[원문/번역중] An Experiment In Misery - Stephen Crane

AN EXPERIMENT IN MISERY

(From the Press, New York.)

원문: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/45524/45524-h/45524-h.htm#An-Experiment-in-Misery

It was late at night, and a fine rain was swirling softly down, causing the pavements to glisten with hue of steel and blue and yellow in the rays of the innumerable lights. A youth was trudging slowly, without enthusiasm, with his hands buried deep in his trouser's pockets, towards the down-town places where beds can be hired for coppers. He was clothed in an aged and tattered suit, and his derby was a marvel of dust-covered crown and torn rim. He was going forth to eat as the wanderer may eat, and sleep as the homeless sleep. By the time he had reached City Hall Park he was so completely plastered with yells of "bum" and "hobo," and with various unholy epithets that small boys had applied to him at intervals, that he was in a state of the most profound dejection. The sifting rain saturated the old velvet collar of his overcoat, and as the wet cloth pressed against his neck, he felt that there no longer could be pleasure in life. He looked about him searching for an outcast of highest degree that they too might share miseries, but the lights threw a quivering glare over rows and circles of deserted benches that glistened damply, showing patches of wet sod behind them. It seemed that their usual freights had fled on this night to better things. There were only squads of well-dressed Brooklyn people who swarmed towards the bridge.

밤늦은 시각, 가랑비가 소용돌이치며 내려와 셀 수 없는 광선처럼 빛나며 도로를 금속 색, 노란색, 파란색으로 반짝이게 만들었다. 바지 주머니에 손을 깊이 찔러넣은 젊은이가 열정이라곤 한 톨도 없이 터덜터덜, 동전 몇 푼으로 잘 곳을 얻을 수 있는 곳인 다운타운을 향해 천천히 걷고 있었다. 그는 낡아서 다 해진 신사복을 입고 있었는데, 그가 쓴 더비 모자는 먼지 쌓인 머리 부분과 다 찢어진 챙이 어우러진 모습이었다. 그는 부랑자가 먹을 만한 것을 먹고, 홈리스가 잘 만한 곳에서 자기 위해 앞으로 나아가고 있었다. 얼마간의 시간이 지나 그가 시청공원에 도달하자 그는 "게으름뱅이"와 "부랑자 새끼"라는 외침 그리고 꼬마 남자아이들이 틈틈이 말해 대는 지독한 별명들로 뒤덮이고 말았다. 체로 친 것 같은 비가 그의 낡은 벨벳 외투깃을 흠뻑 적셨다. 젖은 옷이 그의 목을 조여 오자 그는 이제 삶에 기쁨이라곤 없다고 느꼈다. 그는 그의 불행을 나눌 만한 가장 높은 수준의 부랑자를 찾아 헤매는 자신을 둘러보았지만 빛은 축축하게 빛나는 아무도 앉지 않는 벤치의 가로대와 원들 위로 바르르 떨리는 광선들을 던지며 벤치 뒤쪽의 젖은 잔디밭을 부분부분 보여줄 뿐이었다. 벤치에 원래 앉았던 손님들은 오늘 밤 더 나은 것을 위해 달아난 듯해 보였다. 잘 차려입은 브루클린 사람들만이 다리를 향해 몰려들었다.

 

The young man loitered about for a time and then went shuffling off down Park Row. In the sudden descent in style of the dress of the crowd he felt relief, and as if he were at last in his own country. He began to see tatters that matched his tatters. In Chatham Square there were aimless men strewn in front of saloons and lodging-houses, standing sadly, patiently, reminding one vaguely of the attitudes of chickens in a storm. He aligned himself with these men, and turned slowly to occupy himself with the flowing life of the great street.

젊은이는 잠시 어슬렁거리다가 로우 공원을 따라 걸어내려갔다. 갑자기 수준이 떨어진 군중의 옷차림에 그는 안도감을 느꼈다. 마치 자신이 지배하는 나라에 온 것만 같았다. 그는 자신의 누더기와 어울리는 누더기들을 보기 시작했다. 채텀 광장에는 목적 없는 남자들이 술집이나 민박집 앞에 흩어져 슬프면서도 참을성 있게 서 있었는데 그 광경은 폭풍우 속 닭들을 어렴풋이 떠올리게 했다. 젊은이는 그 사람들 옆에 자신을 세웠다가, 큰 거리 위에서 흘러가는 삶에 몰두하기 위해 천천히 돌아섰다.

