Irf'iAji/Ari f 
 
UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL 
 
 00022092646 
 

 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2012 with funding from 
 
 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/rolloatschoolOOabbo 
 
EOLLOAT SCHOOL. 
 
 THE ROLLO SERIES 
 
 18 COMPOSED OF FOURTEEN VOLUMES, VII 
 
 Rollo Learning to Talk. 
 Rollo Learning to Read. 
 Rollo at Work. 
 Rollo at Play. 
 Rollo at School. 
 Rollo's Vacation. 
 Roilo's Experiments. 
 
 Rollo's Museum. 
 Roilo's Travels. 
 Rollo's Correspondence. 
 Rollo's Philosophy— Water. 
 Rollo's Philosophy — Air. 
 Rollo's Philosophy— Fire. 
 Rollo's Philosophy— Sky. 
 
 A NEW EDITION, REVISED BY THE AUTHOR. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 PHILLIPS, SAMPSON, AND COMPANY. 
 
 NEW YORK : JAMES C. DERBY. 
 
PREFATORY NOTICE. 
 
 As the little readers of " Rollo at Work 11 
 and " Rollo at Play," have done the author the 
 honor to manifest some interest in the continua- 
 tion of his juvenile hero's history, they are now 
 presented with " Rollo at School" and " Rol- 
 lo's Vacation." Under the guise of a narrative 
 of Rollo's adventures in these new situations, 
 these little books are intended to exhibit some of 
 the temptations, the trials, the difficulties, and the 
 duties, which all children experience in circum- 
 stances similar. That the reader may be profited 
 as well as amused by the perusal, is the sincere 
 
 wish of 
 
 The Author. 
 
 Roxbury, October 18, 1838. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 The Beginning, 7 
 
 Dovey, 30 
 
 Doveyism, 53 
 
 Ingenuousness, 65 
 
 Submission, 83 
 
 Pertinacity, 100 
 
 Order, 113 
 
 Title to Property, 141 
 
 The Reason why, 156 
 
 The Holiday « 172 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 THE BEGINNING. 
 
 One pleasant Monday morning, Rollo came 
 to the door which opened upon the plat- 
 form behind his father's house, and looked 
 out into the little green yard, and across to 
 the garden. Then he looked over towards 
 the barn. He seemed to be looking for some- 
 body. Then he turned round, and took down 
 a small ivory whistle which hung in the 
 entry, by the side of the door. It was hung 
 upon a small nail by a green silk ribbon. 
 
 He stood out upon the platform and blew 
 the whistle loud and long. 
 
 In a moment he heard a voice, which seem- 
 ed to be out behind the barn, answer, "Aye, 
 aye." 
 
 He looked in that direction, and presently 
 a large boy came around the corner of the 
 barn and walked along towards him. His 
 
8- ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 jacket was off, as if he had been at work, and 
 he had a little hatchet in his hand. 
 
 (l Come, Jonas," said Rollo, " mother wants 
 you to go with me to school." 
 
 Jonas looked and saw that Rollo was dress- 
 ed very neatly, and that he had a book and 
 slate in his hand. He said he would come 
 as soon as he had put on his jacket. 
 
 So Jonas put the hatchet away in its place, 
 and put on his jacket, and then went around 
 to the front door, where he found Rollo wait- 
 ing for him ; and they walked along together. 
 
 "Did you ever go to school, Jonas?" said 
 Rollo. 
 
 l - Yes," replied Jonas, " I went once." 
 
 " Don't you wish you could go now?" 
 
 " Yes," said Jonas, " I think I should like 
 it better than you will." 
 
 "Better than I?" said Rollo, looking up 
 surprised ; " why, I like it very much indeed." 
 
 " You have n't tried it yet," said Jonas. 
 
 " Oh, but I know I shall like it." 
 
 " You can tell better by and by," said Jonas. 
 " Boys don't generally like going to school 
 very well." 
 
 " But I do," said Rollo. 
 
 " They all like it the first day; but after- 
 wards they find a great many things which 
 they do not like very well." 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. \t 
 
 " What things?" asked Rollo. 
 
 "Why, sometimes you will get playing 
 after breakfast, and when school time comes 
 you will not want to go. Then your studies 
 will be hard sometimes and you will get tired of 
 them; and then some of the boys will be cross 
 to you, perhaps." 
 
 Rollo felt somewhat disappointed at hear- 
 ing such an account of the business of going 
 to school, from Jonas. He had expected that 
 it was to be all pleasure, and he could not 
 help thinking that Jonas must be mistaken 
 about it. However, he said nothing, but 
 walked along slowly and silently. 
 
 Presently they came down to the little 
 bridge that leads across the brook on the way 
 to the school-house, where they had found a 
 bird's nest some time before, and Rollo pro- 
 posed that they should go and look at their 
 bird's nest. 
 
 "No," said Jonas, " we must not go now. 
 It is never right to stop by the way, going to 
 school, without leave." 
 
 "Why?" said Rollo. 
 
 " It will make us late," said Jonas. 
 
 " Oh, but we will not stop but a minute," 
 said Rollo. lingering behind a little, and look- 
 ing towards the tree. 
 
10 ROLLO AT SCHOOL, 
 
 Jonas laughed, but kept walking on, look- 
 ing around to Rollo, to see if he was follow- 
 ing. But Rollo stood by the side of the 
 bridge, looking at Jonas as lie went along. 
 
 u Just one minute, Jonas," said he. 
 
 Jonas shook his head and walked on. 
 Presently he turned round and walked back- 
 wards, facing Rollo. 
 
 RoHo, rinding that Jonas would not stop, 
 began to follow him slowly, but he looked 
 very much vexed. He thought that Jonas 
 was very ill natured not to stop for him just 
 one minute. 
 
 By the time Jonas had got to the top of the 
 hill, Rollo overtook him, and then he walked 
 along in silence for a few minutes. - At last 
 he said pettishly, " I will stop when I am 
 coming home, at any rate." 
 
 " I advise you not to," said Jonas. 
 
 "Why not?" said Rollo. 
 
 " Because your father told you that you 
 must not stop, going or coming." 
 
 " Well, T am not going to stop; I shall only 
 go and look at the bird's nest, and then walk 
 on; it won't take any time at all." 
 
 " That is the way I have known a great 
 many boys to get punished," said Jonas. 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 11 
 
 "How?" saidRollo. 
 
 " Why, they stop a little going to school to 
 play, and think they are only going to stop a 
 minute ; but then they forget, and play about 
 a great deal longer than they meant to, and 
 so get very late." 
 
 "And then do they get punished?" said 
 Rollo. " My father would not punish me, if 
 £ only stopped a minute." 
 
 " Perhaps he would n't, but then if you stop 
 at all, you will be likely to stop more than a 
 minute." 
 
 By this time they came in sight of the 
 house where the school was kept. It was 
 a farm-house, standing among some trees, 
 by the side of the road. There was a very 
 pleasant yard on one side, with a wagon in 
 it, and some woodpiles and chips, and some 
 barns and sheds on the other side of it. 
 
 " Is that the school-house? " said Rollo. 
 
 "The school is kept in that house. That 
 is where Miss Mary lives, and she keeps the 
 school in the orchard room." 
 
 " The orchard room?" said Rollo. 
 
 " Yes, the room leading out into the or- 
 chard, on the other side." 
 
 The boys walked along the road in front 
 of the house, and when they had got just be- 
 
12 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 yond it, Jonas opened a small gate, which led 
 under some trees by a little path, around the 
 other side of the house. A large orchard ex- 
 tended from the house in this direction, with 
 handsome trees in it, and fine green grass 
 under them. They saw a door here, leading 
 into a room which projected out into the or- 
 chard. There was a little portico before the 
 door, and a large smooth flat stone on the 
 ground before the portico. The grass came 
 up all around near to the stone, except where 
 the path came. Two children were sitting on 
 the floor of the portico, with their feet upon the 
 flat stone. They had books in their hands and 
 their lips were moving. They looked up and 
 saw Jonas and Rollo, but went on studying. 
 
 As the boys passed by the window, which 
 was open, they saw the scholars and the 
 teacher, in the room ; and the teacher, whom 
 the scholars always called Miss Mary, saw 
 them and came to the door, just as Jonas and 
 Rollo stepped up into the portico. She look- 
 ed pleased to see the boys. 
 
 Jonas took off his hat as he came up to her 
 and said, 
 
 " Here is Rollo." 
 
 "Ah, Rollo," said Miss Mary, "how do 
 you do? I am glad to see you." She took 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 15 
 
 Rollo by the hand and led him in, and Jonas 
 turned around, put on his hat, and walked 
 away. 
 
 Miss Mary led Rollo into the school-room. 
 He found that the children were just taking 
 their seats. Miss Mary led him to a seat at 
 a little desk by the window. The desk was 
 long enough for two, and there was a boy 
 sitting at one half of it already. This boy 
 was not so large as Rollo. He looked up very 
 much pleased when he saw Rollo coming to 
 sit by him. Miss Mary told Rollo that his 
 name was Henry, and that they must both be 
 good boys and not whisper and play. Then 
 she turned away to her own seat at a table,. 
 at one side of the room. By this time the 
 children all over the room had become stilly 
 and Miss Mary opened a little Bible which 
 she had on the table, and it seemed as if she 
 was going to read. All the children sat 
 looking towards her attentive and still. 
 
 She only read two or three verses, but then 
 she stopped to explain them very fully, so 
 that the reading and her remarks occupied 
 considerable time. One of the verses she 
 read was this : — 
 
 " If I regard iniquity in my heart \ the Lord 
 will not hear me, 71 
 
16 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 She explained this to the children thus: 
 " God will not listen to us when we pray to 
 him, if he is displeased with us ; and he is 
 displeased with us just as much when we 
 have iniquity in our hearts, as when we ex- 
 hibit it in our actions. A bad boy was once 
 walking along the street in a city, and he saw 
 a basket of apples at the door of a store.- He 
 though he would put out his hand slyly, 
 when he went by, and take one. That was 
 having iniquity in his heart. He had not 
 done any thing wrong, he was only intending 
 to do something wrong.'* 
 
 " Well, did he take one when he came to 
 them?" asked Henry. 
 
 " No," said Miss Mary ; " when he got 
 close to the basket, and was just putting out 
 his hand, he happened to look into the store, 
 and he saw the man standing there. So hs 
 hastily withdrew his hand and walked on, 
 trying to look careless and unconcerned. 
 
 "Now was there any thing wrong in this 
 boy's actions?" said Miss Mary. 
 
 " Yes, ma'am," said the children. 
 
 " No," said Miss Mary, " not in his action. 
 He did not steal the apple. He walked di- 
 rectly by just as he ought to do. 
 
 H Was there any thing wrong in his looks ?" 
 
 " No, ma'am." 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 17 
 
 " Was there any thing wrong in his heart? 11 
 
 "Yes, ma'am," said all the children, for 
 now they began to understand fully what 
 Miss Mary meant. 
 
 " That is right," said Miss Mary. " Now 
 children in school very often cherish iniquity 
 in their hearts. Something prevents their 
 actually doing the wrong thing, but then they 
 want to do it, they try to do it, they watch 
 for an opportunity to do it, and so they are 
 guilty in heart. 
 
 " Now," continued Miss Mary, " we are all 
 going to pray to God to take care of us to-day, 
 but if any of you have any idea or intention 
 of doing any thing wrong to-day, or any 
 thing which you think is perhaps wrong, God 
 sees it. It is iniquity in your heart, and he 
 will not hear your prayer. We had better 
 give up all such iniquity, and determine to 
 do what is right. Then God will hear us, 
 and take care of us, and keep us safe and 
 happy." 
 
 Now all the scholars listened very atten- 
 tively to these remarks, but it happened that 
 there were two who took more particular no- 
 tice of them than the others. These two 
 were Rollo and his cousin Lucy, who went to 
 this school, and who sat before another win- 
 
18 KOLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 dow across the room. Rollo began to think 
 that perhaps the intention which he was se- 
 cretly entertaining, of stopping after school 
 to see the bird's nest might be cherishing 
 iniquity in his heart. First he thought it 
 was, — then he thought it was not, because he 
 was only going to stop a very little while. 
 Then he recollected that his father had told 
 him he must come directly home, and there- 
 fore it must be wrong for him to stop at all. 
 He tried to determine to go directly home, 
 and thus give up the iniquity which was in 
 his heart, but he could not quite determine. 
 He wanted just to take one peep at the nest, 
 and resolved to go home immediately after. 
 He tried to satisfy himself with this, but he 
 could not feel quite easy. 
 
 While these thoughts were passing through 
 his mind, and just as Miss Mary had finished 
 her remarks, he happened to be looking to- 
 wards Lucy, and he saw that she opened the 
 lid of her desk a little way, and put her hand 
 in. Presently she withdrew her hand very 
 cautiously, and Rollo, watching her, observed 
 that she had in it a little sprig from an apple 
 tree, with a large, beautiful, spotted butterfly 
 upon it, and threw it out of the window. All 
 this happened just at the moment when the 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 19 
 
 scholars were reclining their heads forward 
 upon their desks, to listen to Miss Mary's 
 morning prayer. 
 
 Rollo did not understand what this " all 
 meant. The truth was that Lucy had found 
 this great butterfly when coming to school, 
 and had carefully put it in her desk, intending 
 to take it out and look at it when the school 
 was begun. She knew that this was wrong, 
 but had not thought much about it, until she 
 heard Miss Mary's remarks, when she saw 
 plainly that this plan of playing with the 
 butterfly in school was iniquity in her heart, 
 and was consequently a sin against God. 
 Unlike Rollo, she determined to give it up 
 immediately, and as she wanted very much 
 that • God should listen to her prayer, and 
 take care of her, she thought she would take 
 out the butterfly immediately and throw it 
 out of the window, before the prayer should 
 be begun. 
 
 1 said she threw the butterfly out of the 
 window, but this is not exactly correct, for 
 there was a gentle breeze blowing in at the 
 window at that time, which prevented the 
 sprig and the butterfly from going out. They 
 fell together upon the window sill, and the 
 butterfly, frightened to see himself tossed about 
 
20 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 in this way, spread his broad wings and pre- 
 pared to fly. All this happened in a moment. 
 Lucy looked distressed and anxious. Rollo 
 looked pleased to see such a beautiful butterfly. 
 He touched Henry to make him look at it, 
 and the other children, attracted by Rollo' s 
 movements, looked round, and saw the 
 great butterfly as he was wafted in by the 
 breeze, and floated fluttering through the air. 
 
 In a minute or two there was such a dis- 
 turbance that Miss Mary was obliged to stop, 
 and she looked up to see what was the cause. 
 The butterfly lighted upon her table. The 
 children laughed at first, but then suddenly 
 looked sober again, expecting that Miss Mary 
 would be very much displeased. But she did 
 not look displeased. She looked just as usual. 
 ,She thought the children had done wrong, 
 but she did not think they were very much 
 to blame for having their attention diverted, 
 when there was such a great spotted butter- 
 fly flying about the room. 
 
 "Poor thing!" said she; "we will not 
 hurt him. I suppose he flew in at the win- 
 dow ; he did not know there was a school in 
 here." 
 
 So she held a piece of paper before him and 
 the butterfly stepped upon it. Then she gave 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 21 
 
 him to one of the older children to be carried 
 out. 
 
 Lucy felt very uneasy at having made so 
 much trouble, and then she did not think it 
 was right for her to let Miss Mary suppose 
 the butterfly flew in of his own accord, when, 
 in fact, she brought him in. So she came 
 pretty soon, when she had a good opportunity, 
 and explained it all to her. Miss Mary heard 
 her story, and then told her to take her seat 
 and go on with her lessons, and not trouble 
 herself any more about it. 
 
 In the mean time Rollo went on studying 
 the lessons which Miss Mary had assigned 
 him, and took care to be still and industrious. 
 This was partly because he wished to be a 
 good boy, and partly because he was some- 
 what afraid among so many strangers. By 
 and by there was a recess, and then the chil- 
 dren played around among the trees, in the 
 orchard, and enjoyed themselves very much. 
 Henry led Rollo around behind the* house, 
 where they could see through the cracks of a 
 high fence into a large yard, where there were 
 hens and chickens, and ducks, and little gos- 
 lings. Rollo and Henry looked through, and 
 Rollo wanted to go around in and see them, 
 but Henry told him they were not allowed to 
 go to that side of the house without leave. 
 
22 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 Just before it was time for school to be 
 closed, Miss Mary asked all the scholars to 
 shut up their books and put them away. 
 They all did so, and they took pains to put 
 them in neat order in their desks. When 
 the room was still, she told them all to look 
 at her, and listen, for she wished to say some- 
 thing more about the butterfly. 
 
 The scholars all looked towards her much 
 interested, only Lucy seemed rather troubled. 
 She was afraid that Miss Mary was going to 
 find fault with her, before all the school, for 
 causing so much disturbance. When, how- 
 ever, all were still, Miss Mary addressed them 
 thus:— 
 
 "I find, children, that that great butterfly 
 did not come into the school-room this morn- 
 ing of his own accord. One of the scholars 
 brought him in." 
 
 Here Lucy hung her head and looked 
 ashamed. The rest of the scholars looked 
 around jipon one another, wondering who it 
 could be. Rollo looked up very boldly, with a 
 very self-satisfied air, pleased to think both 
 that he was not himself the guilty one, and 
 that he knew who was. 
 
 " I am sure it was not I," said Henry. 
 
 " Hush," said Rollo. 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 23 
 
 Miss Mary took no notice of these remarks, 
 but proceeded thus : 
 
 "It was one of the girls, but I am not going 
 to tell you which one it was. She found the 
 large butterfly, and brought it into school and 
 put it in her desk. Was this right or wrong?" 
 
 " Wrong," said the children. 
 
 " Yes, it is wrong to bring any thing to 
 school that will take off your attention from 
 your studies. But I do not think she was 
 very much to blame. She did not think much 
 about it Still she intended to play with it, 
 and this was wrong. 
 
 " Now when she heard what I said at the 
 beginning of the school about regarding sin in 
 your heart, she was sorry that she had the 
 butterfly in her desk, and concluded to put 
 him out. Was this right or wrong?" 
 
 "Right, ' said the children. 
 
 " Yes, she was certainly in a right state of 
 mind about it. She determined to give up 
 her secret sin. I am afraid that there were 
 some other children in the school who heard 
 what I said, and who could think of some 
 secret sins which* they were cherishing, and 
 which they could not find it in their hearts to 
 give up, as this girl was willing to give up 
 hers." 
 
24 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 Here Rollo, in his turn, began to hang his 
 head a little, and Lucy looked up considera- 
 bly relieved. 
 
 u But the butterfly did not go out of the 
 window. The girl threw the sprig that he 
 was upon, but it fell down upon the window 
 sill." 
 
 "What is the window sill?" said a little 
 bright-eyed girl, who sat in front of Miss 
 Mary, and was looking up to her very atten- 
 tively. 
 
 "It is that wooden piece that goes across 
 the bottom of the window," said Miss Mary, 
 pointing to it. 
 
 " The butterfly," she continued, " lodged 
 there and then flew back into the room, just 
 at the commencement of prayers. Now 1 
 want you to consider whether this girl was 
 to blame, or not, for this disturbance." 
 
 The scholars gave various answers; some 
 said yes, and some said no. 
 
 " There was a man once," continued Miss 
 Mary, " who had two boys ; he told them not 
 to play ball in the yard, for fear they should 
 break the windows, but that they might play 
 in i'ae field. When his father went away, 
 one of the boys played in the yard, but did 
 not happen to break any glass. The other 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 25 
 
 played in the field, as his father had allowed 
 him but once, when he gave the ball a hard 
 knock, it ( ame over to the house, and broke 
 a pane in one of the parlor sashes. When 
 their father came home and heard how it was, 
 he said that one of his boys had been very 
 much to blame; which do you think it was, 
 the one who broke the glass, or the one who 
 disobeyed his father?" 
 
 "The one who disobeyed," said the chil- 
 dren. 
 
 " Yes," said Miss Mary, " and if he had 
 broken a window, by playing in the yard, he 
 would not have been any more guilty than 
 he was without breaking it. So that when 
 you do any thing wrong, you are to blame, 
 whether any bad consequences come from it or 
 not. If a bad boy throws a stone at another, 
 he is just as much to blame if it does not hit 
 him as he is if it does. If you go to a dan- 
 gerous place where you are forbidden to go, 
 you are just as much to blame if you get back 
 safely as you would be if you got hurt. If 
 you stop to play coming to school, you are 
 just as much to blame if you find school has 
 not begun when you get here, as you would 
 be if you were very tardy. Don't you all 
 think so V 1 
 
 b 3 
 
26 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 "No, ma'am," said the little bright-eyed 
 girl. 
 
 " Why not?" said Miss Mary 
 
 " Because if we are not tardy then there 
 is no harm done." 
 
 "Yes, there is great harm done. You do 
 what you know is wrong; you thus hurt 
 your peace of mind, make yourselves un- 
 happy, and make it easier for you to do wrong 
 the next time ; you disobey your parents or 
 your teacher, and offend Almighty God." 
 
 The little girl was convinced and did not 
 say another word. 
 
 " Now," said Miss Mary, "to go back to 
 the butterfly, — the girl who brought him in 
 determined to let him go again, to prevent his 
 making any play or disturbance in school. 
 But instead of this she unfortunately caused 
 a great disturbance. Now was she to blame 
 for this disturbance?" 
 
 " No, ma'am," said all the children. 
 
 " That is right, and I did not blame her at 
 all. And now since I do not blame her for it 
 at all, why do you suppose I have made all 
 this talk about a butterfly?" 
 • The children looked at Miss Mary without 
 answering. 
 
 " It is to teach you several important truths. 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 27 
 
 Can any of you tell what truths I have been 
 attempting to teach you by this conversation?" 
 
 The children hesitated. At length one 
 said timidly, " We must not stop to play, 
 coming to school/'' 
 
 " We are not to blame if we break the 
 windows accidentally," said another. 
 
 " We must . not bring playthings into 
 school," said a third. 
 
 " That is pretty well," said Miss Mary; 
 " I see you understand what I have been say- 
 ing, but perhaps I can express it better than 
 you do." 
 
 " When you do wrong, your guilt depends 
 upon your hearts, your intentions, and your 
 acts, and not upon the bad consequences that 
 follow. When bad consequences follow, they 
 do not make you guilty when you mean and 
 do right ; and if they do not follow, that does 
 not make you innocent when you mean and 
 do wrong. 
 
 " That is the main thing I have been en- 
 deavoring to teach. The other things that 
 the children mentioned are true also, and 
 I hope you will remember them. Whenever 
 you stop to play by the way, without leave, 
 and whenever you bring any playthings se- 
 cretly to school, you are doing wrong, and 
 
28 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 that whether you get into any difficulty by 
 it or not." 
 
 When Miss Mary had said this, she struck 
 a little bell gently, which was before her upon 
 her table, and all the scholars rose and began 
 to talk and put on their things. So Hollo 
 knew that school was done. The girls and 
 boys went out of the door, and walked along 
 the path, two and three together, talking and 
 laughing, and skipping along merrily. Rollo 
 and Henry followed the rest ; they separated 
 at the gate, and each went towards his own 
 home. 
 
 As Rollo walked along alone, the question 
 at once came up in his mind whether he 
 should just go and look at the bird's nest a 
 moment or not. He saw now very clearly 
 that it would be wrong ; that even if he did 
 not stop but a minute, so as to be only so 
 little after the proper time that his mother 
 should not notice it, still it would be wrong ; 
 and even if he should run afterwards, so as 
 to get home without being late at all, it would 
 be wrong. And so he determined not to do 
 a ny such thing. He determined to walk direct- 
 ly by. Nest or no nest, eggs or no eggs, he 
 determined to go directly by. And he did so. 
 He walked directly home and went in, feel- 
 ing innocent and happy. 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 29 
 
 This decision saved Rollo a great deal of 
 trouble, for always after this he found it quite 
 easy to go directly to school and back, and 
 never got into trouble by loitering on the way. 
 A great many boys and girls get gradually into 
 the habit of stopping to play, in going to and 
 from school, until at last their parents or 
 teacher, after warning them and reproving 
 them a great many times, are at length 
 obliged to punish them ; and by this time the 
 habit has become so confirmed that they suf- 
 fer a great deal of trouble and sorrow before 
 they are cured. Rollo had great reason to 
 be thankful to Miss Mary for the instructions 
 she gave him on his first day at her school. 
 
 3* 
 
30 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 DOVEY. 
 
 In the afternoon Rollo went to school again, 
 but before he went he asked his father if he 
 might stop a few minutes on the way, coming 
 home, and look at the bird's nest. His father 
 said yes. 
 
 Rollo went alone in the afternoon, for now 
 he knew the way. He got there in good sea- 
 son, and took his seat, with Henry by his 
 side. 
 
