原文
"Well, here's my masterpiece. Note its cheerful title--'My Graves.' I
shed quarts of tears while writing it, and the other girls shed gallons
while I read it. Jane Andrews' mother scolded her frightfully because
she had so many handkerchiefs in the wash that week. It's a harrowing
tale of the wanderings of a Methodist minister's wife. I made her a
Methodist because it was necessary that she should wander. She buried a
child every place she lived in. There were nine of them and their
graves were severed far apart, ranging from Newfoundland to Vancouver. I
described the children, pictured their several death beds, and detailed
their tombstones and epitaphs. I had intended to bury the whole nine
but when I had disposed of eight my invention of horrors gave out and I
permitted the ninth to live as a hopeless cripple."
語彙など
- masterpiece:傑作
- shed tears:涙を流す
- quart:クォート(液量単位:1リットル程度)
- gallon:ガロン(液量単位:4リットル前後)
- frightfully:恐ろしく
- harrowing:悲惨な
- wandering:放浪
- Methodist minister:メソジスト派の牧師
- sever:分断する
- Newfoundland:ニューファンドランド州,カナダ
- tombstone:墓石
- epitaph:墓碑銘
- dispose:処置する
- give out:衰える
- cripple:身障者