Jacob Abbott

“ I am walking as fast as I can.”
“Walking!” repeated Royal; “well, that is coming slow. There, put your finger on there while I tie again.”
Lucy put her finger upon the place, saying, at the same time, that she did not think that all walking was slow. “I can walk very fast indeed,” she added.
“But I don’t see why you could not have run a little,” said Royal.
“Because,” said Lucy, “it is not proper for sick persons to run. I have not got well enough yet to run.”
Royal laughed aloud and heartily at this,—while Lucy looked disturbed and troubled. ”

“ It is a great deal better not to give any reasons at all, than to give those which are not the ones which really influence us, but which we only invent to satisfy other persons.
When Royal told Lucy that her mother was willing to have her go out, she hesitated a moment, and then she said,—
“Well, Royal, if I go out now, I must shut and lock the marble box; and then we cannot open it again till the next time we are sick; and that may be a great while.”
30 “Well,” said Royal, “and suppose it is.” ”

“ Lucy went and showed her note to her mother. Her mother seemed much pleased with it, and she said that Lucy might go.
“And Royal too?” asked Lucy.
“Why,—yes,” said her mother, with some hesitation. “I suppose that I must let Royal go, since he is invited; but it is rather dangerous to admit boys to such parties.”
“Why, mother?” said Lucy.
“Because,” replied her mother, “boys are more rough in their plays than girls, and they are very apt to be rude and noisy.”
Lucy went back to the door, and told Royal that their mother said that they might go. ”

“ Royal and Rollo looked in the direction from which the sound came, and listened. They saw a little girl upon the bars, and perceived that she was calling out to them.
“Children,” said the girl, “children, run. Jolly is coming after you.”
The children looked around behind them, and Royal and Rollo looked in the same direction; and they saw a large ram, with monstrous horns curled all around his ears, advancing towards Marielle, nodding with his head, and just upon the point of springing at her. Marielle and Lucy cried out in terror, and ran. ”

“ Here Lucy clapped her hands, and seemed much delighted with the picture which Royal thus presented to her imagination.
“Besides,” said Royal, “Merry’s red collar was useful as well as beautiful; for, after a while, the mice in the field were all terribly afraid when they saw any thing red; and so Jeremiah just scattered a parcel of red rags about, and that frightened them all away.” ”

“ It is a great way off.”
“How do you know?” asked Lucy.
“Because,” said Royal, “we don’t see the lightning much. If it was near, the lightning would be very bright.”
The children looked back, from time to time, at the cloud. It seemed to be coming on apace. Dark scuds were flying in contrary directions about the edge of the cloud, and every thing indicated the approach of a violent tempest. A few drops of rain began to fall just as the children came in sight of the pile of boards.
“We are a great way yet from any house,” said Marielle. “I don’t believe that we can get to any.” ”

“ Children very often are unreasonable in urging others to play with them, when they do not wish to.”
“Yes,” said Lucy, “that is the way that Royal always does with me.”
“O no, I don’t, Lucy, I’m sure.”
“Yes,” added Lucy, “you want me to be your horse, very often, when I don’t want to;—and, besides, I don’t think it is proper for me to be your horse.”
67 “Well, never mind that now,” said Miss Anne. “We won’t spoil the pleasure of our ride by a dispute.”
“Well,” said Lucy, “and I mean to take out my money-purse, and count my money, and see if it is all safe.” ”

“ A silver thimble would not be perishable property.”
“Is a book perishable?” asked Lucy.
“Yes, more so than many other things; for it gets worn out and defaced, so that its value is destroyed before a great while. A box is not so perishable,—a handsome, well-made box.”
“I believe I’ll buy a box,” said Lucy. ”

“ The children amused themselves, a few minutes, see-sawing, upon the ends of the boards, and then they passed on to the blueberry bushes.
They went on very pleasantly for two hours, gathering berries. Royal put two mugs full into Jenny’s basket, which pleased her very much. They were all very grateful to him for protecting them from the ram, and he himself found that it was far pleasanter to relieve distress than to create it. In fact, it happened that, in the course of the afternoon, he had another occasion for the exercise of energy and courage in defending Marielle and the children. ”

