Aw oe a _ MELE ha pn EO Le Zs ee. Lo yp A Zo exe (7 22 4A eo i Bt Sok, Bp bes IP Niow RIN IER AR me qos At iS A Franeomsa Store, | BY JACOB ABBOTT. ! f Srrond ENnition. LONDON : WARD AND CO., 27, PATERNOSTER ROW. ENGLISH COPYRIGHT. JOHN CHILDS AND SON, BUNGAY. PREFACE. Tue development of the moral sentiments in the human heart, im early life.—and everything in fact which relates to the formation of character,—is determined in a far greater de- gree by sympathy, and by the influence of example, than by formal precepts and didactic instruction. If a boy hears his father speaking kindly to a robin in the spring,——welcoming its coming and offering it food,—there arises at once in his own mind a feeling of kindness toward the bird, and toward all the animal creation, which is produced by a sort of sympathetic action, a power somewhat similar to what in physical philoso- phy is called tzduction. On the other hand, if the father, in~ stead of feeding the bird, goes eagerly for a gun, in order that he may shoot it, the boy will sympathize in that desire, and growing up under such an influence, there will be gradually formed within him, through the mysterious tendency of the youthful heart to vibrate in unison with hearts that are near, a disposition to kill and destroy all helpless beings that come within his power. There is no need of any formal instruction in either cage. Of a thousand children brought up under the former of the above-described imfluences, nearly every one, when he sees a bird, will wish to go and get crumbs to feed it ; while in the latter case, nearly every one will just as certainly e Vi PREFACE. look for a stone. Thus the growing up in the right atmosphere, rather than the receiving of the right instruction, is the condi- tion which it is most important to secure, in plans for forming the characters of children. It is in accordance with this philosophy that these stories, though written mainly with a view to their moral influence on the hearts and dispositions of the readers, contain very little formal cxhortation and instruction. They present quiet and peaceful pictures of happy domestic life, portraying generally such conduct, and expressing such sentiments and- feelings, as it is desirable to exhibit and express in the presence of children. The books, however, will be found, perhaps, after all, to be useful mainly in entertaining and amusing the youthful readers who may peruse them, as the writing of them has been the amusement and recreation cf the author in the intervals of more serious pursuits. CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I.—-THE PRESENTS .« . . . - . - I JI.— PHONNY’S LETTER . : . : . 14 TII.— roe walk . . . . - . - 380 IV.—a vovaGe : . - . : - : AS V.—BEECHNUT’S RETURN . . . . . - 60 VI.—THE PARTY - . . 7 . - - 76 VII.—rHE END OF THE PARTY .- . . - - 90 VIIT.—sasePer . : : - . . . - 106 IN.—PLANS FORMED ‘ ® . . 7 - 120 X.—THE BLUEBERRY PARTY .- . 7 : - 134 ENGRAVINGS. PAGE PACE FRONTISPIECE. TIE SIGNAL . - o2 THE PARCEL . . A FORDING . . ’ 73 THE BOAT 7 . 12 | THE ROCKING BOAT . 8-l THE RASPBERRIES . 26 | THE STORY-LELLING LOL THE REYUGE . . 39 | CAROLINE AND TIGL Boys 121 SCLYING OFT . - 48 | Tre RELUSAL . , 1-42 SCENE OF THE STORY. AMERICA. Franconia, a place among the mountains at the North. The time is summer. PRINCIPAL PERSONS. CaROLINE, the daughter of Mr. Keep, a lawyer in the village. Mrs. Henry, a lady residing in a pleasant house on the bank of the river, near the village. MALLEVILLE, seven or eight years old, Mrs. Henry’s niece. Puonny, nine or ten years old, Mrs. Henry’s son. Bexrcunor, a French boy, so called, at service at Mrs. Henry’s. His name properly is Antoine Bianchinette. WaLxacek, a college student, Malleville’s brother, spending his vacation at Mrs. Henry’s. Livinesron, Wallace’s classmate, visiting at Franconia. Mary Bex, about thirteen years old, a friend of Malleville, residing at a little distance from Mrs. Henry’s. ELven Linn, a friend of Mary Bell. She is the sister of Ro- dolphus. CAROLINE. CHAPTER I. THE PRESENTS. Malleville and Phonny go out to take a walk. Rule of polite society. ONE pleasant summer evening, about an hour before sunset, Phonny and Malleville came out of the great gate in front of Phonny’s house, to take a walk. “ Let us go down to the river,” said Malleville. There was a river very near Mrs. Henry’s house, and a pleasant path leading down to it through a field. << No,’ said Phonny, “let us go along the road.” “If we go down by the river,” said Malleville, “ we can get: some flowers.’’ “And if we go by the road, we shall meet the stage coming in,” said Phonny. ‘“ That’s a great deal better than getting flowers.” Malleville yielded. That was right. It was proper that she should yield. The rule of polite society is, that the gentleman ought always to be ready and willing, of his own accord, to consult the wishes of the lady, in a question of this sort, and to govern himself by them. But when he forgets himself so far as to disregard the B 2 CAROLINE. Talk about Beechnut. Malleville’s mistake. Phonny greatly amused. lady’s wishes, and. insist upon his own, then it is the duty of the lady not to contend, but to submit readily and gracefully to the necessity of the case. This, Malleville did, in the present instance. She said no more about the flowers, but walked with Phonny along the road. “T wish that Beechnut would come home,” said Phonny. “ Or rather I wish he never would go away at all.” Beechnut had gone to the city of Boston, and was to be absent about ten days. He had now been gone about three days, and Phonny was very lonesome with- out him. “You will see the prettiest horse, when the stage comes,” said Phonny, “ that there is in all this country. {t is an off leader.” Maleville made a very great mistake in understanding this expression. She thought Phonny had said that the horse was an awful eater. “An awful eater!” she replied, gravely, “ what does he eat? ” Here Phonny burst into a loud and uncontrollable fit of laughtet, while Malleville continued to look very grave, and even somewhat perplexed and distressed. She did not know what Phonny was laughing at. Phonny, how- ever, could not control himself sufficiently to explain, but lay down upon the grass by the roadside, and rolled over and over, repeating, in the intervals of his paroxysm, “ An awful eater |'—Oh dear me!” “ Phonny!” said Malleville, very sternly, “you shal? vot laugh so much. You must get up.” At that moment, Malleville, looking along the road, saw horses’ heads just coming into view at a turn, and heard the sound of wheels, so she added, THE PRESENTS. 3 The stage. Parcel for Phonny. Description of the package. «“ And besides, here is the stage coming now, and you will get run over.” Hearing this, Phonny jumped up and sobered himself in an instant. The stage-cpach was really coming. It advanced very rapidly. Phonny and Malleville stood out on one side of the road to let it go by. ‘There was a lady and a small boy on the outside seat of the stage, with the driver, and Phonny’s attention was at- tracted by them, so that he forgot to point out the off leader to Malleville, until the stage got opposite to him, and then he was surprised at seeing the driver suddenly rein up his horses and stop the stage. “ Phonny,” said the driver, “is that you? I have got something for you here.” “For me?” said Phonny, surprised. The driver put his hand under the seat and drew out a small package, whieh was tied up very securely in brown paper. He threw the package out to the bank where Phonny was standing. “Tt is all paid,” said he. Then he drove on. Phonny ran to the place where the package had fallen, and took it up- Malleville followed him. “ Tet me see,” said she. “ Whatis it?” The package was about eight inches long, four inches wide, and, perhaps, two inches thick. It was enveloped in thick wrapping-paper, and tied with a strong cord, which was passed round the parcel in both directions. ‘The knot of the cord was sealed with sealing-wax, and the cord itself was secured to the paper by sealing-wax in two or three other places besides. In fact, the whole appearance of BZ 4 CAROLINE. The address of the package. the parcel seemed to indicate that it contained something very valuable. It was addressed on the back, in a very plain hand, Miss Malleville Henry, Care of Master Alphonso Henry, Franconia. On the left hand upper corner was written the word Parp, with a black line drawn under it. THE PARCEL THE PRESENTS. 5 Opening it. The cord. No knife. The box. Beechnut’s note. “Tt is for you, after all,” said Phonny, looking a little disappointed. “ Yes,” said Malleville, “ give it tome. I want to break it open, and see what is inside.” «“ Let me open it for you,” said Phonny. “I can open it’ better.” “No,” replied Malleville, « I want to open it myself,— if you will only get the string off.” So Malleville and Phonny sat down upon a large stone, which lay by the side of the road, and proceeded to open the parcel. Phonny had no knife to cut the cord, and so he was obliged to gnaw it off with his teeth. This took some time. sw, od 8 OS THE RASPBERRIES. PHONNY’S LETTER. 