The Garden-House.
There was a certain building on one side of Farmer Cropwell’s yard which
they called the _garden-house_. There was one large double door which
opened from it into the garden, and another smaller one which led to the
yard towards the house. On one side of this room were a great many
different kinds of garden-tools, such as hoes, rakes, shovels, and spades;
there were one or two wheelbarrows, and little wagons. Over these were two
or three broad shelves, with baskets, and bundles of matting, and ropes,
and chains, and various iron tools. Around the wall, in different places,
various things were hung up--here a row of augers, there a trap, and in
other places parts of harness.
Opposite to these, there was a large bench, which extended along the whole
side. At one end of this bench there were a great many carpenter’s tools;
and the other was covered with papers of seeds, and little bundles of
dried plants, which Farmer Cropwell had just been getting in from the
garden.
The farmer and one of his boys was at work here, arranging his seeds, and
doing up his bundles, one pleasant morning in the fall, when a boy about
twelve years old came running to the door of the garden-house, from the
yard, playing with a large dog. The dog ran behind him, jumping up upon
him; and when they got to the door, the boy ran in quick, laughing, and
shut the door suddenly, so that the dog could not come in after him. This
boy’s name was George: the dog’s name was Nappy--that is, they always
called him Nappy. His true name was Napoleon; though James always thought
that he got his name from the long naps he used to take in a certain sunny
corner of the yard.
But, as I said before, George got into the garden-house, and shut Nappy
out. He stood there holding the door, and said,
“Father, all the horses have been watered but Jolly: may I ride him to the
brook?”
“Yes,” said his father.
So George turned round, and opened the door a little way, and peeped out.
“Ah, old Nappy! you are there still, are you, wagging your tail? Don’t you
wish you could catch him?”
George then shut the door, and walked softly across to the great door
leading out into the garden. From here he stole softly around into the
barn, by a back way, and then came forward, and peeped out in front, and
saw that Nappy was still there, sitting up, and looking at the door very
closely. He was waiting for George to come out.
Jolly.
George then went back to the stall where Jolly was feeding. He went in and
untied his halter, and led him out. Jolly was a sleek, black, beautiful
little horse, not old enough to do much work, but a very good horse to
ride. George took down a bridle, and, after leading Jolly to a
horse-block, where he could stand up high enough to reach his head, he put
the bridle on, and then jumped up upon his back, and walked him out of the
barn by a door where Nappy could not see them.
He then rode round by the other side of the house, until he came to the
road, and he went along the road until he could see up the yard to the
place where Nappy was watching. He called out, _Nappy!_ in a loud voice,
and then immediately set his horse off upon a run. Nappy looked down to
the road, and was astonished to see George upon the horse, when he
supposed he was still behind the door where he was watching, and he sprang
forward, and set off after him in full pursuit.
He caught George just as he was riding down into the brook. George was
looking round and laughing at him as he came up; but Nappy looked quite
grave, and did nothing but go down into the brook, and lap up water with
his tongue, while the horse drank.
While the horse was drinking, Rollo came along the road, and George asked
him how his garden came on.
“O, very well,” said Rollo. “Father is going to give me a larger one next
year.”
“Have you got a strawberry-bed?” said George.
“No,” said Rollo.
“I should think you would have a strawberry-bed. My father will give you
some plants, and you can set them out this fall.”
“I don’t know how to set them out,” said Rollo. “Could you come and show
me?”
George said he would ask his father; and then, as his horse had done
drinking, he turned round, and rode home again.
Mr. Cropwell said that he would give Rollo a plenty of strawberry-plants,
and, as to George’s helping him set them out, he said that they might
exchange works. If Rollo would come and help George gather his
meadow-russets, George might go and help him make his strawberry-bed. That
evening, George went and told Rollo of this plan, and Rollo’s father
approved of it. So it was agreed that, the next day, he should go to help
them gather the russets. They invited James to go too.
The Pet Lamb.
The next morning, James and Rollo went together to the farmer’s. They
found George at the gate waiting for them, with his dog Nappy. As the boys
were walking along into the yard, George said that his dog Nappy was the
best friend he had in the world, except his lamb.
“Your lamb!” said James; “have you got a lamb?”
“Yes, a most beautiful little lamb. When he was very little indeed, he was
weak and sick, and father thought he would not live; and he told me I
might have him if I wanted him. I made a bed for him in the corner of the
kitchen.”
“O, I wish I had one,” said James. “Where is he now?”
