Question

what was aunt's polly initial reaction on hearing tom's illness​

Answer 1

sorry ...may answer is wrong

Aunt Polly's says

"He ’pears to know just how long he can torment me before I get my dander up, and he knows if he can make out to put me off for a minute or make me laugh, it’s all down again and I can’t hit him a lick. I ain’t doing my duty by that boy, and that’s the Lord’s truth, goodness knows. Spare the rod and spile the child, as the Good Book says. . . . He’s full of the Old Scratch, but laws-a-me! he’s my own dead sister’s boy, poor thing, and I ain’t got the heart to lash him, somehow. Every time I let him off, my

conscience does hurt me so, and every time I hit him my old heart most breaks." (emphasis added)