The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
By Mark Twain
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About this ebook
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born in Missouri in 1835, the son of a lawyer. Early in his childhood, the family moved to Hannibal, Missouri – a town which would provide the inspiration for St Petersburg in Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. After a period spent as a travelling printer, Clemens became a river pilot on the Mississippi: a time he would look back upon as his happiest. When he turned to writing in his thirties, he adopted the pseudonym Mark Twain ('Mark Twain' is the cry of a Mississippi boatman taking depth measurements, and means 'two fathoms'), and a number of highly successful publications followed, including The Prince and the Pauper (1882), Huckleberry Finn (1884) and A Connecticut Yankee (1889). His later life, however, was marked by personal tragedy and sadness, as well as financial difficulty. In 1894, several businesses in which he had invested failed, and he was declared bankrupt. Over the next fifteen years – during which he managed to regain some measure of financial independence – he saw the deaths of two of his beloved daughters, and his wife. Increasingly bitter and depressed, Twain died in 1910, aged seventy-five.
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Reviews for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
5,767 ratings135 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Classic in every sense. Something new every time you read it.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Tom Sawyer is a typical Southern boy looking for adventure. I don't think there are many young boys that would skin a cat or fake his own death so that he might attend the funeral, but the mischief of such a boy has always been there...and will always be there, too! Tom lives with his auntie and while he is well loved he is always looking for ways to run away. His sidekick, Huck Finn is eager to join him in adventures "down river." Both are "smarties" as my grandfather would say. Showing off for their peers, and besting the adults -there is never a dull moment in Tom Sawyer's world.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excellent humor. Twain is pure wit and humor. The language carries you away. Oh, and if you think this is for young boys (it can be), you are mistaken. I really believe adults will get much more out of it than any young teen.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A classic tale of "boys will be boys". Personally, I preferred this to Huck Finn -- it's more genuine fun and adventure, without so much social commentary thrown at you as well. Highly recommended for young readers.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This was my first Mark Twain read. My sister hates his books so I thought I should read one to see why. I can understand why she doesn't like his style of writing, but I rather liked it! I envy Tom's childhood, except the whole being stalked by a murderer bit. He had lots of fun and its cool that Tom's character is based on other boys Mr. Twain knew and his own childhood.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The title is pretty self-explanatory - although I read this book at least 5 years ago, I still remember loving it. The dialogue was slightly difficult for me to get through at the time, but it was everything a book should have: great characters, coherent storyline, and good narrative.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This was my first book by Mark Twain.. and I liked it!! It's a great read.... you hardly see/hear such adventurous episodes now... the time and space for the kids is gone... Injun Joe epsiode is little too harsh on the Tom and Huck but that adds more real touch to it. it's very addictive reading.. can't stop until you finish the book. It's got all the right things in a book - lots of adventures, mischief, childhood romance, conviction! Great read. I must read Huckleberry Finn whenever possible.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Adventures of Tom Sawyer depicts the life of an imaginative, troublesome boy in the American West of the 1840s. The novel is intensely dramatic in its construction, taking the form of a series of comic vignettes based on Tom's exploits. These vignettes are linked together by a darker story that grows in importance throughout the novel, Tom's life-threatening entanglement with the murderer Injun Joe.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is a very entertaining read. I like it better than Huck Finn, though Huck Finn is really good too. Tricking the kid into painting the fence is such a classic scene,
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book is a reread for me as I read it in Junior High. Often this book is regarded as a coming of age classic piece of nostalgic Americana. This was my initial conception when I read this 18 years ago. I have discovered that this is not the case. Not by a long shot. The book holds many parallels to Twain's Calvinist up bringing. I don't want to delve too much into the many layers of Twain's writing. I was a bit skeptic at first and believe that these realizations should be obtained first hand.A few things to consider while reading or rereading Tom Sawyer (and then Huck Finn for that matter).The town: St. Petersburg-translates into "St. Peter's city" -Peter is said to be the one that stands at the gates of Heaven to let the worthy in.-St. Petersburg Russia at the time was rife with corruption, murder, and chaos-What are the main things that happen in the town? Is there anything going on to actually be nostalgic about?Adults:-If a town is represented by it's citizens, what do they say about St. Petersburg?-The adults are violent, irrational, pious, judgmental, etc-Take a look at their parenting and child rearing skills. While spare the rod spoil the child has been around for a long time (and still today), the Victorian philosophy incorporates motivating a child to do right out of love and not fear. This is not present in anyway in St. Petersburg. Look at their parenting practices and ask yourself if you would be nostalgic of being a child with those types of parents...These are just some of the basic elements to argue that this is not merely a coming of age boy's book. While reading, keep an eye out for Twain's critique on Romantic Literature that was prevalent with the day and ask yourself what do Tom's trips and Injun Joe represent.I would love to discuss this book further with anyone that is interested!Happy Reading!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I read this for the first time when I was 7 or 8 years old and it has been one of my favorites ever since. I loved the character of Tom Sawyer and the story. The story appealed to me because it's a combination of adventure, imagination and youthfulness. A classic!
