Aunt Polly was vexed to think she had overlooked that bit of circumstantial evidence, and missed a trick. Then she had a new inspiration:
“Tom, you didn’t have to undo your shirt collar where I sewed it, to pump on your head, did you? Unbutton your jacket!”
The trouble vanished out of Tom’s face. He opened his jacket. His shirt collar was securely sewed.
“Bother! Well, go ’long with you.
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Got these notes from ChatGPT:
Aunt Polly was vexed to think she had overlooked that bit of circumstantial evidence, and missed a trick.
vexed is grammatical but sounds old-fashioned; Americans rarely use it in conversation.
circumstantial evidence is fine, still used.
missed a trick is a British/old idiom, not common in American speech.
Modern American equivalent: “Aunt Polly was annoyed that she’d overlooked that piece of evidence and missed her chance.”
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Then she had a new inspiration:...
Notes:
Grammatically fine.
a new inspiration for “a sudden idea” sounds formal/old-fashioned in American everyday speech.
Modern equivalent:Then she suddenly had a new idea:...
Then I suddenly had an idea:...
Then all of a sudden I had an idea:...
Then all of a sudden it hit me:...
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Tom, you didn’t have to undo your shirt collar where I sewed it, to pump on your head, did you?
Notes:
Structure is acceptable but clunky for modern American spoken English.
to pump on your head is not modern; unclear idiomatically.
Double-clause question tag did you? is still used.
Modern equivalent: “Tom, you didn’t have to undo the collar I sewed just to pour water on your head, did you?”
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Unbutton your jacket!
Notes:
Completely modern and natural.
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The trouble vanished out of Tom’s face.
Notes:
vanished out of his face is grammatically okay but sounds literary/dated.
Americans would normally phrase it differently.
Modern equivalent:The worry disappeared from Tom’s face.
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He opened his jacket. His shirt collar was securely sewed.
Notes:
securely sewed is grammatically valid, but the modern past participle is sewn.
Americans almost always say securely sewn.
Modern equivalent: “His shirt collar was securely sewn.”
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1. “Bother!” (alone) — very old-fashioned, not used today
Saying “Bother!” as a standalone exclamation sounds like something from the 1800s. Americans today basically never say it in real life.
It feels abrupt, clipped, and antique.
2. “Oh, bother!” — still old-fashioned, but recognizable
This form is also old-fashioned, but it's widely recognized because:
It’s Winnie-the-Pooh’s famous catchphrase
It sounds slightly softer and more natural in modern ears
People may use it jokingly or ironically
Still, Americans do not use it seriously as a real exclamation of frustration.
If someone says “Oh, bother!” today, it usually sounds:
Cute
Polite
Childlike
British
Or intentionally humorous
3. What Americans actually say today:
For real-life frustration, modern American alternatives are:
“Oh, come on!”
“Oh, man!”
“Seriously?”
“Damn it!”
“Darn it!”
“Oh, for God’s sake!”
“Jeez!”
“Ugh!”
Depending on politeness level.
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“go along with someone/something” meaning “to agree with someone or support an idea, plan, etc.”
For example:
I don’t really like the plan, but I’ll go along with it. → I’m not crazy about the plan, but I’ll go along with it.
But “go ’long with you” in this text is totally different:
It’s an old-fashioned American dialect thing.
It basically means “go on, get out of here” / “go do your thing”, not “agree with me.”
The ’long and sentence structure show it’s 19th-century colloquial, not the modern usage.
A modern equivalent would be:
Go on now! → Go do your thing!
Get out of here! → Sometimes joking or lightly scolding
Then:
go along with someone/something → agree with or support someone/something; modern, standard usage.
go ’long with you → go on, get out of here, move along; old American dialect, obsolete.
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