11.8 Koh-lâi ē án-chóaⁿ? Connie m̄-káⁿ siūⁿ
Hiah-ê hó kang-lâng taⁿ kā Shipley pau-ûi tio̍h. Sin ê khòng-chhun khí tī hoe-hn̂g piⁿ, lāu oân-gōe ke-kiám kám-kak hiah-ê lâng chiâⁿ bô-kāng. Kòe-khì, i hó sèng-tē, tōa ū-liāng, kám-kak sī ka-tī sán-gia̍p kap ka-tī khòng-kang ê chú-lâng. Chit-má, siū-tio̍h sin cheng-sîn ê bî-miāu éng-hióng, i ká-ná sī hông sak chhut-lâi. Sī i, bô koh sio̍k tī chit-ê só͘-chāi. Che pēng m̄-sī gō͘-kái. Khòng-tiûⁿ, kang-gia̍p, lóng ū in ka-tī ê ì-chì, chit-ê ì-chì teh hoán-tùi chit-ê sin-sū thâu-ke. Só͘-ū ê khòng-kang lóng ka-ji̍p chit-chióng ì-chì, bô hoat-tō͘ hoán-tùi chit-ê ì-chì. I nā m̄-sī kā lí ùi chia sak chhut-khì, tō-sī hō͘ lí kui-ê bô miā!
Winter Oân-gōe bat sī kun-jîn, m̄ jīn-su. M̄-koh àm-tǹg liáu i bē-gián koh khì hoe-hn̂g sàn-pō͘. I chha-put-to lóng bih tī chhù nih. Chi̍t-kái, i hām Connie kiâⁿ kàu hoe-hn̂g ê mn̂g, bô tì bō-á, chhēng chhat-phôe-ê kap kiô-sek si-á boe̍h-á, ná kiâⁿ ná iōng ko-sióng ê kháu-khì kau-tâm. M̄-koh, kiâⁿ kòe hiah-ê khòng-kang lâng-tīn ê sî, in kan-ta khiā teh khòaⁿ, bô chio-ho͘, mā bô án-chóaⁿ, Connie kám-kak chit-ê sán-thiu, ko-ngá ê lāu lâng tò-kiu, ká-ná chi̍t chiah tī lông-á lāi-té ê iu-ngá lêng-iûⁿ, hō͘ chho͘-ló͘ ê ba̍k-kng khòaⁿ kah tò-kiu kāng-khoán. Hiah-ê khòng-kang su-té-hā tùi i pēng bô pháiⁿ-ì: chi̍t-tiám-á mā bô. M̄-koh in ê cheng-sîn léng-tām, kap i tùi-ke̍h. Tī sim-koaⁿ nih, in kap i ū chin chhim ê oàn-hūn. In "thè i chò-kang". Tī in ê bái lāi-té, in oàn-hūn i seⁿ-chò hiah iu-ngá, chéng-chê koh su-bûn. "He sī siáng ah!" In só͘ oàn-hūn ê sī i kap in tiong-kan ê "chha-pia̍t".
M̄-koh tī i su-hā ê England sim, in-ūi bat chò-kòe kun-jîn, i siong-sìn in ū khoân-lī oàn-hūn chit-chióng chha-pia̍t. I kám-kak, i hiáng-siū chióng-chióng lī-ek sī sió-khóa ū m̄-tio̍h. Put-jî-kò, i sī tāi-piáu chi̍t-ê chè-tō͘, só͘-í i bē-sái hông that-cháu.
Tî-hui sī sí-bông. Che, tī Connie lâi pài-hóng liáu bô kú, i hut-jiân sí khì. Tī i ê ûi-chiok nih, i bô bē-kì-tit hō͘ Clifford tōa-tōa ê hó-chhù.
Kè-sêng ê lâng sûi tō hā-lēng boeh thiah Shipley. In-ūi ûi-chhî ê hùi-iōng siuⁿ koân, koh bô lâng boeh tòa hia, só͘-í kā thiah-tiāu. Âng-tāu-sam sió-hāng húi-tiāu ah. Hoe-hn̂g nih, chhiū-á mā chhò liáu-liáu, thó͘-tē pun chò kúi-nā tè. Chit-ê só͘-chāi lī Uthwaite chin kīn. Tī chit-ê chhun lo̍h-lâi ê kî-koài, kng-khu̍t-khu̍t, bô-lâng ê soa-bo̍͘k, chi̍t-pâi chi̍t-pâi sin ê siang-kap-chhù khí khí-lâi, chin tit-lâng kah-ì! Che tō-sī Shipley Sin-chhun!
