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UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL 
 
 00022092566 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
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 http://www.archive.org/details/rollolearningtoread1850 
 
Jonas going to Market. 
 
ROLLO 
 
 LEARNING TO READ. 
 
 THE ROLLO SERIES 
 
 IS COMPOSED OF FOURTEEN VOLUMES, VIZ. 
 
 Rollo Learning to Talk. 
 Eollo Learning to Read. 
 Rollo at Work. 
 Rollo at Play. 
 Rollo at School. 
 Rollo's Vacation. 
 Rollo's Experiments. 
 
 Rollo's Museum. 
 Rollo'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. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 PUBLISHED BY HOGAN & THOMPSON. 
 
 BOSTON : 
 
 GOULD, KENDALL & LINCOLN. 
 
 1850. 
 
Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1850, by 
 
 Hogan & Thompson, 
 In the Clerk's Office of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 
 
NOTICE TO PARENTS. 
 
 In those intervals of rest which the serious cares 
 and labors of life imperiously demand, a man 
 may find the best amusement for himself in ef- 
 forts lor tne amusement of children. This little 
 work and its predecessor, " Rollo learning to 
 Talk," have been written on this principle. 
 
 Parents find it very difficult to employ little 
 children. " Mother, what shall I do ?" and some- 
 times even, " Mother, what shall I do after I have 
 done this ?" are heard so often that they sometimes 
 exhaust even maternal patience. These little vo- 
 lumes will, we hope, in some cases, provide an an- 
 swer to the questions. The writer has endeavored 
 to make them such that children would take an in- 
 terest in reading them to themselves, and to their 
 younger brothers and sisters, and in repeating them 
 to one another. 
 
 _ The difficulty with most books intended for 
 
 f children just learning to read, is, that the writers 
 make so much effort to confine themselves to words 
 
 ^* of one syllable, that the style is quaint and unin- 
 
 ^ 1* 
 
VI NOTICE TO PARENTS. 
 
 teresting, and often far more unintelligible than the 
 usual language would be. The author's design here 
 has been, first to interest the little reader, hoping, 
 by this interest, to allure him on to the encounter 
 of the difficulties in the language, and to the con- 
 quest of them. Hence the more difficult words and 
 phrases, in common use, are not avoided, for the 
 very object of such a reading book should be to 
 teach the use of them. They are freely introduced, 
 and rendered intelligible by being placed in strik- 
 ing connections, and familiar, by being frequently 
 repeated. By a wonderful provision in the struc- 
 ture of the mind, children thirst for repetition ; — the 
 very thing essential to give security and perma- 
 nence to the knowledge they acquire. 
 
 The subjects of the articles, accordingly, and the 
 method of treating them, are in the highest degree 
 juvenile. But the language is mature. For it is 
 language which we wish to teach them, and con- 
 sequently we must keep, in language, a little above 
 them, advancing continually ourselves, as they ad- 
 vance. J. A. 
 
 Roxbury, Nov. 5, 1835. 
 
 J 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 How Rollo learned to read . 9 
 
 The first Lessons in Looking 22 
 
 Tick,— Tick,— Tirk 26 
 
 Jonas. With a Cut 31 
 
 A little Letter 41 
 
 Rollo's Dream. With a Cut 44 
 
 The cold Morning • 69 
 
 How to read right 64 
 
 Climbing up a Mountain 77 
 
 Rollo getting ready for his Father. With a Cut,. .... 80 
 
 The way to obey 84 
 
 Rollo's Breakfast 88 
 
 Fictitious Stories. With a Cut 93 
 
 The Fly's morning Walk 96 
 
 Waking up 101 
 
 Rollo's Prayer 109 
 
 Bunnv Ill 
 
 The Raft. With a Cut 116 
 
 Contrary Charles 120 
 
 Frost on the Windows 132 
 
 Shooting a Bear 135 
 
 Jack Hildigo • . . . . f 145 
 
 How to treat a Kitten 152 
 
 Overboard. With a Cut 166 
 
 Old Things and New Things 171 
 
 Selling a Boy 174 
 
HOW ROLLO LEARNED TO 
 READ. 
 
 Should you like to know how Rollo 
 learned to read 1 I will tell you. It is 
 very hard work to learn to read, and it 
 takes a great while to do it. I will tell 
 you how Rollo did it. 
 
 One evening Rollo was sitting on the 
 floor by the side of the fire, playing with 
 his blocks. He was trying to build a 
 meeting-house. He could make the meet- 
 ing-house very well, all except the steeple, 
 but the steeple would tumble down. 
 
 Presently his father said, 
 
10 HOW ROLLO LEARNED TO READ. 
 
 " Rollo, you may put your blocks into 
 the basket, and put the basket in its 
 place, in the closet, and then come to 
 me." 
 
 Rollo obeyed. 
 
 Then Rollo's father took him up into 
 his lap, and took a little book out of his 
 pocket. Rollo was glad. He thought he 
 was going to look at some pictures. But 
 he was disappointed. 
 
 He was disappointed, — that is he found 
 there were no pictures in the book, and 
 was sorry. » 
 
 His father said, 
 
 "I suppose you thought there were 
 pictures in this book." 
 
 "Yes sir," said Rollo. 
 
 " There are none," said his father ; " I 
 have not got this book to amuse you. I 
 am going to have you learn to read out 
 of it, and learning to read is hard work." 
 
HOW ROLLO LEARNED TO READ. 11 
 
 Rollo was very glad when he heard 
 this. He wanted to learn to read, so that 
 he could read story books himself alone, 
 and he thought that learning to read was 
 very pleasant, easy work. 
 
 His father knew that he thought so, 
 and therefore he said, 
 
 " I suppose you are glad that you are 
 going to learn to read, but it is harder 
 work and will take longer time than you 
 think. You will get tired very often, be- 
 fore you have learned, and you will want 
 to stop. But you must not stop. 
 
 " What," said Rollo, " must not I stop 
 once, — at all — all the time, till I have 
 learned to read ?" 
 
 " Oh yes," said his father ; " I do not 
 mean that you must be learning to read 
 all the time ;— you will only read a little 
 while every day. What I mean is that 
 you must read every day, when the time 
 
12 HOW ROLLO LEARNED TO READ. 
 
 comes, although you will very often think 
 that you are tired of reading so much, and 
 had rather play. But no matter if you 
 are tired of it. It is your duty to learn to 
 read and you must do it, if it is hard." 
 
 " I do not think I shall be tired," said 
 Rollo. 
 
 " Very well, — you can see. Only re- 
 member if you should be tired, you must 
 not say so, and ask not to read." 
 
 Rollo's father then opened the book 
 and showed Rollo that it was full of let- 
 ters,— large letters, and small letters, and 
 a great many little words in columns. Do 
 you know what a column is ? There was 
 also some very easy reading in large print, 
 but no pictures. 
 
 Then Rollo's father explained the plan 
 by which he was to learn to read. His 
 sister Mary was to teach him. Mary was 
 to call him to her every morning at nine 
 
HOW ROLLO LEARNED TO READ. 13 
 
 o'clock, and teach him his letters for a 
 quarter of an hour. She was to do the 
 same at eleven, and at three, and at five. 
 The rest of the time Rollo was to have 
 for play. Mary was to take three or four 
 of the letters at a time, and tell Rollo the 
 names of them, and make them on the 
 slate, and let him try to make them, and 
 let him try to find them in books, until he 
 should know them perfectly. She was to 
 keep an account of every day, marking 
 the days when, for any reasons, she did 
 not hear him, and putting down, each day, 
 the letters he learned that dd.j, and as 
 soon as he had learned all his letters she 
 was to tell his father. 
 
 If he should at any time refuse to come 
 when she called him, or come sullenly or 
 in ill humor, — or if he disobeyed her, or 
 made her any trouble, wilfully, she was to 
 put the book away at once, and not teach 
 
14 HOW ROLLO LEARNED TO READ. 
 
 him any more that day, but at night tell 
 his father. 
 
 When Rollo's father had thus explained 
 the whole plan, he said, 
 
 " Now, Mary and Rollo, this is a hard 
 task for both of you, I know. I hope you 
 will both be patient and persevering, — and 
 be kind to one another. Mary, you must 
 remember that Rollo is a small boy, and 
 cannot learn as fast as you might expect 
 or wish, — you must be kind to him and 
 patient. Be sure also to be punctual and 
 regular in calling him at the exact hour. 
 And Rollo you must be patient too and 
 obedient, and you must remember that 
 though it is hard work to learn to read, 
 you will be very glad when you shall have 
 learned. You will then enjoy a great 
 many happy hours in sitting down by the 
 fire in your little chair, and reading story 
 books. 
 
HOW ROLLO LEARNED TO READ. 15 
 
 Soon after this Rollo went to bed think- 
 ing a great deal of his first lesson, which 
 he was going to take the next day. 
 
 Do you not think now that it would 
 have been better if Rollo's father had tried 
 to make learning to read more amusing to 
 his little boy 1 He might have got a book 
 with letters and pictures too, — or he might 
 have bought some blocks and cards with 
 letters on them, and let Rollo learn by 
 playing with them. That would have 
 been more amusing. Do you think that 
 would have been a better way ? I think 
 it would not. For if Rollo had begun to 
 learn to read, expecting to find it play, he 
 would have been disappointed and dis- 
 couraged a great deal sooner. He might 
 have looked at the pictures in his book, 
 or played with the cards or the blocks, 
 but that would not have taught him the 
 letters on them. It was better that he 
 
16 HOW ROLLO LEARNED TO READ. 
 
 should understand distinctly at the begin- 
 ning that learning to read was hard work, 
 and that he must attend to it as a duty ; 
 thus he would be prepared for it as it 
 was, and find it more and more pleasant 
 as he went along. But if he had expect- 
 ed that it would be play, he would only 
 have been disappointed, and that would 
 have made it harder, and made it take a 
 great deal longer time. 
 
 Rollo liked reading very well for a day 
 or two, but he soon became tired. He 
 thought the quarter of an hour was very 
 long, and that Mary always called him too 
 soon. He was mistaken however in this, 
 for Mary was always very exact and 
 punctual. He found too that he got along 
 very slowly. It was a good many days 
 before he could say the first few letters, 
 and he thought it would take a great while 
 before he should have learned them all. 
 
HOW ROLLO LEARNED TO READ. 17 
 
 One pleasant morning, when he was dig- 
 ging with his little hoe, in the yard, Mary 
 called him, and for a minute or two he had 
 a great mind not to come. But then he 
 recollected that if he did not, she would 
 immediately put the hook away and tell 
 his father at night, so he threw down the 
 hoe and ran. But it was very hard for 
 him to do it. 
 
 In a few days one thing surprised both 
 Mary and Rollo. It was that he learned 
 the second four or five letters a great deal 
 sooner than he did the first. They did 
 not understand the reason of this. The 
 third lesson was learned sooner still, and 
 so on, the farther they went down the 
 alphabet the faster Rollo learned. 
 
 One evening when Rollo had learned 
 
 about half his letters, his father took him 
 
 up in his lap and took a small round box 
 
 out of his pocket with a pretty picture on 
 
 a* 2* 
 
18 HOW HOLLO LEARNED TO READ. 
 
 the top. Besides the picture there were 
 three letters ; they were these, A, B, C. 
 Rollo looked a moment at the picture, but 
 he was more pleased with the letters than 
 the picture. He was very much pleased 
 to see those letters, — the very letters 
 which he had learned, on the top of such 
 a pretty box. 
 
 u Oh there is A," said he, "and B, and 
 C, on the top of this pretty box. How 
 funny !" 
 
 Then his father opened the box and 
 poured out a great many beautiful round 
 cards into Rollo's lap. There were beau- 
 tiful, painted pictures on one side and let- 
 ters on the other. Rollo was most in- 
 terested in looking at the letters. 
 
 " Oh, father," said he, " what beautiful 
 cards ! Why did you not buy them at 
 first, and let me learn my letters with 
 them?" 
 
HOW HOLLO LEARNED TO READ. 19 
 
 " Because," said his father, " if I had 
 bought them at first, when you did not 
 know any of your letters, you would have 
 not been pleased with any thing but the 
 pictures, and rolling the cards about the 
 floor. Or if I had given them to Mary to 
 teach you your letters from them, then 
 you would not have liked them any better 
 than your book. But by letting you learn 
 for a time from your book, till you know 
 a good many letters, you can understand 
 the cards, and you notice the letters on 
 them, and when you play with them you 
 will remember a great many letters on 
 them and thus you will become more fa- 
 miliar with them." 
 
 " With what ?" said Rollo. 
 
 " With the letters," said his father. 
 
 " What is familiar with them V asked 
 , Rollo. 
 1 " Why you will know them better, and 
 
20 HOW ROLLO LEARNED TO READ. 
 
 remember them longer, — and you will 
 know them quicker when you see them 
 again in books. That is being familiar 
 with them. Do you not think you will 
 like this box of cards a great deal better, 
 now, to play with, than before you knew 
 any letters ¥' 
 
 " Yes sir, I was very glad to see the 
 A B C on it." 
 
 After this Rollo played a great deal 
 with his cards, and though he did not learn 
 any new letters from them, they helped 
 him to become familiar with the letters 
 as fast as he learned them from his book. 
 
 The last part of the alphabet Rollo 
 learned very fast, and at length one even- 
 ing Mary and Rollo came together to their 
 father, telling him with smiling faces that 
 he had learned them all. 
 
 Then Hollo's father gave him a long 
 lesson m reading little words ; — he gave . 
 
HOW ROLLO LEARNED TO READ. 21 
 
 him. a great many columns, so many, that 
 it would take a good many weeks to read 
 them all. Mary was to hear him four 
 times every day. Then he read the easy 
 sentences over in the end of his book, and 
 a good many others in another book, until 
 at last he could read very well alone. It 
 took a long time however to do all this 
 reading. When he finished learning to 
 read he was more than a year older than 
 he was when he began. The stories in 
 this book are for him to read, so that he 
 may learn to read better. You can read 
 them too. Farther on in this book I shall 
 tell you more about Rollo. 
 
 In reading these stories Rollo found a 
 great many words which he could not 
 understand. He always asked some one 
 what these words meant, for he wanted 
 to understand what he read perfectly. 
 His father advised him to read his story 
 
22 FIRST LESSONS IN LOOKING. 
 
 book aloud too, unless when it would dis- 
 turb some one, because by reading aloud 
 he would learn faster. 
 
 THE FIRST LESSONS IN 
 LOOKING. 
 
 When the baby was very little indeed 
 and first began to open his eyes, his mo- 
 ther saw that the bright light of the 
 windows dazzled them, and gave him 
 pain ; so she shut the blinds and put 
 down the curtains. 
 
 When the baby was so very little, he 
 did not know how to look about at the 
 things which were around him. He had 
 not learned to move his eyes steadily from 
 one thing to another. He could not take 
 hold of any thing, either, with his hands. 
 
FIRST LESSONS IN LOOKING. 23 
 
 He did not know that his hands were 
 made to take hold of things with. His 
 mother held a handsome ivory ring before 
 him, and endeavored to make him see it 
 and take it. She put it in his hand, but 
 he did not know how to hold it, and it 
 dropped upon the floor. 
 
 The baby was very weak too. He 
 could not walk nor sit up, nor even hold 
 up his head. Unless his mother held his 
 head for him it would drop down and 
 hang upon his shoulder. Once she laid 
 him down upon the bed and she went 
 away a minute or two. While she was 
 gone he rolled over on his face, and was 
 so weak that he could not get back again. 
 I do not think he knew how to try. His 
 mother came back and lifted him up, or 
 perhaps he would have been stifled. 
 
 One day his mother said, " Oh how 
 many things I have got to teach my little 
 
24 FIRST LESSONS IN LOOKING. 
 
 child. I must teach him to look, and to 
 hold up his head, and to take things in 
 his hands, and I must do all these things 
 while he is quite a little baby." 
 
 She thought she would first teach him 
 to look. So she let in a little light and 
 when he was quiet and still, she held him 
 so that he could see it. But he did not 
 seem to notice it, and pretty soon he went 
 to sleep. 
 
 The next day she tried it again ; and 
 again on the following day, and soon she 
 found that he would look very Steadily at 
 the white curtain, or at the place where 
 the sun shone upon the wall. She did 
 not yet try to make him look at little 
 things, for she knew she could not hope 
 to make him see little things till he had 
 learned to notice something large and 
 bright. 
 
 When Samuel was lying in his mo- 
 
FIRST LESSONS IN LOOKING. 25 
 
 ther's lap, looking steadily at something, 
 she was always careful not to move him, 
 or to make any noise, or to do any thing 
 which would distract his attention. She 
 knew that children were always puzzled 
 with having two things to think of at a 
 time, and she was afraid that if while he 
 was thinking of the light and trying to 
 look at it, he should hear voices around 
 him, he would stop thinking of the light, 
 and begin to wonder what that noise could 
 be. 
 
