the bees. I read how to do it in a book."
"How shall you do it?" said Jonas.
"Why, when this honey-pot is full of honey, I shall get another, and put
on the top of it, bottom upwards. Then the bees will work up into that,
and come out at the upper hole. When they get fairly at work in the
upper hive, then I shall get Henry to hold it, while I slip the lower
one out, and put the upper one down in its place."
[Illustration]
As Rollo was speaking these words, in order to show Jonas more exactly
how he meant to perform the operation, he took hold of the flower-pot
with both his hands, and slid it suddenly off of the seat. Now it
happened that the poor bees that were inside, chilled with the dampness
and cold, were nearly all crawling about upon the seat; and when Rollo
suddenly moved the flower-pot along, forgetting for a moment what there
was inside, the rough edges of the flower-pot bruised and ground them to
death, and they dropped down upon the walk, some dead, some buzzing a
little, and one trying to crawl.
"There now, Rollo," said Henry, in a tone of great disappointment and
sorrow, "now you have killed all our bees!"
Rollo looked astonished enough. He had no idea of such a catastrophe;
and he and Henry both at the same instant took up the honey-pot to see
if any of the bees had escaped destruction. Their eyes fell, at the
same moment, upon one solitary bee that was standing upon the inside
of the flower-pot. His attention had been arrested by the sudden glare
of light, and so, just as Rollo and Henry first observed him, and before
they had time to put the flower-pot down again, he spread his wings and
flew out towards them.
Down dropped the flower-pot. The boys started. "Run!" exclaimed Jonas,
following them with shouts of laughter, "run, run, boys, for dear life!"
and away they all went towards the garden gate.
The bee, however, was not following them. His only object was to get
away. He flew in another direction; but Rollo, Henry, and Jonas did not
stop to look behind them. They kept on running, until Jonas was well on
his way towards the pasture, and Rollo and Henry were safe in the shed.
And this was the last time that Rollo ever attempted to _make up_ a hive
of bees.
JONAS'S MAGNET.
One evening, after tea, Rollo was seated upon his cricket, before the
fire, reading. His mother was upon the sofa, also reading, and so the
room was very still.
By and by, Rollo finished his book. It was quite a small story-book, and
he had been reading it some time, and so he had got to the end. He laid
the book down, therefore, upon the table, and began to consider what he
should do next.
"Mother," said Rollo, "what shall I do?"
"I don't know," said his mother; "you must contrive some way to amuse
yourself, for I am busy reading, now."
Rollo sat still, looking at the fire a few minutes, and then he thought
he would go out into the kitchen, and see what Nathan was about.
Accordingly, he went into the kitchen. Dorothy was at work, making some
bread for the next day. Jonas was bringing in wood. Nathan was sitting
upon the floor before the fire, very much interested in looking at
something which he held in his hand.
"What have you got, Nathan?" said Rollo.
"I am seeing this nail stick on," said Nathan.
"Stick on!" said Rollo; "what does the child mean?" He accordingly came
up to Nathan, and found that he had a smooth, flat bar of steel, not
very regular in its shape, in one hand, and a nail in the other; and he
was amusing himself with applying the nail to the bar of steel, and
seeing it adhere.
"It is a magnet," said Rollo. "What a big magnet! Where did you get it,
Nathan?"
"Jonas gave it to me," said Nathan.
"Let me try it," said Rollo. And he stooped down by the side of Nathan,
and offered to take away the magnet.
But Nathan held it off upon one side, and said, "No, no; I must have it.
Jonas gave it to me."
"Well, Thanny," said Rollo, "I won't take it away; only you let me sit
here and see you play with it."
So Rollo sat still, and did not molest Nathan, but only looked on and
saw him touch the little nail to the bar, and leave it hanging there.
Rollo knew it was a magnet, for he had heard of magnets, though he had
never before had an opportunity of seeing one. As Nathan found that
Rollo was not going to take the magnet away from him, he soon ceased to
appear afraid of him, and presently he let Rollo have the magnet in his
hands. Rollo said he only wanted to look at it a moment, to see what
made the nail stick on.