“O, he is grown up large, and he plays around in the field behind the
house. If I go out there with a little pan of milk, and call him
so,--_Co-nan_, _Co-nan_, _Co-nan_,--he comes running up to me to get the
milk.”
“I wish I could see him,” said James.
“Well, you can,” said George. “My sister Ann will go and show him to you.”
So George called his sister Ann, and asked her if she should be willing to
go and show James and Rollo his lamb, while he went and got the little
wagon ready to go for the apples.
Ann said she would, and she went into the house, and got a pan with a
little milk in the bottom of it, and walked along carefully, James and
Rollo following her. When they had got round to the other side of the
house, they found there a little gate, leading out into a field where
there were green grass and little clumps of trees.
Ann went carefully through. James and Rollo stopped to look. She walked on
a little way, and looked around every where, but she saw no lamb.
Presently she began to call out, as George had said, “_Co-nan_, _Co-nan_,
_Co-nan_.”
In a minute or two, the lamb began to run towards her out of a little
thicket of bushes; and it drank the milk out of the pan. James and Rollo
were very much pleased, but they did not go towards the lamb. Ann let it
drink all it wanted, and then it walked away.
Then James ran back to the yard. He found that George and Rollo had gone
into the garden-house. He went in there after them, and found that they
were getting a little wagon ready to draw out into the field. There were
three barrels standing by the door of the garden-house, and George told
them that they were to put their apples into them.
The Meadow-Russet.
There was a beautiful meadow down a little way from Farmer Cropwell’s
house, and at the farther side of it, across a brook, there stood a very
large old apple-tree, which bore a kind of apples called _russets_, and
they called the tree the _meadow-russet_. These were the apples that the
boys were going to gather. They soon got ready, and began to walk along
the path towards the meadow. Two of them drew the wagon, and the others
carried long poles to knock off the apples with.
As the party were descending the hill towards the meadow, they saw before
them, coming around a turn in the path, a cart and oxen, with a large boy
driving. They immediately began to call out to one another to turn out,
some pulling one way and some the other, with much noise and vociferation.
At last they got fairly out upon the grass, and the cart went by. The boy
who was driving it said, as he went by, smiling,
“Who is the head of _that_ gang?”
James and Rollo looked at him, wondering what he meant. George laughed.
“What does he mean?” said Rollo.
“He means,” said George, laughing, “that we make so much noise and
confusion, that we cannot have any head.”
“Any head?” said James.
“Yes,--any master workman.”
“Why,” said Rollo, “do we need a master workman?”
“No,” said George, “I don’t believe we do.”
So the boys went along until they came to the brook. They crossed the
brook on a bridge of planks, and were very soon under the spreading
branches of the great apple-tree.
[Illustration: The Harvesting Party.]
Insubordination.
The boys immediately began the work of getting down the apples. But,
unluckily, there were but two poles, and they all wanted them. George had
one, and James the other, and Rollo came up to James, and took hold of his
pole, saying,
“Here, James, I will knock them down; you may pick them up and put them in
the wagon.”
“No,” said James, holding fast to his pole; “no, I’d rather knock them
down.”
“No,” said Rollo, “I can knock them down better.”
“But I got the pole first, and I ought to have it.”
Rollo, finding that James was not willing to give up his pole, left him,
and went to George, and asked George to let him have the pole; but George
said he was taller, and could use it better than Rollo.
Rollo was a little out of humor at this, and stood aside and looked on.
James soon got tired of his pole, and laid it down; and then Rollo seized
it, and began knocking the apples off of the tree. But it fatigued him
very much to reach up so high; and, in fact, they all three got tired of
the poles very soon, and began picking up the apples.
But they did not go on any more harmoniously with this than with the
other. After Rollo and James had thrown in several apples, George came and
turned them all out.
“You must not put them in so,” said he; “all the good and bad ones
together.”
“How must we put them in?” asked Rollo.
“Why, first we must get a load of good, large, whole, round apples, and
then a load of small and wormy ones. We only put the _good_ ones into the
barrels.”
“And what do you do with the little ones?” said James.
“O, we give them to the pigs.”
“Well,” said Rollo, “we can pick them all up together now, and separate
them when we get home.”
As he said this, he threw in a handful of small apples among the good ones
which George had been putting in.
“Be still,” said George; “you must not do so. I tell you we must not mix
them at all.” And he poured the apples out upon the ground again.
“O, I’ll tell you what we will do,” said James; “we will get a load of
little ones first, and then the big ones. I want to see the pigs eat them
up.”
