The Wouldbegoods: Being the Further Adventures of the Treasure Seekers by E. Nesbit (best books to read TXT) š
- Author: E. Nesbit
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āDonāt ye do it, miss,ā he said eagerly; ānever waste good liquor on washing.ā
The glass was beside us on the wall. Oswald filled it with ginger-beer and handed down the foaming tankard to the tramp. He had to lie on his young stomach to do this.
The tramp was really quite politeāone of Natureās gentlemen, and a man as well, we found out afterwards. He saidā
āHereās to you!ā before he drank. Then he drained the glass till the rim rested on his nose.
āSwelp me, but I WAS dry,ā he said. āDonāt seem to matter much what it is, this weather, do it?āso long as itās suthink wet. Well, hereās thanking you.ā
āYouāre very welcome,ā said Dora; āIām glad you liked it.ā
āLike it?āāsaid he. āI donāt suppose you know what itās like to have a thirst on you. Talk of free schools and free libraries, and free baths and wash-houses and such! Why donāt someone start free DRINKS? Heād be a āero, he would. Iād vote for him any day of the week and one over. Ef yer donāt objec Iāll set down a bit and put on a pipe.ā
He sat down on the grass and began to smoke. We asked him questions about himself, and he told us many of his secret sorrowsāespecially about there being no work nowadays for an honest man. At last he dropped asleep in the middle of a story about a vestry he worked for that hadnāt acted fair and square by him like he had by them, or it (I donāt know if vestry is singular or plural), and we went home. But before we went we held a hurried council and collected what money we could from the little we had with us (it was ninepence-halfpenny), and wrapped it in an old envelope Dicky had in his pocket and put it gently on the billowing middle of the poor trampās sleeping waistcoat, so that he would find it when he woke. None of the dogs said a single syllable while we were doing this, so we knew they believed him to be poor but honest, and we always find it safe to take their word for things like that.
As we went home a brooding silence fell upon us; we found out afterwards that those words of the poor trampās about free drinks had sunk deep in all our hearts, and rankled there.
After dinner we went out and sat with our feet in the stream. People tell you it makes your grub disagree with you to do this just after meals, but it never hurts us. There is a fallen willow across the stream that just seats the eight of us, only the ones at the end canāt get their feet into the water properly because of the bushes, so we keep changing places. We had got some liquorice root to chew. This helps thought. Dora broke a peaceful silence with this speechā
āFree drinks.ā
The words awoke a response in every breast.
āI wonder someone doesnāt,ā H. O. said, leaning back till he nearly toppled in, and was only saved by Oswald and Alice at their own deadly peril.
āDo for goodness sake sit still, H. O.,ā observed Alice. āIt would be a glorious act! I wish WE could.ā
āWhat, sit still?ā asked H. O.
āNo, my child,ā replied Oswald, āmost of us can do that when we try. Your angel sister was only wishing to set up free drinks for the poor and thirsty.ā
āNot for all of them,ā Alice said, ājust a few. Change places now, Dicky. My feet arenāt properly wet at all.ā
It is very difficult to change places safely on the willow. The changers have to crawl over the laps of the others, while the rest sit tight and hold on for all theyāre worth. But the hard task was accomplished and then Alice went onā
āAnd we couldnāt do it for always, only a day or twoājust while our money held out. Eiffel Tower lemonadeās the best, and you get a jolly lot of it for your money too. There must be a great many sincerely thirsty persons go along the Dover Road every day.ā
āIt wouldnāt be bad. Weāve got a little chink between us,ā said Oswald.
āAnd then think how the poor grateful creatures would linger and tell us about their inmost sorrows. It would be most frightfully interesting. We could write all their agonied life histories down afterwards like All the Year Round Christmas numbers. Oh, do letās!ā
Alice was wriggling so with earnestness that Dicky thumped her to make her calm.
āWe might do it, just for one day,ā Oswald said, ābut it wouldnāt be muchāonly a drop in the ocean compared with the enormous dryness of all the people in the whole world. Still, every little helps, as the mermaid said when she cried into the sea.ā
āI know a piece of poetry about that,ā Denny said.
āSmall things are best. Care and unrest To wealth and rank are given, But little things On little wingsādo something or other, I forget what, but it means the same as Oswald was saying about the mermaid.ā
āWhat are you going to call it?ā asked Noel, coming out of a dream.
āCall what?ā
āThe Free Drinks game.ā
āItās a horrid shame If the Free Drinks game Doesnāt have a name. You would be to blame If anyone came AndāāāOh, shut up!ā remarked Dicky. āYouāve been making that rot up all the time weāve been talking instead of listening properly.ā Dicky hates poetry. I donāt mind it so very much myself, especially Macaulayās and Kiplingās and Noelās.
āThere was a lot moreāālameā and ādameā and ānameā and āgameā and thingsāand now Iāve forgotten it,ā Noel said in gloom.
āNever mind,ā Alice answered, āitāll come back to you in the silent watches of the night; you see if it doesnāt. But really, Noelās right, it OUGHT to have a name.ā
āFree Drinks Company.ā āThirsty Travellersā Rest.ā āThe Travellersā Joy.ā
These names were suggested, but not cared for extra.
Then someone saidāI think it was OswaldāāWhy not āThe House Beautifulā?ā
āIt canāt be a house, it must be in the road. Itāll only be a stall.ā
āThe āStall Beautifulā is simply silly,ā Oswald said.
āThe āBar Beautifulā then,ā said Dicky, who knows what the āRose and Crownā bar is like inside, which of course is hidden from girls.
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