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双语·林肯传 6

所属教程:译林版·林肯传

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2022年05月10日

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6

In March, 1837, two years after Ann's death, Lincoln turned his back on New Salem and rode into Springfeld on a borrowed horse, to begin what he called his “experiment as a lawyer.”

He carried in his saddle-bag all his earthly possessions. The only things he owned were several law-books and some extra shirts and some underwear. He also carried an old blue sock stuffed with six-and-a-quarter-cent and twelve-and-a-half-cent pieces—money that he had collected for postage before the post-offce “winked out” back in New Salem. During this frst year in Springfeld, Lincoln needed cash often, and he needed it badly. He could have spent this money and paid the Government out of his own pocket, but he would have felt that that was dishonest. So when the post-office auditor finally came around for a settlement, Lincoln turnedover to him not only the exact amount, but the exact coins he had taken in as post-master during the preceding year or two.

The morning that Lincoln rode into Springfield, he not only had no cash reserves of his own; but, to make matters worse, he was eleven hundred dollars in debt. He and Berry had lost that amount in their ill-fated grocery venture back in New Salem. Then Berry had drunk himself to death and left Lincoln to shoulder the obligations alone.

To be sure, Lincoln didn't have to pay; he could have pleaded divided responsibility and the failure of the business and have found a legal loophole of escape.

But that wasn't Lincoln's way. Instead, he went to his creditors and promised to pay them every dollar with interest, if they would only give him time. They all agreed, except one, Peter Van Bergen. He brought suit immediately, obtained a judgment, and had Lincoln's horse and surveying instruments sold at public auction. The others waited, however, and Lincoln scraped and saved and denied himself for fourteen years in order to keep faith with them. Even as late as 1848, when he was a member of Congress, he sent part of his salary home to pay off the last remnant of this old grocery debt.

The morning that Lincoln arrived in Springfield, he tied his horse in front of Joshua F. Speed's general store at the northwest corner of the public square; and here is the remainder of the story told in Speed's own words:

He had ridden into town on a borrowed horse, and engaged from the only cabinet-maker in the village a single bedstead. He came into my store, set his saddle-bags on the counter, and enquired what the furniture for a single bedstead would cost. I took slate and pencil, made a calculation, and found the sum for furniture complete would amount to seventeen dollars in all. Said he: “It is probably cheap enough; but I want to say that, cheap as it is, I have not the money to pay. But if you will credit me until Christmas and my experiment here as a lawyer is a success, I will pay you then. If I fail in that I will probably never pay you at all.” The tone of his voice was so melancholy that I felt for him. I looked up at him and I thought then, as I think now, that I never saw so gloomy and melancholy a face in my life. I said to him, “So small a debt seems to affect you so deeply, I think I can suggest a plan by which you will be able to attain your end without incurring any debt. I have a very large room and a very large double bed in it, which you are perfectly welcome to share with me if you choose.” “Where is your room?” he asked. “Upstairs,” said I, pointing to the stairs leading from the store to my room. Without saying a word he took his saddle-bags on his arm, went upstairs, set them down on the floor, came down again, and with a face beaming with pleasure and smiles, exclaimed, “Well, Speed, I'm moved.”

And so, for the next fve and a half years, Lincoln slept in the bed with Speed, over the store, without paying any rent at all.

Another friend, William Butler, took Lincoln into his home and not only boarded him for fve years, but bought many of his clothes for him.

Lincoln probably paid Butler a little something when, as, and if he could; but there was no specifc charge. The whole thing was a haphazard arrangement between friends.

And Lincoln thanked God that it was, for if it hadn't been for the help of Butler and Speed, he could never have made a go of the law.

He went into partnership with another attorney, named Stuart. Stuartdevoted most of his time to politics, and saddled the office routine on Lincoln. But there wasn't much routine to saddle, and there wasn't much of an office. The furnishings consisted of “a small, dirty bed, a buffalo robe, a chair, a bench” and a sort of bookcase containing a few legal volumes.

The offce records show that during the frst six months the frm took in only five fees: one was for two dollars and a half, two were for five dollars each, one was a ten-dollar fee, and they had to take an overcoat as part payment in another case.