 He wrote in his writing book, and studied 
 several lessons, though Miss Mary did not tell 
 him exactly what classes he would be in. 
 She told him that she should like to have him 
 stop after school a few minutes, and she 
 would talk to him about his studies. 
 
 Accordingly, when school was dismissed, 
 and the other children were going home, Rollo 
 came and stood up by the side of Miss Mary's 
 table. She was putting away her books and 
 papers. 
 
 Rollo stood quietly by her side, wait- 
 ing until she should be ready to speak to 
 him. 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 31 
 
 "Well, Rollo," she said, at length, u how 
 do you like the school ?" 
 
 " Very well indeed," said Rollo. 
 
 " I have not put you into your classes yet," 
 said she, " because I thought it would be well 
 for you to have one day to learn how things go 
 on in the school, so as to feel a little at home. 
 What does your father wish to have you 
 study?" 
 
 "I don't know exactly," said Rollo; "I 
 believe he does not want to have me to take 
 a great many studies. 
 
 " Do you know what studies he does wish 
 to have you attend to?" said Miss Mary. 
 
 " Not exactly," said Rollo. 
 
 Miss Mary's table was on the opposite side 
 of the room from the door, and as she sat at the 
 table her face was turned towards the door ; 
 and just as Rollo was trying to think what he 
 had heard his father say about his studies, he 
 observed that Miss Mary suddenly rose, look- 
 ing towards the door. Rollo turned round 
 and saw that there was a woman there lead- 
 ing in a little girl by the hand. The woman 
 was dressed plainly, and had a handkerchief 
 drawn over her head instead of a bonnet. 
 The girl was a very wild-looking little thing. 
 She wore a coarse green gown, darned and 
 
32 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 mended in various places. A small straw 
 bonnet, a good deal out of shape, hung back 
 from her head, and her hair was down over 
 her eyes. 
 
 The little girl pushed the hair back from 
 her eyes with one hand, as she walked along 
 into the room following her mother, who was 
 drawing her in by the other. She seemed 
 afraid to come in, or at least very unwilling, 
 from some cause or other. 
 
 Miss Mary rose and was just going to speak 
 to the woman, when, just as she got about half 
 way across the roonij the little girl seemed 
 determined not to come any farther; she 
 pulled her hand violently away from her 
 mother and ran off out of the door. 
 
 " Dovey ! " said the woman, turning round 
 suddenly and following her, " Dovey, here, 
 come back ! Come back, Dovey, this instant ! " 
 
 While thus calling the girl back, the wo- 
 man had followed her to the portico before the 
 door. Dovey ran until she had got to a safe 
 distance in the orchard, and then stopped and 
 turned round and looked at her mother. 
 
 " Dovey ! " said her mother again, standing 
 in the portico, " I tell you to come directly to 
 me." 
 
 Dovey stood still looking at her mother, 
 but made no answer. 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 33 
 
 "Mind, this minute," said her mother, 
 stamping with her foot. 
 
 Dovey very coolly sat down on the grass 
 and began to pick buttercups and dandelions, 
 
 By this time Miss Mary had followed the 
 woman out to the door, Rollo coming behind 
 her. Miss Mary thought the girl could not 
 have been very properly managed, or she 
 would not thus ' disobey her mother. She 
 however did not say so. She smiled and 
 said, 
 
 " Your little girl seems afraid, Mrs. Brome." 
 
 Mrs. Brome turned first to Miss Mary and 
 then to the girl, and looked excited and angry. 
 
 "Afraid!" said she; "she is ugly. She 
 is so wild and contrary, that I can't do any- 
 thing with her. I was going to bring her to 
 your school." Then she turned to Dovey 
 again, and addressed her in a more soothing 
 and pleasant tone. 
 
 " Come, Dovey dear, that is a good girl ; 
 come now and see Miss Maiy ; come and I'll 
 give you a piece of cake." 
 
 "You have not got any cake," said Do- 
 vey. 
 
 "Yes I have," said she, "at home, and 
 I'll give you some as soon as we get home." 
 
 But Dovey knew, unfortunately, that there 
 
34 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 was not a great deal of dependence to be 
 placed upon such promises, and she did not 
 move. 
 
 "I think you had better walk in, Mrs. 
 Brome," said Miss Mary, " and sit down: 
 perhaps she will come in by and by." 
 
 " No she won't," said the woman. Then 
 turning round again towards Dovey, she 
 stepped out from the door, and began to move 
 towards her, with a very resolute air; but 
 Dovey was upon her feet in an instant, and 
 began to skip backwards with a lightness and 
 agility which showed at once that all pursuit 
 would be fruitless. Miss Mary then repeated 
 her request that Mrs. Brome would come in, 
 and she said she would contrive some way to 
 get Dovey in by and by. 
 
 They accordingly walked into the school- 
 room, and sat down, and Mrs. Brome began 
 to tell about Dovey. She said that she was 
 heedless, wild, and disobedient, and that she 
 wanted Miss Mary to take her into her school, 
 and see if she could not make a good girl of 
 her. All this time Rollo sat at the window 
 looking out. Presently he saw Dovey beck- 
 oning to him to come out there. Rollo looked 
 up to Miss Mary. 
 
 " Yes," said Miss Mary, "you may go out 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 35 
 
 if you would like to. You can show Dovey 
 where she can look through the fence and see 
 the chickens." 
 
 Rollo went to the door, and just as he was 
 going out, Miss Mary told him that if Dovey 
 wanted to look over the fence, she might come 
 and help him carry a chair out, from the 
 school-room. 
 
 When Rollo had gone, Mrs. Brome and 
 Miss Mary talked more about Dovey. 
 
 " When do you want her to begin?" said 
 Miss Mary. 
 
 "To-morrow morning; but then T don't 
 see how I shall make her come to school." 
 
 " Won't she come if you tell her to?" 
 
 "No, she don't mind me at all. She 
 plagues me almost to death," said the woman, 
 with a deep sigh. 
 
 " Seems to me," said Miss Mary, " that 
 her name does not correspond with her cha- 
 racter very well. 1 never heard the name 
 Dovey before." 
 
 "No," said the woman. "I made that 
 name for her, when she was a baby ; she 
 w r as such a sweet, beautiful baby. But it is 
 all altered now." 
 
 A few minutes after this Rollo came gently 
 in at the door, and told Miss Mary that they 
 should like to take the chair. 
 
36 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 "Where is Dovey?" said Miss Mary, 
 
 " She is just out here, by the door," said 
 Rollo. 
 
 Mrs. Brome was going to jump up and go 
 right out to bring her in, but Miss Mary told 
 her she had better sit still, and let her alone 
 at present. Then Miss Mary took a chair 
 and carried it out to the portico, and said, 
 
 " Here, Dovey, you can take hold here, at 
 the legs, and Rollo at the other side, and so 
 you can carry it very easily." 
 
 Dovey looked a little shy, but she came up 
 at length cautiously and took hold of the 
 chair ; and she and Rollo carried it along. 
 Miss Mary walked along with them a step or 
 two, and asked them if they would be kind 
 enough to count the turkeys in the yard, and 
 tell her how many there were, so that she 
 could tell whether they were all safe. 
 
 " How many ought there to be?" said Do- 
 vey. 
 
 "Four," said Miss Mary. 
 
 Then Miss Mary returned to the school- 
 room, to continue her conversation with Mrs. 
 Brome, while the two children hurried along 
 to count the turkeys. 
 
 After some time the children saw Miss 
 Mary coming out towards them, and as Do- 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 37 
 
 vey was now not afraid of her, she did not 
 run away. As soon as Miss Mary came near, 
 she said, 
 
 " Come, children, now you may carry in the 
 chair, and put it in the school-room. Dovey, 
 your mother has gone home, but she says 
 you are coming to my school to-morrow, and 
 I am glad of it. If you will come early to- 
 morrow morning, I will let you go with me 
 and feed the turkeys." 
 
 "Yes, ma'am," said Dovey, "they are all 
 here, all four of them." 
 
 "And, Rollo," said Miss Mary, as she fol- 
 lowed them along towards the school-room, 
 u it is time for you to go home ; you can ask 
 your father what studies he wishes you to 
 take and tell me to-morrow." 
 
 So Rollo and Dovey put away the chair, 
 and then each went home. Rollo thought 
 that, as he had been already detained some 
 time, he had better not stop to see the bird's 
 nest, but put it off till the next day. 
 
 Dovey did not refuse to come the next 
 morning, as her mother had feared; she 
 wanted to help feed the turkeys. In fact that 
 was Miss Mary's secret plan in telling her 
 about the turkeys. Miss Mary kept her 
 promise about letting her feed them, and then 
 4 
 
38 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 led her into the school-room. Some of the 
 scholars had come already, and were seated 
 at their desks, in various parts of the room, 
 preparing their lessons. Miss Mary went up 
 to her table, and took her seat. Dovey threw 
 her bonnet down upon the floor and followed. 
 
 "Oh, Dovey," said Miss Mary, "you 
 must not throw your bonnet down there. 
 There is a nail for you ; you may hang it 
 upon that." 
 
 Dovey went back and took up her bonnet 
 and put it upon the nail, and then came back 
 to Miss Mary's table. 
 
 " Tell me the whole of your name," said 
 Miss Mary, laying down at the same time a 
 penknife, with which she had been sharpen- 
 ing a pen. 
 
 " Dovey Brome," replied the new scholar, 
 taking up the knife, at the same time begin- 
 ning to cut the table with it. 
 
 "You must not touch the knife, Dovey," 
 said Miss Mary, and she gently took it out of 
 her hand, and laid it down again. "How 
 old are you, Dovey?" she asked again, after 
 having written down her name. 
 
 " I shall be eleven next June." 
 
 "It is June now," said Miss Mary; "do 
 you mean June of this year or of next year." 
 
 " The next year." 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 39 
 
 <: Then you are ten now?" 
 
 "Yes." said Dovey, "a few days ago." 
 
 Miss Mary smiled a little, but Dovey did 
 not know what for. She leaned her elbows 
 upon the table, and put her cheeks in her 
 hands, and then, a moment after, she took a 
 pen out of the inkstand before her, and began 
 to mark upon the back of her hand. 
 
 "Why, Dovey," said Miss Mary, as soon 
 as she looked up and saw her, " what are 
 you doing? See how you have inked your 
 hand." — " Stop, stop," she said again sud- 
 denly when she saw that Dovey was going 
 to wipe her hand upon her gown ; but it was 
 too late. The thing was done in an instant, 
 and the ink stain was spread equally over her 
 hand and her dress. 
 
 Miss Mary looked at her a moment in 
 silence, and thought that she probably had a 
 very hard task before her, to cure that girl of 
 all her faults. She, however, said nothing to 
 her, but presently asked one of the older 
 scholars to go out and show Dovey the way 
 to the pump, and let her wash her hand as 
 well as she could, and then to come in with 
 her. 
 
 Miss Mary thought it would be hardly safe 
 for her to sit with any of the ether scholars, 
 
40 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 and so she gave her a seat by herself, and 
 Dovey was just going to it, when Rollo came 
 in. Miss Mary asked her where her books 
 were. She said she had brought them in a 
 great green satchel, but. did not know where 
 she had put it. Rollo said he believed he saw 
 it out in the orchard, and he went out to show 
 Dovey where. She then remembered that 
 she threw it down there, when she came in 
 the morning. She took it up and walked 
 along with Rollo, tossing her bag of books 
 along before her upon the grass, and then pick- 
 ing it up as she came to it. Rollo asked her if 
 she was not afraid she should hurt her books, 
 but she said she did not care. 
 
 At length she came into the room, and was 
 bringing her bag along, when Rollo, who 
 came behind her, said, 
 
 '•Dovey, what's that?" pointing down to 
 the floor. 
 
 It was a drop of ink coming from her bag. 
 
 " I expect you have broken your inkstand,* 3 
 said Rollo. 
 
 Dovey looked careless and unconcerned, 
 but said nothing. Miss Mary, who had come 
 to the place, asked Rollo if he would carry 
 the bag to the door, and take all the books 
 out carefully, and see. 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 41 
 
 Miss Mary had observed that Rollo was a 
 very neat, careful boy, and so she entrusted 
 him with this business. She told him not to 
 touch the pieces of the inkstand, if it was 
 broken, but to come and tell her. She let 
 Dovey go out with him, but told her that she 
 must not touch the bag, but must let Rollo do 
 it all alone, unless he should want her to help 
 him. 
 
 So Rollo carried the bag out very carefully. 
 Several other boys who were there wanted to 
 go and do it. but Miss Mary had most confi- 
 dence in Rollo, as a careful and tidy boy, and 
 Rollo was very glad that he had taken pains 
 to be neat and careful, so as to acquire such 
 a character. 
 
 He took the bag out upon the grass, and 
 asked Dovey to hold it open for him. He 
 then 'looked in, and carefully took out one 
 book after another, and at last, when he got 
 near the bottom of the bag, he aSked Dovey 
 what that was done up in a paper. 
 
 " I expect it is my gingerbread," said Do- 
 vey. 
 
 Rollo then put in his hand and carefully 
 
 drew out a small parcel wrapped up in a 
 
 newspaper. He unrolled it slowly, and took 
 
 out a piece of gingerbread, half soaked in 
 
 b* 4* 
 
42 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 ink. " You must not touch it, Dovey," said 
 he, and he laid it down upon the grass. 
 
 " No, the inkstand is not broken, only the 
 stopper has come out," saidRollo again, look- 
 ing down into the bag, as Dovey held it open. 
 " How shall we get it?" 
 
 " Put your hand in and take it right out," 
 said Dovey. " Here, I will." 
 
 "No, no," saidRollo, " it is all inky." 
 
 " Turn the bag bottom upwards, and let it 
 fall out," said one of the children, who was 
 standing by, looking on. 
 
 Rollo accordingly laid the bag down upon 
 the grass, and took hold of the two corners, 
 at the bottom, where it was not inked, and 
 lifted it up. A strong round glass inkstand, 
 wet inside and out with ink, fell out ; and 
 immediately after, a stopper, with a piece of 
 brown paper wrapped around it, all completely 
 blackened and wet. 
 
 " There," saidRollo, tossing the bag down 
 upon the grass, and looking carefully at all 
 his fingers. " There, I have got them all out, 
 and have not inked my fingers in the least." 
 
 Just then, the children heard a bell ring in 
 the school-room, which they knew was to call 
 them all in. 
 
 " Oh dear," said Rollo, " what shall 1 do? 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 43 
 
 here are all the books and things lying on 
 the grass, and now the bell is ringing." The 
 children were all walking away, and one of 
 them looked round and said he had better 
 leave them and come in directly. So Rollo 
 walked along, Dovey following him. He 
 went into the school-room, and walked up to 
 Miss Mary's table, and told her that he had 
 taken the things all out of the bag, and they 
 were all scattered about upon the grass. 
 
 " Let me look at your fingers," said Miss 
 Mary. 
 
 Rollo held his hand up. 
 
 " Very well," said Miss Mary. " After the 
 school is opened you may go and get the 
 books that are not inked and bring them in, 
 and put them upon Dovey' s desk." 
 
 Miss Mary read the Bible and offered 
 prayer, and then she went out and brought in 
 a desk which was not so handsome as the 
 others in the room. It Avas old and unpainted. 
 She placed a chair behind it, and led Dovey 
 to it, telling her that that would be her seat 
 for the present. " I shall give you a prettier 
 seat by and by," she added, "if you are a 
 good girl." But Dovey did not seem much 
 inclined to be a good girl. She was restless, 
 noisy, and idle. She tumbled all her books into 
 
44 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 her desk in confusion, and when she wanted 
 any one, she pushed them about until she 
 found it. She had a trick of sitting with, her 
 chair tipped forward on its two front legs, and 
 once she leaned forward so far, that they slip- 
 ped back, and she came down upon the floor, 
 with a great deal of noise. At this the scholars 
 all laughed, and she looked very much 
 ashamed; and for a few minutes after this 
 she was quiet, but she soon forgot it, and was 
 tipping her chair forward as before. 
 
 Now it happened that her seat was not 
 very far from Henry's, the boy who sat next 
 to Rollo; and she tried to make him play. 
 Henry was rather disposed to be a good boy, 
 but he could not help laughing at the droll 
 faces she made up at him. At last Dovey 
 snapped a paper ball at him, and he picked 
 it up and snapped it back at her. Miss 
 Mary was all this time at the other side 
 of the room, and Henry looked up every 
 moment to see whether she was looking at 
 them, and he thought she was not. But he 
 was mistaken. Miss Mary saw the whole. 
 It very often happens, when boys and girls 
 are at play at school, that the teacher knows 
 all about it, while they do not suppose she is 
 looking at them at all. Henry once looked 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 45 
 
 round to Rollo, to get him to see what Dovey 
 was doing, but Rollo shook his head and 
 went on with a sum which he was doing 
 upon his slate. 
 
 Miss Mary saw all this, and was very glad 
 to observe that Rollo was a good, faithful boy, 
 and she was sorry to see Henry doing so 
 wrong. But she said nothing then. Henry 
 felt guilty and unhappy, and pretty soon 
 began to study again. 
 
 At length the time for recess arrived, and 
 when they got out into the orchard, some 
 of the children proposed to go down to the 
 spring and get a drink. " You go in, Henry, 
 and ask Miss Mary if we may," said one. 
 
 Now this spring was down in a cool, 
 shady glen, where the water came boiling up 
 among some rocks in a very beautiful manner; 
 and sometimes, when the day was warm, the 
 children used to go down there with a tin 
 dipper, to sit on the stones around the spring, 
 and drink the cool water. In such cases 
 they were required to walk down slowly 
 and quietly, and one of the boys was gene- 
 rally appointed dipper-master. It was the 
 duty of the dipper-master to go into the 
 kitchen of the house and borrow the dipper. 
 Then he was to walk along with the others, 
 
46 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 and when they got to the spring, he was to 
 dip up the water, and hand it round to the 
 others ; or he was to let them take the dip- 
 per themselves, if he chose, by turns ; but it 
 must be as he should direct. This was to 
 avoid all disputes and disorder. Then it was 
 his business, too, to see to it that the dipper 
 was brought up and carried back safely into 
 the kitchen. 
 
 So Henry and Rollo and several of the 
 other children went in and asked Miss Mary 
 if she was willing that chey should go down 
 to the spring. Miss Mary consented, and 
 appointed Henry the dipper-master. Then 
 away they went, and while Henry went to 
 borrow the dipper, the rest waited at the door. 
 
 In a few minutes they were all walking 
 along, Henry with his dipper at the head, out 
 through a back gate which led behind the gar- 
 den. Here they came to a little wood, with 
 a narrow path leading into it. Rollo was 
 next to Henry, then one or two other girls, 
 and at last came Dovey. She did not set out 
 with them at first ; she said she did not want 
 to go; — she could get water enough at the 
 pump ; but when she saw them all walking 
 off so pleasantly together, she ran after them, 
 swinging her bonnet round and round her 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 49 
 
 finger by one of the strings. At length the 
 string broke and the bonnet flew out upon the 
 grass ; but Dovey left it and ran on. So it 
 happened that when they got to the spring 
 she was last. 
 
 Henry dipped up some water and gave it 
 to Rollo. Rollo handed it along to one of the 
 girls, and she drank some. While she was 
 drinking, Dovey came up and took hold of the 
 dipper, and said, 
 
 " Let me taste of it' 
 
 "No," said Henry, coming up; "I am 
 dipper-master." 
 
 "I don't care for that," said Dovey; "I 
 want to drink." 
 
 "No," said Henry, taking hold of the 
 other side of the dipper. 
 
 " Let go !" said Dovey, stamping with her 
 foot. ' 
 
 "Let her have it, Henry; I would," said 
 Rollo. 
 
 The reason why Rollo advised Henry to 
 let her have it was, that his father and mother 
 had always taught him never to attempt to 
 do any thing by violence, and never to resist 
 violence from another. Henry accordingly let 
 go of the dipper, though he did it very reluc- 
 tantly, saying. 
 
50 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 " Why, Miss Mary said I might be dipper- 
 master. You have no right to take it away," 
 said he to Dovey, who went on drinking, and 
 eyeing Henry over the edge of the dipper. 
 
 "Yes I have," said Dovey, stopping to 
 take breath. " I have a right to drink when- 
 ever I have got a mind to." She then drank 
 a little again. 
 
 " You said just now, before we came down, 
 that you did not want any water," said one 
 of the girls gently. 
 
 "Well, there, take your water," said Dovey; 
 and she threw what was left in the dipper 
 over the children, and turned round and ran, 
 carrying the dipper away with her. 
 
 The children cried, "Oh what a shame," 
 and brushed the water off of each other's 
 clothes, an^l wiped their faces. Then they 
 began to walk slowly towards the house, and 
 when they came out of the woods they saw 
 Dovey swinging upon the back gate with the 
 dipper in her hand. 
 
 "There! she is swinging upon the gate," 
 said one of the girls. 
 
 " Perhaps, however," said Lucy, " she does 
 not know it is against the rule." 
 
 " Dovey," said Henry, aloud, as soon as 
 they got within hearing, " give me the dipper ; 
 I must carry it back into the kitchen." 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 51 
 
 Dovey did not answer; she went on swing- 
 ing back and forth upon the gate. 
 
 ' Come, Dovey, give it to me," repeated 
 Henry, holding out his hand and advancing 
 towards her. But Dovey was, unfortunately, 
 not one of those girls who easily give up 
 when they are doing wrong. She jumped off 
 of the gate, passed through, and then shut 
 and fastened it, with the hasp, and held it, as 
 if she was not going to let them come through. 
 
 Just then the bell rang for the end of the re- 
 cess ; and the children began to be very uneasy. 
 One very little girl began to cry. Lucy told 
 her not to cry, for she said that Miss Mary 
 would not blame them for being late, when 
 she knew all about it. 
 
 " But how shall we get back at all ? " said 
 the little girl. 
 
 " Oh, Miss Mary will come down pretty 
 soon, to see where we are," said Lucy. 
 
 As soon as Dovey heard this, she knew 
 that it would not be safe for her to stay there 
 any longer, so she let go of the gate, threw 
 the dipper away over into the garden as far 
 as she could throw it, and ran off towards 
 the school-room. 
 
 The children then unfastened the gate, 
 and all passed through and walked along. 
 
52 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 They stopped a minute while Rollo picked 
 up Dovey's bonnet, which was lying by the 
 side of the path, upon the grass, and then 
 they all went into the school-room. 
 
KOLLO AT SCHOOL. 53 
 
 DOVEYISM. 
 
 That is, they all went into the school-room 
 except Dovey herself. She knew that she 
 had done very wrong, and was afraid to go 
 back. So she ran off home. Miss Mary 
 perceived that there had been some difficulty, 
 but she made no inquiry about it at first, and 
 the children did not wish to make complaints 
 of Dovey, and so they all went to their seats 
 and said nothing. 
 
 Henry was somewhat at a loss to know 
 what he must do about the dipper. It was 
 his duty to bring it safely back, and as it had 
 been thrown over the garden fence, where he 
 could not get it, he thought he ought to go 
 and tell Miss Mary. He accordingly went 
 to her table, and said, in a low voice, that he 
 had not brought back the dipper. 
 
 '•Where is it?" said Miss Mary. 
 
 "It is over in the garden." 
 
 " How came it over there?" 
 
 "Dovey threw it over." 
 
 "Where is Dovey?" 
 
 " I believe she has gone home. 7 ' 
 5* 
 
54 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 " Yery well," said Miss Mary, after a mo- 
 ment's pause; " you may go out and get it. 
 You may ask any one you please to go out 
 with you and help 3^011 rind it." 
 
 Henry asked Rollo to go with him. They 
 went out through the front gate, into the road 
 before the house, and thence into the yard on 
 the other side. They saw a great many 
 things which attracted their attention, but 
 they did not stop to look at them. A large 
 boy was coming across the yard with a 
 wheelbarrow. He called out to them in a 
 rough voice to go back ; but when they told 
 him that Miss Mary sent them, he said, " Oh, 
 very well." 
 
 In the garden there were a great many very 
 pleasant walks, and trees, and flowers. At first 
 they did not know where to look for the dip- 
 per; but presently went and peeped through 
 the fence to see where Dovey stood when she 
 threw it, and then they knew in what direc- 
 tion they must look. At last they found it in 
 the midst of some currant bushes. 
 
 " How I should like to stay here a little 
 while," said Henry, as they walked along 
 the alley towards the house. 
 
 "Yes," said Rollo, "if we only had leave." 
 
 "Perhaps Miss Mary will let us come in 
 here some time," said Henry. 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 55 
 
 When they reached the house, Henry went 
 in and returned the dipper to its place, and 
 then he and Rollo went back to school. 
 
 Miss Mary rang .the bell for the children to 
 put away their books earlier than usual that 
 afternoon, and then, when the room was still, 
 she said to the children that she believed that 
 there was some difficulty in the recess, and 
 she asked that if any of them were willing to 
 tell her freely all about it, they would hold 
 up their hands. 
 