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This tells the story of a boy, Tom Sawyer, and his best friend, Huck Finn, and some of the adventures they get into. Some of those adventures include ghosts, haunted houses and treasure. I listened to an audio version of this one, narrated by William Dufris. The narrator was very good with amazing expressions, but my mind wandered, anyway. The one mostly couldn't hold my interest. Because of that, I missed a lot, so initially, it almost felt like these were short stories, rather than a novel. A lot of the same characters did return later, and I think storylines were picked up again later, but it was hard to connect everything because I just hadn't focused enough. However, the parts of the book that I did catch, I thought were cute. And, I have to give bonus points for the narrator, so an “o.k.” 3 stars it is.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This little paperback will do until (and if) I find my first edition. Hemingway and others have said Huckleberry Finn is the classic American novel, but I think this one is head and shoulders above Huck's book.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A young criminal mastermind-in-training gets into mischief with his disreputable neighborhood friends.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I so enjoyed reading this book….I think I may have read it years ago, but had forgotten. A fun read, cleverly written. This is one of those books everyone should read at least once in their life. It so well captures the adventures of childhood, but also deals with coming of age and issues of character.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5At the risk of repeating myself, I have taught Tom Sawyer many times as the novel in my five-book freshman intro to lit at MA community colleges. Of course Huck Finn is the novel most taught in colleges; Huck is the son of the town drunk, just as Edwin Land who invented the Polaroid was slanderously reputed to be. In HF, Twain does get the dialects well, and Jim is so well drawn, while the subject of race is paramount. But Tom Sawyer is actually a better critique of two major American institutions: schools and churches. Regarding schools, Tom Sawyer is the best critique of English composition--or preacher's rhetoric--in American lit.It's also a good critique of forms of adventure now so prevalent in film and TV; Tom compares forms of heroic withdrawal from the world, and finds a pirate preferable:"You see, a pirate don't have to do anything, Joe, when he's ashore, but a hermit, he has to be praying considerable, and then he don't have any fun, anyway, all by himself that way"(ch 13). True, the action plot with Injun Joe etc leads to a lame conclusion more like Horatio Alger; Tom invests at 5% to his greater glory. But here in the 21st C such a conclusion still holds appeal for retired readers.The freshman course I assigned this in always involved one play like an August Wilson or usually Shakespeare's Much Ado or Measure For Measure, one book of short stories, often by one author like VS Naipaul or Hemingway of Flannery O'Connor, a collection of poems, sometimes some essays, and a novel like TS or Seize the Day or Slaughterhouse-Five or Confederacy of Dunces or Alice in Wonderland. Sometimes local author Slocum's Sailing Alone Around the World.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The unabridged version, though racist and somewhat ignorant, looses the charm of the characters when edited. This book is an accurate reflection of an awkward time in the youth of our nation, and rather than glossed over, needs to be appreciated as such. We have come a long way!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The book is SO much better than the movies! Can’t believe it’s taken me over five decades to read this. Classic for a reason – Mark Twain has such a way with words.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tom Sawyer, orphaned and living with his Aunt Polly, befriends Huck Finn, the son of the town drunk. They, along with some of their friends, share in youthful adventures of a time and place when it was safe to romp around without adult supervision nearby. 