 In about a week, Samuel had learned 
 his lesson very well. He could look 
 pretty steadily at a large bright spot 
 when it was still. Then his mother 
 thought she would try to teach him to 
 look at something smaller. She there- 
 fore asked his father to buy her a large 
 bright orange, and one day when he was 
 lying quietly in her lap, she held it up be- 
 
 6 3 
 
26 TICK, TICK, TICK. 
 
 fore him. But he would not notice it; 
 he seemed to be looking at the window 
 beyond. 
 
 Then his mother turned her chair gent- 
 ly round, and sat with her back towards 
 the window so that he could not see the 
 window and then he looked at the orange. 
 Presently she moved the orange slowly, — 
 very slowly, — backwards and forwards, to 
 teach him to follow it with his eyes. 
 Thus the baby took his first lessons in 
 looking. 
 
 TICK, — TICK, — TICK. 
 
 One morning I was going to take a 
 journey. I was going in the stage. I 
 expected that the sleigh bells would come 
 jingling up to the door for me at seven 
 
TICK, TICK, TICK. 27 
 
 o'clock. So I thought that if I wished to 
 be ready, I must get up at six. 
 
 I went into my little room where I was 
 to sleep. There was a clock on the wall, 
 by the side of my bed. It said tick, — 
 tick, — tick. " I am glad," said I to myself, 
 " for now I can see what o'clock it is." So 
 I put my lamp down on the floor, and put 
 my spectacles behind my pillow, and then 
 laid down and went to sleep. 
 
 By and by I woke and thought I heard 
 a little noise. I listened. It was the 
 clock, saying tick, — tick, — tick ; and I said 
 to. myself," I wonder what o'clock it is V 
 So I sat up and took my spectacles from 
 behind my pillow and put them on my 
 nose, and looked up at the clock. The 
 lamp which was on the floor shone upon 
 the clock su that I could see, and I saw 
 that it was only three o'clock, and I said, 
 " Oh it is only three o'clock. It is not time 
 
28 TICK, TICK, TICK. 
 
 for me to get up yet." So I took my 
 spectacles off of my nose, and put them 
 behind my pillow and laid me down again. 
 The clock kept saying tick, — tick, — tick. 
 
 Pretty soon I went to sleep and I slept • 
 an hour. Then I awoke and said to my- 
 self," I wonder what o'clock it is 1 M So I 
 sat up and took my spectacles from be- 
 hind my pillow, and put them on my 
 nose, and looked up at the clock. The 
 lamp which was upon the floor shone 
 upon the clock, so that I could see, and 1 
 saw that it was only four o'clock, and I 
 said, " Oh, it is only four o'clock ; it is 
 not time for me to get up yet." So I 
 took my spectacles off of my nose, and 
 put them behind my pillow, and laid me 
 down again. The clock kept saying all 
 the while, tick, — tick, — tick. 
 
 Pretty soon, I went to sleep, and slept 
 some time. Then I woke and said to 
 
TICK, TICK, TICK. 29 
 
 myself, "I wonder what o'clock it isl" 
 So I sat up, and took my spectacles from 
 behind my pillow, and put them on my 
 nose, and looked up at the clock. The 
 lamp which was upon the, floor shone 
 upon the clock, so that I could see, and I 
 saw that it was only five o'clock, and I 
 said, " Oh, it is only five o'clock. It is not 
 time for me to get up yet." So I took 
 my spectacles off of my nose, and put 
 them behind my pillow, and laid me down 
 again. The clock kept saying all the 
 while, tick, — tick, — tick. 
 
 Pretty soon I went to sleep, and slept 
 some time. When I woke, I said to my- 
 self, "I wonder what o'clock it is?" So 
 1 sat up and took my spectacles from be- 
 hind my pillow, and put them on my 
 nose, and looked up at the clock. The 
 lamp which was upon the floor shone 
 upon the clock so that I could see, and I 
 3* 
 
30 TICK, TICK, TICK. 
 
 saw that it was six o'clock. Then I said 
 now it is time for me to get up. So I 
 jumped up and dressed me, and looked 
 out of the window, and there was a beauti- 
 ful, bright star shining in the sky. The 
 star was up before me. 
 
 When I was ready I opened the door 
 to go out ; but the clock still kept saying 
 tick, — tick, — tick. I wondered what made 
 the clock keep going so all the night and 
 all the day, and I went back and opened 
 the door to see. And what do you think 
 I found? Why I found a great heavy 
 weight hung to a string, and the string 
 was fastened to some of the little wheels 
 up in the clock. The weight kept pulling 
 down and pulling down all the time, slow- 
 ly, and it pulled the string down slowly, 
 and the string made the wheels go round, 
 and the wheels made the hands go, and 
 some of the little wheels made that noise 
 I heard,— tick — tick — tick. 
 
JONAS. 31 
 
 What do you think happens when the 
 weights which make the clock go get 
 down, down, to the very bottom of the 
 clock? Why then they have to wind 
 them up to the top again, and they begin 
 anew. 
 
 JONAS. 
 
 One fine summer evening a gentleman 
 came riding down a hill in a country cov- 
 ered with pleasant farm houses, green 
 fields, and little groups of trees. He had 
 a small boy in the waggon with him. 
 
 There was a brook at the bottom of 
 the hill. A bridge was built over the 
 brook, and the road passed over the 
 bridge. The horse and waggon with the 
 gentleman and his boy in it, went swiftly 
 over the bridge and up the hill, but just 
 
32 jonas 
 
 as they began to ascend, one of the traces 
 broke. 
 
 One of the traces ? What is a trace 1 
 Do you know, my boy 1 The traces are 
 those long stout straps of leather which 
 pass along the sides of the horse, and are 
 fastened to the waggon. The horse draws 
 a waggon, or a chaise, by means of the 
 traces. Therefore they are always made 
 very strong. You can see a picture of 
 some traces in "Rollo learning to Talk," 
 a book about as large this, at the story of 
 a Goat for a Horse. The next time you 
 take a ride, I advise you to look at the 
 traces on the horse, and see how strong 
 they are. See too how they are fastened 
 to the horse and how they are fastened to 
 the chaise. 
 
 If one of the traces should give way, 
 that is, should break, in going up a hill, 
 what do you think would be the conse- 
 
JONAS. 33 
 
 quence? Why the waggon would go 
 back, partly held by the other trace. That 
 was the way with this waggon ; it went 
 back, the horse was frightened, the gen- 
 tleman jumped out, the boy called out, 
 " whoa, — whoa, — whoa." 
 
 It did not do any good. Boys had bet- 
 ter be still when there is any difficulty. 
 
 The waggon backed until, just as it 
 was going off the bank, a boy ran up and 
 put a stone behind the wheel. That 
 stopped it. 
 
 This was not the boy who was in the 
 waggon. It was another boy. The gen- 
 tleman had not seen him before. He had 
 on light colored clothes, a patched jacket, 
 and an old straw hat, one side of the brim 
 was almost worn out with catching butter- 
 flies ; the knees of his trowsers were 
 stained with the grass. The gentleman 
 looked at him a minute, and said " thank 
 
34 JONAS. 
 
 you, my boy." Then he began to look at 
 the harness. When the gentleman had 
 examined the traces he found that the 
 leather was not broken ; it was only the 
 tongue of a buckle by which the trace 
 was fastened that was gone ; for the har- 
 ness was new, and the waggon was a 
 handsome one. 
 
 " I wish I had a piece of twine to fast- 
 en it with, till we get home," said he to 
 his son, as he felt in his pockets. He 
 then looked round to see where the little 
 fellow was who had trigged the wheel. 
 Do you know what I mean by trigging 
 the wheel 1 The boy was sitting on the 
 trunk of a tree, by the side of the road, 
 and as the gentleman turned round to see 
 him, he was just pulling out a long piece 
 of twine from his pocket. 
 
 " Here is a string, sir," said he ; and he 
 got up and came to the gentleman. He 
 
jonas. 35 
 
 seemed tired however, for he went back 
 and sat down again immediately. 
 
 "I thank you," said he, "but I am 
 afraid it is not strong enough." 
 
 "You can double and twist it," said 
 the boy. 
 
 They twisted the string, and then 
 doubled it and twisted it again, and so 
 tied the harness. The gentleman and 
 his son then got into the waggon again, 
 and were going to ride up the hill. The 
 gentleman hesitated a moment whether 
 he ought to offer to pay the boy for his 
 string or not. Do you think he ought 
 to? 
 
 " I would pay him," whispered his lit- 
 tle son ; " he looks like a poor boy." , 
 
 " Yes" replied his father, " but perhaps 
 he would make a bad use of the money. 
 Perhaps his father and mother would not 
 like to have him have any money." 
 
 " Why cannot you ask him ?" 
 
36 JONAS. 
 
 The gentleman then turned to the bo)' 
 who was stiil sitting on the log, and said, 
 
 " What is your name my little fellow V 
 
 " Jonas." 
 
 " Where do you live ?" 
 
 "Sir?" 
 
 " Where do you live ?" 
 
 The boy hesitated a moment as if he 
 did not understand him. Then he said, 
 
 "I don't know sir: — I don't live any 
 where." 
 
 The little boy in the waggon laughed. 
 
 "Don't know where you live?" said 
 the gentleman. " Well what are you do- 
 ing out here ?" 
 
 " I have been catching butterflies." 
 
 " Where did you come from ?" 
 
 "I don't know sir. — I came from the 
 city." 
 
 "The city! What city?" 
 
 "I don't know sir, — the city back there. 
 I don't know what the name of it is." 
 
JONAS. 39 
 
 " Do you live in the city !?," 
 
 " No sir, I am not going to live there 
 any more V 9 
 
 "Do your father and mother live 
 there?" " 
 
 "My father is dead; and I have not 
 got any mother." 
 
 " What has become of your mother V 9 
 
 " I never had any, sir." 
 
 The gentleman smiled a moment when 
 he heard this answer, and then he looked 
 serious and concerned and paused a mo- 
 ment. He seemed not to know what to 
 do. 
 
 " But Jonas," said he again, " you say 
 you do not live any where; where do 
 you get your food and sleep V 9 
 
 "Sir!" 
 
 " Where do you sleep at night 1" 
 
 "I slept in Mr. Williams' shed last 
 night." 
 
40 jonas 
 
 "And where do you expect to sleep to 
 night'?" 
 
 " I don't know sir." 
 
 " Where did you get your breakfast 
 this morning?" 
 
 " A man gave me some." 
 
 "And where did you get your din- 
 ner?" 
 
 " I have not had any dinner sir." 
 
 " No dinner ! — I should think you would 
 be too tired and hungry to chase butter- 
 flies, without any dinner." 
 
 " I was too tired, and so I stopped." 
 
 The gentleman after talking with the 
 boy a little longer concluded to take him 
 into his waggon, and carry him home. 
 
 "Jump up behind into my waggon, 
 Jonas," said he, " and I will give you some 
 supper." 
 
 So Jonas jumped up behind and rode 
 home with them. You will hear more 
 
A LITTLE LETTER. 41 
 
 about him hereafter, for who do you think 
 this gentleman was ? Why it was Rollo's 
 father, and the boy who was riding with 
 him was Rollo himself. Jonas lived with 
 Rollo a long time and became a very in- 
 dustrious, useful boy. He used to take 
 care of Rollo, and play with him. 
 
 A LITTLE LETTER. 
 
 This is a letter written to a little boy 
 about as large as you. James is the name 
 of the boy. James' uncle wrote it. 
 
 The letter. 
 " Dear James, 
 
 Do you want me to write you a 
 little letter about a robin 1 I think you 
 do. Well ; I will write it. Now I will 
 begin. A robin is a bird. A robin has 
 two wings and two legs; he flies in 
 b* 4* 
 
42 A LITTLE LETTER. 
 
 the air; it is his wings make him go. 
 When he comes down to the ground, he 
 hops along on his two legs. When he 
 sees a worm he picks it up with his bill. 
 Do you know what his bill is? It is a 
 mouth. Then he picks it up just as the 
 hen does, and eats it. Now for the story. 
 Near the house where I live, there is a 
 field ; and in the field there is a tree. I 
 was walking in the field, and went near 
 the tree ; as I went near it, a bird darted 
 out of the tree, and sung out very loud ; 
 it made me start. When I saw it was a 
 bird, I looked among the leaves and 
 branches of the tree, and found there a 
 pretty robin's nest, and three eggs. Only 
 think, a beautiful nest, with three eggs. I 
 looked at them for a minute, and then 
 went away and left them there. The 
 next day, I walked down to the tree 
 again, to see the nest and the pretty eggs. 
 
A LITTLE LETTER. 43 
 
 I pulled away the leaves, but the nest was 
 not there. I stooped down on the ground, 
 looked into the grass, and there I saw the 
 robin. The poor robin was dead, the nest 
 was torn in pieces, and the eggs were 
 broken. I would send you one of the 
 eggs, but it is broken so much, that I 
 think it will not do. When the little robin 
 was alive, he sung pleasantly, he made 
 him a nest, and had some eggs ; but now 
 the robin is dead, the nest is torn in 
 pieces, and the eggs are broken. Poor 
 robin ; poor robin. 
 
 I have written this story of the robin 
 for little James. I am very sorry that 
 any boy should kill the poor robin and 
 spoil its nest. 
 
 This is from your affectionate, 
 
 Uncle." 
 
HOLLO'S DREAM. 
 
 One day Rollo's mother wanted him 
 to do some errands for her. He went on 
 one, reluctantly, but when she gave him 
 another he murmured aloud. " Oh," said 
 he, "I wish I did not have so many er- 
 rands to do. What a hard life I lead !" 
 
 This gave his mother pain, and he saw 
 it. When he got back from this errand 
 she told him there was nothing more for 
 him to do. Rollo went and stood at the 
 door a few minutes to see if there were 
 any boys out there. But there were none, 
 so he took a story-book in his hand and 
 went down into the garden, and took his 
 seat in the little arbor which his father had 
 made for him, and began to read. 
 
 The arbor reminded him of his parents' 
 kindness, and this made him feel unhappy 
 
ROLLO's DREAM. 47 
 
 to think of his unwillingness to help his 
 . mother. These thoughts troubled him, 
 and so he could not attend to his book. 
 Presently he got lost in a reverie, — his 
 book dropped over upon his lap. His 
 head gradually sunk down,— and here 
 you see Rollo fast asleep. 
 
 While he slept, he dreamed. Rollo 
 dreamed that he lived in a small house, a 
 great many miles away, and that his mo- 
 ther was there alone with him. She asked 
 him one day to go and get a pail of water. 
 " Oh," said he, " I wish I did not have so 
 much water to bring, — what a hard life I 
 lead !" 
 
 He dreamed that just then he saw a cat 
 lying down in the sun by the door. She 
 seemed to have nothing to do. "Oh," 
 thought Rollo, " how I wish I were a cat. 
 It would be such afine thing to be a cat." 
 
 No sooner had he said this than he felt 
 
48 ROLLO's DREAM. 
 
 some how or other a strong desire to get 
 down on his hands and knees, — he found 
 himself growing smaller and smaller, — his 
 fingers became sharp claws, and in short 
 Rollo dreamed that he was turning into a 
 cat. 
 
 He walked about, a minute or two, 
 stretched himself, mewed and purred to 
 ascertain that, he was really a cat, and then 
 laid down again in the sun to go to sleep. 
 As he shut his eyes he said to himself, 
 purring, "How glad I am that I have no 
 more water to bring ! What a fine thing 
 it is to be a cat !" 
 
 Pretty soon he waked up and was 
 hungry. His first thought was to go to 
 his mother as usual, for some bread and 
 butter. He went in and looked piteously 
 up into his mother's face, and mewed. 
 She did not mind him. He mewed loud- 
 er. She paid no attention. Then he 
 
 > 
 
ROLLO'S DREAM. 49 
 
 went, to making a louder noise, as cats can, 
 when necessary. His mother went and 
 opened the door, and took the brush and 
 drove him out, saying as he went, " scat" 
 
 Rollo then thought he must go and 
 catch some mice or starve. So he went 
 down cellar and posted himself before a 
 little hole in the wall. He waited here 
 an hour, and at length a little mouse 
 peeped out. Rollo darted his paw out at 
 him, but he missed him, and the mouse 
 drew back into his hole where he was 
 safe. Rollo waited many hours longer, 
 but no mouse came. " This is worse 
 than bringing water," thought he. "I 
 wish I could get something to eat. What 
 a hard life I lead !" 
 
 Just then he heard, that is, he dreamed 
 
 he heard, a loud noise, moo-o-o, in the 
 
 yard. He scampered up, hungry as he 
 
 was, to see what was the matter. It was 
 5 
 
50 ROLLO'S DREAM. 
 
 the cow lowing to be milked. She looked 
 full and large, as if she had had as much 
 as she could eat. 
 
