CHAPTER I .
YOU 0
do n't know about
me 1
without
you 2
have read a book by the name of The Adventures of
Tom Sawyer 3
; but that ai n't no matter .
That book was made by
Mr. Mark Twain 4
, and
he 4
told the truth , mainly .
There was things which
he 4
stretched , but mainly
he 4
told the truth .
That is nothing .
I 1
never seen
anybody 5
but lied one time or another , without it was
Aunt Polly 6
, or
the widow 7
, or maybe
Mary 8
.
Aunt Polly 6
--
,
she 6
is -- and
Mary 8
, and
the Widow Douglas 7
is all told about in that book , which is mostly a true book , with some stretchers , as
I 1
said before .
Now the way that the book winds up is this :
Tom 3
and
me 1
found the money that
the robbers 9
hid in
the cave 10
, and it made
us 11
rich .
We 11
got six thousand dollars apiece -- all gold .
It was an awful sight of money when it was piled up .
Well ,
Judge Thatcher 12
he 12
took it and put it out at interest , and it fetched
us 11
a dollar a day apiece all the year round -- more than a body could tell what to do with .
The Widow Douglas 7
she 7
took
me 1
for
, and allowed
she 7
would sivilize
me 1
; but it was rough living in
the house 14
all the time , considering how dismal regular and decent
the widow 7
was in all
her 7
ways ; and so when
I 1
could n't stand it no longer
I 1
lit out .
I 1
got into
my 1
old rags and
my 1
sugar-hogshead again , and was free and satisfied .
But
Tom Sawyer 3
he 3
hunted
me 1
up and said
he 3
was going to start a band of
robbers 15
, and
I 1
might join if
I 1
would go back to
the widow 7
and be respectable .
So
I 1
went back .
The widow 7
she 7
cried over
me 1
, and called
me 1
a poor lost lamb , and
she 7
called
me 1
a lot of other names , too , but
she 7
never meant no harm by it .
She 7
put
me 1
in them new clothes again , and
I 1
could n't do nothing but sweat and sweat , and feel all cramped up .
Well , then , the old thing commenced again .
The widow 7
rung a bell for supper , and
you 16
had to come to time .
When
you 17
got to the table
you 18
could n't go right to eating , but
you 19
had to wait for
the widow 7
to tuck down
her 7
head and grumble a little over the victuals , though there war n't really anything the matter with them , -- that is , nothing only everything was cooked by itself .
In a barrel of odds and ends it is different ; things get mixed up , and the juice kind of swaps around , and the things go better .
After supper
she 7
got out
her 7
book and learned
me 1
about
Moses 20
and
the Bulrushers 21
, and
I 1
was in a sweat to find out all about
him 20
; but by and by
she 7
let it out that
Moses 20
had been dead a considerable long time ; so then
I 1
did n't care no more about
him 20
, because
I 1
do n't take no stock in
dead people 22
.
Pretty soon
I 1
wanted to smoke , and asked
the widow 7
to let
me 1
.
But
she 7
would n't .
She 7
said it was a mean practice and was n't clean , and
I 1
must try to not do it any more .
That is just the way with
some people 23
.
They 23
get down on a thing when
they 23
do n't know nothing about it .
Here
she 7
was a-bothering about
Moses , which was
, and no use to
anybody 24
, being gone ,
you 25
see
20 , yet finding a power of fault with
me 1
for doing a thing that had some good in it .
And
she 7
took snuff , too ; of course that was all right , because
she 7
done it
herself 7
.
,
Miss Watson 62
,
a tolerable slim old maid 61
, with goggles on , had just come to live with
her 7
, and took a set at
me 1
now with a spelling-book .
She 26
worked
me 1
middling hard for about an hour , and then
the widow 7
made
her 26
ease up .
I 1
could n't stood it much longer .
Then for an hour it was deadly dull , and
I 1
was fidgety .
Miss Watson 26
would say , “ Do n't put
your 1
feet up there ,
Huckleberry 1
; ” and “ Do n't scrunch up like that ,
Huckleberry 1
-- set up straight ; ” and pretty soon
she 26
would say , “ Do n't gap and stretch like that ,
Huckleberry 1
-- why do n't
you 1
try to behave ? ”
Then
she 26
told
me 1
all about
the bad place 27
, and
I 1
said
I 1
wished
I 1
was
there 27
.
She 26
got mad then , but
I 1
did n't mean no harm .
All
I 1
wanted was to go somewheres ; all
I 1
wanted was a change ,
I 1
war n't particular .
She 26
said it was wicked to say what
I 1
said ; said
she 26
would n't say it for
the whole world 28
;
she 26
was going to live so as to go to
the good place 29
.
Well ,
I 1
could n't see no advantage in going where
she 26
was going , so
I 1
made up
my 1
mind
I 1
would n't try for it .
But
I 1
never said so , because it would only make trouble , and would n't do no good .
Now
she 26
had got a start , and
she 26
went on and told
me 1
all about
the good place 29
.
She 26
said all
a body 30
would have to do
there 29
was to go around all day long with a harp and sing , forever and ever .
So
I 1
did n't think much of it .
But
I 1
never said so .
I 1
asked
her 26
if
she 26
reckoned
Tom Sawyer 3
would go
there 29
, and
she 26
said not by a considerable sight .
