Jacob Abbott

“ It would be right to kill a bird to save a man’s life, even if he were only an animal; and so it would be right to destroy a grasshopper, or a worm, to save a robin.”
“But I read in a book once,” said Lucy, “that, when we tread on a worm, he feels as much pain in being killed as a giant would.” ”

“ Rollo was beginning to get a little excited and vexed. People who boast of excellences which they do not possess, are very apt to be unreasonable and angry when any body seems to doubt whether their boastings are true. He was thus going on, insisting upon it that he should have acted as Maria had done, and was just saying that he should prefer another person’s pleasure rather than his own, when Jonas came into the entry from the kitchen, with an armful of wood, which he was carrying into the parlor. ”

“ They walked along a few steps on a smooth surface of the rock, between patches of grass and blueberry-bushes, until Lucy and Rollo ran forward to a brook which came foaming down the precipice, and then, after tumbling along over rocks a little way, took another foaming leap down the mountain, and was lost among the trees below. ”

“ Rollo pointed to the wigwam. James and Lucy looked, and observed that it had been dried and browned in the sun, and Rollo thought it was no longer good for any thing as a wigwam, but would make a capital bonfire. He proposed that they should all go into it and sit down, and put a torch near the side so as to set it on fire, as if accidentally. They would go on talking as if they did not see it, and when the flames burst out, they would jump up and run out, crying, Fire! as people do when their houses get on fire. ”

“ This was a lie; but bad boys, like Jim, will always lie, when they have any thing to gain by it. He came up to Rollo, and began to pull his basket away from him. Rollo struggled against him, and began to cry. But Jim was too strong for him: he tipped his basket over, poured a great many of the berries into his own basket, and the rest were spilled over on to the ground. Then, angry at Rollo’s screams and cries, he trampled on all the berries that were on the ground, and was beginning to run away. Rollo caught hold of the skirt of his coat, screaming all the time for his father. ”

“ THE PRINCIPLES OF ORDER.
“Father,” said Rollo, at the dinner-table, “do you think it will rain all the afternoon?”
“It looks like it,” replied his father, “but why? Do you not enjoy yourselves in the house?”
“O yes, sir,” said Rollo, “we have had a fine time this morning; but Lucy and I thought that, if it did not rain this afternoon, we might go out in the garden a little.”
“It may clear up towards night; but, if it does, I think it would be better to go down to the brook and see the freshet, than to go into the garden.”
“The freshet? Will there be a freshet, do you think?” ”

“ The boys all stopped to listen.
“We are going home,” said he; “we shall take cold if we stand still here. You may stay, however, with Jonas, only you must not sit down.”
So Rollo’s father and mother turned away, and walked along back towards the house, the light shining more and more faintly upon them, until they were lost among the trees.
“Why do you suppose we must not sit down?” said Lucy.
“Because,” said Jonas, “they are afraid you will take cold. As long as you run about and play around the fires, you keep warm.”
“O, then we will run about and play fast enough,” said James. ”

“ Rollo ran into the house with great haste and eagerness, leaving all the doors open, and calling out, “Father, father,” as soon as he had begun to open the parlor door.
“Father, father,” said he, running up to him, “I wish you would let Jonas go with us to-morrow.”
Now, Rollo’s father had come home but a short time before, and was just seated quietly in his arm-chair, reading a newspaper, and Rollo came up to him, pulling down the paper with his hands, and looking up into his father’s face, so as to stop his reading at once. Heedless boys very often come to ask favors in this way. ”

“ You see that you are not satisfied with any thing you propose to one another. Now, I find that the best way, in such cases, is to give up pleasure altogether, and turn to some duty; and after performing the duty a short time, peace and satisfaction return to the mind again, and we get over the effects of the disappointment in the quickest and pleasantest way.”
Rollo and Lucy looked at one another rather soberly. ”

“ They all looked much pleased but Lucy seemed in delight. She wanted to have it go in their chaise, and asked Rollo to let her hold the nest in her lap.
Rollo did not answer very directly, for he was busy looking at the bird,—seeing him open his mouth, and wishing he had something to give him to eat.
“Father,” said he, “what shall we feed him with? Jonas was going to catch a grasshopper, but I thought that would not be right.”
“Why not?” said uncle George.
“Because,” said Rollo, “he has as good a right to his life as the bird, has not he, father?” ”

“ He said the blueberries were much thicker around there, and also that he had been talking with the boys, and he was sure they were good boys.
“No, Rollo,” said his father, decidedly, “I cannot think that any boys that use bad language can be good boys, or safe companions for you. I had rather you would keep with us. If they speak to you, answer them civilly; but the less you have to say to them or do with them, the better. In fact, I had rather you would not go back to them at all.”
“I must,” said Rollo, “to get my basket.” ”

“ The baskets and pails were heavy and full, and the whole party walked along, carrying them carefully towards the place where Jonas had come from. Rollo’s Hither led the way. They entered into a little thicket, and passed through it by a narrow path. They came out presently into a sort of opening, on a brow of the mountain. On one side they could look down upon a vast extent of country, exhibiting a beautiful variety of forests, rivers, villages, and farms. On the other side was a rocky precipice, rising abruptly to a considerable height, and then sloping off towards the summit of the mountain. ”

“ At first, he crept along, with his tail curled over his back, in a corner, and looked at the strange faces which surrounded him. “Let us give him a little corn,” said Rollo; “perhaps he is hungry;” and he was just slipping some kernels in between the wires of the fender, when Bunny sprang forward, and, with a jump and a squeeze, forced his slender body between two of the wires that were bent a little apart, leaped down upon the barn floor, ran along to the corner, up the post, and then crept leisurely along on a beam. ”

