Summary
Tom, the son of a banker, was born at Rivermouth in New England. When he was eighteen months old, however, his family moved to New Orleans, and there he lived until he was ten, growing up in almost complete ignorance of everything that was not Southern. In his tenth year, he was sent North to live with his Grandfather Nutter. Tom soon learned to admire his hale, cheery grandfather and to respect his grandaunt, Miss Abigail. The fourth member of the household was Kitty Collins, the maid, an Irish girl happily married to a sailor until he sailed away one day and failed to return.
Tom’s grandfather sent him to school immediately to keep him out of mischief. At the Temple Grammar School, he made friends with many boys and incurred the enmity of two, Bill Conway and Seth Rodgers. Tom’s friends decided to put on a play, WILLIAM TELL, in Tom’s barn. Pepper Whitcomb, as Walter Tell, balanced an apple on his head, while Tom played the part of William. Tom’s arrow missed the apple and struck Pepper in the mouth. The theatricals ceased abruptly.
Bill Conway’s tyranny finally drove Tom to make preparations to fight his tormentor, and Phil Adams tutored Tom in the manly art of self-defense. The anticipated fight did not occur, however, until after Tom had experienced several more adventures.
As the Fourth of July approached, the boys in the Temple Grammar School could not concentrate on their studies. One of the boys placed a torpedo under the cloth on the desk, at the exact spot where Mr. Grimshaw usually struck with his heavy ruler. The resultant explosion created a commotion and nearly caused the strangulation of Charley Marden, who was at the water pail getting a drink.
On the night before the Fourth of July, Tom slipped out of bed and used Kitty’s clothesline to escape from his bedroom. He did not tie knots in the rope and, as a result, burned his hands in his descent. He went to the square, where a big bonfire was to be lit. When the fire burned down after a while, Tom and his friends took an old stagecoach from Ezra Wingate’s barn and used the vehicle as fuel. The boys were caught and put in jail, but they escaped. The next day, Ezra collected three dollars from the family of each boy who had aided in the theft. Ezra made a good profit, for he had previously offered the coach to anyone who would pay seventy-five cents for it. During the celebration of the Fourth, Tom accidentally stepped on a mine and was blown into the air and knocked unconscious. As a result, he was a hero among his friends for about two weeks.
Shortly after this experience, Tom was initiated into the mysterious order of the Centipedes, an organization notorious for the pranks of its members. One of these pranks was the stealing of the druggist’s gilt mortar and pestle, which the Centipedes placed over the Widow Conway’s front door. On the drugstore window shutters, they tacked a sign advertising for a seamstress. The town laughed, because everyone except Mr. Meeks himself knew that Widow Conway had set her cap for the mild-mannered druggist.
One day after school, Tom found Bill Conway tormenting Binny Wallace. Tom lowered his head and swung right and left as he prepared to give Conway a thrashing. Tom pummeled the school pump for twenty seconds before he discovered that Conway had already retired.
Miss Abigail could not stand the odor of tobacco. When she took over as housekeeper for...
(This entire section contains 1229 words.)
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her brother, she restricted his smoking to the barn. One morning during a very cold winter, Grandfather Nutter descended the steps with a clay pipe in his mouth. Abigail objected strenuously, but the Captain merely removed the pipe from his lips and blew a cloud into the hall, where the temperature was two degrees below zero. Miss Abigail fainted. When she was revived, Grandfather Nutter told her that there had been no tobacco in the pipe and that she had seen only his congealed breath in the frosty hallway.
At Slatter’s Hill, the North-End boys and the South-End boys met for a snowball fight at specified times during the week. The fights, however, became too dangerous because frozen snowballs were used, and parents and police put an end to the snow battles.
One summer, Tom bought a boat called the Dolphin, and he and three of his friends planned a day’s trip to Sandpeep Island. When the boys landed on the island, they found that they had left the lemons in the boat. Binny Wallace volunteered to get them. The boat, after he stepped into it, broke loose from its mooring place and floated away. Binny drifted farther and farther out to sea. A rising squall developed into a full-sized storm, and the boys waited through it, hoping that Binny would be rescued. However, such was not to be. He was drowned.
One day, Tom saw Sailor Ben, whom he had met during his voyage north from New Orleans. The old sailor failed to recognize Tom because he had grown so tall. When Tom took Sailor Ben home with him, Kitty at once recognized the sailor as her long-lost husband and the two were reunited. Grandfather Nutter broke out a fresh decanter of Madeira, and they all celebrated the happy occasion. Deciding to quit the sea, Sailor Ben bought a small cottage near the wharf. Kitty remained as the Nutter maid but spent her free time with her husband.
Silas Trefethen bought all the cannon available in Rivermouth because he thought that war with England was imminent. When he died, still thinking so, the cannon rusted and became unfit for any use except as monuments. Tom and his gang decided to have some fun with the cannon after they found several pieces near the wharf and cleaned them. Everything went well with their plan to set them off, except that Tom and his conspirators could not make the proper fuse. Sailor Ben, learning of their plan, told them how to prepare the fuse. When everything was in readiness, the Centipedes drew lots to determine who would fire the cannon. The chance fell to Tom. That night he slipped out of bed, lit the fuse, and returned to his room before the first cannon went off. The operation succeeded as planned. Everyone was aroused from bed by the explosions. The only casualty was Sailor Ben’s chimney. No one was ever able to solve the mystery of the explosions.
With Primrose Hall, a girls’ school, close by, it was not surprising that Tom should fall in love, but he was unsuccessful with the girls attending the seminary. Tom finally fell in love with Nelly Glentworth, who came to visit his grandfather, but she scorned him, and so for some time, Tom rather enjoyed the pangs of unrequited love.
In New Orleans, the yellow fever broke out, causing the death of Tom’s father. His mother came north and settled in New York, where Tom was offered a position with an uncle in his countinghouse. Ready at last to make his own way in the world, Tom left Rivermouth regretfully. He felt that the happiest days of his life were over.