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03 - The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain · Classic Adventure Books - Daily

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Chapter five, The pinch Bug and his Prey. About half
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: past ten, the cracked bell of the small church began
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: to ring, and presently the people began to gather for
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: the morning sermon. The Sunday school children distributed themselves about
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: the house and occupied pews with their parents, so as
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: to be under supervision. Aunt Polly came and Tom and
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Sid and Mary sat with her, Tom being placed next
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: to the isle in order that he might be as
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: far away from the open window and the seductive outside
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: summer scenes as possible. The crowd filed up the isles.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: The aged and needy postmaster, who had seen better days.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: The Mayor and his wife, for they had a mayor there,
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: among other unnecessaries, the Justice of the Peace, the widow
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Douglas Fair, smart and forty, a generous, good hearted soul,
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  Speaker 1: and well to do. Her Hill mansion, the only palace
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: in the town, and the most hospitable, and much the
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: most lavish in the matter of festivities that Saint Petersburg
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: could boast. The bent and venerable Major and Missus Ward
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: Lawyer Riverson, they knew notable from a distance. Next the
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: bell of the village, followed by a troop of lawn
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: clad and ribbon decked young heartbreakers. Then all the young
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: clerks in town in a body, for they had stood
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: in the vestibules, sucking their cane heads, a circling wall
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: of oiled and simpering admirers, till the last girl had
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: run their gamplet. And last of all came the model boy,
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Willie Mufferson, taking as heedful care of his mother as
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: if she were cut glass. He always brought his mother
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: to church and was the pride of all the matrons.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: The boys all hated him. He was no good, and
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: besides he had been thrown up to them so much.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: His white handkerchief was hanging out of his pocket behind
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: as usual on Sundays. Accidentally, Tom had no handkerchief, and
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: he looked upon boys who had as snobs. The congregation
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: being fully assembled now, the bell rang once more to
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: worn laggards and stragglers, and then a solemn hush fell
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: upon the church, which was only broken by the tittering
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: and whispering of the choir in the gallery. The choir
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: ally was tittered and whispered all through service. There was
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: once a church choir that was not ill bred, but
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: I have forgotten where it was now. It was a
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: great many years ago, and I can scarcely remember anything
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: about it, but I think it was in some foreign country.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: The minister gave out the hymn and read it through
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: with a relish in a peculiar style which was much
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: admired in that part of the country. His voice began
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: on a medium key and climbed steadily up till it
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: reached a certain point where it bore with strong emphasis
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: upon the topmost word, and then plunged down, as if
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: from a spring board. Shall I be carry to tow
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: the skies on flowery beds of ease, whilst others fight
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: to win the prize and sail through bloody seas. He
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: was regarded as a wonderful reader at church sociables. He
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: was always called upon to read poetry, and when he
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: was through, the ladies would lift up their hands and
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: let them fall helplessly in their laps, and wall their
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: eyes and shake their heads as much as to say,
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: words cannot express it. It is too beautiful, too beautiful
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: for this mortal earth. After the hymn had been sung,
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: the Reverend mister Sprague turned himself into a bulletin board
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: and read off notices of meetings and societies and things,
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: till it seemed that the list would stretch out to
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: the crack of doom, a queer custom which is still
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: kept up in America, even in cities away here in
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: this age of abundant newspapers. Often the less there is
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: to justify a traditional custom, the harder it is to
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: get rid of it. And now the minister prayed a good,
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: generous prayer it was, and went into details. It pleaded
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: for the church and the little children of the church,
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: for the other churches of the village, for the village itself,
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  Speaker 1: for the county, for the state, for the state officers,
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: for the United States, for the churches of the United States,
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: for Congress, for the President, for the officers of the government.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: For poor sailors tossed by stormy seas, for the oppressed
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: millions groaning under the heel of European monarchies and Oriental despotisms,
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: For such as have the light and the good tidings,
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: and yet have not eyes to see nor ears to
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: hear withal, for the heathen in the far islands of
