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ROLLO'S
MUSEUM.
BY THE
AUTHOR OF ROLLO LEARNING TO TALK, TO
READ, AT WORK, AT PLAY, AT SCHOOL,
AT VACATION, &c.
BOSTON:
WEEKS, JORDAN, AND COMPANY.
1839.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1839,
By T. H. CARTER,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts.
STEREOTYPED AT THE
BOSTON TYPE AND STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY
[Illustration: Henry made a sudden plunge after him. _Page 119._]
CONTENTS.
Page.
THE CANAL 9
A FALSE ALARM 34
THE HEMLOCK-SEED 46
A LITTLE LAW 60
CONFUSION 77
ORGANIZATION 88
CAUGHT,--AND GONE AGAIN 106
THE BAILMENT CASES 120
THE CURIOSITIES 136
THE SEA-SHORE 154
THE CLIFFS 167
THE THREE NORTHMEN 179
ROLLO'S MUSEUM.
THE CANAL.
It happened one summer, when Rollo was between seven and eight years of
age, that there was a vacation at the school which he was attending at
that time. The vacation commenced in the latter part of August, and was
to continue for four or five weeks. Rollo had studied pretty hard at
school, and he complained that his eyes ached sometimes.
The day before the vacation commenced, his father became somewhat uneasy
about his eyes; and so he took him to a physician, to see what should be
done for them. The physician asked Rollo a good many questions, all of
which Rollo endeavored to answer as correctly as he could.
At length, the physician told Rollo's father that all he needed was to
let his eyes rest. "I think he had better not use them at all," said he,
"for reading or writing, for several weeks; and not to be out much in
the hot sun."
Rollo felt very much rejoiced at hearing this prescription, though still
he looked very sober; for he felt somewhat awed and restrained by being
in the doctor's office. There were a good many large books, in cases
upon one side of the room; and strange, uncouth-looking pictures hanging
up, which, so far as Rollo could see, did not look like any thing at
all. Then there was an electric machine upon a stand in one corner,
which he was afraid might in some way "shock" him; and some
frightful-looking surgical instruments in a little case, which was open
upon the table in the middle of the room.
In fact, Rollo was very glad to escape safely out of the doctor's
office; and he was, if possible, still more rejoiced that he had so
light and easy a prescription. He had thought that, perhaps, the doctor
would put something on his eyes, and bandage them up, so that he could
not see at all; or else give him some black and bitter medicines to
take every night and morning.
Instead of that, he said to himself, as he came out at the door, "I have
only got to keep from studying, and that will be capital. I can play all
the time. True, I can't read any story books; but, then, I am willing to
give the story books up, if I don't have to study."
Rollo had usually been obliged to read, or study, or write a little,
even in vacations; for his mother said that boys could not be happy to
play all the time. Rollo, however, thought that she was mistaken in
this. It is true that she had sometimes allowed him to try the
experiment for a day or two, and in such cases he had always, somehow or
other, failed of having a pleasant time. But then he himself always
attributed the failure to some particular difficulty or source of
trouble, which happened to come up then, but which would not be likely
to occur again.
In fact, in this opinion Rollo was partly correct. For it was true that
each day, when he failed of enjoying himself, there was some peculiar
reason for it, and exactly that reason would not be likely to exist
another day. But then the difficulty with playing, or attempting to
amuse one's self all the time, is, that it produces such a state of
mind, that almost any thing becomes a source of uneasiness or
dissatisfaction; and something or other is likely to occur, or there
will be something or other wanting, which makes the time pass very
heavily along.
It is so with men as well as boys. Men sometimes are so situated that
they have nothing to do but to try to amuse themselves. But these men
are generally a very unhappy class. The poorest laborer, who toils all
day at the hardest labor, is happier than they.
So that the physician's prescription was, in reality, a far more
disagreeable one than Rollo had imagined.
When Rollo reached home, he told his mother that he was not to have any
thing more to do with books for a month.
"And you look as if you were glad of it," said she, with a smile.
"Yes, mother, I am," said Rollo, "rather glad."
"And what do you expect to do with yourself all that time?" said she.
"O, I don't know," said Rollo. "Perhaps I shall help Jonas, a part of
the time, about his work."
"That will be a very good plan for a part of the time," said his mother;
"though he is doing pretty hard work just now."
"What is he doing?"
"He is digging a little canal in the marsh, beyond the brook, to drain
off the water."
"O, I can dig," said Rollo, "and I mean to go now and help him."
This was about the middle of the forenoon; and Rollo, taking a piece of
bread for a luncheon, and a little tin dipper, to get some water with,
to drink, out of the brook, walked along towards the great gate which
led to the lane behind his father's house. It was a pleasant, green
lane, and there were rows of raspberry-bushes on each side of it, along
by the fences. Some years before, there had been no raspberries near the
house; but one autumn, when Jonas had a good deal of ploughing to do
down the lane, he ploughed up the ground by the fences in this lane,
making one furrow every time he went up and down to his other work.
Then in the spring he ploughed it again, and by this time the turf had
rotted, and so the land had become mellow. Then Jonas went away with the
wagon, one afternoon, about two miles, to a place where the raspberries
were very abundant, and dug up a large number of them, and set them out
along this lane, on both sides of it; and so, in a year or two, there
was a great abundance of raspberries very near the house.
