the professor(教授)-第37节
按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!
nature to doubt the reality and under…value the worth of modesty;
affection; disinterestedness—to regard these qualities as foibles of
character—so it was equally her tendency to consider pride;
hardness; selfishness; as proofs of strength。 She would trample on
the neck of humility; she would kneel at the feet of disdain; she
would meet tenderness with secret contempt; indifference she
would woo with ceaseless assiduities。 Benevolence; devotedness;
enthusiasm; were her antipathies; for dissimulation and self…
Charlotte Bronte ElecBook Classics
… Page 154…
The Professor 154
interest she had a preference—they were real wisdom in her eyes;
moral and physical degradation; mental and bodily inferiority; she
regarded with indulgence; they were foils capable of being turned
to good account as set…offs for her own endowments。 To violence;
injustice; tyranny; she succumbed—they were her natural
masters; she had no propensity to hate; no impulse to resist them;
the indignation their behests awake in some hearts was unknown
in hers。 From all this it resulted that the false and selfish called
her wise; the vulgar and debased termed her charitable; the
insolent and unjust dubbed her amiable; the conscientious and
benevolent generally at first accepted as valid her claim to be
considered one of themselves; but ere long the plating of
pretension wore off; the real material appeared below; and they
laid her aside as a deception。
Charlotte Bronte ElecBook Classics
… Page 155…
The Professor 155
Chapter XVI
n the course of another fortnight I had seen sufficient of
Frances Evans Henri; to enable me to form a more definite
I
opinion of her character。 I found her possessed in a somewhat
remarkable degree of at least two good points; viz。; perseverance
and a sense of duty; I found she was really capable of applying to
study; of contending with difficulties。 At first I offered her the
same help which I had always found it necessary to confer on the
others; I began with unloosing for her each knotty point; but I
soon discovered that such help was regarded by my new pupil as
degrading; she recoiled from it with a certain proud impatience。
Hereupon I appointed her long lessons; and left her to solve alone
any perplexities they might present。 She set to the task with
serious ardour; and having quickly accomplished one labour;
eagerly demanded more。 So much for her perseverance; as to her
sense of duty; it evinced itself thus: she liked to learn; but hated to
teach; her progress as a pupil depended upon herself; and I saw
that on herself she could calculate with certainty; her success as a
teacher rested partly; perhaps chiefly; upon the will of others; it
cost her a most painful effort to enter into conflict with this foreign
will; to endeavour to bend it into subjection to her own; for in what
regarded people in general the action of her will was impeded by
many scruples; it was as unembarrassed as strong where her own
affairs were concerned; and to it she could at any time subject her
inclination; if that inclination went counter to her convictions of
right; yet when called upon to wrestle with the propensities; the
habits; the faults of others; of children especially; who are deaf to
Charlotte Bronte ElecBook Classics
… Page 156…
The Professor 156
reason; and; for the most part; insensate to persuasion; her will
sometimes almost refused to act; then came in the sense of duty;
and forced the reluctant will into operation。 A wasteful expense of
energy and labour was frequently the consequence; Frances toiled
for and with her pupils like a drudge; but it was long ere her
conscientious exertions were rewarded by anything like docility
on their part; because they saw that they had power over her;
inasmuch as by resisting her painful attempts to convince;
persuade; control—by forcing her to the employment of coercive
measures—they could inflict upon her exquisite suffering。 Human
beings—human children especially—seldom deny themselves the
pleasure of exercising a power which they are conscious of
possessing; even though that power consist only in a capacity to
make others wretched; a pupil whose sensations are duller than
those of his instructor; while his nerves are tougher and his bodily
strength perhaps greater; has an immense advantage over that
instructor; and he will generally use it relentlessly; because the
very young; very healthy; very thoughtless; know neither how to
sympathize nor how to spare。 Frances; I fear; suffered much; a
continual weight seemed to oppress her spirits; I have said she did
not live in the house; and whether in her own abode; wherever
that might be; she wore the same preoccupied; unsmiling;
sorrowfully resolved air that always shaded her features under the
roof of Mdlle Reuter; I could not tell。
One day I gave; as a devoir; the trite little anecdote of Alfred
tending cakes in the herdsman’s hut; to be related with
amplifications。 A singular affair most of the pupils made of it;
brevity was what they had chiefly studied; the majority of the
narratives were perfectly unintelligible; those of Sylvie and Léonie
Charlotte Bronte ElecBook Classics
… Page 157…
The Professor 157
Ledru alone pretended to anything like sense and connection。
Eulalie; indeed; had hit; upon a clever expedient for at once
ensuring accuracy and saving trouble; she had obtained access
somehow to an abridged history of England; and had copied the
anecdote out fair。 I wrote on the margin of her production “Stupid
and deceitful;” and then tore it down the middle。
Last in the pile of single…leaved devoirs; I found one of several
sheets; neatly written out and stitched together; I knew the hand;
and scarcely needed the evidence of the signature “Frances Evans
Henri” to confirm my conjecture as to the writer’s identity。
Night was my usual time for correcting devoirs; and my own
room the usual scene of such task—task most onerous hitherto;
and it seemed strange to me to feel rising within me an incipient
sense of interest; as I snuffed the candle and addressed myself to
the perusal of the poor teacher’s manuscript。
“Now;” thought I; “I shall see a glimpse of what she really is; I
shall get an idea of the nature and extent of her powers; not that
she can be expected to express herself well in a foreign tongue; but
still; if she has any mind; here will be a reflection of it。”
The narrative commenced by a description of a Saxon peasant’s
hut; situated within the confines of a great; leafless; winter forest;
it represented an evening in December; flakes of snow were
falling; and the herdsman foretold a heavy storm; he summoned
his wife to aid him in collecting their flock; roaming far away on
the pastoral banks of the Thone; he warns her that it will be late
ere they return。 The good woman is reluctant to quit her
occupation of baking cakes for the evening meal; but
acknowledging the primary importance of securing the herds and
flocks; she puts on her sheep…skin mantle; and; addressing a
Charlotte Bronte