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ROLLO S VACATION. 
 
 THE EOLLO SERIES 
 
 B COMPOSED OP FOURTEEN VOLUMES, TIX. 
 
 Hollo Learning to Talk. 
 Rollo Learning to Read. 
 Rollo at Work. 
 Rollo at Play. 
 Rollo at School. 
 Rollo s Vacation. 
 Hollo s Experiments. 
 
 Rollo s Museum. 
 Rollo s Travels. 
 Rollo s Correspondence. 
 Rollo s Philosophy Water. 
 Rollo s Philosophy Air. 
 Rollo s Philosophy Fire. 
 Rollo s Philosophy Sky. 
 
 A NEW EDITION, REVISED BY THE AUTHOR. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 PHILLIPS, SIMPSON, AND COMPANY. 
 
Ente red, according to Act of Congress, In the Tear 1855, by 
 
 PHILLIPS, SAMPSON, & CO., 
 In the Clerk s Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts 
 
PREFATORY NOTICE. 
 
 As the little readers of " ROLLO AT WORK" and 
 11 ROLLO AT PLAY," have done the author the honor 
 to manifest some interest in the continuation of his 
 juvenile hero s history, they are now presented 
 with " ROLLO AT SCHOOL " and " ROLLO S VACA 
 TION." Under the guise of a narrative of Rollo s 
 adventures in these new situations, these little 
 books are intended to exhibit some of the tempta 
 tions, the trials, the difficulties, and the duties, 
 which all children experience in circumstances simi 
 lar. That the reader may be profited as well as 
 amused by the perusal, is the sincere wish of 
 
 THE AUTHOR 
 
 913 
 
CON TENTS. 
 
 FLAT, 7 
 
 MORE PLAT, 28 
 
 A NEW MASTER, 47 
 
 THE JACK-O -LANTERN, .......66 
 
 JULIUS AGAIN, 87 
 
 SHIP-BUILDING, 104 
 
 DOROTHY S STORT, 123 
 
 THANNY, . 143 
 
 THE SEED-GATHERING, 164 
 
 CONCLUSION, . 184 
 
ROLLO S VACATION. 
 
 PLAY. 
 
 ONE evening in October, Rollo was coming 
 home from school with a large, heavy satchel 
 of books on his shoulder. He walked along 
 a little path by the side of the road. 
 
 "Oh, how heavy!" he said, presently; 
 " but here is my resting-stone." 
 
 So saying, he swung his satchel off from 
 his shoulder, and laid it down upon a large 
 stone, or rather rock, by the side of the road. 
 The rock had a smooth, flat top, where hi 
 used to stop and rest sometimes ; and so he 
 cajled it his resting-stone. 
 
 An old stone wall extended behind him, 
 along the side of the road, and beyond it was 
 an orchard. One large tree spread its branches 
 over the resting-stone. Rollo looked up and 
 wished that there were some apples upon it; 
 but they appeared to have been all gathered. 
 At last he espied one upon a topmost branch, 
 
which had been overlooked. It was a large, 
 plump, rosy-cheeked rogue, hiding behind 
 some leaves. 
 
 " Ah, you little hide-and-go-seek/ 5 said 
 Rollo, " I spy you. Won t you just please to 
 come down ?" 
 
 So saying, Rollo took up a stick which lay 
 under the tree, and threw it up. After one 
 or two unsuccessful trials, he hit the branch 
 upon which the apple grew, and down it 
 came. It fell upon the side of his green 
 satchel, which lay upon the stone, glanced 
 off, and rolled out into the road. 
 
 Rollo hastened after it, for there was a 
 wagon coming along, and he was afraid it 
 would run over his apple. He just succeeded 
 in catching up the apple, and was retreating 
 back to his resting-stone, when, behold, he 
 saw that it was Jonas in the wagon. 
 
 Jonas reined up the horse when he saw 
 Rollo, and stopped. 
 
 "Ah, Jonas," said Rollo, "I am very glad 
 to see you and your wagon. I am tired of 
 carrying this great satchel full of bocks. It s 
 my slate that makes it so heavy." 
 
 So Rollo carried his satchel in one hand, 
 and his apple in the other, to the wagon. 
 
 " Here," said he, " how shall I get it in J" 
 
9 
 
 " Toss your apple in to me, first," said Jo 
 nas, " and then hoist your satchel in behind. 
 But what are you bringing home all your 
 books for?" 
 
 " Oh, we are going to have a vacation," 
 said he, tossing up his apple to Jonas, and 
 then going around behind the wagon. 
 
 Rollo pushed his satchel over into the wa 
 gon, and then clambered up upon the seat 
 with Jonas. 
 
 "Now, Jonas," said Rollo, "if you will 
 only just be so good as to let me drive a lit 
 tle." 
 
 Jonas put the reins and the whip into his 
 hands, and Rollo began to chirrup to the 
 horse. 
 
 "How long is your vacation to be?" said 
 Jonas. 
 
 "A fortnight," said Rollo; " a whole fort 
 night. What a good time I shall have." 
 
 " What a bad time you will have," said 
 Jonas. 
 
 "A bad time!" said Rollo. 
 
 Yes," said Jonas; "boys almost always 
 have bad times in vacations." 
 
 Rollo laughed outright at this strange opi 
 nion ; but presently he said, 
 
 " When I began to go to school, you told 
 
1U HOLLO S VACATION. 
 
 me I should not like school ; and now school 
 is done, you tell me I shall not like vacation. 
 That is a contradiction." 
 
 "Not exactly," said Jonas. 
 
 "/think it is." 
 
 "No," said Jonas, "it is true; boys are 
 discontented, and don t like anything long. 
 If you don t want to go to school again in 
 three days, I am mistaken." 
 
 So saying, he took the reins out of Hollo s 
 hands and drove into the yard. Rollo got 
 out and went in with his books. He carried 
 them at once up into his room, took the books 
 out of his satchel, and arranged them neatly 
 upon his shelves. Then he hung the satchel 
 up upon a nail in the back entry, where he 
 usually kept it, and then he came down again 
 into the yard. 
 
 Supper was not quite ready, and he ac 
 cordingly sat down upon the back piazza, and 
 began to think what he should do the next 
 day. 
 
 "I can play here in the yard," thought he 
 to himself; " or I can go with Jonas wher 
 ever he goes ; or I can make me a garden, or 
 1 can sail little boats at the trough at the 
 pump, or I can " 
 
ROLLO S VACATION. 11 
 
 He was interrupted here by his mother s 
 voice, calling, 
 
 "Rollo." 
 
 " What, mother?" said Rollo. 
 
 Rollo looked up as he said this, and saw 
 his mother at the window of her chamber. 
 
 " What are you thinking about so intent 
 ly, Rollo?" 
 
 "Why, mother," said he, "I was thinking 
 about my vacation. I was considering what 
 I should do to-morrow. What would you do, 
 mother?" 
 
 " I should read or study part of the time," 
 said his mother. 
 
 "Read and study, mother!" said he, with 
 surprise. " Why, it is my vacation." 
 
 Rollo had never had a vacation until now. 
 Before he went to school, he had always been 
 accustomed to have lessons of some sort every 
 day ; so he had never yet learned how wea 
 risome and tedious it is to have nothing to 
 do but play all day long. Now that he had 
 been at school, and had arrived at an actual 
 vacation, he supposed, of course, that he was 
 to have nothing to do with books. He thought 
 he was going to play all day long, every day, 
 for a fortnight, and expected to feel as much 
 pleasure every half hour of the whole time 
 
12 
 
 as he had done usually for the half hour he 
 generally had for play after school at night. 
 
 But the truth is, that the high degree of 
 pleasure which most boys feel when engaged 
 in play in recess, or after school, and on 
 Wednesday and Saturday afternoons, is ow 
 ing to the fact that they have been confined 
 so long at their studies before. This is what 
 gives them that life and joyousness which 
 makes the hours of play pass so pleasantly. 
 Playing all day, for many days in succession, 
 usually becomes very hard and tiresome work. 
 But Hollo did not know it yet. 
 
 Now the reason why Hollo s mother would 
 have had some little reading or study every 
 day, was partly because she would wish to 
 make some mental improvement every day, 
 even in vacation, and partly because she 
 knew that this was the only way to give life 
 and interest to hours of play. 
 
 Rollo did not say anything in reply to this 
 proposal of his mother. He was silent. He 
 did not like to say that he was unwilling to 
 study, but still it was true that he did not 
 wish to have anything to do with his books 
 during the vacation. 
 
 Aftei a pause, however, he said, 
 
HOLLO S VACATION. 13 
 
 " Oh, but, mother, I meant what would you 
 play." 
 
 "Why,- I don t know," said she slowly. 
 "I would work with Jonas a part of the 
 time." 
 
 " But, mother," said Hollo, laughing, "that 
 is not play." 
 
 " Oh. you might let it go for play." 
 
 "No, I want some real play." 
 
 His mother could not help him any. She 
 could not think of any plays that would last 
 every day for a fortnight, and all day too, 
 without becoming very tiresome. 
 
 At last supper-time came, and after suppei 
 bed-time, and Hollo went to bed. 
 
 The next morning, after breakfast, Rollo 
 came out into the yard, with a jump and a 
 caper, saying, 
 
 " Oh, how glad I am that I am not going 
 to school to-day." 
 
 Do you think Rollo was wrong for saying 
 so? I do not. When children never like 
 school, and make complaints when they have 
 to go, it is a very bad sign. But when a boy 
 nas been at school a long time, and has been 
 industrious and faithful, he generally gots 
 tired and needs a little vacation. We cannot 
 2 
 
14 
 
 blame him for enjoying it. The only mistake 
 that Rollo made, was in supposing that his 
 vacation would be pleasant, if he spent the 
 whole of it in doing nothing but play. 
 
 Rollo went out into the garden, and he 
 found some ripe flower-seeds, and he con 
 cluded to gather them. He pulled off several 
 poppy heads, and began to shake out the 
 seeds into his hands. He called them his 
 sand-boxes. He wished he had some paper 
 to sprinkle his sand upon, and to wrap it up 
 in ; but it did not come by wishing, and at 
 length he was just upon the point of throwing 
 his sand away, when he saw some large 
 leaves growing upon a grape-vine, and he 
 thought they would make good paper. 
 
 He gathered some leaves, poured his poppy 
 seeds into one, folded them up, and put them 
 in his pocket. This amused him for a few 
 minutes, but presently he got tired of the gar 
 den and came back into the yard. Jonas was 
 there, harnessing the horse into the wagon. 
 
 " Hallo, Jonas," said he. " Where are you 
 going?" 
 
 u Oh, I am going somewhere, said Jonas. 
 
 " May I go too?" said Rollo. 
 
 "Will you?" said Jonas. 
 
 "Yes. Where is it?" 
 
15 
 
 You promise to go, do you?" said Jonas, 
 who, by this time, had clambered up to the 
 side of the wagon, and seemed to be taking 
 out the seat. 
 
 a Why, where are you going?" said Rollo, 
 with great curiosity. 
 
 By this time Jonas had taken the seat out, 
 and was putting it down upon the ground. 
 
 "I am going to dig potatoes. I wish you 
 rrould go too, and help me pick them up." 
 
 "Oh," said Hollo, looking rather disap 
 pointed, " I did not know you were going to 
 dig potatoes. However, I believe I will go 
 into the field with you." 
 
 So saying, Hollo clambered intc the wagon 
 and took his seat, with Jonas, upon a board 
 which he had placed across the wagon. 
 Thus they rode off to the field. 
 
 Jonas tried to persuade Rollo to help him 
 pick up potatoes, and he did, in fact, pick up 
 one small basket full. But at length he said 
 he could not pick up potatoes in his vacation, 
 and slowly sauntered back to the house. 
 
 He walked about the yard a few minutes, 
 not knowing exactly what to do. Before he 
 began to go to school, that is, when he was 
 quite a little boy, he could amuse himself a 
 long time digging in the ground with a stick, 
 
16 
 
 or piling up little stones, or making mounds 
 in the sand. But now he was older, and had 
 much higher ideas, and these babyish amuse 
 ments were far beneath him. 
 
 He went to the front gate and looked out 
 into the street. There were some willow 
 trees across the road. 
 
 "Ah," said he, "I know what I will do. 
 I ll make a whistle." 
 
 He went over and cut a good-sized shooj 
 from the tree, and, carrying it back to the 
 yard, he sat down upon the step of the door 
 and began to make a whistle. This was an 
 amusement which the boys used to enjoy very 
 much in the recesses, sitting together under 
 the trees of the orchard ; but somehow or 
 other Rollo did not find much pleasure in it 
 now. He finished his whistle and blew it. 
 It sounded very well. He got up and march 
 ed about the yard, blowing it. It sounded 
 very well, but somehow or other he did not 
 care much about hearing it. He slipped the 
 bark off and looked to see if he had made it 
 right. It looked smooth and regular, and he 
 did not see that it needed any alteration. He 
 blew it once more, and then put it in his 
 pocket. 
 
 " Oh hum," said he. " I think it must be 
 
; 
 
 "RUN, KITTY RUN." P?\ge 17 
 
17 
 
 time for me to have some luncheon. I ll go 
 in. 7 
 
 So he went into the house to ask his mo 
 ther for some luncheon. She was sitting at 
 her work-table, sewing. 
 
 " Mother," said Rollo, " isn t it almost ele 
 ven o clock?" 
 
 " Oh no," said she; "it is not quite ten 
 yet." 
 
 " Why, mother ! " said Rollo. " I thought 
 it was as much as eleven." 
 
 "No," said she; "but that seems as if time 
 hangs heavy with you. I am afraid you 
 don t enjoy your vacation very well." 
 
 "Why, yes ," said Rollo, hesitating. 
 " But, mother, I have not got anybody to play 
 with. If I only had somebody to play with, 
 I should have a capital time. I wish you 
 would let me go and get Henry to come." 
 
 "Perhaps his father could not spare him." 
 
 "Well, then, if you would let me stay and 
 play with him Here, kitty," said he, taking 
 a ball of yarn off of his mother s table, and 
 rolling it along the iloor. "Run, kitty, run." 
 
 The kitten jumped up, looked a moment 
 
 at the ball, and then darted after it. Rollo 
 
 watched her movements for some time, as she 
 
 pursued the ball under the chairs and tables. 
 
 a* 2* 
 
20 HOLLO S VACATION. 
 
 ( Why, mother, I have looked for the ball, 
 and what more can I do?" 
 
 "But looking for it is not enough; you 
 ought tojind it." 
 
 "But I can t find it." 
 
 " Come in here." 
 
 So Rollo got up and came in to his mother. 
 
 " You have done very wrong, Rollo," said 
 she. " You came and took away a part of 
 my work, without leave, to play with. That 
 was not right, though I admit that it was not 
 very wrong; but then, when you had taken 
 it, you ought, certainly, to have brought it 
 back. But that you did not think of doing. 
 Then, when T reminded you of it, you pretend 
 ed to look, but you did not look thoroughly 
 or carefully; you lounged about as if you 
 cared very little whether you found it or not. 
 Then very soon you gave up, and went and 
 sat down upon the steps; and now you dou t 
 seem to feel as if you had any responsibility 
 about the business at all." 
 
 Rollo hung his head and looked somewhat 
 ashamed. 
 
 " Now," continued his mother, " you must 
 go and look for the ball until you find it." 
 
 "Suppose I can t find it?" 
 
21 
 
 " Then you must not go out of the room 
 till dinner-time." 
 
 Rollo then began again to look around the 
 room. He said he was sure that the ball 
 was not in the room. His mother told him 
 that he had no reason to be sure, as it was 
 altogether more probable that it was in the 
 room. 
 
 A minute or two afterwards, Rollo found 
 the ball near the leg of the table. He pounced 
 upon it at once, and brought it to his mother. 
 
 "Now," said he, " I may go, I suppose." 
 
 " Why, yes," said his mother ; "you are no 
 longer forbidden to go. But consider a mo 
 ment. You have given me, by this, consi 
 derable unnecessary trouble. Now whenever 
 we do anybody any injury, we ought to make 
 them amends for it." 
 
 " Restitution," said Rollo. 
 
 "Yes, restitution; but who told you?" 
 
 " Miss Mary," said Rollo. " She said that 
 when we did anybody any injury we must 
 always make restitution." 
 
 " That is excellent advice. Now here is a 
 case. You have interrupted and troubled me 
 in my work, and now you might sit down 
 and help me for a quarter of an hour, and 
 that would make amends. But you can do 
 
22 
 
 just as yon please about it. If you prefer it, 
 you can gc out to play." 
 
 Hollo hesitated. Presently he asked his 
 mother what she should want him to do, if he 
 should conclude to help her. 
 
 "I think I should set you to picking out 
 the threads in this cloth." 
 
 His mother had a piece of cloth which she 
 had been ripping apart, and the edges of it 
 were full of little threads. Hollo looked at it, 
 but he thought it would be dull work to pick 
 out those threads for a whole quarter of an 
 hour, and in his vacation too. 
 
 " Do you think I had better do it?" said 
 he. 
 
 " Yes, I do," said his mother. 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " There are two good reasons. First, it is 
 just that you should ; and next, it will teach 
 you to be careful, arid not do mischief to 
 others, if, whenever you do any mischief, you 
 always stop to repair it." 
 
 While his mother was saying this, Rolio 
 stood in a hesitating attitude, holding the 
 cloth iu his hands, arid now and then picking 
 out a thread. He was quite uncertain what 
 to do. 
 
 " Mother," said he, presently, " I wanted 
 
23 
 
 to go and get a luncheon now. I feel quite 
 hungry." 
 
 " Very well," said his mother. " You can 
 go, you know. I did not say you must stay 
 and help me." 
 
 Hollo did not like to go, and he did not like 
 to stay. Finally, however, his sense of jus 
 tice prevailed, and he sat down upon a cricket 
 and began to work industriously, picking out 
 the threads. 
 
 He expected that the quarter of an hour 
 would have appeared very long; but, instead 
 of that, it slipped away very fast. He talked 
 with his mother about various things. She 
 advised him to gather the flower-seeds in his 
 garden during the vacation; and told him 
 that the best way would be, to make, first, a 
 number of small paper bags, and then, as fast 
 as he should gather the seeds, put them into 
 the bags, tie them up, and label them. 
 
 While they were talking in this way, the 
 time passed, and indeed, it passed quite plea 
 santly. Rollo enjoyed that fifteen minutes 
 more, in fact, than he had enjoyed any fifteen 
 minutes during the day. 
 
 At last his mother looked up at the clock, 
 and told him that he had finished his task. 
 
 " You were to work fifteen minutes," said 
 
24 
 
 she, " and it is now more than fifteen minutes 
 already." 
 
 Hollo said he believed he would finish the 
 piece he had in his hand ; and while he was 
 doing it, he asked his mother how he could 
 make his paper bags. 
 
 " You must take two or three cents and go 
 and buy some powdered gum-arabic. They 
 will give it to you in a little paper. It looks 
 like flour. Then mix about a teaspoonful of 
 this with a little hot water, and it will make 
 a kind of paste. Then cut out your pieces 
 of paper, and paste the edges over so as to 
 make a bag." 
 
 Rollo did not understand exactly how the 
 cutting out was to be done, but he determined 
 to do it some day, and then he went off to 
 get his luncheon. 
 
 For about ten minutes, while he was eat 
 ing his luncheon, he was quite contented and 
 happy. This was partly owing to the lun 
 cheon, and partly to the fact that he had 
 been usefully employed for some time before. 
 The release from the confinement to his work 
 on the cricket, operated in the same way as 
 release from the confinement of school does 
 ill making boys happy in recess. But after a 
 
HOLLO S VACATION. 25 
 
 short time he was again at a loss to know 
 what to do. 
 
 Lounging about the yard, he at length 
 found a small shining stone. Most of the rocks 
 in the part of the country where he lived 
 had in them little shining plates of a mineral 
 which the philosophers call mica ; but Rollo 
 did not know it, or at least he had not often 
 noticed it, and now he was very much struck 
 with the shining surfaces of his little gray 
 stone. He carried it in to his mother and 
 showed it to her. She said it was quite pret 
 ty, and told him the name of the little shining 
 plates. Rollo considered it a great prize, and 
 carried it about in his hand, showing it to 
 every body. 
 
 At length he thought he would carry it to 
 Jonas in the field; and he accordingly walked 
 along slowly, looking at various things by 
 the way. Before he got there, however, he 
 began to be tired of his stone, and had a great 
 mind to throw it away ; but he concluded, 
 on the whole, that he would give it to Jonas. 
 
 v Jonas," said he, coming to the place 
 where Jomis was at work, and holding the 
 stone out to him, " see there." 
 
 "What is it?" said Jonas, looking up. 
 "It is a stone, isn t it?" 
 b *3 
 
26 ROLLO S VACATION. 
 
 " Yes," said he. " Isn t it pretty ?" 
 
 " It is rather pretty," said Jonas, pulling 
 up the tops of another hill of potatoes." 
 
 "Do you want it?" said Rollo. 
 
 "Why, no," said Jonas; "I believe not." 
 
 " Don t you want it ?" said Rollo. "Isn t 
 it good for anything?" 
 
 "Yes; but I should want more than one, 
 if I had any." 
 
 " How many should you want?" 
 
 " I should want about twenty cart-loads." 
 
 "Twenty cart-loads!" said Rollo, in great 
 astonishment ; " what should you do with 
 them?" 
 
 "I should spread them along on the road, 
 They would make a beautiful gray road." 
 
 Rollo stood looking at his stone for a 
 minute or two in silence, and then threw it 
 away. Jonas proposed to him again that he 
 should help him pick up his potatoes ; and 
 Rollo did, for a few minutes, but pretty soon 
 got tired, and concluded, on the whole, to go 
 back to the house. 
 
 Before he went, however, Jonas asked him 
 how he liked vacation. 
 
 " Oh, very well," said Rollo. 
 
 But Jonas observed that he did not speak 
 very enthusiastically, and said, in reply, 
 
ROLLO 7 S VACATION. 27 
 
 "I am afraid you have not had a very good 
 time this forenoon." 
 
 "Why, I have not had anybody to play 
 with," said Rollo; " that is the difficulty." 
 
 " I rather think not," said Jonas. 
 
 "What is the difficulty, then?" said Rollo. 
 
 "The difficulty is, that you have grown 
 too old." 
 
 " What do you mean by that?" said Rollo. 
 
 "Why, that you have grown too old to be 
 happy with nothing to do." 
 
 Rollo did not. answer. He was thinking 
 of what Jonas said. 
 
 " When you were a little boy," continued 
 Jonas, "you could play about the yard all 
 day long, without doing anything at all ; but 
 you are too big now." 
 
 Rollo then walked along home, and after 
 waiting a half an hour longer dinner-time 
 came. He started up joyfully when he heard 
 the bell ring, and ran in, saying, 
 
 "Now, pretty soon, I shall go and sec 
 Henry." 
 
MORE PLAY. 
 
 AFTER dinner, Rollo set off, his mother 
 having renewed her permission that he should 
 go and spend the afternoon with Henry. He 
 took with him his whip. This whip was one 
 which he liked to have with him very much. 
 Jonas made the handle out of an oak stick 
 which he got from the woodpile. He split 
 out a slender strip with the axe, and then 
 shaved it down with his knife, until it was 
 of the right size at one end to be held in the 
 hand, and it tapered off long and slender to 
 wards the other end. 
 
 As for the lash. Rollo bought it at a store 
 for a shilling, and Jonas fastened it on very 
 strong. He also made an excellent long snap 
 per at the end of the lash. This is the best 
 way for a hoy to get a whip, for this process 
 gives a good strong one. The whips that 
 boys buy at a toy-shop are very frail. They 
 are made chiefly to look pretty, but are not 
 very good to use. The lash almost always 
 comes off if you whip hard, and then the 
 handle breaks to pieces. Rollo s oaken han- 
 
HOLLO S VACATION. 29 
 
 die lasted for many years. It was handsome 
 also, for Jonas dyed it blue. 
 
 Rollo walked along cracking his whip, and 
 singing "Buy a Broom." When he came to 
 his resting-stone he sat down a few minutes 
 to rest, and he looked up into the apple-tree 
 to see if he could see any more apples, hut he 
 could not. He then concluded that, instead 
 of going round by the road, he would go by 
 a shorter way across the fields. 
 
 So he climbed over the fence into the or 
 chard, and walked along under the trees. 
 From the orchard he went into a pasture. A 
 path in the pasture led him down a long de 
 scent, and finally into a wood, where the 
 path was lost among the trees. However, 
 Rollo worked his way along, until at length 
 his farther progress was stopped by a brook. 
 
 "Why!" said Rollo, surprised, "how 
 much water there is in the brook!" 
 