 

Through the mists of the cold and storming night, the cable cars went in silent procession, great affairs shining with red and brass, moving with formidable power, calm and irresistible, dangerful and gloomy, breaking silence only by the loud fierce cry of the gong. Two rivers of people swarmed along the side walks, spattered with black mud, which made each shoe leave a scar-like impression. Overhead elevated trains with a shrill grinding of the wheels stopped at the station, which upon its leg-like pillars seemed to resemble some monstrous kind of crab squatting over the street. The quick fat puffings of the engines could be heard. Down an alley there were sombre curtains of purple and black, on which street lamps dully glittered like embroidered flowers.

춥고 폭풍우 치는 밤의 안개 사이로, 삭도차가 조용한 행렬을 이루며 들어와 붉은 빛과 놋쇠 빛으로 빛을 발했고, 어마어마한 힘으로 움직이며, 차분하게 그리고 억누를 수 없이, 위험천만하게 그리고 침울하게, 격렬한 징의 울부짖음으로 침묵을 깨버렸다. 인도를 따라 무리지어 움직이는 두 갈래의 사람들의 신발에 검은 진흙이 다 튀어 흉터 같은 자국을 남겼다. 머리 위로 지나가는 고가열차가 바퀴에서 날카롭게 삐걱삐걱 소리를 내며 역에 멈춰섰다. 고가역은 다리처럼 생긴 기둥들 때문에 도시 위에 쭈그려 앉은 괴물 게 같아 보였다. 둔중하게 훅훅거리는 엔진 소리가 들렸다. 골목 아래쪽에는 자주색과 검은색의 음침한 커튼이 드리워져 있었고 그 커튼 위에는 가로등이 수놓인 꽃처럼 둔하게 반짝거렸다.

 

A saloon stood with a voracious air on a corner. A sign leaning against the front of the door-post announced "Free hot soup to-night!" The swing doors, snapping to and fro like ravenous lips, made gratified smacks as the saloon gorged itself with plump men, eating with astounding and endless appetite, smiling in some indescribable manner as the men came from all directions like sacrifices to a heathenish superstition.

한 술집이 게걸스러운 공기를 드리우며 모퉁이에 서 있었다. "뜨거운 수프 오늘밤 공짜!"라고 쓰인 간판이 문 기둥 앞에 기대어 세워져 있었다. 배가 고파서 죽을 지경인 입술마냥 이쪽저쪽으로 찰카닥거리는 반회전문은 술집이 경악스럽고 끝이 없는 식욕으로 음식을 먹고 있는 통통한 남자들로 스스로를 배불리 채울 때마다 만족스러운 턱 턱 소리를 내며, 남자들이 야만스러운 미신의 제물마냥 오만 방향에서 올 적마다 형언하기 어려운 모종의 미소를 지었다.

 

Caught by the delectable sign the young man allowed himself to be swallowed. A bar-tender placed a schooner of dark and portentous beer on the bar. Its monumental form up-reared until the froth a-top was above the crown of the young man's brown derby.

젊은이는 매력적인 간판에 사로잡혀선 스스로 집어삼켜지길 택했다. 바텐더는 어둡고 꺼림칙한 맥주를 따른 스쿠너 잔을 바 위에 올려놓았다. Its monumental form upreared until the froth a-top was above the crown of the young man's brown derby.

 

"Soup over there, gents," said the bar-tender affably. A little yellow man in rags and the youth grasped their schooners and went with speed toward a lunch counter, where a man with oily but imposing whiskers ladled genially from a kettle until he had furnished his two mendicants with a soup that was steaming hot, and in which there were little floating suggestions of chicken. The young man, sipping his broth, felt the cordiality expressed by the warmth of the mixture, and he beamed at the man with oily but imposing whiskers, who was presiding like a priest behind an altar. "Have some more, gents?" he inquired of the two sorry figures before him. The little yellow man accepted with a swift gesture, but the youth shook his head and went out, following a man whose wondrous seediness promised that he would have a knowledge of cheap lodging-houses.

"신사 양반들, 수프는 저기 있소." 바텐더가 붙임성 있게 말했다. 누더기를 입은 한 작고 누런 남자와 젊은이가 스쿠너 잔을 쥐고 점심 카운터로 재빨리 움직였다. 카운터에서 쾌활하게 수프를 주전자에서 가득 퍼 담은, 기름졌지만 인상적인 구레나룻을 가진 한 남자가, 작은 닭고기 조각이 떠 있는 김이 모락모락 나는 수프를 이 거지 두 명에게도 퍼 주었다. 젊은이는 국물을 홀짝거리며 이 혼합물의 온기가 주는 따스함을 느끼며, 제단 뒤에 선 목사처럼 주도하고 있는, 기름졌지만 인상적인 구레나룻을 가진 남자에게 싱글싱글 웃어 보였다. "더 드실라우, 신사 양반들?" 딱해 보이는 두 사람에게 그가 권했다. 작고 누런 남자는 재빠른 몸동작으로 권유를 받아들였지만 젊은이는 고개를 젓고는, 경이로울 만큼 초라한 나머지 틀림없이 값싼 숙박 업소를 알고 있을 것으로 보이는 남자를 따라 밖으로 나갔다.

