1.3 ) The Cop and the Anthem

 

12 th class PROSE LESSON (ENGLISH)

१.३  ) The Cop and the Anthem

 

ICE BREAKERS

       Suppose you have gone to a place where the winter season is very severe,

discuss with your partner the ways in which you would protect yourself in the

cold climate.

		Using suitable clithes
sitting near at fire place		Ways to protect		Use/drink  hot tea or coffee
		from cold climate
		Eating foodthat gives heat
		to the body

 

                  When you see a cop approaching, you feel either ‘relieved’ or ‘scared’. Discuss

with your partner the situations when you feel ‘relieved’ or ‘scared’.

Relieved

(a) You are walking alone in a dark street.

(b)There is a fighting / quarreling  on the road.

(c)I want to know the info about proper road .

 Scared

(a) You are riding a bike without a valid driving licence.

(b)I commit a mistake .

(c)Violating traffic rules .

 

Discuss some of the motivating things that can change a person's life. One is

given :

(a) Listening to an inspiring speech

(b)Reading of Life Stories of great personalities

(c) thoughts of great person

(d)Knowing about the requirements to be successful in life

e) Must have high Aim

 

 

1.3 ) The Cop and the Anthem

Soapy left his bench and strolled out (रमतगमत ) of the square and across the level sea of asphalt, where Broadway and Fifth Avenue flow together. Up Broadway( रस्ता)  he turned, and stopped at a luxurious cafe.

Soapy had confidence in himself from the lowest button of his vest upward. He was shaven(दाढी केलेला ), and his coat was trim and his neat, black bow had been presented to him by a lady missionary on Thanksgiving Day. If only he could reach a table in the restaurant unsuspected, success would be his. The portion of him that would show above the table would raise no doubt in the waiter’s mind. A roasted mallard(रानटी ) duck, thought Soapy, would be about the thing with a bottle of wine and then some cheese, a cup of coffee and a cigar. One dollar for the cigar would be enough. The total would not be so high as to call forth any extreme of revenge from the cafe management; and yet the meat would leave him filled and happy for the journey to his winter island. But as Soapy set foot inside the restaurant door, the head-waiter’s eye fell upon(पाहणे ) his tattered trousers and decadent(जुने ) shoes. Strong and ready hands turned him about and conveyed him in silence and haste to the side-walk and averted the ignoble(dishonourable ) fate of the menaced mallard.

Soapy turned off Broadway. It seemed that his route to the coveted (आवडीचा ) island was not to be an easy one. Some other way of entering the limbo(here तुरुंग ) must be devised.

At a corner of Sixth Avenue electric lights and cunningly displayed wares behind plateglass made a shop window attractive. Soapy took a stone and dashed it through the glass. People came running round the coner, a policeman in the lead. Soapy stood still with his hands in his pockets, and smiled at the sight of brass buttons.

“Where’s the man that done that?” inquired the officer agitatedly.(nervous manner )चिडून  

“Don’t you think that I might have had something to do with it?” said Soapy, with a friendly voice, as one greets good fortune.( भाग्य )

The policeman refused to accept Soapy even as a clue(संशयित ). Men who smash windows do not remain to chat with the police. They take to their heels. The policeman saw a man half-way down the block running to catch a car. With drawn club he joined in the pursuit. Soapy, with disgust in his heart, drifted along, twice unsuccessful.

On the opposite side of the street was a restaurant of no great pretensions. It catered to large appetites and modest purses.(open for all ) Its crockery and atmosphere were thick; its soup and napery (कापड ) thin. Into this place Soapy betook himself without challenge. At a table he sat and consumed beefsteak, flapjacks, doughnuts and pie. And then he told the waiter the fact that the minutest coin and himself were total strangers.

 “Now, get busy and call a cop”, said Soapy. “And don’t keep a gentleman waiting.”

“No cop for you,” said the waiter, with a voice like butter cakes and an eye like the cherry in the Manhattan cocktail. “Hey, Con!” (भामटा)

Neatly upon his left ear on the callous pavement two waiters pitched(फेकणे) Soapy. He arose, joint by joint, as a carpenter’s rule opens, and dusted his clothes. Arrest seemed now but an elusive (सापडण्यास अवघड) dream. The island seemed very far away. A policeman who stood before a drugstore two doors away laughed and walked down the street. Soapy was seized with a sudden fear (घाबरणे) that some dreadful enchantment had rendered him immune to arrest. He was in a state of panic, and, when he came upon another policeman lounging grandly in front of a glittering theatre, he caught at the immediate straw of ‘disorderly conduct’. (बेशिस्तीने वागणे)

On the sidewalk Soapy began to yell drunken gibberish at the top of his harsh voice. He danced,

howled, raved and otherwise disturbed the skies. The policeman merely twirled(फिरवणे) his club (काठी) , turned his back to Soapy and remarked to a citizen :

“Tis one of them Yale lads celebratin the goose egg they give to the Hartford College. Noisy; but no harm. We’ve instructions to let them be.” (कारवाई न करणे)

Disconsolate,(दुखी) Soapy stopped his unavailing racket. Would never a policeman lay hands on him? In his fancy, the island seemed an unattainable Arcadia.(नंदनवन) He buttoned his thin coat against the chilling wind.