I 1
was glad about that , because
I 1
wanted
him 3
and
me 1
to be together .
Miss Watson 26
she 26
kept pecking at
me 1
, and it got tiresome and lonesome .
By and by
they 31
fetched
the niggers 32
in and had prayers , and then
everybody 33
was off to bed .
I 1
went up to
with a piece of candle , and put it on the table .
Then
I 1
set down in a chair by the window and tried to think of something cheerful , but it war n't no use .
I 1
felt so lonesome
I 1
most wished
I 1
was dead .
The stars were shining , and the leaves rustled in the woods ever so mournful ; and
I 1
heard an owl , away off , who-whooing about
somebody that was dead 35
, and a whippowill and a dog crying about
somebody that was going to die 36
; and the wind was trying to whisper something to
me 1
, and
I 1
could n't make out what it was , and so it made the cold shivers run over
me 1
.
Then away out in
the woods 37
I 1
heard that kind of a sound that a ghost makes when it wants to tell about something that 's on its mind and ca n't make itself understood , and so ca n't rest easy in its
grave 38
, and has to go about that way every night grieving .
I 1
got so down-hearted and scared
I 1
did wish
I 1
had
some company 39
.
Pretty soon a spider went crawling up
my 1
shoulder , and
I 1
flipped it off and it lit in the candle ; and before
I 1
could budge it was all shriveled up .
I 1
did n't need
anybody 40
to tell
me 1
that that was an awful bad sign and would fetch
me 1
some bad luck , so
I 1
was scared and most shook the clothes off of
me 1
.
I 1
got up and turned around in
my 1
tracks three times and crossed
my 1
breast every time ; and then
I 1
tied up a little lock of
my 1
hair with a thread to keep
witches 41
away .
But
I 1
had n't no confidence .
You 42
do that when
you 43
've lost a horseshoe that
you 44
've found , instead of nailing it up over the door , but
I 1
had n't ever heard
anybody 45
say it was any way to keep off bad luck when
you 46
'd killed a spider .
I 1
set down again , a-shaking all over , and got out
my 1
pipe for a smoke ; for
the house 14
was all as still as death now , and so
the widow 7
would n't know .
Well , after a long time
I 1
heard the clock away off in
the town 47
go boom -- boom -- boom -- twelve licks ; and all still again -- stiller than ever .
Pretty soon
I 1
heard a twig snap down in the dark amongst the trees -- something was a stirring .
I 1
set still and listened .
Directly
I 1
could just barely hear a “ me-yow !
me-yow ! ”
down there .
That was good !
Says
I 1
, “ me-yow !
me-yow ! ”
as soft as
I 1
could , and then
I 1
put out the light and scrambled out of the window on to
the shed 48
.
Then
I 1
slipped down to the ground and crawled in among the trees , and , sure enough , there was
Tom Sawyer 3
waiting for
me 1
.
CHAPTER II .
WE 11
went tiptoeing along a path amongst the trees back towards the end of
, stooping down so as the branches would n't scrape
our 11
heads .
When
we 11
was passing by
the kitchen 50
I 1
fell over a root and made a noise .
We 11
scrouched down and laid still .
Miss Watson 26
's big nigger
51 , named
Jim 51
, was setting in the
kitchen 50
door ;
we 11
could see
him 51
pretty clear , because there was a light behind
him 51
.
He 51
got up and stretched
his 51
neck out about a minute , listening .
Then
he 51
says : “ Who dah ? ”
He 51
listened some more ; then
he 51
come tiptoeing down and stood right between
us 11
;
we 11
could a touched
him 51
, nearly .
Well , likely it was minutes and minutes that there war n't a sound , and
we 52
all there so close together .
There was a place on
my 1
ankle that got to itching , but
I 1
das n't scratch it ; and then
my 1
ear begun to itch ; and next
my 1
back , right between
my 1
shoulders .
Seemed like
I 1
'd die if
I 1
could n't scratch .
Well ,
I 1
've noticed that thing plenty times since .
If
you 53
are with the quality , or at a funeral , or trying to go to sleep when
you 54
ai n't sleepy -- if
you 55
are anywheres where it wo n't do for
you 56
to scratch , why
you 57
will itch all over in upwards of a thousand places .
Pretty soon
Jim 51
says : “ Say , who is
you 58
?
Whar is
you 59
?
Dog
my 51
cats ef
I 51
didn ' hear sumf ' n. Well ,
I 51
know what
I 51
's gwyne to do :
I 51
's gwyne to set down here and listen tell
I 51
hears it agin . ”
So
he 51
set down on the ground betwixt
me 1
and
Tom 3
.
He 51
leaned
his 51
back up against a tree , and stretched
his 51
legs out till one of them most touched one of mine .
My 1
nose begun to itch .
It itched till the tears come into
my 1
eyes .
But
I 1
das n't scratch .
Then it begun to itch on the inside .
Next
I 1
got to itching underneath .
I 1
did n't know how
I 1
was going to set still .
This miserableness went on as much as six or seven minutes ; but it seemed a sight longer than that .
I 1
was itching in eleven different places now .
I 1
reckoned
I 1
could n't stand it more 'n a minute longer , but
I 1
set
my 1
teeth hard and got ready to try .
Just then
Jim 51
begun to breathe heavy ; next
he 51
begun to snore -- and then
I 1
was pretty soon comfortable again .