Lincoln became so discouraged that he stopped one day at Page Eaton's carpenter shop in Springfeld and confessed that he had a notion to abandon law and go to work as a carpenter. A few years before that, while studying law back in New Salem, Lincoln had seriously thought of giving up his books and becoming a blacksmith.

That frst year in Springfeld was a lonely one for Lincoln. About the only people he met were the men who forgathered of an evening, in the back of Speed's store, to argue politics and kill time. Lincoln wouldn't go to church on Sundays, because, as he said, he wouldn't know how to act in fne churches like those in Springfeld.

Only one woman spoke to him during that frst year, and he wrote to a friend that she wouldn't have spoken “if she could have avoided it.”

But in 1839 a woman came to town who not only spoke to him, but courted him and determined to marry him. Her name was Mary Todd.

Somebody asked Lincoln once why the Todds spelled their name as they did, and he replied that he reckoned that one “d” was good enough for God, but that the Todds had to have two.

The Todds boasted of a genealogical chart extending back to the sixth century. Mary Todd's grandfathers and greatgrandfathers and great-uncles had been generals and governors, and one had been Secretary of the Navy.She, herself, had been educated in a snobbish French school in Lexington, Kentucky, conducted by Madame Victorie Charlotte Le Clere Mentelle and her husband—two French aristocrats who had fed from Paris during the Revolution in order to save their necks from the guillotine. They had drilled Mary to speak French with a Parisian accent, and had taught her to dance the cotillion and the Circassian Circle as the silken courtiers had danced them at Versailles.

Mary was possessed of a high and haughty manner, an exalted opinion of her own superiority, and an abiding conviction that she would one day marry a man who would become President of the United States. Incredible as it seems, she not only believed that, but she openly boasted of it. It sounded silly, and people laughed and said things; but nothing could shake her conviction and nothing could stop her boasting.

Her own sister, speaking of Mary, said she “loved glitter, show, pomp and power,” and was “the most ambitious woman I ever knew.”

Unfortunately, Mary had a temper that was frequently out of control; so one day in 1839, she quarreled with her stepmother, slammed the front door, and walked out of her father's home in a rage and came to live with her married sister in Springfeld.

If she was determined to marry a future President, she had certainly chosen the right place, for there wasn't another spot in all the world where her prospects would have been brighter than there in Springfeld, Illinois. At that time it was a dirty little frontier village, sprawling out over the treeless prairie, with no pavements, no lights, no sidewalks, no sewers. Cattle roamed about the town at will, hogs wallowed in the mud-holes of the principal streets, and piles of rotton manure filled the air with a stench. The total population of the town was only ffteen hundred; but two young men who were destined to be candidates for the Presidency in 1860 lived there in Springfield in 1839—Stephen A. Douglas, candidate forthe Northern wing of the Democratic party, and Abraham Lincoln for the Republicans.

Both of them met Mary Todd, both courted her at the same time, both held her in their arms, and she once stated that both of them had proposed.

When asked which suitor she intended to marry, Mary always answered, according to her sister's report, “Him who has the best prospects of being President.”

And that was tantamount to saying Douglas, for, just then, Douglas's political prospects seemed a hundred times brighter than Lincoln's. Although Douglas was only twenty-six, he had already been nicknamed “the Little Giant,” and he was already Secretary of the State, while Lincoln was only a struggling lawyer living in an attic over Speed's store and hardly able to pay a board bill.

Douglas was destined to become one of the mightiest political forces in the United States years and years before Abe Lincoln was even heard of outside his own State. In fact, two years before Lincoln became President, about the only thing that the average American knew about him was that he had once debated with the brilliant and powerful Stephen A. Douglas.

Mary's relatives all thought she cared more for Douglas than she did for Lincoln, and she probably did. Douglas was far more of a ladies' man; he had more personal charm, better prospects, better manners, and better social standing.

Besides, he had a deep golden voice, a wavy black pompadour, he waltzed superbly, and he paid Mary Todd lovely little compliments.

He was her beau-ideal of a man; and she looked in her mirror, whispering to herself, “Mary Todd Douglas.” It sounded beautiful, and she dreamed dreams and saw herself waltzing with him in the White House....