He examined the steel bar carefully. It was not quite a foot long, and
was shaped like a common flat ruler; only, instead of being straight
from end to end, it was swelled out a little along in the middle. On
looking at the bar very attentively, Rollo observed some very fine,
hair-like lines, crossing each other, so as to produce the appearance of
fine net-work. Rollo supposed that this was what caused the magnet to
take up the nail. He observed that there was one place, near the middle
of the bar, where this net-work was more distinct and strong than in the
other parts of the bar, and so he put the nail there, expecting that it
would be attracted very strongly. But he was surprised at observing
that it was not attracted there at all. He then tried it at different
places, all along the bar, and he found that it was not attracted any
where in the middle, but only at the two ends.
While he was wondering what could be the cause of this, he heard the
front door open, and he knew that his father had come home. So he jumped
up and ran off into the entry, Nathan following him, to show his father
the magnet. His father was busy putting away his coat and hat, and told
the boys to go into the parlor, and he would come in, in a moment, and
see it. When he came in, he sat down before the fire, and took the
magnet, Rollo and Nathan standing by his side, and looking on with eager
curiosity.
Rollo's father examined the magnet from end to end, very carefully, for
some time, without speaking. At length, he said,
"It is an old file."
"An old file!" said Rollo.
"Yes," said his father. "Some of Jonas's work, I suppose."
"Yes, sir," replied Rollo; "at least it is Jonas's magnet."
"There you see the marks," continued his father, pointing to the
net-work, "of the old file teeth. Jonas ground them nearly out."
"Are those the marks of the file teeth?" said Rollo. "I thought it was
the magnetism."
"No," said his father, smiling, "those are the traces of the file teeth,
undoubtedly. You may go and ask Jonas how he got his magnet."
So away went Rollo and Nathan in pursuit of Jonas. They found him in the
kitchen, just arranging his wood for the morning fires. They asked him
where he got his magnet, and Jonas replied as follows:--
"Why, the other day, I went into town with your father's watch, to get a
new crystal put in; and when I was at the watchmaker's, I saw a
curious-shaped piece of iron hanging up. I asked the man what it was. He
said it was a magnet, that he kept to touch needles. Then he gave me a
nail, and let me see how the magnet would attract it. He told me, too,
that if I had a knife, and would rub my knife on the magnet, the knife
would attract, too; and so I did rub it, and I found that my knife would
attract the nail, though not very strong. Then I asked him if any piece
of iron would attract, after it was rubbed upon the magnet; and he said
that _iron_ would not, but that any piece of _steel_ would. He told me
that if I would bring a larger piece of steel, when I came after the
watch, he would rub it for me, and then I should have a larger magnet. I
told him I had not any steel. But he said any old file would do, and
that I might grind the sides and edges a little, and make it smooth.
"So, when I came home, I found some old files in the barn. Some were
three-cornered, and some were flat. I thought the flat would be the best
shape, and I asked your father if he would give me one of them. He said
he would; and so I ground the ends square, and the sides smooth, upon
the grindstone. Then, when I went after the watch, the man rubbed it for
me, and it makes a very good magnet."
Then Rollo and Nathan went back, and repeated this story to their
father.
"Very well," said their father; "that was a very good way to get a
magnet. I remember giving Jonas the file; but I did not know what he
wanted it for."
"I think a magnet is a very curious thing," said Rollo. "See how the
nail sticks to it!"
"There are a great many other things curious about it," said his father,
"besides that."
"What?" said Rollo.
"I should want some other apparatus to show you," replied his father.
"And can't you get the other apparatus?"
"I don't know. Perhaps mother might get it. Yes, I'll tell you what we
will do. I will name some things which mother may prepare, and you may
get them together upon the table in the kitchen, when they have got the
kitchen all in order. Then I will come out, and give you all, out there,
a lecture upon magnetism."
Rollo and Nathan were exceedingly pleased with this plan; and even
Rollo's mother looked somewhat gratified. She said she did not know much
about magnetism, and she meant to go out into the kitchen herself, and
hear the lecture.
"And what things shall we get?" said Rollo.
"Two or three needles," replied his father, "some fine, and some coarse;
some thread, a saucer nearly full of water, a cork, the sand-box off of
my table, and a sheet of white paper. Put them all in good order upon
the table, and set the chairs around it. Then, when all is ready, come
and tell me."
