{"product_id":"2940013477179","title":"THE WATER BABIES","description":"CHAPTER I\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I heard a thousand blended notes,\u003cbr\u003eWhile in a grove I sate reclined;\u003cbr\u003eIn that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts\u003cbr\u003eBring sad thoughts to the mind.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"To her fair works did Nature link\u003cbr\u003eThe human soul that through me ran;\u003cbr\u003eAnd much it grieved my heart to think,\u003cbr\u003eWhat man has made of man.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWORDSWORTH.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOnce upon a time there was a little chimney-sweep, and his name was\u003cbr\u003eTom.  That is a short name, and you have heard it before, so you\u003cbr\u003ewill not have much trouble in remembering it.  He lived in a great\u003cbr\u003etown in the North country, where there were plenty of chimneys to\u003cbr\u003esweep, and plenty of money for Tom to earn and his master to spend.\u003cbr\u003eHe could not read nor write, and did not care to do either; and he\u003cbr\u003enever washed himself, for there was no water up the court where he\u003cbr\u003elived.  He had never been taught to say his prayers.  He never had\u003cbr\u003eheard of God, or of Christ, except in words which you never have\u003cbr\u003eheard, and which it would have been well if he had never heard.  He\u003cbr\u003ecried half his time, and laughed the other half.  He cried when he\u003cbr\u003ehad to climb the dark flues, rubbing his poor knees and elbows raw;\u003cbr\u003eand when the soot got into his eyes, which it did every day in the\u003cbr\u003eweek; and when his master beat him, which he did every day in the\u003cbr\u003eweek; and when he had not enough to eat, which happened every day\u003cbr\u003ein the week likewise.  And he laughed the other half of the day,\u003cbr\u003ewhen he was tossing halfpennies with the other boys, or playing\u003cbr\u003eleap-frog over the posts, or bowling stones at the horses' legs as\u003cbr\u003ethey trotted by, which last was excellent fun, when there was a\u003cbr\u003ewall at hand behind which to hide.  As for chimney-sweeping, and\u003cbr\u003ebeing hungry, and being beaten, he took all that for the way of the\u003cbr\u003eworld, like the rain and snow and thunder, and stood manfully with\u003cbr\u003ehis back to it till it was over, as his old donkey did to a hail-\u003cbr\u003estorm; and then shook his ears and was as jolly as ever; and\u003cbr\u003ethought of the fine times coming, when he would be a man, and a\u003cbr\u003emaster sweep, and sit in the public-house with a quart of beer and\u003cbr\u003ea long pipe, and play cards for silver money, and wear velveteens\u003cbr\u003eand ankle-jacks, and keep a white bull-dog with one gray ear, and\u003cbr\u003ecarry her puppies in his pocket, just like a man.  And he would\u003cbr\u003ehave apprentices, one, two, three, if he could.  How he would bully\u003cbr\u003ethem, and knock them about, just as his master did to him; and make\u003cbr\u003ethem carry home the soot sacks, while he rode before them on his\u003cbr\u003edonkey, with a pipe in his mouth and a flower in his button-hole,\u003cbr\u003elike a king at the head of his army.  Yes, there were good times\u003cbr\u003ecoming; and, when his master let him have a pull at the leavings of\u003cbr\u003ehis beer, Tom was the jolliest boy in the whole town.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOne day a smart little groom rode into the court where Tom lived.\u003cbr\u003eTom was just hiding behind a wall, to heave half a brick at his\u003cbr\u003ehorse's legs, as is the custom of that country when they welcome\u003cbr\u003estrangers; but the groom saw him, and halloed to him to know where\u003cbr\u003eMr. Grimes, the chimney-sweep, lived.  Now, Mr. Grimes was Tom's\u003cbr\u003eown master, and Tom was a good man of business, and always civil to\u003cbr\u003ecustomers, so he put the half-brick down quietly behind the wall,\u003cbr\u003eand proceeded to take orders.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMr. Grimes was to come up next morning to Sir John Harthover's, at\u003cbr\u003ethe Place, for his old chimney-sweep was gone to prison, and the\u003cbr\u003echimneys wanted sweeping.  And so he rode away, not giving Tom time\u003cbr\u003eto ask what the sweep had gone to prison for, which was a matter of\u003cbr\u003einterest to Tom, as he had been in prison once or twice himself.\u003cbr\u003eMoreover, the groom looked so very neat and clean, with his drab\u003cbr\u003egaiters, drab breeches, drab jacket, snow-white tie with a smart\u003cbr\u003epin in it, and clean round ruddy face, that Tom was offended and\u003cbr\u003edisgusted at his appearance, and considered him a stuck-up fellow,\u003cbr\u003ewho gave himself airs because he wore smart clothes, and other\u003cbr\u003epeople paid for them; and went behind the wall to fetch the half-\u003cbr\u003ebrick after all; but did not, remembering that he had come in the\u003cbr\u003eway of business, and was, as it were, under a flag of truce.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHis master was so delighted at his new customer that he knocked Tom\u003cbr\u003edown out of hand, and drank more beer that night than he usually\u003cbr\u003edid in two, in order to be sure of getting up in time next morning;\u003cbr\u003efor the more a man's head aches when he wakes, the more glad he is\u003cbr\u003eto turn out, and have a breath of fresh air.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47121181376752,"sku":"2940013477179","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013477179_p0.jpg?v=1763581916","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013477179","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}