The Project Gutenberg eBook, Caleb in the Country, by Jacob Abbott
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: Caleb in the Country
Author: Jacob Abbott
Release Date: December 24, 2007 [eBook #23989]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CALEB IN THE COUNTRY***
E-text prepared by David Edwards, Marcia Brooks, and the Project Gutenberg
Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) from page
images generously made available by the Florida Board of Education,
Division of Colleges and Universities, PALMM Project
(http://palmm.fcla.edu/juv/)
Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
file which includes the original illustration.
See 23989-h.htm or 23989-h.zip:
(https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/9/8/23989/23989-h/23989-h.htm)
or
(https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/9/8/23989/23989-h.zip)
Images of the original pages are available through the Florida
Board of Education, Division of Colleges and Universities,
PALMM Project (Preservation and Access for American and
British Children's Literature). See
http://fulltext10.fcla.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=juv&idno=UF00002184&format=jpg
or
http://fulltext10.fcla.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=juv&idno=UF00002184&format=pdf
Transcriber's note:
The table of contents has been added for the reader's convenience.
Punctuation and obvious printer's errors have been corrected.
CALEB IN THE COUNTRY.
A Story for Children.
by
JACOB ABBOTT,
Author of "The Child at Home."
[Illustration: Caleb in the country.]
Halifax:
Milner and Sowerby.
1852.
PREFATORY NOTICE.
The object of this little work, and of others of its family, which may
perhaps follow, is, like that of the "Rollo Books," to furnish useful
and instructive reading to young children. The aim is not so directly to
communicate knowledge, as it is to develop the moral and intellectual
powers,--to cultivate habits of discrimination and correct reasoning,
and to establish sound principles of moral conduct. The "Rollo Books"
embrace principally intellectual and moral discipline; "Caleb," and the
others of its family, will include also _religious_ training, according
to the evangelical views of Christian truth which the author has been
accustomed to entertain, and which he has inculcated in his more serious
writings.
J. A.
CALEB IN THE COUNTRY
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I Caleb's Discovery 5
CHAPTER II Trouble 30
CHAPTER III Building the Mole 43
CHAPTER IV A Discussion 54
CHAPTER V The Story of Blind Samuel 61
CHAPTER VI Engineering 68
CHAPTER VII The Sofa 74
CHAPTER VIII The Cart Ride 90
CHAPTER IX The Fire 101
CHAPTER X The Captive 123
CHAPTER XI Mary Anna 129
CHAPTER XII The Walk 148
CHAPTER XIII The Junk 166
POETRY 189
CHAPTER I.
CALEB'S DISCOVERY.
Caleb was a bright-looking, blue-eyed boy, with auburn hair and happy
countenance. And yet he was rather pale and slender. He had been sick.
His father and mother lived in Boston, but now he was spending the
summer at Sandy River country, with his grandmother. His father thought
that if he could run about a few months in the open air, and play among
the rocks and under the trees, he would grow more strong and healthy,
and that his cheeks would not look so pale.
His grandmother made him a blue jacket with bright buttons. _She_ liked
metal buttons, because they would wear longer than covered ones, but
_he_ liked them because they were more beautiful. "Besides," said he, "I
can see my face in them, grandmother."
Little Caleb then went to the window, so as to see his face plainer. He
stood with his back to the window, and held the button so that the light
from the window could shine directly upon it.
"Why grandmother," said Caleb, "I cannot see now so well as I could
before."
"That is because your face is turned away from the light," said she.
"And the button is turned _towards_ the light," said Caleb.
"But when you want to see any thing reflected in a glass, you must have
the light shine upon the thing you want to see reflected, not upon the
glass itself; and I suppose it is so with a bright button."
Then Caleb turned around, so as to have his _face_ towards the light;
and he found that he could then see it reflected very distinctly. His
grandmother went on with her work, and Caleb sat for some time in
silence.
The house that Caleb lived in was in a narrow rocky valley. A stream of
water ran over a sandy bed, in front of the house, and a rugged mountain
towered behind it. Across the stream, too, there was a high, rocky hill,
which was in full view from the parlour window. This hill was covered
with wild evergreens, which clung to their sides, and to the interstices
of the rocks; and mosses, green and brown, in long festoons, hung from
their limbs. Here and there crags and precipices peeped out from among
the foliage, and a grey old cliff towered above, at the summit.
Caleb turned his button round again towards the window, and of course
turned his face _from_ the window. The reflection of his face was now
dim, as before, but in a moment his eye caught the reflection of the
crags and trees across the little valley.
"O, grandmother," said he again, "I can see the rocks in my buttons, and
the trees. And there is an old stump," he continued, his voice falling
to a low tone, as if he was talking to himself,--"and there is a
tree,--and,--why--why, what is that? It is a bear, grandmama,"--calling
aloud to her,--"I see a bear upon the mountain."
"Nonsense, Caleb," said the grandmother.
"I do certainly," said Caleb, and he dropped the corner of his jacket,
which had the button attached to it, and looked out of the window
directly at the mountain.
Presently Caleb turned away from the window, and ran to the door. There
was a little green yard in front of the house, with a large, smooth,
flat stone for a door-step. Caleb stood on this step, and looked
intently at the mountain. In a moment he ran back to his grandmother,
and said,
"Grandmother, _do_ come and see this black bear."
"Why, child," said she, smiling, "it is nothing but some old black stump
or log."
"But it moves, grandmother. It certainly moves."
So his grandmother smiled, and said, "Well, I suppose I must come and
see." So she laid down her work, and took off her spectacles, and Caleb
took hold of her hand, and trotted along before her to the step of the
door. It was a beautiful sunny morning in June.
"There," said Caleb, triumphantly pointing to a spot among the rocks and
bushes half-way up the mountain,--"there, what do you call that?"
His grandmother looked a moment intently in silence, and then said,
"I do see something there under the bushes."
"And isn't it moving?" said Caleb.
"Why, yes," said she.
"And isn't it black?"
"Yes," said she.
"Then it is a bear," said Caleb, half-delighted, and half afraid, "Isn't
it, grandmother? I'll go and get the gun."
There was an old gun behind the high desk, in the back sitting-room; but
it had not been loaded for twenty years, and had no back upon it. Still
Caleb always supposed that some how or other it would shoot.
"Shall I, grandmother?" said he eagerly,
"No," said she. "I don't think it is a bear."
"What then?" said Caleb.
"I think it is Cherry."
"Cherry!" said Caleb.
"Yes, Cherry," said she. "Run and see if you can find the boys."
Cherry was the cow. She had strayed from the pasture the day before, and
they could not find her. She was called Cherry from her colour; for
although she had looked almost black, as Caleb had seen her in the
bushes, she was really a Cherry colour. Caleb saw at once, as soon as
his grandmother said that it was Cherry, that she was correct. In fact,
he could see her head and horns, as she was holding her head up to eat
the leaves from the bushes. However he did not stop to talk about it,
but, obeying his grandmother immediately, he ran off after the boys.
He went out to the back door, where the boys had been at play, and
shouted out, "_David_! DA--VID! DWI--GHT! DA--VID!" But there was no
reply, except a distant echo of "_David_" and "_Dwight_" from the rocks
and mountains.
So Caleb came back, and said that he could not find the boys, and that
he supposed that they had gone to school.
"Then we must call Raymond," said she.
"And may I ring for him, grandmother?" said Caleb.
Grandmother said he might: and so Caleb ran off to the porch at the back
door, and took down quite a large bell, which was hanging there. Caleb
stood upon the steps of the porch, and grasping the great handle of the
bell with both hands, he rang it with all his might. In a minute or two
he stopped; and then he heard a faint and distant "Aye-aye" coming, from
a field. Caleb put the bell back into its place, and then went again to
his grandmother.
In a few minutes Raymond came in. He was a thick-set and rather tall
young man, broad-shouldered and strong,--slow in his motions, and of a
very sober countenance. Caleb heard his heavy step in the entry, though
he came slowly and carefully, as if he tried to walk without making a
noise.
"Did you want me, Madam Rachel?" said he, holding his hat in his hand.
Caleb's grandmother was generally called Madam Rachel.
"Yes," said she. "Cherry has got up on the rocks. Caleb spied her there;
he will shew you where, and I should like to have you go and drive her
down."
Caleb wanted to go too; but his grandmother said it would not do very
well, for he could not keep up with Raymond; and besides, she said that
she wanted him. So Caleb went out with Raymond under the great elm
before the house, and pointed out the place among the rocks, where he
had seen Cherry. She was not there then, at least she was not in sight;
but Raymond knew that she could not have gone far from the place, so he
walked down over the bridge, and soon disappeared.
While Caleb stood watching Raymond, as he walked off with long strides
towards the mountain, his grandmother came to the door and said,
"Come, Caleb."
Caleb turned and ran to his grandmother. She had in her hand a little
red morocco book, and taking Caleb's hand, she went slowly up stairs, he
frisking and capering around her all the way. There was a bed in the
room, with a white covering, and by the window an easy chair, with a
high back, and round well-stuffed arms. Madam Rachel went to the easy
chair and sat down and took Caleb in her lap. Caleb looked out upon the
long drooping branches of the elm which hung near the window.
Caleb's countenance was pale; and he was slender in form, and delicate
in appearance. He had been sick, and even now, he was not quite well.
His little taper fingers rested upon the window-sill, while his
grandmother opened her little Bible and began to read. Caleb sat still
in her lap, with a serious and attentive expression of countenance.
"Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a pharisee, the other
a publican."
"What is a pharisee and a publican?" asked Caleb.
"You will hear presently. 'And the pharisee stood and prayed thus with
himself: God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners,
unjust, adulterers."
"What are all those?" asked Caleb.
"O, different kinds of crimes and sins. The pharisee thanked God that
he had not committed any of them."
"Was he a good man, grandmother?"
"Very likely he had not committed any of these great crimes."
"Very well, grandmother, go on."
"'Or even as this publican.' A publican, you must know, was a
tax-gatherer. He used to collect the taxes from the people. They did not
like to pay their taxes, and so they did not like the tax-gatherers, and
despised them. And thus the pharisee thanked God that he was not like
that publican. 'I fast twice in the week. I pay tithes of all that I
possess.'
"Tithes?" said Caleb.
"Yes, that was money which God had commanded them to pay. They were to
pay in proportion to the property they had. But some dishonest men used
to conceal some of their property, so as not to have to pay so much;
but this pharisee said _he_ paid tithes of _all_ that he possessed."
"That was right, grandmother," said Caleb.
"Yes," said his grandmother, "that was very well."
"If he really did it," continued Caleb doubtfully. "Do you think he did,
grandmother?"
"I think it very probable. I presume he was a pretty good man,
_outside_."
"What do you mean by that, grandmother?"
"Why, his heart might have been bad, but he was probably pretty careful
about all his _actions_, which could be seen of men. But we will go on."
"'And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his
eyes to heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me
a sinner. I tell you this man went down to his house justified rather
than the other.'"
"Which man?" said Caleb.
"The publican."
"The publican was justified?" said Caleb, "what does _justified_ mean?"
"Forgiven and approved. God was pleased with the publican, because he
confessed his sins honestly; but he was displeased with the pharisee,
because he came boasting of his good deeds."
Here there was a pause. Caleb sat still and seemed thoughtful. His
grandmother did not interrupt him, but waited to hear what he would say.
"Yes; but, grandmother, if the pharisee really was a good man, it wasn't
right for him to thank God for it?"
"It reminds me of Thomas's acorns," said Madam Rachel.
"Thomas's acorns!" said Caleb, "tell me about them, grandmother."
"Why, Thomas and his brother George were sent to school. They stopped to
play by the way, until it was so late that they did not dare to go in.
Then they staid playing about the fields till it was time to go home.
They felt pretty bad and out of humour, and at last they separated and
went home different ways.
"In going home, Thomas found an oak-tree with acorns under it. 'Ah!'
said he, 'I will carry mother home some acorns.' He had observed that
his mother was pleased whenever he brought her things; and he had an
idea of soothing his own feelings of guilt, and securing his mother's
favour, by the good deed of carrying her home some acorns. So, when he
came into the house, he took off his hat carefully, with the acorns in
it, and holding it in both hands, marched up to his mother with a
smiling face, and look of great self-satisfaction, and said, 'Here,
mother, I have got you some acorns.'"
"And what did his mother say?" asked Caleb.
"She shook her head sorrowfully, and told him to go and put the acorns
away. She knew where he had been.
"Then presently George came in. He put away his cap, walked in softly,
and put his face down in his mother's lap, and said, with tears and
sobs, 'Mother, I have been doing something very wrong.' Now, which of
these do you think came to his mother right?'"
"Why,--George," said he, "certainly."
"Yes, and that was the way the publican came; but the pharisee covered
up all his sins, being pleased and satisfied himself, and thinking that
God would be pleased and satisfied with his _acorns_."
Here Madam Rachel paused, and Caleb sat still, thinking of what he had
heard.
Madam Rachel then closed her eyes, and, in a low, gentle voice, she
spoke a few words of prayer; and then she told Caleb that he must always
remember in all his prayers to confess his sins fully and freely, and
never cover them up and conceal them, with an idea that his good deeds
made him worthy. Then she put Caleb down, and he ran down stairs to
play.
He asked his grandmother to let him go over the bridge, so as to be
ready to meet Raymond, when he should come back with the cow. She at
first advised him not to go, for she was afraid, she said, that he might
get lost, or fall into the brook; but Caleb was very desirous to go, and
finally she consented. He had a little whip that David had made for him.
The handle was made from the branch of a beach-tree, which David cut
first to make a cane of, for himself; but he broke his cane, and so he
gave Caleb the rest of the stick for a whip-handle. The lash was made
of leather. It was cut out of a round piece of thick leather, round and
round, as they made leather shoe-strings, and then rolled upon a board.
This is a fine way to make lashes and reins for boys.
Caleb took his whip for company, and sauntered along over the bridge.
When he had crossed the bridge, he walked along the bank of the stream,
watching the grass-hoppers and butterflies, and now and then cutting off
the head of a weed with the lash of his whip.
The banks of the brook were in some places high, and the water deep; in
other places, there was a sort of beach, sloping down to the water's
edge; and here, the water was generally shallow, to a considerable
distance from the shore. Caleb was allowed to come down to the water at
these shallow places; but he had often been told that he must not go
near the steep places, because there was danger that he would fall in.
Now, boys are not very naturally inclined to obey their parents. They
have to be taught with great pains and care. They must be punished for
disobedience, in some way or other, a good many times. But neglected
children, that is, those that are left to themselves, are almost always
very disobedient and unsubmissive. Caleb, now, was not a neglected
child. He had been taught to submit and obey, when he was very young,
and his grandmother could trust him now.
Besides, Caleb, had still less disposition now to disobey his
grandmother than usual, for he had been sick, and was still pale and
feeble; and this state of health often makes children quiet, gentle, and
submissive.
So Caleb walked slowly along, carefully avoiding all the high banks,
but sometimes going down to the water, where the shore was sloping and
safe. At length, at one of these little landing places he stopped longer
than usual. He called it the cotton landing. David and Dwight gave it
that name, because they always found, wedged in, in a corner between a
log and the shore, a pile of cotton, as they called it. It was, in
reality, light, white froth, which always lay there; and even if they
pushed it all away with a stick, they would find a new supply the next
day. Caleb stood upon the shore, and with the lash of his whip, cut into
the pile of "cotton." The pile broke up into large masses, and moved
slowly and lightly away into the stream. One small tuft of it floated
towards the shore, and Caleb reached it with his whip-handle, and took a
part of it in, saying, "Now I will see what it is made of."
On closely examining it, he found to his surprise, that it was composed
of an infinite number of very small bubbles, piled one upon another,
like the little stones in a heap of gravel. It was white and beautiful,
and in some of the biggest bubbles, Caleb could see all the colours of
the rainbow. He wondered where this foam could come from, and he
determined to carry some of it home to his grandmother. So he stripped
off a flat piece of birch bark from a neighbouring tree, and took up a
little of the froth upon it, and placed it very carefully upon a rock on
the bank, where it would remain safely, he thought, till he was ready to
go home.
Just above where he stood was a little waterfall in the brook. The
current was stopped by some stones and logs, and the water tumbled over
the obstruction, forming quite a little cataract, which sparkled in the
sun.
Caleb threw sticks and pieces of bark into the water, above the fall,
and watched them as they sailed on, faster and faster, and then pitched
down the descent. Then he would go and _whip_ them into his landing, and
thus he could take them out, and sail them down again. After amusing
himself some time in this manner, he began to wonder why Raymond did not
come, and he concluded to take his foam, and go along. He went to the
rock and took up his birch bark; but, to his surprise, the foam had
disappeared. He was wondering what had become of it, when he heard
across the road, and at a little distance above him, a scrambling in the
bushes, on the side of the mountain. At first, he was afraid; but in a
moment more, he caught a glimpse of the cow coming out of the bushes,
and supposing that Raymond was behind, he threw down his birch bark, and
began to gallop off to meet him, lashing the ground with his whip.
