Cannibalism in the Cars3000字.docx

1、Cannibalism in the Cars3000字Cannibalism in the Cars_3000字 I visited St. Louis lately, and on my way west, after changing cars at Terre Haute, Indiana, a mild, benevolent-looking gentleman of about forty-five, or may be fifty, came in at one of the way-stations and sat down beside me. We talked toget

2、her pleasantly on various subjects for an hour, perhaps, and I found him exceedingly intelligent and entertaining. When he learned that I was from Washington, he immediately began to ask questions about various public men, and about Congressional affairs; and I saw very shortly that I was conversing

3、 with a man who was perfectly familiar with the ins and outs of political life at the Capital, even to the ways and manners, and customs of procedure of Senators and Representatives in the Chambers of the National Legislature. Presently two men halted near us for a single moment, and one said to the

4、 other: Harris, if you'll do that for me, I'll never forget you, my boy. My new comrade's eyes lighted pleasantly. The words had touched upon a happy memory, I thought. Then his face settled into thoughtfulness - almost into gloom. He turned to me and said, Let me tell you a story; let m

5、e give you a secret chapter of my life - a chapter that has never been referred to by me since its events transpired. Listen patiently, and promise that you will not interrupt me. I said I would not, and he related the following strange adventure, speaking sometimes with animation, sometimes with me

6、lancholy, but always with feeling and earnestness. The Stranger's NarrativeOn the 19th of December, 1853, I started from St. Louis on the evening train bound for Chicago. There were only twenty-four passengers, all told. There were no ladies and no children. We were in excellent spirits, and ple

7、asant acquaintanceships were formed. The journey bade fair to be a happy one; and no individual in the party, I think, had even the vaguest presentment of the horrors we were soon to undergo. At 11 p.m. it began to snow hard. Shortly after leaving the small village of Welden, we entered upon that tr

8、emendous prairie solitude that stretches its leagues on leagues of houseless dreariness far away towards the Jubilee Settlements. The winds, unobstructed by trees or hills, or even vagrant rocks, whistled fiercely across the level desert, driving the falling snow before it like spray from the creste

9、d waves of a stormy sea. The snow was deepening fast; and we knew, by the diminished speed of the train, that the engine was ploughing through it with steadily increasing difficulty. Indeed, it almost came to a dead halt sometimes, in the midst of great drifts that piled themselves like colossal gra

10、ves across the track. Conversation began to flag. Cheerfulness gave place to grave concern. The possibility of being imprisoned in the snow, on the bleak prairie, fifty miles from any house, presented itself to every mind, and extended its depressing influence over every spirit. At two o'clock i

11、n the morning I was aroused out of an uneasy slumber by the ceasing of all motion about me. The appalling truth flashed upon me instantly - we were captives in a snow-drift! 'All hands to the rescue!' Every man sprang to obey. Out into the wild night, the pitchy darkness, the billowy snow, t

12、he driving storm, every soul leaped, with the consciousness that a moment lost now might bring destruction to us all. Shovels, hands, boards - anything, everything that could displace snow, was brought into instant requisition. It was a weird picture, that small company of frantic men fighting the b

13、anking snows, half in the blackest shadow and half in the angry light of the locomotive's reflector. One short hour sufficed to prove the utter uselessness of our efforts. The storm barricaded the track with a dozen drifts while we dug one away. And worse than this, it was discovered that the la

14、st grand charge the engine had made upon the enemy had broken the fore-and-aft shaft of the driving-wheel! With a free track before us we should still have been helpless. We entered the car wearied with labor, and very sorrowful. We gathered about the stoves, and gravely canvassed our situation. We

15、had no provisions whatever - in this lay our chief distress. We could not freeze, for there was a good supply of wood in the tender. This was our only comfort. The discussion ended at last in accepting the disheartening decision of the conductor, viz., that it would be death for any man to attempt t

16、o travel fifty miles on foot through snow like that. We could not send for help; and even if we could, it could not come. We must submit, and await, as patiently as we might, succor or starvation! I think the stoutest heart there felt a momentary chill when those words were uttered. Within the hour

17、conversation subsided to a low murmur here and there about the car, caught fitfully between the rising and falling of the blast; the lamps grew dim; and the majority of the castaways settled themselves among the flickering shadows to think - to forget the present, if they could - to sleep, if they m

