Rollo's Museum

ORGANIZATION.

James and Lucy staid and took tea with Rollo that evening; and, during tea time, Rollo's father and mother were talking, and the boys were all still. At last, just before they had finished their supper, Rollo's father asked them how they had got along collecting curiosities.

"O, we had a very good time," said Rollo, "till we came to put our curiosities away; and then we should have had a good time if the boys had not pushed so, and made such a noise."

"What made them do so?" asked his mother.

"I don't know, unless it was because we did not have any regent."

"Any what?" said his father.

"Any regent," said Rollo. "We had Lucy for a regent while we were walking, and then we got along very well; but she would not be regent any longer, when we got home."

Rollo's father and mother scarcely knew what to make of this; for they had never heard before of a regent in children's plays. But as they looked towards Mary, and observed that she was smiling, they at once understood that it was one of her plans. Rollo's father said he thought it was an excellent idea.

"But why did not you have a regent when you were putting your things away, just as you had before?" he asked.

"Why, Lucy said she was only chosen for the walk."

"And so she would not serve any longer?"

"No, sir."

"That was right, Lucy. Never attempt to command without a commission.

"But, Rollo," added his father, "I should think it would be best for you to have some sort of organization, if you are going to attempt to do any thing in company. Men never think that they can accomplish any thing in company, without organization; and I should certainly think that children would not be able to."

"Organization?" said Rollo; "what is that?"

"Why, some plan for investing some persons with authority. There must always be authority to decide little questions without debate, and for getting the opinions of all, on great questions, regularly.

"If a number of men," he continued, "were going to form a cabinet of curiosities, they would form a society. They would choose one to be president, and one to be secretary, and one to be cabinet keeper."

"What does the president do?" asked Lucy.

"The president decides who shall speak, when several want to speak at the same time; and so he prevents all confusion. Nobody must speak without his leave."

"Do they have to ask him?" said Rollo.

"Yes, in fact, they ask him, though not formally in words. They ask him by rising. In large meetings among men, whoever wants to speak, stands up, and then the president calls their name, and that is giving him permission to speak. If more than one stand up at a time, then he calls the name of one of them, and he has leave to speak, and the other must sit down."

"Which one does he call?" asked Rollo.

"The one whom he happens to notice first. He must be careful not to call his friends more than he does other persons. He must be impartial. Then, besides, the president puts the question."

"Puts the question?" asked Rollo; "what is putting the question?"

"Why, after all has been said about the plan that they want to say, the president asks all that are in favor of it, to hold up their hands; and he counts them. Then he asks all that are against it to hold up their hands. He counts these too. And it is decided according to the number of votes."

"Is that the way they do?" said Rollo.

"Yes," replied his father, "that is the way that men do; but boys all talk together, and dispute. If some want to play ball, and some want to play horses, they all talk together, and dispute; it is all,-'I say we will,' and 'I say we won't,'-and those that make the most noise get the victory."

"The men's way is the best," said Rollo.

"I think so myself," replied his father.

"And what does the secretary do?" asked Mary.

"The secretary keeps the record. He writes an account of every meeting."

"Does he write all that every body says?" asked Rollo.

"No," said his father, "only the decisions."

"Well," said Rollo, with a tone of satisfaction, "and the cabinet keeper keeps the cabinet, I suppose."

"Yes," said his father, "and so all disputings about where the things are to be placed in the cabinet, are avoided; for he decides the whole. He must be a person of judgment and skill."

"Jonas would be a good cabinet keeper for us," said Rollo.

"I think you had better form a regular society, Rollo," said Mary.

"Well," said Rollo, "will you belong to it?"

"Yes," said Mary.

"And we can choose our officers by lilac ballots," said James.

"We'll have the first meeting to-morrow afternoon," said Rollo. "I will go in the morning, and ask Henry to come,-if mother will let me."

* * * * *

His mother did let him, and the next afternoon the children all collected in the yard, intending to form their society, and proceed regularly. Mary promised to meet with them, and help them make their arrangements. They were to meet in the play room.

Before the time of the meeting, Mary went in, and, with Rollo's help, made some seats of boards, not far from the cabinet, so that all the members of the society might sit down. The children played about in the yard, some gathering lilac leaves for ballots, and some talking about the curiosities they meant to collect, until, at length, Mary came down and told them it was time to go and have their meeting. She had a great many little papers in one hand, and some pencils in the other. James asked her what she was going to do with those papers. She said they were for ballots.

"O, we have been getting lilac leaves for ballots," said Lucy.

"Papers are better," said Mary, "when there is a good deal of balloting to be done."

Then the children threw down the lilac leaves they had gathered, and followed Mary into the play room. They all came around the cabinet, and began to open it and talk about the curiosities. But Mary told them that, if they were going to have a society, they must not touch the cabinet until they had appointed a cabinet keeper-they ought all to go and sit down.

So they went and sat down.

"And now you must not talk at all, until the president is chosen," said Mary. "You must all write upon these papers the name of the person you think best for president, and then bring them to me. You see," she continued, as she distributed the papers around, to the other children, "that I am acting as president just now, until we get one chosen. That is the way men do. I asked father about it. He said that the oldest person, or one of the oldest, generally took charge of the proceedings, until a chairman was chosen."

"A chairman?" said Rollo.

