第20章 Harry's Riches

One day,our little Harry spent the morning with his young playmate,Johnny Crane,who lived in a fine house,and on Sundays rode to church in the grandest carriage to be seen in all the country round.

When Harry returned home,he said,"Mother,Johnny has money in both pockets!"

"Has he,dear?"

"Yes,ma'am;and he says he could get ever so much more if he wanted it."

"Well,now,that's very pleasant for him,"I returned,cheerfully,as a reply was plainly expected."Very pleasant;don't you think so?"

"Yes,ma'am;only—"

"Only what,Harry?"

"Why,he has a big popgun,and a watch,and a hobbyhorse,and lots of things."And Harry looked up at my face with a disconsolate stare.

"Well,my boy,what of that?"

"Nothing,mother,"and the telltale tears sprang to his eyes,"only I guess we are very poor,aren't we?"

"No,indeed,Harry,we are very far from being poor.We are not so rich as Mr.Crane's family,if that is what you mean."

"O mother!"insisted the little fellow,"I do think we are very poor;anyhow,I am!"

"O Harry!"I exclaimed,reproachfully.

"Yes,ma'am I am,"he sobbed;"I have scarcely any thing—I mean anything that's worth money—except things to eat and wear,and I'd have to have them anyway."

"Have to have them?"I echoed,at the same time laying my sewing upon the table,so that I might reason with him on that point;"do you not know,my son—"

Just then Uncle Ben looked up from the paper he had been reading:"Harry,"said he,"I want to find out something about eyes;so,if you will let me have yours,I will give you a dollar apiece for them."

"For my eyes!"exclaimed Harry,very much astonished.

"Yes,"resumed Uncle Ben,quietly,"for your eyes.I will give you chloroform,so it will not hurt you in the least,and you shall have a beautiful glass pair for nothing,to wear in their place.Come,a dollar apiece,cash down!What do you say?I will take them out as quick as a wink."

"Give you my eyes,uncle!"cried Harry,looking wild at the very thought,"I think not."And the startled little fellow shook his head defiantly.

"Well,five,ten,twenty dollars,then."Harry shook his head at every offer.

"No,sir!I wouldn't let you have them for a thousand dollars!What could I do without my eyes?I couldn't see mother,nor the baby,nor the flowers,nor the horses,nor anything,"added Harry,growing warmer and warmer.

"I will give you two thousand,"urged Uncle Ben,taking a roll of bank notes out of his pocket.Harry,standing at a respectful distance,shouted that he never would do any such thing.

"Very well,"continued the uncle,with a serious air,at the same time writing something in his notebook,"I can't afford to give you more than two thousand dollars,so I shall have to do without your eyes;but,"he added,"I will tell you what I will do,I will give you twenty dollars if you will let me put a few drops from this bottle in your ears.It will not hurt,but it will make you deaf.I want to try some experiments with deafness,you see.Come quickly,now!Here are the twenty dollars all ready for you."

"Make me deaf!"shouted Harry,without even looking at the gold pieces temptingly displayed upon the table."I guess you will not do that,either.Why,I couldn't hear a single word if I were deaf,could I?"

"Probably not,"replied Uncle Ben.So,of course,Harry refused again.He would never give up his hearing,he said,"no,not for three thousand dollars."

Uncle Ben made another note in his book,and then came out with large bids for "a right arm,"then "left arm,""hands,""feet,""nose,"finally ending with an offer of ten thousand dollars for "mother,"and five thousand for "the baby."

To all of these offers Harry shook his head,his eyes flashing,and exclamations of surprise and indignation bursting from his lips.At last,Uncle Ben said he must give up his experiments,for Harry's prices were entirely too high.

"Ha!ha!"laughed the boy,exultingly,and he folded his dimpled arms and looked as if to say,"I'd like to see the man who could pay them!"

"Why,Harry,look here!"exclaimed Uncle Ben,peeping into his notebook,"here is a big addition sum,I tell you!"He added the numbers,and they amounted to thirty-two thousand dollars.

"There,Harry,"said Uncle Ben,"don't you think you are foolish not to accept some of my offers?""No,sir,I don't,"answered Harry,resolutely."Then,"said Uncle Ben,"you talk of being poor,and by your own showing you have treasures for which you will not take thirty-two thousand dollars.What do you say to that?"

Harry didn't know exactly what to say.So he blushed for a second,and just then tears came rolling down his cheeks,and he threw his chubby arms around my neck."Mother,"he whispered,"isn't God good to make everybody so rich?"

