Walden [?w?ld?n] (Issue 172) 14. Former Inhabitants; & Winter Visitors(3) [4] Down the road, on the right hand, on Brister's Hill, lived Brister Freeman, "a handy Negro," slave of Squire Cummings once - there where grow still the apple trees which Brister planted and tended; large old trees now, but their fruit still wild and ciderish to my taste. Not long since I read his epitaph in the old Lincoln burying-ground, a little on one side, near the unmarked graves of some British grenadiers who fell in the retreat from Concord - where he is styled "Sippio Brister" - Scipio Africanus he had some title to be called - "a man of color," as if he were discolored. It also told me, with staring emphasis, when he died; which was but an indirect way of informing me that he ever lived. With him dwelt Fenda, his hospitable wife, who told fortunes, yet pleasantly - large, round, and black, blacker than any of the children of night, such a dusky orb[??b] as never rose on Concord['k??k??d] before or since. [5] Farther down the hill, on the left, on the old road in the woods, are marks of some homestead[?h??m?sted] of the Stratton family; whose orchard once covered all the slope of Brister's Hill, but was long since killed out by pitch pines, excepting a few stumps, whose old roots furnish still the wild stocks of many a thrifty village tree. [6] Nearer yet to town, you come to Breed's location, on the other side of the way, just on the edge of the wood; ground famous for the pranks of a demon not distinctly named in old mythology, who has acted a prominent and astounding part in our New England life, and deserves, as much as any mythological character, to have his biography written one day; who first comes in the guise of a friend or hired man, and then robs and murders the whole family - New-England Rum. But history must not yet tell the tragedies enacted here; let time intervene in some measure to assuage[??swe?d?] and lend an azure tint to them. Here the most indistinct and dubious[?dju?b??s] tradition says that once a tavern stood; the well the same, which tempered the traveller's beverage and refreshed his steed. Here then men saluted one another, and heard and told the news, and went their ways again. 沿著大路在右首，布里斯特山上，住過布里斯特?弗里曼，“一個(gè)手腳麻利的黑人，”一度是鄉(xiāng)紳卡明斯的奴隸——那里，弗里曼種下和照顧過的蘋果樹仍在長(zhǎng)著；現(xiàn)在都成很大的老樹了，但是它們的果實(shí)我嘗起來仍有點(diǎn)野生和怪味。直到我在老林肯鎮(zhèn)的墓地讀了他的墓銘，離一些不知名的英國(guó)擲彈兵的墳?zāi)共贿h(yuǎn)，他們是在從康科德撤退時(shí)倒下的——在那里他被標(biāo)明是“塞皮歐?布里斯特”——西庇阿?阿非利加努斯，還有個(gè)稱呼“一個(gè)有色男人”，好像他曾經(jīng)被漂[piǎo]白過。它還告訴我，而且是著重強(qiáng)調(diào)，什么時(shí)候死的；這不過是一種間接的方法告訴我，他什么時(shí)候活著。和他住在一起的是芬達(dá)，他熱情好客的妻子，給人算命，可總讓人高興——高大、肥碩、漆黑，比任何黑夜的孩子們更黑，這一暗淡的球體在康科德從沒升起過或以后也不會(huì)再有。 更遠(yuǎn)通向山那邊，左首，在林子里的一條老路上，是斯特拉頓家宅地的一些痕跡；他的果園曾覆蓋了整個(gè)布里斯特山坡，但早已經(jīng)被油松殺光了，就留下幾根殘樁，老根還在為許多節(jié)儉的村里樹提供野生種群。 更靠近鎮(zhèn)子，你就來到布雷德的地盤，正在林子的邊上；那地面有神話里某個(gè)沒有明確命名的惡魔作祟，它在新英格蘭的生活中行使著突出的令人吃驚的作用，趕得上任何神話傳說人物，值得有一天用傳記的形式寫下來；它起先是假扮一個(gè)朋友或傭工而來，然后就搶劫和謀殺全家——就是這種新英格蘭產(chǎn)朗姆酒?？墒菤v史沒有說出這一代上演的慘??；讓時(shí)間采取措施干預(yù)和減緩了血腥，并給他們蒙上一層天藍(lán)的色彩。最模糊和值得懷疑的傳統(tǒng)說這里曾屹立過一個(gè)客棧，同樣傳得邪乎的是，那客棧能稀釋旅人的飲料和弄精神他的馬。這里人們互相敬禮，傳遞消息，和再次上路。 【注】序號(hào)標(biāo)注有誤。本為第172期，標(biāo)注成了173期。