build fires in the stumps.”
“What stumps?” said Lucy.
“Why, the stumps in the field, pretty near my father’s house. I used to
pick up chips and sticks, and build fires in the hollow places in the
stumps, and call them my ovens. Then, when they were all heated, I used
to put a potato in, and cover it up with sand, and let it roast.”
“I wish I had some stumps to build fires in,” said Lucy. “I should like
to go to your house and see them.”
“O, they are all gone now,” said Joanna. “They have gradually got burnt
up, and rotted out; and now it is all a smooth, green field.”
“O, what a pity!” said Lucy. “And an’t there any more stumps anywhere?”
“Yes, in the woods, and upon the new fields. You see, when they cut
down trees, they leave the stumps in the ground; and pretty soon they
begin to rot; and they rot more and more, until, at last, they tumble
all to pieces; and then they pile up the pieces in heaps, and burn
them. Then the ground is all smooth and clear. So I used to build fires
in the stumps as long as they lasted. One day my hen laid her eggs in a
stump.”
“Your hen?” said Lucy; “did you have a hen?”
“Yes,” replied Joanna; “when I was a little older than you are, my
father gave me a little yellow chicken, that was _peeping_, with the
rest, about the yard. I used to feed her, every day, with crumbs. After
a time, she grew up to be a large hen, and laid eggs. My father said
that I might have all the eggs too. I used to sell them, and save the
money.”
“How much money did you get?” asked Lucy.
“O, considerable. After a time, you see, I let my hen sit, and hatch
some chickens.”
“Sit?” said Lucy.
“Yes; you see, after hens have laid a good many eggs, they sit upon
them, to keep them warm, for two or three weeks; and, while they keep
them warm, a little chicken begins to grow in every egg, and at length,
after they grow strong enough, they break through the eggs and come
out. So I got eleven chickens from my hen, after a time.”
“Eleven?” repeated Lucy; “were there just eleven?”
“There were twelve, but one died,” replied Joanna. “And all these
chickens were hatched in a stump.”
“How did that happen?” asked Lucy.
“Why, the hens generally used to lay their eggs in the barn, and I
used to go in, every day, to get the eggs. I carried a little basket,
and I used to climb about upon the hay, and feel in the cribs; and I
generally knew where all the nests were. But once I could not find my
hen’s nest for several days; and at last I thought I would watch her,
and see where she went. I did watch her, and I saw her go into a hollow
place in a great black stump, in the corner of the yard. After she came
out, I went and looked there, and I found four eggs.”
“What did you do then?” said Lucy.
“Why, I concluded, on the whole, to let them stay, and let my hen hatch
her eggs there, if she would. And I told my brother, that, if he would
make a coop for me, around that stump, I would give him one of the
chickens.”
“A _coop_? What is a coop?”
“O, a small house for hens to live in. My brother made me a coop. He
made it immediately after the hen had hatched her chickens. I will tell
you how he made it. He drove stakes down all around the stump, and then
put some short boards over the top, so as to cover it over. My hen
staid there until her chickens got pretty well grown, and then we let
her run about the yard.”
“That is pretty much the way that Royal made his turtle-pen,” said
Lucy; “but I should rather have a hen-coop, because of the chickens.”
“Yes, I had eleven. I gave my brother one, and then I had ten. These
all grew up, and laid more eggs; and at last I got money enough from my
eggs and poultry to buy me a new gown.”
“I wish I was a farmer’s daughter,” said Lucy.
“Farmers’ daughters have a very good time,” said Joanna, “I think
myself.”
[Illustration]
CONVERSATION VIII.
BUILDING.
In one of the yards belonging to the house that Lucy lived in, was a
border for flowers; and in this border Royal had an apple-tree, which
had grown up from a seed which he had planted himself. It was now
nearly as high as his head, and Royal said that he meant to graft it
the very next spring.
At the end of this border, near one corner of the yard, there was a
vacant place, where some flowers had been dug up, and Lucy had it to
plant beans in. She used often to dig in it, and plant, when she had
nothing else to do. Miss Anne gave her several different kinds of
flower seeds in the spring, and she planted them. Generally, however,
she had not patience enough to wait for them to come up; but dug the
ground all over again, with her little hoe, before the flowers, which
she had planted, had had time to show themselves above the ground.
