He thought a moment, then answered: “‘Do not.’”
She nodded her head, and said: “And you use ‘don’t’ when you mean ‘does not.’”
He was puzzled over this.
“Give me an illustration,” he asked.
“Well…” she thought a moment. “’It don’t do to be hasty.’ Change ‘don’t’ to ‘do not,’ and it reads, ‘It do not do to be hasty,’ which is wrong. It must jar on your ear.”
“Can’t say that it does,” he replied judicially.
“Why didn’t you say, ‘Can’t say that it do?’”
“That sounds wrong,” he said slowly. “As for the other, I guess my ear ain’t had the trainin’ yours has.”
“There is no such word as ‘ain’t,’” she said emphatically.
Martin flushed again,
“And you say ‘ben’ for ‘been,’” she continued; “‘I come’ for ‘I came’; and the way you chop your endings is something dreadful.”
“What do you mean?” He leaned forward, feeling that he ought to get down on his knees before so marvellous a mind. “How do I chop?”
“You don’t complete the endings. ‘A-n-d’ spells ‘and.’ You pronounce it ‘an.’ ‘I-n-g’ spells ‘ing.’ Sometimes you pronounce it ‘ing,’ and sometimes you leave off the ‘g.’ And then you slur by dropping initial letters and diphthongs. ‘T-h-e-m’ spells ‘them.’ You pronounce it – oh, well, it is not necessary to go over all of them. What you need is a grammar book. I’ll get one and show you how to begin.”
When she returned with the book she drew a chair near his and sat down beside him. She turned the pages of the grammar and their heads were inclined towards each other.
For the moment the great gulf that separated them was bridged. He had been caught up into the clouds and carried to her.
_______
Several weeks went by, during which Martin Eden studied the grammar book Ruth had given him, reviewed the books on etiquette, and read voraciously the books that caught his fancy.
Of his own class he saw nothing. The girls of the Lotus Club which he had frequented wondered what had become of him.
During those several weeks he saw Ruth half a dozen times. She helped him with his English, corrected his pronunciation, and started him on arithmetic. But their intercourse was not all devoted to elementary study; and there were times when their conversation turned on other themes – the last poetry he had read, the latest poet she had studied.
As her interest in Martin increased the remodelling of his life became a passion with her.
“I want to tell you about father’s friend Mr. Butler,” she said one afternoon when grammar and arithmetic and poetry had been put aside. “His father had come from Australia and when he died Mr. Butler, Charles Butler he was called, found himself alone in the world without any relatives in California. He went to work in a printing office – I have heard him tell of it many times – and he got three dollars a week at first. His income to-day is at least thirty thousand a year. How did he do it? He was honest and industrious and economical. He denied himself the enjoyments that most boys indulge in. He had his eyes fixed always on the future. He worked in the daytime and at night he went to night school. He was ambitious. He wanted a career, not a livelihood and he made sacrifices for his ultimate gain. He decided upon the law and he entered father’s office as an office boy, think of that, and got only four dollars a week.
But he had learned how to be economical and out of that four dollars he continued saving money. He studied bookkeeping and typewriting. He quickly became a clerk and made himself invaluable. Father appreciated him. It was on father’s suggestion that he went to law college. He became a lawyer and father took him in as junior partner. He is a great man. Such a life is an inspiration to all of us. It shows that a man with a will may rise superior to his environment.”
She paused for breath and to see how Martin was receiving it.
“Do you know,” he said, “I feel sorry for Mr. Butler. He robbed himself of life for the sake of thirty thousand dollars a year. Working all day and studying all night – just working, never having a good time!”
Martin was dissatisfied with Mr. Butler’s career. There was something paltry about it after all. Thirty thousand a year was all right, but inability to be humanly happy robbed such an income of its value.
Much of this he tried to express to Ruth and shocked her and made it clear that more remodelling was necessary. She could not guess that this man who had come from beyond her horizon had wider and deeper concepts than her own;
and she dreamed of helping him to see as she saw, of widening his horizon until it was identified with hers.
Exercises
1. Listen to the chapter with your book closed and mark the statements Y (yes) or N (no).
1. Nothing remained for Martin but to read.
2. The librarian was annoyed to see Eden every day.
3. The librarian did not give Eden any advice.
4. Martin decided to phone Ruth.
5. Ruth wondered if she could get some advice from Martin.
6. Martin’s grammar was awful.
7. Ruth explained to Martin how to speak correct English.
8. Ruth did not have any intention to remodel Martin’s life.
9. Ruth considered the life of Mr. Butler should be an inspiration to all.
10. Martin’s ideas did not surprise Ruth.
2. Learn the words from the text:
proper, devote, ordinary, attempt, contradiction, profoundly, solve, advice, tackle, interrupt, assist, hurt, demand, complete, ambitious, sacrifice, identify.