Rollo stopped to eat some raspberries as he walked along. He thought
they would do exceedingly well with his bread, to give a little variety
to his luncheon. After he had eaten as many as he wanted, he thought he
would gather his dipper full for Jonas, as he was busy at work, and
could not have time to gather any for himself.
He got his dipper full very quick, for the raspberries were thick and
large. He thought it was an excellent plan for Jonas to plant the
raspberry-bushes there; but then he thought it was a great deal of
trouble to bring them all from so great a distance.
"I wonder," said he to himself, as he sat upon a log, thinking of the
subject, "why it would not have been just as well to plant raspberries
themselves, instead of setting out the bushes. The raspberries must be
the seeds. I mean to take some of these big ones, and try. I dare say
they'll grow."
But then he reflected that the spring was planting time, and he knew
very well that raspberries would not keep till spring; and so he
determined to ask Jonas about it. He accordingly rose up from the log,
and walked along, carrying his dipper, very carefully, in his hand.
At length, he reached the brook. There was a rude bridge over it made of
two logs, placed side by side, and short boards nailed across them for a
foot-way. It was only wide enough for persons to walk across. The cattle
and teams always went across through the water, at a shallow place, just
below the bridge.
Rollo lay down upon the bridge, and looked into the water. There were
some skippers and some whirlabouts upon the water. The skippers were
long-legged insects, shaped somewhat like a cricket; and they stood
tiptoe upon the surface of the water. Rollo wondered how they could keep
up. Their feet did not sink into the water at all, and every now and
then they would give a sort of leap, and away they would shoot over the
surface, as if it had been ice. Rollo reached his hand down and tried to
catch one, to examine his feet; but he could not succeed. They were too
nimble for him. He thought that, if he could only catch one, and have an
opportunity to examine his feet, he could see how it was that he could
stand so upon the water. Rollo was considering whether it was possible
or not, that Jonas might make something, like the skippers' feet, for
_him_, to put upon his feet, so that _he_ might walk on the water, when
suddenly he heard a bubbling sound in the brook, near the shore. He
looked there, and saw some bubbles of air coming up out of the bottom,
and rising to the top of the water. He thought this was very singular.
It was not strange that the air should come up through the water to the
top, for air is much lighter than water; the wonder was, how the air
could ever get down there.
From wondering at this extraordinary phenomenon, Rollo began to wonder
at another quite different question; that is, where all the water in
the brook could come from. He looked at a little cascade just above the
bridge, where the water rushed through a narrow place between two rocks,
and watched it a few minutes, wondering that it should continue running
so all the time, forever; and surprised also that he had never wondered
at it before.
He looked into the clear, transparent current, which poured steadily
down between the rocks, and said to himself,
"Strange! There it runs and runs, all the time--all day, and all night;
all summer, and all winter; all this year, and all last year, and every
year. Where can all the water come from?"
Then he thought that he should like to follow the brook up, and find
where it came from; but he concluded that it must be a great way to go,
through bushes, and rocks, and marshes; and he saw at once that the
expedition was out of the question for him.
Just then he heard another gurgling in the water near him, and, looking
down, he saw more bubbles coming up to the surface, very near where they
had come up before. Rollo thought he would get a stick, and see if he
could not poke up the mud, and find out what there was down there, to
make such a bubbling. He thought that perhaps it might be some sort of
animal blowing.
He went off of the bridge, therefore, and began to look about for a
stick. He had just found one, when all at once he heard a noise in the
bushes. He looked up suddenly, not knowing what was coming, but in a
moment saw Jonas walking along towards him.
"Ah, Jonas," said Rollo, "are you going home?"
"Yes," said Jonas, "unless you will go for me."
"Well," said Rollo, "what do you want me to get?"
"I want some fire, to burn up some brush. You can bring out the
lantern."
"Very well," said Rollo, "I will go; only I wish you would tell me where
these bubbles come from out of the bottom of the brook."
"What bubbles?" said Jonas.
So Rollo took his stick, and pushed the end of it down into the mud, and
that made more bubbles come up.
"They are bubbles of air," said Jonas.
"But how comes the air down there," said Rollo, "under the water?"
"I don't know," said Jonas; "and besides I must not stay and talk here;
I must go back to my work. I will talk to you about it when you come
back." So Jonas returned to his work, and Rollo went to the house again
after the lantern.
When he came back to the brook, he found that he could not make any more
bubbles come up; but instead of that, his attention was attracted by
some curiously colored pebbles near the shore. He put his hand down into
the water, and took up two or three of them. He thought they were
beautiful. Then he took his dipper, which had, all this time, been lying
forgotten by the side of a log, on the shore, and walked along--the
dipper full of raspberries in one hand, the lantern in the other, and
his bright and beautiful pebbles in his pocket.
Rollo followed the path along the banks of the brook under the trees,
until at length he came out to the open ground where Jonas was at work.
There was a broad meadow, or rather marsh, which extended back to some
distance from the brook, and beyond it the land rose to a hill. Just at
the foot of this high land, at the side of the marsh farthest from the
brook, was a pool of water, which had been standing there all summer,
and was half full of green slime. Jonas had been at work, cutting a
canal, or drain, from the bank of the brook back to this pool, in order
to let the water off. The last time that Rollo had seen the marsh, it
had been very wet, so wet that it was impossible for him to walk over
it; it was then full of green moss, and sedgy grass, and black mire,
with tufts of flags, brakes, and cranberry-bushes, here and there all
over it. If any person stepped upon it, he would immediately sink in,
except in some places, where the surface was firm enough to bear one up,
and there the ground quivered and fluctuated under the tread, for some
distance around, showing that it was all soft below.
