The William Henry Letters. Diaz Abby Morton
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Название: The William Henry Letters
Автор: Diaz Abby Morton
Издательство: Public Domain
Жанр: Зарубежная классика
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"I don't believe he'll whip you," says he, "for he likes you. And if he does, he wouldn't whip a small boy so hard as he would a big one."
I said a little whipping would hurt a little boy just as much as a great whipping would hurt a great boy. But I said I wouldn't be mean enough to tell or to take pay for not telling.
He didn't say much more. And we went towards home then. But before we came to the house, he turned off into another path.
A little while after, I heard somebody walking behind me. I looked round, and there was the master. He'd been watching with a sick man all night.
He asked me where I had been so early. I said I had been taking a walk. He asked who the boy was that had just left me. I said 't was Tom Cush. He asked if I was willing to tell what we had been talking about. I said I would rather not tell.
Says he, "It has a bad look, your being out with that boy so early, after what happened last night."
Then he asked me where I had found my overjacket. I said, "In my chamber, sir, on a chair-back."
"And how came it there?" says he.
"I don't know, sir," says I.
And, Grandmother, I almost cried; for everything seemed going against me, to make me out a bad boy. I will tell the rest after supper.
My dear Grandmother, —
Now I will tell you what happened that afternoon.
The school was about half done.
The master gave three loud raps with his ruler.
This made the room very still.
He asked the other teachers to come up to the platform. And they did.
Next, he waved his ruler, and said, "Fold."
And we all folded our arms.
It was so still that we could hear the clock tick.
He told Tom Cush to close the windows and shut the blinds.
Then he talked to us about stealing and telling lies. Said he didn't like to punish, but it must be done. He said he had reason to believe that the boy whose name he should call out was not honest, that he took other people's things and told lies.
Then he told the story, all that he knew about it, and said he hoped that all concerned in it would have honor enough to speak out and own it.
Nobody said anything.
Then the master said, "William Henry, you may come to the platform."
I went up.
Somebody way in the back part shouted out, "Don't believe it!"
"Silence!" said the master. And he thumped his ruler on the desk.
Then he told me to take off my jacket, and fold it up. And I did.
He told me to hand my collar and ribbon to a teacher. And I did.
Then he laid down his ruler, and took his rod and bent it to see if it was limber. It wasn't exactly a rod. It was the thing I told you about when I first came to this school.
He tried it twice on the desk first.
Then he took hold of my shoulder and turned my back round towards him. He said I had better bend down my head a little, and took hold of the neck of my shirt to keep me steady. I shut my teeth together tight.
At that very minute Bubby Short cried out, "Master! Master! Stop! Don't! He didn't do it! He didn't kill it! I know who! I'll tell! I will! I will! I don't care what Tom Cush does! 'T was Tom Cush killed it!"
The master didn't say one word. But he handed me my jacket.
The boys all clapped and gave three cheers, and he let them.
Then he said to me, whispering, "Is this so, William?" And I said, low, "Yes, sir."
Then he took hold of my hand and led me to my seat. And when I sat down he put his hand on my shoulder just as softly, – it made me remember the way my mother used to before she died, and, says he, "My dear boy," then stopped and began again, "My dear boy," and stopped again. If he'd been a boy I should have thought he was going to cry himself. But of course a man wouldn't. And what should he cry for? It wasn't he that almost had a whipping. At last he told me to come to his room after supper. Then Bubby Short was called up to the platform.
Now I will tell you how Bubby Short found out about it.
He sleeps in a little bed in a little bit of a room that lets out of Tom's. 'T isn't much bigger than a closet. But it is just right for him. That morning when Tom got up so early and threw pebbles at me, Bubby Short had been keeping awake with the toothache. And he heard Tom telling another boy about the rabbit.
He made believe sleep. But once, while Tom was dressing himself, he peeped out from under the bedquilt, with one eye, to see a black-and-blue spot, that Tom said he hit his head against a post and made, when he was running.
But they caught him peeping out, and were dreadful mad because he heard, and said if he told one single word they would flog him. But he says he would have told before, if he had known it had been laid to me.
Wasn't he a nice little fellow to tell?
O, I was so glad when the boys all clapped! And when we were let out, they came and shook hands with Bubby Short and me. Great boys and all. Mr. Augustus, and Dorry, and all. And the master told me how glad he was that he could keep on thinking me to be an honest boy.
Now aren't you glad you didn't feel sorry?
The next time I went down to the farm I was told, of course, all about the foregoing letters, – how they were received, and what effect they produced in the family when they were read. Grandmother, however, gives a happy account of the reception and reading of them in the following reply, which she wrote soon after they were received.
Grandmother's Letter to William Henry, in reply
My dear Little Boy, —
Your poor old grandmother was so glad to get those letters, after such long waiting! My dear child, we were anxious; but now we are pleased. I was afraid you were down with the measles, for they're about. Your aunt Phebe thinks you had 'em when you were a month old; but I know better.
Your father was anxious himself at not hearing; though he didn't show it any. But I could see it plain enough. As soon as he brought the letters in, I set a light in the window to let your aunt Phebe know she was wanted. She came running across the yard, all of a breeze. You know how your aunt Phebe always comes running СКАЧАТЬ