The Beggar

Chapter 1 

The Fun They Had

            1. MARGIE even wrote about it that night in her diary. On the page headed 17 May 2157, she wrote, “Today Tommy found a real book!” It was a very old book. Margie’s grandfather once said that when he was a little boy his grandfather told him that there was a time when all stories were printed on paper. 

        They turned the pages, which were yellow and crinkly, and it was awfully funny to read words that stood still instead of moving the way they were supposed to — on a screen, you know. And then when they turned back to the page before, it had the same words on it that it had had when they read it the first time. 

        2. “Gee,” said Tommy, “what a waste. When you’re through with the book, you just throw it away, I guess. Our television screen must have had a million books on it and it’s good for plenty more. I wouldn’t throw it away.” 
        “Same with mine,” said Margie. She was eleven and hadn’t seen as many telebooks as Tommy had. He was thirteen.
        She said, “Where did you find it?”
        “In my house.” He pointed without looking, because he was busy reading. “In the attic.” “What’s it about?” 
“School.” 

        3. Margie was scornful. “School? What’s there to write about school? I hate school.” Margie always hated school, but now she hated it more than ever. The mechanical teacher had been giving her test after test in geography and she had been doing worse and worse until her mother had shaken her head sorrowfully and sent for the County Inspector. 

        

        4. He was a round little man with a red face and a whole box of tools with dials and wires. He smiled at Margie and gave her an apple, then took the teacher apart. Margie had hoped he wouldn’t know how to put it together again, but he knew how all right, and, after an hour or so, there it was again, large and black and ugly, with a big screen on which all the lessons were shown and the questions were asked. That wasn’t so bad. The part Margie hated most was the slot where she had to put homework and test papers. She always had to write them out in a punch code they made her learn when she was six years old, and the mechanical teacher calculated the marks in no time.

        

        5. The Inspector had smiled after he was finished and patted Margie’s head. He said to her mother, “It’s not the little girl’s fault, Mrs Jones. I think the geography sector was geared a little too quick. Those things happen sometimes. I’ve slowed it up to an average ten-year level. Actually, the overall pattern of her progress is quite satisfactory.” And he patted Margie’s head again.

        Margie was disappointed. She had been hoping they would take the teacher away altogether. They had once taken Tommy’s teacher away for nearly a month because the history sector had blanked out completely. 

So she said to Tommy,“Why would anyone write about school?”

        6. Tommy looked at her with very superior eyes. “Because it’s not our kind of school, stupid. This is the old kind of school that they had hundreds and hundreds of years ago.” He added loftily, pronouncing the word carefully, “Centuries ago.” 

            Margie was hurt. “Well, I don’t know what kind of school they had all that time ago.” She read the book over his shoulder for a while, then said, “Anyway, they had a teacher.”
          “Sure they had a teacher, but it wasn’t a regular teacher. It was a man.”

 “A man? How could a man be a teacher?” “Well, he just told the boys and girls things and gave them homework and asked them questions.”

        7.“A man isn’t smart enough.”

 “Sure he is. My father knows as much as my teacher.” 

“He knows almost as much, I betcha.” 

Margie wasn’t prepared to dispute that. She said, “I wouldn’t want a strange man in my house to teach me.”

     Tommy screamed with laughter. “You don’t know much, Margie. The teachers didn’t live in the house. They had a special building and all the kids went there.” 

        “And all the kids learned the same thing?” 

        “Sure, if they were the same age.”
        

        8. “But my mother says a teacher has to be adjusted to fit the mind of each boy and girl it teaches and that each kid has to be taught differently.” 

    “Just the same they didn’t do it that way then. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to read the book.”

“I didn’t say I didn’t like it,” Margie said quickly. She wanted to read about those funny schools. 

    They weren’t even half finished when Margie’s mother called, “Margie! School!” 

 Margie looked up. “Not yet, Mamma.” 

  “Now!” said Mrs Jones. “And it’s probably time for Tommy, too.” 

   Margie said to Tommy, “Can I read the book some more with you after school?”

        

        9. “May be,” he said nonchalantly. He walked away whistling, the dusty old book tucked beneath his arm. Margie went into the schoolroom. It was right next to her bedroom, and the mechanical teacher was on and waiting for her. It was always on at the same time every day except Saturday and Sunday,

        because her mother said little girls learned better if they learned at regular hours. 