“ Rollo looked round. It was his uncle George, walking close behind him.
“What is the liberty of the yard?” said Rollo.
“Why, when men intend to treat a prisoner kindly, they leave the prison door open, and let him walk about the yard; and this is called letting him have the liberty of the yard; and sometimes they let them go over half the town.”
“Do you think I had better do so with Mosette?” said Rollo.
“Yes,” said his uncle George; “leave his cage open, and let him go where he pleases.” ”

“ Rollo was silent a moment. He felt the truth and justice of the distinction; but, like all boys who are not sorry for the wrong they have done, he could not resist the temptation to try to justify himself by throwing the blame on others. So he began to tell her something more about “that cross old Jim,” but she interrupted him, and told him she did not wish to hear any thing about that “cross old Jim.” ”

“ I cannot make my box.”
“You drive the nails wrong; you put the wedge sides with the grain.”
“The wedge sides!” said Rollo; “what are the wedge sides,—and the grain? I do not know what you mean.”
But Jonas went on, trundling his wheelbarrow; though he looked round and told Rollo that he could not stop to explain it to him then.
Rollo was discouraged about his box. He thought he would look and see what Jonas was going to do. Jonas trundled the wheelbarrow along, until he came opposite the barn-door, and there he put it down. He went into the barn, and presently came out with an axe. ”

“ When we have just been disappointed of any pleasure which we had set our hearts upon, it is very difficult to find any thing else that we can have in its place, that will look as pleasant as the one we had lost. ”

“ So they put down the cage and the bowl of dye, and Jonas began to put on his glove.
“Now, boys,” said he, “you must be still as moonlight while I do it. If you speak to me, you will put me out; and besides, you will frighten little Bunny.”
The boys promised not to speak a single word; and Jonas, after unfastening the fender from the front of the box, moved it along until there was an opening large enough for him to get his hand in. Rollo and James stood by silently, and somewhat anxiously, waiting the result. ”

“ I can ride behind.”
“Very well; if you want to ride with him a little while, you may, if Jonas is willing.”
Jonas was, and Rollo got out, and climbed up upon a stump, by the side of the road. Jonas drove up to the stump, and Rollo clambered up behind him, with a switch in his hand.
“Now, Jonas,” said he, “whenever you want him to go any faster, you just speak to me, and I will touch him up with my switch.” ”

“ Rollo said he did want them enough for that, and he then went back and told Lucy what his mother had said, and they concluded to read until the rain should cease, and that then Rollo should go out into the garden.
They began to read; but their minds were so much upon the pea-pod boats, that the story did not interest them very much. Besides, children cannot read very well aloud, to one another; for if they succeed in calling all the words right, they do not generally give the stops and the emphasis, and the proper tones of voice, so as to make the story interesting to those that hear. ”

“ I can climb rocks.”
“O no, you could not,” said Lucy.
“Why, yes, I see a way.”
“Which way?”
“O, round by that great black log There is a path there through the bushes.”
“O no,” said Lucy, “you could not get up there. But there are some boys by that log; what boys are they?”
Rollo looked. They were some boys which they had seen coming up the mountain, and Rollo’s father had warned him not to go near them. They had wanted Rollo to go with them before, but his father had forbidden it. Rollo wanted to go, and now he was glad to see them again; but Lucy was sorry. ”

“ Rollo admitted that it would. “So that it is not necessary that I should tell you in words what my wishes are: if I express them in any way so that you plainly understand it, that is enough. The most important orders that are given by men, are often given without any words.” ”

“ They then went out into the shed, Rollo taking with him a dipper of water to wash his feet when he came back from the garden. Rollo then took off his shoes, and gave Lucy his share of the fruit, to keep for him, and then sallied forth into the yard, holding the umbrella over his head, as a few drops of rain were still falling. ”

“ The boys sat down on the bank of the brook, and began to pick up little stones and throw them into the water. They began soon to talk of the window again.
Rollo said, “Jonas thought you were most to blame, I know.”
“No, he did not,” replied James. “He blamed you the most; he said you were unjust.”
“I don’t care,” said Rollo. “You do not know how to build a wigwam. You cannot reach high enough to make a window.”
“I can reach high,” said James. “I can reach as high as that,” said he, stretching up his hand. ”

“ I think a crew of a fishing-vessel might catch a whole cargo of mackerel, and not cause as much pain as one of their men would suffer in having his leg bitten off by a shark.”
“Well, father,” said Rollo, “do you think we had better give him a grasshopper?”
“O no,” said Lucy; “a grasshopper would not be good to eat, he has got so many elbows sticking out. Let us give him some blueberries.” ”

“ Boys that are out of humor with one another, are never at a loss for subjects of dispute; and Rollo said he believed James had taken it, and James charged it upon Rollo. Then there was a dispute who should have the one that was left. James knew it was his; he said he remembered exactly how his looked; and Rollo knew it was his, for the head and the stars were very bright on his, and they were very bright on this. James, however, had the half dollar, and would not give it up; and so Rollo went to Jonas, and told him that James had got his half dollar. ”

“ Rollo and James decided to make their pile near the brook, between the bridge which Jonas made of a tree, and the old wigwam which they had made some time before of boughs. They got together a great heap of solid wood, as large pieces as they could lift, and at one end they put in a great deal of birch bark, which they stripped off, in great sheets, from an old, decayed birch tree, which had been lying on the ground near, for half a century. When this was done, they began to pile on the bushes and brush, taking care to leave the end where the birch bark was, open. ”