The Soul – Machine William Young Elliot

 

A little man who liked to experiment invented a soul machine. This ingenious device projected an invisible ray, nhich upon striking a person, revealed in bright letters across his chest the innermost desire of his soul.

The little man motive in developing the machine was to help humanity. He thought if the deep desires of people, especially of their leaders, were exposed the populace would know whom to follow and whom to forsake.

First, the little man tried the instrument on himself. Across his chest appeared the words: "I want to serve humanity." The little man was pleased.

Next, he sat in the audience at a town-meeting. The mayor got up to introduce the speaker of the occasion - the town boss - who at that very gathering meant to bunch his campaign for the governorship of the state.

"My friends," said the mayor, the outstanding privilege of my life has been to know and love this great and good man. I want to assure him publicly that the deepest desire of my heart is to see him seated in the governor's chair."

At that moment the little man, who was sitting on the front row, turned on his machine which was strapped on his chest under his shirt, and directed the beam on the mayor.

On the mayor's chest blazed the words: "I want to be governor myself."

The audience burst into laughter. The people thought some jokester had directed a beam of a slide-projector on the mayor. But when that official turned this way and that and the letters still remained on his chest, the people decided that a trickster had painted the words in slowly-appearing paint on the mayor's clothes. But when the mayor tore open his shirt and the words were there on his body and seemed to be coming from within him, no one knew what to think.

Of course the newspapers carried the story in a prominent place on the front page. Needless to say, there was great commotion throughout the city.

The next day was Sunday and the little man decided to take his machine to the largest church in town, of which the Rev. Josiah Potter was pastor. "Much too vain, pompous & ambitious to be a true Minister of the Lord, thought the little man.

So it was with amazement that he saw on the Rev. Potter's chest the words: "I want to be like Christ."

"There was a time," said the Rev. Potter, slowly surveying the words on his front, "when words other than these would have appeared. But the death of our little boy two years ago, together with the unspeakable miseries of war which the world has had to endure, have made me realize for the first time the emptiness of human ambition merely to be great. Thus it is that I am now satisfied simply to serve the Lord and humanity."

These remarks made the little man's spirit seem to leap and sing.

It had become apparent to everybody by now that anyone who undertook to address a public gathering was in dire danger of having his secret longings exposed. No wonder, then, that lecturers, politicians, and what not, began to cancel their engagements as thickly as leaves falling in an Autumn wind. This did not mean, of course, that their dominant desires were necessarily evil, but merely that few people, good or bad, want their private objectives exposed to a gawking public.

Having driven the speakers to cover, the little man was compelled to fall back on the general public. It occurred to him that he might make known to the populace at large individuals whose motives were such that they might safely be elevated to positions of leadership. The little man felt that such individuals would be found among women as well as men.

Accordingly, one afternoon as he approached a group of women on a downtown street, he directed his beam of the company and caused these desires to appear:

"I want to get married."

"1 want to make my husband happy."

"1 want a divorce."

"I want my children to be sturdy of character."

"1 want to be president of our club."

"1 want Aunt Emma's money."

Needless to say, this move on the part of the little man was a mistake. In great fury those of the ladies who were offended descended on the City Hall and demanded that the mayor do something about the great public menace that had risen in their city. Worst of all, the ladies were able to give the mayor an accurate description of the little man they had seen approaching, and who, they were sure, was the perpetrator of all the trouble.

The mayor speedily assigned his best detectives & policemen to the case.

Sure enough the next day a group of six detectives spotted the little man as he approached them, trying to get a cross-section sampling of the men's objectives to match that of the women.

It is useless to add that their intentions of capturing the little man were momentarily forgotten when on each man’s chest appeared the words: “I want to be chief of our department.”

And at that moment the little man escaped.

He was compelled to resort to a disguise now, however. For this purpose he selected a striking set of black whiskers.

Determinedly, the little man carried on the project he had undertaken. Indeed, his persecution developed in him a sort of fanaticism. He determined that if necessary he would be a martyr to the cause.

And it may be said that his very next move was a drastic step in that direction. He attended the state convention of women’s clubs being held in the city, which was also the state capital, and focused his revealing ray on the wife of the governor as she gave the address of welcome. Incidentally, she presented a veiled plea that her husband be retained in the governors chair, and took thinly disguised jabs at his chief opponent the Hon. Henry Hobbs, the city-boss who has already been referred to, and at his wife whose superiority in looks and bearing she fiercely resented and would not admit even to herself.

How disconcerting, then, to have suddenly to appear on her bosom the words: "I want to be beautiful and queenly, just like Mrs. Hobbs.

In cold fury the governor's wife went to work on the governor. That official notified the mayor and the sheriff to bring in the little man dead or alive.

But in the meantime the little man made for the hills. Unfortunately, in his haste his black whiskers blew off . The governor then ordered out a company of the militia and had bloodhounds rushed from the state prison. The dogs smelled the whiskers and took up the trial immediately.

The little man was lucky to get a cave he knew about - with the dogs only a hundred yards behind.

Ensconced in a small crypt above the entrance, he looked out through a small opening in the rocks at the approaching throng.

Led by the governor, the band, consisting of police, militia, and civilians of every sort, came on.

Suddenly the dreadful soul-machine began to play on them. "I want one more term to make my machine all powerful" blared across the governor's chest. The group stopped short. But the ray was going from one to another as though the little man were desperately searching for someone or something. Finally it came to rest on the person of Silas Martin, the third man in the race for governor and a relatively unknown candidate. "I want my state to be like the Kingdom of God" were the words that appeared. Martin laughed embarrassedly and tried to escape the beam but could not. It was as though the little man were determined not to let him go.