“ I would rather buy something that you are growing up to.”
“I don’t know what you mean by that,” said Lucy.
“Why, once there was a boy about three years old. He had never had any playthings bought for him, because his father had no money to spare. But one day his uncle came to visit him, and he gave him a shilling to go and buy himself a plaything with. So he went to the toy-shop, and they showed him a whistle and a ball. Now, he was not quite old enough to play with a ball, though it was almost time for him to be too old to be amused much with a whistle. ”

“ You will feel less and less interest in them now every year,—and the interest will soon be gone entirely. But your interest in writing and in other intellectual pleasures, will increase every year. So that I would recommend to you to buy the desk. If you were three years old instead of twelve, perhaps I should recommend to you to buy the doll; but for you to buy it now, would be like a man’s buying a trunk at the end of his journey.’”
“Well,” said Lucy, “and what did Harriet do?” ”

“ Royal did wrong to say this; for Lucy had not boasted improperly of her age and powers,44 but only expressed a pleasure which it was very proper that she should feel at being intrusted by her mother with a mark of increased confidence in her strength and intelligence. Besides, even if Lucy had been vaingloriously boasting, her fall ought to have protected her from taunts; for whenever people are led into difficulty by their errors, the pain they feel is punishment enough. They do not need our reproaches. ”

“ So Royal and Thomas went off, creeping slowly along by the bank of the brook, until they came to a little copse of trees, which was near where the children were gathering their blueberries. There were three children—two girls and a boy. The oldest girl was about as old as Marielle, the youngest about as old as Lucy, and the boy was between them, in respect to age.
They were all barefoot, and they wore very old clothes. In fact, they were poor, and had come to gather berries to sell, to get some money for their mother. ”

“ The rule of the marble box was this—that it never was to be opened except when the children were sick,—or, rather, when they were convalescent. When children are attacked with sickness, they do not generally, for a time, wish for any playthings. But, then, when the disease is once subdued, and the pain, or the unpleasant feelings, whatever they may be, have disappeared,—then there is a period, while the patient is recovering his health and strength, which is called the period of convalescence. ”

“ Mary Jay had taken a great deal of interest in performing acts of kindness for the girls while she was in school with them, as is described in Lucy’s Stories. And she had instructed them since, and read them stories out of her Morocco Book, and had often given them good advice; and she had done all in so gentle and pleasant a manner, that she had acquired a great influence over all the children, which she had used in such a manner as to do them a great deal of good. So the children were all very much pleased with Marielle’s plan, and their parents were very much pleased too. ”

“ When Lucy and Marielle had left Mary Jay, on their way home from the Sabbath school, as was described in the last chapter, and had walked on some way, Marielle said that she thought it would be a good plan for them and some of the other girls to unite and buy something for a present for Mary Jay.
“So it would,” said Lucy. “It would be an excellent plan. I have got some money myself. And, besides, my father will give me some more. I know he will. I will ask him as soon as I get home.” ”

“ Yes, I am rather in favor of a crutch. They make them sometimes very handsome for ladies. The shaft is of rose-wood, down as far as the hand extends, and the lower part is a metallic rod, with a sort of button at the bottom.”
“Do you think we shall have money enough?” said Marielle.
“O, never mind that,” replied her mother. “Miss Anne may engage such a one as she thinks most suitable; and we shall be able to make out the money in some way or other, I dare say. ”

“ Lucy was very much frightened at this occurrence. She put the pen back in its place, and began to walk as fast as she could go out of the room. In a moment, however, she reflected that, as soon as her father came in, he would see the ink spot, and would at once inquire who made it. So she thought that she would come and shut the book up, and that would keep the ugly-looking blot out of sight. ”

“ The boys had leaped across without any trouble, but Marielle hesitated.
“I am afraid to have you try to go across there,” said Marielle.
141 “Why, Marielle,” said Lucy, “you can jump across very easily; and then, if you will take hold of our hands, we can get across too.”
“Yes, only I don’t know,” said Marielle, “but that those rocks are slippery; and if you should slip in, and get one foot into the water, then we should all have to go directly home, and it would spoil our expedition.”
“O dear me!” said Rollo; “I wish Royal would come back.” ”