The screen was lit up, and it said: “Today’s arithmetic lesson is on the addition of proper fractions. Please insert yesterday’s homework in the proper slot.”

        10. Margie did so with a sigh. She was thinking about the old schools they had when her grandfather’s grandfather was a little boy. All the kids from the whole neighborhood came, laughing and shouting in the schoolyard, sitting together in the schoolroom, going home together at the end of the day. They learned the same things, so they could help one another with the homework and talk about it.

            And the teachers were people…

 The mechanical teacher was flashing on the screen: “When we add fractions ½ and ...”

        Margie was thinking about how the kids must have loved it in the old days. She was thinking about the fun they had.

                

  Activity

 

The Fun they Had Question Answers

Answer these questions in a few words or a couple of sentences each.

1. How old are Margie and Tommy?

Answer: Margie and Tommy live in the future, in the year 2157. They are neighbours and spend time together. Margie is a girl of eleven years of age while Tommy is a boy of thirteen.

2. What did Margie write in her diary?

Answer:  On 17 May 2157, Margie wrote that that day Tommy had found a real book in the attic of his house. It was an old book with yellow, crinkly pages.

3. Had Margie ever seen a book before?

Answer:  No, Margie had not seen a book before the one found by Tommy in his house. She had only heard from her grandfather that his grandfather went to school as a boy and that they read books that were printed on paper.

4.What things about the book did she find strange?

Answer:  As Margie lived in an era where students studied from a mechanical teacher and all the books appeared on the screen, she found it strange that the words on the printed book did not move. It was strange to see the same words appear on the pages as she flipped them over.

5.What do you think a telebook is?

Answer:  A telebook is an electronic book also known as an e-book. It is stored in a computer and can be read by scrolling up or down the screen.

6. Where was Margie’s school? Did she have any classmates?

Answer: Margie’s school was in her house. It was a room next to her bedroom. It was a personal classroom where the computer was adjusted to her level of learning. She studied by herself and had no classmates.

7.What subjects did Margie and Tommy learn?

Answer: Margie and Tommy learned a lot of subjects like Geography, History and Mathematics.

Answer the following with reference to the story.

1. “I wouldn’t throw it away.”

(i) Who says these words?

Answer:  Tommy says these words.

(ii) What does ‘it’ refer to?

Answer:  ‘It’ refers to the Computer screen on which Tommy reads various books.

(iii) What is it being compared with by the speaker?

Answer: It’ is being compared to the paper book that Tommy found in his house.

2. “Sure they had a teacher, but it wasn’t a regular teacher. It was a man.”

(i) Who does ‘they’ refer to?

Answer: . ‘They’ refers to the ancestors of the children who went to school and studied from a human teacher.

(ii) What does ‘regular’ mean here?

Answer: ‘Regular’ means the mechanical teacher which teaches Margie and Tommy.

(iii) What is it contrasted with?

Answer: .The mechanical teacher is contrasted with a human teacher.

Answer each of these questions in a short paragraph (about 30 words).

1. What kind of teachers did Margie and Tommy have?

Answer: Margie and Tommy had mechanical teachers. They were computers which had preloaded lessons on different subjects according to the learner’s level. Whenever they malfunctioned, they were opened and repaired.

2. Why did Margie’s mother send for the County Inspector?

Answer:  Margie’s mother called the County Inspector to check Margie’s teacher. She thought that probably, Margie’s teacher had a malfunction. Margie was failing the Geography tests repeatedly which could be due to a fault in the teacher.

3. What did he do?

Answer: . The County Inspector was trained to repair the computer teacher. He opened the machine and checked it. The Geography sector was set on a higher level. He reset it to Margie’s level and closed the teacher.

4. Why was Margie doing badly in geography? What did the County Inspector Do to help her

Answer: .Margie was failing in the Geography tests as the teacher had developed a fault. The County Inspector told Margie’s mother that Margie was not at fault. Her progress was good. He reset the teacher to Margie’s level.