So Rollo's mother put down her book and went to help Rollo collect the
articles which his father had said he should require. She began to look
into her needle book for the needles and thread, while Rollo went for
the sand-box. When Rollo came back with the sand-box and the sheet of
paper in his hand, he found Nathan with his high chair, at the kitchen
door, trying to get in.
"What are you doing here, Nathan?" said Rollo.
"I want to get my high chair in," he replied.
The truth was, that Nathan, having learned from the conversation what
was going on, was eager to secure a good seat for himself, and so he
was attempting to drag out the high chair which was kept in the parlor
for him to sit up to the table in.
Rollo, as he happened to feel rather good-natured than otherwise, just
then, after putting down his things, helped Nathan get his chair through
the door, and placed it up at the kitchen table, which stood out in the
middle of the floor. He then went into a closet, and opened a little
drawer, where he knew corks were kept, and brought out one or two,
selecting the cleanest and softest that he could find. When he came
back, he found Nathan, pouring out some black sand, from the sand-box,
upon the sheet of paper.
"Now, Nathan," exclaimed Rollo, running up to him, and seizing the
sand-box, "you are a very naughty boy." And he attempted to take away
the sand-box violently.
But Nathan, though he knew very well that he was doing wrong, did not
seem fully disposed to admit Rollo's authority to set him right by
violence. He resisted; and, in the struggle, the table was pushed away,
and the water in the saucer spilled over. The water ran along under the
sheet of paper. Nathan, seeing the mischief that had been done, was a
little frightened, and released his hold. Rollo then took up the paper,
which had sand upon the upper side, and water dripping off from the
under side, saying,
"There, Nathan, now see what you have done!"
"I didn't do it," said Nathan.
"You did," said Rollo.
"I didn't," said Nathan.
Hereupon, Jonas came up to the table to see what was the matter. Each of
the boys told his story.
"Now we are in pretty trouble," said Jonas; "we thought we were going to
have a fine lecture; instead of that, there are two boys to be punished,
and wet paper to be dried."
"Punished?" said Rollo.
"Yes," said Jonas, "Nathan for touching the sand-box, and you for
touching _him_."
"Why, he was pouring out all the sand," said Rollo, "and I was only
trying to stop him."
"Yes, but you know," said Jonas, "that you had no right to stop him by
violence. That always makes the difficulty worse."
Here Rollo began to look pretty sober. He knew that he had done what he
had very often been forbidden to do.
"Now," said Jonas, "we can wait and tell your mother about it, when she
comes out, or we can just settle it all among ourselves."
"How?" said Rollo, with an anxious look.
"Why, I can dry the paper and the sand," said Jonas, "if you and Nathan
will only punish the boys."
"How shall we do it?" asked Rollo, looking up with a faint and doubtful
smile.
"I think a pretty good punishment," said Jonas, "would be for you and
Nathan to go and sit in two corners of the room, with your faces to the
wall, until I get the paper and sand dry--if you think that would be
punishment enough."
"Well," said Rollo,--his eye brightening at the idea of winding up so
unpleasant a business so easily,--"well, Nathan, let's go."
Nathan was ready, and so he climbed down from his high chair, and as
Rollo went to one corner of the room, he went to the other, and they
took their places, as Jonas had directed; only Nathan could not resist
the temptation of looking round, now and then, to see how Jonas got on
with the drying of the paper. They, however, bore their self-inflicted
punishment very patiently; and when Jonas had got the paper dried, and
the table wiped down, and every thing replaced as it was before, he told
them that it was time for them to get up again. The punishment was not
very severe, it is true; but then, it was probably a pretty efficacious
one, in respect to its effect in impressing it upon Nathan's mind that
he must not touch things without leave, and upon Rollo's, that, when
Nathan is doing wrong, he must not set him right by violence.
In a short time after this, the things were all ready upon the table,
the chairs were placed around it, and Rollo went to call his father. He
found him writing a letter. As soon as he reached the end of a sentence,
he came out, and took his place at the table. Rollo's mother sat next to
him at the same side of the table, and Jonas and Dorothy in two chairs,
on the opposite side. Rollo then was placed at one end of the table,
and Nathan, in his high chair, at the other.