When Rollo came out in view of the marsh, he saw Jonas at work away off
in the middle of it, not very far from the pool. So he called out to him
in a very loud voice,
"Jo--nas!----hal--lo!"[A]
[Footnote A: See Frontispiece.]
Jonas, who had been stooping down at his work, rose up at hearing this
call, and replied to Rollo.
Rollo asked him how he should get across to him.
"O, walk right along," said Jonas; "the ground is pretty dry now. Go up
a little farther, and you will find my canal, and then you can follow it
directly along."
So Rollo walked on a little farther, and found the canal where it opened
into the brook. He then began slowly and cautiously to walk along the
side of the canal, into the marsh; and he was surprised to find how firm
and dry the land was. He thought it was owing to Jonas's canal.
"Jonas," said he, as he came up to where Jonas was at work, "this is an
excellent canal; it has made the land almost dry already."
"O, no," said Jonas, "my canal has not done any good yet."
"What makes the bog so dry, then?" said Rollo.
"O, it has been drying all summer, and draining off into the brook."
"Draining off into the brook?" repeated Rollo.
"Yes," said Jonas.
"But there is not any drain," said Rollo; "at least there has not been,
until you began to make your canal."
"But the water soaks off slowly through the ground, and oozes out under
the banks of the brook."
"Does it?" said Rollo.
"Yes," said Jonas; "and the only use of my canal is to make it run off
faster."
"Ah! now I know," said Rollo, half talking to himself.
"Know what?" asked Jonas.
"Why, where all the water of the brook comes from; at least, where some
of it comes from."
"How?" said Jonas. "I don't know what you mean."
"Why, I could not think where all the water came from, to keep the brook
running so fast all the time. But now I know that some of it has been
coming all the time from this bog. Does it all come from bogs?"
[Illustration]
"Yes, from bogs, and hills, and springs, and from the soakings of all
the land it comes through, from where it first begins."
"Where does it first begin?" said Rollo.
"O, it begins in some bog or other, perhaps; just a little dribbling
stream oozing out from among roots and mire, and it continually grows as
it runs."
"Is that the way?" said Rollo.
"Yes," said Jonas, "that is the way."
During all this time Rollo had been standing with his lantern and his
dipper in his hands, while Jonas had continued his digging. Rollo now
put the lantern down, and handed the dipper to Jonas, telling him that
he had brought him some raspberries.
Jonas seemed quite pleased with his raspberries. While he was eating
them, Rollo asked him if a raspberry was a seed.
"No," said Jonas. "The whole raspberry is not, the seeds are _in_ the
raspberry. They are very small. When you eat a raspberry, you can feel
the little seeds, by biting them with your teeth."
Rollo determined to pick some seeds out, and see how they looked; but
Jonas told him that the way to get them out was to wash them out in
water.
"Take some of these raspberries," said he, "in the dipper to the brook,
and pour in some water over them. Then take a stick and jam the
raspberries all up, and stir them about, and then pour off the water,
but keep the seeds in. Next, pour in some more water, and wash the seeds
over again, and so on, until the seeds are all separated from the pulp,
and left clean."
"Is that the way they get raspberry seeds?" said Rollo.
"Yes," said Jonas, "I believe so. I never tried it myself; but I have
heard them say that that is the way they do with raspberries, and
strawberries, and all such fruits."
Rollo immediately went and washed out some seeds as Jonas had directed,
and when he came back he spread them out upon a piece of birch bark to
dry. While they were there, Jonas let him kindle the pile of brush wood,
which he had been intending to burn. It had been lying all summer, and
had got very dry. In the mean time, Jonas continued digging his canal,
and was gradually approaching the pool of water. When he had got pretty
near the pool, he stopped digging the canal, and went to the pool
itself. He rolled a pretty large log into the edge of it, for him to
stand upon; and with his hoe he dug a trench, beginning as far in the
pool as he could reach with his hoe, while standing upon his log, and
working gradually out towards where he had left digging the canal. The
bottom of the pool was very soft and slimy; but he contrived to get a
pretty deep and wide trench out quite to the margin, and a little
beyond.
"Now," said he to Rollo, "I am going to dig the canal up to the end of
this trench, and then the water will all run very freely."
There was now a narrow neck of land between the end of the canal and the
beginning of the trench; and as Jonas went on digging the canal along,
this neck grew narrower and narrower. Rollo began to be impatient to see
the water run. He wanted Jonas to let him hoe a little passage, so as to
let it begin to run a little.
"No," said Jonas.
"Why not?" said Rollo.
"There are two good reasons," he replied. "The first is, it will spoil
my work, and the second is, it will spoil your play."
"What do you mean by that?" said Rollo.
"Why, if I let the water run a little now, it will flood me here, where
I am digging, and make all muddy; and I cannot finish my canal so
easily; so it will spoil my work. Then, besides, we want to see the
water run in a torrent; but if I let you dig a little trench along
across the neck, so as to let it off by degrees, you will not take half
as much pleasure in seeing it run, as you will to wait until it is all
ready. So it will spoil your play."
Rollo did not reply to this, and Jonas went on digging.
