there, I put the change in the wallet, and put the wallet in this
pocket."
"It was a wallet, then," said his father.
"Yes," replied Rollo, "a wallet, or a small pocket-book. I suppose now,
that it would have been better to have put it in some other pocket;
because that was pretty full. So in that, I suppose, I did wrong. Then
James and I came home, only we did not walk along directly; we played
about a little from one side of the road to the other, and then we went
under the great hemlock-tree, to see if we could not find another
hemlock-seed."
"Another hemlock-seed?" said his father.
"Yes, sir," said Rollo; "I suppose it is a hemlock-seed."
"What was it? a sort of a cone?"
"Yes, sir," said Rollo; "with ridges upon it."
Now it is true that pines, firs, and other evergreens bear a sort of
cone, which contains their seed; and Rollo's father thought, from
Rollo's description, that it was one of these cones which Rollo had
found. In fact, the cone was somewhat similar in shape, though, if he
had shown it to his father, he would have known immediately that it was
a very different thing. Rollo put his hand into his pocket to show the
supposed hemlock-seed to his father, but it was not there. He had left
it out in the play room.
"Very well," said his father, "I don't know that I ever saw the cone of
the hemlock; but, very probably, this is one of them. But go on, about
the pocket-book."
"Well, sir,--when we got home, I took out the medicines, but the
pocket-book was nowhere to be found; and I have been back with James,
and we have looked all along the road, and under the hemlock-tree, and
we have inquired at the apothecary's; but we cannot find it any where."
"How much money was there in the wallet?" said his father.
"Half a dollar, and a little more," said Rollo.
Rollo's father felt somewhat relieved at finding that the loss was,
after all, not very large. He placed confidence in Rollo's account of
the facts, and having thus ascertained how the case stood, he began to
consider what was to be done.
"It is a case of bailment," said he to Rollo, "and the question is,
whether you are liable."
"A case of _what_?" said Rollo.
"Bailment," said his father. "When one person intrusts another with his
property for any purpose, it is called _bailing_ it to him. The wallet
and the money were bailed to you. The law relating to such transactions
is called _the law of bailment_. And the question is, whether, according
to the law of bailment, you ought to pay for this loss."
Rollo seemed surprised at such a serious and legal view of the subject
being taken; he waited, however, to hear what more his father had to
say.
"I don't suppose," continued his father, "that Sarah will commence an
action against you; but law is generally justice, and to know what we
ought to do in cases like this, it is generally best to inquire what the
law requires us to do."
"Well, sir," said Rollo, "and how is it?"
"Why, you see," said his father, "there are various kinds of bailments.
A thing may be bailed to you for _your_ benefit; as, for instance, if
James were to lend you his knife, the knife would be a bailment to you
for your benefit. But if he were to ask you to carry his knife somewhere
to be mended, and you should take it, then it would be a bailment to you
for _his_ benefit."
"Well, sir, I took the wallet for Sarah's benefit, not mine," said
Rollo.
"The law requires," continued his father, "that you should take greater
care of any thing, if it is bailed to you for _your_ benefit, than it
does if it is for the benefit of the bailor. For instance, if you were
to borrow James's knife for your own benefit, and were to lose it, even
without any special carelessness, you ought to get him another; for it
was solely for your advantage, that you took it, and so it ought to be
at your risk. But if he asked you to take the knife to get it mended for
_his_ benefit; then, if you accidentally lose it, without any particular
carelessness, you ought not to pay for it; for it was placed in your
hands for his _advantage_, and so it ought to be at his _risk_."
"Well," said Rollo, "the wallet was given to me for Sarah's advantage,
not mine; and so I ought not to pay for it."
"That depends upon whether it was lost through gross carelessness, or
not. For when any thing is bailed to you for the benefit of the owner,
if it is lost or injured through _gross carelessness_, then the law
makes you liable. As, for instance, suppose you take James's knife to
get it mended, and on your way you throw it over the fence among the
grass, and then cannot find it, you ought to pay for it; for you were
bound to take good ordinary care of it."
"Well, sir," said Rollo.