19th century Missouri was also a time and place where racism still existed. Some will object to the terminology being used to refer to those of other ethnicities, but it can provide a good springboard for discussion if used with students about why those terms are no longer socially acceptable and about how social norms evolve. The story line with Becky Thatcher is also an interesting one that should generate discussion among readers. This was a re-read for me. It's a classic tale that while dated in some respects will probably continue to be enjoyed for some time to come.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I love Mark Twain. I loved The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and I loved The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Maybe it is because I am a boy and I still like the ideas of doing such boyish things. It’s a classic adventure story that includes a group of boys crashing their own funeral, cave exploring, treasure hunting, and crushes. I love reading Twain because it captures an era long gone, and beautifully, even if it is captured a bit romantically. The boys are lovable in their innocence and trickeries-- at the end of the book, I really miss them. Thank goodness for Huck Finn, but I still wish Twain had revisited these characters later in his career. They are simply that good.
It’s hard for me not to compare Tom Sawyer to Huck Finn. Huck Finn is clearly the more refined and meaningful piece of work, but Adventures of Tom Sawyer works within the same vein. Yet it’s not as funny as Huck Finn, and it is not as deep as Huck Finn. The story is simpler, but when its Mark Twain, who cares? And thankfully, Tom is a lot less annoying then he is in Huck Finn, which if you have ever read the last few sections of the book, you may understand what I mean.
Regardless, this book is one of my favorites. If you liked Huckleberry Finn, then chances are that you will like Tom Sawyer, but be aware that this book is more light-hearted and contains much less social commentary than the former. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5i absolutely loved it!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Twain's bold themes are wonderfully depicted in this novel where Tom gets into all sorts of mischief. I love Twain's literary style and humor. Worth reading it at least once, if not more.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5For Christmas, I ordered an mp3 player (Library of Classics) that was pre-loaded with 100 works of classic literature in an audio format. Each work is in the public domain and is read by amateurs, so the quality of the presentation is hit or miss. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is a classic piece of 19th century literature penned by Mark Twain. It recounts several adventures in the life of a young, Missouri boy living in a small town on the Mississippi River. While it is at times amusing, the rural, 19th century slang and extremely superstitious beliefs of many of the characters, explained at length, soon becomes tiresome and annoying. Taken in small doses, the escapades of Sawyer and his compatriot Huck Finn can be tolerable, but combined in book length form, they soon lose their charm.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book would've been given to one of my brothers at some stage and it's ended up in my possession. I'm sure no one ever read it the whole time its faded spine graced the family bookshelves. I think if I'd picked it up as a kid I would've found the dialect a bit difficult. It's only after watching plenty of TV that I have an inkling as to how those boys would've actually spoken. I must've read the first part at some stage, because the scene of Tom swindling the neighbourhood boys into white washing the fence is a resonant one.Anyhow, I'm glad I read the whole thing and can't believe it never got spoilered for me. Next I'll be cracking the spine on Huckleberry Finn.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5From this novel I have learned that one can be the person who opens the door to someone in need in a time of desperation and changes his or her life for best. This message is portrayed by the characters of Will and Mr. Tom because when in need Mr. Tom provided Willie with a home, food, and most importantly of love and care he had never received from his mother. This novel contain historical episodes. For example Zach dies in an air raids. If one was not careful could die at any moment. Also, women were looked down to and were not expected to get a good eduction. This book is consider a classic in the literature. The way the story is written transport the reader to each scene.