"Well," said Rollo, after a short pause, "I wish, Jonas, you would tell
me how the bubbles of air get down into the mud, at the bottom of the
brook."
"I don't know," said Jonas.
"It seems to me it is very extraordinary," said Rollo.
"It is somewhat extraordinary. I have thought of another extraordinary
phenomenon somewhat like it."
"What is that?" said Rollo.
"The rain," replied Jonas.
"The rain?" said Rollo; "how?"
"Why, the rain," replied Jonas, "is water coming down out of the air;
and the bubbles are air coming up out of the water."
"Then it is exactly the opposite of it," said Rollo.
"Yes," said Jonas.
"But you said it was _like_ it."
"Well, and so it is," Jonas replied.
"Like it, and yet exactly opposite to it! Jonas, that is impossible."
"Why, yes," said Jonas, "the air gets down into the water, and you
wonder how it can, when it is so much lighter than water. So water gets
up into the air, and I wonder how it can, when it is so much heavier. So
that the difficulty is just about the same."
"No," said Rollo, "it is just about opposite."
"Very well," said Jonas. Jonas never would dispute. Whenever any body
said any thing that he did not think was correct, he would sometimes try
to explain it; but then, if they persisted, he would generally say "Very
well," and that would prevent all dispute. This is an excellent way to
prevent disputes, or to end them when they are begun.
While Jonas was digging slowly along through the neck of land, Rollo was
rambling about among the bushes, and at length Jonas heard a sudden
scream from him. Jonas looked up, and saw Rollo scrambling away from a
little thicket, and then presently stopping to look back, apparently
frightened.
"What now, Rollo?" said Jonas.
"Here is a great hornets' nest," said Rollo.
Jonas laid down his spade, and went to where Rollo was. Rollo pointed to
a little bush, where Jonas saw, hanging to a bough, not far from the
ground, a small hornets' nest, about as big as a common snow-ball, and
as round. Jonas walked slowly up towards it, watching it very
attentively, as he advanced.
"O Jonas! Jonas!" exclaimed Rollo, "you'd better be careful. Jonas!
Jonas! you'll get stung."
Jonas paid no attention to what Rollo was saying, but still kept moving
slowly on towards the bush. When he got pretty near, he took his knife
out of his pocket, and advancing one step more, he took hold of the end
of the branch with one hand, and cut it off close to the tree, with the
other. Rollo, in the mean time, had run backwards several steps to avoid
the danger; still, however, keeping his eyes fixed upon Jonas.
Jonas brought the nest out of the thicket.
"Jonas!" said Rollo, in a tone of strong remonstrance, "you are crazy."
"There are no hornets in it," said Jonas, quietly.
He brought out the nest, and held it so that he and Rollo could see it.
"The hornets have made it of brown paper," said he.
"Brown paper," said Rollo. "Where do they get the brown paper?"
"O, they make the brown paper too."
"Ho!" said Rollo; "hornets can't make paper."
"Think not?" said Jonas. Jonas was always careful not to contradict,
even when he supposed that Rollo was mistaken.
Rollo said he was _sure_ that hornets could not make paper. Then Jonas
took off a little shred from the hornets' nest, and compared it with
some brown paper which he had in his pocket; and he explained to Rollo
that the hornets' nest was made of little fibres adhering to each
other, just as the fibres of the paper did.
"It is the same article," he said, "and made of the same materials; only
they manufacture it in a different way. So I don't see why it is not
proper to call it paper."
"_I_ don't think it is paper," said Rollo; "nothing is paper but what
men make."
"Very well," said Jonas, "we won't dispute about the name."
So Jonas returned to his work, and Rollo said that he meant to carry the
hornets' nest home, and show it to Nathan. He accordingly laid it down
by the side of his fire, near the dipper and the raspberry seeds.
In a short time, Jonas reduced the neck of ground, where he was digging,
to a very narrow wall, and he called Rollo to come and see him let out
the water. He took the shovel, and he told Rollo to take the hoe, so
that, as soon as he should break down this wall, they could both be at
work, digging out the passage way, so as to get it cleared as soon as
possible.
He accordingly began, and soon made a breach, through which the water
rushed with considerable force into the canal, and then wandered along
rapidly towards the outlet into the brook. Rollo pulled away with his
hoe, hauling out mud, moss, grass, and water, up upon the bank where he
stood; and Jonas also kept at work clearing the passage with the spade.
In a short time they had got a fine, free course for the water, and then
they stood still, one on each side of the bank, watching the torrent as
it poured through.
At length, the water in the pool began to subside gradually, and then it
did not run so fast through the canal; and pretty soon after this, Jonas
said he thought it was time for them to go home to dinner. So Rollo put
up his raspberry seeds in a paper, and put them into his pocket, and
carried his hornets' nest in his hand. Jonas took the dipper and the
lantern, and thus the boys walked along together.
A FALSE ALARM.
As Rollo and Jonas walked along towards home, Rollo told Jonas that he
thought he had been very successful in collecting curiosities that day.
"Why, what curiosities have you got besides your hornets' nest?" asked
Jonas.
"Why, there are my raspberry seeds," said Rollo; "I think they are a
curiosity; and besides that, I have got some very beautiful, bright
pebbles in my pocket."
"Let us see them," said Jonas.
So Rollo put his hand into his pocket, and drew forth several pebbles;
but they were by no means as beautiful as he had imagined. They looked
rough and dull.