At the same time, the cow, somewhat worried by being driven pretty fast
down the rocks, came running out into the road, and when she saw Caleb
coming towards her, and with such antics, began to cut capers too. She
came on, in a kind of half-frolicsome, half-angry canter, shaking her
horns; and Caleb, before he got very near her, began to be somewhat
frightened. At first he stopped, looking at her with alarm. Then he
began to fall back to the side of the road, towards the brook. At this
instant Raymond appeared coming out of the bushes, and, seeing Caleb,
called out to him to stand still.
"Stand still, Caleb, till she goes by: she will not hurt you." But Caleb
could not control his fears. His little heart beat quick, and his pale
cheek grew paler. He could not control his fears, though he knew very
well that what Raymond said must be true. He kept retreating backwards
nearer and nearer to the brook, as the cow came on, whipping the air,
towards her to keep her off. He was now at some little distance above
the cotton landing, and opposite to a part of the bank where the water
was deep. Raymond perceived his danger, and as he was now on the very
brink, he shouted out suddenly,
"Caleb! Caleb! take care!"
But the sudden call only frightened poor Caleb still more; and before
the "Take care" was uttered, his foot slipped, and he slid back into the
water, and sank into it until he entirely disappeared.
Raymond rushed to the place, and in an instant was in the water by his
side, and pulling Caleb out, he carried him gasping to the shore. He
wiped his face with his handkerchief, and tried to cheer and encourage
him.
"Never, mind, Caleb," said he; "it won't hurt you. It is a warm sunny
morning." Caleb cried a few minutes, but, finally, became pretty nearly
calm, and Raymond led him along towards home, sobbing as he went, "O
dear me!--what _will_ my grandmother say?"
CHAPTER II.
TROUBLE.
As Caleb walked along by the side of Raymond, and came upon the bridge,
he was seen both by his grandmother, who happened to be standing at the
door, and also at the same instant, by the two boys, Dwight and David,
who were just then coming home from school. Dwight, seeing Caleb walking
along so sadly, his clothes and hair thoroughly drenched, set up a
shout, and ran towards him over the bridge. David was of a more quiet
and sober turn, and he followed more slowly, but with a face full of
surprise and curiosity.
Madam Rachel, too, perceived that her little grandson had been in the
brook, and she said, "Can it be possible that he has disobeyed?" Then,
again, the next thought was, "Well, if he has, he has been punished for
it pretty severely, and so I will treat him kindly."
David and Dwight came eagerly up, with exclamations, and questions
without number. This made poor Caleb feel worse and worse--he wanted to
get home as soon as possible, and he could not tell the boys all the
story there; and presently Raymond, finding that he could not get by
them very well, took him up in his arms, and carried him towards the
house, David and Dwight following behind. Caleb expected that his
grandmother would think him very much to blame, and so, as he came near
enough to speak to her, he raised his head from Raymond's shoulder, and
began to say,
"I am very sorry, grandmother; but I could not help it. I certainly
could not help it."
But he saw at once, by his grandmother's pleasant-looking face, that
she was not going to find any fault with him.
"You have not hurt yourself, Caleb, I hope," said she, as Raymond put
him down.
"No," said he, "but I feel rather cold."
His grandmother said she would soon warm him, and she led him into a
little bedroom, where he was accustomed to sleep, and undressed him,
talking good-humouredly with him all the while, so as to relieve his
fears, and make him feel more happy. She wiped him dry with soft
flannel, and gave him some clean, dry clothes, and made him very
comfortable again. She did not ask him how he happened to fall in the
water, for she knew it would trouble him to talk about it. So she amused
him by talking about other things, and at last let him out again into
the parlour.
The wetting did Caleb no injury; but the fright and the suddenness of
the plunge gave him a shock, which, in his feeble state of health, he
was ill able to bear. A good stout boy, with red cheeks and plump limbs,
would not have regarded it at all, but would have been off to play again
just as soon as his clothes were changed. But poor Caleb sat down in his
little rocking chair by the side of his grandmother, and began to rock
back and forth, as if he was rocking away the memory of his troubles,
while his grandmother went on with her work.
Presently he stopped to listen to the voices of Dwight and David, who
were out before the house.
"Grandmother," said he, "is that the boys?"
"Yes," said she, "I believe it is."
Then Caleb went on rocking, and the voices died away.
Presently, they came nearer again. The boys seemed to be passing down in
front of the house, with a wheelbarrow, towards the water.
"Grandmother," said Caleb, stopping again, "what do you suppose the
boys are doing?"
"I don't know," said she, "should not you like to go and see? You can
play with them half an hour before dinner, if you please."
Caleb did not answer, but began to rock again. He did not seem inclined
to go.
Soon after he heard a _splash_, as of stones thrown into the water.
Caleb started up and said,
"Grandmother, what _can_ they be doing?"
"I don't know," said she, "if you want to know very much, you must go
and see."
Caleb rose slowly, put his rocking chair back into its place, and went
to the door. He looked down towards the bank of the brook before the
house, and saw Dwight and David there. They had a wheelbarrow close to
the edge of the water, with a few stones in it, some as big as Caleb's
head. Each of the boys had a stone in his hand, which he was just
throwing into the brook. Caleb had a great desire to go down and see
what they were doing; but he felt weak and tired, and so, after looking
on a moment, he said to himself, "I had rather sit down here." So he sat
down upon the step of the door, and looked on.
After the boys had thrown one or two large stones into the water, they
took hold of the wheelbarrow, and, then, tipping it up, the whole load
slid down into the water, close to the shore. The boys then came back,
wheeling the great wheelbarrow up into the road.
They went after another load of stones, and Caleb's curiosity was so far
awakened, that he rose slowly, and walked down towards the place. In a
few minutes, the boys came back with their load; David wheeling, and
Dwight walking along by his side, and pushing as well as he could, to
help. As soon as he saw Caleb, he began to call out,
"O Caleb, you were afraid of a cow!"
Caleb looked sad and unhappy. David said,
"I would not laugh at him, Dwight. Caleb, we are building a mole."
"A mole!" said Caleb. "What is that?"
"Why, it is a kind of wharf, built out far into the water, to make a
harbour for our shipping. We learned about it in our geography."
"Yes," said Dwight, coming up, eagerly, to Caleb, "you see the current
carries all our vessels down the stream, you know, Caleb, and we are
going to build out a long mole, out into the middle of the brook, and
that will stop our vessels; and then we are going to make it pretty
wide, so that we can walk out upon it, and the end of it will do for a
wharf."
"Yes, it will be a sort of harbour for 'em," said David.
Caleb looked quite pleased at this plan and wanted the boys to let him
help; and Dwight said he might go and help them get their next load of
stones.
But Caleb did not help much, although he really tried to help. He kept
getting into the other boys' way. At last Dwight got out of patience,
and said,
"Caleb, you don't help us the least mite. I wish you would go away."
But Caleb wanted to help; and Dwight tried to make him go away.
Presently, he began to laugh at him for being afraid of a cow.
"I suppose I could frighten you by _moo-ing_ at you, Caleb."
Caleb did not answer, but walked along by the side of the wheelbarrow.
David was wheeling it; for they had now got it loaded, and were going
back to the shore of the brook, Caleb on one side, and Dwight upon the
other. Dwight saw that Caleb hung his head, and looked confused.
"_Moo! moo!_" said Dwight.
Caleb walked along silent as before.
"_Moo! moo!_" said Dwight, running round to Caleb's side of the
wheelbarrow, and _moo-ing_ close into his ear.
Caleb let go of the wheelbarrow, turned around, burst into tears, and
walked slowly and sorrowfully away towards the house.
"There, now," said David, "you have made him cry. What do you want to
trouble him so for?"
Dwight looked after Caleb, and seeing that he was going to the house, he
was afraid that he would tell his grandmother. So he ran after him, and
began to call to him to stop; but, before he had gone many steps, he saw
his grandmother standing at the door of the house, and calling to them
all to come.
Caleb had nearly stopped crying when he came up to his grandmother. She
did not say any thing to him about the cause of his trouble, but asked
him if he was willing to go down cellar with Mary Anna, and help her
choose a plateful of apples for dinner. His eye brightened at this
proposal, and Mary Anna, who was sitting at the window, reading, rose,
laid down her book, took hold of his hand with a smile, and led him
away.
Madam Rachel then went to her seat in her great arm-chair, and David and
Dwight came and stood by her side.
"I am sorry, Dwight, that you wanted to trouble Caleb."
"But, mother," said Dwight, "I only _moo-ed_ at him a little."
"And what did you do it for?"
"O, only for fun, mother."
"Did you suppose it gave him pain?"
"Why,--I don't know."
"Did you suppose it gave him pleasure?"
"Why, no," said Dwight, looking down.
"And did not you know that it gave him pain? Now, tell me, honestly."
"Why, yes, mother, I knew it plagued him a little; but then I only did
it for fun."
"I know it," said Madam Rachel; "and that is the very thing that makes
me so sorry for it."
"Why, mother?" said Dwight in a tone of surprise.
"Because if you had given Caleb four times as much pain for any other
reason, I should not have thought half so much of it, as to have you
trouble him for _fun_. If it had been to do him any good, or to do any
body else any good, or from mistake, or mere thoughtlessness, I should
not have thought so much of it; but to do it for _fun_!"
Here Madam Rachel stopped, as if she did not know what to say.
"I rather think, mother, it was only _thoughtlessness_," said David, by
way of excusing Dwight.
"No; because he knew that it gave Caleb pain, and it was, in fact, for
the very purpose of giving him pain, that Dwight did it. If he had been
saying _moo_ accidentally, without thinking of troubling Caleb, that
would have been thoughtlessness; but it was not so. And what makes me
most unhappy about this," continued Madam Rachel, putting her hand
gently on Dwight's head, "is that my dear Dwight has a heart capable
under some circumstances, of taking pleasure in the sufferings of a
helpless little child."
David and Dwight were both silent, though they saw clearly that what
their mother said was true.
"And yet, perhaps, you think it is a very little thing after all," she
continued, "just _moo-ing_ at Caleb a little. The pain it gave him was
soon over. Just sending him down cellar to get apples, made him forget
it in a moment; so that you see it is not the mischief that is done, in
this case, but the _spirit of mind_ in you, that it shews. It is a
little thing, I know; but then it is a little symptom of a very bad
disease. It is very hard to cure."
"Well, mother," said Dwight, looking up, and speaking very positively,
"I am _determined_ not to trouble Caleb any more."
"Yes, but I am afraid your _determinations_ won't reach the difficulty.
As long as the spirit of mind remains, so that you are _capable_ of
taking pleasure in the sufferings of another, your determinations not to
_indulge_ the bad spirit, will not do much good. You will forget them
all, when the temptation comes. Don't you remember how often I have
talked with you about this, and how often you have promised not to do
it, before?"
"Why, yes, mother," said Dwight, despondingly.
"So, you see determinations will not do much good. As long as your heart
is malicious, the malice will come out in spite of all your
determinations."
Just at this moment Caleb came in, bringing his plate of apples, with an
air of great importance and satisfaction. He had nearly forgotten his
troubles. Soon after this, dinner was brought in, and Madam Rachel said
no more to the boys about malice. After dinner, they went out again to
play.
CHAPTER III.
BUILDING THE MOLE.
Caleb sat down upon the step of the door, eating a piece of bread, while
Dwight and David returned to their work of building the mole. They got
the wheelbarrow, and loaded it with stones.
Caleb sat a few minutes more at the door, and then he went into the
house, and got his little rocking chair, and brought it out under the
elm, and sat down there, looking towards the boys, who were at work near
the water. At last, David spied him sitting there, and said,
"There is Caleb, sitting under the great tree."
Dwight looked around, and then, throwing down the stone that he had in
his hands, he said,
"I mean to go and get him to come here."
So he ran towards him, and said,
"Come, Caleb, come down here, and help us make our mole."
"No," said Caleb, shaking his head, and, turning away a little; "I don't
want to go."
"O, do come, Caleb," said Dwight; "I won't trouble you any more."
"No," said Caleb: "I am tired, and I had rather stay here in my little
chair."
"But I will carry your chair down to the brook; and there is a beautiful
place there to sit and see us tumble in the stones."
So Caleb got up, and Dwight took his chair, and they walked together
down to the shore of the brook. Dwight found a little spot so smooth and
level, that the rocking-chair would stand very even upon it, though it
would not rock very well, for the ground was not hard, like a floor.
Caleb rested his elbow upon the arm of his chair, and his pale cheek in
his little slender hand, and watched the stones, as, one after another,
they fell into the brook.
The brook at this place, was very wide and shallow, and the current was
not very rapid, so that they got along pretty fast; and thus the mole
advanced steadily out into the stream.
"Well, Caleb," said Dwight, as he stopped, after they had tossed out all
the stones from the wheelbarrow, "and how do you like our mole?"
"O, not very well," said Caleb.
"Why not?" said Dwight, surprised.
"It is so stony."
"Stony?" said Dwight.
"Yes," said Caleb, "I don't think _I_ could walk on it very well."
"O," said Dwight, "we are going to make the top very smooth, when we get
it done."
"How?" said Caleb.
"Why, we are going to haul gravel on it, and smooth it all down."
"Why can't we do it now?" said David, "as we go along: and then we can
wheel our wheelbarrow out upon it, and tip our stones in at the end."
"Agreed," said Dwight; and they accordingly leveled the stones off on
the top, and put small stones in at all the interstices, that is, the
little spaces between the large stones, so as to prevent the gravel from
running down through. Then they went and got a load of gravel out of a
bank pretty near, and spread it down over the top, and it made a good,
smooth road; only, it was not trodden down hard at first, and so it was
not very easy wheeling over it.
They found one difficulty, however, and that was that the gravel rolled
over each side of the mole, and went into the water. To prevent this,
they arranged the largest stones on each side, in a row, for the edge,
and then filled in with gravel up to the edge, and thus they gradually
advanced towards the middle of the stream, finishing the mole completely
as they went on. Caleb then said he liked it very much, and wanted to
walk on it. So the boys let him. He went out to the end, and stood there
a minute, and then said that he wished he had his whip there, to whip in
a stick which was sailing down a little way off.
"Where is your whip?" said David.
"I suppose it is hanging up on its nail," said Caleb, "I mean to go and
get it."
So Caleb walked off the mole, and went slowly up towards the house,
singing by the way, while David and Dwight went after another load of
gravel. While they were putting down this load, and spreading it on,
Caleb came back, looking disappointed and sorrowful, and saying that he
could not find his whip.
"Where did you put it when you had it last?" asked David.
"I put it on the nail," said Caleb, "I always put it on the nail."
"O, no, Caleb," said Dwight; "you must have left it about somewhere."
"No," said Caleb, shaking his head with a positive air, "I am _sure_ I
put it on my nail."
"When did you have it last?"
"Why,--let me see," said Caleb, thinking. "I had it yesterday, playing
horses on the wood-pile: and then I had it this morning,--I
believe,--when I went up the brook to meet Raymond."
"Then you left it up there, I know," said Dwight.
"No," said Caleb, "I am sure I put it on my nail."
"You did not have it, Caleb," said David, mildly, "when we met you on
the bridge."
"Didn't I?" said Caleb, standing still and trying to think.
"No," replied Dwight, decidedly.
"I wish you would go up there with me, and help me find it."
"Why, we want to finish our mole," said David.
"I'll go," said Dwight, "while you, David, get another load of gravel.
Come, Caleb," said he, "go and shew me where it was."
So Dwight and Caleb walked on. They went down to the bridge, crossed the
stream upon it, then turned up, on the opposite bank, and walked on
until they came to the cotton landing. Caleb then pointed to the place
where he had fallen in; and they looked all about there, upon the bank,
and in the water, but in vain. No whip was to be found.
Before they returned, they stopped a moment at the cotton landing, and
Caleb shewed Dwight that the cotton was all made of little bubbles. They
got some of it to the shore and examined it, and then, just as they
were going away. Dwight exclaimed, suddenly,
"There is your whip, now, Caleb."
Caleb looked round, and saw that Dwight was pointing towards the little
fall or rather great ripple of water, and there, just in the fall, was
the whip-handle floating, and kept from drifting away by the lash, which
had got caught in the rocks. There the handle lay, or rather hung,
bobbing up and down, and struggling as if it was trying to get free.
