Parker's Second Reader Part 23

1. A few years ago, several little volumes were published, called "_The Rollo Books_," which are full of interesting stories about a little boy of that name. They were written by a gentleman whose name is Abbott.

2. They are not only interesting, but also very instructive books; and no little boy or girl can read them, without learning many very useful lessons from them. They are not only useful to young persons, but their parents, also, have derived many useful hints from them, in the management of their children.

3. The following little story is taken from one of them, called "_Rollo at Work_;" and I hope that my little friends who read this story at school will also read it at home to their parents, because it will be both interesting and useful to them.

4. The story begins, by telling us that Rollo's father had set him at work in the barn, with a box full of nails, directing him to pick them all over, and to put all those that were alike by themselves.

5. Rollo began very willingly at first, but soon grew tired of the work, and left it unfinished. The remainder of the story will be found in the following lessons, in Mr. Abbott's own words.

LESSON LVI.

_The same subject, continued._--ABBOTT.

1. That evening, when Rollo was just going to bed, his father took him up in his lap, and told him he had concluded what to do.

2. "You see it is very necessary," said he, "that you should have the power of confining yourself steadily and patiently to a single employment, even if it does not amuse you.

3. "I have to do that, and all people have to do it; and you must learn to do it, or you will grow up indolent and useless. You cannot do it now, it is very plain.

4. "If I set you to doing anything, you go on as long as the novelty and the amus.e.m.e.nt last; and then your patience is gone, and you contrive every possible excuse for getting away from your task.

5. "Now, I am going to give you one hour's work to do, every forenoon and afternoon. I shall give you such things to do as are perfectly plain and easy, so that you will have no excuse for neglecting your work, or leaving it.

6. "But yet I shall choose such things as will afford you no amus.e.m.e.nt; for my wish is that you should learn to work, not play."

7. "But, father," said Rollo, "you told me there was pleasure in work, the other day. But how can there be any pleasure in it, if you choose such things as have no amus.e.m.e.nt in them, at all?"

8. "The pleasure of working," said his father, "is not the fun of doing amusing things, but the satisfaction and solid happiness of being faithful in duty, and accomplis.h.i.+ng some useful purpose.

9. "For example, if I were to lose my pocket-book on the road, and should tell you to walk back a mile, and look carefully all the way, until you found it, and if you did it faithfully and carefully, you would find a kind of satisfaction in doing it; and when you found the pocket-book, and brought it back to me, you would enjoy a high degree of happiness. Should not you?"

10. "Why, yes, sir, I should," said Rollo.--"And, yet, there would be no amus.e.m.e.nt in it. You might, perhaps, the next day, go over the same road, catching b.u.t.terflies; that would be amus.e.m.e.nt. Now, the pleasure you would enjoy in looking for the pocket-book would be the solid satisfaction of useful work.

11. "The pleasure of catching b.u.t.terflies would be the amus.e.m.e.nt of play. Now, the difficulty is, with you, that you have scarcely any idea, yet, of the first.

12. "You are all the time looking for the other; that is, the amus.e.m.e.nt.

You begin to work, when I give you anything to do; but if you do not find amus.e.m.e.nt in it, you soon give it up. But if you would only persevere, you would find, at length, a solid satisfaction, that would be worth a great deal more."

13. Rollo sat still, and listened; but his father saw, from his looks, that he was not much interested in what he was saying; and he perceived that it was not at all probable that so small a boy could be reasoned into liking work.

14. In fact, it was rather hard for Rollo to understand all that his father said; and still harder for him to feel the force of it. He began to grow sleepy, and so his father let him go to bed.

LESSON LVII.

_The same subject, concluded._

[Ill.u.s.tration]

1. The next day, his father gave him his work. He was to begin at ten o'clock, and work till eleven, gathering beans in the garden.

2. His father went out with him, and waited to see how long it took him to gather half a pint, and then calculated how many he could gather in an hour, if he was industrious. Rollo knew that if he failed now he should be punished in some way, although his father did not say anything about punishment.

3. When he was set at work, the day before, about the nails, he was making an experiment, as it were, and he did not expect to be actually punished, if he failed; but now he knew that he was under orders, and must obey.

4. So he worked very diligently, and when his father came out, at the end of the hour, he found that Rollo had got rather more beans than he had expected. Rollo was much gratified to see his father pleased; and he carried in his large basket full of beans to show his mother, with great pleasure.

5. Then he went to play, and enjoyed himself very highly. The next morning, his father said to him,--"Well, Rollo, you did very well yesterday; but doing right once is a very different thing from forming a habit of doing right. I can hardly expect you will succeed as well to-day; or, if you should to-day, that you will to-morrow."

6. Rollo thought he should. His work was to pick up all the loose stones in the road, and carry them, in a basket, to a great heap of stones behind the barn.

7. But he was not quite faithful. His father observed him playing several times. He did not speak to him, however, until the hour was over; and then he called him in.

8. "Rollo," said he, "you have failed to-day. You have not been very idle, but have not been industrious; and the punishment which I have concluded to try first is, to give you only bread and water for dinner."

9. So, when dinner-time came, and the family sat down to the good beef-steak and apple-pie which was upon the table, Rollo knew that he was not to come. He felt very unhappy, but he did not cry.

10. His father called him, and cut off a good slice of bread, and put into his hands, and told him he might go and eat it on the steps of the back door. "If you should be thirsty," he added, "you may ask Mary to give you some water."

11. Rollo took the bread, and went out, and took his solitary seat on the stone step leading into the back yard; and, in spite of all his efforts to prevent it, the tears would come into his eyes.

12. He thought of his guilt in disobeying his father, and he felt unhappy to think that his father and mother were seated together at their pleasant table, and that he could not come, because he had been an undutiful son. He determined that he would never be unfaithful in his work again.

13. He went on, after this, several days, very well. His father gave him various kinds of work to do, and he began, at last, to find a considerable degree of satisfaction in doing it.

14. He found, particularly, that he enjoyed himself a great deal more after his work than before; and, whenever he saw what he had done, it gave him pleasure.

15. After he had picked up the loose stones before the house, for instance, he drove his hoop about there with unusual satisfaction; enjoying the neat and tidy appearance of the road much more than he would have done, if Jonas had cleared it. In fact, in the course of a month, Rollo became quite a faithful and efficient little workman.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

LESSON LVIII.

_The Comma._

THE COMMA is a mark like this =,=