27 The feast. Conversation. Plan for a walk. This address to Uncle Ben, on the part of Caroline, was of the nature of an apostrophe, for Mr. Short was not within hearing at the time. He had brought the waiter, and put it down upon Caroline’s table, and he had then gone back to his work. Caroline immediately began to pour out the raspberries into the saucers, after which, the children covered them over with sugar, and then poured on the cream. Then they proceeded to eat their fruit very happily together. The raspberries which the children had gathered were enough for two saucers full apiece for each of the party, and when they were all eaten Caroline rose to go. «“ And what are you going to do with these things P” said Phonny. ¢ Leave them here,” said Caroline. “ Uncle Ben will take care of them. And now I think we will go and take a watk instead of a ride.” The children did not-answer. They would both have preferred to take a ride, but they did not suppose that it would be polite for them to say so. *“ You see,” said Caroline, “if we take a ride, we must go along the same old road, where we have all been a thousand. times,—-but there is a very pretty place to walk through the trees on the bank of the river, where I have never been but once, and I want to go again.” “Well,” said Malleville, “I will go and get my excur- sion-box.” So Malleville returned to the house to get her box. She had left it on the piazza. Phonny got his cap, too, and Caroline her bonnet. They did not go into the office again, and Phonny forgot all about his letter. Of course, if he had thought of it, he would have supposed that it 28 CAROLINE. The excursion-box. The winding path. Mr. Keep’s letters. remained safe on the desk where he had left it. He did not know that Malleville had put it in another place. When they were all ready, Caroline went into the par- jour to tell her mother that she was going to take a walk with Phonny and Malleville, and that she should be back again at supper time. Then bidding her mother good- bye, she came out again into the yard, where Phonny and Malleville were waiting for her. Malleville had her ex- cursion-box hanging about her neck by its ribbon. Caroline led the way back into the garden again, and through the garden to the lower end of it, where there was a small gate. She opened the gate and let Phonny and Malleville pass through, and then entered with them upon a winding path which led down into a wood. What happened during their walk will be made the subject of the next chapter. In the mean time, about an hour after the children had set out on their walk, Mr. Keep came home. He hung up his hat in its usual place in the passage-way, and then went into his office. He found upon the table several letters which Mr. Short had brought that day from the post-office. He opened and read them, and then went to his desk to answer them. He wrote four answers to his letters,—on four separate sheets of paper. When these letters were all written, Mr. Keep folded and sealed them, and put stamps upon them, and then went to put them on the safe to be ready for Mr. Short to carry to the post-office. As he laid his letters on the safe, he observed the one which Malleville had put there, and taking it up he looked at the superscription. “ Ah,” said he, “this looks like Phonny’s work. He PHONNY’S LETTER. 29 Phonny’s letter gets sent to the post-office. has been here this afternoon, I suppose, and has been writing to Antoine.” So Mr. Keep went back to the table and brought another stamp, and put it on the corner of Phonny’s letter. About half an hour after this, Mr. Short came into the room, and taking up the letters that were lying on the safe, he carried them all to the post-office. 30 CAROLINE. ‘The path leading into the woods. The waterfall. CHAPTER TIL THE WALK. WHEN Caroline and the two children passed out from the garden through the little gate to commence their walk, Malleville ran on before the rest down the path. This path led into a thicket, and thence down into a wooded dell, at the bottom of which Malleville thought she saw a brook and a little waterfall. So she ran forward to view the waterfall. Phonny ran after her; Caroline fol- lowed more slowly. She had seen the place a great many times. When Malleville reached the bottom of the descent, she found quite a brook running across the path, with a broad plank placed over it on one side, for a bridge. Above the bridge was the waterfall. The water fell about three feet down the face of a rock, between two banks of beautiful green moss. Malleville stood upon the plank a few minutes to look at the waterfall, When Caroline came to the spot Malleville said to her, “ What makes the water run here so all the time ? ” “ Why there is a brook,’ said Caroline, “that comes down here from the hills.” “ And where does it come from ?” asked Malleville. “It comes out of the sky, I suppose,” said Caroline. Caroline meant that the water came from the sky. THE WALK. 31 Talk about the brook. A fox! a fox! Phonny’s disappointment. Malleville stood still a moment and pictured in her imagination a small stream like that from the nose of a pump, coming down out of the sky on the top of a hill to form the beginning of the brook. At length she turned round upon the plank and looked down the stream. «“ And where does the water go to? ” said she. “Why this brook,’’ said Caroline, “runs down into the mill-pond. This path will bring us to the shore of the mill-pond in a little while.” So Caroline walked on, Malleville and Phonny ac- companying her. ‘The path ascended beyond the brook, winding along in a very pleasant manner among rocks and trees. At length, after walking along for some little distance, Malleville saw something before her in the path which looked like a wild animal. “Why Phonny,” exclaimed Caroline, “ look there. What is that? ” “A fox! a fox!” cried Phonny, very much excited. “ Hush! Caroline! see! there’s a fox!” “No, it is not,” he added immediately afterward in a disappointed tone. “It is nothing but a dog.” The dog looked up a moment at the party of strangers which he saw coming toward him—standing still while he did so,in the middle of the path—-and then turned and ran away. The children followed him. The dog soon came to a fence, and creeping under the fence, came out into a road. “ Why here is a road,” said Malleville. “Yes,” said Caroline, “we are going along that road a o2 CAROLINE. Description of the shore. The boys in the boat. little way, and then we are going off into the woods again.” The road led along the bank of what seemed to be a river. Caroline said, however, that it was not a river, but a mill-pond. The water was very smooth and still, and appeared to be very deep. The shores on the opposite side of the pond were formed. of precipices of rock and of wild and solitary forests, and there were one or two small islands in view, which appeared like thick masses of tangled trees and shrubbery growing out of the water. «What a pretty mill-pond,” said Malleville. “Yes,” said Caroline, “and after we go on by this road a little farther, we shall find a path that leads along the shore in a very pleasant place indeed.” The road which the children were walking in, passed at this point very near the water. There was only a small bank and a narrow beach between. The dog ran along before the children in the road a short distance, and then went down the bank to the beach, and there looked off upon the water, in a very earnest manner. Presently he began to whine, and then he barked. A moment afterward the children heard the sound of a shrill whistle coming from behind the nearest island. Next they heard voices in that direction, and soon afterward a boat appeared with three boys in it. One of the boys began to call to the dog. The dog ran this way and that, stopping occasionally to look earnestly out upon the water, and whining all the time, as if very anxious to get to the boat. *““T suppose that is Rodolphus in that boat,” said Malle- ville. THE WALK. 33 The boat lands. The children pass over a wall. The walk. “ No,” said Phonny, “ Rodolphus is not there.” The children remained standing upon the bank a few minutes, looking sometimes at the dog upon the shore before them, and sometimes at the boat and the boys on the water, to see what the boys would do. The boat gradually approached the shore. When they came near, the boys called to the dog continually, endeavouring to induce him to swim out to them through the water. But the dog was not a water dog, and did not dare to come. At last the boat touched the land. Then one of the boys jumped out upon the beach, and taking up the dog under his arm, he stepped back into the boat again. The dog was of a lhght brown colour, and he had a long bushy tail, so that it is not at all surprising that Phonny at first mistook him for a fox. As soon as the boys had got the dog in the boat, they rowed away from the shore again, and then Caroline said, “Come! Now we will go on.” So the party walked along the road together. In a short time the road turned off from the shore, and then Caroline led the way to a place where one or two stones had been taken out from the top of the stone wall, so as to make it easy to get over. “Here is where we are to go,” said she. So she climbed over the wall, and then helped Malle- ville and Phonny over. Beyond the wall there was a path. It led through and among tangled thickets of bushes and trees, but still, as the path itself, though very tortuous, was continuous and unimpeded, the children got along in it very well. The land, so far as they could see through the woods and thickets, rose very steep on D 34 CAROLINE. The dog in the boat. Romantic pathway. Rocks and precipices. the right, while it descended on the left, toward the mill- pond. In fact, the children could often see the surface of the water in that direction, through the openings of the trees. The hill on the right hand appeared to grow steeper and steeper, as the children went on, until finally it became a mass of rocks and precipices, shaded and overhung every- where with dense thickets of evergreen trees. The path came out too nearer the shore of the pond, so that for some distance the children, as they walked along, had an unobstructed. view of the water. They saw the boat with the boys in it coasting along the rocky shore be- neath them. The dog was standing in the bow of the boat, with his feet upon one of the thwarts, and look- ing eagerly about in every direction, as if enjoying the scenery. “T wish we were in that boat,” said Phonny. “Oh no,” said Maleville, “I should not dare to go in it.” The boat, though it was going in the same direction with the children, soon disappeared behind a point of land which projected into the pond at a short distance before them. Caroline and her party accordingly went on. They found the path more and more picturesque and romantic as they proceeded. ‘There were great precipices here and there, with beautiful flowers growing in the interstices of the rocks, and tall firs and pines over- hanging them from above. At intervals too there were deep glens and ravines extending back among the preci- pices, in each of which a little rill of water came gurgling down among the moss and the roots at the bottom of the dell. There were a great many rocks lying here and THE WALK. 35 Climbing places. The tall ferns. there, and shelving projections from the precipices, formed with broken stratifications at the sides of them, by means of which it was easy to climb up, and with flat surfaces at the top, where it was easy to stand. The children ascended a great many of these elevations, partly for the sake of the new views which they thus ob- tained of the surrounding scenery, and partly because it was a pleasure in itself to be up so high. All this scenery seemed to the children extremely grand and sublime, much more so even than it would have ap- peared to grown persons, if grown