 Roilo had been at this brook several times 
 in the course of the summer, and had observ 
 ed that there was but little water in it, so 
 that he could jump across almost anywhere. 
 But now there was a great deal more water 
 in the brook, and Rollo began to be afraid 
 that he should not get over. 
 
 The truth is, that brooks have very differ* 
 3* 
 
30 
 
 ent quantities of water in them at different 
 seasons of the year. The reason is, that there 
 is much more rain at some seasons than at 
 others, and the rain runs down the sides of 
 the hills and fills up the brooks. This is par 
 ticularly true in the spring and fall. Some 
 of the autumnal rains had fallen about a 
 week before Rollo s vacation, and it was in 
 consequence of this that there was so much 
 water in the brook. 
 
 Rollo at last found a place to get over, and 
 then went on. Presently he came in sight of 
 the martin-house, on the top of its high pole ; 
 then the chimneys, and finally the house it 
 self, with the yards and out-houses, came into 
 view. At length he espied Henry, perched 
 upon the top of a low shed, between two 
 great barns. 
 
 Rollo ran along, shouting, " Henry, Hen 
 ry;" and Henry, when he saw him, called 
 him to come up where he was. Rollo had a 
 little doubt whether he ought to climb up to 
 such a place ; but finally he concluded to do 
 it, and was just clambering up, Henry pulling 
 him by the hand from above, when Henry s 
 mother came to the door, and in a loud and 
 stern voice called to them to come down. 
 She rebuked Henry for climbing up in that 
 
31 
 
 way, told him it was dangerous, and that he 
 knew better. 
 
 Rollo felt a little ashamed at this mortify 
 ing circumstance, but the boys soon forgot it, 
 and Henry began to look at Rollo s whip. 
 He examined the handle and the lash, and 
 snapped it, and finally he wanted Rollo to be 
 his horse. So he got a long piece of list for 
 reins, and putting a part in Rollo s mouth for 
 bits, began to drive him about. 
 
 At length Rollo stopped and took the list 
 out of his mouth. 
 
 "Henry," said he, "I don t like such 
 woolly-tasting bits. Can t you tie it around 
 my arms?" 
 
 " But then I can t steer you." 
 
 "Oh yes," said Rollo; "you can put one 
 end around one arm, and the other around 
 the other, and then you can steer me." 
 
 " Well, only you must turn whichever 
 way I pull." 
 
 "I will," said Rollo. 
 
 So Henry rigged his harness upon Rollo s 
 shoulders, and off they set again, racing up 
 and down the yard. Presently Henry drove 
 his horse towards the door. Rollo turned this 
 way and that, to avoid going into the house. 
 
32 
 
 but Henry stopped him on each side, anc? 
 whipped him to make him go on. 
 
 RoJlo was unwilling to go, but remem 
 bering his promise to .go wherever Henry 
 should steer him, he went in. There was 
 nobody there. They trotted on, horse and 
 rider, until they came to the parlor, then, 
 through that, out at the front door, and 
 thence around the house to the kitchen again. 
 Thus they went the circuit, racing through 
 the house faster and faster every time, and 
 leaving all the doors open, of course. 
 
 Henry s mother was up stairs, and hearing 
 all this noise, she came down to see what 
 was the matter. 
 
 "Oh, boys, boys," said she, "what are 
 you doing? Henry, bring me your whip and 
 reins, and go and shut all the doors, and then 
 come and sit down there, till I tell you you 
 may get up. That is the way in vacation, 
 always getting into mischief and giving me 
 trouble." 
 
 So saying, she pointed to a place in the 
 corner of the room, where Henry went and 
 sat down. Rollo gathered up the reins and 
 walked out, a good deal ashamed. 
 
 Rollo waited at the door several minutes, 
 but Henry did not come out. Presently he 
 
33 
 
 heard a noise of shouting down a valley 
 among some trees behind the house. He lis 
 tened. It sounded as if somebody was driv 
 ing some oxen there. Presently he saw the 
 1 leads of men and of oxen over the fence, 
 moving slowly along. 
 
 "Oh," said he to himself, "I wish Henry 
 could come out. They re bringing a load of 
 apples, I know." 
 
 He went back into the kitchen to see why 
 Henry did not come. His mother was in the 
 parlor, and Rollo went in to see if he could 
 not get Henry pardoned. 
 
 " Will you please to let Henry come out 
 now ?" said he. " We will be careful and not 
 trouble you any more." 
 
 Rollo spoke in a gentle and respectful man 
 ner, which made a very favorable impression 
 upon Henry s mother. ghe looked up at him 
 pleasantly and said, . 
 
 11 1 should like to let him go out and play, 
 but do you suppose I can have horses racing 
 through my parlor )" 
 
 " Why, no," said Rollo. " We did wrong, 
 but we will not do so any more." 
 
 Rollo, by thus frankly confessing the fault, 
 not only did what was right in itself, but also 
 what was most likely to obtain his object, 
 
34 HOLLO S VACATION. 
 
 That is, leave for Henry to go out. Boys 
 generally think that making excuses, or lay 
 ing the blame upon some one else, is the best 
 way in such cases ; but it is really the very 
 worst way. 
 
 In fact, there are a great many boys who 
 would have gone to making excuses in such a 
 case as this. They would have said that they 
 did not do any harm, that they did not make 
 much noise, or something else in excuse ; or 
 perhaps they would have put the blame upon 
 Henry. In fact, Rollo might have said that 
 he did not want to go through the house, but 
 Henry drove him. But he was not so unge 
 nerous as to wish to throw the fault all upon 
 his playmate. As he had joined with him in 
 the game, he was willing to share in the un 
 pleasant consequences. 
 
 Here Henry called out from the kitchen, 
 
 " Mother, I don t think that Rollo was to 
 blame at all, for he tried not to come in, but I 
 drove him." 
 
 "Very well," she replied, "I will forgive 
 you now, and you may go ; but don t make 
 me any more trouble." 
 
 The boys went out, and Rollo proposed 
 that they should go and see that load of ap 
 ples. The cart had by this time come into 
 
ROLLO S VACATION. 35 
 
 the yard, and was standing near the barn, 
 and one of the men was opening the great 
 doors. 
 
 Henry said he did not believe it was a load 
 of apples, but they went to see. 
 
 They found that instead of apples it was a 
 load of corn, in the husks; and Rollo and 
 Henry obtained permission to climb up into 
 the cart and help throw the ears off. They 
 enjoyed themselves a good deal while doing 
 this, chiefly from the idea that they were do 
 ing some good; though, in fact, they were not 
 doing any good, for they were somewhat in 
 the way of the men, so as to retard their 
 work, to the full amount of all they did them 
 selves. The cart was not unloaded probably 
 any sooner for their help. Still, they imagined 
 that they were doing something; and there is 
 such a charm in useful employment, that 
 even the idea, though delusive, is a great 
 source of pleasure. 
 
 When the cart was unloaded the boys asked 
 leave to ride back in it to the field. Henry s 
 father gave them leave. The oxen were 
 backed, and then turned round, and in a few 
 minutes they were moving along slowly out 
 of the yard, Rollo and Henry standing up in 
 the middle of the cart, and holding on to eacb 
 
3G 
 
 other, and endeavoring to quicken the slow 
 steps of the oxen by shouting, " tia Bright," 
 " Ha Golden." 
 
 They passed along a green lane. Presently 
 ITenry suddenly called to Rollo to look at a 
 tall tree in the woods, down in the valley. 
 
 "See that tree," said he; "that is where 
 the hornets nest was." 
 
 "Is it?" said Rollo. "Let us go and see 
 it." 
 
 "Oh no," said Henry; " let us go into the 
 cornfield and help get another load of corn." 
 
 But Rollo wanted to go into the woods. 
 He should like to see the place where the 
 hornets nest was, and, besides, he wanted to 
 play in the water a little, by the bridge. 
 They discussed the matter some time, and 
 finally Henry yielded; and they both jumped 
 out behind the cart and made their way to 
 wards the woods. 
 
 Some tall weeds were growing by the side 
 of the lane, or rather had been growing, for 
 they had long since ripened, and nothing re 
 mained now but tall stalks, white and dry. 
 Rollo proposed taking one or two of them for 
 "pushers" to push the little chips about with, 
 which were to serve for boats. So they 
 gathered two tall ores apiece, and pulled off 
 
ROLLO S VACATION. 37 
 
 the branches and broke off the tops, and then 
 clambered over the fence and walked along 
 the pastures, with their light and slendej 
 "pushers" in their hands. 
 
 They at length entered the woods by the 
 pasture path, and presently came down to the 
 brook and the bridge. Rollo was so much in 
 terested in trying his "pusher," that he forgot 
 all about the hornets nest, but immediately 
 began to look about for sticks and pieces of 
 bark to use for boats. 
 
 They found various representatives for 
 ships and rafts, which they navigated about 
 the water with their " pushers," standing, 
 themselves, upon the bridge. For a time this 
 afforded pretty good amusement, but it did 
 not last very long. At length Rollo went to 
 the shore on one side, and proposed to Henry 
 to go to the shore on the other, so that they 
 could send their vessels to and fro to one ano 
 ther loaded with leaves and pebble-stones for 
 cargo. 
 
 This lasted some minutes longer, but some 
 how or other Rollo did not find it quite so 
 good fun as he had expected. At length tftey 
 got tired and let the vessels drift about, and 
 Rollo took up a stone, and, pointing to a piece 
 4 
 
38 ROLLO S VACATION. 
 
 of bark, said he was going to cannonade thai 
 man-of-war. 
 
 " You will spatter me," said Henry. 
 
 The stone, however, had taken its flight, 
 and striking the water just beyond the man- 
 of-war, sent a few drops over to Henry. 
 
 Henry took it very good-naturedly, and 
 thought he would cannonade the man-of-war 
 too ; in doing which, he spattered Rollo a 
 little. Rollo laughed and threw another 
 stone; and thus they continued for a little 
 time, until they found they were beginning to 
 get wet, when at length they desisted. 
 
 They now did not know what to do with 
 themselves. They were a little wet, and, 
 consequently, a little uncomfortable. They 
 ought not to have spattered themselves even 
 so little as they had done; and the secret feel 
 ing that they had not done quite right, made 
 them a little uncomfortable in mind as well 
 as in body. 
 
 At last, as they were playing idly in the 
 water, Rollo having one end of his "pusher" 
 i/i his mouth and the other in the water, he 
 suddenly took it out of his mouth and said, 
 
 " Oh, Henry, look here." 
 
 Then Rollo put the end of his "pusher" 
 into his mouth again, and held the other end 
 
ROLLO S VACATION. 41 
 
 in the water again a moment, and then drew 
 it out ; when Henry saw a stream of watei 
 issuing from the lower end ; shooting back into 
 the water of the brook. 
 
 " How do you do it?" said Henry. 
 
 "I suck the water up." said Rollo, "and 
 then blow it out again." 
 
 The boys were much pleased with this ex 
 periment, in which they both succeeded bet 
 ter and better on repeated trials. They found 
 that they could throw the water farther and 
 farther out towards the middle of the brook ; 
 and finally, Rollo, by aiming pretty high and 
 blowing hard, succeeded in projecting his 
 stream away across to the land where Henry 
 was standing. 
 
 They both shouted with laughter at this, 
 and the next moment Henry tried. He suc 
 ceeded in throwing his jet so far as to sprinkle 
 Rollo with it a little, at which the boys shout 
 ed again ; and in a few minutes they were 
 both busily engaged drawing up their " push 
 ers" full of water, arid then blowing it out. 
 with all their strength, towards one another. 
 
 Rollo said he was an elephant, taking up 
 
 water with his trunk; and Henry said he was 
 
 a whale a great, spouting whale. In a word. 
 
 the boys were in great glee. And yet, after 
 
 b* 
 
42 ROLLO S VACATION. 
 
 all, they were not really happy. There was 
 a sort of hollowness in their mirth, and a 
 secret feeling of dissatisfaction, which made 
 the pleasure of this merriment very different 
 from the quiet and gentle happiness of the 
 holiday at Miss Mary s school. In fact, the 
 boys were beginning to get considerably wet, 
 though the wetting came so very gradually 
 that they did not think much of it, except 
 that there was a secret feeling that they were 
 not doing quite right. 
 
 Rollo would have known very well that it 
 was wrong to wet his clothes in this way, if 
 it had only been done at once and suddenly. 
 But the water came upon him only a few 
 drops at a time, and each of these additions 
 being so small, he did not think much of it. 
 But at length his clothes became quite wet, 
 and as the hours of the afternoon moved on, 
 and it began to grow cool, he found that he 
 felt uncomfortable. At last he desisted from 
 his spouting, and holding his "pusher" in 
 one hand, he patted the legs of his trousers 
 with the other, and said, 
 
 i: Oh, Henry, how wet you have made me : 
 you have spouted the water all over me." 
 
 This was the wrong mode of speaking; 
 for it seemed to imply that Henry alone was 
 
43 
 
 lo blame for Hollo s being wet. When boys 
 do anything wrong together, they are both 
 guilty, and should not attempt to charge the 
 fault upon each other. Each should freely 
 take his share of the blame. By throwing it 
 upon the other he only leads that other to 
 recrimination, and thus a dispute arises. It 
 was so here ; for Rollo, by speaking in such a 
 manner as to criminate Henry, only led Henry 
 to recriminate him. 
 
 "And see how you have wet me," said 
 Henry, looking down at his own legs and 
 feet. 
 
 "Oh, that is only a little," said Rollo j 
 * you have wet me a great deal more than 
 lhat." 
 
 " Oh I haven t," said Henry. " I am we! 
 a great deal the most." 
 
 An impartial spectator would have beer, 
 puzzled to decide which was wet the most, 
 for it was about equal. They, however, were 
 both somewhat out of humor, and conse 
 quently unreasonable ; and they continued to 
 dispute about it, each charging the other with 
 being most to blame. 
 
 At last they threw away their "pushers" 
 and began to wa.lk along towards home, out 
 of humor with themselves and with each 
 
44 
 
 other. Rollo said that he should not come to 
 play with Henry any more; and Henry said 
 he did not want him to come, he did not like 
 to he wet all over. Thus they walked along 
 until they came out of the woods. Here they 
 found a cool, autumnal evening breeze blow 
 ing, and it made them feel quite cold. Rollo 
 looked at the west also, and found that the 
 sun was almost down, and that he ought to 
 be at home. Accordingly, when they reached 
 Henry s house, he went directly by, on the 
 way towards home. 
 
 At length he reached the brook which he 
 had crossed on his way, early in the after 
 noon. He had the same trouble in crossing 
 as before, but at length he succeeded in jump 
 ing over, and the moment after he suddenly 
 stopped and said, 
 
 "There, now I have left my whip." 
 
 He tried to think where he had left it, but 
 could not. Then he walked back to the edge 
 of the brook, and deliberated a moment whe 
 ther he had better cross it again or not. It 
 was getting dark, and it appeared to Rollo, 
 who was now in the woods, that the daylight 
 was farther gone than it really was. 
 
 He stood on the bank, uncertain what to 
 do, and vexed with himself for having forgot- 
 
HOLLO S VACATION. 45 
 
 ten his whip. One moment he thought he 
 would go after it, and then again he con 
 cluded that it would be so dark before he 
 could get back to the brook that he should 
 not be able to find his way across. So he 
 turned slowly and reluctantly towards home. 
 
 As soon as he got out of the woods he 
 came into the daylight again; and here he 
 found a new source of vexation in thinking 
 that he might have gone back as well as not. 
 He should have had plenty of time, he said. 
 He looked back into the woods and hesitated 
 again ; but now there was so much farther to 
 go, that he gave up the idea and went home. 
 
 He came into the kitchen and stood by the 
 fire, wet, cold and uncomfortable in body, 
 and irritated and fretted in mind. His mother 
 asked him some questions, and found that he 
 was not humble and submissive, but, on the 
 contrary, peevish and cross, and disposed to 
 make excuses for himself, and to throw cen 
 sures upon others. 
 
 His mother concluded, therefore, that he 
 had better be sent to bed, as it was not right 
 that he should make all the family uncom 
 fortable by his ill-humor and complaints. 
 His wet clothes were accordingly taken off, 
 
4G 
 
 HOLLO S VACATION. 
 
 his feet dried and warmed, some supper was 
 given him, and then he crept into his bed, as 
 dissatisfied and unhappy as boys generally 
 are after a whole day of play. 
 
ROLLO S VACATION. 47 
 
 A NEW MASTER. 
 
 EARLY the next morning Rollo awoke, and, 
 as soon as he recollected himself a little, he 
 remembered that it was his vacation, and he 
 felt rather sorry for it. He wished, in his 
 heart, that there was going to be a school. 
 
 He got np and began to look for his clothes, 
 but could not find them. At first he was 
 much surprised, and wondered where they 
 could be. 
 
 "Ah," said he, at last, to himself, "I re 
 member. 1 left them down stairs to be dried." 
 So he crept back into bed again. 
 
 He laid still a short time, thinking whether 
 he had better wait until some one came 
 to bring him his clothes, or knock for his 
 mother to come. He was accustomed to 
 knock upon the partition, which separated 
 his room from his mothers, whenever he 
 wanted anything, and when she heard it 
 she would come to him. 
 
 He did not quite like to knock for his mo 
 ther to come and bring him his clothes, though 
 he scarcely knew why. While he was thus 
 doubting, he heard a noise in the yard, which 
 
48 HOLLO S VACATION. 
 
 he thought might be Jonas. He jumped out 
 of bed and went to the window, and saw 
 Jonas leading the horse to the pump to be 
 watered. 
 
 Hollo opened the window and fastened it 
 up with a button. 
 
 " Jonas," said he, "will you be good 
 enough to bring me up my clothes?" 
 
 " Yes," said Jonas, " as soon as I have led 
 the horse back." 
 
 Rollo was always pretty sure of having 
 Jonas do anything for him that he asked, pro 
 vided it was reasonable. There were two 
 reasons for this ; one was that Jonas was a 
 very obliging boy, and the other was thai 
 Rollo always asked him in a gentle and pro 
 per manner. Some boys would have said, in 
 such a case, in a rough and scolding voice, 
 
 " Jonas, go and get my clothes and bring 
 them up to me, quick." 
 
 But Rollo observed that his father and mo 
 ther never spoke so to those whom they em 
 ployed; and, in fact, his father told him one 
 day, that it was altogether the most effectual 
 way of inducing persons to do what we want, 
 to ask them in a kind and proper manner. 
 
 In a few minutes Rollo heard footsteps 
 soming up stairs: and presently Jonas ap- 
 
49 
 
 peared, with Rollo s clothes, dry and warm, 
 hanging over his shoulder. 
 
 " Well, Rollo," said Jonas, " you have got 
 another day of vacation." 
 
 Rollo said nothing. 
 
 "What are you going to do to-day?" 
 
 "I don t know, exactly," said Rollo, sit 
 ting up in his bed. " What would you do?" 
 
 " Oh, play about. I suppose," said Jonas. 
 
 "But I don t like playing about." said 
 Rollo. 
 
 " It is miserable business, I know," said 
 Jonas. " But I think I could make you have 
 a good time," he continued, " if you would 
 do as I say." 
 
 " I wish you would," said Rollo. 
 
 " But you won t do as I say." 
 
 "What should you tell me to do?" said 
 Rollo. 
 
 " I can t tell you unless you promise before 
 hand to do it." 
 
 Rollo hesitated a moment, Jonas standing 
 all the time with his hand upon the latch of 
 the door, ready to go out. 
 
 " Well, I will promise," said Rollo. 
 
 "You will obey me exactly?" said Jonas. 
 
 "Yes," said Rollo. 
 
 "All day?" 
 c 5 
 
50 
 
 "Yes, all day." 
 
 11 And do whatever I tell you 5 let it be what 
 it will?" 
 
 " Yes," said Rollo, " I will." 
 
 " Well, then, get up and dress you, and 
 alter breakfast come out into the barn to me." 
 
 Rollo s curiosity was very much excited to 
 know what Jonas was going to tell him to do. 
 He dressed himself and went down ; and 
 finding it was still quite early, he went and 
 asked his mother to let hirn go over to Hen 
 ry s and get his whip before breakfast. His 
 mother consented, and he set off. 
 
 Just as he was going out through the front 
 gate, Jonas called to hirn and asked him 
 where he was going. Rollo told him that he 
 was going after his whip. 
 
 "But," said Jonas, "I thought you pro 
 mised me that you would be under my com 
 mand to-day." 
 
 " Oh," replied Rollo, " I did not know that 
 you meant before breakfast." 
 
 " The agreement was all day," said Jonas. 
 
 - l But I just want to go arid get my whip, 
 because I am afraid it will get lost." 
 
 " That is a very good plan, only you ought 
 to have asked me. However, you may go." 
 
ROLLO S VACATION. 51 
 
 "Seems to me," said Rollo, "you are 
 rather a strict master." 
 
 "That I am," said Jonas, laughing. "You ll 
 find me stricter than you think, before the 
 day is through " 
 
 So Rollo went along after his whip. As he 
 drew near the house he saw nothing of Hen 
 ry. He went on into the yard, where they 
 had been at play. Henry s father was lead 
 ing a horse across the yard. As soon as he 
 saw Rollo he said, 
 
 " Here, young man ; I suppose you have 
 come for your whip. There it is." 
 
 So saying, he pointed to the fence; and 
 there Rollo saw his whip hanging up in a con 
 spicuous place, that is, in a place where it 
 could be very plainly seen. 
 
 " I thank you, sir," said Rollo ; and he 
 went and took his whip down, and walked 
 away towards home. 
 
 After breakfast Rollo went out in pursuit 
 of Jonas. He found him just going into the 
 garden, with a wheelbarrow, and some garden 
 tools in it. 
 
 "Now, Jonas," said Rollo, "I am ready; 
 tell me what I shall play. 
 
52 HOLLO S VACATION 
 
 "Play !" said Jonas. "I am goLig to set 
 you at work, not play." 
 
 "At work?" said Rollo. "I thought you 
 was going to tell me how to have a good time 
 at play." 
 
 "I can t stop to talk about it here," said 
 Jonas. " I must go on with my work. You 
 come in with me. 
 
 So he wheeled his wheelbarrow through the 
 gate, Rollo following him. 
 
 " Did I say I was only going to set you at 
 play?" said he, as they walked along. 
 
 "Why, no," said Rollo, "but I thought 
 so." 
 
 "Well," said Jonas, "I release you then 
 from the promise, if there was a mistake." 
 
 So Jonas took the tools out of the wheel 
 barrow and placed them against the fence, 
 and then, taking the hoe, he began hoeing over 
 one of the alleys. 
 
 " What work should you want me to do?" 
 said Rollo. after a pause. 
 
 "I can t tell you anything about it, unless 
 you put yourself entirely under my command. 
 Unless you can trust it all to me, you had 
 better amuse yourself in your own way." 
 
 " Should you make me work all day?" 
 
 "I can t tell you anything about it," said 
 
ROLLO* S VACATION. 53 
 
 Jonas ; "only I will agree that you shall have 
 a good time." 
 
 " Yes, but then," said Hollo, "if I don t 
 have a good time, the day will be lost, and 
 what good will your agreement do me ?" 
 
 " We must have a penalty then," said 
 Jonas. 
 
 " What is a penalty?" said Rollo. 
 
 " Why, something for me to do to you to 
 make amends for the loss of your day, if you 
 don t have a good time." 
 
 "Well," said Rollo, "I should like that 
 What shall the penalty be?" 
 
 " Let me see," said Jonas. " I will tell you 
 what. I will agree that if, when night comes, 
 you say you have not had a better time than 
 you had yesterday, I will make you a little 
 ship. 
 
 " Agreed," said Rollo. " I will." 
 
 " Very well," said Jonas. " Now go and 
 get your little rake, and rake up all these 
 weeds into little heaps as fast as I hoe them 
 up.- 
 
 So Rollo got his rake, and in a few minutes 
 they were both at work very busily. 
 
 Jonas hoed up the weeds, and Rollo raked 
 "hern up into little heaps; and then Rollo 
 went and brought his shovel and shovelled 
 5* 
 
54 
 
 them up into Jonas s wheelbarrow. Thus 
 they passed regularly along from alley to 
 alley, until they had gone over the whole gar 
 den. It took them about two hours. 
 
 While they were doing this work, Rollo 
 asked Jonas what was to come next, when 
 this was done. 
 
 " / am going to saw wood in the yard," 
 said Jonas, " and I am going to set you to 
 studying." 
 
 " To studying!" said Rollo. " I am sure 
 1 am not going to studying." 
 
 " A n t you ?" said Jonas. " Yery well." 
 
 There was a pause. At length said Rollo, 
 
 " But were you really going to set me to 
 studying?" 
 
 - Yes," said Jonas; " and you promised to 
 do whatever I should say. But you can do 
 just as you please about keeping your pro 
 mise." 
 