 All the children who went down to the 
 spring then held up their hands. 
 
 "I am glad to see that you are willing," 
 said Miss Mary, - looking around upon them 
 all ; " and now I don't know who to call upon, 
 for there are very few children who know 
 how to tell such a story properly. It is very 
 hard.'-' 
 
 "Is it V said a little boy on a front seat. 
 
 "Yes," said Miss Mary, "very hard, as 
 we shall see. Francis, you may try ; but 
 remember, I want an honest and an impartial 
 account." 
 
 Francis was on the whole a pretty good 
 boy, but he was very much displeased with 
 Dovey, and Miss Mary saw very plainly, by 
 his manner of telling the story, that he was 
 
56 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 not by any means impartial. He stated the 
 facts pretty correctly, but he seemed very 
 eager to throw all the blame upon Dovey, and 
 it happened in this case that she deserved it. 
 Still it would have been better for him to have 
 related the occurrence in a more calm and 
 quiet manner. 
 
 When he concluded, Miss Mary asked Rollo 
 to tell the story, and he did so. His account 
 agreed very fully with Francis's. Then Miss 
 Mary asked the children if they all thought 
 that these two accounts were correct, and fair 
 accounts, and they all held up their hands, 
 meaning that they did. 
 
 After a short pause, Miss Mary addressed 
 the scholars thus : — 
 
 "I am sorry that Dovey is not here, for I 
 make it a rule never to decide against children 
 until I hear what they have to say them- 
 selves. We will wait, therefore, until to-mor- 
 row, and then I will ask Dovey for her ac- 
 count of the affair. " 
 
 The children all thought that this was un- 
 necessary forbearance; though they made no 
 objection to waiting. After school, however, 
 they came around Miss Mary's table, and 
 began to talk about it again. 
 
 "Miss Mary," said Henry, "I wish you 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 57 
 
 would send Dovey away from school. She 
 spoils all our play." 
 
 "She is so cross and selfish," said Fran- 
 cis. 
 
 "And then she plays in school," said 
 Rollo. 
 
 "Yes," said Henry, "she tried to make 
 me play to-day." 
 
 " And she has been marking all over her 
 desk," said a little girl, who happened to sit 
 near her. 
 
 "Where?" said Miss Mary. 
 
 The children went to Dovey' s desk, and 
 Miss Mary followed. The little girl lifted up 
 the lid, and Miss Mary saw a number of rude 
 marks and drawings on the lid inside. The 
 books were all tumbled in in confusion, and 
 crumbs of gingerbread were scattered about 
 the bottom of the desk. In one corner was a 
 paper box, which she had made ; there were 
 flies buzzing in it, which she had caught and 
 imprisoned there. 
 
 Miss Mary looked at all these things, but 
 said nothing, and presently walked back to 
 her table again. 
 
 "Well, children, we will not talk any 
 more about Dovey to-night ; I will consider 
 what to do to-morrow, after I have seen her. 
 
6*8 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 But I am in hopes that her coming to school 
 will be the means of doing a great deal of 
 good." 
 
 " " Good ! " said several of the children with 
 much surprise; " what good?" 
 
 " In showing you how bad such character 
 and conduct is, when it is fully developed; 
 and thus leading you to avoid it." 
 
 '•' Why, Miss Mary," said a little girl, " we 
 are not like Dovey." 
 
 lJ Not so bad as Dovey, any of you, but 
 still there was a good deal of Doveyism in 
 the school before she came." 
 
 The children looked at one another with a 
 smile ; many of them did not know exactly 
 what Miss Mary meant. 
 
 " Now, for example, one trait in such a 
 character as Dovey' s is disorder. Now if I 
 were to go all about the room, and look into 
 every desk, and examine the condition of 
 them, I think I should find considerable Do- 
 veyism" 
 
 Miss Mary smiled pleasantly as she said 
 this, and the children proposed that she 
 should go around and see. She said she 
 would look at the desks of those who were 
 present, and they accordingly all walked along 
 together. They came first to Henry's desk, 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 59 
 
 and upon opening it they found that it ap- 
 peared in pretty good order, but there were 
 a good many crumbs upon the bottom of it, 
 and Miss Mary reached her hand into one 
 of the back corners and lifted up a slate, and 
 found under it a pile of small books, old pa- 
 pers, pens, &c. 
 
 " There is a little Doveyism" said Miss 
 Mary, with a smile. 
 
 "Well, I did not know what to do with 
 them," said Henry. 
 
 " If you had thought a moment you would 
 have known that the crumbs might be brushed 
 up, and the old pens and papers thrown away. 
 I think we must call it Doveyisnt.^ 
 
 "Now look at Rollo's desk," said Lucy, 
 opening the lid. Rollo's was in beautiful 
 order ; but it was partly because his mother 
 had told him exactly how to keep things in 
 order, and partly because he had been in 
 school only a day or two, and his things had 
 not got disarranged. 
 
 " That looks very well," said Miss Mary, 
 ' { but I can judge better of Rollo's character 
 for order a fortnight hence." 
 
 As they passed along the room, from desk 
 to desk, the scholars found much more disor- 
 der than they had expected. In some cases 
 
60 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 they found books with the leaves tumbled, 
 and the corners and edges curled up. The 
 first example of this kind that they came to, 
 was at a boy's desk named John. His desk 
 was in pretty good order, only there was a 
 spelling book open in the middle of it, with 
 the leaves curled up and the corners doubled 
 down, and tattered and torn so much that it 
 immediately attracted their attention. 
 
 "Why, John," said Miss Mary, " here's 
 Doveyism" 
 
 " But, Miss Mary," said John, looking up 
 to her very earnestly, as if he had a perfectly 
 good ground of defence, " I cannot make 
 my leaves stay out straight. I have pressed 
 them and pressed them : and now my book 
 has got so bad that it will not stay shut." 
 
 " Do you know what makes the leaves 
 curl up so?" asked Miss Mary. 
 
 " Oh, they curl up themselves," said John. 
 
 " No," said Miss Mary ; "your elbows are 
 the rogues." She then sat down at the desk, 
 and held the book open before her and began 
 to lean forward upon it, in an awkward and 
 indolent manner, as children often do at 
 school, and showed John that that was the 
 way the corners of the leaves were doubled 
 over. John looked rather foolish, and the 
 rest of the children laughed. 
 
R0LL0 AT SCHOOL. 61 
 
 She then told John, that if he would always 
 be careful to keep his hook in its proper place 
 upon the desk, and not lean forward upon it, 
 or rest his elbows upon it, he would find 
 there would be no more dog's ears in it. 
 
 "I'll try," said John ; " but what shall I do 
 with all these that are already made ? I wish 
 my father would buy me a new book." 
 
 "You will soon get by those, to a new 
 psrt of the book, and if you press them all 
 down smooth every rrTght, the leaves will 
 soon come straight again. But you will find 
 it rather harder than you suppose to avoid 
 making more. You will not leave off the 
 habit all at once, I am afraid." 
 
 "Are Dovey's books so?" asked one of the 
 children. 
 
 "I suppose so," said Miss Mary. 
 
 One of the children then went to Dovey's 
 desk and took out a book or two to see, and 
 brought them to Miss Mary. They were full 
 of dog's ears, ink spots, and tattered leaves. 
 Miss Mary and the scholars all looked at 
 them in silence, the children all secretly re- 
 solving to smooth out every curled leaf in 
 their books as soon as possible, and to take 
 special care not to make any more. 
 
 Presently they came to a desk where a 
 6 
 
62 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 pleasant little girl sat, and as the party ap- 
 proached it she seemed to be trying to cover 
 up a long hole in the green baize on the top 
 of it with her hand. As the scholars were 
 opening the lid, Miss Mary held it down to 
 look at the baize, saying, 
 
 " But stop a minute; what is this hole?" 
 
 '•"Why, Miss Mary," said the little girl, 
 somewhat confused, "I cut that with a 
 knife yesterday. I was in a hurry to cut 
 some paper. I did not think it would come 
 through, but it did, and made that ugly hole." 
 
 "Heedlessness," said Miss Mary. "That 
 is a very important trait in the Dovey char- 
 acter. Dovey girls are always doing some 
 mischief from mere heedlessness, as well as 
 other mischief from design. They upset their 
 inkstands, they cut their ringers, they tear 
 their clothes by climbing, or get into the mud 
 by running along and not minding where 
 they are going, they scratch the furniture, and 
 bring mud into the house, and break glass, 
 and hurt themselves and one another, and do 
 a thousand other heedless things. Now, chil- 
 dren, don't you think you are sometimes 
 guilty of some such things?" 
 
 Miss Mary asked the question with a pleas- 
 ant countenance, but the children did not 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 63 
 
 answer. They looked a little confounded. 
 They felt guilty, and saw that they were all 
 sometimes much more like Dovey than they 
 had supposed. 
 
 " Dovey' s heedlessness," continued Miss 
 Mary, '-when she tossed her bag along be- 
 fore her upon the ground, with an inkstand 
 full of ink in it, may have been greater in 
 degree than you commonly manifest, but it 
 is precisely the same in kind." 
 
 " Well, but, Miss Mary," said Rollo, " there 
 are certainly some things which Dovey does, 
 that we don't do at all." 
 
 " What things V said Miss Mary. 
 
 At first Rollo could not answer, but pres- 
 ently he and some of the other children men- 
 tioned several of the more gross cases of her 
 selfishness and rudeness. Miss Mary ad- 
 mitted that the other scholars did not do any 
 thing quite so bad, but yet she called a great 
 many cases to their minds in which they had 
 shown the same spirit, though they had not 
 exercised it in so great a degree. She showed 
 them also that it was this spirit and charac- 
 ter which was wrong, and that if it was not 
 w-holly changed it had a tendency to grow 
 worse and worse, until they should become 
 ae bad as Dovey. 
 
64 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 The scholars all listened attentively and 
 with very serious looks to what Miss Mary 
 said, and when, at last, she told them it was 
 time for them to go home, they all went away, 
 determining that the next day they would be 
 trery careful not to be like Dovey in any 
 thing at all. Henry determined that he 
 would put his desk in order the first thing in 
 the morning, and engaged Rollo to show him 
 how. 
 
 The children saw no more of Dovey for 
 two or three days. 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 65 
 
 INGENUOUSNESS. 
 
 One or two days after this, Rollo and two 
 or three of the other children were playing in 
 the orchard, in the recess, and they had 
 rambled to some distance from the house, 
 along a kind of cart path through the grass. 
 At length Rollo saw, at a little distance be- 
 fore them, that the path led through a great 
 red gate, which was open. Beyond the gate 
 was a wood, which looked very pleasant, 
 and Rollo wanted to go there. 
 
 " Oh, let us go out through that great gate." 
 said he. 
 
 "No, no," said Lucy, "we must not go 
 out of the orchard." 
 
 "Why not?" said Rollo. 
 
 "Why, Miss Mary said," replied Henry, 
 " that we must not. She said she did not 
 want to have us climb over that great gate ; 
 but it is open now ; so I suppose we may go." 
 
 " No," said Lucy, - ! we had better not ; Miss 
 Mary does not want us to go so far away." 
 
 « Why, there is no harm in going so far 
 away," said Rollo, "if the gate is open. I 
 
 c* 6* 
 
66 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 suppose she was afraid we should tear our 
 clothes, getting over the gate. That is all 
 the reason." 
 
 " No, it is not," said a little girl named 
 Anne, who was with them. " She said we 
 could not hear the bell if we were far away." 
 
 "Oh yes; we can hear the hell, just over 
 there ; it is not but a few steps farther." 
 
 "You had better not," said Lucy; "I am 
 going back. Come, Anne." 
 
 But Anne sat still upon the grass, pulling 
 out the little pink corollas from the clover 
 tops, and biting off the sweet end ; and look- 
 ing occasionally at Rollo and Henry, who 
 walked along towards the gate. Lucy turned 
 back now and then, as she moved slowly 
 along towards the school-room, and called to 
 Anne ; but Anne paid no attention to her. 
 
 In the mean time Rollo and Henry came 
 up pretty near the gate, and looked through, 
 but they felt a little afraid to go; so they 
 walked along by the stone wall, looking for 
 berries, until at length they got to playing to- 
 gether, and Henry pulled off Rollo' s cap, and 
 laughing very heartily all the time, he threw 
 it away over the wall. 
 
 " There, now I have got to go," said Rollo, 
 " to get my cap, and you must go too." 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 67 
 
 So Rollo and Henry went along together 
 through the gate, and Anne followed them 
 timidly. When they got through, they did 
 not immediately go and get the cap, and 
 come directly back; but they sauntered 
 slowly along, looking at the trees and flowers. 
 
 Presently, however, Rollo took up his cap 
 and put it on, just as Henry saw a little 
 squirrel running along upon a log, and the 
 boys concluded to watch him and follow him, 
 so as to find out where his hole was. The 
 squirrel ran along the log, and at the end of 
 it he came to a small tree. He ran up the 
 tree, thence along one of the branches, and 
 at the end of that branch he looked down 
 upon the extremity of a branch from another 
 tree. The children were exceedingly pleased 
 to see how far he could leap, and how dexter- 
 ously he could seize hold of the slender 
 branch, which bent down very far under his 
 weight; and they followed him along from 
 tree to tree, and from log to log, until they 
 were at some little distance from the cart 
 path. 
 
 k Hark ! what's that? " said Anne. 
 
 The children all listened ; and they heard 
 some footsteps in the path. They looked in 
 that direction, and saw through the trees a 
 
68 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 man going along with a yoke of oxen before 
 him. The children stood looking at him a 
 few minutes, and saw that, as soon as the 
 oxen went through into the orchard, the man 
 swung the gate to, and latched it, and then 
 ran along to overtake his oxen, before the 
 children had time to think that they were 
 shut out. 
 
 "Now how shall we get home again?" 
 said Anne, walking along towards the gate, 
 and looking as if she was just going to cry. 
 
 Rollo and Henry walked along too, pretty 
 fast, as they felt a little anxious, but Rollo 
 said they could get over the gate well enough. 
 
 But Anne said she never could climb over 
 that great high gate, and besides, Miss Mary 
 said they never must climb over it. 
 
 They went to it and first tried to open it, 
 but they could not move the great heavy iron 
 latch. 
 
 "We must climb now," said Rollo; " we 
 cannot possibly get back unless we do." 
 
 They tried to persuade Anne to do it, but 
 she was not accustomed to climbing, and she 
 was afraid. She stepped up one or two bars, 
 but did not dare to go any farther, and when 
 Rollo and Henry tried to lift her up gently, 
 she screamed and cried. 
 
KOLLO AT SCHOOL. 69 
 
 " Let us go and leave her," said Rollo, a 
 little out of patience. 
 
 "No," said Henry, "I would not leave 
 her here all alone ;" and he looked around as 
 if he did not know what to do. 
 
 As he turned around thus, he saw through 
 the woods out towards the main road, and 
 perceived that the road was not very far off, 
 and he proposed that they should go out 
 there and try to get over into the great road, 
 and then walk along in it to the front of the 
 house. 
 
 They accordingly walked along, following 
 the wall, and endeavoring to find some place 
 where they might climb over. But the wall 
 was pretty high,* and it was made of round 
 and loose stones, and they were afraid it 
 would tumble down upon them if they at- 
 tempted to climb over. At length, however, 
 they reached the road, and there they found 
 a pair of open bars, so open that they could 
 creep through, and thus they got fairly out 
 into the main road. 
 
 Here they thought their troubles were all 
 over, and they proceeded slowly along, until 
 they heard a little bell ringing in the direction 
 of the school-room, and they all looked up 
 and began to walk faster. But in a minute 
 
70 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 or two they saw on before them, in the road, 
 a large drove of pigs coming along. This 
 drove was just about opposite to the house 
 that the school-room was in, and there were so 
 many in it that they filled up the road, and 
 the sides of the road, from wall to wall, and 
 they were coming rapidly along. 
 
 The children stopped and did not know 
 what to do ; but the drove came nearer and 
 nearer, and some of the foremost pigs came 
 running along in advance of the rest, kick- 
 ing up their heels and squealing, and the 
 children, a good deal frightened, turned and 
 ran, Rollo holding Anne by the hand. They 
 might have crept back under the bars into the 
 wood again, but they forgot that place of re- 
 treat until they had passed by it, and so they 
 went on walking fast and running until they 
 came to another farm-house. Here was a 
 large yard by the side of the house, and the 
 children fled into it ; for greater safety they 
 mounted up into a large wagon which stood 
 there, and sitting down upon the seat, they 
 watched the drove until it had got by. # 
 
 Then they got down from the wagon, and 
 hurried along to school without any further 
 adventures. They found, when they came 
 in 3 that they were very late. The scholars 
 
 * See Frontispiece. 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 71 
 
 were all at their studies, and one class was 
 reciting. Miss Mary, however, said nothing 
 to them, and they all took their seats and 
 began their studies. 
 
 When the scholars had all put away their 
 books that afternoon, just before school was 
 done, Miss Mary said, 
 
 " Children, I want you all to attend to me. 
 This afternoon three of the scholars were 
 very late after recess. Something special 
 must have taken place to have kept them out 
 so long. I am going to call upon each of 
 them to tell me the whole story. Now I want 
 you to tell me a plain, straight-forward, hon- 
 est story, from beginning to end. Anne, as 
 you are the youngest, you may begin." 
 
 Anne stood up immediately, and, with a 
 very honest and innocent face, said, 
 
 "Why, please, Miss Mary, we could not 
 get back because the road was so full of pigs." 
 
 At this all the scholars laughed, and even 
 Miss Mary smiled. Presently, however, she 
 said, 
 
 "But, Anne, that is not telling me the 
 whole story. I want you to begin at the be- 
 ginning, and tell me all about it; — where 
 you went, and what you did, and all that 
 happened." 
 
72 EOLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 Anne looked this way and that, a little 
 confused, and then said, 
 
 " Why, Miss Mary, — I'll tell you ; we went, 
 — we had to go, — you see, — out in the road ; 
 and we could not get along till the pigs went 
 by." 
 
 Here the scholars laughed again, and Miss 
 Mary said that she supposed that Anne was 
 not quite old enough to tell a regular and 
 connected story, and so she would let Henry 
 try. " I wish you to begin at the beginning, 
 Henry, and tell me all about it, from begin- 
 ning to end." 
 
 "Well," said Henry, "I .will tell you. 
 You see we were playing out in the orchard, 
 out by the two pear trees. Rollo had some 
 wishing grass, and he wanted me to wish 
 with him. And, — and, — I told him that I 
 thought after school I should go and take 
 a ride with my father. And he asked me 
 where, and I told him I thought I should go 
 over the river ; — and then we went to catching 
 butterflies, and, — and—-" 
 
 " But stop a minute, Henry," said Miss 
 Mary ; " you are not going on right, at all. 
 You are not telling me any thing about the 
 cause of your being late. I want you to tell 
 me only what relates to that ; and you need 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 73 
 
 not give all the conversation, and the minute 
 details, but only the important points, so that 
 I can understand who was to blame and how 
 you were to blame." 
 
 Heiii'y reflected a moment, and then he said 
 again, 
 
 " We were playing out by the great gate, 
 and Rollo was going through to get his cap, 
 and wanted me to go with him ; and he told 
 me you would let us go if the gate was open. 
 So I went, and then we could not come back 
 that way, for a man came along and shut the 
 gate. So we had to go out by the road, and 
 there we met all the pigs." 
 
 " Now, Rollo, we will hear your story." 
 
 " Why, Miss Mary, Henry told me that the 
 reason why you did not want us to go over 
 there, was because we must not climb over 
 the gate ; and so I thought as the gate was 
 open we might go; and he threw my cap 
 over, and so I was obliged to go ; and then 
 Anne would not come back that way, be- 
 cause the gate was shut ; and then we had 
 to go around by the road, and that took us 
 a great while on account of the pigs." 
 
 After a short pause, Miss Mary looked up 
 and said, "I am not quite satisfied with 
 either of those accounts." 
 d 7 
 
74 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 " That is just the way it was. Miss Mary,' 
 said Rollo. 
 
 " Do you think you did any thing wrong 
 in going away as you did?" 
 
 " Why, Henry threw my hat over," said 
 Rollo. 
 
 " That is not what I asked you. Do you 
 think now, in looking back over the whole 
 transaction, that you did any thing wrong?" 
 
 Rollo hung his head, and was silent a mo- 
 ment, and then said timidly, 
 
 " Why, yes, — I suppose I did." 
 
 " But no one would have supposed that you 
 did any thing wrong from your account of 
 it," said Miss Mary. 
 
 Rollo was silent. 
 
 " And, Henry, do you think, now, that you 
 did any thing wrong?" 
 
 " Why — yes," said Henry reluctantly. 
 
 "But from your account of the matter, no 
 one would have thought that you were at all 
 m fault. 
 
 "Children," said Miss Mary again, speak- 
 ing to the whole school, "do you know 
 what ingenuousness is?" 
 
 The children were silent. 
 
 Miss Mary looked around the room, and 
 presently saw in one comer a little hand 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 75 
 
 raised. It was held up by a girl who thought 
 she could tell what it meant. 
 
 "What does it mean?" said Miss Mary. 
 " What is an ingenuous boy?" 
 
 "It is any body that can make curious 
 things," said the little girl. 
 
 " No," said Miss Mary, " you are thinking 
 of ingenious. Ingenuous is another word. 
 An ingenuous boy is one who is frank and 
 honest, and open-hearted in relating every 
 thing just as it occurred, especially where he 
 was himself to blame. He does not tell other 
 persons' faults and hide his own, but he would 
 rather tell his own, and say as little as possi- 
 ble of other persons'. Now, children, do you 
 think that these boys have been ingenuous or 
 disingenuous?" 
 
 " Disingenuous," said the children. 
 
 " Yes ; each one has told wherein the other 
 was to blame, and concealed what he did 
 that was wrong himself. I suppose they 
 have not either of them told a falsehood, but 
 they have not been frank and ingenuous. 
 
 Rollo and Henry felt guilty and hung their 
 heads, and they were expecting that Miss 
 Mary was going to say something more ; but 
 presently, when they looked up again, they 
 saw that she was finding the place to read in 
 
76 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 the Bible, and soon after she closed the 
 school. The boys then expected that she 
 would speak to them after school, but she 
 did not. So they took their hats and went 
 home. 
 
 Rollo felt uneasy and uncomfortable all the 
 evening, and Jonas saw him walking about 
 the yard, looking thoughtful and sober ; and 
 so just at sundown, when Jonas was going to 
 the barn, to shut it up and make all snug for 
 the night, he asked Rollo to go with him. 
 Jonas put things in order in the barn, and 
 then untied a horse which was standing there, 
 and asked Rollo to lead him out to the pump 
 to drink. When he had drank, Rollo led him 
 back, and Jonas fastened him into his stall 
 again. Then they went up into the chamber 
 to pitch him down some hay. Rollo sat 
 down at the great window, — the same place 
 where they used to watch their squirrel traps 
 with a spy-glass. 
 
 "Well, Rollo," said Jonas, "and what 
 trouble have you had at school to-day?" 
 
 " Trouble ! " said Rollo, a little surprised, 
 " no trouble that I know of." 
 
 "A little, I guess," said Jonas, pitching 
 down another forkfull of hay. 
 
 " Why I was late at recess," said Rollo, 
 "thatisalL" 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 77 
 
 "I knew that something was the matter," 
 said Jonas; "come, tell me all about it." 
 
 So Rollo told Jonas all about it, walking 
 around after him, as he went about fastening 
 up the doors. He got through just as Jonas 
 was putting the fid into the staple of the 
 great front doors. 
 
 "Is that really the whole story, honestly 
 told?" said Jonas, as they walked along 
 towards the small door where they were to 
 go out. 
 
 " Yes," said Rollo. And it was really so, 
 for Rollo had determined that he would not be 
 disingenuous again, and so he told Jonas the 
 whole story honestly and fairly. 
 
 " And what are you going to do now ? " said 
 Jonas, as they came out of the small door 
 and fastened it up. 
 
 " Why,— I don't know." The truth is that 
 Rollo had not thought that there was any 
 thing for him to do. 
 
 " I know what /would do," said Jonas. 
 
 "What?" said Rollo. 
 
 " I should go to Miss Mary to-morrow 
 morning, and ask her to let you and Henry 
 try again to tell the story, and see if you can- 
 not do it ingenuously" 
 
 " I did not think of that," said Rollo. 
 7*. 
 
78 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 " You had better do it," said Jonas. 
 
 "1 think I will," said Rollo. 
 
 The next morning Rollo hastened along 
 towards school, so as to get there a little be- 
 fore the time. The children were nearly all 
 there, some sitting at their desks, and some 
 standing around the room. Rollo went up to 
 Miss Mary's desk, and stood still there a few 
 minutes, waiting for an opportunity to speak 
 to her. Presently Miss Mary looked up from 
 her writing and said, 
 
 " Well, Rollo, good morning. Do you 
 want to speak to me?" 
 
