Chapter 5 new passion (1)

When I was thirteen, I went to visit my Uncle Cephas.My grandmother was forced to be separated from me for two weeks, which she reluctantly did.She had been called to a meeting of the American Pamphlet Society, and she intended to see her cousin, Royal Eastman, after fulfilling her first obligations to the Society.During my grandmother's absence, Mrs. Laney, the deacon of the church, was brought in to give me interim, religious guidance.However, at this juncture, Mrs. Lanney was suffering from tonsillitis, so there was nothing but sending me to Nashua [Nashua, a city on the Merrimack River in southern New Hampshire, USA.Founded in 1655 AD, it became the textile center of the United States in the early nineteenth century. ], there is no other choice, my Uncle Cephas lives in Nashua.

This was not a small expense, and the cost of the post-coach was three shillings each way, which inevitably stretched the poor grandmother.Not long ago, she had just paid the road tax, and her Fitchburg railroad stock has not yet received the dividend for the past six months.But I don't care, I don't care about luxury or frugality or other such considerations except personal pride.I rode on the roof of the stagecoach, full of pride and triumph.I waved my hat to Captivity as I sped past Waite's house, blissfully imagining how lonely she would be without me.The great satisfaction of traveling far from home arises roughly from the thought that those you leave behind will most likely be full of sorrow and heartbreak in their absence.

Uncle Cephas's house was very different from my grandmother's, and it took me a while to get used to the place.Uncle Cephas is a lawyer whose habits are quite different from those of his grandmother.He was going to be a clergyman, but at the age of twelve he attended the county fair, an event which seemed to change his whole interest in life.At twenty-one he married Samantha Talbot, another blow to his grandmother, who had always thought of her as a slob.Having said that, I still had a very pleasant impression on Uncle Sephas and Aunt Mancy, because they both expressed a very sincere welcome to my arrival, and handed me over to my two Little cousins, Mary and Henry, and the three of us were ordered: to play as hard as we could.My good impression of my uncle's family was further cemented at dinner, when we had hot pies and dry beef simmering in a cheese gravy, and honestly, such a good meal was far better than Light bread and dry apple sauce bars (poor grandma forgive me).

Aha, old Robinson!Now I see you smiling at me in the bookcase over there, just like you did many years ago when you brought all kinds of bizarre stories to a little boy, with such a bright and warm smile.I still love you, and will always love you, not only because of your charity in those distant ages, but also because of the light and joy that your genius has brought to mankind in any era and under any circumstances. In Uncle Cephas' library there is a wide variety of delightful literature.I noticed that there are not too many publications in theology.I asked if there was a New England Primer, and when I was told there was no such book, I honestly confessed that, personally, I was somewhat aggrieved.But that feeling quickly dissipated, and as soon as I picked up Defoe's masterpiece, I was hooked: in the realm of fiction, it's a work unmatched.

Of course I won't say: it's not true that Robinson Crusoe has replaced the Primer in my love affairs.I prefer to say: This is my second love, and this is the truth of the matter.Here we can see another advantage of being a lover of books over being a lover of women.If you are a lover worthy of the name, there are plenty of books you can and should love, and no nymphomaniac will be scorned by any of them.But the preachers of our civil and moral laws insist that love lasts forever, and that if two persons keep this promise, they must be highly praised by their respective friends of the same sex.

I thank God time and time again that the luck of my life has been that I have built within myself a spiritual empire—no narrow and shriveled regions where a suspicious and jealous mistress can exercise her petty tyranny, but vast expanses. And in the ever-expanding continent, it is divided into countless territories, jurisdictions, caliphates, tribes, fiefs, and jurisdictions. The Emir, the Nizam and the Nawab operate independently, each governing their own special area, and all the areas work together in harmony under the appeasement of bookworms. Hope I'm not being misunderstood because I'm not a misogynist.I don't regret the lack of acquaintance or friendship, I have formed my own unique gender personality.For women's studies, being a thinker is more suitable for me. Apart from books, I don't really appreciate other more loving values.Besides, at my age, I am more willing to be the company of rare books, or a woman who brings friendship to my life when I enjoy reading and loving books. It doesn't matter who.

One day, I saw my nephew William and her girlfriend Celia hanging out in the hammock on the porch, and the young man was reading Ovid [Ovid (43-17 before), Roman poet, major works include and 】. "My children," I said, "believe that this day is a happy day. Years later, Ovid and his tender poems will surely remind you of this dear afternoon in distant times when you walked side by side Sit down and meditate on this unspeakable solemn promise—about maturity, about love.” I am not sure that I really agree with Judge Methuen's creed, which he insisted that in this life a woman is serving a reprieve for a crime of negligence or credulity committed in a previous life, and that, in her next life, For blissful eternal life, the sentence may be longer or shorter.In the blissful eternal life, her soul was favored, caressed, cherished and pityed by some good men because she entered a book.Such a good man, for that matter, is either Methuen himself, or myself.