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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: Rollo's Experiments + +Author: Jacob Abbott + +Release Date: April 5, 2008 [EBook #24993] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROLLO'S EXPERIMENTS *** + + + + +Produced by D Alexander, Andrew Wainwright and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<p class="center s2">ROLLO’S<br /> +EXPERIMENTS.</p> + +<p class="center s6">BY THE</p> + +<p class="center s6">AUTHOR OF ROLLO LEARNING TO TALK, TO<br /> +READ, AT WORK, AT PLAY, AT SCHOOL,<br /> +AT VACATION, &c.</p> + +<p class="center s6">BOSTON:<br /> +WEEKS, JORDAN, AND COMPANY</p> + +<p class="center s8 pad4 b">Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1839,</p> + +<p class="center s8 b">By <span class="smcap">T. H. Carter</span>,</p> + +<p class="center s8 b">In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of Massachusetts.</p> + +<p class="center s8 pad4 b">STEREOTYPED AT THE<br /> +BOSTON TYPE AND STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY.</p> + +<div class="figcenter w100"><a id="FRONTISPIECE" name="FRONTISPIECE"></a> +<img src="images/i003.jpg" class="w80 pad4 noborder" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS.</h2> + +<div class="center"><table class="iefix" summary="(layout)"> +<tr><td class="left"></td><td class="right">Page.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="left"><a href="#JONAS_AN_ASTRONOMER">JONAS AN ASTRONOMER.</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_11">11</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="left"><a href="#PRUNING">PRUNING.</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_23">23</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="left"><a href="#THE_GREAT_BEETLE_AND_WEDGE">THE GREAT BEETLE AND WEDGE.</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_35">35</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="left"><a href="#THE_LITTLE_BEETLE_AND_WEDGE">THE LITTLE BEETLE AND WEDGE.</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_46">46</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="left"><a href="#SPLITTING">SPLITTING.</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="left"><a href="#HOROLOGY">HOROLOGY.</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_82">80</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="left"><a href="#JONASS_DIAL">JONAS’S DIAL.</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_94">94</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="left"><a href="#THE_BEE-HIVE">THE BEE-HIVE.</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_112">112</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="left"><a href="#JONASS_MAGNET">JONAS’S MAGNET.</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_126">126</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="left"><a href="#MAGNETISM">MAGNETISM.</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_139">139</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="left"><a href="#INTELLECTUAL_PHILOSOPHY">INTELLECTUAL PHILOSOPHY.</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_157">157</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="left"><a href="#OSCILLATIONS">OSCILLATIONS.</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_165">165</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></p> + +<h1>ROLLO’S EXPERIMENTS.</h1> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="JONAS_AN_ASTRONOMER" id="JONAS_AN_ASTRONOMER"></a>JONAS AN ASTRONOMER.</h2> + +<p>One day, when Rollo was about seven years old, he was sitting upon the +steps of the door, and he heard a noise in the street, as of some sort +of carriage approaching. A moment afterwards, a carryall came in sight. +It drove up to the front gate, and stopped. Rollo’s father and mother +and his little brother Nathan got out. His father fastened the horse to +the post, and came in.</p> + +<p>When Rollo first heard the noise of the carryall, he was sitting still +upon the steps of the door, thinking. He was thinking of something that +Jonas, his father’s hired boy, had told him about the sun’s shining in +at the barn door. There was a very large double door to Rollo’s father’s +barn, and as this door opened towards the south, the sun + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> + +used to shine in very warm, upon the barn floor, in the middle of the +day.</p> + +<p>Rollo and Jonas had been sitting there husking some corn,—for it was in +the fall of the year;—and as it was rather a cool autumnal day, Rollo +said it was lucky that the sun shone in, for it kept them warm.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Jonas; “and what is remarkable, it always shines in farther +in the winter than it does in the summer.”</p> + +<p>“Does it?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Jonas.</p> + +<p>“And what is the reason?” asked Rollo.</p> + +<p>“I don’t know,” said Jonas, “unless it is because we want it in the barn +more in the winter than we do in the summer.”</p> + +<p>“Ho!” said Rollo; “I don’t believe that is the reason.”</p> + +<p>“Why not?” said Jonas.</p> + +<p>“O, I don’t believe the sun moves about in the heavens, to different +places, only just to shine into barn doors.”</p> + +<p>“Why, it keeps a great many farmers’ boys more comfortable,” said Jonas.</p> + +<p>“Is it so in all barns?” asked Rollo.</p> + +<p>“I suppose so,” said Jonas.</p> + +<p>After some further conversation on the + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> + +subject, the boys determined to watch the reflection of the sun’s beams +upon the barn floor for a good many days, and to mark the place that it +came in to, at noon every day, with a piece of chalk. It was only a few +minutes before the carryall came up, that they had determined upon this, +and had marked the place for that day; and then Rollo had come out of +the barn, and was sitting upon the door step, thinking of the subject, +when his reflections were interrupted in the manner already described.</p> + +<p>So, when Rollo saw his father getting out of the carryall, he ran to +meet him, and called out to him, talking very loud and rapidly,</p> + +<p>“Father, Jonas says that the sun shines farther in, upon the barn floor, +in winter than in summer;—does it, do you think?”</p> + +<p>But this was not a proper time for Rollo to bring up his philosophical +question. His father had a carpet bag and several packages in his hands, +and he was also conducting Rollo’s mother in, and thinking about the +horse and carryall. So he told Rollo that he must not speak to him then, +for he could not attend to him.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p> + +<p>Rollo then walked along back into the yard, and began to think of the +subject of the sun’s shining in at the south door. He looked up towards +the sun, and began to consider what sort of a change in its place, at +noon, on different days, would be necessary in order to account for its +shining in more at south doors and windows, on some days, than on +others. He reflected that if the sun were exactly overhead, at noon, it +could not shine in at any doors at all; for the rays would then strike +perpendicularly down the sides of the houses. While he was standing +thus, lost in thought, looking up to the sun, with his arm across his +forehead, to shelter his eyes a little from the dazzling rays, he +suddenly felt the pressure of two soft hands upon his ears, as of +somebody who had come up behind him. He turned round, and found his +cousin Lucy standing there.</p> + +<p>Lucy asked him what he was thinking of, and he told her. He then took +Lucy into the barn, and showed her the chalk mark upon the floor. She +looked on with a good deal of interest, and said she thought it was an +excellent plan; and she wished there was a + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> + +great barn with a south floor at <i>their</i> house. Lucy knew more about the +subject than Rollo did, and she gave him some explanations about it. +“You see,” said she, “that the sun rises in the east +every morning, and comes up higher and higher, every hour, till noon; +and then it begins to go down again, and at last it sets in the west. +But, at some times in the year, it comes up higher at noon than it does +at other times, and so it does not shine so much into the door.”</p> + +<p>“It shines <i>more</i>, you mean,” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“No,” said Lucy; “not so much. In the winter the sun moves around by the +south, and keeps pretty low all day, and of course shines farther into +doors and windows.”</p> + +<p>Then, after a moment’s pause, she added,</p> + +<p>“If we should mark the place on the floor all the year round, we should +find what time the sun is farthest to the south.”</p> + +<p>“So we should,” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“It would be in the winter,” said Lucy.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Rollo; “in the middle of the winter exactly.”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Lucy; “and in the middle of the summer it would be nearest +overhead.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span></p> + +<p>“Jonas and I will try it,” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“I can try it in the house,” said Lucy, “where the sun shines in at my +chamber window.”</p> + +<p>“O no,” said Rollo; “that won’t do.”</p> + +<p>“Why not?” said Lucy.</p> + +<p>“Because the window does not come down to the floor, and so does not let +the sun in enough.”</p> + +<p>“O, that makes no difference,” said Lucy; “we have nothing to do with +the bottom of the door; you only mark where it shines in the farthest, +and that place is made by the top of the door, for it shines in farthest +by the top of the door.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Rollo, “I don’t know but that the house will do; but then +you can’t chalk on the carpet.”</p> + +<p>“Chalk on the carpet?” said Lucy.</p> + +<p>“Yes, to mark the place.”</p> + +<p>“No,” said Lucy, thinking; “but I can mark it some other way.”</p> + +<p>“How?” asked Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Why, I can put a pin in,” said Lucy.</p> + +<p>“O dear,” said Rollo, with a laugh, “put a pin in! That’s no way to mark +a shadow.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p> + +<p>“It isn’t a shadow,” said Lucy.</p> + +<p>“Yes, it is,” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“No,” said Lucy; “a shadow is dark, and this is bright.”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Rollo, “this is a bright shadow; some shadows are bright, +and some are dark.”</p> + +<p>“O Rollo!” said Lucy; and she turned away from him, a little out of +humor.</p> + +<p>The truth was, that Rollo and Lucy were getting decidedly into a +dispute. From the sublime heights of practical astronomy, they had +fallen, by a sad and very rapid descent, to a childish altercation. +Rollo had a very high idea of the superior facilities afforded by +Jonas’s barn floor for observing the daily changes in the sun’s meridian +altitude, and he did not like the idea of Lucy’s finding that she had +equally good opportunities for observation at her home. Lucy was a +little fretted at Rollo’s captious spirit; but then her mind soon became +unruffled again, and she turned back towards Rollo, and said, as they +walked along the yard,</p> + +<p>“I don’t think the sunshine on the floor is a shadow, Rollo; but then I +don’t see why a shadow would not do, just as well.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span></p> + +<p>“How?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Why, look there at the shadow of that post,—that would do.”</p> + +<p>She pointed to a post with a rounded top upon it, which stood by the +side of the garden gate. The shadow, clear, distinct, and well defined, +was projected upon the walk; and Lucy told Rollo that they might mark +the place where the top of that shadow came every day, and that that +would do just as well.</p> + +<p>“But how could we mark it?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Why, we could drive a little stake unto the ground.”</p> + +<p>“O, that would not do,” said Rollo. “People would trip over them, and +break them down. They would be exactly in the walk.”</p> + +<p>Lucy saw that this would be a difficulty, and, for a moment, seemed to +be at a loss. At length, she said,</p> + +<p>“We might go somewhere else, then, where the people would not come.”</p> + +<p>“But what should we do for a post?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></p> + +<p>“Could not we get Jonas to drive a tall stake down?” said Lucy.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Rollo; “I suppose so.”</p> + +<p>The children went out into the garden to find a good smooth place, and +while they were walking about there, Rollo’s mother came out, and they +told her the whole story. She seemed quite interested in the plan, and +told them of a better way than any that they had thought of.</p> + +<p>“You see,” said she, “that the <i>height</i> of the stake or pole that makes +the shadow is not material; for the shadow of a small one will vary just +as much, in proportion to its length, as that of a long one will. So, +instead of taking a wooden stake, out of doors, you might take a large +pin, and drive it down a little way into the window sill, in the house. +Then you can mark the shadow with a pen, very exactly.”</p> + +<p>“So we can,” said Lucy, clapping her hands.</p> + +<p>“And you might put a piece of white paper, or a card down first,” +continued Rollo’s mother, “and drive the pin through that, and then mark +the places where the end of the shadow comes every day, directly + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> + +on the card, with a fine pen. Thus you could be a great deal more exact +than you can in chalking upon a barn floor.”</p> + +<p>Rollo asked his mother if she would not be kind enough to help them fix +their apparatus; but she said she would give them particular directions, +though she should prefer letting them do the whole themselves, and then, +if they met with any difficulties, they might come and report them to +her, and she would tell them how to surmount them. So she recommended to +them to go and find a blank card, or piece of white pasteboard, or of +stiff white paper, as big as a common card. “Then,” said she, “choose +some window where the sun shines in at noon, and put the card down upon +the sill, and drive the pin down through it. But you must not drive the +pin through the middle of the card, for the shadow will always be off to +the north of the pin, and therefore the pin may be pretty near the south +end of the card. Then the shadow will be more likely to come wholly upon +the card, even when it is longest. You had better place the card in such +a position, too, that its sides shall lie in the direction of + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> + +north and south. Then the shadow at noon will lie along exactly in the +middle of it. You must get a large and stout pin, too; and drive it in +firmly, a little way, with a small hammer. It will be well, too, to +drive another smaller pin into the other end of the card, so as to keep +it fixed in its north and south position.”</p> + +<p>“How can we know when it is north and south, exactly?” said Lucy.</p> + +<p>“You cannot do it exactly,” said Rollo’s mother; “but you can get it +pretty near. One way is to borrow father’s little compass, and adjust it +by that. Another way is to see when it is exactly twelve o’clock by the +clock, and then the shadow of the pin will of itself be about north.</p> + +<p>“Then you might move the north end of the card until the shadow is +brought exactly into the middle of the card, and then put the other pin +in, and fix it in that place. Then if you make a mark along where the +shadow comes, that mark will be a north and south line, and you can mark +the place where the shadow of the pin’s head crosses that line, when it +crosses it every day at noon.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p> + +<p>The children said that they believed they understood the directions, and +they determined to try the plan. They thought they would fix two cards, +one at Rollo’s house, and one at Lucy’s; and they immediately went off +in pursuit of blank cards and big pins.</p> + +<p class="toclink"><a href="#CONTENTS">Table of Contents</a></p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="PRUNING" id="PRUNING"></a>PRUNING.</h2> + +<p>One afternoon, Rollo saw his father coming out into the garden, with a +little saw and a knife, and a small pot of paint in his hands.</p> + +<p>“Father,” said he, “are you going to prune your trees now?”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said his father.</p> + +<p>“Then, shall I go and get my wheelbarrow?”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” replied his father, again.</p> + +<p>So Rollo ran off after his wheelbarrow. It had been arranged, between +him and his father that morning, that they should work in the garden an +hour or two in the afternoon, and that Rollo should pick up all the +cuttings from the trees, and wheel them away, and then, when they were +dry, make a bonfire with them.</p> + +<p>Rollo found his wheelbarrow in its proper place, and trundled it along +into the garden.</p> + +<p>“Father,” said he, “what trees are you going to prune first?”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p> + +<p>“O, I am going to begin at the back side of the garden, and prune them +all, advancing regularly to the front.”</p> + +<p>“What is the saw for?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“To saw off the large branches, that I can’t cut off easily with a +knife.”</p> + +<p>“But I should not think you would want to saw off any large branches, +for so you will lose all the apples that would grow on them next year.”</p> + +<p>“Why, sometimes, the branches are dead, and then they would do no good, +but only be in the way.”</p> + +<p>“But do they do any hurt?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Why, they look badly.”</p> + +<p>“But, I mean, would they do any actual hurt to the tree?”</p> + +<p>“Why, I don’t know,” said his father; “perhaps they would not. At any +rate, if I cut them off pretty close to the living part of the tree, the +bark will then gradually extend out over the little stump that I leave, +and finally cover it over, and take it all in, as it were.”</p> + +<p>By this time, Rollo and his father had reached the back side of the +garden, and his father showed him the place where he + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> + +had cut off a limb the year before, and he saw how the fresh young bark +had protruded itself all around it, and was spreading in towards the +centre so as to cover it over. Rollo then saw that it was better that +all old dead limbs should be cut off.</p> + +<p>“That’s curious,” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Yes, very curious,” said his father. “A tree will take in, and cover +up, almost any thing that is fastened to the wood, in the same manner.”</p> + +<p>“Will it?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said his father. “If you drive a nail into a tree, the bark will, +after a time, cover it over entirely. Sometimes people find things in +old trees, which were put upon them when they were young.”</p> + +<p>“How big things?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“O, I don’t know exactly how big. The tree will make an effort to +enclose any thing small or large. Only, if it is very large, it will +take a great while to enclose it, and it might be so large that it never +could enclose it.”</p> + +<p>“Well, father, how large must it be so that the tree never could enclose +it?”</p> + +<p>“O, I don’t know, exactly. Once I saw + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> + +a tree that was growing very near a rock. After a time it came in +contact with it, and it grew and pressed against it, until the rock +crowded into the wood. Then the bark began to protrude in every +direction along the rock, as if it was making an effort to spread out +and take the rock all in. But I don’t think it will ever succeed; for +the rock was part of a ledge in a pretty large hill.”</p> + +<p>“What a silly tree!” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Father, I believe I will try the experiment some time,” continued +Rollo, after a pause.</p> + +<p>“Very well,” said his father.</p> + +<p>“What shall I put into the tree?” asked Rollo.</p> + +<p>“You might put in a cent,” said his father, “and then, if it should get +fairly enclosed, I presume the tree will keep it safe for you a good +many years.”</p> + +<p>Rollo determined to do it. “Then,” said he, “I shall never be out of +money, and that will be excellent.” His father told him that he must +make a small cleft in the bark and wood, with a chisel and mallet, and +then drive the cent in, edgewise, a little way.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p> + +<p>So Rollo got his chisel and mallet, and inserted the cent according to +his father’s directions, and by that time there were a good many +branches and twigs on the ground, which his father had taken off from +the trees, and so he began to pick them up, and put them into his +wheelbarrow.</p> + +<p>They went on working together for some time, and talking while they +worked. Rollo was continually asking his father questions, and his +father sometimes answered them, and sometimes did not, but was silent +and thoughtful, as if he was thinking of something else. But whether he +got answers or not, Rollo went on talking.</p> + +<div class="figcenter w100"> +<img src="images/i003.jpg" class="w80 noborder" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>“Father,” said Rollo, at length, after a short pause, during which he +had been busily at work putting twigs into his wheelbarrow, “Henry has +got a very interesting book.”</p> + +<p>His father did not answer.</p> + +<p>“<i>I</i> think it is a very interesting book indeed. Should not you like to +read it, father?”</p> + +<p>His father was just then reaching up very high to saw off a pretty large +limb, and he paid no attention to what Rollo was + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]<br />[Pg 29]<br />[Pg 30]</a></span> + +saying. So Rollo went on talking half to himself—</p> + +<p>“One story is about Aladdin and his lamp. If he rubbed his lamp, he +could have whatever he wished; something would come, I have forgotten +what its name was, and bring him whatever he asked for.”</p> + +<p>Just then, down came the great branch which his father had been sawing +off, falling from its place on the tree to the ground.</p> + +<p>Rollo looked at it a moment, and then, when his father began sawing +again, he said,</p> + +<p>“Should not you like such a lamp, father?”</p> + +<p>“Such a lamp as what, my son?” said his father.