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: the sea, and closed to the supplication that the words
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: he was about to speak might find grace and favor,
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: and be as seeds sown in fertile ground, yielding in
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: time a grateful harvest of good ah Men. There was
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: a rustling of dresses, and the standing congregation sat down.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: The boy whose history this book relates did not enjoy
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: the prayer. He only endured it. If he even did
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: that much. He was restive all through it. He kept
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: tally of the details of the prayer unconsciously, for he
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: was not listening. But he knew the ground of old
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: and the clergyman's regular root over it. And when a
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: little trifle of new matter was interlarded, his ear detected it,
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: and his whole nature resented it. He considered editions unfair
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: and scoundrelly. In the midst of the prayer, a fly
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: had lit on the back of the pew in front
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: of him, and tortured his spirit by calmly rubbing its
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: hands together, embracing its head with its arms, and polishing
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: it so vigorously that it seemed to almost part company
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: with a body, and the slender thread of a neck
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: was exposed to view, scraping its wings with its hind
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: legs and smoothing them to its body as if they
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: had been coat going through its whole toilet as tranquility,
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: as if it knew it was perfectly safe, as indeed
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: it was. For as sorely as Tom's hands itched to
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: grab for it, they did not dare. He believed his
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: soul would be instantly destroyed if he did such a thing.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: While the prayer was going on, But with the closing sentence,
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: his hand began to curve and steal forward, and the
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: instant the amen was out, the fly was a prisoner
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: of war. His aunt detected the act and made him
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: let it go. The minister gave out his text and
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: droned along monotonously through an argument that was so prosy
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: that many a head by and by began to nod.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: And yet it was an argument that dealt in limitless
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: fire and brimstone, and thin the predestined elect down to
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: a company so small as to be hardly worth the saving.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: Tom counted the pages of the sermon after church. He
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: always knew how many pages there had been, but he
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: seldom knew anything else about the discourse. However, this time
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: he was really interested. For a little while, the minister
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: made a grand and moving picture of the assembling together
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: of the world's hosts at the millennium, when the lion
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: and the lamb should lie down together, and a little
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: child should lead them. But the pathos, the lesson, the
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: moral of the great spectacle were lost upon the boy.
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: He only thought of the conspicuousness of the principal character
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: before the onlooking nations. His face lit with the thought,
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: and he said to himself that he wished he could
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: be that child, if it was a tame lion. Now
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: he lapsed into suffering again, as the dry argument was resumed. Presently,
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: he bethought him of a treasure he had and got
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: it out. It was a large black beetle with formidable jaws,
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: a pinch bug, he called it. It was in a
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: percussion cap box. The first thing the beadle did was
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: to take him by the finger. A natural philip followed.
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: The beetle went floundering into the aisle and lit on
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: its back, and the hurt finger went into the boy's mouth.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: The beadle lay there, working its helpless legs, unable to
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: turn over. Tom eyed it and longed for it, but
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: it was safe out of his reach. Other people, uninterested
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: in the sermon, found relief in the beetle, and they
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: eyed it too. Presently, a vagrant poodle dog came idling, long,
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: sad at heart, lazy with the summer softness and the quiet,
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: weary of captivity. Sighing for change, he spied the beetle.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: The drooping tail lifted and wagged. He surveyed the prize,
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  Speaker 1: walked around it, smelt at it from a safe distance,
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  Speaker 1: walked around it again, grew bolder and took a closer smell.
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: Then lifted his lip and made a gingerly snatch at it,
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  Speaker 1: just missing it. Made another, and another began to enjoy
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  Speaker 1: the diversion. Subsided to his stomach with the beetle between
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  Speaker 1: his paws, and continued his experiments. Grew weary at last,
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: and then indifferent and absent minded. His head nodded, and
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: little by little his chin descended and touched the enemy,
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  Speaker 1: who seized it. There was a sharp yelp, a flirt
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  Speaker 1: of the poodle's head, and the beetle fell a couple
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: of yards away and lit on its back once more.
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: The neighboring spectators shook with a gentle inward joy. Several
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: faces went behind fans and handkerchiefs, and Tom was entirely happy.
