A JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH
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by Jules Verne
CHAPTER 1
My Uncle Makes a Discovery
LOOKING back to all that has occurred to me since that eventful day,
I am scarcely able to believe in the reality of my adventures. They
were truly so wonderful that even now I am bewildered when I think
of them.
My uncle was a German, having married my mother's sister, an
Englishwoman. Being very much attached to his fatherless nephew, he
invited me to study under him in his home in the fatherland. This home
was in a large town, and my uncle a professor of philosophy,
chemistry, geology, mineralogy, and many other ologies.
One day, after passing some hours in the laboratory- my uncle
being absent at the time- I suddenly felt the necessity of
renovating the tissues- i.e., I was hungry, and was about to rouse
up our old French cook, when my uncle, Professor Von Hardwigg,
suddenly opened the street door, and came rushing upstairs.
Now Professor Hardwigg, my worthy uncle, is by no means a bad sort
of man; he is, however, choleric and original. To bear with him
means to obey; and scarcely had his heavy feet resounded within our
joint domicile than he shouted for me to attend upon him.
"Harry- Harry- Harry-"
I hastened to obey, but before I could reach his room, jumping three
steps at a time, he was stamping his right foot upon the landing.
"Harry!" he cried, in a frantic tone, "are you coming up?"
Now to tell the truth, at that moment I was far more interested in
the question as to what was to constitute our dinner than in any
problem of science; to me soup was more interesting than soda, an
omelette more tempting than arithmetic, and an artichoke of ten
times more value than any amount of asbestos.
But my uncle was not a man to be kept waiting; so adjourning
therefore all minor questions, I presented myself before him.
He was a very learned man. Now most persons in this category
supply themselves with information, as peddlers do with goods, for the
benefit of others, and lay up stores in order to diffuse them abroad
for the benefit of society in general. Not so my excellent uncle,
Professor Hardwigg; he studied, he consumed the midnight oil, he pored
over heavy tomes, and digested huge quartos and folios in order to
keep the knowledge acquired to himself.
There was a reason, and it may be regarded as a good one, why my
uncle objected to display his learning more than was absolutely
necessary: he stammered; and when intent upon explaining the phenomena
of the heavens, was apt to find himself at fault, and allude in such a
vague way to sun, moon, and stars that few were able to comprehend his
meaning. To tell the honest truth, when the right word would not come,
it was generally replaced by a very powerful adjective.
In connection with the sciences there are many almost
unpronounceable names- names very much resembling those of Welsh
villages; and my uncle being very fond of using them, his habit of
stammering was not thereby improved. In fact, there were periods in
his discourse when he would finally give up and swallow his
discomfiture- in a glass of water.
