She never could have been dirty , thought Tom to himself . And then he thought , `` And are all people like that when they are washed ? '' And he looked at his own wrist , and tried to rub the soot off , and wondered whether it ever would come off . `` Certainly I should look much prettier then , if I grew at all like her . '' And looking round , he suddenly saw , standing close to him , a little ugly , black , ragged figure , with bleared eyes and grinning white teeth . He turned on it angrily . What did such a little black ape want in that sweet young lady 's room ? And behold , it was himself , reflected in a great mirror , the like of which Tom had never seen before . And Tom , for the first time in his life , found out that he was dirty ; and burst into tears with shame and anger ; and turned to sneak up the chimney again and hide ; and upset the fender and threw the fire-irons down , with a noise as of ten thousand tin kettles tied to ten thousand mad dogs ' tails . Up jumped the little white lady in her bed , and , seeing Tom , screamed as shrill as any peacock . In rushed a stout old nurse from the next room , and seeing Tom likewise , made up her mind that he had come to rob , plunder , destroy , and burn ; and dashed at him , as he lay over the fender , so fast that she caught him by the jacket . But she did not hold him . Tom had been in a policeman 's hands many a time , and out of them too , what is more ; and he would have been ashamed to face his friends for ever if he had been stupid enough to be caught by an old woman ; so he doubled under the good lady 's arm , across the room , and out of the window in a moment . He did not need to drop out , though he would have done so bravely enough . Nor even to let himself down a spout , which would have been an old game to him ; for once he got up by a spout to the church roof , he said to take jackdaws ' eggs , but the policeman said to steal lead ; and , when he was seen on high , sat there till the sun got too hot , and came down by another spout , leaving the policemen to go back to the stationhouse and eat their dinners . But all under the window spread a tree , with great leaves and sweet white flowers , almost as big as his head . It was magnolia , I suppose ; but Tom knew nothing about that , and cared less ; for down the tree he went , like a cat , and across the garden lawn , and over the iron railings and up the park towards the wood , leaving the old nurse to scream murder and fire at the window . The under gardener , mowing , saw Tom , and threw down his scythe ; caught his leg in it , and cut his shin open , whereby he kept his bed for a week ; but in his hurry he never knew it , and gave chase to poor Tom . The dairymaid heard the noise , got the churn between her knees , and tumbled over it , spilling all the cream ; and yet she jumped up , and gave chase to Tom . A groom cleaning Sir John 's hack at the stables let him go loose , whereby he kicked himself lame in five minutes ; but he ran out and gave chase to Tom .
Grimes upset the soot-sack in the new-gravelled yard , and spoilt it all utterly ; but he ran out and gave chase to XXXXX .
John Tom burn fire-irons first mowing murder railings scythe week