The Little Landing.
A short distance from where Rollo lives, there is a small, but very
pleasant house, just under the hill, where you go down to the stone bridge
leading over the brook. There is a noble large apple tree on one side of
the house, which bears a beautiful, sweet, and mellow kind of apple,
called golden pippins. A great many other trees and flowers are around the
house, and in the little garden on the side of it towards the brook. There
is a small white gate that leads to the house, from the road; and there is
a pleasant path leading right out from the front door, through the garden,
down to the water. This is the house that Georgie lives in.
One evening, just before sunset, Rollo was coming along over the stone
bridge, towards home. He stopped a moment to look over the railing, down
into the water. Presently he heard a very sweet-toned voice calling out to
him,
“Rol-lo.”
Rollo looked along in the direction in which the sound came. It was from
the bank of the stream, a little way from the road, at the place where the
path from Georgie’s house came down to the water. The brook was broad, and
the water pretty smooth and still here; and it was a place where Rollo had
often been to sail boats with Georgie. There was a little smooth, sandy
place on the shore, at the foot of the path, and they used to call it
Georgie’s landing; and there was a seat close by, under the bushes.
Rollo thought it was Georgie’s voice that called him, and in a minute, he
saw him sitting on his little seat, with his crutches by his side. Georgie
was a sick boy. He could not walk, but had to sit almost all day, at home,
in a large easy chair, which his father had bought for him. In the winter,
his chair was established in a particular corner, by the side of the fire,
and he had a little case of shelves and drawers, painted green, by the
side of him. In these shelves and drawers he had his books and
playthings,--his pen and ink,--his paint-box, brushes and pencils,--his
knife, and a little saw,--and a great many things which he used to make
for his amusement. Then, in the summer, his chair, and his shelves and
drawers, were moved to the end window, which looked out upon the garden
and brook. Sometimes, when he was better than usual, he could move about a
little upon crutches; and, at such times, when it was pleasant, he used to
go out into the garden, and down, through it, to his landing, at the
brook.
Georgie had been sick a great many years, and when Rollo and Jonas first
knew him, he used to be very sad and unhappy. It was because the poor
little fellow had nothing to do. His father had to work pretty hard to get
food and clothing for his family; he loved little Georgie very much, but
he could not buy him many things. Sometimes people who visited him, used
to give him playthings, and they would amuse him a little while, but he
soon grew tired of them, and had them put away. It is very hard for any
body to be happy who has not any thing to do.
It was Jonas that taught Georgie what to do. He lent him his knife, and
brought him some smooth, soft, pine wood, and taught him to make
wind-mills and little boxes. Georgie liked this very much, and used to sit
by his window in the summer mornings, and make playthings, hours at a
time. After he had made several things, Jonas told the boys that lived
about there, that they had better buy them of him, when they had a few
cents to spend for toys; and they did. In fact, they liked the little
windmills, and wagons, and small framed houses that Georgie made, better
than sugar-plums and candy. Besides, they liked to go and see Georgie;
for, whenever they went to buy any thing of him, he looked so contented
and happy, sitting in his easy chair, with his small and slender feet
drawn up under him, and his work on the table by his side.
Then he was a very beautiful boy too. His face was delicate and pale, but
there was such a kind and gentle expression in his mild blue eye, and so
much sweetness in the tone of his voice, that they loved very much to go
and see him. In fact, all the boys were very fond of Georgie.
Georgie’s Money.
Georgie, at length, earned, in this way, quite a little sum of money. It
was nearly all in cents; but then there was one fourpence which a lady
gave him for a four-wheeled wagon that he made. He kept this money in a
corner of his drawer, and, at last, there was quite a handful of it.
One summer evening, when Georgie’s father came home from his work, he hung
up his hat, and came and sat down in Georgie’s corner, by the side of his
little boy. Georgie looked up to him with a smile.
“Well, father,” said he, “are you tired to-night?”
“You are the one to be tired, Georgie,” said he, “sitting here alone all
day.”
“Hold up your hand, father,” said Georgie, reaching out his own at the
same time, which was shut up, and appeared to have something in it.
“Why, what have you got for me?” said his father.