18、ight. The eternal night - it surely seemed eternal to us - wore its lagging hours away at last, and the cold grey dawn broke in the east. As the light grew stronger the passengers began to stir and give signs of life, one after another, and each in turn pushed his slouched hat up from his forehead,

19、stretched his stiffened limbs, and glanced out at the windows upon the cheerless prospect. It was cheerless indeed! - not a living thing visible anywhere, not a human habitation; nothing but a vast white desert; uplifted sheets of snow drifting hither and thither before the wind - a world of eddying

20、 flakes shutting out the firmament above. All day we moped about the cars, saying little, thinking much. Another lingering dreary night - and hunger. Another dawning - another day of silence, sadness, wasting hunger, hopeless watching for succor that could not come. A night of restless slumber, fill

21、ed with dreams of feasting - wakings distressed with the gnawings of hunger. The fourth day came and went - and the fifth! Five days of dreadful imprisonment! A savage hunger looked out at every eye. There was in it a sign of awful import - the foreshadowing of a something that was vaguely shaping i

22、tself in every heart - a something which no tongue dared yet to frame into words. The sixth day passed - the seventh dawned upon as gaunt and haggard and hopeless a company of men as ever stood in the shadow of death. It must out now! That thing which had been growing up in every heart was ready to

23、leap from every lip at last! Nature had been taxed to the utmost - she must yield. Richard H. Gaston, of Minnesota, tall, cadaverous, and pale, rose up. All knew what was coming. All prepared - every emotion, every semblance of excitement was smothered - only a calm, thoughtful seriousness appeared

24、in the eyes that were lately so wild. 'Gentlemen, - It cannot be delayed longer! The time is at hand! We must determine which of us shall die to furnish food for the rest!' Mr. John J. Williams, of Illinois, rose and said: 'Gentlemen, - I nominate the Rev. James Sawyer, of Tennessee.'

25、; Mr. Wm. R. Adams, of Indiana, said: 'I nominate Mr. Daniel Slote, of New York.' Mr. Charles J. Langdon: 'I nominate Mr. Samuel A. Bowen, of St. Louis.' Mr. Slote: 'Gentlemen, - I desire to decline in favor of Mr. John A. Van Nostrand, Jun., of New Jersey.' Mr. Gaston: '

26、If there be no objection, the gentleman's desire will be acceded to.' Mr. Van Nostrand objecting, the resignation of Mr. Slote was rejected. The resignations of Messrs. Sawyer and Bowen were also offered, and refused upon the same grounds. Mr. A. L. Bascom, of Ohio: 'I move that the nomi

27、nations now close, and that the House proceed to an election by ballot.' Mr. Sawyer: 'Gentlemen, - I protest earnestly against these proceedings. They are, in every way, irregular and unbecoming. I must beg to move that they be dropped at once, and that we elect a chairman of the meeting and

28、 proper officers to assist him, and then we can go on with the business before us understandingly.' Mr. Bell, of Iowa: 'Gentlemen, - I object. This is no time to stand upon forms and ceremonious observances. For more than seven days we have been without food. Every moment we lose in idle dis

29、cussion increases our distress. I am satisfied with the nominations that have been made - every gentleman present is, I believe - and I, for one, do not see why we should not proceed at once to elect one or more of them. I wish to offer a resolution -' Mr. Gaston: 'It would be objected to, a

30、nd have to lie over one day under the rules, thus bringing about the very delay you wish to avoid. The gentleman from New Jersey -' Mr. Van Nostrand: 'Gentlemen, - I am a stranger among you; I have not sought the distinction that has been conferred upon me, and I feel a delicacy -' Mr. M

31、organ, of Alabama (interrupting): 'I move the previous question.' The motion was carried, and further debate shut off, of course. The motion to elect officers was passed, and under it Mr. Gaston was chosen chairman, Mr. Blake secretary, Messrs. Holcomb, Dyer, and Baldwin, a committee on nomi

32、nations, and Mr. R. M. Howland, purveyor, to assist the committee in making selections. A recess of half an hour was then taken, and some little caucusing followed. At the sound of the gavel the meeting reassembled, and the committee reported in favor of Messrs. George Ferguson, of Kentucky, Lucien Herrman, of Louisiana, and W. Messick, of Colorado, as candidates. The report was accepted. Mr. Rogers, of Missouri: 'Mr. President, - The report being properly before the House now,