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bei diesem Klassiker der Jugendliteratur beschreibt Mark Twain die Abenteuer, Spiele und Streiche des Jungen Tom Sawyer und seiner Freunde. Der Autor selbst schreibt im Vorwort, dass sich sein Werk auch an den erwachsenen Leser richtet, ich habe nunmehr, circa zwanzig Jahre nachdem ich das Buch erstmals gelesen habe, die Probe aufs Exempel gemacht und kann dem Autor nur zustimmen. Zum einen überzeugt das Buch durch ironische Anspielungen und Gesellschaftskritik, zum anderen erkennt sich der Leser, sofern er seine Jugend auch abseits von Computer, Handy und Fernseher verbracht hat, im Titelhelden und den von ihm erlebten Abenteuern wieder. Das Buch wirkt sohin wie ein Jungbrunnen. Abgesehen davon gelingt es Twain, die Spannung und Stimmung des Buches auch dem erwachsenen Leser näherzubringen.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mark Twain's style doesn't disappoint. He writes in such a way that I forget he's even there, between the reader and the story. The dialogue, I think, is the best part; Twain does it so well it's like hearing the characters themselves speak straight out from the pages. Unfortunately, I read this at age 24 and so, by that point, knew the story so well through other venues (Wishbone, tv specials, movies, etc.) that nothing could at all surprise me. But still, I enjoyed it--especially the religious waywardness of its central characters. Just don't know what to make of the talk of, and attitude towards, blacks. Is Twain unconsciously or satirically reflecting the mindset of those times?
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A million times better than "Huckleberry Finn."
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This novel is full of high adventure of the kind that has disappeared for most children today. Tom and friends are full of imaginative play that they carry out in the wooded areas around their town. They play hooky and trade in junk and have all kinds of superstitious explanations for the world around them. While this book doesn't have any profound themes, it pictures of way of life, mostly gone, in such vivid detail that it seems to come to life again.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is a part of growing up and needs to be read earlier rather than later.
Book preview
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain
Chapter 1
T OM!
No answer.
TOM!
No answer.
What’s gone with that boy, I wonder? You TOM!
No answer.
The old lady pulled her spectacles down and looked over them about the room; then she put them up and looked out under them. She seldom or never looked THROUGH them for so small a thing as a boy; they were her state pair, the pride of her heart, and were built for style,
not service—she could have seen through a pair of stove-lids just as well. She looked perplexed for a moment, and then said, not fiercely, but still loud enough for the furniture to hear:
Well, I lay if I get hold of you I’ll—
She did not finish, for by this time she was bending down and punching under the bed with the broom, and so she needed breath to punctuate the punches with. She resurrected nothing but the cat.
I never did see the beat of that boy!
She went to the open door and stood in it and looked out among the tomato vines and jimpson
weeds that constituted the garden. No Tom. So she lifted up her voice at an angle calculated for distance and shouted:
Y-o-u-u TOM!
There was a slight noise behind her and she turned just in time to seize a small boy by the slack of his roundabout and arrest his flight.
There! I might ’a’ thought of that closet. What you been doing in there?
Nothing.
Nothing! Look at your hands. And look at your mouth. What IS that truck?
I don’t know, aunt.
Well, I know. It’s jam—that’s what it is. Forty times I’ve said if you didn’t let that jam alone I’d skin you. Hand me that switch.
The switch hovered in the air—the peril was desperate—
My! Look behind you, aunt!
The old lady whirled round, and snatched her skirts out of danger. The lad fled on the instant, scrambled up the high board-fence, and disappeared over it.
His aunt Polly stood surprised a moment, and then broke into a gentle laugh.
