Page 14 - English Class 06

He took out all the things that he had in his pockets. He had some marbles, some pieces

of string and two or three broken toys.
“No one will whitewash the fence for these”, he thought.

“No. I must think of a better plan.” He thought and thought. Soon he had an idea.

He picked up his brush again and began working hard. Ben Rogers was coming down the
street. Tom pretended not to see him. He worked harder than ever. Ben was eating an apple.
He looked very happy. He was pretending that he was a big ship and he was rolling like one.

He was giving orders in a loud voice and the ship was obeying him. He came up to Tom. He
rubbed his eyes. “Why, Tom”, he cried in great surprise. “You’re working.”

Tom said nothing. He went on his whitewashing. He looked very interested in his work.
“Tom, you’re working”, Ben repeated.

“Oh, it’s you, Ben, I didn’t notice you.”

“I am just going for a swim. You don’t want to come, do you? You like working,
don’t you?”
string : cord
“This isn’t work”, Tom said quietly and he went on whitewashing. spoil : ruin
went on : continued
“Not work!”, Ben exclaimed.

“Oh, no, I like it. Whitewashing is fun. You’ve never whitewashed a fence, have you?”
For a time, Ben stood there watching Tom. Tom paid no attention to him. All his

attention was given to his work. At last Ben said, “Let me whitewash a little.”
“Oh, no, Ben. I’m going to make this fence look fine. I’ve promised Aunt Polly. Besides,

it’s interesting.”

“Let me do just a little”, begged Ben.
“No, I’m sorry, Ben, but I can’t. Aunt said that I must do it myself. If you do it, you’ll
make a mistake. You’ll spoil everything. It’s looking so nice now.”

“I shalln’t make a mistake. I’ll be careful. You can have my apple if you let me.”

Slowly and unwillingly Tom handed the brush to Ben. Ben worked hard. He soon grew
hot, but he went on working. Tom sat there , watching and eating Ben s apple.’

When Ben had done enough, other boys came along. At first, they laughed at Tom as
Ben had done. But, soon they were whitewashing the fence. Of course, they had to pay Tom

before he let them help him. They gave him their best things – twelve marbles, a tiny
soldier, a key, a dog’s collar, the handle of a knife and four pieces of orange. Tom had an easy
time. He did not work but soon the fence had three coats of whitewash on it.

English-6 14