Chapter 5 CHAPTER THREE WAR AND LOVE TOO BUSY TOMM

Tom came up to Aunt Polly, who was sitting by an open window in a large and comfortable back room.This room is a bedroom, dining room, and library.The sweet summer air, the drowsy silence, the intoxicating scent of flowers, and the buzzing of bees that lull you to sleep, have had their effect, and she dozed there with her knitting—for there was no one but a cat companion, and the cat fell asleep on her lap again.In order not to break her glasses, she put them on top of her gray head.She thought Tom had slipped off to play, but she was a little surprised to see him listen to her, and stand before her without fear.he asks:

"Can I go play now, Auntie." "What, want to play? How much have you swiped?" "Auntie, it's all done." "Tom, stop lying to me—I can't take it." "No, Auntie, the wall has indeed been painted." Aunt Polly did not quite believe him.She wants to see for herself.As long as Tom was telling the truth twenty per cent of the time, she would be content.When she found that the entire wall had been painted, not only painted but painted over and over again, and even wiped a piece of the floor, she was so surprised that she couldn't describe it.she says:

"Well, that's a queer thing! It's incredible! Tom, you can do it when you want to." Then he added, which watered down the compliment. "I have to say, there are very few times when you want to do it. Now, go and play, but don't forget that when it's time to come back, you have to go home, or I will beat you up." She was overjoyed at what Tom had achieved, so she led him into the storeroom, picked out a big and nice apple, and handed it to him.At the same time, he also taught him that if other people's hospitality to him is obtained by his own efforts instead of some immoral means, it will be extraordinarily valuable and meaningful.While she concluded by reciting a witty adage from the Bible, Tom snatched away a donut.

Then he came hopping out, just in time to see Sid climbing the stairs leading to the back room on the second floor.There was a clod of mud on the ground, so Tom picked it up and threw it at Sid.The clods flew around Sid like hailstones.Before Aunt Polly had time to calm her startled nerves, she ran to the relief, by which time six or seven lumps of earth had struck Sid, and Tom had climbed the fence and was gone.There was a gate in the fence, but as usual Tom was in such a hurry to get out that he had no time to go by it.Sid had paid Aunt Polly's attention to his dark thread, had made him suffer, had been punished, and now that he had gotten out with Sid and put the matter to rest, he felt much better.

Tom rounded the row of houses and came into a muddy alley behind his aunt's stable.He quickly slipped out of nowhere where he could not be caught or punished, and hurried to the village common.There, two "armies" composed of children have been assembled according to the prior agreement, ready to fight.Tom was the general of one of the troops, and his close friend Joe Harper was the commander of the other. These two commanders disdain to fight in person-it is more suitable for the officers and soldiers under them-and they But they sat together on a protruding high place, and let their adjutants give orders and direct the war.After a long and hard fight, Tom's troops won a brilliant victory.Then the two sides counted the dead, exchanged prisoners of war, negotiated the conditions for the next battle, and agreed on the date of the battle.When it was all over, the troops of both sides formed up first, and then moved out, and Tom went home alone.

As he passed the house where Jeff Thatcher lived, he saw a new girl standing in the garden--a pretty, sweet little girl with blue eyes.His blond hair was pulled into two long braids, and he was wearing a white summer jacket and baggy trousers.The battle hero, freshly crowned with victory, surrendered without firing a single shot.A girl named Amy Lawrence disappeared from his mind immediately and without leaving a trace. He thought he loved her madly, and he regarded his love as affectionate. It's just a poor, small, fickle love.He had spent months trying to win her favor, and she had not promised him in a week.He just became the happiest and proudest boy in the world in just seven days.But now, just for a moment, she was like a rare visitor who had finished her visit and said goodbye. She had left his heart, disappeared, and was completely forgotten by him.

He adores the new angel and steals eyes from her until he sees her spot him.Then, pretending as if she wasn't there, he began to show off in all sorts of ridiculous childish ways in order to win her favor.He fiddled with it foolishly for a while, and then, while doing the dangerous gymnastics, glanced sideways, and saw the little girl walking towards the house.Tom went to the fence and leaned on it sadly, wishing she would stay a little longer.She paused on the steps for a moment, then walked toward the door again.Tom gave a long sigh as she raised her foot to the threshold.In an instant his face brightened again, for she threw a pansy flower over the fence before going in.

Tom ran and stopped within a foot or two of the flowers, and then put his hands over his eyes and looked down the street, as if he noticed something interesting going on there.Then he picked up a straw and put it on his nose, tilting his head back as much as possible, trying to maintain the balance of the straw.So, he struggled to move his body from side to side, and slowly moved sideways towards the pansy.At last his bare feet landed on the flower, caught it with his nimble toes, and, taking his beloved thing, he disappeared round the bend without a trace.He quickly pinned the flower on the inside of his jacket near his heart—maybe near his stomach, since he didn't know much about anatomy, but it didn't matter to him.

