ENGINEERING.
When Caleb awoke it was almost evening. The rays of the setting sun were
shining in at the window. Caleb opened his eyes, and, after lying still
a few moments, began to sing. He thought it was morning, and that it was
time for him to get up. Presently, however, he observed that the sun was
shining in at the wrong window for morning: then he noticed that he was
not undressed; and, finally, he thought it must be night; but he could
not think how he came to be asleep there at that time.
Caleb went out into the parlour. David and Dwight were just putting the
chairs around the tea table. At tea time, the boys talked a good deal
about the mole, and they asked Mary Anna if she would help them rig some
vessels to sail in the Maelstrom.
"Sail in the Maelstrom!" said Mary Anna; "whoever heard of sailing in
the Maelstrom? That is a great whirlpool, which swallows up ships; they
never sail in it. You had better call it the Gulf Stream."
"Well," said Dwight, "we will; and will you help us rig some vessels?"
"Yes," said Mary Anna, "when you get the mole done."
Mary Anna was a beautiful girl, about seventeen years old, with a mild
and gentle expression of countenance, and very pleasant tone of voice.
She helped the children in all their plays, and they were always pleased
when she was with them. She had great stores of pasteboard and coloured
papers, to make boxes, and portfolios, and little pocket-books, and
wallets of; and she had a paint-box, and pencils, and drawing-books,
and portfolios of pictures and drawing lessons.
She rigged the boys' vessels, and covered their balls, and made them
beautiful flags and banners out of her pieces of coloured silk. She
advised them to have a flag-staff out at the end of the mole, as they
generally have on all fortifications and national works. She told them
she would make them a handsome flag for the purpose.
After tea she went down with them to see the works. She seemed to like
the mole very much. The whirlpool was moving very regularly, and she
advised them to build the mole out pretty far.
"Yes," said Dwight; "and we are going to have a piece across up and down
the stream, at the end of it, so as to make a T of it."
"I think you had better make a Y of it," said Mary Anna.
"A Y!" said Dwight, "how?"
"Why instead of having the end piece go straight across the end of the
mole, let the two parts of it branch out into the stream, one upwards
and the other down."
"What good will that do?" said David.
"Why, if you make it straight like a T, the current will run directly
along the outer edge of it, and so your vessels will not stay there. But
if you have it Y-shaped, there will be a little sort of harbour in the
crotch, where your vessels can lie quietly, while the current flows
along by, out beyond the forks."
"That will be excellent," said Dwight, clapping his hands.
"And besides," said she, "the upper part of the Y will run out obliquely
into the stream, and so turn more of the current into your eddy, and
make the whirlpool larger."
"Well, and we will make it so," said David; "and then it will be an
excellent mole."
"Yes," said Mary Anna, "there will be all sorts of water around it;--a
whirlpool above, a little harbour in the crotch, a current in front,
and still water below. It will be as good a place for sailing boats as I
ever saw."
But the twilight was coming on, and they all soon returned to the house.
Madam Rachel had a little double-bedroom, as it was called, where she
slept. It was called a double-bedroom, because it consisted, in fact, of
two small rooms, with a large arched opening between them, without any
door. In one room was the bed, which moved in and out on little trucks,
for Caleb. In the other room was a table in the middle, with books and
papers upon it. There was a window in one side, and opposite the arched
opening which led to the bedroom was a small sofa.
Now, it was Madam Rachel's custom every evening, before the children
went to bed, to take them into her bedroom, and hear them read a few
verses of the Bible; and then she would explain the verses, and talk
with them a little about what had occurred during the day, and give them
good advice and good instruction. At such times the children usually sat
upon the sofa, on one side of the table, and Madam Rachel took her seat
on the other side of the table, in the chair, so as to face them. The
children generally liked this very much; and yet she very seldom told
them any stories at these times. It was almost all reasonings and
explanations; and yet the children liked it very much.