3. Complete the sentences using the words from the text. Make the changes where necessary.
1. “I’m sorry, I didn’t want to .......... you.”
2. Nothing is in its .......... place.
3. She .......... her carrier to bring up her children.
4. He .......... most of her time to his music.
5. The suspect .......... by a witness.
6. It was just an .......... Sunday evening.
7. He was an .......... hard working young clerk.
8. He thinks money .......... all his problems.
9. “Please, don’t .......... her while she is sleeping.”
10. The government is determined to .......... inflation.
11. “Can you give some .......... about buying a car?”
4. Choose a word to match the following definitions.
1) to say in a very firm way that you want something
2) right, appropriate or correct
3) to make somebody unhappy or upset
4) to spend a lot of time or effort doing something
5) determined to be successful, rich, famous, etc.
6) an act of trying to do something
7) to help someone or something
8) to find or provide a way of dealing with a problem
9) normal or average
10) an opinion you give someone about what they should do
5. Find in the text the English equivalents for:
неделя усиленного чтения, порвать с прежними привычками, столкновение идей, когда угодно, попросить совета, добраться до главного, выставить себя в глупом свете, куча родственников, резать слух, увлечь воображение, предаваться удовольствиям, человек с сильной волей.
6. Find the words in the text for which the following are synonyms:
dedicate, finish, common, suitable, effort, apprehend, deeply, claim (inquire), suggestion, help.
7. Say the following statements in your own words.
1. A week of heavy reading had passed.
2. Nothing remained for Martin but to read.
3. His head would be whirling with the conflict and contra-diction of ideas.
4. Ruth’s woman’s eye took in the slight but indefinable change in Martin for the better.
5. His voice died away.
6. He feared he had made a fool of himself.
7. Martin read voraciously the books that caught his fancy.
8. A man with a will may rise superior to his environment.
9. She could not guess that this man who had come from beyond her horizon had wider and deeper concepts than her own.
8. Explain and expand on the following.
1. Martin was afraid of making a blunder.
2. He attempted to read books that required years of preliminary specialisation.
3. Once Ruth and Martin were seated in the drawing-room he began to get on easily.
4. Martin feared he had made a fool of himself.
5. Ruth thought Martin needed to realise himself.
6. Martin’s grammar was awful.
7. Ruth’s interest in Martin increased.
8. Ruth dreamed of helping Martin to see as she saw.
9. Answer the following questions.
1. Why didn’t Martin call Ruth?
2. Why did it seem to Martin that he had lived centuries?
3. What kind of books did he read?
4. What advice did the librarian give Eden?
5. What change in Martin did Ruth feel?
6. What did they speak about?
7. What did Martin tell Ruth?
8. What was Martin’s origin?
9. What lesson did Ruth teach Martin?
10. What story did Ruth tell Martin?
11. Why was Eden dissatisfied with Mr. Butler’s career?
10. Correct the statements.
1. Martin could not get rid of his old companions.
2. Reading did not change his life at all.
3. The librarian was very annoyed when he saw Eden in the library every day.
4. Ruth guessed that Martin had not changed a bit.
5. Martin irritated Ruth.
6. Martin descended from a noble family.
7. Martin did not want to learn proper English.
8. Martin was fascinated with Mr. Butler’s career.
9. Ruth guessed that Martin was wiser than she was.
11. Develop the following statements.
1. A week of heavy reading had passed.
2. It seemed to Martin that he had lived centuries.
3. The librarian paid attention to Eden.
4. Ruth saw that Martin had changed for the better.
5. Martin wanted to turn to Ruth for advice.
6. Martin’s voice died away.
7. Ruth taught him to speak correctly.
8. Martin increased the remodelling of his life.
9. Martin was dissatisfied with Mr. Butler’s career.
12. Retell the chapter from the persons of Martin Eden, Ruth.
Chapter IV
Back from sea Martin Eden came, homing for California.
When his store of money was exhausted, he had shipped on a treasure-hunting schooner; and after eight months of failure to find treasure, the expedition had broken up.
The men had been paid off in Australia, and Martin had immediately returned to San Francisco. Not only had those eight months earned him enough money to stay on land for many weeks, but they had enabled him to do a great deal of studying and reading.
He went through the grammar he had taken again and again, until his brain had mastered it. He noticed the bad grammar used by his shipmates. Now a double negative jarred him like a discord.
