Waters of Strife

“YOU do?” shouted Grimes; and leaving Tom, he climbed up over the wall, and faced the woman. Tom thought he was going to strike her; but she looked him too full and fierce in the face for that.

“Yes; I was there,” said the Irishwoman quietly.

“You are no Irishwoman, by your speech,” said Grimes, after many bad words.

“Never mind who I am. I saw what I saw; and if you strike that boy again, I can tell what I know.”

Grimes seemed quite cowed, and got on his donkey without another word.

“Stop!” said the Irishwoman. “I have one more word for you both; for you will both see me again before all is over. Those that wish to be clean, clean they will be; and those that wish to be foul, foul they will be. Remember.”*

And she turned away, and through a gate into the meadow. Grimes stood still a moment, like a man who had been stunned. Then he rushed after her, shouting, “You come back.” But when he got into the meadow, the woman was not there.

abridged

Abridged from ‘The Water Babies’ by Charles Kingsley (1819-75).

Throughout the novel, water and washing are an extended metaphor for baptism, Christian rebirth, a second chance for those who choose it.

Précis
Grimes turns angrily on the Irish woman, but her calm strength quietens him; she shows that she really does know something about his past, and Grimes seems quite abashed. The lady walks away with a reminder that being clean or dirty is a matter of choice; and though Grimes runs angrily after her, she has vanished without trace.
Questions for Critics

1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?

2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?

3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?

Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.

Sevens

Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.

What was it, in Tom’s opinion, that stopped Grimes from striking the woman?

Suggestion

She looked him right in the eye.

Jigsaws

Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.

Grimes went up to the Irish woman. Tom expected Grimes to hit her. He did not.

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