 " In the green fields all day," thought 
 hungry Rollo, "with nothing to do but 
 eat and drink and then lie down under 
 the trees. Oh how I wish I were a cow !" 
 
 He had no sooner said these w T ords 
 than he found himself growing very large. 
 He felt something coming out of his fore- 
 head, — he put his paw up, though with 
 difficulty for his paw was growing into a 
 large stiff leg, and he found that horns 
 w x ere coming. By the time his leg was 
 down again, it was changed entirely, and 
 had a hoof at the end. He was becoming 
 a cow. He lashed his sides with his tail, 
 and walked about eating the grass in the 
 yard, till he had satisfied his hunger, and 
 then he said to himself; "How much 
 better this is than watching for mice all 
 
ROLLO'S DREAM. 51 
 
 day in a dark cellar ! Oh it is a fine thing 
 to be a cow." 
 
 After milking, they led Rollo into the 
 barn, put a halter round his neck and tied 
 him in a dark, unpleasant stall. " Have I 
 got to stay tied up here till morning?" 
 thought Rollo. It was even so. 
 
 The next morning they drove him off 
 to pasture. The boy beat him with a 
 stick on the way, but he was so great and 
 clumsy that he could neither escape nor 
 defend himself. In the field, the flies bit 
 and stung him, and though he could brush 
 off some of them with his tail, yet the 
 largest and worst of them always seemed 
 to get upon places he could not reach. 
 At night when he was coming home, some 
 boys set a dog upon him and worried 
 him till he was weary of his life. " Ah," 
 said he, "it is a terrible thing to be a 
 cow, — what a hard life I lead !" 
 
52 ROLLO'S DREAM. 
 
 Just then the dog became tired of 
 barking at him, and trotted away. " Oh 
 said Rollo, " if I was only a dog. A dog 
 can defend himself. Then a dog has 
 plenty to eat and nothing to do. What a 
 fine tiling it would be to be a dog !" No 
 sooner said than done. Rollo began to 
 grow slender and small, his horns dropped 
 off, — his hoofs turned back into claws 
 again, his back became sleek and shining, 
 and he found himself a beautiful black 
 dog, with hanging ears and a curled tail, 
 and an elegant brass collar about his neck. 
 
 Rollo ran about the streets very hap- 
 pily for half an hour, and then went home. 
 The dream seemed to change its scene 
 here, and Rollo found himself in a beauti- 
 ful yard belonging to the house where his 
 master lived. He went home hungry, 
 and they gave him a bone to eat. 
 " What," said Rollo to himself, " nothing 
 
ROLLO's DREAM. 53 
 
 but a bone !" He gnawed it for a while, 
 thinking however that it was rather hard 
 fare, and then began to think of going to 
 bed. There was no bed for him how- 
 ever ; for his master came and took hold 
 of his collar, and led him along towards a 
 post in the yard, where he chained him, 
 and throwing his bone down by his side, 
 left him to watch for the thieves. 
 
 Rollo had a bad night. 'Tis true no 
 thieves came, but he was all the time 
 afraid they would come, and at every lit- 
 tle noise he woke up and growled. Thus 
 disturbed, and chilled by the cool air of 
 the night, he passed his hours restlessly 
 and miserably. " Ah !" said he, " dogs 
 do not have so pleasant a life as I sup- 
 posed. What a hard way this is to get a 
 living !" 
 
 At this moment he heard a great many 
 persons coming along ; he started up and 
 5* 
 
54 ROLLO's DREAM. 
 
 barked, for it was very early, though be- 
 ginning to be light. A number of men 
 were leading a huge animal along. It 
 was an elephant. They were taking him 
 into town for a show, and they came in 
 early, so that nobody should see him with- 
 out paying. 
 
 "That's the life for me," said Rollo. 
 " What a gentleman of an animal the ele- 
 phant is ; he has a dozen men to wait 
 upon him. Hah ! Old Longnose, what a 
 happy fellow you must be. Oh if I was 
 only an elephant !" 
 
 As soon as he had said this he could 
 feel his nose lengthening into a slender 
 trunk, — his body swelled out to a great 
 size, — his feet grew large, and his black 
 shining skin turned into a coarse, rough, 
 grey hide, — and he found himself Avalk- 
 ing along the road, w T ith a man on his head. 
 
 He arrived at the great stable where he 
 
ROLLO's DREAM. 55 
 
 was to be exhibited, thinking that it was 
 an admirable thing to be an elephant. 
 They gave him something to eat, and soon 
 the men and boys came in to see him. 
 For half an hour, he had a fine time, walk- 
 ing around, carrying boys about on his 
 tusks, — taking his keeper's head into his 
 mouth, — picking up nuts and pieces of 
 gingerbread with the finger and thumb at 
 the end of his proboscis, — laying down 
 and rising again at the keeper's command. 
 Pretty soon, however, he got tired, and 
 when the keeper ordered him to lay 
 down, he concluded that he would not get 
 up again. But the keeper taught him by 
 blows that he was not his own master, if 
 he was a gentleman. New troops of 
 starers kept coming in, and Rollo got tired 
 out completely with going over and over 
 again the same evolutions. He could 
 hardly stand at last, and when they left 
 
56 hollo's dream. 
 
 him for the night and he lay dawn to try 
 to rest, and he reflected that it must be 
 just so to-morrow, and the next day, and 
 so on as long as he lived, he was almost in 
 despair. " Oh !" said he, "how foolish I 
 was to wish to be an elephant ! I had 
 rather be any thing else. What a hard 
 life I lead !" 
 
 " And then such a window as this to 
 look out of, after my hard day's work ;" 
 said he, as he turned his eye upward to- 
 wards a little square hole in the stable 
 wall. "What a window for an elephant's 
 residence !" 
 
 As he looked out this hole, his eye rest- 
 ed upon a green tree growing in a garden 
 behind the wall. A bird was perched 
 upon a branch, singing an evening song. 
 
 " Ah, you little bird, what a happy time 
 you must have there, — free as air, and full 
 of happiness. You find plenty to eat, you 
 
ROLLO'S DREAM. 57 
 
 have your own pleasant home upon a 
 lofty tree, out of the reach of any danger. 
 You go where you please with your swift 
 wings. Oh if I only had wings, how easily 
 I could escape from all my troubles." 
 
 As he said this his long proboscis which 
 was lying over his leg as he was reclining 
 upon the stable floor, began to straiten 
 out and stiffen, — turning into a huge bill, 
 '■ — feathers began to come out all over 
 him, — his immense body dwindled down 
 to the size of an ox, then to that of a sheep, 
 and finally he became smaller than a 
 dove. Beautiful wings covered his sides. 
 He hopped along upon the floor, and find- 
 ing that he was really a bird, he leaped 
 up and flew out of the window, — away 
 from the ugly stable forever. 
 
 He spent a pleasant night among the 
 trees, and early the next morning was 
 singing blithely upon a branch. A man 
 
58 ROLLO's DREAM. 
 
 came into the field with something in his 
 hand. Rollo looked at him, happy to 
 think that no man could catch him or hurt 
 him, now that he had such a pair of wings. 
 In a minute the man held up the thing he 
 had in his hands and pointed at him. Rol- 
 lo had just time to see that it was a gun, 
 and to stretch his wings in terrible fear, 
 when,— -flash, — bang, — went the gun, and 
 down came the poor bird to the ground, 
 with his wing and leg torn away, and a 
 dozen leaden shot lodged in his red 
 breast, — for he was a Robin. The terror 
 and pain waked him up, and he found him- 
 self sitting in his arbor, with his book on 
 the ground, where it had fallen from his 
 hand. He got up and went to the house, 
 thinking that a discontented mind would 
 find trouble enough in any situation, and 
 that a boy with kind parents, a pleasant 
 home, and plenty of food and clothing, 
 
THE COLD MORNING. 59 
 
 ought not to complain of his lot, even if 
 he was called upon sometimes to help his 
 mother. 
 
 THE COLD MORNING. 
 
 One pleasant morning in the fall of the 
 year, little Charles, who had been sleep- 
 ing on the trundle-bed in his mother's 
 chamber, waked up and opened his eyes. 
 He looked around him, and saw that his 
 father was dressing himself. 
 
 "Father," said he, "may I get up 
 too?" 
 
 " It is pretty cold this morning, can you 
 bear the cold long enough to dress your- 
 self?" 
 
 " But, father, I need not stay here ; I 
 can take up my clothes and run down 
 
60 THE COLD MORNING. 
 
 into the parlor, and dress me there by the 
 fire." 
 
 " No, it is not proper for any body to 
 go to the parlor till they are dressed. Be- 
 sides, perhaps the fire is not built yet." 
 
 By this time, Charles' nose had become 
 pretty cold ; so he said, " Well, I believe 
 I will wait ;" and he drew his head under 
 the bedclothes again. 
 
 In a few minutes he became warm 
 again, and thought that it would not be 
 very cold if he should get up, and that if 
 it was, he should not mind it. He looked 
 out a second time and said, 
 
 " Father, do you think I should have 
 time to dress me before you get ready to 
 go down stairs 1" 
 
 " I think you will, if you are quick." 
 
 " Do you think I could help you any in 
 building the fire V 
 
 " Yes, you might hand me the wood, 
 
THE COLD MORNING. 61 
 
 and carry out the ashes, and after the fire 
 is built, you might sweep up the hearth." 
 
 " Then I will get up," said Charles, and 
 he sprang out of bed, and began to dress 
 himself. 
 
 In a few minutes, however, he began 
 to be cold, and to shiver, and his fingers 
 grew numb, and he began to wish he had 
 waited a little longer. At last he stop- 
 ped dressing himself. 
 
 " Father," said he, " it is colder than I 
 thought it was. I have a great mind to 
 get into bed again." 
 
 " Well," said his father, " you can do as 
 you please, but how far have you got, in 
 dressing yourself?" 
 
 " I am about half dressed." 
 
 " Then it will take you about as long to 
 undress again as it would to finish dress- 
 ing, and be ready to go down." 
 6 
 
62 THE COLD MORNING. 
 
 Charles stood a moment shivering and 
 thinking. 
 
 " So it will," said he, " I wish I had not 
 put on my jacket." 
 
 After a moment's pause, he concluded 
 to finish dressing, and he went on reso- 
 lutely through it, and just as his father 
 opened the door, he took hold of his hand, 
 saying that he was ready. 
 
 " Father," said he, as they were going 
 down stairs, " I think that when any body 
 means to do any thing, he ought to think 
 of all the difficulties before he begins, and 
 then go through it quickly without stop 
 ping." 
 
 "Why?" said his father. 
 . "Because I grew colder while I was 
 standing still, not knowing what to do. 
 than all the time while I was dressing me. 
 And now I shall be very cold before we 
 get the fire built. Father, I don't see 
 
THE COLD MORNING. 63 
 
 what makes it cold. I wish it was al- 
 ways warm as it is in summer." 
 
 " While we are building the fire, I will 
 explain it to you," said his father. So 
 they went down stairs. 
 
 When Rollo read this story he said he 
 was sorry it left off without telling why 
 it is colder in the winter than in the sum- 
 mer, because he thought he should like to 
 know. So at breakfast that morning, he 
 asked his father to explain it to him. 
 "Yes," said his father, "I will explain 
 it to you. It is because in the winter the 
 sun moves through such a part of the sky 
 that he does not shine so well upon the 
 part of the world which we live in, as he 
 does in the summer." 
 
 Rollo listened attentively to what his 
 father said, but he thought he did not un- 
 derstand it very well. So he said he 
 
64 HOW TO READ RIGHT. 
 
 meant always to. dress himself quick in the 
 cold morning, and not keep beginning and 
 leaving off as Charles did. 
 
 HOW TO READ RIGHT. 
 
 I wish all the boys and girls who may 
 read this book to learn by it to read right, 
 and now I shall tell you how to read right. 
 But first I must explain some things to 
 you about the way in which books are 
 printed. What I am going to tell you 
 now, is what Rollo's father explained to 
 him, after he had learned to read in easy 
 reading, and had learned all the stops, — 
 the comma, and the period, and the inter- 
 rogation mark, and all the stops. I shall 
 explain them to you by the help of a story, 
 which I am going to put in here. I shall 
 stop telling the story every few minutes 
 
HOW TO READ RIGHT. 65 
 
 to explain some things about the way of 
 printing it. Here is the beginning of the 
 story. 
 
 Once there was a man who thought he would go up upon 
 a mountain. 
 
 That is the beginning of the story ; but 
 I wish to stop a moment to ask you to 
 look at the letters which it is printed with, 
 and see whether they are as large as the 
 reading before it. Is it printed in just as 
 large letters, or larger, or smaller? Yes, 
 it is smaller. I am going to have all the 
 story printed in smaller print. The rea- 
 son is because the principal thing I wish 
 to do now, is to explain to you how to 
 read, and I only wish for the story to help 
 me, — so I put it in smaller print, or as 
 they generally call it smaller type. It is 
 very often so in books. One part is print- 
 ed in larger, and the other part in smaller 
 c* 6* 
 
66 HOW TO READ RIGHT. 
 
 type. The. most important is in large 
 type. The least important is in small 
 type. If you will ask your father or mo- 
 ther, or your brother or sister if you have 
 one old enough, they will show you books 
 with large and small print in them. When- 
 ever you see any thing printed in smaller 
 print than the rest of the book, you ought 
 not to read right on without thinking any- 
 thing of it; — but you ought to pause a 
 minute, and observe it, and think what 
 the reason is. Now I will begin my story 
 again, in small print. 
 
 Once there was a man who thought he would go up upon 
 a mountain ; so he rode along on his horse till he came as 
 near to the mountain as he could, in the road, — and then he 
 turned off into the woods and rode on until he came to the 
 foot of the mountain. He could ride no farther ; so he tied 
 his horse to a tree. 
 
 Then he began to walk up the mountain. 
 
 Do you see that when we come to the 
 word tree, just above there, that we leave 
 
HOW TO READ RIGHT. 67 
 
 off printing in that line. There is a peri- 
 od, and then the rest of the line has no- 
 thing in it. It is blank, as they call it, 
 that is white, all white paper. The next 
 part of the story begins in the next line. 
 The next part of the story is, these words, 
 " Then he began," and that is printed in 
 the next line. And if you look at it, you 
 will see that it is not exactly at the be- 
 ginning of the line. The word " Then" is 
 not printed as near the side of the page as 
 the other lines above it are. There is a 
 little space left blank. Do you see the 
 little space left blank before the " Then?" 
 Now what do you suppose is the reason 
 why we left off in the middle of the line 
 and began again in the next line, leaving 
 a little blank space? Why it is because I 
 had finished telling you all about the 
 man's coming to the mountain, and was 
 now going to tell you about his going up 
 
68 HOW TO READ RIGHT. 
 
 the mountain, and so I thought it would 
 be best to leave of for that line, and be- 
 gin again in the next. Should you like to 
 know what such a place is called 1 It is 
 called a new paragraph. A new para- 
 graph is made whenever we come to any 
 new part of the story. If you look back 
 over the leaves of this book you will find 
 a great many new paragraphs on all the 
 pages. If any person says any thing in 
 the story, we put what he says in a para- 
 graph by itself. See if you can find some 
 new paragraphs. 
 
 Now, when you come to any new 
 paragraph in your reading, you ought not 
 to read right forward without stopping or 
 noticing it at all. You should pause a 
 little when one paragraph ends, and then 
 begin again when the new paragraph be- 
 gins, so that those who hear you read, and 
 who are not looking over, may know by 
 
HOW TO READ RIGHT. 69 
 
 the sound of your voice, that you have 
 come to a new paragraph. 
 
 Now I will go on with the story, again, 
 beginning at the new paragraph. 
 
 Then he began to walk up. He scrambled through the 
 bushes for some time, and at last came out into a smooth, 
 but muddy path. Here, however, he was in no little diffi- 
 culty, for the path was so slippery that notwithstanding all 
 he could do, he seemed rather to be sliding down, than climb- 
 ing up. 
 
 Here we come to the end of another 
 paragraph. And I wish you to look at 
 the word " down" in the last line. Do 
 you see any thing strange about it 1 Is it 
 printed like the other words ? 
 
 Once I asked some children to look at 
 a word printed so, and to tell me what 
 the difference was between it and other 
 words. One said it looked fainter. Another 
 said it looked smaller. A third said it 
 was not printed with good ink. But the 
 
70 HOW TO READ RIGHT. 
 
 true explanation is, the letters of the word 
 are slanting. That is all. It makes the 
 word look a little fainter. 
 