In a cigar store he saw a well-dressed man lighting a cigar at the swinging light. He had set his silk umbrella by the door on entering. Soapy stepped inside, grabbed the umbrella and sauntered off with it slowly. The man at the cigar light followed hastily.

“My umbrella,” he said sternly(ठामपणे).

“Oh, is it?” sneered Soapy, adding insult to petty larceny(चोरी). “Well, why don’t you call a policeman? I took it. Your umbrella ! Why don’t you call a cop? There stands one on the corner.”

The umbrella owner slowed his steps. Soapy did likewise, with a premonition(वाईट गोष्टींचा आभास ) that luck would again run against him. The policeman eyed at the two curiously.

“Of course,” said the umbrella man “Well, you know how these mistakes occur if it’s your umbrella. I hope you’ll excuse me - I picked it up this morning in a restaurant if you recognize it as yours, why I hope

 “Of course it’s mine,” said Soapy savagely(रागात ).

The ex-umbrella man retreated. The policeman hurried to assist a tall blonde(a person with yellow hair ) in an opera cloak across the street in front of a street car that was approaching two blocks away.

Soapy walked eastward through a street damaged by improvements. He hurled the umbrella angrily into an excavation. He muttered against the men who wear helmets and carry clubs. Because he wanted to fall into their clutches, they seemed to regard him as a king who could do nothing wrong.

At length Soapy reached one of the avenues to the east where the glitter and turmoil (गडबड) was but faint. He dragged himself toward Madison Square, for the homing instinct survives even when the home is a park bench.  

But, on an unusually quiet corner, Soapy came to a standstill.

Here was an old church, quaint (ओल्ड )and rambling(अवाढव्य ) and gabled. Through one violet-stained window a soft light glowed, where, no doubt, the organist loitered over the keys, making sure of his mastery of the coming Sabbath anthem. For there drifted out to Soapy’s ears sweet music that caught and held him transfixed against the convolutions (twists गुंतागुंत) of the iron fence.

The moon was above, full and radiant(तेजस्वी) ; vehicles and pedestrians were few; sparrows twittered  sleepil in the eaves or a little while the scene might have been  a country churchyard. And the anthem that the organist played cemented Soapy to the iron fence, for he had known it well in the days when his life contained such things as mothers and roses and ambitions and friends  and immaculate(clean अँड tidy ) thoughts and collars.

The conjunction(जुळणी ) of Soapy’s receptive state of mind and the influences about the old church brought a sudden and wonderful change in his soul. He viewed with rising horror the pit into which he had tumbled, the degraded  days, unworthy desires, dead hopes, wrecked faculties  and base motives that made up his existence.

And also in a moment his heart responded thrillingly to this strange mood. A strong impulse(urge प्रेरणा) moved him to battle with his desperate(hopeless) fact. He would pull himself out of the mire and would make a man of himself again; he would conquer the evil that had enslaved him. There was time; he was young yet; he would resurrect(restore to lifeपुनः जीवंत)  his old eager ambitions and pursue them without faltering(न डगमंगता )Those solemn but sweet organ notes had set up a revolution in  him. Tomorrow he would go into the roaring downtown  district and find work. A fur importer had once offered him a place as driver. He would be somebody in the world. He would ----

Soapy felt a hand laid - on arm. He looked quickly around into the impassive face (भावनाहीन expressionless )of a policeman.

“What are you doin’ here?” asked the officer.

“Nothin’,”said Soapy.

“Then come along , ”said the policeman.

“Three months on the island,” (3महिन्याची शिक्षा)said the Magistrate in the Police Court the next morning.

- O’Henry

 

BRAINSTORMING

(A1) (i) Discuss with your partner and find out the different ways in which Soapy

tried to get arrested.

(a) Tried to enter a luxurious cafe.

(b)Broke the glass

(c)Ate at the hotel and did not pay.

(d) Stolan of an umbrella

 

(ii) Describe the atmosphere when Soapy reached near the Church.

(a) A soft light glowed through the violet-stained window.

(b) Radient moonlight ,twittering  birds

(c)few vehicles, pedestrians

(d)  oraganist playing the anthem

 

 

 (A2) (i) Read the story and match the incidents given in Column A with the

consequences given in Column B.

Column A (1) Soapy tried to enter a cafe

(2) Soapy broke a glass window

(3) Two waiters pitched Soapy on the callous pavement.

