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diff --git a/23989.txt b/23989.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..36b869f --- /dev/null +++ b/23989.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4038 @@ +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. 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