2. Tom! Tom!
Where are
you? If I get hold
of you, I‛ll--
There you
are! I should have
thought of that closet.
What have you been
hiding in there?
Nothing!
What is
that thing in
your mouth?
I don‛t
know, Aunt.
Well, I know.
It ‛s jam, that ‛s what
it is. Forty times I‛ve
said, if you don‛t leave
that jam alone, I‛ll
skin you.
My! Look
behind you,
Aunt!
What ?
Where?
Can‛t I ever
learn anything? I‛ll
make him work tomorrow,
to punish him. It ‛s harsh to
make him work on Saturdays,
when all the boys are on holiday…
The old lady whirled round,
snatched her skirt out of danger,
and the lad fled instantly.
…and he hates
work more than he
hates anything else.
But I‛ve got to do my duty
by him, or he‛ll be ruined.
CAMPFIRETM
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3. Thirty yards of broad fence, nine feet high. It
seemed to Tom that life was empty and existence
was a burden. And then, Ben Rogers came into sight –
the very boy whose ridicule Tom had been dreading.
Saturday morning came, and all the world was bright
and fresh, and brimming with life. There was a song
in every heart, and music on every pair of lips.
Tom, I‛m going
swimming. Don‛t you wish
you could come?
But of course,
you‛d rather work,
wouldn‛t you? Of course
you would!
Tom appeared with a bucket of whitewash
and a long-handled brush. As he looked at
the fence, the joy went out of nature and
a deep sadness settled upon his spirits.
What
do you call
work?
Why, isn‛t
that work?
Well, maybe
it is and maybe it
isn‛t. All I know is
that it suits Tom
Sawyer.
Tom‛s brush
continued to move.
Oh, come
now, you don‛t
mean to say that
you like it ?
Like it ? Well, I
don‛t see why I shouldn‛t
like it. Does a boy get a
chance to whitewash a
fence every day?
That put the thing in a new light,
and Ben stopped nibbling his apple.
Tom swept his brush daintily back and forth,
stepped back to assess the result and added a touch
here and there. Ben watched every move, getting
more and more interested, more and more absorbed.
Say, Tom, let
me whitewash
a little.
Hmmmmm…
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4. Well, I don‛t know. You
see, Aunt Polly is very particular
about this fence, and only one in
a thousand boys could do it
just the way it ‛s got
to be done.
Ben, I‛d
like to, but
Aunt Polly--
I‛ve got it,
Tom. I‛ll be just as
careful as you. And, if you
let me try, I‛ll give you the
core of my apple.
No, Ben.
I‛m afraid--
I‛ll give
you all of
it!
Oh, come
now. Let me just
try; only just a little.
I‛d let you, if you
were me, Tom.
Tom traded the next go to Billy Fisher for
a kite. And when he finished, Johnny Miller
bought in for a dead rat and a string to swing
it with. And when the middle of the afternoon
came, Tom was literally rolling in wealth.
Tom gave up the brush with reluctance on his
face, but eagerness in his heart. And, while Ben
worked and sweated in the sun, Tom munched the
apple and planned how to trick more innocents.
There was no lack of material. Boys
came along every now and then. They
came to jeer, but stayed to whitewash.
It ‛s not
such an empty
world, after all.
Tom had discovered a great law of human
nature, without knowing it – in order to
make a person want something, you only
need to make it difficult to attain.
He had a nice, lazy time. If he hadn‛t
run out of whitewash, he would have
bankrupted every boy in the village.
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5. Later…
Tom, don‛t
lie to me. I can‛t
bear it.
May I
go out and play
now, Aunt ?
What,
already? How
much work have
you done?
I‛m not
lying, Aunt. It ‛s
all done.
It ‛s all
done.
Aunt Polly placed little trust in his words,
and decided to go out and see for herself.
She would have been happy to find twenty
percent of Tom‛s statement true.
When she found the entire fence
whitewashed, and not only whitewashed
but elaborately coated and recoated, her
astonishment was almost unspeakable.
And so, Tom hurried towards the
village square, where two ‘military‛
companies of boys were meeting
for conflict. Tom was general of
one of these armies; Joe Harper
general of the other.
Tom‛s army won, after a long and
hard-fought battle. Then the dead
were counted, prisoners exchanged,
the terms of the next disagreement
agreed upon, and the day for the
necessary battle decided.
There‛s no
getting around it,
you can work when you put
your mind to it. Well, go
along and play.
As Tom walked home, he was
passing by the house where
Judge Thatcher lived, when
he saw a girl in the garden.
And the newly-crowned hero
fell without firing a shot.
CAMPFIRETM
He worshipped this angel with
an adoring eye, till he saw that
she had discovered him. Then...
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6. …he began to show off in all
sorts of absurd boyish ways,
in order to win her admiration.
He kept this foolishness up for some time.
But, by and by, when he was in the middle of
some particularly dangerous performances…
…he glanced to one side, and
saw that the little girl was
heading towards the house.
She stopped on the steps for a moment,
and then moved towards the door. Tom
heaved a great sigh as she stepped into
the entrance. But then his face lit up...
...because she tossed a pansy over
the fence, before disappearing.
Tom checked to see if anyone
was watching, then picked up
the flower between his toes.
CAMPFIRETM
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7. Tom Sawyer is a mischievous young boy with an undying hunger for adventure,
and a knack for getting into trouble. He lives with his Aunt Polly in the Mississippi
River town of St Petersburg, Missouri. He plays hooky from school; hangs
around with Huck Finn, the unsophisticated son of the village drunkard; and
deceives his friends into trading their treasures with him.
Tom falls in love with Becky Thatcher, a new arrival in town, who returns his
affection initially, and even agrees to an ‘engagement’. However, after a slip of
the tongue from Tom, she walks off in a huff.
From innocent and imaginary adventures, Tom’s life suddenly takes a new
turn. One night, while Tom and Huck Finn are in a graveyard, they witness an
incident they should not have. Terrified, they flee from the spot, and swear a
blood oath that they will never reveal their secret to anyone.
Tom and Huck then find themselves entangled in a series of real and exciting
adventures, with dangerous men constantly at their heels.
Can the boys stand up to the occasion, and become real-life heroes? Will they
ever be able to reclaim their normal, carefree lives again?
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