The Old Gentleman moved, straight and proud, toward the tradition that he was building. Truly feeding Stuffy Pete |от всего сердца кормя Стаффи Пита… Слово stuffy имеет много значений – душный, скучный, занудный, забитый, чопорный. Стаффи Пит – это явно кличка, но какое именно значение слова stuffy имел ввиду О. Генри понять сложно, поэтому в русском переводе слово не было переведено. Стаффи Пит так и остался Стаффи Питом| once a year was not a very important tradition. There are greater and more important traditions in England. But it was a beginning. It proved that a tradition was at least possible in America.

The Old Gentleman was thin and tall and sixty. He was dressed all in black. He wore eye-glasses. His hair was whiter |не белее. Стало больше седины в волосах| and thinner than it had been last year |чем было в прошлом году. Опять had и третья форма глагола – на этот момент седины больше чем на момент в прошлом году|. His legs did not seem as strong as they had seemed the year before.

As this kind Old Gentleman came toward him, Stuffy began to shake and his breath was shorter. He wished he could fly away. But he could not move from his seat.

“Good morning,” said the Old Gentleman. “I am glad to see that the troubles of another year have not hurt you. You continue to move in health about the beautiful world |поэтичное предложение, которое не перевести буквально. Это что-то вроде «мир прекрасен, и я рад, что ваше здоровье тоже хорошее| . For that blessing you and I can give thanks on this day of thanksgiving. If you will come with me, my man, I will give you a dinner that will surely make your body feel as thankful as your mind.”

That is what the Old Gentleman said every time. Every Thanksgiving Day for nine years. The words themselves were almost a tradition. Always before, they had been |и все же почему у О.Генри везде had и третья форма глагола, они же прошедший Perfect? Вся история ведется о прошлом событии – Пит пошел, Пит увидел.., и все события предшествующие текущим действиям Пита должны стоять в прошедшем Perfect – had и третья форма глагола. Тем самым автор показывает, что они именно были раньше похождений Пита| music in Stuffy’s ear. But now he looked up at the Old Gentleman’s face with tears of suffering in his eyes. The snow turned quickly to water when it fell upon his hot face. But the Old Gentleman was shaking with the cold. He turned away, with his back to the wind, and he did not see Stuffy’s eyes.

Stuffy had always wondered |всегда думал. I wonder – это чаще “я думаю”, а не “я удивляюсь”| why the Old Gentleman seemed sad as he spoke. He did not know that it was because the Old Gentleman was wishing that he had a son. A son would come there after he himself was gone |сын бы приходил бы туда, после того как Старый Джентльмен бы умер|. A son would stand proud and strong before Stuffy, and say: “In remembrance of my father.” Then it would really be a tradition.

But the Old Gentleman had no family. He lived in a room in one of the old houses near the park. In the winter he grew a few flowers there. In the spring he walked on Fifth Avenue. In the summer he lived in a farmhouse in the hills outside New York, and he talked of a strange bug |все говорил о каком-то странном насекомом| he hoped some day to find. In the fall season he gave Stuffy a dinner. These were the things that filled the Old Gentleman’s life.

Stuffy Pete looked up at him for a half minute, helpless and very sorry for himself. The Old Gentleman’s eyes were bright with the giving-pleasure. His face was getting older every year, but his clothes were very clean and fresh.

And then Stuffy made a strange noise. He was trying to speak. As the Old Gentleman had heard the noise nine times before, he understood it. He knew that Stuffy was accepting.

“Thank you. I’m very hungry.”

Stuffy was very full, but he understood that he was part of a tradition. His desire for food on Thanksgiving Day was not his own |его желание…ему не принадлежало|. It belonged to this kind Old Gentleman. True, America is free. But there are some things that must be done.

The Old Gentleman led Stuffy to the restaurant and to the same table where they had always gone. They were known here.

“Here comes that old man,” said a waiter, “that buys that old no-good fellow |странному мутному типу| a dinner every Thanksgiving.”

The Old Gentleman sat at the table, watching. The waiters brought food, and more food. And Stuffy began to eat.

No great and famous soldier ever battled |ни один… солдат так не воевал…| more strongly against an enemy. The turkey and all the other food were gone almost as quickly as they appeared. Stuffy saw the look of happiness on the Old Gentleman’s face. He continued to eat in order to keep it there.

In an hour the battle was finished.

“Thank you,” Stuffy said. “Thank you for my Thanksgiving dinner.”

Then he stood up heavily and started to go to the wrong door. A waiter turned him in the right direction.

The Old Gentleman carefully counted out $1.30, and left fifteen cents more for the waiter.

They said goodbye, as they did each year, at the door. The Old Gentleman went south, and Stuffy went north.

Stuffy went around the first corner, and stood for one minute. Then he fell.

There he was found |его нашли|. He was picked up |его подобрали. Это все пассивные залоги, над чем-то или кем-то совершают действие: его нашли, его подобрали. Сам он ничего не делал. Все действия были над ним| and taken to a hospital. They put him on a bed, and began to try to discover what strange sickness had made him fall |заставила его упасть. В английском два глагола означают “заставить”: to make и to force. Главное после них поставить еще глагол, который и будет означать, что именно вас заставляют делать: don’t make me go there/не заставляй меня туда идти|.

And an hour later the Old Gentleman was brought to the same hospital. And they put him on another bed, and began to try to discover what his sickness could be.

After a little time one of the doctors met another doctor, and they talked.

“That nice old gentleman over there,” he said. “Do you know what’s wrong with him? He is almost dead for need of food. A very proud old man, I think. He told me he has had nothing to eat for three days.”

In a small part of the city west of Washington Square, the streets have gone wild |улицы сошли с ума|. They turn in different directions. They are broken into small pieces called “places.” One street goes across itself |пересекает саму себя| one or two times. A painter once discovered something possible and valuable about this street. Suppose |Представим…| a painter had some painting materials for which he had not paid. Suppose he had no money. Suppose a man came to get the money. The man might walk down that street and suddenly meet himself coming back, without having received a cent |он встречает самого себя, не получившего ни цента|!

This part of the city is called Greenwich Village. And to old Greenwich Village the painters soon came. Here they found rooms they like, with good light and at a low cost. Sue and Johnsy lived at the top of a building with three floors. One of these young women came from Maine |штат Мэн в США|, the other from California. They had met at a restaurant on Eighth Street. There they discovered that they liked the same kind of art, the same kind of food, and the same kind of clothes. So they decided to live and work together.