 " Yes, Miss Mary," said Rollo. "I am sorry 
 that I did not tell about our going away more 
 honestly yesterday, and wanted "to know if 
 you would let us try again to-day." 
 
 " Does Henry wish for an opportunity to 
 try again?" 
 
 " I don't know," said Rollo. " He has not 
 come yet, and so I could not ask him." 
 
 "Very well," said Miss Mary, " I will see 
 about it." 
 
 Accordingly, just before school was done 
 that day, Miss Mary told the scholars that 
 the boys wanted to have an opportunity to 
 tell the story of their going away, again, to 
 see if they could not do it in a more in genu- 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 79 
 
 ous manner. She had spoken to Henry ahout 
 it in the course of the day, and he liked 
 Rollo's plan. 
 
 So when all their books were put away, 
 Miss Mary said, 
 
 "Now, Henry." 
 
 Henry rose and told his story thus : 
 
 "We were out there playing, and Rollo 
 wanted to go through the gate; he did not 
 know you had forbidden it. I wanted to go too 
 very much, and I told him that I thought we 
 might go if the gate was open. Lucy was 
 there and told us we ought not to go, and she 
 went away. By and by, I threw Rollo's cap 
 over, and then he and I went to get it. But 
 we did not come back directly. We played 
 around there in the woods, until somebody 
 came along and shut the gate. After that 
 we came home as soon as we could, though 
 it took us a good while, for we had to come 
 round by the road, and there was a drove of 
 pigs coming along, and we had to stop." 
 
 " Well, Rollo," said Miss Mary, "now let 
 us hear your account of it." 
 
 "We were playing out there, and I wanted 
 to go through the gate ; Lucy told me I ought 
 not to, but I tried to persuade Henry to go, 
 and then, when I went over after my cap, I 
 
80 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 led him along ; and we took Anne with us 
 too. Then we played about there in the 
 woods, looking at a squirrel, until we got shut 
 out, and we could not open the gate, and 
 Anne was afraid to get over, so we came 
 around by the road." 
 
 " Yery well," said Miss Mary; "now you 
 have told the story very well, both of you. 
 Each of you have told his own faults more 
 distinctly than he did those of the other. 
 That is always the best way. It is much 
 more pleasant than it is to have each one ex- 
 cusing himself and throwing all the blame 
 upon his playmates ; which is the way boys 
 very often do." 
 
 Late that afternoon, after school, Miss Mary 
 happened to be standing at the little portico 
 of the school-room door, looking out into the 
 orchard, and turning her head in the direction 
 towards the little gate which led towards the 
 spring, she saw among the trees and shrubs 
 the bare head of a little girl, moving about 
 near the gate. She thought at. once that it 
 was Dovey, and supposed that she had come 
 to look for her bonnet. Now Rollo had 
 brought the bonnet in, and it was hanging up 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 81 
 
 upon a nail in the entry, and so Miss Mary- 
 took it down and walked out to meet her. 
 
 Now Miss Mary was well acquainted with 
 bad children, and knew pretty well how 
 they would he likely to feel and act in almost 
 all situations. She supposed that the reason 
 why Dovey had not come to school that day, 
 was because she had been afraid to, after her 
 bad behavior of the day before. She deter- 
 mined therefore to speak to her kindly now, 
 in hopes that, when she saw she had nothing 
 to fear, she would come to school again. She 
 accordingly went up pretty near to the gate 
 before Dovey saw her, and then called to her 
 in a mild and pleasant voice. 
 
 Dovey looked up quite surprised. 
 
 " Are you looking for your bonnet?" 
 
 "Yes," said Dovey, " I am," and that in- 
 stant saw that Miss Mary had it in her hand. 
 
 " Here it is," said Miss Mary. 
 
 Dovey came up timidly to take it, looking 
 as if she expected that Miss Mary was going 
 to seize her. 
 
 "Is your mother pretty well to-day?" said 
 Miss Mary, with a pleasant voice, as she 
 handed her the bonnet. 
 
 "Yes, ma'am," said Dovey; and she took 
 her bonnet hastily and walked away. She 
 
82 
 
 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 went directly out through the front gate and 
 disappeared. 
 
 Miss Mary hoped, after this, that she should 
 see Dovey at school the next day, but she 
 did not come. 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 83 
 
 SUBMISSION. 
 
 In one part of the orchard, not far from the 
 garden fence, there stood, or rather reclined, 
 an old pear tree. Many years before, it had 
 been struck with lightning, and split down 
 through the middle. One half had died, and 
 had been long since cut away. The other part 
 had been gradually borne down by the load 
 of its branches and fruit, until some of the 
 large limbs touched the ground, where it 
 rested, the trunk being, for some distance, 
 nearly horizontal. 
 
 Now by the side of this tree, in a corner 
 of the orchard, there lay a great heap of 
 brush-wood, which came from the cuttings 
 of the trees when they trimmed them in the 
 spring. The children had asked Miss Mary 
 to let them ha\ r e these branches to build a 
 bower, by leaning them up against the trunk 
 of the pear tree ; and, one recess, they were 
 engaged in doing it. Xlollo was master work- 
 man, for he had learned to make wigwams 
 and bowers, by working with Jonas in the 
 woods. 
 
 So the other children were bringing the 
 
84 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 branches along, after pulling them out of the 
 pile, and Rollo was placing them on each 
 side of the stem of the pear tree. The way 
 he placed them was this : he placed the large 
 ends upon the ground, and leaned the tops 
 over against the trunk of the tree, which 
 was about four feet above the ground, and 
 formed a sort of ridge-pole, very convenient 
 for supporting the tops of the branches, which 
 Rollo leaned against it. These branches 
 themselves formed the sides of the bower, and 
 the branches of the pear tree, where they 
 rested upon the ground, formed one end. 
 They left a space open near the root of the 
 tree for a door. 
 
 Most of the children who were there were 
 at work helping to build the bower, but there 
 was one boy, not quite so large as Rollo, in a 
 straw hat and striped jacket, who was 
 perched up upon the pear tree, pretty near to 
 the end of the horizontal part of the wood. 
 Rollo recollected having seen him in the 
 school-room, but he did not know his name. 
 He had rather an ill-natured expression of 
 countenance, and he sat idly upon the tree, 
 with his hands in his pockets and his legs 
 dangling below. 
 
 At length Rollo stopped a moment from his 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 85 
 
 work to rest, and, looking up pleasantly to- 
 wards the boy, said, 
 
 " What is your name?" 
 
 "Julius," said the boy rather gruffly. 
 
 " Should not you like to help us build our 
 bower?" said Rollo. 
 
 " No," said Julius. 
 
 Rollo, thus repulsed, said no more, but went 
 on with his work. As, however, he gradu- 
 ally advanced along the tree, arranging the 
 branches regularly, he came at length to the 
 place where Julius was, and he asked him 
 if he would be so good as to get down, or else 
 move on among the branches of the pear tree, 
 so that he could finish the bower. But Ju- 
 lius would not move. Some of the other 
 children came up then bringing branches, 
 and began to call upon Julius to get down, 
 but still he would not, and they were fast 
 getting into a dispute about it, when they saw 
 Miss Mary coming. 
 
 Miss Mary was coming to see how they 
 were getting along with their bower. When 
 the children saw her, they stopped talking to 
 Julius, and he, being afraid of her, got down 
 from the pear tree, and in a few minutes went 
 away. 
 
 Miss Mary seemed quite pleased with the 
 8 
 
86 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 bower, and helped them finish it. She showed 
 them where it would be well for them to make 
 a window, and even began to make it herself; 
 but before she had got it finished the bell 
 rang, and she immediately left the work and 
 began to move towards the school, the chil- 
 dren all following her. 
 
 " I am sorry we have not time to finish it," 
 said Francis. " If Julius had not acted so, 
 we should have had it all done." 
 
 "I saw Julius," said Miss Mary, "and I 
 shall attend to it." 
 
 They went on, talking about their bower, 
 until they reached the school-room, and then 
 they all went in. Rollo observed, about half 
 an hour after this, that Julius was standing 
 at Miss Mary's desk, and that she was talk- 
 ing with him. She looked pleasant, but he 
 hung his head and appeared ill-natured and 
 sullen, and kept biting the corner of his jacket 
 all the time. Rollo thought that Miss Mary 
 was talking to him about his troubling them 
 in the recess, but she did not think he seemed 
 very sorry for his fault. 
 
 Rollo noticed Julius after this a good deal 
 more than he had done. He seemed to sit 
 pretty still in his seat, but did not study 
 much. He was idle and dull, playing with 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 87 
 
 his book or looking about the room. When 
 he came up to read, Kollo observed that he 
 had not smoothed down the corners of his 
 leaves, as all the rest of the children had done 
 with their books, after Miss Mary had talked 
 with them about it. At first Rollo thought 
 that perhaps Julius had not been present 
 when they talked about Doveyism, but then 
 he recollected seeing him walking about after 
 them that day, looking rather sullenly. 
 
 The children generally did not like Julius 
 very much, and yet they scarcely knew why. 
 He was not so full of mischief and roguery 
 as Dovey had been, and in fact he did not 
 often trouble them at all, but when he did do 
 wrong he seemed more obstinate and sullen 
 about it. When Miss Mary told the children 
 to put away their books at the close of the 
 school, Julius generally obeyed more slowly, 
 and made rather more noise. And when 
 Miss Mary asked them not to make so much 
 noise, all the rest would generally try to be 
 more still, except Julius, who commonly went 
 on rattling his slate and books about as much 
 as before. The scholars did not notice these 
 things very much, but Miss Mary did. She 
 always noticed very particularly when she 
 observed that any of the children did not 
 appear to wish to improve. 
 
88 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 After school that day, some of the children 
 came around Miss Mary's desk, and asked 
 her what she supposed had become of Dovey. 
 Miss Mary said that perhaps her mother 
 wanted her, or perhaps she was afraid to 
 come. "I wish," she continued, "that, if 
 any of you see her, you would tell her she 
 need not be afraid to come, for I am not going 
 to punish her." 
 
 a But are you not going to send her away 
 from school ?" said Henry. " We don't want 
 her to stay." 
 
 "I don't know," said Miss Mary; "that 
 depends upon what she has to say." 
 
 The children then solemnly assured Miss 
 Mary that they had themselves told her the 
 whole truth about the dipper, and that if 
 Dovey should say any thing different from 
 their account, it would not be true. 
 
 " I do not suppose." said Miss Mary, " that 
 Dovey will make out the facts to be different ; 
 but what I want to know is, whether she is 
 willing to leave off her bad conduct and try 
 to be a good girl, — or whether she is obstinate 
 and sullen, and going to continue bad." 
 
 " There's Dovey now," said Rollo, who 
 had been standing at the window near his 
 desk, looking out. " There, — she has gone." 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 89 
 
 The children all ran to the window to 
 look. Miss Mary said, 
 
 " Come back, children ; — come away from 
 the window, all of you." 
 
 They all obeyed except Julius, who still 
 lingered near, and tried to look out, without 
 appearing to do so. 
 
 " Come away, Julius," said Miss Mary. 
 
 H I am away," said Julius, moving a little 
 towards Miss Mary, and slipping down upon 
 a seat. In a moment, however, he was again 
 trying to look out of the window. 
 
 Miss Mary then said that she wished the 
 children would all go, and accordingly they 
 put on their things and went away, two or 
 three together, until the school-room was 
 empty and Miss Mary was alone. 
 
 Miss Mary then put on her bonnet and 
 walked along towards the woods where Rollo 
 had seen Dovey. She supposed that Dovey 
 had been afraid to come to school, and that 
 accordingly she had been playing around in 
 the woods during school hours, her mother 
 not knowing where she was. Miss Mary 
 was in hopes to find her, and persuade her to 
 come again. 
 
 She walked along, therefore, 'looking out 
 carefully for Dovey. She went through the 
 d* 8* 
 
90 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 gate leading down towards the spring, and 
 then turned off by a path which conducted 
 her to a little grove of maples. Here she 
 soon saw Dovey walking along the path 
 before her, stopping occasionally to gather 
 flowers. Miss Mary quickened her steps until 
 she came pretty near her, and then said, 
 
 "Dovey!" 
 
 Dovey started at hearing her name called 
 so near, and, turning round, saw Miss Mary. 
 Her first thought was to run, but when she 
 saw how pleasantly Miss Mary looked, her 
 fears were allayed, and she stood still. 
 
 " Are there any pretty flowers about here V 7 
 said Miss Mary. 
 
 " I have found so many," said Dovey, hold- 
 ing up a few which she had gathered. 
 
 w Let me see them," said Miss Mary; and 
 Dovey came up towards her, and they walked 
 along together, talking about the flowers 
 After a few minutes Miss Mary said, 
 
 " But, Dovey, why have you not been at 
 school these two or three days?" 
 
 "My mother has wanted me at home," 
 said Dovey, with some little hesitation. 
 
 Miss Mary thought that this was probably 
 not true, but she did not say so; she only 
 walked along, and presently she began to talk 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 91 
 
 with her ahout her bad conduct the other day, 
 and her conduct generally. 
 
 " Don't people blame you pretty often for 
 something or other, Dovey?" 
 
 " Yes, ma'am, prettf- often," said Dovey. 
 
 " Your mother blames you, does not she?" 
 
 "Yes, ma'am, she's all the time scolding 
 at me." 
 
 "And other people blame you?" 
 
 " Yes, ma'am." 
 
 "And the children you play with blame 
 you sometimes, do they not?" 
 
 "Yes, ma'am." 
 
 " Well, now the truth is, Dovey, that you 
 have a good many faults ; I think it probable 
 that you get blamed sometimes when you do 
 not deserve it, but I have no doubt that you 
 deserve a good deal of blame. You made a 
 good deal of trouble the first day you came 
 to school. Still I am glad you have come." 
 
 Dovey did not know exactly what to make 
 of this talk, and she did not reply. 
 
 " That is, I am glad you have come," con- 
 tinued Miss Mary, "if you are only willing 
 to try to cure yourself of your faults. You 
 are very young, and you may cure yourself 
 of them entirely if you choose, and I should 
 like to help you. But if you love your faults 
 
92 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 and do not wish to be cured of them, why, 
 of course, there is nothing to be done. You 
 must grow up a bad girl." 
 
 Dovey continued silent. She did not know 
 what to say. She had been scolded a great 
 deal about her faults and misdemeanors, but 
 she had never heard a kind and friendly con- 
 versation before, on the subject of her bad 
 character. Miss Mary, perceived, however, 
 that she was making some impression upon 
 her mind, and so she went 'on explaining to 
 her how much more happily her life would be 
 spent if she would become a gentle, docile, 
 obedient and industrious girl ; and she showed 
 her also how great a sin it was to be idle, 
 reckless, selfish, and unkind in her treatment 
 of her playmates, and undutiful to her mother. 
 
 Dovey heard it all in silence, and when 
 Miss Mary had finished, and waited to hear 
 what she would say. Dovey walked along a 
 few minutes without speaking a word. Then 
 she looked up into her teacher's face, and 
 said, 
 
 " Well, Miss Mary, I will come to school 
 this afternoon, and I will be a better girl." 
 
 Miss Mary was very glad to hear this 
 declaration, for Dovey made it in a manner 
 apparently so heartfelt and honest, that she 
 
EOLLO AT SCHOOL. 93 
 
 did not doubt she then really meant to try to 
 reform. She thought, however, that she 
 would put her sincerity to the test, by asking 
 her about her absence from school, which she 
 did in these words : 
 
 " Well now, Dovey, I want to ask you one 
 question, and you may do as you please about 
 answering it. But if you do answer it at all, 
 be honest and tell the truth. It is very 
 wicked to tell a lie. If you really wish to 
 improve and to correct your faults, you must 
 always be willing to let me know the exact 
 truth. Now I suppose that your mother has 
 not kept you at home these two or three days 
 past, but that you have staid out in the fields 
 here, playing, because you were afraid to 
 come to school. That is true, isn't it?" 
 
 Dovey hung her head and was silent ; but 
 presently she said faintly, " Yes, ma'am." 
 
 "And your mother supposed all the time 
 that you had been at school?" 
 
 " Yes, ma'am," said Dovey again timidly. 
 "Shall you tell her?" 
 
 This last question was rather a perplexing 
 one to Miss Mary. She did not know at the 
 moment what it would be best for her to do. 
 So she told Dovey she should think of it, and 
 would talk with her again in regard to that. 
 
94 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 " But now, Dovey," she added, "it is nearly 
 time for you and for me both to go home, 
 You will come now this afternoon, and I shall 
 soon see whether you are really sincere in 
 your plan of being a good girl." 
 
 "I will be," said Dovey. "I am deter- 
 mined not to do any thing naughty at all." 
 
 " You will do a great many things that are 
 naughty," said Miss Mary, " I have no doubt. 
 You cannot alter all your old habits at once. 
 It will take you some time to learn to be a 
 good girl; but I shall be patient with you. 
 When you do wrong, I shall kindly tell you 
 of it, and then I can easily ascertain whether 
 you are sincere in your promises now." 
 
 "How?" said Dovey. 
 
 " Why, if you really wish to correct your 
 faults, you will be glad to have me point 
 them out to you, and so you will be good 
 natured about them, and will try to leave 
 them off at once. But if, on the other hand, 
 you do not care about improving, I shall ob- 
 serve that, when I tell you of any thing wrong, 
 you will be displeased, and out of humor, or 
 you will not show a hearty disposition to 
 leave it off at once. We shall see. Good 
 bye." 
 
 Here Miss Mary held out her hand to Do- 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 95 
 
 vey, and bade her good bye. Then she 
 turned around and went back, while Dovey 
 stood still in the road. In a moment Dovey 
 said, 
 
 "Miss Mary, shouldn't you like these 
 flowers?''' 
 
 Miss Mary thanked her, took the flowers, 
 and then each went to her own home. When 
 Miss Mary reached the house, she re-arranged 
 the flowers, and placed them in a glass of 
 water over the mantel-piece in the school- 
 room. 
 
 That afternoon, just before school, Rollo 
 was sitting upon the platform of the portico, 
 with one or two other boys, playing with 
 some pea-pods which Jonas had given him 
 from the garden. He was making a boat 
 like those which he used to make at home. 
 He had just shaved off the upper edge of the 
 pod, and was counting the peas, or the -'sai- 
 lors," as he called them, when some of the 
 children said that Dovey was coming. Rollo 
 looked up a moment, and then went on ex- 
 amining his sailors, and considering which 
 one was the biggest, for the captain, when 
 Dovey came up and began to look over him. 
 She had not stood there but a moment, when 
 
96 HOLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 she suddenly snatched the pea-pod, sailors 
 and all, out of Rollo's hand, and ran off into 
 the orchard. Rollo was astonished, and very- 
 much displeased. He started to run after 
 her, but she had got so far away before he 
 had time even to think what he should do, 
 that there seemed but little probability of 
 catching her, and then, just at that moment, 
 the bell rang, and so he went into school. 
 
 Dovey came in soon after, and they all 
 went about their studies. The first class 
 which went to Miss Mary was in Arithmetic. 
 Rollo and Dovey and Julius, and several 
 others, belonged to it. Miss Mary examined 
 the slates and found that they were not clean. 
 Several of them were covered with the re- 
 mains of old pencil marks, and with various 
 glossy spots, from long handling with the 
 fingers. Julius's and Dovey' s were the worst, 
 and Miss Mary gave each of them a piece of 
 wet sponge, and asked them to go to their 
 seats, and rub them clean on both sides, be- 
 fore beginning their work. 
 
 Julius went to his seat, muttering to himself 
 that his slate was as clean as he could make 
 it, and clean enough. He, however, passed 
 the sponge lightly over it, and then opened his 
 Arithmetic at the place where the sums were, 
 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 97 
 
 put his elbow upon the page and his cheek 
 upon his hand, and, holding his pencil in his 
 other hand, began to look idly about the room. 
 
 Dovey went to her seat and began scrub- 
 bing her slate with all her strength. Pres- 
 ently she thought that the sponge was not 
 quite wet enough, and so she went to Miss 
 Mary and asked her if she might go out and 
 get some more water. Miss Mary said no; 
 she must do it as well as she could with that 
 sponge, and then go on with her work. Do- 
 vey then went to her seat, and laid her slate 
 down upon the desk, and, after rubbing it 
 some time with the sponge, concluded to pour 
 a little ink on to make it more wet. 'Tis true 
 the ink was black, but then that was almost 
 the color of the slate, and so she thought it 
 would make no 'difference. 
 
 But it did make a great deal of difference ; 
 for the sponge, as she rubbed it to and fro ; 
 inked the frame of the slate, and made it look 
 very badly, and then it covered the whole 
 surface of the slate with an inky coating, 
 which did not show much, it is true, but it 
 was certain to come off upon her hands as 
 soon as she should begin to use it. 
 
 When her slate was rubbed enough, she 
 began to look around for something to wipe 
 e 9 
 
98 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 it dry. She could not find any thing better, 
 and so she took out her pen/ and began to 
 brush over the surface of the slate with 
 that. She found, however, that this did not 
 make it dry, and so she opened her desk to 
 put away her pen again. In doing this her 
 eyes fell upon the pea-pod which she had 
 snatched away from Rollo, and which she 
 had placed in her desk when she came into 
 school. 
 
 She took out one of the peas, and put it 
 upon a book which she laid upon her desk, 
 and then, with her pen for a snapper, she 
 snapped it over towards Julius, who sat 
 nearly opposite to her. The pea struck 
 against the window behind Julius, and then 
 bounded forward upon his desk. Julius took 
 it up, laid it upon a book, placed his hand 
 behind it, and drew up his middle finger with 
 his thumb, in order to snap it back again; 
 and just at that moment Miss Mary looked 
 up from a little class who were reciting to 
 her. She had observed the whole transac- 
 tion, though neither Dovey nor Julius per- 
 ceived that she saw them. 
 
 Miss Mary shook her head very gently at 
 Dovey, with a serious look ; and then imme- 
 diately turned and did the same to Julius. 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 •99 
 
 Dovey immediately opened the lid of her 
 desk and put her pen away, drew up her 
 slate, and seemed to set herself in earnest at 
 work upon her Arithmetic. Her countenance 
 changed too at once. It seemed to say, "Yes, 
 I was playing. It was wrong. I will stop 
 immediately, and go to my studies." Julius, 
 on the other hand, just released his finger 
 from his thumb without snapping it, and 
 spread his hand over the pea, so as to conceal 
 it, and yet holding his hand in a careless 
 position, as if it was there accidentally ; and 
 he assumed an unconcerned look, as if he 
 was doing nothing wrong. 
 
 * Dovey gives up at once," thought Miss 
 Mar}''. " That is a good sign. But Julius 
 does not. She yields ; he resists. I feel en- 
 couraged about her, and discouraged about 
 him; for I see in -her submission, but in him 
 'pertinacity. 
 
100 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 PERTINACITY. 
 
 When the time arrived for closing the 
 school that day, Miss Mary asked the chil- 
 dren to put away the hooks as silently as they 
 could, and prepare to listen to the closing 
 exercises. The children obeyed; but Miss 
 Mary heard a good deal of rattling and noise. 
 Dovey was making some noise on purpose, 
 for the pleasure of hearing it, and Julius and 
 several others made noise accidentally, by 
 carelessly tumbling their slates and rules into 
 their desks. 
 
 Miss Mary then struck her little bell, and 
 all the scholars stopped their operations to 
 hear what she wished to say. She told them 
 that they made too much noise, and she 
 wished them to be more still. They then 
 began again to put their books in, and all 
 tried to be more still, except Julius, who went 
 on pretty much as before, and when he had 
 got his books in, he folded his arms across 
 upon his desk, and laid his head down upon 
 them. Dovey, after putting her books away, 
 crept down from her chair, and began to pick 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 101 
 
 up the little bits of paper from the floor. 
 When she had taken up those immediately 
 under her desk, she crept along upon her 
 hands and knees under Henry's and Rollo's, 
 and was just going to prick their ankles a 
 little with a pen for fun, when she heard 
 Miss Mary say, 
 
 " Now, children, I want you all to sit up- 
 right in your seats, and look at me, and listen 
 to what I have to say. 7 
 
 This recalled Dovey to a sense of the im- 
 propriety of her conduct, and she scrambled 
 back to her place. Rollo and Henry heard 
 her and looked down, and they could hardly 
 help laughing, though they thought she was 
 a very naughty girl indeed. Julius paid no 
 attention to what Miss Mary said, but kept 
 his head down as before. 
 
 " Sit up, Julius," said Miss Mary. 
 
 Julius raised his head slowly and reluc- 
 tantly, and turned sideways a little, so as to 
 look away from Miss Mary. 
 
 " Turn this way, Julius," said Miss Mary, 
 pleasantly. "I want all the children to look 
 towards me and hear what I am going to say." 
 
