In those days a little coloured girl, Martha Washington, the child of our cook, and Belle, an old setter, and a great hunter in her day, were my constant companions. Martha Washington understood my signs, and I seldom had any difficulty in making her do just as I wished. It pleased me to domineer over her, and she generally submitted to my tyranny rather than risk a hand-to-hand encounter. I was strong, active, indifferent to consequences. I knew my own mind well enough and always had my own way, even if I had to fight tooth and nail for it. We spent a great deal of time in the kitchen, kneading dough balls, helping make ice-cream, grinding coffee, quarreling over the cake-bowl, and feeding the hens and turkeys that swarmed about the kitchen steps. Many of them were so tamed that they would eat from my hand and let me feel them. One big gobbler snatched a tomato from me one day and ran away with it. Inspired, perhaps, by Master Gobbler's success, we carried off to the woodpile a cake which the cook had just frosted, and ate every bit of it. I was quite ill afterward, and I wonder if retribution also overtook the turkey.
在早年的岁月，我有两个忠实的伙伴，那个打扮得花枝招展的小姑娘叫玛莎·华盛顿，
她是我家厨师的孩子；还有贝拉，她是一只非常出色的老猎犬。玛莎·华盛顿明白我的手势，所以同她交流我很少遇到困难，她总是能够听命于我。在她面前发号施令让我感到高兴。在通常情况下，她总是迁就于我的蛮横和专制，而且不会冒险同我作正面冲突。我感受着自己的强大，进取，而并不在意后果如何。我十分清楚自己的念头，但总是一意孤行，我甚至会用牙齿和指甲相胁，以此来满足自己的要求。我们花了大量的时间在厨房里帮工，揉面团儿，做冰激凌，研磨咖啡豆，为烤制蛋糕争吵不休，给聚集在厨房台阶上的母鸡和火鸡喂食。这些家禽都很温顺，它们会从我手里取食，从而让我感受到它们的存在。有一天，一只硕大的雄火鸡从我手里叼走了一个番茄，然后迅速跑掉了。当时，或许是受到了“高博勒先生”成功经验的鼓舞，我们赢得了一个蛋糕，厨子刚刚在上面撒了一层糖霜，蛋糕被我们一点一点地吃掉了。后来我生了一场大病，我不知道这是不是因为追赶火鸡而遭受的报应。
The
guinea-
fowl
likes
to
hide
her
nest
in
out-
of-
the-
way
places,
and
it
was
one
of
my
greatest
delights
to
hunt
for
the
eggs
in
the
long
grass.
I
could
not
tell
Martha
Washington
when
I
wanted
to
go
egg-
hunting,
but
I
would
double
my
hands
and
put
them
on
the
ground,
which
meant
something
round
in
the
grass,
and
Martha
always
understood.
珍珠鸡喜欢把巢藏匿在偏僻角落里，我最大的快乐之一就是搜寻草窝里的鸡蛋。我找鸡蛋的时候无法直接对玛莎·华盛顿说，我会攥起拳头，再把它们放在草地上，这表示有什么东西在草地上滚动，而玛莎总能领会我的意图。
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