登陆注册
20095700000005

第5章 CHAPTER I.(4)

The next day Mr. Payne, of Georgetown, and I started on our return. We got along very well for a few miles, when we encountered a ferocious dog that frightened the horses and made them run. The new animal kicked at every jump he made. I got the horses stopped, however, before any damage was done, and without running into anything. After giving them a little rest, to quiet their fears, we started again. That instant the new horse kicked, and started to run once more. The road we were on, struck the turnpike within half a mile of the point where the second runaway commenced, and there there was an embankment twenty or more feet deep on the opposite side of the pike. I got the horses stopped on the very brink of the precipice. My new horse was terribly frightened and trembled like an aspen; but he was not half so badly frightened as my companion, Mr. Payne, who deserted me after this last experience, and took passage on a freight wagon for Maysville. Every time I attempted to start, my new horse would commence to kick. I was in quite a dilemma for a time. Once in Maysville I could borrow a horse from an uncle who lived there; but I was more than a day's travel from that point. Finally I took out my bandanna--the style of handkerchief in universal use then--and with this blindfolded my horse. In this way I reached Maysville safely the next day, no doubt much to the surprise of my friend. Here I borrowed a horse from my uncle, and the following day we proceeded on our journey.

About half my school-days in Georgetown were spent at the school of John D. White, a North Carolinian, and the father of Chilton White who represented the district in Congress for one term during the rebellion. Mr. White was always a Democrat in politics, and Chilton followed his father. He had two older brothers--all three being school-mates of mine at their father's school--who did not go the same way. The second brother died before the rebellion began; he was a Whig, and afterwards a Republican. His oldest brother was a Republican and brave soldier during the rebellion. Chilton is reported as having told of an earlier horse-trade of mine. As he told the story, there was a Mr. Ralston living within a few miles of the village, who owned a colt which I very much wanted. My father had offered twenty dollars for it, but Ralston wanted twenty-five. I was so anxious to have the colt, that after the owner left, I begged to be allowed to take him at the price demanded. My father yielded, but said twenty dollars was all the horse was worth, and told me to offer that price; if it was not accepted I was to offer twenty-two and a half, and if that would not get him, to give the twenty-five. I at once mounted a horse and went for the colt. When I got to Mr. Ralston's house, I said to him: " Papa says I may offer you twenty dollars for the colt, but if you won't take that, I am to offer twenty-two and a half, and if you won't take that, to give you twenty-five." It would not require a Connecticut man to guess the price finally agreed upon. This story is nearly true. I certainly showed very plainly that I had come for the colt and meant to have him. I could not have been over eight years old at the time. This transaction caused me great heart-burning.

The story got out among the boys of the village, and it was a long time before I heard the last of it. Boys enjoy the misery of their companions, at least village boys in that day did, and in later life I have found that all adults are not free from the peculiarity. I kept the horse until he was four years old, when he went blind, and I sold him for twenty dollars. When I went to Maysville to school, in 1836, at the age of fourteen, I recognized my colt as one of the blind horses working on the tread-wheel of the ferry-boat.

I have describes enough of my early life to give an impression of the whole. I did not like to work; but I did as much of it, while young, as grown men can be hired to do in these days, and attended school at the same time. I had as many privileges as any boy in the village, and probably more than most of them. I have no recollection of ever having been punished at home, either by scolding or by the rod. But at school the case was different. The rod was freely used there, and I was not exempt from its influence. I can see John D. White--the school teacher--now, with his long beech switch always in his hand. It was not always the same one, either. Switches were brought in bundles, from a beech wood near the school house, by the boys for whose benefit they were intended. Often a whole bundle would be used up in a single day. I never had any hard feelings against my teacher, either while attending the school, or in later years when reflecting upon my experience. Mr. White was a kindhearted man, and was much respected by the community in which he lived. He only followed the universal custom of the period, and that under which he had received his own education.