</p> + +<p>“Why, such a one as Aladdin’s.”</p> + +<p>“Aladdin’s! why, what do you know of Aladdin’s lamp?”</p> + +<p>“Why, I read about it in Henry’s story book,” said Rollo. “I just told +you, father.”</p> + +<p>“Did you?” said his father. “Won’t you just hand me up the paint brush?”</p> + +<p>“Well, father,” said Rollo, as he handed + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> + +him the brush, “don’t you wish you had an Aladdin’s lamp?”</p> + +<p>“No, not particularly,” said his father.</p> + +<p>“O father!” exclaimed Rollo, with surprise, “I am sure <i>I</i> do. Don’t you +wish <i>I</i> had such a lamp, father?”</p> + +<p>“No,” said his father.</p> + +<p>“Why, father, I really think I could do some good with it. For instance, +I could just rub my lamp, and then have all your trees pruned for you, +at once, without any further trouble.”</p> + +<p>“But that would not be worth while; for you might have a much larger and +better garden than this made at once, with thousands of trees, bearing +delicious fruit; and ponds, and waterfalls, and beautiful groves.”</p> + +<p>“O, so I could,” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“And, then, how soon do you think you should get tired of it, and want +another?”</p> + +<p>“O, perhaps, I should want another pretty soon; but then I could have +another, you know.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, and how long do you think you could find happiness, in calling +beautiful gardens into existence, one after another?”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span></p> + +<p>“O, I don’t know;—a good while.”</p> + +<p>“A day?”</p> + +<p>“O, yes, father.”</p> + +<p>“A week?”</p> + +<p>“Why, perhaps, I should be tired in a week.”</p> + +<p>“Then all your power of receiving enjoyment from gardens would be run +out and exhausted in a week; whereas mine, without any Aladdin’s lamp, +lasts me year after year, pleasantly increasing all the time without +ever reaching satiety.”</p> + +<p>“What is satiety, father?”</p> + +<p>“The feeling we experience when we have had so much of a good thing that +we are completely tired and sick of it. If I should give a little child +as much honey as he could eat, or let him play all the time, or buy him +a vast collection of pictures, he would soon get tired of these things.”</p> + +<p>“O father, I never should get tired of looking at pictures.”</p> + +<p>“I think you would,” said his father.</p> + +<p>Here the conversation stopped a few minutes, while Rollo went to wheel +away a load of his sticks. Before he returned, he + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> + +had prepared himself to renew his argument. He said,</p> + +<p>“Father, even if I did get tired of making beautiful gardens, I could +then do something else with the lamp, and that would give me new +pleasure.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, but the new pleasure would be run out and exhausted just as soon +as the pleasure of having a garden would have been; so that you would, +in a short time, be satiated with every thing, and become completely +wretched and miserable.”</p> + +<p>“But, father,” said Rollo, after being silent a little while, “I don’t +think I should get tired of my beautiful gardens very soon: I don’t +think I should get tired even of looking at pictures of them.”</p> + +<p>“Should you like to try the experiment?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, sir,” said Rollo, very eagerly.</p> + +<p>Rollo’s father had a great many books of pictures and engravings of +various kinds in his library; and sometimes he used to allow the +children to see them, but only a very few at a time. They had not yet +seen them all. He only allowed them to see them as fast as they had time +to examine + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> + +them thoroughly, and read about them and understand them. But now he +said to Rollo,</p> + +<p>“I could let you have all the books of prints and engravings I have got, +and see them all at one time, and that would be giving you Aladdin’s +lamp, exactly, so far as my pictures are concerned.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Rollo, clapping his hands.</p> + +<p>“But then, in a short time, you would get tired of looking at them; you +would become satiated, and would in fact spoil the whole pleasure by +attempting to enjoy it too fast. But then I think it would perhaps do +you good.”</p> + +<p>“How, father?”</p> + +<p>“Why, by teaching you the value of moderation, and the uselessness of +Aladdin’s lamps in all human enjoyments. It would be a very valuable +experiment in intellectual philosophy, which I think it very probable +might be of use to you. So, if you please, you may try it.”</p> + +<p>“Well, father, I am sure I should like to see the pictures.”</p> + +<p>“That is all settled then,” said his father; “some day you shall.”</p> + +<p class="toclink"><a href="#CONTENTS">Table of Contents</a></p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="THE_GREAT_BEETLE_AND_WEDGE" id="THE_GREAT_BEETLE_AND_WEDGE"></a>THE GREAT BEETLE AND WEDGE.</h2> + +<p>Rollo was coming home one morning after having been away on an errand, +and he saw a large wood pile near Farmer Cropwell’s door. Now it +happened that Rollo had once been on a journey pretty far back into the +country; it was at the time when Jonas told him and Lucy the stories +related in the book called “Jonas’s Stories.” On that journey, Jonas had +one day told him that the sap of the maple-tree was sweet, and had let +him taste of some, where it oozed out at the end of the log. Seeing +Farmer Cropwell’s wood pile reminded Rollo of this; and he thought he +would look at the ends of all the logs, and see if he could not find +some drops of sweet sap there.</p> + +<p>But he could not, for two reasons: none of those trees were maple-trees, +and then, besides, they were all dry. There was no sap in them of any +kind; at least, not enough to ooze out. While Rollo was looking + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> + + there, +one of Farmer Cropwell’s large boys came out with an axe in his hand. He +rolled out a pretty large log of wood, though it was not very long, and +struck his axe into the end of it, as if he was going to split it.</p> + +<p>“I don’t believe you can split that great log,” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“I don’t expect to do it with the axe,” said the boy, as he left the axe +sticking in the log.</p> + +<p>“How then?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“I have got beetle and wedges here, round behind the wood pile.”</p> + +<p>So the boy went to another side of the wood pile, and brought a large +beetle and an iron wedge. When he got back to his log, he started out +the axe which he had left sticking into it. Then Rollo saw that the axe +had made a little indentation, or cleft, in the wood. He put the point +of the wedge into this cleft, and drove it in a very little, with a few +light blows with the axe. Then he took the great heavy beetle, and began +driving the wedge in, with very heavy blows.</p> + +<p>Presently, Rollo saw a little crack beginning + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> + +to extend out each side from the wedge. The crack ran along across the +end of the log, and thence down the side, and grew wider and wider every +moment. At last, the wedge was driven in as far as it would go, and +still the log was not split open.</p> + +<p>“Now stop,” said Rollo; “I will put a stick in, and keep the crack open, +while you drive the wedge in, in another place.”</p> + +<p>“O, that won’t do,” said the boy; “a stick would not keep it open.”</p> + +<p>“Why not?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Because it is not solid enough; the sides of the cleft draw together +very hard. They would crush the stick.”</p> + +<p>Here Rollo put his hand into his pocket, and drew out a walnut, and he +asked the boy if it would crack a walnut.</p> + +<p>“Try it,” said the boy.</p> + +<p>So Rollo put the walnut into the crack. He slipped it along until he got +it to a place where the crack was just wide enough to receive it, and +hold it steady. He left it there, and then the boy began to knock out +the wedge.</p> + +<p>He struck it first upon one side, and then upon the other, and thus +gradually worked it + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> + +out. The walnut was crushed all to pieces. The boy then drove in the +wedge again, so as to open the log as it was before. He then went to the +place where he had got the beetle and wedge at first, and brought a +large wooden wedge which he had made before, and began to put that into +the crack, not very far from the iron wedge.</p> + +<p>“This will keep it open,” said he.</p> + +<p>“Yes, I think it will,” said Rollo. “But put it up close to the iron +wedge.”</p> + +<p>“No,” said the boy; “for then I can’t knock the iron wedge out.”</p> + +<p>So the boy put the large wooden wedge in, at a little distance from the +iron one, and drove it in rather gently with the beetle. This opened the +cleft a little more, so that the iron wedge came out pretty easily.</p> + +<p>“I don’t see what makes the sides of the logs draw together so hard,” +said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“O, they can’t help it,” said the boy.</p> + +<p>“That is no reason,” rejoined Rollo. “I should think that, after the log +is once split open, it would stay so. If I split a piece of wood in two +with my knife, the pieces don’t try to come together again.”</p> + +<p>So Rollo began to examine the log, and + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> + +to look into the cracks, to see if he could find out what it was that +made the parts draw together so hard as to crush the walnut. Presently, +he observed that the log was not split open from end to end. The crack +commenced at one end, and extended nearly towards the other, but not +quite; so that at this other end the log was solid and whole, just as it +always had been. So Rollo perceived that the two halves being joined and +held together firmly here, they could only be separated at the other end +by the wedge springing them open, and, of course, by their elasticity +they tended to spring together again. Then besides, he saw, by looking +into the crack, a great number of splinters, large and small, which +extended obliquely from one side to the other, and bound the two sides +strongly towards each other.</p> + +<p>By this time the boy had got the wedge knocked out.</p> + +<p>“It is strange,” said Rollo, “that such a small wedge will split such a +tough and solid log.”</p> + +<p>“O, not very strange,” said the boy. “You see,” he continued, taking up +the wedge, and pointing to the several parts as + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> + +he explained them, “you see here at this part, where it enters the +wood it is sharp, and the sides spread out each way, so that, when I +drive it in, they force the wood apart.”</p> + +<p>“Why don’t they have the back of the wedge wider still? and then it +would force the wood open farther; and then you would not have to put in +a wooden wedge afterwards,—so,” he added, making a sign with his +fingers. He put the tips of his fingers together, and then separated his +hands, so as to represent a very blunt-shaped wedge.</p> + +<p>“Then it would not drive in so easily,” answered the boy. “Perhaps I +could not drive it in at all, if it was so blunt.”</p> + +<p>“They might have the wedge longer then,” said Rollo, “and then it would +be just as tapering, and yet it would be a great deal broader at the +back, because the back would be farther off.”</p> + +<p>“That would make the wedge a great deal too heavy. It would not drive.”</p> + +<p>“Why, yes, it would,” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“No, it would not,” said the boy. “It would be just like a shoemaker’s +lap-stone; pounding it would hardly move it.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p> + +<p>Rollo did not understand what the boy meant by what he said about the +shoemaker’s lap-stone; so he paused a moment, and presently he said,</p> + +<p>“I don’t think it would make any difference, if it was heavy. And, +besides, it might be made of wood, and that wouldn’t be heavy.”</p> + +<p>“O, wood wouldn’t do,” said the boy.</p> + +<p>Now it happened that while they had been talking, the boy had gone on +driving in his wooden wedge into the cleft that the iron one had made, +and it had been gradually splitting the log open more and more. So that +just as the boy was saying that “a wooden wedge wouldn’t do,” Rollo was +actually seeing with his own eyes that it <i>would</i> do; for at that moment +the boy gave the last blow, and the halves of the log came apart and +fell over, one to one side, and the other to the other.</p> + +<p>“Why, there,” said Rollo, “you have split the log open with a wooden +wedge.”</p> + +<p>“O, that is because I had an iron one in first,” said the boy.</p> + +<p>“What difference does that make?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span></p> + +<p>“A great deal of difference,” said the boy.</p> + +<p>“But <i>what</i> difference?” persisted Rollo.</p> + +<p>“I don’t know exactly what difference,” said the boy; “only I know you +can’t do any thing with a wooden wedge until you have first opened a +seam with an iron one.”</p> + +<p>Rollo was confident that it could not possibly make any difference +whether a wooden wedge was used first or last. The boy was sure that it +did, though he could not tell why. Finally, they determined to try it; +so the boy struck his axe into the end of the next log, and then +attempted to drive in his wooden wedge. But he did not succeed at all. +The wedge would not stay. Rollo told him that he did not strike hard +enough. Then he struck harder, but it did no good. The wedge dropped out +the moment he let go of it, and on taking it up, they found that the +edge of it was bruised and battered; so that even Rollo gave up all +hopes of making it enter.</p> + +<p>“Ah!” said the boy, taking up the wedge, and looking at it, “now I know +what the reason is. It is the edge.”</p> + +<p>“Where?” said Rollo. “Let me see.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span></p> + +<p>“Why, when there is no crack,” said the boy, “you see the edge of the +wedge comes against the solid wood, and when I drive, it only bruises +and batters it; but the iron is hard, and goes in. But then, when a +crack is made, the wedge can go in easily; for the edge does not touch; +then only the sides rub against the wood.”</p> + +<p>“How?” said Rollo. “I don’t understand.”</p> + +<p>“I’ll show you in a minute,” said the boy. So he took the iron wedge, +and went to work driving it into the log. It soon began to make a crack, +which ran along the log, and opened wider and wider. When, at length, it +was pretty wide, he put the wooden wedge in, and he showed Rollo that +the edge of the wedge did not now have to force its way, but went easily +into the crack, and only the sides came in contact with the two parts of +the log which it was separating.</p> + +<p>“That’s curious,” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said the boy.</p> + +<p>“I wish I had a little beetle and wedge,” said Rollo. “I have got a +hammer. That would do for a beetle, if I only had a wedge.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span></p> + +<p>“O, a hammer won’t do,” said the boy.</p> + +<p>“Why not? Would not an axe do as well as a beetle?”</p> + +<p>“No,” said the boy, “it would spoil the axe and the wedge too.”</p> + +<p>“How?” asked Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Why, it would bruise it all up,—hard iron knocking against the hard +iron.”</p> + +<p>“Would it?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” replied the farmer’s boy; “it would spoil the head of the axe, +and the head of the wedge too.”</p> + +<p>“Is that the reason why they make a wooden beetle?”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said the boy; “and they put iron rings around the ends to keep +the wood from being bruised and battered.”</p> + +<p>“O, I wish I had a little beetle and wedge!” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Perhaps you might make one.”</p> + +<p>“O, I could not make an iron wedge—nor the beetle rings.”</p> + +<p>“No, but you might make wedges of wood,—pretty hard wood; that would do +to split up pieces of pine boards, and then you would not need any rings +to your beetle.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p> + +<p>“Jonas can help me,” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said the boy; “Jonas will know all about it.”</p> + +<p>So Rollo set out to go home, full of the idea of making a wooden beetle +and wedge, so as to split up pieces of boards. He determined, in case he +should succeed, to make a smaller one still for Thanny.</p> + +<p class="toclink"><a href="#CONTENTS">Table of Contents</a></p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="THE_LITTLE_BEETLE_AND_WEDGE" id="THE_LITTLE_BEETLE_AND_WEDGE"></a>THE LITTLE BEETLE AND WEDGE.</h2> + +<p>When Rollo got home, he looked about for Jonas every where, but could +not find him. He went around the house and yard, calling “Jonas! Jonas!” +very loud. Presently Nathan came out to the door, and told him that his +mother wanted to see him. So Rollo went in to his mother.</p> + +<p>“You ought not to make such a noise,” said she, “calling Jonas. You +disturb us all.”</p> + +<p>“But, mother,” said he, “I want to find him very much.”</p> + +<p>“No doubt,” said his mother; “but you must find him with your eyes, not +with your tongue.”</p> + +<p>“Why, mother,” said Rollo, laughing, “what do you mean by that?”</p> + +<p>“Boys very generally have a habit of trying to find people with their +tongues, that is, by calling them; but it is a very bad habit. You see,” +she continued, “there + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> + +are five or six persons now in and about the house, and if you go around +calling out for Jonas, you disturb us all; but if you go about quietly, +and <i>look</i> for him, you do not disturb any body.”</p> + +<p>“But then it is not so easy to find him by looking for him,” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Why not?” asked his mother.</p> + +<p>“Because,” said Rollo, “I can call out for him, in a moment, in the +yard, and then if he is any where within hearing, he answers; and so I +know where he is. But it would take me some time to go to all the places +that are within hearing.”</p> + +<p>“True,” said his mother, “I see it is more trouble to find any body with +your eyes, than with your voice; but then it is so much pleasanter for +all the rest of us, that you must submit to it.”</p> + +<p>So Rollo went away again to look for Jonas. He inquired of Dorothy in +the kitchen, and she told him that she saw Jonas going out towards the +barn a few minutes before. So Rollo went off in pursuit of him.</p> + +<p>He found him at work in a little back + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> + +room in the barn, looking over some harnesses.</p> + +<p>“What are you doing, Jonas?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“I am overhauling these harnesses, to get them all ready for winter.”</p> + +<p>“For winter?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” replied Jonas; “they are sleigh-harnesses.”</p> + +<p>“Well, Jonas,” said Rollo, “I wanted to see you about a beetle and +wedge. Do you think you could help me about making a little beetle and +wedge?”</p> + +<p>“I can help you by my <i>advice</i>,” said Jonas.</p> + +<p>“O, but I want you to help me <i>make</i> them.”</p> + +<p>Then Jonas asked Rollo what made him think of a beetle and wedge; and +Rollo told him of the conversation he had held with the farmer’s boy. +Then Jonas talked a long time about it, giving him particular advice and +direction about the plan, though he said he could not himself go and +help him then, for he could not leave his harnesses.</p> + +<p>The advice which Jonas gave him was, substantially, this:—</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p> + +<p>“The boy was right in what he said about the necessity of having iron +wedges, to split up large logs of hard wood; but you had better have +short pieces of pine boards for your logs, and then wedges of hard wood +will do instead of iron; for hard wood is so much more solid than pine, +that I think wedges of it will answer very well. There are some pieces +of walnut under the bench, which will do finely, and I will give you one +of them.”</p> + +<p>“I’ll go, now, and get it,” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“No,” said Jonas, “not yet; let me tell you about making the beetle.”</p> + +<p>So Rollo stood in the door way, waiting to hear what Jonas had to say +about the beetle, but evidently quite impatient to go.</p> + +<p>“If you make your wedges of hard wood, it will not be necessary to have +iron rings to your beetle, because it will not get battered much, in +driving wooden wedges. Now you must go to the wood pile, and look out a +piece of round wood, about as large round as my arm, and bore a hole in +it.”</p> + +<p>“A hole in it!” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Yes, a small auger hole, to put the handle into. Then you must put the +wood + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> + +into the saw-horse, and saw off the ends, at a little distance from the +hole, so that, when the handle is put in, it will be like a +mallet.”</p> + +<p>“A mallet!” said Rollo. “But I wanted a beetle.”</p> + +<p>“Well, a mallet is a small beetle, without rings.”</p> + +<p>“Is it?” said Rollo, thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” replied Jonas; “and if you work slowly and carefully, I think you +can make a pretty good one yourself.”</p> + +<p>Rollo thought so too, and away he ran to make the experiment. Under the +great work bench, he found, among a quantity of boards and bits of wood, +a number of long bars of walnut, which Jonas had split out from the wood +pile to keep for handles. He took one of these, and carried it off to +the shed, to look for the saw and the hatchet.</p> + +<p>The first thing was, as he supposed, to saw off a piece of the wood just +long enough for a wedge. But in this he was mistaken. In doing any piece +of work of this kind, it is always very important to consider which part +it is best to do first. Rollo did not think of this, and so he marked +off a piece + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> + +of the walnut wood about long enough for a wedge, and then sawed it off.</p> + +<p>“Now,” said he, “I must make the sides smooth, and sharpen it.”