I have had a great many birthdays in my time. I remember the first one very well, and I always think of it with indignation; everything was so crude, unaesthetic, primeval. Nothing like this at all. No proper appreciative preparation made; nothing really ready. Now, for a person born with high and delicate instincts—why, even the cradle wasn't whitewashed—nothing ready at all. I hadn't any hair, I hadn't any teeth, I hadn't any clothes, I had to go to my first banquet just like that. Well, everybody came swarming in. It was the merest little bit of a village—hardly that, just a little hamlet, in the backwoods of Missouri, where nothing ever happened, and the people were all interested, and they all came; they looked me over to see if there was anything fresh in my line. Why, nothing ever happened in that village—I—why, I was the only thing that had really happened there for months and months and months; and although I say it myself that shouldn't, I came the nearest to being a real event that had happened in that village in more than, two years. Well, those people came, they came with that curiosity which is so provincial, with that frankness which also is so provincial, and they examined me all around and gave their opinion. Nobody asked them, and I shouldn't have minded if anybody had paid me a compliment, but nobody did. Their opinions were all just green with prejudice, and I feel those opinions to this day. Well, I stood that as long as—well, you know I was born courteous, and I stood it to the limit. I stood it an hour, and then the worm turned. I was the worm; it was my turn to turn, and I turned. I knew very well the strength of my position; I knew that I was the only spotlessly pure and innocent person in that whole town, and I came out and said so: And they could not say a word. It was so true: They blushed; they were embarrassed. Well, that was the first after-dinner speech I ever made: I think it was after dinner.
It's a long stretch between that first birthday speech and this one. That was my cradle-song; and this is my swan-song, I suppose. I am used to swan-songs; I have sung them several, times.
我這一生，已經過了很多的生日。我的第一個生日，我還記得很清楚，而且我一想到它就義憤填膺，因為所有的一切都顯得那麼粗糙、醜陋、野蠻，跟今晚完全不一樣。那時連個什麼都沒有，什麼東西都沒有準備。對一個生來就具有高強本領而且又細膩的人來說—哎，竟然連個搖籃也不粉刷一下—什麼都沒準備：我頭上一根毛也沒有，也沒有牙齒，還一絲不掛，我竟然不得不用這副德性出席我第一次的生日派對。 哎呀，村民們蜂擁而至，那是密蘇里一個偏遠的小村落，一個彈丸之地，那裡從來不曾發生過什麼大事情，所以村民們都跑來看熱鬧了。他們很仔細地觀察我，想看看我會不會有哪裡長得不一樣，哦，那個村子裡沒有什麼新鮮事—我的出生，是村子裡這麼多個月以來唯一的大事。雖然我自己會說這根本算不上是什麼事，但村子已經整整兩年多沒有發生過事情了。 所以村人們就來囉，他們滿懷好奇心，而且很俗氣，講話又白又俗，他們一直在那邊檢查我，而且品頭論足。又沒有人詢問他們的意見，如果有人跟我講句好話，那我也就算了不計較，但偏偏就是沒有。他們的意見都充滿了酸溜溜的偏見，我到現在還覺得很不是滋味。
我當時就這樣忍下來—你也知道的，我生來就是一個很懂得禮貌的人，所以一直忍到忍無可忍。弱小不堪的我忍了一個鐘頭之後，開始反抗了。我像條蠕蟲，我開始東扭西扭，奮力反抗。我很清楚我當時所處的地位具有何等的力量，我知道我那時是整個村子裡唯一潔白無瑕、天真無邪的人，所以我就挺身而出，直言不諱，眾人們也只能默默地接受。真實不虛的是，他們臉紅了，窘大了。這就是我生平第一次所做的餐後演講，我想那是餐後的時間沒錯。 從第一次生日演講到現在，是一段漫漫的歲月了。那一次是我的搖籃曲，現在呢，差不多是我的
垂死之歌了，我常常在唱垂死之歌，我已經唱過好幾個回合了。 | 
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