persons had been there. For as we necessarily and instinctively compare the mag- nitude of objects around us with our own size, it follows that a tree or a rock that is fifty feet high, appears to a child who is three feet high, as tall and large as one of a hundred feet would to a man of six. Soa shelving-rock as high as a man’s head, appears to aman who passes by it as nothing extraordinary. It is only a leaning wall,— one which he looks down upon. The child, on the other hand, creeps under it, and ldoks wp with a species of awe to what is to him a dangerous precipice. In the same manner, if there were such a being as a giant as tall as a mountain, the mountain would, of course, appear to him only as a little hillock as high as his head. Thus it happened that in this walk the trees, and rocks, and precipices, and glens, imposing as they would have appeared to any one, presented to the children, and especially to Malleville, an aspect in the highest degree grand and sublime. In many places the path passed through beds of fern or of tall grass, which brushed the dresses of the children as they passed along, but this did no harm, as the grass py 2 36 CAROLINE. Dew. Caroline’s opinion. Low places. The cart-path. The cove. and herbage were all perfectly dry. When going through some of these places, Caroline said that it would be very pleasant to come and take that walk some morning at sunrise, if it were not for the dew. “Tt would not be possible for us to come along here,” she said, “in the morning, or after a shower. Malleville would get wet through, up to her shoulders.” This was really true, for the ferns in one place which she had to go through, were so high that the topmost fronds brushed Malleville’s shoulders as she walked along between them,—-so rank and tall had they grown. Of course, these ferns appeared. as tall to Malleville as they would have seemed to a man if they had been as high as corn in a corn-field. There were some spots of low ground, too, in many places which the children had to pass. It was evident that these were places where water would usually stand in wet weather and after rains, but they were all pretty dry now, and the children got over them without any difficulty. At last the children arrived at a sort of cart-path which came down through the woods in a little valley, and led to the shore of a pond at a place where there ap- peared to be a sort of landing. ‘There was a cove here, that is, a little mdentation in the shore forming a bay. Some logs, such as are cut in the woods to be sawn into boards, were floating m the cove. The children crossed this cart-path, and ascending a little beyond it, they came to a place among the rocks where there was a smooth wall on one side and an overhanging precipice behind, which formed a sort of roof. Maleville immediately ran to this place, saying that it was a house. There were THE WALK. 37 A, grotto. Overhanging rock. The boat again. some flat stones on the ground under the overhanging rock. Malleville sat down upon one of them, and Caro- line and Phonny following her to the place, sat down too. ‘‘ There is the boat again,” said Malleville, pointing out upon the water. “They are coming im toward the shore.” Caroline and Phonny both looked in the direction that Malleville indicated, and there they saw the boat coming rapidly toward the shore. The boat was pomted toward. the little landing where the cart-path terminated on the shore of the water. “ J wonder what they are going to do?” said Phonny. * We will see,” said Caroline. When the boat came to the shore the boys stepped out upon the sand. The dog jumped out too. The boys, as soon as they saw Caroline and. her party sitting under the rocks, paused a moment and looked toward them, saying something to themselves which the children could not hear. A moment afterward they turned to the boat again and began to draw it up upon the sand. Phonny and Malleville were much interested in watch- ing the operation by which the boys drew the boat out of the water. One of them took the rope which was fastened to the bows of the boat, and passing it over his shoulder he walked forward, tugging away with all his might. The other boys stood at the sides of the boat, and taking hold of the cleats within, which passed along just under the gunwale, lifted and carried, and thus they moved the boat along. When they had got it well up out of the water they all three took hold of the side of the boat and turned it over. The boat was light, and the work of turning it 38 CAROLINE. The boys pull the boat up upon the land. Their warning. over seemed to be very easily performed. When the boat was thus turned upside down, one of the boys tied the painter, that is, the rope fastened at the bows of the boat, to a stake which was driven into the ground near by. The boys went through all these operations in a hur- ried manner, as if they were eager to get away, and as soon as the boat was secured in the mode above described, they all set off walking very rapidly up the cart-path into the woods. The dog ran on before them. One of the boys turned toward Caroline and her party as he went along, and aftex hesitating a moment he called out to them, saying, “Tf you don’t look out you will get a wetting.” He then went on, and in a moment more they all dis- appeared. “ What does he mean?” said Phonny. “Tam sure I don’t know,” said. Caroline. “Perhaps he means that it is going to rain,” suggested Matleville. Caroline looked wp to the sky. It happened, however, that at the place where the children were sitting, but a very small part of the sky could be seen. The part which was visible was toward the east, which was the di- rection in which the faces of the children were turned as they sat in their grotto. The west was behind them, and the whole sky in that direction was concealed by the rocks and precipices, and by the lofty firs and pines which overhung the place where the children were sitting. There were no clouds to be seen in that part of the sky which was open to their view. Caroline, however, stepped out from under the rocks and looked upward into the zenith. She saw a fringe of dark and angry- THE WALK. 39 A shower comme. it thunders. looking clouds slowly advancing to the western part of the sky. ANS. ay NS A ‘a ‘ CQ AN ARN TR CSN Y NX THE REFUGE “YJ am afraid there is going to be a shower,” said she. “ Never mind,” said Phonny, “if there should be, we have a good house to stay in until it is over.” “ Yes,” said Malleville. Just then there was heard along, low, rambling sound as of distant thunder. “Tt thunders,” said Malleville, much alarmed. “ There is going to be a thunder-shower I verily believe. Let us run home as fast as we can.” 40 CAROLINE. Drops falling. Breezes. The lightning. “ No,” said Caroline, “we should not have time to get home; it is more than a mile. We must stay here till the shower is over.” So saying she held out her hand and felt some drops fall wpon it. “Ft is beginning now,’ said she. She had scarcely spoken these words before they all heard a sudden pattering of drops upon the trees of the forest above and around them, and immediately after- ward a gust of wind began to blow, exhibiting its effects, first in the sudden waving of the branches of the trees all about the place where the children were sitting, and then by the ruffling and darkening of the surface of the pond, as the breezes, coming down from the hills, went scud- ding over the water. “There is going to be a shower,’ said Caroline, “I truly believe. But we have got a good shelter, and we will stay in it till it is over.” « And what shall we do then ?” said Malleville. “It will be so wet everywhere that we cannot get home.” “T don’t know what we shall do,” said Caroline, “we will see.” In the mean time the rain fell faster and faster, and the distant peals of thunder became more frequent. At length a flash of Lghtning was seen, and soon afterward a loud crash was heard in the sky, at a little distance behind where the children were sitting. Phonny said that he expected it struck something. “ Well,” said Caroline, “ if it did, it can’t strike us very well, under all these rocks, that is a comfort.” The lightning came much nearer to siriking them, however, than they had imagined that it would. For THE WALK. 4] The lightning strikes a great pine-tree. Children terrified, only a few minutes after Caroline had spoken, an enorm- ous pine, which grew on the summit of the precipice, only a very little distance from the place where the chil- dren had sought refuge, became the mark which the thunderbolt chose for its aim in coming from the clouds to the ground. The tree was split through at the trunk, near the ground, and the top fell over the precipice to the shore below. It came down very near to the place where the children were sitting. The crash with which it fell would have been dreadful, had it not been that the sound of it was drowned by the loud rattling of the thunder, which continued to roll and reverberate in every part of the sky, long after the tree was still. The children were all very much frightened at this catas- trophe. Malleville and Phonny screamed aloud with terror, and were going to jump up and run away from their shelter, though the rain, which had been descend- ing in torrents for some time, now poured down faster than ever. «Sit still,” said Caroline, “this is the safest place for us.” “No,” said Malleville, all excited and trembling, “let us go away from here. The lightning will strike us if we stay here.” * No, it won't,” said Caroline. “Sit still, the lightning cannot strike through all these rocks.” «“ Well, then, the trees will fall down upon our heads,” said Malleville. “ Not if we stay here,” said Carolme. “ They may if we go out. It is better to stay here.” Phonny and Malleville submitted to this decision, though it was with fear and trembling. Caroline talked 42 CAROLINE. Caroline’s composure. Black cloud. The chain-lightning. with them continually, to amuse their minds and to allay their fears. She soon told them that the violence of the storm was passed, and this proved really to be the case; for the cloud from which the thunder and lightning, and the wind and rain, proceeded, was now passing away to- ward the eastward, over the water of the pond. In a short time, the rain fell in such quantities from the clouds over the pond that the opposite shores were wholly hid- den. At this period, too, the great cloud itself, in all its blackness and terror, was fulty exhibited. to their view, as it lay expanding itself over the whole eastern sky. The children could see also chains of forked lightning darting to and fro upon the face of the cloud, from time to time, each one followed at brief intervals with a rolling peal of thunder. “The shower is passing away,” said Caroline. “ No,” said Malleville, ‘I think the lightning is grow- ing brighter and brighter.” “That is only because we can see the cloud plainer now,” said Caroline. “It does not rain so fast, and the thunder does not sound so loud. Besides, it begins to look brighter over our heads.” Phonny and Malleville reached their heads out from under the shelter of the rocks as far as they dared, to see the sky; but the drops came down so fast from the leaves of the trees above them, that they could notsee. So they came back again into their retreat. * But I don’t see how we are to get home,” said Phonny, despondingly. “ Nor I,” said Caroline. “ Perhaps somebody will come after us,” said Phonny. “ Nobody knows where we are,” said Caroline. THE WALK. 43 Perplexity about getting home. Plan of going home in the boat. “ We can’t walk home the way we came,” said Phonny, “the grass and bushes will be so wet.’ “'That is true,” said Caroline. “ And besides,” continued Phonny, “ there will be ever so many pools of water in all the low places, and Malle- ville can never get over them.” *T know it,” said Caroline, “and I am sure I don’t know what we shall do.” “ 1 suppose that that cart-path might be more open,— where the boys went,”—said Phonny, after a little re- flection. “ Perhaps we could get along in that.” “We don’t know,” said Caroline. “It might be, and it might not be. Besides, we don’t know where it goes to. It might take us farther away from home than we are now.” ‘‘ Let’s go in the boat!” said Phonny, in a joyful tone, as if struck with a sudden and happy thought. “ Well,” said Caroline, “that’s a plan.” “If we can only get it turned over,” said Phonny. “I don’t see what they turned it bottom upward for.” “'That was to keep it from getting full of water, I sup- pose,” said Caroline, “in the shower. It is better for us that they did,—that is, provided we can get it back again, for now it is all dry inside.” “ Let us go down and try,” said Phonny. “Not yet,’ said Caroline. “It has not yet done raining.” Drops were indeed still falling, though many of them, as Phonny said, came from the leaves of the trees. Still the rain had not yet wholly ceased. The sky, however, began to look very bright overhead, and soon a broad and beautiful rainbow began to appear on the clouds 44 CAROLINE. The children go down to the boat. that lay in the eastern sky. Not long after this the sun broke forth, and the rain was obviously over. The children then all came out of their retreat, following Caroline, who took the lead of them, and stepping care- fully on stones to avoid the wet grass, they went down toward the boat. A VOYAGE. 45 Plans for turning up the boat. Fruitless efforts. CHAPTER IV. A VOYAGE. THE whole party, through the judgment and skill which Caroline exercised in choosing the way, succeeded in reaching the boat without getting wet. When they arrived at the spot, however, they stood by the side of the boat, and looked down upon it with something of a de- spairing air. It looked very heavy. “ We never can lift it in the world,” said Caroline. “‘ Let us try,” said Phonny. So they all took hold of the side of the boat, stooping down low for this purpose. At the word of command from Caroline, they all began to lift. The boat moved a little m its place, but did not rise in the least from the sand. “ No,” said Caroline. “ Let us try once more,” said Phonny. So they tried again, but their efforts were as fruitless as before. “No,” said Phonny, “we can’t lift it; and besides, it would not do any good if we could turn it over, for we cannot go home in it.” “ No,” said Caroline, “but we can get out of this wilderness in it. The mill-pond goes to the mill, and if we can get there, we can get home by the road.” “ Yes,” said Phonny, “so we could. I wish the boat was not so heavy.” 46 CAROLINE. enema ae The children get a pry. They succeed in turning over the boat. een “Could not we pry it over ? ” said Caroline. “Yes,” said Phonny, “if we only had a pry.” As Phonny said this, Carole put her hand under the boat at the end, and took hold of the handle of an oar. She pulled the oar out, saying, “This oar will do for a pry.” Caroline presently pulled out another oar. The chil- dren immediately began to use these oars for pries. Phonny took one and Caroline the other. They had considerable difficulty at first In getting the oars under the edge of the boat, in such a way as to get. them, as Phonny expressed it, “to take a hold.” They, however, at length succeeded, and the side of the boat began slowly to rise. As fast as they got the edge of the boat up Malleville would keep it up by putting stones under. By patient perseverance in this course,—both Phonny and Caroline stopping occasionally in their prying to help Malleville in the blocking up,—the children succeeded at length in raising the edge of the boat that was farthest from the water, nearly a foot from the ground. “Now,” said Phonny, “I believe we can heave it over with our hands.” So they all took hold again with their hands. They succeeded in lifting it, and by one vigorous effort they raised it up so high that it rolled over and came right side up, all ready to be launched into the water. The launching was not very difficult, for the boat, in the process of being turned over, was rolled out so far that about half the length of it was already in the water. Phonny untied the painter, and they all took hold of the bow of the boat and pushed it mto the cove. There was a log upon the shore near by, which formed a sort of A VOYAGE. 47 Differences between a paddle and an oar. wharf or pier, from which the passengers for this in- tended voyage could embark. Phonny drew up the boat alongside of this log, and Malleville and Caroline, walk- ing out upon it a little way, at length safely stepped on board. «“ Now,” said Phonny, “I 7U push off.” “ Not yet,’ said Caroline. “ Let us see how we had better sit.” After some debate, it was concluded that as there were two oars and a paddle belonging to the boat, it would be best for Malleville and) Phonny to row, and for Caroline to paddle and steer. There is a great difference between a paddle and an oar, both in form and in the manner of using them. A paddle is short, and the blade is broad, and it is generally used by a person sitting in the stern of the boat, and looking the way the boat is gomg. An oar, on the other hand, is long. It rests, when employed in rowing, upon the side of the boat, in what is called the row lock, or between the thole pins, and the person who rows with it sits with his back to the bow or forward part of the boat, so that he has to turn partly round and look over his shoulder when he wishes to see where he is go- ing. When, however, there is a person to sit in the stern to steer, it is not necessary for the oarsman to look round in this manner, for the helmsman at the stern with the paddle, keeps a good lookout ahead, and steers the boat where it ought to go. There is a great difference, too, between oars and pad- dies in respect to the circumstances in which they can be most conveniently employed. A boat can be pro- pelled faster with oars than with paddles, though as the former extend laterally so far, they require a considerable 48 CAROLINE. Advantages of oars—of paddles. Malleville’s rowing. breadth of water in order to be advantageously used. For narrow and tortuous channels, paddles are much the most convenient. Indians use paddles, therefore, on rivers and small streams, while the boats of great merchant ships and men-of-war in broad harbours or at sea are always propelled by oars. Both Caroline and Phonny had often been in boats be- fore, though they had had but very little experience in the practical management of them. Malleville, of course, knew nothing at all on the subject. She took her seat where Caroline directed her, and put her hands upon the handle of the oar, and when Phonny, who had also taken his place upon one of the thwarts with an oar aN SETTING OFF A VOYAGE. 49 oo = aa) The children set offin the boat. Slow progress. Malleville’s observations. in his hands, began to row, she attempted to imitate his motions, but she was very unsuccessful in these attempts. The blade of her oar would always go up in the air, when she attempted to put it down into the water, and when it was down in the water it would stay in, notwith- standing all her efforts to get it out. In fine, it soon appeared that Malleville’s oar only impeded the motion of the boat, and so Caroline directed her to take it in. Malleville was very unwilling to do this, but she finally consented ; and so Phonny took in her oar and laid it down into the bottom of the boat. Of course, a boat propelled by one oar and one paddle must make very slow and very uncertain progress, and Caroline soon. began to feel much discouraged. She said she did not believe that they should ever be able to get to the mill. In fact, in getting out from the cove and away from the shore, the boat seemed determined to go round and round, without going forward at all. Very soon, however, both Phonny and Caroline learned better how to manage their respective implements, and they soon began to move along in quite a scientific manner. “We had better keep pretty near the shore,” said Caroline, “ all the way.” “ Yes,” said Phonny, “ I think so too.” «“ Where the water is not very deep,” said Caroline. «“ Yes,” said Phonny. “It is pretty deep here,’ said Malleville. So saying, Malleville leaned over the gunwale of the boat, where her oar had rested while she had been rowing, and looked down into the water. “T can see a great rock on the bottom,” said she ;— BB 50 CAROLINE. Great rock. The snake! Disagreement. Slow and toilsome progress. “and now it is all sand—and there is a fish,—he is run- ning away,—now he is out of sight.” “That ’s right,” said Phonny, “keep a good look-out down in the water, and let us know what you see.” Malleville expressed her willingness to comply with this request, and was proceeding to describe to Phonny what she saw upon the bottom of the pond, when she suddenly exclaimed, in a tone of great astonishment : “Oh Phonny! here is a great snake on the bottom, all twisting and curling.” “ Where ?” said Phonny, eagerly, “let me see.” So Phonny stopped rowing, and looked over Malleville’s side of the boat, to the place where Malleville pointed. “See!” said Malleville, “see there.” “ Nonsense,” said Phonny, “it is nothing but an old root.” By this time the boat had got by the place, so Phonny resumed his position, and went on with his rowing. “No, Phonny,” said Malleville, “it could not be a root, for I saw it twisting and squirming.” The waving motion which Malleville had observed was only an apparent motion, produced by the rippling of the water. Phonny insisted that it was a root, and spoke, moreover, so contemptuously of the idea that it could be anything else, that Malleville was offended, and would not tell him of anything more that she saw. The mill-pond on which our party were making their slow and toilsome voyage, was quite large, being more than a mile long, and in many places from half to threc fourths of a mile wide. The cove where the children had embarked was very nearly a mile from the mill. After going along in the manner we have described for A VOYAGE. 