Tales of the Toys, Told by Themselves Part 4

they all burst out in one regular shout of delight, for this time he had gone on a visit to a friend first, and his young relations' calculations had been all put out, and they had been waiting day after day in the vain hope of seeing him. The noise and chatter round the tea table that evening were really deafening, and would have been quite annoying to anyone but Mamma, who smiled, and said it was a little taste of preparation for the uproar that always lasted all through Uncle Gee's visit.

"And next day he came, to the great delight of all the young folks, and if he had been nearly as patient as Mamma, and quite as brave as Papa, (who did not even fear mad bulls, said baby!) why he would have been driven deaf, dumb, and blind, by all the voices talking in their loudest keys at once, or else would have expected to be torn in pieces by all the eager hands that clung to him and pulled him about. I think Papa and Mamma, and Uncle Gee too, in spite of all their kindness and affection for the uproarious little mob, were thankful enough when the children's bedtime came, and they were all taken off, loudly declaring that it was _not_ time yet.

"Next morning they were all up like larks, and had finished dressing sooner than usual, but, to their great horror, they looked out and saw the sky covered with leaden clouds, and heard the steady, heavy drops of rain falling on the sky-light over the staircase.

"'What a nuisance,' growled Bob and Tom, 'when we wanted to try the new field, and Uncle Gee promised to have a game of cricket with us!'

"'O dear,' said Mary, in dismay, 'and I wanted to show him the new hammock swing Papa has given us!'

"'We've lost our swing for certain,' said Jeanie, who was a regular romp; 'what a bother!'

"'Rain, rain, go to Spain,' chanted Baby, in her squeaky voice--while Dora joined in chorus.

"'Who's singing that contraband rhyme?' said Papa, coming in; 'I'm too thankful for the rain for the sake of my peas and potatoes!'

"'And the strawberries too,' chimed in Mamma; 'just think, children, how they were shrivelling for want of rain.'

"'But we can't get out,' bawled all the children, 'and now Uncle Gee's come we had such lots of things to show him!'

"'What's the matter now?' said Uncle Gee, coming in. 'All this racket about a little rain! Why, I was just thinking, while I was dressing, what a jolly day it would be to make a Kite!'

"'Make a Kite!' shouted Bob; 'O how stunning; O Uncle Gee, can you show us how to do it?'

"'I think I can, Bob,' replied his Uncle, 'but at any rate we'll try, and with Mamma's help perhaps we can manage it. I dare say she will let us have the school-room to make all our litters in, and I shall want every man jack of you to help!'

"'Am I man jack too, Uncle Gee?' asked Baby, very anxiously.

"'I should think so,' said Uncle Gee, kissing her, 'a very useful one too; you shall help with the fine fringy tail!'

"And when breakfast was over, to work they all went. Papa found some capital slips of light thin wood, and lent his best knife into the bargain. Mamma contributed some beautiful white glazed lining to cover the frame with, and lent her nice glue pot as well. Uncle Gee soon had the long table in the school-room covered with all sorts of things, and had set everybody to work as well. Bob and Tom busily hammered, fixed, planed, and cut, till they hindered Uncle Gee terribly; and when he saw Mary take up the scissors, and begin to measure the calico, he stopped short, and called a truce.

"'Now,' said he, 'if all are going to be at work, and no one master, we shall soon get into a fix, and knock over the whole concern. If we are to get the Kite made to-day, you must all obey orders. Mary, you and Jeanie can find me some strips of coloured paper, can't you, for the tail; and Dora, ask Nelson if she can let us have a long ball of string.'

"And so the work went on merrily. Bob and Tom doing the looking on, and Mary and Jean smoothing and snipping the bits for the tail, and making the ta.s.sel for the end. Dora fetched out a box of colours of his own, and suggested painting a face on it.

"'Capital!' cried Uncle Gee; 'and I'll tell you how you can make yourself useful, Dora, and that's by rubbing up a lot of colour on the back of a clean plate, I'll show you how;' and so to work Dora went with a will, and soon had a rare quant.i.ty all ready for the skilful hand of the artist.

"Meanwhile, under Uncle Gee's superintendence, and with Mamma's help, Polly and Jean had supplied the long piece of string, provided for the tail with its cross pieces of paper to serve as light weights, and they were now busily snipping some very fine red paper Mamma had routed out from amongst her h.o.a.rds for them, in order to make a grand ta.s.sel to finish the tail with.

"'Does not this remind you of our own old days?' said Mamma to Uncle Gee, as she came in for awhile to help in the interval of her busy morning occupations.

"'Don't you remember what trouble we used to take with our toys and playthings; and how seldom we were able to buy any real toys. I _do_ think children have many more than are good for them,' continued she.

"'Well, they don't value them now, as we did our patched up contrivances, do they?' replied George; 'but look, sister, won't this be a capital Kite? I think I never made a better, e'en in my boyish days! I am sure it ought to fly well!'

"And so saying, he raised up the large, carefully planned framework of slips of wood, with the calico neatly glued on it.

