竞选州长

A True Story

导读

【按照我听到的逐字逐句复述】

我家的女仆瑞秋大娘是一位黑人，身材高大，体格健硕。虽然已经六十多岁，但是依旧精神饱满、笑声不断。一天，我忍不住问她：

“大娘，你怎么没有烦恼呢？”

瑞秋大娘凝视着我，向我讲述了她的故事：

“我曾经是一个黑人奴隶，我和我的丈夫有七个孩子。后来，我们的老房东破产了，打算卖掉我们这些奴隶。我们一家九口被不同的买主领走了，从那以后，我就再也没有见到过我的丈夫和其中六个孩子，算来已经有二十二年了。

“我的新主人是南方军的一个上校，后来战争爆发，北方军占领了我所在的小镇，驻扎在我主人的房子里。我被他们所收容，并负责给他们做饭。我一直思念着我的小儿子亨利，他临走前悄悄告诉我，他会找机会偷偷溜走的。我想他如果开了小差，一定会跑到北方的。于是，我和北方军官们谈起我的小亨利，他们很同情我，但是没有人能帮上我的忙。

“我当时不知道，我的小亨利果真早已经跑到北方去了。还成了一个理发师，后来为了寻找我，从了军，跟着部队四处征战，逢人便打听我的下落。他几乎找遍了南方，而我却不知道有这回事。

“我的母亲是在马里兰长大的，性格粗犷，每当她脾气的时候，她就说这句话： '喂！我要叫你们这群黑鬼知道，老娘不是生在烂泥堆里让垃圾来嘲弄的人！我是老蓝母鸡的崽子，我就是！' 一次，小亨利的手腕和额头擦破了，没有人来照看，惹怒了母亲，她就是这样骂我们的。后来，我发脾气的时候，也习惯重复母亲这句话。

“我所在的大房子里经常举行士兵舞会，一个星期五的晚上，来了一群黑人士兵。起初我的兴致很高，不过一个黑小伙和他的同伴把我惹怒了，我把母亲的那句老话狠狠地重复了一遍。这时，黑小伙愣住了，眼睛直直地盯着我，仿佛想起了什么事情。

“晚上我在炉火旁添柴的时候，一个黑面孔出现在我的脸下。我看了看他的手腕和额头，那两道伤疤依然存在。我欣喜若狂，我找到了我的小亨利。

“先生，我确实没有什么烦恼的事情，不过也没有值得喜庆的事。”

一八七四年

REPEATED WORD FOR WORD AS I HEARD IT

It was summer-time, and twilight. We were sitting on the porch of the farmhouse, on the summit of the hill, and "Aunt Rachel" was sitting respectfully below our level, on the steps—for she was our Servant, and colored. She was of mighty frame and stature; she was sixty years old, but her eye was undimmed and her strength unabated. She was a cheerful, hearty soul, and it was no more trouble for her to laugh than it is for a bird to sing. She was under fire now, as usual when the day was done. That is to say, she was being chaffed without mercy, and was enjoying it. She would let off peal after of laughter, and then sit with her face in her hands and shake with throes of enjoyment which she could no longer get breath enough to express. It such a moment as this a thought occurred to me, and I said:

"Aunt Rachel, how is it that you've lived sixty years and never had any trouble?"

She stopped quaking. She paused, and there was a moment of silence. She turned her face over her shoulder toward me, and said, without even a smile in her voice:

"Misto C—, is you in'arnest?"

It surprised me a good deal; and it sobered my manner and my speech, too. I said:

"Why, I thought—that is, I meant—why, you can't have had any trouble. I've never heard you sigh, and never seen your eye when there wasn't a laugh in it."

She faced fairly around now, and was full earnestness.

"Has I had any trouble? Misto C—, I's gwyne to tell you, den I leave it to you. I was bawn down' mongst de slaves; I knows all' bout slavery,' case I ben one of' em my own se'f. Well sah, my ole man—dat's my husban'—he was loving an' kind to me, jist as kind as you is to yo' own wife. An' we had chil'en—seven chil'en—an' loved dem chil'en jist de same as you loves yo' chil'en. Dey was black, but de Lord can't make chil'en so black but what dey mother loves' era an' wouldn't give' era up, no, not for anything dat's in dis whole world.