51 Caroline proposes to land. Malleville’s provisions, Seats on the stones. about one-third of this distance, the boat came opposite to one of the islands which have been already spoken of. By this time both Phonny and Caroline had become some- what tired of their work. The shore of the little island looked very inviting, and the idea suddenly occurred to Caroline that it might be a good plan to land there as they went by and take a little rest. So she drew her paddle in, and laying it down by her side in the boat, she took out her watch. It was a very beautiful little watch, in gold and enamel. “ Half-past five o’clock,” said she. “We shall not get home in time for supper. Malleville, have not you got something for us to eat in your box?” “ Yes,” said Malleville, “I have got two turnovers. There is just one for you and one for Phonny and I.” On hearing this Caroline at once decided to land upon the island and have supper. She accordingly with her paddle turned the head of the boat toward the shore and soon ran it upon the strand. The two children got out first, and then Caroline fol- lowed. She called upon Phonny to tie the painter in the most secure manner possible, since it would be an awful thing for the boat to float away and Jeave them on that uninhabited island. When Phonny had fastened the boat according to Caréline’s directions, she led her party up on the shore, and found a seat for them upon some smooth stones which were lying there. They could not go upon the grass, for the grass was everywhere wet from the effects of the shower. The sun shone in upon them where they sat, from among a magnificent group of golden clouds that were now floating in the western sky. The sun was still quite BE 2 52 CAROLINE. Caroline’s drollery. Eating supper. Plays. — high, though it was drawing toward the horizon. The even- ing was delightful. The grass and the trees were every- where glittering with the drops of rain which hung upon them, and the surface of the water was resplendent with the reflected magnificence of the sky. But besides the beauty of the evening and of the scenery, the children enjoyed another very prolific source of plea- sure while they were eating their supper, in the lively and amusing conversation with which Caroline enter- tained them all the time. She was perfectly grave and sober herself in all that she said, but she made Malleville and Phonny laugh continually by the drollery of her remarks, and the singularity and oddity of her im- aginings. At one time she would pretend that they were shipwrecked mariners, cast away upon a desolate island. She was the captain of the vessel, and Phonny and Malleville her sailors, while the boat represented their ship driven up by the storm high and dry upon the shore. At another time she herself was Robin- son Crusoe, on the is- land of Juan Fernan- dez, Phonny being her man Friday, and Maleville the goat; and while acting in this capacity she sent Phonny at one time to set up an oar upon the TOE SIGNAL A VOYAGE. 53 Phonny’s flag-staff. A handkerchief for a flag. Sail-boat coming. beach, with a handkerchief tied to the end of the blade of it, as a signal, she said, for any ship that might chance to pass near their island to come and rescue them. Phonny made the oar stand upright, in using it thus for a flagstaff, by placing stones around it at the foot. The handkerchief which was to serve for the flag, was tied to the blade of the oar before the oar was raised, and as there was a gentle wind at the time, it spread itself out and fluttered m the breeze as soon as Phonny had elevated it, as if it had been a veritable signal. At length, after spending about half an hour upon the island, Caroline said that it was time for them to re-embark and proceed. on their voyage. So she directed Phonny to go and take down the oar. Phonny proceeded to do so, when suddenly Malleville pointed to something at a distance on the water, and said, “See, Caroline, there is a ship coming.” Caroline looked in the direction which Mallevile indi- cated, and to her surprise she saw what appeared to be a small sail-boat coming toward them. «“Phonny, what is that ? ” said she. “TTi—yo!” said Phonny, “there comes a sail-boat.” The three voyagers stood for a few minutes gazing in silence at the unexpected sight. ‘The boat appeared to be a small one, and the sail was of a very simple con-~- struction. It adwanced rapidly, however, as there was a very pleasant evening breeze, and it seemed to be coming directly toward the island. “ { wonder who it can be,” said Caroline. “ T expect it is some men from the mill,” said Phonny. «“'That is the kind of boat they have at the mill” Phonny was right in his conjecture. ‘The boat was 54 CAROLINE. Conversation with the mill-men. Taking in tow. what is called a canoe, such as the mill-men used in work- ing about the booms and dam. It was not originally de- signed to carry a sail, but the men had rigged a sort of sail to it, and having rowed to the upper end of the pond, upon some of their business, before the shower, they were now returning, and as the wind was favourable they had hoisted their sail. They had observed the Robinson Crusoe signal which Phonny had raised, and were now coming to the island to see who were there. They came up pretty near the place where the children were standing on the beach, and then took in their sail, which, as it was small and light, could be furled in a moment. « Are you in any difficulty P” said one of the men. “Yes,” said Caroline. “We got caught out in the shower, and we are trying to get to the mill in our boat.” Here the men talked with each other a minute or two in an under-tone. They spoke so low that the children could not hear what they said. At last one of the men turned his face toward the party on the shore again and said, “« Well, get on board your boat and give us the painter, and we’ll take you in tow.” Caroline did not know precisely what was meant by taking in tow, though Phonny understood the phraseology sufficiently well to know what he was to do. He took down the flag and put the oar on board. He unfastened the painter, and held the bow of the boat while Caroline and Malleville got in. Hethen pushed the boat off from the shore and leaped in himself, as soon as he had set it in motion. In the mean time Caroline had resumed her seat in the stern, and had taken up the paddle. A VOYAGE. 55 Caroline and her party have a sail. The village. The line cast off. “ Now send her ahead,” said Phonny, “right toward the other boat.” “So Caroline paddled as well as she could, and suc- ceeded in propelling her boat slowly in the direction of the sail-boat. As soon as Phonny could reach, he gave the end of the painter to one of the men in the sail-boat, and the man fastened it there in some way or other. His comrades then hoisted the sail, and thus the wind carried both boats on together. Caroline and her party had a delightful sail. They had nothing to do now but to sit upon the seats and enjoy the gentle motion of the boat as it glided smoothly and noise- lessly through the water. The men in the sail-boat turned around occasionally to look at them, and some- times asked them questions in respect to their being caught out in the shower. Excepting this, the parties in both boats sailed along in silence most of the way. Ca- roline and the children in fact began to feel somewhat tired, for they had been out now a long time, and had passed through such a variety of excitements that they seemed glad of a little rest. At length they came in sight of the village, and of the mill standing at the border of it, near the stream. 'The men seemed to be steering the sail-boat directly toward the mill. The breeze was fresh, and the boats glided along very rapidly through the water, and at length began to draw quite near. Caroline was looking out toward the shore, wondermg where the men were going to land, when suddenly one of the men who was seated in the stern of the sail-boat, untied the painter of the children’s boat and cast it off into the water, saying, at the same time, 56 CAROLINE. Boat adrift. Fear of going over the dam. The landing. “There is your painter. Now you must take care of yourselves.” As he said this, he put down his helm and the sail-boat swept round in a grand circle toward the other side of the pond, leaving Caroline and her party in their boat to drift wherever the current might carry them. There was not much current, it is true, though there was a gentle motion apparent on the surface of the water, tending to- ward the dam. “ 'Take care, the dam.” “ No,” said Caroline, “ the water is not deep enough on the dam to carry us over, even if we go down to it.” However, notwithstanding this assurance, Caroline did not seem inclined to run the risk of being carried over the dam, for she directed Phonny to put out his oar and row, while she plied her paddle very vigorously. Phonny, in his trepidation, began first to row the wrong way, and then Malleville took hold to help him, which only hin- dered him, so the boat went more than half round before the young navigators could get command of its motions. At length, however, they succeeded, and gradually pro- pelled it to the shore. There was a little landing by the mill, at a place near the flume, where the water went in through a grating to turn the great water-wheel. Caroline directed the boat to this landing. When it touched the sand, Phonny got out and held the boat by the bow until the other voyagers had disembarked. They then secured the boat by tying the painter to a post which had been set in the ground there, expressly for such uses. There was a path leading from this landing to a door 37 said Phonny, “we shall be carried over A VOYAGE. 