"They _were_ very bright, when I got them," said Rollo.
"That is because they were wet," said Jonas. "Pebbles always look
brightest and most beautiful when they are in their own proper place, in
the brook; and that is the reason why I think it is generally best to
leave them there."
Rollo looked at his faded pebbles with an air of disappointment. He
asked Jonas if there was no way of keeping them bright all the time.
"I think it probable that they might be oiled, and the oil would not
dry."
"Ho!" said Rollo, "I should not like to have them oiled."
"Nor I," said Jonas; "I should rather leave them in the brook."
"But is not there any other way?"
"They might be varnished," said Jonas. "That would bring out the colors;
and the varnish would dry, so that you could handle them."
"That would do," said Rollo, "if I only had some varnish."
"But the best way is to _polish_ them," said Jonas.
"How is that done?" asked Rollo.
"O, it is very hard to do," replied Jonas. "They grind them on stones,
and then they polish them on polishing wheels."
"I wish I could do it," said Rollo.
"It is not worth while to take so much pains with any of _your_
curiosities," said Jonas, "because you very soon get tired of them, and
throw them away."
"O, no," said Rollo, "_I_ never throw them away."
"You leave them lying about the house and yard, then, and so other
people throw them away."
Rollo knew that this was true, and so he did not contradict Jonas.
"It's not of much use to collect curiosities," said Jonas, "unless you
have a museum."
"A museum?" said Rollo.
"Yes, that is a cabinet to put them in, and keep them safe. Then, when
you have done looking at them yourself, you put them away safely; and,
after a time, you get a great many collected, and you take pleasure in
looking them over from time to time, and showing them to other boys that
come to see you."
"Well," said Rollo, "I should like to have a museum."
"O, _you_ could not keep one," said Jonas.
"Why not?" said Rollo.
"You have not patience and perseverance enough. You would be very much
pleased with it for a day or two; but then you would get interested in
other plays, and let your museum all get into disorder."
Rollo was silent. He knew that what Jonas said was true.
"I don't know but that your cousin Lucy might keep a museum," said
Jonas; "she is more careful than you are."
"And cousin James could help us find the curiosities," said Rollo.
"So he could," said Jonas. "I think it might be a very good plan."
"But what shall we have for our cabinet to put them in?" said Rollo.
"Why, sometimes they have something like a book-case," replied Jonas,
"with shelves and glass doors. Then the curiosities are all put upon the
shelves, and you can see them through the glass doors. But this can only
be done with very valuable curiosities."
"Why?" asked Rollo.
"Because such a case, with glass doors, costs a good deal of money; and
it is not worth while to pay so much money only to keep common things,
such as your pebble stones."
"But we have got such a book-case, already made; it is in mother's
chamber," said Rollo.
"Yes," said Jonas; "but it is full of books. Sometimes they keep a
museum in the drawers of a bureau; but that is not a very good plan."
"Why not?" said Rollo.
"Because, when you open and shut the drawers, it joggles the curiosities
about."
"Does it?" said Rollo.
"Yes," replied Jonas. "But there is one thing you can do--I did not
think of it before. There is a good large box in the barn, and I can put
some shelves into it, and make the cover into a door; and if you want to
collect a museum, you can do it in that. You can keep it out in the play
room, and so it will not trouble any body in the house."
Jonas meant, by _the play room_, a pretty large room, in the barn, made
originally for a sort of granary, but which the children were accustomed
to use for a play room.
Rollo was very much pleased with this plan. He determined to collect a
museum, and to put his hornets' nest in it for the first thing. As soon
as he got home, as he found that dinner was not quite ready, he and
Jonas went out into the barn to look at the box. It was a large box,
which had been made to pack up a bureau in, so that the bureau should
not get injured in the wagon which it was brought home in. As it
happened, the box was smooth inside and out, and the cover of it was
made of two boards, which Jonas had taken off carefully, when he took
the bureau out, and had then tacked them on again; thinking that he
might perhaps want it some time or other,--box, covers, and all.
Now it happened, as it generally does to persons who take care of
things, that the article which Jonas thus preserved, came into use
exactly. The box, he said, would be just the thing. He showed Rollo how
he could place it so that it would make a convenient sort of cabinet.
"I can put it upon its end," said he, "and then I can put on the two
cover boards with hinges,--one pair of hinges on each side; then the
covers will make little doors, and it will open like a book case, only
it will not be quite so elegant."
"I think it will be very elegant indeed," said Rollo; "and you can make
it for us this afternoon."
"No," said Jonas; "not this afternoon."
"Why not?" said Rollo.
"O, I must attend to my work in the meadow."
"O, no," said Rollo. "I mean to ask my father to let you make it this
afternoon."
"No; I'd rather you wouldn't," said Jonas.
"Why not?" asked Rollo. "I know he will let you."
"Yes, I suppose he would let me, if you were to ask him; but that would
spoil the museum."
"Spoil it?" said Rollo.
"Yes," said Jonas. "The way to spoil any pleasure is to neglect duty for
the sake of it. Work first, and play afterwards. That's the rule."
"Well, but, Jonas, we want to begin our museum this afternoon."
"Very well," said Jonas; "you may begin collecting your curiosities, you
know; and you can put them all in a safe place, and have them all ready
to put in when I get the case made."
Rollo did not quite like this plan; but he knew that Jonas was always
firm when it was a question of right and wrong, and so he said no more;
only, after a moment's pause, he asked Jonas when he _would_ make the
cabinet.