After various attempts to liberate it, by throwing sticks and stones at
it, Dwight took off his shoes, turned up his pantaloons to his knees,
and waded in to the place, and after carefully extricating the whip,
brought it safely to the shore.
"I am very glad I have got my whip again," said Caleb, while Dwight was
putting on his shoes.
"I am glad too," said Dwight. "But you told a lie about it, Caleb."
"A lie!" said Caleb.
"Yes: you said you certainly hung it up upon the nail," said Dwight, as
they began to walk along.
"Well, I thought I did," said Caleb.
"That makes no difference. You did not say you _thought_ you hung it up,
but that you were sure you did."
"Well, I certainly thought I did," said Caleb; "and I am sure it wasn't
a lie."
Dwight insisted that it was, and Caleb determined to ask his
grandmother.
They returned to the mole.
It was not long after this, that David, on looking towards the house,
called out that his mother was coming. It was true. She put on her
bonnet, and was coming slowly down to the brook, to see how the boys got
on with their work. They were rejoiced to see her coming. They took
Caleb's chair, and laid it down upon its side, and then put one of the
side-pieces of the wheelbarrow upon it with the clean side up; and this
made quite a comfortable seat for her, though it was a little unsteady.
She sat down upon it, and made a good many enquiries about their plan
and the progress of the work.
"Well, boys," said she, "that is a capital plan, and you will have a
great eddy above your mole."
"An eddy!" said Dwight, "what is that?"
"Why, the water coming down, will strike upon the outer end of your
mole, and be turned in towards the shore, and then will go round, and
will come into the stream again. There, you can see it is beginning to
run so already."
So the boys looked above the mole, and they saw the little bubbles that
were floating in the water, sailing round and round slowly, in a small
circle, between the upper side of the mole and the shore.
"When you get it built away out," said Madam Rachel, "there will be
quite a whirlpool; you might call it the Maelstrom. There, you see,
Caleb can have a little harbour up there on the shore, and one of you
can go out to the end of the mole, and put a little ship into the water,
and the eddy will carry it round to him. Then he can take out the cargo,
and put in a new one, and then set the ship in the water, and the
current will carry it back again, round on the other side of the
whirlpool."
The boys were very much delighted at this prospect, and they determined
to build out the mole very far, so as to have "a great sweep," as Dwight
called it, in the eddy. Caleb went out upon the part of the mole which
was finished, and put in a piece of wood, and watched it with great
delight as it slowly sailed round.
CHAPTER IV.
A DISCUSSION.
While Caleb stood upon the mole, he began to whip the water; and, in
doing so, he spattered David and Dwight a little.
Dwight said, "Take care, Caleb--don't spatter us;" and he went up to
him, and was going gently to take hold of his whip, to take it away.
"Let me have the whip," said he.
"No," said Caleb, holding it firmly, "I want it."
"Let go of it, Dwight," said Madam Rachel.
"Why, mother, he ought to let me have it, for I went and got it for him.
He would not have had it at all without me."
"You must not take it by violence," said his mother, "if you have ever
so good a right to it. But did you get it for him?"
"Yes, mother; and he told a lie about it."
"O, Dwight," said his mother, "you ought not to say so. I can't think
Caleb would tell a lie."
"He did, mother; he said he was sure he hung it up, when, after all, he
dropped it in the water; and we agreed to leave it to you if that was
not telling a lie."
"Did you know, Caleb, when you said you hung it up, that you had really
left it in the water?"
"No, grandmother," said Caleb, very earnestly; "I really thought I had
hung it up."
"Then it was not telling a _lie_, Dwight. A lie is told with an
intention to deceive. To make it a lie it is necessary that the person
who says a thing, must _know distinctly_ at the time that he says it,
that it is not true; and he must say it with the particular intention to
deceive. Now, Caleb did not do this."
"Well, mother," said Dwight, "I am sure you have told us a good many
times that we must never say any thing unless we are sure it is true."
"So I have. I admit that Caleb did wrong in saying so positively that he
had hung his whip up, when he did not know certainly that he had. But
this does not prove that it was telling a lie. You know there are a
great many other faults besides telling lies; and this is one of them."
"What do you call it, mother?" said David.
"I don't know," said she, hesitating. "It is a very common
fault,--asserting a thing positively, when you do not know whether it is
true or not. But if you _think_ it is true, even if you have no proper
grounds for thinking so, and are entirely mistaken, it is not telling a
lie."
"In fact," she continued, "I once knew a case where one boy was justly
punished for falsehood when what he said was true; and another was
rewarded for his truth, when what he said was false."
"Why, mother?" said Dwight and David together, with great surprise.
"Yes," said Madam Rachel; "the case was this. They were farmers' boys,
and they wanted to go into the barn, and play upon the hay. Their father
told them they might go, but charged them to be careful to shut the door
after them in going in, so as not to let the colt get out. So the boys
ran off to the barn in high glee, and were so eager to get upon the hay,
that they forgot altogether to shut the door. When they came down they
found the door open, and to their great alarm, the colt was nowhere to
be seen. Josy, one of the boys, said, 'Let us shut the door now, and not
tell father that we let the colt out, and he will think somebody else
did it.'
"'No,' said James, the other, 'let us tell the truth.'
"So about an hour afterwards, Josy went into the house, and his father
said, 'Josy, did you let the colt out?'
"'No, sir,' said Josy.
"Not long after he met James.
"'James,' said he, 'you had a fine time upon the hay, I suppose. I hope
you did not let the colt out.'
"James hung his head, and said, 'Why, yes, sir, we did. We forgot to
shut the door, and so he got away.'
"Now, which of these boys, do you suppose, was guilty of telling a lie?"
"Why, Josy, certainly," said David, Dwight, and Caleb, all together.
"Yes, and yet the colt had not got away."
"Hadn't he?" said Dwight.
"No, he was safely coiled up in a corner upon some hay, out of sight;
and there the farmer found him safe and sound, when he went in to look.
But did that make any difference in Josy's guilt, do you think?"
"No, mother," said Dwight. David, at the same time shook his head,
shewing that he entertained the same opinion.
"I think it did not," continued Madam Rachel, "and the farmer thought so
too; for he very properly punished Josy, and rewarded James."
Dwight seemed to assent to this rather reluctantly, as if he was almost
sorry that Caleb had not been proved guilty of telling a lie.
"Well, mother," he said presently, with a more lively tone, "at any rate
he disobeyed you; for you told him not to go near the brook where the
bank was high; and he did, or else he never would have fallen in."
"But I could not help it," said Caleb, "the cow frightened me so."
"Yes, you could help it," said Dwight; "for the cow did not come up and
push you; you walked back yourself, of your own accord."
Madam Rachel observed that Caleb appeared more pale and languid than
usual; and this new charge which Dwight brought against him, made him
more sad and melancholy still.
Madam Rachel accordingly then said she would not talk any more about it
then, for she must go in, and she asked Caleb whether he would rather go
in with her, or remain out there with the boys. He said he would rather
go in. So he took hold of Madam Rachel's hand, and walked along by her
side. David said he would bring his rocking-chair for him, when he and
Dwight should come in.
CHAPTER V.
THE STORY OF BLIND SAMUEL.
Madam Rachel went into the house, and sat down in her large
rocking-chair, by a window, in a back parlour that looked out upon a
little garden, and began to sew. Caleb played around a little while,
rather languidly, and at last came up to his grandmother, and leaning
upon her lap, asked her if she would not take him up, and rock him a
little. She could not help pitying him, he looked so feeble and sad; and
she accordingly laid down her work, and lifted him up,--he was not
heavy.
"Well Caleb, you have not asked me to take you up, and tell you a story
so, for a long time. This is the way I used to do when you were quite a
little boy; only then you used to kneel in my lap, and lay your head
upon my shoulder, so that my mouth was close to your ear. But you are
too big now."
Caleb smiled a little, for he was glad to find that he was growing big;
but it was rather a faint and sad smile.
"But I don't grow any stronger, grandmother," said he. "I wish I was
well and strong, like the other boys."
"You don't know what would be best for you, my little Caleb. God leads
you along in his own way through life, and you must go patiently and
pleasantly on, just where he thinks best. You are like blind Samuel,
going through the woods with his father."
"How was that, grandmother?" said he, sitting up, and turning round to
look at her.
"You sit still," said she, gently laying him back again, "and I will
tell you."
"Samuel was a blind boy. He had been away, and was now going home with
his father. His father led him, and he walked along by his side.
Presently, they came to a large brook, and, before they got near it,
they heard it roaring. His father said, 'Samuel, I think there is a
freshet.' 'I think so too,' said Samuel, 'for I hear the water roaring.'
When they came in sight of the stream, his father said, 'Yes, Samuel,
there has been a great freshet, and the bridge is carried away.' 'And
what shall we do now?' said Samuel. 'Why we must go round by the path
through the woods.' 'That will be bad for me,' said Samuel 'But I will
lead you,' said his father, 'all the way; just trust every thing to me.'
'Yes, father,' said Samuel, 'I will.'
"So his father took a string out of his pocket, and gave one end of it
to Samuel. 'There, Samuel,' said he, 'take hold of that, and that will
guide you; and walk directly after me.'"
"How long was the string?" said Caleb.
"O not very long," replied Madam Rachel; "so as just to let him walk a
step or two behind."
"After he had walked on a short distance, he said, 'Father, I wish you
would let me take hold of your hand.' 'But you said,' replied his
father, 'that you would trust every thing to me.' 'So I will, father,'
said Samuel; 'but I do wish you would let me take hold of your hand,
instead of this string.' 'Very well,' said his father, 'you may try
_your_ way.'
"So Samuel came and took hold of his father's hand, and tried to walk
along by his father's side. But the path was narrow; there was not more
than room for one, and though his father walked as far on one side as
possible, yet Samuel had not room enough. The branches scratched his
face, and he stumbled continually upon roots and stones. At length he
said, 'Father, you know best. I will take hold of the string, and walk
behind.'
"So, after that, he was patient and submissive, and followed his father
wherever he led. After a time his father saw a serpent in the road
directly before them. So he turned aside, to go round by a compass in
the woods."
"A compass?" said Caleb.
"Yes," said his grandmother; "that is a round-about way. But it was very
rough and stony. Presently, Samuel stopped and said, 'Father, it seems
to me it is pretty stony; haven't we got out of the path?'
"'Yes,' said his father; 'but you promised to be patient and submissive,
and trust every thing to me.'
"'Well,' said Samuel, 'you know best, and I will follow.'
"So he walked on again. When they had got by, his father told him that
the reason why he had gone out of the road was, that there was a serpent
there. And so, when God leads us in a difficult way, Caleb, that we
don't understand at the time, we often see the reason of it afterwards."
Caleb did not answer, and Madam Rachel went on with her story.
"By and by, his father came within the sound of the brook again, and
stopped a minute or two, and then he told Samuel that he should have to
leave him a short time, and that he might sit down upon a log, and wait
until he came back. 'But, father,' said Samuel, 'I don't want to be left
alone here in the woods, in the dark.' 'It is not dark,' said his
father. 'It is all dark to me,' said Samuel. 'I know it is,' said his
father, 'and I am very sorry; but you promised to leave every thing to
me, and be obedient and submissive.' 'So I will, father; you know best,
and I will do just as you say.' So Samuel sat down upon the log, and his
father went away. He was a little terrified by the solitude, and the
darkness, and the roaring of the water; but he trusted to his father,
and was still.
"By and by, he heard a noise as of something heavy falling into the
water. He was frightened, for he thought it was his father. But it was
not his father. What do you think it was, Caleb?"
Caleb did not answer. Madam Rachel looked down to see why he did not
speak, and as she moved him a little, so as to see his face, his head
rolled over to one side; and, in short, Madam Rachel found that he was
fast asleep.
"Poor little fellow!" said she; and she rose carefully, and carried him
to the bed, and laid him down. He opened his eyes a moment, when his
cheek came in contact with the cool pillow, but turned his face over
immediately, shut his eyes again, and was soon in a sound sleep.
CHAPTER VI.
ENGINEERING.
When Caleb awoke it was almost evening. The rays of the setting sun were
shining in at the window. Caleb opened his eyes, and, after lying still
a few moments, began to sing. He thought it was morning, and that it was
time for him to get up. Presently, however, he observed that the sun was
shining in at the wrong window for morning: then he noticed that he was
not undressed; and, finally, he thought it must be night; but he could
not think how he came to be asleep there at that time.
Caleb went out into the parlour. David and Dwight were just putting the
chairs around the tea table. At tea time, the boys talked a good deal
about the mole, and they asked Mary Anna if she would help them rig some
vessels to sail in the Maelstrom.
"Sail in the Maelstrom!" said Mary Anna; "whoever heard of sailing in
the Maelstrom? That is a great whirlpool, which swallows up ships; they
never sail in it. You had better call it the Gulf Stream."
"Well," said Dwight, "we will; and will you help us rig some vessels?"
"Yes," said Mary Anna, "when you get the mole done."
Mary Anna was a beautiful girl, about seventeen years old, with a mild
and gentle expression of countenance, and very pleasant tone of voice.
She helped the children in all their plays, and they were always pleased
when she was with them. She had great stores of pasteboard and coloured
papers, to make boxes, and portfolios, and little pocket-books, and
wallets of; and she had a paint-box, and pencils, and drawing-books,
and portfolios of pictures and drawing lessons.
She rigged the boys' vessels, and covered their balls, and made them
beautiful flags and banners out of her pieces of coloured silk. She
advised them to have a flag-staff out at the end of the mole, as they
generally have on all fortifications and national works. She told them
she would make them a handsome flag for the purpose.
After tea she went down with them to see the works. She seemed to like
the mole very much. The whirlpool was moving very regularly, and she
advised them to build the mole out pretty far.
"Yes," said Dwight; "and we are going to have a piece across up and down
the stream, at the end of it, so as to make a T of it."
"I think you had better make a Y of it," said Mary Anna.
"A Y!" said Dwight, "how?"
"Why instead of having the end piece go straight across the end of the
mole, let the two parts of it branch out into the stream, one upwards
and the other down."
"What good will that do?" said David.
"Why, if you make it straight like a T, the current will run directly
along the outer edge of it, and so your vessels will not stay there. But
if you have it Y-shaped, there will be a little sort of harbour in the
crotch, where your vessels can lie quietly, while the current flows
along by, out beyond the forks."
"That will be excellent," said Dwight, clapping his hands.
"And besides," said she, "the upper part of the Y will run out obliquely
into the stream, and so turn more of the current into your eddy, and
make the whirlpool larger."
"Well, and we will make it so," said David; "and then it will be an
excellent mole."
"Yes," said Mary Anna, "there will be all sorts of water around it;--a
whirlpool above, a little harbour in the crotch, a current in front,
and still water below. It will be as good a place for sailing boats as I
ever saw."
But the twilight was coming on, and they all soon returned to the house.
Madam Rachel had a little double-bedroom, as it was called, where she
slept. It was called a double-bedroom, because it consisted, in fact, of
two small rooms, with a large arched opening between them, without any
door. In one room was the bed, which moved in and out on little trucks,
for Caleb. In the other room was a table in the middle, with books and
papers upon it. There was a window in one side, and opposite the arched
opening which led to the bedroom was a small sofa.
Now, it was Madam Rachel's custom every evening, before the children
went to bed, to take them into her bedroom, and hear them read a few
verses of the Bible; and then she would explain the verses, and talk
with them a little about what had occurred during the day, and give them
good advice and good instruction. At such times the children usually sat
upon the sofa, on one side of the table, and Madam Rachel took her seat
on the other side of the table, in the chair, so as to face them. The
children generally liked this very much; and yet she very seldom told
them any stories at these times. It was almost all reasonings and
explanations; and yet the children liked it very much.
CHAPTER VII.
THE SOFA.
The boys took their places on the sofa, and afterwards laid their books
upon the table. After that Madam Rachel began to talk about the
occurrences of the day, as follows:--
"There are two or three things, boys, that I have been keeping to talk
with you about this evening. One is the question you asked, Dwight,
about Caleb's disobeying me, when he fell into the water."
"Yes, mother," said Dwight, looking up at once, very eagerly; "you told
him never to go near the bank; and yet he went, and so he fell in."
"But I could not help it," said Caleb.
"Why, yes, mother, he certainly could help it; for he walked there
himself of his own accord."
"Very well; that is the question for us to consider; but, first, we must
all be in a proper state of mind to consider it, or else it will do us
no good. Now, Dwight, I am going to ask you a question, and I want to
have you answer it honestly:--Which way do you wish to have this
question, about Caleb's disobedience, decided?"
"Why,--I don't know," said Dwight.