Hang the boy, can’t I never learn anything? Ain’t he played me tricks enough like that for me to be looking out for him by this time? But old fools is the biggest fools there is. Can’t learn an old dog new tricks, as the saying is. But my goodness, he never plays them alike, two days, and how is a body to know what’s coming? He ’pears to know just how long he can torment me before I get my dander up, and he knows if he can make out to put me off for a minute or make me laugh, it’s all down again and I can’t hit him a lick. I ain’t doing my duty by that boy, and that’s the Lord’s truth, goodness knows. Spare the rod and spile the child, as the Good Book says. I’m a laying up sin and suffering for us both, I know. He’s full of the Old Scratch, but laws-a-me! he’s my own dead sister’s boy, poor thing, and I ain’t got the heart to lash him, somehow. Every time I let him off, my conscience does hurt me so, and every time I hit him my old heart most breaks. Well-a-well, man that is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble, as the Scripture says, and I reckon it’s so. He’ll play hookey this evening, * [* Southwestern for
afternoon] and I’ll just be obleeged to make him work, to-morrow, to punish him. It’s mighty hard to make him work Saturdays, when all the boys is having holiday, but he hates work more than he hates anything else, and I’ve GOT to do some of my duty by him, or I’ll be the ruination of the child.
Tom did play hookey, and he had a very good time. He got back home barely in season to help Jim, the small colored boy, saw next-day’s wood and split the kindlings before supper—at least he was there in time to tell his adventures to Jim while Jim did three-fourths of the work. Tom’s younger brother (or rather half-brother) Sid was already through with his part of the work (picking up chips), for he was a quiet boy, and had no adventurous, troublesome ways.
While Tom was eating his supper, and stealing sugar as opportunity offered, Aunt Polly asked him questions that were full of guile, and very deep—for she wanted to trap him into damaging revealments. Like many other simple-hearted souls, it was her pet vanity to believe she was endowed with a talent for dark and mysterious diplomacy, and she loved to contemplate her most transparent devices as marvels of low cunning. Said she:
Tom, it was middling warm in school, warn’t it?
Yes’m.
Powerful warm, warn’t it?
Yes’m.
Didn’t you want to go in a-swimming, Tom?
A bit of a scare shot through Tom—a touch of uncomfortable suspicion. He searched Aunt Polly’s face, but it told him nothing. So he said:
No’m—well, not very much.
The old lady reached out her hand and felt Tom’s shirt, and said:
But you ain’t too warm now, though.
And it flattered her to reflect that she had discovered that the shirt was dry without anybody knowing that that was what she had in her mind. But in spite of her, Tom knew where the wind lay, now. So he forestalled what might be the next move:
Some of us pumped on our heads—mine’s damp yet. See?
Aunt Polly was vexed to think she had overlooked that bit of circumstantial evidence, and missed a trick. Then she had a new inspiration:
Tom, you didn’t have to undo your shirt collar where I sewed it, to pump on your head, did you? Unbutton your jacket!
The trouble vanished out of Tom’s face. He opened his jacket. His shirt collar was securely sewed.
Bother! Well, go ’long with you. I’d made sure you’d played hookey and been a-swimming. But I forgive ye, Tom. I reckon you’re a kind of a singed cat, as the saying is—better’n you look. THIS time.
She was half sorry her sagacity had miscarried, and half glad that Tom had stumbled into obedient conduct for once.
But Sidney said:
Well, now, if I didn’t think you sewed his collar with white thread, but it’s black.
Why, I did sew it with white! Tom!
But Tom did not wait for the rest. As he went out at the door he said:
Siddy, I’ll lick you for that.
In a safe place Tom examined two large needles which were thrust into the lapels of his jacket, and had thread bound about them—one needle carried white thread and the other black. He said:
She’d never noticed if it hadn’t been for Sid. Confound it! sometimes she sews it with white, and sometimes she sews it with black. I wish to geeminy she’d stick to one or t’other—I can’t keep the run of ’em. But I bet you I’ll lam Sid for that. I’ll learn him!
He was not the Model Boy of the village. He knew the model boy very well though—and loathed him.