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: The dog looked foolish and probably felt so, But there
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: was resentment in his heart too, and a craving for revenge.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: So he went to the beetle and began a wary
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: attack on it again, jumping at it from every point
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: of a circle, lighting with his fore paws within an
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  Speaker 1: inch of the creature, making even closer, snatches at it
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  Speaker 1: with his teeth, and jerking his head till his ears
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: flapped again. But he grew tired once more. After a while,
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: tried to amuse himself with a fly, but found no relief.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: Followed an ant around with his nose close to the floor,
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: and quickly wearied of that, yawned, sighed, forgot the beetle entirely,
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  Speaker 1: and sat down on it. Then there was a wild
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: yelp of agony, and the poodle went sailing up the aisle.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: The alps continued, and so did the dog. He crossed
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  Speaker 1: the house in front of the altar, he flew down
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: in the other aisle, he crossed before the doors. He
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: clambered up the home stretch. His anguish grew with his progress,
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: till presently he was but a wooly comet moving in
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: its orbit. With a gleam and the speed of light.
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: At last, the frantic sufferer sheered from its course and
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: sprang into its master's lap. He flung it out of
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: the window, and the voice of distress quickly thinned away
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: and died in the distance. By this time the whole
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: church was red faced and suffocating with suppressed laughter, and
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: the sermon had come to a dead standstill. The discourse
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: was resumed presently, but it went lame and halting, all
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: possibility of impressiveness being at an end, for even the
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: gravest sentiments were constantly being received with a smothered burst
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: of unholy mirth under cover of some remote pewback, as
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: if the poor parson had said a rarely facetious thing.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: It was a genuine relief to the whole congregation. When
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: the ordeal was over and the benediction pronounced, Tom Sawyer
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: went home quite cheerful, thinking to himself that there was
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: some satisfaction about divine service when there was a bit
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: of variety in it. He had but one marring thought.
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: He was willing that the dog should play with his
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: pinch bug, but he did not think it was upright
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: in him to carry it off. Chapter six, Tom meets Becky.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: Monday morning found Tom Sawyer miserable. Monday morning always found
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: him so because it began another week slow suffering in school.
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: He generally began that day with wishing he had had
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: no intervening holiday. It made the going into captivity in
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: fetters again so much more odious. Tom lay thinking presently.
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: It occurred to him that he wished he was sick.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: Then he could stay home from school. Here was a
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: vague possibility he canvassed his system. No ailment was found,
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: and he investigated again. This time he thought he could
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: detect colicky symptoms, and he began to incur courage them
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: with considerable hope. But they soon grew feeble and presently
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: died wholly away, he reflected further. Suddenly he discovered something.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: One of his upper front teeth was loose. This was lucky.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: He was about to begin to groan as a starter,
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: as he called it, when it occurred to him that
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: if he came into court with that argument, his aunt
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: would pull it out and that would hurt. So he
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: thought he would hold a tooth and reserve for the
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: present and seek further. Nothing offered for some little time,
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: and then he remembered hearing the doctor tell about a
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: certain thing that laid up a patient for two or
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: three weeks and threatened to make him lose a finger.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: So the boy eagerly drew his sore toe from under
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: the sheet and held it up for inspection. But now
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: he did not know the necessary symptoms. However, it seemed
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: well worth while to chance it, so he fell to
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: groaning with considerable spirit. But Sid slept on unconscious. Tom
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: groaned louder and fancied that he began to feel pain
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: in the toe. No result from syd. Tom was panting
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: with his exertions. By this time. He took a rest
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: and then swelled himself up and fetched a succession of
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: admirable groans. Sid snored on. Tom was aggravated, He said Sid,
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: Sid and shook him. This course worked well, and Tom
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: began to groan again. Sid yawned, stretched, then brought himself
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: up on his elbow with a snort, and began to
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: stare at Tom. Tom went on groaning, and Sid said Tom,
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: say Tom, no response here, Tom, Tom, What is the matter? Tom?
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: And he shook him and looked in his face anxiously.
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: Tom moaned out, Oh, don't Sid don't joggle me. Why
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: what's the matter, Tom? I must call Auntie. No, never mind,
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: it'll be over by and by maybe, don't call anybody,
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: but I must. Don't groan, So, Tom, it's awful how
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: long you've been this way? Ours? Oh? Oh haw, don't
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: stir so, Sid, you'll you'll kill me? Tom? Why didn't
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: you wake me sooner? Oh? Tom? Don't? It makes my
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: flesh crawl to hear you, Tom? What is the matter?