While Douglas was courting her he had a fght one day, right in the public square in Springfeld, with a newspaper editor—the husband ofone of Mary's dearest friends.

Probably she told him what she thought of that.

And probably she told him also what she thought of his getting drunk at a public banquet, climbing on top of a table and waltzing back and forth, shouting, singing, and kicking wineglasses and roast turkey, whisky bottles and gravy dishes onto the foor.

And if he took another girl to a dance while he was paying her attention, she made a disagreeable scene. The courtship came to nothing. Senator Beveridge says:

Although it was afterwards given out that Douglas had proposed to Mary and was refused because of his bad “morals,” that statement was obviously protective propaganda usual in such cases; for the shrewd, alert and, even then, worldly-wise Douglas never asked Miss Todd to marry him.

Immeasurably disappointed, she tried to arouse Douglas's jealousy by giving her ardent attention to one of his bitter political opponents, Abraham Lincoln. But that didn't bring back Douglas, and she laid her plans to capture Lincoln. Mrs. Edwards, Mary Todd's sister, afterward described the courtship in this fashion:

I have often happened in the room where they were sitting, and Mary invariably led the conversation. Mr. Lincoln would sit at her side and listen. He scarcely said a word, but gazed on her as if irresistibly drawn toward her by some superior and unseen power. He was charmed with her wit, and fascinated by her quick sagacity. But he could not maintain himself in a continued conversation with a lady reared as Mary was.

In July of that year the great gathering of Whigs which had been talked of for months swarmed down upon Springfeld and overwhelmed the town. They came from hundreds of miles around, with banners waving and bands playing. The Chicago delegation dragged half-way across the State a government yawl rigged as a two-masted ship. Music was playing on the ship, girls dancing, cannon belching into the air.

The Democrats had spoken of the Whig candidate, William Henry Harrison, as an old woman who lived in a log cabin and drank hard cider. So the Whigs mounted a log cabin on wheels and drew it through the streets of Springfeld, behind thirty yoke of oxen. A hickory tree swayed beside the cabin; coons were playing in the tree; a barrel of hard cider was on tap by the door.

At night, under the light of faming torches, Lincoln made a political speech.

At one meeting his party, the Whigs, had been accused of being aristocratic and wearing fne clothes while pleading for the votes of the plain people, Lincoln replied:

“I came to Illinois as a poor, strange, friendless, uneducated boy, and started working on a fatboat for eight dollars a month, and I had only one pair of breeches to my back, and they were buckskin. When buckskin gets wet and dried by the sun, it shrinks; and my breeches kept shrinking until they left several inches of my legs bare between the lower part of my breeches and the top of my socks. And while I was growing taller, the breeches were getting wet and becoming shorter and tighter until they left a blue streak around my legs that can be seen to this day. Now, if you call that being a fancily dressed aristocrat, I must plead guilty to the charge.”

The audience whistled and shouted and shrieked its approval.

When Lincoln and Mary reached the Edwards house, she told himhow proud she was of him, that he was a great speaker, and that some day he would be President.

He looked down at her, standing beside him in the moonlight, and her manner told him everything. Reaching over, he took her in his arms and kissed her tenderly....

The wedding-day was set for the frst of January, 1841.

That was only six months away, but many a storm was to brew and blow before then.

6

一八三七年三月,安去世两年后,林肯离开了新塞勒姆村。他借了一匹马,出发前往春田市,开始他所谓的“实习律师”的生涯。

他把行李装在一个马鞍包中。他的全部家当除了几本法律书,只剩几件衬衫和内衣。他还带着一只蓝色的旧袜子,里面塞满了面值六点二五美分和十二点五美分的硬币——都是他在新塞勒姆村邮局歇业前收的邮资。刚到春田市的第一年,林肯处处都要花钱,手头总是紧巴巴的。他本可以挪用这笔邮资,之后再还给政府,但他却觉得这样不诚实。因此,当邮局的稽核员来收账时,林肯手中的邮资不仅数量上分毫不差,就连那些硬币都是当初他做邮局局长那一两年期间收来的样子。