</p> + +<p>So he took the piece of wood in his hand, and put one end of it down +upon a large log of wood, and then attempted to smooth and sharpen it, +as he had seen Jonas sharpen a stake. But he could not succeed very +well. The wood was very hard, and he could not cut it. Then it was so +short that it was almost impossible to hold it. At almost every blow of +the hatchet it slipped out of his hand; and then, besides, he was very +much afraid of cutting his fingers; so that, after working laboriously +for some time, he came back to Jonas in despair, holding his wedge in +his hands, which, however, instead of being properly sharpened, was only +rounded off a little at the corners.</p> + +<p>“O dear me!” said he to Jonas, as he came up to him with the intended +wedge in his hands, “I can’t make a wedge at all. It’s no use to try.” +Then he explained to Jonas the difficulties that he had met with.</p> + +<p>“True,” said Jonas; “I see. I advise you to give it up.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span></p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Rollo, “the wood is so hard.”</p> + +<p>“O, no,” said Jonas; “<i>that</i> is no great trouble—you could easily +manage that.”</p> + +<p>“But then I can’t hold it.”</p> + +<p>“That is of no consequence either. I could tell you a way to hold it +well enough.”</p> + +<p>“What is the reason, then, why you think I had better give up?”</p> + +<p>“Because you have not patience enough.”</p> + +<p>Rollo stood silent and thoughtful as Jonas said this, with his piece of +wood in one hand, and his hatchet in the other.</p> + +<p>“It takes a great deal of patience to make a thing which we never made +before.”</p> + +<p>“Why?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“O, because there are always unforeseen difficulties. We don’t know +exactly how to do it, and are apt to make mistakes; and so we spoil some +of our work, and this makes us impatient and fretful.”</p> + +<p>“But I could not help coming to you,” said Rollo, “when I found I could +not sharpen my wedge.”</p> + +<p>“I did not blame you for coming to me,” said Jonas.</p> + +<p>“But you said I was impatient.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, but not for coming to me—I + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> + +judged by your looks and tone of voice. Now if you can keep good-natured +and pleasant, so as to go on steadily and patiently, difficulties or no +difficulties, I will help you by my advice; otherwise, I think you had +better give up the plan.”</p> + +<p>Rollo stood a few minutes leaning on the door, and swinging it back and +forth a little. He seemed to be in doubt whether to be good-natured or +not. At length, the better feelings triumphed, and he said,</p> + +<p>“Well, Jonas I will try. How can I hold my wedge while I sharpen it?”</p> + +<p>“You must not saw it off until it is all sharpened and smoothed. By that +means, you see, the long end of the stick, that you make it from, will +serve for a handle.”</p> + +<p>“So it will,” said Rollo; “I never thought of that.”</p> + +<p>So Rollo went off in pursuit of the stick from which he had sawed off +his first wedge, intending to make another upon the end of it, and then +saw it off when it was all ready.</p> + +<p>He found that now he could hold his wood very easily, and there was no +danger of cutting his fingers. So he could strike much heavier blows. He +soon sharpened + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> + +his wedge, and then carried it to Jonas to ask him if he thought it +would do.</p> + +<p>“No,” said Jonas, “I don’t think it will do, very well.”</p> + +<p>“Won’t it?” asked Rollo, looking somewhat disappointed.</p> + +<p>“Why, you see the sides are not smooth; and then you have not sharpened +it uniformly. You have cut away more at the corners than you have in the +middle, so that it is thicker in the middle. That is the way that boys +always sharpen wedges.”</p> + +<p>“Why do they?” asked Rollo.</p> + +<p>“I suppose it is because it is easier to cut away at the edges, and so +they get more off there. Now you had better get your wedge as true, and +perfect, and smooth as you can, before you saw it off. It will be a +great deal pleasanter to work with a good wedge than with a poor one, +and so you had better take pains with it, and make as perfect a one as +you can, if you make any.”</p> + +<p>“But, Jonas,” said Rollo, “I can smooth it and finish it, after I get it +sawed off.”</p> + +<p>“Not half as easily as you can now,” said Jonas.</p> + +<p>During all this time Jonas kept on with + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> + +his own work; and now he said no more, and seemed disposed to leave +Rollo to his own decision.</p> + +<p>Rollo walked slowly back to the shed. He longed to have his wedge done; +but then Jonas had often told him before, that if he was attempting to +make any thing, it was best to take pains with it, and make it as +complete and perfect as possible, and then he would prize it more, and +take more pleasure in it, when it was done. Rollo knew that this was +good advice, though, like almost all other boys, he was always in such a +hurry to finish any thing that he undertook, and to have it ready for +use, that he did not like to take the necessary pains.</p> + +<p>On reflection, however, he concluded to take Jonas’s advice; and he +accordingly began to smooth the sides of his wedge again with the +hatchet. He did it slowly and carefully; and after some time he found +that he had got the wedge into a much more perfect shape than before. He +then carried it to Jonas again.</p> + +<p>Now Jonas approved it very much, but told him that he had better smooth +it a little more with his knife before sawing it off. + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> + +Rollo did so; and then he carried it back to the horse, and sawed it off +at the right distance, and it made an excellent wedge. The edges, at the +head of the wedge, were left somewhat rough by the saw. These, however, +he trimmed off with his knife, and then carried the wedge to Jonas.</p> + +<p>“Very well,” said Jonas; “now you want one more.”</p> + +<p>“One more?” said Rollo. “No, I want my beetle next.”</p> + +<p>“No,” said Jonas, “one more wedge. Make all your wedges first.”</p> + +<p>“Why, Jonas, you see, if I make my beetle next, I can try it with this +wedge, and then I can make another, if I want it, afterwards.”</p> + +<p>“No,” replied Jonas, “that is not a good way. You ought to finish up +your apparatus all complete, before you try it at all. Then you will +take a great deal more pleasure in trying it. Besides, if you get to +work splitting up your wood, you will not want to leave it, and go to +making a new wedge then. Now is the time to do it.”</p> + +<p>Rollo felt very desirous to make his beetle first, so as “just to try it +a little,” as he + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> + +said. Still, he had so often found, when he had not followed Jonas’s +advice, that he was sorry for it afterwards, that he concluded to make +another wedge now. He accordingly went to work again, and having learned +how to do it by his practice upon the first one, he succeeded very +easily, and finished it much quicker than he did before.</p> + +<p>Then he went to work upon his beetle. He selected a round stick of wood, +of about the right size, and then examined it carefully to find the part +which was most uniform and regular in its shape; and he bored a hole for +the handle in the middle of this part. He made his handle of pine wood, +for this was much easier to cut, and Jonas told him he thought it would +do nearly as well. When the handle was finished, he drove it into the +hole, and then he sawed off the ends of the stick of wood at the right +distances from the hole. He first took pains to measure on each side, so +as to have the distances exactly the same.</p> + +<p>When this was done, he had quite a pretty little mallet. That is, it was +made very much like a carpenter’s mallet; still, as a mallet is made +chiefly for the purpose of + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> + +driving a chisel, and this was, on the other hand, only intended to be +used for splitting wood with a wedge, Jonas told him he thought it would +be strictly proper to call it a <i>little beetle</i>. He worked so slowly and +carefully, however, in doing all this, that the afternoon had entirely +passed away when he got the beetle and the wedges done; and just when he +was thinking that he was ready to try them, he saw Dorothy at the +kitchen door, ringing the bell to call him in to tea.</p> + +<p class="toclink"><a href="#CONTENTS">Table of Contents</a></p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="SPLITTING" id="SPLITTING"></a>SPLITTING.</h2> + +<p>When play time came the next day, Rollo ran after Nathan to show him his +beetle and wedges, and to get him to go out and see him ‘split’ with +them. Nathan trotted along after him, very much pleased.</p> + +<p>Rollo had his beetle in one hand, and his two wedges in the other, and, +as he walked along, he looked over his shoulder towards Nathan, who was +following him, and talked to him by the way, explaining to him something +about his beetle and wedges.</p> + +<p>“You see I am going to split, Thanny. I am going to split some kindling +wood for Dorothy. I shall put my wedges into the wood, and then drive +them in with my beetle, and that will make the wood split open more and +more; and perhaps I will let you split a little, Thanny.”</p> + +<p>By this time Rollo had got out to the shed, and he put his beetle and +wedges down upon the floor, while he went away + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]<br />[Pg 61]<br />[Pg 62]</a></span> + +to get some boards to split. There were some old boards behind the barn, +which Jonas told him were to be split up to burn, and from these he +chose one, which was not very long, and dragged it to the shed. He +placed this upon the saw-horse, and then sawed off a piece from one end, +about as long as he thought it would be well to have the sticks of +kindling wood. After he had sawed off one piece, he was going to split +it up, but then he reflected that it would be more systematic and +workmanlike to finish his sawing first. So he sawed off another, and +another piece, until the board was all sawed up into short pieces. He +placed these together neatly in a pile, and then taking one of them, he +sat down upon the floor, with Thanny, and prepared to try his beetle and +wedges.</p> + +<p>“Now,” said Rollo, “I think I must have a knife,—some old knife or +other,—to make a little place to drive my wedge in. Thanny, why can’t +you go and ask Dorothy to let me have a knife? Come, that’s a good boy.”</p> + +<p>So Nathan got up off of the floor, where he had been sitting by Rollo’s +side, and + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> + +went in for a knife. In a few minutes he came out, and asked Rollo if a +broken one would do. He had brought out a broken knife. The handle was +whole and strong, but the blade was broken in two, about in the middle.</p> + +<p>“Why, yes,” said Rollo, taking the knife and looking at it, “I believe +that will do.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” he continued, “I shall like this better, for I can keep this all +the time, with my wedges. And besides, I believe that I can drive it +better.”</p> + +<p>So Rollo held the edge of the knife to the end of the board, and then +drove it in a little way, with his little beetle. This made a small +opening or cleft in the angle or edge of the board at one end. Then he +began to drive in his wooden wedge, telling Nathan to look carefully and +see when it began to split. Nathan stood near him, stooping down, with +his hands upon his knees, and looking on with great attention.</p> + +<div class="figcenter w100"> +<img src="images/i061.jpg" class="w80 noborder" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Rollo drove in his wedge, and it proceeded admirably. The wood soon +began to crack, and the crack gradually extended almost to the end of +the board. When he had driven it in pretty far, he told Nathan to see +how he + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> + +was going to manage with his second wedge. He was now very glad that he +had followed Jonas’s advice, and made the second wedge before trying the +first. He inserted the second wedge in the crack, and drove it in. This +forced the wood open more, and loosened the first wedge, so that he +could easily get it out again, and very soon the board was split +entirely in two. Nathan was very much delighted with the whole +operation.</p> + +<p>In the same manner, Rollo split two or three other pieces off from his +board, and then Nathan wanted him to let <i>him</i> split one. Rollo was at +first somewhat unwilling to let his little beetle go out of his hand at +all, he was so interested in using it; but considering that it would +give Nathan a good deal of pleasure, he concluded to let him try it +once.</p> + +<p>“I will start it for you, Thanny,” said he. And he accordingly made a +small cleft by driving in his knife; and then he inserted the wedge, and +drove that in too, just far enough to start the crack, and enable the +wood to retain the wedge. Nathan then took the beetle, and pounded away.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p> + +<p>He found that he could not strike such heavy blows as Rollo could, and +yet the wedge gradually penetrated farther and farther, and the crack +opened wider and wider, to Nathan’s great delight. Rollo was himself +gratified to see how much his little brother was pleased with his beetle +and wedges. When the first wedge was driven fully in, he handed him the +other, and showed him how to insert that into the crack made by the +first wedge, at a little distance from it. Nathan then drove in the +second wedge, and this soon finished the work, for it split the piece +off entirely, and Nathan took it up, and looked at it, very much pleased +at what he had done.</p> + +<p>“Now,” said Rollo, “give me the beetle again.”</p> + +<p>“No,” said Nathan, “I want to split some more.”</p> + +<p>“O, no,” said Rollo, in a tone of good-humored expostulation; “no; it is +<i>my</i> beetle and wedge. I let you have it to split one stick off; but now +you ought to let me have it again, immediately.”</p> + +<p>“No,” said Nathan, “I want to split some more.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p> + +<p>Rollo took up the two wedges, and would not let Nathan have them, and +Nathan held the beetle away behind him so that Rollo should not have +that. Thus they seemed to be in inextricable difficulty. Rollo did not +know what to do.</p> + +<p>“Nathan,” said he, at length, after a pause, “give me my beetle.”</p> + +<p>“No,” said Nathan, “<i>I</i> want to split.”</p> + +<p>“O, dear me!” said Rollo, with a sigh.</p> + +<p>At first, he thought that he would take the beetle away from Nathan by +force; but he reflected in a moment that this would be wrong, and so +finally he concluded to go and state the case to his mother.</p> + +<p>So he rose, and began to walk away, saying,</p> + +<p>“Well, Nathan, I mean to go and tell mother, that you won’t let me have +my beetle.”</p> + +<p>Then Nathan, whose conscience secretly reproved him for what he was +doing, pulled the beetle round from behind him, and threw it down upon +the floor, where Rollo had been sitting. This was wrong. It was a very +ill-natured way of giving it up. If he was satisfied that he was wrong, +he ought to + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> + +have handed it to Rollo pleasantly. Instead of that, he threw it down, +with a sullen look, and sat still.</p> + +<p>Then Rollo, thinking that it was now no longer necessary to go and +trouble his mother with the difficulty, began to return. As he came +back, he said, in a kind and soothing tone,</p> + +<p>“Now, you are a good boy, Nathan. That is right—to give me back my +beetle. Now I will let you split again, some time.”</p> + +<p>But Rollo was mistaken in supposing that Nathan was a good boy. Boys are +not good until their <i>hearts</i> are right. When a child has something +which he ought not to have, it is not enough for him to throw it down +upon the floor, sullenly, because he is afraid to have his father or +mother told that he has got it. He ought to give it up pleasantly, and +feel that it is right that he should do so. If Nathan had said to +himself, “I ought not to keep this beetle, for it is not mine—it is +Rollo’s; he made it, and he has been kind enough to lend it to me, and +now I ought to be willing to give it back to him pleasantly again;” and +then had given it to him with a pleasant countenance,—that would have + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> + +been really being a good boy. But to throw it down in a pet, because he +was afraid to have Rollo complain to his mother, was very far from being +like a good boy.</p> + +<p>However, it was very kind in Rollo to speak soothingly and pleasantly to +Nathan; though, if he had reflected how much goodness depends upon the +state of the heart, he would not have supposed that Nathan was yet a +good boy. In fact, when he saw that Rollo was coming back again, and was +not going to his mother, after standing still, looking quite sullen for +a moment, he suddenly stooped down, seized Rollo’s knife, and ran off +with it out into the yard.</p> + +<p>Rollo instantly pursued him, calling out, “Nathan! bring back my knife; +Nathan! Nathan! give me my knife.”</p> + +<p>Nathan, however, ran on, though Rollo ran the fastest, and was rapidly +overtaking him; and just at the instant before he reached him, Nathan’s +foot tripped; he fell, and as he threw forward his hands to try to save +himself, they came down upon the ground, and his forehead struck the +corner of the knife blade. He immediately screamed out + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> + +with pain and terror. Dorothy, alarmed by his cries, came out, took him +up in her arms, and carried him into the house.</p> + +<p>She took him to the table, and began to bathe the wounded forehead in +cold water. This was what she always did when the children got cut or +scratched, or hurt in any such way. It prevents inflammation. She saw +that Nathan was not hurt much, though he continued to cry very loud. His +crying was, however, partly from pain, and partly from vexation.</p> + +<p>In a few minutes, Rollo’s mother came down stairs to see what was the +matter. Rollo thought that his mother might suppose that he had hurt +Nathan, and so he began to explain at once how it happened. But his +mother held up her hand to him, as a signal for him to be silent. She +knew that it was then no time to ascertain the facts.</p> + +<p>She came up and looked at Nathan’s forehead a moment, and she saw that +it was not much hurt. Besides, she knew, by the sound of Nathan’s cries, +that they did not proceed from much pain. She therefore said to him, +gently,</p> + +<p>“Stop crying, Nathan!”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p> + +<p>Now Nathan knew that his mother did not tell him not to cry, except when +she was sure that he could control himself if he chose to do so; and he +also knew that she punished him if he did not obey. So he began +immediately to repress his sobs and cries, and very soon became still. +She then put a small plaster, of some sort, upon his forehead, and then +carried him up stairs and laid him on the bed.</p> + +<p>“There,” said she, “Thanny, lie still there a little while, till your +forehead has done aching, and you get pleasant again; then you may get +up, and come to me.”</p> + +<p>Then she went to her work again, and Rollo came and stood by her side, +and told her the whole story.</p> + +<p>“Nathan did wrong,” said she; “but it would have been better for you not +to have run after him.”</p> + +<p>“Why, mother,” said Rollo, “he was running away with my knife; and I +can’t split at all without my knife. One thing I know,—I shall not let +him split any more with my beetle and wedges.”</p> + +<p>“That would be one way to treat him,” + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> + +said his mother; “but there is another thing you might do, if you +chose.”</p> + +<p>“What, mother?” asked Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Why, make him a beetle and wedge, for his own.”</p> + +<p>“Why, mother!” said Rollo, with surprise.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said she. “You might make him one. Think how pleased he would be +with it. Then he could sit down with you, and you could both be +splitting together.”</p> + +<p>“But, seems to me, mother, that that would be rewarding him for being a +naughty boy.”</p> + +<p>“It would be so, if you were to make him a beetle and wedge, <i>because he +was a bad boy</i>; but I proposed that you should make it for another +reason, that is, to <i>please</i> him.”</p> + +<p>“But perhaps he would <i>think</i> I did it because he ran away with my +knife,” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“I don’t think there is any danger that he would imagine that you did it +as a reward for that,” replied his mother.</p> + +<p>Here Rollo paused a moment. He did + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> + +not feel quite ready to undertake to make Nathan a beetle and wedges; +but he did not know exactly how to reply to his mother’s reasoning. At +length he said, in a timid and hesitating voice,</p> + +<p>“But, mother, it seems to me that it would be better to punish Nathan, +rather than reward him, or do any thing which would seem like rewarding +him for acting so.”</p> + +<p>“That may be true,” said his mother. “And it is true, also, that if you +should refuse to let him split wood any more with your wedges, it would +be punishing him; while, on the other hand, if you should make him a +little beetle and wedge of his own, it would be forgiving him. Now I do +not say that he ought not to be punished; but which do you think is +<i>your</i> duty towards him,—you, yourself, being only another child, a few +years older than he,—to punish or to forgive?”</p> + +<p>“Why,—to forgive,—I suppose,” said Rollo, rather doubtfully.</p> + +<p>“I am rather inclined to that opinion, myself,” said his mother: “but +you can do just as you please.”</p> + +<p>Rollo remained some minutes about his + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> + +mother’s chair, not knowing exactly what to do or say next. He sat down +upon the floor, and began to play with some shreds of cloth which were +lying there. Presently, he looked up and said,</p> + +<p>“Mother, what was the reason why you would not let me tell you what was +the matter with Nathan in the kitchen?”</p> + +<p>“Because,” said she, “he was crying then, and it is no time to learn how +an injury happened, during the excitement of the moment. If you find +Nathan crying out in the yard, for instance, and try to get him to tell +you how he got hurt, you only make him cry the more. Get him quiet +first, and then learn the story afterwards.