 

On the side-walk he accosted the seedy man. "Say, do you know a cheap place to sleep?"

그는 인도에서 초라한 남자에게 다가갔다. "저기, 혹시 잘 만한 싼 곳을 아오?"

 

The other hesitated for a time gazing sideways. Finally he nodded in the direction of the street, "I sleep up there," he said, "when I've got the price."

남자가 옆길을 바라보며 잠시 망설였다. 마침내 그는 거리 쪽으로 고개를 끄덕이며, "난 저기서 잡니다만- when I've got the price."

 

"How much?"

"얼마요?"

 

"Ten cents."

"10센트."

 

The young man shook his head dolefully. "That's too rich for me."

젊은이가 애절하게 고개를 저었다. "나에겐 너무 비싸요."

 

At that moment there approached the two a reeling man in strange garments. His head was a fuddle of bushy hair and whiskers, from which his eyes peered with a guilty slant. In a close scrutiny it was possible to distinguish the cruel lines of a mouth which looked as if its lips had just closed with satisfaction over some tender and piteous morsel. He appeared like an assassin steeped in crimes performed awkwardly.

그때, 이상한 옷을 입은 남자가 비틀거리며 두 사람에게 다가왔다. 그의 머리통은 덥수룩한 머리와 구레나룻으로 혼란스레 뒤섞여 있었으며 그의 두 눈에는 죄의식이 있었다. 면밀히 관찰해 보면 the cruel lines of a mouth which looked as if its lips had just closed with satisfaction over some tender and piteous morsel라는 것을 구분해낼 수 있었다. 그는 어설프게 저질러진 범죄에 흠뻑 빠진 암살자처럼 보였다.

 

But at this time his voice was tuned to the coaxing key of an affectionate puppy. He looked at the men with wheedling eyes, and began to sing a little melody for charity.

그러나 이때 그의 목소리는 사랑받는 강아지를 구슬리는 톤에 맞춰져 있었다. 그는 달콤한 말로 꾀어내는 눈으로 두 남자를 바라보더니 동정을 받기 위해 멜로디를 부르기 시작했다.

 

"Say, gents, can't yeh give a poor feller a couple of cents t' git a bed. I got five, and I gits anudder two I gits me a bed. Now, on th' square, gents, can't yeh jest gimme two cents t' git a bed? Now, yeh know how a respecter'ble gentlem'n feels when he's down on his luck, an' I——"

"저기, 신사 양반들, 이 불쌍한 놈에게 일이 센트라도 줄 수 없겠능가? 내가 잘 수 있게 말여. 난 5센트가 있어갖고, 따악 2센트만 있으면 되거던. 이제 곧 광장인디, 나 좀 자게 2센트만 주쇼. 이제 댁들도, 존경받을 만한 신사들이 운이 없을 때 어떻게 느끼는지 알 거요."

 

The seedy man, staring with imperturbable countenance at a train which clattered overhead, interrupted in an expressionless voice—"Ah, go t' h—!"

초라한 남자는, "지옥에나 떨-"하는 감정 없는 목소리를 끊어먹은 덜커덩거리는 고가열차를 차분한 얼굴로 바라보았다.

 

But the youth spoke to the prayerful assassin in tones of astonishment and inquiry. "Say, you must be crazy! Why don't yeh strike somebody that looks as if they had money?"

하지만 젊은이는 깜짝 놀라서는 독실한 암살자에게 캐물었다. "이봐요, 당신 미쳤습니까? 돈이 좀 있어 보이는 사람에게 들이대라고요!"

 

The assassin, tottering about on his uncertain legs, and at intervals brushing imaginary obstacles from before his nose, entered into a long explanation of the psychology of the situation. It was so profound that it was unintelligible.

암살자는 불안정한 다리로 비틀거리며, 때로는 상상 속의 장애물을 코앞에서 스치며, 이 상황에서 그의 심리에 대한 긴 설명을 시작했다. 그건 이해하기엔 너무 심오했다.

 

When he had exhausted the subject, the young man said to him—

이야기를 다 끝냈을 때, 젊은이가 그에게 말하길

 

"Let's see th' five cents."

"5센트나 봅시다."