那个早晨,当林肯骑着马前往春田市的时候,他不仅没有自己的储蓄,更糟的是,他还背了一千一百美元的债务。这是当初他和贝利在新塞勒姆村一起经营那间短命的杂货铺时亏损的钱,但贝利把自己喝死了,留下林肯独自面对这笔债务。

当然,林肯完全可以不偿还这笔债务。他本可以请求分摊责任,接着声称生意失败,再利用法律的漏洞躲避这笔债务。

但林肯并未这么做。相反,他主动地拜访债主,请求他们给自己一些时间,并承诺会连本带息一分不少地归还所有欠款。除了一个叫皮特·凡·伯根(Peter Van Bergen)的,其他债主都同意了林肯的请求。伯根提出了诉讼,胜诉后拍卖了林肯的马和测绘仪器。其他债主则耐心地等待着,而林肯为了信守自己对他们的诺言,十四年间节衣缩食,拼命存钱,直到一八四八年成为国会议员后,才用部分薪水还清了最后一部分债务。

到达春田市的那个早上,林肯将马拴在了公共广场西北角的约书亚·F.斯皮德(Joshua F. Speed)杂货店门口。对于那段故事,斯皮德这样回忆道:

他骑着一匹借来的马来到了春田市,向村里唯一做家具的木匠订了一张单人床架。他走进我的店铺,将马鞍包放在柜台上,问我做一张单人床架要多少钱。我拿出了写字板和铅笔,算了一下材料费,发现总共需要十七美金。这时他说:“这个价格也许是很便宜了,但坦白说,虽然很便宜,可我还是买不起。如果你允许我赊账,那么到圣诞节的时候,若我的律师事业成功了,我一定会如数奉还,但如果失败了,我也许永远都还不起。”我深切地感受到他的声音中有一股浓浓的哀伤。我抬头看着他,当时我认为——我现在也这么认为——那是我这辈子见过的最悲伤的脸庞。于是我对他说:“这笔小钱似乎给你带来了极大的困扰,我有一个主意,可以让你既有地方睡觉,又不用背负任何债务。我有一间大房间,里面有一张双人床,如果你愿意的话,欢迎你和我一起住。”“你的房间在哪里?”他问道。“楼上。”我指着通往房间的楼梯说道。他一句话也没说,拎起马鞍包就走上了楼梯。他把包放在地板上,又走下楼来,脸上堆满了满足的笑容。“斯皮德,我真是太感动了。”他大声地说道。

于是,在往后的五年半时间里,林肯和斯皮德同住在杂货铺楼上的房间里,没有付一分钱房租。

另外一位朋友威廉·巴特勒(William Butler)不仅为林肯提供了五年食宿,还为他买了很多衣服。

当时,林肯可能在有能力的时候给过巴特勒一些钱,但巴特勒从未明确地向林肯收过费,这完全是出于朋友间真挚的友谊。

对此,林肯深表感激。若不是巴特勒和斯皮德的资助,他的律师事业不可能成功。

林肯和另一位名叫斯图亚特的律师合伙办了事务所。斯图亚特的大部分时间都花在政治上,事务所的事全扔给林肯。但事务所也没什么事,而他们的办公室也没什么东西,家具只有“一张又小又脏的床、一件用水牛皮做的及膝风衣、一把椅子、一张长凳”以及一个放着几卷法律书的类似书架的架子。

从事务所的记录来看,前六个月中公司只收取了五笔费用:一笔二点五美元,两笔五美元,一笔十美元,还有一笔收了一件大衣当作部分佣金。

林肯非常沮丧,有一天,他来到春田市的佩吉·伊顿(Page Eaton)木匠铺,坦承自己想放弃法律改学木匠。几年前,当他还在新塞勒姆村学习法律的时候,就曾认真地考虑过放弃书本成为一个铁匠。

对于林肯来说,在春田市的第一年是一段孤独的时光。有时在晚上,偶尔有几个男人来到斯皮德店铺后面,他们一起谈论政治,打发时光。他们是林肯仅仅认识的几个人。星期天的时候,林肯不愿意去教堂,因为——按照他的说法——不知道在春田市那些体面的教堂里该做些什么。