 " I don t want to break my promise," Rollo 
 replied, "but I did not expect that you were 
 going to set me to studying in my vacation." 
 
 " It is because I think that is the best way 
 to make you have a good time." 
 
 "What, studying!" 
 
 "Yes, studying a part of the time. Here 
 
55 
 
 now, I have kept you at work two hours, 
 and haven t you had a good time?" 
 
 " Why yes," said Hollo; "but then I 
 d^n t want to study." 
 
 " Very well," said Jonas; "if you don t 
 want to keep your promise, I ll let you off." 
 
 " Then I shall lose my ship, I suppose?" 
 
 "Certainly," said Jonas. 
 
 Rollo did not want to lose his ship, and 
 then, besides, he knew it was not right to 
 break his promise ; and so, just as they had 
 finished their work in the garden and were 
 wheeling out the last load of weeds, he told 
 Jonas that he believed, on the whole, he 
 would do whatever he told him, even if it 
 was to study. 
 
 They put the weeds by the side of a great 
 heap of compost, behind the barn, and then 
 Jonas sent Rollo to put all the tools away. 
 When he came back he found Jonas just at 
 work with his saw. 
 
 "Now, Rollo," said he, "go up into my 
 room and look in my desk, and you will find 
 an inkstand, and a pen and some paper. 
 Bringdown one sheet of paper, and the ink 
 stand and pen." 
 
 Rollo obeyed. He went up the back stairs 
 to Jonas s room. It was small and unfinished, 
 
56 HOLLO S VACATION. 
 
 and the wall overhead was slanting, being 
 the under side of the roof of the house. There 
 was a bed in it, and one window. Near the 
 window was a plain, pine desk, which Jonas 
 had made for himself, and by the side of the 
 desk was a chest. Over the chest were two 
 or three shelves, containing a few books, and 
 near them, on the wall, was nailed a picture, 
 which Rollo remembered he had given Jonas 
 some time before, because it was torn and 
 spoilt. Jonas had smoothed it out and mend 
 ed it, and nailed it up there, and it made 
 quite a handsome picture again. 
 
 Rollo was quite pleased with the appear 
 ance of Jonas s room; for, though it was 
 rough and rude in its form and finish, yet it 
 was in such neat order, that it looked very 
 alluring and pleasant. He opened Jonas s 
 desk, and was still more pleased at what he 
 saw within. In one corner in front was a 
 black inkstand, with a stopper in it, to keep 
 the ink from drying away. By the side of 
 the inkstand was a ruler, a pencil, and two 
 pens, and also a curious-looking instrument 
 of wood, consisting of two long pointed legs, 
 united by a kind of a joint at one end. 
 
 " What a curious thing that is," thought 
 
ROLLO S VACATION. 57 
 
 Rollo. "It looks like my father s dividers. 
 I suppose Jonas made it." 
 
 In another corner there was a small, 
 square bottle, not bigger than the inkstand, 
 which contained red ink; and at the side of 
 it was a covered box, made of paper, and 
 marked on the outside, Soda Powders. Rollo 
 opened it, and saw within a piece of India 
 rubber, a little sand-paper, two curious coins, 
 a small pencil-case, and some other similar 
 valuables. At the back side of the desk was 
 a slate, about half filled with figures, very 
 neatly written. There were some papers un 
 der the slate, and Rollo lifted it up to see 
 what they were. The first paper had a large 
 and handsome multiplication table drawn up 
 on it. All around the outside was a double 
 line, the outer one being black and the inner 
 red, and all the lines which formed the 
 squares were red; so that the table had a 
 very beautiful appearance. The figures in 
 the squares were written very neatly and 
 regularly. 
 
 Rollo then thought that perhaps Jonas 
 would not like to have him look at his papers 
 and writings, and so he put down the slate 
 again, and took a single sheet of paper off 
 from a pile of sheets of paper, which was in 
 
58 HOLLO S VACATION. 
 
 the other back corner. He also look the ink 
 stand and pen, and went down stairs, inter 
 nally resolving that he would ask Jonas some 
 day to let him see all his papers, and also 
 what was in his chest. 
 
 Rollo went out into the yard with his writ 
 ing implements, and brought them to Jonas. 
 Jonas took them and asked Rollo to follow 
 him. He did so, wondering what Jonas was 
 going to set him to do. 
 
 Jonas went into the barn, Rollo following 
 him. They proceeded to a small apartment, 
 partitioned oft for a sort of shop, where the 
 great work-bench was. Jonas took a brush 
 and brushed the dust off of one end of the 
 bench, and then laid a smooth board upon it, 
 and spread a newspaper over the board. He 
 put the white paper upon the newspaper, and 
 the inkstand and pen upon the bench. 
 
 Rollo laughed aloud at such a droll place 
 to study, and asked Jonas what he was going 
 to do for a chair. 
 
 " You ll see in a moment," said Jonas. So 
 saying, he went to one corner of the shop and 
 brought an empty barrel along. He stood 
 this up on one end opposite the end of tho 
 bench, and put a small board across. 
 
59 
 
 " There," said he, "how do you like that 
 fora desk?" 
 
 "Oh, pretty well," said Rollo: "but what 
 shall I Avrite?" 
 
 " Come out here to my woodpile, so that I 
 can be at work, and I will tell you." 
 
 So Rollo followed Jonas out to the wood 
 pile, and the following conversation ensued, 
 Jonas sawing and splitting wood all the time. 
 
 " I want you to cypher," said Jonas. 
 
 "Cypher!" replied Rollo. "Oh, I can t 
 cypher with pen and ink." 
 
 "Why not?" said Jonas. 
 
 Rollo laughed aloud at the absurdity of 
 cyphering with pen and ink, and said, 
 
 " Oh. I must have a slate. I can t cypher 
 without a slate." 
 
 " But why not?" said Jonas. 
 
 " Oh, I can t rub out the figures when I 
 make mistakes." 
 
 " I don t want to have you make any mis 
 takes." 
 
 " Oh, but I can t help it," said Rollo. 
 
 "Why. suppose this was your sum," said 
 Jonas, as he rolled out a fresh log from the 
 pile. " Suppose you had a 2 and a 6 under 
 \t, and they were to be added together, what 
 should you do?" 
 
60 
 
 "Oh, I should say C and 2 make eight, 
 and I should write down the 8, under." 
 
 " Are you sure 6 and 2 make 8 ?" 
 
 "Yes," said Rollo. 
 
 "Perfectly sure?" said Jonas. 
 
 "Why, yes," said Rollo. 
 
 " And are you sure you have to set the 8 
 down underneath?" 
 
 " Why, certainly," said Rollo. 
 
 " Well, now, suppose you added up several 
 figures and they made 13; what should you 
 set down, and what should you carry?" 
 
 " I should set down 3 and carry 1." 
 
 "You mean set down 1 and carry 3, don t 
 you?" said Jonas, looking up with a half 
 smile. 
 
 " Why, no," said Rollo; "we set down the 
 3 and carry the 1." 
 
 "Are you. sure?" 
 
 " Yes, I am sure" said Rollo, looking very 
 positive. 
 
 "And if you should have 13 from adding 
 up a column, and should put down 3 and 
 carry 1, are you positive it would be right?" 
 
 "Yes," said Rollo, "positive." 
 
 "And suppose the next column should 
 make 21, how much should you have to add 
 to it for carrying from the 13?" 
 
HOLLO S VACATION. 61 
 
 " T must add 1, and that would make 22." 
 
 "Are you sure now, Hollo," said Jonas, 
 "that 21 and 1 make 22?" 
 
 Rollo began to get a little out of patience 
 at this, and did no* answer. 
 
 " I don t mean to tease you," said Jonas, 
 " but you see you can be sure in cyphering, 
 and if you don t take sums too hard, and then 
 attend fully to what you are about, you need 
 not make any mistakes." 
 
 Rollo thought there was some truth in this, 
 but yet he was not quite satisfied ; and after 
 a moment s pause he said, 
 
 "But all boys do make mistakes in cypher 
 ing." 
 
 " Then it is because they have too hard 
 sums to do, or else because they are careless. 
 You must not mark down a single figure, 
 Rollo, till you are sure it is the right one, and 
 then you won t make mistakes." 
 
 Rollo could not object to this, but, after all, 
 he thought he had rather have a slate; "be 
 cause," said he, " then, you know, Jonas, 
 that if 1 should happen to make a mistake, I 
 could rub it out." 
 
 " Yes; but if you si ould happen to make 
 a mistake I don t want it rubbed out. I want 
 to know how many mistakes you make." 
 
" Well/ said Rollo, " you come and set 
 me some sums." 
 
 " No, you must set your own sums; I must 
 saw my wood. You may go and write three 
 numbers on the top of your paper ; put six 
 figures in each number." 
 
 " Shall I put them under each other?" said 
 Rollo. 
 
 " No ; along in a row, a little distance 
 apart, for four separate sums. I want them 
 all multiplied by 2, and as soon as you have 
 done it, come and tell me." 
 
 So Rollo went back to the bench and clam 
 bered up to his seat upon the barrel. He 
 found it rather too high, but he concluded to 
 get along with it, arid so he wrote down the 
 numbers, and put the figure 2 under the unit s 
 figure of each, and multiplied, taking great 
 pains to have every result right before he put 
 it down. When it was done, he descended 
 from his seat and went to report to Jonas. 
 
 "You have done them, have you?" said 
 Jonas. 
 
 " Yes," said Rollo, handing him the oaper. 
 " Here, look and see if they are not right," 
 
 "Oh no," said Jonas; "I can t look them 
 over. You have done them all three, have 
 you? 1 
 
ROLLO S VACATION. 63 
 
 "Yes," saidRollo. 
 
 "And got three separate answers?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Very well ; now go back and multiply all 
 those answers by 5." 
 
 So Rollo went back to his work. He mul 
 tiplied the first one by 5, very carefully. 
 Then he stopped to rest a little, and a minute 
 or two afterwards Jonas heard a noise there, 
 as if a horse was kicking violently upon the 
 stable floor. He went and looked in to see 
 what was the matter. 
 
 Rollo, he found, had laid down his pen, 
 and had his hands resting upon the edge of 
 the bench, and was drumming away with his 
 heels against the side of the barrel. 
 
 " Why, Rollo," said Jonas, "what are you 
 about? " 
 
 "Oh, Jonas," said Rollo, looking round, 
 "are you there? See, this is my kettle-drum;" 
 and he began beating another tattoo upon the 
 barrel with his heels. 
 
 Jonas, however, soon stopped that opera 
 tion, and told Rollo he was there to cypher, 
 not to drum. Rollo desisted and returned to 
 his work, as Jonas did to his. 
 
 In a short time, Rollo came out with his 
 paper, saying he had finished his work. 
 
G4 
 
 " You have multiplied all your first answers 
 by 5, have yon?" said Jonas, without, how 
 ever, looking at the work. 
 
 " Yes," said Rollo. 
 
 " Then you have got a new set of answers^ 
 which I call the final answers. Now look at 
 the first final answer. Is the last figure in it, 
 that is, the unit s figure, a cypher?" 
 
 "Yes," said Rollo. 
 
 " And so with the next answer; is the last 
 in that a cypher?" 
 
 "Yes," said Rollo, surprised. 
 
 "And the next, is that so too?" 
 
 "Yes," said Rollo; "but how did you 
 know?" 
 
 " Because," said Jonas, "I believe that if 
 you multiply any number whatever by 5, 
 and then by 2, the unit s figure in the final 
 answer will always be a cypher." 
 
 " Will it?" said Rollo. " How curious." 
 
 " Now mark out all the cyphers with your 
 pen." 
 
 So Rollo put his paper down upon a smooth 
 log and crossed out the cyphers, Jonas all the 
 time going on with his sawing. 
 
 "Now," said Jcnas, "see if your answers 
 are just the same as the numbers you firs! 
 wrote down." 
 
05 
 
 Rol/o compared and said, "Why, yes," 
 with looks of astonishment. " How queer. 
 Will it always come so, Jonas?" 
 
 " Yes," said Jonas, " if you multiply by 5, 
 and then by 2. I read it in a book once, and 
 I have tried it a great many times, and it 
 always has whenever I have tried it, and I 
 expect it always will. But now you have 
 studied enough for a vacation day, so go and 
 put my things away, only leave your paper 
 on the bench." 
 
 Rollo walked off with his work, highly 
 satisfied with what he had done, and much 
 interested in the very extraordinary mathe 
 matical powers of 5 and 2 as a continued 
 multiplier. 
 
 When he had got pretty near to the barn 
 door, he turned round and said, " Jonas, I 
 wish you would let me do two or three more 
 sums." 
 
 " No," said Jonas ; " I can t let you cypher 
 any more now. I want you to come and 
 play." 
 
 c* 6* 
 
THE JACK-O -LANTERN. 
 
 ROLLO went up to Jonas s room to put away 
 the pen and the inkstand. The window was 
 open, and he stopped a moment to look out. 
 The yard was spread out before him, and be 
 yond it the garden. One square in the garden 
 was filled with corn. The ears had all been 
 gathered when green, for roasting and boiling, 
 and nothing now remained but the dry and 
 whitened stalks, with large yellow pumpkins 
 peeping out among them. 
 
 " The pumpkins are ripe," said Rollo to 
 himself. " I wish Jonas would let me go and 
 gather them. I could wheel one in at a time, 
 in my little wheelbarrow, I know." 
 
 He determined to go and ask Jonas; and, 
 full of this idea, he ran off down stairs. 
 
 Jonas agreed to his proposal, and so Rollo 
 went and got his wheelbarrow and went into 
 the garden. He selected the largest yellow 
 pumpkin that he could find, and cut it off 
 where the stem joined the vine. 
 
 The curved stem served him for a handle, 
 and by dint of great effort he succeeded in 
 
67 
 
 getting it out into the alley, and then into his 
 wheelbarrow. 
 
 He wheeled it along, quite proud of his 
 load, and thinking how many pies such a 
 great pumpkin would make. As he came 
 along out of the garden, he concluded to 
 wheel his load to Jonas, to show it to him, 
 and ask him where to put it. 
 
 Just as he was coming out through the 
 gate, he saw his mother standing at the door 
 which opened upon the garden yard. 
 
 "What are you doing, Hollo ?" said she. 
 
 " I am gathering the pumpkins," said he; 
 " and, mother, I have been Jonas s scholar 
 this forenoon." 
 
 His mother asked him what he meant by 
 that ; and Rollo explained to her how he had 
 agreed to put himself under Jonas s directions, 
 and that Jonas had made him work half of 
 the forenoon, and study almost all the other 
 half 
 
 "What did you study?" said his mother. 
 
 " Oh, I cyphered," said Rollo. * I did six 
 sums in multiplication." 
 
 Rollo explained then to his mother all 
 about his bench and barrel-seat. His mother 
 seemed quite pleased with this plan ; and 
 when Rollo told her that Jonas was going ta 
 
68 ROLLO S VACATION. 
 
 give him a ship in case he did not have a 
 good time, she laughed, and told him she was 
 afraid he would lose his ship. 
 
 Then Rollo wheeled his pumpkin along to 
 Jonas, and, after asking him to see what a 
 noble load he had brought, he wanted to 
 know where he should put his pumpkins. 
 Jonas said he might put them in a certain 
 corner of the garden yard, which he pointed 
 out, where they could lay some days in the 
 sun. 
 
 Rollo accordingly turned around with his 
 load, and was trundling it away, when Jonas 
 told him not to put any but ripe pumpkins 
 there. 
 
 "And what shall I do with the green 
 ones?" 
 
 " Oh, I don t know," said Jonas, hesitat 
 ing; "they a n t worth much." 
 
 " A n t they good for anything?" 
 
 "Only to give to the pigs and make jack- 
 o -lanterns of." 
 
 "Jack-o -lanterns!" said Rollo; " what 
 are jack-o -lanterns ?" 
 
 " Did you never see one ?" said Jonas. 
 
 " No," said Rollo. " What is it?" 
 
 " Why, we take a pumpkin and dig it all 
 o it inside, and then cut eyes and nose and 
 
69 
 
 mouth in it, and then put a candle in and 
 carry it out in the dark, and it makes a great 
 grinning face of fire." 
 
 "Oh, Jonas," said Rollo, "do make me 
 one." 
 
 "Well, I will think of it," said Jonas. 
 " You go and get in the ripe pumpkins, and 
 if you find any green one, about as big as a 
 man s head, which you think will make a 
 good jack-o -lantern, you can bring it here." 
 
 So Rollo went back, but he could not go 
 on with his work until he had looked around 
 and chosen his great green pumpkin. He 
 wheeled it off to Jonas, and Jonas said that 
 would do very well. 
 
 " You may either make it now," said Jonas, 
 " or go and finish gathering the ripe pump 
 kins." 
 
 " Which would you do?" said Rollo. 
 
 "Why, I don t know. You have been at 
 work and at study so much to-day, that I 
 think you have fairly a right to play now. 
 But then I think it very probable that you 
 would take more pleasure and satisfaction in 
 working upon your jack-o -lantern if you 
 should get in the ripe pumpkins first." 
 
 Rollo walked along slowly, trundling his 
 wheelbarrow before him, towards the piazza, 
 
70 HOLLO S VACATION. 
 
 considering whether he had better make his 
 jack-o -lantern then, or wait till he had 
 finished his work. He concluded, on the 
 whole, to take Jonas s advice ; and so he 
 went on wheeling the yellow pumpkins, one 
 at a time, out of the garden, to the sunny 
 corner of the yard. By keeping industriously 
 at work, he accomplished the whole much 
 sooner than he had expected ; and when they 
 were all out he counted them up, and found 
 that there were twenty. He looked at them 
 as they lay in the grass, turning up their fair 
 yellow sides to the sun, with great satisfac 
 tion. 
 
 "Now for the jack-o -lantern," said he; 
 and he went to Jonas to ask how he should 
 go to work. 
 
 " First, bring the pumpkin to me, and I 
 will mark out his cap." 
 
 Rollo brought it, and Jonas, taking his 
 knife out of his pocket, marked a circle around 
 the top of it, just below and all around the 
 stem. 
 
 " There," said he, " now go into the house 
 and see if you can borrow a case knife and 
 an old iron spoon. Then with the knife you 
 must cut in deep, all around where I have 
 marked, and then the cap will come off if you 
 
71 
 
 pull by the handle. Then you must dig it 
 all out. inside, until the shell is only as thick 
 as your hand." 
 
 Rollo was starting off to get the knife and 
 spoon, when Jonas called him back and said, 
 
 " But where are you going to do it?" 
 
 "Oh, there by the kitchen door," said he. 
 
 "Yes," said Jonas, "and so you ll lose 
 jack-o -lantern and all." 
 
 "How?" said Rollo. 
 
 " Why, the way that I have known many 
 a good jack-o -lantern to be lost." 
 
 " How do you mean?" said Rollo. 
 
 " Why, you will make a great litter of 
 pumpkin cuttings and seeds all about the 
 door, and then your mother will come out 
 and say she can t have such a dirty piece of 
 work going on right in the doorway, and will 
 tell you to carry it and throw it all into the 
 pig-pen." 
 
 " My mother wouldn t, I know." 
 
 " Then it is because she is more good- 
 natured than most mothers. You had better 
 not tempt her." 
 
 "Well what shall I do?" said Rollo. 
 
 " Why, bring it out here," said Jonas, 
 " away from the house, and get some old 
 pail to put the cuttings in, and also go and 
 
72 HOLLO S VACATION. 
 
 get an apron to put on to keep your clothes 
 clean." 
 
 Hollo saw at once that this was good sense, 
 and he did as Jonas had advised. But just 
 as he got all ready to commence his opera 
 tions, the bell rang for dinner. 
 
 Rollo was astonished to find thst it was 
 dinner-time, and he had actually forgotten 
 to go in after any luncheon. He took off his 
 apron again, however, and went in, thinking 
 as he went that it would be a fine plan to 
 keep his jack-o -lantern a secret, and then in 
 the evening surprise his father and mother 
 with a sight of it out of the front windows. 
 
 After dinner Rollo rigged himself again for 
 his work, and taking his seat by the wood 
 pile, he began to dig out his jack-o -lantern 
 with his knife and spoon. He worked away 
 upon it some time, but he made rather slow 
 progress, for the inside was pretty hard. 
 After some time he wondered why Jonas did 
 not come and saw some more wood. But 
 Jonas was not going to saw any more wood 
 that day. He was in the garden. 
 
 After a time Rollo got his work nearly 
 done, but before he got it quite completed lie 
 became tired, and concluded to leave it a 
 little while and go and look for Jonas, 
 
73 
 
 He accordingly laid his pumpkin down 
 upon a log, with the knife and spoon by its 
 side, and then rose and began to look about 
 after Jonas. In a moment he saw, over the 
 top of the garden fence, a motion among the 
 stalks of corn. 
 
 " Ah," said he, " I know. Jonas is getting 
 in the cornstalks." 
 
 And off Rollo ran into the garden, to help 
 him. 
 
 He saw the great wheelbarrow in the alley. 
 The sides had been taken out, and it was 
 half rilled with long cornstalks laid across it. 
 Jonas was bringing more in his arms, from 
 time to time, as he cut them down from the 
 hills. 
 
 " Jonas," said Rollo, as he came up, "may 
 I help?" 
 
 " Yes," said Jonas. 
 
 " Well, I will go and get my little wheel 
 barrow." 
 
 So off Rollo ran, in pursuit of his wheel 
 barrow, and in a few minutes came back 
 trundling it before him. 
 
 But the sides of Roilo s wheelbarrow would 
 not come out, and the stalks were too long to 
 be put in lengthwise: so he asked Jonas what 
 he should do. 
 d 7 
 
74 HOLLO S VACATION. 
 
 " Why, I think," said Jonas, " that you 
 had hetter get in the pumpkin vines; for those 
 you can crowd down into your wheelbarrow, 
 any way." 
 
 u But there are some green pumpkins left 
 on," said Rollo; "what shall I do with 
 those?" 
 
 " Oh, you can put those out in the alley in 
 a pile, and by and by I will take them 
 away." 
 
 Rollo liked this plan. He pulled off all the 
 green pumpkins, and carried them out by 
 their handles to the alley, where he laid them 
 in a row, upon one side, so as not to prevent 
 the wheelbarrow s going by. He brought 
 them out pretty easily, for most of them were 
 small and light. 
 
 Then he went to work at the vines. He 
 pulled them up by roots arid dragged them 
 along, and crowded them down compactly 
 into his wheelbarrow ; Jonas being busy aJJ 
 the time cutting down his cornstalks. 
 
 Presently Rollo wanted Jonas to tell him a 
 story, while they were working together. 
 
 "Why, I don t know," said Jonas. "I 
 can t think of any story very well, just now, 
 but I can give you some advice." 
 
75 
 
 "Very well," said Hollo; "give me some 
 advice." 
 
 " I will tell you my old schoolmaster s six. 
 rules." 
 
 "Your old schoolmaster!" said Hollo. 
 "Who was he?" 
 
 " Oh, he was an old man that I used to go 
 to school to. He hadirt any hair he was 
 bald ; and so he wore a black woollen cap " 
 
 Rollo laughed at this, outright. 
 
 "Why, what a funny man," said he. 
 
 Jonas smiled a little, though he did not 
 seem to think there was anything so very 
 droll in wearing a black cap. 
 
 "And he had six rules, did he?" said 
 Rollo. 
 
 "Yes; three for play and three for study. 
 The first rule for study was this : 
 1 What s once begun 
 Must always be done. 
 
 "You see, when I went to his school," 
 continued Jonas, " a new scholar carne one 
 day, and he had a seat pretty near me, and 
 the master wanted him to copy a hymn for a 
 specimen of his writing. The boy took out 
 a piece of paper, and began and wrote the 
 title of his hymn ; but his pen was not good, 
 and so he went and got his pen mended, and 
 
76 
 
 put that piece of paper away and took ano 
 ther, and began again. 
 
 " He wrote the title and the rirst line, and 
 then, instead of the second, he began to write 
 the third, by mistake, and did not perceive it 
 until he had got half through the wrong line. 
 When he found it out he looked very much 
 vexed, and pushed the paper away and took 
 another, and began once more. 
 
 " This time he had not got more than half 
 of the title written before he found the ink 
 was out of his pen, and then he dipped it into 
 his inkstand for some more. But he dipped 
 it in too deep, arid, just as he had got the pen 
 over the paper, down fell a great drop of ink, 
 just where he was going to write the rest of 
 the title. 
 
 " The boy looked completely in despair at 
 this, and declared, in a whisper, that he 
 
 would not try again But why don t you go 
 
 on with your work, Rollo?" said Jonas, inter 
 rupting his story. 
 
