A GREAT MISTAKE.
As they approached the arch, the children gazed upon it with
astonishment, being greatly impressed with its magnitude and height.
There were a great many men on the top of it. Their heads and shoulders
were visible from below, as they stood leaning over the parapet. They,
however, looked exceedingly small.
Rollo and Jennie would have liked to stop and look longer at the arch;
but they did not wish to separate from Adrienne and Antoine, who kept
walking steadily on all the time with their father and mother. Rollo
supposed, as has been said before, that this party were going to some
church; but they were not. They were going to a place called the
Hippodrome.
The Hippodrome, far from being a church, is a place of amusement. It is
used for equestrian performances, and feats of strength and agility, and
balloon ascension, and all similar entertainments.
The Hippodrome is a long, oval enclosure, with eight or ten ranges of
seats extending all around it, and rising one above another, like the
seats of the Coliseum at Rome. There is a roof extending all around over
the seats; but the area within is so large that it could not well be
covered with a roof. Besides, if there were a roof over it, how could
the balloons go up?
Then, moreover, the spectacles which are exhibited in the Hippodrome
appear to much better advantage when seen in the open light of day than
if they were under the cover of a roof, so long as the spectators
themselves are protected from the sun and from any sudden showers.
The area in the middle of the Hippodrome is about one hundred yards long
and fifty yards wide. It is so large that there is room for a good wide
road all around it, and also for another road up and down the middle,
with little gardens of grass and flowers between. At the very centre is
a round area, where there is a concealed canal of water to represent a
stream. This water is ordinarily covered with planks, and the planks are
covered with a very thick canvas carpet, and this with sand; so that the
water is entirely concealed, and the horsemen ride over it just as they
do over any other part of the area. When they wish to use it, to show
how the horses could leap over streams, they take off the sand, roll up
the carpet, and carry away the planks; and there they have a very good
representation of a stream.
The performances at the Hippodrome are very various. Sometimes whole
troops of horse come in from between two great curtains at one end, all
elegantly caparisoned and mounted, some by men and some by girls, but
all, whether men or girls, dressed in splendid uniforms. These troops
ride round and round the area, and up and down in the middle of it,
performing a great variety of evolutions in the most rapid and
surprising manner.
Then there are races of various kinds. Some are run by beautiful girls,
who come out mounted on elegant gray horses that are mottled like
leopards, each of the riders having a scarf over her shoulders of a
different color from the rest, so that they may be all readily
distinguished from each other in the race. Then there are races of
chariots, three running at a time, round and round the area; and of
small ponies, with monkeys on them for riders. There are various
contrivances, too, for athletic and gymnastic feats, such as masts and
poles for climbers to ascend, and other similar apparatus. All these
things give the interior of the Hippodrome quite a gay and lively
appearance, and the area necessary for them is so large that the ranges
of seats surrounding it are sufficient to accommodate ten thousand
spectators.
It was to this place that Adrienne and Antoine, with their father and
mother, were going, while Rollo and Jennie supposed that they were going
to a church. There was nothing to lead Rollo to suspect his mistake in
the aspect of the building as he approached the entrance to it; for the
sides of it were hidden by trees and other buildings, and the portal,
though very large and very gayly decorated, seemed still, so far as
Rollo could get a glimpse of it through the crowds of people, only to
denote that it was the entrance to some very splendid public edifice,
without at all indicating the nature of the purposes to which it was
devoted.
The immense concourse of people which were pouring into the Hippodrome
divided themselves at the gates into two portions, and passed up an
ascent to enter at side doors. Rollo and Jane, following their guides,
went toward the right. They observed that the father of Adrienne and
Antoine stopped at a little window near the entrance, to pay the price
of admission for himself and wife and his two children and to get the
tickets. He paid full price for his two children, and so took four full
tickets. Rollo and Jane did not see him pay the money. They only
observed that there was a crowd at the little window, and they saw
Antoine's father take the tickets. They did not know what this meant,
however; but they followed on. When they all came to the doorway which
led up to the ranges of seats, the man whose duty it was to take the
tickets supposed that the four children all belonged to the same family,
and that they had been admitted at half price, and that, accordingly,
two of the tickets were for the father and mother, and the other two for
the four children. So he let them all pass on together, especially as
there was, at that time, such a throng of people crowding in that there
was no time to stop and make any inquiries.