“ There is not money enough for a watch.”
“Not money enough?” said little Charlotte. “O Miss Anne, there is a great deal of money.”
“Yes,” replied Miss Anne, “I know there is; but it is not enough to buy a good watch. And it would be best not to give her one, unless it was a good one.”
129 “Let it be a desk then,” said Laura. “I would have a desk. Mary Jay writes a great deal, and I know that she would like a handsome portable desk. There is money enough for that; isn’t there, Miss Anne?”
“Yes,” said Miss Anne, “I think there is.”
“I know what I would give her,” said Royal. ”

“ So Marielle and the two children crept under. The space was pretty large, and it was high enough, next to the pile of boards, for them to stand upright. Lucy said that it was a very good garret. Marielle called Royal to come down, and come in too; but he said that he must put some more boards on first.
“Why, Royal,” said Marielle, “this will do very well. It is large enough.”
“Yes,” said Royal, “but I want to put some more boards over it, to cover up the cracks.”
“O, the cracks don’t do any hurt,” said Marielle. “The rain does not come down the cracks at all; not a drop.” ”

“ If I go in the house here, there is nobody to drive the horse back, and it is too far for my father to walk. Yes, I will drive him back; and then, besides, there is the bag upon the step. I can carry my father his bag, and so get the bran for my chickens.”
The sleigh was standing very near the step, at this time, but Jenny drove a little nearer, so that she could step out and get the bag. She kept hold of the reins all the time, with one hand. ”

“ Those must be the sliders for the till to slide upon. Isn’t it so, father?”
His father did not answer, but went on with his work.
18 “It must be so, I know,” said Royal; “and it is an excellent plan. I like a sliding till a great deal better than one that’s nailed in, so that you can’t move it.”
When Royal’s father had got the sliders secured in their proper places, he began to work again upon the till itself.
“Father,” said Lucy, “why did not you finish the till before you made the sliders? You very often tell us that we must always finish one thing before we begin another.” ”

“ He had supposed that they would have been frightened only a little, and would, perhaps, have run away a short distance, and then stopped; and then he and Thomas were coming out of the woods laughing.
But it is always very dangerous to attempt to frighten any body. It is impossible to know beforehand what effects will be produced; for terror is very seldom in proportion to its cause. Children in lonely places, like that where these parties had gone to gather blueberries, are very easily terrified; and, when fears are once aroused, it is very difficult to quell them again. ”

“ That is the way that persons often get into difficulty by assigning reasons which are not the honest and true reasons; for the false reasons are sometimes unexpectedly removed out of the way, and then they are placed in a situation of embarrassment, not knowing what to say next. ”

“ Jerry!” said he, in a louder voice, calling to the boy, “come here quick, and help me get this rack on.”
Then Royal, finding that he was no longer needed, got into the carryall again, took the reins from Miss Anne’s hands, and drove on.
“The man seems very glad to get his oxen again,” said Miss Anne.
“His steers,” said Lucy. “He said they were steers.”
“Yes,” added Royal; “but he need not have thanked me so much for stopping his steers; I did not think of doing him any good,—but only of keeping them from running against the carryall.” ”

“ Sugar-plums are very perishable property indeed; for you eat them, and they are gone.”
“But a doll isn’t perishable, is it?” said Lucy.
68 “No, not so perishable as sugar-plums or candy. But you have got a doll.”
“Yes, but I want a new one, for my doll is old and worn out.”
“So, you see, dolls are perishable; that is, they will wear out.”
“Then every thing is perishable,” said Royal, “for every thing will wear out in time.”
“Yes,” replied Miss Anne, “but then some things will last so long that we do not consider them perishable. A silver bowl, for instance, will last for several generations ”

“ I teach them the verses one day, and then they recite them to my little assistant teachers the next.”
“Yes, but, Mary Jay,” said Marielle, “why don’t you let them learn their lessons at home?”
“Because,” said Mary Jay, “it would be a great deal of trouble to their mothers to attend to115 it; for their mothers are all very busy with their work. And if nobody attended to them, they would not have them well learned, and my assistant teachers would have to hear bad lessons recited; and that is very painful and unpleasant to teachers, and very injurious to scholars. ”