HAMMERING IN DATES.
Knock--knock--knock! "Oh, this wearisome hammering!" sighed poor Nelly,
as stooping over her carpet till the blood swelled the veins of her
forehead, she tried to fasten in, one by one, the date-nails which Mr.
Learning had given. "I do not see why it is needful to knock in all
these tiresome nails! Lubin has thrown his whole stock into a rubbish
corner, I know, and says that he never means to prick his fingers again
by thrusting them into such a bag!" knock--knock! "Stephen came to the
throne in 1145, or 1154, I'm sure I don't know which--and, what's more,
I don't care! Ah!" the last exclamation was a cry of pain, for the
hammer in the girl's awkward hand had come down with some force on her
fingers.
"Well, Nelly, what is the matter?" asked Lubin, showing his jolly fat
face at the door.
"I'm tired to death of these dates!" replied Nelly, raising her flushed
face at the question.
"So was I with the very first of them; I never got beyond William the
Conqueror; my carpet will stick on very well without nails, if no one
takes to dancing a jig upon it! You are just wearing your spirits out,
Nelly, and I'm sure that I wouldn't do that for any man, least of all
for that sour Mr. Learning, who scribbled DUNCE on my wall!"
"I think," said Nelly, "that my friend Duty would tell me to go
hammering on with these dates."
"Duty would keep one in tight order," laughed Lubin, "but I prefer
following my own pleasure. I'm off to Amusement's bazaar, and I advise
you to come with me now."
"Oh, Lubin, not now; not till I have finished my work."
"Then I'll go without you," said the boy, leaving poor Nelly to her
troublesome task.
Scarcely had Nelly begun her hammering again, when Matty popped in her
pretty little face.
"Why, Nelly, what's the use of tiring yourself like that! You will never
manage to knock in all those nails!"
"I am afraid that I will not," sighed poor Nelly.
"Do as I do," continued Matty. "Miss Folly, kind creature, has supplied
me with spangles, which are, all the world must own, just as pretty as
any brass nails!"
"Spangles!" repeated Nelly in surprise; "no one can fasten down a carpet
with spangles!"
"It's the _look_ of the thing that I care for," said Matty, who had
evidently become a very apt pupil of Folly. "And now I'll tell you where
I'm going, Nelly. I have long thought, you know, that a pretty
tambourine would look wonderfully well in my parlour; and I think, if I
could buy one cheap, that a French picture would give it a fashionable
air. I am going on a purchasing expedition, dear Miss Folly being my
guide."
"Oh, Matty!" exclaimed Nelly, "you know that you have not yet bought
half the things that you require from Mr. Arithmetic the ironmonger!"
"I wish Mr. Arithmetic at Jericho!" cried Matty peevishly; "his goods
are so heavy--so uninteresting; they make no show; I won't plague myself
with such things!"
"Matty, Matty, my beauty!" called the shrill voice of Folly from
without.
"I'm coming in a moment," cried Matty, as she hastened to join her
companion.
Sadly, but with quiet resolution, Nelly took up her hammer again. Not
many minutes had passed before she received a visit from Dick.
"How long are you going to keep on knocking in those dates?" exclaimed
the boy; "I put in all mine long ago. You see," he added with a merry
laugh, as he held up his hands, "I've _nails at my fingers' ends_!"
Nelly, who did not quite understand the joke, and was too honest to
pretend that she did so, bent down again over her work.
"I can't think how you are so slow!" cried Dick. "I've heard you hammer,
hammer, hammering for such a time, that I expected when I came in to
find your carpet studded all over with dates, and you have not put in
more than six!"
"I am sorry that I am so slow and stupid," said Nelly, with a sigh; "it
is not my fault but my misfortune."
Dick felt a little repentant for his unkind and thoughtless words. "I
must say, Nelly," he observed, "that slow as you are, your cottage is
far better furnished than Matty's, though she is so active and bright.
What a lot of trash she has stuffed into her rooms! And such a lovely
cottage she has! If the inside only matched the outside, it would be
charming indeed!"
"Dear Matty would have furnished her house very nicely," said Nelly,
"if Miss Folly had not come in the way."
"Ah, yes! Folly is at the bottom of the mischief!" cried Dick. "How
absurdly she has made Matty dress; what numbers of good hours has the
silly girl spent in making herself look ridiculous!"
"Oh, don't be hard on Matty!" cried her sister.
"Would you believe it!" said Dick, "Miss Folly has persuaded her to get
not only her carpet, but her chairs and tables also, from Mr. Fiction!
They are as slight as if made of pasteboard, and won't stand a single
week's wear! Now _my_ furniture is good and substantial, and was very
reasonable in price besides."
"Where did you get it?" asked Nelly.
"Oh, you know, where Mr. Learning recommended us to go. I buy my
furniture from the upholsterer, General Knowledge, whose shop adjoins
Mr. Reading's."
"The immense warehouse of _facts_," said Nelly.
"You may well call it immense," cried Dick; "I believe that it would
take one a lifetime to go thoroughly over the place. There are vaults
below full of furniture facts; rooms beyond rooms stuffed with facts;
mount the stairs, and you'll find story upon story all filled with
valuable facts! I assure you, Nelly, that it is a very curious and
interesting place to visit, and I never go to General Knowledge without
carrying back something well worth the having. I'm just on my way to him
now."
"I should like to go with you," said Nelly; "I shall want beds, tables,
and chairs; and as I can't carry much at once, I shall need to go very
often to the warehouse."
"Come then now, and be quick!" cried Dick, who was, as usual, impatient
to start.
"I think--indeed I am sure," replied Nelly, "that Duty would advise me
first to finish the task which I have begun. If other furniture were
brought in just now, I might find it harder to nail down my carpet."
"Good-bye, dear drudge!" cried Dick; "I believe that it would be better
for us all if we stuck to the counsels of Duty as steadily as you always
do! But you see I'm a quick, sharp fellow, and don't like to be tied
down by rules; I get what I will, when I will, and where I will; and
depend on't, in the end I'll win the crown of Success, for no cottage of
Head will be found so well-furnished as mine!"
And with this somewhat conceited speech on his tongue, off darted our
clever young Dick, ran down hill Puzzle at speed, and lightly sprang
over brook Bother!