It's the old woman's tricks to be giving cobbling jobs. Lord! what an affection all old women have for tinkers. I know an old woman of sixty-five who ran away with a bald-headed young tinker once. And that's the reason I never would work for lonely widow old women ashore when I kept my job-shop in the Vineyard; they might have taken it into their lonely old heads to run off with me. But heigh-ho! there are no caps at sea but snow-caps. Let me see. Nail down the lid; caulk the seams; pay over the same with pitch; batten them down tight, and hang it with the snap-spring over the ship's stern. Were ever such things done before with a coffin? Some superstitious old carpenters, now, would be tied up in the rigging, ere they would do the job. But I'm made of knotty Aroostook hemlock; I don't budge. Cruppered with a coffin! Sailing about with a grave-yard tray! But never mind. We workers in woods make bridal bedsteads and card-tables, as well as coffins and hearses. We work by the month, or by the job, or by the profit; not for us to ask the why and wherefore of our work, unless it be too confounded cobbling, and then we stash it if we can. Hem! I'll do the job, now, tenderly.
这是老太婆要捉弄皮匠的差使。天呀，天下的老太婆多么爱看上皮匠呀。我就知道，有个六十五岁的老太婆，跟一个秃顶的年轻皮匠私奔了。因此，我在维因耶德开作坊的时候，就从来不愿意给陆上的孤老寡妇干活儿；她们那些个孤老脑袋里，说不定还想跟我私奔呢。可是，嗨嗬！在海上，谁来管你这一套，有理也说不清。我不妨来试试看。把棺材盖给钉住，缝缝隙隙给补补填填，给这东西涂上一层沥青；把它敲得紧紧密密，系上弹簧绳子，挂在船梢上就得啦。用一只棺材来做成这种东西，先前可有人干过嘛？哼，有些迷信的老木匠，就一定要给紧缚在索具后才愿意来干这活儿。不过，我是用阿卢斯图克（阿卢斯图克——美国缅因州北部的一条河名。）的多瘤多节的铁杉做出来的；我并不畏畏缩缩。船屁股吊只棺材！拖着一只坟场里的盒子驶来驶去！不过，管它呢。我们做木匠的，新婚的床架子和牌桌要做，棺材和棺架也同样要做。我们这些做长工的、做零活的、挣钱的人，对我们的活儿是挨不上问为什么和什么理由的，除非实在真是太混蛋的补补弄弄的差使，那么，如果搪塞得了，我们还是不干的。唔！我还是来好好地做一做吧。