"Well, sah, I was raised in ole Fo'ginny, but mother she was raised in Maryland; an' my souls she was turrible when she'd git started! My lan! but she'd make de fur fly! When she'd git into dem tantrums, she always had one word dat she said. She'd straighten herse'f up an' put her fists in her hips an' say, 'I want you to understan' dat I wa'n't bawn in the mash to be fool' by trash! I's one o' de ole Blue Hen's Chickens, I is!' Ca'se you see, dat's what folks dat's bawn in Maryland calls deyselves, an' dey's proud of it. Well, dat was her word. I don't ever forgit it, beca'se she said it so much, an' beca'se she said it one day when my little Henry tore his wris' awful, and most busted' is head, right up at de top of his forehead, an' de niggers didn't fly aroun' fas' enough to' tend to him. An' when dey talk' back at her, she up an' she says, 'Look-a-heah!' she says, 'I want you niggers to understan' dat I wa'n't bawn in de mash be fool' by trash! I's one o' de ole Blue Hen's Chickens, I is!' an' den she clar' dat kitchen an' bandage' up de chile herse'f. So I says dat word, too, when I's riled.

"Well, bymeby my ole mistis say she's broke, an she got to sell all de niggers on de place. An' when I heah dat dey gwyne to sell us all off at action in Richmon', oh, de good gracious! I know what dat mean!"

Aunt Rachel had gradually risen, while she warmed to her subject, and now she towered above us, black against the stars.

"Dey put chains on us an' put us on a stan' as high as dis po'ch—twenty foot high-an' all de people stood aroun', crowds' an' crowds. An' dey'd come up dah an' look at us all roun', an' squeeze our arm, an' make us git up an' walk, an' den say, 'Dis one too ole,' or 'Dis one lame,' or 'Dis one don't' mount to much.' An' dey sole my ole man, an' took him away, an 'dey begin to sell my chil'en an' take dem away, an' I begin to cry; an' de man say, 'Shet up yo' damn blubberin',' an' hit me on de mouf wid his ban'. An' when de las' one was gone but my little Henry, I grab' him clost up to my breas' so, an' I ris up an' says, 'You sha'nt take him away,' I says; 'I'll kill de man dat tetch him!' I says. But my little Henry whisper an' say 'I gwyne to run away, an' den I work an' buy yo' freedom.' Oh, bless de chile, he always so good! But dey got him—dey got him, de men did; but I took and tear de clo'es mos' off of' em an' beat' em over de head wid my chain; an' dey give it to me too, but I didn't mine dat.

"Well, dah was my ole man gone, an' all my chil'en, all my seven chil'en—an' six of' em I hain't set eyes on ag'in to dis day, an' dat's twenty-two year ago las' Easter. De man dat bought me b'long' in Newbern, an' he took me dah. Well, bymeby de years roll on an' de waw come. My marster he was a Confedrit colonel, an' I was his family's cook. So when de Unions took dat town dey all run away an' lef' me all by myse'fwid de other niggers in dat mons'us big house. So de big Union officers move in dah, an' dey ask me would I cook for dem. 'Lord bless you,' says I, 'dat what I's for.'

"Dey wa'n't no small-fry officers, mine you, de was de biggest dey is; an' de way dey made dem sojers mosey roun'! De Gen'l he tole me to boss dat kitchen; an' he say, 'If anybody come meddlin' wid you, you jist make 'em walk chalk; don' t you be afeared, 'he say; 'you' s' mong frens now.'

"Well, I thinks to myse'f, if my little Henry ever got a chance to run away, he'd make to de Norf, o' course. So one day I comes in dah what de big officers was, in de parlor, an' I drops a kurtchy, so, an' I up an' tole' em' bout my Henry, dey a-listenin' to my troubles jist de same as if I was white folks; an' I says, 'What I come for is beca'se if he got away and got up Norf whar you gemmen comes from, you might' a' seen him, maybe, an' could tell me so as I could fine him ag'in;he was very little, an' he had a skyar on his lef' wris' an' at de top of his forehead.' Den dey look mournful, an' de Gen'l says, 'How long sence you los' him?' an' I say, 'Thirteen year. Den de Gen'l say, 'He wouldn't be little no mo' now—he' s a man!'

