第275页
《简·爱(英文版)》章节:第275页,宠文网网友提供全文无弹窗免费在线阅读。!
the three sole descendants of the race, two earn the dependant's crust
among strangers, and the third considers himself an alien from his
native country- not only for life, but in death. Yes, and deems, and
is bound to deem, himself honoured by the lot, and aspires but after
the day when the cross of separation from fleshly ties shall be laid
on his shoulders, and when the Head of that church-militant of whose
humblest members he is one, shall give the word, "Rise, follow Me!"'
St. John said these words as he pronounced his sermons, with a
quiet, deep voice; with an unflushed cheek, and a coruscating radiance
of glance. He resumed-
'And since I am myself poor and obscure, I can offer you but a
service of poverty and obscurity. You may even think it degrading- for
I see now your habits have been what the world calls refined: your
tastes lean to the ideal, and your society has at least been amongst
the educated; but I consider that no service degrades which can better
our race. I hold that the more arid and unreclaimed the soil where the
Christian labourer's task of tillage is appointed him- the scantier
the meed his toil brings- the higher the honour. His, under such
circumstances, is the destiny of the pioneer; and the first pioneers
of the Gospel were the Apostles- their captain was Jesus, the
Redeemer, Himself.'
'Well?' I said, as he again paused- 'proceed.'
He looked at me before he proceeded: indeed, he seemed leisurely to
read my face, as if its features and lines were characters on a
page. The conclusions drawn from this scrutiny he partially
expressed in his succeeding observations.
'I believe you will accept the post I offer you,' said he, 'and
hold it for a while: not permanently, though: any more than I could
permanently keep the narrow and narrowing- the tranquil, hidden office
of English country incumbent; for in your nature is an alloy as
detrimental to repose as that in mine, though of a different kind.'
'Do explain,' I urged, when he halted once more.
'I will; and you shall hear how poor the proposal is,- how trivial-
how cramping. I shall not stay long at Morton, now that my father is
dead, and that I am my own master. I shall leave the place probably in
the course of a twelvemonth; but while I do stay, I will exert
myself to the utmost for its improvement. Morton, when I came to it
two years ago, had no school: the children of the poor were excluded
from every hope of progress. I established one for boys: I mean now to
open a second school for girls. I have hired a building for the
purpose, with a cottage of two rooms attached to it for the mistress's
house. Her salary will be thirty pounds a year: her house is already
furnished, very simply, but sufficiently, by the kindness of a lady,
Miss Oliver; the only daughter of the sole rich man in my parish-
Mr. Oliver, the proprietor of a needle-factory and iron-foundry in the