"Suppose I should come to the conclusion that Caleb did right, and
should prove it by arguments, should you feel a little glad, or a little
sorry?"
Dwight hung his head, and seemed somewhat confused, but said,
doubtfully, that he did not know.
"Now, I think, myself," said his mother, "that you have a secret wish to
have it appear that Caleb is guilty of disobedience. You said he
disobeyed, at first, from unkind feelings, which you seemed to feel
towards him at the moment; and now, I suppose, you wish to adhere to it,
so as to get the victory. Now, honestly, isn't it so?"
Dwight did not answer at first. He looked somewhat ashamed. Presently,
however, he concluded, that it was best to be frank and honest; so he
looked up and acknowledged that it was so.
"Yes," said his mother; "and while you are under the influence of such a
prejudice, it would do no good for us to discuss the subject, for you
would not be convinced; so you had better give it up."
Madam Rachel saw, while she was speaking, that Dwight did not look
sullen and dissatisfied, but good-natured and pleasant; and so she knew
that he had concluded to listen, candidly, to what she had to say.
"I think that Caleb was not to blame at all," said Madam Rachel, "for
two reasons. One is, that he was probably overwhelmed with terror. To be
sure, as you say, the cow did not push him. He walked himself,--yet
still he was _impelled_ as strongly as if he had been pushed, though in
a different manner."
"Then there is another reason why Caleb is innocent of any disobedience.
When I told him that he must not go to the high banks, I did not mean
that he _never_ must go, _in any case whatever_."
"I thought you _said_ he never must," said David.
"I presume I did say so, and I made no exceptions; but still some
exceptions are always _implied_ in such a case. In all commands, however
positive they may be, there is always some exception implied."
"Why, mother?" said Dwight with surprise.
"It is so," said his mother. "Suppose, for instance, that I were to tell
you to sit down by the parlour fire, and study a lesson, and not to get
out of your chair on any account. And suppose that, after I had gone
and left you, the fire should fall down, and some coals roll out upon
the floor, would it not be your duty to get up, and brush them back?"
"Why, yes," said Dwight.
"So in all cases, very extreme and extraordinary occurrences, that could
not, by possibility, have been considered, make exceptions. And Caleb,
thinking, as he did, that he was in great danger from the cow, if he had
thought of my command at all, he would have done perfectly right to have
considered so extraordinary a case an exception, and so have retreated
towards the brook, notwithstanding my commands. And now that question is
settled."
Here little Caleb, who had been sitting up very straight, and looking
eagerly at his grandmother and at the other boys, during the progress of
the conversation, drew a long breath, and leaned back against the sofa,
as if he felt a good deal relieved.
"And now, Dwight, there is one thing I have seen in you to-day, which
gave me a great deal of pleasure, and another which gave me pain."
"What, mother," said Dwight.
"Why, after I talked with you at noon, about teasing Caleb, you began to
treat him very kindly. That gave me a great deal of pleasure. I saw that
your heart was somewhat changed in regard to Caleb; for you seemed to
take pleasure in making him happy, while before you took delight in
making him miserable."
Dwight looked gratified and pleased while his mother was saying these
things.
"But then, in the course of the afternoon," she continued, "the old
malignant heart seemed to come back again. When I came down to see the
mole, I found you in such a state of mind as to take pleasure in Caleb's
suffering. You wanted to prove that he had told a lie, and looked
disappointed when I shewed you that he had not. Then you wanted to prove
he had disobeyed me, when, after all, you knew very well that he had
not."
"O, mother," said Dwight.
"Yes, Dwight, I am very sorry to have to say so; but you undoubtedly had
no real belief that Caleb had done wrong. Suppose I had told you I was
going to punish him for disobeying me in retreating to the brook, should
you have thought that it would have been right?"
"Why, no, mother," said Dwight.
"You would have been shocked at such an idea. And now don't you see that
all your attempts to prove that he had done wrong, was only the effect
of the ill-will you felt towards him at the time. It was malice
triumphing over your judgment and your sense of right and wrong. I told
you, you know, that your resolutions would not reach the case."
"Well, mother, I am _determined_," said Dwight, very deliberatively and
positively, "that I _never_ will tease or trouble Caleb any more."
"The evil is not so much in teasing and troubling Caleb, as in having a
heart capable of taking any pleasure in it. That is the great
difficulty."
"Well, mother, I am determined I never will feel any pleasure in his
trouble again."
"I am afraid that won't depend altogether upon the determination you
make. For instance, when you went to Caleb to-day, and kindly tried to
persuade him to go down, and offered to carry his rocking-chair for him,
your heart was then in a state of love towards him. Do you think you
could then, by determination, have changed it from love to hate, and
begun to take pleasure in teasing him?"
Dwight remembered how kindly and pleasantly he had felt towards Caleb at
that time, and he thought that it would have been impossible for him
then to have found any pleasure in tormenting him; and so he said, "No,
mother, I could not."
"And so, when you are angry with a person, and your heart is in a state
of ill-will and malice towards him, does it seem to you that you can
merely by a determination change it all at once, and begin to be filled
with love, so as to feel pleasure in his happiness?"
Dwight was silent at first; he presently answered, faintly, that he
could not.
"And if you cannot change your heart by your mere determination at the
time, you certainly cannot by making one general determination, now
beforehand, for all time to come."
Dwight saw his helpless condition, and sighed. After a pause, he said,
"Mother, it seems to me you are discouraging me from trying to be a
better boy."
"No, Dwight; but I don't want you to depend on false hopes that must
only end in your disappointment. Your determination will help in not
indulging the bad feelings; but I want to have your heart changed so
that you could not possibly _have_ such feelings. I hope mine is. I
once shewed the same spirit that you do; but now I don't think it would
be possible for me to take any pleasure in teasing Caleb, or you, or
David.
"I hope," added Madam Rachel, "that God will give you a benevolent and
tender heart, so that there shall be no _tendency_ in you to do wrong.
He will change yours, if you pray to him to do it. In fact, I hope, and
sometimes I almost believe, that he has begun. I do not think you would
have gone to Caleb to-day so pleasantly, and acknowledged your fault, as
you did by your actions, and felt so totally different from what you had
done, if God had not wrought some change in you. I have very often
talked with children about such faults, as plainly and kindly as I did
with you, and it produced no effect. When they went away, I found, by
their looks and actions afterwards, that their hearts were not changed
at all. And so, Dwight," said she, "I have not been saying this to
discourage you, but to make you feel that you need a greater change than
you can accomplish, and so to lead you to God that you may throw
yourself upon him, and ask him, not merely to help you in your
determinations not to act out your bad feelings, but to change the very
nature of them, or rather, to carry on the change, which I hope he has
begun."
Dwight remembered, while his mother was talking, how full his heart had
been of kindness and love to Caleb, while he was helping him that
afternoon, and he perceived clearly that he had not produced that state
of mind by any of his own determinations that he would feel so before he
actually did. He remembered how happy he had been at that time, and how
discontented and miserable after he had been troubling Caleb; and he had
a feeling of strong desire that God would change his heart, and make him
altogether and always benevolent and kind.
Now, it happened that Caleb had not understood this conversation very
well, and he began to be weary and uneasy. Besides just about this time
he began to recollect something about his grandmother's beginning a
story for him, when she took him up in her lap, after he came in from
the mole. So, when he noticed that there was a pause in the
conversation, he said,
"Grandmother, you promised to tell me a story about blind Samuel."
"So I did," said his grandmother smiling, "and I began it; but before I
got through you got fast asleep."
David and Dwight laughed, and so in fact did Caleb; and Madam Rachel
then said that if he would tell David and Dwight the story as far as she
had gone, she would finish it.
"Well," said Caleb, "I will. Once there was a blind boy, and his name
was Samuel; and, you see, he was going through the woods, and his father
was with him. And his father walked along, and he walked along, and it
was stony, and he said he would do just what his father said, because
his father knew best,--and--and so he took hold of the string again."
"What string?" said Dwight.
"Why, it was his father's string," said Caleb, eagerly, looking up into
Dwight's face.
"What did he have a string for?" said David.
"Why to lead him along by," said Caleb.
"Yes--but why did not he take hold of his father's hand?" asked Dwight.
"Why,--why,--there was a snake in the road, I believe,--wasn't there,
grandmother?"
His grandmother smiled,--for Caleb had evidently got bewildered, in his
drowsiness, so that he had not a very distinct recollection of the
story. She, therefore, began again, and told the whole. When she got to
the place where she left off before, that is, to the place Samuel heard
a splash in the water, Dwight started up, and asked, eagerly,
"What was it?"
"A stone, I suppose," said David, coolly.
"No," said Madam Rachel, "it was only the end of the stem of a small
tree, which Samuel's father was trying to fix across the brook, so that
he could lead his blind boy over. It was lying upon the ground, and he
took it and raised it upon its end, near the edge of the bank, on one
side, and then let it fall over, in hopes that the other end would fall
upon the opposite bank. But it did not happen to fall straight across,
and so the end fell into the water, and this was the noise that Samuel
heard.
"He drew the stick back again, and then contrived to raise it on its end
once more; and this time he was more successful. It fell across, and so
extended from bank to bank. In a few minutes he succeeded in getting
another by its side, and then he came back to Samuel.
"'Samuel,' said he, 'I have built a bridge.'
"'A bridge!' said Samuel.
"'Yes,' said he, 'a sort of a bridge; and now I am going to try to lead
you over.'
"'But, father, I am afraid.'
"'You said you would trust yourself entirely to me, and go wherever I
should say.'
"'Well, father,' said Samuel, 'I will. You know best, after all.'
"So Samuel took hold of his father's hand, and, with slow, and very
careful steps, he got over the roaring torrent, and then they soon came
out into a broad smooth road, and so got safely home."
"Now, Caleb," continued Madam Rachel, after she had finished her story,
"do you remember what I meant to teach you by this story?"
"Yes, Grandmother; you said that I was like blind Samuel, and that God
knew what was best for me, and that I must let him lead me wherever he
pleases."
"Yes; and what was it that you said that reminded me to tell you the
story?"
"I said that I wished that I was well and strong, like the other boys."
"Yes," said his grandmother, "I do not think you said it in a fretful or
impatient spirit; but I thought that this story of Samuel would help to
keep you patient and contented."
"Yes, grandmother, it does," said Caleb.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE CART RIDE.
A week after this, Caleb had his whip to mend. He had broken off the
lash, by whipping in sticks and little pieces of drift-wood to the mole.
David and Dwight worked a little every day upon the mole, and had
carried it out pretty far into the stream, and had almost finished the
lower branches of the Y. So, one morning, after the boys had gone to
school, and Caleb had had his reading lesson, he sat down upon the steps
of the door, behind the house, and began to tie on his lash with a piece
of twine which Mary Anna had given him.
Behind the house where Caleb's grandmother lived, there was a lane which
led to the pasture. At the head of the lane, where you entered it from
the yard, were a pair of bars. While Caleb was mending his whip, he
accidentally looked up, and noticed that the bars were down.
"There, Mr. Raymond," said Caleb, talking to himself, as he went on
winding his twine round and round the whip-handle; "for once in your
life, you have been careless. You have left your bars down. Now we shall
have the cattle all let out, unless I go and stop the mischief."
Caleb thought he would go and put the bars up again, as soon as he had
tied the ends of his twine; but before he got quite ready, he heard a
noise, as of something coming in the lane. He could not see down the
lane far, from the place where he sat, for the barn was in the way. But
he wondered what could be coming, and he looked towards the bars, and
sat waiting for it to appear.
In a moment, the head and horns of a great ox came into view, and,
immediately after, the body of the ox himself, walking slowly along
towards the bars.
"There now," said Caleb, "there comes Lion, and he'll get away." So he
jumped up, and ran towards the ox a few steps, brandishing his whip, and
shouting out to drive him back. Old Lion, however, seemed to pay no
attention, but came steadily forward, stepping carefully over the ends
of the bars, and then, advancing a little way into the yard, began
quietly to feed upon the grass. Before Caleb got over his surprise at
the entire indifference which old Lion seemed to feel towards him and
his whip, he heard the bars rattling again, and looking there, he saw
Star, Lion's mate, following on.
"O dear me," said Caleb, "what shall I do? All our oxen are getting
away. I'll run and call Raymond."
So he began to shout out "RAYMOND," as loud as he could call; and
immediately afterwards, he heard Raymond's voice answering just down
the lane and, looking that way, he saw him coming over the bars himself,
as if he had been following the oxen along up the lane.
"Raymond, Raymond," he cried out, "come quiet; all your oxen are getting
away."
"O, no," said Raymond, quietly, as he was putting up the bars after the
oxen, "they cannot get away--I have fastened the outer gate."
Then Caleb looked around and observed that the outer gate was fastened,
so that they could not get out of the yard.
"O, very well," said he. "I did not know you were driving them up;" and
so he quietly returned to his seat, and went on playing with his whip.
Raymond, in the mean time, proceeded to yoke up the cattle.
"Raymond," said Caleb, at length, "where are you going with the cattle?"
"Out into the woods," said Raymond.
"What are you going to do in the woods?" said Caleb.
"I am going to make a piece of fence."
"May I go with you?"
"I don't think you can help me much about the fence," said Raymond.
"I can pull bushes along," said Caleb.
Raymond made no reply, but began to drive the oxen towards a cart that
was standing in a corner of the yard, and, after a few minutes, Caleb
renewed his request.
"Raymond, I wish you would let me go with you."
"Well--it is just as your grandmother says," replied Raymond.
So Caleb ran to ask his grandmother; and she came to the window, and
enquired of Raymond how long he expected to be gone. He said it would
take him more than half a day to make the piece of fence, and he was
going to take his dinner with him. This was an objection to Caleb's
going; but yet his grandmother concluded on the whole to consent. So
they put up some bread and butter, and some apples, with Raymond's
dinner, for Caleb. These things were all put in paper parcels, and the
parcels put into a bag, which was thrown into the bottom of the cart.
Then Caleb wanted to take his hatchet.
His grandmother thought it would not be safe.
"I'll be _very_ careful," said he: "and if I don't have my hatchet, how
can I help to make the fence?"
Raymond smiled, and Madam Rachel seemed at a loss to know what to say.
"It won't do,--will it Raymond?" said she.
"He might cut himself," said Raymond.
"But there is a small key-hole saw in the barn, that I filed up the
other day. Perhaps he might have that, to saw the bushes down with."
"Can you saw, Caleb?" said his grandmother.
"Not very well," said Caleb, looking somewhat disappointed; "the saw
sticks so."
"I can set it pretty rank," said Raymond, speaking to Madam Rachel at
the window, "and then, I think, he can make it run smooth."
Madam Rachel did not understand what Raymond meant by _setting it rank_,
and so she said,
"How will that help it, Raymond?"
"Why, then it will cut a wide kerf," said Raymond, "and so the back will
follow in easily."
She did not understand from this much better than she did before; but,
as _she_ had great confidence in Raymond, she concluded to let him
manage in his own way. She accordingly told him that he might fix the
saw, and take Caleb with him.
So Raymond went out into the barn, and took down the saw from a nail.
The teeth looked bright and sharp.
"Why, Raymond, how sharp it looks. And the teeth are of different shape
from what they were before."
"Yes," said Raymond, "I have made a cutting saw of it."
"A cutting saw?" said Caleb. "Can you _cut_ with a saw? I thought they
always _sawed_ with a saw."
"I mean, cut across the grain," said Raymond, smiling. "When a saw is
filed so as to saw _along_ the board, then it is called a _splitting_
saw; but when it is to saw _across_ the board, then I call it a
_cutting_ saw."
Caleb looked carefully at the teeth, so as to see how the teeth of a
cutting saw were shaped. And while he looked on, he observed that
Raymond had a little instrument in his hand, and he took hold of the
first tooth of the saw with it, and bent it over a little to one side,
and then he took hold of the next one, and bent it over to the other
side; and so he went on, bending them alternately to the right and left,
until he passed along from one end of the saw to the other.
"There," said he, "that is set pretty rank."
"What do you mean by that?" said Caleb, as he followed Raymond out of
the barn.
"Why, the teeth are set off, a good way, each side, and it will cut a
good wide kerf; and so your saw will run easy."
By this time they had reached the cart. Raymond took hold of Caleb under
the arms, and jumped him up into the cart behind, and then handed him
his saw. Then he put in an axe and an iron bar for himself, and one or
two spare chains; and then he went to open the great gate. Just at this
moment, Mary Anna appeared at the window, and said,
"Caleb, are you going into the woods?"
"Yes," said Caleb.
"Then, if you see any good, smooth birch bark, won't you bring me home
some!"
"I will," said Caleb; and then Raymond opened the gate, and started the
oxen on. Caleb stood up in front, holding on by a stake, and wondering
all the while what Raymond could mean by a _kerf_.