She was digging, one day, in this garden, and Royal was hoeing up the
weeds around his apple-tree. Royal said that his apple-tree was growing
crooked, and that he was going to get a stake, and drive it down by the
side of his tree, and tie a string to it, and so straighten the tree up.
Lucy came to see Royal stake up his tree. He made the stake very sharp,
and when he got it all ready to drive, he said that he must go and get
the iron bar to make a hole.
“O, you can drive it right in,” said Lucy, “without making any hole.”
“Not far enough,” said Royal. “It must be driven in very deep and
strong, or else the string which ties the apple-tree to it, will pull
it over to one side.”
So Royal went and got the small crowbar, and came back dragging it
along. He made a deep hole by the side of the apple-tree, but not very
near it, for he did not want to hurt the roots. Then he took out the
bar, and laid it down upon the grass, and inserted the point of the
stake into the hole which he had made.
While he was doing this, Lucy took hold of one end of the iron bar, and
tried to lift it.
“O, what a heavy bar!” said she.
“I don’t think it is very heavy,” said Royal. So saying, he drove down
his stake with repeated blows of his hatchet.
“You are a great deal stronger than I am,” said Lucy. “You can drive
the stake down very hard indeed. I don’t believe but that you could
make a hen-coop.”
“Who told you anything about a hen-coop?” said Royal.
“Joanna,” said Lucy. “She said that she was a farmer’s daughter when
she was a little girl, and that she had a hen and some chickens; and
that her brother made her a hen-coop pretty much like the turtle-pen
you made down by the brook.”
“I could make a hen-coop,” said Royal, “I know,--and I mean to. Perhaps
I can get some hens to put into it. At all events, I shall have a
hen-_coop_.”
“If I was a farmer’s daughter,” said Lucy, “I should have hens.”
“But you can have hens without being a farmer’s daughter,” said Royal.
“How?” said Lucy.
“Why, you and I could buy some hens with our own money, if mother would
let us; and then I could make a coop.”
“Well,” said Lucy, “I mean to go and ask her this very minute.”
“No; stop,” said Royal. “That won’t do any good. She will tell you to
ask father, and then he won’t believe that we can make a coop, and he
won’t want to take the trouble to have one made for us, and so he will
say no. I’ll tell you what we must do. We must make the coop first, and
then, when it is all ready, we can ask father if we may buy some hens.”
“Well,” said Lucy, in a tone of great satisfaction, “let us go and make
it now.”
“But _you_ can’t help make it, Lucy. I shall have to make it myself,
all alone; and so the hens must be mine.”
Lucy did not like the plan of giving up all the hens to Royal; but
Royal insisted upon it that he should have to do all the work, and, of
course, that he must have the hens himself. At last, Lucy said that,
if he did not let her have a share, she should not stay with him, but
should go into the house.
But Royal did not like at all to stay and work alone. He tried to get
Lucy to remain, and at last he said that, if she would, he would make
her a garden in the corner,--a beautiful garden, full of flowers.
“Real flowers?” said Lucy.
“Yes, real flowers,--all in blossom.”
“How shall you get the flowers to grow?” said Lucy.
“O, I shall get them already grown, in the gardens, and in the fields,
and stick them down in the beds. I shall make beds and little alleys
just like a real garden.”
“And how long will the flowers keep bright?” said Lucy.
“O, as long as you take the trouble to water them. You will have to
water them, you know,--and Miss Anne will lend you her watering-pot.”
Lucy was pleased with this proposal. She liked the plan of having such
a garden very much; and as to watering it, she said that it would be no
trouble at all; she should like to water it. So it was agreed that Lucy
should stay and keep Royal company, while he was making the coop, and
help him all she could; and that he should make her a flower-garden,
and stock it well with real flowers,--and so have all the hens himself.
They then walked along together, to look out a place for a coop. Lucy
said that she wished there was an old hollow stump in their yard, but
there was nothing like one. Royal said that he had heard of a barrel
for a hen-coop; and he just then recollected that there was a corner
round behind the barn, where there were several old boxes and barrels;
and he and Lucy went there to see if they could find one which would
do. He found one that would answer the purpose very well.
Lucy wanted to help Royal roll it along, and Royal allowed her to do
it, though he could roll it very easily himself alone; for it was empty
and light. It seemed to please Lucy to help him, and so Royal allowed
her to push it with him.
They were, for some time, in doubt where it would be best to put their
coop; but at last they concluded to put it under the trees, by the side
of the great, flat stone. Lucy said that this was an excellent place,
because she could sit at Miss Anne’s window, when it was rainy, so that
she could not go out, and see the hens and chickens.