But George thought it was best to take the big ones first, and so they had
quite a discussion about it, and a great deal of time was lost before they
could agree.
Thus they went on for some time, discussing every thing, and each wanting
to do the work in his own way. They did not dispute much, it is true, for
neither of them wished to make difficulty. But each thought he might
direct as well as the others, and so they had much talk and clamor, and
but very little work. When one wanted the wagon to be on one side of the
tree, the others wanted it the other; and when George thought it was time
to draw the load along towards home, Rollo and James thought it was not
nearly full enough. So they were all pulling in different directions, and
made very slow progress in their work. It took them a long time to get
their wagon full.
When they got the load ready, and were fairly set off on the road, they
went on smoothly and pleasantly for a time, until they got up near the
door of the garden-house, when Rollo was going to turn the wagon round so
as to back it up to the door, and George began to pull in the other
direction.
“Not so, Rollo,” said George; “go right up straight.”
“No,” said Rollo, “it is better to _back_ it up.”
James had something to say, too; and they all pulled, and talked loud and
all together, so that there was nothing but noise and clamor. In the mean
time, the wagon, being pulled every way, of course did not move at all.
Subordination.
Presently Farmer Cropwell made his appearance at the door of the
garden-house.
“Well, boys,” said he, “you seem to be pretty good-natured, and I am glad
of that; but you are certainly the _noisiest_ workmen, of your size, that
I ever heard.”
“Why, father,” said George, “I want to go right up to the door, straight,
and Rollo won’t let me.”
“Must not we back it up?” said Rollo.
“Is that the way you have been working all the morning?” said the farmer.
“How?” said George.
“Why, all generals and no soldiers.”
“Sir?” said George.
“All of you commanding, and none obeying. There is nothing but confusion
and noise. I don’t see how you can gather apples so. How many have you got
in?”
So saying, he went and looked into the barrels.
“None,” said he; “I thought so.”
He stood still a minute, as if thinking what to do; and then he told them
to leave the wagon there, and go with him, and he would show them the way
to work.
The boys accordingly walked along after him, through the garden-house,
into the yard. They then went across the road, and down behind a barn, to
a place where some men were building a stone bridge. They stopped upon a
bank at some distance, and looked down upon them.
“There,” said he, “see how men work!”
It happened, at that time, that all the men were engaged in moving a great
stone with iron bars. There was scarcely any thing said by any of them.
Every thing went on silently, but the stone moved regularly into its
place.
“Now, boys, do you understand,” said the farmer, “how they get along so
quietly?”
“Why, it is because they are men, and not boys,” said Rollo.
“No,” said the farmer, “that is not the reason. It is because they have a
head.”
“A head?” said Rollo.
“Yes,” said he, “a head; that is, one man to direct, and the rest obey.”
“Which is it?” said George.
“It is that man who is pointing now,” said the farmer, “to another stone.
He is telling them which to take next. Watch them now, and you will see
that he directs every thing, and the rest do just as he says. But you are
all directing and commanding together, and there is nobody to obey. If you
were moving those stones, you would be all advising and disputing
together, and pulling in every direction at once, and the stone would not
move at all.”
[Illustration: There, Said He, See How Men Work.]
“And do men always appoint a head,” said Rollo, “when they work together?”
“No,” said the farmer, “they do not always _appoint_ one regularly, but
they always _have_ one, in some way or other. Even when no one is
particularly authorized to direct, they generally let the one who is
oldest, or who knows most about the business, take the lead, and the rest
do as he says.”
They all then walked slowly back to the garden-house, and the farmer
advised them to have a head, if they wanted their business to go on
smoothly and well.
“Who do you think ought to be our head?”
“The one who is the oldest, and knows most about the business,” said the
farmer, “and that, I suppose, would be George. But perhaps you had better
take turns, and let each one be head for one load, and then you will all
learn both to command and to obey.”
So the boys agreed that George should command while they got the next
load, and James and Rollo agreed to obey. The farmer told them they must
obey exactly, and good-naturedly.
“You must not even _advise_ him what to do, or say any thing about it at
all, except in some extraordinary case; but, when you talk, talk about
other things altogether, and work on exactly as he shall say.”
“What if we _know_ there is a better way? must not we tell him?” said
Rollo.
“No,” said the farmer, “unless it is something very uncommon. It is better
to go wrong sometimes, under a head, than to be endlessly talking and
disputing how you shall go. Therefore you must do exactly what he says,
even if you know a better way, and see if you do not get along much
faster.”