One would think that he might have known by the connection in which
Raymond used it,--for he said that he had bent the teeth out so as to
make the saw cut a good wide _kerf_, and so he might have supposed that
the kerf was the cut in the wood which a saw makes in going in. The
reason why boys find it so difficult to saw, is because the teeth do not
generally spread very much, and so the kerf is narrow. Still, the back
of the saw would run in it well enough, without sticking, if they were
to saw perfectly straight. But they generally make the saw twist or wind
a little, and then the back of the saw rubs upon one side or the other;
and sticks. Now, Raymond's plan was to make the teeth set off, each
side, so far as to make the kerf very wide, and then he thought that
Caleb would be able to make it go, especially as the saw was very
narrow.
Raymond got into the cart, and took his seat upon a board which passed
across from side to side, and they rode along.
They reached, at length, a place where there was a small cart path
leading off from the main road into the woods. Raymond turned off into
this path; but it was so narrow that both he and Caleb had sometimes to
lean away to one side or the other to avoid the bushes. At length he
stopped and unfastened the oxen from the tongue. When all was right he
started the oxen on before him, Caleb trotting on behind with his saw in
his hand.
Presently they struck off from the cart path directly into the woods,
and in a few minutes came to the place where the fence was to be made.
CHAPTER IX.
THE FIRE.
Raymond let the cattle browse about, while he went to work, cutting down
some small, but yet pretty tall and bushy trees. He then brought up the
team, and hooked a long chain into the ring which hung down from the
middle of the yoke, upon the under side. The end of the chain trailed
upon the ground, as the oxen came along, and Caleb was very much
interested to see how they would trample along, any where, among the
rocks, roots, mire, logs, bushes, stumps, and, in fact, over and through
almost any thing, chewing their cud all the time, patient and
unconcerned. When they were brought up near to one of the trees that had
been cut down, Raymond would hook the chain around the butt end of it,
and then, at his command, they would drag it out of its place in the
line of the fence. After looking on for some time, Caleb began to think
that he would go to work; and he went to a little tree, with a stem
about as big round as his arm, and began to saw away upon it. He found
that the saw would run very well indeed; and in a short time, he got the
tree off, and then undertook to drag it to the fence.
Raymond was always a very silent man; he seldom spoke, unless to answer
a question; and while Caleb had been watching him, when he first began
to work, instead of talking with Caleb, as Caleb would have desired, he
was all the time singing,
"Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Si, Do."
The truth was, that Raymond had just begun to go to a singing school,
and he was taking this opportunity to rise and fall the notes, as he
called it. When Caleb asked him any question about his work, he would
just answer it in a few words, and then, a minute after, begin again
with his '_Do_, _Re_, _Mi_,' and all the rest.
Caleb became tired of this singing; and when, at length, his tree got
wedged fast, so that he could not move it any farther, he sat down
discouraged upon a log, and looked anxiously towards Raymond, as if he
wished that he would come and help him.
Raymond had just hooked his chain to another tree, and taking up his
goad stick, called out,
"Ha', Star! ha', Lion!" and then as his oxen started on, he followed
them with his--
"Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Si, Do."
"Dear me!" said Caleb, with a deep sigh.
"Do, Si, La, Sol, Fa, Mi, Re, Do," sang Raymond, coming down the scale.
Caleb got up, and walked along towards Raymond a little way, and called
out,
"Raymond?"
"What?" said Raymond.
"When do you think you shall be done singing that tune?"
Raymond smiled, and asked "Why?"
"Why," said Caleb, in rather a timid voice, "I don't think it is a very
pretty tune."
"Don't you?" said Raymond. "Well, I don't admire it much myself."
"Then what do you sing it so much, for, Raymond?"
"O, that's my lesson," said Raymond, "but how does your saw do, Caleb?"
"Very well; only I can't get my tree along."
"Where do you want to get it?"
"O, out to the fence," said Caleb.
"You had better not try to make a fence. You had better build a fire."
"But I have not got any fire to light it with?"
"Yes," said Raymond, "I brought a tinder-box, because I thought you
would want a fire; and I forgot to give it to you."
So Raymond pointed to a place among some rocks off at a little distance
before him, near the line in which he was coming along with his fence,
and advised Caleb to make a fire there. Caleb liked this plan very much.
He said he would play "camp out," and so build a camp, and have a fire
before the camp. Raymond told him that so soon as he should get his pile
of sticks ready, he would come and strike fire for him.
Caleb went to the place and began to work. He cut down bushes, and
placed them up against the rocks, in such a manner as to make a little
hut which he should get into. He then collected a pile of sticks in
front of it. First, he picked up all the dry sticks he could find near,
and then he sawed off branches from the old dead trees which were lying
around in the forest.
In an hour, with Raymond's help in lighting his fire, Caleb had a very
good camp. His hut was quite a comfortable one, with a blazing fire
near it, and three large apples roasting before the fire. By and by,
Caleb saw Raymond coming towards him, with the bag over his arm. He
opened it, and took out one parcel after another, and then laying the
mouth of the bag down upon the ground, he took hold of the bottom of it,
and raised it in the air; while Caleb watched to see what was coming
out. It proved to be potatoes; and Raymond told Caleb he might roast
them in his fire.
"Cover them up well with hot ashes and coals, Caleb, and then build a
fire upon the top."
So Caleb dug out the bottom of his fire with a pole;--for the fire had
pretty much burnt down to ashes;--and he put the potatoes in. There were
five of them. Raymond helped him to cover them up, and then he put more
sticks upon the top. When that was done, and just as he was going back
to his work, Raymond said, "See there, Caleb;--there is a fine chimney
for you to burn out."
Caleb looked where Raymond pointed, and saw a very tall and large hollow
tree, or rather trunk of a tree,--for the top had long since decayed and
dropped away. There it stood, desolate, with a great hole in the side
near the bottom, and the bark hanging loosely about it all the way up to
the top. The boys always liked to find such hollow trees in the woods,
to build fires in; they called it "burning out a chimney."
"Now," said Raymond, "all you have got to do is to go to work while your
potatoes are roasting, and fill up that old hollow tree at the bottom
with sticks and brush, and old pieces of bark. Pack them in close; then,
when I come to dinner, I will help you to light it."
Raymond then went back to the fence, and Caleb began his work as Raymond
had directed. He got all the dried branches that he could find, and
carried them to the foot of the tree. Others he sawed; and he packed
all the pieces in the hollow of the tree as closely as he could.
By this time Caleb saw Raymond coming along towards the camp, and he
went there to meet him. They raked open the fire, and took out the
potatoes. Raymond turned a stone upon its edge, towards the fire, so as
to keep them warm. He also cut some square pieces of birch bark from a
neighbouring tree, for plates, and gave one to Caleb, and took one
himself, and then they both sat down upon a smooth log which Raymond
drew up to the fire, and took their birch bark plates in their lap.
Raymond took a little paper of salt out of his pocket, and poured the
salt out upon another square piece of birch bark, which he placed upon a
stone between himself and Caleb, so that both could reach it.
"What shall I do for a spoon?" said Caleb.
"O, you don't need a spoon," said Raymond; and he took up a potatoe
himself, broke it in two, sprinkled some salt upon it, and began to eat
it as a boy would eat an apple.
"O, I can't eat my potatoes so," said Caleb.
"Why not," said Raymond, putting a little more salt upon his own
potatoe.
"It is too hot," said Caleb.
"Then you must wait until it cools."
"But I want a spoon very much," said Caleb.
"Well," said Raymond, "I will make you one."
So Raymond took out his knife and cut off a piece from a dry pine
branch, which lay near him. He split this so as to get a flat piece out
of it, which he fashioned into a rude sort of spoon, that answered
Caleb's purpose very well. But before Caleb had much more than begun his
dinner, Raymond had finished his, and, rising, said that he must go back
to his work.
"But, first, I will set your chimney a-fire," said he.
"No," said Caleb, "I want you to let me kindle it."
"You can't."
"Yes, I can," said Caleb; "I can get some birch bark."
"Very well; only if I go away to my work now, you must not come and
trouble me to come back again, because you can't get the fire a-going."
"No," said Caleb, "I won't."
So Raymond went back to his work, and Caleb finished his dinner.
At length, however, his potatoes and bread and butter were all gone, and
his apple cores he had pretty thoroughly scraped with his wooden spoon,
and thrown into the fire. So he got up from his seat, and prepared to
light his chimney. He took his plate for a slow match. It was pretty
large and stiff, and he thought it would burn long enough for him to
carry it from the fire to his chimney. He accordingly took hold of it
by one corner, and held the other corner into the flame, which was
curling up from a brand by the side of his fire.
But before the birch bark took fire, the flame of the brand went out,
and then Caleb looked around for another. The fire had, however, burnt
nearly down, so as to leave a great bed of embers, with the brands all
around it, the burnt ends pointing inwards, Caleb pushed some of these
into the fire, and soon made a blaze again, and then once more attempted
to set the corner of his plate on fire.
He succeeded. The corner began to blaze and curl, and Caleb rose and
moved along carefully, lest the wind should blow it out. This precaution
was, however, scarcely necessary, for the little wind that his motion
occasioned, only fanned the flame the more, and the part which was on
fire curled round upon that which was not, and thus formed a round and
solid mass, which burned fiercely.
Caleb walked along, the bark blazing higher and higher, and curling in
upon itself more and more, until, at length, he began to be afraid it
would reach his fingers before he could get to his chimney. He walked
faster and faster, and presently began to run. This fanned the fire the
more, until, just as he came within a few steps of his chimney, the
curling bark reached his fingers, and he tripped over a great root at
the very instant when he was dropping the piece of bark from his hands.
He came down upon all-fours, and the bark which was now a compact roll,
rolled down a little slope, crackling and blazing by the way.
Caleb got up and looked at the blazing mass a minute or two, in despair;
but finding that it kept on burning, his eye suddenly brightened, and he
said aloud,
"I'll poke it up."
So he looked around for a stick. He readily found one, and began to push
the blazing roll up the acclivity; but as fast as he pushed it up, it
rolled down again, and all his efforts were consequently vain.
"O dear me!" said Caleb, at length throwing down his stick, "what
_shall_ I do?"
In the meantime the roll continued blazing, and Caleb, looking at it
steadily, observed that it was hollow.
"Ah," said he, "I'll _stick_ him."
So he took up his stick again, and tried to thrust the end of the stick
_into_ the roll. After one or two ineffectual attempts, he succeeded,
though by this time the bark was pretty well burnt through, and was all
ready to fall to pieces. He, however, succeeded in raising it into the
air, upon the end of his pole; but before he got it to the hollow tree,
it dropped off again in several blazing fragments, which continued to
burn a moment upon the ground, and then went out entirely.
Caleb then went to Raymond, and told him that he could not make his fire
burn.
"O you must not come to me, youngster; you promised not to trouble me
with it," said Raymond, as he hooked the chain around the butt-end of
another tree.
"But I thought I could make it burn."
"Well, what's the matter with it? But stand back, for I am going to
start this tree along."
"Why the bark all curls up and burns my hand," said Caleb, retreating at
the same time out of the way of the top of Raymond's tree.
The oxen started along, dragging the tree, and Caleb followed, trying to
get an opportunity to speak once more to Raymond. Raymond, however, went
calling aloud to his oxen, and directing them here and there with his
"Gee, Star," and his "Ha, Lion," and his "Wo up, Whoa".
At length, however, he had the tree in its place, and seeing Caleb
standing at a little distance patiently, he asked him again,
"What do you say is the matter with your fire, Caleb?"
"Why, the birch bark curls up and burns me: I wish you would come and
set it a-fire."
"No," said Raymond, walking along by the side of his oxen; "I must not
leave my work to help you play; but I will tell you three ways to carry
the fire, and you can manage it in one or the other of them."
So saying, he took out his knife, and cut down a small, slender maple,
which was growing near him, and trimmed off the top and the few little
branches which were growing near the top. It made a slender pole about
five feet long, with smooth but freckled bark, from end to end. He then
made a little split in one end.
"There, Caleb," said he, "take that, and stick a piece of birch bark in
the split end; then you can carry it, and let it curl as much as it
pleases. Or, if that fails, put a large piece of birch bark directly
upon the fire. Then, as soon as it begins to burn, it will begin to
curl, and then you must put the end of the stick down to it, in such a
manner that the bark will curl over and grasp it, and then you can take
it up and carry the roll upon the end of your pole."
"Very well," said Caleb, "there are two ways."
"There are two ways," repeated Raymond.
"Now, if both these fail, you must put on a good many fresh sticks upon
the fire, with one end of each of them out. Then, as soon as the ends
which are in the fire have got burnt through, take up two of them by the
ends that were out of the fire and lay them down at the foot of the
hollow tree, close to the wood you have got together there. Then come
back and get two more brands, and lay them down in the same way, and be
careful to have the burnt ends all together. So you must keep going back
and forth, until you find that the brands are beginning to burn up
freely in the new place."
Caleb took the maple pole and went back to his fire. He tore the
salt-cellar in two, and this made two very good small strips of bark.
He pulled open the split end of his pole, and carefully inserted one of
them, and then, holding it over a little flame which was rising from a
burning brand, he set it on fire. The bark was soon in a blaze, and it
writhed and curled as if it were struggling to get away; but it only
clung to the end of the pole more closely; and Caleb, much pleased at
the success of his experiment, waved it in the air, and shouted to
Raymond to look and see.
He then walked slowly along, stopping every moment to wave his great
flambeau, and shout; and so, when at last he reached the hollow tree,
the bark was nearly burnt out, and the fragments were beginning to fall
off from the end of the pole. He then thrust it hastily under the heap
of fuel, which had been collected in the tree; but it was too late. It
flickered and smoked a minute or two, and finally went out altogether.
"I don't care," said Caleb to himself, "for I have got the other half
of the salt-cellar;" and he went back for that. It happened unluckily,
however, this time, that, in pulling open the cleft which Raymond had
made in his maple pole, he pulled too hard, and split one side off. Here
was at once an end to all attempts to communicate fire to his chimney by
this method. So, after refitting the split part of his stick to its
place, once or twice, and finding that the idea of uniting it again was
entirely out of the question, he threw the broken piece away, and said
to himself that he must try Raymond's second plan.
He accordingly took the other large piece of bark, which was the one
which Raymond had used for his plate, and laid it upon the fire. As soon
as it began to curl, he laid the end of the stick close to it, on the
side towards which it seemed to be bending,--and in such a way that it
curled over upon it, and soon clasped it tight, as Raymond had predicted
that it would do. He then raised it in the air, and set out to run with
it, so that it should not burn out before he reached the place. But he
ought not to have run. It would have been far safer and better to have
walked along carefully and slowly; for as he ran on, jumping over logs
and stones, and scrambling up and down the hummocks, the top of the
pole, with the blazing roll of bark, was jerked violently about in the
air, until, at length, as he was wheeling around a tree, he accidentally
held the top of the pole so far that it wheeled round through the air
very swiftly, and threw the birch bark off by the centrifugal force: and
away it went, rolling along upon the ground.
The centrifugal force is that which makes any thing fly off when it is
whirled round and round.
Caleb did not understand this very well, but he was surprised to see his
roll flying off in that manner. He immediately took two sticks, and
tried to take up the roll with them, as one would with a pair of tongs;
but he could not hold it with them.
"Well, then," said he, "I must try the third way."
So he began to gather sticks, and put the ends of them upon the fire.
When they began to burn, he took up one; but as soon as he got it off
the fire, it began to go out, and he said that he knew that way to
kindle a fire never would do. In fact, he began to get out of patience.
He threw down the stick, and went off again after Raymond.
"Raymond," said he, "I _cannot_ make my fire burn; and I wish you would
come and kindle it for me."
"Have you tried the ways I told you about?"
"Yes," said Caleb.
"Have you tried all of them faithfully?"
"All but the last," said Caleb, "and I know that won't do."
"You must try them all, faithfully, or else I can't come." So saying,
Raymond went on with his work.
Caleb went back a good deal out of humour with himself, and saying that
he wished Raymond was not so cross. He took up two of the sticks, which
were now pretty well on fire, and carried them along, swinging them by
the way, to make fiery rings and serpents in the air. When he reached
the chimney, he threw them down carelessly, and stood watching them, to
see if they were going to burn. Instead, however, of setting the other
wood on fire, they only grew dimmer and dimmer themselves; and he said
to himself, "I knew they would not burn." Then he sat down upon a log,
in a sad state of fretfulness and dissatisfaction.
