Part 5 Abraham Lincoln
亞伯拉罕·林肯
August 12th, 1879
1879年8月12日
I see the President almost every day, as I happen to live where he passes to or from his lodgings out of town. He never sleeps at the White House during the hot season, but has quarters at a healthy location some three miles north of the city, the Soldiers' home, a United States military establishment. I saw him this morning about eight thirty coming in to business, riding on Vermont avenue, near L street. He always has a company of twenty-five or thirty cavalry, with sabres drawn and held upright over their shoulders They say this guard was against his personal wish, but he let his counselors have their way. The party makes no great show in uniform or horses. Mr. Lincoln on the saddle generally rides a good-sized, easy-going gray horse, is dressed in plain black, somewhat rusty and dusty, wears a black stiff hat, and looks about as ordinary in attire, as the commonest man. A lieutenant, with yellow straps, rides at his left, and following behind, two by two, come the cavalry men, in their yellow-striped jackets. They are generally going at a slow trot, as that is the pace set them by the one they wait upon. The sabres and accoutrements clank, and the entirely unornamental cortege as it trots towards Lafayette square arouses no sensation, only some curious stranger stops and gazes. I see very plainly Abraham Lincoln's dark brown face, with the deep-cut lines, the eyes, always to me with a deep latent sadness in the expression. We have got so that we exchange bows, and very cordial ones. Sometimes the President goes and comes in an open barouche. The cavalry always accompany him, with drawn sabres. Often I notice as he goes out evenings-and sometimes in the morning, when he returns early he turns off and halts at the large and handsome residence of the Secretary of War, on K street, and holds conference there. If in his barouche, I can see from my window he does not alight, but sits in his vehicle, and Mr. Stanton comes out to attend him. Sometimes one of his sons, a boy of ten or twelve, accompanies him, riding at his right on a pony. Earlier in the summer I occasionally saw the President and his wife, toward the latter part of the afternoon, out in a barouche, on a pleasure ride through the city. Mrs. Lincoln was dressed in complete black, with a long crape veil. The equipage is of the plainest kind, only two horses, and they nothing extra. They passed me once very close, and I saw the President in the face fully, as they were moving slowly, and his look, though abstracted, happened to be directed steadily in my eye. He bowed and smiled, but far beneath his smile I noticed well the expression I have alluded to. None of the artists or pictures has caught the deep, though subtle and indirect expression of this man's face. There is something else there. One of the great portrait painters of two or three centuries ago is needed.
我幾乎每天都能看到總統,因為我恰好住在他往返于城外寓所的必經路上。在炎熱的夏季,他晚上從不在白宮歇息,而是住在城北約3英里處的一個充滿朝氣的處所美國軍事基地"士兵之家"。今天早晨大約8點半我看見他進城辦事,騎馬走在L大街附近的佛蒙特路上。和他隨行的總有一支25到30人的身佩軍刀的騎兵隊伍, 軍刀筆直地掛在他們的肩上。據說總統本人并不愿意有這支護衛隊,但最終還是順從了顧問們的意志。他們一行人的著裝和馬匹都不事張揚。馬鞍上的林肯先生通常騎一匹體格高大、性情溫和的灰色駿馬,他穿著一身褪色的灰乎乎的黑色服裝,頭戴一頂硬挺挺的黑色帽子。從這身打扮來看,他和最普通的人一樣平平常常。 一位佩戴黃色綬帶的中尉騎馬走在他的左側,跟隨身后的是兩兩一排的身著黃條上衣的騎兵。他們常常慢步前進,因為他們守候的總統先生就是這么緩緩而行。當這群軍刀配件叮當作響、完全不加修飾的隊伍徐徐走向拉菲特廣場時,絲毫沒有引起任何騷動,只有某個好奇的陌生人駐足而視。我非常清楚地看到亞伯拉罕·林肯先生的深褐色的臉龐,臉上刻著深深的皺紋,他的眼睛在我看來總帶著一種潛在的深深的憂傷。我們見面時便相互欠身致意,彼此非常真誠。有時,總統也乘一輛敞篷四輪馬車出入,騎兵護衛們總是手秉出鞘的軍刀跟隨著他。在他晚間外出,有時是清晨早早歸來時,我常常注意到他會拐到K街,停在國防部長宏偉氣派的官邸門前,在那里開會。如果他坐著敞篷馬車,我從窗戶可以看到他并不下車,而是坐在車里,斯塔頓先生會出來迎接他。有時他的兒子,一個10到12歲的男孩會騎匹小馬駒陪在他的右側。初夏時節,我偶爾見到總統和夫人在下午乘坐四輪馬車高高興興地在城里游覽。林肯夫人一身純黑色打扮,頭戴長長的黑色面紗。他們的出行裝備再簡單不過了,除了兩匹馬和他們自己就別無他物。有一次他們從我身邊經過, 距離非常近,而且速度很慢,我完完全全看到了總統的面容,他的目光盡管飄忽不定,卻恰好穩穩地與我的目光相遇。他欠身朝我微笑,但是在他的笑容背后,我仍然清楚地注意到我曾提及過的深深的憂郁之情。沒有哪位畫家,也沒有哪張照片曾經捕捉到總統臉上這種深沉、細微而又內斂的表情。這張臉上還流露出某種其他的神色,只有兩到三個世紀以前的某位偉大的肖像畫家方可繪出。