Tom s'uní a la nova orde d'Infants de la Temperança, atret pel caràcter ostentós de llurs insígnies. Prometé abstenir-se de fumar, de mastegar tabac, i de tota profanitat, mentre en fos membre. Aleshores descobrí una cosa nova, és a dir, que el prometre de no fer una cosa és la més segura via que hi hagi al món perquè un hom desitgi de fer-la. Tom es sentí ben d'hora torturat pel desig de beure i de renegar. El desig esdevingué tan intens, que solament l'esperança d'exhibir-se amb el seu cinyell vermell l'aturà de retirar-se de l'orde. El quatre de juliol s'acostava, però aviat deixà de recórrer-hi amb el pensament (deixà de pensar-hi abans que hagués usat per quaranta vuit hores les seves cadenes), i fixà les seves esperances en el vell jutge de pau Frazer, que es trobava aparentment en son llit de mort i tindria uns grans funerals públics, ja que fou tan enlairat funcionari. Per espai de tres dies Tom es mostrà preocupat en gran manera de l'estat del jutge i àvid de notícies seves. En certs moments ses esperances prosperaren: prosperaren tant, que n'hi havia per arriscar-se a treure les insígnies i practicar-se al mirall. Però el jutge tenia una manera de fluctuar verament descoratjadora. A la fi es decidí per la milloria, i després per la convalescència. Tom n'estava fastiguejat, i experimentava la sensació de sofrir-ne perjudici. Remeté la seva dimissió immediatament; i aquella nit el jutge sofrí una recaiguda i finà. Tom resolgué que mai més no es tornaria a refiar d'un home així.
TOM joined the new order of Cadets of Temperance, being attracted by the showy character of their "regalia." He promised to abstain from smoking, chewing, and profanity as long as he remained a member. Now he found out a new thing--namely, that to promise not to do a thing is the surest way in the world to make a body want to go and do that very thing. Tom soon found himself tormented with a desire to drink and swear; the desire grew to be so intense that nothing but the hope of a chance to display himself in his red sash kept him from withdrawing from the order. Fourth of July was coming; but he soon gave that up--gave it up before he had worn his shackles over forty-eight hours--and fixed his hopes upon old Judge Frazer, justice of the peace, who was apparently on his deathbed and would have a big public funeral, since he was so high an official. During three days Tom was deeply concerned about the Judge's condition and hungry for news of it. Sometimes his hopes ran high--so high that he would venture to get out his regalia and practise before the looking-glass. But the Judge had a most discouraging way of fluctuating. At last he was pronounced upon the mend--and then convalescent. Tom was disgusted; and felt a sense of injury, too. He handed in his resignation at once--and that night the Judge suffered a relapse and died. Tom resolved that he would never trust a man like that again.
Els funerals foren bella cosa. Els Infants de la Temperança maniobraren en un estil calculat per corsecar l'ex-membre d'enveja. Tom era altra vegada un noi lliure, tanmateix; i això era alguna cosa. Podria beure i jurar, ara; però trobà, amb sorpresa seva, que no en tenia ganes. El simple detall de poder-ho fer se'n dugué el desig, i l'encant de la cosa.
The funeral was a fine thing. The Cadets paraded in a style calculated to kill the late member with envy. Tom was a free boy again, however--there was something in that. He could drink and swear, now--but found to his surprise that he did not want to. The simple fact that he could, took the desire away, and the charm of it.
Tom s'estranyà, ben aviat, de veure que les seves cobejades vacances començaven de pesar-li una mica feixugament.
Tom presently wondered to find that his coveted vacation was beginning to hang a little heavily on his hands.
Intentà un diari, però no passà res per espai de tres dies: així és que ho deixà córrer.
He attempted a diary--but nothing happened during three days, and so he abandoned it.
La primera de totes les companyies de minstrels (1) negres arribà al poblet, i féu sensació. Tom i Joe Harper organitzaren una partida de còmics, i foren feliços dos dies.
The first of all the negro minstrel shows came to town, and made a sensation. Tom and Joe Harper got up a band of performers and were happy for two days.
Fins i tot el Gloriós Quatre fou, en cert sentit, una fallida, perquè plogué de valent: no hi hagué, doncs, comitiva, i l'home més gran del món (segons Tom suposava), el senyor Benton, un autèntic senador dels Estats Units, resultà una aclaparadora decepció, perquè no tenia vint-i-cinc peus d'altura, ni els mils.
Even the Glorious Fourth was in some sense a failure, for it rained hard, there was no procession in consequence, and the greatest man in the world (as Tom supposed), Mr. Benton, an actual United States Senator, proved an overwhelming disappointment--for he was not twenty-five feet high, nor even anywhere in the neighborhood of it.
Vingué un circ. Els minyons jugaren a circ els tres dies següents, en tendes fetes d'estores (essent l'entrada de tres agulles per als minyons i dues per a les noies); i en acabat hom abandonà les performances del circ.
A circus came. The boys played circus for three days afterward in tents made of rag carpeting--admission, three pins for boys, two for girls--and then circusing was abandoned.
Vingueren un frenòleg i un hipnotizador; i se'n tornaren, i deixaren el poblet més ensopit i més trist que mai.
A phrenologist and a mesmerizer came--and went again and left the village duller and drearier than ever.
Hi hagué algunes forades de nois i noies; però eren tan escasses i delitoses, que només aconseguien que els buids dolorosos d'entremig dolguessin més.
There were some boys-and-girls' parties, but they were so few and so delightful that they only made the aching voids between ache the harder.
