Rollo at Play; Or, Safe Amusements Read online

  Produced by Rosanna Yuen and PG Distributed Proofreaders

  ROLLO AT PLAY;

  OR,

  SAFE AMUSEMENTS.

  "Now he is standing perfectly still. O, Jonas, come andsee him."]

  ROLLO AT PLAY.

  THE ROLLO SERIES

  IS COMPOSED OF FOURTEEN VOLUMES. VIZ.

  Rollo Learning to Talk. Rollo Learning to Read. Rollo at Work. Rollo at Play. Rollo at School. Rollo's Vacation. Rollo's Experiments.

  Rollo's Museum. Rollo's Travels. Rollo's Correspondence. Rollo's Philosophy--Water. Rollo's Philosophy--Air. Rollo's Philosophy--Fire. Rollo's Philosophy--Sky.

  A NEW EDITION, REVISED BY THE AUTHOR.

  NOTICE TO PARENTS.

  Although this little book, and its fellow, "ROLLO AT WORK," are intendedprincipally as a means of entertainment for their little readers, it ishoped by the writer that they may aid in accomplishing some of thefollowing useful purposes:--

  1. In cultivating _the thinking powers_; as frequent occasions occur, inwhich the incidents of the narrative, and the conversations arising fromthem, are intended to awaken and engage the reasoning and reflectivefaculties of the little readers.

  2. In promoting the progress of children _in reading_ and in knowledgeof language; for the diction of the stories is intended to be often inadvance of the natural language of the reader, and yet so used as to beexplained by the connection.

  3. In cultivating the _amiable and gentle qualities of the heart_. Thescenes are laid in quiet and virtuous life, and the character andconduct described are generally--with the exception of some of theordinary exhibitions of childish folly--character and conduct to beimitated; for it is generally better, in dealing with children, toallure them to what is right by agreeable pictures of it, than toattempt to drive them to it by repulsive delineations of what is wrong.

  CONTENTS.

  ROLLO AT PLAY.

  STORY 1. ROLLO AT PLAY IN THE WOODS.--The Setting out. Bridge-Building.A Visitor. Difficulty. Hearts wrong. Hearts right again.

  STORY 2. THE STEEPLE-TRAP.--The Way to catch a Squirrel. The Way to losea Squirrel. How to keep a Squirrel. Fires in the Woods.

  STORY 3. THE HALO ROUND THE MOON; OR LUCY'S VISIT.--A Round Rainbow. Whoknows best, a Little Boy or his Father! Repentance.

  STORY 4. THE FRESHET.--Maria and the Caravan Small Craft. The Principlesof Order. Clearing up.

  STORY 5. BLUEBERRYING.--Old Trumpeter. Deviation. Little Mosette. Goingup. The Secret out.

  STORY 6. TROUBLE ON THE MOUNTAIN.--Boasting. Getting in Trouble. A Testof Penitence.

  ROLLO AT PLAY IN THE WOODS.

  THE SETTING OUT.

  One pleasant morning in the autumn, when Rollo was about five years old,he was sitting on the platform, behind his father's house, playing. Hehad a hammer and nails, and some small pieces of board. He was trying tomake a box. He hammered and hammered, and presently he dropped his workdown and said, fretfully,

  "O dear me!"

  "What is the matter, Rollo?" said Jonas,--for it happened that Jonas wasgoing by just then, with a wheelbarrow.

  "I wish these little boards would not split so. I cannot make my box."

  "You drive the nails wrong; you put the wedge sides _with_ the grain."

  "The wedge sides!" said Rollo; "what are the wedge sides,--and thegrain? I do not know what you mean."

  But Jonas went on, trundling his wheelbarrow; though he looked round andtold Rollo that he could not stop to explain it to him then.

  Rollo was discouraged about his box. He thought he would look and seewhat Jonas was going to do. Jonas trundled the wheelbarrow along, untilhe came opposite the barn-door, and there he put it down. He went intothe barn, and presently came out with an axe. Then he took the sides ofthe wheelbarrow off, and placed them up against the barn. Then he laidthe axe down across the wheelbarrow, and went into the barn again.Pretty soon he brought out an iron crowbar, and laid that down also inthe wheelbarrow, with the axe.

  Then Rollo called out,

  "Jonas, Jonas, where are you going?"

  "I am going down into the woods beyond the brook."

  "What are you going to do?"

  "I am going to clear up some ground."

  "May I go with you?"

  "I should like it--but that is not for me to say."

  Rollo knew by this that he must ask his mother. He went in and askedher, and she, in return, asked him if he had read his lesson thatmorning. He said he had not; he had forgotten it.

  "Then," said his mother, "you must first go and read a quarter of anhour."

  Rollo was sadly disappointed, and also a little displeased. He turnedaway, hung down his head, and began to cry. It is not strange that hewas disappointed, but it was very wrong for him to feel displeased, andbegin to cry.

  "Come here, my son," said his mother.

  Rollo came to his mother, and she said to him kindly,

  "You have done wrong now twice this morning; you have neglected yourduty of reading, and now you are out of humor with me because I requireyou to attend to it. Now it is _my_ duty not to yield to such feelingsas you have now, but to punish them. So I must say that, instead of aquarter of an hour, you must wait _half_ an hour, before you go outwith Jonas."

  Rollo stood silent a minute,--he perceived that he had done wrong, andwas sorry. He did not know how he could find Jonas in the woods, but hedid not say any thing about that then. He only asked his mother what hemust do for the half hour. She said he must read a quarter of an hour,and the rest of the time he might do as he pleased.

  So Rollo took his book, and went out and sat down upon the platform, andbegan to read aloud. When he had finished one page, which usually took aquarter of an hour, he went in to ask his mother what time it was. Shelooked at the clock, and told him he had been reading seventeen minutes.

  "Is seventeen minutes more than a quarter of an hour, or not so much?"asked Rollo.

  "It is more;--_fifteen_ minutes is a quarter of an hour. Now you may dowhat you please till the other quarter has elapsed."

  Rollo thought he would go and read more. It is true he was tired; but hewas sorry he had done wrong, and he thought that if he read more thanhe was obliged to, his mother would see that he _was_ penitent, and thathe acquiesced in his punishment.

  So he went on reading, and the rest of the half hour passed away veryquickly. In fact, his mother came out before he got up from his reading,to tell him it was time for him to go. She said she was very glad he hadsubmitted pleasantly to his punishment, and she gave him somethingwrapped up in a paper.

  "Keep this till you get a little tired of play, down there, and then sitdown on a log and open it."

  Rollo wondered what it was. He took it gladly, and began to go. But in aminute he turned round and said,

  "But how shall I find Jonas?"

  "What is he doing?" said his mother.

  "He said he was going to clear up some land."

  "Then you will hear his axe. Go down to the edge of the woods andlisten, and when you hear him, call him. But you must not go into thewoods unless you hear him."