Thursday, August 30, 2012

The events of the past few days lead me to think about Herman Melville

From The Confidence Man, Chapter 7:

The stranger was a man of more than winsome aspect. There he stood apart and in repose, and yet, by his mere look, lured the man in gray from his story, much as, by its graciousness of bearing, some full-leaved elm, alone in a meadow, lures the noon sickleman to throw down his sheaves, and come and apply for the alms of its shade.

But, considering that goodness is no such rare thing among men--the world familiarly know the noun; a common one in every language--it was curious that what so signalized the stranger, and made him look like a kind of foreigner, among the crowd (as to some it make him appear more or less unreal in this portraiture), was but the expression of so prevalent a quality. Such goodness seemed his, allied with such fortune, that, so far as his own personal experience could have gone, scarcely could he have known ill, physical or moral; and as for knowing or suspecting the latter in any serious degree (supposing such degree of it to be), by observation or philosophy; for that, probably, his nature, by its opposition, imperfectly qualified, or from it wholly exempted. For the rest, he might have been five and fifty, perhaps sixty, but tall, rosy, between plump and portly, with a primy, palmy air, and for the time and place, not to hint of his years, dressed with a strangely festive finish and elegance. The inner-side of his coat-skirts was of white satin, which might have looked especially inappropriate, had it not seemed less a bit of mere tailoring than something of an emblem, as it were; an involuntary emblem, let us say, that what seemed so good about him was not all outside; no, the fine covering had a still finer lining. Upon one hand he wore a white kid glove, but the other hand, which was ungloved, looked hardly less white. Now, as the Fidèle, like most steamboats, was upon deck a little soot-streaked here and there, especially about the railings, it was marvel how, under such circumstances, these hands retained their spotlessness. But, if you watched them a while, you noticed that they avoided touching anything; you noticed, in short, that a certain negro body-servant, whose hands nature had dyed black, perhaps with the same purpose that millers wear white, this negro servant's hands did most of his master's handling for him; having to do with dirt on his account, but not to his prejudices. But if, with the same undefiledness of consequences to himself, a gentleman could also sin by deputy, how shocking would that be! But it is not permitted to be; and even if it were, no judicious moralist would make proclamation of it.

This gentleman, therefore, there is reason to affirm, was one who, like the Hebrew governor, knew how to keep his hands clean, and who never in his life happened to be run suddenly against by hurrying house-painter, or sweep; in a word, one whose very good luck it was to be a very good man.
I should note that my mother, a retired English Professor and Melville mavin, led me to read this, Melville's last, novel, many years ago.  My understanding is that it is not widely read, but it should be.


 

3 comments:

  1. In recent years, istanbul real estate many economists have recognized that the lack of
    effective real estate laws can be a significant istanbul properties barrier to investment in
    many developing countries. In most societies, rich and poor, a significant fraction of the total wealth is in the form of istanbul property land and buildings.

    ReplyDelete
  2. In most advanced economies, the main source of capital istanbul real estate used by
    individuals and small companies to purchase and improve land and buildings is mortgage loans (or other instruments). These are loans for which the real property
    itself constitutes collateral. Banks are willing to make such loans at favorable rates in large part because,
    istanbul property if the borrower does not make payments, the lender can foreclose by
    filing a court action which allows them to take back the property and sell it to get their money back. For investors, profitability can be enhanced by using an off
    plan or pre-construction strategy to purchase at a lower price which is often the case in the pre-construction istanbul properties phase of development.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous10:18 PM

    Hello
    i am Nalima Kapoor Real estae consultant
    i recommend to choose residential property in
    ElEldeco Inspire
    for best deals,also recommends to invest in Eldeco
    for best return on investment.this is my personnel opinion and experience.

    ReplyDelete