 

The assassin wore an expression of drunken woe at this sentence, filled with suspicion of him. With a deeply pained air he began to fumble in his clothing, his red hands trembling. Presently he announced in a voice of bitter grief, as if he had been betrayed—"There's on'y four."

이 문장을 들은 암살자가 만취한 비애를 보이며 그에 대한 의심으로 가득찼다. 깊이 고통받은 공기 속에서 그가 옷을 뒤적였다. 그의 붉은 손이 달달 떨렸다. 머지않아 그는 배신을 당한 것만 같이 쓰디쓴 슬픔이 묻은 목소리로 말했다. "4센트 뿐이구먼."

 

"Four," said the young man thoughtfully. "Well, look-a-here, I'm a stranger here, an' if ye'll steer me to your cheap joint I'll find the other three."

"4센트라." 젊은이가 고민하며 말했다. "자, 봐요. 나는 여기 초행이에요. 당신이 자는 싼 곳으로 나를 안내해 주면 내가 3센트를 마련해 주지요."

 

The assassin's countenance became instantly radiant with joy. His whiskers quivered with the wealth of his alleged emotions. He seized the young man's hand in a transport of delight and friendliness.

암살자의 얼굴이 곧바로 기쁨으로 환히 빛났다. 그의 구레나룻은 그가 표출하는 감정들의 풍요로 바르르 떨렸다. 그는 젊은이의 손을 쥐어잡고 기쁨과 친절을 한껏 전달했다.

 

"B' Gawd," he cried, "if ye'll do that, b' Gawd, I'd say yeh was a damned good fellow, I would, an' I'd remember yeh all m' life, I would, b' Gawd, an' if I ever got a chance I'd return the compliment"—he spoke with drunken dignity,—"b' Gawd, I'd treat yeh white, I would, an' I'd allus remember yeh."

"신이시여, 댁이 그렇게만 해준다면, 아아, 신이시여, 댁은 오질라게 좋은 녀석이었다고 말하겠어! 내 인생 내내 댁을 기억하겠어, 신이시여, 이 친절을 돌려줄 기회가 나에게 온다면-" 그가 만취한 위엄을 가지고 말했다. "신이시여, I'd treat yeh white, I would, an' I'd allus remember yeh."

 

The young man drew back, looking at the assassin coldly. "Oh, that's all right," he said. "You show me th' joint—that's all you've got t' do."

젊은이는 물러나서는 암살자를 냉랭하게 쳐다보았다. "괜찮아요." 그가 말했다. "그쪽이 자는 곳만 나에게 보여주면 돼요. 그것 하나만 해주면 돼요."

 

The assassin, gesticulating gratitude, led the young man along a dark street. Finally he stopped before a little dusty door. He raised his hand impressively. "Look-a-here," he said, and there was a thrill of deep and ancient wisdom upon his face, "I've brought yeh here, an' that's my part, ain't it? If th' place don't suit yeh, yeh needn't git mad at me, need yeh? There won't be no bad feelin', will there?"

암살자는 고마움을 온몸으로 표현하며 어두운 거리로 젊은이를 안내했다. 마침내 그가 먼지 쌓인 작은 문 앞에서 멈추어 섰다. 그는 인상적인 태도로 손을 들었다. "여기요." 그가 말했고, 깊고 오래된 지혜의 전율이 그의 얼굴 위로 나타났다. "여기로 댁을 데려왔어, 내 할 일은 된 거지? 댁한테 썩 맞지 않더라도 화는 내지 말라고! 안 좋은 예감이 있어? 없지?"

 

"No," said the young man.

"없네요." 젊은이가 말했다.

 

The assassin waved his arm tragically, and led the march up the steep stairway. On the way the young man furnished the assassin with three pennies. At the top a man with benevolent spectacles looked at them through a hole in a board. He collected their money, wrote some names on a register, and speedily was leading the two men along a gloom-shrouded corridor.

암살자는 비극적으로 그의 팔을 흔들며 가파른 계단길의 행진을 이끌었다. 가는 길에 젊은이는 암살자에게 3센트를 주었다. 꼭대기에서 자애로운 안경을 낀 한 남자가 판자에 뚫린 구멍을 통해 그들을 보았다. 그는 두 사람의 돈을 가져가고는 명부에 몇몇 이름을 적은 후, 우울감에 휩싸인 회랑으로 그들을 재빠르게 안내했다.

 

Shortly after the beginning of this journey the young man felt his liver turn white, for from the dark and secret places of the building there suddenly came to his nostrils strange and unspeakable odours, that assailed him like malignant diseases with wings. They seemed to be from human bodies closely packed in dens; the exhalations from a hundred pairs of reeking lips; the fumes from a thousand bygone debauches; the expression of a thousand present miseries.