 (4) Soapy heard the anthem being played in the Church.

 (5) Cop arrests Soapy for hanging around.

Column B

A)The cop ran after another man.

b)Suddenly a wonderful change came in his heart.

c)Dream of turning around in life was shattered.

d)He stood up slowly beating the dust from his clothes.

e)Strong and ready hands of the head waiter turned him around.

ANSWER

1 – E

2  –A

3-  D

4  -B

5- C

 

(ii) Give reasons and complete the following :

 (a) Soapy had confidence in himself because HE HAD DRESSED IN TRIM COAT AND BOW TIE

 (b) The head waiter of the luxurious cafe did not allow Soapy to enter because HE SAW HIS TATTERED TROUSERS AND DECADENT SHOES.

 

 (c) The cop did not arrest Soapy for breaking the glass window because HE THOUGHT THAT HOW COULD ANY CRIMINAL STAY AFTER MAKING A CRIME JUST LIKE SOAPY.

 

 (d) The cop did not arrest Soapy for shouting and dancing because HE FELT THAT SOAPY WOULD BE UNIVERSITY STUDENT

 

 

(iii) Pick out the lines from the text which show that :

 (a) Soapy wants to enter the cafe for two reasons.

 (b) Soapy was afraid that he won't be able to enter the prison.

 (c) Soapy was not caught by the cop for throwing stones at the glass.

 (d) Soapy actually did not want the umbrella.

 (e) Listening to the anthem, Soapy remembered his good old days.

ANSWER

A) . The total would not be so high as to call forth any extreme of revenge from the cafe management; and yet the meat would leave him filled and happy for the journey to his winter island.

B) Soapy was seized with a sudden fear that some dreadful enchantment had rendered him immune to arrest

C) The policeman refused to accept Soapy even as a clueMen who smash windows do not remain to chat with the police.

D) Soapy walked eastward through a street damaged by improvements. He hurled the umbrella angrily into an excavation

E) the anthem that the organist played cemented Soapy to the iron fence, for he had known it well in the days when his life contained such things as mothers and roses and ambitions and friends  and immaculate thoughts and collars.

 

 

(iv) ‘He would make a man of himself again’ – The word ‘man’ in the sentence

Means  A GOOD PERSON WITH QUALITY WHO IS NOW ON PROPER WAY

 

(v) Soapy’s earlier life was much different from his present life. Complete the

table to show this contrast.

Earlier life

(a) Contained friends and roses

(b) MOTHERS AND AMBITIONS AND COLLARS

(c) IMMACULATIV THOUGHTS

Present life

(a) Unworthy desires

(b)DEAD HOPES AND DEGREDED DAYS

(c)WRECKED FACULTIES AND BASE MOTIVES

 

(vi) After listening to the sweet and solemn organ notes, Soapy decides to :

(a)To restore his aims and follow them unfalteringly

 (b)To make a man of himself

c)  go to find work/job

 

 

 (vii) Write an incident in which you did something wrong and repented for it

later. Give reasons.

 

(A3) (i)  O’ Henry  has used different words to indicate prison where Soapy wants

to reach. Make a list of those words.

Arcadia, Island , limbo , Winter island

(ii) Find out the words used for the 'degraded state of Soapy'.

WRECKED FACULTIES ,mire ensleved

(iii) The specific meaning of word 'anthem' in the content of the story is.......

A religious song and prayer of church

(A4) (i) Convert the following sentences into negative without changing their

meanings.

(a)    The policeman refused to accept Soapy even as a clue.

The policeman didn’t accept Soapy even as a clue.

 

(b) Soapy drifted along twice unsuccessful.

(c) Soapy stopped his unavailing racket.

(d) The island seemed very far away.

The island didn’t seem very far away.

 

(e) The island seemed an unattainable Arcadia.

The island didn‘t seem an unattainable Arcadia

 

(ii) Convert the following sentences into affirmative without changing their

meanings.

(a)    Men who smash windows do not remain to chat with the police.

Men who smash windows try to avoid to chat with the police.

(b) Why don’t you call a cop?

Why do you hesitate to call a cop.?

(c) On the opposite side of the street was a restaurant of no great pretensions.

(d) Noisy; but no harm.

Noisy,  but harmless.

(e) They seemed to regard him as a King who could do no wrong.

 They seemed to regard him as a King who was unable to do wrong.

 

 

 

(A5) (i) ‘Forgiveness is often better than punishment’. Write two paragraphs – one

for and another against this notion.

 

(ii) You are the class representative and you have been asked by the Principal

to conduct an interview of a cop. Frame 8-10 questions with the help of

the following points, give introduction and conclusion.

• reasons for joining the department

• special trainings

• developing the skill to identify and locate criminals

• dealing with criminals

• achievements and awards