“Hold fast all I give you,” replied he; and he dropped the money all into
his father’s hand, and shut up his father’s fingers over it.
“What is all this?” said his father.
“It is my money,” said he, “for you. It is ’most all cents, but then there
is _one_ fourpence.”
“I am sure, I am much obliged to you, Georgie, for this.”
“O no,” said Georgie, “it’s only a _little_ of what you have to spend for
me.”
Georgie’s father took the money, and put it in his pocket, and the next
day he went to Jonas, and told him about it, and asked Jonas to spend it
in buying such things as he thought would be useful to Georgie; either
playthings, or tools, or materials to work with.
Jonas said he should be very glad to do it, for he thought he could buy
him some things that would help him very much in his work. Jonas carried
the money into the city the next time he went, and bought him a small hone
to sharpen his knife, a fine-toothed saw, and a bottle of black varnish,
with a little brush, to put it on with. He brought these things home, and
gave them to Georgie’s father; and he carried them into the house, and put
them in a drawer.
That evening, when Georgie was at supper, his father slyly put the things
that Jonas had bought on his table, so that when he went back, after
supper, he found them there. He was very much surprised and pleased. He
examined them all very particularly, and was especially glad to have the
black varnish, for now he could varnish his work, and make it look much
more handsome. The little boxes that he made, after this, of a bright
black outside, and lined neatly with paper within, were thought by the
boys to be elegant.
He could now earn money faster, and, as his father insisted on having all
his earnings expended for articles for Georgie’s own use, and Jonas used
to help him about expending it, he got, at last, quite a variety of
implements and articles. He had some wire, and a little pair of pliers for
bending it in all shapes, and a hammer and little nails. He had also a
paint-box and brushes, and paper of various colors, for lining boxes, and
making portfolios and pocket-books; and he had varnishes, red, green,
blue, and black. All these he kept in his drawers and shelves, and made a
great many ingenious things with them.
So Georgie was a great friend of both Rollo and Jonas, and they often used
to come and see him, and play with him; and that was the reason that Rollo
knew his voice so well, when he called to him from the landing, when Rollo
was standing on the bridge, as described in the beginning of this story.
Two Good Friends.
Rollo ran along to the end of the bridge, clambered down to the water’s
edge, went along the shore among the trees and shrubbery, until he came to
the seat where Georgie was sitting. Georgie asked him to sit down, and
stay with him; but Rollo said he must go directly home; and so Georgie
took his crutches, and they began to walk slowly together up the garden
walk.
“Where have you been, Rollo?” said Georgie.
“I have been to see my cousin James, to ask him to go to the city with us
to-morrow.”
“Are you going to the city?”
“Yes; uncle George gave James and I a half a dollar apiece, the other day;
and mother is going to carry us into the city to-morrow to buy something
with it.”
“Is Jonas going with you?”
“Yes,” said Rollo. “He is going to drive. We are going in our carryall.”
“I wish you would take some money for me, then, and get Jonas to buy me
something with it.”
“Well, I will,” said Rollo. “What shall he buy for you?”
“O, he may buy any thing he chooses.”
“Yes, but if you do not tell him what to buy, he may buy something you
have got already.”
“O, Jonas knows every thing I have got as well as I do.”
Just then they came up near the house, and Georgie asked Rollo to look up
at the golden pippin tree, and see how full it was.
“That is my branch,” said he.
He pointed to a large branch which came out on one side, and which hung
down loaded with fruit. It would have broken down, perhaps, if there had
not been a crotched pole put under it, to prop it up.
“But all the apples on your branch are not golden pippins,” said Rollo.
“There are some on it that are red. What beautiful red apples!”
“Yes,” said Georgie. “Father grafted that for me, to make it bear
rosy-boys. I call the red ones my rosy-boys.”
“Grafted?” said Rollo; “how did he graft it?”
“O,” said Georgie, “I do not know exactly. He cut off a little branch from
a rosy-boy tree, and stuck it on somehow, and it grew, and bears rosy-boys
still.”
Rollo thought this was very curious; Georgie told him he would give him an
apple, and that he might have his choice--a pippin or a rosy-boy.
