登陆注册
5457400000001

第1章

Four years ago--in 1874--two young Englishmen had occasion to go to the United States. They crossed the ocean at midsummer, and, arriving in New York on the first day of August, were much struck with the fervid temperature of that city.

Disembarking upon the wharf, they climbed into one of those huge high-hung coaches which convey passengers to the hotels, and with a great deal of bouncing and bumping, took their course through Broadway. The midsummer aspect of New York is not, perhaps, the most favorable one; still, it is not without its picturesque and even brilliant side.

Nothing could well resemble less a typical English street than the interminable avenue, rich in incongruities, through which our two travelers advanced--looking out on each side of them at the comfortable animation of the sidewalks, the high-colored, heterogeneous architecture, the huge white marble facades glittering in the strong, crude light, and bedizened with gilded lettering, the multifarious awnings, banners, and streamers, the extraordinary number of omnibuses, horsecars, and other democratic vehicles, the vendors of cooling fluids, the white trousers and big straw hats of the policemen, the tripping gait of the modish young persons on the pavement, the general brightness, newness, juvenility, both of people and things. The young men had exchanged few observations;but in crossing Union Square, in front of the monument to Washington--in the very shadow, indeed, projected by the image of the --one of them remarked to the other, "It seems a rum-looking place.""Ah, very odd, very odd," said the other, who was the clever man of the two.

"Pity it's so beastly hot," resumed the first speaker after a pause.

"You know we are in a low latitude," said his friend.

"I daresay," remarked the other.

"I wonder," said the second speaker presently, "if they can give one a bath?""I daresay not," rejoined the other.

"Oh, I say!" cried his comrade.

This animated discussion was checked by their arrival at the hotel, which had been recommended to them by an American gentleman whose acquaintance they made--with whom, indeed, they became very intimate--on the steamer, and who had proposed to accompany them to the inn and introduce them, in a friendly way, to the proprietor. This plan, however, had been defeated by their friend's finding that his "partner" was awaiting him on the wharf and that his commercial associate desired him instantly to come and give his attention to certain telegrams received from St. Louis.

But the two Englishmen, with nothing but their national prestige and personal graces to recommend them, were very well received at the hotel, which had an air of capacious hospitality. They found that a bath was not unattainable, and were indeed struck with the facilities for prolonged and reiterated immersion with which their apartment was supplied.

After bathing a good deal--more, indeed, than they had ever done before on a single occasion--they made their way into the dining room of the hotel, which was a spacious restaurant, with a fountain in the middle, a great many tall plants in ornamental tubs, and an array of French waiters.

The first dinner on land, after a sea voyage, is, under any circumstances, a delightful occasion, and there was something particularly agreeable in the circumstances in which our young Englishmen found themselves.

They were extremely good natured young men; they were more observant than they appeared; in a sort of inarticulate, accidentally dissimulative fashion, they were highly appreciative. This was, perhaps, especially the case with the elder, who was also, as I have said, the man of talent.

They sat down at a little table, which was a very different affair from the great clattering seesaw in the saloon of the steamer.

The wide doors and windows of the restaurant stood open, beneath large awnings, to a wide pavement, where there were other plants in tubs, and rows of spreading trees, and beyond which there was a large shady square, without any palings, and with marble-paved walks.

And above the vivid verdure rose other facades of white marble and of pale chocolate-colored stone, squaring themselves against the deep blue sky. Here, outside, in the light and the shade and the heat, there was a great tinkling of the bells of innumerable streetcars, and a constant strolling and shuffling and rustling of many pedestrians, a large proportion of whom were young women in Pompadour-looking dresses.

Within, the place was cool and vaguely lighted, with the plash of water, the odor of flowers, and the flitting of French waiters, as I have said, upon soundless carpets.

"It's rather like Paris, you know," said the younger of our two travelers.""It's like Paris--only more so," his companion rejoined.

"I suppose it's the French waiters," said the first speaker.