Within two minutes, or even less, he had forgotten all his troubles. Not because his troubles were one whit less heavy and bitter to him than a man’s are to a man, but because a new and powerful interest bore them down and drove them out of his mind for the time—just as men’s misfortunes are forgotten in the excitement of new enterprises. This new interest was a valued novelty in whistling, which he had just acquired from a negro, and he was suffering to practise it undisturbed. It consisted in a peculiar bird-like turn, a sort of liquid warble, produced by touching the tongue to the roof of the mouth at short intervals in the midst of the music—the reader probably remembers how to do it, if he has ever been a boy. Diligence and attention soon gave him the knack of it, and he strode down the street with his mouth full of harmony and his soul full of gratitude. He felt much as an astronomer feels who has discovered a new planet—no doubt, as far as strong, deep, unalloyed pleasure is concerned, the advantage was with the boy, not the astronomer.
The summer evenings were long. It was not dark, yet. Presently Tom checked his whistle. A stranger was before him—a boy a shade larger than himself. A new-comer of any age or either sex was an impressive curiosity in the poor little shabby village of St. Petersburg. This boy was well dressed, too—well dressed on a week-day. This was simply astounding. His cap was a dainty thing, his close-buttoned blue cloth roundabout was new and natty, and so were his pantaloons. He had shoes on—and it was only Friday. He even wore a necktie, a bright bit of ribbon. He had a citified air about him that ate into Tom’s vitals. The more Tom stared at the splendid marvel, the higher he turned up his nose at his finery and the shabbier and shabbier his own outfit seemed to him to grow. Neither boy spoke. If one moved, the other moved—but only sidewise, in a circle; they kept face to face and eye to eye all the time. Finally Tom said:
I can lick you!
I’d like to see you try it.
Well, I can do it.
No you can’t, either.
Yes I can.
No you can’t.
I can.
You can’t.
Can!
Can’t!
An uncomfortable pause. Then Tom said:
What’s your name?
’Tisn’t any of your business, maybe.
Well I ’low I’ll MAKE it my business.
Well why don’t you?
If you say much, I will.
Much—much—MUCH. There now.
Oh, you think you’re mighty smart, DON’T you? I could lick you with one hand tied behind me, if I wanted to.
Well why don’t you DO it? You SAY you can do it.
Well I WILL, if you fool with me.
Oh yes—I’ve seen whole families in the same fix.
Smarty! You think you’re SOME, now, DON’T you? Oh, what a hat!
You can lump that hat if you don’t like it. I dare you to knock it off—and anybody that’ll take a dare will suck eggs.
You’re a liar!
You’re another.
You’re a fighting liar and dasn’t take it up.
Aw—take a walk!
Say—if you give me much more of your sass I’ll take and bounce a rock off’n your head.
Oh, of COURSE you will.
Well I WILL.
Well why don’t you DO it then? What do you keep SAYING you will for? Why don’t you DO it? It’s because you’re afraid.
I AIN’T afraid.
You are.
I ain’t.
You are.
Another pause, and more eying and sidling around each other. Presently they were shoulder to shoulder. Tom said:
Get away from here!
Go away yourself!
I won’t.
I won’t either.
So they stood, each with a foot placed at an angle as a brace, and both shoving with might and main, and glowering at each other with hate. But neither could get an advantage. After struggling till both were hot and flushed, each relaxed his strain with watchful caution, and Tom said:
You’re a coward and a pup. I’ll tell my big brother on you, and he can thrash you with his little finger, and I’ll make him do it, too.
What do I care for your big brother? I’ve got a brother that’s bigger than he is— and what’s more, he can throw him over that fence, too.
[Both brothers were imaginary.]
That’s a lie.
YOUR saying so don’t make it so.
Tom drew a line in the dust with his big toe, and said:
I dare you to step over that, and I’ll lick you till you can’t stand up. Anybody that’ll take a dare will steal sheep.
The new boy stepped over promptly, and said:
Now you said you’d do it, now let’s see you do it.
Don’t you crowd me now; you better look out.
Well, you SAID you’d do it—why don’t you do it?