Royal placed the barrel down upon its side, near the great stone, and
drove down stakes on each side of it, to keep it from rolling. Then he
made a great many other stakes out of narrow pieces of board, which he
found around a pile of lumber behind the barn.
As fast as these stakes were finished, Lucy wheeled them along, upon
a little wheelbarrow, to the place where the coop was to be made. So
Royal found that, besides keeping him company, Lucy could really assist
him, much more than he had at first supposed she could.
Royal drove the stakes down into the ground, in such a way as to
enclose a square place. The fence formed the back side of this
enclosure, and it was big enough to hold several hens, and to give them
room to walk about a little. When it was nearly done, Lucy said that
she meant to go and ask Joanna to come out and see it, to tell them if
it would do.
Royal said that he should like to have her go, very much; though he was
pretty sure that the coop would do very well. Lucy ran off into the
house, and after a little while she appeared again leading Joanna.
“Yes,” said Joanna,--after she had looked at the coop a minute or two,
with a smile upon her countenance,--“yes, that is quite a coop, really.”
“Isn’t it a _good_ coop?” said Royal. “See how strong these stakes are
driven into the ground.”
“It is a great deal better than I thought you could make,” said Joanna.
Joanna’s commendations were not quite so unqualified as Royal wished
them to be.
“Well, don’t you think,” said he, “that it will do very well to keep
hens in?”
“Why, it is an excellent coop for you and Lucy to play with,” said
Joanna; “but as to keeping hens in it, there are two objections.”
“What are they?” said Royal.
“Why, the foxes and cats can get in, and the hens and chickens can get
out.”
“How?” said Royal. “How can the hens get out?”
“They can jump over,” said Joanna.
“Well, the chickens can’t jump over, at any rate,” said Lucy; “how can
they get out?”
“They can creep through,” said Joanna, gravely.
Royal and Lucy both looked rather blank at these very serious
objections to their work. After a moment’s pause, Royal said,
“Do foxes and cats kill hens and chickens?”
“They kill chickens,” said Joanna, “and that is one great reason for
making a coop.”
“Is there any other reason?”
“Yes; sometimes they want to keep the hens from straying away to the
neighbors’, or getting into the garden, and scratching up the seeds
and flowers.”
“There are no seeds in our garden now,” said Royal.
“No,” added Lucy, “but I don’t want to have them scratch up my flowers.”
“But, Joanna,” said Royal, “is not this just such a coop as your
brother made for you? Lucy said it was.”
“It is like it in the stakes; but mine had a cover over the top of it.”
“I can put a cover over this,” said Royal.
“O, very well; if you can do that, I think it will answer.”
After Joanna went into the house, Royal tried to contrive some way to
put a cover over his coop; but he found that it would be very difficult
to fasten it on. The tops of the stakes were not steady enough to nail
any thing to; and besides, they were not all of the same height; and,
of course, if he should put boards over across, they would not be
steady. At last he said,
“O Lucy, I have thought of another plan.”
“What is it?” said Lucy.
“Why,” said he, “you remember those great boxes around behind the barn,
where we got our barrel.”
Lucy said that she remembered them very well.
“Now,” continued Royal, “I will get one of those great boxes for the
roof of my coop. There is one large, flat box, which will be just the
thing I will pull up all these stakes, and drive them down again, so as
to make a square, just as big as the box.”
“I don’t understand, exactly,” said Lucy.
“Never mind,” said Royal, “it is not necessary to explain it. You shall
see how I will do it; let us go and get the box.”
Royal and Lucy went together to get the box. They found one there which
Royal said would do very well; the bottom of it was about as large as
a common tea table; but the sides were narrow, so that, when it was
placed upon the ground, with the open part up, it was not very deep.
Royal attempted to roll this box out; but he found it much harder to
move than the barrel was. This was partly because it was larger and
heavier, and partly because it would not roll, on account of its square
form.
However, they contrived to get it out, and to work it along through a
gate which led into a large outer yard. By this time, however, they
both got tired, and Royal said that he meant to get some rollers, and
roll it along.
So he brought some round sticks of wood from the wood pile, for
rollers; and with a bar of wood, which he found also upon the wood
pile, he pried the box up, and Lucy put two rollers under it, one at
each end. They also placed another roller a little way before the box.
