Jacob Abbott

“ The magnet, the sucker, pebbles, shells, books, every [Pg 151] 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. ”

“ I’d rather you wouldn’t,” said Jonas.
“Why not?” asked Rollo. “I know he will let you.”
“Yes, I suppose he would let me, if you were to ask him; but that would spoil the museum.”
“Spoil it?” said Rollo.
“Yes,” said Jonas. “The way to spoil any pleasure is to neglect duty for the sake of it. Work first, and play afterwards. That’s the rule.”
“Well, but, Jonas, we want to begin our museum this afternoon.”
“Very well,” said Jonas; “you may begin collecting your curiosities, you know; and you can put them all in a safe place, and have them all ready to put in when I get the case made.” ”

“ He creeps softly along after General Boreas has worked himself out of breath, and gone away. He curtains over all the windows with frost work in the night. He likes the night, when it is calm and still, and the stars are shining bright and cold all over the sky. ”

“ There must always be authority to decide little questions without debate, and for getting the opinions of all, on great questions, regularly.
“If a number of men,” he continued, “were going to form a cabinet of curiosities, they would form a society. They would choose one to be president, and one to be secretary, and one to be cabinet keeper.”
“What does the president do?” asked Lucy.
“The president decides who shall speak, when several want to speak at the same time; and so he prevents all confusion. Nobody must speak without his leave.”
“Do they have to ask him?” said Rollo. ”

“ Just at the foot of this high land, at the side of the marsh farthest from the brook, was a pool of water, which had been standing there all summer, and was half full of green slime. Jonas had been at work, cutting a canal, or drain, from the bank of the brook back to this pool, in order to let the water off. The last time that Rollo had seen the marsh, it had been very wet, so wet that it was impossible for him to walk over it; it was then full of green moss, and sedgy grass, and black mire, with tufts of flags, brakes, and cranberry-bushes, here and there all over it. ”

“ A thing may be bailed to you for your benefit; as, for instance, if James were to lend you his knife, the knife would be a bailment to you for your benefit. But if he were to ask you to carry his knife somewhere to be mended, and you should take it, then it would be a bailment to you for his benefit.”
“Well, sir, I took the wallet for Sarah’s benefit, not mine,” said Rollo.
“The law requires,” continued his father, “that you should take greater care of any thing, if it is bailed to you for your benefit, than it does if it is for the benefit of the bailor. ”

“ So Nathan, highly pleased with his office, collected the votes in his cap, and brought them up to his sister Mary. She looked them over as she sat at the window, the children all looking up from below, eagerly awaiting the result. At length, Mary told them that there were four leaves in Nathan’s cap, and that three of them had the letter L upon it. “So,” said she, “you see you have chosen Lucy for regent.”
“Yes, I voted for Lucy,” said Rollo. “I thought she would be the best.”
“And so did I,” said James and Henry. ”

“ If some want to play ball, and some want to play horses, they all talk together, and dispute; it is all,—‘I say we will,’ and ‘I say we won’t,’—and those that make the most noise get the victory.”
“The men’s way is the best,” said Rollo. ”

“ I shall give him fresh water every day, and that will keep him alive.”
“They do eat, too,” said James. “They eat bait off of the hooks when we fish for them.”
Rollo had forgotten this fact when he said that fishes never ate; and, having nothing to say in reply to it, now, he was silent, and only looked at his fish.
“O, I wish I had a fish!” said Henry. “If I had kept my dipper, now, I might have had one.”
“I don’t believe you could have caught one,” said Rollo.
“Yes, I could; and I believe I will take my dipper, after all, and catch me a fish.” ”

“ 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. ”

“ Thus it is painful to most persons to see a carpenter upon a very lofty spire, or to go very near a precipice, or see any body else go, even when there is a strong railing; and so in all other cases. Therefore, our rule ought always to be, when we are in company with others, not only not to go into actual danger, but not to go so near as strongly to bring up the idea to their minds, and thus distress them.”
“I never thought of that before,” said Rollo. ”

“ There was now a narrow neck of land between the end of the canal and the beginning of the trench; and as Jonas went on digging the canal along, this neck grew narrower and narrower. Rollo began to be impatient to see the water run. He wanted Jonas to let him hoe a little passage, so as to let it begin to run a little.
“No,” said Jonas.
“Why not?” said Rollo.
“There are two good reasons,” he replied. “The first is, it will spoil my work, and the second is, it will spoil your play.” ”