 For Rollo had become so much interested 
 Ui the story, that he had stopped before Jonas, 
 with one end of a long vine in his hand, the 
 other trailing along upon the ground, and 
 there he stood. 
 
77 
 
 "Can t you hear and work too?" said 
 Ion as. 
 
 "Why, yes," said Rollo; and he dragged 
 the vine along. 
 
 Then Jonas resumed his story. 
 
 l< The boy waited some time, with his 
 elbows on his desk, looking around the school 
 room, and at last seemed to get over his vex 
 ation a little, and determined to try once 
 more. So he laid the blotted piece away, 
 with the others which he had spoiled, and 
 took out a fresh piece of paper, which was 
 the last he had, and began once more. Just 
 as he had written the first word, the master 
 carne to see how he got along. 
 
 " What, only one word yet! said the 
 master. What have you been doing all this 
 time ? 
 
 " Oh, I began once or twice before, and 
 spoiled them, said the boy. 
 
 u Let me see, said the master. 
 
 * So he looked at the papers that had the 
 mistakes and blots upon them. 
 
 " This won t do, said he. It s contrary 
 to my rule. My rule is, 
 
 What s once begun 
 Must always be done. 
 
 " You must take the first one and finish 
 
 7* 
 
78 
 
 that. You never ought to throw away your 
 work and begin again. 
 
 " Why, rny pen was not good, said the 
 boy. 
 
 " No matter for that; you must not throw 
 away work once begun. When you once 
 begin anything, you must always go right 
 through it; or else you will get in the habit 
 of being discouraged and vexed at every little 
 failure, and your whole life will be filled up 
 with unfinished undertakings. 
 
 " So he made him finish his first hymn that 
 day; and he carried the others away, and 
 made him finish one each day for his writing 
 lesson, until they were all done." 
 
 Jonas paused when he had ended his story, 
 and Hollo presently said that he had very 
 often spoiled his writings and began over 
 again. 
 
 " Well, I would not do so any more," said 
 Jonas, "for I believe it is a bad plan. I 
 have tried the plan of finishing things when I 
 once begin them, and I believe my old master 
 was right." 
 
 The boys were then still a few minutes 
 Hollo was thinking of the story; and pre 
 sently he asked Jonas for another rule, 
 " You said he had six of them." 
 
ROLLO S VACATION. 79 
 
 "Yes," said Jonas: " three for study and 
 three for play." 
 
 " Tell me one of his rules for play next," 
 said Rollo. 
 
 " Well," said Jonas. " One was this : 
 
 When you ve done your play, 
 Put your things away. 
 
 Rollo laughed at hearing this rule, and 
 asked Jonas if all his old master s rules were 
 in poetry. 
 
 "You will hear by and by, as I tell them 
 to you," said Jonas. 
 
 " I think that is an excellent rule," said 
 Rollo; "for boys very often lose their play 
 things by leaving them about, when they 
 have done playing." 
 
 "Yes," said Jonas; "so our master said. 
 He had places for all our playthings, out in 
 the entry, and always made us put them 
 there. He told us a story, one day, of a boy 
 that used to make a great deal of trouble at 
 home, by leaving his playthings all about the 
 house and yard. One afternoon he began to 
 cut paper in the parlor, arid he had just got 
 ihe floor covered with images, and little boats, 
 and paper cuttings, when he heard the voice 
 of another boy out in the yard, who had 
 come to play with him. So he threw down 
 
80 ROLLO S VACATION. 
 
 the scissors and ran off, leaving the parlor in 
 complete confusion. 
 
 " Then he and the other boy sat down up 
 on the front steps, and took out their knives 
 and began to make whistles out of some wil 
 low shoots which the boy had brought. Thus 
 they covered the steps with litter, and then 
 they laid down their knives and began walk 
 ing about the yard, whistling. Thus they 
 strayed away and left their knives, and all 
 their sticks and cuttings, upon the steps, and 
 then concluded to go out into a field close by 
 and build a fire of shavings. They carried 
 out the shavings in a small wheelbarrow, and 
 one boy went in and got a lantern, while the 
 other got a watering-pot to use for a fire 
 engine ; for they were going to play that the 
 fire was a house on fire, and they were going 
 to put it out with the fire engine. They 
 played at this a little while, and, at length, 
 when they got tired, they went away, leaving 
 the lantern, the wheelbarrow and the water 
 ing-pot around there on the grass." 
 
 "Oh, what boys," said. Rollo. "I never 
 leave my playthings about so." 
 
 "Not generally," said Jonas; "but you 
 leave them sometimes." 
 
 " No I don t," said Rollo, " ever." 
 
81 
 
 " Why, there is your jack-o -lantern " said 
 Jonas; "have you carried that in?" 
 
 " No," said Rollo; "but that is not finished 
 yet." 
 
 C( Then you have broken both of my old 
 master s rules. You have abandoned your 
 work unfinished, and have left your play* 
 things out instead of bringing them in." 
 
 " Oh, but he did not mean," said Rollo, 
 "that we must finish our work the very time 
 we begin it; we can t always do that." 
 
 " No," said Jonas ; " but he did mean that 
 you must not leave it just because you are 
 tired of it, when you have got it almost done, 
 and go away to play something else." 
 
 "Well," said Rollo, "I will go pretty soon 
 and finish digging out my jack-o -lantern." 
 
 "You had better go now," said Jonas. 
 
 " No," said Rollo. " I want to get in these 
 vines first." 
 
 "Very well," said Jonas; "just as you 
 please. But my wheelbarrow is full now; I 
 am going along with it to the barn, and I will 
 be back in a few minutes." 
 
 " Mine is almost full too," said Rollo, 
 " and I believe I will go along with you." 
 
 So saying, he wheeled his barrow along, 
 following Jonas, who went up the alley till 
 
82 HOLLO S VACATION. 
 
 he came to the garden gate. They passed 
 through the gate to the garden yard, and 
 thence out into the large yard, where Jonas 
 had been sawing the wood. 
 
 " Hollo ! Hollo ! see there ! " exclaimed 
 Jonas, as soon as they came in sight of the 
 place. 
 
 Rollo looked up and saw a great red cow, 
 that had strayed in from the street, eating up 
 his jack-o -lantern. He dropped his wheel 
 barrow, seized a stick, and ran after her, 
 shouting out, " When there ! wheh ! Hirrup ! 
 Wheh there! Wheh !" as loud and fiercely as 
 he could. 
 
 The cow seized another large mouthful, 
 and, vexed at being interrupted at so pleasant 
 an employment, ran off, shaking her horns 
 and brandishing her tail. Rollo pursued her 
 with all his speed; but she escaped out at the 
 great gate, and at length stopped across the 
 road, and finished eating her mouthful, with 
 an attitude and look of the utmost tranquil 
 lity. 
 
 (: The ugly old cow," said Rollo, taking up 
 the remains of his jack-o ? -lantern. " Now 
 my jack-o -lantern is all spoilt. I ll get some 
 stones and stone her;" and he began to look 
 about eagerly for stones. 
 
THE UGLY OLD COW," SAID HOLLO. Page 82 
 
85 
 
 "Stone who?" said Jonas, coolly; "the 
 cow?" 
 
 " Yes," said Rollo; " that ugly old cow. 
 
 "Why, what is she to blame for?" said 
 Jonas. 
 
 " To blame ! " said Rollo. " Why, she has 
 been eating up my jack-o -lantern." 
 
 "Yes; but do you suppose she knew it 
 was your jack-o -lantern?" 
 
 "I don t know," said Rollo. 
 
 "I don t think she knew she was doing 
 any harm," said Jonas. " Look at her and 
 see how innocent she looks." 
 
 Rollo turned towards the cow. She stood 
 across the road, quiet and still, chewing her 
 cud and looking into vacancy. She did look 
 very innocent indeed. 
 
 "I don t think the cow is to blame," said 
 Jonas ; " but I can tell you who was." 
 
 "Who?" said Rollo. 
 
 "Somebody that let her get at your jack- 
 o -lantern. If you stone anybody, you had 
 better stone him, if you can catch him." 
 
 " Who was it?" said Rollo. 
 
 " The boy that left the jack-o -lantern on 
 the log." 
 
 Jonas had kept very sober thus far, but 
 now he burst into a laugh ; and Rollo, per- 
 8 
 
86 
 
 ceiving that he was laughing at him, turned 
 away in great trouble. 
 
 Jonas, however, did not wish to tease him; 
 and so he told him not to mind the loss of his 
 jack-o -lantern, for he would make him a bet 
 ter one that evening. He said, also, that as 
 lie had done the poor innocent cow some 
 injustice by his harsh accusations, perhaps he 
 had better go and let her finish the jack-o - 
 lantern now she had begun it. 
 
 " And, Rollo," said he, " I think, if my old 
 master had known of this case, he would 
 have made a good story out of it, to illustrate 
 his rule about putting playthings away." 
 
 Rollo stood still a moment, thinking, and 
 then he went out to the road to carry the 
 remains of his jack-o -lantern to the cow. 
 He stood at the gate and tossed it out to her. 
 She came half across the road to eat it, with 
 a countenance expressive of great unconcern. 
 In fact, she received his favors as coolly as 
 she had borne his reproofs. 
 
87 
 
 JULIUS AGAIN. 
 
 A SHORT time after this, Jonas told Rollo 
 that it was time for him to go after the cows, 
 and he might do just as he pleased about 
 going with him. Rollo said he should like 
 to go, and Jonas recommended that he should 
 first go and ask his mother if she was willing. 
 
 They walked along together through the 
 green lane which has often been mentioned 
 in these stories, Rollo flourishing the whip, 
 which he had got from its nail just before 
 Jonas set out. 
 
 From the end of the green lane the boys 
 entered the woods by a sort of cow path, 
 which they followed along, until they came 
 to the great brook where Rollo used to sail 
 on his raft in old times. This brook was 
 much larger than the one behind the house 
 where Henry lived. It was pretty deep too, 
 especially in some places; and Rollo s parents 
 were unwilling to have him come to it alone. 
 
 "Jonas," said Rollo, as soon as they came 
 pretty near to the brook, " wasn t it some 
 where here that I built my wigwam?" 
 
8 ROLLO S VACATION. 
 
 " Yes," said Jonas ; " it was over there by 
 that oak tree." 
 
 " Did you ever see an Indian, Jonas a real 
 Indian?" 
 
 " Yes," said Jonas; "I saw one once." 
 
 " Where was he?" said Rollo. 
 
 " Oh, he was walking along in the streets 
 of the town I lived in." 
 
 " What did he come there for ?" 
 
 " He wanted to sell his baskets." 
 
 There was a log bridge across the brook, 
 and Rollo and Jonas walked over. 
 
 "Jonas," said Rollo, "don t you wish you 
 were an Indian?" 
 
 "No," said Jonas, very quietly. 
 
 " I wish I was an Indian," said Rollo. 
 
 Jonas asked him why. 
 
 " Oh, I should live in a wigwam, and play 
 in the woods all the time." 
 
 " You would have to give up all your story 
 books." 
 
 "Why?" said Rollo. "Don t Indians 
 have story-books?" 
 
 "No," replied Jonas, "they can t make 
 them ; and if they should make them, they 
 sould not read them." 
 
 " Can t Indians read?" said Rollo. 
 
 "No." 
 
ROLLO S VACATION. 89 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 "They have no schools and nobody to 
 teach them. If you lived in a wigwam and 
 played in the woods all day, how could you 
 expect to learn ? 
 
 " Besides," continued Jonas, "Indians are 
 poor, ignorant creatures, and have no time to 
 read." 
 
 " But they have as much time," said Rollo, 
 "as other people." 
 
 "No," said Jonas; "they have to work 
 hard all day, making baskets and moccasins, 
 to get enough to eat." 
 
 " Do they have to work longer than other 
 people?" 
 
 " Yes, because they are so ignorant. The 
 more ignorant people are, the harder they 
 have to work for a living." 
 
 "Do they?" said Rollo. 
 
 " Yes, to be sure," said Jonas. " A wood 
 cutter, who only knows how to cut wood, has 
 to work harder than a carpenter, who knows 
 how to build houses." 
 
 "Why, when the carpenter works at our 
 house, he works all day." 
 
 :t Then he gets better pay, and that comes 
 to the same thing." 
 
 The boys then walked along silently a few 
 
 d* 8* 
 
90 
 
 minutes. Hollo snapping off the tops of the 
 bushes with his whip. 
 
 11 1 don t think doctors have to work very 
 hard," said Rollo. " I should like to he a 
 doctor, and get all my money just for riding 
 about." 
 
 " That s because they know so much," 
 said Jonas. " They know all about sickness 
 and medicines, and when anybody is sick 
 they know what will cure them; and it all 
 shows what I said, that the more a man 
 knows, the easier he gets his living. And so 
 I mean to learn all I can." 
 
 " Is that the reason why my father makes 
 me learn?" said Rollo. 
 
 "I think it probable," said Jonas. 
 
 "I mean to ask him," said Rollo. 
 
 The boys now drew near to the pasture, or 
 rather to the open grass ground, beyond the 
 woods, where the cows were usually found. 
 There were two of them, and one had a bell 
 fastened to her neck by a leather strap. 
 
 Jonas listened, trying to hear the bell. 
 
 11 Hark ! Rollo," said he. 
 
 But no bell was to be heard. 
 
 " There she is, Jonas," said Rollo, pointing 
 down into a valley, to a little ctump of 
 bushes. 
 
HOLLO S VACATION. 91 
 
 Jonas looked and saw that the bushes were 
 in motion, as if a cow or something else was 
 behind them. The boys ran down the hill, 
 and, just before they reached the spot, a boy, 
 considerably larger than Rollo, but smaller 
 than Jonas, made his appearance. Jonas and 
 Rollo stopped. 
 
 In a minute or two another and much 
 smaller boy a-ppeared from among the bushes. 
 He had a handkerchief tied round his head, 
 his cap being crowded down over it. 
 
 At first Rollo did not know him, but in a 
 moment he saw that it was Julius. 
 
 " Why, Julius," said Rollo, " is that you? 
 What is the matter with your head?" 
 
 Julius turned away, looking rather ashamed, 
 but did riot answer. 
 
 " He got a black eye training day," said 
 the other boy, laughing. 
 
 Rollo pitied Julius, and began to ask him 
 about it; but he seemed very little inclined to 
 say anything about his misfortunes. He had, 
 in fact, brought them upon himself, and con 
 sequently felt guilty and ashamed. 
 
 " Do you think you shall be well enough 
 to come to school when the vacation is over? 1 
 said Rollo, in a sympathizing tone. 
 
 " I hope not," said Julius. " I hate school." 
 
92 HOLLOS VACATION. 
 
 "Why, if you don t go to school," said 
 Rollo, " you can t learn anything." 
 
 " I don t cave," said Julius ; " I don t want 
 to learn." 
 
 "Then you ll have to do hard work all 
 day for a living," said Rollo, "as long as 
 you live." 
 
 Julius heard this speech with his usual sul 
 len look ; but the other boy burst into a loud 
 fit of laughter, and, turning round, began to 
 walk away. Rollo looked at him with sur 
 prise, wondering what he was laughing at, 
 and said, 
 
 "You need not laugh, for he will, won t 
 he, Jonas?" 
 
 Jonas did not answer, and Julius and his 
 companion walked away. 
 
 The boys then went on after their cows, 
 through grove and glen. At last Jonas heard 
 a distant tinkling, and, following the sound, 
 they at length came in sight of the cows, 
 browsing just at the edge of a thin copse of 
 trees. 
 
 They drove them along, Jonas and Rollo 
 following. The cows knew the way home, 
 and went on very regularly and quietly, the 
 boys walking on behind, talking on various 
 subjects. At length the cows went into the 
 
ROLLO S VACATION. 93 
 
 barn-yard, and Jonas secured them there by 
 putting up the bars. Rollo went in to his 
 supper. 
 
 The table was set, but supper appeared to 
 be not quite ready. Rollo saw that his father 
 was sitting in an arm-chair in the front entry, 
 looking out at the setting sun, which was then 
 just going down behind the western hills. 
 Rollo ran and got his little chair, and came 
 and sat down by his side, looking up, at the 
 same time, into his father s face with a smile. 
 
 " Well, Rollo," said his father, putting his 
 hand upon his head, "you have been very 
 still this last hour." 
 
 "Oh, father," said Rollo, "I have been 
 away with Jonas, after the cows." 
 
 " Ah. have you ?" said his father. " Well, 
 did you have a good walk?" 
 
 "Yes, sir; and, father, Jonas says that the 
 more anybody knows, the more money he 
 can earn. Is that true?" 
 
 "Why, yes," said his father, "in the gene 
 ral." 
 
 "What do you mean by l in the gene 
 ral? " 
 
 "Why, that it is very often so, but not 
 always. For example, suppose there was a 
 tract of land to be surveyed, or a new road to 
 
94 
 
 be laid out; we should have to hire several 
 men ; for instance, a surveyor, a chain-man, 
 and a laborer. The surveyor must have a 
 good deal of knowledge. He must have stu 
 died mathematics, so as to know how to cal 
 culate, and he must be acquainted with books 
 of surveying, and with the compass and the 
 theodolite." 
 
 "What is a theodolite?" said Rollo. 
 
 " Oh, it is a very curious instrument, made 
 of bright brass; and it stands on three legs. 
 The surveyor takes it out into a field, and 
 measures by it." 
 
 "But I don t see why he need have any 
 theodolite," said Rollo. "Why can t he mea 
 sure right along on the ground, with a pole, 
 as you do in the garden?" 
 
 "Why, suppose there was a high moun 
 tain, all covered with rocks and precipices; 
 do you think he could find out how high it 
 is by measuring along with a pole?" 
 
 " Why, no," said Rollo. " Could he do it 
 with a theodolite?" 
 
 " Yes," said his father, " with a theodolite 
 and some calculation afterwards." 
 
 " But, then, there might not be any moun 
 tain in the way of the road," said Rollo. 
 
 "No; but then there is some measuring to 
 
95 
 
 be done like that, though not always for 
 mountains; and a surveyor, if he did riot have 
 a theodolite, must at least have some similar 
 instruments. So that you see the surveyoi 
 must know a great deal more than it is neces 
 sary for the chain-man to know." 
 
 " What does the chain-man do?" 
 
 " Why, when they measure along the side 
 of a field, they have a chain to measure with, 
 and one man takes hold of one end, and ano 
 ther man takes hold of the other end. Now 
 it requires some care and skill to measure 
 correctly with a chain, for a long distance, on 
 smooth ground and rough, up hill and down. 
 So the chain-man, who has the forward end 
 of the chain, must be an intelligent, careful, 
 and active-minded man. It is not necessary 
 for him to know as much as the surveyor 
 does, but he must know more than the 
 laborer." 
 
 "Why, what does the laborer do?" said 
 Rollo. 
 
 " Why, he comes along with the end of the 
 chain, and puts it exactly where the chain* 
 man has made the mark. Then he makes 
 the stakes, and drives them down ; and he 
 cuts down bushes, and carries the instru 
 ments, and does all such things. In fact, he 
 
96 
 
 has harder work than either of the others; 
 but he does not have nearly as much pay." 
 
 " How much pay does he have?" 
 
 " Oh, about a dollar a day." 
 
 "And how much does the chain-man 
 have?" 
 
 About two dollars." 
 
 "And the surveyor?" 
 
 " A good surveyor has five dollars." 
 
 " Then I should rather be the surveyor," 
 said Hollo. 
 
 " Yes," said his father ; "his place is most 
 desirable on several accounts." 
 
 "What accounts?" said Rollo. 
 
 "Why. first," replied his father, "his work 
 is not so hard. He only has to adjust the 
 instrument and make the observations, and 
 put down his notes and memoranda, and 
 make his calculations. All that is a great 
 deal easier, if a man really understands it, 
 than making and driving stakes, and cutting 
 down bushes, and carrying the chain over 
 rough ground, and up and down steep hills, 
 and across bogs and morasses." 
 
 "But, father," said Rollo, "I think it is 
 easy to drive stakes." 
 
 " Yes, such little stakes as you drive, and 
 only for a few minutes; but to follow such 
 
ROLLO S VACATION. 97 
 
 work all day long, steadily, and for many 
 days in succession, is hard. And then the 
 surveyor s employment is better on another 
 account; his work is more pleasant in itself 
 than a laborer s." 
 
 "Why?" said Rollo. 
 
 " Oh, there is a kind of interest and satis 
 faction in knowledge, and in doing things 
 that require knowledge and skill. When a 
 surveyor gets a new and more accurate instru 
 ment, he is very much interested in looking 
 at it, and in understanding the principles on 
 which it is made, and in trying it." 
 
 " So I should think the other man would," 
 said Rollo, " when he gets a new axe." 
 
 " He does in a degree. But the more com 
 plicated and valuable the instrument, and the 
 higher the knowledge and skill required for 
 the use of it, the greater is the pleasure it 
 affords. Then, besides all this, he has better 
 pay ; and so he can live in a more comfort 
 able house, and educate his" children better, 
 and have more books to read, and travel 
 more. And just so it is in all branches of 
 business. Those who have the most exten 
 sive knowledge, have, generally, the lightest 
 work, and yet the best pay." 
 9 
 
98 
 
 "Then, father," said Hollo, "I should 
 think that everyhody would want to learn." 
 
 "Almost all people do wish they knew 
 more, when they have grown up. But then 
 it is too late to learn ; they have not time nor 
 opportunities." 
 
 " But they might learn when they were 
 children." 
 
 " Why, some children are too poor. Their 
 parents cannot send them to school. Or if 
 they do send them, when they are very young, 
 to schools where they learn just to read and 
 write and cypher, they cannot afford after 
 wards to send them to higher seminaries, 
 where they would study higher branches of 
 knowledge. As soon as they get big enough, 
 they want them to work. Then there are a 
 great many other boys that don t like to 
 study, and their fathers have not decision and 
 energy enough to make them. They let 
 them have their own way, and so they grow 
 up idle and ignorant, and finally sink to low 
 places and employments in future life." 
 
 At this time, it happened that a man came 
 walking along the street, dressed in poor 
 clothes, and looking very anxious and cross. 
 As Rollo sat near the door he saw him com 
 ing along towards the house. Rollo asked 
 
ROLLO S VACATION. 99 
 
 his father if he knew who it was; but before 
 he could receive any answer, the man came 
 up to the gate, before the door, and said, 
 
 " How do you do. sir ? I came to see if my 
 Julius had heen here this afternoon." 
 
 "Julius? I don t know," replied Hollo s 
 father ; and then, turning to Hollo, he said, 
 " Have you seen anything of him, Rollo?" 
 
 " Yes, sir," said Rollo. " I saw him up in 
 the pasture." 
 
 "When?" asked the man, angrily. 
 
 "Oh, a little while ago, when I went up 
 with Jonas after the cows. He and another 
 boy were there together." 
 
 " What boy was it?" said the man, in the 
 same sharp and angry tone. 
 
 " I don t know who it was," said Rollo. 
 
 The man paused, turned round, took off 
 his hat and rubbed his forehead, which was 
 wrinkled with care. In a moment he turned 
 suddenly round to Rollo, saying, 
 
 "And what was he doing up there, I 
 should like to know?" 
 
 "I don t know." said Folio. 
 
 " Robbing birds nests, I ll warrant," said 
 the man ; who, as Rollo by this time sup 
 posed, was Julius s father. " I set him at 
 work, and he ran off and has been gone all 
 
100 ROLLO S VACATION. 
 
 the afternoon. When I catch him, I ll whip 
 him as long as he can stand. 
 
 So saying, the man shook his head in a 
 threatening manner, and walked away. 
 
 "What a boy," thought Rollo, after he had 
 gone. 
 
 "What a man," thought Hollo s father. 
 
 In the mean tfme, Julius had gone slowly 
 down from the pasture into the village, and, 
 turning into a narrow street, came to a small 
 house near a carpenter s shop, which was his 
 home. When he went in, his mother told 
 him how angry his father had been with him 
 for going off and leaving his work, and that 
 he had gone in pursuit of him. Julius did 
 not answer, but sat down to eat his supper, 
 which consisted of bread and milk. When 
 he had got nearly to the bottom of his bowl, 
 his mother observed that he suddenly started 
 up and ran out at the back door. She knew 
 at once that it was because he saw his father 
 coming; and she looked out of the window, 
 near which he had been sitting, and she saw 
 that he was coming along the road. Julius 
 did not come in again for some time; but at 
 last, after it was dark, he crept slyly in and 
 went to bed. He thought if he could escape 
 
that night, he should not be punished the 
 next morning; for his father was not faithful 
 in fulfilling either his promises or his threat 
 en ings. Arid this was, in fact, one cause of 
 Julius s bad character. 
 
 In the mean time, while Julius was lurking 
 about the house, watching for an opportunity 
 to steal into bed, Hollo sat down to a good 
 supper with his father and mother. 
 
