Within two minutes, or even less, he had forgotten all his troubles. Not because
his troubles were one whit less heavy and bitter to him than a man's are to
a man, but because a new and powerful interest bore them down and drove them
out of his mind for the time -- just as men's misfortunes are forgotten in the
excitement of new enterprises. This new interest was a valued novelty in whistling,
which he had just acquired from a negro, and he was suffering to practice it
undisturbed. It consisted in a peculiar bird-like turn, a sort of liquid warble,
produced by touching the tongue to the roof of the mouth at short intervals
in the midst of the music -- the reader probably remembers how to do it, if
he has ever been a boy. Diligence and attention soon gave him the knack of it,
and he strode down the street with his mouth full of harmony and his soul full
of gratitude. He felt much as an astronomer feels who has discovered a new planet--no
doubt, as far as strong, deep, unalloyed pleasure is concerned, the advantage
was with the boy, not the astronomer.
-The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Photo by Dave
Thomson, 2005
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