Royal then went behind the box, and with his bar of wood for a lever,
he pried the box along; and he found it moved very easily upon the
rollers.
Lucy wanted a lever too,--and she went and got one; and then they could
both pry the box along, one at each corner, behind. They had to stop
occasionally to adjust the rollers, when they worked out of place; but,
by patience and perseverance, they gradually moved the box along until
they came to the gate leading into the inner yard, where the place for
the coop had been chosen.
They found some difficulty in getting it through the gate, because it
was too large to go through in any way but by being lifted up upon its
side. Royal, however, succeeded in lifting it up, and then in getting
it through; and after that it was but a short work to move it along
upon its rollers to its place of destination.
Royal sat down upon the great, flat stone, and said that he was tired,
and that he had a great mind not to make a coop after all,--it was
such hard work.
“Then,” said Lucy, “I don’t think you will be very persevering.”
“I don’t believe you know what _persevering_ means,” said Royal.
“Yes, I do,” said Lucy; “Miss Anne told me. It is when you begin to
make a coop, and then give up before you get it done.”
Royal burst into a fit of laughter.
“No,” said Lucy; “not that, exactly. I mean it is when you don’t give
up--and I think you ought not to give up now--making this coop.”
“Well,” said Royal, “I believe you are right. It would be very foolish
to give up our coop now, when we have got all the hardest part of our
work done. I’ll go and get the corner stakes.”
Royal then went and made four strong stakes for the four corners, and
brought them to the place, and drove them down into the ground. He took
care to have them at just such a distance from each other, as that they
should come as near as possible to the four corners of the box, when it
should be placed over them.
Then he drove a row of stakes along where the sides of the box would
come, between the corner stakes on each side; and he drove these all
down a little lower than the corner stakes, so that, when the box
should be placed over them, it would rest upon the corners, and not
upon the sides. Before he closed the last side, he rolled the barrel
in, and placed it along by the fence. Then he put a roller under it, on
the outer side,--so that thus the barrel was confined, and could not
move either way.
“Now, Lucy, we are ready for a raising,” said Royal; “but we shall
never be able to get the box up, by ourselves, if we work all day.”
They concluded to ask Joanna to come out again, and help them get the
box up. She came very willingly, and all three of them together easily
succeeded in putting the heavy box into its place; and Royal had the
satisfaction of perceiving that it fitted very well. Joanna then said
that, for aught she could see, their structure would make a very safe
and convenient coop.
When their father and mother came to see their work that evening, their
father said that it would do very well for a coop, but that it was too
late in the year to get hens.
“If I get some hens for you,” said he, “it will be several weeks before
they lay eggs enough to hatch; and then the chickens would not have
grown enough to get out of the way of the cold of the winter. It is
full as late now as any brood of chickens ought to come out.”
Royal and Lucy looked greatly disappointed at this unexpected
announcement. It was a difficulty that had not occurred to them at all.
Their father was always very much pressed with his business, and could
seldom give much time or attention to their plays; but they thought
that, if they could make all the arrangements, so that they could take
care of the hens without troubling him, there would be no difficulty at
all. They did not know but that hens would lay and hatch as well and as
safely at one time as at another.
Lucy had some corn in her hand. Her father asked her what that was for.
She said it was to put into the coop for the hens. She had asked Joanna
for some, and she had given it to her, because she said she wanted some
corn all ready.
Here her mother whispered something to her father, which Lucy and Royal
did not hear.
“Yes,” said he, in a low tone, in reply, speaking to her mother,
“perhaps I can; very likely.”
Royal wondered what they were talking about, but he did not ask.
“Well, Lucy,” said her father, “throw your corn into the coop, and
about the door; perhaps you can catch some hens in it. Who knows but
that it will do for a trap?”
“O father,” said Royal, “you are only making fun of us.”
“Why, you have caught squirrels, haven’t you, time and again? and why
not hens?”
“Nonsense, father,” said Royal; “there are no hens to come and get
caught in traps.”
“_Perhaps_, Royal,” said Lucy, as she scattered her corn into the coop,
“Perhaps.----We will put in the corn, at least,--and leave the door
open.”
So Lucy put the corn in and about the door; and then the party all went
away laughing. Lucy forgot her disappointment in the hope of catching
some hens, and Royal in the amusement excited by such an idea as
setting a trap for poultry.
[Illustration]
CONVERSATION IX.
EQUIVOCATION.
