Oh dear gods!
Watch out to At-At…
Reception
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.
Duke and the King
Presently she stepped into the kitchen, and Sid, happy in his immunity, reached for the sugar-bowl–a sort of glorying over Tom which
was wellnigh unbearable. But Sid’s fingers slipped and the bowl dropped and broke. Tom was in ecstasies. In such ecstasies that he even controlled his tongue and was silent. He said to himself that he would not speak a word, even when his aunt came in, but would sit perfectly
still till she asked who did the mischief; and then he would tell, and there would be nothing so good in the world as to see that pet model “catch it.” He was so brimful of exultation that he could hardly hold himself when the old lady came back and stood above the wreck discharging lightnings of wrath from over her spectacles. He said to himself, “Now it’s coming!” And the next instant he was sprawling on the floor! The potent palm was uplifted to strike again when Tom cried out:
Reception
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.
Intellectual and Moral Education
The raft drew beyond the middle of the river; the boys pointed her head right, and then lay on their oars.
The river was not high, so there was not more than a two or three mile current. Hardly a word was
said during the next three-quarters of an hour. Now the raft was passing before the distant town. Two or three glimmering lights showed where it lay, peacefully sleeping, beyond the vague vast sweep of star-gemmed water, unconscious of the tremendous event that was happening.
- The Black Avenger stood still with folded arms, “looking his last” upon
- the scene of his former joys and his later sufferings, and wishing
- “she” could see him now, abroad on the wild sea, facing peril and death with dauntless heart, going to his doom with a grim smile on his lips. It was but a small strain on his imagination to remove Jackson’s Island
- beyond eyeshot of the village, and so he “looked his last” with a
- broken and satisfied heart. The other pirates were looking their last,
- too; and they all looked so long that they came near letting the
current drift them out of the range of the island. But they discovered the danger in time, and made shift to avert it. About two o’clock in the morning the raft grounded on the bar two hundred yards above the head of the island, and they waded back and forth until they had landed their freight.
Part of the little raft’s belongings consisted of an old sail, and this they spread over a nook in the bushes for a tent to shelter their provisions; but they themselves would sleep in the open air in good weather, as became outlaws.
- They built a fire against the side of a great log twenty or thirty
- steps within the sombre depths of the forest, and then cooked some
- bacon in the frying-pan for supper, and used up half of the corn “pone”
- stock they had brought. It seemed glorious sport to be feasting in that
- wild, free way in the virgin forest of an unexplored and uninhabited
- island, far from the haunts of men, and they said they never would
- return to civilization. The climbing fire lit up their faces and threw
- its ruddy glare upon the pillared tree-trunks of their forest temple,
- and upon the varnished foliage and festooning vines.
When the last crisp slice of bacon was gone, and the last allowance of corn pone devoured, the boys stretched themselves out on the grass, filled with contentment. They could have found a cooler place, but they would not deny themselves such a romantic feature as the roasting camp-fire.
Intellectual and Moral Education
The raft drew beyond the middle of the river; the boys pointed her head right, and then lay on their oars.
The river was not high, so there was not more than a two or three mile current. Hardly a word was
said during the next three-quarters of an hour. Now the raft was passing before the distant town. Two or three glimmering lights showed where it lay, peacefully sleeping, beyond the vague vast sweep of star-gemmed water, unconscious of the tremendous event that was happening.
- The Black Avenger stood still with folded arms, “looking his last” upon
- the scene of his former joys and his later sufferings, and wishing
- “she” could see him now, abroad on the wild sea, facing peril and death with dauntless heart, going to his doom with a grim smile on his lips. It was but a small strain on his imagination to remove Jackson’s Island
- beyond eyeshot of the village, and so he “looked his last” with a
- broken and satisfied heart. The other pirates were looking their last,
- too; and they all looked so long that they came near letting the
current drift them out of the range of the island. But they discovered the danger in time, and made shift to avert it. About two o’clock in the morning the raft grounded on the bar two hundred yards above the head of the island, and they waded back and forth until they had landed their freight.
Part of the little raft’s belongings consisted of an old sail, and this they spread over a nook in the bushes for a tent to shelter their provisions; but they themselves would sleep in the open air in good weather, as became outlaws.
- They built a fire against the side of a great log twenty or thirty
- steps within the sombre depths of the forest, and then cooked some
- bacon in the frying-pan for supper, and used up half of the corn “pone”
- stock they had brought. It seemed glorious sport to be feasting in that
- wild, free way in the virgin forest of an unexplored and uninhabited
- island, far from the haunts of men, and they said they never would
- return to civilization. The climbing fire lit up their faces and threw
- its ruddy glare upon the pillared tree-trunks of their forest temple,
- and upon the varnished foliage and festooning vines.
When the last crisp slice of bacon was gone, and the last allowance of corn pone devoured, the boys stretched themselves out on the grass, filled with contentment. They could have found a cooler place, but they would not deny themselves such a romantic feature as the roasting camp-fire.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
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.
Mockery of Religion
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.
Conflict between civilization and natural life
The raft drew beyond the middle of the river; the boys pointed her head right, and then lay on their oars.
The river was not high, so there was not more than a two or three mile current. Hardly a word was
said during the next three-quarters of an hour. Now the raft was passing before the distant town. Two or three glimmering lights showed where it lay, peacefully sleeping, beyond the vague vast sweep of star-gemmed water, unconscious of the tremendous event that was happening.
- The Black Avenger stood still with folded arms, “looking his last” upon
- the scene of his former joys and his later sufferings, and wishing
- “she” could see him now, abroad on the wild sea, facing peril and death with dauntless heart, going to his doom with a grim smile on his lips. It was but a small strain on his imagination to remove Jackson’s Island
- beyond eyeshot of the village, and so he “looked his last” with a
- broken and satisfied heart. The other pirates were looking their last,
- too; and they all looked so long that they came near letting the
current drift them out of the range of the island. But they discovered the danger in time, and made shift to avert it. About two o’clock in the morning the raft grounded on the bar two hundred yards above the head of the island, and they waded back and forth until they had landed their freight.
Part of the little raft’s belongings consisted of an old sail, and this they spread over a nook in the bushes for a tent to shelter their provisions; but they themselves would sleep in the open air in good weather, as became outlaws.
- They built a fire against the side of a great log twenty or thirty
- steps within the sombre depths of the forest, and then cooked some
- bacon in the frying-pan for supper, and used up half of the corn “pone”
- stock they had brought. It seemed glorious sport to be feasting in that
- wild, free way in the virgin forest of an unexplored and uninhabited
- island, far from the haunts of men, and they said they never would
- return to civilization. The climbing fire lit up their faces and threw
- its ruddy glare upon the pillared tree-trunks of their forest temple,
- and upon the varnished foliage and festooning vines.
When the last crisp slice of bacon was gone, and the last allowance of corn pone devoured, the boys stretched themselves out on the grass, filled with contentment. They could have found a cooler place, but they would not deny themselves such a romantic feature as the roasting camp-fire.