Rollo and Jane were carried along by the current up a flight of stairs,
which came out among the ranges of seats; and after moving along for
some distance till they came to a vacancy they sat down, and began to
look around and survey the spacious and splendid interior into which
they had entered. They were at once overwhelmed with the magnificence of
the spectacle which was presented to view. Instead of a church, they
found a vast open area extended before them, surrounded with long
ranges of seats, and laid out in the interior in the most graceful and
beautiful manner.
"Jennie," said Rollo, after gazing about for some moments, almost
bewildered, "if this is any kind of meeting at all, I think it must be a
camp meeting."
Jennie was completely bewildered, and had no opinion on the subject
whatever; so she said nothing.
"That's the place for the choir, I suppose," said Rollo, pointing to a
sort of raised platform with a balustrade in front, which was built
among the seats in the middle of one of the sides of the Hippodrome.
"But then," he added, after a moment's pause, "I don't see any pulpit,
unless that is it."
As he said this, Rollo pointed to a balcony with a rich canopy over it,
which was built up among the seats, directly opposite to the musician's
gallery, on the other side of the arena. This balcony was for the use of
the emperor, and his family and friends, when they chose to come and
witness the spectacles in the Hippodrome.
These speculations of Rollo's were suddenly interrupted by the striking
up of martial music, by a full band of trumpets, drums, clarinets,
hautboys, and horns, from the musician's gallery. Soon afterwards the
curtains opened at the farther end of the arena, and a magnificent troop
of horse, mounted by male and female riders, all dressed in the gayest
and most splendid costumes, came prancing in. As soon as Rollo had
recovered from his astonishment at this spectacle, he turned to Jennie,
and said,--
"Jennie, it is not any church or meeting at all; and I think we had
better go home."
"I think so too," said Jennie.
"I should like to come here some other day," added Rollo; "and I mean to
ask my father to let us come. Uncle George will come with us. But _now_
we had better go home."
So the children rose from their seats and began to move toward the door.
It was some time before they could get out, so great was the number of
people still coming in. They, however, finally succeeded, and were quite
relieved when they found themselves once more in the open air.
They turned their steps immediately toward home. Jane, however, soon
began to feel very tired; and so Rollo said he would stop the first
omnibus that came along. The avenue was full of carriages of every kind;
and pretty soon an omnibus, headed down the obelisk, appeared among
them. Rollo made a signal for the conductor to stop, and he and Jennie
got in.
They had a very pleasant ride back through the Elysian Fields, and
around the great square where the obelisk stands. They then entered the
street which runs along by the side of the gardens of the Tuileries, and
advanced in it toward the heart of the city. Rollo made a sign for the
conductor to stop when the omnibus reached that part of the street which
was opposite to the entrance into the garden where he and Jennie had
gone in. This was, of course, also opposite to the street leading into
the Place Vendome. It was but a short walk from this place to the hotel.
About six o'clock the children arrived at the hotel, and the table was
already set for dinner. Mr. Holiday was reclining on a couch in the
room, and Mrs. Holiday had been reading to him. Rollo's uncle George was
also in the room. Mrs. Holiday laid down her book when the children came
in. Rollo and Jennie sat down upon a sofa, not far from their father's
couch. They were glad to rest.
"Well, children," said Mrs. Holiday, "have you had a pleasant walk?"
"Yes," said Rollo, "a very pleasant walk indeed. We have seen a great
many very curious things. But I believe we made a mistake."
"What mistake?" asked Mrs. Holiday.
"Why, we followed a great many people that we thought were going to
church; but, instead of that, they led us into a great place that I
think was some sort of circus."
Here Mr. George looked up very eagerly and began to laugh.
