)如果喜欢的话,就推荐收藏一下吧,(*^__^*)嘻嘻……
  • 散文(2016年第5期)

    散文(2016年第5期)

    《散文》创刊于1980年1月,是我国第一家专发散文作品的纯文学刊物。创刊之初,便确立了思想上追求高格调,艺术上追求高水准的办刊宗旨,二十年如一日的坚持,使得《散文》成为一份高雅纯净,独具品位的刊物,推出了包括贾平凹、赵丽宏、詹克明、李汉荣等在内的大批优秀散文作家及作品,得到了广大读者和社会的认可。从创刊至今,《散文》一直以它独特的魅力力证着自己的存在,坚持呈现当代中国巅峰笔意,鼓励作者表达发现,呈现了一种罕见的沉思的品质和悲悯情怀,是当代文学界尤其是散文界极具分量的文学读本,在读者、作者、文学评论者心中地位崇高,影响遍及海内外华人世界。
  • 猫武士:红月狂潮2

    猫武士:红月狂潮2

    浓雾笼罩的神木林,若隐若现的幻影,被迫逃进神木林的五只小猫们,将经历一场神奇又惊险的幽魂考验:聚沙成兵、月光悬梯、幽冥森林、心海迷梦……在通过种种考验后,最终见到神秘的大boss——拥有无敌战爪的铁爪。铁爪究竟是敌是友?五只小猫们最终能否走出神木林?
  • 倾城悍妻

    倾城悍妻

    不过是替医生老爸试个药,就试到了古代,这就是所谓的穿越?太扯了吧!这大块的胎记是怎么回事?这位差点嗝屁的相公又是怎么回事?老天不是这么残忍吧!我好歹也是厉害的理财师,这些小麻烦还是顺手解决吧!相公你乖乖养病,看夫人我怎么挣来大片家业!--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 我有一个二二

    我有一个二二

    我以为我们是‘近水楼台先得月’,却是一场‘预谋很久的暗恋’。
  • 十月围城(独家完结)

    十月围城(独家完结)

    【《十月围城》小说完结版7月15日12点独家发布,领先电视剧播出一步,敬请阅读。电视剧由钟汉良、刘小小主演,4大卫视热播中】清末民初的省港地区,一个草根小人物——车夫阿四的逆袭。宣统二年,同盟会在香港商议举行大规模反清起义活动。广东将军铁山奉诏刺杀孙中山。为了确保孙中山顺利召开会议并且安全离开香港,富商之子李重光甘愿作为孙中山的替身便于引开铁山等人的注意力,要求黄包车夫阿四故意拉着重光在众目睽睽之下逃亡,于是遭到了铁山的杀手层层围追堵截……
  • 楚汉大梦

    楚汉大梦

    范增我是一个楚人,在河上出生,和很多楚人一样。我们楚国有很多的河湖,也有很多人在河上度过了自己的一辈子。现在我也将要在河上死去。这让我最真切地感悟到生命的流逝,它就是一条河,不分白天黑夜地往前流动。我的父母是打鱼人,靠一条船过日子,很少下到陆地上来,因为有专门贩鱼的师傅会到各个渔船上把渔民打到的鱼收走。这样的生活很舒适,不必整日在土地上劳作,而父亲多年在水上生活的经验也保证了我们可以生活得衣食无忧。那天早上,我出生了,伴着雾气中慢慢升起的太阳。
  • 英雄年代

    英雄年代

    老一辈革命家陆震天的儿子陆承伟、养子史天雄,同在“红色革命家庭”中成长,经历了十年浩劫后,陆承伟从美国学成归国,成为金融投资业的弄潮儿;史天雄则由当年对越战争中的英雄走上了仕途,成为国家电子工业部的副司长。《英雄时代》通过史天雄和陆承伟这一对异姓兄弟所走的不同的人生道路,描写了他们曲折复杂的情感经历,展现了他们在改革开放经济浪潮中的沉浮。小说结构宏大,采用直面现实的叙事手法,广泛呈现了当代中国的经济生活场景。
  • 老鹰国度

    老鹰国度

    本书是“动物王国探险系列”丛书中的一册。在这本书里,你将继续跟随少儿科考队。这次少儿科考队将带领你们去考察的是有蹄动物大家族。像斑马、梅花鹿、长颈鹿、大象、犀牛等等等等。想多了解它们这个家族,那就接下来听听它们的故事吧。
  • 甩你没商量:豪门总裁欠修理

    甩你没商量:豪门总裁欠修理

    【正文已完结】“女人,你站住。”楚煜祁对着前面的某人暴吼了一句,五年前,敢一声不吭的甩了他,如今又想离开,心里爆发了!“凭什么?你又是谁?”池一看着眼前的人,手渐渐的握紧,又慢慢松开,脸上浮现一丝嘲讽,时至今日,他又有什么资格对她大呼小叫?一场被谋划的局,到底是谁骗了谁?又是谁伤了谁?