"Why don't they have French waiters in London?""Fancy a French waiter at a club," said his friend.

The young Englishman started a little, as if he could not fancy it.

"In Paris I'm very apt to dine at a place where there's an English waiter.

Don't you know what's-his-name's, close to the thingumbob?

They always set an English waiter at me. I suppose they think Ican't speak French."

"Well, you can't." And the elder of the young Englishmen unfolded his napkin.

His companion took no notice whatever of this declaration. "I say,"he resumed in a moment, "I suppose we must learn to speak American.

I suppose we must take lessons."

"I can't understand them," said the clever man.

"What the deuce is HE saying?" asked his comrade, appealing from the French waiter.

"He is recommending some soft-shell crabs," said the clever man.

同类推荐
  • 送僧南游

    送僧南游

    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。
  • 南岳小录

    南岳小录

    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。
  • The Annals of the Parish

    The Annals of the Parish

    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。
  • 孟子集注

    孟子集注

    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。
  • 四念处

    四念处

    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
  • 姑苏城里的阴谋

    姑苏城里的阴谋

    仲夏的江南,蓝湛湛的天空没有一丝云彩,浓荫遮盖的大道两旁,一碧千顷,绿铺红点。川流清澈见底,游鱼历历可数。青岚倒影入水,翠梢禽声细碎,好一派明媚的风光。“嘚嘚嘚”。一串清脆的马蹄声打破了午间的宁静。身佩长剑、衣冠不整、神色疲惫的楚国贵族公子伯嚭纵辔疾驰,对眼前的美景视而不见。他的胸膛中,被一团复仇烈火烤炙着,几欲窒息。太子少傅费无忌一向嫉恨他的父亲——任楚王左尹的伯郤宛,屡次在相国囊瓦面前进谗挑拨。囊瓦怒而发兵攻击伯府,下令焚烧其宅,尽诛其族,想斩草除根。正巧那天伯嚭在郊外打猎,幸免于难。
  • 晚安恋爱故事

    晚安恋爱故事

    一个倔强、冷若冰山的女孩。执拗敏感的她,对自己的感情却近乎木讷和不自知。废柴女孩陶小江和有为青年于靖曦是同行也是邻居。他们若即若离又互相伤害,他们的相遇注定不平静。陶小江人称陶冷冷、冷面陶。于靖曦:习惯了这张冷脸,也只有我了。陶冷冷:哼!谁要你习惯的,你这笑面虎。于靖曦:我只是一只卧猫。于靖曦从窘迫潦倒到摸爬滚打一步步实现财务自由,品尝了生活的艰辛,也经历了柳暗花明。在迈向世俗意义上的成功之后,他有自己的选择和坚持。陶小江从蜜罐子里掉到现实中,不断寻找属于自己的一条路,她没有虚度时光。他们互相见证了彼此的改变与一路的执着。俩个人都曾感到迷茫和失意,却都在人生的风雨和波澜中给了对方阳光一样的温暖。不管他们的境遇怎么改变,不变的是俩个人的彼此守护。纯爱系~(本故事纯属虚构)
  • 寒月夜

    寒月夜

    2018年华语言情大赛优秀作品。续集《夜寒深深醉思量》新文已开。为你欢喜,穿越万世轮回我来度你,此情绵绵难自忘,欢迎来围观。哥舒寒,重瞳美艳的无敌战神,他强势、桀骜、腹黑、离经叛道,是神兽重明及凶兽梼杌的双重转生,有着矛盾而纠结的迷人魅惑。明月夜,爱憎分明的傲娇军医,她勇敢、聪明、善良、我行我素,作为明堂堂主与神兽凤凰转世的多重身份,自有一番非凡的经历。这一双艳丽的大妖孽,他们的相遇是命中注定,他们的相爱相杀也惊天动地!他们爱恨交缠,却始终不忘苦苦追寻一颗真心。当所有的激烈归于宁静,他们在眼泪与磨难之中,也学会了爱与被爱的真谛。爱若慈悲,欢喜常在。
  • 夜先生的心尖宝