"I declare!" said he. "I shouldn't wonder if you got into the
Hippodrome."
"I don't know what it was," said Rollo. "When we first went in we saw
that it was not a church; but we did not know but that it might be some
sort of camp meeting. But pretty soon they began to bring horses in and
ride them around, and so we came out."
Here Mr. George fell into a long and uncontrollable paroxysm of
laughter, during the intervals of which he said, in broken language, as
he walked about the room endeavoring to get breath and recover his
self-control, that it was the best thing he had heard since he landed at
Liverpool. The idea of following the crowd of Parisians in the Champs
Elysees on Sunday afternoon, with the expectation of being conducted to
church, and then finally taking the Hippodrome for a camp meeting! Rollo
himself, though somewhat piqued at having his adventure put in so
ridiculous a light, could not help laughing too; and even his father and
mother smiled.
"Never mind, Rollo," said his mother, at length. "I don't think you were
at all to blame; though I am glad that you came out when you found what
sort of a place it was."
"O, no," said Mr. George, as he gradually recovered his self-control,
"you were not to blame in the least. The rule you followed is a very
good one for England and America; but it does not apply to France. Going
with the multitude Sunday afternoons, in Paris, will take you any where
but to church."
Notwithstanding the concurrence of opinion between Rollo's mother and
his uncle that he had done nothing wrong, neither he nor Jennie could
help feeling some degree of uneasiness and some little dissatisfaction
with themselves in respect to the manner in which they had spent the
afternoon. They had both been accustomed to consider the Sabbath as a
day solemnly consecrated to the worship of God and to the work of
preparation for heaven. It is true that the day sometimes seemed very
long to them, as it does to all children; and though they had always
been allowed to take quiet walks in the gardens and grounds around the
house, still they usually got tired, before night came, of being so
quiet and still. Notwithstanding this, however, they had no disposition
to break over the rule which, as they supposed, the law of God enjoined
upon them. They fully believed that God himself had ordained that there
should be one day in seven from which all the usual occupations and
amusements of life should be excluded, and which should be consecrated
wholly to rest, to religious contemplation, and to prayer; and they were
very willing to submit to the ordinance, though it brought with it upon
them, as children, burdens and restrictions which it was sometimes quite
onerous for them to bear.
When night came, Rollo found that he always felt much happier if he had
kept the Sabbath strictly, than when he attempted, either secretly or
openly, to evade the duty. There was a sort of freshness and vigor, too,
with which he engaged in the employments of the week on Monday morning,
which, though he had never stopped to account for it philosophically, he
enjoyed very highly, and which made Monday morning the brightest and
most animated morning of the week. So Rollo was accustomed to acquiesce
very willingly in the setting apart of the sacred day to religious
observances and to rest, thinking that the restraints and restrictions
which it imposed were amply compensated for by the peace and comfort
which it brought to his mind when he observed it aright, and by the
novelty and freshness of the charm with which it invested the ordinary
pursuits and enjoyments of life when it was over.
Accordingly, on this occasion, feeling a little dissatisfied with
himself and uneasy in mind, in consequence of the manner in which he had
spent the afternoon, Rollo determined to make all the atonement for his
fault, if fault it was, that was now in his power. Accordingly, when the
family rose from the table after dinner, which was about seven o'clock,
and his father and mother went and sat upon the sofa together, which
stood in the recess of a window looking out upon the Place Vendome,
Rollo said to Jane, in an undertone,--
"Jennie, come with me."
He said this in the tone of an invitation, not of command; and Jennie
understood at once, from her experience on former occasions, that Rollo
had some plan for her entertainment or gratification. So she got down
from her chair and went off with him very readily.
They went out at a door which led into their mother's bed room.
"Jennie," said Rollo, as he walked along with her across the room, "I am
going to get the Bible and sit down here by the window and read in it.
Would not you like to read with me?"
"Yes," said Jennie, "if you will find a pretty story to read about.
There are a great many toward the first part of the Bible."
"Yes," said Rollo, "I will."
"And let us go into my room to read," said Jennie. "I like my room the
best."
