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在我们眼前，出现了这样一幅宁静的画面：一间宽敞的厨房，油漆得干净而雅致，光滑的黄色地板被清洁得一尘不染；厨房里有只乌黑而干净的铁锅，还有那一排排闪闪发亮的白铁罐，很容易让人联想起许多美味的食物；几把油光的绿色座椅，尽管已经用了许多年，却仍旧非常结实；一个做工精致、用几块颜色不同的呢绒布料拼结而成的坐垫，放在一张石板作底的摇椅上；旁边有张更大一点的摇椅，好像那张小摇椅的母亲一样，年迈而慈祥，两只宽大的扶手似乎在发出诚挚的邀请，而上面的鸭绒坐垫好像也在邀请客人--这把旧摇椅舒适，能给人带来美好享受，单就这一点，它就能和十几把丝绒或织锦缎沙发相媲美。我们的老朋友艾莉查现在正坐在这张摇椅上，她一边坐在椅上慢慢摇着，一边做着针线活。她的脸庞比她在肯塔基的时候更加清瘦，无限的哀愁和忧郁在她的眉宇间和嘴角边都流露出来。显而易见，在苦难的磨练下，她已变得更加坚定了，成熟了。过了一会儿，她抬起那双乌黑的大眼睛，看着她的小哈里像只蝴蝶般在地板上嬉戏着。她的脸上不时流露出深沉而坚毅的表情，这在她先前安逸的生活中是没有见过的。 By her side sat a woman with a bright tin pan in her lap, into which she was carefully sorting some dried peaches. She might be fifty-five or sixty; but hers was one of those faces that time seems to touch only to brighten and adorn. The snowy fisse crape cap, made after the strait Quaker pattern,--the plain white muslin handkerchief, lying in placid folds across her bosom,--the drab shawl and dress,--showed at once the community to which she belonged. Her face was round and rosy, with a healthful downy softness, suggestive of a ripe peach. Her hair, partially silvered by age, was parted smoothly back from a high placid forehead, on which time had written no inscription, except peace on earth, good will to men, and beneath shone a large pair of clear, honest, loving brown eyes; you only needed to look straight into them, to feel that you saw to the bottom of a heart as good and true as ever throbbed in woman's bosom. So much has been said and sung of beautiful young girls, why don't somebody wake up to the beauty of old women? If any want to get up an inspiration under this head, we refer them to our good friend Rachel Halliday, just as she sits there in her little rocking-chair. It had a turn for quacking and squeaking,--that chair had,--either from having taken cold in early life, or from some asthmatic affection, or perhaps from nervous derangement; but, as she gently swung backward and forward, the chair kept up a kind of subdued "creechy crawchy," that would have been intolerable in any other chair. But old Simeon Halliday often declared it was as good as any music to him, and the children all avowed that they wouldn't miss of hearing mother's chair for anything in the world. For why? for twenty years or more, nothing but loving words, and gentle moralities, and motherly loving kindness, had come from that chair;--head-aches and heart-aches innumerable had been cured there,--difficulties spiritual and temporal solved there,--all by one good, loving woman, God bless her! 一位妇人正坐在艾莉查的身边，膝头放了一只白色铁盘，她正仔细地把晒干了的桃子挑选出来放到那个盘里。这位妇人大约五十五岁到六十五岁之间，但岁月似乎没有在她的面颊上留下很深的印记，她看起来并不衰老，相反使她看上去很有味道。那顶白色镶边的绉纱帽子，是正宗教友会式的。