</p> + +<p>“Then, besides the difficulty of his speaking intelligibly,” she +continued, “at such a time, boys are very strongly tempted to +misrepresent the facts, during the excitement of the first moments. They +are very likely to be a little vexed or angry, and, under the influence +of those feelings, not to give a correct and honest account. So that it +is always best to put off inquiries till the trouble is all over.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p> + +<p>Here Nathan came into the room. His forehead had ceased to give him +pain, and so he had clambered down from the bed where his mother had +placed him, and now came into the room, looking quiet and calm, though +still not very happy.</p> + +<p>Rollo went to him, and said, “Come, Nathan, now we will go down stairs +to play again.” And he began to lead him down stairs. As they walked +along, Rollo said,</p> + +<p>“I am going to make you a beetle and wedge for your own, Nathan, and +then you and I can split together: only, it is not a <i>reward</i>, you must +understand. It was wrong for you to keep my beetle, and run away with my +knife, and you are sorry you did so, an’t you, Nathan?”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Nathan.</p> + +<p>“And you won’t do so any more, will you, Nathan?”</p> + +<p>“No,” said Nathan, “I won’t do so any more.”</p> + +<p>Whether Nathan was really sorry for what he had done, or whether he only +said so because Rollo was going to make him a beetle, is very doubtful; +though it is not impossible that he was a little sorry.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p> + +<p>Rollo went down into the shed again with Nathan; and while he was at +work making the new beetle and wedge, he let Nathan use his. The first +piece of board had been split up; so he laid another one before Nathan, +and gave him his beetle and wedges and knife, and then went away out to +the barn to get some more wood for wedges, and an auger.</p> + +<p>When he came back, he found Nathan standing at the shed door, with the +little beetle in his hand, waiting for him. As Nathan saw Rollo coming, +he called to him, saying,</p> + +<p>“Come, Rollo, come and help me; the board won’t split.”</p> + +<p>“What is the matter with it?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“I don’t know,” said Nathan, “only it won’t split.”</p> + +<p>So Rollo went in to see. He found that Nathan had gone to work wrong. +Instead of trying to drive the wedge into the <i>end</i> of the board, so as +to split it <i>along</i> the grain, he had made the cleft with the knife in +the side of the board, and was attempting to + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> + +drive it in there, as if he supposed he could split the board <i>across</i> +the grain.</p> + +<p>“Why, Nathan,” said Rollo, “that isn’t right. You can’t split it +across.”</p> + +<p>Then he put the wedge into the end, where it ought to be put, and set +Nathan to driving it. <i>Now</i> it began to split at once; though Nathan +could not see why the board should not split one way as well as the +other.</p> + +<p>Rollo himself did not understand it very well. Nathan asked him why it +would not split the other way, and he said that that was <i>across</i> the +grain. But when Nathan asked him what he meant by <i>grain</i>, he could not +tell.</p> + +<p>He took up the wood and examined it, and observed little lines and +ridges, running along in the direction in which it would split; but at +the ends of the board, where it had been sawed across the grain, it was +rough. He determined to ask Jonas about it, or his father.</p> + +<p>He then went to work, and made the wedges and a little beetle for +Nathan. He made Nathan’s beetle smaller than his own, + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> + +because Nathan was not strong enough to strike hard with such a heavy +beetle. He did not get it done in season to use that day; but, the next +day, he and Nathan sat down upon the shed floor, and spent an hour in +splitting up the boards. They split them all up into good, fine kindling +wood. Then they piled the pieces up in a neat pile, and then brought +Dorothy out to see them.</p> + +<p>Dorothy seemed very much pleased, and promised the boys that, the next +time she baked pies, she would kindle the fire in the oven with their +kindling wood, and then she would bake them each a little apple +turnover.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>That evening, just before Rollo went to bed, he asked Jonas if he could +tell him why boards would only split <i>along</i> the grain.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Jonas, “I think I can tell you. But do you know what the +grain is?”</p> + +<p>“No,” said Rollo, “I don’t know any thing about it.”</p> + +<p>“You know that boards are made from the stems of tall trees.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span></p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Well, now when trees are growing, there are little channels running up +and down from the roots to the branches.”</p> + +<p>“What are they for?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“They are for the sap. The sap flows up and down in them. But then there +are no channels across from one side of the tree to the other, because +there is no sap to go across. The sap all has to go up from the roots to +the branches; and so the channels must all be up and down the tree.</p> + +<p>“Now,” continued Jonas, “when they cut down the tree, the trunk will +split easily, up and down, the way the channels and fibres all go; but +it won’t split easily across. And just so, when they saw it up into +boards, the boards will all split lengthwise, from end to end, for this +is the way the channels and fibres all lie; but it won’t split across, +for that would be across all the fibres, and the wood is made very +strong in that direction, and it is well it is so.”</p> + +<p>“Why?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Because, if trees would split across, as easily as they do up and down, +the first good + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> + +wind would blow down all the forests in the world.”</p> + +<p>“O, Jonas!” exclaimed Rollo, “all the forests in the world?”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” replied Jonas, “if the wind blew all over the world.”</p> + +<p class="toclink"><a href="#CONTENTS">Table of Contents</a></p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="HOROLOGY" id="HOROLOGY"></a>HOROLOGY.</h2> + +<p>One day, at eleven o’clock, Rollo, after having put away his books +carefully into his desk, went out to play. It was a calm and pleasant +autumnal day. Brown and yellow leaves were falling from the trees, and +lying about the yard. Rollo found Nathan sitting upon the steps of the +door which looked toward the garden yard. He felt satisfied and happy, +for he had studied his lessons diligently, and, when he saw Nathan, he +concluded to have a little play with him.</p> + +<p>“Now, Nathan,” said Rollo, “I will lie down upon the steps, and make +believe I am a bear gone to sleep, and you come and poke me with your +stick, and then I will growl at you.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Nathan, “I will.”</p> + +<p>So Rollo laid down upon the steps, putting his arms upon the threshold +of the door for a pillow, and his head upon his arms, and pre + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> + +tended to be asleep; but he did not look much as if he was asleep, after +all, for he could not look quite sober. He tried to look sober; but +there was a lurking smile upon his face, which made his countenance look +quite different from that of a bear. Nathan came creeping along softly, +and when he got near enough, he began to poke him with the end of his +little whip-handle; then Rollo would start up and begin to growl, when +Nathan would scamper away, shouting with laughter, Rollo after him, upon +all-fours.</p> + +<p>This play lasted several minutes, until at length Nathan spoiled it by +punching Rollo too hard with his whip-handle. A great many plays are +spoiled by roughness on the part of some who are engaged. Rollo, being +hurt a little, got out of patience. He ought to have asked Nathan, +pleasantly, not to punch him so hard. Instead of that, however, he +declared that he would not play any more, and got up and went away. +Nathan followed him, lashing the ground and the leaves with his whip.</p> + +<p>They both went into a corner of the yard, where Rollo used to have his +sand- + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> + +garden. This sand-garden was made of clean sand, which Rollo and his +cousin James once wheeled up from the brook; and then, after they had +smoothed it out, and raked it over, they used to get plants and flowers, +without any roots, and stick down, and then call it their garden. They +used to water the plants, and so they could keep them green and bright +for several days, which was long enough for them; for, after that, they +generally preferred putting down fresh ones. But, now, the sand-garden +had been for a long time neglected. The remains of some of the old +plants were there, withered and dried, and the leaves of autumn were +scattered over its surface.</p> + +<p>Rollo began to rake off the leaves with his fingers, and then sat down, +and went to digging a hole in the sand. It was very dry upon the top, +but on digging down a little way, he found it damp, and so it would hold +together pretty well, and he could pat it into any shape. A load of +clean sand makes a very good place for children to play in, in a corner +of a yard.</p> + +<p>Rollo sat down on one side of the sand-garden, and Nathan on the other, +and both + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> + +busied themselves in digging and building little houses. They both +became very much interested, and sat some time very still, until, at +length, Rollo looked around to see what Nathan might be doing.</p> + +<p>“What are you doing, Thanny?” said he.</p> + +<p>“O, I’m making the sand run down through.”</p> + +<p>Rollo observed that Nathan had an old tin dipper, which he was holding +up in one hand, and putting some dry sand into it with the other. There +was a very small hole in the bottom of the dipper, for it was an old one +which had been worn out and thrown away; and the sand ran out of this +little hole in a fine stream, and it was this which interested Nathan so +much.</p> + +<p>“O, Nathan,” said Rollo, “let me have the dipper.”</p> + +<p>“No,” said Nathan, “I want it myself.”</p> + +<p>Rollo would not take it away from Nathan, though he wanted it very much +indeed.</p> + +<p>“Yes, Nathan,” said he, “let me have the dipper, and I will make you an +hour-glass out of it.”</p> + +<p>But Nathan said, “No, no,” and moved away a little farther.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p> + +<p>Rollo then remembered that such a little boy was generally not +interested in any one thing very long, and that, if he should let Nathan +alone, he would soon put the dipper down, and then he could have it +without any difficulty. So he went on making houses in the sand, and in +a few minutes Nathan put the dipper down. Then, soon after, Rollo took +it up and put some dry sand into it, and he found that the sand would +run very smoothly, in a fine stream, through a small hole there was in +the bottom of it.</p> + +<p>He determined to make an hour-glass of it. He had seen an hour-glass at +his uncle George’s. It was made of glass, big at the bottom and at the +top, and narrow in the middle between the two. Through the narrow part +in the middle, there was a very small hole, to let the sand run down +through; and there was just sand enough put in to run through in an +hour. So that, if a person should set the sand to running, he would know +when an hour had expired, by observing when the sand had all run +through.</p> + +<p>Rollo thought that he could make an hour-glass; and he thought it would +be a great convenience to him to have an hour-glass in + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> + +the yard; because it often happened, when he came out to play, that his +mother would tell him that he might stay out an hour; and then he had to +go in very often to look at the clock, in order to know exactly when the +hour had expired.</p> + +<p>There were, however, so many little sticks and old leaves in the sand, +that it kept getting continually clogged up, and at last Rollo began to +get discouraged. He tried to pick out the little sticks; but he found he +could not do that, and at last it occurred to him that probably Dorothy +had some sand in the house that was cleaner.</p> + +<p>He accordingly went in and asked her. She told him that he must wash his +own sand, and that would make it clean.</p> + +<p>“But haven’t you got some that is clean already?” said he.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Dorothy; “but you will like your hour-glass better if you +make it all yourself.”</p> + +<p>So Dorothy told him how to wash sand, for Rollo said that he did not +know. She said he must put a little in a basin, and then pump water into +it. “When the basin is nearly full of water, you must stir it round, + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> + +and then pour off the water, and pump in more;—do this until the +water comes off clear.”</p> + +<p>So Rollo took the basin which Dorothy gave him, and went out to his +sand-garden, and put in a little sand. Then he went to the pump, and +pumped water into it. Then he stirred it about with his hand. The water +immediately became very turbid, and a great many little sticks and +leaves came floating up to the surface. Rollo was surprised to find how +rapidly the water separated the light things which would float upon the +top, from the heavy sand which would sink to the bottom. He kept pouring +off the water, and pumping in more, until at length no more sticks and +leaves came off, and the water appeared pretty clear. Then he carried +the sand away, and spread it out upon a clean board in the sun to dry.</p> + +<p>While he was thus at work preparing the sand for his hour-glass, Jonas +happened to come by, and asked Rollo what he was doing. Rollo told him +that he was making an hour-glass. Jonas looked on for a few minutes, and +then he told Rollo that he thought that was a pretty good plan. “And + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> + +<i>I</i> am going to have a time-keeper, too,” said he.</p> + +<p>“Are you?” said Rollo. “What?”</p> + +<p>“I am going to make a dial,” said he.</p> + +<p>“A dial!” said Rollo; “what, a real dial?”</p> + +<p>Rollo had an idea that a dial was exceedingly complicated and difficult +to make, or to understand; and, in fact, it is difficult to make one +that shall be exact in its indications. He did not think it possible +that Jonas could make one.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Jonas, “a real dial; and I have got a noon mark already.”</p> + +<p>“A noon mark!” said Rollo; “what is a noon mark?”</p> + +<p>“It is a mark to show when it is exactly twelve o’clock.”</p> + +<p>“Let me go and see it,” said Rollo, “while my sand is drying.”</p> + +<p>Rollo followed Jonas off into the barn, and when there, Jonas pointed to +a small line which he had cut with his penknife upon the barn floor. It +began at the foot of one of the posts, by the side of the door, and +extended back into the barn exactly straight.</p> + +<p>“Is that the noon mark?” said Rollo. + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> + +He was surprised to see that a noon mark was nothing but a cut with a +penknife upon a barn floor.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Jonas; “that is a meridian.”</p> + +<p>“A meridian!” said Rollo, looking upon it with an air of great curiosity +and respect.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Jonas; “a line drawn exactly north and south, is called a +meridian line; and that is exactly north and south.”</p> + +<p>“What do you call it a noon mark for?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Because,” said Jonas, “the shadow of the edge of the door post will +always be exactly upon it at noon. So that I can always tell now when it +is noon, by the shadow of the post upon my noon mark, if the sun +shines.”</p> + +<p>All this was very new and very curious to Rollo. He had never seen or +heard of a noon mark before; and it seemed to him a very simple and +beautiful way of knowing when it was noon. He asked Jonas how he found +out about it, and Jonas told him that he had been reading about it in a +book on astronomy.</p> + +<p>“Your father let me have the book,” said he; “and see my chalk marks for +the sun’s shadow.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span></p> + +<p>Rollo looked, and found that Jonas had put down quite a number of chalk +marks along in a line, where they had first began to mark the place +where the shadow of the door reached into. Rollo and Lucy had forgotten +all about their plan of making such a series of observations; but Jonas +had gone on regularly, making a mark every Monday, at noon, precisely. +As the sun, at that season of the year, was going round farther and +farther to the south every week, it shone in farther and farther upon +the floor, so that each chalk mark was farther in than the one made the +week before.</p> + +<p>In order to make his marks at the right time, Jonas wanted to know, +every Monday, when it was precisely twelve o’clock, and this led him to +make his noon mark, having seen the account of it in the book which +Rollo’s father had lent him. He learned there that the shadows of all +upright objects are cast exactly north at twelve o’clock, or rather very +nearly north; near enough for his purposes. Now, as the post of the barn +door was upright, he knew that the shadow of it would be in the north +and south line at noon. Of course, if he had a north and + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> + +south line, or a meridian line, as it was called in the book, drawn upon +the floor, he knew that he could tell when it was noon, by the shadow of +the post coming then exactly upon that line. He explained this all to +Rollo, and Rollo was very much pleased with it indeed. He determined to +have a noon line somewhere in the house.</p> + +<p>Rollo asked Jonas what was the way to draw a noon line. Jonas told him +that there were several ways. One way, he said, was to observe some day, +by the clock, when it was exactly noon, and then to mark, upon the barn +floor, the line where the shadow of the edge of the post fell precisely +at that moment. Another way was to get a compass needle, and put it down +upon the floor, and then draw a north and south line precisely in the +direction that the needle indicated. That would, of course, be a north +and south line, because the compass needle always pointed north and +south. He said that he adopted both these methods to make his noon line. +First, he got a compass needle, which Rollo’s father had lent him, and +put that down upon the barn floor just at the foot of the door post, and +observed + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> + +the direction; and he also noticed when it was twelve, by the clock in +the house, and he found that, when it was twelve by the clock, the +shadow of the post came exactly to the line indicated by the direction +of the compass needle; and so he knew that that was a correct meridian +line.</p> + +<p class="toclink"><a href="#CONTENTS">Table of Contents</a></p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="JONASS_DIAL" id="JONASS_DIAL"></a>JONAS’S DIAL.</h2> + +<p>That evening, Rollo told his father about his hour-glass, and also about +Jonas’s noon line. His father said it was very difficult to draw a +meridian line.</p> + +<p>“O no, father,” said Rollo; “Jonas has drawn one, and he told me how, +and it was a very easy way.”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said his father, “it is easy to draw something which you can call +a noon mark; but it is a very difficult and delicate operation to do it +with any considerable degree of exactness.”</p> + +<p>“I think that Jonas’s is exact,” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“It probably may be as exact as he could make it with his means and +instruments; but there are a great many sources of error which he could +not possibly have avoided.”</p> + +<p>“What?” asked Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Why, in the first place, the clock is not exact. It is near enough to +answer all the + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> + +purposes of a family; but it may often be a minute or more out of the +way. Then besides, while Jonas is going from the clock out to the barn, +the shadow is slowly moving on, all the time; so that he cannot tell +exactly where the shadow was, when it was precisely twelve by the clock.</p> + +<p>“Then again, it is not always exactly noon when the shadow comes to the +north and south line. It varies a little at different seasons of the +year, though it is so near that we say, in general terms, that at noon +all shadows of upright objects point to the north. Still, it is not +<i>precisely</i> true, except on a very few days in the year. Then, again, +the post of the barn door is not exactly upright.”</p> + +<p>“I thought they always made door posts exactly upright,” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“They do make them as nearly upright as they can, with the common +carpenters’ instruments; but they are not <i>exact</i>. To set a post of any +kind, with great precision, perpendicular to the horizon, would require +very expensive mathematical instruments, and very laborious and nice +observations. Then, again, if the clock had been exact, and the post +perfectly upright, Jonas could + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> + +not have marked the place of the shadow exactly. The shadow has not an +exact and well-defined edge; and then, even while he was marking at one +end, the shadow would be moving along at the other end, and so his noon +mark would not be exactly straight.”</p> + +<p>“Why, father, he could make the mark right along quick.”</p> + +<p>“No matter how quick he might make it. It would take some time, wouldn’t +it?”</p> + +<p>“Only a <i>very little</i>,” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“And do you suppose the sun would stand still, even during that little +time, so as to let the shadow remain stationary?</p> + +<p>“However,” continued his father, “I don’t say this to disparage Jonas’s +noon mark. I dare say, it is accurate enough for his purposes. He only +wants to know from it when it is time for him to come in to dinner, or +something like that. I only want you to understand what exactness is, +and to see, a little, how difficult it is to attain to any considerable +degree of it, in such cases. So thus, it seems, that Jonas has got a +sort of a dial?”</p> + +<p>“Why, it only tells him what o’clock it + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> + +is at one hour in the day,” said Rollo. “But I think he +might make it do for all the afternoon and forenoon.”