By jingo! for two cents I WILL do it.
The new boy took two broad coppers out of his pocket and held them out with derision. Tom struck them to the ground. In an instant both boys were rolling and tumbling in the dirt, gripped together like cats; and for the space of a minute they tugged and tore at each other’s hair and clothes, punched and scratched each other’s nose, and covered themselves with dust and glory. Presently the confusion took form, and through the fog of battle Tom appeared, seated astride the new boy, and pounding him with his fists. Holler ’nuff!
said he.
The boy only struggled to free himself. He was crying—mainly from rage.
Holler ’nuff!
—and the pounding went on.
At last the stranger got out a smothered ’Nuff!
and Tom let him up and said:
Now that’ll learn you. Better look out who you’re fooling with next time.
The new boy went off brushing the dust from his clothes, sobbing, snuffling, and occasionally looking back and shaking his head and threatening what he would do to Tom the next time he caught him out.
To which Tom responded with jeers, and started off in high feather, and as soon as his back was turned the new boy snatched up a stone, threw it and hit him between the shoulders and then turned tail and ran like an antelope. Tom chased the traitor home, and thus found out where he lived. He then held a position at the gate for some time, daring the enemy to come outside, but the enemy only made faces at him through the window and declined. At last the enemy’s mother appeared, and called Tom a bad, vicious, vulgar child, and ordered him away. So he went away; but he said he ’lowed
to lay
for that boy.
He got home pretty late that night, and when he climbed cautiously in at the window, he uncovered an ambuscade, in the person of his aunt; and when she saw the state his clothes were in her resolution to turn his Saturday holiday into captivity at hard labor became adamantine in its firmness.
Chapter 2
SATURDAY MORNING WAS COME, AND ALL THE SUMMER WORLD WAS BRIGHT and fresh, and brimming with life. There was a song in every heart; and if the heart was young the music issued at the lips. There was cheer in every face and a spring in every step. The locust-trees were in bloom and the fragrance of the blossoms filled the air. Cardiff Hill, beyond the village and above it, was green with vegetation and it lay just far enough away to seem a Delectable Land, dreamy, reposeful, and inviting.
Tom appeared on the sidewalk with a bucket of whitewash and a long-handled brush. He surveyed the fence, and all gladness left him and a deep melancholy settled down upon his spirit. Thirty yards of board fence nine feet high. Life to him seemed hollow, and existence but a burden. Sighing, he dipped his brush and passed it along the topmost plank; repeated the operation; did it again; compared the insignificant whitewashed streak with the far-reaching continent of unwhitewashed fence, and sat down on a tree-box discouraged. Jim came skipping out at the gate with a tin pail, and singing Buffalo Gals. Bringing water from the town pump had always been hateful work in Tom’s eyes, before, but now it did not strike him so. He remembered that there was company at the pump. White, mulatto, and negro boys and girls were always there waiting their turns, resting, trading playthings, quarrelling, fighting, skylarking. And he remembered that although the pump was only a hundred and fifty yards off, Jim never got back with a bucket of water under an hour—and even then somebody generally had to go after him. Tom said:
Say, Jim, I’ll fetch the water if you’ll whitewash some.
Jim shook his head and said:
Can’t, Mars Tom. Ole missis, she tole me I got to go an’ git dis water an’ not stop foolin’ roun’ wid anybody. She say she spec’ Mars Tom gwine to ax me to whitewash, an’ so she tole me go ’long an’ ’tend to my own business—she ’lowed SHE’D ’tend to de whitewashin’.
Oh, never you mind what she said, Jim. That’s the way she always talks. Gimme the bucket—I won’t be gone only a a minute. SHE won’t ever know.
Oh, I dasn’t, Mars Tom. Ole missis she’d take an’ tar de head off’n me. ’Deed she would.
SHE! She never licks anybody—whacks ’em over the head with her thimble— and who cares for that, I’d like to know. She talks awful, but talk don’t hurt— anyways it don’t if she don’t cry. Jim, I’ll give you a marvel. I’ll give you a white alley!