 You will see that the letters are differ- 
 ent by looking first at the d in " sliding," 
 which comes before "down" and then 
 looking at the d in " down." The d in 
 " sliding" is straight. The d in " down" is 
 slanting; all the other letters in down 
 are slanting. Do you know what this 
 kind of printing is called? It is called 
 Italic. 
 
 The word " down" in the story is print- 
 ed in Italics. The reason why it is print- 
 ed in Italics is because I wanted you to 
 notice it particularly. It is remarkable 
 that while the man was trying to get up, 
 he should instead of that slide down. So 
 I had the word printed differently, that you 
 might notice it particularly. Whenever 
 you are reading and come to any word 
 
HOW TO READ RIGHT. 71 
 
 printed in Italics you must notice it, and 
 speak it very distinctly, for it is an im- 
 portant word. 
 
 Look back in this book and see if you 
 can find some words printed in Italics. 
 When you find one, read the sentence it 
 is in aloud, and speak the word which is 
 in Italics very plain and distinct, and see 
 if you do not understand the sentence 
 better. 
 
 You must always read such words very 
 distinctly in all books except the Bible. 
 In the Bible, the words are put in Italics 
 for a different reason, which I cannot ex- 
 plain to you now. Now I will go on with 
 the story. 
 
 He at last got over this slippery part of the path, and 
 then came to a place where it was very rocky. Trees and 
 bushes hung over his head, and grew thick all around him, 
 and he began to be afraid that he might meet some wild 
 beast. Presently he looked through the bushes and saw at 
 a distance among the rocks some large black thing, and he 
 
72 HOW TO READ RIGHT. 
 
 thought it was a bear. He was very much frightened and 
 began to scream out as loud as he could, Help, Help, 
 Help. 
 
 Do you notice any thing remarkable in 
 those three last words '1 Are they print- 
 ed like the other words ? Are they 
 printed in Italics? How do they differ 
 from common printing ? Can you tell ? 
 Do you often see words printed so? 
 
 They are printed in Capitals. Capitals 
 are letters shaped differently from other 
 letters. They are generally larger than 
 other letters, but not always. These 
 words are printed in capitals, because they 
 are very important indeed. The man 
 cried Help, Help, Help, very loud. So 
 we print them in Capitals. If a word is 
 very important, we generally print it in 
 Italics, but if it is very important indeed, 
 we print it in Capitals. When you come 
 to a word printed in Capitals, you must 
 
HOW TO READ RIGHT. 73 
 
 generally read it very plain and distinctly 
 indeed.. I should like to have you look 
 back to the story of Jonas, and see how 
 the words are printed where the boy said, 
 " Whoa." Can you tell the reason why 
 they are printed sol and can you read 
 them right ? But let us go on with the 
 story. 
 
 At the same time that he shouted for help so loud, he 
 grasped hold of a tree close by, and began to climb it, by 
 the' branches, to get out of the bear's way. When he got 
 up a little way he could see over the bushes to the very 
 place where the bear was ; he looked there, and saw — 
 what do you think it was ? 
 
 You see a straight mark printed after 
 "saw." Do you see it ? What do you sup- 
 pose it is? It is what they call a dash. 
 The reason why I put the dash there, is 
 that I was going to tell you what the man 
 saw, but I suddenly stopped, and asked 
 you what you thought it was. When we 
 d 7 
 
74 HOW TO READ RIGHT. 
 
 suddenly stop in saying any thing, and 
 begin to say something else, we put in a 
 dash. So we use a dash in some other 
 ways. You ought to stop a little when 
 you come to a dash, thus ; " He looked 
 there and saw — what do you think it 
 was 7" Dashes are generally put in, when 
 we want you to stop a little in your read- 
 ing. Now for the story again. 
 
 He looked, and saw — what do you think it was ? Why 
 it was nothing but an old, black log ! ! 
 
 Do you see two characters at the end 
 of that sentence 1 They are notes of ex- 
 clamation. When two of them are put 
 together they mean that what comes be- 
 fore them is very extraordinary and sur- 
 prising. Should not you think it was very 
 extraordinary and surprising for a man to 
 think he saw a bear, and be frightened 
 and shout help, and climb up into a tree, 
 
HOW TO READ RIGHT. 75 
 
 and find, after all, that it was nothing but 
 a great, black log 1 It is surprising, and 
 when you read it, you must read it as if 
 you thought it was very surprising, so ; 
 " What do you think it was ? Why it 
 was nothing but an old, black log ! !" You 
 can get your father or mother to show 
 you how to read it, if you do not know. 
 
 It was nothing but an old, black log, lying against the 
 rocks. The man felt ashamed. He clambered down, and 
 went to look at the log which had frightened him so. It 
 was as black as a coal.* The man laughed to think that 
 he should have supposed that to be a bear. 
 
 Do you see after the word coal, in the 
 last line but one, a little star. Do you 
 know what that star is for 1 It is to make 
 you look down to the bottom of the page, 
 and there you will find something 'more 
 about the black wood. When you come 
 
 * It was burnt black by a fire, which somebody had built 
 there a great while before. 
 
76 HOW TO READ RIGHT 
 
 to any little star then, when you are read- 
 ing, you must look down to the bottom 
 of the page, and there you will find ano- 
 ther little star, with something printed 
 after it. That which is printed thus at the 
 bottom of a page is called a note. 
 
 Other characters besides stars are made 
 for notes. These are some of the charac- 
 ters ; § % f J. There are not many notes 
 in this book. Perhaps you will find some 
 by and by. 
 
 This is all that I have to tell you now 
 about reading. But now I will put in the 
 whole story about the man going up the 
 mountain, and you may see if you can 
 read it all right, and see too if you remem- 
 ber all that I have explained. 
 
CLIMBING UP A MOUNTAIN. 
 
 Once there was a man who thought 
 he would go up upon a mountain ; so he 
 rode along upon his horse till he came as 
 near the mountain as he could, and then 
 he turned off into the woods and rode on 
 until he came to the foot of the mountain. 
 He could ride no farther; so he tied his 
 horse to a tree. 
 
 Then he began to walk up. He 
 scrambled through the bushes for some 
 time, and at last came out into a smooth 
 but muddy path. Here, however, he was 
 in no little difficulty, for the path was so 
 slippery that notwithstanding all he could 
 do, he seemed rather to be sliding down 
 than climbing up. 
 
 He at last got over this slippery part 
 
 of the path, and then came to a place 
 
 7# * 
 
78 CLIMBING UP A MOUNTAIN. 
 
 where it was very rocky. Trees and 
 bushes hung over his head, and grew thick, 
 all around him, and he began to be afraid 
 that he might meet with some wild beast. 
 Presently he looked through the bushes, 
 and saw at a distance among the rocks, 
 some large, black thing, and he thought it 
 was a bear. He was very much frighten- 
 ed, and began to scream out as loud as 
 he could, Help, Help, Help. 
 
 At the same time that he shouted for 
 help so loud, he grasped hold of a tree 
 close by, and began to climb it, by the 
 branches, to get out of the bear's way. 
 When he got up a little way he could see 
 over the bushes to the very place where 
 the bear was ; he looked there and saw, 
 — what do you think it was ? Why it 
 was nothing but an old, black log! ! An 
 old black log, lying against the rocks. The 
 man felt ashamed. He clambered down 
 
CLIMBING UP A MOUNTAIN. 79 
 
 and went to look at the log which had 
 frightened him so. It was as black as a 
 coal.* The man laughed to think that he 
 should have supposed that to be a bear. 
 
 He determined not to be so foolish 
 another time, and then he went along 
 climbing up the mountain. It was steep 
 and rocky, and there were bushes and 
 trees each side of the path. He had to 
 stop often to take breath and rest him- 
 self. At last he reached the top, and 
 could see a great many miles all around. 
 He could see woods and farms and towns 
 and rivers away down, down, very far 
 below him. 
 
 After a while he came down the moun- 
 tain. He walked very carefully, so as not 
 to fall. When he came to where the old 
 black log was, he looked at it and laughed. 
 
 * It was burnt black by afire which somebody had built 
 there a great while before. 
 
ROLLO GETTING READY 
 FOR HIS FATHER. 
 
 One day little Rollo was sitting by the - 
 fire on his green cricket. His mother was 
 sewing at her work-table. 
 
 " Mother," said Rollo, " when do you 
 think father will come home V 
 
 His mother said, " I think he will come 
 home pretty soon." 
 
 "Then," said Rollo, "I think I had bet- 
 ter get a chair for him." 
 
 So he went and took hold of the great 
 rocking-chair, to pull it to the fire for his 
 father ; but it was so heavy that it would 
 not come. So Rollo began to cry. 
 
 His mother looked up and said, " Rollo, 
 what is the matter ?" 
 
 Rollo said, " This rocking-chair will not 
 come." 
 
It was so heavy it would not come. 
 
GETTING READY FOR FATHER. 83 
 
 " Where do you want to carry it 1" 
 
 " I want it to be by the fire, so that my 
 father can sit in it when he comes home," 
 said Rollo. 
 
 " Why do you want your father to have 
 it ?" 
 
 " Because ;" said he. He did not know 
 exactly how to tell the reason, and so he 
 only said " Because." 
 
 " It is because you wish to please him 
 and to save him trouble, is it not V 
 
 " Yes mother," said Rollo. 
 
 " Well, do you not think it displeases 
 me and gives me trouble to have you cry, 
 and make me get up and come and move 
 the chair for you V 
 
 Rollo knew it did, but he did not an- 
 swer. 
 
 Then his mother said, "What good 
 does it do to displease me and make me 
 
84 THE WAY TO OBEY. 
 
 trouble, for the sake of pleasing father and 
 saving him trouble V* 
 
 Rollo could not answer this question ; 
 so he kept swinging and rocking, back and 
 forth, on the chair. His mother went on 
 with her work. 
 
 By and by he said, " Well, I can get 
 my father's slippers for him." 
 
 So he went to the little closet by the 
 side of the fire, and took out the slippers, 
 and put them down in the corner, and 
 then when his father came in, he ran to 
 the door to meet him, and he said, 
 
 " Father, father, I could not move up 
 your chair, but there are your slippers all 
 ready." 
 
 THE WAY TO OBEY. 
 
 When Rollo was about five years old, 
 his mother one evening took him up in 
 her lap, and said, 
 
THE WAY TO OBEY. 85 
 
 " Well Rollo, it is about time for you to 
 go to bed." 
 
 " Oh mamma," said Rollo, " must I go 
 now ?" 
 
 "Did you know," said his mother, 
 u that it is wrong for you to say that V 9 
 
 " Why, mother," said Rollo, surprised. 
 
 " When I think it is time for you to go 
 to bed, it is wrong for you to say or do 
 any thing which shows that you are not 
 willing to go." 
 
 " Why mother?" 
 
 " Because that makes it more unplea- 
 sant for you to go, and more unpleasant for 
 me to send you. Now whenever I think 
 that it is time for you to go, it is my duty 
 to send you, and it is your duty to go, 
 and we never ought to do any thing to 
 make our duty unpleasant. 
 
 Rollo then said nothing. He sat still a 
 few minutes thinking. 
 
86 THE WAY TO OBEY. 
 
 " Do you understand it ?" said his mo 
 ther. 
 
 " Yes mother ;" said Rollo. 
 
 " Suppose now any mother should say 
 to her boy, ' Come my boy, it is time for 
 you to go to bed ;' and the boy should 
 say, ' I wont go.' Would that be right or 
 wrong ?" 
 
 " Oh very wrong," said Rollo. 
 
 " Suppose he should begin to cry, and 
 say he did not want to go ?" 
 
 " That would be very wrong too," said 
 Rollo. 
 
 "Suppose he should begin to beg a 
 little, and say, 'I don't want to go now ; 
 I should think you might let me set up a 
 little longer.' What should you think of 
 that?" 
 
 " It would be wrong." 
 
 " Suppose he should look up into his 
 mother's face sorrowfully, and say, ' Must 
 I go now, mother.' " 
 
THE WAY TO OBEY. 87 
 
 " Wrong," — said Rollo, faintly. 
 
 "Suppose he should not say a word, 
 but look cross and ill-humored, and throw 
 away his playthings in a pet, and walk by 
 the side of his mother reluctantly and 
 slowly. What should you think of that V 9 
 
 " I think it would be wrong." 
 
 " Suppose he should look pleasantly, 
 and say ' Well mother,' and come plea- 
 santly to take her hand, and bid the per- 
 sons in the room good night, and walk off 
 cheerfully." 
 
 " That would be right ;" said Rollo. 
 
 " Yes," said his mother, " and always, 
 when a child is told to do any thing, 
 whether it is pleasant to do or not, he 
 ought to obey at once, and cheerfully." 
 
ROLLO'S BREAKFAST. 
 
 Rollo was sitting one morning by the 
 fire -side, before breakfast, reading in a lit- 
 tle blue covered hymn-book. Presently 
 Mary brought in the breakfast ; and Rollo 
 was glad, and jumped up from his little 
 low chair at the fire, and went and brought 
 his high chair, and put it at his place at 
 the table. 
 
 When they were all ready, they stood 
 still, while Rollo's father said in a slow 
 and serious manner, "Almighty God, we 
 thank thee that thou hast again spread this 
 table for us and prepared this food. Help 
 us now to receive it thankfully, and may 
 it strengthen us to obey thy commands 
 this day; we ask it for Christ's sake." 
 Then they sat down. 
 
 Rollo knew that this was called asking 
 
ROLLO's BREAKFAST. 89 
 
 a blessing, and he had always been taught 
 to be very still and very attentive while 
 it was done. He did not know however 
 exactly what it was for, and he thought 
 he would now ask his father. ' 
 
 His father told him that it was to thank 
 God for their breakfast. 
 
 Rollo asked his father whether God 
 gave them their breakfast. 
 
 " Yes," said his father, " God causes 
 our breakfast to be brought to us from 
 many distant places." 
 
 " Where do the knives and forks come 
 from 1" said Rollo. 
 
 " They come from England. The men 
 dig up the iron out of the ground to make 
 the blades, and take horn and make the 
 handles, and then roll them up in a paper 
 and put them in a ship. The ship brings 
 them across the ocean more than a thou- 
 sand miles to Boston. Then the wag- 
 d* S* 
 
90 ROLLO's BREAKFAST. 
 
 goner puts them in his waggon and brings 
 them over the hills and valleys away to 
 this town where we live, — all that little 
 Rollo may have a knife and fork to eat his 
 breakfast." 
 
 " Where do the plates come from ?" 
 " They come from England. The men 
 find a bank of white clay, and they mix 
 up some of it with water, until it is like 
 dough. Then they make it into the shape 
 of plates, and cups, and saucers, and paint 
 tnem blue ; and put them into a large hot 
 oven and bake them hard. When they 
 are cooled, they pack them up in a sort of 
 a basket large and square ; and put straw 
 and hay between them, so that they need 
 not break. And so they bring them over 
 the waves, and over the hills, away to the 
 town we live in, so that little Rollo may 
 have a plate when he eats his breakfast." 
 " Where does the coffee come from V 
 
ROLLO'S BREAKFAST. 91 
 
 " It comes from Cuba,, The negroes 
 plant a tree and take good care of it while 
 it grows, until there are a great many 
 Kernels of coffee upon it. They gather 
 them when they are ripe, and sew them 
 up in a bag, and send them all the way 
 over the sea, and over the land, across the 
 rivers, and mountains and rocks. When 
 they come here, Mary burns them brown 
 and grinds them in the mill, and heats the 
 water, all that little Rollo may have some 
 coffee to drink for breakfast." 
 
 " Where does the bread come from V 
 "When the summer begins, the little 
 green blades of wheat grow up out of the 
 ground, in the farmer's fields. God waters 
 it with showers, and warms it with the 
 sun, so that it grows and grows and grows, 
 till it is higher than Rollo's head. Then 
 the little grains of wheat grow in the top 
 of it, and when they are ripe, the farmer 
 
92 ROLLO's BREAKFAST. 
 
 cuts them down, and pounds them out 
 with a great heavy flail, and puts them in 
 a bag and sends them to mill. At the 
 mill they are ground between two great 
 stones, into fine white flour, and the baker 
 mixes the flour and water; and makes 
 the dough, and bakes it in his great hot 
 oven, all that little Rollo may have some 
 bread for breakfast." 
 
 " Well, but father," said Rollo, " how 
 does God give us our breakfast then?" 
 
 His father said, " Why, it is God who 
 made the iron in the ground for the knives, 
 and the clay for the plates and cups. He 
 brings the summer and the sun. He 
 makes the wheat sprout up and grow, and 
 brings the showers of rain. He takes 
 care too of all the men who shape the 
 cups and make the knives, and gather the 
 coffee, and grind the wheat. He does all 
 this kindly for us, — so that Rollo and all 
 
The Garden-yard. 
 