    夜先生的心尖宝

    【宠文,爽文,1V1甜宠文!】(推荐新书《三爷你老婆又手撕渣渣了》超能撩的的女王殿下,强势来袭,欢迎前去围观起哄)重生前,她被贱女洗脑,被闺蜜陷害,被他冷落软禁一生,怀胎七月,最后却惨被贱女剖腹挖子,惨死荒野;重生后,她遇神杀神,遇佛杀佛,智商上线后,完虐渣男贱女,成为万人敬仰的夜家少奶奶,集万千宠爱于一身。前世,季沫以为夜水寒残暴无仁,杀伐果断,阴戾诡谲,是个冷血无情杀人不眨眼的男人;现世,季沫才知道夜水寒唯一不能接受的只有一件事:她不爱他!
  • 野丫头:霸道校草独宠

    野丫头:霸道校草独宠

    她是一个野丫头,不知天高地厚,屡次顶撞校草,他是学院有名的校草,著名珠宝集团的继承人,她后来成为他的女佣,他便故意为难她。
  • 亲爱的莫老板结婚吗

    亲爱的莫老板结婚吗

    “她是缠绕着大树生长的藤蔓,拼了命的往他的身上爬,而他却张牙舞爪地用树根,不休停的往她心里钻!”莫泽轩订婚了,所以和包养了四年的情妇苏筱结束关系。两人本来应该桥归桥路归路的,可是分开不到两个月,她打电话来。语气依旧那样轻佻愉快,她说:“亲爱的莫老板,我怀孕八周了,你还要结婚吗?”
  • BOSS凶猛:顾少,轻点宠

    BOSS凶猛:顾少,轻点宠

    何晓玥做梦也没有想到,自己会因为一时脑热就嫁了人。而且嫁的那个人还是地位显赫,腹黑深沉的商业帝王顾云倾。商场上他手段狠辣闻风丧胆,却偏偏对她宠妻入骨。“顾先生,公司真给夫人拿去玩?难道卖了公司您也不管?”“卖你家公司了?”“顾先生,这家报社头条说您惧内,要不要我让他们关门?”“夫人怎么说?”“夫人笑着说他们在瞎说什么大实话。”“哦,这样,写这篇报道的人重重有赏。”“顾先生,今天有人在分公司门口对夫人表白了,要不要……哎?顾先生人呢?”
  • 丹青帝说

    丹青帝说

    风,起于青萍之末。扶摇直上,浩浩乎,九万里!起初的风,只是一道看似微弱的气息;任这缕微风,掠过河流大地,一路集聚力量。当其借势攀缘上高山之巅!便会形成横扫天地的风暴!他,便是那缕微风…
  • 蛇妻之祸

    蛇妻之祸

    七岁那年,我做了一件荒唐事,害死了邻居小月姐姐,导致她被蛇妖缠上,为了救她,我和她结了冥婚,她成为我的蛇妻,从此以后,灾祸不断。
  • 寻鹅记(文学新读馆·最佳欧洲小说:2011)

    寻鹅记(文学新读馆·最佳欧洲小说:2011)

    《最佳欧洲小说系列》是欧洲文学出版社甄选出的当代欧洲先锋作品,基本一个国家仅收入一篇当年或近年最优作品,体现欧洲文学前沿高度。四十篇力作,横跨欧洲版图,宛若一座流动着的“欧洲当代文学博物馆”。本书亦云集了当今俄罗斯、捷克、丹麦、波兰等国兼具潜力和人气的新生代作家,代表了当今欧洲各国文学创作最高水准。四十个关于欧洲的故事,不仅涵盖爱情、艺术、战争等文学经典主题,亦融入身体、身份等当下流行主题。欧陆文学传统得以后继,在文学新浪潮的影响之下,亦被赋予愈加丰富的精神内涵。