Chapter Two: The glorious whitewasher
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 LIKE it?"
The brush continued to move.
"Like it? Well, I don't see why I oughtn't to like it. Does a boy get a chance to whitewash a fence every day?"
That put the thing in a new light. Ben stopped nibbling his apple. Tom swept his brush daintily back and forth—stepped back to note the effect—added a touch here and there—criticised the effect again—Ben watching every move and getting more and more interested, more and more absorbed. Presently he said:
"Say, Tom, let ME whitewash a little."
Tom considered, was about to consent; but he altered his mind:
"No—no—I reckon it wouldn't hardly do, Ben. You see, Aunt Polly's awful particular about this fence—right here on the street, you know —but if it was the back fence I wouldn't mind and SHE wouldn't. Yes, she's awful particular about this fence; it's got to be done very careful; I reckon there ain't one boy in a thousand, maybe two thousand, that can do it the way it's got to be done."
"No—is that so? Oh come, now—lemme just try. Only just a little—I'd let YOU, if you was me, Tom."
"Ben, I'd like to, honest injun; but Aunt Polly—well, Jim wanted to do it, but she wouldn't let him; Sid wanted to do it, and she wouldn't let Sid. Now don't you see how I'm fixed? 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—I'll give you the core of my apple."
"Well, here—No, Ben, now don't. I'm afeard—"
"I'll give you ALL of it!"
Tom gave up the brush with reluctance in his face, but alacrity in his heart. And while the late steamer Big Missouri worked and sweated in the sun, the retired artist sat on a barrel in the shade close by, dangled his legs, munched his apple, and planned the slaughter of more innocents. 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 fagged out, Tom had traded the next chance to Billy Fisher for a kite, in good repair; and when he played out, Johnny Miller bought in for a dead rat and a string to swing it with—and so on, and so on, hour after hour. And when the middle of the afternoon came, from being a poor poverty-stricken boy in the morning, Tom was literally rolling in wealth. He had besides the things before mentioned, twelve marbles, part of a jews-harp, a piece of blue bottle-glass to look through, a spool cannon, a key that wouldn't unlock anything, a fragment of chalk, a glass stopper of a decanter, a tin soldier, a couple of tadpoles, six fire-crackers, a kitten with only one eye, a brass doorknob, a dog-collar—but no dog—the handle of a knife, four pieces of orange-peel, and a dilapidated old window sash.
He had had a nice, good, idle time all the while—plenty of company —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 it was not such a hollow world, after all. He had discovered a great law of human action, without knowing it—namely, that in order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain. If he had been a great and wise philosopher, like the writer of this book, he would now have comprehended that Work consists of whatever a body is OBLIGED to do, and that Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do. And this would help him to understand why constructing artificial flowers or performing on a tread-mill is work, while rolling ten-pins or climbing Mont Blanc is only amusement. There are wealthy gentlemen in England who drive four-horse passenger-coaches twenty or thirty miles on a daily line, in the summer, because the privilege costs them considerable money; but if they were offered wages for the service, that would turn it into work and then they would resign.
The boy mused awhile over the substantial change which had taken place in his worldly circumstances, and then wended toward headquarters to report.
End of Chapter 2
*SUMMARY*
Was the morning ,And was a day very beautiful.
Everyone it is so happy and their hearts beat fast.
Tom showed up in the street With a brush To paint a fence, ir was to pick water And he met many people as men and women, white an black.
Tom i was with it's friend Jim,And he was asking for a container to bring water but Jim did not want to, why did not his mistress stop him from stopping and doing if he worked, but Tom insisted that she would not notice, even so, when Tom distracted him with a marble, he removed the container and ran off, He did not want his friends to see him, so he went stealthily. At the end Tom realizes something very important in life or human behavior and that work is what we are obliged to do.
*QUESTIONS*
Hello guys, after reading the chapter you have to answer to the following questions or do
the direction given by the teacher.
1.Summary and design a drawing about the chapter you read. (All)
2. List the untruths in the story (according to each chapter).
3. Write all the rules by Tom’s Aunt Polly. (according to each chapter).
4. Where was the story? (All))
5. What are the laws established in the reading? (policemen, jail, judge)
6. What are the superstitions and local traditions. (according to each chapter).
7. What are the means of transportation? (All, write the example with the sentences from
the story).