이 짧은 여정이 끝난 직후 젊은이는 그의 간에서 피가 빠져나가는 듯했다. 건물의 어둡고 비밀스러운 이 공간에서는 이상하고 뭐라 말하기 어려운 냄새가 급작스레 그의 비강에 들어와 암처럼 그를 공격했다. 그 냄새들은 이 소굴들에 다닥다닥 포장돼 있는 인간의 몸에서 나온 것 같아 보였다. 수백 개의 물큰한 입술에서 뿜어져 나오는 날숨, 또는 천 개의 다 지난 방탕한 시절로부터 온 매연, 또는 천 개의 현존하는 고통일지도.

 

A man, naked save for a little snuff-coloured undershirt, was parading sleepily along the corridor. He rubbed his eyes, and, giving vent to a prodigious yawn, demanded to be told the time.

한 남자가 벌거벗은 채 복도를 따라 졸음 행진을 하고 있었다. 그는 눈을 비비며 엄청난 하품을 내뱉으며 시간을 알려달라고 요구했다.

 

"Half-past one."

"1시 30분."

 

The man yawned again. He opened a door, and for a moment his form was outlined against a black, opaque interior. To this door came the three men, and as it was again opened the unholy odours rushed out like fiends, so that the young man was obliged to struggle as against an overpowering wind.

그 남자는 또 하품을 했다. 그는 문을 열었고, 잠시 동안 그의 모습은 불투명한 검은 내부와 대조되었다. 이 문 앞에 세 사람이 들어섰는데, 다시 문이 열리자 불결한 냄새가 마치 귀신처럼 밀려나왔다. 그래서 그 젊은이는 어쩔 수 없이 거센 바람과 맞서 싸울 수밖에 없었다.

 

It was some time before the youth's eyes were good in the intense gloom within, but the man with benevolent spectacles led him skilfully, pausing but a moment to deposit the limp assassin upon a cot. He took the youth to a cot that lay tranquilly by the window, and showing him a tall locker for clothes that stood near the head with the ominous air of a tombstone, left him.

젊은이의 눈이 어두운 실내에 익숙해지기까지는 시간이 좀 걸렸지만, 안경을 쓴 남자는 능숙한 솜씨로 그를 이끌었고, 잠시 멈춰 서서 절뚝거리는 암살자를 간이침대에 앉혔다. 그는 젊은이를 창가에 평온하게 놓여 있는 간이침대로 데리고 가서는 머리맡에 서 있는 키 큰 옷궤를 보여주고 떠났다. 옷궤는 묘비와 같은 불길한 기운을 머금고 있었다.

 

The youth sat on his cot and peered about him. There was a gas-jet in a distant part of the room, that burned a small flickering orange-hued flame. It caused vast masses of tumbled shadows in all parts of the place, save where, immediately about it, there was a little grey haze. As the young man's eyes became used to the darkness, he could see upon the cots that thickly littered the floor the forms of men sprawled out, lying in death-like silence, or heaving and snoring with tremendous effort, like stabbed fish.

침대에 앉은 젊은이는 그를 유심히 쳐다보았다. 방 안, 멀리 떨어진 곳에는 주황빛의 불꽃이 작게 깜빡이는 가스 화구가 있었는데 그것은 이 공간 구석구석에 잔뜩 구겨진 수많은 그림자를 만들었고 save where, immediately about it, there was a little grey haze. 어둠에 익숙해지자 젊은이는 바닥 위에 빽빽하게 어지러이 놓인 침대들 위에 아무렇게나 널브러진 남자들을 볼 수 있었다. 남자들은 죽은 것 같이 고요하게 누워 있거나 또는 칼에 찔린 생선처럼 온 힘을 다해 들썩이고 코를 골아 댔다.

 

The youth locked his derby and his shoes in the mummy case near him, and then lay down with an old and familiar coat around his shoulders. A blanket he handed gingerly, drawing it over part of the coat. The cot was covered with leather, and as cold as melting snow. The youth was obliged to shiver for some time on this affair, which was like a slab. Presently, however, his chill gave him peace, and during this period of leisure from it he turned his head to stare at his friend the assassin, whom he could dimly discern where he lay sprawled on a cot in the abandon of a man filled with drink. He was snoring with incredible vigour. His wet hair and beard dimly glistened, and his inflamed nose shone with subdued lustre like a red light in a fog.