 "Well, Hollo," said his mother, "you have 
 had another day of vacation." 
 
 "Yes, mother; and I have had a capiial 
 time. I have been at work with Jonas." 
 
 " What have you been doing?" 
 
 " Oh, I have been getting in the pumpkins 
 and the pumpkin vines ; and then I studied 
 some time this forenoon. Just before tea, I 
 went with Jonas up into the pasture." 
 
 "That is where you saw Julius," said his 
 father. " What sort of a boy is he, Hollo ?" 
 
 "Oh, I don t think he is a very good boy," 
 said Hollo. " He troubles Miss Mary, and he 
 does not learn much. I told him, up in the 
 pasture, he would have to work very hard 
 when he grew up, and he only laughed at 
 me." 
 
 "Such boys do not look forward very 
 much," said his father. 
 
102 
 
 " There !" said Rollo, suddenly recollecting 
 himself; "Jonas promised to make me a ship 
 this evening. I must go and ask him." 
 
 "Did he," said Hollo s mother, " uncondi- 
 tiona ly?" 
 
 "What do you mean by uncondition 
 ally ?^ 
 
 "Why, did he promise positively? or was 
 there some condition?" 
 
 " Oh, he said he would make me a ship if 
 I did not have a good time." 
 
 "And haven t you had a good time?" 
 
 " Why I don t know, yes, I have had a 
 pretty good time." 
 
 " You told me you had had a capital time," 
 said his father. " Now you must be honest. 
 Don t deny the truth for the sake of a ship." 
 
 Rollo looked as if he was very sorry that 
 he had had a good time. However, he con 
 cluded to go out and see Jonas. He found 
 him just shutting up the barn. 
 
 " Jonas," said Rollo, " now can you make 
 my ship?" 
 
 " Why, did I promise you a ship?" 
 
 "Yes; didn t you?" 
 
 "Was not there some condition about it?" 
 
 r Yes," said Rollo, rather reluctantly. 
 
HOLLO S VACATION. 103 
 
 " You said you would make me one if I did 
 not have a good time." 
 
 " And haven t you had a good time? 7 
 
 "Why, yes," said Rollo; "but then I 
 want you to make me a ship very much." 
 
 " Ah ha ! " said Jonas, laughing; I thought 
 that would he the way. Well, I think I will 
 make you a ship." 
 
 As he said this, he was just fastening up the 
 great barn door ; but he opened it again and 
 went in. and began to look around among 
 some blocks of wood, of various sizes, under 
 the workbench, for suitable ship-timber. At 
 length he found a piece, about six inches 
 long, arid two in breadth and thickness. It 
 was almost dark, but still he put it upon the 
 bench and planed it smooth. He then took 
 down a chisel and two gouges of different 
 sizes, and then he and Rollo went in. He 
 told Rollo that he had not had his supper yet, 
 but that if Rollo would come out after his 
 Bupper. he would begin his ship that evening 
 
1U4 ROLLO S VACATION. 
 
 SHIP-BUILDING. 
 
 JONAS had a little bench at which he used 
 to work, at the kitchen fire, in the long win 
 ter evenings. He took the idea of its con 
 struction from the form of a shoemaker s 
 bench, which has, as I suppose all children 
 know, a seat at one end and a place for tools 
 at the other. Jonas called it his " gunda- 
 low" for what reason it would be difficult to 
 say. 
 
 It was, however, a very convenient thing, 
 though it had rather a barbarous name. As 
 he sat upon the seat, all the little tools which 
 he wanted to use for such evening work were 
 at his side. There were files, and a little 
 saw, and compasses, and sand-paper, and a 
 little glue-pot, and nails and brads, and a 
 small hammer. Then underneath were one 
 or two drawers, in which Jonas could put 
 away his tools when he had done his work. 
 The whole establishment was not very heavy. 
 He could take it up easily when he had done, 
 and carry it out into the back room ; to a cor 
 ner, where it stood safe and out of the way 
 when it was not in use. 
 
ROLLO S VACATION. 106 
 
 It was dark enough to light candles about 
 seven o clock that evening; and at that time 
 Rollo and Jonas came in from the back room, 
 Rollo having hold of one end arid Jonas the 
 other of the " gundalow" They placed it 
 by the chimney corner, and Jonas took his 
 place at the seat, while Rollo went and 
 brought his cricket, and sat down by his 
 side. 
 
 "Now," said Jonas, as he took out his 
 tools and the block of wood, "I ought to 
 haye a vice." 
 
 "A vice?" said Rollo. " What is that?" 
 
 " Oh, it is a kind of thing to gripe a piece 
 of wood or iron, and hold it fast, while you 
 work upon it." 
 
 " Oh, I can hold the ship for you," said 
 Rollo. 
 
 " You can t hold it strong enough. I want 
 to hollow it out by driving a chisel into it." 
 
 " Would a vice hold it tight enough?" 
 
 "Yes; it screws up perfectly tight, and 
 would hold it firm and solid. But my anvil 
 will do." 
 
 So Jonas went out into the back room 
 again, and brought in what he called his 
 anvil. It was a pretty heavy block of wood, 
 solid and square, which he had to pound 
 
106 ROLLO S VACATION. 
 
 upon. He had several ways of using it 
 One was to place it across his knees, as he 
 sat upon his seat. Another was to rest one 
 end upon the hearth before him, the other 
 coming up between his knees, and he could 
 pound upon that. Then, again, he used 
 sometimes to put it at his side, upon a part 
 of the bench where he had reserved just room 
 for it. In either of these cases it answered a 
 fine purpose whenever he had any hammer 
 ing to do, such as nailing together small 
 work, chiselling holes in wood, or cracking 
 nuts. 
 
 " What do you have such a great, heavy 
 anvil for?" said Hollo, as Jonas came in, 
 bringing his bioc^. 
 
 "Oh, it must be solid and heavy," said 
 Jonas, "or else I could not hammer upon it 
 well. It would shake and spring." 
 
 Jonas then fixed his anvil before him upon 
 the hearth, with the end up, and he placed 
 the little block of ship- timber upon it. Hollo 
 then held the little block steady by taking 
 hold of the two ends, and then Jonas began 
 hollowing out the ship by his chisel, driving 
 it in with a small mallet, which he took out 
 from one of the drawers of the " gundalow." 
 
 He began at one end and proceeded regu- 
 
107 
 
 larly to the other, taking care not to go very 
 near a mark which he had made first, all 
 around the upper side of the block, in the 
 shape of the cavity which he was going to 
 make. The bows of the ship were, of course, 
 to be rounded both inside and out ; and this 
 he did in the inside by the gouges, when he 
 had chiselled it out nearly to the proper 
 shape, 
 
 " Why do you dig out the inside before 
 you shape the outside, Jonas?" asked Rollo, 
 after the process had gone on for some time. 
 
 " Oh, because if I should shape the outside 
 first it would not stand steady while I chisel 
 it out." 
 
 " Do men do so with great ships?" 
 
 " Oh no," said Jonas ; " they do not hollow 
 out great ships at all; they make them of 
 timbers and planks." 
 
 " How can they make them so?" said 
 Rollo. 
 
 " Why, first they lay down a long timber 
 for a keel, and then they frame upright 
 pieces, swelling out each side like ribs; and 
 then they put on the planks." 
 
 " But, Jonas, how do they keep the water 
 out while they are building it?" 
 
 Perhaps some children, who live in sea- 
 
108 ROLLO S VACATION. 
 
 ports, may wonder at Hollo s ignorance of 
 ship-building, as shown by this question.. 
 But he was a little boy still; and then, though 
 he lived not very far from a sea-port, he had 
 very seldom seen any ships, and had never 
 seen one built or launched. 
 
 Jonas smiled at this question, and said, in 
 reply, 
 
 " Why, Hollo, they don t build them in the 
 water." 
 
 " How do they build them then?" 
 
 "On the shore, close to the water; and 
 then, when they are all finished, they launch 
 them." 
 
 " How do they launch them ?" said Rollo. 
 
 " They have a frame of timbers, slanting 
 down from the ship into the water, and then, 
 when they are all ready, they knock away 
 the after-block and let her slide off into the 
 water." 
 
 Jonas gave Rollo some farther information 
 about ships, which interested him very much. 
 While they were talking in this way, it sud 
 denly occurred to Rollo that it would be a 
 good plan to go and get some apples to roast, 
 while Jonas was working upon the ship. 
 
 He accordingly, after obtaining leave from 
 his mother, got the girl, who was then just 
 
HOLLO S VACATION. 109 
 
 finishing the putting away of the supper 
 things, to give him a light and a plate, and 
 he went down cellar to find some apples. 
 There was a closet in the cellar with large 
 shelves in it, each of which had an upright 
 board at the edge, which, with the shelf, 
 formed a sort of bin. These were filled with 
 apples of various sizes and colors ; and Rollo 
 selected from them a plate full of such as he 
 supposed would be best to roast. These he 
 brought up stairs, and placed them in a semi 
 circle, between the andirons, before the fire. 
 
 The name of the girl that lived at Rollo s 
 father s at this time was Dorothy. She 
 finished her work, set back her table, having 
 brushed up the hearth before Rollo put his 
 apples down, and then brought out her light- 
 stand before the other corner of the fire, and 
 sat down to her knitting. Rollo, who was 
 always kind and attentive both to Jonas and 
 Dorothy, asked her if she did not want a 
 light. 
 
 "No," said Dorothy. "I am only knit 
 ting." 
 
 " What have you got the lightstand out 
 for then?" said Rollo. 
 
 "Oh, this is my little work-table," said 
 10 
 
110 
 
 she, " and I like to have it out. It is a kind 
 of company for me." 
 
 There was no place for a light upon Jonas s 
 bench, but he had no difficulty on this ac 
 count. The lamp he used was put into an 
 iron candlestick, which had a sort of hook- 
 like projection on one side, near the top, 
 which answered to hang it up by, upon a 
 nail in the chimney-piece, at his side. The 
 fire also, though small, for it was not at a 
 cold season of the year, blazed cheerfully, 
 and diffused a very pleasant light over the 
 white floor and throughout the room. 
 
 "Jonas," said Rollo, at length, after a 
 pause, " could I have a launching for my 
 ship?" 
 
 " Yes, I don t know but you can." 
 
 "How can I do it?" 
 
 Jonas tried to think of some way, but at 
 last he said he did not think that so small 
 a ship could be launched very well. He. 
 thought that Rollo must be contented with 
 sailing it. 
 
 Then there was another pause for a ft w 
 minutes, during which Jonas finished scoop 
 ing out the inside of the vessel and smoothing 
 it completely. He took great pains to have 
 
Ill 
 
 the opposite sides exactly alike, and to make 
 the curve at the bows smooth and regular. 
 
 After having thus finished the inside, he 
 put the anvil away, and, taking out a sharp 
 knife from the drawer, began to fashion the 
 outside. He marked out the keel, and then 
 proceeded to cut away the wood carefully on 
 each side of it, when Rollo suddenly said, 
 
 "Oh, Jonas, why can t you tell me now 
 about the rest of your old master s rules?" 
 
 " Didn t 1 tell you all?" asked Jonas. 
 
 "No," replied Rollo. "You said there 
 were six, and you did not tell me but two." 
 
 "I can t tell you the rest now very well," 
 said Jonas. 
 
 As he said this, he held his ship out before 
 him, looking at it attentively in different 
 directions. 
 
 " Then tell me a story," said Rollo. 
 
 Jonas did not answer. He seemed to bt 
 planning something about the form of his ship 
 
 "Jonas," repeated Rollo, "I wish yor 
 would tell me a story, while you are at work 
 and our apples are roasting." 
 
 " Why no," said Jonas ; " to tell the truth, 
 1 can t do two things at a time very well ; 
 ihat is, I can t tell stories while I am planning 
 a ship." 
 
112 
 
 "Do you have to plan much?" asked 
 Rotlo. 
 
 " Why no, not a great deal ; but still, every 
 minute or two I have something to do, enough 
 to prevent my getting along very well with a 
 story. But there s Dorothy ; she will tell you 
 a story, I dare say. She can tell beautiful 
 stories." 
 
 " Well," said Rollo, looking round. " Will 
 you, Dorothy?" 
 
 " Oh, I don t know any stories," said Doro 
 thy. 
 
 "Oh yes, you can think of some," said 
 Rollo, going towards her. "Come, do," he 
 continued, leaning upon her lap and looking 
 up into her face, "and then I will give you 
 one of my apples when they are roasted." 
 
 "That is a fair offer," said Dorothy, "at 
 any rate; but let me see, can t I make a bet 
 ter bargain ? 
 
 "I ll tell you what," she continued, "Jo 
 nas, how much longer are you going to work 
 on the ship to-night?" 
 
 Jonas looked at it, thought a moment, and 
 then said, 
 
 " Perhaps an hour." 
 
 " Well, then, Rollo, if you will go and get 
 some interesting book and read to me half an 
 
113 
 
 hour, then I will tell you a story for the other 
 half." 
 
 " It is a bargain," said Rollo. " I ll do it. 
 What book shall I take?" 
 
 Dorothy said she would leave it to him to 
 choose the book. 
 
 " Well," said Rollo, " I will get my safety 
 lamp." 
 
 Now Rollo s safety lamp was a small lamp, 
 with a handle at the side, and a glass chim 
 ney to go over and around the flame. It was 
 not like a chimney in form, but they called it 
 a chimney, because the hot air and vapors 
 from the flame passed up through it, like 
 smoke from a fire up a common chimney. 
 This glass fitted to a little brass circle about 
 the wick of the lamp, and was fastened to its 
 place by a little screw, called the tightening 
 screw. 
 
 The reason why Rollo had such a lamp as 
 this, was, that it was often convenient for his 
 father and mother to send him up stairs, or 
 about the house, in the evening, and it would 
 not do for him to take a common lamp for 
 fear of his setting something on fire. His 
 father thought that if he had a lamp which 
 would be safe for him to carry, he could go 
 of errands quite often for them, and thus save 
 e* 10* 
 
114 
 
 them trouble, enough to repay him for the 
 cost of the lamp. 
 
 So he bought him this lamp, and when he 
 brought it home Dorothy found him a place 
 to keep it in, on a low shelf in a little closet, 
 by the side of the kitchen fire, where he could 
 reach it at any time. 
 
 He then made a number of long and very 
 slender lamp-lighters to keep with it, so that 
 he could have one always ready when he 
 wanted to light his lamp. He made them of 
 narrow strips of paper, folded up in a long 
 and slender form. Jonas showed him how 
 to make them. 
 
 So Rollo opened the cupboard door and 
 took out his safety lamp, and a match or 
 lamp-lighter. It was the only lamp-lighter 
 there was left. Rollo brought both to Doro 
 thy s lightstand, unscrewed the tightening 
 screw, and then went and lighted his match 
 at Jonas s lamp. 
 
 "I must make some more lamp-lighters," 
 said Rollo. 
 
 " Yes, you can make them while I am tell 
 ing you your story," said Dorothy. 
 
 "So I can," replied Rollo. 
 
 So saying, he took his lamp up by the han- 
 
115 
 
 die and went up the kitchen stairs, to get a 
 book out of his little book-shelves. 
 
 His books were all well arranged and in 
 good order, for his mother was very strict in 
 requiring him always to put away his books 
 carefully whenever he had done with them. 
 
 When Hollo opened his chamber door, he 
 saw a bright light shining upon the floor. It 
 was the moon shining in at the window. He 
 looked out and saw the yard, and the garden 
 and the trees of the wood beyond, all looking 
 bright arid distinct on all the sides that were 
 turned towards the moon, and throwing broad 
 black shadows along the ground upon the 
 other side. Many of the trees in the woods 
 beyond the garden had assumed their gay 
 autumnal colors, brown, orange, and red, 
 intermingled with the dark green. Rollo 
 thought they looked very beautiful. In the 
 yard, too, just under the window, he saw the 
 yellow cheeks of his pumpkins, looking almost 
 as bright as they did by day. He saw no 
 thing in motion except the cat ; she was walk 
 ing softly and slowly across an alley in the 
 garden. 
 
 Rollo looked out the window some time, 
 and then said to himself, 
 
 " The moon is ripening our pumpkins." 
 
116 ROLLO S VACATION. 
 
 Then, in a moment after, 
 
 11 1 wonder if the moonlight is pretty warm." 
 
 So saying, he set down his lamp upon a 
 table, and kneeled down and spread out both 
 his hands upon the bright image of the win- 
 do w which was projected upon the floor. 
 The palms of his hands were down, and thus 
 the moonlight shone directly upon the backs 
 of them. He held them so for some seconds, 
 and at length said, 
 
 " Why, the moonlight is not warm at all !" 
 
 He then happened to think that the experi 
 ment would be a fairer one if he should put 
 one hand in the moonlight and the other by 
 the side of it, upon a part of the floor where 
 the moon did not shine. 
 
 He accordingly fixed his hands in this way, 
 and then shut up his eyes, in order to think 
 better which was the warmest. 
 
 In the mean time, while Rollo was thus 
 employed, Dorothy began to wonder why he 
 did not come back. 
 
 " What do you suppose has become of 
 Rollo?" at length she said, to Jonas. 
 
 "1 don t know," said Jonas. "He must 
 come down pretty soon, or his apples will 
 burn. 1 
 
HOLLO S VACATION. 117 
 
 "What do you suppose makes him gone 
 8*: long?" said Dorothy. 
 
 "Oh, I don t know," said Jonas. "Ho 
 has got engaged in reading some book, I sup 
 pose ; and there he ll sit and read half an 
 hour, likely as not. That is the way with 
 children when they get to looking over hooks." 
 
 "I mean to creep up stairs softly and see 
 what he is doing," said Dorothy. 
 
 So Dorothy rose from her seat, and, carry 
 ing her knitting work in her hand, stole softly 
 up stairs. When she came near the door of 
 the room where Rollo was, which was partly 
 open, she walked very softly indeed, and 
 peeped in ; and there, to her utter astonish 
 ment, she saw him fixed motionless on his 
 hands and knees, with his eyes shut. 
 
 " Why, Rollo," said she, " what are you 
 doing?" 
 
 Rollo started, opened his eyes, scrambled 
 up, looking half inclined to laugh and half 
 inclined to be ashamed, and said, 
 
 "Oh, 1 forgot my book." 
 
 And he took up his light and went to work 
 immediately, looking over his library. 
 
 " But, Rollo," said Dorothy, " what coulil 
 you be doing on the floor?" 
 
118 HOLLO S VACATION. 
 
 "Oh," said he, "I was only seeing how 
 warm the moon was." 
 
 Dorothy could not help laughing at this 
 idea, but she went in, and helped Rollo choose 
 a hook. They then went together down to 
 the kitchen again. 
 
 "Well, Jonas," said Rollo, "how do you 
 get along?" 
 
 " Pretty well," said Jonas; "but you had 
 better turn your apples." 
 
 Rollo looked at his apples, and found that 
 they were done half through. The skin of 
 some of them was scorched, and the pulp of 
 others had protruded, and lay in rounded 
 heaps, piled up against those sides of the 
 apples which were towards the fire. 
 
 "Jonas," said Rollo, "what makes my 
 apples run over so?" 
 
 "Run over? they don t run over," said 
 Jonas; " they run out." 
 
 "Well, what makes them run out?" 
 
 " Why, when you put the apples down 
 they get heated inside, and the juice boils 
 and turns into steam, and then bursts a hole 
 through the skin, like a steam boiler burst 
 ing." 
 
 "Is that the way a steam boiler bursts? 1 
 said Rollo. 
 
THERE, HE CONTIXUED HOLDING UP HIS SHIP, Pa-e 11 
 
HOLLO S VACATION. 119 
 
 "Yes, the steam gets pent up, and swells 
 by the heat, and then by and by it breaks 
 away, tearing everything to pieces." 
 
 Rollo stood looking at his apples. He 
 recollected that he had often observed, when 
 he had put apples down to the fire, that they 
 swelled out a little on the side towards the 
 Hre, and looked smooth and glossy; and then 
 soon puff went the skin, with a little explo 
 sion, and a jet of steam poured out towards 
 the fire. 
 
 After standing in a thoughtful attitude a 
 few minutes, Rollo said, 
 
 " But, Jonas, I don t see that that explains 
 why the inside of the apple comes out too." 
 
 " Why, there is more juice away in the 
 middle of the apple, and that gets turned into 
 stearn, and swells and crowds by the heat, 
 and so crowds the soft apple out." 
 
 "Is that the way?" said Rollo. 
 
 "Yes," replied Jonas. "There," he con 
 tinued, holding up his ship, "how will that 
 do?" 
 
 Rollo looked, and found that Jonas had got 
 it shaped, inside and out ; and it was now 
 of really a handsome form. Rollo was very 
 much pleased with it, and asked Jonas what, 
 he was going to do next. 
 
120 
 
 " Next I shall make the masts," said Jonas, 
 "and then the deck." 
 
 In the mean time Rollo turned his apples, 
 and then sat down and opened his book and 
 prepared to read. Just before he began, how 
 ever, he thought once more of Jonas s expla 
 nation of the apple roasting, and asked him 
 if the bursting out of parched corn was from 
 the same reason. 
 
 " I don t know," said Jonas, " about 
 parched corn. I never thought of that." 
 
 "/should think it was the same reason, 7 
 said Rollo. 
 
 " Why not exactly," said Jonas. " That 
 seems to be a different thing." 
 
 "No," said Rollo. "The corn, you see. 
 turns inside out, just like my apples." 
 
 "Not exactly; because the apple comes 
 out slowly, as it gets heated through by de 
 grees, but the corn snaps out all at once. It 
 is only one crack, and it is all inside out in 
 an instant." 
 
 " Oh, that is only because it is so little. A 
 kernel of corn is no bigger than the end of my 
 finger," said Rollo ; " nor so big either," he 
 continued, looking at the end of his finger, 
 and mentally comparing it with the size of a 
 kcine of corn. "It is so little, you see, 
 
121 
 
 Jonas, that it heats right through in an 
 instant." 
 
 "No," said Jonas, "I don t think that 
 explains it. Besides, the corn is dry inside, 
 and hard, hut the apple is juicy and soft." 
 
 " I mean to go and ask my father about 
 it," said Rollo, jumping up and putting down 
 his book upon the cricket. 
 
 And away he was going as fast as he 
 could, but before he got to the door Dorothy 
 called out to him, 
 
 "But here, Rollo," said she; "I thought 
 you agreed to read to me." 
 
 "But I only just want to go and ask my 
 father about parching corn." 
 
 " Yes ; but you promised to read to me the 
 first haK hour, and I was to tell you a story 
 the last half, and now the half hour for my 
 reading is almost gone already." 
 
 "Why, Dorothy!" said Rollo, with sur 
 prise. He had no idea that the time had 
 passed away so rapidly. 
 
 "It has," said Dorothy, "and of course, as 
 you have not kept your part of the agreement, 
 I am released from mine." 
 
 "And a n t you going to tell me any story!" 
 said Rollo. 
 
 It was a great disappointment to Rollo to 
 f 11 
 
122 
 
 ROLLO S VACATION 
 
 lose his story, as he now thought he shoulcf, 
 and he was just upon the point of bursting 
 into tears, but Dorothy said, 
 
 " I did not say I should not tell you one, 
 but only that I am not bound to do it by my 
 promise." 
 
 "Well," said Rollo, "I will begin to read 
 this moment;" and he sat down upon his 
 cricket and opened his book in earnest. He 
 read a short time, and then Dorothy said he 
 need not read any more. 
 
 He accordingly put away his book, and 
 then sat down upon his cricket before Doro 
 thy, and she began as follows. 
 
ROLLO S VACATION. 123 
 
 DOROTHY S STORY. 
 
 "WELL, Rollo," said Dorothy, "shall i 
 tell you a true story, or one that is not 
 true?" 
 
 "Oh, true," said Rollo; "true, by all 
 means." 
 
 " But true stories are not generally quite so 
 interesting as those that are made up." 
 
 "Why not?" said Rollo. 
 
 "Oh, because, when people are making up 
 a story, they can tell more wonderful things 
 than those that happen in true stories." 
 
 Rollo paused a moment, and then said, 
 
 " I think, on the whole, Dorothy, I would 
 rather have it true." 
 
 " Yery well," said Dorothy. " Let me see 
 what shall I tell you?" 
 
 " While you are thinking," said Rollo, " I 
 will go and get some paper and a pair of scis 
 sors, and then I can be making some lamp 
 lighters." 
 
