Many of the boys and girls who read this column have derived a great
deal of pleasure and profit too from the stories and histories of Jacob
Abbott. His "Rollo Books" and "Franconia Stories" contain a great deal
of information about every-day things, and his graver works are as
entertaining as stories, so that any C. Y. who wishes to be both amused
and instructed is always perfectly safe in choosing from the library a
volume by Jacob Abbott.
I wanted, however, to tell you of something else about this good man
which may give you a helpful hint this autumn, when you have play to
manage as well as work. Even in the best-behaved and happiest group of
young people, little quarrels arise if each wants his or her own way,
and if there is no rule by which to decide questions of whose right or
whose turn it is. Mr. Abbott loved children so dearly that he took a
great deal of trouble to give them a really good time when they were
visiting him. His biographer says: "His summers were enlivened always by
the visits of the families of one or more of his sons, the grandchildren
filling the house with their welcome noise, and his heart and life with
the pleasure of doing more good than ever."
He took an interest in everything they did, and in all their plays. In
one room there was a large boat-swing, and that there might never be any
contention with regard to its use, he wrote in a bold hand on a large
sheet of paper and posted up the following: