Lesson : 5

Uncle Podger Hangs a Picture

Jerome Klapka Jerome

Let's start :

Jerome Klapka Jerome (1859-1927) is a comic writer and humorist. He is best known for his comic travelogues like Three Men in a Boat and Three Men in a Bummel. The present story is abridged from a chapter in Three Men in a Boat.

Let's share : 🤝

• Have you ever seen a picture hanging on a wall?
• Where have you seen it?
• What are the things you need to hang a picture on the wall?

Let's read : 📖

Unit I

You never saw such a commotion up and down a house in all your life, as when my Uncle Podger undertook to do a job. A picture would have come home from the frame-makers, and be standing in the dining-room, waiting to be put up. Aunt Podger would ask what was to be done with it, and Uncle Podger would say:

"Oh, you leave that to me. Don't you, any of you, worry yourselves about that. I'll do all that."

And then he would take off his coat, and begin. He would send the girl out for sixpen'orth of nails, and then one of the boys after her to tell her what size to get.

"Now you go and get me my hammer, Will," he would shout, "and you bring me the rule, Tom. I shall want the step-ladder, and I had better have a kitchen-chair, too. And don't you go, Maria, because I shall want somebody to hold me the light. When the girl comes back she must go out again for a bit of picture cord. Tom!— Where's Tom?—Tom, you come here; I shall want you to hand me up the picture."

And then he would lift up the picture, and drop it, and it would come out of the frame. He would try to save the glass and cut himself. Then he would spring round the room, looking for his handkerchief. He could not find his handkerchief, because it was in the pocket of the coat he had taken off, and he did not know where he had put the coat. All the house had to leave off looking for his tools, and start looking for his coat; while he would dance round and hinder them.

"Doesn't anybody in the whole house know where my coat is? I never came across such a set in all my life - upon my life I didn't. Six of you! – and you can't find a coat that I put down not five minutes ago! Well, of all the——“

Then he'd get up and find that he had been sitting on it, and would call out:

"Oh, you can give it up! I've found it myself now."

When half an hour had been spent in tying up his finger, and a new glass had been got, he would have another go. Two people would have to hold the chair, and a third would help him up on it, and hold him there. A fourth would hand him a nail, and a fifth would pass him up the hammer, and he would take hold of the nail, and drop it.

"There!" he would say in an injured tone, "now the nail's gone."

And we would all have to go down on our knees and grovel for it.

The nail would be found at last, but by that time he would have lost the hammer.

"Where's the hammer? What did I do with the hammer? Great heavens! Seven of you, gaping round there, and you don't know what I did with the hammer!”

Word Nest 📌

• commotion: trouble
• sixpen'orth: having the value of sixpenny
• cord: string
• injured: upset
• grovel: crawl
• gaping: looking with the mouth open

Let's do:

Activity 1

Choose the correct answers from the given alternatives :

(a) The thing which would have come home from the frame-makers is (i) a picture (ii) a carving on wood (iii) a picture drawn on a piece of cloth (b) Uncle Podger would take off his (i) vest (ii) tie (iii) coat (c) Uncle Podger would ask (i) the boy (ii) the girl (iii) the charwoman, for sixpen'orth of nails. (d) Uncle Podger, at first, would drop the (i) picture (ii) hammer (iii) nail

Activity 2

Identify which of the following statements are True and which are False. Give a supporting statement for each of your answers.

(a) There was a commotion in the house when Uncle Podger undertook a job. (b) Uncle Podger did not want to hang the picture. (c) Uncle Podger would cut himself and spring round the room searching for his handkerchief. (d) The second thing that Uncle Podger would lose would be the hammer.

Activity 3

Complete the following sentences with information from the text:

(a) Aunt Podger would ask.................................................after the picture came to the house. (b) Tom was asked to bring ........................................................ (c) ............................................................................as he would be sitting on it.

Activity 4

Answer the following questions :

(a) Name the children of Uncle Podger. (b) What did Uncle Podger ask the children to bring for him? (c) How did Uncle Podger cut himself? (d) Why did Uncle Podger want his coat? (e) Where did he find his coat?

Let's talk : 🗣️

Suppose you are one of the children. Discuss what you would do for your father if he decides to undertake a job of this sort.

Unit II

Let's continue :

We would find the hammer for him, and then he would have lost sight of the mark he had made on the wall, where the nail was to go in. Each of us had to get up on the chair beside him, and see if we could find it. We would each discover it in a different place, and he would call us all fools.

Trying to reach a point three inches beyond what was possible for him to reach, the string would slip, and down he would slide on to the piano.

At last, Uncle Podger would get the spot fixed, and put the point of the nail on it with his left hand, and take the hammer in his right hand. And with the first blow, he would smash his thumb, and drop the hammer, with a yell, on somebody's toes.

Aunt Maria would mildly observe that, next time Uncle Podger was going to hammer a nail into the wall, she hoped he'd let her know in time. She could then make arrangements to go and spend a week with her mother while it was being done.

"Oh! You woman, you make such a fuss over everything." Uncle Podger would reply picking himself up. "Why, I like doing a little job of this sort."

And then he would have another try. At the second blow, the nail would go clean through the plaster, and half the hammer after it.

Then we would find the rule and the string again, and a new hole was made. About midnight, the picture would be up – very crooked and insecure.

“There you are,” he would say, stepping heavily off the chair on to the charwoman's corns, and surveying the mess he had made with evident pride. “Why, some people would have had a man in to do a little thing like that!"