 In a few minutes Rollo had found his scis 
 sors and paper, and had seated himself on his 
 cricket, where he could conveniently look 
 
124 ROLLO S VACATION. 
 
 either towards Dorothy while she was telling 
 her story, or towards Jonas, to see how he 
 went on with his ship ; and Dorothy, who 
 had in the mean time decided upon her sub 
 ject, thus began : 
 
 "When I was a little girl, about thirteen 
 years old, t lived with my father and mother, 
 and my little brother Oliver, in rather a lonely 
 house in the woods. One day, in the winter, 
 my father and mother went away in the 
 morning to another town, where there was a 
 store, and left me at home with little Oliver." 
 
 " How big was he?" said Hollo. 
 
 " Not quite so big as you." 
 
 "Well," saidRollo, " go on. - 
 
 " Father and mother meant to have come 
 back that night ; but it was snowing a little 
 before they went, and father said to me, just 
 as he was getting into the sleigh, 
 
 " Dorothy, said he, the wind is dead 
 north-east perhaps it is coming on to blow ; 
 and it may be all blocked up under the Black 
 Ridge before night. 
 
 " What did he mean by dead north-east?" 
 asked Rollo. 
 
 "Oh, right exactly north-east, where all 
 the snow-storms come from." 
 
ROLLO S VACATION. 125 
 
 " What makes all the snow-storms corne 
 from there?" asked Rollo. 
 
 "Oh, I don t know," said Dorothy, "only 
 they do ; and then the north-east winds used 
 to blow all the snow right into a long piece 
 of road which ran along under the Black 
 Ridge, and they filled it all up, sometimes, 
 from fence to fence, level." 
 
 "Oh, what drifts!" said Rollo. 
 
 " So, said my father, * if anything should 
 happen and we should not get home, don t be 
 frightened about us; and take good care of 
 yourselves. 
 
 " So Oliver and I stayed at home. I 
 attended to my spinning, for I was learning 
 to spin then, and he played horses. The 
 snow fell thicker and thicker; and about 
 noon it began to blow. About the middle of 
 the afternoon I went out to get some water 
 at the spring; and when I found how deep 
 the snow was, and heard the wind roaring 
 and whistling through the woods, I gave up, 
 at once, all idea of seeing father and mother 
 that night." 
 
 " And then did you have to stay all 
 alone?" said Rollo, 
 
 " Yes Oliver and I." 
 
 * I should not have dared to," said Rollo. 
 U* 
 
126 
 
 "But what would you do?" 
 
 "Oh, I would go to the next house." 
 
 " There was no house within a mile," said 
 Dorothy; "and I could not have walked 
 there in all the storm much less could 
 Oliver. 
 
 " No we had to stay, and so 1 got supper. 
 But I observed that Oliver did not eat much, 
 and after supper, instead of playing about as 
 usual, he got his rolling-chair up to the fire, 
 and" 
 
 " His rocking-chair you mean," said Rollo. 
 
 " No his r0//mg--chair ; he never had any 
 rocking-chair." 
 
 "What was his rolling-chair?" said Rollo. 
 I never heard of such a chair as that." 
 
 " Why, it was a block, which father 
 chopped off from a very round, smooth log 
 of wood. Father made the ends very smooth 
 for him, somehow or other, and then it served 
 Oliver for a seat. In fact, it made a very 
 good little cricket for him." 
 
 "What did he call it his rolling-chair for?" 
 said Rollo. 
 
 "Oh, because," said Dorothy, "it was too 
 heavy to take up and carry about; and so, 
 when he wanted to move it, he used to tip it 
 over upon its side, and then he could roll it 
 
ROLLO S VACATION. 127 
 
 about anywhere. It was very smooth and 
 round. 
 
 " How did they make it so smooth?" 
 
 "Oh, it was the natural bark. It was a 
 beech log, which has a smooth and even 
 bark, and it would roll very easily. Well, 
 as I was saying, Oliver rolled up this rolling- 
 chair to the fire, and sat there with his elbows 
 upon his knees, and his hands out to the fire, 
 as if he was cold." 
 
 "Why did not you have more fire?" said 
 Rollo. 
 
 (C Oh, there was a great blazing fire in the 
 fireplace," replied Dorothy, " and the room 
 was very warm. 
 
 " Are you cold, Oliver? said I. 
 
 " Yes, I am a little cold; but I can warm 
 me very soon by this noble good fire. 
 
 " I went on clearing away the supper-table, 
 and then sat down to my knitting; but Oliver 
 still stayed by the fire. By and by I asked 
 him if he was not warm yet. 
 
 " No, not quite, he said. 
 
 " I observed, too, that he spoke a little 
 hoarse, and in an altered tone, and quicker 
 than usual ; and there was a little sort of a 
 tremble in his voice, as if he was shivering a 
 
128 
 
 litllc. I thought then that he was going to 
 be sick." 
 
 " What did you think was the matter with 
 him?" asked Rollo. 
 
 " I thought he was going to have a fever." 
 
 " What sort of a sickness is a fever?" 
 
 "I don t know exactly," said Dorothy; 
 "only I know what some of the signs of it 
 are." 
 
 " What are they ?" said Rollo. 
 
 "Why, when persons have an attack of 
 fever, they are first cold and shivery, even if 
 the room is warm. Afterwards they grow 
 hot, and their flesh is dry and parched. 
 Then they are thirsty, and if you look at 
 their tongue you find it is covered over with 
 something white. And then their pulse beats 
 quick, and perhaps their head aches; and 
 when they go to bed they toss about rest 
 lessly." 
 
 "Was Oliver s tongue white?" said Rollo. 
 
 " Yes. I went to him and asked him to 
 show me his tongue, and I found it was con 
 siderably coated ; and then I felt of his pulse 
 at his wrist, and it was quick. I felt of mine, 
 and I found that his was a good deal quicke/ 
 than mine." 
 
ROLLO S VACATION. 129 
 
 1 How did you know all about the signs 
 of fever?" said Rollo. 
 
 "Oh, T had a fever myself once ; and I 
 remembered the signs, and I remembered 
 what they did for me, and so I knew what to 
 do for him. 
 
 " So, said I, Oliver, you are sick, and I 
 must take care of you. I will make you up 
 a little bed down here by the fire. 
 
 " Where was the bed that he usually slept 
 in?" asked Rollo. 
 
 " It was up over head, in a kind of a gar 
 ret; for our house was only one story high, 
 and it had only one room finished off down 
 stairs, and that was the room where we were. 
 My father and mother used to sleep in that, 
 and Oliver and I up in the loft. We used to 
 go up a ladder." 
 
 "Oh, I should not like to go up a ladder to 
 go to bed. " said Rollo. 
 
 " Why, it was a very good ladder. And 
 then we had beautiful soft beds up there; his 
 was in one corner and mine in another. At 
 least we liked them. They were straw beds, 
 but we had never slept on a feather bed. 
 
 " So I went up the ladder and got Oliver s 
 bed, and tumbled it down the ladder, into the 
 kitchen. Then I got his bolster and coverlid, 
 
130 
 
 and fixed him up a beautiful little bed, one 
 side of the fire. Then I helped him undress, 
 and put a blanket over his shoulders, and let 
 him sit upon his little rolling-chair, while I 
 brought some warm water and bathed his 
 feet. He liked that very much indeed. 7 
 
 " Did he?" said Hollo. 
 
 " Yes. I knew he would, though I did it 
 principally to make him get well. It is very 
 good for sickness. 
 
 " I wiped his feet dry and let him warm 
 them by the fire, and then he got into bed 
 and I covered him up warm. Then I went 
 to the closet to get him some medicine." 
 
 " How did you know what kind of medi 
 cine to give him?" asked Rollo. 
 
 " Oh, we only had one kind of medicine, 
 and that was good for almost any sickness. 
 I put a little sweetened water in a cup, and 
 then poured out some of the medicine upon 
 the top of it, and carried it to him. 
 
 " Did he take it?" said Rollo. 
 
 : At first he did not want to ; but pretty 
 soon he opened his mouth and swallowed it 
 down, though it tasted pretty bad." 
 
 " That s a good boy, said I ; and then I 
 gave him a drink of water and laid him down, 
 and covered him up as warm as I could 
 
ROLLO S VACATION. 131 
 
 Then I felt of his pulse, and I found it was 
 quicker than it was before, and his cheeks 
 looked red, and felt hot and dry, and he 
 breathed short and hard. 
 
 " Presently he said, Dorothy, how long 
 will it be before this medicine will make me 
 get well? 
 
 * Oh, I hope it will make you feel better 
 about the middle of the night, I answered. 
 
 " Then I told him to try to go to sleep, and 
 1 would finish my work and then go to bed 
 myself. 
 
 " He was still a few minutes; but by and 
 by he said, 
 
 " Dorothy! 
 
 " What? said I; and I went to the side 
 of his bed, so that he could speak to me 
 easier. 
 
 " Don t you think father and mother will 
 come home to-night? 1 
 
 " I told him I would go to the window and 
 look out. I went ; and the snow was all up 
 on the glass outside, and was beating against 
 it more and more. 
 
 " 1 came back and told him I did not think 
 they would come. 
 
 " He did not answer, but turned over and 
 shut his eyes. I knew he wanted them to 
 
132 ROLLO S VACATION. 
 
 come very much, but he was a good, patient 
 little fellow, and would not complain. 
 
 11 Presently he called again, 
 
 " Dorothy! 
 
 " I went towards him, and found he was 
 tossing his arms out ; and he said he was too 
 hot, arid wanted me to take off some of the 
 clothes. 
 
 " No, little Oliver, I said; you must keep 
 the clothes on, and put your arms down into 
 bed, because you must get into perspiration, 
 and then you will frel better. 
 
 "What is perspiration? said Hollo. 
 
 "Why, having his skin moist, instead of 
 dry and hot as it was. 
 
 " Oliver then put his arms down, and I 
 covered them up again, and then I told him 
 tx> shut up his eyes and go to sleep. 
 
 " So he shut up his eyes and I went away. 
 I had to carry some things out in the back 
 room, and was out there arranging them a 
 minute or two, when I heard him calling me 
 again, in a very mild, pleasant voice. 
 
 " Dorothy! 
 
 "I ran back to his bedside and said, 
 
 " What, Oliver? 
 
 " Will you give me some water to drink ? 
 
HOLLO S VACATION. 133 
 
 "Why, you did give him some," said 
 Rollo. 
 
 " Yes ; but when persons have a fever they 
 are thirsty almost all the time. I brought 
 him some watei, but told him he must only 
 taste of it, for it would hurt him to drink 
 much. He took one or two mouthfuls, and 
 then laid down again. 
 
 " After a little while I looked at him, and 
 found he was asleep ; but he did not seem to 
 sleep sound and quietly. He breathed quick 
 and hard, and his cheeks looked red, and he 
 moved about and kept getting the clothes off, 
 so that I had to put them on him again very 
 often. 
 
 " But at last he became rather more quiet, 
 and after I had got through all my work I 
 put some large logs of wood, as large as I 
 could lift, on the fire, and then undressed 
 myself and went to bed in mother s bed. 
 But I could not go to sleep very easily ; for 
 Oliver breathed so short and hard that it 
 frightened me a little, and, besides, I felt 
 rather lonely, for the storm roared very loud 
 all around the house. Presently I heard Oli 
 ver moving. I looked up and found that he 
 had got some of the clothes off. T got up and 
 12 
 
134 
 
 spread them on him, and then I went to bed 
 again. 
 
 "Pretty soon I got almost to sleep; but 
 Oliver suddenly stopped breathing. He had 
 been breathing so loud and hard that his 
 stopping waked me up, and I jumped out of 
 bed and went to him. He was lying still, 
 with his eyes half open, but they looked dull 
 and heavy. I found he was breathing, and 
 as short, though not so loud and heavily, as 
 before. His lips were moving. 
 
 " Oliver! said I, in a soothing voice; 
 Oliver ! 
 
 " But he did not answer. His lips moved, 
 and he was muttering something, but I could 
 not understand what he was saying. 
 
 " Oliver, said I, do you want anything? 
 
 ( He tossed his head about restlessly and 
 said, 
 
 < Take it off, take it off, I don t want 
 to go. 
 
 " I knew by that that he was only dream 
 ing, and so I moved him over upon his other 
 side, and fixed his pillow and covered him 
 up. and he shut his eyes and went to sleep 
 again. I put niy hand down into his bosom 
 to see if his skin was beginning to be moist , 
 but it felt as hot and dry as before. Then I 
 
HOLLO S VACATION. 135 
 
 went back to bed again. He kept breathing 
 short and hard, and the logs in the fire sim 
 mered and sung, and the storm beat against 
 the windows; but at last I got asleep. 
 
 "Some time after this, I do not know how 
 long, a loud blast of wind rattling against the 
 windows woke me up. I started up and 
 looked towards Oliver. The clothes were 
 partly off of his shoulders. I went to him, 
 and observed that he was breathing more 
 easily. I put my hand into his bosom, and 
 felt a little moisture upon his side, where his 
 arm had been lying. He moved his head and 
 opened his eyes, and said, faintly, 
 
 " Dorothy, will you give me a little water 
 to drink? 
 
 " Why, Oliver, I said, I am rather afraid 
 to give you any water now. You are getting 
 into perspiration, and I am afraid cold water 
 will hurt you. 7 
 
 " He shut up his eyes, but he did not say a 
 word. 
 
 "I pitied the poor little fellow, and, after 
 looking at him a moment, I said 
 
 " Are you very thirsty, Oliver / 
 
 " Yes, I m pretty thirsty. 
 
 " Well, you lie still a little while and see 
 if you can t get to sleep. If you can, that 
 
136 
 
 will be the best ; if not, then I will com* 
 and give you a little water. 
 
 "So I went and laid down again. I wait 
 ed some time, and then I began to gro\\ 
 
 sleepy. But, Rollo, 1 think your apples an 
 
 done." 
 
 Rollo jumped up to look at his apples, and 
 he found they were done. So he went and 
 got a large plate, and a knife, and Dorothy 
 took them up, one by one, carefully, and he 
 carried them out into the back room to cool. 
 Then he came back; but, before asking Doro 
 thy to go on with her story, he went to see 
 how Jonas was getting along. He found that 
 he had put in the three masts and the bow 
 sprit, and now he was just taking out some 
 thread from one of his drawers to make the 
 shrouds with. Rollo looked on a moment, 
 and then he went back to his cricket and sat 
 down, and said, 
 
 " Well, Dorothy, go on." 
 
 "Just as I was almost asleep," resumed 
 Dorothy, "I heard Oliver s pleasant little 
 voice again. 
 
 " Dorothy! 
 
 " What? 1 said I. 
 
 i; I can t get asleep unless you give me 
 something to drink. 
 
137 
 
 " < Well, said I, <I will come. 
 
 "I then happened to think that there was 
 a bundle of herbs upon the shelf, which 
 mother kept for sickness, and I thought that 
 I had better make him some herb-tea, and let 
 him drink that. So I told him that if ha 
 would lie still a few minutes I would make 
 him some good warm tea, and that would not 
 hurt him. Then I went and took down some 
 of the herbs and put them in a mug, and 
 poured some hot water upon them, out of a 
 tea-kettle which stood by the side of the fire, 
 and set it down to steep. He laid still, with 
 his eyes shut, waiting for his tea as patient as 
 a little lamb." 
 
 " I wish I had a lamb," said Rollo. 
 
 " After a few minutes," continued Dorothy, 
 " I poured it out into a bowl, and then put in 
 some milk and sugar, and made it just warm 
 enough, and carried it to him. 
 
 " Here, Oliver, said I, here is your 
 drink. 
 
 " But Oliver did not move or answer. His 
 cheek was on his hand and his hand upon 
 his pillow, and he was breathing very quietly. 
 
 " Poor little fellow ! he has gone to sleep 
 after all, said I. And now had I bettei 
 wuke him up to give him some drink? 
 /* 12* 
 
138 
 
 u At first I did not know what to do, 
 What should you have done, Rollo?" 
 
 " Why, I don t know," said Rollo, hesi 
 tating. 
 
 " What should you have wished to have 
 been done to you. in such a case?" 
 
 "Oh, I should have wanted to be waked 
 up and have that good drink." 
 
 "Should you?" said Dorothy. "Well, 
 now, I thought he would rather not be waked; 
 for perhaps, you know, he would not be able 
 to get to sleep again very easily. At any 
 rate I did not wake him. I put the bowl 
 down softly before the fire, and covered it 
 over with a plate, and then crept along to 
 bed. 
 
 " I watched him for some time, expecting 
 that he would wake up and want his drink; 
 but he did not, and at last I began to grow 
 sleepy. He seemed to breathe easier and 
 easier, and I thought he must be getting bet 
 ter. At any rate, I felt much less anxiety 
 about him, and before a great while I fell 
 asleep. 
 
 " I slept a long time ; but at last I was 
 awakened by hearing a noise at the fireplace. 
 I started up, and saw Oliver out of bed, and 
 
HOLLO S VACATION. 139 
 
 taking up a stick of wood from a little wood 
 pile which was at the side of the fire. 
 
 11 Why, Oliver! said I. What are you 
 doing? 
 
 " He turned round towards me and- said, 
 
 " Oh, I was only going to put a little wood 
 on the fire. It is almost burnt out. 
 
 "I got up and went to him, and told him 
 he must not get out of bed, for he would take 
 cold ; and I told him that 7 would build the 
 fire. He then laid down again, and I covered 
 him up and asked him how he felt. 
 
 " Oh, said he. I am a great deal better. 
 
 " I felt of his cheek, and it was not hot, 
 and it did not look flushed as it did befofe." 
 
 Just then the door which led from the par 
 lor opened, and Hollo s mother came in and 
 said, 
 
 "Come, Rollo; isn t it about time for you 
 to go to bed?" 
 
 "Oh, mother," said Rollo, "do let me sit 
 up and hear the rest of this story." 
 
 "Oh, I have got about through," said 
 Dorothy. "I found that Oliver was a great 
 deal better. I made him some gruel for break 
 fast, and before the middle of the forenoon he 
 was building houses of corn cobs, by the 
 chimney corner." 
 
140 
 
 "Corn cobs?" said Rollo. "What are 
 they?" 
 
 " I ll tell you to-morrow," said Jonas, rising 
 from his bench, " if it is time for you to go to 
 bed now." 
 
 "Oh, he may stay a minute or two longer 
 if he wants to have you finish the story," 
 said his mother; "and then you may come 
 into the parlor." 
 
 Then his mother went away, and Rollo 
 took the ship, which Jonas held out to him. 
 
 "Oh, what a beautiful ship!" said he. 
 "Is it done, Jonas?" 
 
 "No; the sails are not on. I must put 
 those on some other day." 
 
 Rollo stood looking at the masts and rig 
 ging, while Jonas took up his "gundalow" 
 and carried it out to its place. Then he came 
 in, bringing with him Rollo s plate of apples. 
 Rollo gave Jonas one, and Dorothy one, and 
 then he took the plate containing the rest in 
 one hand, and his ship in the other, and then 
 said, 
 
 "Now how shall I open the door?" 
 
 "I will open it for you," said Jonas, "in a 
 moment." 
 
 Jonas was then sweeping the chips and 
 shavings he had made into the fire, for he 
 
HOLLO S VACATION. 141 
 
 always brushed up his own litter. Then he 
 opened the door, and Jlollo went into the 
 parlor. 
 
 Hollo gave his father and mother each an 
 apple, and showed them his ship. They 
 liked the ship very much, and told Rollo that 
 he might sit down with them and eat his 
 apple. After that he went out to get his 
 safety lamp, to go to bed. 
 
 " Dorothy," said he, when he got into the 
 kitchen again, "you did not tell me when 
 your father and mother got home." 
 
 "Oh, they did not get home until that 
 night. They had a terrible time." 
 
 " Was the Black Ridge road blocked up?" 
 
 " Oh yes, all solid and full ; so that they 
 had to take down the fence and go out into 
 the field. But Oliver was almost well when 
 they got home." 
 
 "Weil," said Rollo, "I think it is a very 
 good story. I am much obliged to you for 
 telling it to me. Jonas," he continued, " will 
 you come up and get my light pretty soon?" 
 
 "Yes," said Jonas. 
 
 So Rollo took his safety lamp and went up 
 to bed. In a short time Jonas came up, and 
 sat talking with him a few minutes. Then 
 he arose and took the lamp, saying, 
 
142 HOLLO S VACATION. 
 
 " Well, Rollo, 3 ou must remember the les 
 son you learnt from Dorothy s story." 
 
 " What lesson 1" said Rollo. 
 
 " Why, that you must follow little Oliver s 
 example, in being gentle, patient and obedient, 
 when you are sick." 
 
 "He was a good boy, wasn t he, Jonas?" 
 said Rollo. 
 
 "Yes," said Jonas; "/think so. Good 
 night." 
 
143 
 
 THANNY. 
 
 ROLLO had one brother and one sister, 
 although they have not lately been mentioned 
 1:1 these stories. They had been away from 
 home for some time, on a long visit, in a town 
 at some distance, and about this time they 
 were expected home. 
 
 Hollo s sister s name was Mary, and she 
 was about seventeen years of age. She was 
 a bright, happy-looking girl, and Rollo loved 
 her very much, for she was always very kind 
 to him, and when she was at home she used 
 to help him very much in all his pursuits and 
 enjoyments. His little brother s name was 
 Nathan ; and he was now about two years 
 and a half old, and was fast learning to talk. 
 
 They came home in Rollo s vacation, and 
 he talked almost continually, the day before 
 they came, of their expected arrival, and of 
 the pleasure he expected to enjoy in playing 
 with little Thanny ; for while he was so very 
 young they often changed his name from 
 Nathan to little Thanny. 
 
 The next morning after Rollo s brother 
 and sister came home, Nathan wanted Rollo 
 
J44 
 
 to be his horse. Mary said she would give 
 them some reins ; and so she went and got a 
 pretty long piece of tw*ne, and Rollo tied the 
 two ends together and put them into his 
 mouth, and gave the other part to Nathan. 
 Then he gave him his whip, and said, 
 
 "There, Thanny; now I will be your 
 horse." 
 
 So Nathan said something which he meant 
 for " get up," and began to whip Rollo with 
 his whip. Rollo started off upon the full run. 
 Nathan tried to keep up, but he could not, 
 and, after being pulled along violently a few 
 steps, fell down and began to cry very loud. 
 
 Rollo had not the least intention to hurt 
 Thanny, and he stood looking on, in mute 
 astonishment, at such an unexpected catas 
 trophe. Mary came and raised Thanny up, 
 and soon succeeded in quieting him. Then 
 she told Rollo that he must remember that 
 Nathan was only a very little boy, and could 
 not run as fast and play as hard as the boys 
 at school, who were as big as Rollo. Rollo 
 promised to be more careful. Nathan took 
 the reins, and Rollo trotted along before him, 
 with very short steps, so that he could easily 
 keep up ; and now Nathan seemed to enjoy 
 the play very highly. 
 
ROLLO S VACATION, 145 
 
 Presently Nathan drove him out into the 
 garden yard, and Mary came and looked out 
 of the window to see them play. 
 
 "Why don t you have Nathan for your 
 horse?" said she. at length, to Rollo. 
 
 " Well," said Rollo, " I will. Here,Thanny; 
 you may be my horse a little while." 
 
 So he put the bits into Thanny s mouth, 
 and then he took the whip and reins himself, 
 and drove him. Nathan seemed to under 
 stand his duties very well, and trotted about, 
 looking quite pleased ; only he now and then 
 stopped to take the bits out of his mouth, as 
 if he did not like to have them in. 
 
 " Can t you contrive any way to drive him 
 without putting bits into his mouth?" said 
 Mary. 
 
 " No," said Rollo; "horses always have 
 bits." 
 
 "I know they do, generally; but I wonder 
 if I could not contrive a kind of harness that 
 would be better?" 
 
 "A harness?" said Rollo; "a real har 
 ness?" 
 
 " Perhaps I might contrive something which 
 would be a little more like a real harness 
 than your bits," said Mary. "If you will come 
 in about twelve o clock I will try." 
 g 13 
 
146 
 
 Rollo thought he should like the plan very 
 much, but Nathan did not understand what 
 they had been saying. He did not know 
 what harness meant 
 
 Rollo drove him about the yard a short 
 time, and then he opened the garden gate and 
 drove him in there. After running about the 
 walks a little while, he began to get tired of 
 playing horses, and, seeing some poppy-heads 
 that looked pretty ripe, he turned to Nathan 
 and said, 
 
 " Oh, Nathan, see these poppy-heads ! We 
 will gather some, and we won t play horses 
 any more now." 
 
 So he took the reins and put them in his 
 pocket, and gave Nathan a poppy-head, and 
 told him to hold it upright ; and he showed 
 him how he meant. 
 
 " Because," said he, " Thanny, if you tip 
 it down, all the seeds will fall out, so." 
 
 And, as he said this, he turned the poppy- 
 head down, and let a few of the seeds drop 
 out into Thanny s little hand, by way of 
 showing him the reason why he must hold it 
 upright. 
 