However, after waiting a few minutes, longer, he went back to the fire,
determined to bring all the brands there were, and put them down, though
he knew, he said, that they would not burn. He was going to do it, so
that then he could go and tell Raymond that he had tried all his plans,
and that now he must come, and light the fire himself.
So he walked along, back and forth bringing the brands, and laying them
down together near the foot of the heap of fuel in the tree. But before
he had brought them all, he found that they began to brighten up a
little, and at length they broke out into a little flame. He stood and
watched it a few minutes. It blazed up higher and higher. He then put on
some more wood which was near. The flame crept up between these sticks,
and soon began to snap and crackle among the brush in the tree. Caleb
stepped back, and watched the flame a moment as it flashed up higher and
higher, and then clapped his hands, jumped up on a log, and shouted out,
"Raymond, it's a-burning, its a-burning."
CHAPTER X.
THE CAPTIVE.
When Raymond heard Caleb's voice calling to him so loudly, he paused a
moment from his work, and seeing that the fire had actually taken, in
earnest, he told Caleb that he must go back a little way, for by-and-bye
the tree would fall. So Caleb went back to some distance, and asked
Raymond if that was far enough. Raymond said it was, and Raymond then
sat down upon a log, with his maple pole in his hand, to watch the
progress of the fire.
A dense smoke soon began to pour out of the top of the chimney. The fire
roared up through the hollow, and it caught outside too, under the bark,
and soon enveloped the whole tree in smoke, sparks, and flame. Large
pieces of the blazing bark detached themselves, from time to time, from
the side of the tree, and came down, crackling and sparkling to the
ground; and the opening below where Caleb had crammed in his fuel, soon
glowed like the mouth of a furnace.
Near the top of the tree was an old branch, or rather the stump of an
old branch, decayed and blackened, reaching out a little way, like an
arm. This was soon enveloped in smoke; and, as Caleb was watching it, as
it appeared and disappeared in the wreaths, he thought he saw something
move. He looked again, intently. It was a squirrel,--half suffocated in
the smoke, and struggling to hold on. Caleb immediately called out to
Raymond as loud as he could call,
"Raymond, Raymond, come here, quick: here is a poor squirrel burning
up."
Raymond dropped his axe, and ran,--bounding over the logs, and hummocks;
but before he reached the place, the squirrel, unable to hold on any
longer, and half stifled with the smoke and scorching heat, dropped from
his hold to the ground. Raymond came up at the moment, and seized him;
he brought him to where Caleb was sitting,--Caleb himself eagerly coming
forward to see.
"Is it dead?" said Caleb.
"Pretty much," said Raymond. The squirrel lay gasping helplessly in
Raymond's hands. "Here, put him in my cap," said Caleb; "that will make
a good bed for him, and perhaps he will come to life again."
Raymond examined him pretty carefully, and he did not seem to be burnt.
He said he thought he must have been suffocated by breathing the smoke
and hot air. Raymond then went back to his work, and Caleb sat upon the
log, watching alternately the squirrel and the burning tree.
In a few minutes a great flame flashed out at the top of the tree: and
finally, after about half an hour, the whole trunk, being all in a
blaze, from top to bottom, began slowly to bend and bend over.
"Raymond," shouted Caleb,--"Raymond, look;--it is going to fall!"
The tall trunk moved at first slowly, but soon more and more rapidly,
and finally came down to the ground with a crash.
The crash startled the little squirrel, so that he almost regained his
feet; and Caleb was afraid that he was going to run away. But he laid
over again upon his side, and was soon quiet again as before.
Not long after this, Raymond finished his work, and prepared to go home.
He proposed to Caleb that they should leave the squirrel there, upon the
log; but Caleb was very desirous to carry him home, because, he said, he
could tame him, and give him to Mary Anna. So Raymond asked how they
should contrive to carry him. Caleb wanted to carry him home in his cap;
but Raymond said that he would take cold by riding home bare-headed.
"However," said Raymond, "Perhaps I can contrive something." So he went
after another piece of birch bark from the tree, about six inches wide,
and two feet long, and rolled it over, bringing the two ends together,
so as to make a sort of round box,--only it was without top or bottom.
To keep it in shape he tied a string round it.
"But how are you going to keep him in?" asked Caleb.
Raymond said nothing, but he took a handkerchief out of his jacket
pocket, and spread it out upon the ground, and put his birch bark box
upon it. He then laid the squirrel gently in upon the handkerchief,
which thus served for a bottom. Next he drew the corners of the
handkerchief up over the top, and tied the opposite pairs of ends
together. Thus the handkerchief served for top, bottom, and handle.
They soon reached the place where they had left the cart; they got into
it and rode on. Caleb held the squirrel in his lap, and of course, as
there was nothing but the thin handkerchief for a bottom to the box,
Caleb felt the weight of the squirrel, pressing soft and warm upon his
knees. The squirrel lay very still until they got very near home, and
then Caleb began to feel a creeping sensation, as if he was beginning to
move. Caleb was highly delighted to perceive these signs of returning
life; he held his knees perfectly still, that he might not disturb him,
crying out, however, to Raymond,
"He's moving, Raymond; he's moving, he's moving."
CHAPTER XI.
MARY ANNA.
Caleb and Raymond reached home about the middle of the afternoon: and
while Raymond went into the yard to leave the cart and turn out the
cattle, Caleb pressed eagerly into the house, to shew his prize. Mary
Anna, or Marianne, as they generally called her, came to meet him to see
what he had got in his hand.
"Is that my birch bark?" said she.
"There! I forgot your birch bark," said Caleb.--"But I have got
something here a great deal better." And so saying he put his
handkerchief down, and began very eagerly to untie the knots.
When he had got two of the ends untied, and was at work upon the other
two, out leaped the squirrel, and ran across the room. Mary Anna,
startled by the sudden appearance of the animal, ran off to the door,
and Caleb called out in great distress, "O dear! O dear! What shall I
do? He'll get away. Shut the door, Mary Anna,--shut the door, quick!
call Raymond; call Raymond."
Mary Anna, at first, retreated outside of the door, and stood there a
moment, peeping in. Finding, however, that the squirrel remained very
quiet in a corner of the room, she returned softly, and went round, and
shut all the doors and windows, and then Caleb went and called Raymond.
The squirrel had by no means yet got over his accident, and he allowed
himself to be easily retaken and secured. Raymond contrived to fasten
him into a box, so as to keep him safe, until next morning; and by that
time they thought, if he should then seem likely to get well, they could
determine what it was best to do with him.
While Caleb was coming home, there had been a strange mixture of
delight and uneasiness in his feelings. The delight was occasioned by
the possession of the squirrel. That was obvious enough. The uneasiness
he did not think about very distinctly, and did not notice what the
cause of it was. Boys very often feel a sort of uneasiness of
mind,--they do not know exactly how or why,--and they have this feeling
mingling sometimes strangely with their very enjoyment, in their hours
of gaiety and glee. Now the real reason of this unquiet state of mind,
in Caleb's case, was that his conscience had been disturbed by his
feelings of vexation and impatience, towards Raymond, for not leaving
his work, to come and kindle his fire. He had not _yielded_ to these
feelings. He had restrained them, and had stood still, and spoken
respectfully to Raymond, all the time. In fact, he was hardly aware that
he had done any thing wrong, at all. But still, for a moment, selfish
passions had had possession of his heart, and whenever they get
possession, even if they are kept in subjection, so as not to lead to
any bad actions or words, and even if they are soon driven away by new
thoughts, as Caleb's were, by the sight of his blazing fire,--still,
they always leave more or less of misery behind.
So Caleb, as he was going home, had his heart filled with delight at the
thoughts of the squirrel resting warmly in his lap; and he was also a
prey, in some degree, to a gnawing uneasiness, which he could not
understand, but which was really caused by a sting which sin had left
there.
And yet Caleb came home with an idea that he had been a very good boy.
So, after they had got tired of looking at the squirrel, and Mary Anna
had taken her seat at her work by the window, with her little work-table
before her, Caleb came up to her, and kneeling upon her cricket, and
putting his arms in her lap, he said,
"Well, Aunt Marianne, I have been a good boy all day to-day, and so I
want you to make me a picture-book, this evening."
Marianne had a way of making picture-books that pleased children very
much. The way was this: she used to save all the old, worn-out picture
books, and loose pictures, she could find, and put them carefully in one
of her drawers, up stairs. Then she would make a small blank book, of
white paper, and sew it through the back. Then she would cut out
pictures enough from her old stores to fill the book, leaving the
colours blank, because they were to be covered with some pretty-coloured
paper, for a title. Then she would paste the pictures in. And here, when
Mary Anna first began to make such books, an unexpected difficulty
arose. For, when paper is wet, it swells; and then, when it dries again,
though it shrinks a little, and does not shrink back quite into its
original dimensions,--that is, quite to the length and breadth that it
had at first. Now, when Mary Anna pasted her pictures in the pages of
the book, that part of the leaf which was under the picture was wet by
the paste, and so it swelled, while the other part remained dry. And
when the picture came to dry, it did not shrink quite back again. It
remained swelled a little; and this caused the page to look warped or
puckered, so that the leaves did not lie smooth together.
At length she found out a way to remedy this difficulty entirely; and
this was, to wet the whole of the leaf, as well as that part that the
picture was pasted to, and that made it all swell alike. The way she
managed the operation was this:
After sewing the book, she would cut out a piece of morocco paper, or
blue paper, or gilt paper, and sometimes a piece of morocco itself, just
the size of the book when open, for the cover. Then, after spreading out
a large newspaper upon the table, so as to keep the table clean, she
would lay down the cover with the handsome side down, and then spread
the paste over the other side, very carefully, with a brush which she
made from the end of a quill. Then she would put the back edge of the
book down upon this cover, and lay it over, first on one side, and then
on the other, and pat it down well with a towel; and that would make the
cover stick to the outside leaves of the book, and cover up and hide the
great stitches in the back, by which the leaves had been sewed together.
Then she would take the book before her, and begin at the beginning.
First, she would lay down the cover and put upon it a piece of tin, made
to fill papers with, to keep it down smooth. Then she would lay the next
leaf down upon the tin. The leaf was to have the title-page upon it, and
so there were to be no pictures pasted to it. She would, therefore, lay
this down upon the tin, and then, with one of her large paint brushes,
dipped in the water, she would wet it all over, patting it afterwards
with a towel, to take up all the superfluous water. Then she would take
up the tin, and put the title-leaf down upon the cover, and put the tin
over it to keep it down smooth. The next leaf would be for pictures,
and, after pasting pictures upon it, on both sides, she would lay it
down upon the tin, and with her brush she would wet all those parts
which had not been pasted. Then patting it with a dry towel, or soft
cloth, to dry it as much as possible, she would put it under the tin. In
this way she would go on regularly, through the book, pasting pictures
upon all the pages, and wetting with her brush all those parts of the
paper which had not been wet by the paste, and putting the tin over the
leaves as fast as she finished them, to keep them all smooth. Then, when
she had got through, she would put the whole away between two boards, to
dry; the weight of the paper board being sufficient to keep the leaves
all smooth. The next morning when she came to look at her book, she
generally found it nearly dry; and then she would put some heavy weight
upon the upper board, to press it harder. When it was perfectly dry, she
took out the book, and pared off the edges, all around, with a sharp
knife and a rule. Then she would get her paint-box, and colour all the
pictures beautifully, and make borders about them, in bright colours,
and print a handsome title-page with her pen, and write the name of the
boy in it whom she meant to give it to.
So Caleb, when he came and told Mary Anna, what a good boy he had been,
meant to have her make such a book as this.
"But sometimes boys are mistaken in thinking they have been good boys. I
should want to ask Raymond."
"He would say so, I know," said Caleb; "for I certainly did not trouble
him at all, all the day."
"Suppose you run and ask him."
"Well," said Caleb; and away he ran.
"But stop," said Mary Anna; "you must not ask him by a leading
question."
"What is that?" said Caleb.
"Don't you know?" said Mary Anna.
"No," said Caleb.
"O, that is very important for boys to know; for they very often ask
leading questions, when they ought not to. Now, if you go and say,
'Raymond, haven't I been a good boy to-day?' that way of asking the
question shews that you want him to say, 'Yes, you have.' It is called a
leading question, because it leads Raymond to answer in a particular
way. Now, if I should go and ask him thus, '_Has_ Caleb been a good boy
to-day?' with the emphasis on _has_, it would be a leading question the
other way. It would sound as if I wanted him to say you had not been a
good boy."
"How must I ask him, then?" said Caleb.
"Why you can say, 'Raymond, Aunt Marianne wants to know what sort of a
boy I have been to-day,' that way of putting the question would not lead
him one way or the other."
"Why, he might know," said Caleb, "that I should want him to say I have
been good."
"Yes, but not from the form of the question. The _question_ would not
lead him."
While Mary Anna was saying this, Caleb was standing with his hand upon
the latch of the door, ready to go; and when she had finished what she
was saying, he started off to find Raymond.
As he passed across the yard, he heard the sound of voices before the
house. It was Dwight and David coming home from school. In a minute they
appeared in view, by the great elm. Dwight had a long slender pole in
his hands, which he was waving in the air, and David had a small piece
of wood, and a knife. He sat down under the elm, and began to shave the
wood with the knife.
Caleb ran to tell them about his squirrel; but before he got there,
Dwight, seeing him, began to wave his pole in the air, and shout, and
then said, "See what a noble flag-staff we have got."
"Is that your flag-staff?" said Caleb.
"Yes. John Davis gave it to us. He got it out of his father's shop. We
are going to set it up out at the end of our mole."
"Yes," said David, "and I am going to make a truck on the top, to haul
up the flag by. Marianne is going to make us a flag."
"A truck?" said Caleb, enquiringly.
"Yes," said David, "a little wheel to put a string over to hoist it by."
Caleb looked upon the pole, and upon David's work, for a minute in
silence, and then said,
"I have got something better than a flag-staff."
"What?" asked Dwight.
"A squirrel."
"A squirrel!" said David in surprise.
"Yes," said Caleb, "a grey squirrel."
"Where is he?" said David, looking up eagerly, from his work.
"In the back-room," said Caleb. "Raymond put him in a box.--Come, and I
will shew him to you."
Down went Dwight's pole, in a moment; David, too, shut his knife, and
put it in his pocket, and off they went to see the squirrel.
The little nut-cracker was frightened at seeing so many eyes peeping in
upon him from every crevice and opening in his box. He looked much
brighter and better than he did when he was put into the box, and Caleb
thought he would get entirely well.
"O, I wish I had him," said Dwight.
"I am going to keep him in a cage," said Caleb.
"I wish he was mine," said Dwight. "Why can't you give him to me,
Caleb?"
"O, no," said Caleb, "I want to keep him."
"You don't know how to take care of him," said Dwight. "Come, you give
him to me, and I will give you my flag-staff."
"No," said Caleb, "I don't want any flag-staff. I want to keep the
squirrel."
"See, see," said David, "he is creeping along."
"O," said Dwight, "I _wish_ he was mine."
"There, he is curling up in the corner."
"Would you give him to me for my top?" said Dwight, very eagerly.
"He's going to eat that kernel of corn," said David.
"I should think you might give him to me," said Dwight, pettishly, "for
that top; the top is worth a great deal the most."
After a few minutes, Dwight finding that there was no prospect of
inducing Caleb to sell him the squirrel, desisted from his attempts; and
then, after a moment's pause, he said,
"I don't think it is your squirrel, after all, Caleb."
"Whose is it then?"
"Raymond's. He saved it. The poor thing would have been burnt up, if he
had not run and caught it up."
"No, he wouldn't," said Caleb, "I was just going to get him myself."
Dwight, having decided in his own mind that the squirrel was Raymond's,
ran off to find Raymond, with the design of asking him to give the
squirrel to him. But Raymond said the squirrel was Caleb's.
"But you caught him," said Dwight.
"Yes, but I caught him for Caleb, not for myself."
"And you fixed the box to bring him home in," said Dwight.
"I know it, but I only did it to please Caleb. The squirrel is his
altogether."
So Dwight had to return disappointed.
When Caleb came in, Mary Anna was putting up her work, and arranging her
things neatly in her drawer.
"Well, Caleb," said she, "and what did Raymond say?"
"O, he said it was mine," replied Caleb.
"What was yours?" said Mary Anna.
"The squirrel."
"The squirrel!" repeated Mary Anna; "you went to ask him what sort of a
boy you had been."
"O!" said Caleb--"there!--I forgot all about that. I'll run and ask him
now."
"No,--stop," said Mary Anna; "it is time for supper now; and besides, I
will take your word for it; you are a pretty honest boy. You say you was
a pleasant boy all day."
"Yes," said Caleb, "I was." He had forgotten his _feelings_ of
ill-humour, when Raymond would not come and light his fire.