“ Rollo said he was sure that hornets could not make paper. Then Jonas took off a little shred from the hornets’ nest, and compared it with some brown paper which he had in his pocket; and he explained to Rollo [Pg 32] that the hornets’ nest was made of little fibres adhering to each other, just as the fibres of the paper did.
“It is the same article,” he said, “and made of the same materials; only they manufacture it in a different way. So I don’t see why it is not proper to call it paper.”
“I don’t think it is paper,” said Rollo; “nothing is paper but what men make.” ”

“ So the children began to write votes again, and as fast as they had written them they brought them to Mary, and dropped them in her lap. As soon as each one had put in his vote, he went back and took his seat. When the votes were all in, Mary looked them over, and said,
“There are two votes for Lucy, and one for Rollo, and one for Henry.”
“Then Lucy is chosen secretary,” said James.
“No,” said Mary, “because she has only half. The person that is chosen must have more than half of all the votes. Lucy has two, and there are two scattering.” ”

“ He lives in an ice castle at the North, and in the fall of the year he comes creeping along in the still nights, and early in the mornings. He builds bridges over the ponds, and brooks, and plants little gardens of hoar frost; and where he sees a stone in the ground, he stamps his foot upon it, and crowds it down a little way. ”

“ There is a great variety [Pg 144] 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. ”

“ He placed confidence in Rollo’s account of the facts, and having thus ascertained how the case stood, he began to consider what was to be done.
“It is a case of bailment,” said he to Rollo, “and the question is, whether you are liable.”
“A case of what?” said Rollo.
“Bailment,” said his father. “When one person intrusts another with his property for any purpose, it is called bailing it to him. The wallet and the money were bailed to you. The law relating to such transactions is called the law of bailment. ”

“ Rollo’s father and mother sat on the back seat of the carryall, and [Pg 160] 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. ”

“ So Rollo put his hand into his pocket, and drew forth several pebbles; but they were by no means as beautiful as he had imagined. They looked rough and dull.
“They were very bright, when I got them,” said Rollo.
“That is because they were wet,” said Jonas. “Pebbles always look brightest and most beautiful when they are in their own proper place, in the brook; and that is the [Pg 35] reason why I think it is generally best to leave them there.”
Rollo looked at his faded pebbles with an air of disappointment. He asked Jonas if there was no way of keeping them bright all the time. ”

“ He must be careful not to call his friends more than he does other persons. He must be impartial. Then, besides, the president puts the question.”
“Puts the question?” asked Rollo; “what is putting the question?”
“Why, after all has been said about the plan that they want to say, the president asks all that are in favor of it, to hold up their hands; and he counts them. Then he asks all that are against it to hold up their hands. He counts these too. And it is decided according to the number of votes.”
“Is that the way they do?” said Rollo. ”

“ 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 [Pg 143] generally preserve their colors pretty well. One page was devoted to the leaves of evergreens, such as the pine, fir, spruce, hemlock ”

“ After riding for some time, Rollo’s mother, upon looking back towards the wagon, saw [Pg 159] 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.” ”

“ And he kills more people than Boreas does.”
“Kills them?” said Rollo.
“Yes,” replied Jonas. “He makes no blustering, but he stings bitterly, and the poor traveller has his ears, and hands, and feet frozen before he knows what a cruel enemy is around him. Captain Jack Frost you may laugh at,—but as to Old Zero, you had better beware of him.”
[Pg 186]
Rollo laughed a good deal at Jonas’s account of the three Northmen, and Jonas told him that they sometimes made some splendid curiosities, which would be beautiful for a shelf in his museum, if they would only keep. ”

“ James could not imagine what it was; but Rollo told him that he thought it must be a hemlock-seed. The truth was, that it was a great chrysalis, though Rollo did not find it out till long afterwards.
“A hemlock-seed!” said James.
“Yes,” said Rollo; “I have seen the cones which grow on fir-trees, and they are a good deal like this.”
[Pg 54] “But they are not so handsome,” said James.
“I know it,” said Rollo; “they are not so handsome. This is the most beautiful one I ever saw.”
“We can plant it,” said James, “next spring.” ”

“ Whenever any body said any thing that he did not think was correct, he would sometimes try to explain it; but then, if they persisted, he would generally say “Very well,” and that would prevent all dispute. This is an excellent way to prevent [Pg 30] disputes, or to end them when they are begun.
While Jonas was digging slowly along through the neck of land, Rollo was rambling about among the bushes, and at length Jonas heard a sudden scream from him. Jonas looked up, and saw Rollo scrambling away from a little thicket, and then presently stopping to look back, apparently frightened. ”