He was soon back in his old place again, loitering about the fence, juggling and showing off as before, until dark.Though Tom consoled himself with the hope that she must be near the window, and have noticed his attentions, she never appeared again.At last he made his way home with great reluctance, his poor brain full of all sorts of fancies. He was in high spirits all through dinner.His aunt couldn't help wondering, "I don't know what's the matter with the boy." He didn't care if he got scolded for throwing dirt at Sid.He stole sweets in front of his aunt, only to be beaten by her knuckles.He said:

"Aunt, why don't you hit Sid with candy?" "Oh, Sid ain't such a grinder as you. If I hadn't watched so hard, you'd have been stuck in the sugar pile." After a while she went into the kitchen; Sid, delighted at the privilege, reached for the sugar bowl--a gesture of deliberate flattery to Tom, which made Tom very uncomfortable.But Sid slipped his hand and the sugar bowl fell to the floor and broke.Tom was just as happy as hell.But he kept his mouth shut and said nothing.He thought to himself that it would be better if he didn't say anything, just sat there quietly, and waited for his aunt to come in and ask who caused the trouble, then he would speak out.It was the greatest joy to see that model "beloved" suffer.When the old lady came in, and stood looking at the broken pots on the floor, with angry sparks shooting from the top of her spectacles, he was so overjoyed that he could hardly contain himself.He thought to himself: "There is a good show to watch!" But unexpectedly, he was knocked to the ground instead!When the powerful slap was raised to strike him again, Tom couldn't help crying out:

"Stop it, why did you hit me so hard?—Sid broke the sugar bowl!" Aunt Polly stopped and stood there for a moment, and Tom hoped she would say something nice to coax him.However, she only said these few words: "Oh! I don't think you'll be resigned to this. Maybe you did some other daring mischief in my absence just now." Then she was condemned by conscience, and she wanted very much to say a few loving words, but she decided that by doing so, she would be regarded as admitting a mistake, which is not allowed by the rules.So, she kept silent, busy with this and that, but her heart was in a mess.Tom sat in the corner, angry, and the more he thought about it the more he felt that his aunt was asking for forgiveness from him, and he was content, though sullen, because of this feeling.He refused to put out a signal for peace, and ignored other gestures.He knew that two longing eyes fell on him from time to time through the curtain of tears, but he refused to say that he had seen it.He pictured himself lying there sick, dying, his aunt bending over him, begging him to say a word or two to forgive her, but he turned his face to the wall and died without a word of forgiveness. up.Ah, how would she feel then?He pictured himself drowned again, being lifted from the river and carried home with his little curls soaked, his broken heart at rest.How she would have flung herself upon him with grief, and rained tears, and kept praying to God to give her back her child, and promise never, never to abuse him again!But there he lay, cold, pale, and motionless--a poor man, a suffering man, at last all his troubles were over.The more he thought about it, the sadder he became.Later, in order not to choke my throat, I had to swallow my tears into my stomach.His eyes were covered with tears, and when he blinked, the tears flowed down the tip of his nose.He derived so much comfort and pleasure from this sorrow that he could not bear any vulgar or frivolous pleasure to disturb his frame of mind at this time.For his pleasure is too holy to be defiled.So, when his cousin Mary came running in dancing a moment later, he avoided her right away.She went to the country as a guest and only stayed for a week. It seemed like the first time in three autumns. Now she was very happy to see her home again.But when she came in through one door singing and merrily, Tom got up and slipped out through the other under the shadow of the cloud. He avoided the usual places where children often play and haunted, looking for a secluded place that suited his mood at the time.A raft in the river attracted him, so he sat down on the outermost edge of the raft, gazing at the monotonous, vast expanse of water, and at the same time wishing that he would not go through the painful process arranged by God, and he would be able to live in a single moment. Unknowingly drowned.Then he thought of his flower again, and he took it out, which was already crumpled and withered, which greatly increased his mood of desolation and happiness.He wondered if she would feel sorry for him if she knew about it, would she cry?Would want to have the right to wrap his arms around his neck to comfort him?Or would she just turn her back indifferently, like this empty and boring world?This kind of imagination brought him a bittersweet feeling, so he repeated this fantasy over and over again in his mind, imagining from multiple angles repeatedly, until it became boring.Finally, he stood up with a sigh and left in the dark. Around nine-thirty or ten o'clock he walked along the deserted street and came to the place where the "unnamed man whom he admired" lived.He stopped and listened for a while, but heard nothing.The curtains of the second-floor windows cast dim candlelight.Is the holy man there?He climbed over the fence, walked through the flowers and plants, and walked quietly until he came under the window and stopped.He raised his head and gazed at the window affectionately for a long time.Then he lay on his back by the window, holding the poor withered flower with his hands folded before his chest.He would rather die like this—in this cruel and heartless world, when death comes, he, a homeless man, has no covering on his head, no hands of relatives and friends to wipe the dying sweat from his brow Zhu, and no kind face to approach him to express regret.In this way, when she opened the window happily in the morning and looked out, she would definitely see him.Oh!Would she shed even a single teardrop on his poor lifeless body?Will she sigh slightly when she sees a promising young life so ruthlessly destroyed, so prematurely died? The curtains were rolled up, and the voice of a maid broke the holy silence, and then a flood poured down with a bang, drenching the body of the martyr lying on the ground! The water-suffocated hero jumped up from the ground, snorted and felt better.Then, I saw something mixed with a soft cursing sound, swishing across the air, and then I heard the sound of breaking glass, and after that, I saw a small, vague figure turning over. Over the fence, he flew away like an arrow in the hazy night. Soon after, Tom undressed and went to bed.Sid woke up as he examined the soaked clothes by the light of a candle.He was a little gloating at first, and wanted to say a few wisecracks, but he changed his mind and kept silent, because he saw a murderous look in Tom's eyes. Tom went to bed without saying his prayers before bed.Sid made a mental note of Tom being lazy once.