"Well," repeated his father, "now as this property was bailed to you
solely for the advantage of the bailor, the question whether you ought
to pay for the loss of it, depends on whether you was grossly careless,
or not. If you took good ordinary care, and it was lost by accident,
then you are not liable."
"Well, father, I think it was accident; I do, truly."
"I rather think so myself," said his father, with a smile, "and I am
inclined to think that you are not responsible. If any body asks a boy
like you to carry money for them, gratuitously, then they take
themselves the ordinary risks of such a conveyance, and I think that, on
the whole, this accident comes within the ordinary risks. There was not
such gross carelessness as to make you liable. But then I am very sorry
to have Sarah lose her money."
"So am I," said Rollo. "And the wallet is gone too."
"How good a wallet was it?" asked his father.
"O, pretty good; only it was considerably worn."
"Haven't you got one that is pretty much the same, that you don't care a
great deal about?"
"Yes, sir," said Rollo; "it is in my desk. I had as lief that she would
have it as not."
"Very well," said his father; "you give her your wallet, and I will
replace the money."
So Rollo went to his desk, and soon came back, bringing his little
wallet. He unfastened its steel clasp, and opened the wallet, and took
out some little pictures which he had treasured up there, and some small
pieces of white paper, which he said were marks. They were to put into
his books to keep the place, when he was reading. He had got quite a
quantity of them all prepared for use. When Rollo had got his wallet
ready, his father took out half a dollar from his pocket, and also
another small silver coin, about as large as Rollo said the one was,
which was lost; and then sent Rollo to carry it to Dorothy.
In a few minutes, Rollo came back with the money in his hand, and said,
"She won't take it. She said I must bring it back. It was as much as I
could do to get her to take the wallet."
"But she _must_ take it," replied his father. "You carry it to her
again, and tell her she has nothing to do with the business. The money
is for Sarah, and she must not refuse it, but take it and give it to her
the first opportunity."
So Rollo carried the money again to Dorothy. She received it this time,
and put it in the wallet, and then deposited both in a safe place in her
work-table. Then Rollo came back to his father to ask him a little more
about bailments.
"Father," said Rollo, when he came back, "if James should give me his
knife, or any thing, for my own, would that be a bailment?"
"No," said his father. "A bailment is only where property is intrusted
to another, for a certain purpose, to be returned again to the
possession of the owner, when the purpose is accomplished. For instance,
when Jonas is sawing wood with my saw, the saw is a bailment from me to
him; it remains my property; but he is to use it for a specific purpose,
and then return it to my possession."
"He does not bring it back to you," said Rollo.
"No, but he hangs it up in its place in my shed, which is putting it
again in my possession. And so all the things which Dorothy uses in the
kitchen are bailments."
"And if she breaks them, must she pay for them?"
"No, not unless she is grossly careless. If she exercises good ordinary
care, such as prudent persons exercise about their own things, then she
is not liable, because she is using them mainly for my benefit, and of
course it must be at my risk. But if Sarah should come and borrow a
pitcher to carry some milk home in, and should let it fall and break it
by the way, even if it was not gross carelessness, she ought to pay for
it; that is, the person that sent her ought to pay for it, for it was
bailed to her for her benefit alone; and therefore it was at her risk."
"I should not think you would make her pay for it," said Rollo.
"No, I certainly should not. I am only telling what I should have a
right to do if I chose.
"Sometimes a thing is bailed to a person," continued Rollo's father,
"for the benefit of both persons, the bailor and the bailee."
"The bailee?" said James.
"Yes, the bailee is the person the thing is bailed to. For instance, if
I leave my watch at the watchmaker's to be mended, and I am going to pay
him for it, in that case you see it is for his advantage and mine too."
"And then, if it is lost, must he pay for it?"
"Yes; unless he takes _good_ care of it. If it is for his benefit alone,
then he must take _special_ care of it, or else he is liable for the
loss of it. If it is for my benefit alone, then he must take _ordinary_
care of it. For instance, suppose I had a very superior repeater watch,
which the watchmaker should come and borrow of me, in order to see the
construction of it. Then suppose I should leave another watch of
mine,--a _lever_,--at his shop to be repaired. Suppose also I should
have a third watch, a lady's watch, which I had just bought somewhere,
and I should ask him to be kind enough to keep it for me, a day or two,
till my watch was done. These would be three different kinds of
bailments. The _repeater_ would be bailed to him for his benefit; the
_lever_ for his and mine jointly, and the _lady's watch_ for my benefit
alone.