"Well," said Rollo, "I like your room best, too."
So Rollo took the Bible off from the table of his father's room, and
then he and Jennie went on together into Jennie's room. This room was a
little boudoir, which opened from Mr. and Mrs. Holiday's room; it was a
charming little place, and it was no wonder that Jennie liked it. It was
hung with drapery all around, except where the window was, on one side,
and a large looking glass and a picture on two other sides. There was
even a curtain over the door, so that when you were in, and the door was
shut, and the curtain over it was let down, you seemed to be entirely
secluded from all the world. This drapery was green, and the room, being
entirely enclosed in it, might have seemed sombre had it not been for
the brilliancy and beauty of the furniture, and the variegated colors
and high polish of the floor. There was an elegant bedstead and bed in
the back part of the room, with a carved canopy over it. There was a
bureau also, with drawers, where Jennie kept her clothes; and a little
fireplace, with a pretty brass fender before it; and a marble mantel
piece above, with a clock and two vases of flowers upon it. There were a
great many other curious and beautiful articles of furniture in the
room, which gave it a very attractive appearance, and made it, in fact,
as pretty a place of seclusion as a lady could desire to have. Jennie
enjoyed this room very much indeed; but still, after all,
notwithstanding the expensiveness and beauty of the decorations which
adorned it, I do not know that Jennie enjoyed it any more than she did a
little seat that she had under some lilac bushes, near the brook at the
bottom of her father's garden, at home.
There was a small couch in the recess of the window in Jennie's boudoir;
and here she and Rollo established themselves, with the Bible lying open
before them upon a small table which they had placed before the couch to
hold it. They raised their own seats by means of large, square cushions
which were there, so as to bring themselves to the right height for
reading from the book while it lay upon the table; and they put their
feet upon a tabouret which belonged to the room. The tabouret was made
for a seat, but it answered an admirable purpose for a foot-stool. As
soon as the two children were thus comfortably established, they opened
the Bible, and Rollo began to turn over the leaves in the books of
Samuel and of Kings, in order to find something which he thought would
interest Jennie.
At length he found a chapter which seemed, so far as he could judge by
running his eye along the verses, to consist principally of narration
and dialogue; and so he determined to begin the reading at once.
"Now," said he, "Jennie, I will read one verse, and then you shall read
one, and I will tell you the meaning of all the words that you don't
know."
Jennie was much pleased with this arrangement, and she read the verses
which came to her with great propriety. It is true that there were a
great many words at which she was obliged to hesitate some little time
before she could pronounce them; and there were others which she could
not pronounce at all. Rollo had the tact to wait just long enough in
these cases. By telling children too quick when they are endeavoring to
spell out a word, we deprive them of the pleasure of surmounting the
difficulty themselves; and, by waiting too long, we perplex and
discourage them. There are very few children who, when they are hearing
their younger brothers and sisters read, have the proper discretion on
this point. In fact, a great many full-grown teachers fail in this
respect most seriously, and make the business of reading on the part of
their pupils a constant source of disappointment and vexation to them,
when it might have been a pleasure.
Rollo, too, besides the patient and kind encouragement which he afforded
to Jane in her attempts to read her verses herself, read those which
fell to his share in a very distinct and deliberate manner, keeping the
place all the while with his finger, so that Jennie might easily follow
him. He stopped also from time to time to explain the story to Jennie,
and to talk about the several incidents that were described in it, in
order to make it sure that Jennie understood them all. It would have
been much easier for him to have taken the book himself, and to have
read the whole chapter off at once, fluently. But this would have
defeated his whole object; which was, not to do what he could do most
easily, but to do good and help Jennie. If a boy were going up a high
hill, with his sister in his company, it would be easier for him to go
directly on and leave his sister behind. A selfish boy would be likely
to do this; but a generous-minded boy would prefer to go slowly, and
help his sister along over the rocks and up the steep places.