 But it very often happens that the very rea 
 son which ought to lead children not to do a 
 thing, only excites in them a stronger desire 
 
147 
 
 to do it. And it was certainly so now ; for 
 when Nathan saw the little round seeds drop 
 out, it seemed so curious to him, that, instead 
 of holding the poppy-head upright, he imme 
 diately began to tip it over, and to pour out 
 more seeds into his little hand. 
 
 "No, no, Thanny," said Rollo, "you must 
 not do so; you will lose all the seeds. You 
 must carry it so ;" and here Rollo took hold 
 of it, and showed him how to hold it upright. 
 "Because," he continued, " we want to save 
 the seeds. You must carry it upright till we 
 get into the house, and then we will put them 
 into a paper." 
 
 But the moment Rollo let go of Thanny s 
 hand, over went the poppy-head, and his lit 
 tle hand was held out under it, to catch the 
 seeds. Then Rollo tried to turn it up again ; 
 Nathan resisted. Rollo tried the harder; 
 Nathan struggled against him and began to 
 cry. 
 
 Rollo thought he had better not make him 
 cry, and accordingly he desisted ; and after 
 standing a few minutes in a state of uncer 
 tainty, he concluded to go in and tell his 
 mother thai Nathan would not obey him. 
 
 He accordingly left Nathan in the garden 
 and went in. As he was passing through the 
 
148 HOLLO S VACATION. 
 
 yard, he met Jonas; and Jonas asked him 
 what he had done with Nathan. This led 
 Hollo to tell Jonas the story. 
 
 " Oh," said Jonas, " I would not go and 
 trouble your mother ahout that." 
 
 " Why, Jonas," said he, " what shall I do? 
 He is spilling all my seeds." 
 
 "Yes; but there are more poppy-heads 
 than you will want to gather, so let him have 
 two or three and spill them if he pleases. 
 Let him manage with them just as he wants 
 to. Can t you afford to lose two or three 
 poppy-heads to please him?" 
 
 " But I wanted to save my seeds to give to 
 my sister Mary. She is going to have a gar 
 den next year." 
 
 "Yes; but you have enough more. And, 
 besides, you may as well use a part of the 
 poppy-heads for his enjoyment as for hers." 
 
 So saying, Jonas walked on, leaving Rollo 
 to think of what he had been saying. 
 
 Rollo stood a moment in thought, and then 
 slowly turned round and walked back into 
 the garden. 
 
 " Well, Thanny," said he, " you may have 
 the poppy-head, and do whatever you have a 
 mind to with it." 
 
 Rut Thanny, he found, had thrown the 
 
ROLLO S VACATION. 149 
 
 poppy-head away, and was playing with the 
 gravel-stones of the walk. 
 
 Then Rollo picked up his poppy-head and 
 told him he might have it; but Nathan did not 
 want it, and Rollo two or three times tried to 
 make him take it. Presently, however, he 
 thought he might as well let him be happy in 
 his own way; and so he left him, and began 
 to gather some sweet peas, which grew pretty 
 near there, and seemed pretty ripe. 
 
 After getting one hand full of pea-pods, he 
 gathered with the other several poppy-heads, 
 as many, in fact, as he could take, and then, 
 calling Nathan to come with him, he began 
 to walk towards the house. But Nathan 
 would not come. He seemed well contented 
 to stay and play with his gravel-stones ; ar.d, 
 in fact, I don t think he supposed that he was 
 under any obligation to obey Rollo. 
 
 Rollo walked along slowly, looking back 
 continually, and calling Nathan to follow him. 
 But Nathan did not move. 
 
 tc Oh dear me," said Rollo; " what shall I 
 do?" Then, calling aloud, he said, 
 
 " Thanny, you must come along this mo 
 ment ; or else I shall go away and leave you 
 all alone." 
 
 After a minute or two more, little Nathan 
 13* 
 
150 
 
 got up, and walked along slowly towards 
 Rollo ; and Hollo then went on to the piazza, 
 where he sat down, and laid his poppy-heads 
 and pea-pods down by his side. 
 
 "Now I must have something to put my 
 seeds in," said Rollo; and he got up to go 
 into the house to get a plate. 
 
 As soon as he went away, Nathan came 
 up, and began to pull about his pea-pods. 
 
 "No Thanny, Thanny," said he, "no, 
 you must not touch." 
 
 So he went back and led Thanny gently 
 away. But he would come back as soon as 
 Rollo I egan to go away again. 
 
 Rollo tried to keep him from touching his 
 seeds in t very way he could think of, but all 
 seemed to be to no purpose ; and at last his 
 patience \v is pretty nearly exhausted. He 
 had thought it would be a fine thing to have 
 little Nathan 1 1 home ; but now he began to 
 wish him away again. " I can t do anything 
 at all," said he to himself, " he troubles me 
 so." 
 
 Just at this moment he heard his mother s 
 step in her chamber, the window of which 
 was nearly over where he stood ; and so he 
 called to her. 
 
151 
 
 His mother came and looked out the win 
 dow. 
 
 " Mother," said he, " will you speak to 
 Thanny? he will pull my seeds about the 
 moment I leave them. Or else, mother, if 
 you would be so good as to bring me out a 
 plate to put them in, while I stay here and 
 keep him from touching them." 
 
 " I can t come down very well now," said 
 his mother, in reply ; " but I think you can 
 manage it. Give him one of the pods, and 
 show him how to get the peas out, and that 
 will amuse him." 
 
 Rollo then wondered that he had not 
 thought of some such plan as this before; 
 and he immediately gave Nathan a pod, and 
 opened it for him a little, at one end, so as to 
 let him see the peas. Nathan took it, with 
 his interest and curiosity much excited, and 
 sat down at once, and went to work to pull 
 out the little round peas. Rollo immediately 
 went in after his plates. He borrowed two 
 of Dorothy, and then came immediately back, 
 and found Nathan still busily employed about 
 his pod. 
 
 Rollo then began to shell his remaining 
 pods into one of the plates, and after he had 
 done that he shook out the poppy-seeds into 
 
152 ROLLO S VACATION. 
 
 the other plate. This took him some time. 
 At last, however, when he got it finished, he 
 recollected that he had no bags made, as he 
 intended, to put the seeds into ; and he thought 
 therefore that he would go into the house and 
 get some papers, and do up his seeds in them. 
 
 By this time Nathan had done playing with 
 his pea-pod, but he had got a little stick and 
 was digging in the path. So Rollo left him 
 and went in, in search for some pieces of 
 paper. He found a piece of newspaper in a 
 drawer, where waste newspapers were usu 
 ally kept, and he tried to do his seeds up. 
 But he could not succeed in doing it very 
 neatly, and he began to wish he had some 
 paper bags. 
 
 After sitting for some minutes, looking upon 
 the awkward-shaped parcels he had made 
 in his attempts to put up his seeds in papers, 
 he concluded to go and get his little gum- 
 bottle and make a bag. 
 
 This gum-bottle was one that Jonas had 
 made him a day or two before. He had 
 bought a little powdered gum-arabic, and 
 Jonas had put it into a small phial and added 
 a little water to it ; and then he had fitted a 
 small brush, made of the top of a quill, into 
 the cork, in such a manner that the feathe? 
 
153 
 
 end of the brush extended down into the dis 
 solved gum-arabic. Thus by taking out the 
 cork he always had a brush ready for use. 
 
 He brought down his gum-bottle and a pair 
 of scissors, and, taking a piece of newspaper, 
 he cut out his bag. The way he did it was 
 to cut out two pieces of paper, about two 
 inches wide and three inches long, making 
 one of them however a little smaller than the 
 other at the bottom and at the two sides. 
 Then he laid the largest paper down upon the 
 piazza floor, and put the other upon it, in 
 such a manner as to bring the tops of the two 
 exactly even. Then he pasted all the edges 
 of the lower paper, where they extended 
 beyond the upper one, and then carefully 
 folded them over and pressed them down, and 
 thus joined the two papers strongly together 
 by all the edges except the upper one, where 
 he was going to put the seeds in. 
 
 He looked at his bag when it was done, 
 and liked it very well. 
 
 "Now," said he, "if it was only dry I 
 could put my peas right in, and carry it and 
 show it to mother." But it was not dry. He 
 concluded to put it in the sun, and after let 
 ting it stay there a few minutes he thought it 
 would do, and so he began to put the seeds in, 
 
154 ROLLO S VACATION. 
 
 He filled it nearly full of seeds, and then 
 he began to fold over the top, to keep them 
 in, when suddenly he began to hear a rat 
 tling upon the floor of the platform, and look 
 ing down he found that the peas were stream 
 ing out, one by one, but rapidly, from a hole 
 at the bottom. They had burst out because 
 the gum had not, had time to dry. 
 
 Nathan heard the rattling, and came run 
 ning to see. Hollo began hastily to gather 
 up his peas again, and tried to make Nathan 
 go away; but Nathan would not. He got 
 several peas into his hand, and would not 
 give them up. Rollo tried to take them 
 away; Nathan struggled. Rollo held on to 
 his hand, and Nathan began to scream. 
 
 Their mother came to the door to see what 
 was the matter. Rollo, still holding on to 
 Nathan s hand, said, 
 
 " He has got my peas." 
 
 Nathan, still clasping his hand tight ovei 
 the peas, said, 
 
 " I want some peas, I want some peas." 
 
 " Let go of his hand, Rollo," said their mo 
 ther. Rollo obeyed. 
 
 "Give Rollo his peas, Nathan," she added, 
 looking at Nathan. Nathan obeyed. He 
 knew he must obey his mother, and he ac- 
 
ROLLCVS VACATION. 155 
 
 cordingly delivered up the peas to Hollo, 
 though he did it slowly and reluctantly. 
 
 " You did wrong, Rollo," said she. u Yoi 
 must never use violence with him." 
 
 " Why, mother, he was getting all my 
 j)oas." 
 
 "No matter for that," said she. " You 
 must never use violence with him, unless it 
 is some very extraordinary case of absolute 
 and immediate necessity." 
 
 " What is that, mother?" said Rollo. 
 
 "Why, suppose he was eating something 
 which you knew was poison, and you had 
 not time to come and tell me, you might take 
 it away, rather than let him poison himself; 
 or if he was in the road, arid a cart or a drove 
 of cattle were coming along, and there was 
 great danger of his getting run over. Such 
 cases as those are cases of immediate and 
 absolute necessity. It is immediate because 
 you have not time to come and see me, and 
 it is absolute because he is in the utmost dan 
 ger. But in any common case, and especially 
 if you are only going to lose a few peas, you 
 never must resort to violence. You must 
 come and tell me." 
 
 " Well, mother," said Rollo, " I wish you 
 
156 
 
 would take him in now, for he troubles m 
 very much." 
 
 She replied that she could not take him in 
 then very well. In about an hour, she said, 
 it would be time for him to go to sleep, but 
 until then she must let him stay and play 
 out in the yard ; but she said she would tell 
 him he must not touch his seeds. 
 
 So she charged Nathan not to touch Hollo s 
 things, and then told Rollo that perhaps Na 
 than would like to wheel his wheelbarrow. 
 Rollo accordingly went and brought it, and 
 Nathan, as his mother had expected, was very 
 much pleased with it, and began at once to 
 try to wheel it about the yard, though it was 
 so large that he could only get it along a few 
 steps at a time. 
 
 Rollo then undertook to mend his bag, but 
 he got the paper very wet, and it stuck to his 
 fingers and got torn, until at length he began 
 to be quite discouraged. In fact, he began to 
 feel very much dispirited and worried. He 
 said he would give up; and he threw away 
 the seeds out of his plates and rose to carry 
 the plates in. 
 
 " Well, Rollo," said his mother, as she saw 
 him putting the plates into the closet, "and 
 how do you get along?" 
 
SOLLO S VACATION. 157 
 
 "Oh, I don t get along at all," said ho. 
 "My bag is burst, and my paste won t stick, 
 and I have thrown all my seeds away. :> 
 
 There was something impatient and fretful 
 in the tone in which Rollo said this to his 
 mother. 
 
 " And have you cleared away the pods and 
 stalks you scattered down about the piazza?" 
 
 "Why no," said Rollo, " must I?" 
 
 " Certainly," said his mother. " You must 
 never make any litter in such a place without 
 afterwards clearing it up." 
 
 Rollo looked rather more discontented still 
 at this, but he did not reply. He went to the 
 corner of the kitchen, where there was a 
 broom hanging, and began to take it down. 
 
 " You mupt not sweep them off upon the 
 grass, or upon the walk, Rollo." 
 
 Why, mother?" said he. 
 
 ".Oh, because it will look very untidy. 
 You must clear it all away. You can sweep 
 it up into a little heap, and then take it up 
 carefully and put it into your wheelbarrow, 
 and wheel it away." 
 
 This was all very reasonable, and Rollo 
 
 knew it; but he was getting out of humor, 
 
 and he did not like this additional trouble 
 
 He ought to have had something there to put 
 
 14 
 
158 
 
 his pods and stalks into, and then he could 
 easily have carried them away; but he wa? 
 so much interested in getting in his seeds that 
 he did not think of that. But now, since he 
 had neglected taking the proper measures, he 
 ought not to have repined at being obliged to 
 submit to the trouble and inconvenience which 
 he had brought upon himself by his own neg 
 lect. 
 
 Though he felt wrong at heart, he did not 
 say much against doing it. He took the 
 broom and went out, intending with the 
 broom to sweep up his litter into a little heap, 
 and then to take it up. He did the work, 
 however, very hastily and carelessly. Boys 
 generally do their work so when they are 
 discontented and out of humor. His mother 
 expected it would be so, and accordingly, 
 when he had been out about long enough to 
 have finished his work, she came to the door, 
 and looked to see how he had done it. 
 
 "Rollo," said she, when in your plays 
 you put any place out of order, don t you 
 think you ought to put it in as good ordei 
 again as it was before?" 
 
 " Why, yes," said Rollo. 
 
 "Very well; now look at the piazza, and 
 
HOLLO S VACATION. 159 
 
 at the grass, and see if it is in as good order 
 as it was when yon began working here." 
 
 Rollo looked, and he saw that there were 
 several stalks and pods and broken poppy- 
 heads lying about in the grass, and some 
 were npon the floor of the piazza. He saw 
 how the case was, but he did not answer. 
 
 " You must take thorn all up clean," said 
 his mother. 
 
 Rollo began to fret, and even to cry a little. 
 He said he was very tired and very hungry, 
 and, besides, he did not feel very well. 
 
 Rollo had a habit, which a good many boys 
 have to a much greater degree than he, of say 
 ing, when things went wrong, and especially 
 when he got tired of some unpleasant duty, 
 that he did not feel very well. It is very true 
 that Rollo did not feel very well just then, 
 but it was not sickness. He had only got 
 tired of play, and vexed and worried by the 
 difficulties which he had got himself into. 
 
 Now there is only one proper course for us 
 to take when we get ourselves into difficulties 
 of any sort, and that is to go on, good- 
 naturedly and persevering! y, until we get 
 ourselves out. Rollo ought to have said to 
 himself, 
 
 " Well, I ll do it thoroughly. Here, Than- 
 
160 
 
 ROLLO S VACATION. 
 
 ny, come up here with your wheelbarrow 
 and take in a load of rubbish." 
 
 Thus he might have turned it into an 
 amusement, having the wheelbarrow for a 
 cart and Nathan for a horse, and then in a 
 short time the work would all have been very 
 easily done. 
 
 Instead of that he worked away, slowly 
 and discontentedly; and after he had finished 
 it he went, into the house, put his cap upon 
 its nail, and walked with a very melancholy 
 face into the parlor, where his sister Mary 
 was sitting, arid threw himself down upon the 
 sofa. 
 
 Mary saw in a moment, by the expression 
 of his countenance, that something had gone 
 wrong, and that he was a little worried in 
 mind. She looked at him pleasantly, saying, 
 
 " Well, Hollo, what is the matter with 
 you?" 
 
 "Oh, I don t know," said Rollo, mourn 
 fully. "I don t feel very well." 
 
 "Don t you?" said Mary, walking np to 
 him, with a pleasant countenance. "What 
 is the matter?" 
 
 "I don t know," said Rollo, turning over 
 and hiding his face away from her. 
 
 If you will tell me how you feel, perhops 
 
161 
 
 I can tell you what the matter is ; for I know 
 the symptoms of several kinds of sicknesses." 
 
 "What kinds?" said Hollo. 
 
 "Why, fever is one kind. Then people feel 
 hot and their pulse beats quick." 
 
 l - It is not that," said Hollo, " for I am cold, 
 as cold as I can be." 
 
 " Then perhaps it is pleurisy" said Mary. 
 
 "What sort of a sickness is that?" said 
 Rollo, forgetting his ill-humor for a moment, 
 and turning round to look at Mary. 
 
 "Why, if you draw a long, full breath, 
 then you feel a sharp pain all through your 
 sides and back." 
 
 Rollo very gravely drew a long breath. 
 His chest swelled out full, but he felt no 
 pain. 
 
 "No," said he; " tisn t that." 
 
 "Well, consumption, then?" said Mary. 
 " People that h#ve the consumption have a 
 very hard cough. Do you think it is con 
 sumption?" 
 
 Mary had looked pretty grave and sober, 
 but now Rollo thought he perceived a very 
 slight tendency to a smile upon her counte 
 nance, and he began to think she might be 
 secretly laughing at him a little. 
 
 " No," said he, " it is not consumption ;" 
 * 14* 
 
J62 
 
 and so saying, he jumped off of the sofa and 
 ran to Mary, and began to pull her round and 
 round by her hand. She thought she would 
 not tease him any more, and she said, 
 
 "Oh, Rollo, did not I promise to make you 
 a harness? If you will go and bring in 
 Nathan I will try now." 
 
 Away Rollo ran after Nathan, and while 
 he was gone Mary went up stairs to get some 
 list, to answer instead of leather, to make the 
 harness of. 
 
 In a short time they all three met in the 
 parlor again, and Mary began to measure 
 Rollo with the list for his harness. She first 
 cut off two pieces long enough to go around 
 his arms, near the shoulder, and sewed the 
 ends together ; then she sewed a piece across 
 behind, extending from one of these shoulder- 
 pieces to the other. That she said might be 
 called the saddle, as it went across his back. 
 Where this cross-piece was joined to the two 
 shoulder-pieces, she sewed the ends of the 
 reins. Then she sewed two short pieces to 
 the middle of the shoulder-pieces in front, 
 and these were intended to tie in front, across 
 the breast, when the harness was on. This 
 kept it all snug and firm in its place. 
 
 Rollo liked his harness very much, and 
 
MARY, TAKTNO HOLLO S MEASURE, Page 162. 
 
163 
 
 after it was finished Nathan drove him 
 around the room with it several times, with 
 great pleasure. 
 
 While Mary had been making the harness, 
 she asked Hollo what he had been doing all 
 the morning; and he told her he had been 
 gathering seeds. 
 
 "How many have you gathered?" said 
 Mary. 
 
 "Oh, I gathered a very few, and those I 
 had to throw away, because I conld not make 
 my paper bag do." 
 
 He then gave Mary a full account of all his 
 difficulties ; and she said that he had not gone 
 to work systematically enough. 
 
 "What is systematically?" said Hollo, 
 
 "Don t you know?" said she. " Let rne 
 see; I ll tell you what. I can go out after 
 dinner, and you and I will undertake to 
 gather some seeds, and I will show you how 
 to do it systematically." 
 
 "Well/ said Rollo; "I should like that 
 very much." 
 
164 
 
 THE SEED-GATHERING. 
 
 " Now, 7 said Mary to Rollo, after dinner, 
 as they walked together out into the garden 
 yard, " the first thing, if we are going to pro 
 ceed systematically, is to go out into the gar 
 den and see how many kinds of flower-seeds 
 we want to gather." 
 
 So they walked along and began to examine 
 the various flowers, to ascertain which were 
 ripe enough to he gathered. They found 
 twelve kinds. Then Mary set out to go back 
 towards the house. 
 
 "But a n t you going to gather them?" 
 said Rollo. 
 
 (l Not yet," said Mary. 
 
 She went in and opened the same drawer 
 where Rollo had been that morning, and took 
 out three newspapers. She then went out 
 into the piazza, and tore each paper into 
 quarters. 
 
 " Three newspapers, all torn into four 
 parts," said she. " Three times four are 
 twelve. Now we have got papers enough to 
 hold our seeds." 
 
165 
 
 "But sha n t we put them in bags?" said 
 Hollo. 
 
 "Yes," said Mary, " presently; but first 
 we must gather them and spread them out in 
 papers a little while, to get them thoroughly 
 dry, while we make the bags. 
 
 " And now," continued Mary, " to go on 
 systematically, we must consider where will 
 be the best place to spread them out. It must 
 be some place where they will be safe, and 
 also where our stalks and chaff will not do 
 any damage/ 
 
 " Jonas s bench in the barn will do exactly," 
 said Rollo. 
 
 " Let us go and see," said Mary. 
 
 So they went into the barn, and Mary said 
 the bench would do very well. She and Rollo 
 arranged the papers regularly upon it, and 
 then, each one taking one of the papers, they 
 went out into the garden. 
 
 "Now we must consider," said Mary, 
 " what is the best way to gather the ripe 
 seeds. If we try to break them off, we shall 
 shake out a good many." 
 
 "I can cut the stems off with my knife," 
 said Rollo. 
 
 " Scissors will be better," said Mary, " for 
 they will not jar the flowers so much. Sup- 
 
166 ROLLO S VACATION. 
 
 pose you go and get my large scissors out of 
 my work-basket" 
 
 Rollo ran into the house and brought out 
 the scissors. 
 
 "Now which shall we take first?" said 
 Mary. " You may take the mignonette and 
 1 will take the balsams." 
 
 They accordingly cut off a plenty of stems, 
 with the ripe seeds in their little husky cover 
 ings, and when they had got a sufficient 
 quantity to fill their papers they carried them 
 carefully along and laid them on the bench, 
 beginning regularly at one corner. Then 
 they returned with two other papers, which 
 they filled in the same way; and in a short 
 time the whole twelve were filled, each with 
 the stalks and tops of one kind of flower, and 
 these were arranged in regular order upon the 
 bench, forming two rows, with six in each 
 row. 
 
 Then they proceeded to separate the seeds 
 from the husks in each parcel, which they did 
 by rubbing the tops between their hands. 
 The coarse chaff they gathered up with their 
 fingers and threw into Hollo s wheelbarrow, 
 which had been previously placed before the 
 bench for that purpose. The fine chaff and 
 dust Mary blew away from off the seeds ; and 
 
16? 
 
 thus after a time they were all separated, 
 and all the twelve kinds were spread out 
 before them, nice and clean, and ready, after 
 they should have been dried a little, to go 
 into the paper bags. 
 
 " And now," said Mary, " for the bags." 
 
 We get along finely this afternoon," said 
 Rollo ; " but it is because Nathan is not here." 
 
 "Not altogether that," said Mary. "It is 
 because we go to work regularly and sys 
 tematically." 
 
 "But if Nathan was out here it would 
 spoil all." 
 
 " No, I hope not," said Mary, " for I should 
 first stop and contrive some way to amuse 
 him." 
 
 " How should you amuse him ?" said Rollo. 
 
 "Oh, I don t know exactly," said Mary: 
 Ci but 1 am going in to get some paper to make 
 some bags, and I will bring him out and let 
 you see how I should do it." 
 
 So saying, Rollo and Mary walked along 
 together to the house, and Mary led the way 
 to a large closet, where they kept paper and 
 twine, and some old books and papers. Mary 
 looked over several kinds of wrapping papiT 
 to find some that was suitable for the bags. 
 
168 
 
 " Theie is some, Mary," said Rollo. " How 
 will that do?" 
 
 * That is too heavy and stiff," said Mary, 
 feeling of it, " to make such little bags of." 
 
 "Well this?" said Rollo, putting his hand 
 upon another quire. 
 
 " That would do, only it is rather coarse. 
 There is some that is beautiful" continued 
 Mary, pointing up to a higher shelf. 
 
 Rollo looked up and saw the edges of some 
 nice straw-colored paper, projecting a little 
 from the edge of the shelf. He went and got 
 a chair, and Mary stepped up into it and took 
 down a quire of the paper, and began to look 
 at it, standing still as if she was thinking. 
 
 " Well, Mary, a n t you going to take 
 some?" 
 
 " Yes, but I must first calculate how much 
 we shall want. Let me see; we ought to 
 have two or three dozen." 
 
 " Then you will want a great many sheets," 
 said Rollo. 
 
 Mary did not answer, but stood musing in 
 silence. Presently she said, 
 
 "No; one sheet will make two dozen at 
 least. I will take two sheets." 
 
 " Oh, I guess it will take more," said Rollo, 
 "and I arn pretty good at guessing." 
 