Rollo hesitated, and looked at them, first at one, and then at another;
but he could not decide. The rosy-boys had the brightest and most
beautiful color, but then the pippins looked so rich and mellow, that he
could not choose very easily; and so Georgie laughed, find told him he
would settle the difficulty by giving him one of each.
“So come here,” said he, “Rollo, and let me lean on you, while I knock
them down.”
So Rollo came and stood near him, while Georgie leaned on him, and with
his crutch gave a gentle tap to one of each of his kinds of apples, and
they fell down upon the soft grass, safe and sound.
[Illustration: Georgie’s Apples.]
They then went into the house, and Georgie gave Rollo his money, wrapped
up in a small piece of paper; and then Rollo, bidding him good by, went
out of the little white gate, and walked along home.
The next morning, soon after breakfast, Jonas drove the carryall up to the
front door, and Rollo and his mother walked out to it. Rollo’s mother took
the back seat, and Rollo and Jonas sat in front, and they drove along.
They called at the house where James lived, and found him waiting for them
on the front steps, with his half dollar in his hand.
He ran into the house to tell his mother that the carryall had come, and
to bid her good morning, and then he came out to the gate.
“James,” said Rollo, “you may sit on the front seat with Jonas, if you
want to.”
James said he should like to very much; and so Rollo stepped over behind,
and sat with his mother. This was kind and polite; for boys all like the
front seat when they are riding, and Rollo therefore did right to offer it
to his cousin.
A Lecture On Playthings.
After a short time, they came to a smooth and pleasant road, with trees
and farm-houses on each side; and as the horse was trotting along quietly,
Rollo asked his mother if she could not tell them a story.
“I cannot tell you a story very well, this morning, but I can give you a
lecture on playthings, if you wish.”
“Very well, mother, we should like that,” said the boys.
They did not know very well what a lecture was, but they thought that any
thing which their mother would propose would be interesting.
“Do you know what a lecture is?” said she.
“Not exactly,” said Rollo.
“Why, I should explain to you about playthings,--the various kinds, their
use, the way to keep them, and to derive the most pleasure from them, &c.
Giving you this information will not be as _interesting_ to you as to hear
a story; but it will be more _useful_, if you attend carefully, and
endeavor to remember what I say.”
The boys thought they should like the lecture, and promised to attend.
Rollo said he would remember it all; and so his mother began.
“The value of a plaything does not consist in itself, but in the pleasure
it awakens in your mind. Do you understand that?”
“Not very well,” said Rollo.
“If you should give a round stick to a baby on the floor, and let him
strike the floor with it, he would be pleased. You would see by his looks
that it gave him great pleasure. Now, where would this pleasure be,--in
the stick, or in the floor, or in the baby?”
“Why, in the baby,” said Rollo, laughing.
“Yes; and would it be in his body, or in his mind?”
“In his face,” said James.
“In his eyes,” said Rollo.
“You would see the _signs of it_ in his face and in his eyes, but the
feeling of pleasure would be in his mind. Now, I suppose you understand
what I said, that the value of the plaything consists in the pleasure it
can awaken in the mind.”
“Yes, mother,” said Rollo.
“There is your jumping man,” said she; “is that a good plaything?”
“Yes,” said Rollo, “my _kicker_. But I don’t care much about it. I don’t
know where it is now.”
“What was it?” said James. “_I_ never saw it.”
“It was a pasteboard man,” said his mother; “and there was a string
behind, fixed so that, by pulling it, you could make his arms and legs fly
about.”
“Yes,” said Rollo, “I called him my _kicker_.”
“You liked it very much, when you first had it.”
“Yes,” said Rollo, “but I don’t think it is very pretty now.”
“That shows what I said was true. When you first had it, it was new, and
the sight of it gave you pleasure; but the pleasure consisted in the
novelty and drollery of it, and after a little while, when you became
familiar with it, it ceased to give you pleasure, and then you did not
value it. I found it the other day lying on the ground in the yard, and
took it up and put it away carefully in a drawer.”
“But if the value is all gone, what good does it do to save it?” said
Rollo.
“The value to _you_ is gone, because you have become familiar with it, and
so it has lost its power to awaken feelings of pleasure in you. But it has
still power to give pleasure to other children, who have not seen it, and
I kept it for them.”
