Tom Seven Years Old (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1876. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... TOM SEVEN YEARS OLD. CHAP. L--TOM WANTS TO BUILD A SHIP. OM was growing very old indeed. He had had seven birthdays. He had seen the trees and bushes and plants in the world round him die and live again seven times, so that he was no longer surprised at the sight, and could almost tell when it was coming. He had counted up to a hundred stars in the sky, and had found out that there were many, many, many more than a hundred, though there was only one moon, and that a big one. He also knew that this moon and these stars were not nearly as small as they looked, and only appeared so because they were a long way off, far up above the clouds, much higher than the lark could fly. He had learnt a great many names besides his own--names of animals and birds and fishes, trees and flowers, the names of all the letters, and some of the notes on the piano, and even the names of the countries which lay far away, outside the garden, and beyond the road. Tom wanted to go everywhere, and to see everything. He was quite astonished when his papa showed him, on a painted map, what a very little corner of the big, big world he lived in. Whenever he asked how soon he might start, he was told-- "As soon as you have a ship of your own." So he seriously began to pick up pieces of wood to take them to anybody who would build him a ship, for time was passing, and he was growing very old, and would soon be a man. Every autumn when the swallows flew away he longed to go with them; but then they had wings of their own to take them over the sea, and did not require ships to sail in. The two pieces of land he wished most to go to, were freezing cold Iceland, and burning hot India. He wished to see real live white bears and roaring lions and tigers with his own eyes, and not merely in ...