젊은이는 모자와 신발을 미라 관 같은 궤에 넣어 잠근 후, 어깨에 걸쳐져 있던 낡고 정든 코트를 내려놓았다. A blanket he handed gingerly, drawing it over part of the coat. 간이침대는 가죽으로 싸여 있었고 녹아내리는 눈처럼 차가웠다. The youth was obliged to shiver for some time on this affair, which was like a slab. 이내 오한이 그에게 평화를 가져다주었다. 거기에서 오는 여가 동안 그는 그의 친구, 암살자를 보려고 고개를 돌렸다. 그는 술에 잔뜩 취해 방종하게 누워 있는 암살자가 어디에 있는지 희미하게 알아차릴 수 있었다. 그는 엄청난 열의를 가지고 코를 골았다. 그의 젖은 머리와 수염은 흐릿하게 빛났고 흥분한 코는 안개 속 붉은 등처럼 은은한 광택으로 반짝였다.

 

Within reach of the youth's hand was one who lay with yellow breast and shoulders bare to the cold drafts. One arm hung over the side of the cot, and the fingers lay full length upon the wet cement floor of the room. Beneath the inky brows could be seen the eyes of the man exposed by the partly opened lids. To the youth it seemed that he and this corpse-like being were exchanging a prolonged stare, and that the other threatened with his eyes. He drew back watching his neighbour from the shadows of his blanket edge. The man did not move once through the night, but lay in this stillness as of death like a body stretched out expectant of the surgeon's knife.

젊은이의 손이 닿는 곳에는 차가운 외풍에 누런 가슴과 어깨를 드러낸 채 누워 있는 사람이 있었다. 한 팔은 간이침대의 옆쪽에 걸려 있었고 손가락은 방의 젖은 시멘트 바닥 위에 한껏 펼쳐져 누워 있었다. 잉크 같은 눈썹 아래에는 눈꺼풀이 살짝 열린 눈이 보였다. 젊은이에게는 이 시체 같은 존재가 그와 오랫동안 시선을 주고받으며 자신을 위협하고 있는 것처럼 보였다. 그는 그의 이웃을 계속 바라보면서, 그의 담요 끝자락이 만드는 그림자로부터 물러났다. 그 남자는 밤중에 한 번을 움직이지 않았고 외과의사의 칼날을 기다리면서 뻗은 시체처럼 고요함 속에 누워 있었다.

 

And all through the room could be seen the tawny hues of naked flesh, limbs thrust into the darkness, projecting beyond the cots; upreared knees, arms hanging long and thin over the cot edges. For the most part they were statuesque, carven, dead. With the curious lockers standing all about like tombstones, there was a strange effect of a graveyard where bodies were merely flung.

방 안 곳곳에는 벌거벗은 살의 황갈색 빛깔이 보였는데 이 살덩이들은 침대를 빠져나와 어둠을 찌르는 팔다리들이었다. 일어선 무릎들, 그리고 침대 가장자리를 넘어 가늘고 길게 매달린 팔들이 보였다. 대부분의 사람들이 마치 조각상 같았고 죽은 것 같았다. 묘비석처럼 선 기이한 옷궤들은 내팽개쳐진 시체들이 있는 공동묘지와 같은 이상한 효과를 자아냈다.

 

Yet occasionally could be seen limbs wildly tossing in fantastic nightmare gestures, accompanied by guttural cries, grunts, oaths. And there was one fellow off in a gloomy corner, who in his dreams was oppressed by some frightful calamity, for of a sudden he began to utter long wails that went almost like yells from a hound, echoing wailfully and weird through this chill place of tombstones where men lay like the dead.

그러나 때때로는 팔다리가 환상적인 악몽과 같은 몸짓으로 마구 뒤척거리는 것도 볼 수 있다. 그리고 침울한 구석에 있던 한 남자가 꿈 속에서 끔찍한 재앙에 짓눌려 있었다. 그는 갑자기 마치 사냥개의 고함 소리처럼 길게 울부짖기 시작했다. 그가 죽은 이처럼 누워 있는 이 차디찬 묘비석의 공간에 그 소리가 구슬프게 그리고 이상하게 메아리쳤다.

 

The sound in its high piercing beginnings, that dwindled to final melancholy moans, expressed a red and grim tragedy of the unfathomable possibilities of the man's dreams. But to the youth these were not merely the shrieks of a vision-pierced man: they were an utterance of the meaning of the room and its occupants. It was to him the protest of the wretch who feels the touch of the imperturbable granite wheels, and who then cries with an impersonal eloquence, with a strength not from him, giving voice to the wail of a whole section, a class, a people. This, weaving into the young man's brain, and mingling with his views of the vast and sombre shadows that, like mighty black fingers, curled around the naked bodies, made the young man so that he did not sleep, but lay carving the biographies for these men from his meagre experience. At times the fellow in the corner howled in a writhing agony of his imaginations.