Becky Thatcher se n'havia anat a la seva casa de Constantinoble, a romandre amb sos pares durant les vacances: així és que la vida no mostrava per enlloc un caire brillant.
Becky Thatcher was gone to her Constantinople home to stay with her parents during vacation--so there was no bright side to life anywhere.
El paorós secret de l'assassinat era una malaltia crònica. Era un veritable càncer per la seva permanència i pel mal que feia.
The dreadful secret of the murder was a chronic misery. It was a very cancer for permanency and pain.
Després vingué el xarampió.
Then came the measles.
Durant dues llargues setmanes Tom jagué presoner, mort al món i a sos esdeveniments. Estava molt malalt: res no l'interessava. Quan pogué, a la fi, llevar-se, i avençà dèbilment poble avall, una trasmudança melangiosa s'havia produït en tota cosa i en tota criatura. Hi havia hagut una revifalla (2), i tothom s'havia tornat religiós, no solament els adultes, sinó fins i tot els minyons, i les noies. Tom donà una volta esperant, contra tota esperança, de trobar una benaurada cara pecadora; però a tot arreu l'amargava la decepció. Trobà Joe Harper estudiant un Nou Testament, i retirà tristament la faç d'aquest espectacle mortificador. Cercà Ben Rogers, i el trobà visitant els pobres amb una canastrella amb fascicles de propaganda. Percaçà Jim Hollis, el qual cridà la seva atenció envers la benedicció preadíssima de son darrer xarampió, que era un advertiment. Cada noi que topava afegia un nou pes a la seva depressió. I quan, desesperat, corregué finalment a refugiar-se en el sí de Huckleberry Finn, i hi fou rebut amb una cita de les Escriptures, es ficà a casa i al llit, dant-se compte que només ell en tota la ciutat estava perdut per a sempre, per a sempre més.
During two long weeks Tom lay a prisoner, dead to the world and its happenings. He was very ill, he was interested in nothing. When he got upon his feet at last and moved feebly downtown, a melancholy change had come over everything and every creature. There had been a "revival," and everybody had "got religion," not only the adults, but even the boys and girls. Tom went about, hoping against hope for the sight of one blessed sinful face, but disappointment crossed him everywhere. He found Joe Harper studying a Testament, and turned sadly away from the depressing spectacle. He sought Ben Rogers, and found him visiting the poor with a basket of tracts. He hunted up Jim Hollis, who called his attention to the precious blessing of his late measles as a warning. Every boy he encountered added another ton to his depression; and when, in desperation, he flew for refuge at last to the bosom of Huckleberry Finn and was received with a Scriptural quotation, his heart broke and he crept home and to bed realizing that he alone of all the town was lost, forever and forever.
I aquella nit hi hagué una tempesta terrorífica, amb xàfec, paorós enrenou de trons i enlluernadores vetes de llampecs. Cobrí son cap amb els llençols i esperà amb una horrible espectació el seu destí, perquè no tenia l'ombra d'un dubte que tot aquell daltabaix anava per a ell. Cregué que havia carregat la clemència dels poders celestials amb un feix que ultrapassava el seu marge de tolerància, i que aquelles n'eren les resultes. Li hauria semblat un excés de pompa i de municions de matar una xinxa amb una bateria de canons; però no trobava res d'incongruent en esmerçar una tamborinada com aquella per sacsejar l'herba sota un insecte com ell.
And that night there came on a terrific storm, with driving rain, awful claps of thunder and blinding sheets of lightning. He covered his head with the bedclothes and waited in a horror of suspense for his doom; for he had not the shadow of a doubt that all this hubbub was about him. He believed he had taxed the forbearance of the powers above to the extremity of endurance and that this was the result. It might have seemed to him a waste of pomp and ammunition to kill a bug with a battery of artillery, but there seemed nothing incongruous about the getting up such an expensive thunderstorm as this to knock the turf from under an insect like himself.
Al cap de poc la tempesta s'exhaurí, i finà sense haver complert el seu objecte. El primer impuls del minyó fou de mostrar-se agraït i reformar-se. El seu segon impuls fou d'esperar; perquè potser no hi hauria més tempestes.
By and by the tempest spent itself and died without accomplishing its object. The boy's first impulse was to be grateful, and reform. His second was to wait--for there might not be any more storms.
Al dia següent els metges tornaren. Tom havia recaigut. Les tres setmanes que aquesta vegada passà de cara al cel, li semblaren un segle. Quan, al capdavall, pogué eixir, amb prou feines agraïa l'haver-se salvat, tot recordant quant soliu restava, mancat de companyons i abandonat. Baixà tot distret el carrer, i trobà Jim Hollis fent de jutge en un jovenívol tribunal que sentenciava a un gat, per assassí, en presència de la seva víctima, un ocell. Trobà Joe Harper i Huck Finn que pujaven per un carreró tot menjant-se un meló robat. Pobres minyons! Ells, igual que Tom, havien sofert una recaiguda!
The next day the doctors were back; Tom had relapsed. The three weeks he spent on his back this time seemed an entire age. When he got abroad at last he was hardly grateful that he had been spared, remembering how lonely was his estate, how companionless and forlorn he was. He drifted listlessly down the street and found Jim Hollis acting as judge in a juvenile court that was trying a cat for murder, in the presence of her victim, a bird. He found Joe Harper and Huck Finn up an alley eating a stolen melon. Poor lads! they--like Tom--had suffered a relapse.