Connie téng-kái khì hia iáu bōe chi̍t-nî, taⁿ lóng oân-kang ah. Shipley Sin-chhun kui-pâi ê âng-chng-á siang-kap ê "pia̍t-chong" khiā tī sin khui ê ke-lō͘. Cha̍p-jī kò goe̍h chêng, bô lâng siūⁿ ē-kàu hia ē ū boah chio̍h-hoe piah ê tōa-chhù.
M̄-koh che sī Edward Kok-ông ê hoe-hn̂g phòe-kéng hong-hoat ê āu-kî, hit-chióng tī chháu-phí téng khǹg khòng-tiûⁿ phòe-kéng ê hong-sek.
Chi̍t-ê England bia̍t-tiāu iáu chi̍t-ê. Winter Oân-gōe kap Wragby Tōa-chhù ê England kiat-sok ah, sí-khì ah. Chí-sī siau-bia̍t ê khang-khòe iáu-bōe soah.
Koh-lâi ē án-chóaⁿ? Connie m̄-káⁿ siūⁿ. Yi kan-ta ē-tàng khòaⁿ tio̍h sin ê chng-á ke-lō͘ chhun-hiòng chhân-hn̂g, sin khí ê chhù khiā-khí tī khòng-tiûⁿ, sin ê ko͘-niû chhēng si-á tn̂g-boe̍h-á, sin ê khòng-tiûⁿ siàu-liân-ke khì Pally a̍h Welfare bú-thiaⁿ siau-khián. Sin chi̍t-tāi ê lâng oân-choân bô lāu England ê ì-sek. Ì-sek ê iân-sio̍k ū chi̍t-ê tōa làng-phāng, chha-put-to sī Bí-kok-sek ê: sū-si̍t sī in-ūi kang-gia̍p-hòa. Koh-lâi ē án-chóaⁿ?
Connie chóng-sī kám-kak bô-pō͘ ah. Yi kan-ta siūⁿ boeh kā thâu chhàng tī soa nih: a̍h-sī siōng-chió, chhàng tī oa̍h-tio̍h ê cha-po͘-lâng heng-chêng.
Sè-kài siuⁿ ho̍k-cha̍p, siuⁿ koài-kî koh àm-sàm! Phó͘-thong ê lâng hiah-nī chē, koh chiâⁿ khó-phà. Tī tńg-chhù ê lō͘-siōng, yi án-ne siūⁿ, koh khòaⁿ tio̍h khòng-kang ùi thòaⁿ-khang bān-bān lī-khui, phú-o͘, piàn-hêng, keng-thâu chi̍t-pêng koân chi̍t-pêng kē, tèng-thih ê tāng hia-kóng thoa kah khia̍k-khia̍k kiò. Ná kúi ê phú-bīn, ba̍k-chiu péng pe̍h, ām-kún kiu-khì, keng-thâu piàn-hêng. Lâng ah, lâng! Ai-ah, bó͘ chióng kóng-hoat, in sī ū nāi-sèng ê hó-lâng. Lēng-gōa chi̍t hong-bīn, in sī mô͘-sîn-á. Lâng eng-kai ū ê bó͘-chióng mi̍h-kiāⁿ tī in hia hông thâi tiāu. M̄-koh in sī lâng. In ē seⁿ kiáⁿ. Ū-lâng ē seⁿ in ê kiáⁿ. Khó-phà, chiâⁿ khó-phà ê siūⁿ-hoat! In sī un-hô ê hó-lâng. M̄-koh in kan-ta sī chi̍t-pòaⁿ ê lâng, kan-ta sī lâng ê phú-sek hit-pòaⁿ. Sui-jiân án-ne, in iáu sī "hó" ê. M̄-koh sīm-chì che mā sī in ê hit-pòaⁿ teh hó. Ká-sú in sí-khì ê hit pō͘-hūn oa̍h khí-lâi! Oh, m̄-thang, siūⁿ-tio̍h he ū kàu khó-phà. Connie oân-choân kiaⁿ kang-gia̍p kài ê kûn-chiòng. Yi kám-kak in chin koài-kî. In ê sèⁿ-miā oân-choân bô bí-lē, bô ti̍t-kak, éng-oán "tī thòaⁿ-khang lāi-té."
