Tom Sawyer, Satirical, not Obnoxious

I'm not sure why, but Ora 5 wanted to read Tom Sawyer. I wasn't very enthusiastic, but I didn't want to dissuade his interest in a classic. My only knowledge of Tom Sawyer is from movies, so the only impression that I have of him is an obnoxious brat; However, in reading to Ora, I'm discovering an amazingly witty book with plenty of satire. Last night we read of Tom negotiating his way into getting a free bible in Sunday School and the admiration of Becky's father. Today we read about the main service. I thought these paragraphs were telling how good Twain's satire is and how much churches haven't changed:

After the hymn had been sung, the Rev. Mr. Sprague turned himself into a bulletin-board, and read off "notices" of meetings and societies and things till it seemed that the list would stretch out to the crack of doom—a queer custom which is still kept up in America, even in cities, away here in this age of abundant newspapers. Often, the less there is to justify a traditional custom, the harder it is to get rid of it.

And now the minister prayed. A good, generous prayer it was, and went into details: it pleaded for the church, and the little children of the church; for the other churches of the village; for the village itself; for the county; for the State; for the State officers; for the United States; for the churches of the United States; for Congress; for the President; for the officers of the Government; for poor sailors, tossed by stormy seas; for the oppressed millions groaning under the heel of European monarchies and Oriental despotisms; for such as have the light and the good tidings, and yet have not eyes to see nor ears to hear withal; for the heathen in the far islands of the sea; and closed with a supplication that the words he was about to speak might find grace and favor, and be as seed sown in fertile ground, yielding in time a grateful harvest of good. Amen.

Labels: books, Ora 5

posted on Sunday, December 27, 2009