海倫·凱勒自傳《我的生活》第72期

Mrs. Hutton is a true and tried friend. Much that I hold sweetest, much that I hold most precious, I owe to her. She has oftenest advised and helped me in my progress through college. When I find my work particularly difficult and discouraging, she writes me letters that make me feel glad and brave; for she is one of those from whom we learn that one painful duty fulfilled makes the next plainer and easier.

休頓夫人也是那種患難見真情的朋友。我被濃濃的友情所包圍，我擁有了最珍貴的禮物，這一切都要歸功於她。她不遺餘力地對我諄諄教誨，而且幫助我完成了大學的學業。每當我在學習中身處困境而心灰意冷時，她就會寫信鼓勵我，讓我重新燃起鬥志。從她身上，我們學到了這樣一條真理——只有克服了眼前的困難，下一步的路途纔會變得平坦易行。

Mr. Hutton introduced me to many of his literary friends, greatest of whom are Mr. William Dean Howells and Mark Twain. I also met Mr. Richard Watson Gilder and Mr. Edmund Clarence Stedman. I also knew Mr. Charles Dudley Warner, the most delightful of story-tellers and the most beloved friend, whose sympathy was so broad that it may be truly said of him, he loved all living things and his neighbour as himself. Once Mr. Warner brought to see me the dear poet of the woodlands—Mr. John Burroughs. They were all gentle and sympathetic and I felt the charm of their manner as much as I had felt the brilliancy of their essays and poems. I could not keep pace with all these literary folk as they glanced from subject to subject and entered into deep dispute, or made conversation sparkle with epigrams and happy witticisms. I was like little Ascanius, who followed with unequal steps the heroic strides of Aeneas on his march toward mighty destinies. But they spoke many gracious words to me. Mr. Gilder told me about his moonlight journeys across the vast desert to the Pyramids, and in a letter he wrote me he made his mark under his signature deep in the paper so that I could feel it. This reminds me that Dr. Hale used to give a personal touch to his letters to me by pricking his signature in braille. I read from Mark Twain's lips one or two of his good stories. He has his own way of thinking, saying and doing everything. I feel the twinkle of his eye in his handshake. Even while he utters his cynical wisdom in an indescribably droll voice, he makes you feel that his heart is a tender Iliad of human sympathy.

休頓先生還把他很多文學界的朋友介紹給我，包括大名鼎鼎的威廉·迪安·豪厄爾斯和馬克·吐溫。我見到了理查德·沃特森·吉爾德先生和埃德蒙德·克拉倫斯·斯泰德曼先生，還結識了查爾斯·達德利·沃納先生。他是最討人喜歡的“說書人”，也是我最鍾愛的友人；他有着無比深切的同情心，愛人如己。記得有一次，沃納先生帶我拜會了可敬的“林地詩人”——約翰·巴勒斯先生。在我看來，他們都是些心地善良而富於同情心的人，他們的人格魅力正如他們筆下的散文和詩歌一樣散發着璀璨的光芒。當然，我是無法同這些文學大家盤經論道的，尤其是當他們在不同話題之間縱橫捭闔，或者辯論正酣、妙語連珠的時候。我就像小阿斯卡涅斯一樣，他步履蹣跚地跟在英雄父親埃涅阿斯身後，無怨無悔地迎接命運的安排。他們熱情地同我談天說地，吉爾德先生向我講述了他月夜旅行的經歷，他曾穿越浩瀚的大沙漠前往金字塔。在給我寫的信中，他特意在落款後面留下一個深深的標記，這樣我就可以在紙上摸到它了。而黑爾博士自有他私人的問候方式，他會把落款簽名用盲文刺在紙上。我還通過觸摸馬克·吐溫的嘴脣而“閱讀”了他的一兩篇小說。馬克·吐溫有着自己獨特的思維方式，無論講話做事都個性鮮明。在同他握手時，我能感覺到他那炯炯有神的目光。他經常會以一種難以描述的機智而詼諧的語言鍼砭時弊，即使在這種時候，他依然會令你感覺到他那如同伊利亞特一樣的慈悲心腸。