57 Going into the mill. Shoes dry. Rodolphus in the mill. RI i Nth Rt in the lower part of the mill. As soon as the boat was fastened, Caroline led the way along this path, saymg, as she went, “ Now, children, be very careful and not step where there is any wet grass.” Caroline opened the door, and went into the mill. The others followed her, and then she looked down at her shoes, and also at those of Malleville and Phonny, to see if they were wet. The shoes and dresses of all three ap- peared as nice and dry as when they first left home. “ Now,” said Caroline, “let us go up-stairs, and see if we can find Rodolphus.” So Caroline led the way to the back part of the room, where there was a broad flight of stairs leading to an apartment above. ‘There was a great rumbling noise of wheels and machinery in the mill, and Malleville was a little afraid; but she went boldly on, taking hold, all the time, of Phonny’s hand, and keeping as near as possible to Caroline. At the head of the stairs was a door. They opened the door and came out into the main room of the mill, where all the grinding was going on. They found Rodolphus here, busy in pouring some corn into a great hopper. Caroline went to him and told him how they had been caught in the shower. She was obliged to talk very loud, to make Rodolphus hear, on ac- count of the noise which was made by the machinery. She concluded by asking Rodolphus if he knew of any- body there, that they could send home, to tell Uncle Ben where they were, and to ask him to come for them in a wagon. «There is a man here with a wagon,” said Rodolphus, 58 CAROLINE. ance, a Mrs. Keep’s anxiety. Her conversation with Mr. Keep. “and he will lend it to me to carry you home, while his grist is grinding.” “ But who will tend the grinding then ?” said Phonny. “ Oh, he will tend it himself,’ said Rodolphus. So Rodolphus went and spoke to the man, and in a few minutes returned, and reported that the man said they might have his wagon and welcome. “ And I will go and drive you,” said Rodolphus. So Rodolphus went into a little room in a corner of the mill, and. took off his miller’s frock and put on his jacket. Then he went out and got the wagon, and brought it up to the door. He helped the children in, and then got in himself, taking his seat on a small box, which was in the front part of the wagon. When all was thus ready, he drove off through the village. In the mean time, at Mr. Keep’s house, when the great shower came on and Mrs. Keep found that Caroline and the children did not return, she felt a great deal of so- licitude about them. She went into her husband’s office, where Mr. Keep was busy writing, to speak to him about it. “ Husband,” said she, “I am afraid the children have got into some difficulty.” “ Yes,” said Mr. Keep, “I presume they have.” “ What shall we do?” said Mrs. Keep. “TI don’t know that there is anything that we can do,” replied Mr. Keep. “They will come home by-and-by, all drenched with the rain, that’s all. There is no other way with such a girl as Caroline, but to let her learn by her own experience.” “ But [ am afraid that they have got into some serious A VOYAGE, 59 Mr. Keep’s composure. The children come home. trouble,” said Mrs. Keep. “ Would it not be best to send for them ?” “T don’t know where we could send,” said Mr. Keep. “ We can’t tell where they have gone. If you think it best, however, I will go and see if I can find anything of them. But I presume that they have run in somewhere out of the rain, and will come home by-and-by, safe enough, only they will, undoubtedly, be muddy and wet from head. to foot.” Mrs. Keep was satisfied that it would do no good to send for the children, but she felt quite uneasy neverthe- less, and went continually to the door, to see if they were coming. She was at last greatly relieved, at seeing Ro- dolphus drive up with them in the wagon, and at finding that they were as dry and as clean as if there had been no shower at all. 60 CAROLINE. Beechnut in Boston. His plans for going home. CHAPTER V. BEECHNUT’S RETURN. Own the morning of the third day after Phonny wrote his composition-letter describing the imaginary fire, which was sent to the post-office by mistake, Beechnut on look- ing out from his window at the hotel where he was lodg- ing in the city, saw that it was raining fast. The first gong had already sounded. In half an kour the gong would sound again, he knew, for breakfast. He dressed himself, thinking, while thus employed, about the busi- ness which he had still to do in the city, and considering whether the rain would prevent his finishing it, and setting out for home the next day, as he had intended todo. He came to the conclusion that he might perhaps get through with his business notwithstanding the storm. Immediately after breakfast he took his umbrella and went out into the street, intending, first of all, according to his usual custom, to go to the post-office. His hotel was at some distance from the post-office. As he came out upon the side-walk from the door of the hotel, he said to himself, thinking, “ Let me see,—shall I walk to the post-office or take an omnibus? Let me calculate a litle. My board at the hotel is two dollars a day. My time in Franconia is worth to Mrs. Henry say one dollar more. So that every day that I stay in Boston, costs her three dollars. Now BEECHNUT’S RETURN. 61 A curious calculation. The omnibus. The boy in the omnibus. how many business hours in a day are there here? I will call it six. Thus every day that I stay here my time costs Mrs. Henry fifty cents an hour. The price of a ride is six cents, the eighth part of half a dollar. There- fore [ had. better ride whenever I can save an eighth part of an hour by it: and that I can do now.” So saying, Beechnut held up his finger to the driver of an omnibus which just then came passing by. The driver reined up his horses, and Beechnut got in. An omnibus is a long carriage with a door and steps leading to it behind. The seats within are along the sides. There are windows too along the sides, but no doors. When Beechnut got into the omnibus he found that it was full of passengers, all excepting one seat near the door, and that seat was occupied by a small boy who was kneeling up upon it, in order that he might look out the window. It was a warm morning though rainy, and the window was open, the wind being on the other side. Omnibuses in cities are almost always full In rainy weather, since many people who like to walk when it is pleasant, are very glad to ride when it rains. This is particularly true in New York, where m rainy weather it is sometimes almost impossible to get a place in an omnibus, or, as they often call it there, a Sus. One day when Beechnut and Phonny were in New York together, and were coming up Broadway in an omnibus, both being jammed up in very close quarters in it, Im one corner, Beechnut amused Phonny by describing the state of things thus : On every wet and ramy day, They crowd the *busses in Broadway, Against all rule ; 62 CAROLINE. Beechnut's poetry. The boy looks out at the window. aeperiny And sometimes when ’tis very showery, Even the rail cars in the Bowery, Get more than full. Phonny had been very impatient and fretfal under the pressure which he endured, but after hearing Beechnut’s poetry he became much more good-natured about it. But to return to the story. A woman who sat next to the boy who was kneeling upon the seat, and who seemed to have the care of him, took hold of him to take him down, in order to make room for Beechnut when she saw him coming in. But Beechnut prevented her. “ Let him stay,” said he. “He likes to look out the window, and I shall have room.” So Beechnut crowded into the place that was left, be- tween the boy and the end of the seat near the door, leaving the boy kneeling where he was, on the seat. The omnibus stopped from time to time as it passed along the street, and various people got out. At last it reached the street which led down to the post-office. Beechnut pulled the string. The omnibus stopped. The woman took the child down from the seat, and prepared. to get out of the omnibus. Beechnut stepped down first, and spread his umbrella. Then he helped the boy down, and afterward the woman. He held his umbrella over them until they reached the side-walk, for the omnibus had stopped in the middle of the street. The woman was young, and she had a very pleasant countenance, but she was very plainly dressed. She thanked Beechnut for his kindness, and then spread her own umbrella over herself and her boy, and Beechnut walked away. Beechnut went down a broad and straight street, lined on both sides with magnificent buildings, and leading to- BEECHNUT’S RETURN. 63 Beechnut goes down State Street. The post-office. The delivery. ward the water. He could see the masts of the ships and other vessels that were lying at the wharves, at the lower end of the street. After passing several granite blocks, consisting of buildings occupied by banks and insurance offices, he came at length to a great door through which a multitude of people were going and coming. Beechnut went in. He found himself in a long and wide passage- way, crowded with people. A great» many were going in. A great many others were coming out. Those that were coming out, generally had newspapers or letters in their hands. The floor of the building was of stone, and. it was extremely wet, being drenched with the drippings of innumerable umbrellas. Beechnut went on, and at length came to a place where the passage-way widened, and where there was a large iron stairway leading to apartments above. Beyond this stairway he passed by a long range of sashes with glass in them like windows,—and on the inside of the sashes, in a room within, were a great many little boxes or pigeon-holes, filled with letters. ‘These were the boxes of the merchants and other residents of Boston—the plan being to put the letters of each merchant, when the mails came in, into his box, and then he could tell by looking through the window, from the passage-way, when there were any letters for him. Beechnut, of course, had no box, and so he went on to another place to get his letters. He came at length to a place beyond the boxes, where there were three small niches or recesses, with a window in each of them. Over the first of these recesses were