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: I forgive you everything, Sid, h, everything you've ever done
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: to me when I'm gone, Tom, don't you ain't dying?
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: Are you? Don't? Tom? Oh? Don't? Maybe? Oh? I forgive
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: everything Sid? No tell him? So, Sid? And Sid you
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: give my window sash and my cat with one eye
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: to that new girl that's come to town, and tell her.
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: But Sid had snatched his clothes and gone. Tom was
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: suffering in reality now, so handsomely was his imagination working,
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: and so his groans had gathered quite a genuine tone.
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: Sid flew downstairs and said, oh, aunt Polly, come, Tom's dying, dying, yes,
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: and don't wait, come quick, rubbish. I don't believe it.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: But she fled upstairs, never the less with Sid and
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: Mary at her heels, and her face grew white too,
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: and her lip trembled. When she reached the bedside, she
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: gasped out you, Tom, Tom, what's the matter with you?
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: Oh Auntie? I'm what's the matter with you? What is
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: the matter with you? Child? Oh Auntie, my sore toes. Mortified,
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: the old lady sank down into a chair and laughed
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: a little, then cried little, then did both together. This
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: restored her, and she said, Tom, what a turn you
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: did give me. Now you shut up that nonsense and
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: climb out of this. The groan ceased, and the pain
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: vanished from the toe. The boy felt a little foolish,
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: and he said, Aunt Polly, it seemed mortified, and it
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: hurts so I never minded my tooth at all. Your tooth, indeed,
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: what's the matter with your tooth? One of them's loose,
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: and it aches perfectly awful there there. Now, don't begin
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: that groaning again, open your mouth. Well, your tooth is loose,
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: but you're not going to die about that. Mary, get
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: me a silk thread and a chunk of fire out
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: of the kitchen. Tom said, oh, please, Auntie, don't pull
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: it out. It don't hurt any more. I wish I
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: may never stir. If it does, please don't Auntie. I
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: don't want to stay home from school. Oh you don't,
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: don't you? So? All this raw was because you thought
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: you'd get to stay home from school and go a
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: fishing Tom, Tom, I love you so, and you seem
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: to try every way you can to break my old
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: heart with your outrageousness. By this time the dental instruments
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: were ready. The old lady made one end of the
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: silk thread fast to Tom's tooth with a loop, and
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: tied the other to the bedpost. Then she seized the
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: chunk of fire and suddenly thrust it almost into the
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: boy's face. The tooth hung dangling by the bed post now,
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: but all trials bring their compensations. As Tom went into
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: school after breakfast, he was the envy of every boy
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: he met, because the gap in his upper row of
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: teeth enabled him to expectorate in a new and admirable way.
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: Gathered quite a following of lads interested in the exhibition,
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: and one that had cut his finger and had been
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: a center of fascination and homage up to this time,
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: now found himself suddenly without an adherent and shorn of
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: his glory. His heart was heavy, and he said, with
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: a disdain which he did not feel, that it wasn't
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: anything to spit like Tom Sawyer. But another boy said,
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: sour grapes, and he wandered away, a dismantled hero. Shortly
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: Tom came upon the juvenile pariah of the village, Huckleberry Finn,
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: son of the town Drunkard. Huckleberry was cordially hated and
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: dreaded by all the mothers of the town because he
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: was idle and lawless, and vulgar and bad, and because
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: all their children admired him so and delighted in his
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: forbidden society, and wished they dared to be like him.