Immediately after breakfast, the next morning, Lucy went out to look at
the coop, to see if any hens had been caught; and when she came back,
and said that there were none there, her father said that she must
not despair too soon,--sometimes a trap was out several nights before
anything was taken.
That day, after Royal had finished his lessons, Lucy called upon him to
fulfil his promise of making her a garden.
“Why, Lucy,” said Royal, “I don’t think I am under any obligation to
make you any garden.”
“Yes, Royal,” said Lucy, “you promised me that you would, if I would
help you make the coop.”
“Well, that was because I expected that we could have some hens; but,
now that we cannot have any hens, the coop will not do us any good at
all; and I don’t see that I ought to make you a garden for nothing.”
Lucy did not know how to answer this reasoning, but she was very far
from being satisfied with it. She, however, had nothing to say, but
that he had agreed to make her a garden, and that she thought he ought
to do it.
Royal said that he meant if they got any hens to put into the coop; and
Lucy said she did not believe that he meant any such thing.
Royal was wrong in refusing thus to fulfil his agreement. And the
reason which he gave was not a good reason. He did, indeed, expect,
when he made the promise, that he should have some hens to put into
his hen-coop; but he did not make his promise _on that condition_. The
promise was absolute--if she would help him make his coop, he would
make her a garden. When she had finished helping him make the coop, her
part of the agreement was fulfilled, and he was bound to fulfil his.
At last Lucy said,
“If you don’t make me a garden, I shall go and tell Joanna of you.”
“Very well,” said Royal; “we will go and leave it to Joanna, and let
her decide.”
They went in and stated the case to Joanna. When she heard all the
facts, she decided at once against Royal.
“Certainly you ought to make her a garden,” said Joanna. “There being
no hens has nothing to do with it. You took the risk. You took the
risk.”
Lucy did not understand what Joanna meant by taking the risk, but she
understood that the decision was in her favor, and she ran off out of
the kitchen in great glee. Royal followed her more slowly.
“Well, Lucy,” said he, “I’ll make you a garden. I’d as lief make it as
not.”
He accordingly worked very industriously upon the garden for more than
an hour. He dug up all the ground with his hoe, and then raked it over
carefully. Then he marked out an alley through the middle of it, for
Lucy to walk in, when she was watering her flowers. He also divided
the sides into little beds, though the paths between the beds were too
narrow to walk in.
“Now,” said he, “Lucy, for the flowers.”
So they set off upon an expedition after flowers. They got some in the
garden, and some in the fields. Some Royal took up by the roots; but
most of them were broken off at the stem, so as to be stuck down into
the ground. Lucy asked him if they would grow; and he said that he did
not know that they would grow much, but they would keep bright and
beautiful as long as she would water them.
Miss Anne lent Lucy her watering-pot, to water her flowers, and
she said that, after dinner, she would go out and see her garden.
Accordingly, after dinner, they made preparations to go. While Miss
Anne was putting on her sun-bonnet, Royal waited for her; but Lucy ran
out before them. In a moment, however, after she had gone out, she came
running back in the highest state of excitement, calling out,
“O Royal, we have caught them! we have caught them! O, come and see!
come, Miss Anne, come quick and see!”
And before they had time to speak to her, or even to ask what she
meant, she was away again, calling, as she passed away from hearing,
“Come, come, come!”
Royal left Miss Anne, and ran off after Lucy.
Miss Anne herself walked along after them, and found them looking
through the bars of the hen-coop, and in a state of the highest delight
at the sight of a hen and a large brood of chickens, which were walking
about within.
“O, look, Miss Anne!” said Lucy, clapping her hands as Miss Anne came
up. “A real hen, and ever so many chickens!”
“Where _could_ they have come from?” said Miss Anne.
“O, we caught them,” said Lucy; “we caught them. I told you, Royal,
that perhaps we should catch some.”
“How did they get here?” said Royal. “It is some of father’s sly work,
I know. Do you know, Miss Anne, how they came here?”
“Let us see how many chickens there are,” said Miss Anne. “One, two,
three,”--and so she went on counting up to thirteen.
“Thirteen,” said Lucy; “only think! More than Joanna’s, isn’t it,
Royal? Thirteen is more than eleven, isn’t it?”
“Yes, two more,” said Royal; “but, Miss Anne, don’t you know how they
came here?”
Miss Anne looked rather sly, but did not answer. She said to Lucy,
“Well, Lucy, let us go and see your garden.”