FICTITIOUS STORIES. 95 
 
 the other boys in the world, may have 
 some breakfast. I think we ought to 
 thank him." 
 
 Rollo did .not say any thing, but he 
 thought so too. 
 
 FICTITIOUS STORIES. 
 
 " Father, will you tell me a story 1 n 
 said Rollo, one day. 
 
 Rollo's father was sitting on the plat- 
 form, leading out to the garden-yard.* It 
 was a pleasant summer evening, just be- 
 fore sunset. 
 
 " Shall it be a true story or a fictitious 
 one 1" said his father. 
 
 * They called it the garden-yard because it led out to 
 the garden. You can see Jonas in the picture, wheeling 
 out a load of weeds, along the path from the garden to the 
 barn-yard. 
 
96 FICTITIOUS STORIES. 
 
 " What is fictitious ?" asked Rollo, 
 
 " A story that is not true." 
 
 " But it would be wrong for you to tell 
 me any thing that was not true, would it 
 not?" said Rollo. 
 
 "Do you think it would be certainly 
 wrong ?" 
 
 " Yes sir." 
 
 "Suppose you were coming along the 
 yard, and were riding on my cane, and 
 should come up to me and say, ■ Papa, this 
 is my horse. See what a noble horse I 
 have got.' Would that be wrong V 9 
 
 " No sir." 
 
 " Would it be true ?" 
 
 "No sir, — It would not be a real 
 horse." 
 
 " Now do you know why it would be 
 right in this case for you to say it was a 
 horse, when it was not ?" 
 
 Rollo could not tell. 
 
FICTITIOUS STORIES. 97 
 
 " I will tell you," said his father. " Be- 
 cause you would not be trying to deceive 
 me. I could see your horse, as you call 
 him, and could see that it was nothing but 
 a cane. You would not be trying to de- 
 ceive me, to make me think it w T as a real 
 horse when it was not." 
 
 " No sir," said Rollo. 
 
 " If you should say any thing which is 
 not strictly true and want to make me 
 think it is true, that would be very wrong. 
 That would be telling a lie. So it would 
 be very wrong for me to tell you any thing 
 which is not true, and try to make you 
 think it is true. But it is not wrong for 
 me to make up a little story to amuse you, 
 if I do not try to deceive you by it." 
 
 " Would that be a fictitious story 1" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Well father, I should like to have you 
 tell me a fictitious story." 
 
98 the fly's morning walk. 
 
 " Well, I will tell you one. The name 
 of it is, The Fly's Morning Walk." So 
 Rollo's father took his little boy up in his 
 lap, and told him the following fictitious 
 story. 
 
 THE FLY'S MORNING 
 WALK. 
 
 Once there was a little fly with broad 
 thin wings and round body and two great 
 eyes. When he waked up in the morn- 
 ing, he found he was standing on the wall, 
 and he thought he would go and find 
 something for breakfast. 
 
 He flew down upon the table and then 
 crept along. First he found a little grain 
 of sand, and said he, " I wonder if this is 
 good to eat." So he reached out his long 
 proboscis to it, and tried to taste of it, but 
 
THE FLY'S MORNING WALK. 99 
 
 he found it was dry and rough and hard. 
 " Oh, no, no, no," said he, " this is not 
 good to eat." 
 
 Then he walked along a little farther, 
 and came to some dust. And he said, 
 " I wonder whether this is good to eat." 
 So he reached out his long proboscis to it, 
 and tried to taste of it ; but he found it 
 was dry and insipid, and it stuck all over 
 the end of his proboscis, and he said, " Oh, 
 no, no, no, this is not good to eat." 
 
 Then he went along until he came to a 
 pin, and he said, " I wonder whether this 
 is good to eat," so he reached out his long 
 proboscis and tried to taste of it, but it 
 was smooth and hard and round, and he 
 could not taste of it at all. And he said, 
 " Oh, no, no, no, this is not good to eat." 
 
 Then he went round to the point of the 
 pin, and he said, " I wonder whether this 
 Is good to eat," but as soon as he touched 
 
100 THE FLY'S MORNING WALK, 
 
 his long proboscis to it, it pricked the end 
 of it, and he started back and said, " Oh, 
 no, no, no, this is not good to eat." 
 
 Then he went along a little further, and 
 came to a crack in the table, and he said, 
 "I wonder whether there is any thing 
 here good to eat." So he reached down 
 his long proboscis into it, and got it pinched 
 in, so he cried out, " Oh, oh, oh, this is not 
 good to eat." 
 
 Then he went along a little further, and 
 by this time he began to be very hungry, 
 and presently, he saw a very small thing 
 lying on the table, and he walked up to it, 
 ' and began, to feel of it with his long pro- 
 boscis, and found it tasted very sweet and 
 good. It was a little piece of a sugar-dog, 
 which a boy had dropped there, and he 
 said, " Oh, yes, yes, yes, this is very good 
 to eat." Thus at last the little fly found 
 some breakfast. 
 
WAKING UP. 
 
 Rollo's father was a very kind father. 
 He took very good care of his little boy. 
 He had a little trundle-bed made for him 
 to sleep in, and good warm clothes for him 
 to wear, and besides he would very often 
 talk to him very kindly and pleasantly. 
 
 Once Rollo's mother took cold and be- 
 came sick. Her sickness increased for 
 several days, until at last it became ne- 
 cessary for her to have a nurse come and 
 take care of her. 
 
 That night Rollo was put to bed in 
 another chamber, and his father came to 
 hear him say his prayers and to bid him 
 good night. He put his cheek down to 
 Rollo's, and they both prayed, first one 
 and then the other, that God would take 
 care of them both, and forgive their sins, 
 9* 
 
102 WAKIJVG UP. 
 
 and give them good and holy hearts and 
 prepare them for heaven. 
 
 Just before his father went away, he 
 said, 
 
 " Rollo, I am going to sleep here with 
 you to-night." 
 
 " Are you f 3 said Rollo. 
 
 " Yes ; the nurse is going to take care 
 of mother, and in an hour or two, I shall 
 come here and go to bed. Now when 
 the morning comes, if you will pull me, 
 and wake me up, I will tell you a little 
 story." 
 
 "Well," said Rollo, "I will." 
 
 Then his father took up the light to go 
 away. 
 
 Rollo did not want to have the light 
 taken away, and he said, " Father, are you 
 going to carry away the light ?" 
 
 "Yes, — would 'n't you?" said his fa- 
 ther. 
 
WAKING UP. 103 
 
 " No sir, I think I would'nt." 
 
 " Oh yes, I think I must take the light 
 away, and you must shut up your eyes 
 and go to sleep." 
 
 So Rollo laid his cheek upon the pillow, 
 and shut up his eyes, though they quiver- 
 ed a little, because he was not sleepy, and 
 pretty soon his father went away. 
 
 The next morning, little Rollo was 
 awakened by some one rubbing him, and 
 when he opened his eyes he found that it 
 was his father, whose face was close to his 
 upon the pillow. 
 
 " Rollo,"' said he, " I told you, last night 
 that if you would pull me and wake me 
 up, this morning, I would tell you a little 
 story : but you kept asleep all this time, 
 so I had to pull you and rub you and 
 wake you up ; was not that funny ?" 
 
 Rollo smiled faintly, for he was not yet 
 quite awake. 
 
104 WAKING UP. 
 
 Pretty soon he opened his eyes wide, 
 and looked around the room. He saw 
 that the window -curtains were very light, 
 and he perceived that it was morning. 
 His father then put his face to his, and 
 said these words. He was praying to 
 Almighty God. 
 
 " Oh God, thou hast been in this room 
 all night, watching and taking care of little 
 Rollo and me while we have been asleep. 
 We thank thee that thou hast kept us 
 safely. Wilt thou take care of us all the 
 day and make us kind to all in the house. 
 Do not let Rollo be disobedient or obsti- 
 nate or ungrateful or unkind to little 
 Lucy ; and make us all good and happy 
 for Christ's sake, Amen." 
 
 Rollo was still and attentive while his 
 father said these words. He wanted God 
 to hear and do what his father asked. 
 
 " Rollo," said his father, a few minutes 
 
WAKING UP 105 
 
 afterwards, " what are you going to do all 
 day to-day." 
 
 " Oh," said Rollo, " I am going to play." 
 
 "Where are you going to get your 
 breakfast?" 
 
 " Oh I am going to get it down stairs, 
 in the parlor." 
 
 " But whose breakfast is that down in 
 the parlor 1 Is it yours V 
 
 " No sir." 
 
 " Did you buy it with your money V 
 
 " No sir." 
 
 u Shall you get it ready V 
 
 " No sir, I do not know how to get the 
 breakfast ready." 
 
 " Then it is not your breakfast ; it is all 
 my breakfast; but as you have not got 
 any breakfast of your own, I believe I will 
 let you have some of my breakfast. But 
 what are you going to do for a house to 
 live in all day V 
 
106 WAKING UP. 
 
 " Oh," said Rollo, " I am going to live 
 in this house." 
 
 "But is this your house f 
 
 " No sir." 
 
 "Isn't it yours? Did not } r ou build 
 it?" 
 
 " No sir." 
 
 " Did not you buy it ?" 
 
 " No sir." 
 
 " And hav n't you got any house to live 
 in?" 
 
 " No sir, not unless you let me live in 
 yours." 
 
 " Well, if you have not any house to 
 live in, I will let you live in mine to-day." 
 
 Just then Rollo pointed up to the wall, 
 and said, 
 
 " See, there is a tiger on the wall, — It 
 looks like a tiger." 
 
 His father looked up at the irregular 
 lines on the wall, which had attracted his 
 
WAKING UP. 107 
 
 little boy's attention, but he could not see 
 any thing that resembled a tiger. 
 
 " I don't see," said his father ; " where 
 is his head ?" 
 
 " He has not got any head ; it is not a 
 tiger, it only looks like a tiger. It has 
 got a tail." 
 
 " Well, where is his tail V 
 
 "I — don't — know. I see a stag, 
 too, and camel." 
 
 In a minute or two his father turned 
 R olio's face over gently towards himself, 
 so that his attention should not be attract- 
 ed by what he saw there. He wanted 
 him to listen to what he was saying to 
 him. 
 
 " Well, Rollo," said he, " whose clothes 
 are you going to wear to-day 1" 
 
 " Oh I am going to wear my clothes," 
 said Rollo ; " yours would be a great deal 
 too big." 
 
108 WAKING UP. 
 
 " Have you got any clothes ?" 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " Where did you get them 1" 
 
 "I — don't — know," said Rollo, 
 hesitating. 
 
 "The clothes which you wore yester- 
 day belong to me" said his father. " Have 
 you got any others 1" 
 
 " Yes, sir," said Rollo ; " I have got 
 some up stairs in the drawer." 
 
 " Well, those belong to me. I paid for 
 them with my money, and I might sell 
 them or give them away at any time, if I 
 chose. Have you not got any others ?" 
 
 "No, sir," said Rollo. 
 
 " Well," said his father, " I shall let you 
 wear those clothes of mine then. I am 
 very glad I have got a house, and some 
 breakfast, and some clothes for my little 
 Rollo boy, since you have not got any of, 
 your own. But I think if I get a house 
 
ROLLO'S PRAYER. 109 
 
 for you to live in, and breakfast for you to 
 eat, and clothes for you to wear, you 
 ought to be a very careful, faithful, obedi- 
 ent little boy." 
 
 ROLLO'S PRAYER. 
 
 Every night, when Rollo went to bed, 
 he said a prayer which his father had taught 
 him. It is an excellent plan for a boy or 
 girl to say their prayers, every night. For 
 you have probably done something wrong 
 during the da}^, and you ought not to go 
 to sleep until you are forgiven. Besides, 
 God has taken care of you through the 
 day, and you ought not to go to sleep till 
 you have sincerely thanked him, and asked 
 him to take care of you through the night, 
 while you sleep. I will tell you what 
 Rollo's prayer was, and I think you had 
 10 
 
110 ROLLO's PRAYER. 
 
 better learn it and say it every night be- 
 fore you go to sleep, unless you have al- 
 ready learned some other one. 
 The Prayer. 
 
 Now that another day is gone, and I 
 lay down my head upon my pillow to rest> 
 I come to thee, Almighty God, my Hea- 
 venly Father, to ask thee to forgive my 
 sins and to take care of me this night. 
 
 I have done wrong a great many times, 
 — and destroyed my own peace of mind, 
 and made my father and motherunhappy, 
 and displeased thee. I pray thee, O God, 
 to forgive me for Jesus Christ my Sa- 
 vior's sake ; and will thou keep my heart 
 that I may do wrong no more. Help me, 
 every day, to try to please thee more and 
 more, so that I may be thy dutiful and 
 obedient child while I live, and my soul 
 be saved when I die. 
 
 And now wilt thou come and be near 
 
BUNNY. Ill 
 
 my bed-side while I sleep, keep me safe 
 until the morning ; and always, whether I 
 wake or sleep, whether I live or die, wilt 
 thou be with me, and love me, and take 
 care of me, forever, for Jesus' sake. 
 
 Amen. 
 
 It will do no good to say this or any 
 other prayer, unless you say it seriously 
 and sincerely, and are really sorry for 
 having done wrong, and resolved to do so 
 no more. 
 
 BUNNY. 
 
 A FICTITIOUS STORY. 
 
 Once there was a beautiful wood, and 
 in it many large trees. In one of these 
 trees was a large hole ; the bottom of the 
 hole was covered with dry leaves and 
 
112 BUNNY. 
 
 moss. Here lived Mr. and Mrs. Squirrel 
 with their five children, named Creep, 
 Peep, Bushy, Grey and Bunny. They 
 were good little squirrels, and might have 
 been a very happy family, had not Bunny 
 been discontented. She tried to make 
 the others so too. She would very often 
 crowd her brothers and sisters, and fret 
 because she had not room. 
 
 One day their father and mother were 
 away, running about in the woods, trying 
 to find something for them to eat. The 
 little squirrels were playing together very 
 pleasantly, till Bunny pushed Creep against 
 Peep, and then shoved Bushy, telling 
 them to move, for she had not room. In 
 truth, Bunny was often a very naughty 
 squirrel, and made her father and mother 
 very unhappy. Very often they would 
 lie awake at night thinking how they 
 should make her a better child, and kind 
 and pleasant to her brothers and sisters. 
 
BUNNY. 113 
 
 When they came home, the day I have 
 mentioned, from their ramble in search of 
 something to eat, they saw that their chil- 
 dren looked very sober and unhappy, and 
 Creep, who was the oldest, told them how 
 Bunny had behaved. Creep was a very 
 good squirrel, and her parents could al- 
 ways believe her. She never tried to 
 make her brothers and sisters seem more 
 naughty than they were. 
 
 That night, Mr. and Mrs. Squirrel talked 
 about Bunny before they went to sleep, 
 and concluded they must put a stop to 
 her naughty behavior. 
 
 The next morning, Bunny's father got 
 up and asked her to go and walk with 
 him. She went, and they walked in the 
 beautiful wood. There were nuts, and 
 acorns, and berries, and Bunny longed to 
 eat as many as she wanted. 
 
 Presently, her father told her how very 
 e* 10* 
 
114 BUNNY. 
 
 wrong she had behaved, and that he must 
 punish her. So he took her up with his 
 fore paw, and ran up a tree. The tree 
 was very tall, and it was a good while be- 
 fore they got far up. Poor little Bunny 
 was very much frightened. At last they 
 came to a small, dark hole, just large 
 enough for her to turn round in. Here 
 her father put her in, and told her she 
 must stay there. Then he went away 
 and left her here alone, and she could hear 
 her father's feet pat along the tree as he 
 went down, and then the dry leaves on 
 the ground rustle as he ran over them. 
 
 Dinner time came, and Bunny hoped 
 her father would come with some dinner. 
 But no, — he did not come. She began to 
 cry, for she was hungry. She felt with 
 her paw all round, and could only find one 
 little acorn and some dried leaves. She 
 looked out of the hole, but was afraid to 
 go out. it was so high up. 
 
BUNNY. 115 
 
 She now began to feel very sorry. She 
 knew how unkind she had been to her 
 brothers and sisters. She cried, and 
 thought if her father would come and 
 take her home, she would not crowd and 
 push and fret any more. 
 
 Supper time came, but she could not 
 hear any one coming. 
 
 The sun set, — it began to grow dark, 
 and the winds blew and whistled through 
 the trees. At last down poured the rain, 
 and it came into the hole, and poor little 
 Bunny was completely wet. 
 