"The first rainy day," replied Jonas.
"Then I hope it will rain to-morrow," said Rollo; and he went out of the
barn to see if it was not cloudy. But the sun shone bright, and the sky
was clear and serene.
* * * * *
While Rollo was looking up at the sky, trying to find some appearance of
rain, he heard a chaise coming, and looking out into the road, he saw
that his cousin James was in it.
"Ah," said he to himself, "there comes cousin James! Now I will have a
frolic with him, by means of my hornets' nest."
So Rollo ran into the garden, and slyly fixed his hornets' nest up in a
lilac bush; and then ran out to the front of the house to find his
cousin. But his cousin was nowhere to be found. The chaise was at the
door, the horse being fastened to a post; but nobody was near it. So
Rollo went into the house to see if he could find James.
They told him in the house that James had gone through the house into
the yard, in pursuit of Rollo.
Rollo then ran out again, and at length found James, and after talking
with him a minute, he said,
"Come, James, let us go into the garden."
So they walked along towards the garden, Rollo telling James, by the
way, about the canal which Jonas had made that day. At length, when they
reached the lilac bush, Rollo looked up, and started in pretended
fright, saying,
"O James! look there!"
"O!" exclaimed James; "it is a hornets' nest."
"So 'tis," said Rollo; "run! run!"
James and Rollo started off at these words, and away they ran down the
alley, Rollo convulsed with laughter at the success of his stratagem. At
length they stopped.
"Now, how shall we get back?" said James. For the lilac, upon which
Rollo had put the hornets' nest, was close to the garden gate.
"I am not afraid to go," said Rollo.
So Rollo walked along boldly; James following slowly and with a timid
air, remonstrating with Rollo for his temerity.
"Rollo!" said he, "Rollo! take care. You had better not go."
But what was his surprise and astonishment at seeing Rollo go
deliberately up to the bush, and take down the twig that had the
hornets' nest attached to it, and hold it out towards him!
"I put it up there," said Rollo. "There are no hornets in it."
Still, James was somewhat afraid. He knew of course, now, that there
could be no hornets in it; but, still, the association of the idea of
danger was so strong with the sight of a hornets' nest, that he could
not feel quite easy. At length, however, he came up near to it, and
examined it attentively.
"What made you frighten me so, Rollo?" said he.
"O, only for fun," said Rollo.
"But you deceived me," said James; "and I don't think that that was
right. It is never right to deceive."
"O, I only did it for fun," said Rollo.
James insisted upon it that it was wrong, and Rollo that it was not
wrong; and finally they concluded to leave it to Jonas. So they both
went to him, and told him the story.
"Wasn't it wrong?" asked James.
"It wasn't--was it?" said Rollo.
"It was deception," added James.
"But it was only in fun," said Rollo.
"One or the other of you must be to blame," said Jonas.
"How?" asked Rollo.
"Why, James seems displeased with you for frightening him so; and now,
either you must have done wrong, and given him just cause for his
displeasure, or else, if you did right, then his displeasure is
unreasonable, and so it is ill humor."
The boys did not answer.
"So that the question is, Did Rollo do wrong? or, Is James out of
humor?"
"Why, I think deception is always wrong," said James.
"Did you ever play blind-man's-buff?" asked Jonas.
"Yes," replied James.
"And did you ever go and squeak in a corner, and then creep away, to
make the blind man think you were there, and so go groping after you?"
"Why, yes," said James; "but that is not deception."
"Why, don't you try to make the blind man think you are in the corner,
when, in fact, you have gone?"
"Yes," said James.
"And is not that trying to deceive him?"
"Yes--" said James, hesitating, "but,--I think that that is a very
different thing."
"How is it different?" said Jonas.
It is probable that James would have found some difficulty in answering
this question; but, in fact, he did not have the opportunity to try,
for, just then, he heard some one calling him, and he and Rollo went
into the house. They wanted him to go, and so he got into the chaise and
rode away, promising to come and see Rollo in the afternoon, if he could
get permission. Soon after this, Rollo sat down, with the rest of the
family, to dinner. He determined to commence in earnest the work of
collecting curiosities that afternoon.
THE HEMLOCK-SEED.
James came to play with Rollo that afternoon, and Rollo explained to him
his plan of collecting a museum of curiosities. James was very much
interested in it indeed, and he said that he had some shells and some
Guinea peas at home, which he would put into it.
Rollo went to show him the box out of which Jonas was going to make the
cabinet the first rainy day. Then the boys went out again to see if
there were yet any signs of a storm. But they looked in vain. There were
no clouds to be seen, except here and there a few of those white, fleecy
tufts floating in the heavens, which indicate fair weather rather than
rain.
The boys played together in the yard for some time. Among other things,
they amused themselves by collecting some flowers, and pressing them in
a book. Suddenly James said,
"O Rollo, let us go and get some blue-bells to press; they will be
beautiful."
"Where?" said Rollo.
"Among the rocks by the road, beyond the bridge," said James. "There are
plenty of them among those rocks."
The place which James referred to, was a rocky precipice by the road
side, about a quarter of a mile from the house; just at the entrance of
a small village. Rollo approved of the proposal, and he went in and
asked his mother's permission to go.
She consented, and Rollo, when he came back through the kitchen, said to
Dorothy, who was sitting at the window, sewing,
"Dorothy, we are going to get some blue-bells to press."