</p> + +<p>“How?” inquired his father.</p> + +<p>“Why, all he has got to do is to watch some day when it is nine o’clock, +and ten o’clock, and so on, every hour; and then make a line where the +shadow comes every hour, just as he did for twelve o’clock. Then he will +have marks for every hour in the day, and when the shadow comes along to +these marks, one after another, he will know what time it is.”</p> + +<p>“O, but the difficulty is,” said his father, “that the shadow will not +come to the same places, at the same hours, on different days. It will +come to the <i>meridian line</i>, at twelve, always,—that is, nearly to it; +but it will not come to any other lines regularly,—that is, if the +object, which casts the shadow, is upright.”</p> + +<p>“Will any other kind of object carry the shadow regularly?” asked Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said his father, “an object that leans over to the north, so as +to point to the North Star. If you and Jonas could put a post into the +ground so as to have it point + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> + +to the North Star, then you could mark, all around it, the places to +which the shadow would come for every hour in the day, and afterwards it +would come to the same places regularly, or nearly so. It would be near +enough for your purposes; and I don’t know but that it would be quite a +respectable dial for you.”</p> + +<p>Rollo then asked his father why it was that a post, which pointed to the +North Star, would bring a shadow any more regularly to the hour marks, +than an upright one would; but he said that Rollo did not know enough, +yet, to understand the explanation, even if he were to try to explain +it. “Therefore,” said he, “you must wait until you study astronomy +before you can expect to understand it; but you can now, in the mean +time, make such a dial, if you wish to do it.”</p> + +<p>Rollo did wish to do it very much. He accordingly told Jonas all that +his father had said. It seemed very strange to Jonas, that a post, +pointing to the North Star, should have its shadows move round any more +regularly than a post in any other position. He could not imagine what +the North Star + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> + +could have to do with the shadows. Still, he determined to try the +experiment.</p> + +<p>A few days after this, Jonas did try the experiment. He got two narrow +boards, which were once pickets belonging to a picket fence, one end of +each was sharp, so that it could be driven down into the ground. Then he +selected a certain part of the yard, in a corner, where the dial would +be out of the way, and yet the path to the barn led along pretty near +it. The reason why Jonas got two boards was this: he knew that, if he +drove only one stake into the ground, and inclined it towards the North +Star, it would be very likely to get started out of its proper position; +but if he had two, he could drive the second one down perpendicularly +from the end of the first, and then nail the two ends together; and that +would keep all steady.</p> + +<p>After having got every thing ready, the boys waited till the evening +before fixing up the dial, because they could not see the North Star in +the day time. But when the evening came, they went out, and began their +preparations. It was a clear and pretty cold evening, and the stars were +out in thousands.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p> + +<p>“Which is the North Star?” asked Rollo.</p> + +<p>Jonas looked about a minute or two, saying, “Let me see—where’s the +Dipper? O, I see a part of it; the rest is down behind the barn. It was +up high the last time I saw it.”</p> + +<p>“Where is the Dipper?” said Rollo, looking eagerly in the direction to +which Jonas was turned.</p> + +<p>“Come this way,” said Jonas, “so as to be out of the way of the barn, +and you can see it better.”</p> + +<p>So Jonas pointed out the Dipper to Rollo, with its square body, and +long, bent handle. It was at first quite difficult for Rollo to see any +thing that looked at all like a dipper; as it consisted only of stars, +which it required some imagination to make look like one.</p> + +<p>“The handle reaches almost down to the ground,” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Down to the horizon, you mean,” said Jonas.</p> + +<p>“Is that the horizon?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Jonas, “where the earth and sky meet. Not long ago the +Dipper handle was away up there,” he continued, pointing up very high.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></p> + +<p>“Does the Dipper move?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Yes, it goes round and round the North Star, all the time. All the +stars that are near the North Star keep going round and round it, once +every day.”</p> + +<p>“And the rest of the stars,” said Rollo, “do they go round too?”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Jonas; “only they are so far from the North Star, that they +go in larger circles, and so go down below the horizon, and are out of +sight sometimes. They come up in the east, like the sun, and go over and +down in the west. But they don’t go over straight,” he added. “They +don’t come right up straight; and so go directly over. They slant away, +off to the south, so as to keep always just so far from the North Star.”</p> + +<p>“That’s curious,” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“I think it is,” said Jonas. “And they all go together; they don’t move +about among themselves, at all.”</p> + +<p>“Don’t they?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“No,” said Jonas; “only there are a few wandering stars, that keep +wandering about among the others. But the rest all keep + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> + +exactly in their places, and all go round together; so they are called +<i>fixed</i> stars.”</p> + +<p>“Show me one of the wandering stars,” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“I don’t know which they are,” said Jonas, “only they are pretty bright +ones.”</p> + +<p>“I guess that’s one,” said Rollo, pointing to a pretty bright star in +the east.</p> + +<p>“Perhaps it is,” said Jonas.</p> + +<p>“I wish I knew,” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“I’ll tell you how you can find out,” said Jonas.</p> + +<p>“How?” asked Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Why, when you go into the house, take a piece of paper, and go to the +window, and make some dots upon it, for all the stars around that one. +Make the dots just in the places that the stars seem to be in. Then let +them all go. They will rise more and more, and go overhead, and down in +the west, and to-morrow night they will come up in the east again; and +then you can look at them again, and see if the bright star has changed +its place at all.”</p> + +<p>Rollo said that he meant to do that; and then he said that he began to +feel cold, and + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> + +wanted to go in. But Jonas told him that he ought to wait and help +finish the dial.</p> + +<p>So they went to the place which Jonas had selected, and Jonas, looking +up first at the North Star, made a hole in the ground, with an iron bar, +in an oblique direction, so that the bar should point pretty nearly to +the North Star. Then he drove in one of his stakes in the same way. He +then made a hole, perpendicularly, directly under the end of this +inclined stake, and drove the other stake down into that. The two upper +ends of the stakes were now together.</p> + +<p>Then Jonas stooped down, so as to bring his eye near the edge of the +inclined stake, at the lower end, so that he could “<i>sight</i>” along the +edge of it, towards the star. He had previously cut a notch in it, so +that he could get his eye down far enough to look directly along the +edge. At the same time, Rollo took hold of the upper end, and stood +ready to move it either way, as Jonas might direct, until it should +point exactly towards the North Star.</p> + +<p>“Down,” said Jonas.</p> + +<p>Then Rollo moved it a little down.</p> + +<p>“Down more.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p> + +<p>Rollo moved it farther.</p> + +<p>“Up—up a little,” added Jonas. “There—that will do. Now hold the two +stakes firmly together, exactly so.”</p> + +<p>Then Jonas took some nails, which he had before provided, and nailed the +tops of the stakes together, Rollo holding the axe up against them, on +the opposite side. This supported the end of the inclined stake firmly, +so that it could not move up or down. This was all that the boys wanted +to do in the evening, and so they both went in.</p> + +<p>The next day, Jonas sawed off the ends of both stakes where they +projected beyond the junction; and then Rollo said he would watch the +clock all day, and mark the place where the shadow came each hour, and +drive a little stake down. “Then,” said he, “our dial will be done.”</p> + +<p>“But what do you suppose is the reason,” said Rollo, “that we must make +it point to the North Star more than to any other?”</p> + +<p>“I don’t know,” said Jonas, “unless it is because the North Star is the +only one that keeps always in the same place. The rest move round and +round every day. Those that are far enough from the North Star to go + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> + +down below the horizon, rise and set; and those that are not far enough, +go round and round in circles, in the open sky. But the North Star keeps +still.”</p> + +<p>“Does it?” said Rollo, turning around, and looking up to the part of the +heavens where he had seen the star the evening before.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Jonas; “and the reason why we cannot see it now, is the +bright daylight. It is up there now, just where it was last night.”</p> + +<p>“And the Dipper, too?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Yes, and the Dipper, too; only that has moved half round, I suppose, +and is now away up above the North Star.”</p> + +<p>“I wish I could see it,” said Rollo. And he looked as steadily and +intently into the clear blue sky, as he could; but he could not possibly +see the least sign of a star.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>However, the sun shone bright, and it cast a strong shadow from the +stakes which they had driven into the ground. Jonas soon went away to +his work, and left Rollo to mark the hours by means of the clock.</p> + +<p>So Rollo had to go into the house very often to see what time it was; +and at last + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> + +his father, who was sitting there at his writing, asked him what made +him want to see the clock so much. Rollo told him the reason. So his +father put down his pen, and came out to see the dial.</p> + +<p>When he saw the two stakes, with their lower ends driven into the +ground, and the upper ends nailed firmly together, he looked at them +with a smile, but did not say any thing.</p> + +<p>“Will that do?” said Rollo, looking up very eagerly into his father’s +face.</p> + +<p>His father did not answer, but continued to examine the work on all +sides, with a countenance expressive of curiosity and pleasure.</p> + +<p>“It points to the North Star, exactly,” added Rollo. “Jonas <i>sighted</i> +it.”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said his father; “I think that will do; you have got quite a +respectable <i>gnomon</i>.”</p> + +<p>“Gnomon?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said his father; “we call such a thing a gnomon. In common dials, +they are made of brass; but I don’t see why this won’t do very well. It +is rather a <i>large</i> gnomon.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span></p> + +<p>“Is it?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said his father, “I think it is the biggest gnomon I ever saw.</p> + +<p>“But how are you going to mark the hour lines, Rollo?” asked his father.</p> + +<p>“Why, we are going to drive little stakes down into the ground.”</p> + +<p>“’Seems to me that you can contrive some better plan than that,” said +his father.</p> + +<p>“Why?” said Rollo. “Is not that a good plan?”</p> + +<p>“Not very good,” he replied; “because you cannot be exact in driving +down stakes. The beauty of a dial is its exactness. I should think that +you would do better to put a board down upon the ground, and mark your +lines upon that.”</p> + +<p>“O, the board would get knocked about,” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“I dare say that Jonas would contrive some way to keep it steady.”</p> + +<p>“But he says he can’t do any thing more about the dial to-day, for he +must attend to his work.”</p> + +<p>“Let me see—he is putting the harnesses in order, I believe.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, sir,” said Rollo.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]<br />[Pg 109]<br />[Pg 110]</a></span></p> + +<p>“Well, you may tell him that after he has done the harness that he is at +work upon now, he may finish his dial.”</p> + +<p>Then Rollo’s father went into the house, and away went Rollo in pursuit +of Jonas.</p> + +<p>Jonas liked the plan of putting a board down very much, and in a short +time he went to work to do it. He planed out a board of the right +length, and then put it down upon the ground, under and between the two +stakes, but nearest to the upright one. They placed it across at right +angles to the line between the stakes, and of course, as the stakes were +in a north and south line, the board was in an east and west line, and +so the shadows were cast exactly across it.</p> + +<p>The board being planed smooth, the edge of the shadow could be seen much +more distinctly upon it, than upon the ground; so Jonas was satisfied +that it would be a great deal better to draw the hour lines upon the +board. After having determined upon the place where it was to go, he +took it up again, and then drove down two strong but short stakes, sawed +off square at the top, into the ground, one on each side; so that they +should come under the two ends of the + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> + +board. Then he laid the board down again upon the stakes, and nailed the +ends of the board to them. The stakes had been driven in until they were +just level with the surface of the ground, and so the board seemed to be +lying along upon the ground too, though it was, in fact, fastened +securely to the short stakes. Then the boys marked the hour lines upon +the board with some black paint; and thus they had a very respectable +dial. When the sun shone, Rollo could tell what o’clock it was near +enough for all his purposes.</p> + +<div class="figcenter w100"> +<img src="images/i108.jpg" class="w80 noborder" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p class="toclink"><a href="#CONTENTS">Table of Contents</a></p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="THE_BEE-HIVE" id="THE_BEE-HIVE"></a>THE BEE-HIVE.</h2> + +<p>One of the drollest of all of Rollo’s experiments was his plan for +getting a bee-hive.</p> + +<p>One day, he was in the garden with a playmate of his, named Henry, who +lived not very far from his father’s house.</p> + +<p>In the back part of the garden were some tall hollyhocks growing. They +were in full flower. Hollyhocks are very tall. They grow up in a +straight stem, as high as a man’s head, with leaves and flowers from top +to bottom.</p> + +<p>The flowers are large, and shaped somewhat like a cup, or rather a +wine-glass, and bees often go into them to get honey.</p> + +<p>Now it happened that as Rollo and Henry were sauntering about, near +these hollyhocks, Rollo happened to see a bee in one of the flowers, +loading himself up with wax or honey. The flower, that the bee was in, +was just about as high as Rollo’s head.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p> + +<p>“O, there’s a bee!” said Rollo; “let’s catch him.”</p> + +<p>“Catch him!” said Henry. “If you do, you’ll catch a sting, I rather +think.”</p> + +<p>“No,” said Rollo, “I can catch him without getting stung.”</p> + +<p>“How?” said Henry.</p> + +<p>“I will show you,” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>So saying, Rollo approached the hollyhocks, and put both his hands up +slowly to the flower which the bee was in. He then very carefully +gathered together the edges of the flower, so as to enclose and imprison +the bee. He then gently broke off the stem of the flower, and held it up +to Henry’s ear, to let him hear the bee buzz within.</p> + +<p>“Now,” said Rollo, “I wish I had a little bee-hive. I would put him in, +and perhaps he would make some honey in there.”</p> + +<p>“Do you think he would?” said Henry.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” replied Rollo, “I have no doubt he would; bees always make honey +in bee-hives.”</p> + +<p>“Haven’t you got some box that will do?” said Henry.</p> + +<p>“I don’t know,” said Rollo; “let us go along towards the barn, and see +if we can’t + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> + +find one. I suppose it is no matter what the shape of it is,” he +added, “if it is only a box, with a small hole for the bees to go +in and out.”</p> + +<p>“But you haven’t got but one bee,” said Henry, as they walked along +towards the barn.</p> + +<p>Rollo held the flower, with the bee imprisoned in it, safely in his +fingers.</p> + +<p>“O, I can catch plenty more. I could catch a whole hive of them, in +time.”</p> + +<p>“But I don’t believe they will stay and work in your hive,” said Henry. +“They will all fly off and go home to where they belong.”</p> + +<p>“No,” said Rollo, “I will plug up the hole, and keep them shut in until +they get used to it. When they get wonted to the new hive, they will +stay there, after that, I know. That’s the way they do with doves.”</p> + +<p>“But you won’t have any queen bee,” said Henry. “Bees won’t work without +a queen bee. I read it in a book.”</p> + +<p>“Well, perhaps I can catch a queen bee, some day,” said Rollo, rather +doubtfully.</p> + +<p>Rollo was so much interested in his plan, + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> + +that he was determined not to see any difficulties in the way of it; and +yet he could not help feeling that there was some uncertainty about his +succeeding in entrapping a queen bee.</p> + +<p>However, just at this point in the conversation, he suddenly stopped, +and pointed down to a flower-pot, which stood bottom upwards, upon a +seat, near where they were walking.</p> + +<p>“There,” said he, “that will do for a bee-hive.”</p> + +<p>“Ho!” said Henry, “that is not a box.”</p> + +<p>“No matter,” said Rollo; “it is just as good, and there is a little hole +for the bees to go out and in at.”</p> + +<p>There is always a little hole in the bottom of a flower-pot.</p> + +<p>“So there is,” said Henry; “but do you think that the bees will make +honey in an earthen pot?”</p> + +<p>“O, yes,” said Rollo, “just as well as in any thing. The bees don’t care +what they make the honey in. Sometimes they make it in old logs.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Henry, “and we’ll call it a honey-pot. And where shall we +put it?”</p> + +<p>“We can keep it on this seat: it is as + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> + +good a place as any; the bees will be right in the garden as soon as +they come out of their hive.”</p> + +<p>So saying, Rollo asked Henry to hold his bee a minute, while he got the +honey-pot ready. Henry took the flower very carefully, so as not to let +the bee escape, and then Rollo lifted up the flower-pot, and looked +inside. It was pretty clean; but as Rollo knew that bees were very nice +in their habits, he thought he would just take it to the pump, and wash +it out a little.</p> + +<p>In a few minutes, he brought it back, and replaced it, bottom upwards, +upon the seat, and then prepared to put the bee in. He took the flower +again from Henry’s hand, and then very carefully inserted the edges of +it, which had been gathered together with his fingers, into the hole. He +then began to knock and push the bottom of the flower, to make the bee +go in. The bee, not knowing what to make of this treatment, kept up a +great buzzing, but soon went in.</p> + +<p>“There,” said Rollo. “Now, Henry, you be ready to clap your thumb over +the hole, as soon as I take the flower away, or else he’ll come out.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p> + +<p>“O, no,” said Henry; “he’ll fly up and sting me.”</p> + +<p>“No, he won’t,” said Rollo. “I only want you to keep him in a minute, +while I go and get a plug.”</p> + +<p>Henry then, with much hesitation and fear, put his thumb over the hole, +as Rollo withdrew the flower. He stood there while Rollo went for a +plug; but he seemed to feel very uneasy, and continually called Rollo to +be quick.</p> + +<p>Rollo could not find a plug, but he picked up a small, flat stone, and +concluded that that would do just as well. So he released Henry from his +dangerous position, and put the stone over the hole.</p> + +<p>“There,” said Rollo, with a tone of great satisfaction, when he had done +this, “now he is safe. We’ll let him stay, while we go and catch another +bee.”</p> + +<p>So they went back to the hollyhocks, and there, quite fortunately, they +found another bee just going into one of the flowers. Rollo secured him +in the same way, and carried him along, and pushed him into the +flower-pot. Henry stood ready to clap the stone on, as soon as he was +in, and then they + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> + +came back to the hollyhocks again. They had then to wait a little while, +watching for bees; at length, however, one came, and, by and by, +another; and so, in the course of an hour or two, they got seven bees, +all safe in the honey-pot, and Rollo said he thought seven were about +enough to go to work, at least, to begin. They had not yet found any +one, however, that seemed to Rollo to be a queen bee.</p> + +<p>At last, it was time for Henry to go home, and Rollo concluded to leave +his bee-hive until the next morning. He thought he would leave the hole +stopped up, so that the bees might get used to their new accommodations; +but he intended to open it the next day, in order to let them begin +their work.</p> + +<p>The next morning, Henry came over soon after breakfast to see how +affairs stood in respect to the bee-hive. He and Rollo went out into the +garden to look at the establishment, and found every thing as they had +left it the night before. Rollo felt quite confident of the success of +his experiment. The only thing that gave him any uneasiness was the want +of a queen bee. He and Henry were just speculating upon the expediency + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> + +of sending in a bumble-bee instead, for a king, when their attention was +arrested by hearing Jonas calling Rollo. They looked up, and saw him +standing at the garden gate.