Go along an get your breakfast, she said roughly, though secretly pleased. He had always been her favourite.
Martin had his breakfast in the kitchen, then went downstairs and out into the street, breathing great breaths of air.
He decided to visit the Oakland Library, because Ruth lived in Oakland. Who could tell? A library was a most likely place for her, and he might see her there. He did not know the way of libraries, and he wandered through endless rows of books. He had heard of book philosophy, but had not imagined there had been so much written about it. He found books on trigonometry in the mathematics section, and ran through the pages staring at the meaningless formulas and figures. From every side the books seemed to press upon him and crush him. He had never dreamed that the fund of human knowledge bulked so big. He was frightened. How could his brain ever master it all? Later, he remembered that there were other men, many men, who had mastered it; and he swore that his brain could do what theirs had done. No more of the sea for him. There was power in all that wealth of books, and if he would do great things he must do them on the land.
Noon came, and afternoon. He forgot to eat, and searched for the books on etiquette; for his mind was troubled by a simple and very concrete problem. When you meet a young lady, and she asks you to call, how soon can you call? But he sought vainly for the answer. He abandoned his search. He had not found what he wanted though he had discovered that he would have to learn how to be polite.
Did you find what you wanted? the man at the desk asked him as he was leaving.
Yes, sir, he answered. You have a fine library here.
The man nodded. We should be glad to see you here often. Are you a sailor?
Yes, sir, he answered. And Ill come again.
Now how did he know that? he asked himself, as he went down the stairs.
of several glasses of beer. With four cards permitting him to draw books, he burned the gas late in the servants room, and was charged fifty cents a week for it by Mr. Higginbotham, his sisters husband.
He bought a dictionary and many different books.
He dared not go near Ruths neighbourhood in the daytime, but night found him lurking like a thief around the Morse home, stealing glimpses at the windows. One afternoon he saw her mother coming out of a bank, and received another proof of the enormous distance that separated Ruth from him. She was of the class that dealt with banks. He had never been inside a bank in his life, and he had an idea that such institutions were frequented only by the very rich and the very powerful.
In one way he had undergone a moral revolution. He must be clean if he wished to be worthy of breathing the same air with Ruth. He washed his teeth, and scrubbed his hands with a kitchen scrub-brush, till he saw a nail-brush in a drug-store window. He swiftly noted the difference between the baggy knees of the trousers worn by the working-class, and the straight line from knee to foot of those worn by the men above the working-class. Also, he learned the reason why, and invaded his sisters kitchen in search of irons and ironing-board. He had misadventure at first, hopelessly burning one pair and buying another with what little money he still had.
But the reform went deeper than mere outward appearance. He still smoked, but he drank no more. Up to that time, drinking had seemed to him the proper thing for men to do, and he had prided himself on his strong head. But now the need for strong drink had vanished. He was drunken in new and more profound ways with Ruth, who had fired him with love, with books and with the sense of personal cleanliness.
Exercises
1. Listen to the chapter with your book closed and put the statements in the correct order.1. Martin spent hours on end in the servants room reading.2. Learn the words from the text:2. The books in the library pressed upon Martin and crushed him.
3. Martins dwelling differed much from Ruths home.
4. Ruth had fired with love.
5. Martin liked his sister and nephew.
6. Martin did not exactly know how to behave in the company of such a girl as Ruth was.
7. Martin thought the library was a most lovely place for Ruth.
exclamation, irritation, aware, repulsive, mean, soothe, value, affectionate, crush, swear, vain, abandon, consent, obtain, dare, undergo, misadventure, vanish.3. Complete the sentences using the words from the text. Make the changes where necessary.
1. He did not .......... say what he thought.4. Choose a word to match the following definitions.2. The newspaper reports of scandals are a constant source of .......... for the president.
3. The magician .......... in a puff of smoke.
4. They are .......... of dangers.
5. His mother .......... abandoned him when he was five years old.
6. What a .......... man.
7. The winner will receive a prize to the .......... of 10,000.
8. Dont be so .......... to your little brother.
9. She was doing her best to .......... her crying baby.