 Julius turned round a little towards Miss 
 Mary, but moved his eyes as far as he could 
 away from where she was sitting. 
 9* 
 
102 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 The rest of the children looked towards 
 her attentively, and she began thus : — 
 
 " I have been thinking, for some days past, 
 that perhaps it will be necessary for me t6 
 send one of the scholars away from school." 
 
 Here a little girl, who sat on a low seat 
 before Miss Mary, suddenly looked up; hex 
 eye brightened, she clapped her hands gently, 
 and said, almost aloud, 
 
 "Oh, lam glad of it.' 
 
 "Why are you glad of it, Jenny?" said 
 Miss Mary. 
 
 Jenny looked a little abashed when she 
 found she had spoken so loud ; but she an- 
 swered timidly, 
 
 " Because she pushes me down." 
 
 "She? who?" said Miss Mary. 
 
 "Dovey," said the little girl. 
 
 The truth was, Jenny had heard the 
 scholars proposing to Miss Mary to send 
 Dovey away from school, and as Dovey 
 had been rude and rough to her once or 
 twice in the recess, she was glad when she 
 heard Miss Mary say she was going to send 
 one of the scholars away. She had no 
 doubt that Miss Mary meant Dovey. All 
 the scholars thought so too. 
 
 " But it is not Dovey that I am thinking 
 of sending away," said Miss Mary. 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 103 
 
 Here all the scholars looked surprised, and 
 some a little disappointed. They began to 
 look around the room, wondering who it 
 could be. They could not think of any 
 scholar who was so troublesome as Dovey. 
 In fact there was not any, and if Miss Mary 
 had been influenced solely by the considera- 
 tion of present trouble, in sending away one 
 of her scholars, Dovey would undoubtedly 
 have been the one to go. 
 
 "I did think that I should probably have 
 to send Dovey away, and I do not know but 
 that I shall have to do it yet," said Miss 
 Mary, "but I am in hopes I shall not. I 
 suppose, however, you all think that Dovey 
 is worse than any other child in the school." 
 
 " Yes, ma'am," said the children. 
 
 "I don't know but that is true," said Miss 
 Mary. " I do not think that there is any one 
 who does so many mischievous and trouble- 
 some things; and yet there is a very good 
 reason why I should not send her away at 
 present." 
 
 The children looked surprised, but they 
 did not speak. 
 
 "Do you know what a hospital is?" said 
 Miss Mary. 
 
 The children did not know. 
 
104 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 u It is a large institution where sick persons 
 are taken in to be healed. They have rooms 
 for them, and beds, and good physicians and 
 medicines ; and as soon as they get well they 
 go away. Also, if they find that they do not 
 get any better, and there is no prospect that 
 they will ^get better, they are then generally 
 sent away to their home and friends again, 
 because it would do them no good to stay 
 any longer." 
 
 The children listened to this very atten- 
 tively, and, after a moment's pause, Miss 
 Mary continued. 
 
 "Now there were once two sick boys ad- 
 mitted to a hospital together, — James and 
 John. James was quite sick ; but John was 
 a great deal sicker. He was very sick in- 
 deed. They remained a week or two, and 
 John, who was the sickest, began to get bet- 
 ter, but James was not any better at all, and 
 there was no prospect that he ever would be. 
 Now which one of these do you suppose the 
 governor of the hospital would send back to 
 his friends?" 
 
 "John," said the children. 
 
 " But James was the sickest." 
 
 " Yes, but he was getting better," said one 
 of the children. 
 
HOLLO AT SCHOOL. 105 
 
 "That is right," said Miss Mary. "A 
 sick person who is getting better is called 
 a convalescent. I want you all to say conva- 
 lescent." 
 
 So all the children spoke the word. 
 
 " Con-va-les-cent" said Miss Mary again, 
 very slowly and plainly; she wished to make 
 them perfectly familiar with the word. 
 
 " On the other hand," continued Miss 
 Mary, "a sick person who is not getting 
 any better, and shows no signs that he ever 
 will, is called an incurable. 1 '' 
 
 " Then will he die?" said Henry. 
 
 " Perhaps so, or he may continue to live, 
 sick, a long time. 
 
 " Now if I were the governor of a hospital, 
 perhaps I should send away the incurables, 
 unless I had good accommodations for keep- 
 ing them without injury to the other patients ; 
 but I should be very unwilling to send away 
 the convalescents, until they had got well." 
 
 The children did not say any thing, but 
 they all thought that they should do so too. 
 
 "Now a school," resumed Miss Mary, "is 
 in some respects like a hospital. Children 
 are sent here partly to be cured of their 
 faults and improved in character. If any 
 children have bad characters, they may be 
 
106 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 said to be morally diseased or sick, and I 
 want to cure them. 
 
 " Now if a very bad boy should come into 
 this school, with a great many faults and bad 
 traits of character, if I found that he was 
 willing to give up his faults, and to try to 
 improve, I should consider him convalescent ; 
 and I would not send him away, even if his 
 faults were very numerous and troublesome 
 indeed. 
 
 " But if, on the other hand, he seemed to 
 love his faults and cling to them, and when I 
 told him of them was sullen and ill-humor- 
 ed, and would not try to correct them, then 
 it would do no good, but only occasion use- 
 less trouble, to have him remain. So I should 
 very probably consider him an incurable and 
 send him away." 
 
 "Am I an incurable?" asked Francis. 
 
 " Perhaps I had better not answer that 
 question directly, but I will tell you the 
 marks of an incurable; and then you can 
 all judge for yourselves. But, after all, I do 
 not think that incurable is the best word, on 
 the whole, for that means a patient who 
 never can get well, whereas I mean one who 
 is growing worse rather than better now. A 
 boy may be growing worse rather than bet- 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 107 
 
 tor now, and yet lie may possibly begin to 
 grow a good boy by and by." 
 
 " What shall we call them then? " said Rollo. 
 
 "I hardly know," said Miss Mary. "If 
 the physicians only had a general name for 
 their patients who are growing worse, and 
 another for those who are getting better, they 
 would be just the words. 
 
 "However, we will not stop to look up 
 names for them. There are some scholars in 
 this school who seem desirous to improve. 
 When 1 tell them of their faults, they are 
 good-natured about it, and try to correct them. 
 When I give them any directions, they obey 
 cordially and willingly. When I point out 
 anything to them which is wrong, they seem 
 willing to change it at once and fully." 
 
 Just then, while Miss Mary was speaking, 
 the children heard the sound of music at a 
 distance, and they all began to listen. Miss 
 Mary stopped to listen too, for she knew that 
 it was hardly reasonable to expect that the 
 children could attend very profitably to her 
 advice and instructions while music was com- 
 ing. 
 
 " Hark ! what is that? " said Miss Mary. 
 
 " Music," said some of the children, start- 
 ing up. 
 
J 08 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 " It is coming here, Miss Mary," said Fran- 
 cis. " I wish you would let me go out and 
 hear it." 
 
 Some of the children stood up and tried to 
 look out of the window, others sat still listen- 
 ing, their eyes beaming with delight. Julius 
 leaned his head as far out of the window as he 
 could, trying to see ; and, an instant after, as 
 the music advanced round a corner, and the 
 sound burst out more loud and full, Dovey, 
 who had evidently been, from the first, very 
 much excited, could contain herself no long- 
 er, but she jumped up, exclaiming, "Oh, here 
 they come, here they come," and darted off 
 out of school. 
 
 "Children," said Miss Mary, "I want you 
 ail to take your seats and look at me." 
 
 The children obeyed. Some turned around 
 rather slowly and reluctantly; but yet all 
 obeyed, except Julius, who still kept his head 
 out of the window. 
 
 "Julius," said Miss Mary, "take your seat." 
 
 Julius slowly took in his head and sat 
 down. He looked, however, very much out 
 of humor, and he leaned his elbow upon his 
 desk and his cheek upon his hand in such a 
 manner as to turn his face still to the window, 
 and thus he continued to look out. 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 109 
 
 " Sit still now and listen to me. Rollo, you 
 may go out and call Dovey in, and then you 
 may go into the road and see what the music 
 is. I presume, from the sound, that it is a 
 man with an organ. If it is, ask him to come 
 inside of the gate, and wait a few minutes, 
 until the school is dismissed, and that then 
 we should like to have him play a little," 
 
 Miss Mary had some doubt whether Dovey 
 would come in. She thought, however, that 
 if she should do so, it would be pretty good 
 proof she meant to obey Miss Mary and be a 
 better girl. 
 
 When Rollo went out upon the stone step 
 he found that Dovey had gone into the road, 
 and he went on after her. There was an old 
 blind man there, and a boy with him, and the 
 blind man was playing upon an organ. Do- 
 vey was standing by the side of them, look- 
 ing at the organ and hearing the music. 
 
 " Oh come, Rollo, come," said Dovey as 
 soon as she saw him. 
 
 " Miss Mary says that you must come in." 
 
 "Did she?" said Dovey; "well, I shan't 
 come — yes I will, too, I'll go right in." 
 
 So she left the musician, and went through 
 the gate, and ran off to the school-room. 
 
 Rollo gave his message to the organist, and 
 10 
 
110 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 he siopped playing, and came inside of the 
 gate. Rollo wanted to stop and see the gold- 
 en pipes which were on the outside of the or- 
 gan, but he thought it would perhaps be bet- 
 ter not to do it, so he went directly back into 
 the school-room and took his seat. 
 
 In the mean time the music had ceased, 
 and the children were able once more to at- 
 tend to Miss Mary. She said that she had 
 but a very little more to say upon the sub- 
 ject at that time, and that was, that the trait 
 of character which she had been describing, 
 that is, the one which children exhibited when 
 they were disposed to cling to their faults and 
 persist in them, was called sometimes perti- 
 nacity. 
 
 "Pertinacity/' she added, " is adhering to 
 and persisting in what is wrong when it is 
 pointed out. A little child once was sitting 
 at the table, and began to play with the tea- 
 pot handle. His mother told him he must not 
 play with the teapot. He took his hand away 
 a minute, and then reached it out again and 
 touched it with the tip of his finger, looking 
 up at the same time at his mother to see if 
 she was observing him. She shook her head 
 and told him to take his hand away. He took 
 it away a little, but let it lie on the table with 
 
 
R0LL0 AT SCHOOL. Ill 
 
 his finger pointed towards the teapot. Now 
 that is pertinacity ; an unwillingness to give 
 up when wrong. We see it in a thousand 
 cases in school. Sometimes I see a boy 
 holding his book before his mouth and whis- 
 pering behind it to his next neighbor. I look 
 at him and shake my head, meaning that he 
 must not do so. He sees me, but he keeps 
 his book up just as before, and tries to look 
 unconcerned as if he had not been doing any- 
 thing wrong. Then when I look awav he 
 begins whispering again. That is pertinaci- 
 ty. Dovey ran out of school a short time 
 ago. That was very wrong ; but when I sent 
 for her she came in again immediately. She 
 did not persist in her wrong. It is so gene- 
 rally when I tell her of her faults. - I have 
 hope of her, therefore, that she will be cured 
 of her faults, and 1 shall not therefore at pre- 
 sent send her away from school. If I send 
 any one away, it will be some one who per- 
 sists in the wrong that he does, even if the 
 wrong things are not half as disorderly and 
 troublesome as Dovey' s." 
 
 The children did not know who it was that 
 Miss Mary had in mind ; each one recollected 
 that he himself had often shown a disposition 
 to conceal or defend or persist in his faults 3 in- 
 
112 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 stead of frankly and openly giving them up; 
 but they all determined to do so no more ; that 
 is, all except Julius, who looked ill-natured and 
 sullen as before, and still tried to sit in such a 
 position as to look out of the window, to en- 
 deavor to see the organ. 
 
 After this, Miss Mary closed the school, 
 and then she and all the children went out 
 and gathered around the organ. The old man 
 played them several tunes, and one of them was 
 a tune that, the children knew; so Miss Mary 
 proposed that he should play it again and that 
 the children should sing it. They accord- 
 ingly did so, and they enjoyed it very much. 
 Afterwards Miss Mary gave the man a little 
 money, and asked him also to go into the 
 house and get something to eat. Then all 
 the children went slowly away. 
 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 113 
 
 ORDER. 
 
 For some weeks after this, things went on 
 very quietly and smoothly in school, and Rol- 
 lo began to make rapid progress in his stu- 
 dies. He did not attend to many studies, for 
 his father preferred to have him go on as 
 rapidly as possible in his Reading, Writing, 
 and Arithmetic. He used to read in his class 
 every morning, immediately after the com- 
 mencement of the school, and then, for half an 
 hour, study his spelling lesson. After that he 
 worked upon his Arithmetic almost all the 
 forenoon. He generally wrote in his writing- 
 book for half an hour just before the school 
 was ended. 
 
 Jonas used to talk with him occasionally in 
 the evenings about his various pursuits and 
 plans in school. Jonas advised him* to be 
 very systematic and orderly in all that he 
 did, — to keep his desk perfectly neat and well 
 arranged, and to have as many conveniences 
 for study as he could, so as to make rapid 
 progress. Jonas said that when he went to 
 school the boys wasted half their time in 
 e* 10* 
 
114 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 looking for lost things, asking where the les- 
 son began, going out after a drink or a wet 
 sponge, or asking for ink, or a ruler, or a pen- 
 cil. 
 
 Rollo accordingly took a great deal of pains 
 to arrange his desk, and to put every thing 
 in it which he wanted. The things which he 
 wanted to use most he placed in front, where 
 his hand would fall upon them readily. His 
 ruler and his little leaden plummet were 
 placed there. He had also a little shallow 
 box, made of pasteboard, which his mother 
 had given him, and in this he kept his slate 
 pencils, his piece of india rubber, a small lead 
 pencil, and his erasing apparatus. His eras- 
 ing apparatus was something which Jonas 
 had made for him. Jonas said that when he 
 went to school the boys would sometimes 
 make a mistake in writing, and then would 
 try to scratch it out with a penknife. But 
 this would make a. sort of blister on the paper, 
 as if a drop of water had fallen upon the place, 
 Then when they began to write over the place 
 it would blot, and thus generally the spot 
 looked worse than it would have done if they 
 had let the mistake remain. So he said the 
 master made an erasing apparatus, to prevent 
 all this. 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 115 
 
 "Erasing?" said Rollo, when Jonas told 
 him this, — " what is erasing?" 
 
 " It is ruhbing out, — erasing means rubbing 
 out." 
 
 "How was the apparatus made?" said 
 Rollo. 
 
 " Why, first, we had a piece of tin, about as 
 big as my hand," said Jonas, "very smooth." 
 
 " What was that for?" said Rollo. 
 
 " It was to put under the paper when we 
 want to scratch anything out," said Jonas, 
 " because it is necessary to have something 
 smooth and hard. The reason why the boys 
 commonly make a swelled spot is, that they 
 have something a little soft under the leaf, 
 such as the other leaves of the writing-book, 
 or the baize of their desks, and then the paper 
 gives a little as the edge of the knife passes 
 to and fro, and this puffs it out." 
 
 " We might put a book under it," said Rol- 
 lo ; " a book cover is hard." 
 
 " Not very," said Jonas. "The leather is 
 soft and yields a little ; and besides, a book 
 is so thick and clumsy that you cannot very 
 well get it between the leaves." 
 
 "A slate is smooth and hard enough," said 
 Rollo. v 
 
116 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 "Yes, but the frame is m the way, and 
 prevents the leaf lying down smoothly on it." 
 
 " Then a slate without any frame would 
 do 7" said Rollo. 
 
 " Yes, but that would be likely to have 
 pencil marks and dust on it, which would 
 come off upon the paper. Yet I suppose if a 
 slate had no frame, and was perfectly clean, 
 it would do very well. But a small piece of 
 tin is better after all. 
 
 " Besides this piece of tin," said Jonas, " the 
 master had a very sharp knife, which he kept 
 with the tin, and never used it for anything 
 else. And so whenever any of us had made 
 a mistake, we used to go to the master and 
 get his erasing apparatus, and we could gene- 
 rally take it out very neatly." 
 
 So Jonas made Rollo an erasing apparatus. 
 He picked up a piece of tin at the door of a 
 tinman's. He contrived to make it square in 
 this way. First he marked a square upon it 
 with a ruler and an awl. Then he put the 
 irregular edges one after the other into a very 
 narrow crack in the barn floor, taking care 
 to have the tin go down just to the mark that 
 he had made on each side. Then he bent the 
 tin back and forth, until it broke off very near 
 these marks. Then he smoothed the edges 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 117 
 
 by grinding them on the grindstone. Jonas 
 held them on square while Rollo turned. 
 Thus he made the tin. 
 
 Now Rollo had a broken knife blade which 
 his father had given him one day, and which 
 he kept in a little box of playthings up stairs. 
 Jonas contrived to fix this inio a handle of 
 walnut wood, which he got from the wood- 
 pile, splitting it out with an axe and then 
 fashioning it with a knife and a file, and af- 
 terwards smoothing it with sand-paper. He 
 dyed it, too, black, with some dye he had, 
 and rubbed, afterwards, hard, with something 
 he had in a bottle, which gave it a smooth, 
 glossy look. He told Rollo that the blade 
 was not fastened in strong enough to cut 
 wood, or even to mend a pen, but that it 
 would do very well for erasing. 
 
 Rollo was very much pleased with his 
 erasing apparatus, and promised never to use 
 the knife for any other purpose than the one 
 for which it was intended. He carried it to 
 school, and kept it, with his other small arti- 
 cles, in the little shallow box which we have 
 already spoken of. 
 
 His books he placed in the back side of his 
 desk, standing them up upon their edges, so 
 that he might take out one without disturbing 
 
118 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 the rest. He had a pen-wiper, which he had 
 made himself, in one corner, and a piece of 
 black cloth, of an oblong shape, which his 
 mother had given him to lay his pen upon. 
 He was always careful to wipe his pen before 
 putting it away, but this cloth was an addi- 
 tional precaution, to prevent his inking the 
 sheet of blue paper which he had spread over 
 the bottom of his desk. On one of the legs 
 of his desk, underneath, he fixed two little 
 brass knobs, one to hang his satchel upon, 
 and the other for his slate ; for his slate took 
 up a great deal of room in his desk, and then 
 it made a great deal of noise taking it out 
 and putting it in. So he had a place to hang 
 it up below. 
 
 Rollo always kept his desk neat outside 
 also. He did not allow his books and papers 
 to accumulate there, but always put away 
 every one as soon as he had done with it. 
 The consequence was that his desk always 
 looked neat and pleasant. The other chil- 
 dren used to love to look into it and to see 
 his things. 
 
 One day several of the boys were standing 
 about RoHo's desk in recess. He had a pic- 
 ture of a good boy studying his lesson dili- 
 gently in school. It was a picture which Jo- 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 119 
 
 nas had given him, for an example, as he said. 
 Rollo brought it to school, and showed it to 
 Miss Mary, and asked her if he might keep it 
 in his desk. The boys now were standing 
 about Rollo's desk, looking at this picture of 
 the good scholar. 
 
 " You was a fool to show it to Miss Mary," 
 said Julius. 
 
 "Why?" asked Rollo. 
 
 " Because it was as like as not that she 
 would take it away from you." 
 
 " No she would not,— take it away from 
 him," said Henry. 
 
 "She might have told him to carry it 
 home," said Julius; " but if you had just put 
 it in your desk without saying anything, she 
 would never have known anything about it." 
 
 The boys were talking in a low voice, and 
 Miss Mary was busy in another part of the 
 room, and they supposed that she did not 
 hear them. But she did hear them ; and she 
 listened to hear what Rollo would say to this. 
 Bat Rollo did not say anything. He knew 
 that this would have been wrong, but he did 
 not know exactly what to say, so he was 
 silent, and all the boys were silent, so that 
 there was a pause in the conversation. 
 
 Miss Mary then spoke herself and said, 
 
120 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 "Now I think, Julius, that Rollo was very 
 wise to ask my permission to keep the picture 
 here, for now he feels that he has a full right 
 to do so. If he had not asked me, he would 
 have had a secret feeling that he was wrong, 
 and would have had to hide the picture when- 
 ever he saw me coming. He would have 
 been all the time afraid that I should find out 
 that he had it; and so the picture, instead of 
 being a source of enjoyment, would only have 
 made him anxious and uneasy." 
 
 The children were surprised to perceive 
 that Miss Mary had heard them. Rollo was 
 pleased, but Julius looked ashamed. Rollo 
 was very glad that he had shown Miss Mary 
 the picture. 
 
 "I am going to fasten it up," said he, "up- 
 on the inside of the lid of my desk, exactly in 
 the middle, and then every time I open the 
 desk I shall see it." 
 
 " How shall you fasten it?" said Henry. 
 
 " With little bits of wafers upon the cor- 
 ners." 
 
 Rollo then took out from his shallow box 
 a little paper, which was folded up neatly, 
 and, after opening it, he took out a wafer. 
 With his knife he cut it into quarters, and 
 then went and asked Miss Mary if she had 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 121 
 
 any objection to his wafer in g his picture up 
 upon the under side of his lid. She said she 
 had not. and he accordingly fastened it there, 
 exactly in the middle. 
 
 " How beautifully your desk looks," said 
 one of the girls who were standing by. " 1 
 can't keep mine in order, possibly." 
 
 " Can't?" said Rollo; " why not?" 
 
 " Oh, I don^t know. I put it in beautiful 
 order a week or two ago, when Miss Mary 
 talked with us about it, and now it looks 
 shockingly." 
 
 "I am determined I will have mine in or- 
 der," said Dovey. "I mean to fix it every 
 week. Saturday will be a good day." 
 
 "That never will do," said Rollo; "you 
 can't keep it in order so." 
 
 " Then I will put it in order every day," 
 said Dovey. 
 
 " That won't do either," said Rollo. 
 
 " Then I will put it in order every half 
 day, forenoon and afternoon, in the recess." 
 
 "No you won't," said Rollo. 
 
 " Yes I will," said Dovey. 
 
 " I tell you you won't," said Rollo. "You 
 never will keep your desk in order so." 
 
 " How do you know?" said Dovey. 
 
 "Because people can't keep their things in 
 
 / n 
 
122 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 order by putting them in order often,— they 
 must not let them get out of order at all." 
 
 " Who told you that?" said Dovey. 
 
 " Jonas," said Rollo. 
 
 " I knew somebody told you. I knew you 
 could not find it out yourself." 
 
 Rollo felt a little provoked to hear Dovey 
 speak so; he concluded, however, that he had 
 better be good-natured about it, and was go- 
 ing to tell something more which Jonas had 
 said about order, when suddenly he saw that 
 Dovey had his erasing knife, which she had 
 taken up from the desk, and was just going 
 to cut off the top of a pen with it. He in- 
 stantly reached out his hand to take it away, 
 but before he could do so Dovey gave the 
 stroke, the blade broke from the handle and 
 dropped upon the floor. 
 
 At this instant the bell rung. This bell, 
 which indicated the close of the recess, was 
 the signal for the scholars to stop their talk 
 and play, instantaneously, and take their seats. 
 The group around Rollo' s desk were silent in 
 a moment. Rollo took up the parts of his 
 knife and tried to put them together, looking 
 reproachfully at Dovey, who slowly moved 
 backwards towards her seat, with a counte- 
 nance expressive of great concern. The rest 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 123 
 
 of the children went away, looking back to- 
 wards Rollo's desk, as they one by one went 
 to their seats, and Rollo himself put the 
 pieces of his erasing knife into his desk, shut 
 down the lid, laid his arm upon it, and rested 
 his forehead upon his arm. His eyes were 
 filled with tears. 
 
 At first he felt very much vexed and pro- 
 voked with Dovey for breaking his knife, but 
 then he soon reflected that she probably did 
 not intend to break it. It was an accident, 
 and did not proceed from any ill will or inten- 
 tion to injure him. He thought, also, that 
 probably Jonas would be able to fix it in 
 again as well as before ; so he dried his tears, 
 and began to attend to his studies. 
 
 Dovey felt very sorry to think that she had 
 broken Rollo's knife, but she did exactly the 
 wrong thing about it. As soon as school was 
 done, feeling a little ashamed to see or speak 
 to Rollo, she went out immediately, and 
 walked off directly home. This was very 
 unwise. It would have been a great deal 
 better if she had come to Rollo at once, and 
 told him that she was very sorry that she had 
 broken his knife, and offered to do anything 
 in her power to repair the damage. This 
 
124 rollo at school. 
 
 would have soothed Rollo's feelings very 
 much, and it would have relieved Dovey's 
 mind too. 
 
 When Rollo came to school the next morn- 
 ing, with his slate under his arm, he found 
 Henry and some other children sitting on the 
 stone step before the door of the school-room. 
 They had their heads together, and appeared 
 to be looking very intently at something which 
 Henry had, who was sitting in the middle of 
 the group, the rest crowding thickly around 
 him. 
 
 "Boys, what have you got there?" asked 
 Rollo as he came in at the gate. 
 
 "Oh, here comes Rollo," said Henry; "he 
 will do it for us." 
 