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11.8 Koh 來會按怎? Connie 毋敢想
Hiah-ê 好工人今 kā Shipley 包圍著. 新 ê 礦村起 tī 花園邊, 老員外加減感覺 hiah-ê 人誠無仝. 過去, 伊好性地, 大有量, 感覺是家己產業 kap 家己礦工 ê 主人. 這馬, 受著新精神 ê 微妙影響, 伊 ká-ná 是 hông 捒出來. 是伊, 無 koh 屬 tī 這个所在. 這並毋是誤解. 礦場, 工業, 攏有 in 家己 ê 意志, 這个意志 teh 反對這个紳士頭家. 所有 ê 礦工攏加入這種意志, 無法度反對這个意志. 伊若毋是 kā 你 ùi 遮捒出去, tō 是予你規个無命!
Winter 員外 bat 是軍人, 毋認輸. M̄-koh 暗頓了伊袂癮 koh 去花園散步. 伊差不多攏覕 tī 厝 nih. 一改, 伊和 Connie 行到花園 ê 門, 無戴帽仔, 穿漆皮鞋 kap 茄色絲仔襪仔, ná 行 ná 用高尚 ê 口氣交談. M̄-koh, 行過 hiah-ê 礦工人陣 ê 時, in 干焦徛 teh 看, 無招呼, mā 無按怎, Connie 感覺這个瘦抽, 高雅 ê 老人倒勼, ká-ná 一隻 tī lông 仔內底 ê 優雅羚羊, 予粗魯 ê 目光看 kah 倒勼仝款. Hiah-ê 礦工私底下對伊並無歹意: 一點仔 mā 無. M̄-koh in ê 精神冷淡, kap 伊對 ke̍h. Tī 心肝 nih, in kap 伊有真深 ê 怨恨. In "替伊做工". Tī in ê 䆀內底, in 怨恨伊生做 hiah 優雅, 整齊 koh 斯文. "彼是 siáng ah!" In 所怨恨 ê 是伊 kap in 中間 ê "差別".
M̄-koh tī 伊私下 ê England 心, 因為 bat 做過軍人, 伊相信 in 有權利怨恨這種差別. 伊感覺, 伊享受種種利益是小可有毋著. 不而過, 伊是代表一个制度, 所以伊袂使 hông 踢走.
除非是死亡. 這, tī Connie 來拜訪了無久, 伊忽然死去. Tī 伊 ê 遺囑 nih, 伊無袂記得予 Clifford 大大 ê 好處.
繼承 ê 人隨 tō 下令欲拆 Shipley. 因為維持 ê 費用 siuⁿ 懸, koh 無人欲蹛遐, 所以 kā 拆掉. 紅豆杉小巷毀掉 ah. 花園 nih, 樹仔 mā 剉了了, 土地分做幾若塊. 這个所在離 Uthwaite 真近. Tī 這个賰落來 ê 奇怪, 光 khu̍t-khu̍t, 無人 ê 沙漠, 一排一排新 ê 雙佮厝 khí 起來, 真得人佮意! 這 tō 是 Shipley 新村!
Connie 頂改去遐猶未一年, 今攏完工 ah. Shipley 新村規排 ê 紅磚仔雙佮 ê "別莊" 徛 tī 新開 ê 街路. 十二個月前, 無人想會到遐會有抹石灰壁 ê 大厝.
M̄-koh 這是 Edward 國王 ê 花園配景方法 ê 後期, 彼種 tī 草 phí 頂囥礦場配景 ê 方式.
一个 England 滅掉猶一个. Winter 員外 kap Wragby 大厝 ê England 結束 ah, 死去 ah. 只是消滅 ê khang-khòe 猶未煞.
Koh 來會按怎? Connie 毋敢想. 她干焦 ē-tàng 看著新 ê 磚仔街路伸向田園, 新起 ê 厝徛起 tī 礦場, 新 ê 姑娘穿絲仔長襪仔, 新 ê 礦場少年家去 Pally 抑 Welfare 舞廳消遣. 新一代 ê 人完全無老 England ê 意識. 意識 ê 延續有一个大 làng 縫, 差不多是美國式 ê: 事實是因為工業化. Koh 來會按怎?
Connie 總是感覺無步 ah. 她干焦想欲 kā 頭藏 tī 沙 nih: 抑是上少, 藏 tī 活著 ê 查埔人胸前.
