prettiest flowers,--some large, and some small,--enough to fill up one
page of her book; and then to arrange them on the page in such a way as
to produce the best effect; and Lucy did so. Then she gummed each one
down upon the page, by touching the under side, here and there, with
some gum arabic, dissolved in water, but made very thick. When she had
done one page, she turned the leaf over very carefully, and laid a book
upon it, and then proceeded to make selections of flowers for the second
page. In this manner she went on through the book, and it made a very
beautiful book indeed. Mary put a cover and a title-page to it; and on
the title-page, she wrote the title, thus:--
A
COLLECTION
OF
COMMON FLOWERS,
BY
LUCY.
When it was all ready, it was presented to the society, and put into the
cabinet, where it was long known by the name of "_Lucy's Collection_."
She wrote the name of each plant under it, as fast as she could find out
the names; and, whenever visitors came to see the museum, she would ask
them the name of any of the flowers in her collection which she did not
know, and then wrote the name down. Thus, after a time, nearly all the
names were entered; and so, whenever the children found any flower which
they did not know, they would sometimes go and look over Lucy's
collection, and there perhaps they would find the very flower with its
name under it.
This museum lasted several years; and the next spring, Rollo made his
collection of flowers, which was larger than Lucy's. Mary helped him
about it. At first, he was going to have it in a larger book; but Mary
thought it would be better to have all the books of a size, and then
they would lie together very compactly, in a pile; which would not be
the case if they had several books of different sizes. She said if any
one wanted to make a larger collection, he had better have several
volumes. Rollo made volume after volume, until at last his collection
consisted of six.
There was one collection of _leaves_; Henry made it. His object was to
see how many different-shaped leaves he could get. He did not regard the
little differences which exist between the leaves of the same tree, but
only the essential differences of shape; such as between the leaf of the
oak and of the maple. Two or three pages were devoted to leaves of
forest-trees, and they looked very beautiful indeed. Leaves, being
naturally flat, can be pressed very easily, and they generally preserve
their colors pretty well. One page was devoted to the leaves of
evergreens, such as the pine, fir, spruce, hemlock; and they made a
singular appearance, they were so small and slender. A little sprig of
pine leaves was put in the centre, and the others around. Then there
were the leaves of fruit-trees and plants, such as the apple, pear,
peach, plum, raspberry, strawberry, currant, gooseberry, &c., arranged
by themselves; and there were half a dozen pages devoted to
bright-colored leaves, gathered in the autumn, after the frost had come.
These pages looked very splendidly. The names of the plants to which all
these leaves belonged were written under them, and also the name given
by botanists to indicate the particular shape of the leaf; these names
the children found in books of botany. Such, for instance, as
_serrated_, which means notched all around the edge with teeth like a
saw, like the strawberry leaf; and _cordate_, which means shaped like a
heart, as the lilac leaf is, and many others.
There was also a collection of brakes that Rollo made, which the
children liked to look over very much. There is a great variety in the
forms of brakes, or ferns, and yet they are all regular and beautiful,
and are so flat that they are easily pressed and preserved. But of all
the botanical collections which were formed and deposited in this
museum, one of the prettiest was a little collection of _petals_, which
Rollo's mother made. Petals are the colored leaves of flowers,--those
which form the flower itself. Sometimes the flower cannot be pressed
very well whole, and yet, if you take off one of its petals, you find
that that will press very easily, and preserve its color finely. So
Rollo's mother, every day, when she saw a flower, would put one of the
leaves into a book, and after a time she had a large collection,--red,
and white, and blue, and yellow, and brown, in fact, of almost every
color. Then she made a little book of white paper, because she thought
the colors and forms of these delicate petals would appear to better
advantage on a smooth, white ground. She then made a selection from all
which she had preserved, and arranged them upon the pages of her little
book, so as to bring a great variety both of form and color upon a page;
and yet forms and colors so selected that all that was upon one page
should be in keeping and harmony.