"Now, you see," continued Rollo's father, "that if these watches should
get lost or injured in any way, the question whether the watchmaker
would have to pay for them or not, would depend upon the degree of care
it would have required to save them. For instance, if he locked them all
up with special care, and particularly the repeater, and then the
building were struck with lightning and the watches all destroyed, he
would not have to pay for any of them; for this would be an inevitable
accident, which all his care could not guard against. It would have been
as likely to have happened to my repeater, if I had kept it at home.
"But suppose now he should hang all three watches up at his window, and
a boy in the street should accidentally throw a stone and hit the
window, so that the stone should go through the glass and break one of
the watches. Now, if the repeater was the one that was hit, I should
think the man would be bound to pay for it: because he was bound to take
_very special_ care of that, as it was borrowed for his benefit alone.
But if it was the lady's watch, which he had taken only as an
accommodation to me, then he would not be obliged to pay; for, by
hanging it up with his other watches, he took _ordinary_ care of it, and
that was all that he was obliged to take."
"I should think," said James, "that the boy would have to pay, if he
broke the watches."
"Yes," said Rollo's father; "but we have nothing to do with the boy now,
we are only considering the liabilities of the watchmaker."
"And if it had been the lever that was broken," asked Rollo, "what
then?"
"Why, as to the lever," said his father, "he was bound to take _good_
care of it,--something more than mere ordinary care; and I don't know
whether the law would consider hanging watches up at a window as _good_
care or not. It would depend upon that, I suppose. But the watches might
be lost in another way. Suppose the watchmaker had sent the repeater
home to me, and then, at night, had put the lever and the lady's watch
into a small trunk with his other watches, and carried them to his
house, as watchmakers do sometimes. Now suppose that, when he got home,
he put the trunk of watches down in a corner of the room; and suppose
that there was a leak in the roof of his house, so that the water could
come in sometimes when it rained. In the night there comes up a shower,
and the water gets into the trunk, and rusts and spoils the watches. Now
I think it probable that he would not have to pay for the lady's watch,
for he took ordinary care of that,--that is, the same care that he was
accustomed to take of his own watches. But he might have to pay for the
other; for he was bound to take _good_ care of that one, as it was
partly for _his_ benefit that it was bailed to him; and putting them
where they were at all exposed to be wet, would be considered, I
suppose, as not taking good care of them."
"And so he would not have to pay for the lady's watch, in any case,"
said Rollo.
"Yes, he would, if he did not take _ordinary_ care of it; that is, if he
was grossly negligent. For instance, if he should take all the rest of
his watches home, and leave that in his shop upon the counter, where I
had laid it down, and somebody should come in the night and steal it,
then, perhaps he would be liable."
By this time, Rollo's father began to think that his law lecture had
been long enough for such young students, and so he said that he would
not tell them any more about it then. "But now," said he, in conclusion,
"I want you to remember what I have said, and practise according to it.
Boys bail things to one another very often, and a great many disputes
arise among them, because they don't understand the law of bailment. It
applies to boys as well as men. It is founded on principles of justice
and common sense, and, of course, what is just and equitable among men,
is just and equitable among boys.
"You must remember that whenever any thing belonging to one boy is
intrusted to another in any way, if it is for the benefit of the bailee,
if any accident happens to it, he must make it good; unless it was some
_inevitable_ accident, which could not have been prevented by the utmost
care. If it is for the benefit of the bailor, that is, the boy who
intrusts it, then he can't require the other to pay for it, unless he
was grossly negligent. And if it was for the common benefit of both,
then if the bailee takes what may be called good care of it, he is not
liable to pay; if he does not take good care, he is."