</p> + +<p>“Rollo,” said Jonas, “do you want to go out with me to the pasture, and +catch the horse?”</p> + +<p>“Why,—yes,” said Rollo. But yet he did not go. He seemed to feel in +doubt. “Must you go this minute?” said he.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Jonas. “Come; and Henry may go, too.”</p> + +<p>“Well, wait a minute, just till I go and open the door in my bee-hive.”</p> + +<p>“Your bee-hive!” said Jonas; “what do you mean by that?”</p> + +<p>But Rollo did not hear what Jonas said; for he had run off along the +alley, Henry after him, towards the place where they had established +their hive.</p> + +<p>“What does he mean by his bee-hive?” said Jonas to himself. “I mean to +go and see.”</p> + +<p>So Jonas opened the garden gate, and came in. When he came up near the +seat where Henry and Rollo stood, he found the boys + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> + +standing a step or two back from the flower-pot, both watching the hole +with the utmost intentness.</p> + +<p>“What are you looking at, there, boys?” said Jonas, with great surprise.</p> + +<p>“O, we are looking to see the bees come out.”</p> + +<p>“The bees come out!” said Jonas.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Rollo; “that is our bee-hive,—honey-pot we call it. We have +put some bees in it.”</p> + +<p>Here Jonas burst into a loud, and long, and apparently incontrollable +fit of laughter. Henry and Rollo looked upon him with an expression of +ludicrous gravity and perplexity.</p> + +<p>“What are you laughing at?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>Jonas could hardly control himself sufficiently to speak; but presently +he succeeded in asking Rollo if he supposed that bees would make honey +there.</p> + +<p>“Certainly I do,” said Rollo, with a positive air. “Why should they not? +They don’t care what shape their hive is, or what it is made of, and +this flower-pot is as good as any thing else. There! there! see, Henry,” +he exclaimed, interrupting himself, + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> + +and pointing down to the flower-pot, “one is coming out.”</p> + +<p>Henry and Jonas both looked, and they saw a poor, forlorn-looking bee +cautiously putting forth his head at the hole, and then slowly crawling +out. He came on until he was fairly out of the hole, and then, extending +his wings, rose and flew away through the air.</p> + +<p>Here Jonas burst out again in a fit of laughter.</p> + +<p>“You needn’t laugh, Jonas,” said Rollo; “he’ll come back again; I know +he will. That’s the way they always do.”</p> + +<p>“And you suppose that the bees will fill up the flower-pot with honey?” +said Jonas.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Rollo; “and then I shall take it away without killing any of +the bees. I read how to do it in a book.”</p> + +<p>“How shall you do it?” said Jonas.</p> + +<p>“Why, when this honey-pot is full of honey, I shall get another, and put +on the top of it, bottom upwards. Then the bees will work up into that, +and come out at the upper hole. When they get fairly at work in the +upper hive, then I shall get Henry to + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]<br />[Pg 123]<br />[Pg 124]</a></span> + +hold it, while I slip the lower one out, and put the upper one down in +its place.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter w100"> +<img src="images/i123.jpg" class="w80 noborder" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>As Rollo was speaking these words, in order to show Jonas more exactly +how he meant to perform the operation, he took hold of the flower-pot +with both his hands, and slid it suddenly off of the seat. Now it happened that the poor bees +that were inside, chilled with the dampness and cold, were nearly all +crawling about upon the seat; and when Rollo suddenly moved the +flower-pot along, forgetting for a moment what there was inside, the +rough edges of the flower-pot bruised and ground them to death, and they +dropped down upon the walk, some dead, some buzzing a little, and one +trying to crawl.</p> + +<p>“There now, Rollo,” said Henry, in a tone of great disappointment and +sorrow, “now you have killed all our bees!”</p> + +<p>Rollo looked astonished enough. He had no idea of such a catastrophe; +and he and Henry both at the same instant took up the honey-pot to see +if any of the bees had escaped destruction. Their eyes fell, at the + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> + +same moment, upon one solitary bee that was standing upon the inside of +the flower-pot. His attention had been arrested by the sudden glare of +light, and so, just as Rollo and Henry first observed him, and before +they had time to put the flower-pot down again, he spread his wings and +flew out towards them.</p> + +<p>Down dropped the flower-pot. The boys started. “Run!” exclaimed Jonas, +following them with shouts of laughter, “run, run, boys, for dear life!” +and away they all went towards the garden gate.</p> + +<p>The bee, however, was not following them. His only object was to get +away. He flew in another direction; but Rollo, Henry, and Jonas did not +stop to look behind them. They kept on running, until Jonas was well on +his way towards the pasture, and Rollo and Henry were safe in the shed. +And this was the last time that Rollo ever attempted to <i>make up</i> a hive +of bees.</p> + +<p class="toclink"><a href="#CONTENTS">Table of Contents</a></p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="JONASS_MAGNET" id="JONASS_MAGNET"></a>JONAS’S MAGNET.</h2> + +<p>One evening, after tea, Rollo was seated upon his cricket, before the +fire, reading. His mother was upon the sofa, also reading, and so the +room was very still.</p> + +<p>By and by, Rollo finished his book. It was quite a small story-book, and +he had been reading it some time, and so he had got to the end. He laid +the book down, therefore, upon the table, and began to consider what he +should do next.</p> + +<p>“Mother,” said Rollo, “what shall I do?”</p> + +<p>“I don’t know,” said his mother; “you must contrive some way to amuse +yourself, for I am busy reading, now.”</p> + +<p>Rollo sat still, looking at the fire a few minutes, and then he thought +he would go out into the kitchen, and see what Nathan was about. +Accordingly, he went into the kitchen. Dorothy was at work, making some +bread for the next day. Jonas was bringing in wood. Nathan was sitting +upon + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> + +the floor before the fire, very much interested in looking at something +which he held in his hand.</p> + +<p>“What have you got, Nathan?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“I am seeing this nail stick on,” said Nathan.</p> + +<p>“Stick on!” said Rollo; “what does the child mean?” He accordingly came +up to Nathan, and found that he had a smooth, flat bar of steel, not +very regular in its shape, in one hand, and a nail in the other; and he +was amusing himself with applying the nail to the bar of steel, and +seeing it adhere.</p> + +<p>“It is a magnet,” said Rollo. “What a big magnet! Where did you get it, +Nathan?”</p> + +<p>“Jonas gave it to me,” said Nathan.</p> + +<p>“Let me try it,” said Rollo. And he stooped down by the side of Nathan, +and offered to take away the magnet.</p> + +<p>But Nathan held it off upon one side, and said, “No, no; I must have it. +Jonas gave it to me.”</p> + +<p>“Well, Thanny,” said Rollo, “I won’t take it away; only you let me sit +here and see you play with it.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span></p> + +<p>So Rollo sat still, and did not molest Nathan, but only looked on and +saw him touch the little nail to the bar, and leave it hanging there. +Rollo knew it was a magnet, for he had heard of magnets, though he had +never before had an opportunity of seeing one. As Nathan found that +Rollo was not going to take the magnet away from him, he soon ceased to +appear afraid of him, and presently he let Rollo have the magnet in his +hands. Rollo said he only wanted to look at it a moment, to see what +made the nail stick on.</p> + +<p>He examined the steel bar carefully. It was not quite a foot long, and +was shaped like a common flat ruler; only, instead of being straight +from end to end, it was swelled out a little along in the middle. On +looking at the bar very attentively, Rollo observed some very fine, +hair-like lines, crossing each other, so as to produce the appearance of +fine net-work. Rollo supposed that this was what caused the magnet to +take up the nail. He observed that there was one place, near the middle +of the bar, where this net-work was more distinct and strong than in the +other parts of the bar, and so he put the nail there, expecting that it +would be + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> + +attracted very strongly. But he was surprised at observing that it was +not attracted there at all. He then tried it at different places, all +along the bar, and he found that it was not attracted any where in the +middle, but only at the two ends.</p> + +<p>While he was wondering what could be the cause of this, he heard the +front door open, and he knew that his father had come home. So he jumped +up and ran off into the entry, Nathan following him, to show his father +the magnet. His father was busy putting away his coat and hat, and told +the boys to go into the parlor, and he would come in, in a moment, and +see it. When he came in, he sat down before the fire, and took the +magnet, Rollo and Nathan standing by his side, and looking on with eager +curiosity.</p> + +<p>Rollo’s father examined the magnet from end to end, very carefully, for +some time, without speaking. At length, he said,</p> + +<p>“It is an old file.”</p> + +<p>“An old file!” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said his father. “Some of Jonas’s work, I suppose.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span></p> + +<p>“Yes, sir,” replied Rollo; “at least it is Jonas’s magnet.”</p> + +<p>“There you see the marks,” continued his father, pointing to the +net-work, “of the old file teeth. Jonas ground them nearly out.”</p> + +<p>“Are those the marks of the file teeth?” said Rollo. “I thought it was +the magnetism.”</p> + +<p>“No,” said his father, smiling, “those are the traces of the file teeth, +undoubtedly. You may go and ask Jonas how he got his magnet.”</p> + +<p>So away went Rollo and Nathan in pursuit of Jonas. They found him in the +kitchen, just arranging his wood for the morning fires. They asked him +where he got his magnet, and Jonas replied as follows:—</p> + +<p>“Why, the other day, I went into town with your father’s watch, to get a +new crystal put in; and when I was at the watchmaker’s, I saw a +curious-shaped piece of iron hanging up. I asked the man what it was. He +said it was a magnet, that he kept to touch needles. Then he gave me a +nail, and let me see how the magnet would attract it. He told me, too, +that if I had a knife, + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> + +and would rub my knife on the magnet, the knife would attract, too; and +so I did rub it, and I found that my knife would attract the nail, +though not very strong. Then I asked him if any piece of iron would +attract, after it was rubbed upon the magnet; and he said that <i>iron</i> +would not, but that any piece of <i>steel</i> would. He told me that if I +would bring a larger piece of steel, when I came after the watch, he +would rub it for me, and then I should have a larger magnet. I told him +I had not any steel. But he said any old file would do, and that I might +grind the sides and edges a little, and make it smooth.</p> + +<p>“So, when I came home, I found some old files in the barn. Some were +three-cornered, and some were flat. I thought the flat would be the best +shape, and I asked your father if he would give me one of them. He said +he would; and so I ground the ends square, and the sides smooth, upon +the grindstone. Then, when I went after the watch, the man rubbed it for +me, and it makes a very good magnet.”</p> + +<p>Then Rollo and Nathan went back, and repeated this story to their +father.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span></p> + +<p>“Very well,” said their father; “that was a very good way to get a +magnet. I remember giving Jonas the file; but I did not know what he +wanted it for.”</p> + +<p>“I think a magnet is a very curious thing,” said Rollo. “See how the +nail sticks to it!”</p> + +<p>“There are a great many other things curious about it,” said his father, +“besides that.”</p> + +<p>“What?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“I should want some other apparatus to show you,” replied his father.</p> + +<p>“And can’t you get the other apparatus?”</p> + +<p>“I don’t know. Perhaps mother might get it. Yes, I’ll tell you what we +will do. I will name some things which mother may prepare, and you may +get them together upon the table in the kitchen, when they have got the +kitchen all in order. Then I will come out, and give you all, out there, +a lecture upon magnetism.”</p> + +<p>Rollo and Nathan were exceedingly pleased with this plan; and even +Rollo’s mother looked somewhat gratified. She said she did not know much +about magnetism, + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> + +and she meant to go out into the kitchen herself, and hear the lecture.</p> + +<p>“And what things shall we get?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Two or three needles,” replied his father, “some fine, and some coarse; +some thread, a saucer nearly full of water, a cork, the sand-box off of +my table, and a sheet of white paper. Put them all in good order upon +the table, and set the chairs around it. Then, when all is ready, come +and tell me.”</p> + +<p>So Rollo’s mother put down her book and went to help Rollo collect the +articles which his father had said he should require. She began to look +into her needle book for the needles and thread, while Rollo went for +the sand-box. When Rollo came back with the sand-box and the sheet of +paper in his hand, he found Nathan with his high chair, at the kitchen +door, trying to get in.</p> + +<p>“What are you doing here, Nathan?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“I want to get my high chair in,” he replied.</p> + +<p>The truth was, that Nathan, having learned from the conversation what +was going on, was eager to secure a good seat for himself, + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> + +and so he was attempting to drag out the high chair which was kept in +the parlor for him to sit up to the table in.</p> + +<p>Rollo, as he happened to feel rather good-natured than otherwise, just +then, after putting down his things, helped Nathan get his chair through +the door, and placed it up at the kitchen table, which stood out in the +middle of the floor. He then went into a closet, and opened a little +drawer, where he knew corks were kept, and brought out one or two, +selecting the cleanest and softest that he could find. When he came +back, he found Nathan, pouring out some black sand, from the sand-box, +upon the sheet of paper.</p> + +<p>“Now, Nathan,” exclaimed Rollo, running up to him, and seizing the +sand-box, “you are a very naughty boy.” And he attempted to take away +the sand-box violently.</p> + +<p>But Nathan, though he knew very well that he was doing wrong, did not +seem fully disposed to admit Rollo’s authority to set him right by +violence. He resisted; and, in the struggle, the table was pushed away, +and the water in the saucer spilled over. The water ran along under the +sheet of paper. Nathan, seeing the mischief that had + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> + +been done, was a little frightened, and released his hold. Rollo then +took up the paper, which had sand upon the upper side, and water +dripping off from the under side, saying,</p> + +<p>“There, Nathan, now see what you have done!”</p> + +<p>“I didn’t do it,” said Nathan.</p> + +<p>“You did,” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“I didn’t,” said Nathan.</p> + +<p>Hereupon, Jonas came up to the table to see what was the matter. Each of +the boys told his story.</p> + +<p>“Now we are in pretty trouble,” said Jonas; “we thought we were going to +have a fine lecture; instead of that, there are two boys to be punished, +and wet paper to be dried.”</p> + +<p>“Punished?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Jonas, “Nathan for touching the sand-box, and you for +touching <i>him</i>.”</p> + +<p>“Why, he was pouring out all the sand,” said Rollo, “and I was only +trying to stop him.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, but you know,” said Jonas, “that you had no right to stop him by +violence. That always makes the difficulty worse.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span></p> + +<p>Here Rollo began to look pretty sober. He knew that he had done what he +had very often been forbidden to do.</p> + +<p>“Now,” said Jonas, “we can wait and tell your mother about it, when she +comes out, or we can just settle it all among ourselves.”</p> + +<p>“How?” said Rollo, with an anxious look.</p> + +<p>“Why, I can dry the paper and the sand,” said Jonas, “if you and Nathan +will only punish the boys.”</p> + +<p>“How shall we do it?” asked Rollo, looking up with a faint and doubtful +smile.</p> + +<p>“I think a pretty good punishment,” said Jonas, “would be for you and +Nathan to go and sit in two corners of the room, with your faces to the +wall, until I get the paper and sand dry—if you think that would be +punishment enough.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Rollo,—his eye brightening at the idea of winding up so +unpleasant a business so easily,—“well, Nathan, let’s go.”</p> + +<p>Nathan was ready, and so he climbed down from his high chair, and as +Rollo went to one corner of the room, he went to the + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> + +other, and they took their places, as Jonas had directed; only Nathan +could not resist the temptation of looking round, now and then, to see +how Jonas got on with the drying of the paper. They, however, bore their +self-inflicted punishment very patiently; and when Jonas had got the +paper dried, and the table wiped down, and every thing replaced as it +was before, he told them that it was time for them to get up again. The +punishment was not very severe, it is true; but then, it was probably a +pretty efficacious one, in respect to its effect in impressing it upon +Nathan’s mind that he must not touch things without leave, and upon +Rollo’s, that, when Nathan is doing wrong, he must not set him right by +violence.</p> + +<p>In a short time after this, the things were all ready upon the table, +the chairs were placed around it, and Rollo went to call his father. He +found him writing a letter. As soon as he reached the end of a sentence, +he came out, and took his place at the table. Rollo’s mother sat next to +him at the same side of the table, and Jonas and Dorothy in two chairs, +on the opposite side. Rollo + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> + +then was placed at one end of the table, and Nathan, in his high chair, +at the other.</p> + +<p>Just then, however, Rollo’s mother observed that the table was wet a +little.</p> + +<p>“Why, Rollo,” said she, “how came the table wet?”</p> + +<p>“Why, Nathan and I did it,” said he.</p> + +<p>“How?” said his mother.</p> + +<p>“Why, we did it—eh—pulling. But Jonas has settled it all, mother.”</p> + +<p>“Ah! Jonas has settled it, has he? very well. Then we will all now +attend to the lecture.”</p> + +<p class="toclink"><a href="#CONTENTS">Table of Contents</a></p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="MAGNETISM" id="MAGNETISM"></a>MAGNETISM.</h2> + +<p>Rollo’s father looked over the things which had been arranged upon the +table, for a moment, in silence, and then took up Jonas’s magnet.</p> + +<p>“This bar is what they call a magnet,” said he; “but all the magnetism +is in the two ends.”</p> + +<p>“It is?” said Rollo; “and what is the reason of that?”</p> + +<p>“You can see that it is so,” said his father, without answering Rollo’s +question, “in this way.”</p> + +<p>So he laid a small nail down upon the table, and then touched the middle +of the magnet to the nail. It was not attracted at all. Then he moved it +along a little, towards one end, and touched it again. Still it was not +attracted. Then he moved it along farther and farther; but the nail was +not attracted until he got to the end of the + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> + +bar, and then the nail hopped up and adhered to it quite strongly.</p> + +<p>“How curious!” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>His father then repeated the same experiment with the other half of the +bar, and found the result the same. The nail did not appear to be at all +attracted until he reached the end, and then it was lifted and held by +this end, just as it was by the other.</p> + +<p>“So that, you see,” said Rollo’s father, “that the attractive power of +the magnet resides in the ends.”</p> + +<p>“Well, father, what is the reason?”</p> + +<p>“I don’t know,” said his father.</p> + +<p>“Don’t you know, father?” said Rollo. “I thought you were going to tell +us all about it.”</p> + +<p>“No,” said his father. “I only know a very little about it, myself. I am +going to explain to you some of the facts,—such as I happen to know. So +you must all remember this fact, that in the magnet, the attractive +power is not distributed over the whole mass, but resides only in the +opposite ends. These ends are called <i>poles</i>.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, sir,” said Rollo, “we will remember.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></p> + +<p>“Now I can make this apparent in another way,” said his father. Then he +asked Rollo’s mother to thread a needle; and when it was threaded, he +asked Jonas to stand up and hold the thread in such a manner as to let +the needle hang over the middle of the table.</p> + +<p>Then, when the needle was still, he brought up the middle of the magnet +very near to the needle; but it did not move towards it at all. Then he +drew the magnet along towards himself, keeping it at the same distance +from the needle, and when the end of the bar came opposite to the +needle, it immediately leaped out of its place, and adhered strongly to +it.</p> + +<p>“There is another way still,” continued the lecturer, “better than +either of these.”</p> + +<p>So saying, he took off the needle, which had adhered to the magnet, and +drawing out the thread, he laid the needle itself carefully away upon a +distant corner of the table. Rollo took it up, and was going to place it +back with the others. But his father told him to put it down again, by +itself, where he had placed it, and not to touch any of the things +without his direction.