The men gathered on the appointed day, cut the logs and split the boards for the house. Another day and it was raised and the roof in place.
Tom volunteered to make the teacher's table and chair and benches for the scholars. He had the best set of tools in the county and he wished to do it because he knew it would please his wife. There was no money in it but his life was swiftly passing in that sort of work. He was too big-hearted and generous to complain. Besides the world in which he lived—the world of field and wood, of dog and gun, of game and the open road was too beautiful and interesting to complain about it. He was glad to be alive and tried to make his neighbors think as he did about it.
When the great day dawned the young mother eagerly prepared breakfast for her children. She wouldn't allow Sarah to help this morning. It must be a perfect day in her life. She washed the Boy's face and hands with scrupulous1 care when the breakfast things were cleared away, and her grey eyes were shining with a joy he had never seen before. He caught her excitement and the spirit of it took possession of his imagination.
"What'll school be like, Ma?" he asked in a tense whisper.
"Oh, this one won't be very exciting; maybe in a little room built of logs. But it's the beginning, Boy, of greater things. Just spelling, reading, writing and arithmetic now—but you're starting on the way that leads out of these silent, lonely woods into the big world where great men fight and make history. Your father has never known this way. He's good and kind and gentle and generous, but he's just a child, because he doesn't know. You're going to be a man among men for your mother's sake, aren't you?"
She seized his arms and gripped them in her eagerness until he felt the pain.
"Won't you, Boy?" she repeated tensely.
He looked up steadily2 and then slowly said:
"Yes, I will."
She clasped him impulsively3 in her arms and hurried from the cabin leading the children by the hand. The Boy could feel her slender fingers trembling.
When they drew near the cross roads where the little log house had been built, she stopped, nervously4 fixed5 their clothes, took off the Boy's cap and brushed his thick black hair.
They were the first to arrive, but in a few minutes others came, and by nine o'clock more than thirty scholars were in their seats. The mother's heart sank within her when she met the teacher and heard him talk. It was only too evident that he was poorly equipped for his work. He could barely read and could neither write nor teach arithmetic. The one qualification about which there was absolute certainty, was that he could lick the biggest boy in school whenever the occasion demanded it. He conveyed this interesting bit of information to the assemblage in no uncertain language.
The mother could scarcely keep back her tears. By the end of the week it was plain that her children knew as much as their teacher.
"What's the use?" Tom asked in disgust. "Hit's a waste o' time an' money. Let 'em quit!"
"No, I can't take them out!" was the firm reply. "They may not learn much, but if the school keeps going, don't you see, a better man will come bye and bye, and then it will be worth while."
Tom shook his head, but let her have her own way.
"Besides," she went on, "he'll learn something being with the other children."
"Learn to fight, mebbe," the husband laughed.
He did, too, and the way it came about was as big a surprise to the Boy as it was to the youngster he fought.
The small bully6 of the school lived in the same direction as the Boy and Sarah. They frequently walked together for a mile going or coming and grew to know one another well. The Boy disliked this tow-head urchin7 from the moment they met. But he was quiet, unobtrusive and modest and generally allowed the loud-mouthed one to have his way. The tow-head took the Boy's quiet ways for submission8 and insisted on patronizing his friend. The Boy good-naturedly submitted when it cost him nothing of self-respect.
At the close of school, the tow-head whispered:
"Come by the spring with me, I want to show you somethin'!"
"No, I don't want to," he replied.
"Let Sarah go on an' we'll catch her—I got a funny trick ter show you. You'll kill yourself a-laughin'."
The Boy's curiosity was aroused and he consented.
They hastened to the spring where the embers of a fire at which the scholars were accustomed to warm their lunch, were still smouldering. The tow-headed one drew from the corner of the fence a turtle which he had captured and tied, scooped9 a red-hot coal from the fire with a piece of board and placed it on the turtle's back.
The poor creature, tortured by the burning coal, started in a scramble10 trying to run from the fire. The tow-head roared with laughter.
The Boy flushed with sudden rage, sprang forward and knocked the coal off.
The two faced each other.
"You do that again an' I'll knock you down!" shouted the bully.
"You do it again and I'll knock you down," was the sturdy answer.
"You will, will you?" the tow-head cried with scorn. "Well, I'll show you."
With a bound he replaced the coal.
The Boy knocked it off and pounced11 on him.
The fight was brief. They had scarcely touched the ground before the Boy was on top pounding with both his little, clinched12 fists.
"Stop it—you're killin' me!" the under one screamed.
"Will you let him alone?" the Boy hissed13.
"You're killin' me, I tell ye!" the tow-head yelled in terror. "Stop it I say—would you kill a feller just for a doggoned old cooter?"
"Will you let him alone?"
"Yes, if ye won't kill me."
The Boy slowly rose. The tow-head leaped to his feet and with a look of terror started on a run.
"You needn't run, I won't hit ye again!" the Boy cried.
But the legs only moved faster. Never since he was born did the Boy see a pair of legs get over the ground like that. He sat down and laughed and then hurried on to join Sarah.
He didn't tell his sister what had happened. His mother mustn't know that he had been in a fight. But when he felt the touch of her hand on his forehead that night as he rose from her knee he couldn't bear the thought of deceiving her again and so he confessed.
"It wasn't wrong, was it, to fight for a thing like that?" he asked wistfully.
"No," came the answer. "He needed a thrashing—the little scoundrel, and I'm glad you did it."
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收听单词发音
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1
scrupulous
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| adj.审慎的，小心翼翼的，完全的，纯粹的 | |
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2
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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3
impulsively
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| adv.冲动地 | |
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4
nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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5
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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6
bully
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| n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮 | |
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7
urchin
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| n.顽童；海胆 | |
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8
submission
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| n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出 | |
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9
scooped
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| v.抢先报道( scoop的过去式和过去分词 )；（敏捷地）抱起；抢先获得；用铲[勺]等挖（洞等） | |
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10
scramble
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| v.爬行，攀爬，杂乱蔓延，碎片，片段，废料 | |
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11
pounced
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| v.突然袭击( pounce的过去式和过去分词 )；猛扑；一眼看出；抓住机会（进行抨击） | |
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12
clinched
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| v.（尤指两人）互相紧紧抱[扭]住( clinch的过去式和过去分词 )；解决（争端、交易），达成（协议） | |
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13
hissed
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| 发嘶嘶声( hiss的过去式和过去分词 )； 发嘘声表示反对 | |
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