"Ah!" said Dorothy. "Where are you going for them?"
"O, out by the bridge," said Rollo, as he passed on to go out at the
door.
"O Rollo!" said she, calling out to him suddenly, as if she recollected
something; "stop a minute."
So Rollo came back to hear what she had to say.
"You are going pretty near the village."
"Yes," said Rollo.
"And could you be so kind as to do an errand for me?"
"Yes," said Rollo; "what is it?"
Then Dorothy went to her work-table, and began to open it, saying all
the time,
"I want you to get some medicine for Sarah, for she is sick."
Sarah was a friend of Dorothy's, who lived at another house, not far
from Rollo's; and Rollo used sometimes to see her at his father's, when
she came over to see Dorothy. She was in very feeble health, and now
wanted some medicines. Dorothy had been over at the house where she
lived that day, and had found that the doctor had left her a
prescription; but she had nobody to send for it, and she was not quite
able to go herself. So Dorothy told her that if she would let her have
the money, she would ask Rollo or Jonas to go.
So Sarah gave her a dollar bill, and in order to keep it safe, she put
it in a little morocco wallet, and tied it up securely with a string.
This wallet was what Dorothy was looking for, in her work-table. She
took it out, and untied the string. She opened the wallet, and showed
Rollo the money in one of the pockets, and a small piece of white paper,
upon which was written the names of the medicines which the doctor
wished Sarah to take. Such a writing is called a _prescription_.
Rollo looked at the prescription to see what sort of medicines it was
that he was to get, but he could not read it. The words were short and
strange, and had periods at the end of them,--which Rollo told Dorothy
was wrong, as periods ought to be only at the end of a sentence. Then
there were strange characters and marks at the ends of the lines; and
Rollo, after examining it attentively, said he could not read a word of
it, and he did not believe that the apothecary could. However, he said
he was willing to take it to him, and let him try.
He accordingly put the prescription back again carefully into the
wallet, and Dorothy tied it up. Then he put it into his pocket, and went
out to James. He found James waiting by the gate, and they both walked
along together.
He and James had each a book to put their blue-bells in. They walked
along, talking about their flowers, until at length they reached the
bridge. Just beyond it was the rocky precipice, with shrubs and
evergreens growing upon the shelves and in the crevices, and spaces
between the rocks. It towered up pretty high above the road, and the
declivity extended also down to the brook below the bridge, forming one
side of the deep ravine across which the bridge was built. There was a
very large, old hemlock-tree growing upon a small piece of level ground
between the ravine and the higher part of the precipice. Under this
hemlock-tree was a large, smooth, flat stone, where the boys used very
often to come and sit, when they came to play among these rocks.
[Illustration]
The boys rambled about among the rocks, sometimes down in the ravine and
near the brook, and sometimes very high up among the rocks. They were
both pretty good climbers, and there were no very dangerous places, for
there were no high, perpendicular precipices. They found blue-bells in
abundance, and several other flowers. They also found a variety of
brakes, of different forms and colors. They determined to gather as many
flowers as they could, and then go down to the hemlock-tree, and
there look them over, and select those best to be pressed; and then put
them carefully into their books there. Then they could carry them home
safely; they would, in fact, be in press all the way.
After rambling and climbing about for half an hour, the boys went down
to the flat rock, under the hemlock, with large bunches of plants and
flowers in their hands. Here they sat another half hour, looking over
their specimens, and putting them into their books. At length, Rollo
picked up a singular-looking thing, which was lying down by the side of
the stone under the tree. It was about as big as his thumb, and somewhat
pointed at the ends. It was black, and rather glossy, and the surface
was marked regularly with little ridges. James could not imagine what it
was; but Rollo told him that he thought it must be a hemlock-seed. The
truth was, that it was a great _chrysalis_, though Rollo did not find it
out till long afterwards.
"A hemlock-seed!" said James.
"Yes," said Rollo; "I have seen the cones which grow on fir-trees, and
they are a good deal like this."
"But they are not so handsome," said James.
"I know it," said Rollo; "they are not so handsome. This is the most
beautiful one I ever saw."
"We can plant it," said James, "next spring."
"Yes," said Rollo; "and then we can have a great hemlock-tree near our
house."
"But we shall have to wait a great many years," said James.
"O, no, not a great many," said Rollo. "It is such a great seed, I think
it would grow pretty fast."
But James did not like the idea of planting it very well. He proposed
that they should keep it, for a curiosity, in their museum. Rollo
insisted, at first, upon planting it; but at length, reflecting that it
was not then the right season to plant it, he concluded to put it into
the museum, with his raspberry-seeds, until the next spring, and to
plant it then.
So Rollo put the hemlock-seed into his pocket, and he and James took
their books under their arms, with a great many flowers and plants
carefully placed between the leaves, and walked along towards the
village. When they arrived at the apothecary's, Rollo put his book down
upon the counter, and then took the wallet from his pocket, and untied
the string, and took the prescription out, and handed it to the
apothecary. The apothecary was talking with another man, at the time;
but he took the prescription, and Rollo watched his countenance to see
how perplexed and puzzled he would look, when he tried to read it.
Instead, however, of appearing perplexed and puzzled, the apothecary
only glanced his eye over it, and laid it down upon the counter, and
immediately began to look upon his shelves to find the articles.