After he had mastered the grammar book, he took up the dictionary, and added twenty words a day to his vocabulary. He found that this was no light task, and at wheel or lookout he steadily went over and over his lengthening list of pronunciations and definitions.
The captain of the schooner had somehow fallen into possession of a complete Shakespeare, which he never read, and Martin had washed his clothes for him, and in return he had been permitted access to the precious volumes.
The eight months had been well spent, and, in addition to what he had learned of right speaking and high thinking, he had learned much of himself. Along with his humbleness, because he knew so little, there arose a conviction of power. He decided that he would describe many of the bits of South Sea beauty to Ruth. The creative spirit in him flamed up and then came the great idea. He would write. He would be one of the eyes through which the world saw, one of the ears through which it heard, one of the hearts through which it felt. He would write – everything – poetry and prose, fiction and description, and plays like Shakespeare. There was career and the way to win Ruth. The men of literature were the world’s giants and he conceived them to be far finer than the Mr. Butlers who earned thirty thousand a year.
Once the idea had germinated, it mastered him, and the return voyage to San Francisco was like a dream. To write! The thought was fire in him. He would begin as soon as he got back. The first thing he would do would be to describe the voyage of the treasure-hunters. He would sell it to some San Francisco newspaper. He would not tell Ruth anything about it, and she would be surprised and pleased when she saw his name in print. While he wrote he could go on studying. There were twenty-four hours in each day. He knew how to work, and the citadels would go down before him. Of course, he cautioned himself, it would be hard at first, and for a time he would be content to earn enough money by his writing to enable him to go on studying. And then, after some time – a very indeterminate time – when he had learned and prepared himself, he would write the great things, and his name would be on all men’s lips. But, greater than that – infinitely greater and greatest of all – he would have proved himself worthy of Ruth. Fame was all very well, but it was for Ruth that this splendid dream arose.
When he returned to Oakland, he took up his old room at Bernard Higginbotham’s and set to work. He did not even let Ruth know he was back. He would go and see her when he finished the article on the treasure-hunters. Three days, at white heat, completed his narrative, but when he had copied it carefully, in a large scrawl that was easy to read, he learned from a rhetoric he had picked up in the library that there were such things as paragraphs and quotation marks. He had never thought of such things before, and he promptly set to work writing the article over, referring continually to the pages of the rhetoric, and learning more in a day about composition than the average schoolboy in a year. When he had copied the article a second time and rolled it up carefully, he read in a newspaper an item on hints to beginners, and discovered the iron law that manuscripts should never be rolled, and that they should be written on one side of the paper. Also, he learned from the item that first-class papers paid a minimum of ten dollars a column. So, while he copied the manuscript a third time, he consoled himself by multiplying ten columns by ten dollars. The product was always the same – one hundred dollars – and he decided that that was better than seafaring. One hundred dollars in three days! It would have taken him three months and longer on the sea to earn a similar amount. A man was a fool to go to sea when he could write, he concluded, though the money in itself meant nothing to him. Its value was in the liberty it would get him, the clothes it would buy him, all of which would bring him nearer – swiftly nearer – to the slender, pale girl who had turned his life back upon itself and given him inspiration.
He mailed the manuscript in a flat envelope, and addressed it to the editor of the San Francisco Examiner. He had an idea that anything accepted by a paper was published immediately, and as he had sent the manuscript in on Friday he expected it to come out on the following Sunday.
A week went by and then another week. His article was not yet published. He concluded that he had been wrong about the speed with which things found their way into newspaper columns. Besides, there had not been any news value in his article, and most likely the editor would write to him about it first.
In the meantime he worked at a serial story for boys. The words flowed from his pen, though he broke off from the writing frequently to look up definitions in the dictionary or to refer to the rhetoric. He often read or re-read a chapter at a time during such pauses; and he consoled himself that while he was not writing the great things he felt to be in him, he was learning composition, at any rate, and training himself to express his thoughts. He toiled on till dark, when he went out to the reading-room and explored magazines and weeklies until the place closed at ten o’clock. This was his programme for a week. One thing was certain. What the multitudinous writers did he could do, and only give him time, and he would do what they could not do.
On Friday night he finished the serial – twenty-one thousand words long. At two cents a word, he calculated, that would bring him four hundred and twenty dollars – not a bad week’s work. It was more money than he had ever possessed at one time. He did not know how he could spend it all. He planned to buy some more clothes, to subscribe to many magazines, and to buy dozens of reference-books. And still there was a large portion of the four hundred and twenty dollars unspent. This worried him until the thought came to him of hiring a servant for Gertrude and of buying a bicycle for Marian, his younger sister.