8. Write 5 aspect about the school. (according to each chapter).
9. Write about the religion in the story. (Write the examples with the sentences from the
story).
10. How does Tom convince other boys to whitewash Aunt Polly's fence for him?
○ Tom threatens to beat them up if they don't help him.
○ Tom convinces them that whitewashing the fence is fun.
○ Tom bribes the boys by promising them trinkets when they finish.
○ Tom pretends to have a broken arm and asks for help.
11. What do Tom and Huck discover in the haunted house?
○ Tom and Huck discover that there really are ghosts living there.
○ Tom and Huck discover that Dr. Robinson isn't really dead.
○ Tom and Huck discover that treasure is buried there.
○ Tom and Huck discover that Injun Joe is planning revenge against Tom.
12. What happens to Huck while Tom and Becky are missing?
○ Huck becomes very sick.
○ Huck runs away.
○ Huck organizes a search party for them.
○ Huck is kidnapped by Injun Joe and the Spaniard.
13. What is the name of the island that Tom, Huck and Joe explore as pirates
14. How does Tom earn his Bible at church?
○ Judge Thatcher gives him a Bible as a reward for protecting his
daughter.
○ Tom is able to recall the names of the first two disciples.
○ Tom has memorized more Bible verses than any other children in
Sunday School.
○ Tom trades trinkets with other children in exchange for their tickets.
15. What small gesture does Becky make early on in the story to encourage Tom's
attention?
○ Becky invites Tom to meet her parents.
○ Becky blows kisses at Tom.
○ Becky throws a flower down to Tom.
○ Becky teases other girls around Tom and acts silly.
16. Which name below was NOT one of the pirate names assumed by Tom, Huck and
Joe?
○ Terror of the Seas
○ Captain Blood
○ Black Avenger of the Spanish Main
○ Red-Handed
17. When do Tom, Huck and Joe reappear home after their pirating adventures on the
island?
○ During the storm, they left to seek shelter at their homes.
○ The boys return home to attend their own funerals.
○ At Sunday mass the boys appear to surprise everyone.
○ The boys show up at Muff Potter's trial.
18. All the boys envy Huck Finn because....
○ Huck has the attentions of Becky Thatcher.
○ Huck's father is the town sheriff.
○ Huck has complete freedom.
○ Huck doesn't live in a house.
19. What do Tom and Huck take to the cemetery with them?
○ A dead cat
○ Marbles
○ Spunk-water
○ A kitten with one eye
20. How do the boys discover that the town thinks they have drowned?
○ A stranger tells them when they come back home.
○ The boys read about it in the local newspaper.
○ Huck overhears passengers talking about it on the steamboat that passes
by the island.
○ Tom returns to his house and overhears Aunt Polly talking about it.
21. Where do Tom and Becky get lost?
○ In McDougal's cave
○ On an island in the Mississippi
○ In Widow Douglas' attic
○ In an abandoned house
22. What is the approximate value of Injun Joe's treasure?
○ $1,000
○ $12,000
○ $500
○ $2,000,000
23. Huck agrees to become civilized and live with Widow Douglas if he can...
○ Join Tom's band of robbers
○ Spend the money however he chooses
○ Bring his father with him
○ Avoid going to school
24. Who says the following: "The widder eats by a bell; she goes to bed by a bell; she
gets up by a bell - everything’s so awful reg’lar a body can’t stand it.”
○ Aunt Polly
○ Injun Joe
○ Tom Sawyer
○ Huck Finn
24. Who says the following: “Why that ain’t anything. I can’t fall; that ain’t the way it is
in the book. The book says…”
○ Tom Sawyer
○ Huck Finn
○ Joe Harper
○ Becky Thatcher
25. What gift does Tom give to Becky at school?
○ An entire bag of marbles
○ A beautiful ribbon for her hair
○ A piece of chewing gum
○ A brass door knob
26. What does Tom share with Becky in the cave?
○ A piece of chewing gum
○ A handful of nuts
○ An apple
○ A piece of cake
27. When Injun Joe frames Muff Potter for murder, what do Tom and Huck expect to
happen?
○ Muff Potter to turn around and accuse Injun Joe of the murder.
○ Ghosts to rise from the grave.
○ A lightning bolt to come from the sky.
○ Aunt Polly to begin crying.