 Presently she thought she heard a 
 scratching and a patting on the leaves, and 
 then upon the tree ; and very soon up 
 came her father. He saw that little Bun- 
 ny looked sorry. She told her father she 
 would try and be a good, pleasant squirrel 
 if he would take her home and give her 
 some supper. So he took her up with 
 
116 THE RAFT. 
 
 his paw ana down the tree they went, 
 and soon got home to their very warm 
 nest. Here was a fine supper of sweet 
 acorns — and the family were all glad to 
 see little Bunny again, and whenever she 
 began to be naughty, she thought of the 
 dark hole where she had been left alone 
 and without supper, and she became a 
 very good little squirrel, and was ever 
 afterwards a great comfort to her parents. 
 
 THE RAFT. 
 
 Do you remember any thing about 
 Jonas ; — how they found him by the side 
 of the road and brought him home. When 
 Rollo's father found him, he meant to have 
 sent him to the poor-house, where all 
 poor boys are taken care of, but he kept 
 him in his house a few days first, and he 
 
THE RAFT. 117 
 
 found that he was a very good boy. He 
 had a great many faults, but he was a good 
 natured, pleasant boy, and he was willing 
 to leara, and so Rollo's father thought he 
 would let him stay and live with him, and 
 work for him. 
 
 Jonas was very industrious and faithful. 
 Do you know what industrious means? 
 Do you know what faithful means 1 He 
 was kind too. He was very kind to Rol- 
 lo. He used to help Rollo a great deal, 
 and play with him, and tell him stories. 
 
 There was a beautiful brook very near 
 the house which Rollo lived in. I have 
 made you a picture of the elm yard, be- 
 hind the house. By and by, I shall make 
 you a picture of all the house, and the 
 trees, and fields around it, and the brook, 
 and then you will understand it all exact- 
 ly. Now I can only tell you there was a 
 brook, and Jonas used to take Rollo down 
 
118 THE RAFT. 
 
 to the brook sometimes, to play. The 
 brook was wide and the water flowed 
 slowly and smoothly, but it was not very 
 deep. Jonas liked to be near the water. 
 He had sailed over the seas, and he liked 
 the water. 
 
 One day Jonas found two great logs on 
 the shore of the brook. He rolled them 
 into the water. Then he went up to the 
 house and got some pieces of board, and 
 a hammer and some nails. He gave Rol- 
 lo the hammer and nails to carry,~and he 
 carried the boards. He walked back then 
 to the pond. He floated the logs side by 
 side, and nailed the boards across, and 
 then he stood upon it and it bore him up 
 on the water. Jonas called it his raft. 
 Then he took a pole and pushed himself 
 off from the shore and shouted " Hurrah, 
 Hurrah." 
 
 Rollo stood upon the shore looking at 
 
THE RAFT. 121 
 
 him, and Rollo too shouted "Hurrah, 
 Hurrah." 
 
 Then Rollo said, " Let me get on and 
 sail too." 
 
 " No," said Jonas, " not till I ask your 
 mother if she is willing." 
 
 That day when they went home, Rollo 
 asked his father and mother if they were 
 willing that he should sail on Jonas' raft. 
 His father said he would go down and 
 look at it. When he came to the brook 
 he was surprised to see such a good 
 strong raft, and he said that Rollo might 
 sail on it, if they would both be careful. 
 Then Jonas got on before, and pushed 
 with his pole, and Rollo sat behind and 
 held on, and they sailed away up towards 
 the bridge. You can see them in the 
 picture. You can see the raft, and Jonas 
 pushing with a pole, and Rollo holding on, 
 and the brook and the bridge. Rollo and 
 
 / 11 
 
 or 
 
122 CONTRARY CHARLES. 
 
 Jonas had a great many good sails on this 
 raft. 
 
 CONTRARY CHARLES. 
 
 Do you know what a contrary boy is ? 
 I will tell you. He is one who is never 
 satisfied with what he has, but always 
 wants something different. If I were to 
 say to you, " Come James, and see what a 
 pretty picture I have got here ;" and you 
 should say, " No, I don't want a picture, 
 you said you would bring me a pretty 
 book," — that would be being contrary. If 
 your father should bring you home a little 
 cart to draw about the room, and you 
 should say, " I don't want a cart, I don't 
 like carts, I want a horse and whip, like 
 William's ;" that would be being very 
 contrary. 
 
CONTRARY CHARLES. 123 
 
 Now I knew a little boy once, who was 
 unhappy a great deal of the time, because 
 he would not be pleased with the play- 
 things he had, but always wanted another 
 kind, or something else. This little boy 
 had a very kind father and mother, who 
 loved him very much, and who tried to 
 make him happy. They bought him good 
 clothes to wear: they gave him good 
 things to eat whenever he was hungry, 
 and they bought him a great many pretty 
 playthings. But though they were so 
 kind, this boy was sometimes so naughty 
 as to cry when they gave him a new 
 plaything, because he had wanted a bunch 
 of jack-straws, perhaps ; instead of a pret- 
 ty box of wooden blocks. If they had 
 bought him some jack-straws, he would 
 have wanted the blocks or something else. 
 Nobody liked to give Charles any play- 
 things or sugar-plums or any thing, be- 
 
124 CONTRARY CHARLES, 
 
 cause they did not make him happy : and 
 they did not make him happy because he 
 would not be pleased, but always thought 
 of something else which he fancied he 
 would rather have. 
 
 One day, Charles' mother came into the 
 room where he was playing, and said, 
 " Charles, little brother William is going 
 to walk with Susan ; should you like to go 
 too?" 
 
 " Yes," said he, " but I shall want to 
 wear my new cap." 
 
 " But I told you the other day," said 
 his mother, " that you could not wear it 
 for a whole week, again, because you 
 threw it upon the floor when you came in 
 yesterday, instead of hanging it on its 
 nail." 
 
 " Then I don't want to go," said Charles. 
 
 " Very well," said his mother, and call- 
 ing to Susan, she told her she need not 
 wait any longer. 
 
CONTRARY CHARLES. 125 
 
 " But I shall want to go," said Charles, 
 beginning to cry. 
 
 " You must not go now," said his mo- 
 ther, " for you said you did not want to 
 go, just because you felt contrary, and out 
 of humor." 
 
 His mother then sat down to work. 
 Charles, finding it was useless to cry, 
 dried his tears, and began throwing his 
 playthings about the room. 
 
 " Don't you do so," said his mother ; 
 " you will break that pretty box, and your 
 white cards, with the pretty colored let- 
 ters, will get soiled, and not fit to be 
 used." 
 
 " I don't care if they do," said Charles ; 
 "it is not a pretty box, and I don't like 
 the cards." 
 
 His mother rose, took away all his 
 playthings, and left him sitting upon the 
 floor, with nothing to do. As she took 
 11* 
 
126 CONTRARY CHARLES. 
 
 no notice of his cross looks, he presently 
 went to the window, and stood on a little 
 cricket, looking to see the horses and 
 carriages passing, and soon he began to 
 feel pleasantly again. 
 
 " Oh ! mother," said he, " there are two 
 beautiful little dogs in the street, and a 
 little boy running after them. Oh ! how 
 I should like a little dog. Mother, will you 
 buy me one V and he ran to his mother 
 and looked up in her face. 
 
 His mother laid down her work and 
 took him in her lap. " What would you 
 do with a dog," said she, " if you had 
 one V 
 
 " Oh L I should play with him ; I would 
 put some things in my cart, and tie. the 
 dog to it, and let him draw it to market ; 
 just like the dog in William's picture," 
 
 "But I am afraid," said his mother, 
 " that if your father should buy you a dog, 
 
CONTRARY CHARLES. 127 
 
 you would sometimes get out of humor 
 with him, and then you would say it was 
 an ugly dog, and you did not want it any 
 more." 
 
 " No, I would not," said Charles ; " I 
 should always love my little dog." 
 
 " So you said, if I would buy you a new 
 cap, you would be a good boy, and never 
 give me any trouble about it, but yester- 
 day you forgot your promise, and did not 
 put it where it belongs ; and to-day you 
 have made me very unhappy by your bad 
 temper. And you have displeased God 
 too, for he was looking directly into your 
 heart when you said you did not want to 
 go with Susan, and saw that you were 
 saying what was not true." 
 
 " But I will remember next time, if you 
 will only get me a little dog." 
 
 Just then William came into the room 
 with a large piece of cake in his hand, 
 
128 CONTRARY CHARLES. 
 
 which a lady had given him. He went 
 up to his brother, and breaking it in two 
 pieces, offered him one of them. 
 
 "No, I want the other piece," said 
 Charles. 
 
 " But I can't give it to you," said Wil- 
 liam ; " I want it myself." 
 
 " Then I won't have any," said Charles, 
 impatiently. 
 
 " Keep all the cake yourself, William," 
 said his mother; " Charles must not have 
 any, because he is not a good boy." 
 
 "But I do want some," said Charles, 
 beginning to cry very loud. Then his 
 mother went to the door, and calling 
 Susan, told her to take Charles into the 
 other room, and keep him there until he 
 was perfectly pleasant and good-humored. 
 So you see Charles lost a pleasant walk 
 and a nice piece of cake, and after all, had 
 to be sent away from his kind mother, 
 
CONTRARY CHARLES. 129 
 
 just because he would be a contrary boy. 
 Do you think he was happy ? 
 
 The next afternoon, as these two little 
 boys were playing in the yard, they looked 
 up, and saw a carriage, drawn by two 
 large white horses, stop at the door. It 
 was their aunt's. She had brought her 
 little son and daughter, named James and 
 Mary, to spend the afternoon with their 
 cousins. As soon as they were out of the 
 carriage, they ran to their cousins, and all 
 looked as happy as if they were expecting 
 to have a noble good time ; and so they 
 were. 
 
 Their aunt went into the house, and 
 the children played together out in the 
 yard. When they were tired of that, they 
 went into the mowing field, where the hay 
 was spread to dry, and, began to throw it 
 upon each other. This they enjoyed very 
 much till Charles began to cry, and say 
 
130 CONTRARY CHARLES. 
 
 they should not throw the hay upon him. 
 He wanted to pelt the others, but was not 
 willing to have them pelt him. So this 
 contrary boy spoilt the whole play, and 
 he cried so loud that his mother had to 
 call him into the house. When he was 
 gone, James lay down in the hay, and 
 told his sister and cousin to cover him up 
 in it. When he w T as hidden entirely, so 
 that they could not see him, he jumped 
 up suddenly, and ran to catch them with 
 an arm full of hay, to pay them for treat- 
 ing him so. They laughed very loud, 
 and were very happy, now they had no 
 one to disturb them with crying. They 
 were soon called in to tea. 
 
 Charles had not been very well in the 
 morning, and his mother was afraid to give 
 him as many strawberries in his milk as 
 she did the rest. So Charles began to 
 cry, and said he would not have any. His 
 
CONTRARY CHARLES. 131 
 
 mother then sent him out of the room, 
 and did not allow him to return until his 
 cousins had gone. 
 
 You see how many pleasant things he 
 lost by being so contrary. His mother 
 said she could not buy him a dog until he 
 had learned to be a good, pleasant boy. 
 His cousins said they did not want to go 
 and see him again, for he spoiled their 
 play ; and when his mother went to see 
 his aunt, she took William, but left Charles 
 at home. She said she could not take 
 him with her until he was willing to do as 
 others wished to have him, and not al- 
 ways cry to have his own way. By and 
 by, Charles learned that it was better to 
 be pleasant all the time, and not get out 
 of humor when things did not exactly suit 
 him ; and then every body loved him, for 
 he was a good little boy in every other 
 respect. 
 
FROST ON THE WINDOWS. 
 
 Charles was a little boy. One cold 
 winter's morning his mother brought him 
 down stairs. It was very early. She put 
 him down on the carpet, before a bright, 
 warm fire. Then she opened the shut- 
 ters to see if it was light. Charles saw 
 something white and shining upon the 
 windows, and called to her and said, " Oh, 
 mother, mother, how beautiful ! See how 
 the windows are painted all white. There 
 is a mountain, and another — and — and I 
 see another on the top of it ; and there are 
 some trees, and flowers — and — " 
 
 "Yes, they are very beautiful," said 
 Charles' mamma, as she stood dressing 
 her little boy. 
 
 " What makes it look so 1 it isn't light 
 like day, — and oh ! mother, see, there is a 
 bright star in the sky !" 
 
FROST ON THE WINDOWS. 133 
 
 "It is not quite daylight yet; pretty 
 soon it will grow lighter, and the little star 
 will not look so bright, and then the sky 
 will grow brighter, and it will be daylight." 
 
 " What is it now ; is it night ?" 
 
 " No, it is day-dawn." 
 
 " Day-dawn ; — well, it's very pretty, I 
 think, mother. O see, there's a cow ! I 
 think those are pictures painted on the 
 window, a'n't they V 9 
 
 " No, they are not pictures. Don't you 
 know what they are ?" 
 
 " I see something that looks like a horse 
 that hasn't got any head, and some trees 
 that haven't got any branches, and a great 
 many more mountains and rocks. I think 
 they are pictures, but they look white, just 
 like snow." 
 
 "Well, Charles, the cold made those 
 pictures. We call it frost on the windows, 
 and it came last night while we were all 
 12 
 
134 FROST ON THE WINDOWS. 
 
 asleep. It was very cold indeed last 
 night, and a great many things froze very 
 hard. Now hark, what do you hear ?" 
 
 " Hark. I hear something that ticks just 
 like a watch. What is it V 
 
 " It is the cold frost, which has frozen 
 some water in the tumbler. Last night 
 it was water, and I drank some of it. Now 
 look here ; it is ice, and it looks very beau- 
 tiful. See all those little marks and spots. 
 Those are little bubbles. Now it goes 
 click, click, again. See how hard it is ; I 
 cannot break it with my finger." 
 
 " Mother, will the frost stay all day on 
 the windows, or go away when it is day- 
 light?" 
 
 " Not when it is daylight, but when the 
 room is warm. There is a good bright 
 fire in the grate, and it will make the room 
 warm, and by and by the sun will rise out 
 of doors and shine on the glass and warm 
 
SHOOTING A BEAR. 135 
 
 it, and the frost will melt. Then it will be 
 water, and run down in drops." 
 
 " Well, I think it is very pretty frost, 
 and I don't think I could make such 
 horses, and trees, and cows." 
 
 SHOOTING A BEAR. 
 
 Once there was a foolish man, who 
 was always afraid of bears. He was al- 
 ways afraid there were bears in the woods 
 around him, and that they would come 
 and eat him up. 
 
 One day he thought he would take his 
 gun and go out and shoot a bear. So he 
 took down his gun, and put in some pow- 
 der to load it, and then he put in some 
 paper to keep the powder in, and then he 
 put in a bullet over that. The bullet was 
 a round, heavy tiling, like a round stone. 
 
136 SHOOTING A BEAR. 
 
 He put another piece of paper in next, to 
 keep the bullet down. How do you sup- 
 pose he got the paper down to the bot- 
 tom of his gun ? Why, he had a long 
 slender iron, which he called his ramrod, 
 and he pushed the paper down with his 
 long slender ramrod. Then he pulled 
 the ramrod out, and slid it into its proper 
 place by the side of his gun. 
 
 Did you ever see any gunpowder? 
 When you set it on fire, it flashes up very 
 quick. There is a picture of some boys 
 burning gunpowder in Rollo Learning to 
 Talk. If the gunpowder is in a close 
 place when it is set on fire, it bursts out 
 violently, and makes a noise. This man's 
 gun was a close place, and he expected 
 that when he should see the bear, he 
 should point his gun at the bear, and then 
 set fire to the powder down in the bottom 
 of his gun, and that the powder would 
 
SHOOTING A BEAR. 137 
 
 flash and burst out, and drive out the 
 round heavy bullet, and make it whiz 
 through the air very swiftly, and go into 
 the bear and kill him. 
 
 But how do you think he was going to 
 set fire to the powder which was away 
 down in the bottom of his gun, under the 
 paper and the bullet 1 I will tell you how. 
 There was a little hole, a very little one, 
 in the side of his gun, opposite where the 
 powder was, and he put a little powder 
 into that hole. The name of the hole is 
 the touch-hole. Close by that hole there 
 were some things fixed which would strike 
 together and make sparks. They would 
 strike together when he pulled a little 
 thing. The little thing he pulled was the 
 trigger. So that when he should be all 
 ready, and should have the gun pointing 
 at the bear, he would only pull the trig- 
 ger, and that would make the flint and 
 /* 12* 
 
138 SHOOTING A BEAR. 
 
 - 
 
 steel strike together, and that would make 
 sparks, which would fall upon the powder 
 in the little touch-hole, and it would bum 
 in, quick, with a flash, and set the powder 
 in the gun on fire, and that would drive 
 the bullet out and make it whiz through 
 the air and kill the bear. That is the 
 way the man expected to shoot. That is 
 the way they always shoot. 
 
 . Just before he was ready to shoot, he 
 always had to pull back the flint, so as to 
 get the flint and the trigger in the right 
 place, and when he did this it would say 
 click. This would be cocking his gun. 
 Then it would be ready to fire. 
 