一块白色的洋布手帕别在她的胸前，还有那身浅棕色的披肩服装，这些装束使别人一看就知道她是个地道的教友会信徒。她有一张红润而健康的脸庞，使人容易联想到一个熟透了的桃子。她的头发是从中间分开，然后光溜溜地梳到脑后。岁月流逝，她那高高的，安详的额头上，留下的除了善良与平和之外，没有其他什么。那双清澈、真诚的眼睛，让你一眼就能看透她，感觉到她是个多么善良的女人。人们总是热衷于谈论和赞美美丽的姑娘，我不明白，为什么没人注意到老年妇女的独特之美呢？我们的老朋友雷切尔·哈里迪正是这种美的体现。让我们来看看她坐在小摇椅上的姿态吧。这把摇椅平时总爱吱吱嘎嘎地响，就像患上风寒或哮喘病一样，要不就是精神紊乱。可当雷切尔坐在它上面时，它的声音却变得非常柔和，一点儿也不刺耳。难怪哈里迪先生觉得这把椅子发出的声音是那么美妙，比任何音乐都要动听，而孩子们则认为他们最最思念的就是妈妈的摇椅声。为什么呢？因为二十多年来，他们在这把摇椅边听到的是母亲的谆谆教诲，感受到的是仁慈的母爱--无数次的头疼病和心疼病在这里得以治愈，各种精神和世俗的烦恼和难题都在这里找到答案--所有的一切全要归功于这位仁慈善良的女人。愿上帝赐福于她！ "And so thee still thinks of going to Canada, Eliza?" she said, as she was quietly looking over her peaches." 那么，你还是想去加拿大吗？"雷切尔一面捡着桃子，一面问艾莉查。 "Yes, ma'am," said Eliza, firmly. "I must go onward. I dare not stop."" 是的，太太，我必须向前进，不能停留。"艾莉查坚决地回答说。 "And what'll thee do, when thee gets there? Thee must think about that, my daughter."" 你到那儿去干什么呢？你可得计划好啊，闺女。" 
闺女"这词从雷切尔的嘴里说出来简直是非常的自然，因为她的神情、相貌让人觉得她太像一位母亲了。 Eliza's hands trembled, and some tears fell on her fine work; but she answered, firmly,"I shall do--anything I can find. I hope I can find something." 艾莉查的手颤抖着，几滴眼泪落在她手里的针线活上，可她仍旧坚定地回答道："找到什么就干什么，我想总能找到活儿干的。" "Thee knows thee can stay here, as long as thee pleases," said Rachel." 你知道，你想在这儿呆多久都可以，只要你愿意。" "O, thank you," said Eliza, "but"--she pointed to Harry--"I can't sleep nights; I can't rest. Last night I dreamed I saw that man coming into the yard," she said, shuddering." 我知道，谢谢你，可是--"她指了指小哈里，"我每天晚上都睡不着，心神不宁，昨晚我梦见那个人跑进院子里来了。"说完，她不禁浑身打了个寒战。 "Poor child!" said Rachel, wiping her eyes; "but thee mustn't feel so. The Lord hath ordered it so that never hath a fugitive been stolen from our village. I trust thine will not be the first."" 哦，可怜的孩子！"雷切尔一边说，一边用手抹着眼泪，"你别这么想，逃到我们村里来的人没有一个被抓住过，这是天意。我保证你的孩子也绝不会被抓走。" 
这时，一个胖胖的小妇人推开了房门。她身材不高，一张年轻快乐的脸仿佛一个熟透的苹果。她的衣着和雷切尔相似，同样是一身非常素净的灰衣服，一块平整的白洋布手帕别在她那娇小却丰满的胸前。 "Ruth Stedman," said Rachel, coming joyfully forward; "how is thee, Ruth? she said, heartily taking both her hands." 露丝·斯特德曼。"雷切尔一边喊着，一边高兴地迎上前去，亲热地抓住露丝的双手，问道："你好吗，露丝？" "Nicely," said Ruth, taking off her little drab bonnet, and dusting it with her handkerchief, displaying, as she did so, a round little head, on which the Quaker cap sat with a sort of jaunty air, despite all the stroking and patting of the small fat hands, which were busily applied to arranging it. Certain stray locks of decidedly curly hair, too, had escaped here and there, and had to be coaxed and cajoled into their place again; and then the new comer, who might have been five-and-twenty, turned from the small looking-glass, before which she had been making these arrangements, and looked well pleased,--as most people who looked at her might have been,--for she was decidedly a wholesome, whole-hearted, chirruping little woman, as ever gladdened man's heart withal." 