"And you think I ought to make you a picture book for a reward."
"Yes," said Caleb, "I wish you would."
"But I cannot tell how pleasant in mind you have been all day, unless I
know what you have had to try you."
"To try me?" asked Caleb.
"Yes, I want to know what troubles, or difficulties, or disappointments
you had to bear, and did bear patiently and pleasantly."
Caleb looked a little perplexed.
"You know, Caleb," she continued, "there is no merit in being pleasant
unless things go wrong."
"Isn't there?" said Caleb.
"Why, no," said Mary Anna, as she shut up her work-table drawer, "is
there?"
"Why no," said Caleb, smiling; for he could not help smiling, while yet
he was a little disappointed at finding all his fancied goodness melted
away.
"Now, did you have a good time in the woods to-day?"
"Yes," said Caleb.
"Did Raymond take good care of you?"
"Yes," said he.
"And did you have a good dinner?"
"Yes; and a noble great fire," said Caleb.
"You little rogue, then!" said Mary Anna, laughing, and stabbing at his
sides with her finger; "here you have been having a beautiful time in
the woods, amusing yourself all day, and had every thing to please you;
and now you come to me to pay you for not having been impatient and
fretful! You little rogue!"
Caleb turned, and ran laughing away, Mary Anna after him, and pointing
at him with her finger. Caleb made his escape into the front entry, and
hid behind the door. Mary Anna pretended to have lost sight of him, and
not to know where he was; and she went about, saying,
"Where is that little rogue? He came to get away one of my picture-books
for nothing. He wanted to be paid for bearing happiness patiently. The
rogue! I'll pinch him if I can only find him."
So saying, Mary Anna went and sat down to supper, and soon after Caleb
came and took his seat too; Mary Anna roguishly shaking her finger at
him all the time. He had to hold his hand over his mouth to keep from
laughing aloud.
Perhaps some of the readers of this book may smile at Caleb's idea of
his merit in having been a pleasant boy all day, when he felt vexed and
unsubmissive in the only case which brought him any trial; but it is so
with almost all children, and some grown persons too. A great deal of
the goodness upon which we all pride ourselves, is only the quiescence
of bad propensities in the absence of temptation and trial.
CHAPTER XII.
THE WALK.
Outside of the window in Madam Rachel's bedroom, where the children used
to sit and talk with her just before going to bed, there was a little
platform, with a plain roof over it, supported by small square posts,
altogether forming a sort of portico. Below this window there were two
doors, opening from the middle out each way, so that when the window was
raised, and the doors were opened, a person could walk in and out. There
were seats in the portico, and there was a wild grape-vine growing upon
a plain trellis, on each side. In front of the portico was one of the
broad walks of the garden, for on this side the garden extended up to
the house. At least there was no fence between, though there was a
small plot of green grass next to the house; and next to that came the
trees and flowers.
One pleasant evening Dwight and Caleb were playing on this grass,
waiting for Madam Rachel to come and call them in to the sofa. It was
about eight o'clock, but it was not dark. The western sky still looked
bright; for though the sun had gone down, so that it could no longer
shine upon the trees and houses, it still shone upon the clouds and
atmosphere above, and made them look bright.
Presently Madam Rachel came, and stood at the window.
"Where's David?" said she.
"Out in the garden," said Dwight, "and mother," he continued, "I wish
you would walk in the garden to-night."
At first, Madam Rachel said she thought she could not very well that
evening, for she had a difficult text to talk about; but the boys
promised to walk along quietly, and to be very sober and attentive; and
so she went and put on her garden bonnet, and came out.
The garden was not large, it extended back to some high rocky
precipices, where the boys used sometimes to climb up for play.
"I am afraid," said Madam Rachel, as she sauntered along the walk, the
children around her, "that you will not like the verse that I am going
to talk with you about this evening, very well, when you first hear it."
"What is it mother?" said Dwight.
"'And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.'"
"What does _quickened_ mean?" asked David.
"Made alive, or brought to life. _Quick_ means _alive_, sometimes; as
for instance, the quick and the dead, means the living and the dead. And
so we say, 'cut to the quick,' that is, cut to the living flesh, where
it can feel."
"Once I read in a fable," said David, "of a horse being stung to the
quick."
"What, by a hornet?" said Dwight.
"No," said David, "by something the ass said."
"O, yes," said Madam Rachel, "that means it hurt his feelings. If a bee
should sting any body so that the sting should only go into the skin, it
would not hurt much; but if it should go in deep, so as to give great
pain, we should say it stung to the quick, that is, to the part which
has life and feeling. So I suppose that something that the ass said,
hurt the horse's feelings."
"What was it, David, that the ass said?" asked Dwight.
"Why--he said, I believe that the horse was proud, or something like
that."
"No matter about that fable now," said their mother; "you understand the
meaning of the verse. It was written to good men; it says that God gave
them life and feeling, when they _were_ dead in trespasses and sins. But
I must first tell you what _dead_ means."
"O, we know what '_dead_' means, well enough," said Dwight.
"Perhaps not exactly what it means here," said Madam Rachel.
"_Dead_ means here _insensible_."
"But I don't know what _insensible_ means," said Caleb.
"I will explain it to you," said she. "Once there were two boys who
quarreled in the recess at school; and the teacher decided that for
their punishment they should be publicly reproved before all the
scholars. So, after school, they were required to stand up in their
places, and listen to the reprimand. While they were standing, and the
teacher was telling them that they had done very wrong,--had indulged
bad passions, and displeased God, and destroyed their own happiness, and
brought disgrace upon the school,--one of them stood up with a bold and
careless air, while the teacher was speaking, and afterwards when he
took his seat, looked round to the other scholars, and laughed. The
other boy hung his head, and looked very much ashamed; and as the
teacher had finished what he was saying, he sunk into his seat, put his
head down upon his desk before him, and burst into tears. Now, the first
one was _insensible_, or as it is called in this text, _dead_ to all
sense of shame. The other was _alive_ to it. You understand now?"
"Yes, mother," said the boys.
The party walked on for a short time in silence, admiring the splendid
and beautiful scenery which was presented to view, in the setting sun,
and the calm tranquility which reigned around.
Suddenly Caleb, seeing a beautiful lily growing in a border, as they
were walking by, stopped to gather it. Madam Rachel was afraid that he
was not attending to what she was saying.
"Now, Caleb," said she, "that's a very pretty lily; but suppose you
should go and hold it before Seizem. Do you suppose he would care any
thing about it?"
Seizem was a great dog that belonged to Madam Rachel.
"No, grandmother," said Caleb, "I don't think he would."
"And suppose you were to go and pat him on his head, and tell him he was
a good dog, would he care any thing about that?"
"Yes," said Dwight; "he would jump, and wag his tail, and almost laugh."
"Then you see, boys, that Seizem is 'quick' and alive to praise; but to
beauty of colour, and form he is insensible, and as it were, dead. The
beauty makes no impression upon him at all, he is stupid and lifeless,
so far as that is concerned.
"Now, what is meant by men being dead in trespasses and sins is, that
they are thus insensible to God's goodness, and their duty to love and
obey him. Suppose, now, I was to go out into the street, and find some
boys talking harshly and roughly to one another, as boys often do in
their plays; and suppose they were boys that I knew, so that it was
proper for me to give them advice; now, if I were to go and tell them
that it was the law of God that they should be kind to one another, and
that they ought to be so, and thus obey and please him, what effect do
you think it would have?"
"They would not mind it very much," said David.
"_I_ expect that they would though," said Dwight.
"I don't think that they would mind it much myself. Each one wants to
have his own way, and to seek his own pleasures, and they do not see the
excellence of obeying and pleasing God at all. It seems to me a very
excellent thing for boys to try to please God, but I know very well
that most boys care no more about it than Seizem would for your lily,
Caleb. In respect to God they are insensible and dead; dead in
trespasses and sins, and the only hope for them is, that God will
_quicken_ them; that is, give them _life_ and _feeling_; and then, if I
say just the same things to them, they will listen seriously and
attentively, and will really desire to please God. As it is now with
almost all boys, they are so insensible and dead to all sense of regard
to God, that when we want to influence them to do their duty, we must
appeal to some other motive; something that they have more sensibility
to.
"For example, you remember the other day when you went a strawberrying
with Mary Anna."
"Yes," said Dwight.
"Now, I recollect that I thought there was great danger that you might
be troublesome to Mary Anna, or to some others of the party; and I
wanted to say something to you before you went, to make you a good boy.
The highest and best motive would have been for me to say, 'Now, Dwight,
remember and do what is _right_ to-day. The trees and fields, and
pleasant sunshine; the flowers and the strawberries, your own health and
strength, and joyous feelings, all come from God; the whole scene that
you are going to enjoy to-day, he has contrived for you, and now he will
watch over you all the time, and be pleased if he sees you careful and
conscientious in doing right all day. Now, be a good boy, for the sake
of pleasing him.' Suppose I had said that to you, do you think it would
have made you a good boy?"
Dwight held down his head, and said, hesitatingly, that he did not think
it would.
"That motive would have been piety. If a boy takes pains to do what is
right, and avoid what is wrong, because he is grateful to God, and
wishes to please him, it is piety. But I was afraid that would not have
much influence with you, and so I tried to think of some other motive.
I thought of filial affection next."
"What is that?" said Caleb.
"Filial affection is a boy's love for his father or mother," replied
Madam Rachel. "I said to myself, How will it do to appeal to Dwight's
filial affection, to-day? I can say to him, 'Now, Dwight, be a good boy
to-day, to please me. I shall be very happy to-night if Mary Anna comes
home and says that you have been kind, and gentle and yielding all day.'
But then, on reflection, I thought that _that_ motive would not be
powerful enough. I knew you had at least some desire to please me, but I
had some doubt whether it would be enough to carry you through all the
temptations of the whole day. Do you recollect what I did say to you,
Dwight?"
"Yes, mother," replied Dwight, "you told me just before I went away,
that if I was a good, pleasant boy, Mary Anna would want to take me
again some day."
"Yes, and what principle in your heart was that appealing to?"
Dwight did not answer. David said, "Selfishness."
"Yes," said his mother; "or rather not selfishness, but self-love.
Selfishness means not only a desire for our own happiness, but injustice
towards others. It would have been wrong for me to have appealed to
Dwight's selfishness, as that would have been encouraging a bad passion;
but it was right for me to appeal to his self-love, that is, to shew him
how his own future enjoyment would depend upon his being a good boy that
day.
"Now, Dwight, do you think that what I said had any influence over you
that day?"
"Yes, mother," said Dwight, "I think it did. I thought of it a good many
times."
"Would it have had as much influence if I had asked you to be a good
boy only to please me?"
Dwight acknowledged that he did not think it would.
"Do you think it would have had as much influence if I had asked you to
do right to please God?"
"No, mother," said Dwight.
"Do you think that would have had any influence at all?"
Dwight seemed at a loss, and said he didn't know.
"Do _you_ think it would?" said Caleb.
"Why, yes," said Madam Rachel, though she spoke in rather a doubtful
tone. "I rather think it would have had some influence--not much, but
_some_. He would not have thought of it very often, but still, I rather
think, at least I hope, that Dwight has _some_ desire to please God, and
that it now and then influences him a little. But in boys generally, I
don't think that such a motive would have any influence at all."
"Not any at all?" said David.
"Why, you can judge for yourself. Do you suppose that the boys at
school, and those that you meet in the street, are influenced in their
conduct every day, by any desire to please God?"
"Why, nobody tells them," said Dwight.
"O, yes, they have been told over and over again, at church, and in the
Sabbath school, till they are tired of hearing it."
The boys were silent, and the whole party walked along very slowly, for
several steps; and then David said that he thought that though the boys
were pretty bad, he did not think they were quite so bad as they would
be, if they did not hear any thing about God. He said it seemed to him
that it had some influence upon them.
"O, yes," said Madam Rachel, "I have no doubt that what is said to them
about their duty to God has a very important influence over them in
various ways. Religious instruction produces a great many good effects
upon the conduct of boys and men, even where it does not awaken any
genuine love for God, and honest desire to please him. That is a
peculiar feeling. I will tell you."
So saying, Madam Rachel paused, and seemed a moment to be lost in
thought. The whole party had by this time gone almost the whole round of
the walk, and were now slowly sauntering towards the house and as Madam
Rachel said those last words, they were just passing along by the side
of the rocky declivity at the back of the garden. Madam Rachel looked
upon the rocks, and saw a beautiful little blue-bell growing there in a
crevice, and hanging over at the top.
"What a beautiful blue-bell there is!" said she.
"Where?" said the boys, looking around.
"There," said she, "just by the side of the little fir-tree. How Mary
Anna would admire it."
"I'll climb up and get it for her," said Dwight. "I'll have it in a
minute."
He dropped his mother's hand, and began scrambling up the rocks. They
were jagged and irregular fragments, with bushes and trees among them,
and Dwight, who was a very expert climber, soon had the blue-bell in his
hand, and was coming down delighted with his prize. He brought the
leaves of the plant with it, and it was in fact an elegant little
flower.
"Now, Dwight," said Madam Rachel, as they walked along again, Dwight
holding his flower very carefully in his hand, "notice this feeling you
have towards Mary Anna, which led you to get the flower. It was not fear
of her,--it was not hope of getting any reward from her, I suppose."
"No, indeed, mother," said Dwight.
"It was simply a desire to give her pleasure. When you go in, you will
take a pleasure yourself in going to her, and gratifying her with the
present. Now, do you suppose that the boys generally have any such
feeling as that towards God?"
"No, mother," said David, "I don't think they have."
"Nor do I. They are dead to all such feelings. They take no pleasure in
pleasing God. They don't like to think of him, and I don't see that they
shew any signs of having any love for him at all."
They walked along, after this, silently. Dwight saw how destitute of
love to God his heart had been, and still was; and yet he could not help
thinking that he did sometimes feel a little grateful to God for all his
kindness and care; and at least some faint desires to please him.
It was nearly dark when they arrived at the house; and Dwight asked his
mother to let him run and give Mary Anna her blue-bell. She was very
much pleased with it indeed. She arranged it and the leaves that Dwight
had brought with it, so as to give the whole group a graceful form, and
put it in water, saying she meant to rise early the next morning to
paint it. Dwight determined that he would get up too and see her do it.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE JUNK.
A few days after this, when David and Dwight were at work one evening
upon their mole, and Caleb was playing near, sometimes helping a little
and sometimes looking on, Mary Anna came down to see them. They had
nearly finished the stone-work and were trying to contrive some way to
fasten up their flag-staff at the end.
"We can't drive the flag-staff down into our mole," said Dwight, looking
up with an anxious and perplexed expression to Mary Anna, "for it is all
stony."
"Couldn't you drive it down into the bottom of the brook, and then build
your mole up all around it?" said Mary Anna.
"No," said Dwight, "the bottom of the brook is stony too."
"It looks sandy," said Mary Anna, looking down through the water to the
bottom of the brook.
"No, it is very hard and stony under the sand, and we cannot drive any
thing down at all."
"Well," said Mary Anna, "go on with your work, and I will sit down upon
the bank and consider what you can do."
After some time, Mary Anna proposed that the boys should go up to the
wood-pile and get a short log of wood, which had one end sawed off
square, and roll it down to the mole. Then that they should dig out a
little hole in the bottom of the brook with a hoe, so deep that when
they put in the log, the upper end would be a little above the surface
of the mole. Then she said they might put in the log, with the sawed end
uppermost, and while one boy held it steady, the other might throw in
stones and sand all around it till it was secure in its place. Then
they could build the mole a little beyond it; and thus there would be a
solid wooden block, firmly fixed in the end of the mole.
"But how shall we fasten our flag-staff to it?" said David.
"Why you must get an augur, and bore a hole down in the middle of it,
and make the end of your flag-staff round so that it will just fit in."
The boys thought this an excellent plan, and went off after the log.
While they were gone, Mary Anna asked Caleb if he had fed his squirrel
that evening, and Caleb said he had not.
"Hadn't you better go now and feed him before it is too dark?"
"Why, no," said Caleb, "I don't want to go now; besides, I am going to
let Dwight feed him to-night. I promised Dwight that I would let him
feed him sometimes."
The truth was that Caleb wanted to stay and see the boys fix their log.
He had had his squirrel now several days, and had lost his interest in
him, as boys generally do in any new play-thing, after they have had it
a few days. He was really, under this show of generosity and faithful
performance of his promise, only gratifying his own selfish desires, but
he did not see it himself. The heart is not only selfish and sinful, but
it is deceitful; it even deceives itself.
So, presently, when Caleb saw David and Dwight rolling the log down from
the house, he ran off to meet them, and said,
"Dwight you may feed my squirrel to-night, and I will help David roll
down the log."