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: Tom was like the rest of the respectable boys in
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: that he envied Huckleberry his gaudy, outcast condition, and was
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: under strict orders not to play with him, so he
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: played with him every time he got a chance. Huckleberry
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: was always dressed in the cast off clothes of full
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: grown men, and they were in perennial bloom and fluttering
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: with rags. His hat was a vast ruin with a
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: wide crescent lopped out of its brim. His coat, when
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: he wore one, hung nearly to his heels, and had
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: the rearward buttons far down the back. But one suspender
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: supported his trousers. The seat of the trousers bagged low
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: and contained nothing. The fringed legs dragged in the dirt
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: when not rolled up. Huckleberry came and went at his
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: own free will. He slept on doorsteps in fine weather
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: and in empty hogsheads and wet. He did not have
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: to go to school or to church, or call any
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: being master, or obey anybody. He could go fishing or
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: swimming when and where he chose, and stay as long
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: as it suited him. Nobody forbade him to fight. He
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: could sit up as late as he pleased. He was
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: always the first boy that went barefoot in the spring,
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: and the last to resume leather in the fall. He
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: never had to wash nor put on clean clothes. He
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: could swear wonderfully in a word, everything that goes to
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: make life precious. That boy had so thought every harassed, hampered,
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: respectable boy in Saint Petersburg. Tom hailed a romantic outcast. Hello, Huckleberry,
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: hello yourself, and see how you like it? What's that
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: you got? Dead cat? Let me see him huck, My,
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: he's pretty stiff. Where'd you get him? Bought him off
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: in a boy? What'd you give? I gave a blue
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: ticket and a bladder that I got at the slaughter house?
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: Where'd you get the blue ticket? Bought it off in
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: Ben Rogers two weeks ago for a hoopstick? Say? What
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: is dead? Cat's good for? Huck? Good for cure warts? With? No?
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: Is that? So? I know something that's better? I bet
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: you don't. What is it? Why? Spunk water? Spunk water?
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't give a dern for spunk water. You wouldn't,
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: wouldn't you? Do you ever try it? No? I hain't.
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: But Bob Tanner did? Who told you so? Why? He
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: told Jeff Thatcher, and Jeff told Johnny Baker, and Johnny
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: told Jim Hollis, and Jim told Ben Rogers, and Ben
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: told a nigger and the nigger told me there. Now, well,
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: what of it? They'll all lie least? Why is all
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: but the nigger? I don't know him, but I never
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: see a nigger that wouldn't lie. Shucks. Now you tell
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: me how Bob Tanner done it, Huck? Why he took
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: and dipped his hand in a rotten stump where the
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: rain water was in the daytime, certainly with his face
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: to the stump. Yes, at least, I reckon. So did
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: he say anything? I don't reckon he did. I don't know, ah,
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: talk about trying to cure wartz with spunk water in
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: such a blame fool way as that, Why that ain't
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: it going to do any good? You got to go
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: all by yourself to the middle of the woods where
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: you know there's a spunk water stump, and just as
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: it's midnight, you back up against the stump and jam
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: your hand in and say, barleycorn, barley corn, engine, meal shorts,
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: spunk water, spunk water, swallow these warts, and then walk
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: away quick, eleven steps with your eyes shut, and then
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: turn around three times and walk home without speaking to anybody,
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: because if you speak, the charm's busted. Well that sounds
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: like a good way. But that ain't the way Bob
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: Tanner done, No, sir, You can bet he didn't, because
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: he's the wartiest boy in this town, and he wouldn't
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: have a wart on him if he'd known how to
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: work spunk water. I've took thousands of warts off my
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: hands that way, huck. I play with frogs so much.
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: I've always got considerable many warts. Sometimes I take him
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: off with a bean. Yes, bean's good, I've done that,
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: have you? What's your way? You take and split the
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: bean and cut the warts so as to get some blood.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: And then you put the blood on one piece of
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: the bean and take and dig a hole and bury
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: it about midnight at the crossroads, in the dark of
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: the moon, and then you burn up the rest of
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: the bean. You see that piece that's got the blood
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: on it will keep drawing and drawing, trying to fetch
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: the other piece to it, and so that helps the
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: blood to draw the wart, and pretty soon off she comes. Yes,
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: that's it, Huck, that's it. Though, when you're burying it,
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: if you say down, bean, off, wart, come, no more
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: to bother me, it's better. That's the way Joe Harper does.