painted several letiers of the alphabet, namely, those from A to F. The meaning of this was, that all persons 64 CAROLINE. Mode of applying for letters. The column. whose names began with those letters, were to inquire at that window, while those whose names began with any other letters, were to go to the next window. As Beech- nut’s name, Bianchinette, began with B, he went to the first recess. There were a number of men and boys formed in a line here, or rather in a column, waiting for their turns to inquire for letters. The one who was at the head of this column was at the window. Beechnut took his place at the foot of it. The man at the head of the column soon got his letter, and went away. Then the next man went up to the window, and the whole column advanced one step. Thus as fast as those at the head of the column received their letters, the column advanced, while at the same time new-comers were continually joining in at the foot of it. Thus the column continued always of nearly the same length, being kept up by a constant succession of persons going and coming. Pretty soon, Beechnut got up near the window. He could hear the men before him ask for their letters. Those who were accustomed to come to the office, would speak briefly,—simply giving their name; while those who were strangers at the office, usually made a long sentence of it, in speaking to the clerk. For instance, the man who was next but two to Beechnut, put his head to the window and said to the clerk inside, “ Is there any letter here, to-day, for Samuel Thompson ? ” whereas, the man who had preceded him simply said, speaking very distinctly, “ George Jones.” This last was sufficient, for as the clerk within was perfectly aware that nobody came to that window for anything but letters, all that he needed to be informed in respect to each new applicant BEECHNUT’S RETURN. 65 The woman comes. Ladies’ window. The lady gets a letter. that came was the name of the person whose letters he wished to get. As Beechnut was amusing himself in observing these things while waiting his turn, he happened to perceive the woman who had been with him ‘in the omnibus, coming along the passage-way, leading her httle boy by the hand. She looked about, appearing to be a little be- wildered, and seemed not to know where to go. Beechnut immediately left his place in the line, though by so doing he knew very well that he should lose his turn, and be obliged to go to the foot again; but he thought that it would only take him a few minutes to get up to where he was before. So he went to the woman and said to her, “If you came to get-a letter, you must go to the ladies’ window, which is out this way.” So he led the way, and the woman followed. He came presently to a recess similar to the one which he had gone to first himself, only instead of having the letters of the alphabet over it, it had the words LADIES’ WINDOW printed there. “ Would you be so good as to inquire for me?” said the woman. “ Yes,” said Beechnut, “ what is the name ?” “« Mrs. Caroline Keep,” said the woman. Beechnut was very much surprised to hear this name announced. He, however, said nothing, but repeated the name at the little opening in the window, and the clerk inside immediately took down a parcel of letters from a compartment, marked K, and began to look them over. While Beechnut waited to see what the result would be, the woman stood by him, holding her boy by the hand. P 66 CAROLINE. Beechnut’s mode of calling for aletter. He is astonished and alarmed. “ My husband has gone to California,” said she, “ and I expect a letter from him. I had to bring my Ihttle boy with me, because I had nobody to leave him with at home.” Beechnut bad a great desire to know whether this Mrs. Caroline Keep was any relation to his friend Caroline of Franconia, and he was upon the point of asking the question, when the clerk handed him out a letter. Mrs. Keep seized it immediately and said very joyfully, “ Yes, it is from my husband.” Then she thanked Beechnut again for all his kindness, and went away very greatly pleased, as it seemed, with having got a letter. Beechnut then went back to his own window, and took his place as before at the foot of the column. In due time, he made his way up to the window, and when there, instead of calling his name as the others had done, he handed in to the clerk aslip of paper with his name written upon it. This was Beechnut’s usual practice, for his name being a French one, and having, of course a very unusual sound for American ears, it was always the safest and also the most convenient way, both for himself and the clerks, that he should give it to them in writing. The clerk took down a parcel of letters from the com- partment marked B,and very soom gave Beechnut a Jetter. It was the letter which Phonny had written as a composition in Mr. Keep’s office. Beechnut left the letter-window and went across the passage-way to a place where there was a window which looked out into the open air, and there opened his letter and began to read. He was greatly astonished and very much alarmed at reading the account of the fire. Of BEECHNUT’S RETURN. 67 Beechnut takes a hack. Conversation with the hackman. o course, he supposed the account was true. There was nothing either in or about the letter to suggest any other supposition. He was at first somewhat at a loss to know what Phonny meant by saying that his half-hour was not out, but he finally concluded that Mrs. Henry had limited him to half an hour in writing his letter, on account of the closing of the mail. He folded up the letter, put it in his pocket, and walked rapidly along the passage-way among the people that were going and coming. “J must set off for Franconia,” said he, “ by the very first train.” There was a clock at the end of a building which stood at the head of the street in which the post-office was situated. This elock is a very noted time-piece, being: known universally to all the people who frequent that part of the city, as the State Street clock. Beechnut looked up at this clock as soon as he got out upon the side-walk and found that it was half-past eight. “'The train leaves at ten,” said Beechnut, “I have just an hour and a half to do all my business.” He walked rapidly up the street till he came pretty near the head of it, and then turned into another short and narrow street on ‘the left, where he recollected to have seen a hack stand. The hack was there. The horses were standing patiently in the rain, while the hackman, having got inside of his coach, was lying there in a corner fast asleep. Beechnut pulled him and waked him up. “Flow much do you ask for your carriage by the hour ?” said he. “'To ride about town?” asked the man. FZ 68 CAROLINE, Beechnut at the hotel. Settling the bill. “ Yes,” said Beechnut. “ A dollar for the first hour, and seventy-five cents for every hour afterward,” said the hackman. “Well!” said Beechnut. <‘‘ Drive me to the Marlboro’ hotel.” So the driver got out of his hack and Beechnut got in. The driver then pulled out a great cape, made of India- rubber cloth, from under his seat in front of the coach, and after putting it on, he mounted on the box and rode away. The hackman stopped at length at the door of the hotel, Beechnut went up into his room and packed his trank, This was very soon done, and then he came down. to the office and called for his bill. “ Do you leave town this morning, sir?” said the clerk. “Yes,” said Beechnut, “I am going out in the ten o’clock train.” “ Do you wish for a carriage P” said the clerk. “ No, | have a carriage here,” said Beechnut. “Ts your baggage ready ?” “ Yes,” said Beechnut, “ all ready.” Here the clerk called out in a loud voice, “ Baggage in number thirty-seven.” There were several porters sitting on a settee in the office, and as soon as they heard the order of the clerk, one of them went up-stairs to Beechnut’s room and brought down his valise. In the mean time Beechnut paid his bill. He then followed the porter down-stairs to the door. The porter opened the coach door and put Beechnut’s valise inside. Beechnut then got in himself, saying to the driver as he got in, BEECHNUT’S RETURN. 69 Driving about town. The depot. The baggage. “Thirty-three, Kilby-street.” The porter shut the coach door when Beechnut had taken his seat, and then the coachman drove on. Beechnut spent an hour in driving rapidly from place to place about the city, attending to the business which had. been committed to him. At some places he made purchases, and brought out the parcels which contained what he bought and put them into the coach. At other places he left directions to have the goods sent to Fran- conia by express, sometimes because the quantity was too great for him to take along with him, and sometimes be- cause the things could not be got ready in time for him to take them. At length he ordered the hackman to drive him to the railway station, and he reached it just as the first bell was ringing, which was ten minutes before the train was to leave. He bought his ticket at the ticket-office, and then went along with his valise to the place where the baggage was to be checked. There was a preat pile of trunks, carpet- bags, and portmanteaus there, and the baggage-master was attaching checks to them. There was a young girl standing by, with a trunk and a band-box near her, wait- ing for her turn, and looking anxious and. distressed. Beechnut asked. her if he could help her. “T want to get a check for my baggage,” said she, ‘and I am afraid there will not be time; for the bell has rang already.” “Oh yes, there will be time,” said Beechnut. “’'They will not start till all the baggage is taken in. Where are you going P” The girl told Beechnut where she was going, and so 70 CAROLINE. His adventures in getting home, Patent ee Beechnut assists a stranger. Beechnut, taking her trunk and band-box, carried them forward to the baggage-master, and said, «Will you be good enough to check this baggage now ; it is for a lady.” The baggage-master asked him where it was going, and Beechnut told him. The man then selected the proper checks, and fastening one of each on the trunk and on the band-box, by means of a little strap that was attached to the check, he gave the others to Beechnut, and Beechnut gave them to the girl. The girl seemed very much relieved, and immediately went away to get her seat in the car. A moment afterward Beechnut got his own check, and then took his seat in one of the cars. Presently the bell tolled, the whistle sounded, and the whole train began slowly to move out of the station. Beechnut had a great variety of adventures that day, in getting home. The train that he was in was detained for an hour, by some derangement of the machinery, and then, after that, having, by this detention, lost its right to the road, it was detained several times, at various branches, waiting for the other trains. When, at last, Beechnut reached the place where he was to leave the railroad and take the stage, he found that the stage was gone. It was now five o’clock, and he was extremely anxious to get home that night, knowing very well that, after such a fire, his presence at Franconia, at the earliest possible moment, would be very urgently needed. He accordingly hired a wagon to carry him. There was a boy to go, todrive. The distance was only about twenty-five miles, and Beechnut hoped to get home at ten o'clock. He went on, without difficulty, for about ten miles, BEECHNU'T’S RETURN. 