Dwight looked up with an air of indifference, and said he did not want
to feed the squirrel that night.
Caleb was quite surprised at the answer; and he walked along by the side
of Dwight and David towards the mole, as they rolled the log along,
scarcely knowing what to do. He did not want to leave the poor squirrel
without his supper; and, on the other hand, he did not want to go away
from the mole. Mary Anna saw his perplexity, and she understood the
reason of it.
Now, it happened that Mary Anna had been forming a very curious plan
about the squirrel, from the very day when he was brought home; though
she had not said any thing to the boys about it. To carry her plan into
execution, it was necessary that the squirrel should be hers; and she
resolved from the beginning, that as soon as a convenient opportunity
should offer, she would try to buy him. She determined, therefore, to
wait quietly until she saw some signs of Caleb's being tired of his
squirrel, and then she determined to buy him.
She did not suppose that Caleb would have got tired of the care of his
squirrel quite so soon as this; but when she found that he had, she
thought that the time had arrived for her to attempt to make the
purchase. So when Caleb came back to the mole, she said,
"Caleb, I have a great mind to go and feed your squirrel for you, if you
want to stay here and help the boys to make the mole. In fact, I should
like to buy him of you, if you would like to sell him."
"Well," said Caleb, "what will you give me for him?"
"Let me see--what can I make you." And Mary Anna tried to think what she
could make Caleb that he would like as well as the squirrel. She
proposed first a new picture-book, and then a flag, and next her monthly
rose; and, finally, she said she would make him something or other, and
let him see it, and then he could tell whether he would give his
squirrel for it or not.
"I shall, I know," said Caleb, "for I can see him just as well if he is
yours as I can if he is mine."
"But perhaps I shall let him go," said Mary Anna.
"O no," said Caleb, "you must not let him go."
"If I buy him of you," replied Mary Anna, "he will be mine entirely, and
I must do whatever I please with him."
"O, but I shall make you promise not to let him go," said Caleb, "or
else I shall not want to sell him to you."
"Very well," said Mary Anna; "though you can tell better when you see
what I am going to make you."
Mary Anna then went up to the house, and fed the squirrel, and as it
began to grow dark pretty soon after that, the boys themselves soon came
up. She asked David if he would make her a mast, and also a small block
of wood for a step.
"A step!" said David; "a step for what?"
"A step for the mast," said Mary Anna.
"What is a step for a mast?"
"It is a block, with a hole in it for the lower end of the mast to fit
into," said Mary Anna.
"Do they call it a step?" said David.
"Yes," said Mary Anna; "I read about it in a book where I learned about
rigging. Any little block will do."
David's curiosity was very much excited, and he begged Mary Anna to tell
him what she was going to make.
"Well," said Mary Anna, "if you will keep the secret."
"Yes," said David, "I will."
"A Chinese junk!" said Mary Anna.
"A Chinese junk!" said David, with surprise and delight.
"Yes, now run along to mother."
So David went, and Mary Anna began to think of her work. She happened to
have recollected that there was in the garret an old bread-tray, of
japanned ware, which had been worn out and thrown aside, and was now
good for nothing; and yet it was whole, and Mary Anna thought it would
make a good boat. As, however, it was not shaped like a boat, she
thought she would call it a Chinese junk, which is a clumsy kind of
vessel, built by the Chinese. Accordingly after the boys had gone to
bed, she got all her materials together; the old bread-tray for the hull
of the junk, some fine twine for the rigging, David's mast and step, and
a piece of birch bark, which she thought would represent very well the
mats of which the Chinese make their sails. She carried all those things
to her room, so as to have them all ready for her to go to work upon the
vessel very early the next morning.
And early the next morning she did get to work. On the whole, the craft,
when finished, if it was not built exactly after the model of a real
Chinese junk, would sail about as well, and was as gay. She got it all
done before breakfast, and carried it down, and hid it under some bushes
near the mole.
Then, after breakfast, she took the boys all down, and told Caleb that
she was ready to make him an offer for his squirrel. She then went to
the bushes, and taking out the junk, she went to the mole, and carrying
it out to the end, she gently set it down into the water. The boys
looked on in great delight, as the junk wheeled slowly around in the
great circles of the whirlpool.
Caleb hesitated a good deal before he finally decided to give Mary Anna
his squirrel, and he tried to stipulate with her, that is, make her
agree, that she would not let him go; but Mary Anna would not make any
such agreement. She said that if she had the little fellow at all, she
must have him for her own, without any condition whatever; and Caleb, at
length, finding the elegance of the Chinese junk irresistible, decided
to make the trade.
And now for Marianna's plan. She liked to see the squirrel very much;
she admired his graceful movements, his beautiful grey colour, and his
bushy tail, curled over his back, like a plume. But then she did not
like to have him a prisoner. She knew that he must love a life of
freedom,--rambling among the trees, climbing up to the topmost branches,
and leaping from limb to limb; and it was painful to her to think of his
being shut up in a cage. And yet she did not like to let him go, for
then she knew that in all probability he would run off to the woods, and
she would see him no more.
It happened that one limb of the great elm before the house was hollow
for a considerable distance up from the trunk of the tree, and there was
a hole leading into this hollow limb at the crotch, where the limb grew
out from the tree. She thought that this would make a fine house for the
squirrel, if he could only be induced to think so himself, and live
there. It occurred to her that she might put him in, and fasten up the
hole with wires for a time, like a cage; and she thought that if she
kept him shut up there, and fed him there with plenty of nuts and corn,
for a week or two, he would gradually forget his old home in the woods,
and get wonted to his new one.
After thinking of several ways of fastening up the mouth of the hole,
she concluded finally on the following plan. She got some small nails,
and drove them in pretty near together on each side of the hole, and
then she took a long piece of fine wire, and passed it across from one
to the other, in such a manner as to cover the mouth of the hole with a
sort of net-work of wire. She then got Raymond to put the squirrel in
through a place which she left open for that purpose, and then she
closed this place up like the rest, with wires. The squirrel ran up into
the limb, and disappeared.
When the boys came and saw the ingenious cage which Mary Anna had
contrived, they thought it was an excellent plan; and they asked her if
she was not afraid that when she opened the cage door, he would run off
into the woods again. She said she was very much afraid that he would,
but that still there was a possibility that he might stay; and if he
should, she should often see him from her window, running about the
tree, and she should take so much more pleasure in that than in seeing
him shut up in a cage, that she thought she should prefer to take the
risk. She made the boys promise not to go to the hole, for fear they
might frighten him, and she said she meant to feed him herself every
day, with nuts and corn, and try to get him tame before she took away
the wires.
The children felt a good deal of curiosity to see whether the squirrel
would stay in the tree or run away, when Mary Anna should open his cage
door; and after a few days, they were eager to have her try the
experiment. But she said, no. She wished to let him have full time to
become well accustomed to his new home.
Mary Anna generally went early in the morning to feed the
squirrel,--before the boys were up. Then she fed him again after they
had gone to school, and also just before they came home at night. She
knew that if she fed him when they were at home, they would want to go
with her; and it would frighten the squirrel to see so many strange
faces,--even if the boys should try to be as still as possible.
One morning, Mary Anna and the boys were down near the mole, and were
talking about the squirrel. David and Dwight were sailing their boats,
and Mary Anna was sitting with Caleb upon a bench which David had made
for his mother, close to the shore. Caleb's junk was upon the ground by
his side. Caleb asked Mary Anna when she was going to let her squirrel
out.
"O, I don't know," said she, "perhaps in a week more."
"A week!" said Dwight, pushing his boat off from the shore, "I wouldn't
wait so long as that."
"Why, when I first had him, you wanted to have me keep him in a cage all
the time."
"I know it," said Dwight; "but now I want to see whether he will run
away."
"I would not try yet," said David--"but you'd better have a name for
him, Marianne."
"I have got a name for him," said she.
"What is it?" said Dwight, eagerly.
"Mungo."
"Mungo!" repeated Dwight; "I don't think that is a very good name. What
made you think of that name?"
"O, I heard of a traveller once, named Mungo. The whole of his name was
Mungo Park; but I thought Mungo was enough for my squirrel."
"_He_ has not been much of a traveller," said Dwight.
"O, yes," replied Mary Anna, "I think it probable he has travelled about
the woods a great deal."
"Did Mungo Park travel in the woods?"
"Yes, in Africa. I think Mungo knows his name too," said Mary Anna.
"Do you," said Dwight. "Why?"
"Why, whenever I go to feed him," said Mary Anna, "I call Mungo! Mungo!
and drop my nuts and corn down through the wires into the hole. And now
he begins to come down when he hears my voice, and the little rogue
catches up a nut and runs off with it."
"Does he?" said Caleb. "O, I wish you would let him out. I don't believe
he would run away."
"Not just yet," said Mary Anna.
"But if you don't let him out pretty soon, I shall be gone," said Caleb;
"for I am going to Boston, you know, next week."
"So you are," said Mary Anna; "I forgot that."
Caleb's father and mother were coming up from Boston that week, and they
had written something about taking Caleb back with them, when they
returned. Caleb was much pleased with this idea. He liked living in the
country better than living in Boston; but still, he was very much
pleased at the thought of seeing his father and mother, and his little
sister, at home. He also liked riding, and was very glad of the
opportunity to ride several days in the carryall, upon the front seat
with his father. He expected that his father would let him have the whip
and reins pretty often to drive.
"It is not certain, however," continued Mary Anna, "that you will go to
Boston this summer. Mother said that perhaps you would not go until the
fall, and then perhaps she would go with you, and bring you back to stay
here through the winter."
"But I don't want to stay here in the _winter_," said Caleb.
"Why not?" said Mary Anna.
"O, it is so cold and snowy;--and we can't play any."
"That's a great mistake," said Dwight; "we have fine times in the
winter."
"Why, what can you do?"
"O, a great many things; last winter we dug out a house in a great
snow-drift under the rocks, and played in it a good deal."
"But it must be very cold in a snow-house," said Caleb.
"O, we had a fire."
"A fire?" said Caleb.
"Certainly," said Dwight, "We put some large stones for the fire-place,
and let the smoke go out at the top."
"But then it would melt your house down."
"It did melt it a little around the sides, and so made it grow larger:
but it did not melt it down. We had some good boards for seats, and we
could stay there in the cold days."
"Yes," said Mary Anna, "I remember I went in one cold, windy day, and I
found you boys all snugly stowed in your snow-house, warm and
comfortable, by a good blazing fire."
"Once we made some candy in our snow-house," said David.
"Did you?" said Caleb.
"Yes," said David; "Mary Anna proposed the plan, and got mother to give
us the molasses in a little kettle, and we put it upon three stones in
our snow-house, and we boiled it all one Wednesday afternoon, and when
it was done, we poured it out upon the snow. It was capital candy."
"_I_ should like to see a snow-house," said Caleb, "very much."
"Then should not you like to stay here next winter? And then we can make
one," said David.
"Perhaps I could make one in Boston," said Caleb.
"Ho!" said Dwight, with a tone of contempt, "_you_ couldn't make a
snow-house."
"But there are enough other boys in Boston to help me," said Caleb.
"There is not any good place," said Mary Anna, in a mild and pleasant
tone. "There is only a very small yard, and that is full of wood piles."
"I can make it on the common," said Caleb. "The common is large enough I
can tell you."
Here Dwight suddenly called out in a tone of great eagerness and
delight, to look off to a little bush near them, to which he pointed
with his finger.
"See! see! there is a squirrel!--a large grey squirrel!"
"Where?" said Caleb, "where? I don't see him."
"Hush!" said Mary Anna, in a low tone: "All keep perfectly still. I'll
shew him to you, Caleb. There, creeping along the branch."
"I see him," said David. "Let us catch him, and put him in with Mungo."
"I'm afraid it is Mungo," said Mary Anna.
"Mungo!" said Dwight, with surprise.
"Yes," said Mary Anna, "it looks like him. I am afraid he has got out of
some hole, and is going away. Sit still, and we will see what he will
do."
"O, no," said Dwight, "I will go and catch him."
"No, by no means," said Mary Anna, holding Dwight back, "let us see what
he will do."
It was Mungo. He had gnawed himself a hole, and escaped from his prison.
He did not, however, seem disposed to go away very fast. He came down
from the bush, and crept along upon the ground towards the brook, and
then finding that he could not get across very well, he ran about the
grass a little while, and then went back by degrees to the tree. He
climbed up to the great branch, playing a minute or two about the
grating over the hole, and then ran along out to the end of the branch,
the children watching him all the time, and walking slowly along up
towards the tree.
"I'll go and get him some corn," said Mary Anna, "and see if he will not
come down for it to his hole, when I call him. You stand here perfectly
still, till I come back."
So she went in and got a nut instead of corn, and put it down by the
hole, calling "Mungo!" "Mungo!" as usual. The squirrel came creeping
down the branch, and Mary Anna left the nut upon the grating, and went
away. He crept down cautiously, seized the nut, stuffed it into his
cheek, and ran off to one of the topmost branches; and there standing
upon his hind legs, and holding his nut in his forepaws, he began
gnawing the shell, watching the children all the time.
The next morning, Mary Anna tore off the netting, and the squirrel
lived in the tree a long while. Caleb, however, saw but little more of
him at this time, for he went to Boston the next week with his father.
What befell him there may perhaps be described in another book, to be
called "CALEB IN TOWN."
END OF CALEB IN THE COUNTRY.
POETRY.
PASSING AWAY.
Mothers! where are they?--where?
They are gone from this passing scene,
Gone with the dreams of joy that were,
As if they ne'er had been.
Husbands! where are they?--where?
The visions of life are fled;
But they live--beneath--above--in air,
For spirits can ne'er be dead.
Children! where are they?--where?
Will the sun or stars reply?
Nor earth, nor sea, nor air,
Will answer to the cry.
Return they not with the early morn?
Where are the lost ones? say--
Gone to a land whence none return,
But _where_,--Oh, where are they?
Dear ones! where are they?--where?
They are gone from the village home;
We ponder and gaze on the empty chair,
And recall the voice's tone.
Loved ones! where are they?--where?
We stand by the vacant bed,
On the spot where we breathed the prayer,
When we raised the dying head.
The friends! where are they?--where?
Their spirits have left the clay;
Are they gone to weep in black despair,
Or to sing in eternal day?
Where are they? Oh tell us where!
That our aching hearts may rest;
Do they breathe the rich man's prayer,
Or are they among the blest?
Lost ones! where are they?--where?
We ask--but we ask in vain;
The sound goes round on the waves of air,
And echo says, "Where?" Again--
Where are they?--where?
WEEP NOT FOR ME.
Weep not, my child, weep not for _me_,
Though heavy is the stroke,
And thou must early learn indeed
To bear affliction's yoke.
Yet weep not, for you all have heard,
Oft from these lips, in health,
How Death will often snatch away
Mothers by mystic stealth.
How often, when within the home
The sun of joy doth glow,
Some deed of his insidious hand
Will fill that home with woe.
But when thy mother far has soared
To regions all divine,
A livelier voice, my precious one,
Shall speak to thee, than mine.
Weep not for me--all tears remove--
I die without a fear;
My God, to whom you are assigned,
Your early prayers shall hear.
When twilight opes the dappled morn,
And clothes the east in grey,
When sunbeams deck the west at eve,
Oh then, beloved one--PRAY.
* * * * *
Milner & Sowerby, Printers, Halifax.
***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CALEB IN THE COUNTRY***
******* This file should be named 23989.txt or 23989.zip *******
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/9/8/23989
Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.
Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules,
set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project
Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you
do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is
subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
redistribution.
*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
https://www.gutenberg.org/license).
Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic works
1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be
used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works. See paragraph 1.E below.
1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the
collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an
individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in
a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check
the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning
the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
States.
1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
copied or distributed:
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
1.E.9.
1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked
to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
Gutenberg-tm License.
1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or
distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
that
- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is
owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments
must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License. You must require such a user to return or
destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
Project Gutenberg-tm works.
- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
of receipt of the work.
- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the
Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
1.F.
1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
your equipment.
1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGE.
1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with
the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy
is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
opportunities to fix the problem.
1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER
WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any
provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists
because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
people in all walks of life.
Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
and the Foundation web page at https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf.
Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation
The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at
809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
[email protected]. Email contact links and up to date contact
information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
page at https://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact
For additional contact information:
Dr. Gregory B. Newby
Chief Executive and Director
[email protected]
Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation
Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
status with the IRS.
The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To
SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
particular state visit https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
approach us with offers to donate.
International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
To donate, please visit:
https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works.
Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily
keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
https://www.gutenberg.org
This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