In a great rage the governor went hack to a police radio-car and had them flash a message to an air-squadron of the state militia. In a few minutes a bomber was seen coming. It flew low over the group, then circled and made for the cave. There was a tremendous roar, and when the dust had blown away, it was seen that what had been the mouth of the cave was no more.

That's the last of him was the general sigh of relief. No one could have survived that explosion.

But the governor and his wife and the mayor and some others were not satisfied. They called for a crew of miners and had them start sinking a shaft down through the roof of the cave. After two days the drills pierced through. Before proceeding farther, however, they tossed stick of dynamite with lighted fuses down into the cave. Then a man with a strong light was lowered with a rope. Sure enough there lay the little man, dead enough to suit everybody, and with him what was left of his terrible soul-machine.

Commentary

William ELLIOTT, born in Foolow in 1831, his childhood in Foolow and Eyam, and his early working life in Stoney Middleton. His literary skills well deserve a wider besides this story. William also kept a series of Journals, which are believed still to exist. One of his famous stories is the story called The Soul – Machine.

 

1. some jokester. the noun-forming suffix -ster was originally the female suffix of agency still seen in such words as "spinster (meaning "a woman who spins." not "an old maid"), but in modern times is joined to nouns and less frequently to adjectives and verbs, as a male suffix of agency similar to -er. often carrying : deprecatory connotation. Thus, a jokester is a more sinister or objectionable person than a mere joker while a youngster is simpty young, and a pollster is just someone whose job is to conduct polls, a gangster or a mobster are best avoided, and a rhymester, a filmster or a tunester cannot be taken seriously, let alone respected.

 

2. the Rev. Josiah Potter. Rev. (in AmE), or Rev and Revd (in BrE) is the written abbreviation for "Reverend," of a Christian priest, also used to address the cleric ("When will the new church be ready. Reverend") dire danger, "dire" is a formal wd meaning “extreme" with a limited sphere of application; apart from as here, or difficulty, as in the idiom "in dire straits” - "in a very difficult situation," it also describes needs ( need of food"), which is perhaps its commonest context.

a downtown street, "downtown" is the Amencan wd for the central business part of a town or city; its companion items are "uptown" ("to. towards or in the higher or northern residential area, awav the business center") and midtown" ("somewhere near the center, but not in the main business area")

 

 

Words & word-combinations to be memorized:

 

 

Ingenious, to project, innermost, deep desires, to expose, to forsake, to launch a compaign, the deepest desire, on the front page, commotion, to survey, unspeakable, to endure, populace, to serve the Lord & Humanity, a gawking public, to be compelled, perpetrator of all the trouble, to assign smb. to the case, to be a martyr, a drastic step, to resent, dead or alive, to take up the trail, to stop short, a shaft;

 

 

I.TEXT EXERCISES:

 

1. Translate one paragraph of the text

2. Find synonyms & antonyms in the text

3. Describe the situations in which the words & word-combinations are used in the text under study

4. Paraphrase the italicized words & expressions from the text:

· This ingenious device projected an invisible ray, nhich upon striking a person, revealed in bright letters across his chest the innermost desire of his soul.

· "My friends," said the mayor, the outstanding privilege of my life has been to know and love this great and good man.

· But when that official turned this way and that and the letters still remained on his chest, the people decided that a trickster had painted the words in slowly-appearing paint on the mayor's clothes.

· This did not mean, of course, that their dominant desires were necessarily evil, but merely that few people, good or bad, want their private objectives exposed to a gawking public.

· Needless to say, this move on the part of the little man was a mistake. In great fury those of the ladies who were offended descended on the City Hall and demanded that the mayor do something about the great public menace that had risen in their city.

· Incidentally, she presented a veiled plea that her husband be retained in the governors chair, and took thinly disguised jabs at his chief opponent the Hon. Henry Hobbs, the city-boss who has already been referred to, and at his wife whose superiority in looks and bearing she fiercely resented and would not admit even to herself.

· "I want my state to be like the Kingdom of God" were the words that appeared. Martin laughed embarrassedly and tried to escape the beam but could not. It was as though the little man were determined not to let him go.

· Sure enough there lay the little man, dead enough to suit everybody, and with him what was left of his terrible soul-machine.

 

5. Give the definitions of the following words from the English-English dictionary

 

Innermost, to forsake, gawking, perpetrator, shaft;

 

6. Translate into English

· Этот хитроумный прибор был настолько маленьким, что его можно было уместить на ладони человека. Заветным желанием каждого было иметь его.

· Простой народ во все времена несёт на своих плечах бремя испытаний и тягот.

· С приходом нового начальника им пришлось отказаться от привычки курить прямо в кабинете.

· После выборов президента, состоявшихся в ноябре 2004 года, началась компания по непризнанию этих выборов законными.

· На первой полосе всех местных газет появились сообщения о прошедшем митинге.

· Представители всех вероисповеданий считают своей главной целью служить господу и человечеству.

· Это дело было поручено какому-то неизвестному судье. Многие годы оно оставалось нераскрытым.

· Напасть на след этого преступника было практически невозможно, он всё это время продолжал скрываться.

· Толпа остановилась как вкопанная и повернула назад. Никто не ожидал такого поворота событий.

 

 

II.HOME EXERCISES

 

1.Make up 10-15 sentences with the new words & expressions

2.Give the gist of the story

3.Define the composition of the text under study

4.Try to define the massage of the story

5.Try to find the stylistic devices used in the text

6. Express the main idea & theme of the story

7. Draw a conclusion

8. Compose your own story including all the components of composition

 

II.LABORATORY EXERCISES

 

1.Work in pairs with the new vocabulary of the story

2.Discuss the stylistic devices used in the text

3. Analyze the whole story.

 

 

UNIT 9