Here ended the lecture on the law of bailment. James soon after went
home, and Rollo in due time went to bed. The next morning, when he got
up and began to dress himself, he thought one of the legs of his
pantaloons felt somewhat heavy. He put his hand down to ascertain what
was there, and he felt something at the bottom, between the cloth and
the lining. It was Sarah's pocket-book. When Rollo put it into his
pocket, as he thought, he in reality slipped it inside of the lining,
and it worked itself down to the bottom, as he was playing about. He
pulled it out, and then, after he had dressed himself, he ran very
joyfully to his father, to show it to him. His father was very glad that
it was found, and told Rollo to carry it to Dorothy. Dorothy was very
glad, too, for she was very sorry to have Rollo lose his own wallet, or
his father lose his money. So she gave him back his wallet, and he
replaced it in his desk where it was before, after giving his father
back his money.
CONFUSION.
Rollo explained his plan of collecting a museum of curiosities to his
cousins Lucy and James, and to his sister Mary, who was a good deal
older than he was. He also informed Henry, a playmate of his, who lived
not a great way from his father's house. All the children took a great
deal of interest in the scheme, and promised to help him collect the
curiosities.
At length, after a few days, Rollo, to his great joy, observed one
evening signs of an approaching storm. The wind sighed through the
trees, and thick, hazy clouds spread themselves over the sky.
"Don't you think it is going to rain?" said Rollo to his father, as he
came in to tea.
"I don't know," said his father. "Which way is the wind?"
"I'll go and see," said Rollo.
He went out and looked at the vane which Jonas had placed upon the top
of the barn.
When he came in, he told his father that the wind was east. Then his
father said he thought it would rain, and Rollo clapped his hands with
delight.
And it did rain. The next morning, when Rollo awoke, he heard the storm
driving against the window of his chamber. After breakfast, he took an
umbrella, and went out into the barn, and found Jonas already at work
upon the cabinet. In the course of the morning he finished it. He put
three good shelves into it, which, together with the bottom of the box,
made four shelves. He also put the two covers on, with hinges, so as to
make doors of them; and put a little hasp upon the doors, outside, to
fasten them with. He then put it up in one corner of the play room, all
ready for the curiosities. Rollo put in his hornets' nest, his pebble
stones, and his hemlock-seed, as he called it; and then went to the barn
door, and began to be as eager to have it clear up, as he had been
before to have it rain. He wanted to go out and collect some more
curiosities.
After a time it did clear up, and Rollo obtained his mother's leave to
go and ask all the children who were going to have a share in the
museum, to come one afternoon and begin to collect the curiosities. They
all came--Lucy, James, and Henry. And when Rollo saw them all collected
in the garden yard, with baskets in their hands all ready to go forth
after curiosities, he capered about full of anticipations of delight.
"Now," said Henry, "let us go down to the hemlock-tree."
"No," said Rollo, "it will be better to go to the brook, where I found
the pebbles."
"But I want to go and see if I can't find another hemlock-seed," said
Henry.
Rollo was, however, very unwilling to go that way, and yet Henry
insisted upon it. Lucy listened to the dispute with a countenance
expressive of distress and anxiety. First, she proposed to Rollo to
yield to Henry, and then to Henry to yield to Rollo; but in vain. Henry
said that Rollo ought to let him decide, because he was the oldest; and
Rollo said that he himself ought to decide, because it was his museum.
They were both wrong. Neither ought to have insisted upon having his own
way so strenuously. At length, after quite a long and unpleasant
altercation, Lucy proposed that they should draw lots for it. The boys
consented.
"I'll tell you a better plan than that," said a voice above them. They
looked up, and saw Mary sitting at the window of the chamber. She had
been reading, but, on hearing this dispute, she had closed her book, and
now interposed to do what she could to aid in settling it.
When Rollo heard his sister Mary's voice, he felt a little ashamed of
his pertinacity. Lucy asked Mary what the plan was.
"Why," said she, "in all expeditions where there are several children,
it is very desirable to have a regent."
"A regent?" said Lucy.
"Yes," said Mary, "a commander, to take the lead, and decide the
thousand little questions which are likely to occur. Unless there is
somebody to decide them, there will be endless disputes."
"Well," said Henry, "I'll be regent."
"No," said Mary, "you must choose one. I'll tell you how. You must
choose the regent by ballot. Lilac leaves make good ballots. Each one
of you must consider who you think will be best for regent,--that is,
who will have the most discretion and judgment, to decide wisely, and at
the same time be mild and gentle, and amiable in manner, so as to be a
pleasant commander. Of course, no one must vote for himself."