 As Rollo came up, he saw that it was a 
 mouse trap. There was a mouse hole in a 
 little closet in the school-room, and once or 
 twice the children had seen the mouse creep- 
 ing out slily into the room. One of the chil- 
 dren, who had a mouse trap, had asked Miss 
 Mary if he might bring it to school, and try 
 to catch him. and she had consented. So the 
 boy had brought the trap. 
 
 It was a wire trap, with a little swinging 
 door, so contrived that the mouse could 
 creep in, but, once in, could not get out again. 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 125 
 
 This door was, however, out of order a little, 
 and would not open, and Henry was trying 
 some way to put the bait in. He found it diffi- 
 cult, however, and he was very glad to see 
 Rollo coming, for he thought that he could do 
 it better. 
 
 Rollo stood looking at it a moment, while 
 Henry showed him the difficulty, and asked 
 him if he thought he could make the door open. 
 
 " Yes, we must bend that wire in a little 
 there. Here, if you will take my slate and 
 carry it in, I will try." 
 
 Henry took the slate, and Rollo took the 
 trap. Henry stopped a moment to see how 
 Rollo would do it, and then put the slate 
 down upon the stone behind him. 
 
 " But you must carry my slate in," said 
 Rollo. 
 
 " Oh, let it lie there a minute," said Hen- 
 ry. "I will carry it in presently." 
 
 " No, that is not its place," said Rollo. u l 
 must not let it stay there." 
 
 And he began to put down the trap, in or- 
 der to carry the slate in himself. 
 
 But Henry took it up again, saying, "Well, 
 I will carry it in, for I want you to mend the 
 trap quick, so that we can set it before 
 school." 
 
 11* 
 
126 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 Henry accordingly took the slate in, and 
 just as he was disappearing through the door, 
 Rollo called to him to hang it up upon the 
 nail under his desk. Then Rollo sat down 
 and began to work upon the trap. 
 
 In a minute Henry returned and began to 
 look over Rollo. 
 
 " Did you carry my slate in?" said Rollo. 
 
 "Yes," said Henry. 
 
 " And did you hang it on the nail?" 
 
 "No," said Henry; "I did not see any 
 nail, and so I just slipped it into your desk." 
 
 "Oh, that never will do," said Rollo; 
 " that is not the place." 
 
 " Well, never mind now ; you can put it on 
 the nail when you go in." 
 
 But Rollo seemed unwilling to leave it so. 
 He laid down the trap and went in to put his 
 slate where it belonged. Presently he re- 
 turned again, and began once more upon the 
 trap. 
 
 " Now you will not have time to get it 
 mended and set before school," said Henry. 
 " Why could you not let it stay so a little 
 while?" 
 
 "Oh, because," said Rollo, "it would 
 break the charm." 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 127 
 
 "Break the charm!" said Henry, with a 
 tone of contempt 
 
 " Yes," said Rollo, u it would "break the 
 charm." 
 
 "What do you mean hy breaking the 
 charm?" said one of the girls, who was stand- 
 ing by. 
 
 "Why, Jonas told me that the only way to 
 keep things in order, is never to put anything 
 down, even for a minute, out of its place; it 
 breaks the charm, and then pretty soon every 
 thing gets out of order." 
 
 "Is that it?" said the girl. 
 
 "Yes, that's it exactly," said a voice be- 
 hind the children, which sounded like Miss 
 Mary's. The children looked round, and saw 
 Miss Mary looking at them out of the win- 
 dow. 
 
 "Jonas has got the philosophy of it, exact- 
 ly," she continued. " But who is Jonas, 
 Rollo?" 
 
 " He is the boy that lives at our house." 
 
 " Oh, — I recollect now ; I have seen him. 
 Is he a good boy?" 
 
 "Yes," said Rollo; "he is a very good 
 boy." 
 
 " And he taught you how to keep things in 
 
128 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 order ; — but what was that that he said about 
 breaking the charm? Tell me again." 
 
 "Why," said Rollo, "one day, just after 
 father had got his new toolhouse done, Jonas 
 and I put in all the garden tools into it, all in 
 fine order ; and then, just as we were coming 
 away, we looked around to see how beauti- 
 fully it looked, and Jonas said, ' There, that is 
 complete, and now it will be a very handsome 
 toolhouse, if we only look out well and do not 
 break the charm.' And I asked him what he 
 meant by that, and he said that the first time 
 he or I came and put a tool down any where 
 but in its right place, it would break the 
 charm, and that pretty soon it would all go to 
 confusion ; but that if we never put one 
 down except in the right place, the charm 
 would hold, and the toolhouse keep in order 
 of itself forever." 
 
 "What, — forever?" said a little boy who 
 stood by, in a tone of great surprise. 
 
 " Yes, forever," said Rollo, positively. 
 
 " Would it, Miss Mary?" said the little boy, 
 appealing to her. 
 
 " Why, you can try it," said Miss Mary, 
 " in your desk. You can put it all in order, 
 and then be very careful never to put any 
 thing down, even for an instant, out of its 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 129 
 
 proper place, and see how long it will be be- 
 fore you will have to put it in order a gain. ' ; 
 
 The children had all been so much inte- 
 rested in this conversation, that they had al- 
 most forgotten the trap. Rollo had held it in 
 his hand, but both he and the others had been 
 looking around at Miss Mary ; and now the 
 bell rang for them all to go into school. They 
 accordingly put the trap down by side of the 
 portico, and all went in. 
 
 Now Miss Mary knew that Dovey had 
 broken Rollo's knife the day before, and she 
 thought that it would afford her a very good 
 opportunity to see whether she was disposed 
 to do her duty, when she knew what it was, 
 or was inclined pertinaciously to cling to her 
 faults. So she read that morning at prayers 
 a passage from the Old Testament, which con- 
 tained, among others, the following verses 
 
 " If a man shall cause a field or vineyard to be eaten, 
 and shall put in his beast and shall feed in another man's 
 field ; of ihe Dest of his own field, and of the best of his 
 own vineyard, shall he make restitution. 
 
 " If a fire break out and catch in thorns, so that the 
 stacks of corn, or the standing corn, or the field be con- 
 sumed therewith , he that kindled the fire shall surely 
 make restitution." — Ex. 22 : 5, 6. 
 
 From these verses she made some remarks 
 
130 KOLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 about the duty of making restitution, when 
 we do an injury to any person, whether the 
 injury were done accidentally or on purpose. 
 She explained to the children that the first 
 verse related to intended and the latter to acci- 
 dental injuries. 
 
 "We can make restitution in various ways," 
 she said. "If we injure or destroy anything 
 belonging to any other person, we can, per- 
 haps, give them another just like it, if we have 
 one ; or we can pay them in money ; or we 
 can, perhaps, help get it mended : or if we 
 cannot do any of these things, we can, perhaps, 
 give them something else, or do something for 
 them which will repay them." 
 
 Miss Mary made some other remarks of a 
 similar kind. The children listened to them 
 very attentively, and several of them thought 
 of Rollo's knife. Henry determined that in 
 the recess he would tell Dovey that she ought 
 to make restitution to Rollo. 
 
 Accordingly, when they were sitting out 
 upon the step, working on the trap, Henry said, 
 
 " Dovey, didn't-you know you ought to 
 pay Rollo for breaking his knife?" 
 
 " I haven't got any money," said Dovey. 
 
 " Then you ought to give him something 
 else," said Henry. 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 131 
 
 " But I have not got anything else to give 
 him," said Dovey. 
 
 "Not' anything?" 
 
 " No, not anything," said Dovey, thinking, 
 — "I wish I had. I have not got anything but 
 my knife handle, and that is not good for any- 
 thing at all." 
 
 " Let me see it," said Rollo. 
 
 So Dovey went into the school-room and 
 opened her desk, and took out a small calico 
 bag. She put her hand into her bag, and 
 took out from it a penknife handle. The 
 blade was gone entirely, but the handle was 
 whole and good. 
 
 " Oh, that is a good handle," said Rollo. 
 " Where did you get it ? " 
 
 " A boy gave it to me. You may have it 
 if you want it." 
 
 "Well," said Rollo, "I should like it 
 very much, and Jonas will fix my blade into 
 it ; then it will make a good knife, — a great 
 deal better than my old one." 
 
 He then went into the school-room to get 
 his knife blade, to see whether it would fit. 
 
 Now there was at the end of this blade, 
 as there is, in fact, in all penknife and jack- 
 knife blades, a square projection, with a small 
 hole through it. This part is made to go into 
 
132 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 the end of the handle, and there is a small 
 hole in this part of the handle, so that, when 
 the blade is put in properly, the hole in the 
 end of the handle will come exactly opposite 
 to the hole in the end of the blade. Then a 
 short piece of wire is put through, which 
 keeps the handle and blade together, but the 
 blade will open and shut by turning round on 
 this wire. Then the ends of the wire are 
 hammered down a little, to prevent its slip- 
 ping out. The wire is called a rivet. We 
 can generally see the ends of the rivet, at the 
 opposite sides of a knife handle, at the end 
 where the blade is inserted. 
 
 Rollo tried the blade to the handle, but was 
 very sorry to find that it would not fit. The 
 hole in the blade did not come near to the 
 holes in the handle. So he thought that Jo- 
 nas would not be able to put it in. 
 
 " You had a knife blade the other day, Ju- 
 lius," said a boy; " where is it?" 
 
 " In my pocket," said Julius. 
 
 Julius was sitting on the step at this time, 
 with his hands in his pockets, but made no 
 move. 
 
 " Let us see it, won't you ?" 
 
 Julius made no answer, and did not move. 
 
 "You ought to give Rollo your knife 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 133 
 
 blade, " said a little girl, very timidly, " for 
 it was you that broke his knife." 
 
 " I say I didn't," said Julius. 
 
 " You did. I saw you." 
 
 "I tell you I didn't," said Julius. But he 
 felt guilty and self-condemned, and he got up 
 and walked away. 
 
 The children then asked the girl what she 
 meant ; and she said that she saw Julius go 
 to Rollo's desk the morning before, just before 
 school began, and take out the knife. She 
 said he looked at it a little while, and then 
 began to cut the desk with it ; but in a mo- 
 ment she heard a crack, and the knife blade 
 appeared bent away back against the handle. 
 Julius took it out, and, after looking at it a 
 moment, fixed it back again in its place, and 
 then put the knife back into the desk, and 
 went away. 
 
 This was true. Julius had cut so hard 
 with the knife as to pry out the blade, split- 
 ting the handle a little, and this was the crack 
 that this girl had heard. When Dovey took 
 it. therefore, it was all ready to drop out, and 
 did so as soon as she began to cut the pen. 
 The children went in to look at the knife 
 handle a^iin, and found the little split. They 
 12 
 
134 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 also found the place upon the desk which 
 Julius had cut with it. 
 
 Julius stood by his desk at the other side 
 of the room, eyeing the children with a fierce, 
 ill-natured look, while they were examining 
 the proofs of his guilt. Dovey was very glad 
 to find that she had not actually broken the 
 knife, but she said that Rollo might have her 
 old handle, notwithstanding, for she had had 
 it a good while and was tired of it. 
 
 Henry then went over to Julius, and said, 
 
 " You ought to give Rollo your blade, Ju- 
 lius, for it was you that broke his knife." 
 
 " I shan't," said Julius. 
 
 " Why, you broke his knife, and you ought 
 to make restitution ; Miss Mary said so." 
 
 " I don't care," said Julius; and he got up 
 sullenly and walked away. 
 
 He said this in a low voice, and there were 
 other children talking in various parts of the 
 room, and so no one heard it. Henry came 
 back to Rollo, and told him that Julius still 
 refused to give him his blade. 
 
 "Never mind," said Rollo. "Perhaps Jo- 
 nas can find some way to fit mine in." So 
 he rolled up his two handles and his own 
 blade in a paper, and put them in his pocket, 
 

ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 137 
 
 and then they all went out and resumed their 
 work upon the mouse trap. 
 
 They succeeded, at length, in mending the 
 door so that it would open and shut easily, 
 and then Miss Mary gave them permission to 
 go round to the kitchen and get a little piece 
 of cheese for bait. They then carefully set 
 the trap in the corner of the closet, and imme- 
 diately afterwards the bell rang for the close 
 of the recess, and they all took their seats 
 again and resumed their studies. 
 
 That evening Rollo carried his new handle 
 to Jonas, and asked him if he thought he 
 could fix it in. 
 
 Jonas looked at it and said, after trying to 
 put the parts together, that he thought the 
 blade would fit that handle exactly. 
 
 "Why, no," said Rollo; " the holes don't 
 come right." 
 
 " That is because the spring is not crowded 
 back," said Jonas. 
 
 So he showed Rollo that the spring, which 
 runs along the back of the handle, had sprung 
 itself in, beyond its proper place, and that 
 when the blade was in it would force it back, 
 so as to bring the holes just about opposite to 
 each other. 
 
 When, however, he came to measure more 
 
 /* 
 
138 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 exactly, he found that the square part of the 
 blade was a little too wide after all ; for 
 when the spring was forced back it did not 
 bring the hole in the blade exactly into a line 
 with the holes in the handle. 
 
 " It must be filed a little," said Jonas. 
 
 " Can you do it by filing it?" said Rollo. 
 
 "I think so," said Jonas; and they both 
 went together to the barn after a file. 
 
 Jonas found a little three-cornered file in its 
 place, by a small workbench, in the barn, 
 and, holding the square part of the blade 
 down upon the bench, he began to file it. 
 
 But the file seemed to slip back and forth 
 over the steel, without taking hold at all. 
 
 "It is too hard" said Jonas, stopping the 
 file, and looking at the blade. 
 
 " What shall you do now?" said Rollo. 
 
 "I must soften it." 
 
 "Soften it?" said Rollo; "how can you 
 soften it?" 
 
 " I shall heat it red hot and then let it cool 
 slowly, and that will soften it." 
 
 "Will it?" said Rollo; "will it make it 
 very soft?" 
 
 " Not very soft indeed ; but soft enough for 
 me to file it." 
 
 "How soft?" said Rollo. 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 139 
 
 " Why, almost as soft as iron." 
 
 " Iron ! " said Rollo ; " why, I think iron is 
 very hard, — very hard indeed." 
 
 "Oh no," said Jonas. "It is not nearly 
 as hard as steel, especially this hardened 
 steel." 
 
 Jonas then took a nail, which he said was 
 of iron, and showed Rollo that he could file 
 that very easily; but the file would make 
 scarcely any impression upon the steel. 
 
 " What do they make blades so very hard 
 for?" said Rollo. 
 
 " They will cut a great deal better, and 
 keep sharp longer." 
 
 "Well, then, you will spoil the blade if you 
 soften it," said Rollo. 
 
 " No," said Jonas; "I shall only soften this 
 square part." 
 
 " Yes, but when you heat that all the rest 
 will become hot too." 
 
 "No," said Jonas; " you will see how I shall 
 prevent that. I will show you after supper." 
 
 Accordingly, after supper Rollo came out 
 into the kitchen, and Jonas took the blade, 
 and also a long narrow strip of brown paper. 
 He rolled the paper over and over the blade, 
 a great many times, leaving the square part 
 out. Thus at length all that part of the blade 
 
140 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 which had the sharp edge upon it was en- 
 veloped in many folds of brown paper, while 
 the square part was exposed. He then tied 
 a string around the paper, and dipped it into 
 water, so as to wet it thoroughly. Next he 
 drew out a few burning coals upon the hearth, 
 and laid the square part upon them, covering 
 it over completely with burning coals. Then 
 he kept dropping water upon the part covered 
 with brown paper, and thus kept it wet, so 
 that it could not get much heated. In a 
 short time the square part became red hot, 
 and then he took it away from the coals and 
 let it cool slowly. In this way it became so 
 soft that he could easily file it, and thus he 
 soon fitted it into its place, without farther 
 difficulty. 
 
 Jonas then put a piece of wire through the 
 holes, and filed off the ends pretty near to 
 the handle on each side. He then hammered 
 down the ends, and thus made little heads to 
 the rivet, which prevented its coming out. 
 Rollo then found that the blade would open 
 and shut like any other knife, and he deter- 
 mined to carry it to school the next day and 
 show it to Dovey. 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 141 
 
 TITLE TO PROPERTY 
 
 Two very serious questions arose the next 
 day in school, relating to the title to property. 
 These difficulties occurred in the following 
 manner. 
 
 When Rollo came to school in the morning, 
 scarcely any of the children were there. He 
 was so much interested in showing Dovey 
 and Henry his new knife, that he walked 
 very fast, and so he got there quite early. 
 
 So he sat down upon the stone step, and 
 began to make a whistle upon the end of a 
 willow shoot, which he had cut by the way. 
 He sloped off the end for the mouth piece, cut 
 round the bark at a proper distance, made the 
 little notch for the wind hole, as he called it, 
 and had just laid the work across his knee 
 and began to pound it with the handle of his 
 knife, to make the bark come off easily, when 
 he saw Dovey coming along the road. 
 
 He immediately jumped up and went to 
 meet her, with his whistle stick in one hand, 
 and holding out his knife in the other. 
 
 "See, Dovey, .see what a beautiful knife 
 
142 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 Jonas has made for me out of your old han- 
 dle." 
 
 " Let me see it," said Dovey, taking the 
 knife. " Why ! — it will open and shut, won't 
 it. What a beautiful knife ! " So saying, 
 Dovey shut it up, and then began to try to 
 open it again. 
 
 "Here, I'll open it," said Rollo, trying to 
 take it. 
 
 " No," said Dovey, holding it, and turning 
 away from Rollo, " 1 will open it myself." 
 
 So Dovey turned around away from Rollo, 
 and began to open the knife, and at the same 
 time slowly walked along. 
 
 Rollo followed her, and presently heard 
 Dovey shut the knife up again. 
 
 "Come, give it to me," said Rollo. "I 
 want to finish my whistle." 
 
 " No," said Dovey, at the same time turn- 
 ing round so as to face Rollo, but holding 
 the knife behind her back. 
 
 " Why, it is mine," said Rollo. 
 
 " No it isn't," said Dovey. 
 
 "Yes it is," said Rollo; " you gave me the 
 handle, because you broke my knife, and the 
 blade was mine before." 
 
 " No, it turned out that I did not break 
 your knife, and so that goes for nothing." 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 143 
 
 "But you gave it to me again, after you 
 knew that Julius broke my knife." 
 
 " I didn't." 
 
 "You did." 
 
 " I say I didn't." 
 
 " Here comes Henry; I'll leave it to him," 
 said Rollo : for just at this moment Henry was 
 coming in at the gate. 
 
 Dovey moved back a little, and still held 
 the knife behind her. Henry came up, and 
 Rollo asked him if Dovey did not give him 
 the handle, the day before, after she knew 
 that Julius broke his knife. 
 
 "Yes," said Henry, " she did. She gave 
 it to you, at first, before we found out that, 
 but afterwards she said she did not care, and 
 you might have it." 
 
 "Well, I don't care if I did," said Dovey; 
 " I did not mean you should have it to keep 
 for your own." 
 
 So saying, Dovey walked away, Rollo fol- 
 lowing her, and looking very anxious and un- 
 happy. They had not taken many steps, 
 however, before they met two or three children 
 running out of the school-room door, capering 
 and clapping their hands, and crying out, 
 
 " We have caught the mouse; come, Rollo, 
 Dovey, Henry, we have caught the mouse." 
 
144 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 Dovey and Henry ran, but Rollo had no 
 heart just then to think of any thing but his 
 knife. He walked along after them, and 
 crowded his head at length into the ring 
 which surrounded Ihe trap ; and the sight of 
 the little mouse, with its black eyes and 
 slender tail, creeping around and putting his 
 nose out between the wires, fairly drove, for a 
 minute or two, the thought of his loss out of 
 his head. 
 
 The children had scarcely done admiring 
 their little prisoner, before a question arose 
 as to the right of property in him. The girl 
 who had brought the trap to school insisted 
 that it was hers, because it was caught in her 
 trap. The boy who set the trap maintained 
 it was his. because he was in fact the one who 
 caught him. Rollo thought he had some claim, 
 because he had mended the door that was bro- 
 ken. " Had it not been for me," said he, " he 
 couldn't have got in." "And if I had not 
 brought the bait," said another boy, u he 
 wouldn't have got in if he could." Finally, to 
 complete the list of conflicting claims, one boy 
 said the mouse did not belong to any of them. 
 It was Miss Mary's mouse, he said, for they 
 got it out of her school-room. 
 
 Voices grew quite loud in defence of these 
 
ItOLLO AT SCHOOL. 145 
 
 various rights, until Miss Mary, who heard 
 the noise of the controversy, suddenly brought 
 it to a close by ringing the bell for the chil- 
 dren to come into school. 
 
 They accordingly put down the trap, 
 mouse and all, in a little corner by the porti- 
 co, and went to their seats. 
 
 As Miss Mary was kind and indulgent to 
 the scholars, and generally Jook an active in- 
 terest in their pursuits and pleasures, they did 
 not attempt to conceal any thing from her, but 
 in all the questions that came up among them 
 'they talked in their usual tones of voice, 
 whether she was within hearing or not. So 
 it happened that she often heard their con- 
 versation, and if any thing took place which 
 excited a good deal of interest in school, she 
 generally knew all about it. Thus she knew 
 all about the case of Rollo's knife, and also 
 about the mouse ; — though she said nothing 
 to the children about them at the time. 
 
 Just before the time for recess, she told the 
 scholars that she understood that there had 
 been some disputes about the title to some 
 property, and that she was going to be judge 
 in the recess, and hear and settle the ques- 
 tions. She said that she wished all those chil- 
 g 13 
 
146 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 dren who had been disputing about any pro- 
 perty, of any kind, that morning, to come 
 around her table in the recess; and all who 
 wished to hear the cases might come also, and 
 stand near. 
 
 So when she struck the bell for recess, 
 almost all the children gathered around her 
 table. 
 
 " I am very glad to see so many," said Miss 
 Mary. "J wan^ you all to hear these cases. 
 Children at school often get into contentions 
 about their property, and by hearing how I 
 decide these questions you will learn how you 
 ought to act in similar cases hereafter. " 
 
 Miss Mary then said that the first thing was 
 to ascertain how many questions there were 
 at issue, and what they were about ; so she 
 asked all those who had had any dispute about 
 property, to hold up their hands, and a great 
 many hands were immediately raised. 
 
 "Rollo, what was your question about?" 
 
 " About my knife." 
 
 " Who has got the knife?" 
 
 " Dovey." 
 
 " Dovey, bring it here." 
 
 So Dovey brought the knife and handed it 
 to Miss Mary, and Miss Mary laid it out be- 
 fore her upon the table. 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 147 
 
 "George, what is your question about?' 
 said Miss Mary, then, to the next boy. 
 
 " About the mouse." 
 
 " Who has got the mouse ?" 
 
 " It is in the mouse-trap out at the door." 
 
 " Go and bring it here." 
 
 So George went out and brought the mouse- 
 trap in, and handed it to Miss Mary. Miss 
 Mary laid it upon the table by the side of the 
 knife. The mouse was frightened and ran 
 about the trap, putting his nose out here and 
 there through the wires. This put the chil- 
 dren quite into a frolic. They laughed and 
 capered about and pointed at him; and those 
 behind crowded their faces in between the 
 others to see. At length, however, the mouse 
 was still again, and then the children became 
 quiet and looked towards Miss Mary. 
 
 Miss Mary was willing that they should 
 have a little frolic, both because it was 
 recess, and because she thought it would 
 make it more easy for them to acquiesce good 
 naturedly in her decisions. 
 
 "Are these all?" said Miss Mary when 
 they were still and attentive. 
 
 One more hand was raised. 
 
 "And what is your question, John?" said 
 she to the boy. 
 
148 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 ''• About my windmill." 
 
 " Who has got the windmill ?" 
 
 " Julius." 
 
 " I haven't," said Julius, in a surly tone 
 of voice. 
 
 " He had it when the bell rang," said 
 George. 
 
 " Where is it, Julius?" said Miss Mary. 
 
 Julius said he supposed it was out in the 
 orchard. Miss Mary told him to go and bring 
 it in. 
 
 So he went out and brought the windmill 
 in. It was a paper windmill, made by tak- 
 ing a square piece of paper, and cutting from 
 near the centre out to the four corners, and 
 then bending over half of each corner to the 
 middle, and passing a pin through them all 
 into a little handle. With stiff paper a very 
 pretty windmill may be made in this way, 
 though but few boys know how to do it. 
 
 Julius handed the windmill to Miss Mary, 
 and she placed it upon the table by the side 
 of the other things. 
 
 " Now," said she, " we will take the knife 
 first. Rollo, tell us your story." 
 
 So Rollo told her all about his knife, just as 
 the facts have been related here ; and then 
 Dovey said she did not give the knife han- 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 149 
 
 die to him to keep for his own forever, but 
 she only lent it to him ; and besides, she said, 
 if she did give it to him, she wanted it now, 
 and was going to take it back. 
 
