Learning English through story Melons by Bret Harte
melons by Bret Hart
as I do not suppose the most gentle of
readers will believe that anybody
sponsors in baptism ever willfully
assumed the responsibility of such a
name I may as well state that I have
reason to infer that melon’s was simply
the nickname of a small boy I once knew
if he had any other I never knew it
various theories were often projected by
me to account for this strange cog
Newman his head which was covered with a
transparent down like that which clothes
very small chickens plainly permitting
the scalp to show through to an
imaginative mind might have suggested
that succulent vegetable that his
parents recognizing some poetical
significance in the fruits of this
season might have given this name to an
august child was an oriental explanation
that from his infancy he was fond of
indulging in melons seemed on the whole
the most likely particularly as fancy
was not bred in mcginnises court he
dawned upon me as melons his proximity
was indicated by shrill youthful voices
as ah melons or playfully high melons or
authoritative li u melons mcginnises
court was a democratic expression of
some obstinate and radical property
holder occupying a limited space between
two fashionable thoroughfares it refused
to conform to circumstances but sturdily
paraded its unkempt glories and
frequently asserted itself in
ungrammatical language my window a rear
room on the ground floor in this way
derived blended light and shadow from
the court so low was the windowsill that
had I been the least disposed to some
novel ism it would have broken out under
such favorable auspices and I should
have haunted mcginnises Court my
speculations as to the origin of the
court were not altogether gratuitous for
by means of this window I once saw the
past as through a glass darkly
it was a celtic shadow that early one
morning obstructed my ancient lights it
seemed to belong to an individual with a
peacoat a stubby pipe and bristling
beard
he was gazing intently at the court
resting on a heavy cane somewhat in the
way that he rose dramatically visit the
scenes of their boyhood as there was
little of architectural beauty in the
court I came to the conclusion that it
was McGinnis looking after his property
the fact that he carefully kicked a
broken bottle out of the road somewhat
strengthened me in the opinion but he
presently walked away and the court knew
him no more
he probably collected his rents by proxy
if he collected them at all beyond
melons of whom all this is purely
introductory there was little to
interest the most sanguine and hopeful
nature in common with all such
localities a great deal of washing was
done in comparison with the visible
results there was always something
whisking on the line and always
something whisking through the court
that looked as if it ought to be there a
fish geranium of all plants kept for the
recreation of mankind certainly the
greatest illusion straggled under the
window through its dusty leaves I caught
the first glance of melons his age was
about seven he looked older from the
venerable whiteness of his head and it
was impossible to conjecture his size as
he always wore clothes apparently
belonging to some shapely youth of
nineteen a bear of pantaloons that when
sustained by a single suspender
completely equipped him formed his
everyday suit how with this lavish
superfluity of clothing he managed to
perform the surprising gymnastic feats
it has been my privilege to witness I
have never been able to tell his turning
the crab and other minor dislocations
were always attended with success it was
not an unusual sight at any hour of the
day to find melons suspended on a line
or to see his venerable head appearing
above the roofs of the outhouses melons
knew the exact height of every fence in
the vicinity its facilities for scaling
and the possibility of seizure on the
other side is more peaceful and quieter
amusements consisted in dragging a
disused boiler by a large string with
hideous out cries two imaginary fires
melons was not
gregarious in his habits a few youth of
his own age sometimes called upon him
but they eventually became abusive and
their visits were more strictly
predatory incursions for old bottles and
junk which formed the staple of
mcginnises court overcome by loneliness
one day melons inveigled a blind Harper
into the court for two hours did that
wretched man prosecute his unhallowed
calling on recompensed and going round
and round the court apparently under the
impression that it was some other place
while melon surveyed him from an
adjoining fence with calm satisfaction
it was this absence of conscientious
motives that brought melons into
disrepute with his aristocratic
neighbors orders were issued that no
child of wealthy and pious parentage
should play with him this mandate as a
matter of course invested melons with a
fascinating interest to them admiring
glances were cast at melons from nursery
windows baby fingers beckoned to him
invitations to tea on wood and pewter
were lisped to him from aristocratic
backyards it was evident he was looked
upon as a pure and Noble being
untrammeled by the conventionalities of
parentage and physically as well as
mentally exalted above them one
afternoon an unusual commotion prevailed
in the vicinity of mcginnises court
looking from my window I saw melons
perched on the roof of a stable pulling
a rope by which one Tommy and infant
scion of an adjacent and wealthy house
was suspended in midair in vain the
female relatives of Tommy congregated in
the backyard expostulated with melons in
vain the unhappy father shook his fist
at him secure in his position melons
redoubled his exertions and at last
landed Tommy on the roof then it was
that the humiliating fact was disclosed
that Tommy had been acting in collusion
with melons he grinned delightedly back
at his parents as if by merit raised to
that bad eminence long before the latter
arrived that was to succor him he became
the sworn ally of melon
and I regret to say incited by the same
audacious boy chafed his own flesh and
blood below him he was eventually taken
though of course melons escaped but
Tommy was restricted to the window after
that and the companionship was limited
to high melons and you Tommy and melons
to all practical purposes lost him
forever
I looked afterward to see some signs of
sorrow on melons as part but in vain he
buried his grief if he had any somewhere
in his one voluminous garment at about
this time my opportunities of knowing
melons became more extended I was
engaged in filling a void in literature
of the Pacific coast as this void was a
pretty large one and as I was informed
that the Pacific Coast languished under
it