“I should like to see it, very much,” said James. “I never saw such a
one.”
“I will show it to you some time. Now, this is one kind of
plaything,--those which please by their _novelty_ only. It is not
generally best to buy such playthings, for you very soon get familiar with
them, and then they cease to give you pleasure, and are almost worthless.”
“Only we ought to keep them, if we have them, to show to other boys,” said
Rollo.
“Yes,” said his mother. “You ought never to throw them away, or leave them
on the floor, or on the ground.”
“O, the little fool,” said Rollo suddenly.
His mother and James looked up, wondering what Rollo meant. He was looking
out at the side of the carryall, at something about the wheel.
“What is it,” said his mother.
“Why, here is a large fly trying to light on the wheel, and every time his
legs touch it, it knocks them away. See! See!”
“Yes, but you must not attend to him now. You must listen to my lecture.
You promised to give your attention to me.”
So James and Rollo turned away from the window, and began to listen again.
“I have told you now,” said she, “of one kind of playthings--those that
give pleasure from their _novelty_ only. There is another kind--those that
give you pleasure by their _use_;--such as a doll, for example.”
“How, mother? Is a doll of any _use_?”
“Yes, in one sense; that is, the girl who has it, _uses_ it continually.
Perhaps she admired the _looks_ of it, the first day it was given to her;
but then, after that, she can _use_ it in so many ways, that it continues
to afford her pleasure for a long time. She can dress and undress it, put
it to bed, make it sit up for company, and do a great many other things
with it. When she gets tired of playing with it one day, she puts it away,
and the next day she thinks of something new to do with it, which she
never thought of before. Now, which should you think the pleasure you
should obtain from a ball, would arise from, its _novelty_, or its _use_?”
“Its _use_,” said the boys.
“Yes,” said the mother. “The first sight of a ball would not give you any
very special pleasure. Its value would consist in the pleasure you would
take in playing with it.
“Now, it is generally best to buy such playthings as you can use a great
many times, and in a great many ways; such as a top, a ball, a knife, a
wheelbarrow. But things that please you only by their _novelty_, will soon
lose all their power to give you pleasure, and be good for nothing to you.
Such, for instance, as jumping men, and witches, and funny little images.
Children are very often deceived in buying their playthings; for those
things which please by their novelty only, usually please them very much
for a few minutes, while they are in the shop, and see them for the first
time; while those things which would last a long time, do not give them
much pleasure at first.
“There is another kind of playthings I want to tell you about a little,
and then my lecture will be done. I mean playthings which give _you_
pleasure, but give _other persons_ pain. A drum and a whistle, for
example, are disagreeable to other persons; and children, therefore, ought
not to choose them, unless they have a place to go to, to play with them,
which will be out of hearing. I have known boys to buy masks to frighten
other children with, and bows and arrows, which sometimes are the means of
putting out children’s eyes. So you must consider, when you are choosing
playthings, first, whether the pleasure they will give you will be from
the _novelty_ or the _use_; and, secondly, whether, in giving _you_
pleasure, they will give _any other persons_ pain.
“This is the end of the lecture. Now you may rest a little, and look
about, and then I will tell you a short story.”
The Young Drivers.
They came, about this time, to the foot of a long hill, and Jonas said he
believed that he would get out and walk up, and he said James might drive
the horse. So he put the reins into James’s hands, and jumped out. Rollo
climbed over the seat, and sat by his side. Presently James saw a large
stone in the road, and he asked Rollo to see how well he could drive round
it; for as the horse was going, he would have carried one wheel directly
over it. So he pulled one of the reins, and turned the horse away; but he
contrived to turn him out just far enough to make the _other_ wheel go
over the stone. Rollo laughed, and asked him to let him try the next time;
and James gave him the reins; but there was no other stone till they got
up to the top of the hill.
Then James said that Rollo might ride on the front seat now, and when
Jonas got in, he climbed back to the back seat, and took his place by the
side of Rollo’s mother.
“Come, mother,” then said Rollo, “we are rested enough now: please to
begin the story.”
“Very well, if you are all ready.”