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第59章

over the teacups-第59章

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What would Amanda think of a suitor who courted her with a rhyming

dictionary in his pocket to help him make love?〃



You are right; said I;there's nothing in the world like rhymes to

cool off a man's passion。  You look at a blacksmith working on a bit

of iron or steel。  Bright enough it looked while it was on the

hearth; in the midst of the sea…coal; the great bellows blowing away;

and the rod or the horse…shoe as red or as white as the burning

coals。  How it fizzes as it goes into the trough of water; and how

suddenly all the glow is gone!  It looks black and cold enough now。

Just so with your passionate incandescence。  It is all well while it

burns and scintillates in your emotional centres; without articulate

and connected expression; but the minute you plunge it into the

rhyme…trough it cools down; and becomes as dead and dull as the cold

horse…shoe。  It is true that if you lay it cold on the anvil and

hammer away on it for a while it warms up somewhat。  Just so with the

rhyming fellow;he pounds away on his verses and they warm up a

little。  But don't let him think that this afterglow of composition

is the same thing as the original passion。  That found expression in

a few oh; oh's; eheu's; helas; helas's; and when the passion had

burned itself out you got the rhymed verses; which; as I have said;

are its ashes。



I thanked Number Seven for his poetical illustration of my thesis。

There is great good to be got out of a squinting brain; if one only

knows how to profit by it。  We see only one side of the moon; you

know; but a fellow with a squinting brain seems now and then to get a

peep at the other side。  I speak metaphorically。  He takes new and

startling views of things we have always looked at in one particular

aspect。  There is a rule invariably to be observed with one of this

class of intelligences: Never contradict a man with a squinting

brain。  I say a man; because I do not think that squinting brains are

nearly so common in women as they are in men。  The 〃eccentrics〃 are;

I think; for the most part of the male sex。



That leads me to say that persons with a strong instinctive tendency

to contradiction are apt to become unprofitable companions。  Our

thoughts are plants that never flourish in inhospitable soils or

chilling atmospheres。  They are all started under glass; so to speak;

that is; sheltered and fostered in our own warm and sunny

consciousness。  They must expect some rough treatment when we lift

the sash from the frame and let the outside elements in upon them。

They can bear the rain and the breezes; and be all the better for

them; but perpetual contradiction is a pelting hailstorm; which

spoils their growth and tends to kill them out altogether。



Now stop and consider a moment。  Are not almost all brains a little

wanting in bilateral symmetry?  Do you not find in persons whom you

love; whom you esteem; and even admire; some marks of obliquity in

mental vision?  Are there not some subjects in looking at which it

seems to you impossible that they should ever see straight?  Are

there not moods in which it seems to you that they are disposed to

see all things out of plumb and in false relations with each other?

If you answer these questions in the affirmative; then you will be

glad of a hint as to the method of dealing with your friends who have

a touch of cerebral strabismus; or are liable to occasional paroxysms

of perversity。  Let them have their head。  Get them talking on

subjects that interest them。  As a rule; nothing is more likely to

serve this purpose than letting them talk about themselves; if

authors; about their writings; if artists; about their pictures or

statues; and generally on whatever they have most pride in and think

most of their own relations with。



Perhaps you will not at first sight agree with me in thinking that

slight mental obliquity is as common as I suppose。  An analogy may

have some influence on your belief in this matter。  Will you take the

trouble to ask your tailor how many persons have their two shoulders

of the same height?  I think be will tell you that the majority of

his customers show a distinct difference of height on the two sides。

Will you ask a portrait…painter how many of those who sit to hint

have both sides of their faces exactly alike?  I believe he will tell

you that one side is always a little better than the other。  What

will your hatter say about the two sides of the head?  Do you see

equally well with both eyes; and hear equally well with both ears?

Few persons past middle age will pretend that they do。  Why should

the two halves of a brain not show a natural difference; leading to

confusion of thought; and very possibly to that instinct of

contradiction of which I was speaking?  A great deal of time is lost

in profitless conversation; and a good deal of ill temper frequently

caused; by not considering these organic and practically insuperable

conditions。  In dealing with them; acquiescence is the best of

palliations and silence the sovereign specific。



I have been the reporter; as you have seen; of my own conversation

and that of the other Teacups。  I have told some of the circumstances

of their personal history; and interested; as I hope; here and there

a reader in the fate of different members of our company。  Here are

our pretty Delilah and our Doctor provided for。  We may take it for

granted that it will not be very long that the young couple will have

to wait; for; as I have told you all; the Doctor is certainly getting

into business; and bids fair to have a thriving practice before he

saddles his nose with an eyeglass and begins to think of a pair of

spectacles。  So that part of our little domestic drama is over; and

we can only wish the pair that is to be all manner of blessings

consistent with a reasonable amount of health in the community on

whose ailings must depend their prosperity。



All our thoughts are now concentrated on the relation existing betwen

Number Five and the Tutor。  That there is some profound instinctive

impulse which is drawing them closer together no one who watches them

can for a moment doubt。  There are two principles of attraction which

bring different natures together: that in which the two natures

closely resemble each other; and that in which one is complementary

of the other。  In the first case; they coalesce; as do two drops of

water or of mercury; and become intimately blended as soon as they

touch; in the other; they rush together as an acid and an alkali

unite; predestined from eternity to find all they most needed in each

other。  What is the condition of things in the growing intimacy of

Number Five and the Tutor?  He is many years her junior; as we know。

Both of them look that fact squarely in the face。  The presumption is

against the union of two persons under these circumstances。

Presumptions are strong obstacles against any result we wish to

attain; but half our work in life is to overcome them。  A great many

results look in the distance like six…foot walls; and when we get

nearer prove to be only five…foot hurdles; to be leaped over or

knocked down。  Twenty years from now she may be a vigorous and active

old woman; and he a middle…aged; half…worn…out invalid; like so many

overworked scholars。  Everything depends on the number of drops of

the elixir vitae which Nature mingled in the nourishment she

administered to the embryo before it tasted its mother's milk。  Think

of Cleopatra; the bewitching old mischief…maker; think of Ninon de

L'Enclos; whose own son fell desperately in love with her; not

knowing the relation in which she stood to him; think of Dr。

Johnson's friend; Mrs。 Thrale; afterward Mrs。 Piozzi; who at the age

of eighty was full enough of life to be making love ardently and

persistently to Conway; the handsome young actor。  I can readily

believe that Number Five will outlive the Tutor; even if he is

fortunate enough rather in winning 

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