Just then, however, Rollo's mother observed that the table was wet a
little.
"Why, Rollo," said she, "how came the table wet?"
"Why, Nathan and I did it," said he.
"How?" said his mother.
"Why, we did it--eh--pulling. But Jonas has settled it all, mother."
"Ah! Jonas has settled it, has he? very well. Then we will all now
attend to the lecture."
MAGNETISM.
Rollo's father looked over the things which had been arranged upon the
table, for a moment, in silence, and then took up Jonas's magnet.
"This bar is what they call a magnet," said he; "but all the magnetism
is in the two ends."
"It is?" said Rollo; "and what is the reason of that?"
"You can see that it is so," said his father, without answering Rollo's
question, "in this way."
So he laid a small nail down upon the table, and then touched the middle
of the magnet to the nail. It was not attracted at all. Then he moved it
along a little, towards one end, and touched it again. Still it was not
attracted. Then he moved it along farther and farther; but the nail was
not attracted until he got to the end of the bar, and then the nail
hopped up and adhered to it quite strongly.
"How curious!" said Rollo.
His father then repeated the same experiment with the other half of the
bar, and found the result the same. The nail did not appear to be at all
attracted until he reached the end, and then it was lifted and held by
this end, just as it was by the other.
"So that, you see," said Rollo's father, "that the attractive power of
the magnet resides in the ends."
"Well, father, what is the reason?"
"I don't know," said his father.
"Don't you know, father?" said Rollo. "I thought you were going to tell
us all about it."
"No," said his father. "I only know a very little about it, myself. I am
going to explain to you some of the facts,--such as I happen to know. So
you must all remember this fact, that in the magnet, the attractive
power is not distributed over the whole mass, but resides only in the
opposite ends. These ends are called _poles_."
"Yes, sir," said Rollo, "we will remember."
"Now I can make this apparent in another way," said his father. Then he
asked Rollo's mother to thread a needle; and when it was threaded, he
asked Jonas to stand up and hold the thread in such a manner as to let
the needle hang over the middle of the table.
Then, when the needle was still, he brought up the middle of the magnet
very near to the needle; but it did not move towards it at all. Then he
drew the magnet along towards himself, keeping it at the same distance
from the needle, and when the end of the bar came opposite to the
needle, it immediately leaped out of its place, and adhered strongly to
it.
"There is another way still," continued the lecturer, "better than
either of these."
So saying, he took off the needle, which had adhered to the magnet, and
drawing out the thread, he laid the needle itself carefully away upon a
distant corner of the table. Rollo took it up, and was going to place it
back with the others. But his father told him to put it down again, by
itself, where he had placed it, and not to touch any of the things
without his direction.
"I am going to show you another way," he added, "of making it evident
that the attractive power of the magnet resides at or near the poles."
So saying, he opened the sheet of paper, and spread it out upon the
table. Then he laid the magnet down upon it.
"Now, Jonas," said he, "sprinkle some sand upon it from my sand-box,
carefully, and see where the sand will adhere."
So Jonas took the sand-box, and held it over the bar, not very high, and
moved it slowly along, from one end to the other, and thus sanded the
magnet all over. The sand fell off of it, however, freely, at every part
except the ends; and Jonas, observing that it seemed to adhere there,
held the sand-box a little longer over those places; and thus there was
formed a sort of a black bur at the extremities, consisting of an
accumulation of the black particles of sand. Rollo's father then took up
the bar carefully, and passed it around, so that all who were seated at
the table could examine it closely.
"It is thickest on all the edges and corners," said Rollo.
"Yes," said his mother; "and the sand forms little black bristles,
pointing off in every direction."
They all examined it attentively, and observed the little black bristles
pointing out every way from the edges and corners at the ends.
"This shows you," said Rollo's father, "exactly how the magnetic power,
so far as its attractive force on other bodies is concerned, is
distributed. You see it resides in the two ends, and the two ends seem
to be exactly alike."
"Yes, sir," said Rollo, "exactly."
"They _seem_ to be so," continued his father; "but the fact is, the
magnetism of one end is very different from that of the other."
"I see that the cluster of sand is a little bigger at one end, than it
is at the other," said Rollo's mother. She was more observing than the
others, and had noticed a little difference, which had escaped the rest.