"But I don't understand," said Rollo. "What are the lilac leaves for?"
"For ballots; that is, for you to write your votes upon. You can write
on the under side of a lilac leaf with the point of a pin."
"Can we?" said Lucy, with a look of curiosity and pleasure.
"Yes," said Mary, "you need not write the whole name. You can write the
first letter--that will be enough. R. stands for Rollo, L. for Lucy, H.
for Henry, J. for James, and N. for Nathan."
"Ho!" said Rollo, "Nathan won't do for a regent."
"Perhaps not," said Mary; "each one of you must vote for the one you
think best. Now get your lilac leaves, and I will drop you down some
pins."
The children ran off very eagerly to get the leaves, and then came
back, and Mary dropped down four pins. They each took one, and, with the
point of it, wrote a letter upon the back of the leaf. Then Mary asked
Nathan to carry around his cap, and let them all drop their leaves into
it, and then bring them up to her, and she would see who was chosen.
So Nathan, highly pleased with his office, collected the votes in his
cap, and brought them up to his sister Mary. She looked them over as she
sat at the window, the children all looking up from below, eagerly
awaiting the result. At length, Mary told them that there were four
leaves in Nathan's cap, and that three of them had the letter L upon it.
"So," said she, "you see you have chosen Lucy for regent."
"Yes, I voted for Lucy," said Rollo. "I thought she would be the best."
"And so did I," said James and Henry.
Lucy looked down, and felt a little embarrassed at finding herself
raised so suddenly to the dignity of regent; and she asked Mary what she
was to do.
"O, walk along with them just as you would if you had not been chosen;
only you will decide all the questions that come up, such as where you
shall go, and how long you shall stay in the different places. The
others may give you their opinions, if you ask them; but they must let
you decide, and they must all submit to your decisions."
"Well, come," said Lucy; "we'll go down the lane first." So she took
hold of Thanny's hand, and walked along, the other children following.
They passed through the great gate, and soon disappeared from Mary's
view.
They were gone two or three hours. At length, when the sun had nearly
gone down, Mary heard voices in the front of the house. She left her
back window, and went around to a front window to see. She found them
returning, and all talking together with the greatest volubility. They
had their baskets full of various commodities, and large bouquets of
flowers and plants in their hands. They did not see Mary at the window,
and as they all seemed to be good-natured and satisfied with their
afternoon's work, Mary did not speak to them; and so they passed along
into the yard undisturbed. They proceeded immediately to the cabinet in
the play room, and then began to take out their treasures from their
baskets, and pockets, and handkerchiefs, and to spread them out upon the
floor, and upon the bench. In a short time, the floor was covered with
specimens of plants and minerals, with shells, and pebbles, and little
papers of sand, and nuts, and birds' nests which they had found
deserted, and all sorts of wonders. The room was filled with the sound
of their voices; questions, calls to one another, expressions of
delight, exclamations of surprise, or of disappointment or pleasure. It
was all,--"James, you are treading on my flowers!" "O Lucy, Lucy, see my
toadstool!" "O, now my prettiest shell is broken!" "Move away a little,
Rollo--I have not got room for all my pebbles"--"Where's my silk worm?
now where's my silk worm?" "O Henry, give me some of your birch bark,
do,"--and a hundred other similar ejaculations, all uttered together.
They soon began, one and another, to put their curiosities into the
cabinet,--and then it was, as the old phrase is, confusion worse
confounded. Lucy had some discretion and forbearance, and kept a little
back, looking, however, uneasy and distressed, and attempting in vain
to get an opportunity to put some of her things in. The boys crowded
around the cabinet, each attempting to put his own curiosities into the
most conspicuous places, and arranging them over and over again,
according as each one's whims or fancies varied.
"O dear me," said Rollo, "I wish you would not keep moving these pebbles
away, Henry."
"Why, you put them too far this way," said Henry; "I want my shells to
go here."
"No," replied Rollo, "put your shells down on the next shelf. James!
James! take care; don't touch that birds' nest."