Reading Help Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain Ch.I-XV
lose a finger. So the boy eagerly drew his sore toe from under the `
` sheet and held it up for inspection. But now he did not know the `
` necessary symptoms. However, it seemed well worth while to chance it, `
` so he fell to groaning with considerable spirit. `
` `
` But Sid slept on unconscious. `
` `
` Tom groaned louder, and fancied that he began to feel pain in the toe. `
` `
` No result from Sid. `
` `
` Tom was panting with his exertions by this time. He took a rest and `
` then swelled himself up and fetched a succession of admirable groans. `
` `
` Sid snored on. `
` `
` Tom was aggravated. He said, "Sid, Sid!" and shook him. This course `
` worked well, and Tom began to groan again. Sid yawned, stretched, then `
` brought himself up on his elbow with a snort, and began to stare at `
` Tom. Tom went on groaning. Sid said: `
` `
` "Tom! Say, Tom!" [No response.] "Here, Tom! TOM! What is the matter, `
` Tom?" And he shook him and looked in his face anxiously. `
` `
` Tom moaned out: `
` `
` "Oh, don't, Sid. Don't joggle me." `
` `
` "Why, what's the matter, Tom? I must call auntie." `
` `
` "No--never mind. It'll be over by and by, maybe. Don't call anybody." `
` `
` "But I must! DON'T groan so, Tom, it's awful. How long you been this `
` way?" `
` `
` "Hours. Ouch! Oh, don't stir so, Sid, you'll kill me." `
` `
` "Tom, why didn't you wake me sooner? Oh, Tom, DON'T! It makes my `
` flesh crawl to hear you. Tom, what is the matter?" `
` `
` "I forgive you everything, Sid. [Groan.] Everything you've ever done `
` to me. When I'm gone--" `
` `
` "Oh, Tom, you ain't dying, are you? Don't, Tom--oh, don't. Maybe--" `
` `
` "I forgive everybody, Sid. [Groan.] Tell 'em so, Sid. And Sid, you `
` give my window-sash and my cat with one eye to that new girl that's `
` come to town, and tell her--" `
` `
` But Sid had snatched his clothes and gone. Tom was suffering in `
` reality, now, so handsomely was his imagination working, and so his `
` groans had gathered quite a genuine tone. `
` `
` Sid flew down-stairs and said: `
` `
` "Oh, Aunt Polly, come! Tom's dying!" `
` `
` "Dying!" `
` `
` "Yes'm. Don't wait--come quick!" `
` `
` "Rubbage! I don't believe it!" `
` `
` But she fled up-stairs, nevertheless, with Sid and Mary at her heels. `
` And her face grew white, too, and her lip trembled. When she reached `
` the bedside she gasped out: `
` `
` "You, Tom! Tom, what's the matter with you?" `
` `
` "Oh, auntie, I'm--" `
` `
` "What's the matter with you--what is the matter with you, child?" `
` `
` "Oh, auntie, my sore toe's mortified!" `
` `
` The old lady sank down into a chair and laughed a little, then cried a `
` little, then did both together. This restored her and she said: `
` `
` "Tom, what a turn you did give me. Now you shut up that nonsense and `
` climb out of this." `
` `
` The groans ceased and the pain vanished from the toe. The boy felt a `
` little foolish, and he said: `
` `
` "Aunt Polly, it SEEMED mortified, and it hurt so I never minded my `
` tooth at all." `
` `
` "Your tooth, indeed! What's the matter with your tooth?" `
` `
` "One of them's loose, and it aches perfectly awful." `
` `
` "There, there, now, don't begin that groaning again. Open your mouth. `
` Well--your tooth IS loose, but you're not going to die about that. `
` Mary, get me a silk thread, and a chunk of fire out of the kitchen." `
` `
` Tom said: `
` `
` "Oh, please, auntie, don't pull it out. It don't hurt any more. I wish `
` I may never stir if it does. Please don't, auntie. I don't want to stay `
` home from school." `
` `
` "Oh, you don't, don't you? So all this row was because you thought `
` you'd get to stay home from school and go a-fishing? Tom, Tom, I love `
` you so, and you seem to try every way you can to break my old heart `
` with your outrageousness." By this time the dental instruments were `
` ready. The old lady made one end of the silk thread fast to Tom's tooth `