The New Plan Tried.
The boys determined to try the plan, and, after putting their first load
of apples into the barrel, they set off again under George’s command. He
told Rollo and James to draw the wagon, while he ran along behind. When
they got to the tree, Rollo took up a pole, and began to beat down some
more apples; but George told him that they must first pick up what were
knocked down before; and he drew the wagon round to the place where he
thought it was best for it to stand. The other boys made no objection, but
worked industriously, picking up all the small and worm-eaten apples they
could find; and, in a very short time, they had the wagon loaded, and were
on their way to the house again.
Still, Rollo and James had to make so great an effort to avoid interfering
with George’s directions, that they did not really enjoy this trip quite
so well as they did the first. It was pleasant to them to be more at
liberty, and they thought, on the whole, that they did not like having a
head quite so well as being without one.
Instead of going up to the garden-house, George ordered them to take this
load to the barn, to put it in a bin where all such apples were to go.
When they came back, the farmer came again to the door of the
garden-house.
“Well, boys,” said he, “you have come rather quicker this time. How do you
like that way of working?”
“Why, not quite so well,” said Rollo. “I do not think it is so pleasant as
the other way.”
“It is not such good _play_, perhaps; but don’t you think it makes better
_work_?” said he.
The boys admitted that they got their apples in faster, and, as they were
at work then, and not at play, they resolved to continue the plan.
Farmer Cropwell then asked who was to take command the next time.
“Rollo,” said the boys.
“Well, Rollo,” said he, “I want you to have a large number of apples
knocked down this time, and then select from them the largest and nicest
you can. I want one load for a particular purpose.”
A Present.
The boys worked on industriously, and, before dinner-time, they had
gathered all the apples. The load of best apples, which the farmer had
requested them to bring for a particular purpose, were put into a small
square box, until it was full, and then a cover was nailed on; the rest
were laid upon the great bench. When, at length, the work was all done,
and they were ready to go home, the farmer put this box into the wagon, so
that it stood up in the middle, leaving a considerable space before and
behind it. He put the loose apples into this space, some before and some
behind, until the wagon was full.
“Now, James and Rollo, I want you to draw these apples for me, when you go
home,” said the farmer.
“Who are they for?” said Rollo.
“I will mark them,” said he.
So he took down a little curious-looking tin dipper, with a top sloping in
all around, and with a hole in the middle of it. A long, slender
brush-handle was standing up in this hole.
When he took out the brush, the boys saw that it was blacking. With this
blacking-brush he wrote on the top of the box,--LUCY.
“Is that box for my cousin Lucy?” said Rollo.
“Yes,” said he; “you can draw it to her, can you not?”
“Yes, sir,” said Rollo, “we will. And who are the other apples for? You
cannot mark _them_.”
“No,” said the farmer; “but you will remember. Those before the box are
for you, and those behind it for James. So drive along. George will come
to your house, this afternoon, with the strawberry plants, and then he can
bring the wagon home.”
The Strawberry-Bed.
George Cropwell came, soon after, to Rollo’s house, and helped him make a
fine strawberry-bed, which, he said, he thought would bear considerably
the next year. They dug up the ground, raked it over carefully, and then
put in the plants in rows.
After it was all done, Rollo got permission of his father to go back with
George to take the wagon home; and George proposed to take Rollo’s
wheelbarrow too. He had never seen such a pretty little wheelbarrow, and
was very much pleased with it. So George ran on before, trundling the
wheelbarrow, and Rollo came after, drawing the wagon.
Just as they came near the farmer’s house, George saw, on before him, a
ragged little boy, much smaller than Rollo, who was walking along
barefooted.
“There’s Tom,” said George.
“Who?” said Rollo.
“Tom. See how I will frighten him.”
As he said this, George darted forward with his wheelbarrow, and trundled
it on directly towards Tom, as if he was going to run over him. Tom looked
round, and then ran away, the wheelbarrow at his heels. He was frightened
very much, and began to scream; and, just then, Farmer Cropwell, who at
that moment happened to be coming up a lane, on the opposite side of the
road, called out,
“George!”
George stopped his wheelbarrow.
“Is that right?” said the farmer.
“Why, I was not going to hurt him,” said George.
“You _did_ hurt him--you frightened him.”
“Is frightening him hurting him, father?”
“Why, yes, it is giving him _pain_, and a very unpleasant kind of pain
too.”