But it was not merely the botanical collections in the museum which
interested the children. They had some philosophical apparatus. There
was what the boys called a sucker, which consisted of a round piece of
sole leather, about as big as a dollar, with a string put through the
middle, and a stop-knot in the end of it, to keep the string from coming
entirely through; then, when the leather was wet, the boys could just
pat it down upon a smooth stone, and then lift the stone by the string;
the sucker appearing to stick to the stone very closely. Rollo did not
understand how the sucker could lift so well; his father said it was by
the pressure of the atmosphere, but in a way that Rollo was not old
enough to understand.
Then there was what the boys called a circular saw, made of a flat,
circular piece of lead, as large as the top of a tea cup. Jonas had
hammered it out of a bullet. There were saw-teeth cut all around the
circumference, and two holes bored through the lead, at a little
distance from the centre, one on each side. There was a string passed
through these holes, and then the ends were tied together; and to put
the circular saw in motion, this string was held over the two hands, as
the string is held when you first begin to play cat's-cradle. Then, by a
peculiar motion, this saw could be made to whirl very swiftly, by
pulling the two hands apart, and then letting them come together
again,--the string twisting and untwisting alternately, all the time.
There were various other articles of apparatus for performing
philosophical experiments; such as a prism, a magnet, pipes for blowing
soap bubbles, a syringe, or squirt-gun, as the boys called it, made of a
reed, which may be said to be a philosophical instrument.
Jonas made a collection of specimens of _wood_, which was, on the whole,
very curious, as well as somewhat useful. As he was at work sawing wood
from day to day, he laid aside small specimens of the different kinds;
as oak, maple, beech, ash, fir, cedar, &c. He generally chose small,
round pieces, about as large round as a boy's arm, and sawed off a short
piece about three inches long. This he split into quarters, and reserved
one quarter for his specimen, throwing the others away. This quarter
had, of course, three sides; one was covered with bark, and the other
two were the split sides. As fast as Jonas got these specimens split out
in this manner, he put them in the barn, upon a shelf, near the bench;
and then, one day, he took them one by one, and planed one of the split
sides of each, and then smoothed it perfectly with sand paper.
Rollo, who was standing by at the time, asked him why he did not plane
them all around.
"O, because," said Jonas, "they are for specimens, and so we want them
to show the bark on one side, and the wood on the other side, in its
natural state; and the third side is enough to show its appearance when
it is manufactured."
"Manufactured!" said Rollo.
"Yes," said Jonas; "planed and varnished, as it is when it is made into
furniture."
"Are you going to varnish the sides that you plane?"
Jonas said he was; and he did so. He planed one side, and one end. He
varnished the planed side, and pasted a neat little label on the planed
end. On the label he wrote the name of the wood, and some very brief
account of its qualities and uses, when he knew what they were. For
instance, on the end of the specimen of walnut, was written in a very
close but plain hand--
Walnut, very tough and hard. Used for handles.
After Jonas had got as many specimens as he could, from the wood pile,
he used to cut others in the woods, when he happened to be there, of
kinds which are not commonly cut for fuel. In this way he got, after a
time, more than twenty different kinds, and when they were all neatly
varnished and labelled, it made a very curious collection; and it was
very useful, too, sometimes; for whenever the boys found any kind of a
tree in the woods which they did not know, all they had to do, was to
cut a branch of it off, and bring it to the museum, and compare it with
Jonas's specimens. In this way, before long, they learned the names of
nearly all the trees which grew in the woods about there.
There was a curious circumstance which happened in respect to Rollo's
hemlock-seed. It has already been said that this supposed hemlock-seed
was really a chrysalis. Now, a chrysalis is that form which all
caterpillars assume, before they change into butterflies; and the animal
remains within, generally for some time, in a dormant state;--all the
time, however, making a slow progress towards its development. Now,
Rollo's great chrysalis remained in a conspicuous position, upon the
middle shelf in the cabinet, for some weeks. Rollo always insisted, when
he showed it to visitors, that it was a hemlock-seed. Jonas said he knew
it was not; and he did not believe it was any kind of seed. But then he
confessed that he did not know what it was, and Rollo considered that he
had his father's authority for believing it to be a hemlock-seed,
because his father had said he thought it might be so, judging however
only by Rollo's description, without having seen it at all. Rollo always
asserted very confidently that it was a hemlock-seed, and that he was
going to plant it the next spring.
