Clarence Day

Father on Horseback

Father had been putting on weight and he didnt like it. He was a solidly-built（長(zhǎng)得結(jié)實(shí)的）man, but trim （苗條的）and erect （挺拔的）, with a light easy step, and his extra pounds made him uncomfortable. He disapproved of them too. When the fat of fat men seemed to come natural to them, Father took it as a good joke; but he felt that it was slovenly（賴(lài)散邋遢的） to be careless about getting stout.

He talked about this at this club. What the saloon was to poor men and what coffee houses had once been to Londoners, his club was to Father. It was the front and center （焦點(diǎn)，中心）of his social life. He stopped there for half an hour or so on his way home from the office, or he walked down there at nine in the evening when Mother had gone up to bed. He played a game or two of billiards（臺(tái)球，桌球戲）—not cards—or he had a whisky and soda with Commodore （海軍準(zhǔn)將）Brown, or he met and sized up （估量，判斷） distinguished foreigners, whom he usually didnt think much of. Or he sought for advice about fat.

Some members recommended long walks, but Father had always done a good deal of walking. The opinion of the club was that in that case he had better taken up riding horseback.

The only proper way to ride horseback, Father felt, was to join one more club. He joined the Riding Club, in East Fiftyeighth Street, which provided stabling and other conveniences（提供馬廄和其他設(shè)施）, and after practicing in there in the tanbark ring（鞣制革的馬場(chǎng)）, he rode out in the Park.

The Park itself was only a ring on a larger scale, nothing wild or adventurous; but it suited Father. He disliked wildness—he preferred things like landscapes to be orderly, and suitably arranged for his use. From this time on, he was as critical of the Park as he was of his home. He felt personally affronted（侮辱，冒犯）for instance when the bridle path （騎馬專(zhuān)用道） wasnt raked properly, or when papers were left lying about.

His first horse was a powerful bay（棗紅馬）by the name of Rob Roy. This horse didnt like Father, and Father had still less affection for him. This was supposed to be of no importance—it was not even considered. Father bought him because he was spirited and sound（頭腦清楚的）, and able to stand work; handsome too. He paid three hundred dollars for him, and expected him to do what he was told.

Rob Roy never looked upon the transaction（交易） in this way, however. He had an independent and self-absorbed（固執(zhí)己見(jiàn)的）nature; he was always thinking of his own point of view. Even if he had been devoted to Father, which he never was, this would have made trouble.

One typical scene between them, I remember, occurred near the Park entrance. It was a warm autumn morning. Rob Roy and Father had trotted（小跑） out of the club and into the Park, each thoroughly healthy and strong, and each intent on his thoughts. They made a fine sight as they went up the bridle path. All their plans coincided. But then a difference between them arose. Father wished to keep on. Rob Roy didnt. I dont know why Rob Roy wanted to stop; perhaps he didnt like the way Father rode him. Anyhow he came to a halt（停止）. Father gave him a cut with his whip. Rob Roy whirled around. Father reined him up（勒住韁繩）sharply and struck him again. Rob Roy reared（尥蹶子）.

As they fought, Father in his anger kept hitting Rob Roy; and Rob Roy violently pawed the ground, and stamped on it, and tore it all up（用蹄子刨地，使勁蹬，把土抓起來(lái)）. They both perspired （出汗）so freely that between them they must have lost gallons, and they both blindly stuck to their respective plans and would not give in.

But Rob Roy had the whole day before him, and Father did not—he had to get through his ride sometime and go to his office. He decided that Rob Roy was crazy, and they returned to the club. Rob Roy was led off to his stall and rubbed down by a groom（馬夫）, and Father went to the dressing-room for members and was rubbed dry by Jim, the attendant.

Jim was a friendly old soul（人）. “Have a nice ride, Mr. Day?” he asked.

“Nice hell,” Father shortly replied, and took his cane and went out.

These fierce morning combats gave our family a feeling of awe. We had never dreamed that anyone, man or beast, would resist Fathers will. This rashness（輕率，急躁）of Rob Roys was like Satans1 rebelling against God—it had a dark splendor about it, but it somehow filled me with horror.