그 소리는 높게 찌르며 시작하더니 종래에는 우울한 신음 소리로 줄어들면서 그 남자가 꾸는 꿈들의 불가해한 가능성들의 붉고 암울한 비극을 표현했다. 그러나 젊은이에게 이것들은 vision-pierced한 남자의 비명일 뿐만 아니라 이 방과 세입자들이 어떤 의미인가를 표현하는 것이었다. It was to him the protest of the wretch who feels the touch of the imperturbable granite wheels, and who then cries with an impersonal eloquence, with a strength not from him, giving voice to the wail of a whole section, a class, a people. 이것이 그의 뇌에 짜여들어가고, 발가벗은 몸뚱이들을 구불구불 둘러싼 거대한 손가락들 같은 침침하고 커다란 그림자를 보고 있는 그의 시선과 어우러지면서, 그는 잠에 들지 않고 이 남자들을 위한 전기들을 그의 고단한 경험에서부터 조각했다. 때때로 구석에 있던 그 사람은 그의 상상이 주는 극심한 고통에 온몸을 비틀어 댔다.

 

Finally a long lance-point of grey light shot through the dusty panes of the window. Without, the young man could see roofs drearily white in the dawning. The point of light yellowed and grew brighter, until the golden rays of the morning sun came in bravely and strong. They touched with radiant colour the form of a small fat man, who snored in stuttering fashion. His round and shiny bald head glowed suddenly with the valour of a decoration. He sat up, blinked at the sun, swore fretfully, and pulled his blanket over the ornamental splendours of his head.

The youth contentedly watched this rout of the shadows before the bright spears of the sun, and presently he slumbered. When he awoke he heard the voice of the assassin raised in valiant curses. Putting up his head, he perceived his comrade seated on the side of the cot engaged in scratching his neck with long finger-nails that rasped like files.

"Hully Jee, dis is a new breed. They've got can-openers on their feet." He continued in a violent tirade.

The young man hastily unlocked his closet and took out his shoes and hat. As he sat on the side of the cot lacing his shoes, he glanced about and saw that daylight had made the room comparatively common-place and uninteresting. The men, whose faces seemed stolid, serene or absent, were engaged in dressing, while a great crackle of bantering conversation arose.

A few were parading in unconcerned nakedness. Here and there were men of brawn, whose skins shone clear and ruddy. They took splendid poses, standing massively like chiefs. When they had dressed in their ungainly garments there was an extraordinary change. They then showed bumps and deficiencies of all kinds.

There were others who exhibited many deformities. Shoulders were slanting, humped, pulled this way and pulled that way. And notable among these latter men was the little fat man, who had refused to allow his head to be glorified. His pudgy form, builded like a pear, bustled to and fro, while he swore in fish-wife fashion. It appeared that some article of his apparel had vanished.

The young man attired speedily, and went to his friend the assassin. At first the latter looked dazed at the sight of the youth. This face seemed to be appealing to him through the cloud wastes of his memory. He scratched his neck and reflected. At last he grinned, a broad smile gradually spreading until his countenance was a round illumination. "Hello, Willie," he cried cheerily.

"Hello," said the young man. "Are yeh ready t' fly?"

"안녕하시오." 젊은이가 말했다. "날 준비 됐소이까?"

"Sure." The assassin tied his shoe carefully with some twine and came ambling.

When he reached the street the young man experienced no sudden relief from unholy atmospheres. He had forgotten all about them, and had been breathing naturally, and with no sensation of discomfort or distress.

He was thinking of these things as he walked along the street, when he was suddenly startled by feeling the assassin's hand, trembling with excitement, clutching his arm, and when the assassin spoke, his voice went into quavers from a supreme agitation.

"I'll be hully, bloomin' blowed if there wasn't a feller with a nightshirt on up there in that joint."

 

The youth was bewildered for a moment, but presently he turned to smile indulgently at the assassin's humour.

"Oh, you're a d——d liar," he merely said.

Whereupon the assassin began to gesture extravagantly, and take oath by strange gods. He frantically placed himself at the mercy of remarkable fates if his tale were not true.

"Yes, he did! I cross m'heart thousan' times!" he protested, and at the moment his eyes were large with amazement, his mouth wrinkled in unnatural glee.

"Yessir! A nightshirt! A hully white nightshirt!"

"You lie!"

"No, sir! I hope ter die b'fore I kin git anudder ball if there wasn't a jay wid a hully, bloomin' white nightshirt!"

His face was filled with the infinite wonder of it. "A hully white nightshirt," he continually repeated.