5. What had once happened to Tommy’s teacher?

A. Once Tommy’s teacher had developed a fault as the entire section on History had been deleted. His teacher had been taken for repairs and it took them a month to set it right.

6.Did Margie have regular days and hours for school? If so, why?

Answer:  Margie studied at the same time everyday, except Saturdays and Sunday. Her mother was very particular and had told Margie that she would learn better if she studied at the same time every day.

7. How does Tommy describe the old kind of school?

Answer:  Tommy said that in the old kind of schools, there was a man teacher who told a few things to the students, gave them home work and then asked them questions. The man teacher was as knowledgeable as the machine teacher.

8. How does he describe the old kind of teachers?

Answer:  He says that the old teachers were not the regular kind they had. They were human beings and not machines.

Answer each of these questions in two or three paragraphs (100 –150 words).

1. What are the main features of the mechanical teachers and the schoolrooms that Margie and Tommy have in the story?

A. Margie and Tommy were taught by mechanical teachers. They had large black screens on which the lessons appeared. The lessons were followed by questions. The students had to insert homework and test papers in the slots provided. They had to write down the work in a punch code which was a computing language. The mechanical teacher checked the papers and gave them marks within a few seconds. These classrooms were in the student’s home itself. Every student studied from his respective mechanical teacher. Each teacher was adjusted according to the level of the learner. They did not have classmates. They studied various subjects like Geography, History and Mathematics. Margie studied everyday at the same time except Saturdays and Sundays. Her mother said that she would learn better if she studied that way. The learning process was mechanical, dull and boring for them.

2. Why did Margie hate school? Why did she think the old kind of school must have been fun

A. Margie hated school because it was not fun. There was a mechanical teacher and the learning process lacked life. It was like a machine carrying out the usual working, there was nothing new, no fun or laughter.  Margie’s mechanical teacher was giving her tests in Geography and she was performing bad at them. Later it was discovered that the teacher had developed a fault due to which it was giving her tests of a higher level. Margie’s mother called the County Inspector. He opened the teacher, found the fault and rectified it. Margie disliked the teacher and hoped that he would not be able to repair it. She hated inserting the homework and test papers into the slot provided.

She thought that the children in the past must have had a lot of fun when they went to school with fellow children. She found it amazing that all the children studied together, the same things and could discuss studies and help each other with the homework too. As the teachers were people, they would not behave like machines. The human aspect of education in the past made her feel that the school of the past were fun.

Grammar Exercises (Question Answers)

 

1. Find the sentences in the lesson which have the adverbs given in the box below.

Awfully	Sorrowfully	Completely	Loftily
Carefully	Differently	Quickly	nonchalantly

 

1.They turned the pages, which were yellow and crinkly, and it was fully funny to read words that stood still instead of moving the way they were supposed to — on a screen, you know.

2. The mechanical teacher had been giving her test after test in geography and she had been doing worse and worse until her mother had shaken her head sorrowfully and sent for the County Inspector.

3. They had once taken Tommy’s teacher away for nearly a month because the history sector had blanked out completely.

4. He added loftily, pronouncing the word carefully, “Centuries ago.”

5.He added loftily, pronouncing the word carefully, “Centuries ago.”

6. “But my mother says a teacher has to be adjusted to fit the mind of each boy and girl it teaches and that each kid has to be taught differently.”

7. “I didn’t say I didn’t like it,” Margie said quickly.

8. “May be,” he said nonchalantly.

 

2. Now use these adverbs to fill in the blanks in the sentences below.

(i) The report must be read _________so that performance can be improved.

(ii) At the interview, Sameer answered our questions _________ ,shrugging his shoulders.

(iii) We all behave _________ when we are tired or hungry.

(iv) The teacher shook her head ________when Ravi lied to her.

(v) I ________ forgot about it.

(vi) When I complimented Revathi on her success, she just smiled _______ and turned away.

(vii) The President of the Company is ________ busy and will not be able to meet you.

(viii) I finished my work ________ so that I could go out to play.

Answer.

(i) The report must be read carefully so that performance can be improved.

(ii) At the interview, Sameer answered our questions loftily, shrugging his shoulders.

(iii) We all behave differently when we are tired or hungry.

(iv) The teacher shook her head sorrowfully when Ravi lied to her.