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: And he's been nearly to Coonville and most everywheres. But say,
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: how do you cure him with dead cats? Why you
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: take your cat and go and get in the graveyard
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: long about midnight when somebody that was wicked has been buried.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: And when it's midnight, a devil will come, or maybe
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: two or three. But you can't see him. You can
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: only hear something like the wind, or maybe hear him talk.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: And when they're taking that feller away, you heave your
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: cat after him and say, devil follow, corpse cat follow, devil,
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: warts follow cat. I'm done with you. That'll fetch any wart.
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: Sounds right? Do you ever try it, Huck? No, but
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: old mother Hopkins told me, well, I reckon it. So then,
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: because they say she's a witch, say why Tom, I
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: know she is? She witched Pap? Pap says, so his
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: own self. He come along one day and he sees
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: she was a witching him. So he took up a rock,
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: and if she hadn't dodged, he'd have got her. Well,
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: that very night he rolled off on the shed where
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: he was a laying drunk and broke his arm. Why
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: that's awful. How do you know she was a witching him?
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: Lord Pap can tell easy, Pap says, when they keep
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: looking at you right, stiddy, they're witching you, especially if
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: they mumble, because when they mumble, they're saying the Lord's
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: prayer backwards. Say Hockey, when you going to try the
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: cat tonight? I reckon they'll come after old Hoss. Williams tonight.
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: But they buried him Saturday. Didn't they get him Saturday night?
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: Why how you talk? How could their charms work till midnight?
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: And then it's Sunday? Devils don't slush round much of
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: a Sunday. I don't reckon. I never thought of that.
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: That's so let me go with you. Of course, if
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: you ain't a feared, A feared tain't likely. Will you meow? Yes?
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: And you meow back if you get a chance. Last
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: time you kept me a meowing around till Old Hayes
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: went to throwing rocks at me and says, daring that cat.
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: And so I hove a brick through his window. But
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: don't you tell I won't. I couldn't meow that night
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: because Auntie was watching me. But I'll meow this time.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: Say what's that? Nothing but a tick? Where'd you get
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: him out in the woods? What'll you take for him?
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't want to sell him all right.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: It's a mighty small tick anyway. Oh, anybody can run
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: a tick down that don't belong to them. I'm satisfied
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: with it. It's a good enough tick for me. Soho,
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: there's ticks of plenty. I could have a thousand of
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: them if I wanted to, Well, why don't you, because
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: you know mighty well you can't. This is a pretty
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: early tick, I reckon, It's first one i've seen this year.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: Say Hawk, I'll give you my tooth for him. Let's
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: see it. Tom got out a bit of paper and
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: carefully unrolled it. Huckleberry viewed it wistfully. The temptation was
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: very strong. At last, he said, is it genuine? Tom
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: lifted his lip and showed the vacancy. Well, all right,
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: said Huckleberry. It's a trade. Tom enclosed the tick in
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: the percussion cat box that had lately been the pinch
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: Bug's prison, and the boys separated, each feeling wealthier than before.
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: When Tom reached the little isolated frame schoolhouse, he strode
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: in briskly, with the manner of one who had come
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: with all honest speed. He hung his hat on a
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: peg and flung himself into his seat with business like alacrity.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: The master, throned on high in his great splint bottom
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: arm chair, was dozing, lulled by the drowsy hum of study.
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: The interruption roused him. Tomas sawyer. Tom knew that when
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: his name was pronounced in full. It meant trouble, sir.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: Come up here now, sir, Why are you late again?
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: As usual? Tom was about to take refuge in a
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: lie when he saw two long tails of yellow hair
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: hanging down a back that he recognized by the electric
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: sympathy of love, and by that form, was the only
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: vacant place on the girl's side of the schoolhouse. He
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: instantly said, I stop to talk with Huckleberry Finn. The
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: master's pulse stood still, and he stared helplessly. The buzz
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: of study ceased. The pupils wondered if this foolhardy boy
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: had lost his mind. The master said you you did what?
