Roughing It by Mark Twain (large screen ebook reader .txt) đ
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When Orion Clemens is appointed Secretary of the Nevada Territory, his brother Samuel Clemens, better known by his pen name Mark Twain, joins him on his journey west. Together with their all-important six pounds of Unabridged Dictionary they make their way to Nevada in a six-horsed mail coach and are, of course, derailed by all sorts of problems.
In Roughing It Twain combines the beautiful descriptions of the Westâs idyllic landscape with his now-patented sense of humor. He joins the silver and gold mining scramble, begins his career as a writer working for different newspapers and journals, visits the Mormons of Salt Lake City, and even makes his way to Hawaii, then still known as the Sandwich Islands.
Roughing It was written as a prequel to his earlier travelogue The Innocents Abroad.
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- Author: Mark Twain
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There were two menâ âhowever, this chapter is long enough.
XXXIThere were two men in the company who caused me particular discomfort. One was a little Swede, about twenty-five years old, who knew only one song, and he was forever singing it. By day we were all crowded into one small, stifling barroom, and so there was no escaping this personâs music. Through all the profanity, whisky-guzzling, âold sledgeâ and quarreling, his monotonous song meandered with never a variation in its tiresome sameness, and it seemed to me, at last, that I would be content to die, in order to be rid of the torture. The other man was a stalwart ruffian called âArkansas,â who carried two revolvers in his belt and a bowie knife projecting from his boot, and who was always drunk and always suffering for a fight. But he was so feared, that nobody would accommodate him. He would try all manner of little wary ruses to entrap somebody into an offensive remark, and his face would light up now and then when he fancied he was fairly on the scent of a fight, but invariably his victim would elude his toils and then he would show a disappointment that was almost pathetic. The landlord, Johnson, was a meek, well-meaning fellow, and Arkansas fastened on him early, as a promising subject, and gave him no rest day or night, for awhile. On the fourth morning, Arkansas got drunk and sat himself down to wait for an opportunity. Presently Johnson came in, just comfortably sociable with whisky, and said:
âI reckon the Pennsylvania âlectionâ ââ
Arkansas raised his finger impressively and Johnson stopped. Arkansas rose unsteadily and confronted him. Said he:
âWha-what do you know a-about Pennsylvania? Answer me that. Wha-what do you know âbout Pennsylvania?â
âI was only goinâ to sayâ ââ
âYou was only goinâ to say. You was! You was only goinâ to sayâ âwhat was you goinâ to say? Thatâs it! Thatâs what I want to know. I want to know whaâ âwhat you (âic) what you know about Pennsylvania, since youâre makinâ yourself so dâ âd free. Answer me that!â
âMr. Arkansas, if youâd only let meâ ââ
âWhoâs a henderinâ you? Donât you insinuate nothing agin me!â âdonât you do it. Donât you come in here bullyinâ around, and cussinâ and goinâ on like a lunaticâ âdonât you do it. âCoz I wonât stand it. If fightâs what you want, out with it! Iâm your man! Out with it!â
Said Johnson, backing into a corner, Arkansas following, menacingly:
âWhy, I never said nothing, Mr. Arkansas. You donât give a man no chance. I was only goinâ to say that Pennsylvania was goinâ to have an election next weekâ âthat was allâ âthat was everything I was goinâ to sayâ âI wish I may never stir if it wasnât.â
âWell then why dânât you say it? What did you come swellinâ around that way for, and tryinâ to raise trouble?â
âWhy I didnât come swellinâ around, Mr. Arkansasâ âI justâ ââ
âIâm a liar am I! Ger-reat Caesarâs ghostâ ââ
âOh, please, Mr. Arkansas, I never meant such a thing as that, I wish I may die if I did. All the boys will tell you that Iâve always spoke well of you, and respected you moreân any man in the house. Ask Smith. Ainât it so, Smith? Didnât I say, no longer ago than last night, that for a man that was a gentleman all the time and every way you took him, give me Arkansas? Iâll leave it to any gentleman here if them warnât the very words I used. Come, now, Mr. Arkansas, leâs take a drinkâ âleâs shake hands and take a drink. Come upâ âeverybody! Itâs my treat. Come up, Bill, Tom, Bob, Scottyâ âcome up. I want you all to take a drink with me and Arkansasâ âold Arkansas, I call himâ âbully old Arkansas. Gimme your hand agin. Look at him, boysâ âjust take a look at him. Thar stands the whitest man in America!â âand the man that denies it has got to fight me, thatâs all. Gimme that old flipper agin!â
They embraced, with drunken affection on the landlordâs part and unresponsive toleration on the part of Arkansas, who, bribed by a drink, was disappointed of his prey once more. But the foolish landlord was so happy to have escaped butchery, that he went on talking when he ought to have marched himself out of danger. The consequence was that Arkansas shortly began to glower upon him dangerously, and presently said:
âLanâlord, will you p-please make that remark over agin if you please?â
âI was a-sayinâ to Scotty that my father was upâards of eighty year old when he died.â
âWas that all that you said?â
âYes, that was all.â
âDidnât say nothing but that?â
âNoâ ânothing.â
Then an uncomfortable silence.
Arkansas played with his glass a moment, lolling on his elbows on the counter. Then he meditatively scratched his left shin with his right boot, while the awkward silence continued. But presently he loafed away toward the stove, looking dissatisfied; roughly shouldered two or three men out of a comfortable position; occupied it himself, gave a sleeping dog a kick that sent him howling under a bench, then spread his long legs and his blanket-coat tails apart and proceeded to warm his back. In a little while he fell to grumbling to himself, and soon he slouched back to the bar and said:
âLanâlord, whatâs your idea for rakinâ up old personalities and blowinâ about your father? Ainât this company agreeable to you? Ainât it? If this company ainât agreeable to you, pârâaps weâd better leave. Is that your idea? Is that what youâre coming at?â
âWhy bless your soul, Arkansas, I warnât thinking of such a thing. My father and my motherâ ââ
âLanâlord, donât crowd a man! Donât do it. If nothingâll do you but a disturbance, out with it like a man (âic)â âbut donât rake up old bygones and flingâem in the teeth of a passel of people that wants to
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