In the mean time, the humble caterpillar within, unconscious of the
conspicuous position to which he had been elevated, and the
distinguished marks of attention he received from many visitors, went
slowly on in his progress towards a new stage of being. When the time
was fully come, he very coolly gnawed a hole in one end of his glossy
shell, and laboriously pushed himself through, his broad and beautiful
wings folded up compactly by his side. When he was fairly liberated, he
stood for two hours perfectly silent and motionless upon the shelf,
while his wings gradually expanded, and assumed their proper form and
dimensions. It was rather dark, for the doors were closed; and yet
sufficient light came through the crevices of Jonas's cabinet, to enable
him to see the various objects around him, though he took very little
notice of them. It was a strange thing for him to be shut up in such a
place, with no green trees, or grass, or flowers around; but having
never turned into a butterfly before, he did not know that there was any
thing unusual in his situation.
He began, however, in the course of six hours, to feel decidedly hungry;
so he thought he would creep along in search of something to eat. He
tried his proboscis upon one curiosity after another, in vain. The
magnet, the sucker, pebbles, shells, books, every thing was hard, dry
and tasteless; and at length, discouraged and in despair, he clambered
up upon Jonas's specimen of maple, poised his broad, black, leopard-like
wings over his back, and hung his head in mute despair. He would have
given all his newborn glories for one single supper from the leaf which
he used to feed upon when he was a worm.
It was just about this time, that Rollo, Lucy, and Jonas happened to
come together to the cabinet, to put in some new curiosity which they
had found. As soon as Rollo opened the doors, he perceived the hole in
the end of the chrysalis, which lay directly before him. He seized it
hastily.
"There now," said he, in a tone of sad disappointment, "somebody has
been boring a hole in my hemlock-seed!"
He took up the empty shell, and looked at the hole.
"Why, Jonas," said he, "how light it is!"
Jonas took the chrysalis, weighed it in his hand, looked into the hole,
and then said, quickly,
"It is a chrysalis, I verily believe; and that is where the butterfly
came out."
"What!" said Rollo, in a tone of utter amazement.
"That hole is where a butterfly came out," said Jonas, "I have no
doubt;--and if we look about here a little, we shall find him."
They immediately began to look about; and the butterfly, as if he
understood their conversation, and perceived the necessity of a movement
on his part, just at that instant, expanded his wings, and floated off
through the air into the middle of the room, towards the bright sunshine
which came in at the door. He alighted upon the edge of a barrel, which
stood there. Rollo was after him in a moment, with his cap in the air.
The butterfly, however, was too hungry to wait. He was again upon the
wing. He soared away across the yard, towards the garden, and
disappeared over the tops of the trees. Rollo and Lucy looked for him
for some time among the plants and flowers, but in vain.
"Never mind," said Jonas, when they returned. "The butterfly had rather
be free; but he has left you the chrysalis shell, and that,
notwithstanding the hole, is a greater curiosity now, than it was
before."
THE SEA-SHORE.
Rollo's father and mother were very much pleased with the children's
plan of collecting a cabinet. They often went out, at Rollo's request,
to look at the curiosities.
One evening, about sunset, when they were walking in the garden, Rollo
proposed that, before they went into the house, they should go out and
look at the museum. They accordingly walked along, Rollo and Mary taking
hold of hands before, and their father and mother walking arm in arm
after them. Nathan was behind, riding a stick for a horse, and blowing a
trumpet which Rollo had made for him out of the stem of a pumpkin vine.
"I am a trooper," said Nathan to himself, "blowing a bugle." Then he
would whip his horse, sound his trumpet, and gallop along.
When they reached the door of the barn which led into the place where
their museum was kept, Rollo turned round and said sharply,
"Thanny, be quiet! Don't make such a noise."
"Speak pleasantly, Rollo," said Mary.
"Well, Thanny," said Rollo, taking hold of his arm, and gently turning
him away from the door, "go and blow your bugle somewhere else, because
we want to see our curiosities."
Thanny made no reply; but, being spoken to pleasantly, he turned around
and went galloping off, and seeing the cat upon the fence, he ran up and
began trumpeting at her to frighten her away.