28. Before Becky Thatcher, to whom was Tom engaged?
○ Susy Harper
○ Mary Thompkins
○ Amy Lawrence
○ Tom was not engaged to anyone.
29. Why do Tom and Huck sneak into the graveyard at midnight?
○ To cure warts
○ To dig for buried treasure
○ To seek out witches
○ To kill a cat
30. What does Injun Joe do after Tom testifies against him?
○ He denies his guilt
○ He flees out the window
○ He terrorizes the boys
○ He kills Muff Potter
31. What is the name of Tom's half-brother?
32. What animal does Huck imitate outside of Tom's window at night in order to get his
attention?
33. Who is the first of the boys to suggest abandoning the pirating expedition?
○ Tom Sawyer
○ Huck Finn
○ Ben Rogers
○ Joe Harper
34. Why does Huck NOT go on Becky's picnic?
○ Huck has promised to keep watch for Injun Joe
○ Huck has not been invited
○ Huck cannot stand girls
○ Huck is afraid of boats
35. What day of the week do Tom and Huck decide is bad luck to dig for buried
treasure?
36. What happens when Tom and Joe learn to smoke?
○ They win Huck's friendship
○ They get a whipping from Aunt Polly
○ They are expelled from Sunday school
○ They get sick
37. Who decides to have McDougal's Cave bolted shut?
○ Judge Thatcher
○ Mrs. Harper
○ Injun Joe
○ Widow Douglas
38. What will become of the treasure Huck and Tom find?
○ It will be returned to the rightful owners
○ It will be spent on a memorial for Injun Joe
○ It will be invested for the boys
○ It will be donated to the Sunday school
39. Who is the only person to hug Huck when the three boys return for the funeral?
40. Whom does Tom encounter in the cave?
41. What keeps Injun Joe from finding Tom and Huck hidden upstairs in the haunted
house?
○ They jump out the window
○ A noise frightens Injun Joe away
○ The staircase begins to crumble
○ The treasure distracts him
42. Why does Injun Joe want revenge on the Widow Douglas?
○ Her husband once punished and humiliated him.
○ She never returned his affections when they were younger.
○ She made a racist comment about Native Americans.
○ She will not give him any ice cream.
43. Whom does Tom suspect of spilling ink on his spelling book?
○ Becky Thatcher
○ Huck Finn
○ Alfred Temple
○ Himself
44. What is Huck most afraid of when he and Tom return to the cave to find the
treasure?
○ Injun Joe's ghost
○ Being locked in
○ Bats
○ A band of robbers
45. What does Tom find behind door No. 2 at the Temperance Tavern?
○ Milk and cookies
○ Whiskey and Injun Joe
○ Treasure
○ A dead cat
46. Who overhears Injun Joe plotting outside the Widow Douglas' house?
47. Who says the following:"He'll play hooky this evening, and I'll just be obleeged to
make him work tomorrow 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."
○ Widow Douglas
○ Aunt Polly
○ Mrs. Harper
○ Mr. Dobbins
48. How many miles do Tom and Becky end up traveling in the cave?
49. Who says the following:"Oh, they just have a bully time - take ships, and burn
them, and get the money and bury it in awful places in their island where there's ghosts
and things to watch, it, and kill everybody in the ships - make 'em walk a plank. they
don't kill the women - they're too noble. And the women's always beautiful, too."
50. Who says the following:"'He likes me, becuz I don't ever act as if I was above him.
Sometimes I've set right down and eat with him. But you needn't tell that.'"
51. Who says the following:"'Damn her, maybe she's got company--there's lights, late
as it is.'"
52. Who says the following:"O, I didn't know what I was doing. I wish I may die this
minute if I did. It was all on account of the whisky; and the excitement, I reckon."
53. What do Tom and Becky come across in the cave that frighten them from returning
the same way they came?
○ Snakes
○ Scorpions
○ A dead body
○ Bats
54. Who says the following:"It was just so with my Joe - always full of his devilment,
and up to every kind of mischief, but he was just a sunselfish and kind as he could be -
and laws bless me, to think I went and whipped him for taking that cream, never once
recollecting that I threw it out myself because it was sour..."
SOLUTION:
4: Tom was going to paint a fence, and he was with a friend of his Jim
5. That Jim had a mistress and had to do almost everything
*DRAWING*
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