哈利的财富

一天，小哈利和他的伙伴约翰尼·克莱恩一起玩了一上午。约翰尼住在一幢漂亮的大房子里，星期天他总会坐着气派的马车去教堂，全镇的人都能看见。

哈利回到家后说：“妈妈，约翰尼的两个口袋里都有钱。”

“是吗，亲爱的？”

“是的，妈妈。他还说，只要他想要，他还可以有更多的钱。”

“噢，是吗？那很好。”妈妈随便回答说，“非常好，你说呢？”

“是的，妈妈，可是——”

“可是什么，哈利？”

“为什么他有一把大大的玩具枪、一块手表、一个木马，还有好多好多东西？”哈利抬起头闷闷不乐地看着妈妈。

“怎么了，我的孩子？”

“没什么，妈妈。”可此时泄露秘密的眼泪涌了出来，“只是，我想我们很穷，对吗？”

“不，不是的，哈利，我们并不穷，但我们也不像克莱恩家里那样富有，如果这就是你所说的穷的话。”

“噢，妈妈，”小家伙还在难过，“我还是觉得我们很穷，不管怎么样，我很穷。”

“哈利！”妈妈带着责备的口气说。

“是的，妈妈，我就是太穷，”他抽泣着，“我几乎什么都没有——我指那些值钱的东西——除了吃的和穿的，那些必须拥有的东西我都没有。”

“必须拥有的东西？”妈妈重复着他的话，把手中的织物放在桌上，这样她可以就这个问题和哈利好好谈谈，“你不知道吗，我的孩子——”

就在这时，正在读报纸的本叔叔抬起头来，“哈利，”他说，“我想研究一下人的眼睛，如果你愿意给我你的眼睛，那么我会给你2美元。”

“要我的眼睛？”哈利大声喊道，他对此很是吃惊。

“是的，”本叔叔平静地说，“要你的眼睛。我可以给你麻醉，这样你就不会感到疼了，你可以戴一对漂亮的玻璃眼球。快点，一美元一只，否则要降价了。你觉得怎么样？我会很快把它们取出来的。”

“给你我的眼睛，叔叔？”哈利像是无法相信自己的耳朵，“我想不行。”

受惊的小家伙坚决地摇着头。

“那么，5美元、10美元、20美元，怎么样？”每一次哈利都不停地摇着头。

“不，先生，就算你给100美元，我也不会让你取走我的眼睛。没有了眼睛我怎么办？我将不会再看见妈妈，看不见小孩，看不见花，也看不见马了，什么也看不见了。”哈利说着，越来越激动。

“我给你2000美元。”本叔叔继续说，并从口袋里掏出一叠钱。哈利站得远远的，他永远不会做这样的事情。

“那么，好吧。”本叔叔说。此时，他的表情十分严肃，一边在本子上写着什么，一边说：“我不能给你高过2000美元的价格，所以，我只能放弃你的眼睛了。但是，”他又说，“我要告诉你我还会怎么做，如果你让我把这瓶子里的东西滴几滴到你的耳朵里的话，我会给你20美元。你并不会感觉到疼，但会让你变聋。你知道，我想做一个关于耳聋的实验。快，现在就做决定吧，这20美元是给你的。”

“会让我变聋！”哈利已经快气疯了，他看也不看放在桌上的钱，大声喊道：“我想你不会那样做的，如果我聋了，我就再也听不见了，不是吗？”

“可能吧。”本叔叔说。当然了，哈利还是拒绝了，他说：“不，哪怕给我3000美元，我也不答应。”

本叔叔在本子上又记下了一条。之后，他又出更多的钱要“哈利的右手”，然后是“左手”“双手”“双脚”“鼻子”，最后出价10万要他的“妈妈”，5000美元要“小孩”。

哈利拒绝了所有的建议，他的眼睛闪着光，不停地表达着自己的震惊和愤怒。最后本叔叔说他必须放弃他的实验，因为哈利的价格实在太高了。

“哈哈！”哈利高兴地笑了，他架着胳膊，似乎在说：“我倒要看看谁能买得起！”

“来，哈利，看这儿！”本叔叔看着笔记本里的东西，“这儿有一大笔钱呢！”他把所有的数目加起来，一共是32000美元。

“现在，哈利，”本叔叔说，“你不觉得放弃这么一大笔钱太愚蠢了吗？”

“不，先生，我不要。”哈利坚决地说。

“那么，”本叔叔说，“你说你很穷，但又不肯拿你所有的东西来换取32000美元，这是为什么呢？”

哈利不知道怎么回答，他涨红了脸，泪水顺着脸颊流了下来，他用胖乎乎的手搂着妈妈的脖子。“妈妈，”他在妈妈的耳旁轻声说，“上帝实在太好了，他让我们每个人都那么富有。”