Reading4

　　I aspire to be acquainted with wiser men than this our Concord soil has produced， whose names are hardly known here.  Or shall I hear the name of Plato and never read his book？  As if Plato were my townsman and I never saw him ―― my next neighbor and I never heard him speak or attended to the wisdom of his words.  But how actually is it？  His Dialogues， which contain what was immortal in him， lie on the next shelf， and yet I never read them.  We are underbred and low-lived and illiterate； and in this respect I confess I do not make any very broad distinction between the illiterateness of my townsman who cannot read at all and the illiterateness of him who has learned to read only what is for children and feeble intellects. We should be as good as the worthies of antiquity， but partly by first knowing how good they were.  We are a race of tit-men， and soar but little higher in our intellectual flights than the columns of the daily paper.

　　It is not all books that are as dull as their readers.  There are probably words addressed to our condition exactly， which， if we could really hear and understand， would be more salutary than the morning or the spring to our lives， and possibly put a new aspect on the face of things for us.  How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book！  The book exists for us，perchance， which will explain our miracles and reveal new ones.  The at present unutterable things we may find somewhere uttered.  These same questions that disturb and puzzle and confound us have in their turn occurred to all the wise men； not one has been omitted； and each has answered them， according to his ability， by his words and his life.  Moreover， with wisdom we shall learn liberality.  The solitary hired man on a farm in the outskirts of Concord， who has had his second birth and peculiar religious experience， and is driven as he believes into the silent gravity and exclusiveness by his faith， may think it is not true； but Zoroaster， thousands of years ago， travelled the same road and had the same experience； but he， being wise， knew it to be universal， and treated his neighbors accordingly， and is even said to have invented and established worship among men.  Let him humbly commune with Zoroaster then， and through the liberalizing influence of all the worthies， with Jesus Christ himself， and let "our church" go by the board.

　　We boast that we belong to the Nineteenth Century and are making the most rapid strides of any nation.  But consider how little this village does for its own culture.  I do not wish to flatter my townsmen， nor to be flattered by them， for that will not advance either of us.  We need to be provoked ―― goaded like oxen， as we are， into a trot.  We have a comparatively decent system of common schools， schools for infants only； but excepting the half-starved Lyceum in the winter， and latterly the puny beginning of a library suggested by the State， no school for ourselves.  We spend more on almost any article of bodily aliment or ailment than on our mental aliment.  It is time that we had uncommon schools， that we did not leave off our education when we begin to be men and women.  It is time that villages were universities， and their elder inhabitants the fellows of universities， with leisure ―― if they are， indeed， so well off ―― to pursue liberal studies the rest of their lives. Shall the world be confined to one Paris or one Oxford forever？

　　Cannot students be boarded here and get a liberal education under the skies of Concord？  Can we not hire some Abelard to lecture to us？  Alas！ what with foddering the cattle and tending the store， we are kept from school too long， and our education is sadly neglected. In this country， the village should in some respects take the place of the nobleman of Europe.  It should be the patron of the fine arts.  It is rich enough.  It wants only the magnanimity and refinement.  It can spend money enough on such things as farmers and traders value， but it is thought Utopian to propose spending money for things which more intelligent men know to be of far more worth. This town has spent seventeen thousand dollars on a town-house，thank fortune or politics， but probably it will not spend so much on living wit， the true meat to put into that shell， in a hundred years.  The one hundred and twenty-five dollars annually subscribed for a Lyceum in the winter is better spent than any other equal sum raised in the town.  If we live in the Nineteenth Century， why should we not enjoy the advantages which the Nineteenth Century offers？  Why should our life be in any respect provincial？  If we will read newspapers， why not skip the gossip of Boston and take the best newspaper in the world at once？ ―― not be sucking the pap of "neutral family" papers， or browsing "Olive Branches" here in New England.  Let the reports of all the learned societies come to us，and we will see if they know anything.  Why should we leave it to Harper & Brothers and Redding & Co. to select our reading？  As the nobleman of cultivated taste surrounds himself with whatever conduces to his culture ―― genius ―― learning ―― wit ―― books ――paintings ―― statuary ―― music ―― philosophical instruments， and the like； so let the village do ―― not stop short at a pedagogue， a parson， a sexton， a parish library， and three selectmen， because our Pilgrim forefathers got through a cold winter once on a bleak rock with these.  To act collectively is according to the spirit of our institutions； and I am confident that， as our circumstances are more flourishing， our means are greater than the nobleman's.  New England can hire all the wise men in the world to come and teach her， and board them round the while， and not be provincial at all.  That is the uncommon school we want.  Instead of noblemen， let us have noble villages of men.  If it is necessary， omit one bridge over the river， go round a little there， and throw one arch at least over the darker gulf of ignorance which surrounds us.