 Then Miss Mary asked the other children 
 who were there at the time, and they said 
 that they understood that Dovey meant Rol- 
 lo to keep the knife for his own. 
 
 " Did I say he might keep it forever?" said 
 Dovey. 
 
 u No, you did not say that exactly," said 
 Henry, "but you said he might have it, and 
 you understood that he was going to have a 
 blade put in." 
 
 Miss Mary made some further inquiries, 
 until she ascertained fully all the facts, and 
 then she said as follows : 
 
 " This is my decision. The knife is Rol- 
 lo's. When a person gives or sells any pro- 
 perty to any other person, it is called a convey- 
 ance. If this is done under such circumstances, 
 and in such a manner, as to make the thing 
 fairly and fully the property of the person who 
 receives it, it is called a valid conveyance. If 
 it is made in such a way, or under such cir- 
 cumstances, as not to entitle the new posses- 
 sor to it, it is said to be null and void, and 
 goes for nothing, Now the great question is, 
 13* 
 
150 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 whether Dovey's giving the handle to Rollo 
 was a valid conveyance of it to him. 
 
 " Two things are necessary to make a va- 
 lid conveyance of property among children, — 
 from Dovey to Rollo, for instance. First, the 
 thing must actually belong to Dovey, so that 
 she has a right to give it away. If she should 
 give Rollo George's windmill, here, it would 
 be null and void, for that would not be hers to 
 give. So if she should give away her bon- 
 net, it would be null and void, for that is 
 more her mother's than her own, and so she 
 has no right to give it away. But the knife 
 handle, or any other trifling plaything of that 
 kind, is hers, and so she had a right to give it. 
 
 ' But, in the second place, she must intend 
 to convey it, that is, to give it entirely away. 
 If one boy should say to another. l May I have 
 your knife V and he should say ' Yes,' think- 
 ing he only wanted to borrow it a few minutes, 
 that would not be a conveyance ; and yet he 
 said he might have it, absolutely, but then he 
 did not intend actually to make it his. 
 
 " In the third place, the person who con- 
 veys property must actually deliver it to the 
 new owner. This completes the conveyance, 
 and makes the property fully and entirely his. 
 And this is necessary, for without it the pro- 
 
BOLLO AT SCHOOL. 151 
 
 perty does not pass. For example, if a boy 
 were to promise you a whistle and say he 
 should bring it the next day, and then the 
 next day should bring it and refuse to give it 
 to you, you would have no right to take it. 
 It would not be yours. His promise to give it 
 to you would not make it yours. It is neces- 
 sary that he should actually deliver it to you 
 of his own accord. 
 
 " Now these are rules which men observe 
 in conveying property, and I think they ap- 
 ply as well to children. And in this case the 
 conveyance was valid, judged by these rules. 
 The handle was actually Dovey's. She in- 
 tended to give it to Rollo, and she did actually 
 deliver it to him with this intention. That 
 made the conveyance complete and valid, and 
 the handle became absolutely Rollo's. 
 
 " But Dovey says that, admitting that she 
 did give Rollo the handle for his own, she 
 altered her mind afterwards, and meant to 
 take it back again. This is a very common 
 thing among children, but it is always wrong. 
 When a thing is once really conveyed to ano- 
 ther, either by exchange, or sale, or gift, it be- 
 comes absolutely his, and the first owner has 
 no more right to take it again than any other 
 person has to take it away. So that the han- 
 dle is clearly Rollo's, and not Dovey's at all. 
 
152 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 "And yet, when a person gives another a 
 thing, without receiving anything in return, 
 and is afterwards sorry and wants it back, 1 
 think it is best generally to give it back. 
 You are not obliged to give it back: it is 
 yours, fully, but still I would give it back 
 generally. If one of the children should give 
 me an apple, and afterwards want it back 
 again, I should give it back again. And so, 
 if I were Rollo, I should ask Jonas to take out 
 the blade again, and then give the handle 
 back to Dovey if she wants it. But then, 
 Rollo, you must do just as you please about it, 
 as it is absolutely yours, and you can do with 
 it as you think best.''* 
 
 Here Miss Mary handed Rollo his knife, 
 and then turned to the other cases. 
 
 " We will take the windmill case next," 
 said Miss Mary, " as that is probably shorter 
 than the other. George, what is the story 
 about the windmill?" 
 
 " Why I had my windmill out there, and I 
 was playing with it, and Julius came and 
 wanted it, and I told him he mustn't have it, 
 and he pulled it away from me and ran otf, 
 and then the bell rung and I had to come in." 
 
 Miss Mary then .turned to Julius and said, 
 
 "Well, Julius, was it all so?" 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 153 
 
 " I was not going to take it away from him; 
 I only wanted to try it a minute." 
 
 " But you did take it away from him, 
 didn't you?" 
 
 " I was going to give it right back to him 
 again." 
 
 " But that was wrong. Do you know 
 what the name of the crime is that a man 
 commits when he takes away the property of 
 another forcibly?" 
 
 Julius made no answer. 
 
 " It is robbery" said Miss Mary. 
 
 " If a man meets a traveller on the road, 
 and takes away his money by force, he robs 
 him of it. If a schoolboy takes away a 
 plaything from another, he robs him of it. 
 If he keeps it for a day, then he robs him of 
 it for that day. If he keeps it only a minute, 
 then he robs him of it for the minute. If you 
 take away any body's property, however 
 small the value of it may be, and however 
 short the time you keep it, it is an act of rob- 
 bery. I hope all the children will remember 
 this. It is a very common thing among chil- 
 dren, but it is always unjust and wrong. If 
 the rightful owner of a thing is not willing 
 that you should take it, you have no right to 
 take it, even for a moment." 
 
154 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 So saying, Miss Mary handed George his 
 windmill, and then said, 
 
 " Now for the mouse." 
 
 " I think the mouse is mine," said one boy, 
 " for he was caught in my trap." 
 
 "But the trap was not good for anything 
 till I mended it," said Rollo. 
 
 " And I set it," said another boy. 
 
 " And I got the bait," said another. 
 
 Just at this moment there was a sudden 
 jump and scream among the children. The 
 mouse was out of the trap, upon the table. 
 The children started back, — the mouse leaped 
 off to the floor and ran along, the children 
 screaming and scampering in all directions. 
 Some clambered upon the chairs, some upon 
 the desks, and others made their escape out 
 of the door. In short, the court was broken 
 up in great confusion, the claimants vanish- 
 ed, and the mouse quietly withdrew to his 
 hole. 
 
 How he succeeded in getting out of the 
 trap, the children never could find out to this 
 day. Perhaps Rollo did not fix the door ex- 
 actly right. They were all much disappoint- 
 ed at losing him, but Miss Mary said that 
 she was not very sorry, after all, for it settled 
 summarily a ma?s of conflicting claims, the 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 155 
 
 adjustment of which would have involved a 
 good many intricate legal questions. 
 
 After school that day Rollo told Dovey he 
 had concluded to get Jonas to take out his 
 blade, and then he would give her back her 
 handle. But she said it was no matter. She 
 preferred, on the whole, that he should keep 
 the handle, for his own, forever. 
 
156 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 THE REASON WHY. 
 
 One afternoon, in the recess, Henry was 
 playing with some Httle stones in the walk, 
 very near the gate, and Rollo and Dovey and 
 some other children were sitting by, on the 
 grass. Henry was making a well. He had 
 dug a small hole in the walk, and had put 
 little stones all around it inside, as men stone 
 up a well, and then he asked Dovey if she 
 would not go in and get some water to pour 
 into his well. 
 
 " No," said Dovey. " I can't go very well 
 now ; I am tired." 
 
 "Well, Rollo, you go, won't you?" 
 
 " Why— no— ," said Rollo. " I can't go- 
 very well." 
 
 He then askjd one or two other children, 
 but nobody seemed inclined to go. 
 
 "Oh dear me," said Henry, with a sigh. 
 " I wish somebody would go; or else I wish 
 water would come in my well of itself, as it 
 does in men's wells. I don't see why it 
 won't." 
 
 "It is because your well is not deep 
 enough," said one of the children. 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 157 
 
 "Then I will dig it deeper," said Henry; 
 and he took out the stones and began to dig 
 it deeper, with a pointed stick, which served 
 him for a shovel. But after digging until he 
 was tired, his well was as dry as ever. 
 
 "I don't see why the water won't come " 
 said he. "I mean to ask Miss Mary." 
 
 " No you mustn't ask Miss Mary," said a 
 little round-faced boy standing there, with a 
 paper windmill in his hand. 
 
 " Yes I shall," said Henry. 
 
 " No you mustn't ; it is wrong to ask why." 
 ."No it isn't." 
 
 "Yes it is," said George; "my mother said 
 so." 
 
 "It is not wrong to ask why," said Rollo; 
 " my father said it wasn't. It is very right." 
 
 George insisted that it was wrong. His 
 mother knew, he said, as well as anybody, 
 and she said it was wrong. Rolio was, how- 
 ever, not convinced ; and the other children 
 took sides, some with George, and some with 
 Rollo; and, finally, after considerable dis- 
 pute, they all arose and went off in search of 
 Miss Mary, to refer the question to her. 
 
 They entered the school-room, and all 
 crowded up around Miss Mary's desk, Rollo 
 and George at the head. 
 14 
 
158 EOLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 "Is it wrong. Miss Mary," said Rollo, "to 
 ask why?" 
 
 " Isn't it, Miss Mary V said George. 
 
 " That depends upon circumstances," said 
 Miss Mary. 
 
 The children did not know what she meant 
 by " depends upon circumstances." and they 
 were silent. At length one of the children 
 said, 
 
 " George says that his mother told him it 
 was wrong; but Rollo's father said it was 
 right." 
 
 "It is quite an important question," said 
 Miss Mary. " I will answer it by and by, to 
 the whole school. So you may go out and 
 play for the rest of the recess, but do not talk 
 about it any more among yourselves." 
 
 So the children went out to play until the 
 bell rang to call them in. 
 
 At the close of the school, or rather just 
 before the hour for closing it, Miss Mary, 
 having asked the children to put their books 
 away, addressed them as follows: 
 
 " Two of the scholars came to me with this 
 question to-day : whether it was proper for 
 children to ask their parents or teachers the 
 reasons of things. One thought it was, and 
 the other thought it was not. I told them I 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 159 
 
 would consider the question when all the 
 school could hear, and we will accordingly 
 take it up now. George, you may tell us 
 why you thought it was not." 
 
 George was quite a small hoy, and he was 
 at first a little intimidated at being called 
 upon, before the whole school, to state his 
 opinion. So he only answered faintly that 
 his mother told him so. 
 
 "When was it, George?" <- 
 
 " Yesterday." 
 
 " Do you recollect what you were doing 
 when she told you, and what she said? 
 Tell us all about it." 
 
 " Why, I was playing with some blocks, 
 and mother said I must go to bed, and I ask- 
 ed her why; she said I was always asking 
 why, and it was wrong to ask her why." 
 
 " Well, Rollo, now let us hear your story." 
 
 " Why, one day I was playing in a tub of 
 water by the pump, and I had a little cake- 
 tin which I was sailing about for my ship, 
 and I had another flat piece of tin for my raft. 
 My ship would sail about very well, but my 
 raft would not sail at all ; it would sink di- 
 rectly to the bottom. I could not make it 
 stay up. And so I went in to my father, and 
 I asked him why one would sail and the 
 
160 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 other would not, when they were both tin, 
 And he said he was very glad that I asked 
 him, and that it was right for children to ask 
 why. 7 ' 
 
 " Yery well," said Miss Mary, as soon as 
 Rollo had finished. "You have both told 
 your stories very well. 
 
 " For children to ask their parents the rea- 
 son for anything they see or hear, is some- 
 times right and sometimes wrong. It depends 
 upon circumstances. In George's case, now, 
 the circumstances were very different from 
 those of Rollo' s. Rollo' s motive was a desire 
 of knowledge. He wanted to have a diffi- 
 culty explained, and so he went to his father, 
 at a proper time and under proper circum- 
 stances, and asked him. In such cases as 
 this, it is very right to ask the reason why. 
 
 " But in George's case it was different 
 He asked why he must go to bed, not from a 
 desire to learn and understand, but only be- 
 cause he did not want to go. He knew well 
 enough why he must go. It was time. He 
 only asked for the purpose of making delay, 
 and perhaps getting leave to sit up longer. 
 
 " This now is a very common case of boys' 
 asking why. They are told to do something, 
 and instead of obeying promptly and at once, 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 161 
 
 they ask why they must do it. It is one kind 
 of disobedience, and it is, of course, always 
 wrong." 
 
 "Then is it always wrong," said Lucy, 
 " to ask our father and mother the reason for 
 what they tell us to do?" 
 
 "No," said Miss Mary; "not unless you 
 make it an excuse for putting off obeying. 
 For instance, if George had gone to bed di- 
 rectly and pleasantly when his mother told 
 him to go, and then, the next day, when he 
 saw she was at leisure, if he had gone and 
 said to her, l Mother, what is the reason that 
 children are generally sent to bed earlier than 
 grown persons?' I don't think she would have 
 considered it wrong. If he had asked the 
 question in that way, it would have shown 
 that he really wanted to know ; but in the 
 other way he stops to ask about the reason 
 of the command, at the time when he ought 
 to have gone off and obeyed it." 
 
 " My father never lets me ask him the rea- 
 son for what he tells me to do," said Henry. 
 
 u You mean, I rather think, that he never 
 lets you stop to ask him the reason at the 
 time when you ought to be doing it." 
 
 "No," said Henry. "I don't think he 
 would let me ask him at all." 
 
 g* 14* 
 
162 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 "Suppose you try the experiment. Next 
 time he gives you any command which you 
 do not understand, go and obey it at once, 
 with alacrity, and then, afterwards, when 
 he is at leisure, go and ask him pleasantly if 
 he will tell you the reason." 
 
 "J will," said Henry; "but I know he 
 won't tell me." 
 
 " Well," said Miss Mary, " we will now 
 close the school ; and I want you all to re- 
 member what I have told you. It is right for 
 you to want to understand what you see and 
 hear ; and it is even right for you to wish to 
 know the reasons for the commands your pa- 
 rents give you. But you must always do it 
 at a proper time, and with proper motives, 
 and you must never stop to ask why, when 
 the command is given and you ought to be 
 obeying it. And, above all, you must never 
 stop to say, 'Why must I?' in a repining 
 tone, when you don't really wish to know 
 why, but only to show your unwillingness to 
 obey." 
 
 That night, when Henry went home from 
 school, he had an opportunity to put Miss 
 Mary s opinions to the test, sooner than he 
 had expected. He walked along with Rollo 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 163 
 
 as far as their roads went together, and then 
 he turned down a green lane, which led, after 
 some time, to a pleasant-looking house, with 
 a fine large martin-house upon a tall pole 
 near it. This was where Henry lived. He 
 heard his father at work in the barn, and he 
 went and looked in. His father and a large 
 boy were grinding some scythes. He looked 
 at them a few minutes, and then went into 
 the house. 
 
 His mother was at work in the kitchen, 
 getting supper. A small table was set in the 
 middle of the room, with two plates upon it, 
 for Henry's father and mother. At another 
 table, by the window, there was a large pan 
 of milk, and a bowl full by the side of it. 
 
 " Is this my bowl of milk?" said Henry. 
 
 " Yes," said his mother. 
 
 So Henry took up his bowl of milk and 
 carried it carefully out to the door, and put it 
 down on a large stone which was in the back 
 yard, and which made a sort of seat, where 
 he often went to eat his bread and milk. 
 Then he went in and got a spoon and a large 
 piece of bread, and came out and sat down 
 upon the stone and ate his supper. After this 
 his mother told him it was time to go after 
 
164 EOLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 the cows, and so he put on his cap and 
 walked along. 
 
 Henry went, through a pair of bars which 
 led to a lane by the side of the barn. He 
 went on in this lane for some distance, until 
 he reached the place where the path entered 
 among the trees and bushes. He was just 
 disappearing in the thicket, when his father 
 saw him through the back barn door. He 
 called out aloud, 
 
 " Hen-ry." 
 
 Henry turned round, saw his father, and 
 answered, 
 
 " What, sir?" in a loud voice. 
 
 " Are you going after the cows?" 
 
 " Yes, sir," said Henry. 
 
 "Well, — don't go over the bridge, — but go 
 round by the stepping-stones,— going and 
 coming." 
 
 Henry was so far off that his father had to 
 call in a loud voice, and to speak very slowly 
 and distinctly, in order to make him hear. 
 After he had done speaking, he paused a mo- 
 ment, in order to observe whether Henry ap- 
 peared to understand him. 
 
 Henry stood still an instant, too, looking at 
 his father, and then he called out, in an 
 equally loud voice, 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 165 
 
 :i Why mustn't I go over the bridge?" 
 
 His father, in reply to this question, only 
 said, "Obey!" 
 
 Henry understood by this that he did not 
 think it proper for him to ask the reason. 
 
 " There," said he to himself, " I told Miss 
 Mary so. My father never lets me ask why." 
 
 The bridge which his father meant, was 
 only a couple of old logs laid across a brook 
 in the woods, so that they could get over. 
 The cows could not walk upon it, and so 
 they usually came across through the water. 
 They had thus worn a deep place in the 
 brook, both above and below the bridge, and 
 here Henry used to love to stop and play, 
 sailing boats, watching little fishes, skippers, 
 <fcc. There was another way of going into 
 the pasture, by turning off just before you 
 come to the bridge, through some cedar 
 bushes, until you come to the brook at ano- 
 ther place below; and there, there were step- 
 ping-stones. The path beyond led on to the 
 pasture, though it came out into a little dif- 
 ferent part of it. 
 
 Now Henry preferred to go by the bridge, 
 and he asked his father why he mustn't, not 
 because he really wished to know the reason, 
 
166 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 but only as a way of begging his father to let 
 him go that way. 
 
 Henry, however, obeyed. He left the path 
 which led to the bridge, at the proper place, 
 and went through among the cedars and other 
 trees which grew near the brook, until he 
 came to the stepping-stones. He then went 
 on to the pasture and found the cows. He 
 drove them along towards home, and tried to 
 make them go by the path his father had di- 
 rected him to take ; but they liked the other 
 road better, as well as he, and, notwithstand- 
 ing all his efforts, they would go into the 
 woods by the path which led to the bridge. 
 
 " Now I must go by the bridge," said 
 Henry. 
 
 On second thoughts, however, he concluded 
 to obey his orders at all hazards. So he went 
 to the entrance of the woods, where the cows 
 had gone in, and shouted to them some time 
 to make them go on, and then he went him- 
 self round the other way. 
 
 The cows stopped a few minutes to drink 
 at the brook, and accordingly they and Hen- 
 ry came out at the junction of the two paths 
 very nearly together. Henry then drove them 
 along the lane towards the house. 
 
 He wondered what the reason could be 
 

ROLLO AT SCHOOL. ] 69 
 
 why his father would not let him take the 
 usual path; and just then he happened to 
 think of the experiment which Miss Mary 
 had advised him to try. 
 
 "Here is a fine chance, said he to him- 
 self. " I will ask my father, but I knoio he 
 won't tell me." 
 
 Accordingly, when he reached the yard, he 
 went to the barn to find his father. It was 
 almost dark, and he was just shutting the 
 great doors. Henry pushed the doors to, for 
 him, and his father fastened them. Then he 
 took hold of his father's hand, and they 
 walked towards the house. 
 
 " Father," said he, in a good-natured tone, 
 " will you be good enough to tell me what 
 the reason was why you was not willing to 
 have me go over the bridge?" 
 
 "Oh yes," said his father. "We found a 
 great hornets' nest close by the bridge to-day, 
 and I don't want you to go that way until 
 we destroy it, for fear you will get stung." 
 
 "A hornet's nest?" said Henry. 
 
 " Yes," said his father, "a monstrous one." 
 
 "How big?" said Henry. 
 
 " Oh, as big as your head." 
 
 "As big as my head?" said Henry, with 
 astonishment. 
 
 h 15 
 
170 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 "Yes, cap and all." 
 
 "Do you think the hornets would have 
 stung me?" asked Henry again, after a mo- 
 ment's pause. 
 
 " No, I don't think they would." 
 
 " Then why didn't you let me go?" 
 
 " Because they might have stung you, 
 though probably they would not have done- 
 it, if you had let them alone." 
 
 " When are you going to destroy the nest ?" 
 said Henry. 
 
 " Early to-morrow morning." 
 
 Here they reached the house, and Henry's 
 father went in to his supper. Henry himself 
 sat down upon the door-step, saying to him- 
 self, 
 
 "Well, Miss Mary was right, it seems, 
 after all." 
 
 The next day, when Henry came to school, 
 he went to Miss Mary's table, and told her 
 he had tried the plan of asking his father the 
 reason at the proper time. 
 
 " And did he tell you?" said Miss Mary. 
 
 "Yes," said Henry, smiling; "he did." 
 
 " I thought he would. Parents are gene- 
 rally willing to give their children reasons, if 
 they ask at a proper time and in a proper 
 manner." 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 171 
 
 Miss Maty then asked Henry what it was 
 that he asked his father the reason for, and 
 he told her the whole story. She then asked 
 him if he was willing that she should tell the 
 story to all the scholars ; and he said yes ; and 
 she accordingly did so. 
 
172 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 THE HOLIDAY. 
 
 Towards the latter part of the summer, 
 when the leaves of the forest were just begin- 
 ning to turn brown, and the nights began to 
 grow cool, the children used to have a fine 
 time getting apples under the apple-trees in 
 the orchard. Miss Mary allowed them to 
 have two apiece each day, one in the fore- 
 noon and one in the afternoon. The children 
 rambled about under the trees, in the recess, 
 choosing their apples. It was against the rule 
 to bite them, for the purpose of trying the 
 taste, and they were accordingly obliged to 
 judge by the size and color. They were not 
 allowed to eat apples in the orchard, but, after 
 choosing one each, they came back to the 
 portico, and, sitting down upon the stone or 
 upon the grass, ate them there. 
 
 The reason why Miss Mary did not allow 
 the children to eat apples anywhere but be- 
 fore the school-room door, was that that was 
 the best way to be sure that they did not any 
 of them eat but one ; and the reason why she 
 did not wish to have them eat more than one 
 apiece, was that she was afraid that more 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 173 
 
 might make them sick. It is not certain that, 
 if children eat several apples at a time, they 
 will be sick; but they may be, and Miss 
 Mary wanted to be on the safe side. 
 
 One day, about this time, two of the chil- 
 dren came running in to Miss Mary, in a re- 
 cess, out of breath, and apparently very eager 
 about something or other. - They came and 
 stood by the side of her table, and waited for 
 her to give them permission to speak. 
 
 "Well, children," said Miss Mary, at length 
 looking up from her work, " do you want to 
 speak to me?" 
 
 " Yes, ma'am," said Henry, who was one 
 of the boys. " Will there be any school to- 
 morrow?" 
 
 " Yes, certainly," said Miss Mary. "Why 
 not?" 
 
 " Why, it is training." 
 
 "Training?" said Miss Mary 
 
 "Yes, there is going to be a training on 
 the common." 
 
 " And do my scholars belong to the com- 
 pany?" said Miss Mary, smiling. 
 
 "Why, no," said the boys; "they don't 
 belong to any company, but they want to see 
 the training." 
 
 Miss Mary paused and reflected a moment. 
 15* 
 
174 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 Presently she said, "I will think of it, and 
 tell you and all the school, together, by and 
 by." 
 
 When the time for dismissing the school 
 had arrived, and the children had put away 
 their books, Miss Mary introduced the subject 
 as follows : 
 
 " I understand that, there is to be a training 
 to-morrow, and some of the children wanted 
 to know whether there will be any school or 
 not. But first, I want to know all I can 
 about the facts. All the children that can tell 
 me anything about the training may rise." 
 
 Here several children stood up. 
 
 Miss Mary called upon them one after ano- 
 ther, and they told various things. One said 
 that it was the Light Infantry that were going 
 to train. Another said that he believed they 
 were going to have a new uniform. Another 
 said that his uncle Ephraim was going to 
 train. Another said they were going to fire, 
 &c. At last, all the children had told what 
 they knew about it, and all sat down. 
 
 Then Miss Mary asked all those to rise 
 who knew whether any other schools were 
 going to be dismissed for that day ; but none 
 of the children knew of any. 
 
 Then Miss Mary asked all those to rise 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 175 
 
 who had heard their parents say anything 
 about school being dismissed that day. Seve- 
 ral rose. 
 
 "Well, James, what did your father say?" 
 
 " He said that if you did not keep school, 
 he would take me out to the common." 
 
 "George, what did yours say?" 
 
 " It was my mother." 
 
 George hung his head and looked rather 
 foolish, adding, in a low tone, 
 
 " She said she hoped you would not dismiss 
 the school." 
 
 " Did she say why not?" 
 
 " I suppose she did not want to have me go 
 to training." 
 