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span></p> + +<p>“I am going to show you another way,” he added, “of making it evident +that the attractive power of the magnet resides at or near the poles.”</p> + +<p>So saying, he opened the sheet of paper, and spread it out upon the +table. Then he laid the magnet down upon it.</p> + +<p>“Now, Jonas,” said he, “sprinkle some sand upon it from my sand-box, +carefully, and see where the sand will adhere.”</p> + +<p>So Jonas took the sand-box, and held it over the bar, not very high, and +moved it slowly along, from one end to the other, and thus sanded the +magnet all over. The sand fell off of it, however, freely, at every part +except the ends; and Jonas, observing that it seemed to adhere there, +held the sand-box a little longer over those places; and thus there was +formed a sort of a black bur at the extremities, consisting of an +accumulation of the black particles of sand. Rollo’s father then took up +the bar carefully, and passed it around, so that all who were seated at +the table could examine it closely.</p> + +<p>“It is thickest on all the edges and corners,” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said his mother; “and the sand + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> + +forms little black bristles, pointing off in every direction.”</p> + +<p>They all examined it attentively, and observed the little black bristles +pointing out every way from the edges and corners at the ends.</p> + +<p>“This shows you,” said Rollo’s father, “exactly how the magnetic power, +so far as its attractive force on other bodies is concerned, is +distributed. You see it resides in the two ends, and the two ends seem +to be exactly alike.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, sir,” said Rollo, “exactly.”</p> + +<p>“They <i>seem</i> to be so,” continued his father; “but the fact is, the +magnetism of one end is very different from that of the other.”</p> + +<p>“I see that the cluster of sand is a little bigger at one end, than it +is at the other,” said Rollo’s mother. She was more observing than the +others, and had noticed a little difference, which had escaped the rest.</p> + +<p>“That indicates only a difference in degree,” said Rollo’s father; “but +there is a difference in <i>kind</i>.”</p> + +<p>“What do you mean by that, father?” asked Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Why, if the attractive powers at the two + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> + +ends were both alike in their nature, only one was stronger than the +other, then the difference would be in <i>degree</i>; but there is a +difference in the nature of the magnetism itself. In fact, the +magnetisms of the two ends are of opposite natures in some +respects.”</p> + +<p>“Why, both ends attract the sand,” said Rollo, “just alike.”</p> + +<p>“True,” said his father; “they seem to attract the sand in precisely the +same way; and, looking at the bar, as I now hold it up,” he added, “with +the sand adhering in the same way at the two ends, one would suppose +that they were both magnetic alike. But, in fact, there is a great +difference between them.”</p> + +<p>All the company looked upon the two ends of the bar, as Rollo’s father +held it up, wondering how he would show that there was any difference +between them.</p> + +<p>“Now, in the first place,” he continued, “we must get the sand off of +the ends. Do you think you can get it off for me, Rollo?” said he.</p> + +<p>Rollo took the bar very eagerly, and attempted to brush the sand back +upon the paper. He succeeded in brushing off a + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> + +little of it; but the greater portion remained. When he rubbed upon one +side, it moved round to the other; and he could not get it off.</p> + +<p>“Hand it to me,” said his father, “and I will show you how it can be +done.”</p> + +<p>He also asked Jonas to hand him the tongs, which were standing by the +side of the fire. He then held the tongs over the sheet of paper, in a +horizontal position, and gently rapped the end of the magnet against +them, letting the end project a little over the tongs. This knocked all +the sand off, and left the bar clean as it was before.</p> + +<p>“Now let me see,” said he, “what was it that I was going to tell you +next?”</p> + +<p>“You were going to show us,” said Rollo’s mother, “that there are two +different kinds of magnetisms in the two ends of the bar.”</p> + +<p>“O, yes,” said he. “In order to do this, I must poise a needle in a new +way.”</p> + +<p>He then took up one of the corks which Rollo had put upon the table. +From one end of this cork, he cut off, with his penknife, a round, flat +piece. It was about as large around as a wafer, but somewhat thicker. + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> + +He cut a little groove along the upper side of this, and laid the same +needle which he had before used, and which he had put away upon the +corner of the table, into this groove. Then he put the whole carefully +into the saucer of water, which he had previously drawn up towards him.</p> + +<p>“There,” said he, “we call a cork like that, a <i>float</i>; because it is +intended to float a needle upon. Now, you see, the needle being +supported by the cork, and the cork floating freely in the water, the +needle is at liberty to move in any way.”</p> + +<p>Nathan thought it was a very curious experiment to poise a needle so, +upon a piece of cork,—even without the magnetism. And he watched it as +it slowly moved about, with a face full of interest and curiosity.</p> + +<p>The needle swung round a little one way and the other, and finally came +to a state of rest. Then Rollo’s father held the magnet in his hands, in +such a manner as to point it towards the needle, and then gradually +brought it down near the water, just by the side of the point of the +needle. The point immediately began to move slowly towards + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> + +the bar; but Rollo’s father lifted it up suddenly, before the needle had +time to touch it. Then he brought the same end of the magnet down upon +the other side of the point of the needle, and that drew it back again.</p> + +<p>“There,” said he, “you all see that the point of the needle is attracted +by the bar, whichever side I put it.”</p> + +<p>They all said they saw it very plainly.</p> + +<p>“Now,” said he, “I am going to turn the magnet, and bring the other end +of it down to the point of the needle; and if the magnetism at this end +is the same with that in the other, the point of the needle will of +course be attracted by this end too.”</p> + +<p>“Certainly,” said Rollo’s mother.</p> + +<p>Then he brought down the other end of the bar towards the needle. This +other end was a little bigger than the one which he had tried first, +because the file had been a little bigger at that end. But the needle, +instead of being drawn towards it, as it had been towards the other end, +began to move slowly away from it.</p> + +<p>“Why, it is going away,” said Rollo.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span></p> + +<p>His father did not answer, but immediately raised the bar and put it +down upon the other side of the point, and then the point began to move +away back again; being evidently driven away from the large end of the +magnet, on whichever side it was presented.</p> + +<p>Then Rollo’s father reversed the magnet again; that is, he brought the +smaller end towards the needle as at first. The point of the needle was +now attracted, that is, drawn towards the magnet; and then when he +changed it again, and brought the large end to the needle, it was always +<i>repelled</i>; that is, driven away again.</p> + +<p>“Now you see,” he said, “that the small end of the magnet attracts the +point of the needle, and the large end drives it away. That shows that +the magnetism in the two ends is of two different kinds.</p> + +<p>“And now,” he continued, “there is one thing more which is remarkable +about it; and I want you to observe it very carefully. You see,” he +says, “that the small end of the magnet attracts the point of the +needle. But if I try it now upon the other end of + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> + +the needle, where the eye is, it will <i>repel</i> that, just as the large +end of the magnet repels the point.”</p> + +<p>He tried it, and the result was just as he had said. And he repeated the +experiment in a great many ways, and they always found that the large +end of the magnet would draw the eye of the needle towards it, and drive +the point away; and the small end of the magnet would draw the point of +the needle, and drive the eye away. This proved, as Rollo’s father said, +some great difference between the magnetisms of the two ends. “And you +see,” he added, “that it is a difference in <i>kind</i>, not merely a +difference in <i>degree</i>.”</p> + +<p>“But one thing seems strange to me,” said Rollo’s mother, “and that is, +that both ends of the magnet don’t attract the point of the needle, just +as both of them attracted the nail.”</p> + +<p>“And the sand,” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” added his mother. “When you brought both ends of the magnet, one +after the other, to the nail, they both attracted it.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span></p> + +<p>“And so they did the needle which hung down by the thread,” said Jonas.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Rollo’s mother; “but now this needle, that is floating upon +the water, is half attracted, and half repelled.”</p> + +<p>“The reason is,” said Rollo’s father, “that the needle, that is floating +upon the water, is a magnet itself, and has two magnetic poles; but the +sand, and the nail and the needle that Jonas held up by the thread, were +not magnets. They were only common pieces of iron and steel.”</p> + +<p>“Why, father,” said Rollo, “that was the very same needle; you laid it +away upon the corner of the table.”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said his father; “but it was not a magnet <i>then</i>.”</p> + +<p>“When?” asked Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Why, when Jonas held it up by the thread.”</p> + +<p>“And is it a magnet now?”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said his father. “We will see if it is not.”</p> + +<p>So he took the needle off from the float, and put it upon the paper. He +then sprinkled a little sand over it, from the sand-box, and, + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> + +upon taking it up, they all saw that there was a little tuft of black +sand both upon the point and at the eye, showing that it was magnetic at +both ends.</p> + +<p>“It became magnetic,” said Rollo’s father, “only by being touched by the +bar magnet; and that was the reason why I put it away by itself as soon +as it had touched the bar. I did not want to have it mixed with the +other needles, which had not been touched, and which, of course, were +not magnetic. Now, if I take one of the needles which has not been +touched, and put it upon the float, you will see that both ends of it +will be attracted by both ends of the bar.”</p> + +<p>So he placed away the magnetized needle upon the corner of the table +again, and took another one, and placed it very carefully upon the +float. Then he brought down one end of Jonas’s magnet very near the +point of the needle. It attracted it. Then he brought it down very near +the eye of the needle. It attracted the eye too. Then he turned the +magnet, and tried the other end, and he found that that end also would +attract both the eye and the point of the needle.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span></p> + +<p>“Try the magnetized needle, and see if that will attract it too,” said +Rollo’s mother.</p> + +<p>Then Rollo’s father took the magnetized needle from the corner again, +and brought the two ends of that, one after another, near to the ends of +the needle upon the float. It attracted them just as Jonas’s magnet had +done, only a great deal more feebly.</p> + +<p>“So, you see that this needle is really a little magnet, just like +Jonas’s great one.”</p> + +<p>“Only there is no proof that it has the two different kinds of magnetism +in the two ends,” said Rollo’s mother.</p> + +<p>“We can easily show that,” said his father. He asked Dorothy to get +another saucer full of water, while he prepared another float. Then he +put the magnetized needle upon the new float, leaving the unmagnetized +one upon the old float. They both looked almost precisely alike, each +upon its own little disc of cork in its saucer of water.</p> + +<p>“There,” said he, “you cannot see any difference between them; but there +is a great deal of difference between them; for one is only a common +needle of steel, but + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> + +the other has its two extremities magnetic in opposite ways.”</p> + +<p>To prove this, Rollo’s father brought one end of the bar to the <i>point</i> +of the magnetized needle, and the point was repelled. He brought it then +to the <i>eye</i> of the same needle, and it attracted it. Then he brought +the same end of the bar, first to the point, and then to the eye of the +unmagnetic needle, and it attracted them both; so it was evident that +there was a considerable difference, in reality, between the condition +of the two, though there was no difference in external appearance.</p> + +<p>“Now you see, from all this,” added Rollo’s father, “that when a magnet +touches a piece of steel, like a needle, it immediately makes it a +magnet itself; that is, it makes the two ends magnetic, one having one +kind of magnetism, and the other the other kind; and then, if you take +two magnets, and bring those two poles which have the same magnetism +together, they repel one another; and if you bring those together which +have different magnetisms, they attract each other.”</p> + +<p>“How do you know that they are the + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> + +same magnetisms that repel, and different that attract?” said +Rollo’s mother.</p> + +<p>“I will show you,” said his father.</p> + +<p>Then he took the needles that he had used off from their floats, and +laid them away. He took next two new needles, exactly of a size, and he +held them together between his thumb and finger, with the eyes +projecting together. Then he rubbed them once or twice upon the end of +Jonas’s magnet, saying,</p> + +<p>“There, you see I use both of these needles alike. Of course the eyes +have both the same magnetisms. Now you will find that when I put one of +them upon the float, and then bring the eyes together, they will repel +each other; but an eye and a point will attract. So two points will +repel.”</p> + +<p>“But you have not magnetized the points,” said Rollo’s mother.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said his father. “When we magnetize one end, the other end +becomes magnetized, itself, in the contrary way.”</p> + +<p>So he put one of the needles upon the float, and then brought the eye of +the other down very near to its eye. It was repelled, + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> + +as he had said it would be. He then brought the two points together, and +they were repelled. But if he brought an eye towards a point, or a point +towards an eye, they were attracted.</p> + +<p>“This is the end of my lecture,” said he, “for to-night.”</p> + +<p>“O, father,” said Rollo, “a little more.”</p> + +<p>“No more to-night, only to recapitulate,” said he.</p> + +<p>“Recapitulate? what is that?”</p> + +<p>“Why, tell you, briefly, the substance of what I have explained, so that +you may remember it.”</p> + +<p>“Well, father,” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“In the first place, a magnet has a peculiar and mysterious attractive +power for iron, residing in its two extremities, which are called <i>its +poles;</i> and the power which resides in one extremity is, in some way or +other, opposite in its nature to that of the other extremity. Each of +these poles repels a pole like itself, and attracts one different from +itself, in any other magnet.”</p> + +<p>Poor Nathan could not understand this grave, philosophical disquisition +very well, + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> + +and he began to get pretty sleepy. He had, however, been somewhat +amused, during the greater part of the time, in seeing the corks float +about upon the water, with the needles upon them. So his father took the +needles off, and let him have the two floats in one of the saucers to +play with, a few minutes, while Dorothy put the other things away. He +asked her to put all the things away together, so that they could get +them ready the next evening, and then he said that perhaps he would +give them another lecture.</p> + +<p class="toclink"><a href="#CONTENTS">Table of Contents</a></p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="INTELLECTUAL_PHILOSOPHY" id="INTELLECTUAL_PHILOSOPHY"></a>INTELLECTUAL PHILOSOPHY.</h2> + +<p>Rollo’s father gave one or two other lectures upon magnetism, in the +course of which Rollo found out a good deal about the subject; and, +having learned from his father’s explanations that any magnet, when +balanced freely, would point to the north and south, that is, one end to +the north and the other to the south, he determined to try the +experiment. He accordingly poised a needle carefully upon a cork, as his +father had done in his lecture, and put it in a basin of water upon the +platform. But he did not succeed very well. The needle would always +swing round, and turn its point towards the garden gate; but Rollo knew +very well that the garden gate was not north from the platform. He +remembered that the North Star was over the barn, for he and Jonas had +noticed it particularly when they had made the dial. The needle, +therefore, ought to have pointed towards the barn, according to his +father’s + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> + +lecture; but it would not. Rollo took up a straw, and pushed the point +of the needle round, and said, “Point there! point there, I tell +you!” But all in vain. The needle would not heed either his +pushing or his commands; but, as soon as he let it go, it would +immediately swing back into its old position, where it pointed towards +the garden gate.</p> + +<p>Rollo was just about giving up in despair, when he saw his sister Mary +coming in from the garden gate, with a book under her arm.</p> + +<p>“O Mary,” said he, “what shall I do? My needle won’t point right.”</p> + +<p>“Why, what is the matter with it?” said Mary.</p> + +<p>“It will point over towards the garden,” said Rollo; “look.”</p> + +<p>So Mary came up, and looked at his needle. She saw that it was pointing +towards the garden gate.</p> + +<p>“Now I’ll push it away,” said Rollo, “and you will see that it comes +directly back again.”</p> + +<p>So he took up his straw, and pushed the point of the needle away. The +cork moved, + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> + +turning round rapidly, until at length it swung away towards one side of +the basin, and then suddenly drifted up against the side, and stuck +there.</p> + +<p>“That’s another plague,” said Rollo. “It will run up to the side of the +basin, and stick there.”</p> + +<p>“What makes it?” said Mary.</p> + +<p>“I don’t know,” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>Mary sat down upon the platform, and examined the needle and the surface +of the water very carefully. She observed that the water was heaped up a +little against the side of the basin, all around. She asked Rollo to +observe it.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said he, “and the needle and cork run right up that ridge of +water.”</p> + +<p>“And the bubbles too,” said Mary.</p> + +<p>Mary pointed, when she said this, to several little bubbles which were +adhering closely to the side of the basin, in another place.</p> + +<p>She took up a little straw, and pushed away some of the bubbles from the +side of the basin, and then gently moved them back again until they were +pretty near, and observed that they would immediately rush + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> + +up against the side again. She did not understand this phenomenon, +especially as the water was raised a little along the edge by the side +of the basin, so that the bubbles and the needle actually appeared to +rush up hill.</p> + +<p>After examining this for some time, Mary moved the cork float, with the +needle upon it, back into the middle of the basin, and then left it to +itself. It slowly moved around until it pointed to the garden gate, as +it had done before.</p> + +<p>“Now what is the reason?” said Rollo; “that isn’t north.”</p> + +<p>Mary looked upon it very attentively for a few minutes in silence, and +then said, suddenly,</p> + +<p>“O, I see.”</p> + +<p>“What?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>She did not answer, but pointed down to the platform by the side of the +basin.</p> + +<p>Rollo looked where she pointed, and saw the hammer lying there. He had +had it to play with a short time before, and, when he brought the basin +of water, he had laid it down by his side.</p> + +<p>“What?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span></p> + +<p>“The hammer attracts the needle,” replied Mary.</p> + +<p>“The hammer?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” replied Mary. “Don’t you know that iron attracts the needle, and +it will not point to the north if there is any iron near to draw it +away?”</p> + +<p>Rollo was just going to take the hammer up, but Mary stopped him, +saying,</p> + +<p>“Wait a moment. Let me take it away slowly, and see the effect.”</p> + +<p>So Mary told Rollo to watch the needle, while she carefully drew the +hammer away.</p> + +<p>Rollo did so. He and Mary both watched the needle. It was pointing +pretty nearly toward the hammer, and when Mary gently moved the hammer +away, the needle, released from the influence which the iron exerted +upon it, slowly moved back towards the direction of the barn, that is, +the direction of a north and south line, which is called the meridian.</p> + +<p>“It’s going back! it’s going back!” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>Mary said nothing, but watched it carefully. The needle swung beyond the +direction of the meridian a little way, and then + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> + +came slowly back again. So it continued vibrating from one side to the +other, though to a less and less distance every time. Finally, it came +to a state of rest; but it was not then, however, exactly in the +meridian.</p> + +<p>“What makes it swing so, back and forth?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“I don’t know exactly,” said Mary. “I suppose the force that it moves +with, carries it a little beyond, and then it is drawn back again, and +that makes the oscillations.”