"That indicates only a difference in degree," said Rollo's father; "but
there is a difference in _kind_."
"What do you mean by that, father?" asked Rollo.
"Why, if the attractive powers at the two ends were both alike in their
nature, only one was stronger than the other, then the difference would
be in _degree_; but there is a difference in the nature of the magnetism
itself. In fact, the magnetisms of the two ends are of opposite natures
in some respects."
"Why, both ends attract the sand," said Rollo, "just alike."
"True," said his father; "they seem to attract the sand in precisely the
same way; and, looking at the bar, as I now hold it up," he added, "with
the sand adhering in the same way at the two ends, one would suppose
that they were both magnetic alike. But, in fact, there is a great
difference between them."
All the company looked upon the two ends of the bar, as Rollo's father
held it up, wondering how he would show that there was any difference
between them.
"Now, in the first place," he continued, "we must get the sand off of
the ends. Do you think you can get it off for me, Rollo?" said he.
Rollo took the bar very eagerly, and attempted to brush the sand back
upon the paper. He succeeded in brushing off a little of it; but the
greater portion remained. When he rubbed upon one side, it moved round
to the other; and he could not get it off.
"Hand it to me," said his father, "and I will show you how it can be
done."
He also asked Jonas to hand him the tongs, which were standing by the
side of the fire. He then held the tongs over the sheet of paper, in a
horizontal position, and gently rapped the end of the magnet against
them, letting the end project a little over the tongs. This knocked all
the sand off, and left the bar clean as it was before.
"Now let me see," said he, "what was it that I was going to tell you
next?"
"You were going to show us," said Rollo's mother, "that there are two
different kinds of magnetisms in the two ends of the bar."
"O, yes," said he. "In order to do this, I must poise a needle in a new
way."
He then took up one of the corks which Rollo had put upon the table.
From one end of this cork, he cut off, with his penknife, a round, flat
piece. It was about as large around as a wafer, but somewhat thicker.
He cut a little groove along the upper side of this, and laid the same
needle which he had before used, and which he had put away upon the
corner of the table, into this groove. Then he put the whole carefully
into the saucer of water, which he had previously drawn up towards him.
"There," said he, "we call a cork like that, a _float_; because it is
intended to float a needle upon. Now, you see, the needle being
supported by the cork, and the cork floating freely in the water, the
needle is at liberty to move in any way."
Nathan thought it was a very curious experiment to poise a needle so,
upon a piece of cork,--even without the magnetism. And he watched it as
it slowly moved about, with a face full of interest and curiosity.
The needle swung round a little one way and the other, and finally came
to a state of rest. Then Rollo's father held the magnet in his hands, in
such a manner as to point it towards the needle, and then gradually
brought it down near the water, just by the side of the point of the
needle. The point immediately began to move slowly towards the bar; but
Rollo's father lifted it up suddenly, before the needle had time to
touch it. Then he brought the same end of the magnet down upon the other
side of the point of the needle, and that drew it back again.
"There," said he, "you all see that the point of the needle is attracted
by the bar, whichever side I put it."
They all said they saw it very plainly.
"Now," said he, "I am going to turn the magnet, and bring the other end
of it down to the point of the needle; and if the magnetism at this end
is the same with that in the other, the point of the needle will of
course be attracted by this end too."
"Certainly," said Rollo's mother.
Then he brought down the other end of the bar towards the needle. This
other end was a little bigger than the one which he had tried first,
because the file had been a little bigger at that end. But the needle,
instead of being drawn towards it, as it had been towards the other end,
began to move slowly away from it.
"Why, it is going away," said Rollo.
His father did not answer, but immediately raised the bar and put it
down upon the other side of the point, and then the point began to move
away back again; being evidently driven away from the large end of the
magnet, on whichever side it was presented.
Then Rollo's father reversed the magnet again; that is, he brought the
smaller end towards the needle as at first. The point of the needle was
now attracted, that is, drawn towards the magnet; and then when he
changed it again, and brought the large end to the needle, it was always
_repelled_; that is, driven away again.
"Now you see," he said, "that the small end of the magnet attracts the
point of the needle, and the large end drives it away. That shows that
the magnetism in the two ends is of two different kinds.