　　我希望認識一些比康科德這片土地上出生的更要聰明的人，他們的名字在這里幾乎聽都沒有聽到過。難道我會聽到柏拉圖的名字而不讀他的書嗎？好像柏拉圖是我的同鄉，而我卻從沒有見過他，――好像是我的近鄰而我卻從沒有聽到過他說話，或聽到過他的智慧的語言。可是，事實不正是這樣嗎？他的《對話錄》包含著他不朽的見解，卻躺在旁邊的書架上，我還沒有讀過它。我們是愚昧無知、不學無術的文盲；在這方面，我要說，兩種文盲之間并沒有什么區別，一種是完全目不識丁的市民，另一種是已經讀書識字了，可是只讀兒童讀物和智力極低的讀物。我們應該像古代的圣賢一樣地美好，但首先要讓我們知道他們的好處。我們真是一些小人物，在我們的智力的飛躍中，可憐我們只飛到比報章新聞稍高一些的地方。

　　并不是所有的書都像它們的讀者一般愚笨的。可能，有好些話正是針對我們的境遇而說的，如果我們真正傾聽了，懂得了這些話，它們之有利于我們的生活，將勝似黎明或陽春，很可能給我們一副新的面目。多少人在讀了一本書之后，開始了他生活的新紀元！一本書，能解釋我們的奇跡，又能啟發新的奇跡，這本書就為我們而存在了。在目前，我們的說不出來的話，也許在別處已經說出來了。那些擾亂了我們，使我們疑難、困惑的問題也曾經發生在所有聰明人心上；一個問題都沒有漏掉，而且每一個聰明人都回答過它們，按照各自的能力，用各自的話和各自的生活。再說，有了智慧，我們將領會慷慨的性質。在康科德郊外，有個田莊上的寂寞的雇工，他得到過第二次的誕生，獲有了特殊的宗教經驗，他相信自己由于他的信念的關系已經進入了沉默的莊重和排斥外物的境界，他也許會覺得我們的話是不對的；但是數千年前，瑣羅亞斯德。走過了同樣的歷程，獲有同樣的經驗；因為他是智慧的，知道這是普遍性的，就用相應的辦法對待他的鄰人，甚至據說還發明并創設了一個使人敬神的制度。那末，讓他謙遜地和瑣羅亞斯德精神溝通，并且在一切圣賢的自由影響下，跟耶穌基督精神溝通，然后，“讓我們的教會”滾開吧。

　　我們夸耀說，我們屬于十九世紀，同任何國家相比，我們邁著最大最快的步子。可是想想這市鎮，它對自己的文化貢獻何其微小。我不想諛贊我的市民同胞們，也不要他們談贊我，因為這樣一來，大家便沒有進步了。應當像老牛般需要刺激――驅趕，然后才能快跑。我們有個相當像樣的普通學校的制度，但只是為一般嬰兒的；除了冬天有個半饑餓狀態的文法學堂，最近還有了一個根據政府法令簡陋地草創的圖書館，但卻沒有我們自己的學院。我們在肉體的疾病方面花了不少錢，精神的病害方面卻沒有花什么，現在已經到了時候，我們應該有不平凡的學校。我們不該讓男女兒童成年后就不再受教育了。到了時候，一個個村子應該是一座座大學，老年的居民都是研究生，――如果他們日子過得還寬裕的話，――他們應該有裕閑時間，把他們的余年放在從事自由學習上。難道世界永遠只局限于一個巴黎或一個牛津？難道學生們不能寄宿在這里，在康科德的天空下受文科教育？難道我們不能請一位阿伯拉爾來給我們講學？可嘆啊！因為我們忙于養牛，開店，我們好久沒有上學堂，我們的教育是可悲地荒蕪了。在這個國土上，我們的城鎮在某些方面應當替代歐洲貴族的地位。它應當是美術的保護者。它是很富的。

　　它只缺少氣量和優美。在農民和商人看重的事業上它肯出錢，可是要它舉辦一些知識界都知道是更有價值得多的事業時，它卻認為那是烏托邦的夢想。感謝財富和政治，本市花了一萬七千元造了市政府，但也許一百年內它不會為了生命的智慧貝殼內的真正的肉，花這么多錢。為冬天辦文法學校，每年募到一百二十五元，這筆錢比市內任何同樣數目的捐款都花得更實惠。我們生活在十九世紀，為什么我們不能享受十九世紀的好處？為什么生活必須過得這樣偏狹？如果我們要讀報紙，為什么不越過波士頓的閑談，立刻來訂一份全世界最好的報紙呢？不要從“中立”的報紙去吮吸柔軟的食物，也不要在新英格蘭吃嬌嫩的“橄欖枝”了。讓一切有學問的社團到我們這里來報告，我們要看看他們懂不懂得些什么。為什么要讓哈潑斯兄弟圖書公司和里亭出版公司代替我們挑選讀物？正像趣味高雅的貴族，在他的周圍要結聚一些有助于他的修養的――天才――學識――機智――書籍――繪畫――雕塑――音樂――哲學的工具等等；讓城鎮村子也這樣做吧，――不要只請一個教師，一個牧師，一個司事，以為辦教區圖書館，選舉三個市政委員就可以到此為止了，困為我們拓荒的祖先僅有這么一點事業，卻也在荒涼的巖石上挨過了嚴冬。集體的行為是符合我們制度的精神的：我確實相信我們的環境將更發達，我們的能力大于那些貴族們。新英格蘭請得起全世界的智者，來教育她自己，讓他們在這里食宿，讓我們不再過鄉曲的生活。這是我們所需要的不平凡的學校。

　　我們并不要貴族，但讓我們有高貴的村子。如果這是必需的，我們寧可少造一座橋，多走幾步路，但在圍繞著我們的黑暗的“無知深淵”上，架起至少一個圓拱來吧。

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