The young man saw the dark entrance to a basement restaurant. There was a sign which read "No mystery about our hash!" and there were other age-stained and world-battered legends which told him that the place was within his means. He stopped before it and spoke to the assassin. "I guess I'll git somethin' t' eat."

At this the assassin, for some reason, appeared to be quite embarrassed. He gazed at the seductive front of the eating place for a moment. Then he started slowly up the street. "Well, good-bye, Willie," he said bravely.

 

For an instant the youth studied the departing figure. Then he called out, "Hol' on a minnet." As they came together he spoke in a certain fierce way, as if he feared that the other would think him to be charitable. "Look-a-here, if yeh wanta git some breakfas' I'll lend yeh three cents t' do it with. But say, look-a-here, you've gota git out an' hustle. I ain't goin' t' support yeh, or I'll go broke b'fore night. I ain't no millionaire."

"I take me oath, Willie," said the assassin earnestly, "th' on'y thing I really needs is a ball. Me t'roat feels like a fryin'-pan. But as I can't get a ball, why, th' next bes' thing is breakfast, an' if yeh do that for me, b' Gawd, I say yeh was th' whitest lad I ever see."

They spent a few moments in dexterous exchanges of phrases, in which they each protested that the other was, as the assassin had originally said, "a respecter'ble gentlem'n." And they concluded with mutual assurances that they were the souls of intelligence and virtue. Then they went into the restaurant.

There was a long counter, dimly lighted from hidden sources. Two or three men in soiled white aprons rushed here and there.

The youth bought a bowl of coffee for two cents and a roll for one cent. The assassin purchased the same. The bowls were webbed with brown seams, and the tin spoons wore an air of having emerged from the first pyramid. Upon them were black moss-like encrustations of age, and they were bent and scarred from the attacks of long-forgotten teeth. But over their repast the wanderers waxed warm and mellow. The assassin grew affable as the hot mixture went soothingly down his parched throat, and the young man felt courage flow in his veins.

Memories began to throng in on the assassin, and he brought forth long tales, intricate, incoherent, delivered with a chattering swiftness as from an old woman. "—— great job out'n Orange. Boss keep yeh hustlin' though all time. I was there three days, and then I went an' ask 'im t' lend me a dollar. 'G-g-go ter the devil,' he ses, an' I lose me job."

"South no good. Damn niggers work for twenty-five an' thirty cents a day. Run white man out. Good grub though. Easy livin'."

"Yas; useter work little in Toledo, raftin' logs. Make two or three dollars er day in the spring. Lived high. Cold as ice though in the winter."

"I was raised in northern N'York. O-o-oh, yeh jest oughto live there. No beer ner whisky though, way off in the woods. But all th' good hot grub yeh can eat. B' Gawd, I hung around there long as I could till th' ol' man fired me. 'Git t' hell outa here, yeh wuthless skunk, git t' hell outa here, an' go die,' he ses. 'You're a hell of a father,' I ses, 'you are,' an' I quit 'im."

As they were passing from the dim eating place, they encountered an old man who was trying to steal forth with a tiny package of food, but a tall man with an indomitable moustache stood dragon fashion, barring the way of escape. They heard the old man raise a plaintive protest. "Ah, you always want to know what I take out, and you never see that I usually bring a package in here from my place of business."

As the wanderers trudged slowly along Park Row, the assassin began to expand and grow blithe. "B' Gawd, we've been livin' like kings," he said, smacking appreciative lips.

"Look out, or we'll have t' pay fer it t'night," said the youth with gloomy warning.

But the assassin refused to turn his gaze toward the future. He went with a limping step, into which he injected a suggestion of lamblike gambols. His mouth was wreathed in a red grin.

In the City Hall Park the two wanderers sat down in the little circle of benches sanctified by traditions of their class. They huddled in their old garments, slumbrously conscious of the march of the hours which for them had no meaning.

The people of the street hurrying hither and thither made a blend of black figures changing yet frieze-like. They walked in their good clothes as upon important missions, giving no gaze to the two wanderers seated upon the benches. They expressed to the young man his infinite distance from all that he valued. Social position, comfort, the pleasures of living, were unconquerable kingdoms. He felt a sudden awe.

And in the background a multitude of buildings, of pitiless hues and sternly high, were to him emblematic of a nation forcing its regal head into the clouds, throwing no downward glances; in the sublimity of its aspirations ignoring the wretches who may flounder at its feet. The roar of the city in his ear was to him the confusion of strange tongues, babbling heedlessly; it was the clink of coin, the voice of the city's hopes which were to him no hopes.

He confessed himself an outcast, and his eyes from under the lowered rim of his hat began to glance guiltily, wearing the criminal expression that comes with certain convictions.