(v) I completely forgot about it.

(vi) When I complimented Revathi on her success, she just smiled nonchalantly and turned away.

(vii) The President of the Company is awfully busy and will not be able to meet you.

(viii) I finished my work quickly so that I could go out to play.

3. Make adverbs from these adjectives.

(i) angry ________

(ii) happy _________

(iii) merry _______

(iv) sleepy __________

(v) easy _________

(vi) noisy __________

(vii) tidy _________

(viii) gloomy ________

 

Answer

(i) angry angrily

(ii) happy happily

(iii) merry merrily

(iv) sleepy sleepily

(v) easy easily

(vi) noisy noisily

(vii) tidy tidily

(viii) gloomy gloomily

 

4. Complete the following conditional sentences. Use the correct form of the verb.

1. If I don’t go to Anu’s party tonight, _____________

2. If you don’t telephone the hotel to order food, ___________

3. Unless you promise to write back, I ____________

4. If she doesn’t play any games, ______________

5. Unless that little bird flies away quickly, the cat __________

 

Answers 

1. If I don’t go to Anu’s party tonight, she will be angry.

2. If you don’t telephone the hotel to order food, you will miss your meal.

3. Unless you promise to write back, I will not write to you.

4. If she doesn’t play any games, she will not become strong.

5. Unless that little bird flies away quickly, the cat will eat it.

The Road Not Taken

        This well-known poem is about making choices, and the choices that shape us. Robert Frost is an American poet who writes simply, but insightfully, about common, ordinary experiences.

 

                            Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

                            And sorry I could not travel both 

                            And be one traveller,long I stood 

                            And looked down one as far as I could 

                            To where it bent in the undergrowth; 

                            Then took the other, just as fair, 

                            And having perhaps the better claim, 

                            Because it was grassy and wanted wear; 

                            Though as for that the passing there 

                            Had worn them really about the same. 

                            And both that morning equally lay 

                            In leaves no step had trodden black. 

                            Oh, I kept the first for another day! 

                            Yet knowing how way leads on to way, 

                            I doubted if I should ever come back. 

                            I shall be telling this with a sigh 

                            Somewhere ages and ages hence; 

                            Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — 

                            I took the one less travelled by, 

                            And that has made all the difference. 

                                                                                    ROBERT FROST

Exercise

The Road Not Taken Literary Devices

1. Rhyme Scheme: abaab
2. Symbolism: two roads that represent two or more choices in our life
3. Anaphora: ‘and’ repeated at the beginning of lines 2, 3 and 4
4. Alliteration: Wanted Wear ‘w’ sound is repeating

1. ‘first for’ – ‘f’ sound is repeating
2. ‘though, that’- ‘th’ sound is repeating

5. Repetition: ‘Ages’ is repeated. ‘Two roads diverged in a wood’- this sentence is repeated in stanzas 1 and 4.

The Road Not Taken Question Answers

1. Where does the traveller find himself? What problem does he face?

Answer. The traveller finds himself standing on a fork in the path. He is in a problem as he must choose one path and is unable to decide which one to choose.

2. Discuss what these phrases mean to you.

(i) a yellow wood

Answer. ‘Yellow wood’ refers to the forest which has withering leaves as in the season of autumn. It represents a world full of aging people.

(ii) it was grassy and wanted wear

Answer.  It means that the path had a lot of grass on it. This means that it had not been walked over by many people. It had to be worn out by the steps of the people who walked on it.

(iii) the passing there

Answer.  It means that when he walked over the path that he had chosen.

(iv) leaves no step had trodden black

Answer. . It means that no one had walked over the leaves as they were still green. If they had been walked over, they would have turned black.

(v) how way leads on to way

Answer. It means that as we walk on a path, we come across more options and make choices further. We keep on walking ahead on that way.

3. Is there any difference between the two roads as the poet describes them

(i) in stanzas two and three?

Answer.  The two paths were similar. In the beginning, the poet felt that one of them was grassy and had not been walked over by many people, but when he walked on it for some distance, he realized that it was like the other road.

(ii) in the last two lines of the poem?

Answer.  Here, again the poet talks of his initial decision when he thought that the roads were different and chose the one that had been walked over by a lesser number of people.