I sit in the old maple.

Through its wide, swaying branches,

I see the blue sky.

A rainbow arcs across it.

A bird sings.

I am at home.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is really funny.   Once, he gets into trouble for cutting school, and the next day he has to whitewash the fence.   A boy comes along and laughs at him for whitewashing the fence, and Tom pretends that his Aunt Polly had entrusted the job to him, and had turned down 2 other boys that wanted to do it, saying that she needed it done in a way that only Tom knew how.   Of course, she said nothing like that, but it made the boy want to do it.   So Tom cheats at least 9 boys in this way, excep that they had to give him something in return.  (an apple, their kite, etc.).   So the fence gets a triple coat of white wash, Tom has new stuff, and his Aunt Polly didn’t see anything that had happened outside, so she rewards Tom for it.

Tom Sawyer’s antics are hilarious.   Once, in church, he decided that the service was too boring.  He hd a beetle with “formidable” jaws (a “pinchbug”).   He places it in the isle, where it captures the attention of several “bored stiff” people.   Then a curious (vagrant) poodle came sniffing up to it, and the “pinchbug” bites the poodle.   Now almost everyone in the church is watching.   The poodle gives a long yelp, races all around the church, finally landing right in his masters lap.   His master then flings him away out the window, most likely unintentionally, and the dog hits the ground running and never returns.  All because of Tom (Thomas) Sawyer.

I didn’t know that when the story takes place, they had special rituals for taking away warts.   Tom and his sidekick Huckleberry Finn argue about which one is the best ritual.   Huckleberry Finn says that you need to take a dead cat down to a graveyard when the “demons” (which are (is) really just the wind) are coming out, and say a specific thing.   Yet Tom says that you go to an old stump full of rainwater and stick your hand in it, then walk 11 paces with your eyes shut, then turn around 3 times, and then walk home fast without speaking to anyone.

I wonder why Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer didn’t tell that it wasn’t Muff Porter who murdered the man, it was Injun Joe, but he framed Muff Porter.   I wonder if Muff Porter will hang?   Will Tom & Huck tell the truth?   Will Injun Joe hang?   If Tom & Huck tell, and Injun Joe doesn’t hang, what will Injun Joe do to Tom & Huck?

The book is getting really interesting.   Huck Finn, Tom, and Joe Harper have run away.   Now everyone thinks that they have drowned.   Then Tom sneaks back and hears everyone lamenting him.   It’s hilarious.

Responses to Huckleberry Finn:

Huckleberry Finn has a lot of experiences.   I think that’s why he has so much pluck.   I really love the book so far.   It is really exciting, and adventurous.  Huckleberry’s father is a delinquent and I wonder if he will be stopped.   Hmmm . .

Huckleberry is very rebellious.   I’m not sure if that’s why he doesn’t like to be with the widow as much as Tom Sawyer or Joe Harper might if they had to.   I guess Huckleberry wants to be free, and do whatever he wants, whenever, and wherever.

The book Huckleberry Finn is better than the book Tom Sawyer in my opinion.   Huckleberry has more adventures, experiences in the world.   Huck is, in a way, like Tom.   They’re both excitable, they’re both adventurous, and they both get into mischief 24/7!!!!

I think that Jim was very brave to run away from Ms. Watson.   I think that it was wrong for Huck to run away, but it was right for Jim to run.   I wonder why that is because they are both very alike, Huck and Jim, and their circumstances are basically the same too.

I think it was really brave of Huck to run away from his abusive father.   WOW!   I was wondering while I was reading what happened.   With his father I mean.   Why IS he so screwed up?   Hmmm . . . .

I was wondering when I was reading this why Huck didn’t go back to the widow.   She was very nice, and she treated Huck like he was her own kin.   Maybe it was Ms. Watson that kept him from going back.   She didn’t like him.   He didn’t like her either, because she was so . . . strict, and kind of mean to him all the time.

I wonder how Jim knows all about ghosts and magic and myths.   I think they are all just superstitious.   But still Huck seems to believe them.   Most of them, anyway.   Jeez, I mean I don’t think a single one of them was true, but I guess that would be fun to believe.   Well, some of them . . .

We all made it.   We have made it to America!   Yet we have been through so many hardships!  First everyone but Saul got typhus, and then Rifka took ill with ringworm and was detained at Belgium.  She stayed there until the ringworm healed,, and then she was sent across the ocean on a ship that would bring her to us.  There she must have suffered, and changed, tending to the sick, and she was BALD, but she didn’t seem to mind at all!   She had also made friends with a Russian peasant!  At our family reunion at the ward, she read us the poems that she written.  She is a changed girl, much more mature.

Sincerely,

Your Daughter.

Oct. 24^th, 1920.

Dear Bubbe Ruth,

We have now all made it!   We have made it to America!   We got to take Rifka home two days ago.   We have all been through so many hardships, Rifka most of all.   First the family got typhoid fever, all (I can’t believe I was writing so fast) but Saul.  Then Rifka became ill with ringworm, and was detained at Belgium.  She stayed there until the ringworm healed, then she was sent across the ocean on a ship that would bring her to Ellis Island.  There she must have suffered, because she was changed when I first saw her in the ward, tending to the sick, putting them first, and she was BALD, but she didn’t seem to mind at all!  She had also made friends with a Russian peasant.   When the rest of our family saw Rifka, she was more mature.  She read us a poem that she had written.  It was very deep, and very adult.  She doesn’t care about looks anymore.   She expects to depend on her cleverness, not beauty, here in America.   She has been doing very well here so far, but she is less carefree, and she acts graver.   She will be starting school soon most likely.  As for us, We have new hope for a brighter future,

Shalom moma,

Your daughter,

Ethel

of the rain forest.

They drape themselves

over boring trees

and ugly bushes.

Brilliant colors from my flowers

Burst everywhere

In popping purple

and ruby red.

flower drooping to a tilt.

What can I do for you?

Yellow, white, how can you bloom?

What can I do for you?

Ah! I know what I shall do!

I’ll water you, until you overflow

with life.