"That's strange!" said Rollo to himself. "He reads it as easily as I
should a guide board."
While the apothecary was weighing out his medicines, Rollo was very much
interested in looking at the little pair of scales in which he weighed
them. Rollo never had seen so small a pair of scales. The weights, too,
were small, square weights of brass, with little figures stamped upon
them. He asked the apothecary what such scales as those would cost. He
answered that they were of various prices, from one dollar to five.
Rollo thought that that was too much for him to give; but while he was
thinking whether his father would probably be willing to let him have a
dollar to buy a pair with, James said that he wished _he_ had such a
pair of scales.
"So do I," said Rollo; "then we could play keep store. We could have our
store out in the play room, and weigh things."
"So we could," said James. "We could put a long board upon two barrels
for a counter."
"O, you must _make_ your scales, boys," said the apothecary.
"How can we make them?" said Rollo.
"Why, you can get a good, stout knitting-needle for a beam. Tie a silk
thread around the middle of it to hold it up by, and slip it along until
you get it so that the needle will exactly balance. Then for scales, you
must cut out two round pieces of thin pasteboard. Then take three
threads for each scale, and run them through the pasteboard, near the
edge, and at equal distances from each other. You must tie knots at the
lower ends of the threads to keep them from drawing through. Then you
must gather the other ends of the threads together, about half a foot
from the pasteboard, and tie them to the ends of the knitting-needle,
one on each side; and that will make a very respectable pair of scales
for you."
"But what shall we do for weights?" asked Rollo.
"O, weights!--yes, you must have some weights. You must make them of
lead. I will show you how."
So the apothecary took a small piece of sheet lead, rather thin, and cut
off a little square of it. He then put it into one of his scale
balances, and put a thin, square weight of brass, similar to it, into
the other scale. The lead weight was a little too heavy. He then clipped
off a very little with his scissors. This made it about right. Then,
with the point of his scissors, he scratched a figure 1 upon it.
"There," said he, "boys, there is a standard for you."
"What is a standard?" said Rollo, taking up the weight.
"Why, it is a weight made exactly correct, for you to keep, and make
yours by. It is a _one-grain_ weight. I will give you some sheet lead,
and when you get home and have made your scales, you can cut off another
piece, and weigh it by that, and so you will have two one-grain weights.
Then you can put those two into one scale, and a piece of lead as big as
both of them into the other scale, and when you have made it exactly as
heavy as both of the others, you must mark a figure 2 upon it, and then
you will have a _two-grain_ weight. In the same way you can make a
_five-grain_ weight, and a _ten-grain_ weight, and a pennyweight."
"What is a pennyweight?" said Rollo.
"It is a weight as heavy as twenty-four grains."
"The pennyweight will be very big, then," said Rollo.
"Yes," said the apothecary; "but you can take a little strip of lead
like a ribbon, and then roll it up, when you have made it just heavy
enough, and then it will not take up much room. So you can make another
roll for two pennyweights, and another for five pennyweights, and
another for ten pennyweights."
"And another for twenty pennyweights," said James.
"Yes; only twenty pennyweights make an ounce. So you will call that an
_ounce_ weight. But you cannot weigh more than an ounce, I should think,
in your knitting-needle scales."
By this time the apothecary had put up the medicines, and he gave them
to Rollo. There was a middle-sized parcel, and a very small parcel, and
small, round box. Rollo put them all into the pocket of his pantaloons.
Then he opened his wallet, and took out the bill, and gave it to the
apothecary. The apothecary handed him the change. It was half a dollar,
and one small piece of silver besides. Rollo put the change back into
the wallet, and tied it up just as it had been before, and then crowded
the wallet back into his pocket, by the side of the parcels which the
apothecary had given him.
A LITTLE LAW.
That evening, when Rollo's father came home, he went out at the door
leading to the garden yard, and looked into the yard to see if Rollo was
there. He was not to be seen.
His father then took the bell which always hung in the entry, and began
to ring it at the door. This bell was the one that was rung for
breakfast, dinner, and supper; and when Rollo was out, they generally
called him in, by ringing it at the door.
While Rollo's father was ringing the bell, Dorothy opened the door which
led from the kitchen into the entry, and said to Rollo's father,
"Are you ringing for Rollo, sir?"
"Yes," he replied.
"He has gone to the village," said Dorothy. "He has gone back to look
for a pocket-book, which he dropped, coming home, or else left at the
apothecary's."
"A pocket-book?" said his father, with surprise.
"Yes, sir," said Dorothy. "He went to get some medicine for Sarah, and,
when he came home, the pocket-book was missing."
"Was there any money in it?" said he.
"Yes, sir," replied Dorothy.
"How much?"
"I don't know, sir, how much."
Rollo's father then put the bell back into its place, and walked again
into the parlor. He was afraid that there was a good deal of money in
the pocket-book, and that it was all lost.
He, however, went on attending to his own business, until by and by he
heard Rollo's voice in the kitchen. He called him in. Rollo and James
came in together.
"Have you found the pocket-book?" asked Mr. Holiday.
"No, sir," said Rollo; "I have looked all along the road, and inquired
at the apothecary's; but I can't find any thing of it."
"Well, now, I want you to tell me the whole story; and especially, if
you have done wrong about it, in any way, don't attempt to smooth and
gloss it over, but tell me that part more plainly and distinctly and
fully than any other."
"Well, sir," said Rollo, with a very serious air, "I will.