71 The boy refuses to go on. Beechnut in difficulty. though the roads were very wet, being everywhere filled with pools and streams of water ; for it had rained incess- antly all the day, and it seemed to rain faster and faster as the night came on. At last, just as it began to grow pretty dark, they came in the wagon to a long low place, near a pond, where the road was overflowed with water for a great distance be- fore them. The boy stopped, and said that he should not dare to go through that water. Beechnut examined the place as well as he could, and thought there was no serious danger; but all his efforts to inspire the boy with courage sufficient to undertake the passage, were vain. The truth was, the boy was beginning to be tired of the dismal expedition that he had been sent upon, and was very glad to have anything occur to release him from the necessity of going on three hours longer in the darkness and rain. He therefore positively refused to go any farther. “Well,” said Beechnut, “I will pay you for what you have done, and you may go back.” So Beechnut paid him the proper proportion of the sum which had been agreed upon for the whole journey, and then got out of the wagon. “ Now,” said he, “ give me my valise.”’ “ But what are you going to do? ” said the boy. “E don’t know,” said Beechnut. “I am going to do something. [ will consider and decide after you have gone.” So the boy turned his wayon round, and bidding Beech- nut good-night, he drove away. Beechnut had his umbrella over his head, and his valise in his hand. He went out to the side of the road, 72 CAROLINE. Beechnut determines to wade through the water. His various preparations. and found a vacant place among some _ bushes, which afforded him a little shelter. It is true it rained as much in that place as in any other, but there was no wind there to drive the rain under the umbrella. Here Beechnut began to undress himself, taking off his clothes with one hand, and holding his umbrella over his head with the other. His valise he had previously put down upon the ground at his feet. As fast as he took his clothes off he folded them up carefully, and put them on his valise. When all his clothes were off, he put his great coat on again, with nothing underneath it. He thought that this coat would be a sufficient protection for him in case he should meet any one coming, and besides, it would keep him from being cold. He supposed that the skirts of his coat would probably get wet, as he waded, but this, he concluded, would be of no great consequence. He could wring them out again, when he got to the other side. After putting on his coat, Beechnut bound his other clothes snugly to his valise by means of two straps which passed over the top of it. He then cut a long staff from the bushes growing near him, and finally, taking up the valise in his hand again, by means of a leather handle that was attached to it in front, he went back to the road, and then began to walk forward into the water, holding his valise in one hand, and his staff and umbrella in the other. It was now quite dark, and as Beechnut went on through the water, he was guided by the reflection of the sky upon it, and by the lines of trees and thickets which rose like dark walls on each side of the road. He kept as nearly as possible in the middle between these bounds. He felt somewhat afraid, but he knew that as it was BEECHNUT’S RETURN. 73 He finds a shelter, The farmer. The rain ceases. a road that he was walking upon, it was not probable that the water would deepen suddenly, and then, besides, his staff, though he was very much encumbered in using it, by having to hold the umbrella in the same hand, was still of some service to him in enabling him to feel his way. He went through the water in this way safely. In fact, he reached the end of it sooner than he had expected, As soon as he came out of the water, he found that by good fortune there was a barn and a shed near, close by the side of the road. Beechnut went in under the shed and put on his clothes a there. The roof of the FORDING shed afforded him a perfect shelter. There was a farm- er’s house a little beyond, and Beechnut, when he was dressed, went to it and applied for a horse and wagon to carry him the rest of the journey. The farmer hesitated about letting his horse go out on such a dark and rainy night. Beechnut told him that he thought it was not going to rain much more. Im fact the rain had then almost entirely ceased, and the farmer, on coming out to the door to look, found that the clouds were breaking away, and in one place the moon was beginning 74. CAROLINE. Beechnnt astonished to see Mrs Henry’s house standing. to shine through. So the farmer harnessed up the horse and carried Beechnut home. When they drove up to Mrs. Henry’s house, , Beech- nut found, to his utter amazement, instead of the melan- choly heap of smoking ruins which he had expected to see, that the house and all the buildings around it were standing safe and sound, just as he had left them a week before. He could scarcely believe his eyes. He could not think it possible that Phonny would have written him such a letter to deceive him, and yet there the buildings stood in all their integrity, with the moon shining upon them as calmly and peacefully as ever. There were no lights visible in the house, for it was very late, and the family had all retired. In fact, it was past midnight. Beechnut paid and dismissed the farmer, and began to consider how he could get in without dis- turbing the family. He went into the barn and got a ladder. He carried this ladder round to the back side of the house, and set it up there against a shed. He mounted to the top of the shed, and walked along upon the roof until he came to a window which opened into his own room. He opened the window as noiselessly as possible, and crept in. He struck a light, made a fire, warmed and dried himself, and then went to bed. By half-past one o’clock he was sound asleep. The next morning, when Phonny came to know that his letter had actually been sent, and learned how much trouble it had occasioned, he was very much concerned. “J did not think there was any harm,” said he, “in making up an imaginary story of a house taking fire.” “There was nothing wrong in doing it,” said Beechnut, BEECHNCUT’S RETURN. 75 Truth and fiction. “and there would have been no harm to come from it, if you made it all imaginary, that is, if it had been some fictitious owse that you had burned down with your fictitious fire. For truth and fiction,” continued Beechnut, “are in some respects like sugar and salt. Each is very good in its place, but it does not do to mix them to- gether.” 76 CAROLINE. a ed ————- Phonny comes to see the valise opened. The skates. CHAPTER VI. THE PARTY. PuHOoNNY always took a great interest in the opening of Beechnut’s trunk or valise whenever Beechnut came back from any of his journeys, for he was almost always sure of finding something to amuse and interest him there. In fact Beechnut often brought some small pre- sents on such occasions. Accordingly, on the morning after Beechnut’s sudden return from Boston, as described in the last chapter, Phonny went into his room before. breakfast, to see what he had brought home. Malleville followed him. She wished to see too. When the children went in, Beechnut was examining the clothes which he had taken off the evening before, to see if they were dry. “ Beechnut,” said Phonny, “when are you going to open your valise P” « Pretty soon,” said Beechnut, “ though there is nothing there that you will wish to see. Except that I have been buying me anew pair of skates.” “ Skates!” said Phomny, “‘ why it is August. It is no time to buy skates in August.” ‘Ah, but I like to be in season with such things,” said Beechnut. “I saw a new kind of skates in Boston, and so 1 bought a pair.” Beechnut was unstrapping his valise as he said this, and doy THE PARTY. 77 a Strange mistake. Beechnut’s surprise. Phonny takes the skates. Phonny stood by anticipating with great interest the moment when the skates should come into view. At length Beechnut opened the valise and-took out a large paper parcel from it. He opened the parcel and took from it a pair of superior skates, highly-finished and full- rigged. Phonny seized one of them while Beechnut held the other. « 'There,” said Beechnut, “that’s what I call a first-rate pair of skates.” As he said this, he applied the skate to his foot by way of showing Phonny what an excellent fit it would be. He found, however, that it was not long enough for his foot by an inch or more. He looked extremely astonished as he made this discovery, and exclaimed in a tone of great apparent disappointment, “ Upon my word, if they are not too small for me. How ridiculous it was in me not to try them on before I bought them.” In the mean time, Phonny, greatly excited, had ap- plied the other skate to his own foot. It fitted him exactly. “Tt is just right for me, Beechnut,” said Phonny. “ Ex- actly right for me,—look !” Beechnut assumed a very comical expression of disap- pointment and chagrin. “'The next time I buy skates,” said he, “I think I shall have sense enough first to try them on.” “ You must let me have them,” said Phonny, “they are just exactly right! see!” “Yes,” said Beechnut, despondingly, “I suppose IL must. They will never be of any use to me.” So Phonny seized the skates and ran off to show them to his mother. 78 CAROLINE. = ent Talk about the party. A new delay in respect to the party. Reason for it. Malleville, not caring much about skates, rernained with Beechnut. “