在第一年里,只有一个女人和他说过话。他在给朋友的信中写道,“如果她当时能避开”,她是不会和自己说话的。

但是,在一八三九年,一位女士来到了春田市,她不仅和林肯说话,还主动追求林肯,并一心想要嫁给他。她的名字叫玛丽·托德(Mary Todd)。

曾有人问林肯,为什么托德家的人要这样拼写自己的姓氏。林肯说,上帝(God)只要一个d就够了,但托德家要两个d才够。

托德家一直吹嘘自己家族历史悠久,可以追溯至公元六世纪。玛丽·托德的祖父、曾祖父和曾叔父们都是将军和地方长官,其中有一位曾位居海军部长。玛丽自己也受过良好的教育,曾就读于肯塔基州的列克星敦的一所法国学校。这所学校是由法国贵族维多利亚·夏洛特·乐克利尔·曼特尔夫人(Madame Victorie Charlotte Le Clere Mentelle)和她的丈夫开办的。在大革命期间,他们为了躲避被断头铡处死的厄运,从巴黎逃到了美国。他们训练玛丽说巴黎腔的法语,教她跳身着丝绸的朝臣们在凡尔赛宫常跳的沙龙舞和切尔克斯圈舞。

玛丽举止高傲,自视甚高,她一直坚信总有一天自己要嫁的男人会成为美国总统。这个想法虽然令人难以置信,但玛丽不仅坚信这点,还公然到处吹嘘。人们嘲笑她这番愚蠢的言论,还对她指指点点,但这些都未曾动摇她的信念,也没能阻止她到处吹嘘。

玛丽的亲姐姐在谈到玛丽时说她“热爱虚荣、炫耀和权力”,并且是“我认识的最具野心的女人”。

不幸的是,玛丽脾气暴躁,时不时就会大发雷霆,于是在一八三九年的某天,她和继母大吵了一架,夺门而去,怒气冲冲地离开了父亲的家,前往春田市投靠自己已婚的姐姐。

对于一心一意要嫁给未来总统的玛丽来说,毫无疑问她选对了地方。放眼全世界,没有哪个地方比伊利诺伊州的春田市更能实现她的愿望了。虽然在当时,春田市还只是一个大草原上的肮脏的边境小镇,没有铺好的公路,没有电灯,没有人行道,没有下水道,牛群随意漫步,猪在主街上的泥洞里打滚,空气中充满了成堆的肥料腐烂后散发的恶臭。一八三九年的时候,春田市的人口只有一千五百人,其中却包括了注定成为一八六〇年总统选举候选人的两位青年——民主党北翼候选人史蒂芬·道格拉斯(Stephen A. Douglas)和共和党候选人亚伯拉罕·林肯。

他们两人都遇见了玛丽·托德,并同时追求过她,都曾将她拥入怀中。而玛丽也曾说过,两人都向她求过婚。

据她姐姐回忆,当有人问玛丽两位追求者中她更愿意嫁给谁时,她总是说“那个更有希望成为总统的人”。

而这就等同于选择了道格拉斯,因为在那时,道格拉斯的政治前景比林肯光明一百倍。虽然道格拉斯只有二十六岁,却已有了“小巨人”的绰号,而且已成为州议员。而林肯只是一个寄居在斯皮德杂货店阁楼上、连住宿费都付不起的、为了生计而挣扎的小律师。

道格拉斯成名很早,早在林肯还不为外州所知的时候,他就已经注定成为美国最强的政治力量了。事实上,在林肯当选总统的两年前,普通美国百姓对林肯的了解还停留在他曾经和聪明、强大的史蒂芬·道格拉斯进行过辩论。

玛丽的亲戚都以为相较于林肯,她更中意道格拉斯,而事实上她也很可能确实这样认为。道格拉斯不仅仅是一个更好的丈夫人选,和林肯比起来,他个性更迷人,前途更远大,举止更得体,社会地位也更高。

