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Mother Shipton
Nicknamed “The Innocent,” Tom is Piney’s fiancé and an acquaintance of Oakhurst’s. He is a young man from the next town over—Sandy Bar, where the outcasts are headed—and is making the journey to Poker Flat to elope with Piney and begin a new life. Months ago, he played a “little game” with Oakhurst and lost a fortune (about $40 in 1850, which would be over $1,200 in 2019’s currency) to the man. After, Oakhurst kindly advised Tom to never gamble again and gave him back his money. Because of this incident, Tom is delighted to run into Oakhurst in the mountains. While Oakhurst is strong and silent, Tom is boyish, giggly, and naïve. He excitedly tells the group that he and Piney are eloping because her father, Jake Woods, doesn’t approve of their engagement, framing their situation as one big, exiting adventure. Likewise, Tom is enthusiastic about spending the night with the group and treats their situation like a camping trip among friends rather than a fight for survival among strangers. Thus, when Oakhurst tries to persuade him to not delay his journey as the group doesn’t have food or shelter, Tom won’t listen, exclaiming that he and Piney have plenty of rations to share and that he saw a clumsily built log cabin nearby where they can stay. However, Tom’s blind optimism quickly leads to his downfall, as the next morning the group finds themselves stranded and snowed in. On the group’s 10th day in the mountains, Oakhurst fashions a pair of homemade snowshoes from a saddle, urging Tom to try to make it to Poker Flat, even though there’s only “one chance in a hundred” that he'll be able to make it there and return with help to save Piney. The story implies that Tom is successful in reaching Poker Flat—even though the rest of the group dies, they are found days when “voices and footsteps” enter the camp, presumably a search party. After his experience in the mountains and the death of his beloved fiancée, it seems that Tom is no longer innocent.
Tom Simson Quotes in The Outcasts of Poker Flat
The The Outcasts of Poker Flat quotes below are all either spoken by Tom Simson or refer to Tom Simson. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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The Outcasts of Poker Flat
Quotes
He started to his feet with the intention of awakening the sleepers, for there was no time to lose. But turning to where Uncle Billy had been lying, he found him gone. A suspicion leaped to his brain and a curse to his lips. He ran to the spot where the mules had been tethered; they were no longer there. The tracks were already rapidly disappearing in the snow.
The momentary excitement brought Mr. Oakhurst back to the fire with his usual calm. He did not waken the sleepers.
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“Luck,” continued the gambler, reflectively, “is a mighty queer thing. All you know about it for certain is that it’s bound to change. And it’s finding out when it’s going to change that makes you. We’ve had a streak of bad luck since we left Poker Flat,—you come along, and slap you get into it, too. If you can hold your cards right along you’re all right.”
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The third day came, and the sun, looking through the white-curtained valley, saw the outcasts divide their slowly decreasing store of provisions for the morning meal. It was one of the peculiarities of that mountain climate that its rays diffused a kindly warmth over the wintry landscape, as if in regretful commiseration of the past. But it revealed drift on drift of snow piled high around the hut,—a hopeless, uncharted, trackless sea of white lying below the rocky shores to which the castaways still clung.
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Some months before he had chanced upon a stray copy of Mr. Pope’s ingenious translation of the Iliad. He now proposed to narrate the principal incidents of that poem—having thoroughly mastered the argument and fairly forgotten the words—in the current vernacular of Sandy Bar. And so for the rest of that night the Homeric demigods again walked the earth. Trojan bully and wily Greek wrestled in the winds, and the great pines in the cañon seemed to bow to the wrath of the son of Peleus. Mr. Oakhurst listened with quiet satisfaction. Most especially he was interested in the fate of “Ash-heels,” as the Innocent persisted in denominating the “swift-footed Achilles.”
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Day by day closer around them drew the snowy circle, until at last they looked from their prison over drifted walls of dazzling white, that towered twenty feet above their heads. […] The lovers turned from the dreary prospect and looked into each other’s eyes, and were happy. Mr. Oakhurst settled himself coolly to the losing game before him. The Duchess, more cheerful than she had been, assumed the care of Piney. Only Mother Shipton—once the strongest of the party—seemed to sicken and fade.
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Tom Simson Character Timeline in The Outcasts of Poker Flat
The timeline below shows where the character Tom Simson appears in The Outcasts of Poker Flat. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
The Outcasts of Poker Flat
...skies above, Oakhurst suddenly hears someone call out his name. Riding down the trail is Tom Simson, a Sandy Bar resident who’s known as “The Innocent.” Months ago, Oakhurst won about...
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Tom is fresh-faced and cheerful, delighted to have stumbled upon Oakhurst in the woods. He admits...
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Oakhurst implores Tom to continue on his way rather than linger, as Oakhurst and his companions are out...
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...dilapidated cabin, insulated with pine branches, while the men are to sleep outside. Piney and Tom say goodnight, sharing a single kiss that is so simple and pure that it leaves...
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...his usual stoicism, and he decides to let the others sleep for a while longer. Tom is smiling in his sleep, while the Duchess and Mother Shipton sleep beside Piney like...
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...supplies for 10 days if they’re exceedingly careful. Oakhurst can’t bear to tell Piney and Tom that Uncle Billy stole off with the mules, so he instead tells them that Uncle...
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Tom merrily suggests that they’ll “have a good camp for a week” and then they will...
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As the night wears on, Piney and Tom lead the group in a Christian hymn. Though the two lovers sing the song with...
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...accustomed to little sleep and takes up his post easily. Earlier that evening, he told Tom that there were times in his life during which he’d gone whole weeks without sleep,...
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...instead. None of the outcasts are willing to share anything from their lives, but luckily Tom has a story he’s eager to share. Several months ago, he stumbled across a copy...
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In his distinct Sand Bar dialect, Tom launches into Homer’s story: “Trojan bully and wily Greek wrestled in the winds, and the...
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...group struggles to find wood to fuel their fires. Despite the grim circumstances, Piney and Tom spend their days gazing contentedly into one another’s eyes. Oakhurst “settle[s] himself coolly to the...
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...accordion or recites Homer. After the group buries Mother Shipton in the snow, Oakhurst pulls Tom aside and presents him with a pair of homemade snowshoes, which Oakhurst made out of...
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After Tom and Piney say their goodbyes, Oakhurst tells the others that he is accompanying Tom to...
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