I set apart two hours each day to this
work of filling in it was necessary that
I should adopt a methodical system so I
retired from the world and locked myself
in my room at a certain hour each day
after coming from my office I then
carefully drew out my portfolio and read
what I had written the day before this
would suggest some alterations and I
would carefully rewrite it during this
operation I would turn to consult a book
of reference which invariably proved
extremely interesting and attractive it
would generally suggest another and
better method of filling in turning this
method over reflectively in my mind I
would finally commence the new method
which I eventually abandoned for the
original plan at this time I would
become convinced that my exhausted
faculties demanded a cigar the operation
of lighting a cigar usually suggested
that a little quiet reflection and
meditation would be of service to me and
I always allowed myself to be guided by
Prudential instincts eventually seated
by my window as before stated melons
asserted himself though our conversation
rarely went further than hello mr. and
ah melons a vagabond instinct we felt in
common implied a communion deeper than
words in this spiritual commingling the
time past often beguiled by gymnastics
on the fan
soare line always with an eye to my
window until dinner was announced and I
found a more practical void required my
attention an unlooked-for incident drew
us in closer relation a seafaring friend
just from a tropical voyage had
presented me with a bunch of bananas
they were not quite ripe and I hung them
before my window to mature in the son of
mcginnises court who’s forcing qualities
were remarkable in the mysteriously
mingled odors of ship and sure which
they diffused throughout my room there
was lingering reminiscence of low
latitudes but even that joy was fleeting
and evanescent they never reached
maturity coming home one day as I turned
the corner of that fashionable
thoroughfare before alluded to I met a
small boy eating a banana there was
nothing remarkable in that but as I
neared mcginnises Court I presently met
another small boy also eating a banana
a third small boy engaged in a like
occupation of true today painful
coincidence upon my mind I leave the
psychological reader to determine the
exact correlation between the
circumstance and the sickening sense of
loss that overcame me on witnessing it I
reached my room the bananas were gone
there was but one that knew of their
existence but one who frequented my
window but one capable of gymnastic
effort to procure them and that was I
blush to say it melons
melons the depredations de spoiled by
larger boys of his ill-gotten booty or
reckless and indiscreetly liberal melons
now a fugitive on some neighborhood
housetop I lit a cigar and drawing my
chair to the window saw it sir crease of
sorrow in the contemplation of the fish
geranium in a few moments something
white passed my window at about the
level of the edge there was no mistaking
that hoary head which now represented to
me only aged iniquity
it was melons that venerable juvenile
hypocrite he affected not to observe me
and would have withdrawn quietly but
that horrible fascination which causes
the murder
to revisit the scene of his crime
impelled him toward my window I smoked
calmly and gazed at him without speaking
he walked several times up and down the
court with a half rigid half belligerent
expression of eye and shoulder intended
to represent the carelessness of
innocence once or twice he stopped and
putting his arms their whole length into
his capacious trousers gazed with some
interest at the additional width they
thus acquired then he whistled these
singular conflicting conditions of John
Brown’s body and soul were at that time
beginning to attract the attention of
youth and Mellon’s performance of that
melody was always remarkable but today
he whistled falsely and shrilly between
his teeth
at last he met my eye he went slightly
but recovered himself and going to the
fence stood for a few moments on his
hands with his bare feet quivering in
the air then he turned toward me and
threw out a conversational preliminary
phase a circus said melons gravely
hanging with his back to the fence and
his arms twisted around the Palin’s a
circus over yonder indicating the
locality with his foot with horses and
horseback riders there is a man what
rides six horses to wanst six horses to
wanst and nary a saddle he paused in
expectation even this equestrian novelty
did not affect me I still kept a fixed
gaze on melons I and he began to tremble
and visibly shrink in his capacious
garment some other desperate means
conversation with melons was always a
desperate means must be resorted to he
recommenced more artfully Deno carrots
I had a faint remembrance of a boy of
that euphonious name with scarlet hair
who was a playmate and persecutor of
melons but I said nothing carrots is a
bad boy killed a policeman waltzed wears
a Dirk knife in his boots saw him today
looking in your windy I felt that this
must end here I rose sternly and
addressed melons melons this
is all irrelevant and impertinent to the
case you took those bananas your
proposition regarding carrots even if I
were inclined to accept it as credible
information does not alter the material
issue you took those bananas the offence
under these statutes of California is a
felony how far carrots may have been
accessory to the fact either before or
after is not my intention at present to
discuss the act is complete your present
conduct shows the animal fur on day 2
have been equally clear by the time I
had finished this exordium melons had
disappeared as I fully expected he never
reappeared the remorse that I have
experienced for the part I had taken in
what I fear may have resulted in his
utter and complete extermination alas he
may not know except through these pages
for I have never seen him since whether
he ran away and went to sea to reappear
at some future day as the most ancient
of mariners or whether he buried himself
completely in his trousers I never shall
know I have read the papers anxiously
for accounts of him I have gone to the
police office in the vain attempt of
identifying him as a lost child but I
never saw him or heard of him since
strange fears have sometimes crossed my
mind that his venerable appearance may
have been actually the result of
senility and that he may have been
gathered peacefully to his fathers in a
green old age I have even had doubts of
his existence and have sometimes thought
that he was providentially and
mysteriously offered to fill the void I
have before alluded to in that hope I
have written these pages
of melons by Bret Harte
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