此外,他还有一副浑厚动听的嗓音和一头向后梳着的黑色鬈发。他跳华尔兹的舞技一流,而且还会对玛丽施以可人的小小赞美。

他是玛丽的梦中情人。她曾看着镜中的自己,悄声地称自己“玛丽·托德·道格拉斯”。这个名字听着美极了,而她也幻想着有朝一日能和道格拉斯在白宫跳华尔兹。

道格拉斯在追求玛丽的时候,有一天在春田市的公共广场上和人打了一架。那人是一位新闻编辑,也是玛丽最要好的朋友的丈夫。

也许是玛丽告诉了道格拉斯自己对于这件事的看法。

也许玛丽还告诉了他她对于其他一些事——例如,他在公共宴会上喝得酩酊大醉,爬上桌子跳华尔兹,大喊大叫,唱歌,踢翻了酒杯、烤火鸡、威士忌酒瓶和盛肉的盘子——的看法。

此外,当他一边想引起玛丽的关注,一边又和其他女子跳舞时,玛丽总会表现出不悦。总之,两人的关系最后不了了之。参议员贝弗里奇这样说道:

虽然之后有传言道格拉斯曾经向玛丽求婚却遭到了拒绝,因为他“德行不佳”,但这种说辞很显然是这种情况下惯用的保护性宣传,因为精明机敏甚至世故的道格拉斯从来没有向托德小姐求过婚。

出于极度的失望,玛丽便想通过向道格拉斯的政治劲敌亚伯拉罕·林肯表达炙热的爱意而唤起他的嫉妒心。但道格拉斯并未因此回心转意,于是她的捕猎目标最终变成了林肯。玛丽的姐姐爱德华夫人之后曾这样描述玛丽和林肯的这段关系:

玛丽和林肯先生共处时,我恰好经常在场。玛丽永远都是话题的引导者,林肯先生就坐在她旁边,静静地听着。他几乎不说话,却总是凝视着玛丽,就好像被一股看不见的强大力量拉扯着,忍不住靠近玛丽,玛丽的机智敏捷和聪慧让他倾倒。不过和玛丽这样出身的女子相处,林肯先生还是有些笨拙。

那年七月,众人议论数月之久的辉格党(Whigs)大集会终于在春田市召开了,春田市也因此人潮涌动。他们从几百英里以外赶来,挥舞着旗帜,吹吹打打。芝加哥代表团坐着一艘政府派出的双桅帆船,横跨半个州而来。船上乐声飘扬,姑娘们翩翩起舞,礼炮声响彻天空。

民主党曾说辉格党的候选人威廉·亨利·哈里森(William Henry Harrison)像一个住在小木屋里喝着苹果酒的老太太。于是辉格党就真的造了一座有轮子的小木屋,让三十头牛拉着它在春田市的街上游行。木屋旁边还栽了一棵山胡桃树,浣熊在树上玩耍,门口还放着一桶带龙头的苹果酒。

到了晚上,在火把的照耀下,林肯发表了一场政治演说。

在一次会议中,他所在的辉格党曾因贵族化——穿着精致的贵族衣服,却向平民争取选票——而被谴责。对此,林肯回应道:

“我来到伊利诺伊州的时候,是一个贫穷而古怪、没什么朋友、没接受过什么教育的小子。我最初在一艘平底船上工作,一个月挣八美金。我只有一条裤子,还是鹿皮做的。鹿皮湿了再晒干后就会缩水,因此我的裤子一直在缩水,渐渐地,我的裤脚和袜子之间裸露出了几英寸的皮肤。随着我逐渐长高,鹿皮裤子也在不断湿水,不断缩短,于是我的腿上留下了一圈蓝色的印子,直到现在还能看见。因此,如果你们认为这也算是穿着精致衣服的贵族,那我为此向大家道歉。”

民众一边吹着口哨,一边尖叫着表示赞同。

当林肯和玛丽抵达爱德华家的时候,玛丽告诉林肯,自己为他感到骄傲。她还说,他是一名出色的演说家,总有一天会成为总统。

他低头看着身旁沐浴在月光下的玛丽,她的举止已经说明了一切。他伸出手臂,将她圈入怀中,温柔地亲吻着……

他们的婚礼定在一八四一年一月的第一天。

六个月后,他们便会举行婚礼,但在此之前,山雨欲来风满楼。

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