“ He is a sly rogue.”
“And who are the other Northmen?” said Rollo.
“The next is General Boreas,” said Jonas.
“General Boreas!” repeated Rollo; “and who is he?”
“O! he is a terrible fellow,” replied Jonas. “He comes roaring and thundering along the tops of the forests at midnight, in snowstorms and hail. He buries up the whole country, he breaks down the trees, and sometimes unroofs the houses. Then, if he finds any poor traveller out, he whistles and roars about his ears, and tries to frighten him ”

“ Abbott fully carries out, in these books, the great principle which we rejoice to see advanced in the Preface to one of them, namely, “that it is generally better, in dealing with children, to allure them to what is right by agreeable pictures of it, than to attempt to drive them to it by repulsive delineations of what is wrong.” The fifth volume presents Rollo at School, and the last his vacation. They keep up the interest, and advance in maturity of thought and illustration, as the boy advances. ”

“ You can write on the under side of a lilac leaf with the point of a pin.”
“Can we?” said Lucy, with a look of curiosity and pleasure.
“Yes,” said Mary, “you need not write the whole name. You can write the first letter—that will be enough. R. stands for Rollo, L. for Lucy, H. for Henry, J. for James, and N. for Nathan.”
“Ho!” said Rollo, “Nathan won’t do for a regent.”
“Perhaps not,” said Mary; “each one of you must vote for the one you think best. Now get your lilac leaves, and I will drop you down some pins.” ”

“ He who is dissatisfied [Pg 172] with himself, is generally dissatisfied with all around him.
Rollo waited until he was tired, and then he had to wait some time longer. At length his father and mother appeared, and Rollo jumped out, and asked his father if he might ride in the wagon, and drive the girls again.
“No,” replied his father, “I have made another arrangement. Jonas,” he continued, “you may get into the wagon, and drive on alone.”
Rollo’s father then helped Mrs. Holiday and Mary into the back seat, while he put Lucy and Rollo on before, and he took a seat between them. ”

“ In the third volume, Rollo is at work; in the fourth, at play; and the morals of both play and work are as easily and pleasantly insinuated as we have often seen. There is constant occupation in both, and constant natural opportunities of learning the duty and the advantage of feeling and doing right, and thus seeing the evil of feeling and doing wrong ”

“ Boys bail things to one another very often, and a great many disputes arise among them, because [Pg 75] they don’t understand the law of bailment. It applies to boys as well as men. It is founded on principles of justice and common sense, and, of course, what is just and equitable among men, is just and equitable among boys.
“You must remember that whenever any thing belonging to one boy is intrusted to another in any way, if it is for the benefit of the bailee, if any accident happens to it, he must make it good ”

“ Then Rollo came back to his father to ask him a little more about bailments.
[Pg 69]
“Father,” said Rollo, when he came back, “if James should give me his knife, or any thing, for my own, would that be a bailment?”
“No,” said his father. “A bailment is only where property is intrusted to another, for a certain purpose, to be returned again to the possession of the owner, when the purpose is accomplished. For instance, when Jonas is sawing wood with my saw, the saw is a bailment from me to him; it remains my property ”

“ Rollo was sadly disappointed at not being chosen cabinet keeper. Older and wiser persons than he have often been greatly vexed from similar causes. When the society meeting was ended, Mary told Lucy that she must tell Jonas that they had chosen him cabinet keeper, for she was secretary, and it was the secretary’s duty to do that. ”

“ Then he took his dipper, which had, all this time, been lying forgotten by the side of a log, on the shore, and walked along—the dipper full of raspberries in one hand, the lantern in the other, and his bright and beautiful pebbles in his pocket.
Rollo followed the path along the banks of the brook under the trees, until at length he came out to the open ground where Jonas was at work. There was a broad meadow, or rather marsh, which extended back to [Pg 20] some distance from the brook, and beyond it the land rose to a hill. ”

“ Still, they were all good-natured; that is, they were not angry; the difficulty only arose from their eagerness and their numbers,—and their disorganization.
“O dear me,” said Rollo, at length, “I [Pg 86] wish we had a regent again; we got along very well, while Lucy was a regent. Let me be regent now. Come, Henry and James, let me be regent, and I will direct, and then we shall have order again.”
“Well,” said James.
“No,” said Henry, “you have not been elected. You can’t be regent, unless you are chosen regularly.” ”