Word Nest 📌

• smash: crash
• yell: shout
• fuss: create trouble
• crooked: not straight
• insecure: uncertain
• charwoman: a woman who arranges the coal in a house
• mess: dirty state of things

Let's do :

Activity 5

Choose the correct answers from the given alternatives :

(a) Uncle Podger would call us all (i) intelligent (ii) careless (iii) fools (b) Uncle Podger would slide and fall (i) on the char-woman's toes (ii) on the piano (iii) on the chair (c) Uncle Podger's work would finish (i) at around midnight (ii) at mid-day (iii) in the evening

Activity 6

Complete the sentences with information from the text:

(a) Uncle Podger would lose sight of the mark ........................................ (b) .....................................................trying to reach a point three inches beyond. (c) .....................................................doing a job of this sort.

Activity 7

Complete the following table with information from the text :

Cause	Effect
(a)	Each child had to get up beside him on the chair
(b)	Uncle Podger would fall on to the piano
(c) At the first blow of the hammer
(d)	a new hole was made

Activity 8

Answer the following questions:

(a) Give two instances to show the carelessness of Uncle Podger. (b) What did Aunt Podger say after Uncle Podger smashed his thumb? (c) How did Uncle Podge react after finishing the task? (d) Why was everyone tired after Uncle Podger put up the picture on the wall?

Activity 9

Match the following words in column A with their meanings in column B:

A	B
(a) sneer	closely observing
(b) evident	poor
(c) wretched	mock
(d) surveying	clear

Activity 10

Find the antonymns of the following words from the text :

(a) rapidly (b) lost (c) remembered (d) roughly (e) save (f) straight

Activity 11

Use the prefixes or suffixes (in-/im-/-al/-some) to form new words :

(a) different : (b) possible : (c) sufficient : (d) arrive : (e) whole :

Let's learn: 💡

Look at these sentences :

• A picture would have come from the frame-maker's and be standing in the dining-room, waiting to be put up.
• I shall want the step-ladder, and I had better have a kitchen-chair, too.

The words dining-room, frame-maker's, step-ladder and kitchen-chair are formed by two or more words but they mean only one object. These words are called compound words. The meaning of the individual words add meaning to the compound word but itself individually they do not mean the same. For example: dining-room. This specifies a room used for dining but only 'dining' or 'room' will not carry the proper sense of the word. So also is frame-maker's. ‘Frame' and 'maker's' have different individual meanings but together they mean a person who makes frames. Thus we find that these compound words have a specific meaning different from the individual component words.

While the component words of the compound words are nouns, we call the compound words nominal compounds. For example kitchen-chair, step-ladder.

Let's do :

Activity 12

Try to find as many compound words you can from the lesson, and make sentences with them.

Let's learn : 💡

Look at these sentences :

• I shall want the step-ladder.
• I shall want somebody to hold me the light.

In these sentences, the action of the verb indicates an action that has not yet happened. The words 'shall want' indicate an action that will happen later. Such action that focuses on something that is going to happen is termed as 'Future Tense' of the verb.

The structure of the 'Future Tense' is this-

I/We	+ shall/will + verb
You	+ will + verb
They/He/She/It	+ will + verb

Only in the case of the first person we use 'shall/will', but for all other persons we use 'will'.

Let's do :

Activity 13

Write 5 sentences about what you want to be in future.

Let's start in this way:

I would like to be............................................................................................................

Activity 14

We have already learnt Plural Nouns. Find some of these from the following sentences and then make other sentences with them:

(a) He wore his old trousers to school. (b) Mother wanted the scissors to cut the thread. (c) The press went public over the issue. (d) At the station, the goods were unloaded from the train. (e) His true colours came to the forefront at the meeting.

Let's talk : 🗣️

Discuss with your friends what Aunt Podger would really do if Uncle Podger announced again that he would do a little job of this sort.

Let's learn: 💡

Find out how to write the summary of a passage:—

Given text:

When half an hour had been spent in tying up his finger, and a new glass had been got, he would have another go. Two people would have to hold the chair, and a third would help him up on it, and hold him there. A fourth would hand him a nail, and a fifth would pass him up the hammer, and he would take hold of the nail, and drop it. (72 words)

Summary:

After dressing his finger and getting a new glass, he would retry. People would hold his chair, help him climb, hold him there, hand him a nail and a hammer. Holding the nail, he would drop it. (37 words)

While writing a summary:

• do not use direct speech
• do not quote from the passage
• do not use examples given in the passage
• pick out the main ideas from the passage
• write about the ideas in your own words+

A summary should have approximately half the word count of the given passage.

Therefore we see here that only the essential ideas or incidents have been incorporated in the summary. No unnecessary details are needed.

Let's do :

Activity 15

Now write a summary of the given passage :

Then he would spring round the room, looking for his handkerchief. He could not find his handkerchief, because it was in the pocket of the coat he had taken off, and he did not know where he had put the coat. All the house had to leave off looking for his tools, and start looking for his coat; while he would dance round and hinder them.

Activity 16

Narrate a funny incident that you have experienced. You may use the following points:

• Brief account of the incident — when it happened — the funniest part of the incident
• funny characters involved, if any.

Let's work together : 🤝

Let's make a chart with funny characters whom we know from our daily lives or from cinema, television and books. You may write a few lines about these funny people. For example, you may consider characters like:

• Laurel and Hardy
• Charlie Chaplin
• Mr. Bean
• Tenida
• Ghanada