In the mean time, Rollo's father and mother looked over the curiosities,
as they had done many a time before. Rollo explained the wonders, and
his parents looked and listened with great satisfaction, though they had
been called upon to admire the same things for the same reasons, twenty
times before.
"But, Rollo," said his father, at length, "it appears to me that your
cabinet has not increased much, lately."
"Why, father, we can't find any more curiosities. I wish we could go to
some new place."
"What new place can we go to?" said he.
"I don't know," said Rollo; "some place where there are some
curiosities."
"We might go to the sea-shore, and get some shells," said Mary.
"So we could," said her father; "that would give you a fine addition."
"Well, father," said Rollo, looking up very eagerly, "I wish you would
let us go."
"I will think of it," said his father.
Rollo knew that when his father said this, he meant as he said, and that
he would really think of it;--and consequently that he himself ought not
to say any thing more about it. He accordingly soon began to talk to
Mary about other things, and by and by they went into the house.
The next day, Rollo's father told him that they had concluded to make a
party to go to the sea-shore. There was a shore and a beach about twelve
miles from where they lived, and he said that they were going the next
day in the carryall. Rollo's father and mother, with Mary and her cousin
Lucy, were to ride in the carryall, and Rollo and Jonas in the wagon
behind.
"We want cousin Lucy to go with us," said Mr. Holiday, in explaining the
plan, "and so there will not be quite room for us all in the carryall.
Besides, we shall want Jonas's help, probably, in the expedition, and
then the wagon will be a good thing to bring back our treasures in."
"O father," said Rollo, "we shall not get more than a carryall full."
"No, I suppose not," said his father; "but the wagon will be better to
bring stones, and sand, and shells. You must put baskets in behind, to
pack them in."
The next afternoon, all was in readiness at the appointed hour. The
carryall was at the door, waiting to receive its portion of the party,
and the wagon was fastened to a post behind. Jonas stood at the head of
the carryall horse, to hold him still while the people should be getting
in. Rollo was near the wagon horse.
"Shall I unfasten him, Jonas?"
"_You_ can't unfasten him," said he.
"O yes, I can, if you will only let me try."
Rollo approached the horse, and cautiously reached out his hands to
unhook the chain from the ring at the horse's mouth, standing a good way
back, and leaning forward on tiptoe, as if he thought the horse would
bite him.
"What are you afraid of, Rollo?" said Jonas.
"Nothing," said Rollo; "only I can't reach very well."
"Stand up nearer."
"But perhaps he might bite me."
"Poh! he never bites," said Jonas. "There is only one danger to guard
against, in unfastening such a horse as that."
"What danger?" said Rollo.
"Danger that he may step and tread on your foot."
Rollo looked down at his feet, and began to consider this danger; but
just then his father and mother came out, followed by the two girls, and
took their seats in the carryall. Jonas then came to the wagon, and,
after helping Rollo in, he got in himself, and away the whole party
went, very happily.
After riding for some time, Rollo's mother, upon looking back towards
the wagon, saw that Rollo was making signs as if he wanted them to
stop. She told Mr. Holiday, and he accordingly stopped his horse, and
waited until the wagon came up. Rollo had a plan to propose.
"Father," said he, "I wish you would let Jonas come into the carryall
and drive you and mother, and let Mary and cousin Lucy come and ride
with me."
"But who will drive?" said his father.
"I'll drive," replied Rollo.
"O no," said his mother, "he can't drive; he will overturn the wagon."
"Why, mother, I can drive," said Rollo. "I have been driving some time."
"I rather think there will be no danger," said Mr. Holiday to his wife,
turning towards her as she sat upon the back seat. "The road is pretty
level and retired, and he will keep close along behind the carryall."
Rollo's mother looked rather doubtfully, and yet she could not help
feeling a certain degree of pleasure at thinking that Rollo was old
enough to drive alone. She accordingly consented, and the change was at
once made. Rollo's father and mother sat on the back seat of the
carryall, and Jonas before, to drive them; while Rollo, Mary, and Lucy
took possession of the wagon.
Rollo drove very well. He kept near the carryall, and was so attentive
to his business as a driver, and so successful in avoiding stones and
jolts, and in turning out for the various vehicles they met upon the
road, that his father let him drive so all the rest of the way.