HOLLO S VACATION. 169 
 
 "But i have calculated" said Mary, "and 
 ^calculating is better than gueVing." 
 
 They walked along, carrying the two sheets 
 of paper, until they got to the back door, and 
 then Mary asked Rollo to go back and get 
 little Nathan and bring him out. Rollo did 
 so. He found Nathan running about in the 
 kitchen, and he led him along carefully out 
 at the door, and through the yard, until he 
 reached the barn. Here he found Mary 
 spreading out the sheets of paper upon the 
 bench. 
 
 Mary said she must first provide for Na 
 than s amusement. So she lifted him up 
 upon the bench, and put him back in a cor 
 ner, and gave him a pair of scissors and a 
 piece of paper, and set him at work cutting. 
 Then she and Rollo stood up at the side of 
 the bench, between the part where Nathan 
 was sitting and that where they had placed 
 Iheir twelve papers of seeds. 
 
 Mary then laid down one of her sheets of 
 paper, folded once, as it was upon the shelf. 
 
 "There," said she, "that is folded once, 
 and that is folio" 
 
 Then she took Nathan s scissors and cut 
 the sheet in two where it was folded, and then 
 put the two halves together. She adjusted 
 h 15 
 
J70 HOLLO S VACATION. 
 
 them carefully at the sides and corners, so as 
 to make them even, and then she folded thenu 
 over again. 
 
 "There." said she, "now it is folded into 
 quarters, and that makes quarto" 
 
 " What do yon mean by your folios and 
 yiiartos?" said Rollo. 
 
 " Oh, that is the way they name books," 
 said Mary ; " father told me one day. They 
 name them according to the number of times 
 that they fold the paper in making them. If 
 they fold it only once, like a newspaper, it is 
 folio. If they fold it twice it is quarto ; and 
 that makes a book like our great Bible." 
 
 While Mary was saying this, she cut her 
 papers in t\vo again, where they were folded 
 last, and then she folded them again. And 
 so she went on, until at length the number 
 of thicknesses became so great that she could 
 not cut them very Avell, and then she took 
 half at a time. Thus, in a short time, she 
 had cut the whole sheet into small squares, 
 about big enough for a bag, and these lay 
 together in a pile before her. 
 
 Then she said, " Now I will do the other 
 sheet." 
 
 But Rollo was desirous of seeing some of 
 the bags pasted first, and he proposed that 
 
ROLLO S VACATION. 17l 
 
 Mary should paste what she had cut, before 
 she cut any more. 
 
 " No," said Mary; " that would not be pro 
 ceeding systematically." 
 
 "Why?" said Hollo. 
 
 " I3ecar.se," said Mary, " we must finish 
 one kind of work before we begin to do any 
 of a different kind. Yon see now I have got 
 the paper and the scissors all here, and I can 
 finish cutting out the papers best now." 
 
 So Mfrry cut out the other sheet just as she 
 did the first, and piled up the squares all be 
 fore her upon the hench, and then gave the 
 scissors hack to Nathan. 
 
 These papers now were large enough to 
 make a whole bag of. Rollo thought that she 
 was going to paste two together to make one 
 bag; but she showed him that one would be 
 large enough folded over again. She accord 
 ingly took up a considerable number at a 
 time, and folded them over, and cut them with 
 her scissors, in such a manner that the edges 
 of the under halves projected beyond the edges 
 of the upper halves. 
 
 Then she showed Rollo how to paste them. 
 She took some of Rollo s gum-arabic, made 
 /ery thick and stiff, and with it pasted the 
 
172 
 
 edges that projected, and then showed Rollo 
 how to fold them over and press them down. 
 
 " Now," said she, " Rollo, you may take 
 this handle and go out to the other end of the 
 bench, and paste them while I cut out the 
 rest." 
 
 Rollo did so, talking all the time with Mury 
 and Thanny, who sat still upon the corner of 
 the bench, cutting. Rollo soon began to be 
 surprised to see how fast he was making bags. 
 
 " I have made six already, Mary," said he. 
 
 "Yes," said Mary; "that is because we 
 went to work systematically. We are making 
 them all together, and so we work to advan 
 tage." 
 
 Presently Mary came, with the rest of her 
 papers cut out, to the end of the bench where 
 Rollo was working; and Nathan, when he 
 saw them going away from where he was 
 sitting, wanted to come and paste too. 
 
 " Oh no, Nathan," said Rollo; "you stay 
 and cut paper." 
 
 But Nathan threw down his scissors, and 
 began to get up to come to Mary and Rollo. 
 
 " Now what shall we do?" said Rollo, in a 
 desponding tone. " He will come and spoil 
 all our pasting." 
 
ROLLO S VACATION. 173 
 
 " Oh no," said Mary. " We will manage it. 
 We will let him paste too." 
 
 So Mary moved away some of the papprs 
 of seeds that were nearest to the place where 
 she and Rollo were at work, and thus made 
 a place for Nathan. 
 
 " Oh dear me," said Rollo. cc He can t paste 
 he will only spoil the bags." 
 
 " No matter," said Mary. "We have got so 
 many we can let him spoil one or two." 
 
 So Mary told Nathan she would show him 
 how to paste; and while Rollo was folding 
 down and pressing one which he had just 
 pasted, Mary pasted hers, talking all the time 
 to Nathan, telling him first he must do so, 
 and then so, and then fold it down so. 
 
 Nathan looked on, very much .interested; 
 arid after she had pasted one or two hags she 
 let him have the brush. Rollo began to want 
 it before Nathan was done, and he said he 
 wished they had more brushes. But Mary 
 said they could get along with it, without 
 being detained much. 
 
 When Nathan had got his bag pasted, it 
 took him some time to fold over the edges arid 
 press them down. While he was busy abonV 
 this, Rollo and Mary got several more bags 
 pasted ; and then at length Rollo asked if it 
 15* 
 
174 ROLLO S VACATION. 
 
 would not be a good plan to spread them out 
 in the sun to dry. Mary said it would be an 
 excellent plan. 
 
 She looked round and saw that the sun 
 was shining in at the great barn door, so as 
 to cover a large square space upon the floor. 
 Rollo got a broom and swept this clean, and 
 then Mary said that Rollo might let Nathan 
 help him put the bags down in the sun. 
 
 Nathan was much pleased with this plan, 
 and Mary lifted him down from the bench. 
 Rollo showed Nathan how to lay the bags 
 down upon the floor, and then he and Mary 
 stood at the bench making the bags; and as 
 fast as they finished them Nathan would 
 carry them and spread them in the sun. 
 
 They worked so for some time, and manu 
 factured their bags quite rapidly. Presently 
 "they set Nathan at. work to turn the bags 
 over, so as to dry the other side. The bags, 
 however, did not need much drying, for the 
 gum they had used was very thick, and it 
 did not wet the paper very much. Thus half 
 an hour passed away, at the end of which 
 time they had made all the bags. 
 
 "Now," said Mary, "we can begin to put 
 the seeds into those that are the driest, but 
 we must write the names upon the outside 
 
175 
 
 of the bags as fast as we put them in ; and so 
 I will go in and get a pen and ink, while you 
 look over the bags and pick out. those that 
 are driest. 
 
 So Mary went in after the pen and ink, 
 and Rollo looked over the bags ; and wherever 
 he found one that was dry he gave it to Na 
 than, and he carried it to the bench. 
 
 When Mary came back, she and Rollo 
 went to the bench, and Rollo began to fill the 
 bags with seeds, and to fold over the top and 
 paste it down. As fast as he did this he 
 handed the bag to Mary, and she wrote the 
 name of the seed upon the back of the bag. 
 Where the seeds were large, they put in 
 enough to fill the bag; but where they were 
 small they put in only a few, about as many 
 as they would want to plant of one kind in 
 one place. 
 
 Pretty soon Nathan became tired of having 
 nothing to do, and he came up to the bench, 
 and, putting his hands upon the edge, stood 
 up upon tiptoe, trying to see. So Mary looked 
 around to see if they had not got more than 
 they should want of some kinds of seeds. ?o 
 that she could give Nathan some to put into 
 his bag. 
 
 As she looked over the papers, Rollo seemed 
 
176 ROLL S VACATION. 
 
 to think there were none that they could spare 
 \ ery well ; but presently he thought of a plan. 
 
 "I will run out into the garden/ said he, 
 " arid get him a great sunflower, and let him 
 get out the seeds himself. They will be very 
 good to fill up his bag." 
 
 Mary approved of this plan, and away 
 Rollo went. Presently he returned with a 
 large sunflower, the leaves and little flowerets 
 dropping off, and the black seeds shining in 
 patches all over its face. He broke this up 
 and gave some pieces to Nathan, and showed 
 him how he must rub out the seeds. Nathan 
 was well satisfied with this arrangement, and 
 sat down and amused himself a long time 
 with his seeds and his bag. 
 
 At length, however, he got tired again, 
 and, laying down his things, came back, and 
 wanted to come to the bench again. He said 
 he wanted to carry some more bags to dry. 
 So Mary handed him the bags which were 
 finished ; and as the top of each had been 
 pasted down over, she thought it would be 
 well to have them lie in the sun again a few 
 minutes. So Nathan found a very pleasant 
 employment, for some time, in carrying 
 the bags and putting them down upon he 
 floor. 
 
177 
 
 At last the work was done. The baga 
 were all filled, and the seeds were all used, 
 except a few of the most common kinds, and 
 those they threw away. Mary then sent 
 Rollo in for a small basket, and they put all 
 the bags into it. They also gathered np all 
 the loose papers, and laid them away together 
 where they could get them again, if they 
 should want to gather more seeds some other 
 day. 
 
 The children then walked along together 
 into the house, Nathan coming after them 
 with the basket of seeds, which Mary had 
 given him to carry. It was now nearly sup 
 per-time. As there was a prospect of a cool 
 evening, Rollo and Mary made a little fire in 
 the parlor; Nathan standing by arid looking 
 on with pleasure to see the curling smoke 
 and blue flame bursting out from among the 
 chips and shavings. 
 
 " What a beautiful boy Nathan has been 
 this afternoon," said Rollo. 
 
 " What a good boy, you mean," said 
 Mary. 
 
 "Yes," said Rollo; "he has not troubled 
 us at all. 1 
 
 "And don t you know the reason?" said 
 Mary. 
 
178 HOLLO S VACATION. 
 
 " No/ replied Hollo. 
 
 " Why, we have anticipated him/ 
 
 " What do you mean by that ?" 
 
 " Why, to anticipate is to do something 
 beforehand. If now you should hear father 
 corning, and should go and place a chair for 
 him by the fire, you would anticipate his 
 wishes. If you should wait till he comes in 
 and tells you to get a chair for him, then you 
 would not anticipate him. So if you should 
 give Nathan a piece of bread as soon as he 
 gets up in the morning, before he had asked 
 for it, that would be anticipating his wishes 
 for bread." 
 
 "Is that it? ; said Hollo. "Well, I think 
 it is an excellent way." 
 
 "Yes; it is. Now the way we have kept 
 Nathan pleasant is, we have not waited till 
 he got impatient and fretful because he had 
 nothing to do. We have got him amusements 
 beforehand." 
 
 Nathan stood by, listening very attentively 
 to this discourse, with his hands behind him, 
 and his eyes fixed, first on Rollo, then on 
 Mary. He knew that they were talking 
 about him, but he could not understand one 
 word of what they were saying, from begin- 
 
ROLLO S VACATION. 179 
 
 ning to end. So he turned away when they 
 stopped talking and marched off singing. 
 
 " I ll go and get him some playthings now," 
 said Rollo, " Here, Nathan, 1 will get yon 
 your blocks. r 
 
 So saying, he opened a closet door, and 
 from under a shelf there he pulled out a bas 
 ket of blocks. They were Nathan s blocks. 
 
 Rollo had pasted some letters upon these 
 blocks some days before. He had cut out the 
 letters from a newspaper which his father had 
 given him. and pasted them upon the blocks, 
 one upon the middle of each side. He thought 
 that this would help Nathan learn the letters, 
 as he would always see them when he was 
 playing with his blocks. 
 
 Nathan liked the blocks with the letters 
 pasted upon them very much, but he seemed 
 to like picking the letters off better than learn 
 ing them; for the first day he had them he 
 picked off four, before Rollo knew what he 
 was doing. 
 
 His mother then told him that he must not 
 pick off the letters, and Rollo got his gum- 
 bottle and pasted them on as well as he could, 
 though they were somewhat torn. Still they 
 came off pretty easily, because Rollo only 
 pasted the letters at the four corners, and 
 
180 HOLLO S VACATION. 
 
 therefore the paper did not stick to the wood 
 in the middle. Notwithstanding his mother s 
 prohibition, however, he did pull off one or 
 two more; and his mother punished him by 
 making him sit down in a corner of the room 
 alone for some time. After that he did not 
 pull off any more. 
 
 When Rollo, therefore, gave Nathan his 
 blocks at this time, he did net expect that he 
 would pull off any of the letters; and he left 
 him playing with them before the fire, while 
 he and Mary began to set the table for supper. 
 Rollo brought out the cups and plates and 
 knives from the closet, and Mary arranged 
 them properly upon the table. While they 
 were doing this, Mary talked with Rollo about 
 (Nathan. She told him that he was old enough 
 to take a good deal of care of his little brother. 
 
 11 If you take pains to anticipate his wishes 
 ctnd wants/ said she, "you can keep him 
 pleasant a long lime; and then, besides, Rollo, 
 you can teach him a good many things." 
 
 "Can 17" said Rollo. 
 
 "Yes; you can explain things to him, and 
 when he does anything wrong you can tell 
 him why it is wrong. You see he is a little 
 fdlow yet, and does not know much." 
 
 It was not long before a case occuned by 
 
ROLLO S VACATION. 181 
 
 which Mary showed Hollo ho\v an older bro- 
 thei or sister could teach a younger one ; for 
 it happened that as Rollo was passing back 
 and forth to the closet, he cast his eyes down 
 to the basket, and saw a block with four little 
 bits of paper pasted upon it near the middle. 
 He took it up, and found that they were the 
 four corners of one of his letters, the middle 
 part having been torn out. 
 
 " There, now, Thanny has been tearing off 
 another of my letters/ said he, taking up the 
 block. 
 
 "Did you, Thanny?" said Mary, coming 
 up to the basket and taking the block from 
 Hollo s hand. 
 
 " No," said Nathan. 
 
 " Did not you tear it off?" said Mary. 
 
 "No," said Nathan, positively. "I did 
 not." 
 
 Mary looked at him, somewhat uncertain 
 whether he was telling the truth or not. 
 
 "I know he did," said Rollo. 
 
 "Perhaps he did not," said Mary. "It may 
 have been one which was torn off before" 
 
 Rollo was not convinced, but he went on 
 
 with his work; and presently, when the table 
 
 was set, Mary told Nathan to pick up his 
 
 blocks and put them in the basket, so as to be 
 
 16 
 
182 
 
 ready for supper. Rollo helped him do this, 
 and after they had got the blocks all in Rollo 
 looked upon the carpet, and there, behold, the 
 very letter was lying which came off of the 
 block. 
 
 Mary saw it too. She took it up, and then 
 .ooked in the basket to find the block which 
 it belonged to. The letter was a G, and the 
 corners were oft*. They had been left stick 
 ing to the block. Mary applied the letter to 
 the block, and found that the corners of it fit 
 ted exactly to the corners which had been left 
 adhering to the block. 
 
 Mary then led little Thanny to a chair by 
 the side of the fire, and showed him the block 
 and the letter. He stood before her, looking 
 at them as she held them in her lap, and with 
 an expression of great seriousness in his coun 
 tenance. 
 
 < " You tore it off, Nathan, didn t you?" 
 " Yes," said Nathan. 
 
 "But," said Mary, "a little while ago I 
 asked you if you tore it off, and you said no; 
 but you did tear it off. That is naughty. It 
 is naughty for you to tell me you did not tear 
 it off when you did." 
 
 Nathan looked on with a countenance of 
 considerable concern, but he did not speak. 
 
ROLLO S VACATION. 183 
 
 " That is a lie" said Mary, slowly and seri 
 ously; "and a lie is very naughty and 
 wicked. God heard you tell the lie." 
 
 Here Nathan looked up all around the 
 room, and said, 
 
 :: I guess not, I don t see him anywhere." 
 
 (< No, you can t see him, but he sees you, 
 and he knows when you tell a lie. God does 
 not love little boys that say they didn t when 
 they did." 
 
 Nathan now began to look anxious and 
 distressed. He took up a corner of his apron 
 to wipe away a tear that started into his eye, 
 and said, with a mournful voice, 
 
 " I am sorry I made a lie. I will not make 
 a lie any more." 
 
 Mary then lold him that God would forgive 
 him if he was sorry, and took him up in her 
 lap. Hollo came, and took the block and the 
 letter and put them into the basket, and had 
 just time to put the basket away, when his 
 father and mother came in to supper. 
 
184 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 THB first week of Rcllo s vacation passed 
 away very rapidly, but by that time ho 
 began to get a little out of employment. 
 About the beginning of the second week, his 
 father said one evening that he was going to 
 send Jonas into the city to get a box which 
 came np the river in a packet. Rollo asked 
 his father to let him go too, and after some 
 hesitation he consented. 
 
 u Do you think you can get ready without 
 making any trouble?" said his father. 
 
 " Yes, sir," said Rollo. 
 
 " One great objection to letting boys go 
 anywhere," said his father, " is, that they 
 make a great deal of trouble sometimes about 
 being dressed. Now you must be careful and 
 not give Mary any trouble. Mary, I should 
 like to have you get him ready before break 
 fast to-morrow morning." 
 
 Accordingly the next morning, at breakfast- 
 time, Rollo came into the room with bright 
 looks, and neatly dressed, Mary following 
 him. 
 
ROLLQ S VACATION. 185 
 
 " Mary," said he, " can t I do anything for 
 you in the city?" 
 
 "Yes," said Mary; "I want a new draw 
 ing-pencil. Could you get me one?" 
 
 " Oh yes," said Rollo. " I can buy a pen 
 cil well enough, I know." 
 
 " Well, I will get you the money." 
 
 So Mary went to a table at the side of the 
 room, where her workbox stood. She opened 
 the box and took out a little purse, and from 
 the purse took a quarter of a dollar, and 
 handed it to Rollo. She gave him the direc 
 tions, and had just finished telling him where 
 to go, when his father and mother came in to 
 breakfast. 
 
 After breakfast Rollo and his father went 
 out to the yard, and there they found the 
 horse already harnessed, and fastened to a 
 post. Jonas was just opening the great gate. 
 Rollo went to the wagon and began to climb 
 in, but his father told him to stop a minute, 
 for he wanted first to give them their direc 
 tions. 
 
 So Jonas and Rollo came to him, where he 
 stood, upon the piazza. He had a paper in 
 his hand, on which was written his instruc 
 tions to Jonas, and directions to the places 
 where he wished him to go. The city was 
 A* 16* 
 
186 ROLLO S VACATION. 
 
 not a very large city, and both Rollo and Jo 
 nas had often been there. He charged Jonas 
 to be very careful of Rollo when they went 
 down to the wharf, and also to be very care 
 ful of his driving when he should get into the 
 streets of the city. Then, finally, when he 
 had finished his directions, he took out a dol 
 lar and handed it to Jonas. 
 
 " The freight of the box," said he, "I sup 
 pose will be a quarter of a dollar, and the rest 
 will pay for your dinner. You can stop at 
 the Eagle tavern." 
 
 " I think, sir," said Jonas, " we can get 
 along without spending anything for dinner." 
 
 "Oh, you must have something to eat." 
 
 " Yes, sir; and I have got Dorothy to put 
 us up some bread and butter," said Jonas, 
 pointing to a small parcel done up in brown 
 paper, which was in a little basket in the 
 front part of the wagon. 
 
 "Very well," said Rollo s father. "But 
 then the horse?" 
 
 " I have got some oats for him," said Jonas, 
 11 under the seat." 
 
 Rollo looked back and forth, first at Jonas, 
 then at his father, during this dialogue. The 
 latter smiled as Jonas told him of his arrange 
 ments, and, after a moment s pause, said, 
 
ROLLO S VACATION. 187 
 
 "Very well; if you got along without ex 
 pense, you may have the three quarters of a 
 dollar to spend for anything you want, half 
 for you and half for Rollo. Now get into the 
 wagon." 
 
 There was a good comfortable buffalo-skin 
 upon the back seat, and another in the bottom 
 of the wagon before. Rollo and Jonas both 
 had their great coats on; for it was a cool, 
 though pleasant morning. Rollo clambered 
 up while Jonas unfastened the horse. Then 
 he also took his seat, and the boys drew up 
 the buffalo around them. Jonas drove the 
 horse slowly out of the yard, and then, turn 
 ing round into the road, set off upon the trot, 
 Rollo bowing a good bye to his mother and 
 sister, who stood smiling at the window. 
 
 They rode along pleasantly over a smooth 
 and level road, with fields, and trees, and farm 
 houses on each side.- Rollo asked Jonas how 
 far it was to the city. He said it was about 
 fifteen miles ; but it was about twelve to the 
 tavern where he was going to stop to dinner. 
 Rolio asked what tavern it was. Jonas said 
 it was called the Roadside Hotel. 
 
 "But I thought," said Rollo, "you was 
 not going to stop at any taveri and so save 
 the money." 
 
188 
 
 " But they don t make us pay anything at 
 the tavern I am going to stop at." 
 
 "Not pay!" said Hollo. "Why not?" 
 
 " Oh, because. I have stopped there a good 
 many times, and I never had to pay any 
 thing." 
 
 Rollo thought this was strange; but at 
 length, when they had rode about twelve 
 miles, Jonas said he had almost come to the 
 hotel. So he turned off into a narrow road, 
 that led through a little wood, into a valley. 
 At the bottom of the valley was a brook; and 
 when Jonas reached it, he turned off out of 
 the road, upon a level piece of grass by the 
 side of an old wall, with trees hanging over 
 it. It was just large enough to hold the 
 wagon. 
 
 "This is the Roadside Hotel," said he, 
 laying down the reins and jumping out of the 
 wagon. 
 
 They watered the horse at the brook, and 
 then gave him his oats upon the grass, by the 
 side of thn wall. Jonas and Rollo then went 
 under the bushes to the bank of the brook, 
 where they sat down upon some flat stones 
 and ate their bread and butter. Rollo liked 
 the Roadside Hotel verv much. 
 
ROLLO S VACATION. 189 
 
 They waited here some time, and then got 
 into the wagon and rode into the city. Rollo 
 had a fine time going down to the wharf, after 
 the box, and Jonas told him a great deal about 
 the sails and rigging of the vessel. They 
 looked about afterwards some time to find 
 something to buy with their money, but. could 
 not exactly suit themselves. At length, how 
 ever, they went to the bookstore, to buy Mary s 
 pencil ; and then, after Rollo had bought the 
 pencil, he was just going out of the store, 
 when he saw a book, pretty long, and with 
 thin covers, open at a very handsome pic 
 ture. 
 
 "What is the price of this picture-book? 
 said Rollo. 
 
 "It is a drawing-book," said the man; 
 <c not a picture-book. There are four of them 
 that go together, and the price is half a 
 dollar." 
 
 "A drawing-book?" said Jonas, going up 
 to look at it. "I should like to learn to 
 draw." 
 
 "Well," said the man, "all you have got 
 to do is to take these books, and begin at the 
 beginning, and copy all these drawings care 
 fully." 
 
190 HOLLO S VACATION. 
 
 Jonas and Rollo looked at the drawing- 
 hooks, and finally concluded to buy them. 
 They also bought *a pencil each for them 
 selves, which just took all their money. 
 
 "I think that is a wise purchase, ; said 
 Rollo, as they went out of the door. 
 
 11 That depends upon how we use the books. 
 If we copy the drawing lessons well, it will 
 be worth more than anything else we could 
 get for three quarters of a dollar." 
 
 " We will draw together, in the evenings," 
 said Rollo. " But whose shall the books be 
 when we have done?" 
 
 The boys talked of several plans for divid 
 ing the books. At last Jonas said, 
 
 " They are half mine and half yours, Rollo. 
 Now you may pay me a quarter of a dollar 
 for my half, and have them all yourself, or 
 I will pay you in doing something for you, 
 for your half. I have not got any money to 
 give." 
 
 " What can you do for me?" 
 
 " Oh, I can tell you stories while we are 
 drawing. I will tell you a story, as Dorothy 
 did, every evening, while we are drawing the 
 lessons, if you will give me your half; or you 
 may give me a quarter of a dollar and have 
 
HOLLO S VACATION. 191 
 
 Rollo preferred the stories, and that agree 
 ment was made. Perhaps the next book 
 about Rollo, which will be printed after this, 
 will be JONAS S STORIES. 
 
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