"'I am going to leave it to dry now,' said Uncle Gee; 'I can't paint it while it is wet; and so now, young people, as I have worked in your service all the morning, it is high time you did for mine. I am going to write a letter, and have no more time to spare until after lunch. So you must promise me to leave this table untouched, and go and amuse yourselves until by-and-bye.'

"The children agreed to this very fair bargain, and very sensibly dispersed, and amused themselves until lunch time, which was really their dinner time.

"When they all came down with carefully brushed hair, and s.h.i.+ning, clean faces, and took their places round the great table, they were about as merry a party as you would find anywhere, in spite of the drenching rain, which had poured steadily on the whole day.

"'The Kite is getting beautifully dry and tight,' said Uncle George, as he took the place left for him; 'I peeped into the school-room as I came down, and I see it is drying fast and nicely. And what shall we make it?

A flying dragon, like the Chinese flags and lanterns?'

"'O yes! Uncle Gee,' cried Dora, with his eyes as round as cricket b.a.l.l.s; 'do make it a dragon--a green dragon, with a fiery tail!'

"'Or a likeness--warranted genuine--of old Bogey himself,' laughed Bob.

"'A fairy with wings,' suggested Mary, 'with a star on her forehead, and a girdle round her waist.'

"'Or a s.h.i.+p,' said Jeanie, her dark face glowing; 'a s.h.i.+p with masts and sails painted for her, because you know she _does_ sail through the air, Uncle Gee!'

"'Paint it like a daisy,' said Baby, 'or make b.u.t.tercups all over it!'

"'Well, we'll see,' said Uncle Gee; 'when dinner is over we'll have a solemn council on the matter, and the most votes shall carry the day.'

"'Can anyone tell me anything particular about a Kite?' enquired Papa; 'I think there ought to be a story somewhere; does anyone know it?'

"'I do,' cried Tom, eagerly; 'Dr. Franklin found out about lightning with a Kite, didn't he?'

"'Yes,' replied Papa, 'you are right Tom; but what did he find out by it, and how? Do you know?'

"'No,' said Tom, frankly; 'I only remember he made a Kite to find out something he wanted to know about lightning, and there was something about a key, but I don't remember, Papa.'

"'I am glad you recollected a little about it,' said Papa, 'and I will tell you what the story was. Franklin, as you know, had long studied the effect of storms, and what is called Electricity. He was busied with setting some plans to work, which would enable him to try some experiments on the subject. But one day, while he was thinking over the matter, it flashed across his mind that a kite, such as he had seen his boys playing with, might help him to solve the puzzle. So he made one, not like yours, but out of a silk handkerchief, and fixed an iron point to the end of his stick, and where his string ended he hung a key.

During the next thunderstorm that happened he went out and flew his kite; and by these simple means found out what he had wanted to know.

You would hardly understand what the question was, or how it was explained to him in this way, until you are rather older, and are able to understand a little more of all the curious phenomena of electricity.

You are all very much frightened and roused when we have a heavy thunderstorm, because it is such a terrible thing, that you see the danger, but some day you will know that the electric telegraph we send messages by is the same power in a smaller, far smaller degree, turned to man's use. It is only G.o.d who can send the severe thunderstorm, which while it clears and purifies the air, and thus does a great deal of good, may also do a great deal of harm; and to save some of this was, shortly, the object of Franklin's enquiries. He saw that if his idea was correct, rods of iron might be planted near houses, or suspended from vessels, by which means the lightning would pa.s.s harmlessly down into the water or the earth.'

"'And now,' said Uncle Gee, 'we must thank Papa for his lesson, children, and a very good one it is, and go to our work. I think if you were all to ask Papa very nicely, he might perhaps give you a simple explanation about thunder and lightning; and I daresay his school children would not be sorry to hear it too.'

"Papa promised to "think about it," and then off went the happy party into the school-room, where they found the great Kite stretched out like a large white bird or a windmill sail. Very dry, and nice and flat it was, and delighted enough they all were with it.

"'Now,' said Uncle Gee, 'once for all what is it to be? A s.h.i.+p, a dragon, a Chinaman, or what? It is to be put to the vote--what do you say, Bob, you are the eldest?'

"'What you like, Uncle Gee! A dragon would be a jolly thing, but let it be as you like!'

"'I should like a s.h.i.+p,' said Tom; 'a big s.h.i.+p, with sails and an anchor!'

"'We would rather leave it to Uncle Gee,' said the girls and Dora; 'he is sure to make a capital thing of it, and he has an idea of something or other, we think!'

"'I shall make it into a flying fish, if you leave it to me,' said Uncle Gee, laughing, 'so you had better arrange it among yourselves.'

"And so there was a great deal of talking and chattering among them all, and at last they agreed to ask Uncle Gee to make it a bird.

"'We can't settle what kind of bird it is to be,' said Bob; 'I wanted an eagle, but Tom liked an owl better, and Mary said she liked a ringdove, while Jeanie said it must be a peac.o.c.k. Dora wanted a swan, and Baby bawled out for a robin! So we're not agreed in anything but that it is to be a bird. So you must decide out of all the number, Uncle Gee.'