` with a loop and tied the other to the bedpost. Then she seized the `
` chunk of fire and suddenly thrust it almost into the boy's face. The `
` tooth hung dangling by the bedpost, now. `
` `
` But all trials bring their compensations. As Tom wended to school `
` after breakfast, he was the envy of every boy he met because the gap in `
` his upper row of teeth enabled him to expectorate in a new and `
` admirable way. He gathered quite a following of lads interested in the `
` exhibition; and one that had cut his finger and had been a centre of `
` fascination and homage up to this time, now found himself suddenly `
` without an adherent, and shorn of his glory. His heart was heavy, and `
` he said with a disdain which he did not feel that it wasn't anything to `
` spit like Tom Sawyer; but another boy said, "Sour grapes!" and he `
` wandered away a dismantled hero. `
` `
` Shortly Tom came upon the juvenile pariah of the village, Huckleberry `
` Finn, son of the town drunkard. Huckleberry was cordially hated and `
` dreaded by all the mothers of the town, because he was idle and lawless `
` and vulgar and bad--and because all their children admired him so, and `
` delighted in his forbidden society, and wished they dared to be like `
` him. Tom was like the rest of the respectable boys, in that he envied `
` Huckleberry his gaudy outcast condition, and was under strict orders `
` not to play with him. So he played with him every time he got a chance. `
` Huckleberry was always dressed in the cast-off clothes of full-grown `
` men, and they were in perennial bloom and fluttering with rags. His hat `
` was a vast ruin with a wide crescent lopped out of its brim; his coat, `
` when he wore one, hung nearly to his heels and had the rearward buttons `
` far down the back; but one suspender supported his trousers; the seat `
` of the trousers bagged low and contained nothing, the fringed legs `
` dragged in the dirt when not rolled up. `
` `
` Huckleberry came and went, at his own free will. He slept on doorsteps `
` in fine weather and in empty hogsheads in wet; he did not have to go to `
` school or to church, or call any being master or obey anybody; he could `
` go fishing or swimming when and where he chose, and stay as long as it `
` suited him; nobody forbade him to fight; he could sit up as late as he `
` pleased; he was always the first boy that went barefoot in the spring `
` and the last to resume leather in the fall; he never had to wash, nor `
` put on clean clothes; he could swear wonderfully. In a word, everything `
` that goes to make life precious that boy had. So thought every `
` harassed, hampered, respectable boy in St. Petersburg. `
` `
` Tom hailed the romantic outcast: `
` `
` "Hello, Huckleberry!" `
` `
` "Hello yourself, and see how you like it." `
` `
` "What's that you got?" `
` `
` "Dead cat." `
` `
` "Lemme see him, Huck. My, he's pretty stiff. Where'd you get him ?" `
` `
` "Bought him off'n a boy." `
` `
` "What did you give?" `
` `
` "I give a blue ticket and a bladder that I got at the slaughter-house." `
` `
` "Where'd you get the blue ticket?" `
` `
` "Bought it off'n Ben Rogers two weeks ago for a hoop-stick." `
` `
` "Say--what is dead cats good for, Huck?" `
` `
` "Good for? Cure warts with." `
` `
` "No! Is that so? I know something that's better." `
` `
` "I bet you don't. What is it?" `
` `
` "Why, spunk-water." `
` `
` "Spunk-water! I wouldn't give a dern for spunk-water." `
` `
` "You wouldn't, wouldn't you? D'you ever try it?" `
` `
` "No, I hain't. But Bob Tanner did." `
` `
` "Who told you so!" `
` `
` "Why, he told Jeff Thatcher, and Jeff told Johnny Baker, and Johnny `
` told Jim Hollis, and Jim told Ben Rogers, and Ben told a nigger, and `
` the nigger told me. There now!" `
` `
` "Well, what of it? They'll all lie. Leastways all but the nigger. I `
` don't know HIM. But I never see a nigger that WOULDN'T lie. Shucks! Now `
` you tell me how Bob Tanner done it, Huck." `
` `
` "Why, he took and dipped his hand in a rotten stump where the `
