原文
"Yes," laughed Anne, "but it was really a difficult task. At first, when
I called him 'St. Clair' he would not take the least notice until I'd
spoken two or three times; and then, when the other boys nudged him, he
would look up with such an aggrieved air, as if I'd called him John or
Charlie and he couldn't be expected to know I meant him. So I kept
him in after school one night and talked kindly to him. I told him his
mother wished me to call him St. Clair and I couldn't go against her
wishes. He saw it when it was all explained out . . . he's really a very
reasonable little fellow . . . and he said _I_ could call him St. Clair
but that he'd 'lick the stuffing' out of any of the boys that tried it.
Of course, I had to rebuke him again for using such shocking language.
Since then _I_ call him St. Clair and the boys call him Jake and all
goes smoothly. He informs me that he means to be a carpenter, but Mrs.
DonNELL says I am to make a college professor out of him."
語彙など
- task:仕事
- take notice:気に留める
- nudge:軽く突く
- aggrieved:虐げられた
- air:様子
- go against:反対する
- reasonable:道理をわきまえた
- lick:やっつける
- knock the stuffing out of:(人)を徹底的にぶちのめす
- rebuke:叱る
- inform:告げる
- carpenter:大工