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: Stop to talk with Huckleberry Finn. There was no mistaking
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: the words Thomas Sawyer. This is the most astounding confession
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: I have ever listened to. No Mere Ferrell will answer
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: for this offense. Take off your jacket. The master's arm
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: performed until it was tired and the stock of switches
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: notably diminished. Then the order follows, Now, sir, go and
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: sit with the girls, and let this be a warning
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: to you. The titter that rippled around the room appeared
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: to abash the boy, but in reality that result was
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: caused rather more by his worshipful awe of his unknown
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: idol and a dread pleasure that lay in his high
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: good fortune. He sat down upon the end of the
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: pine bench, and the girl hitched herself away from him
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: with a toss of her head. Nudges and winks and
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: whispers traversed the room, but Tom sat still, with his
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: arms upon the long low desk before him, and seemed
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: to study his book. By and by attention ceased from him,
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: and the accustomed school murmur rose upon the dull air
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: once more. Presently, the boy began to steal furtive glances
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: at the girl. She observed it, made a mouth at him,
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: and gave him the back of her head for the
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: space of a minute. When she cautiously faced around again,
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: a peach lay before her. She thrust it away. Tom
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: gently put it back. She thrust it away then, but
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: with less animosity, Tom patiently returned it to its place.
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: Then she let it remain. Tom scrawled on his slate,
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: please take it. I got more. The girl glanced at
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: the words but made no sign. Now the boy began
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: to draw something on the slate, hiding his work with
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: his left hand for a time The girl refused to notice,
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: but her human curiosity presently began to manifest itself by
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: hardly perceptible signs. The boy worked on apparently unconscious. The
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: girl made a sort of noncommittal attempt to see it,
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: but the boy did not betray that he was aware
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: of it. At last, she gave in and hesitatingly whispered,
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: let me see it. Tom uncovered a dismal caricature of
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: a house with two gable ends to it and a
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: corkscrew of smoke issuing from the chimney. Then the girl's
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: interest began to fasten itself upon the work, as she
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: forgot everything else. When it was finished, she gazed a moment,
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: then whispered, it's nice. Make a man. The artist wrecked
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: a man in the front yard that resembled a derrick.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: He could have stepped over the house, but the girl
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: was not hypercritical. She was satisfied with the monster and whispered,
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: it's a beautiful man. Now make me coming along. Tom
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: drew an hour glass with a full moon and straw
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: limbs to it and armed the spreading fingers with a
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: portentous fan. The girl said, it's ever so nice. I
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: wish I could draw. It's easy, whispered Tom. I'll learn you.
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: Oh will you? When at noon do you go home
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: to dinner? I'll stay if you will good. That's a whack.
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: What's your name, Becky thatcher? What's yours? Oh? I know
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: it's Tom as Sawyer. That's the name they lick me by.
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: I'm Tom. When I'm good, you can call me Tom,
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: will you? Yes? Now? Tom began to scrawl something on
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: the slate, hiding the words from the girl, but she
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: was not backward this time. She begged to see, and
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: Tom said, oh, it ain't anything, Yes it is. No,
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: it ain't you. You don't want to see it? Yes,
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: I do, indeed I do. Please let me. You'll tell No,
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: I won't deed and deed and double deed, I won't.
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: You won't tell anybody at all ever as long as
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: you live. No, I won't ever tell anybody. Now let me. Oh,
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: you don't want to see now that you treat me?
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: So I will see. And she put her small hand
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: upon his, and the little scuffle ensued, Tom pretending to
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: resist in earnest, but letting his hand slip by degrees
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: till these words were revealed. I love you, Oh you
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: bad thing, and she hid his hand a smart rap,
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: but reddened and looked pleased. Nevertheless, just at this juncture,
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: the boy felt a slow, fateful grip closing on his ear,
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: and a steady lifting impulse. In that vice, he was
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: born across the house and deposited in his own seat
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: under a peppering fire of giggles from the whole school.
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: Then the master stood over him during a few awful moments,
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: and finally moved away to his throne without saying a word.
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: But although Tom's ear tingled, his heart was jubilant. As
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: the school quieted down, Tom made an honest effort to study,
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: but the turmoil within him was too great. In turn,
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: he took his place in the reading class and made
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: a botch of it, then in the geography class, and
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: turned lakes into mountains, mountains into rivers, and rivers into
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: continents till chaos was come again. Then in the spelling class,
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: and got turned down by a succession of mere baby words,
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: till he brought up at the foot and yielded up
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: the pewter metal which he had worn with ostentation for months.
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: End of chapter six