Jim began to waver.
White alley, Jim! And it’s a bully taw.
My! Dat’s a mighty gay marvel, I tell you! But Mars Tom I’s powerful ’fraid ole missis—
And besides, if you will I’ll show you my sore toe.
Jim was only human—this attraction was too much for him. He put down his pail, took the white alley, and bent over the toe with absorbing interest while the bandage was being unwound. In another moment he was flying down the street with his pail and a tingling rear, Tom was whitewashing with vigor, and Aunt Polly was retiring from the field with a slipper in her hand and triumph in her eye.
But Tom’s energy did not last. He began to think of the fun he had planned for this day, and his sorrows multiplied. Soon the free boys would come tripping along on all sorts of delicious expeditions, and they would make a world of fun of him for having to work—the very thought of it burnt him like fire. He got out his worldly wealth and examined it—bits of toys, marbles, and trash; enough to buy an exchange of WORK, maybe, but not half enough to buy so much as half an hour of pure freedom. So he returned his straitened means to his pocket, and gave up the idea of trying to buy the boys. At this dark and hopeless moment an inspiration burst upon him! Nothing less than a great, magnificent inspiration.
He took up his brush and went tranquilly to work. Ben Rogers hove in sight presently—the very boy, of all boys, whose ridicule he had been dreading. Ben’s gait was the hop-skip-and-jump—proof enough that his heart was light and his anticipations high. He was eating an apple, and giving a long, melodious whoop, at intervals, followed by a deep-toned ding-dong-dong, ding-dong-dong, for he was personating a steamboat. As he drew near, he slackened speed, took the middle of the street, leaned far over to starboard and rounded to ponderously and with laborious pomp and circumstance—for he was personating the Big Missouri, and considered himself to be drawing nine feet of water. He was boat and captain and engine-bells combined, so he had to imagine himself standing on his own hurricane-deck giving the orders and executing them:
Stop her, sir! Ting-a-ling-ling!
The headway ran almost out, and he drew up slowly toward the sidewalk.
Ship up to back! Ting-a-ling-ling!
His arms straightened and stiffened down his sides.
Set her back on the stabboard! Ting-a-ling-ling! Chow! ch-chow-wow! Chow!
His right hand, meantime, describing stately circles—for it was representing a forty-foot wheel.
Let her go back on the labboard! Ting-a-lingling! Chow-ch-chow-chow!
The left hand began to describe circles.
Stop the stabboard! Ting-a-ling-ling! Stop the labboard! Come ahead on the stabboard! Stop her! Let your outside turn over slow! Ting-a-ling-ling! Chow-ow-ow! Get out that head-line! LIVELY now! Come—out with your spring-line—what’re you about there! Take a turn round that stump with the bight of it! Stand by that stage, now—let her go! Done with the engines, sir! Ting-a-ling-ling! SH’T! S’H’T! SH’T!
(trying the gauge-cocks).
Tom went on whitewashing—paid no attention to the steamboat. Ben stared a moment and then said: Hi-YI! YOU’RE up a stump, ain’t you!
No answer. Tom surveyed his last touch with the eye of an artist, then he gave his brush another gentle sweep and surveyed the result, as before. Ben ranged up alongside of him. Tom’s mouth watered for the apple, but he stuck to his work. Ben said:
Hello, old chap, you got to work, hey?
Tom wheeled suddenly and said:
Why, it’s you, Ben! I warn’t noticing.
Say—I’m going in a-swimming, I am. Don’t you wish you could? But of course you’d druther WORK—wouldn’t you? Course you would!
Tom contemplated the boy a bit, and said:
What do you call work?
Why, ain’t THAT work?
Tom resumed his whitewashing, and answered carelessly:
Well, maybe it is, and maybe it ain’t. All I know, is, it suits Tom Sawyer.
"Oh come, now, you don’t mean to let on that you