{"id":"01KG2TSH3WFKMPV41N7AVRHVYA","cid":"bafkreieta2o3nhowjhwx6xm6encw4anaqgycxuzonjboz376jsbhgk7qhq","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":759,"extracted_at":"2026-01-28T17:35:34.175Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KG2T4RHC4E1XKJ12BJRXE8E8","start_line":644,"text":"carried white thread and the other black. He said:\r\n\r\n“She’d never noticed if it hadn’t been for Sid. Confound it! sometimes\r\nshe sews it with white, and sometimes she sews it with black. I wish to\r\ngee-miny she’d stick to one or t’other—I can’t keep the run of ’em. But\r\nI bet you I’ll lam Sid for that. I’ll learn him!”\r\n\r\nHe was not the Model Boy of the village. He knew the model boy very well\r\nthough—and loathed him.\r\n\r\nWithin two minutes, or even less, he had forgotten all his troubles. Not\r\nbecause his troubles were one whit less heavy and bitter to him than a\r\nman’s are to a man, but because a new and powerful interest bore\r\nthem down and drove them out of his mind for the time—just as men’s\r\nmisfortunes are forgotten in the excitement of new enterprises. This new\r\ninterest was a valued novelty in whistling, which he had just acquired\r\nfrom a negro, and he was suffering to practise it undisturbed. It\r\nconsisted in a peculiar bird-like turn, a sort of liquid warble,\r\nproduced by touching the tongue to the roof of the mouth at short\r\nintervals in the midst of the music—the reader probably remembers how to\r\ndo it, if he has ever been a boy. Diligence and attention soon gave him\r\nthe knack of it, and he strode down the street with his mouth full of\r\nharmony and his soul full of gratitude. He felt much as an astronomer\r\nfeels who has discovered a new planet—no doubt, as far as strong, deep,\r\nunalloyed pleasure is concerned, the advantage was with the boy, not the\r\nastronomer.\r\n\r\nThe summer evenings were long. It was not dark, yet. Presently Tom\r\nchecked his whistle. A stranger was before him—a boy a shade larger\r\nthan himself. A new-comer of any age or either sex was an impressive\r\ncuriosity in the poor little shabby village of St. Petersburg. This boy\r\nwas well dressed, too—well dressed on a week-day. This was simply\r\nastounding. His cap was a dainty thing, his close-buttoned blue cloth\r\nroundabout was new and natty, and so were his pantaloons. He had shoes\r\non—and it was only Friday. He even wore a necktie, a bright bit of\r\nribbon. He had a citified air about him that ate into Tom’s vitals. The\r\nmore Tom stared at the splendid marvel, the higher he turned up his nose\r\nat his finery and the shabbier and shabbier his own outfit seemed to\r\nhim to grow. Neither boy spoke. If one moved, the other moved—but only\r\nsidewise, in a circle; they kept face to face and eye to eye all the\r\ntime. Finally Tom said:\r\n\r\n“I can lick you!”\r\n\r\n“I’d like to see you try it.”\r\n\r\n“Well, I can do it.”\r\n\r\n“No you can’t, either.”\r\n\r\n“Yes I can.”\r\n\r\n“No you can’t.”\r\n\r\n“I can.”\r\n\r\n“You can’t.”\r\n\r\n“Can!”\r\n\r\n“Can’t!”\r\n\r\nAn uncomfortable pause. Then Tom said:\r\n\r\n“What’s your name?”\r\n\r\n“’Tisn’t any of your business, maybe.”\r\n\r\n“Well I ’low I’ll _make_ it my business.”\r\n\r\n“Well why don’t you?”\r\n\r\n“If you say much, I will.”\r\n\r\n“Much—much—_much_. There now.”\r\n\r\n“Oh, you think you’re mighty smart, _don’t_ you? I could lick you with\r\none hand tied behind me, if I wanted to.”\r\n\r\n“Well why don’t you _do_ it? You _say_ you can do it.”\r\n\r\n“Well I _will_, if you fool with me.”\r\n\r\n“Oh yes—I’ve seen whole families in the same fix.”\r\n\r\n“Smarty! You think you’re _some_, now, _don’t_ you? Oh, what a hat!”\r\n\r\n“You can lump that hat if you don’t like it. I dare you to knock it\r\noff—and anybody that’ll take a dare will suck eggs.”\r\n\r\n“You’re a liar!”\r\n\r\n“You’re another.”\r\n\r\n“You’re a fighting liar and dasn’t take it up.”\r\n\r\n“Aw—take a walk!”\r\n\r\n“Say—if you give me much more of your sass I’ll take and bounce a rock\r\noff’n your head.”\r\n\r\n“Oh, of _course_ you will.”\r\n\r\n“Well I _will_.”\r\n\r\n“Well why don’t you _do_ it then? What do you keep _saying_ you will\r\nfor? Why don’t you _do_ it? It’s because you’re afraid.”\r\n\r\n“I _ain’t_ afraid.”\r\n\r\n“You are.”\r\n\r\n“I ain’t.”\r\n\r\n“You are.”\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 3"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG2TRBQA57AX3MFN3QWW1GSS","peer_label":"CHAPTER I","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG2T4RHC4E1XKJ12BJRXE8E8","peer_label":"tom_sawyer.txt","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG2T49K0H5GDRB0G4YDTPG8H","peer_label":"Test Collection","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG2TSH6KENKZ20MKRC3220K6","peer_label":"Chunk 2","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG2TSH25AE37GWPQ546D5HCR","peer_label":"Chunk 4","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-28T17:35:34.638Z","ts":"2026-01-28T17:35:35.851Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}