 When the gun was all ready excepting 
 being cocked, the man put it on his 
 shoulder and went off into the woods 
 He looked all about him, but for a long 
 time he could not see any bear. At last 
 he saw a strange looking thing up in a 
 tree, among the leaves. 
 
SHOOTING A BEAR. 139 
 
 " I wonder," said he, " if that is not a 
 bear." 
 
 It looked rather strangely, and he could 
 not tell what it was if it was not a bear ; 
 so he thought he might as well shoot it. 
 He accordingly took down his gun from 
 his shoulder, and pulled back the flint and 
 heard it say click. Then he pointed the 
 gun up towards the strange looking thing 
 in the tree, and he pulled the trigger. 
 Crackle went the sparks, flash went the 
 powder in the touch-hole, pop went the 
 gun, whiz went the bullet through the 
 air, and the man looked, expecting to see 
 the bear fall down dead from the tree. 
 
 Instead of that he could see, when the 
 smoke cleared away a little, that the 
 strange looking thing appeared exactly as 
 it did before. He went round a little to 
 see it better, and what do you think it 
 was ? Why, it was only a crooked branch 
 of the tree. 
 
140 SHOOTING A BEAR. 
 
 "Ah," said he, " I made a mistake. I 
 ought to have waited until I saw whether 
 it moved. Bears move. Next time I 
 will not fire at any thing unless it moves." 
 
 So he went along a little farther, look- 
 ing around on all the trees. At last he 
 saw something upon a tree, moving ; he 
 thought that must be a bear. So he took 
 his gun down quick off of his shoulder, 
 and he pulled back the flint and it said 
 click, and he pointed the gun up into the 
 tree, and then he pulled the trigger. 
 Crackle went the sparks, flash went the 
 powder in the little touch-hole, pop went 
 the gun, whiz went the bullet through 
 the air, puff went the smoke, and the 
 man looked, expecting to see the bear 
 fall down dead from the tree. 
 
 Instead of that what do you think he 
 saw ? Why, it was nothing but a little 
 squirrel, with a long bushy tail, running 
 
SHOOTING A BEAR. 141 
 
 away on a limb of the tree, as fast as he 
 could go. What the man saw moving 
 was only the tip of his tail ; the rest of 
 him was round behind the tree, and he 
 thought it was a bear round there. 
 
 " Ah," said the man, " 1 made another 
 little mistake. Bears are black. This 
 squirrel's tail is gray. I must not fire at 
 any thing again unless it is black." 
 
 So he walked along, looking about him 
 carefully, and up into all the trees. By 
 and by he saw something moving. He 
 looked up and saw that it was black. It 
 was the little tip of a black thing; he 
 could only see a little of it. The rest was 
 round behind the tree. 
 
 " Now," says the man, " I know I have 
 found a bear ; for it is black, and bears 
 are black." 
 
 So he loaded his gun and got it all 
 ready. Click, said the lock when he 
 
142 SHOOTIA T G A BEAR 
 
 cocked it. He pointed up towards the 
 tree. In a minute he pulled the trigger, — 
 flash went the powder in the touch- 
 hole, pop went the gun, whiz went the 
 bullet through the air, and the man look- 
 ed, expecting to see the bear fall down 
 dead from the tree. 
 
 Instead of that, what do you think he 
 saw ? Why, it was only a little black- 
 bird, flying off through the branches as 
 fast as he could go. The black thing 
 which the man saw moving was. only the 
 blackbird's tail, projecting out from be- 
 hind the tree, and he thought it was a 
 black bear round there. 
 
 " Ah," said the man, " I made a mistake 
 again. Bears are large, as well as black. 
 This was very little. I must not fire. at 
 any thing again unless it is large as well 
 as black." 
 
 So he walked along, looking about him . 
 
SHOOTING A BEAR. 143 
 
 carefully, and up into all the trees. By 
 and by he saw something very strange. 
 It was a little way up a tree, clinging to a 
 branch. It was partly hid by the leaves, 
 so that he could not see it very well, but 
 he knew that it was black, and it was 
 large, and -it was moving. 
 
 " Now," says the man, " I am certain I 
 have found a bear, for it is large and black, 
 and bears are large and black. Besides, 
 it moves." 
 
 So he loaded his gun and rammed down 
 the bullet with his ramrod, and pulled 
 back the flint. It said click. Then he 
 knew that all was ready. He was sure 
 of his bear this time, and he determined 
 to drag him home by the ears. 
 
 He pointed his gun up at the large 
 black thing and pulled the trigger. 
 Flash went the powder in the touch-hole, 
 pop went the gun, whiz went the bul- 
 
144 SHOOTING A BEAR. 
 
 let through the air, and the man looked, 
 expecting to see the bear fall down dead 
 from the tree. 
 
 Instead of that a man came rushing out 
 of the bushes, calling out, 
 
 " Halloa there, — what are you shooting 
 my coat for ?" 
 
 The man was at first so astonished that 
 he could hardly speak. Presently he 
 said, 
 
 " Who are you, sir ?" 
 
 "lama wood-cutter. I came out here 
 to cut wood, and I hung my coat on the 
 tree ; now you have shot a hole through 
 it!!" 
 
 " Is that your coat V 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " I thought it was a bear." 
 
 " A bear ! !" said the wood-cutter with 
 astonishment. 
 
 "Yes, I thought there were bears in 
 
JACK HILDIGO. 145 
 
 r" 
 
 the woods, and that they would come out 
 and eat me up ; so I came to shoot one." 
 " You silly man," said the wood-cutter. 
 " There are no bears in the woods near 
 such towns as we live in. Besides, if 
 there were, they never would come out 
 of the woods and eat people up. Nobody 
 is afraid of bears but silly little children." 
 
 JACK HILDIGO. 
 
 Jonas used to sit down with Rollo very 
 often and amuse him by telling him sto- 
 ries. The story which Rollo liked the 
 best was the story of Jack Hildigo. The 
 story of Jack Hildigo was a very curious 
 one. The reason why I put it in this 
 book is because it is very hard to read 
 right, and you must read it aloud and dis- 
 tinctly till you learn to read it well. 
 13 
 
146 JACK HILDIGO. 
 
 When Jonas told this story they called 
 it playing Jack Hildigo. It took several 
 children to play it well. Sometimes when 
 John and Samuel, who lived in another 
 house, came over to play with Rollo, they 
 would all sit down together, on the plat- 
 form, in the garden-yard, and have a fine 
 time playing Jack Hildigo. 
 
 Jonas would begin telling the story 
 thus, the other children sitting all around 
 him :■ — 
 
 " Once there was a boy, and hisname 
 was Jack Hildigo. One day he went 
 round behind his father's house, and found 
 there a great hole leading under the house. 
 So he thought he would go into that 
 hole, and see what was there. He went 
 in under the house, but he found nothing. 
 So he stood there, and began to growl 
 like a bear, so, 
 
 " U-r-r, u-r-r, u-r-r." 
 
JACK HILDIGO. 147 
 
 Here Jonas, who was telling the story, 
 said, U-r-r, u-r-r, u-r-r, growling as much 
 as he could like a bear*. 
 
 "Presently there came along a large tur- 
 key, saying, Gobble-gobble -gobble. And 
 the turkey said, ' I wonder what there is 
 in that great black hole.' And the turkey 
 said, * Hark ! I hear a strange noise in that 
 great black hole, something growling like 
 a bear. I w r onder what that is that is 
 growling like a bear.' 
 
 " So the turkey walked along and 
 looked in, and he said, • Oh, it is nothing 
 but Jack Hildigo. I am not afraid of 
 Jack Hildigo. I will go in and gobble, 
 while he growls like a bear.' 
 
 "So the turkey went in and stood by the 
 side of Jack Hildigo ; and the turkey said, 
 Gobble-gobble-gobble, and Jack Hildigo 
 growled like a bear, so." 
 
148 JACK HILDIGO. 
 
 Jonas would say, U-r-r, u-r-r, u-r-r, 
 growling like a bear, and Rollo would 
 say, Gobble-gobble-gobble, gobble-gob- 
 ble-gobble, gobble-gobble-gobble, three 
 times and no more. This would make 
 Rollo laugh. Then Jonas went on with 
 the story. 
 
 " By and by there came along a duck, 
 a waddling, quacking duck. And the 
 duck said, ' I wonder what there is in that 
 great black hole.' And the duck ' said, 
 * Hark ! I hear a strange noise in that great 
 black hole, something growling like a bear. 
 I wonder what that is that is growling like 
 a bear.' 
 
 " So the duck walked along and looked 
 in, and he said, * Oh, it is nothing but Jack 
 Hildigo and a turkey. I am not afraid of 
 Jack Hildigo.' So the duck went in and 
 stood by the turkey, and said, Quack- 
 
JACK HILDIGO. 149 
 
 quack-quack, and the turkey said, Gobble- 
 gobble -gobble, and Jack Hildigo growled 
 like a bear, so." 
 
 Here Jonas would say, U-r-r, u-r-r, 
 u-r-r, and Rollo would say, Gobble-gob- 
 ble-gobble, gobble-gobble-gobble, gobble- 
 gobble-gobble, and John would say, 
 Quack-quack-quack, quack-quack-quack, 
 quack-quack-quack, all together, three 
 times and no more. Here Jonas would 
 go on with the story. 
 
 "By and by, there came along a dog, 
 a large dog, a large black dog, with a bone 
 in his mouth. And the dog said, ' I won- 
 der what there is in that great black hole.' 
 And when he came nearer, he heard a 
 noise. And he said, ' Hark ! what noise 
 is that ? It is something growling like a 
 bear.' So he walked along carefully, but 
 13* 
 
150 JACK HILDIGO. 
 
 when he got near the hole he said, t Oh, 
 it is only Jack Hildigo and a turkey and a 
 duck ! I am not afraid of Jack Hildigo, or 
 the turkey or the duck. I will go in and 
 bow-wow-wow.' So he went in and stood 
 by the side of the duck. And the dog 
 said, Bow-wow -wow, and the duck said, 
 Quack-quack-quack, and the turkey said, 
 Gobble-gobble-gobble, and Jack Hildigo 
 growled like a bear, so." 
 
 Here Jonas would say, U-r-r, u-r-r, 
 u-r-r, growling like a bear, and Rollo 
 would say, Gobble-gobble-gobble, gobble- 
 gobble-gobble, gobble-gobble-gobble, and 
 John would say, Quack-quack-quack, 
 quack-quack-quack, quack-quack-quack, 
 and Samuel would say, Bow-wow-wow, 
 bow-woW-wow, bow-wow-wow T , three 
 times and no more. This would make 
 them all laugh, and then James would go 
 on with the story. 
 
JACK HILDIGO. 151 
 
 " In the yard of that house was a pig. 
 He was lying down with his nose in the 
 mud. And after lying there some time, 
 he thought he would get up and take a 
 walk. 
 
 " So he walked along till he came 
 round behind the house, and he saw a 
 great hole in the wall. And he said, ' 1 
 wonder what there is in that great black 
 hole.' And when he came nearer, he 
 heard a noise, and he said, * Hark ! what 
 noise is that 1 It is something growling 
 like a bear.' So he walked along care- 
 fully, but when he got near the hole, he 
 said, ' Oh, it is only Jack Hildigo. I am 
 not afraid of Jack Hildigo. I will go in 
 and grunt while he growls like a bear.' " 
 
 When Jonas got as far as this, in telling 
 the story one day, he stopped and said he 
 could not go any farther, for there was no- 
 
152 HOW TO TREAT A KITTEN. 
 
 body to play pig. But he said if he could 
 only get four or five more boys some 
 time, he could tell a good deal further, and 
 they should have a great deal more fun* 
 
 This is the end of the story about Jack 
 Hildigo. 
 
 HOW TO TREAT A KITTEN. 
 
 There was once a boy named James, 
 and one day his father came home and 
 said, " James, I have got something for 
 you." 
 
 " What is it, father ?" said James. 
 
 " Oh, I will show it to you presently," 
 said his father. 
 
 " Where is it ?" said James. 
 
 " It is in a little basket, which I left out 
 in the other room." 
 
 So when James' father had put away 
 
HOW TO TREAT A KITTEJV. 153 
 
 his hat and whip, he went out into the 
 other room, and presently came in bring- 
 ing a basket in his hands, which he was 
 holding carefully by the handle. 
 
 " Oh, let me see, let me see," said 
 James ; and he came up to his father and 
 began to pull down the basket. 
 
 This was wrong, for children ought 
 never to attempt to pull any thing away 
 from their father. It was foolish too, as 
 well as wrong, for James could not suc- 
 ceed in pulling it away. The more he 
 pulled, the higher his father held up the 
 basket, until at last his father told him to 
 let go. He obeyed. 
 
 Then his father held the basket down 
 low. He put it in a chair, and James 
 stood by the side of it. He saw that 
 there was a cloth spread over the top of 
 it and tied round the basket. James' 
 father untied the string, and unwound it, 
 
154 HOW TO TREAT A KITTEN. 
 
 and then carefully lifted up the cloth, and 
 James looked in and saw there a beauti- 
 ful gray kitten. 
 
 The kitten appeared afraid ; she curled 
 down into a corner of the basket, and 
 looked up as if she was frightened. 
 
 " Oh, father," said James, " let me take 
 her out." v 
 
 "Well," said his father, "but do it 
 carefully." 
 
 So James put his hands in to take up 
 the kitten ; but when she saw them com- 
 ing, it frightened her more, and she 
 jumped up to the top of the basket, and 
 then leaped out upon the chair, and from 
 the chair to the floor. She ran along the 
 floor. At the same instant, James ran 
 after her, holding out his hands, saying, 
 " Oh, catch her, catch her." His father 
 only turned round quietly and shut the 
 door. He was much wiser than James, 
 
HOW TO TREAT A KITTEN. 155 
 
 for James' bustle and noise only made 
 the kitten more frightened, while his fa- 
 ther quietly did what would effectually 
 keep the kitten from running away. 
 
 " Now, James," said his father, " let the 
 kitten stay there under the table a minute 
 or two, while I tell you something. You 
 see how frightened she looks. She is 
 afraid you will hurt her. Now if you 
 treat her very gently and kindly for a few 
 days, and do not try to catch her at first, 
 she will soon find out that you are her 
 friend, and she will not be afraid of you. 
 She will let you take her and play with 
 her as much as you please. But if you 
 handle her roughly, or tease her in any 
 way, she will be always wild." 
 
 Then James' father went away. 
 
 James stood a minute or two looking 
 at his kitten, and then he thought he 
 would go and catch, her. So he walked 
 
156 HOW TO TREAT A KITTEN. 
 
 along towards the table, and then stooped 
 down to take up the kitten, but she sud- 
 denly turned round and ran under the 
 chairs, and hid behind a basket, in one 
 corner of the room. 
 
 James ran after her. He pulled away 
 die basket, and saw the kitten for an in- 
 stant crouching in a corner of the room, 
 staring wildly at him, and evidently very 
 much terrified. The moment she found 
 that the basket was taken away, and that 
 she was exposed again, she started off, 
 ran directly across the room, towards a 
 large clock which was in the opposite cor- 
 ner and squeezed under it. 
 
 James now did not know what to do. 
 He could not move the great, heavy clock. 
 He put his face close down to the floor 
 and looked under, and he could just see. 
 the kitten's tw r o shining eyes there, but he 
 could not reach in, to take her. 
 
HOW TO TREAT A KITTEN. 157 
 
 " Ah," said he at last, " I know what I 
 can do. I can go and get father's cane, 
 and then I can poke her out." So he 
 went out into the entry and got the cane, 
 and came back and began to thrust it un- 
 der and behind the clock. The poor kit- 
 ten was much more frightened to hear 
 this thumping around her, and to feel the 
 great stick punching her sides; so present- 
 ly she darted out, ran across the room, 
 and out through the door which James 
 had left open. 
 
 James followed her, brandishing* his 
 cane. When he got to the entry, he 
 found that the kitten was half way up 
 stairs. He immediately began to go up 
 as fast as he could, but she could go fast- 
 er. She leaped up from step to step, 
 then ran along the passage way at the top 
 
 * Brandishing it means holding it up as if he were going 
 to strike her. 
 
 14 
 
158 HOW TO TREAT A KITTEN. 
 
 until she reached the door leading to the 
 garret, which James saw, to his chagrin, 
 was open a very little. 
 
 Do you know what chagrin means ? It 
 means the feeling James had when he saw 
 that the garret door was open. What 
 sort of a feeling do you think that was 1 
 
 The kitten squeezed through the open- 
 ing of the garret door, and disappeared. 
 James opened the door wide, and went 
 up nearly to the top of the garret stairs, 
 and looked into the garret. It was rather 
 dark there, and the boards looked loose 
 on the floor, and there were a great many 
 boxes and barrels there, and James was 
 afraid to go in. So he stood there and 
 called, " Kitty, kitty, kitty." But the kit- 
 ten knew him by this time too well to 
 come. 
 