In that fight between Satan and God, we had been told that God won. There were stray bits of evidence （零散的相反的證據(jù)）to the contrary lying around, but naturally we had accepted the official announcement. In the long war between Father and Rob Roy, we always assumed Father won, but there too I now see that Rob Roy may have looked at it differently. For the way that Father defeated Rob Roy was by deciding to sell him.

To us boys this seemed like a banishment（放逐）. It made Rob Roy an outcast （被驅(qū)逐的人或東西）. Perhaps it only meant to him meeting a rider less uncongenial（志趣不相投的）; but to us it seemed like obliterating him from the world（從這個(gè)世界中清除掉）, in the prime of his life. For years afterward he was spoken of as a strange being, a queer, insane creature, who had unaccountably and vainly attempted to disobey Father.

Rob Roy was a thorough-bred（純種馬）. His successor, a lanky （瘦長(zhǎng)的）brown horse named Brownie, was plain（普通的） middle-class. Rob Roy was an adventurer. Brownie was a sad-eyed philosopher. Some philosophers are as great-hearted as adventurers, but they are mostly more docile（溫順的）. Brownie trotted wherever Father told him to, in any direction. He never once reared, never stamped on the ground, never snorted（噴鼻子）. There were sometimes little differences of opinion between him and Father, because Brownie got tired sooner than Father did, and wanted to rest. But he never made a direct issue of it（直接提出來(lái)）, never fought for his rights; he tried to get them either by malingering （裝病以逃避職責(zé)）or by passive resistance. For instance, Father would set out with the plan in his mind of having a glorious gallop（飛馳）, up hill and down dale （溪谷）. Well, Brownie, who had to do the galloping, would keep it up for a while—would keep it up far longer at times than he had ever intended; for he found that a whip kept landing on his flank （側(cè)腹）whenever he started to slacken （慢下來(lái)）. But, as he lost heart in the expedition, he also lost spring; and finally he would thump （步履沉重）along so heavily that Father let up （漸漸停下來(lái)）.

In general however the two got along very well. Father became enthusiastic about the pleasure of riding. Being a hearty, expansive（豪爽的）man, he talked of this often, at home. He talked of it so much, in fact, that Mother began to feel he was selfish, in that he was keeping a pleasure for himself which should be shared with his family. If riding around the Park was so exhilarating （爽快的，令人喜歡的）, she said we all ought to do it.

Father said he wished that we could, but there was only one horse.

This silenced the family for a while; but soon Mother spoke up: she didnt see why the rest of us couldnt ride the horse when Father was through.

The unreasonableness and impracticability（不切實(shí)際）of this idea made Father hot. It showed how little Mother knew about anything, especially horses, he said. He explained that Brownie was already inclined to be sluggish（懶惰的，遲鈍的）, and that he wouldnt be fresh enough for a man to ride if he did extra work.

Mother said firmly, then Father should get some more horses.

This took him aback（把他嚇了一跳）. He always meant to do the right thing by us; and he began to fear that his own goodness of heart might now get him in trouble. His feeling was that when he innocently had gone in for riding himself, he had never contemplated（想過(guò)，料到）having to spend enough to mount the whole family （使一家人都騎上馬）. He said that if he had foreseen that we all would be wanting to ride through the Park, just because he, a hard- working man, got a little relief in that way, he would have gone without the relief （不放松也罷）, damn it. He would now. Hed sell out（把馬賣(mài)了）.

Of course he had no intention of doing this. Instead he bought one more horse, a younger and happier one, and then gave us boys poor old Brownie. ?

1. 撒旦(Satan)，主要指《圣經(jīng)》中的墮天使（或稱(chēng)墮天使撒旦），他是反叛上帝耶和華的墮天使（Fallen Angels），曾經(jīng)是上帝座前的六翼天使，負(fù)責(zé)在人間放置誘惑，后來(lái)他墮落成為魔鬼，被看作與光明力量相對(duì)的邪惡、黑暗之源。