"I never thought o' dat befo'! He was only dat little feller to me yit. I never thought' bout him growin' up an' bein' big. But I see it den. None o' de gemmen had run acrost him, so dey couldn't do nothin' for me. But all dat time, do' I didn't know it, my Henry was run off to de Norf, years an' years, an' he was a barber, too, an' worked for hisse'f. An' bymeby, when de waw come he ups an' he says: 'I's done barberin',' he says, 'I's gwyne to fine my ole mammy, less'n she's dead.' So he sole out an' went to what dey was recruitin', an' hired hisse'f out to de colonel for his servant an' den he went all froo de battles everywhah, huntin' for his ole mammy;yes, indeedy, he'd hire to fust one officer an' den another, tell he'd ransacked de whole Soul; but you see I didn't know nuffin' bout dis. How was I gwyne to know it?

"Well, one night we had a big sojer ball; de sojers dah at Newbern was always havin' balls an' carryin' on. Dey had' em in my kitchen, heaps o' times, 'ca'se it was so big. Mine you, I was down on sich doin's; beca'se my place was wid de officers, an' it rasp me to have dem common sojers cavortin' roun' in my kitchen like dat. But I alway' stood aroun' an kep' things straight, I did; an' sometimes dey'd git my dander up, an' den I'd make' em clar dat kitchen, mine I tell you!

"Well, one night—it was a Friday night—dey comes a whole platoon f'm a nigger ridgment da was on guard at de house—de house was head quarters, you know-an' den I was jist a-bilin' mad? I was jist a-boomin'! I swelled aroun', an swelled aroun'; I jist was a-itchin; 'for'em to do somefin for to start me. An' dey was a-waltzin' an a dancin'! my but dey was havin' a time! an I jist a-swellin' an' a-swellin' up! Pooty soon,' long comes sich a spruce young nigger a-sailin' down de room wid a yaller wench roun' de wais'; an' roun an' roun' an roun' dey went, enough to make a body drunk to look at' em; an' when dey got abreas' o' me, dey went to kin' o' balancin' aroun' fust on one leg an' den on t'other, an' smilin' at my big red turban, an' makin' fun, an' I ups an' says 'Git along wid you!—rubbage!' De young man's face kin' o' changed, all of a sudden, for' bout a second but den he went to smilin' ag'in, same as he was befo'. Well, ' bout dis time, in comes some niggers dat played music and b'long' to de ban', an' dey never could git along widout puttin' on airs. An de very fust air dey put on dat night, I lit into em! Dey laughed, an' dat made me wuss. De res' o' de niggers got to laughin', an' den my soul alive but I was hot! My eye was jist a-blazin'! I jist straightened myself up so—jist as I is now, plum to de ceilin', mos'—an' I digs my fists into my hips, an' I says, 'Look-a-heah!' I says, 'I want you niggers to understan' dat I wa'n't bawn in de mash to be fool' by trash! I's one o' de ole Blue hen's Chickens, l is!' an' den I see dat young man start' a-starin' an' stiff, lookin' kin' o' up at de ceilin' like he fo'got somefin, an' couldn't, member it no mo'. Well, I jist march' on dem niggers—so, lookin' like a gen'l—an' dey jist cave' away befo' me an'out at de do'. An' as dis young man a-goin' out, I heah him say to another nigger, 'Jim,' he says, 'you go' long an' tell de cap'n I be on han'bout eight o'clock in de mawnin';dey' s somefin on my mine,' he says;' I don't sleep no mo' dis night. You go' long,' he says, 'an' leave me by my own se'f.'

"Dis was' bout one o'clock in de mawnin'. Well,' bout seven, I was up an' on han', gittin' de officers' breakfast. I was astoopin' down by de stove jist so, same as if yo' foot was de stove—an' I'd opened de stove do' wid my right han'—so, pushin' it back, jist as I pushes yo' foot—an' I'd jist got de pan o' hot biscuits in my han' an' was' bout to raise up, when I see a black face come aroun' under mine, an' de eyes a-lookin' up into mine, jist as I's a-lookin' up clost under yo' face now; an' I jist stopped right dah, an' never budged! jist gazed an' gazed so; an' de pan begin to tremble, an' all of a sudden I knowed! De pan drop' on de flo' an' I grab his lef' han' an' shove back his sleeve—jist so, as I's doin' to you—an' den I goes for his forehead an' push de hair back so, an' 'Boy!' I says, 'if you an't my Henry, what is you doin' wid dis welt on yo' wris' an' dat skyar on yo' forehead? De Lord God ob heaven be praise', I got my own ag'in!'

"Oh no' Misto C—, I hain't had no trouble. An' no joy!"

[Written about 1874]