“I did not think of that,” said George.
“Besides,” said his father, “when you treat boys in that harsh, rough way,
you make them your enemies; and it is a very bad plan to make enemies.”
“Enemies, father!” said George, laughing; “Tom could not do me any harm,
if he was my enemy.”
“That makes me think of the story of the bear and the tomtit,” said the
farmer; “and, if you and Rollo will jump up in the cart, I will tell it to
you.”
Thus far, while they had been talking, the boys had walked along by the
side of the road, keeping up with the farmer as he drove along in the
cart. But now they jumped in, and sat down with the farmer on his seat,
which was a board laid across from one side of the cart to the other. As
soon as they were seated, the farmer began.
The Farmer’s Story.
“The story I was going to tell you, boys, is an old fable about making
enemies. It is called ‘The Bear and the Tomtit.’ ”
“What is a tomtit?” said Rollo.
“It is a kind of a bird, a very little bird; but he sings pleasantly.
Well, one pleasant summer’s day, a wolf and a bear were taking a walk
together in a lonely wood. They heard something singing.
“ ‘Brother,’ said the bear, ‘that is good singing: what sort of a bird do
you think that may be?’
“ ‘That’s a tomtit,’ said the wolf.
“ ‘I should like to see his nest,’ said the bear; ‘where do you think it
is?’
“ ‘If we wait a little time, till his mate comes home, we shall see,’ said
the wolf.
“The bear and the wolf walked backward and forward some time, till his
mate came home with some food in her mouth for her children. The wolf and
the bear watched her. She went to the tree where the bird was singing, and
they together flew to a little grove just by, and went to their nest.
“ ‘Now,’ said the bear, ‘let us go and see.’
“ ‘No,’ said the wolf, ‘we must wait till the old birds have gone away
again.’
“So they noticed the place, and walked away.
“They did not stay long, for the bear was very impatient to see the nest.
They returned, and the bear scrambled up the tree, expecting to amuse
himself finely by frightening the young tomtits.
“ ‘Take care,’ said the wolf; ‘you had better be careful. The tomtits are
little; but little enemies are sometimes very troublesome.’
“ ‘Who is afraid of a tomtit?’ said the bear.
“So saying, he poked his great black nose into the nest.
“ ‘Who is here?’ said he; ‘what are you?’
“The poor birds screamed out with terror. ‘Go away! Go away!’ said they.
“ ‘What do you mean by making such a noise,’ said he, ‘and talking so to
me? I will teach you better.’ So he put his great paw on the nest, and
crowded it down until the poor little birds were almost stifled. Presently
he left them, and went away.
“The young tomtits were terribly frightened, and some of them were hurt.
As soon as the bear was gone, their fright gave way to anger; and, soon
after, the old birds came home, and were very indignant too. They used to
see the bear, occasionally, prowling about the woods, but did not know
what they could do to bring him to punishment.
“Now, there was a famous glen, surrounded by high rocks, where the bear
used to go and sleep, because it was a wild, solitary place. The tomtits
often saw him there. One day, the bear was prowling around, and he saw, at
a great distance, two huntsmen, with guns, coming towards the wood. He
fled to his glen in dismay, though he thought he should be safe there.
“The tomtits were flying about there, and presently they saw the huntsmen.
‘Now,’ said one of them to the other, ‘is the time to get rid of the
tyrant; you go and see if he is in his glen, and then come back to where
you hear me singing.’
“So he flew about from tree to tree, keeping in sight of the huntsmen, and
singing all the time; while the other went and found that the bear was in
his glen, crouched down in terror behind a rock.
“The tomtits then began to flutter around the huntsmen, and fly a little
way towards the glen, and then back again. This attracted the notice of
the men, and they followed them to see what could be the matter.
“By and by, the bear saw the terrible huntsmen coming, led on by his
little enemies, the tomtits. He sprang forward, and ran from one side of
the glen to the other; but he could not escape. They shot him with two
bullets through his head.
“The wolf happened to be near by, at that time, upon the rocks that were
around the glen; and, hearing all this noise, he came and peeped over. As
soon as he saw how the case stood, he thought it would be most prudent for
him to walk away; which he did, saying, as he went.
“ ‘Well, the bear has found out that it is better to have a person a
friend than an enemy, whether he is great or small.’ ”
-------------------------------------
Here the farmer paused--he had ended the story.
“And what did they do with the bear?” said Rollo.
“O, they took off his skin to make caps of, and nailed his claws up on the
barn.”