很好。"露丝伸手摘下头上的浅棕色帽子，露出她那圆圆的小脑袋。虽然她头上那顶教友会帽已经够神气了，可她还是不停地用肉肉的小手又拍又打，不住地整理。有几缕卷发跑到帽子外面来了，她细心地将它们整理好。她大约有二十五岁，进门之后就一直在小镜子前收拾着帽子和头发，好一会儿她才转过身来，似乎她总算对自己的模样感到满意了。大概多数见过她的人都会喜欢她，因为这位妇人有着一副热心肠，口齿伶俐，能讨男人们喜欢。 "Ruth, this friend is Eliza Harris; and this is the little boy I told thee of."" 露丝，这位就是艾莉查·哈里斯，还有我跟你说起的那个小家伙。" "I am glad to see thee, Eliza,--very," said Ruth, shaking hands, as if Eliza were an old friend she had long been expecting; "and this is thy dear boy,--I brought a cake for him," she said, holding out a little heart to the boy, who came up, gazing through his curls, and accepted it shyly." 非常高兴认识您，艾莉查，非常高兴，"露丝说着便和艾莉查握起了手，好像艾莉查是她盼望已久想见到的老朋友。"这是你的孩子吧。我给他带来了蛋糕。"说着，将一块心状的蛋糕递给哈里。小哈里用眼睛从额前的头发下打量着露丝，不好意思地接过了蛋糕。 
您的孩子呢？"雷切尔问道。 "O, he's coming; but thy Mary caught him as I came in, and ran off with him to the barn, to show him to the children."" 哦，他马上就来，刚才我进来的时候，玛丽把他抢过去了，要把他抱到马棚那边给孩子们看看。" At this moment, the door opened, and Mary, an honest, rosy-looking girl, with large brown eyes, like her mother's, came in with the baby. 她话音刚落，玛丽抱着孩子推门进来。玛丽脸色红润，是个安分守己的好姑娘，她有着一双大大的棕色眼睛，和她妈妈一样。 "Ah! ha!" said Rachel, coming up, and taking the great, white, fat fellow in her arms, "how good he looks, and how he does grow!"" 啊哈！"雷切尔一边说着，一边赶紧迎了上去，抱过那个白白胖胖的孩子，"长得真好，真快呀！" "To be sure, he does," said little bustling Ruth, as she took the child, and began taking off a little blue silk hood, and various layers and wrappers of outer garments; and having given a twitch here, and a pull there, and variously adjusted and arranged him, and kissed him heartily, she set him on the floor to collect his thoughts. Baby seemed quite used to this mode of proceeding, for he put his thumb in his mouth (as if it were quite a thing of course), and seemed soon absorbed in his own reflections, while the mother seated herself, and taking out a long stocking of mixed blue and white yarn, began to knit with briskness." 谁说不是呢。"露丝回答说。同时，她接过孩子，拿掉最外边的那件蓝色斗篷，接着一层一层地脱去孩子的几件外套，这儿拉拉，那儿扯扯，等到收拾停当了，又亲了孩子一口，才把他放到地板上歇歇。小宝宝似乎对这套工作程序已经非常熟悉。他立刻将大拇指放进嘴里，想他自己的心事了。这时候，他的妈妈也坐了下来，动作熟练地织起一条蓝白相间的绒线长袜。 
玛丽，去灌壶水，好吗？"雷切尔温柔地说道。 Mary took the kettle to the well, and soon reappearing, placed it over the stove, where it was soon purring and steaming, a sort of censer of hospitality and good cheer. The peaches, moreover, in obedience to a few gentle whispers from Rachel, were soon deposited, by the same hand, in a stew-pan over the fire. 于是玛丽提着水壶去了井边，不一会功夫她就回来了。她将水壶放到炉子上，一会儿水开始卟卟地冒汽儿，好像一只好客并能提神的香炉。然后，雷切尔又小声吩咐了几句，玛丽便将一些干桃子放进炉子上的煨锅里。
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