</p> + +<p>“Oscillations?” said Rollo, inquiringly.</p> + +<p>“Yes. They call this swinging back and forth, <i>oscillating</i>; and each +movement is an oscillation.”</p> + +<p>“Is that the name of it?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Mary. “When you tie a little stone to a string, and hold the +upper end of the string still, and let the stone swing back and forth, +it makes oscillations.”</p> + +<p>“I mean to try it,” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Mary; “and I will help you by and by, after I have studied +my philosophy lesson.”</p> + +<p>“Your philosophy lesson?” asked Rollo. “Have you got a philosophy lesson +to get?”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Mary, “in that great book.”</p> + +<p>So Rollo took up Mary’s book, which she had laid down upon the platform +near Rollo’s apparatus. He found that the title of it was “Intellectual +Philosophy.”</p> + +<p>“Intellectual Philosophy?” said Rollo; “and what sort of philosophy is +<i>intellectual</i> philosophy?”</p> + +<p>“It is the philosophy of the <i>mind</i>,” replied Mary. “It explains to us +about the thoughts and feelings of our minds.”</p> + +<p>“Are there any <i>experiments</i> in intellectual philosophy?” asked Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Mary, “we can try experiments in intellectual philosophy.”</p> + +<p>“What experiments?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Why, there is a question whether we always dream when we are asleep.”</p> + +<p>“<i>I</i> do,” said Rollo, “every night.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, but perhaps not all night long.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, I do,” said Rollo. “I have good long dreams.”</p> + +<p>“But,” replied Mary, “you may dream several hours in the night, so as to +remember good long dreams in the morning, and yet perhaps you might have +been, for some time, perfectly sound asleep, so as not to have + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> + +any dreams in your mind at all. Some persons think we dream all the time +when we are asleep, and others think we don’t dream all the time. Now we +might contrive some experiments to decide the question.”</p> + +<p>“How?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Why, you and I might agree to wake each other up several times, from a +sound sleep, and then, if we were dreaming at that time, we should +probably remember it.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Rollo, “let us try it.”</p> + +<p>“That would be an experiment in intellectual philosophy,” said Mary.</p> + +<p>Rollo determined to try the experiment; and then he took Mary’s book, +and asked her where her lesson was that day. She found the place, and +Rollo read a little. He could not understand it very well, and so he +concluded that he would rather have Mary go and study her lesson, and +then come down and help him make the experiments of oscillation.</p> + +<p>Mary accordingly took her book and went in, and left Rollo at his play.</p> + +<p class="toclink"><a href="#CONTENTS">Table of Contents</a></p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="OSCILLATIONS" id="OSCILLATIONS"></a>OSCILLATIONS.</h2> + +<p>In about an hour, Mary came down into the yard in pursuit of Rollo, in +order to try the experiments which she had proposed.</p> + +<p>When Rollo saw her coming, he left his play, and ran to meet her.</p> + +<p>“Well, Mary,” said he, “have you come to make the oscillations?”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Mary. “I have brought some thread for strings, and I want +you to get some pebble stones—some large, and some small ones.”</p> + +<p>Rollo went for the pebble stones, while Mary looked about for a suitable +place for making the experiments. In a corner of the yard there was a +bench under a tree, and the branches came down pretty low. Mary thought +that this would be a good place, for she could tie her strings to these +branches with the pebbles hanging down below; and she and Rollo could +watch the oscillations, while seated upon the bench.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mary took her station here, and Rollo presently appeared, with the crown +of his cap half filled with pebble stones. Mary said they would do +finely. She poured them out upon the bench by her side, and Rollo put +his cap upon his head again.</p> + +<p>“Now, Rollo,” said she, “we will study the art of experimenting.”</p> + +<p>“No,” said Rollo, “we are going to study oscillation.”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” replied Mary; “the experiments are to be on oscillations; but +what I want principally to teach you, is, the proper way to make +experiments.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>Mary said no more, but she proceeded to tie a small pebble to the end of +one of the long threads which she had brought out with her. Then she +tied the other end of the thread to the branch of the tree, which was +over her head. The pebble then hung down before them, so that both Rollo +and herself could plainly see all its motions.</p> + +<p>“The first thing,” said Mary, “is to get a clear idea of the nature of +the oscillation, for we must know what we are experimenting about.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p> + +<p>So saying, Mary carefully took hold of the suspended pebble stone, and +began to draw it off towards one side. She showed Rollo that, as it was +confined by its string above, it must move in a curved line when she +drew it away from its place, rising higher and higher the farther it was +drawn away. And when she had drawn it out to a considerable distance, to +one side, it was at a much higher level, than when it hung down freely +in its natural position.</p> + +<p>“Now,” said Mary, “you see that if I let it go, it will descend of +course as much as it can, for the earth draws it downwards.”</p> + +<p>“The earth draws it?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Mary. “The reason why things fall is that they are +attracted, or drawn down, by the earth. Now the earth draws the pebble. +It <i>would</i> go straight towards it, if it could; but the string confines +it, and so it can only go down in the same way that it came up; that is, +by the curved line.”</p> + +<p>Mary then held one of her hands open at the place where the pebble had +hung when it had been at liberty, and let go the pebble, which she had +been holding with the other. It fell down in the curved line, or arc, as + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> + +Mary had said it would, until it struck her hand, and there it stopped +and remained at rest.</p> + +<p>“What did you stop it for?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“So that we could see and attend to one part of the phenomenon at a +time,” said Mary; “that is, the <i>descent</i> of the pebble. You see the +attraction of the earth causes the pebble to go down if it can, and the +confinement of the string prevents its going down in any other way than +in that curve or arc. For the string keeps it always just its own length +from the branch, and so that makes the curved line the arc of a circle.”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Rollo, “I understand.”</p> + +<p>Then Mary drew up the pebble once or twice more, and let Rollo see it +fall against her hand. Rollo observed that it was a very regular arc.</p> + +<p>“Now we see,” continued Mary, “that I hold my hand so as to stop the +pebble stone at the lowest point to which it can go; for I hold it +exactly under the point where the upper end of the string is fastened to +the tree. Now I will take my hand away, and then let the pebble fall, +and we will see what takes place.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span></p> + +<p>So Mary took her hand away, and let the pebble fall freely. It descended +as before through the arc, and then, by the force which it acquired in +moving so far, it was propelled beyond the lowest point, and ascended in +another curve, upon the other side, similar to the first. When the force +was expended, it came back again; and thus it swung to and fro, several +times, and at length came almost to a state of rest.</p> + +<p>“There,” said Mary, “those are the oscillations we are going to +experiment upon.”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“And first,” said Mary, “we notice that they are regular.”</p> + +<p>So she swung the pebble again; and as it moved to and fro, she counted +the oscillations aloud, beating time with her hand, down and up, thus,—</p> + +<p>“One,—two,—three,—four,” &c. Rollo perceived that they were very +regular.</p> + +<p>“Now, first we will endeavor to ascertain by our experiments,” said +Mary, “what the <i>time</i> of the vibrations depends upon.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“You see,” continued Mary, “it swings back and forth with a certain +degree of + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> + +rapidity. Now we want to know what this rapidity depends upon, and then +we could make a pendulum so that it would oscillate faster or slower, +just as we pleased.”</p> + +<p>“A pendulum?” asked Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Mary, “we call it a <i>pendulum</i>. Any heavy body hung in this +manner, so as to swing back and forth by its weight, is called a +<i>pendulum</i>. So that we are experimenting upon the oscillations of a +pendulum.”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Rollo, “I understand.”</p> + +<p>“Now the question which we are going to examine,” said Mary, “is, what +the rapidity of the vibrations depends upon.”</p> + +<p>“O, it depends upon the bigness of the pebble,” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“How do you know?” said Mary.</p> + +<p>“Why, of course, a bigger pebble will be heavier, and will fall quicker, +and that will make it vibrate faster.”</p> + +<p>“That is <i>reasoning</i> about it,” said Mary, “and what we want to do, now, +is to <i>experiment</i>. Now, in order to decide it by experiment, we must +try two pendulums, one with a small pebble, and the other with a large +one.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span></p> + +<p>“Very well,” said Rollo, “we will; and then we shall see that the big +one will vibrate the quickest.”</p> + +<p>“Let us think, first, what other circumstances there are, that it may +depend upon.”</p> + +<p>“I can’t think of any thing else,” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Why, there is the nature of the body which we suspend. A piece of cork +may oscillate differently from a piece of stone.”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Rollo, “it will oscillate slower.”</p> + +<p>“We must not decide,” said Mary, “in our own minds, before we try the +experiment. We must leave our minds free to observe the facts, and wait +until we make the experiment, before we come to any conclusion, or else +we shall not be good experimenters.”</p> + +<p>“Why not?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Because,” said Mary, “when persons make up their minds beforehand what +the facts will be, they are very apt not to observe fairly. So good +observers or experimenters always take care to keep their minds free and +unbiassed.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Rollo, “and what else is + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> + +there that the oscillations may depend upon?”</p> + +<p>“The length of the string,” replied Mary.</p> + +<p>“O yes,” said Rollo, “it may depend upon that.”</p> + +<p>“Let us see,” continued Mary. “There are three experiments we have +already proposed; a large and a small pebble; a pebble and a cork; a +long and a short string; and now there is one more,—a long and short +arc.”</p> + +<p>“How?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Why, if I draw up the weight, which forms the pendulum, pretty high, it +will swing back and forth through a long arc. But if I move it only a +little way, it will swing through only a short arc, and <i>that</i> may make +a difference in the length of the vibrations.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Rollo, “and now let us try.”</p> + +<p>“First, let us see whether we have got all the apparatus we want. Here +are strings and pebbles,—only we want a cork.”</p> + +<p>“I’ll go and get one,” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>So Rollo went off towards the house to get the cork. In a few minutes he +came back, saying,</p> + +<p>“I have got the cork. Now how shall we begin?”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span></p> + +<p>“First,” replied Mary, “we will try what effect the weight of the pebble +will have upon the oscillations.”</p> + +<p>“Very well,” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Now, in order to test that,” added Mary, “we must take two pebble +stones, of different sizes, and hang them together, by strings of the +same kind, and of the same length; and then we must set them a-going +exactly together, and then watch the oscillations. You see that as they +will be alike in every respect, excepting the size of the pebble stones, +whatever difference there is in the mode of vibration will probably be +caused by the difference in the size of the stones.”</p> + +<p>“Is that the way they do it?” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” replied Mary. “Whenever we want to know what effect any one +circumstance produces, in such a case, we always arrange two +experiments, making them very different in respect to the circumstance +which we wish to examine, and as nearly alike as possible in all other +respects.”</p> + +<p>“I think that is a very good way,” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” replied Mary, “I think it is an excellent way.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span></p> + +<p>While Mary was thus explaining her plan to Rollo, she was going on +steadily with preparations, Rollo standing all the time by her side, +looking on with great interest. Mary selected two pebbles. One was as +big as a walnut, and the other about as big as an egg. She tied two of +her threads to these stones, one to each, and then tied the other ends +of these threads to a small branch of the tree which extended +horizontally over their heads. They hung down about two feet. She took +care so to adjust the strings, as to have the centres of the stones as +nearly as possible on a level.</p> + +<p>“The big one is twice as large, and so it will go twice as fast,” said +Rollo.</p> + +<p>“We shall see,” said Mary.</p> + +<p>She then drew them both carefully out a little way on one side, and +holding them there steadily a moment, she let them go. They immediately +began to swing back and forth, together.</p> + +<p>After a few oscillations, however, the large stone began to gain a +little upon the other, and seemed to be moving faster. Presently it had +gained half an oscillation, i. e. when the large one was moving forward, +the small one would be coming back.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span></p> + +<p>“The big one moves the fastest,” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Not much,” said Mary.</p> + +<p>“No,” said Rollo, “not much.”</p> + +<p>“And I don’t think it is owing to the difference in the bigness of the +stones.”</p> + +<p>“What else can it be?” said Rollo. “They are exactly alike in all other +respects.”</p> + +<p>“Not exactly,” said Mary. “We have made them as nearly alike as we +could, but not exactly. There may be a good many little differences that +we do not observe. But if the size of the stone would cause any +difference in the vibrations, I should think it would make a much +greater difference, for one is twice as big as the other.”</p> + +<p>“Let us try a <i>very</i> big stone,” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Mary.</p> + +<p>So Rollo got a stone as large as an orange, which was as heavy a one as +Mary thought the thread would hold; and Mary suspended that from the +branch of the tree, and then swung it in company with the two others. +They all went very nearly together at first, though there was evidently +a slight difference, which, in a short time, separated the + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> + +oscillations, so that the stones did not keep together; while yet they +each swung back and forth, in nearly the same time. Rollo and Mary both +concluded, from the result of this experiment, that the size of the +vibrating body did not perceptibly affect the rapidity of the +vibrations.</p> + +<p>“Now,” said Mary, “we will try different lengths of string.”</p> + +<p>So she began to look over Rollo’s pebbles, to find two as nearly as +possible alike.</p> + +<p>“The pebble stones must be of the same size, this time, for we want the +two pendulums to be alike in all respects, except the length of the +string, for that is the circumstance which we are now going to consider. +We will have one string twice as long as the other.”</p> + +<p>Mary found two pebbles very nearly equal in size, and similar in shape. +She tied them to two strings, making one string twice as long as the +other. She suspended them as before, and then, taking hold of one with +one hand, and the other with the other, she drew them out to the same +distance on one side, and let them go. The short one began at once to +swing back and forth very <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>quick, while the other followed quite slowly.</p> + +<p>“That makes a difference,” said Rollo, clapping his hands.</p> + +<p>“It goes twice as fast,” said Mary.</p> + +<p>“More than twice as fast,” said Rollo, “I think.”</p> + +<p>“Let us see,” said Mary.</p> + +<p>They set them vibrating again; but they did not succeed in ascertaining +whether the short one went more or less than twice as fast as the other. +The two motions, so rapid and so near together, confused them. At +length, Mary proposed that Rollo should count the vibrations of the long +pendulum, while she counted those of the short one, and when she had got +up to twenty, she said they would both stop, and then Rollo could tell +how many he had got in the same time. But this plan, though apparently a +very simple one, they found it somewhat difficult to put into practice. +Mary’s pendulum puzzled Rollo’s counting, and Rollo, who could not count +very well without at least whispering the numbers, puzzled Mary, and so +pretty soon they gave it up.</p> + +<p>Rollo then said that he meant to try a + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> + +very short pendulum indeed, and he asked Mary to tie one up for him, not +more than an inch in length. She, however, said that it would not be +necessary to tie it to the branch; but, instead of that, she took hold +of the string of one of the pebbles which was already hanging before +them, about an inch above the pebble itself, and then set the pebble in +motion; and they were both very much interested in observing how quick +it vibrated to and fro.</p> + +<p>Rollo then wanted to try a very long one, and proposed that he should +climb up into the tree, and tie the end of the string to a high branch. +But Mary was afraid that he would fall; and besides, she said that the +pendulum would not swing clear of the branches below. She, however, +immediately thought of the chamber window, and said that she would try +it there. She accordingly went up into her chamber, taking a large +pebble stone with her, and Rollo remained below to set the pendulum in +motion, when it should be ready. Mary soon appeared at the window, and +Rollo watched her while she tied her pebble to the end of a thread.</p> + +<p>“Have you got your thread long enough?” + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> + +said Rollo. “It will take a good long thread to reach away down +here.”</p> + +<p>“It is a whole spool of cotton,” said Mary. And, so saying, she held up +in her hand the spool, to the thread of which she was tying her pebble +stone.</p> + +<p>When it was secured, she slowly let it down, until it reached Rollo’s +hand, which was held up from below, ready to receive it. Mary then held +the thread steady above, at a little distance out from the window, while +Rollo took the stone along the side of the house, three or four feet +from the place where it would naturally hang. He then let it go, and it +swung back very slowly.</p> + +<p>“O, how slow!” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Mary, “it is very slow, indeed.”</p> + +<p>“I wish you had gone up to the garret window,” said Rollo.</p> + +<p>“O, this will do very well,” said Mary.</p> + +<p>Rollo determined to see how many he could count while the stone made one +oscillation to and fro. He counted sixteen.</p> + +<p>Mary then said she was tired of experimenting, and so she should not +come down again. She, however, asked Rollo to set + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> + +the pendulum swinging, and that then she would draw the thread in, and +he could see that it would go faster and faster, the farther she drew it +up, for that would make the string grow shorter and shorter.</p> + +<p>Rollo did so; and this was the end of the experiments on oscillations.</p> + +<p class="toclink"><a href="#CONTENTS">Table of Contents</a></p> + +<div class="tn"> + +<p class="s4 center">Transcriber’s Notes</p> + +<p class="noin">The following corrections have been made to the text:</p> + +<p class="noin">Contents page: The page number of the start of Jonas’s Magnet has +been corrected to 126 (the original Table of Contents had 124).</p> + +<p class="noin"><a href="#Page_14">Page 14</a>: She looked on with a good deal{original omitted this word} of +interest</p> + +<p class="noin"><a href="#Page_32">Page 32</a>: “What is satiety, father?”{original had a single quotation mark +instead of the double one}</p> + +<p class="noin"><a href="#Page_88">Page 88</a>: Then he stirred{original had stirrred} it about with his hand</p> + +<p class="noin"><a href="#Page_122">Page 122</a>: he took hold of the flower-pot with both his hands, and +slid it suddenly off of the seat.{the original had a footnote here, +See Frontispiece. The frontispiece however is from the second +chapter (Pruning), so this footnote has been removed}</p> + +<p class="noin"><a href="#Page_149">Page 149</a>: and the small end{original had and} of the magnet would draw +the point of the needle</p> + +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Rollo's Experiments, by Jacob Abbott + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROLLO'S EXPERIMENTS *** + +***** This file should be named 24993-h.htm or 24993-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/9/9/24993/ + +Produced by D Alexander, Andrew Wainwright and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +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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