` rain-water was." `
` `
` "In the daytime?" `
` `
`
` sheet and held it up for inspection. But now he did not know the `
` necessary symptoms. However, it seemed well worth while to chance it, `
` so he fell to groaning with considerable spirit. `
` `
` But Sid slept on unconscious. `
` `
` Tom groaned louder, and fancied that he began to feel pain in the toe. `
` `
` No result from Sid. `
` `
` Tom was panting with his exertions by this time. He took a rest and `
` then swelled himself up and fetched a succession of admirable groans. `
` `
` Sid snored on. `
` `
` Tom was aggravated. He said, "Sid, Sid!" and shook him. This course `
` worked well, and Tom began to groan again. Sid yawned, stretched, then `
` brought himself up on his elbow with a snort, and began to stare at `
` Tom. Tom went on groaning. Sid said: `
` `
` "Tom! Say, Tom!" [No response.] "Here, Tom! TOM! What is the matter, `
` Tom?" And he shook him and looked in his face anxiously. `
` `
` Tom moaned out: `
` `
` "Oh, don't, Sid. Don't joggle me." `
` `
` "Why, what's the matter, Tom? I must call auntie." `
` `
` "No--never mind. It'll be over by and by, maybe. Don't call anybody." `
` `
` "But I must! DON'T groan so, Tom, it's awful. How long you been this `
` way?" `
` `
` "Hours. Ouch! Oh, don't stir so, Sid, you'll kill me." `
` `
` "Tom, why didn't you wake me sooner? Oh, Tom, DON'T! It makes my `
` flesh crawl to hear you. Tom, what is the matter?" `
` `
` "I forgive you everything, Sid. [Groan.] Everything you've ever done `
` to me. When I'm gone--" `
` `
` "Oh, Tom, you ain't dying, are you? Don't, Tom--oh, don't. Maybe--" `
` `
` "I forgive everybody, Sid. [Groan.] Tell 'em so, Sid. And Sid, you `
` give my window-sash and my cat with one eye to that new girl that's `
` come to town, and tell her--" `
` `
` But Sid had snatched his clothes and gone. Tom was suffering in `
` reality, now, so handsomely was his imagination working, and so his `
` groans had gathered quite a genuine tone. `
` `
` Sid flew down-stairs and said: `
` `
` "Oh, Aunt Polly, come! Tom's dying!" `
` `
` "Dying!" `
` `
` "Yes'm. Don't wait--come quick!" `
` `
` "Rubbage! I don't believe it!" `
` `
` But she fled up-stairs, nevertheless, with Sid and Mary at her heels. `
` And her face grew white, too, and her lip trembled. When she reached `
` the bedside she gasped out: `
` `
` "You, Tom! Tom, what's the matter with you?" `
` `
` "Oh, auntie, I'm--" `
` `
` "What's the matter with you--what is the matter with you, child?" `
` `
` "Oh, auntie, my sore toe's mortified!" `
` `
` The old lady sank down into a chair and laughed a little, then cried a `
` little, then did both together. This restored her and she said: `
` `
` "Tom, what a turn you did give me. Now you shut up that nonsense and `
` climb out of this." `
` `
` The groans ceased and the pain vanished from the toe. The boy felt a `
` little foolish, and he said: `
` `
` "Aunt Polly, it SEEMED mortified, and it hurt so I never minded my `
` tooth at all." `
` `
` "Your tooth, indeed! What's the matter with your tooth?" `
` `
` "One of them's loose, and it aches perfectly awful." `
` `
` "There, there, now, don't begin that groaning again. Open your mouth. `
` Well--your tooth IS loose, but you're not going to die about that. `
` Mary, get me a silk thread, and a chunk of fire out of the kitchen." `
` `
` Tom said: `
` `
` "Oh, please, auntie, don't pull it out. It don't hurt any more. I wish `
` I may never stir if it does. Please don't, auntie. I don't want to stay `
` home from school." `
` `
` "Oh, you don't, don't you? So all this row was because you thought `
` you'd get to stay home from school and go a-fishing? Tom, Tom, I love `
` you so, and you seem to try every way you can to break my old heart `
` with your outrageousness." By this time the dental instruments were `
` ready. The old lady made one end of the silk thread fast to Tom's tooth `
` with a loop and tied the other to the bedpost. Then she seized the `
