The Old Man's Story

 There lived in the village of C. a kind-hearted old man, who was generally called “Uncle John.” The children loved to hear his stories, and, many a Wednesday afternoon, sat upon the grass at his feet, while he told about what he used to do when he was a boy. One of these stories of his I will tell to you.

 

“When I was about as high as you are now,” said Uncle John, “I was very fond of playing with gunpowder¹. All my odd half-pence were carefully saved, to buy the materials for making such fire-works as boys are able to do. I did this secretly, for my mother would never allow me to do so. It happened one day that a gentleman came to visit my father, and among other things, he asked me if I had ever read a little book which he named. When I replied I had not, he gave me some money, saying, ‘I should like to have you buy and read it.’

 

“‘I wish he had given it to me to buy gunpowder,’ said I to myself as soon as he had gone; for I well knew that no one was aware that I had the money in my possession.

 

“It then occurred to me that I could still do with it as I pleased; and I bought a quantity of gunpowder. As I was returning home with it, I met a boy of about my own age, with whom I often played.

 

“‘Come, Harry,’ said I, ‘I’ve got a fine lot of powder, and I want you to come with me this afternoon, and we’ll have real sport.’

 

“‘Oh! I cannot,’ said Henry.

 

“‘Why not? It is Saturday, and there is no school this afternoon.’

 

“‘Yes, I know that,’ he replied; ‘but the truth is, John, my mother has such fears that I shall get killed or hurt, that I’ve promised never to play with powder again.’

 

“‘Oh! dear!’ cried I, ‘this is always the way. Now, I do think you might just this afternoon come and help me, for there’s no fun in playing alone. Come, you shall have half the powder for your own.’

 

 

“‘Let me see it,’ said Henry.

 

“I opened the brown paper, and showed him the quantity I had bought.

 

“‘Oh! this is capital!’ cried he; ‘yes, I’ll come just this once.’

 

“We met in the afternoon, and began to make squibs and crackers². We had made a few, when Henry proposed that we should get some fire and amuse ourselves by throwing powder into it, a few grains at a time. Henry went for the fire, while I went on with my work. I did not perceive that in the paper which held the powder, there was a large hole, and that I was losing my treasure, as it run through to the ground. Irritated³ by this accident, I threw away the paper, and sat down to wait for Henry’s return. He came to me in a few moments.

 

“‘We must make haste, John,’ said he, ‘for here comes a great troop of girls, and your sister Mary and our Lucy are among them. If they see us, they’ll run home as fast as they can, to tell tales of us.’

 

“‘Well, then,’ I answered, ‘come, help me scrape up this powder, which is all on the grass here, and we’ll hide away the whole of it, till they are gone.’ We knelt down, and began to take the powder in our hands.

 

“‘John,’ said Henry, ‘I’ll get up the powder, and you go hide away those squibs among the bushes; and make haste; do, for I hear the girls, and they’ll be here in a minute.’

 

“I caught up the bundle of squibs, and was running with them towards a cluster⁴ of bushes, when I heard a loud cry from Henry, and turning quickly, I saw the powder flashing into his eyes; and in a moment, he had fallen forward into the flame.

 

“As I darted⁵ forward, the party of girls, pale and trembling, appeared among the trees, and I shouted loudly for help. But how can I describe poor Henry, as he lay upon the ground; his beautiful face blackened with the powder, and so shockingly torn and mangled⁶, that it bore no resemblance⁷ to that of a human being.

 

“‘Is he hurt? Is he dead?’ said the little girls, pressing around me.

 

“‘Who is he? oh! who is he?’ cried Lucy, throwing herself by his side, ‘it is not Henry, our Henry!—you will not say so?’ said she, looking in my face. I could only answer by cries and tears. Lucy raised her poor brother in her arms. Her face was perfectly⁸ calm, and cold, while the rest of the children were drowned in tears, and seemed not to think of doing anything to obtain help. In a{ few minutes several men, who had been alarmed by the noise, came running toward us. Without asking questions, they took up the body gently, and we followed them towards the house of his mother, whose last wishes I had tempted⁹ Henry to slight.

 

“As we approached the door, we saw the poor widow sitting quietly at work in her neat little parlour. I cannot tell you, my children,” said the old man, drawing his hand before his eyes, “how her sweet face changed, as the dreadful¹⁰ sight met her eyes; but the same grave where they laid poor Henry was opened twice in two weeks, and his mother was placed by his side. Little Lucy was left all alone in the world, till I persuaded my mother to take her to our home, and let me be her brother, in place of the one she had lost. And I have spent my life in trying to make poor Lucy happy. And now, my dear children, you know why I so often urge you to obey your parents, and be willing to do as they wish. May none of you learn the importance of this, by so painful a lesson as was mine.”

 

1 gunpowder   

n.火药

参考例句：

• Gunpowder was introduced into Europe during the first half of the 14th century.在14世纪上半叶，火药传入欧洲。
• This statement has a strong smell of gunpowder.这是一篇充满火药味的声明。

2 crackers   

adj.精神错乱的，癫狂的n.爆竹( cracker的名词复数 )；薄脆饼干；（认为）十分愉快的事；迷人的姑娘

参考例句：

• That noise is driving me crackers. 那噪声闹得我简直要疯了。
• We served some crackers and cheese as an appetiser. 我们上了些饼干和奶酪作为开胃品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 irritated   

a.恼怒的

参考例句：

• His little affectations irritated her. 他的装腔作势令她不快。
• Her genteel accent irritated me. 她那矫揉造作的腔调使我感到难受。

4 cluster   

n.串，簇，群，组；vi.群集，丛生；vt.集中

参考例句：

• She held a cluster of flowers in her arms.她抱着一束鲜花。
• A cluster of tourists was surrounded in the hill.一群游客被困在了山中。

5 darted   

v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔

参考例句：

• The lizard darted out its tongue at the insect. 蜥蜴伸出舌头去吃小昆虫。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The old man was displeased and darted an angry look at me. 老人不高兴了，瞪了我一眼。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 mangled   

vt.乱砍（mangle的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• His hand was mangled in the machine. 他的手卷到机器里轧烂了。
• He was off work because he'd mangled his hand in a machine. 他没上班，因为他的手给机器严重压伤了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 resemblance   

n.相似之处，雷同之处

参考例句：

• Kehr bears a strong facial resemblance to her sister.凯尔的容貌和她姐姐十分相像。
• Any resemblance of a character in this book to a living person is purely incidental.书中人物如有雷同，纯属巧合。

8 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

9 tempted   

v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词）

参考例句：

• I was sorely tempted to complain, but I didn't. 我极想发牢骚，但还是没开口。
• I was tempted by the dessert menu. 甜食菜单馋得我垂涎欲滴。

10 dreadful   

adj.糟透了的，极端的，可怕的，令人畏惧的

参考例句：

• I cannot imagine what to do in this dreadful situation.我不能想像在这么糟的情况下该怎么办。
• I must apologize for the dreadful mistake I made.我为我所犯的严重错误深表歉意。