The Morning herald., 1876-07-08
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and then said:
"Hi-yii You're up stump amt youi'
No answer. Tom surveyed his last toucf
with the eye of an artist, then he gave
another gentle sweep, and surveyed the re-
suit as before. Ben ranged up alongside
of him. Toms mouth watered for thu
apple, but he stuck to his work. Ben said
"Hello, old chap you got to work, hey'
why, It's you, Ben ! wasn't noticing
''Say, I'm going In q swimming. I am
Don't you wish you could? But, of course
you'd ruther work, wouldn't youe Course
you would ~
Tom contemplated that boy bit, ,and said
"What do you call workW
"Why amt that works"
Tom resumed his whitewashing, and an
swered carelessly:
"WeM, maybe 1t is, and maybe It amt
All I know is, It suits Tom Sawyer"
that you like itso
The brush continued to move.
"Like it Well, don't see why oughtn't
to like it. Does q boy get chance to white
wash fence every dayf''
That put the thing in new light. Ben
stlrree nibbling his apple. Tom swept his
brush sck and forth-stepped back to note
the effect-added touch here and there
criticised the effect again, Ben watched
every move, and getting more and more in
terested, more and more absorbed. Pres
ensly he said NJ
"Ssy, Tom, let me whitewash little"
Tom considered, was about to consent:
but he altered his mind:-"No, no; reckon
it wouldn't hardly do, Ben. You zee Aunt
Polly's awful particular about this fence
but If 1t was the back fence wouldn't mind
and she wouldn't. Yes, she's awful partic-
ular about this fence: it, got to be done
| very careful: reckon there amt one boy in
thousand, may be two thousand, that can
do It in the way it's got to be DONE"
"No-is that sol Oh, come now, lemme
just try, just only little. I'd let you, if
you was me, Tom"
"Ben, TG like to, honest Injun; but Aunt
Polly-well Jim wanted to do it, but she
wouldn't let him. Sid wanted to do it, but
she wouldd't let Sid. Now, don't you see
how am fxeds If you was to tackle this
fence, and anything was to happen to it,
"Oh, shucks; I'll be just as careful. Now
lemme try: say-pl give you the core of
my apple"
afraid"-
"I'l give you all of it''
Tom gave up the brush with reluctance in
his face, but alacrity in bis heart; And
while Ben worked and sweated in the sun,
the retired artist sat On barrel in the shade
close by, dangling his legs, munched his ap-
pie, and planned the slaughter of more in
nocents. There was no lack of material;
boys happened along every little while; they
came to jeer, but remained to whitewash.
By the time Ben was tagged out Tom had
TRADED the next chance to Billy Fisher for a
kite in good repair; and when he played
out, Johnny Miller bought it for dead rat
and string to swing it with; and so on, and
so on, hour after hour. And when the mid.
die of the afternoon came, from being .
poor poverty-stricken boy as in the morning,
Tom was literally rolling in wealth. He
had, besides the things have mentioned,
twelve marbles, part of a jews-harp, a piece
of blue bottle glass to look through, spool
cannon a key that wouldn't unlock any
thing, fragment of chain, glass stopple |
to decanter, tin soldier, a couple of tad |
poles, six firecrackers, kitten with only
one eye, brass door-knob, dog collar
but no dog-the handle of kr ife, four
pieces Of orange peel and dilapidated old |
WluuOW bASu. Qc udu udU ulCc, ROOQ lulo
time all the while-plenty of conpany-and |
the fence had three coats of whitewash on |
it! If he hadn't run out of whitewash he |
would have bankrupted every boy in the
village.
Tom said to himself that 1t was not such |
a hollow world OTTER all. He had discovered |
a great law Of human action without know
ing 1t, namely, that, in order to make man
or boy covet thing, 1t is only necessary to
make the thing difficult to attain. If he
had been great philosopher, like the wri-
ter of this book, he would now have
that work consists of what
ever body is obliged to do, and that play
consists of whatever a body is not obliged
to do. And this would help hin to under
stand why constructing artificial flowers, or
performing on tread-mill, is work, whilst
rolling nine pins or climbing Mont Blanc is
only amusement. There are wealthy gen.
tlsmen in England who drive four-horse
passenger coaches twenty or thirty miles on
a daily line, in summer, because the privil-
ege costs them considerable money; but If
they wers offered wages for the service, that
would turn it into work, and then they
would resign.