Rollo and Jane both became so much interested in their reading that they
continued it almost an hour. It then began to be dark, and so they put
the book away. Their mother came in about that time, and was very much
pleased when she found how Rollo and Jennie had been employed; and Rollo
and Jennie themselves experienced a substantial and deeply-seated
feeling of satisfaction and comfort that all the merry-making of the
Elysian Fields could never give. If any of the readers of this book have
any doubt of this, let them try the experiment themselves. At some time,
after they have been spending a portion of the Sabbath in such a way as
to give them an inward feeling of uneasiness and self-condemnation, let
them engage for a time in the voluntary performance of some serious
duty, as Rollo did, and in the spirit and temper which he manifested,
and see how strongly it will tend to bring back their peace of mind and
restore them to happiness. To try the experiment more effectually still,
spend the whole Sabbath in this manner, and then see with what a feeling
of quiet and peaceful satisfaction you will go to bed at night, and
with what a joyous and buoyant spirit you will awake on Monday morning.
Before Rollo left Paris, he went, one Tuesday afternoon, with his mother
and Jennie and his uncle George, to see the performances at the
Hippodrome, and he enjoyed the spectacle very much indeed. Besides the
performances which have already been described, there were two others
which astonished him exceedingly. In one of these a man came into the
middle of the area, and there the assistants lifted up a large and heavy
pole, which they poised in the air, and then set the lower end of it in
a sort of socket which was made in an apron which the man wore, which
socket was fastened securely to the man's hips and shoulders by strong
straps, so that he could sustain the weight of the pole by means of
them. The pole was about thirty feet high, and the top was branched like
a pitchfork. It was shaped, in fact, exactly like a pitchfork, except
that there was a bar across from the top of one branch to the top of the
other, and a rope hanging down from the middle of the bar half way down
to the place of bifurcation--that is, to the place where the straight
part of the pole ended and the branches began. Things being thus
arranged, a boy, who was about twelve years old, apparently, came out,
and, leaping up upon the man's shoulders, began to climb up the pole.
When he reached the top of it he took hold of the rope, and by means of
the rope climbed up to the bar. Here he began to perform a great variety
of the most astonishing evolutions, the man all the time poising the
pole in the air. The boy would climb about the bar in every way, drawing
himself up sometimes backwards and sometimes forward, and swinging to
and fro, and turning over and over in every conceivable position. He
would hang to the bar sometimes by his hands and sometimes by his
legs--sometimes with his head downward, sometimes with his feet
downward. He would whirl round and round over the bar a great many
times, till Rollo and Jane were tired of seeing him, and then he would
rest by hanging to the pole by the back_ of his head_, without touching
the bar with any other part of his body. All this time the man who held
the pole kept it carefully poised, moving to and fro about the area
continually in following the oscillations.
[Illustration: THE HIPPODROME.]
The other performance was in some respects more extraordinary still.
There was a mast set up in the ground, thirty or forty feet high. At the
ground, ten feet from the foot of the mast, there commenced an inclined
plane, formed of a plank about a foot or eighteen inches wide, which
ascended in a spiral direction round and round the mast till it reached
the top. A man ascended this plane by means of a large ball, about two
feet in diameter, which he rolled up standing upon it, and rolling it by
stepping continually on the ascending side. There was no ledge or guard
whatever to keep the ball from rolling off the plane--nothing but a
narrow plank ascending continually, and winding in a spiral manner
around the mast. This experiment it was quite frightful to see. Several
of the children who were sitting near Mr. George's party began to cry,
saying, "O, he will fall--he will fall!" In fact, Jennie could not bear
to look at him, and so she shut her eyes; and even Mrs. Holiday looked
another way. But Rollo watched it through, and saw the man go on up to
the very top of the mast, and stand there on his ball on the top, forty
feet above the ground, with his hands extended in triumph. After
remaining there a short time, he came down as he had gone up; and when
he reached the ground, he rolled his ball along, keeping on it all the
time, till he came to a chariot which was waiting to receive him. He
stepped from the ball off to the chariot, and was then driven all around
the ring, being received every where, as he passed, with the
acclamations of the spectators.