` chunk of fire and suddenly thrust it almost into the boy's face. The `
` tooth hung dangling by the bedpost, now. `
` `
` But all trials bring their compensations. As Tom wended to school `
` after breakfast, he was the envy of every boy he met because the gap in `
` his upper row of teeth enabled him to expectorate in a new and `
` admirable way. He gathered quite a following of lads interested in the `
` exhibition; and one that had cut his finger and had been a centre of `
` fascination and homage up to this time, now found himself suddenly `
` without an adherent, and shorn of his glory. His heart was heavy, and `
` he said with a disdain which he did not feel that it wasn't anything to `
` spit like Tom Sawyer; but another boy said, "Sour grapes!" and he `
` wandered away a dismantled hero. `
` `
` Shortly Tom came upon the juvenile pariah of the village, Huckleberry `
` Finn, son of the town drunkard. Huckleberry was cordially hated and `
` dreaded by all the mothers of the town, because he was idle and lawless `
` and vulgar and bad--and because all their children admired him so, and `
` delighted in his forbidden society, and wished they dared to be like `
` him. Tom was like the rest of the respectable boys, in that he envied `
` Huckleberry his gaudy outcast condition, and was under strict orders `
` not to play with him. So he played with him every time he got a chance. `
` Huckleberry was always dressed in the cast-off clothes of full-grown `
` men, and they were in perennial bloom and fluttering with rags. His hat `
` was a vast ruin with a wide crescent lopped out of its brim; his coat, `
` when he wore one, hung nearly to his heels and had the rearward buttons `
` far down the back; but one suspender supported his trousers; the seat `
` of the trousers bagged low and contained nothing, the fringed legs `
` dragged in the dirt when not rolled up. `
` `
` Huckleberry came and went, at his own free will. He slept on doorsteps `
` in fine weather and in empty hogsheads in wet; he did not have to go to `
` school or to church, or call any being master or obey anybody; he could `
` go fishing or swimming when and where he chose, and stay as long as it `
` suited him; nobody forbade him to fight; he could sit up as late as he `
` pleased; he was always the first boy that went barefoot in the spring `
` and the last to resume leather in the fall; he never had to wash, nor `
` put on clean clothes; he could swear wonderfully. In a word, everything `
` that goes to make life precious that boy had. So thought every `
` harassed, hampered, respectable boy in St. Petersburg. `
` `
` Tom hailed the romantic outcast: `
` `
` "Hello, Huckleberry!" `
` `
` "Hello yourself, and see how you like it." `
` `
` "What's that you got?" `
` `
` "Dead cat." `
` `
` "Lemme see him, Huck. My, he's pretty stiff. Where'd you get him ?" `
` `
` "Bought him off'n a boy." `
` `
` "What did you give?" `
` `
` "I give a blue ticket and a bladder that I got at the slaughter-house." `
` `
` "Where'd you get the blue ticket?" `
` `
` "Bought it off'n Ben Rogers two weeks ago for a hoop-stick." `
` `
` "Say--what is dead cats good for, Huck?" `
` `
` "Good for? Cure warts with." `
` `
` "No! Is that so? I know something that's better." `
` `
` "I bet you don't. What is it?" `
` `
` "Why, spunk-water." `
` `
` "Spunk-water! I wouldn't give a dern for spunk-water." `
` `
` "You wouldn't, wouldn't you? D'you ever try it?" `
` `
` "No, I hain't. But Bob Tanner did." `
` `
` "Who told you so!" `
` `
` "Why, he told Jeff Thatcher, and Jeff told Johnny Baker, and Johnny `
` told Jim Hollis, and Jim told Ben Rogers, and Ben told a nigger, and `
` the nigger told me. There now!" `
` `
` "Well, what of it? They'll all lie. Leastways all but the nigger. I `
` don't know HIM. But I never see a nigger that WOULDN'T lie. Shucks! Now `
` you tell me how Bob Tanner done it, Huck." `
` `
` "Why, he took and dipped his hand in a rotten stump where the `
` rain-water was." `
` `
` "In the daytime?" `
` `
`