 "Rollo?" 
 
 " My father does not like to have me go to 
 training." 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 "He is afraid I shall get hurt." 
 
 "Lucy?" said Miss Mary, observing that 
 Lucy was standing ready to speak. 
 
 " My mother said," Lucy replied, "that per- 
 haps there would be so many persons in the 
 streets, that we could not go back and forth 
 to school very" well." 
 
 " That is to be thought of, it is true," said 
 
176 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 Miss Mary. Then, after a short pause, she 
 continued thus : 
 
 " On the whole, considering all the circum- 
 stances, I think we had better have a holiday. 
 But I don't like to have you go to the train- 
 ing. It is a rude, noisy scene, where you 
 will be very likely to get hurt. So I will pro- 
 pose that you should all come and spend the 
 holiday here. We will gather apples in the 
 forenoon, and in the afternoon we will build 
 a fire in the woods and roast some of them.' 7 
 
 The eyes of a good many of the children 
 sparkled at this, for they were very much 
 pleased with the thought of spending the day 
 with Miss Mary in play. Miss Mary used 
 often to go out with them in the recess, and 
 help them in their plays, and tell them stories, 
 and she knew so many good plays and inte- 
 resting stories, that they always enjoyed such 
 times very highly. 
 
 Still, however, some of the children appeared 
 a little unwilling to give up the training. One 
 little fellow, who had looked very restless and 
 uneasy during this conversation, said that if 
 they came there they should not see the tent. 
 
 "Is there to be a tent on the common]" 
 said Miss Mary. 
 
R0LL0 AT SCHOOL. 177 
 
 Several of the children said that there 
 was. 
 
 " Oh, well, we can have a tent too," said 
 Miss Mary. 
 
 " However," she continued, after a mo- 
 ment's pause, " you can do as you please, or 
 rather as your parents please. We will have 
 no school, and you can all tell your parents 
 that I shall keep holiday in the orchard, and 
 shall be glad to have any of you come that 
 would like to come. You must come in the 
 morning, and stay all day. If any of you 
 prefer to go to the training, and your parents 
 are willing, you can go, of course ; or if your 
 parents think it will not be safe for you to 
 come here through the streets, then, of course, 
 you will not come." 
 
 The children seemed satisfied with this ar- 
 rangement, and Miss Mary prepared to close 
 the school. 
 
 " One thing more," said Miss Mary, sud- 
 denly recollecting herself. "Have any of you 
 any little wheelbarrows or wagons at home ? 
 If you have you may rise." 
 
 At these words several of the children arose, 
 and Miss Mary asked them what they had. 
 One had a pair of trucks, another a little 
 wheelbarrow, another a wagon, and another, 
 
178 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 one of the smallest boys, named Ezra, said 
 he had a drag. 
 
 "What is your drag?" said Miss Mary. 
 
 " I haul stones upon it," said the little boy. 
 
 " Yes, but how is it made V 
 
 The boy looked a little confused, and said 
 he did not know. 
 
 " Well, never mind," said Miss Mary, "we 
 shall see it when it comes. 
 
 "Now, boys," she continued, "we shall 
 want all the c^rts and wagons you can bring, 
 to draw the apples in with. I should like, 
 therefore, to have you bring anything of the 
 kind you may have, if your parents are wil- 
 ling. Be sure not to bring them without their 
 consent." 
 
 After this, Miss Mary closed the school with 
 the usual religious exercises, and the children 
 went home. 
 
 As the children walked along out of the 
 gate, Henry said that he should rather go to 
 the training, and he hoped his father would 
 let him go. 
 
 "Oh no," said Rollo and Lucy, both toge- 
 ther. " It will be a great deal pleasanter here 
 than at the training, I know." 
 
 "No it won't," said Julius. "I would 
 rather go to the training, a great deal." 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 179 
 
 * 1 expect my father will make me come to 
 the school, at any rate," said Henry, " when 
 he knows that Miss Mary is going tcrkeep 
 holiday out in the orchard." 
 
 " I shan't tell my father anything about it," 
 said Julius. 
 
 " Nor I my mother," said Dovey. 
 
 Here the children separated and went off, 
 in little groups, in various directions, talking 
 together. Dovey, however, altered her mind 
 before she got home. She reflected that it 
 would be wrong not to tell her mother exactly 
 what the facts were. Besides, she concluded 
 that, after all, she should rather go and spend 
 the day with Miss Mary. 
 
 Julius, on the other hand, told his father, 
 when he got home, that there was not to be 
 any school the next day, but said nothing 
 about Miss Mary's plan; and accordingly, the 
 next morning, after breakfast, he went out 
 into the streets, and gradually made his way 
 towards the common. 
 
 Early in the morning Miss Mary's father, 
 having heard that all the children were com- 
 ing the next day to pick up his apples, opened 
 a great gate leading from the yard to the or- 
 chard ; he also got up a large number of bar- 
 rels out of the cellar, and arranged them in a 
 
180 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 row on the great barn floor. He also got his 
 wheelbarrow and his handcart ready; and 
 soon after breakfast the children began to 
 come. 
 
 They gathered about the school-room door, 
 bringing all sorts of little vehicles with them. 
 Rollo brought his wheelbarrow, and another 
 boy a pair of trucks, consisting of a box on 
 four low wooden wheels; a third came with 
 a painted wagon, made to draw little children 
 in, the top covered with a green awning. 
 While the children were gathering around, 
 and examining and admiring these various 
 vehicles, they saw little Ezra tugging away 
 at the gate, endeavoring to pull something 
 through. It proved to be his drag; which 
 was, in fact, nothing more nor less than an 
 old worn-out tea-waiter, which his mother 
 had given him. He had tied a strong string 
 into the handle at one end, by means of 
 which he could drag it about the yard. 
 
 When the children were all assembled, Miss 
 Mary came out and stood in the portico 
 among them, looking at their carts and 
 wagons. Each called to her eagerly to look 
 at his own, and several pointed, laughing, at 
 Ezra's drag. Miss JVlary, seeing that Ezra 
 looked a little troubled at having his drag 
 
ROLLO AT SlUOOL. 181 
 
 laughed at, went to it and examined it, and 
 said it was a very good drag. She told him 
 to come with her and she would find him a 
 box to put on it, and then he could draw a 
 good many apples, — almost as many as the 
 other boys could with their wheelbarrows. 
 
 When Rollo saw Miss Mary thus trying to 
 help little Ezra, and to make him feel con- 
 tented and happy, instead of laughing at him 
 and giving him pain, he was sorry that he 
 had laughed at him, as he had done, with the 
 rest. It is right for boys to laugh when they 
 see anything amusing, unless they perceive 
 that it is the means of giving somebody pain; 
 and that it is never right to do for the sake 
 of amusement. 
 
 Rollo thought, too, that it must be a great 
 satisfaction to Miss Mary to give pleasure to 
 the scholars in such ways as that, and he 
 thought he would imitate her example. He 
 accordingly went up to Ezra and offered to 
 exchange with him. 
 
 " I will let you have my wheelbarrow a 
 little while, Ezra, if you want it, and I will 
 take your drag-." 
 
 "Will you?" said Ezra, much pleased. 
 " Well, — I should like your wheelbarrow very 
 much." 
 
 16 
 
182 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 Just as Ezra began to try Rollo's wheel- 
 barrow, Miss Mary, who stood on the portico, 
 called all the children to come and form a 
 ring before her. So they all left their carts 
 and wagons and came to her, as she desired. 
 'Now, children," said she, "I am going to 
 give the orders of the day. We are all going 
 to work this forenoon, and play this afternoon. 
 I shall give you all directions where you are 
 to go, and what apples you are to gather; 
 and you must obey the directions exactly, 
 without asking why, or requesting me to 
 change them. There are so many of you, 
 that if I stop to explain to every one, I shall 
 be talking all the time. You must not eat 
 any apples, and not even bite one, until I give 
 you leave. I shall form you into companies 
 and give you your stations ; and each must 
 keep his station, and obey the leader of his 
 company, until I change him. 
 
 "Now, James," she continued, "wheel 
 your wheelbarrow into the ring." 
 
 So James went out and got his wheelbar- 
 row, and wheeled it in where all the children 
 could see it. 
 
 "Now who would like to belong to James's 
 company?" 
 
 Several of the children raised their hands. 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 183 
 
 "Look around, James," said Miss Mary, 
 " and choose any four of those whose hands 
 are up that you would like to have help you." 
 
 James looked about for a minute or two, and 
 then chose two girls and two boys, and they 
 went and stood by James's wheelbarrow. 
 
 "There, James," said Miss Mary, "there 
 is your company. You may go out to the 
 great russet tree and pick up apples. All 
 your company must stay at that tree, under 
 your direction. If any difficulty occurs, or 
 if any of your company want anything, you 
 must come yourself and tell me. You must 
 also come and tell me when you get your 
 wheelbarrow full." 
 
 So James took up his wheelbarrow and 
 went along, his company following him, until 
 they reached the great russet tree, and began 
 to pick up the apples which lay there. 
 
 In the Same manner Miss Mary organized 
 another company, a boy who had a pair of 
 tracks being at the head of it ; and another 
 with a little wagon. Next she called Rollo, 
 and he came, pulling in Ezra's drag. 
 
 "But where's your wheelbarrow?" said 
 Miss Mary. 
 
 " I have exchanged with Ezra," said Rollo. 
 
 "Oh, have you?" said Miss Mary. "Well, 
 
1S4 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 that is a very good plan. Who will you have 
 for your company?" 
 
 Rollo chose Dovey and Henry, and two 
 very little boys. His company were sent to 
 a tree that bore large red apples. Ezra, with 
 Rollo' s wheelbarrow, and a company which 
 he had chosen, went to another tree pretty 
 near; and thus in a short time all the chil- 
 dren were distributed over the orchard, each 
 company under the tree assigned to it. 
 
 Miss Mary adopted this systematic plan in 
 order that things might go on smoothly and 
 pleasantly; for some system is necessary 
 when a great number of persons are to be em- 
 ployed in any one work. When the children 
 were all engaged, she herself took her work 
 and went out into the orchard, and sat under 
 the shade of a tree, where, by looking up oc- 
 casionally, she could see how things went on. 
 
 After she had been sitting there a minute 
 or two, she recollected that she ought to have 
 a messenger to send around to tell the chil- 
 dren anything she might, from time to time, 
 wish to communicate to them. She accord- 
 ingly looked to one of the nearest companies 
 to find some gentle, pleasant girl or boy. She 
 chose Rollo' s cousin Lucy, and beckoned to 
 her to come. 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 185 
 
 u Lucy," said she, " I forgot one thing. I 
 want you to go around to all the companies, 
 and tell them they must be particular to put 
 the apples into the carts and wagons very 
 carefully, and not bruise them." 
 
 As soon as Lucy was gone, Rollo came to 
 Miss Mary, to tell her that his company had 
 got the box full, which she had put upon 
 Ezra's drag, and he wanted to know what he 
 should do with the apples. 
 
 "Appoint two of your company to draw 
 them carefully to the barn. Perhaps you had 
 better go yourself for one." 
 
 So Rollo went back and appointed Henry 
 to go with him. 
 
 " I mean to go too," said Dovey. 
 
 "No you mustn't," said Rollo. " Miss 
 Mary said tico." 
 
 "But she did not say you must not appoint 
 more than two. I will go." 
 
 By this time Henry and Rollo had taken 
 hold of the string, and had begun to draw the 
 drag; but Dovey insisted upon following 
 them. Rollo began to feel a little angry, and 
 said he never would choose Dovey in his 
 company again. 
 
 After a moment's reflection, however, he 
 thought that it was wrong to be angry and to 
 
186 *OLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 scold at Dovey, and he recollected that Miss 
 Mary had told him that if there was any dif- 
 ficulty he must come to her. So he let go of 
 the string, and walked quietly away to Miss 
 Mary and told her the case. 
 
 • { Ask Dovey to come here," said Miss 
 Mary. 
 
 Dovey obeyed, and Miss Mary asked her 
 if it was true that she would insist upon going 
 with Rollo. 
 
 " Yes, ma'am," said Dovey. "I wanted to 
 go as well as Henry." 
 
 " But he appointed Henry." 
 
 " I wanted him to appoint me too." 
 
 Miss Mary paused a moment, and then 
 said, 
 
 " Dovey, you have done wrong. Unless 
 each company follows the directions I give 
 them, through their leaders, the whole field 
 would soon be in confusion. Look, — see 
 there," she said, pointing to a tree upon one 
 side. 
 
 Dovey looked and saw Ezra and another 
 boy struggling for Rollo' s wheelbarrow. This 
 other boy's name was Samuel. They listened, 
 and could hear what they were saying. 
 
 " I will move it," said Samuel. 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 187 
 
 "No, you shall not; it must stay here," 
 said Ezra. 
 
 " Ezra, let go," said Samuel, pulling. 
 
 " You shan't have it," said Ezra. 
 
 Here Miss Mary asked Dovey to go and 
 tell both the boys to come to her. 
 
 Dovey, glad to have another difficulty oc- 
 cur to call away Miss Mary's attention from 
 her own case, ran off at full speed, and soon 
 brought the combatants under Miss Mary's 
 tree. 
 
 " You see, Dovey," said Miss Mary, with- 
 out speaking to the boys, " what would hap- 
 pen if the children in all the companies were 
 to become insubordinate, as you and Samuel 
 have. We should have incessant disputes 
 and contentions all over the field. Now I di- 
 rected you all, very plainly, to obey the lead- 
 ers of your companies ; and, as you did not, 
 I must send you away for a time. You must 
 go to the portico, and sit down there, till I 
 send for you again." 
 
 So Dovey went and took her solitary seat 
 upon the portico floor, with her feet upon the 
 great flat stone. 
 
 Then Miss Mary turned to Samuel. 
 
 " Samuel," said she, " you have been dis- 
 obeying, too." 
 
J 88 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 *• Why, Miss Mary," said Samuel, " Ezra 
 would not let me move the wheelbarrow over 
 to where the apples were thicker." 
 
 " Yes, but Ezra was the leader of your 
 company, and you ought to have let him 
 place it just where he pleased. You have 
 been insubordinate too. You must go and 
 sit in the portico with Dovey." 
 
 Then Miss Mary sent Lucy around to all 
 the companies, to tell them that Samuel and 
 Dovey had been sent away because they 
 were insubordinate, and that she hoped there 
 would be no more cases. The children look- 
 ed at Dovey and Samuel, and determined that 
 they would not make any such difficulty, so 
 as to make Miss Mary send them away. Af- 
 ter a time, Miss Mary let them both come 
 back. 
 
 Pretty soon after the children began to 
 gather the apples, a large strong boy came 
 out of the house, with a light ladder and a 
 pole ; and he went around, from tree to tree, 
 shaking off the apples, and thus keeping all 
 the companies well employed. As soon as 
 one tree was gathered, the company belonging 
 to it was sent to another. They hauled and 
 wheeled their loads of apples into the barn, 
 where a man was ready to put them into the 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 189 
 
 proper barrels; and in the course of three 
 hours they had gathered and got in a great 
 many. Rollo, at first, had some trouble with 
 Ezra's drag, and he was at one time upon the 
 point of going to ask Miss Mary to let him 
 change again. But when he looked at Ezra, 
 and saw how much pleased he appeared to 
 be with his wheelbarrow, he concluded to let 
 him keep it. The box troubled him by slip- 
 ping off, but at last the man at the' barn tied 
 it on with a strong cord, and after that he did 
 very well. 
 
 The children enjoyed their work very 
 much, and the forenoon slipped away rapidly. 
 In fact, they were quite surprised when Miss 
 Mary sent word round to the companies each 
 to finish the tree they were under, and then 
 to rendezvous at the portico. They accord- 
 ingly did so ; and all gathered around Miss 
 Mary, who took her stand upon the great flat 
 stone. 
 
 Miss Mary then ordered all the carts and 
 trucks and wheelbarrows to be formed into a 
 line, each attended by its own company. 
 She sent one round into the barn to get a load 
 of the best apples they could find, choosing 
 them out of the different barrels. The second 
 was despatched to the garden after a load ot 
 
190 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 green corn. She went into the house and got 
 a large parcel done up in a great newspaper, 
 and put it into Ezra's drag; and then pre- 
 sently brought out another parcel, which 
 looked like a sheet rolled up, and put that 
 into Rollo's wheelbarrow. 
 
 She then asked two of the largest boys to 
 go around into the shed and bring three poles, 
 which they would see there by the side of the 
 door. The boys went, and presently return- 
 ed ; one had a very long pole, and the other 
 had two shorter ones, with a crotch at one 
 end of each. 
 
 "Now," said Miss Mary, "we are ready 
 to form the caravan." 
 
 The children looked very much interested 
 and pleased, wondering what Miss Mary was 
 going to do. 
 
 She formed the companies in a line again, 
 all with their loaded vehicles. She gave the 
 long pole to a large boy, and, after whispering 
 something in his ear, placed him at the head. 
 Next to him came two other boys with the 
 crotched poles, then the various companies in 
 procession, ending with Ezra and his drag; 
 and. finally, Miss Mary herself brought up 
 the rear. When all was arranged, she gave 
 the command to move. 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 191 
 
 The pole-bearer, of course, led the way; 
 Miss Mary had whispered to him where to 
 go. He walked on through the orchard, until 
 he came to the great gate at the farther side. 
 He passed through the gate into a wood, the 
 long train, or caravan, as Miss Mary termed 
 it, following him, until finally he turned off, 
 by a narrow pathway, down into a glen, 
 where he came at length to an opening, by 
 the borders of a brook, where Miss Mary told 
 them to stop. 
 
 It was a very pleasant place, and the chil- 
 dren capered around it with delight. The 
 several companies unloaded their carts and 
 wheelbarrows, and put the contents in a little 
 place under the bushes, which Miss Mary 
 called her store-room. 
 
 "Now, then," said she, unrolling the bun- 
 dle of white cotton cloth. 
 
 "Why, Miss Mary, what is that?" said 
 they, gathering around her. 
 
 " It is our tent." 
 
 "Tent!" said the children with surprise. 
 
 "Yes," said Miss Mary; " did not I pro- 
 mise you a tent?" 
 
 So Miss Mary unrolled the parcel. It 
 turned out to be a large sheet, with strong 
 tapes sewed at equal distances along the 
 
192 ROLLO AT oon 
 
 edges. Miss Mary then, with the help of 
 some of the older children, laid down the long 
 pole upon the ground, and spread the sheet 
 over it, in such a way as that the pole reach- 
 ed across from side to side, under the middle 
 of the sheet Then two boys took hold of 
 the two ends of the pole and raised it up, the 
 sheet hanging over it. 
 
 Miss Mary then struck the crotched poles 
 down into the ground, the lower ends having 
 been made sharp for this purpose. She put 
 these sharp ends down exactly under the ends 
 of the long pole, and then lifted the long pole 
 over, so as to put the two ends into the 
 crotches. 'Still the crotched poles were not 
 driven down into the ground far enough to 
 stand up strong by themselves, and so two 
 boys stood by to hold them, until Miss Mary 
 should fasten the tent. 
 
 She then took hold of the two sides of the 
 sheet, which hung down from the long pole, 
 and extended them each way like the roof of 
 a house; the children holding them out, until 
 Miss Mary could fasten them. She then 
 drove down some small stakes along the 
 ground, in a row, on each side of the tent, 
 and tied the tapes to them. This kept the 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 193 
 
 covering extended, and made the upright 
 poles steady, and the tent was done. 
 
 All the children then wanted to go into it, 
 and Miss Mary told them to be careful and 
 not rim against the tapes or the poles, for 
 they were not very strong. Miss Mary 
 thought she was not a very good tent-maker, 
 but the children thought that the tent was a 
 beautiful one. 
 
 " I think it is a great deal better than the 
 tent on the common," said Rollo. "Isn't it, 
 Miss Mary?" 
 
 " Yes," said Dovey ; " because you know 
 we can't go into that." 
 
 As soon as the tent was finished, Miss 
 Mary sent off all the carts, trucks, and wheel- 
 barrows, into the woods around, after sticks 
 to make a fire with. She herself struck a 
 light and began to kindle the fire, at some 
 distance from the tent, and the boys piled on 
 load after load of fuel, until they had a blaz- 
 ing fire. 
 
 They at length found a small log of wood, 
 rather long, which the boys contrived to roll 
 up towards the fire. They placed the- ends 
 upon two stones, which answered for andi- 
 rons, and thus had a very respectable fore- 
 stick. They then husked their corn, and 
 i 17 
 
194 KOLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 leaned it up against the forestick to roast, arri 
 they put a long row of apples close to the 
 fire, upon another side, and they soon began 
 to hiss and sing very cheerily. 
 
 Miss Mary then asked Ezra to go and 
 bring her the large paper parcel which came 
 in his drag. She untied the twine and care- 
 fully unrolled the paper, and out came a large 
 quantity of slices of bread and butter, and 
 one or two pies. In fact, with what Miss 
 Mary had brought down in this bundle, and 
 with what they roasted at the fire, they made 
 out a grand repast. They ate it in the tent, 
 seated close together in a row around the in- 
 side, upon the grass, with their provisions 
 upon the wheelbarrows turned bottom up- 
 wards in the middle, for tables. Miss Mary 
 could not sit very comfortably within the 
 tent, it was so low; and she accordingly took 
 her station at the door of it, upon a seat form- 
 ed of the box belonging to Ezra's drag, which 
 she turned down for this purpose upon its 
 side. 
 
 Each one of the children had an ear of 
 corn,, a roasted apple, a slice of bread and 
 butter, and a piece of pie; and Miss Mary 
 thought that, however unscientific her tent 
 might appear in the eyes of a tent-maker, 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 195 
 
 there was probably as much enjoyment tinder 
 it as there was under the tent upon the com- 
 mon. After they had finished their dinner, 
 she sat an hour telling them stories; and then 
 they went down to the brook and sailed little 
 boats for some time. At last the time arrived 
 for them to prepare to go home. The carts 
 and wagons, with their companies, formed a 
 line again, and moved slowly along out of the 
 wood, back through the orchard to the school- 
 room, in the same order in which they came. 
 
 Miss Mary found that Lucy was rathei 
 afraid to go home. The reason was, that she 
 was naturally a little timid, and, besides, her 
 road lay rather nearer the common and the 
 soldiers than those of most of the other chil- 
 dren. Lucy lingered behind with Rollo after 
 the other children had gone, and Miss Mary, 
 finding that she was afraid, said she would 
 go a part of the way with her. 
 
 They accordingly walked along together, 
 Miss Mary in the middle, leading Rollo by 
 one hand and Lucy by the other. Presently 
 they came into the part of the town where 
 the common was situated. They were not 
 going directly by it, for their road turned off 
 from the main road just before it reached the 
 common. 
 
96 ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 
 
 As they approached this turn, they heard 
 the occasional firing of guns, and wild shouts, 
 and a rattling of wagons and trampling of 
 horses, and the atmosphere seemed half filled 
 with dust and smoke. Lucy clung closer to 
 Miss Mary's hand, and even Rollo was glad 
 he was not any nearer the scene. Just as 
 they were turning off into the other road, they 
 suddenly saw a troop of boys coming at full 
 speed, and with great noise, around a corner 
 at some distance before them. 
 
 " Why, Miss Mary," said Rollo, "what is 
 that?' 7 
 
 " Only some rude, bad boys." 
 
 "What are they doing ? Why ! is not that 
 Julius?" 
 
 For while Rollo was actually asking the 
 questions, he observed that the boys seemed 
 to be pursuing one who was running a little 
 before the rest, without his hat, and apparent- 
 ly very much terrified. The other boys were 
 armed with sticks, and were shouting, appa- 
 rently in anger. In a moment Rollo perceived 
 that the boy in front was Julius, and imme- 
 diately supposed that he had got into some 
 quarrel with the bad boys on the common. 
 
 Miss Mary and Rollo stopped, but Lucy 
 pulled gently upon Miss Mary's hand, as if 
 
ROLLO AT SCHOOL. 197 
 
 she wished to go on. Julius ran into a small 
 store, and the other boys stopped and gathered 
 around the door. Presently the man in the 
 store came to the door and drove them away. 
 They went off a little distance, and remained 
 there, with threatening looks and gestures, 
 waiting to catch Julius when he should come 
 out. Miss Mary and the children then went 
 along, and when they were beyond all dan- 
 ger Miss Mary returned home. 
 
 The school continued, after this, several 
 weeks ; during which time Rollo went on 
 with his reading, writing, spelling and arith- 
 metic, and he found that they became easier 
 as he advanced. Dovey improved very much 
 too, though she did not get entirely free from her 
 old habits. As for Julius, he grew worse and 
 worse ; more indolent and careless, and perti- 
 nacious and stubborn. In fact, children are 
 generally growing either worse or better. At 
 last his father took him away from school. 
 What became of him, perhaps the reader may 
 learn in the book called Rollo' s Vacation.