 Now James began to be sorry that he 
 had not taken his father's advice, and 
 
HOW TO TREAT A KITTEN. 159 
 
 treated his kitten more gently and kindly. 
 He was afraid she was lost, and that he 
 could never get her again. 
 
 That night, at tea time, when his father 
 had heard all about it, he reproved James 
 for his harsh and cruel treatment of his 
 kitten, and told him that he thought he 
 deserved to lose her entirely. 
 
 " Do you think I shall lose her entire- 
 
 " No," said his father, " not this time- 
 I think I can get her out of the garret." 
 
 " How ?" said James. 
 
 " Why, by kindness and gentleness. I 
 shall draw her out by doing exactly the 
 opposite to what you did to drive her in. 
 But I do not believe it will do any good. 
 I do not think you will ever treat her kind- 
 ly enough to make her trust you." 
 
 James promised that he would ; but 
 his father knew that he did not always 
 keep his promises. 
 
160 HOW TO TREAT A KITTEN. 
 
 That evening, James' father poured a 
 little milk into a saucer, and he and James 
 carried it up garret and put it upon the 
 floor, and then came directly down again. 
 The next morning they went up to look 
 at it, and found that the milk was gone. 
 They then brought down the saucer, filled 
 it again, and carried it back. They stop- 
 ped a minute to look round for the kitten, 
 and presently they saw her behind a bar- 
 rel. James wanted to go and catch her, 
 but his father would not let him. His 
 father said, "Poor pussy, poor pussy," 
 in a gentle, soothing tone, and put the 
 saucer down where she could see it, and 
 then led James away down stairs. When 
 he went out that morning he forbid James 
 going to the garret till he came home. 
 
 At noon they carried some more milk 
 up, and the kitten came out a little way 
 towards them. 
 
HOW TO TREAT A KITTEJV. 161 
 
 " There," said James' father, " do you 
 not see the effect of kindness ?" 
 
 He then put the saucer down, and went 
 back with James a few steps, and stood 
 still. The kitten came up to the saucer 
 and began to drink the milk. 
 
 " Now let us go and catch her," said 
 James. 
 
 " No," said his father. 
 
 After the kitten had drunk all the milk, 
 she ran back behind the barrel, and James 
 and his father came down stairs. 
 
 The next time they went up, they stood 
 close by the saucer, and the kitten came 
 up slowly and cautiously. James' father 
 gently stroked her back while she was 
 feeding, and James thought he was cer- 
 tainly going to catch her then. But he 
 did not ; he let her drink the milk and 
 then go back behind the barrels. 
 g* 14* 
 
162 HOW TO TREAT A KITTED. 
 
 « Why, father, are you not ever going 
 to catch her 1" said James. 
 
 "Yes," said his father, "when the 
 proper time comes ;" and they went down 
 stairs. 
 
 The next time they came, the kitten 
 came running out to meet them, and they 
 held the saucer down. When she came 
 near, James' father reached out his hand, 
 and took her up gently, and said, " Now 
 we will carry her down stairs." 
 
 " Let me carry her," said James. 
 
 " Well, you may," said his father ; " but 
 you must hold her very carefully." So 
 James took the kitten, and his father took 
 the saucer, and they went down stairs. 
 They put the kitten and the saucer under 
 the table, and pretty soon, though she 
 seemed rather frightened at first, she be- 
 gan to drink. James' father forbid his 
 touching her or doing any thing to her all 
 day. 
 
HOW TO TREAT A KITTEJS". 163 
 
 Thus in a few days the kitten became 
 considerably tame, and would let James 
 play with her, but he soon began to handle 
 her roughly again. He would pull her 
 by the tail, and carry her around under 
 his arm, and try to make her stand up on 
 her hind legs, and do a great many other 
 things, which he thought was very good 
 fun for him, but which were very terrify- 
 ing or painful to her. The kitten became 
 very much afraid of him. She would 
 never let him play with her, or catch her, 
 if she could possibly get away, and often 
 in struggling to get away she would 
 scratch his hands. Thus the kitten hated 
 James, and James soon began to hate the 
 kitten. 
 
 " She is a cross, ugly, good for nothing 
 old puss," said he one day. 
 
 " Very well," said his father, " then 
 I will take her out of your way." 
 
164 HOW TO TREAT A KITTEN. 
 
 So his father got the basket and put 
 her gently in it, and he spread the cloth 
 over it, and tied it down ; James stood 
 by looking sorrowfully. 
 
 " What are you going to do with her, 
 father f said he. 
 
 "I am going to take her out of your 
 way. She shall never trouble you any 
 more." 
 
 Then James' father put on his hat, and 
 took the basket and walked away. 
 
 Some months afterwards James went 
 to see Rollo. He found Rollo out on the 
 platform, in the garden-yard. You re- 
 member the picture of the garden-yard. 
 You can see the platform in the picture, 
 if you look back. 
 
 When James arrived at the house, and 
 went through to the yard to see Rollo, he 
 found him playing horses. He had a little 
 
HOW TO TREAT A KITTEN. 165 
 
 wooden cart, very small, with a string tied 
 to it, and was trotting about on the plat- 
 form. And who do you think he had in 
 the cart for a driver ? Why, it was a lit- 
 tle gray kitten ! She was lying down in 
 the cart with her fore paws resting on the 
 front of it, and her chin resting on her 
 fore paws, and she seemed to enjoy her 
 ride very much. She looked so funny 
 that James could not help laughing. 
 
 " Oh, what a beautiful kitten !" said he. 
 " I wish I had such a kitten. I had one 
 once, but she was not such a tame, good 
 kitten as that, — she was an old, cross, 
 ugly, good for nothing puss. She did 
 nothing but scratch me.''' 
 
 Now it happened that this was the very 
 kitten which James had, though James 
 did not know it. His father had come 
 and given it to Rollo. Rollo called her 
 
166 OVERBOARD. 
 
 Ooty, and he made her gentle and tame 
 by treating her kindly. 
 
 OVERBOARD. 
 
 Do you recollect what you read about 
 Jonas' raft in another part of this book ? 
 One day, when Jonas was going down to 
 the brook with Rollo, there was the fol- 
 lowing dialogue between Rollo's father 
 and mother. 
 
 Mother. I am afraid to have Rollo 
 sail with Jonas on that raft, as he calls it. 
 I am very much afraid he will get in, some 
 day. 
 
 Father. I presume he will get in. 
 
 Rollo's mother looked surprised. She 
 thought it was strange that his father 
 should let him go on the water, when he 
 thought he probably would fall in. 
 
OVERBOARD. 167 
 
 Father. Perhaps I ought rather to say 
 I think it not improbable that he will 
 get in. 
 
 Mother. Why then do you allow him 
 to go? 
 
 Father. Because the water is not deep, 
 and with Jonas with him, who is a strong 
 and a faithful boy, I think he cannot be 
 hurt ; and if he should grow careless and 
 inattentive, and fall off of the raft, it would 
 do him a great deal of good. 
 
 Mother. What good would it do him ? 
 
 Father. It would make him more care- 
 ful in future ; and besides, an actual plunge 
 into the water where it is deep enough to 
 frighten a boy, will teach him more of the 
 nature of water than an hour's talk to 
 him about its properties. A fall off of 
 Jonas' raft may, not very improbably, be 
 the means of saving his life, by making 
 him careful, when he shall be exposed to 
 real danger. 
 
168 OVERBOARD 
 
 Rollo's father was right ; Rollo did fall 
 off. One day, when he and Jonas were 
 sailing up towards the bridge, Jonas was 
 standing behind pushing, and Rollo was 
 sitting on before. Rollo took up a long 
 stick which was on the raft, and thought 
 he would stand up and push too. Jonas 
 stood with his back to him and did not 
 see him. Rollo pushed his stick down into 
 the water, but the bottom was farther off 
 than it seemed to be, and leaning over he 
 lost his balance, and away he went all 
 over into the water. In an instant Jonas 
 plunged in after him, and dragged him 
 out upon the bank. The raft, left to it- 
 self, floated down the stream. 
 
 Rollo's mother put on dry clothes, and 
 when Rollo was warm again she said, 
 
 " Perhaps now you think I shall forbid 
 your going down to the brook again, but 
 I shall not. You may go and sail again 
 whenever you please." 
 
Leaning over he lost his balance, and away 
 he went all over into the water. 
 
 15 
 
OLD THINGS AND NEW THINGS. 171 
 
 She knew that his experience would 
 make him careful in future, without any 
 censure from her. 
 
 OLD THINGS AND NEW- 
 THINGS. 
 
 Which is the prettiest, an old thing 
 or a new thing ? Oh, a new thing to be 
 sure, you say. A beautiful new book, 
 fresh from the bookstore, is a great deal 
 prettier than an old, worn out, tattered 
 book, that you have had a great while. 
 
 Now there is one great mistake that 
 small boys very often make. They think 
 that books and other things become old 
 and worn out, only because they have had 
 them a long time ; but that is not the rea- 
 son. I have seen a great many books, 
 beautiful books too, full of pictures, and 
 
172 OLD THINGS AND NEW THINGS. 
 
 they had been kept a great many years, 
 and yet they were not old and worn out. 
 They looked just as well as when they 
 were first bought. Now I am going to 
 explain to you here how you may keep 
 your things so that they shall not become 
 old and worn out. 
 
 Suppose your father should bring you 
 home a beautiful book with a red moroc- 
 co cover, and full of pictures. It looks 
 new and beautiful. Now look at the 
 cover a moment. Do you suppose the 
 cover is red all through ? Suppose any 
 body should cut the corner off of the 
 cover, should you expect that it would be 
 red all through where they cut it? It 
 would not. It is only red outside. The 
 red is very thin, ver^ thin indeed, spread 
 all over the outside of the cover. You 
 might take a knife and scrape it off in a 
 little spot, and see that it is verv thin, and 
 
OLD THINGS AND NEW THINGS. 173 
 
 that it is some other color underneath. 
 Perhaps somebody will take some old 
 book which is not good for much, and 
 show you what I mean. You must not 
 try it upon any good books. 
 
 Now suppose you should lay your red 
 morocco book down upon the floor, and 
 push it along, the floor would rub off* a 
 little of the red morocco. And then sup- 
 pose that the next day you should lay it 
 down on the stone steps, the rough stone 
 would wear off more of the red morocco. 
 And then suppose that you should lay it 
 down open upon the table, or floor ; a 
 little dust from the table or floor would 
 stick to the leaves, and spoil their white- 
 ness. And then suppose you should lei 
 your book fall from a chair ; it would 
 bruise one of the corners, and bend it up 
 a little. So if you go on a great many 
 days, rubbing your book upon the floor, 
 
 h* 15* 
 
174 SELLING A BOY. 
 
 and throwing it about, and tumbling the 
 leaves, after a short time the beautiful red 
 color of the cover would be worn off in 
 spots, and the white paper would get 
 soiled, and the corners very much bruised, 
 and the book would begin to look old and 
 tattered and torn. It would become an 
 old, worn out book, not because you had 
 kept it so long, but because you had used 
 it roughly. 
 
 SELLING A BOY. 
 
 Once there was a man who was very 
 poor. He had to work very hard to get 
 money ; but he found it very hard to get 
 money enough to buy bread for himself, 
 and his wife, and his little boy. So he 
 thought he would go and see if he could 
 not sell his little boy. He took him up 
 
SELLING A BOY. 175 
 
 in his arms and went out into the street, 
 and walked along until he came to a shoe- 
 maker's shop. He thought that perhaps 
 the shoemaker would like to buy him. 
 
 So he stopped and looked in at the 
 window, and said, 
 
 " Shoemaker, — Mr. Shoemaker, — do 
 you want to buy a little boy 1" 
 
 And the shoemaker said, " Is it a good 
 little boy V 
 
 And the man said, " Yes, he is an ex- 
 cellent ^ttle boy ; he always obeys me 
 exactly, and he is kind and gentle, and 
 not troublesome, and he tries to do right ; 
 if you buy him, by and by, when he grows 
 up, he can work with you, and help you 
 make shoes." 
 
 "Well," said the shoemaker, "I will 
 give you a dollar for him." 
 
 " A dollar," said the man, thinking, 
 " shall I take a dollar for my little boy ? 
 
176 SELLING A BOY. 
 
 Then I should go home alone, and have 
 nobody to play with me, and get up in 
 my lap, and hear me tell stories. No, no, 
 no, I will not sell my little boy for a dol- 
 lar." So he walked on. 
 
 Presently he came to a carpenter's 
 shop. He stopped at the window and said, 
 
 " Carpenter, — Mr. Carpenter, — should 
 you like to buy a little boy ?" 
 
 " A little boy !" said the carpenter ; 
 " what sort of a boy is he V 
 
 " Oh," said the man, " he is an excel- 
 lent little boy. I love him very much, 
 but I have to sell him because I want 
 some money to buy me some bread. But 
 he is a good boy. He is obedient and 
 faithful, and when he grows up he can 
 help you saw boards and drive nails. The 
 shoemaker offered me a dollar, but I could 
 not sell him for a dollar." 
 
 " Well," said the carpenter, " I will 
 
SELLING A BOY. 177 
 
 give you ten dollars for him, for he looks 
 like a pretty good boy." 
 
 " Ten dollars," said the man, thinking, 
 " ten dollars. Shall I sell my little boy 
 for ten dollars ? That would buy me a 
 good deal of bread, but then I should not 
 have any little boy. I should have no- 
 body to come and meet me when I get 
 home, or to sit still by my side when I 
 am tired. No, no, no, I cannot sell my 
 little boy for ten dollars." So he left the 
 carpenter's and walked on. 
 
 The next place he came to was a mill. 
 There was a great wheel spinning round 
 and round in the water, and some carts 
 filled with bags of wheat at the door. 
 They were going to grind the wheat into 
 flour. The miller came out to the door. 
 His clothes looked white. The man said 
 to him, 
 
 " Miller,— Mr. Miller, I have got a boy 
 
178 SELLING A BOY. 
 
 to sell. Do you want to buy him ?" As 
 he said this he showed the miller the lit- 
 tle boy who was in his arms. 
 
 " Is he a good boy, or a naughty boy V 
 asked the miller ; " for I am sure I do not 
 want to buy any naughty boys.". 
 
 " Oh, he is a very good boy," said the 
 man. " He does not cry, only when he 
 hurts himself, and then he stops crying as 
 soon as he can. He is not cross, or fret- 
 ful, or disobedient, or troublesome. I 
 know you will like him, and he will help 
 you a good deal in your mill." 
 
 "Well," said the miller, "I think he is 
 a good boy, and I should like a good boy 
 in my mill very much. He could tie up 
 the bags, and hold the horses at the door. 
 I will give you a hundred dollars for him." 
 
 " A hundred dollars !" said the man ; 
 " that is a good deal of money." I could 
 buy a great many loaves of bread with a 
 
SELLING A BOY. 179 
 
 hundred dollars. I could buy bread 
 enough to last me a year, and as long as 
 the money should last I could have a fine 
 time resting from all my hard work. But 
 then I should never see my poor little boy 
 any more. And then perhaps he would 
 not be happy with the miller. He may 
 have to work too hard, and perhaps some 
 of the horses which he would have to hold 
 might kick him. No, I will not sell him 
 to the miller for a hundred dollars, after 
 all. I had rather carry him home, and 
 work the harder." 
 
 So he left the miller and walked on. 
 He thought that perhaps somebody would 
 give him more money for his boy. He 
 walked on a little way and came to a 
 large, beautiful white house by the side 
 of the road. It belonged to a rich gen- 
 tleman, who was standing at the door. 
 
 He thought he would go and offer him 
 to this rich gentleman. While he was 
 
180 SELLING A BOY. 
 
 hesitating, he looked into his little boy's 
 face, and he was so pleasant, and looked 
 so gentle and kind, that the man could 
 not bear to sell him. 
 
 " No, no, no," said he, " I will not sell 
 my little boy at all. I have kept him a 
 good while, and taken care of him, and I 
 love him very much. No, I will not sell 
 him. I will carry him home, and work 
 very hard to get bread for him to eat. 
 And he will be kind, and dutiful, and obedi- 
 ent, and when I grow old perhaps he will 
 take care of me. No, no, I would not 
 sell him for a thousand dollars." "" 
 
 This is a fictitious story. It is written 
 to teach children that if they are good, 
 and kind, and obedient, their fathers will 
 love them, and work hard, if necessary, to 
 get them bread, and will not sell them, 
 even if any body should offer them a 
 thousand dollars. 
 

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