The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain (best books to read for students TXT) š

- Author: Mark Twain
Book online Ā«The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain (best books to read for students TXT) šĀ». Author Mark Twain
āSay, Tom, let me whitewash a little.ā
Tom considered, was about to consent; but he altered his mind:
āNoā ānoā āI reckon it wouldnāt hardly do, Ben. You see, Aunt Pollyās awful particular about this fenceā āright here on the street, you knowā ābut if it was the back fence I wouldnāt mind and she wouldnāt. Yes, sheās awful particular about this fence; itās got to be done very careful; I reckon there aināt one boy in a thousand, maybe two thousand, that can do it the way itās got to be done.ā
āNoā āis that so? Oh come, nowā ālemme just try. Only just a littleā āIād let you, if you was me, Tom.ā
āBen, Iād like to, honest injun; but Aunt Pollyā āwell, Jim wanted to do it, but she wouldnāt let him; Sid wanted to do it, and she wouldnāt let Sid. Now donāt you see how Iām fixed? If you was to tackle this fence and anything was to happen to itā āā
āOh, shucks, Iāll be just as careful. Now lemme try. Sayā āIāll give you the core of my apple.ā
āWell, hereā āNo, Ben, now donāt. Iām afeardā āā
āIāll give you all of it!ā
Tom gave up the brush with reluctance in his face, but alacrity in his heart. And while the late steamer Big Missouri worked and sweated in the sun, the retired artist sat on a barrel in the shade close by, dangled his legs, munched his apple, and planned the slaughter of more innocents. There was no lack of material; boys happened along every little while; they came to jeer, but remained to whitewash. By the time Ben was fagged out, Tom had traded the next chance to Billy Fisher for a kite, in good repair; and when he played out, Johnny Miller bought in for a dead rat and a string to swing it withā āand so on, and so on, hour after hour. And when the middle of the afternoon came, from being a poor poverty-stricken boy in the morning, Tom was literally rolling in wealth. He had besides the things before mentioned, twelve marbles, part of a jews-harp, a piece of blue bottle-glass to look through, a spool cannon, a key that wouldnāt unlock anything, a fragment of chalk, a glass stopper of a decanter, a tin soldier, a couple of tadpoles, six firecrackers, a kitten with only one eye, a brass doorknob, a dog-collarā ābut no dogā āthe handle of a knife, four pieces of orange-peel, and a dilapidated old window sash.
He had had a nice, good, idle time all the whileā āplenty of companyā āand the fence had three coats of whitewash on it! If he hadnāt run out of whitewash he would have bankrupted every boy in the village.
Tom said to himself that it was not such a hollow world, after all. He had discovered a great law of human action, without knowing itā ānamely, that in order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain. If he had been a great and wise philosopher, like the writer of this book, he would now have comprehended that Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do, and that Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do. And this would help him to understand why constructing artificial flowers or performing on a treadmill is work, while rolling tenpins or climbing Mont Blanc is only amusement. There are wealthy gentlemen in England who drive four-horse passenger-coaches twenty or thirty miles on a daily line, in the summer, because the privilege costs them considerable money; but if they were offered wages for the service, that would turn it into work and then they would resign.
The boy mused awhile over the substantial change which had taken place in his worldly circumstances, and then wended toward headquarters to report.
III Busy at War and LoveTom presented himself before Aunt Polly, who was sitting by an open window in a pleasant rearward apartment, which was bedroom, breakfast-room, dining-room, and library, combined. The balmy summer air, the restful quiet, the odor of the flowers, and the drowsing murmur of the bees had had their effect, and she was nodding over her knittingā āfor she had no company but the cat, and it was asleep in her lap. Her spectacles were propped up on her gray head for safety. She had thought that of course Tom had deserted long ago, and she wondered at seeing him place himself in her power again in this intrepid way. He said: āMaynāt I go and play now, aunt?ā
āWhat, aāready? How much have you done?ā
āItās all done, aunt.ā
āTom, donāt lie to meā āI canāt bear it.ā
āI aināt, aunt; it is all done.ā
Aunt Polly placed small trust in such evidence. She went out to see for herself; and she would have been content to find twenty percent of Tomās statement true. When she found the entire fence whitewashed, and not only whitewashed but elaborately coated and recoated, and even a streak added to the ground, her astonishment was almost unspeakable. She said:
āWell, I never! Thereās no getting round it, you can work when youāre a mind to, Tom.ā And then she diluted the compliment by adding, āBut itās powerful seldom youāre a mind to, Iām bound to say. Well, go ālong and play; but mind you get back some time in a week, or Iāll tan you.ā
She was so overcome by the splendor of his achievement that she took him into the closet and selected a choice apple and delivered it to him, along with an improving lecture upon the added value and flavor a treat took to itself when it came without sin through virtuous effort. And while she closed with a happy Scriptural flourish, he āhookedā a doughnut.
Then he
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