They gradually approached the sea-shore. The country grew wild and
hilly, and great ledges of rocks were seen in the fields and by the road
side. At length, upon the summit of a long ascent, the broad sea burst
into view, stretching along the horizon before them, smooth and glassy,
with here and there a small white sail almost motionless in the
distance. Below them was a long, sandy beach. The surf was breaking
against it. A swell of the sea, of the whole length of the beach, would
rise and advance, growing higher and more distinct as it approached, and
then it would break over upon the shore in one long line of foam, white
and beautiful, and gracefully curved to adapt itself to the curvature of
the shore. At the extremities of the beach, points and promontories of
ragged rocks extended out into the water, white with the breakers which
foamed and struggled around them. From the whole there arose a continued
and solemn roar, like the sound of a great waterfall.
Mr. Holiday stopped his horse by the side of the road, and Rollo, when
he reached the place, stopped also.
"Here we are," said Rollo. "That's the sea."
"Where's the beach?" said Lucy.
Mary was silent.
"Come," said Rollo, "let's drive on."
"O no," said Mary, "wait here a few minutes."
"Jonas, what are you waiting for?" said Rollo.
"I wished him to stop here a few minutes," said Rollo's father, "to let
us look at the prospect."
Rollo said no more, though he could not understand what his father was
waiting for. They all sat still, looking at the view, and saying very
little; Rollo was impatient and restless. In a short time, however,
Jonas drove on, and Rollo followed him. They went down into a sort of
valley, where they lost sight of the water again, and then, after
winding around for some time among the rocks and sand hills, they came
at length to a high ridge of pebble stones, which ran along the shore;
and surmounting this, they found the white beach spread out close before
them, while a long line of wave was just curling over and dashing into
foam upon the sand. They fastened the horses to some heavy pieces of
timber, the remains of a wreck, which lay up high upon the sand.
"O, what a wide beach!" said Rollo. The truth is, that when he saw the
beach from the hill, it looked like a mere line of sand, extending along
the shore. But now he found it was a broad and smooth area, gently
descending towards the water. It was firm, so that the children could
run about upon it. Rollo went down pretty near to the water's edge, and
amused himself by watching the surf. Each wave would recede after it
broke, and run off, leaving a broad piece of the beach dry; until, in a
moment more, another wave would come curling on, and break over the
retreating water of the former; and then it would rush up the sand, in a
broad and rapid stream, all along the shore, almost to Rollo's feet.
Rollo asked his father to let him take off his shoes and stockings; and
he did so. Rollo put each stocking into its shoe, to keep them dry, and
then laid them down upon the sand beyond the reach of the waves. Then he
would watch the waves, and whenever the water retreated, he would follow
it down until he met the new wave coming curling up at him, when he
would turn and run, the wave after him, to the shore; and when the wave
broke, it would throw the water all around his feet.
Lucy and Mary walked along the other shore at a greater distance,
looking for shells. They found a great many. Rollo could hear their
exclamations of delight at every new shell they found, and they were
continually calling upon him to come and get some too; but he was too
much occupied with the surf.
At length, Rollo's attention was excited by hearing Lucy call out,
"O Mary, Mary! I have found a piece of sponge."
Rollo turned around to look. He had just run up from the water, and was
standing beyond the reach of the surf, though the water which each wave,
as it broke, sent up upon the shore, played around his feet.
"How big is it?" said Rollo,
"About as big as my finger."
"Ho!" said Rollo; "that is not very big."
Just at this instant, a wave larger than usual burst just behind Rollo,
and it sent up a torrent of water all around him, which rose almost up
to his knees. Rollo was frightened. He started to run; but so much water
confused and embarrassed him. He staggered.
"Stand still, Rollo," said his father.
Rollo then stood still; but by this time the water was receding, and his
eyes fell upon his two shoes, which had been taken up by the wave, and
were now running rapidly down from the shore, each loaded with its
stocking. Rollo ran to seize them, and had just time to get them before
the next wave advanced and was ready to dash over them. He ran up upon
the sand, and put his shoes several yards from the highest place that
the water had come to.
"There," said he, looking back at the waves, "now get my shoes if you
can!" The waves said nothing, but went on breaking and then retreating,
just as before.