同类推荐
  • Arizona Sketches

    Arizona Sketches

    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。
  • Tom Swift & his Sky Racer

    Tom Swift & his Sky Racer

    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。
  • 度世品经卷第一

    度世品经卷第一

    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。
  • 胡涂世界

    胡涂世界

    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。
  • 寄僧寓题

    寄僧寓题

    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。
热门推荐
  • 行笔随文散集

    行笔随文散集

    收录一些我写的散文~诗歌~之类的记录一下生活中的文章
  • 黑水泛舟行

    黑水泛舟行

    曾经失去的东西,从前得到过的东西,都可能周而复始,重新回到手中或是消散于指尖。泛舟行,就是要叙说这样一个故事。
  • 商术

    商术

    性格软弱的李国涛,从小饱受了家族的冷眼旁观,受够了贫穷的痛苦,活的没有尊严,他心有不甘,他要证明自己,凭借自己的努力,走上了从商的道路,从一个一穷二白的傻小子,如何一步一步到达商场的顶峰,其中的故事又会是怎么样的精彩……
  • 给你一个公司,看你怎样上市

    给你一个公司,看你怎样上市

    如家诞生、发展和上市的历程是丰富多彩的。本书用小说的语言,真实再现如家品牌的建立、飞速壮大、融资,以及最后在美国纳斯达克成功上市的生动历程。如家快捷是国内第一家赴纳斯达克上市的经济型酒店连锁公司,如家的成功上市,给国内企业不小的启示,其过程之精彩与其所蕴含的经验,本书将一一为您呈现。《给你一个公司,看你怎样上市》是一个教学案例,也是一种新文体。书中每一章都是由语录、寓言、正文、小结、应用等五个部分组成,既有小说那样的生动故事,也有教科书那样的理论分析。在精彩的故事中教你怎样将一个公司做到上市。
  • 突围与回归:新时期散文思维艺术

    突围与回归:新时期散文思维艺术

    本书内容包括:“困境与突围——新时期散文缘起”、“传统与创新——新时期散文说”、“思想突围——新时期散文变革之社会反思”等。
  • 英雄墓园

    英雄墓园

    做为一名刚穿越异界就躺倒的倒霉穿越者,转生骷髅后加上一个无良的墓园游戏系统。加入一个由不靠谱的暴力狂和研究癖组成的家族,罗玄要如何开始他的异界逍遥游呢?敬请期待《英雄墓园》精彩纷呈的异界游即将上演。-------------------------------------新人新书,求点击!求推荐!求收藏!求评价!求打赏!求赞!作者较懒,打字较慢,更新不定,请多包涵!PS墓碑有一颗激情的心,可惜写不出激情的文,需要大家多多提携同时由于每周一一般休息,基本会出去玩,就算没出去,也请各位允许我看看书,看看电影,充一下电,调整一下心情,想一下情节。所以周二的零点之后的那章基本没有,忘各位勿等。
  • 说人与说诗

    说人与说诗

    这是一本抒情散文,运用了积极现实主义和积极浪漫主义相结合的创作方法。从说人和说诗的角度,写出了什么是诗歌,诗歌的作用等,让读者对诗歌有进一步的理解。
  • TFBOYS之侦探社团

    TFBOYS之侦探社团

    偶然之间,他们看到了微博上侦探社团招人通知,便申请加入了。刚开始的他们,总有不熟悉的地方,伴随着时间,默契度渐渐上升,最后,走到了一起。
  • 中国共产党党员主体地位与党内民主问题研究

    中国共产党党员主体地位与党内民主问题研究

    党员主体地位与党内民主在实践中是互动互促与辩证统一的。政党民主持久健康发展,既需要制度保障,也需要动力支撑。党员主体地位在党内民主发展中,属于主体性动力,有内在性,广泛性,根本性的动力特点。本书内容的重点,是在厘清中国共产党党员主体地位理论来源与实践进程的基础上,从制度建设与动力合成有机统一的视角,立足党员主体动力产生的来源、动力体现的重点、动力效能检验的关键,探寻推动党内民主制度改革完善的理论与实践问题。
  • 废材七小姐倾世芍药

    废材七小姐倾世芍药

    芍药,这是她前世的代号,鲜艳的颜色,高调的行为,得来的却是一个陨落的下场,最要好的姐妹下了毒手;重活一世,她不再是她,而是“他”,东汵帝国千家的废物“七少爷”,千芍药便是她的名字。这一世,她韬光养晦,坚强隐忍,终能踏上世界巅峰!!!三级丹药?那玩意,小爷当零食吃;六级灵兽,那算哪根葱?小爷有超神兽!当他又变回了她,又有多少人为之倾倒?