世界 siuⁿ 複雜, siuⁿ 怪奇 koh 暗毿! 普通 ê 人 hiah-nī 濟, koh 誠可怕. Tī 轉厝 ê 路上, 她 án-ne 想, koh 看著礦工 ùi 炭空慢慢離開, 殕烏, 變形, 肩頭一爿懸一爿低, 釘鐵 ê 重靴管拖 kah khia̍k-khia̍k 叫. Ná 鬼 ê 殕面, 目睭 péng 白, 頷頸勼去, 肩頭變形. 人 ah, 人! Ai-ah, 某種講法, in 是有耐性 ê 好人. 另外一方面, in 是魔神仔. 人應該有 ê 某種物件 tī in 遐 hông 刣掉. M̄-koh in 是人. In 會生囝. 有人會生 in ê 囝. 可怕, 誠可怕 ê 想法! In 是溫和 ê 好人. M̄-koh in 干焦是一半 ê 人, 干焦是人 ê 殕色彼半. 雖然 án-ne, in 猶是 "好" ê. M̄-koh 甚至這 mā 是 in ê 彼半 teh 好. 假使 in 死去 ê 彼部份活起來! Oh, 毋通, 想著彼有夠可怕. Connie 完全驚工業界 ê 群眾. 她感覺 in 真怪奇. In ê 性命完全無美麗, 無直覺, 永遠 "tī 炭空內底."
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11.8
And the good working men were somehow hemming Shipley in. New mining villages crowded on the park, and the squire felt somehow that the population was alien. He used to feel, in a good-natured but quite grand way, lord of his own domain and of his own colliers. Now, by a subtle pervasion of the new spirit, he had somehow been pushed out. It was he who did not belong any more. There was no mistaking it. The mines, the industry, had a will of its own, and this will was against the gentleman-owner. All the colliers took part in the will, and it was hard to live up against it. It either shoved you out of the place, or out of life altogether.
Squire Winter, a soldier, had stood it out. But he no longer cared to walk in the park after dinner. He almost hid, indoors. Once he had walked, bare-headed, and in his patent-leather shoes and purple silk socks, with Connie down to the gate, talking to her in his well-bred rather haw-haw fashion. But when it came to passing the little gangs of colliers who stood and stared without either salute or anything else, Connie felt how the lean, well-bred old man winced, winced as an elegant antelope stag in a cage winces from the vulgar stare. The colliers were not PERSONALLY hostile: not at all. But their spirit was cold, and shoving him out. And, deep down, there was a profound grudge. They ‘worked for him’. And in their ugliness, they resented his elegant, well-groomed, well-bred existence. ‘Who’s he!’ It was the DIFFERENCE they resented.
And somewhere, in his secret English heart, being a good deal of a soldier, he believed they were right to resent the difference. He felt himself a little in the wrong, for having all the advantages. Nevertheless he represented a system, and he would not be shoved out.
Except by death. Which came on him soon after Connie’s call, suddenly. And he remembered Clifford handsomely in his will.
The heirs at once gave out the order for the demolishing of Shipley. It cost too much to keep up. No one would live there. So it was broken up. The avenue of yews was cut down. The park was denuded of its timber, and divided into lots. It was near enough to Uthwaite. In the strange, bald desert of this still-one-more no-man’s-land, new little streets of semi-detacheds were run up, very desirable! The Shipley Hall Estate!
Within a year of Connie’s last call, it had happened. There stood Shipley Hall Estate, an array of red-brick semi-detached ‘villas’ in new streets. No one would have dreamed that the stucco hall had stood there twelve months before.
But this is a later stage of King Edward’s landscape gardening, the sort that has an ornamental coal-mine on the lawn.
One England blots out another. The England of the Squire Winters and the Wragby Halls was gone, dead. The blotting out was only not yet complete.
What would come after? Connie could not imagine. She could only see the new brick streets spreading into the fields, the new erections rising at the collieries, the new girls in their silk stockings, the new collier lads lounging into the Pally or the Welfare. The younger generation were utterly unconscious of the old England. There was a gap in the continuity of consciousness, almost American: but industrial really. What next?
Connie always felt there was no next. She wanted to hide her head in the sand: or, at least, in the bosom of a living man.
The world was so complicated and weird and gruesome! The common people were so many, and really so terrible. So she thought as she was going home, and saw the colliers trailing from the pits, grey-black, distorted, one shoulder higher than the other, slurring their heavy iron-shod boots. Underground grey faces, whites of eyes rolling, necks cringing from the pit roof, shoulders out of shape. Men! Men! Alas, in some ways patient and good men. In other ways, non-existent. Something that men SHOULD have was bred and killed out of them. Yet they were men. They begot children. One might bear a child to them. Terrible, terrible thought! They were good and kindly. But they were only half, only the grey half of a human being. As yet, they were ‘good’. But even that was the goodness of their halfness. Supposing the dead in them ever rose up! But no, it was too terrible to think of. Connie was absolutely afraid of the industrial masses. They seemed so WEIRD to her. A life with utterly no beauty in it, no intuition, always ‘in the pit’.
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