[Illustration]

"Yes, or president; sometimes they call him a chairman."

So the children took their papers, and began to prepare for writing their ballots.

"What shall we put our papers on, cousin Mary, to write?" said Lucy.

"O, you must write on the seat by the side of you,-or on this book; here is a book for one."

"I can write on my cap," said James; and he placed his cap upon his knees, and began to use that for a desk. One of the children took the book, and others leaned over to one side, and put their papers upon the seat, and prepared to write there. Some began to write very soon. Others looked around mysteriously, considering which one of the company would make the best president. Henry stood up by the great work bench, and made that his writing-desk; keeping a sharp look-out all the time lest Rollo should see what he should write. And thus the children prepared their votes for president.

When the votes were all ready, the children brought them all together to Mary, who put them on the corner of the great bench near which she was standing; and the children all came up around them, to see who was chosen.

But Mary gently put her hand over the votes, and told them that that was not the way to count votes. "You must all go and sit down again," she said, "and appoint some one to count them; and then he or she must come alone, and look them over and tell you who is chosen."

"Well," said the children; and so they went back to their seats.

"I propose that Henry count them," said Mary.

"Well," said the children.

"No, let James," said Rollo.

"That is not right, Rollo," said Mary, "because it is of very little consequence who counts the votes, and in societies the best way is to let things that are of little consequence go according to the first proposal. That saves time."

So Henry came up, and began to look over the votes.

"They are all for Mary but one, and that is for Lucy," said Henry.

"Then cousin Mary is president," said James, clapping his hands.

"Yes," said Mary, "it seems you have chosen me president; and I will be president for a time, until I think that some of the rest of you have learned how to preside, and then I shall resign, and leave you to manage your society yourselves. Now you must write the votes for secretary." So Mary took her seat in the chair which she had provided for the president, and which, until this time, had been empty.

So the children began to write votes again, and as fast as they had written them they brought them to Mary, and dropped them in her lap. As soon as each one had put in his vote, he went back and took his seat. When the votes were all in, Mary looked them over, and said,

"There are two votes for Lucy, and one for Rollo, and one for Henry."

"Then Lucy is chosen secretary," said James.

"No," said Mary, "because she has only half. The person that is chosen must have more than half of all the votes. Lucy has two, and there are two scattering."

"Scattering!" said Rollo, looking somewhat puzzled.

"Yes; that is, for other persons."

"What shall we do, then?" said Rollo.

"Why, you must vote again."

So the children wrote votes again, and brought them in to the president. She smiled as she looked them over. Then she said,

"Now there is a tie."

"A tie, Mary!" said Rollo; "what is a tie?"

"Why, there are two votes for Rollo, and two for Lucy; that makes it exactly balanced, and they call that a tie."

"And now what shall we do with the tie?" said Rollo.

"Why, you must vote again."

Just as the children were preparing to vote again, they heard a noise of footsteps at the door, and, looking up, they saw Nathan coming in. He had his little straw hat upon his head, and his whip in his hand. He was playing market-man, and wanted to know if they wished to buy any potatoes.

The children all laughed. Mary said, "No, Thanny, this is a society; come, don't you want to belong to the society?"

"Yes," said Nathan; and down went his whip upon the floor, and he came trotting along towards Mary. Mary told him to sit down upon the seat next to Rollo.

Nathan took his seat, and began to look around with an air of great curiosity, wondering what they were going to do; and by this time the votes were ready. Mary looked them over and counted them, and then said that they were just as they were before, two for Rollo, and two for Lucy.

"What shall we do now?" said Rollo.

"We must vote again," said James.

"That won't do any good," said Henry.

"There's Thanny," said Lucy; "let him vote."

"Well," said Mary, "and that will break the tie."

"O, Thanny can't vote," said Rollo; "he can't write a word."

"He can vote without writing," said Mary. "Thanny, come here. Which do you think will make the best secretary, Rollo, or Lucy?"

"Why-Lucy," said Thanny, after some hesitation.

"Lucy, he says; so Lucy is chosen," said Mary. "Now, Lucy, you must be secretary; but I forgot to bring out some paper."

Rollo looked a little disappointed. He had hoped to have been secretary himself. So when Nathan came back to his seat, he began to punch him a little, good-naturedly, with his thumb, saying, "Me -why didn't you say me, Thanny? Hey, Thanny! Why did not you say me?"

Just then, Mary asked Rollo to go into the house and get a sheet of paper for the secretary; and when he came back, Lucy asked her what she should write. Mary gave her the necessary directions, and then Lucy went to the bench, and standing there, near the president's chair, she went on writing the record, while the rest of the society proceeded with their business. The next thing was to choose a cabinet keeper.

"You may prepare your votes for cabinet keeper."

"I think Jonas would be the best cabinet keeper," said Henry; "he made the cabinet."

"O, Jonas does not belong to the society," said Rollo.

"But we can let him in," said Lucy.

"No, he can't belong to the society," said Rollo; "he has too much work to do."

The fact was, that Rollo wanted to be cabinet keeper himself, and so he was opposed to any arrangement which would be likely to result in the election of Jonas. But Mary said that it was not necessary that any one should be a member of the society, in order to be chosen cabinet keeper. She said he might be chosen, if the children thought best, even if he was not a member. "But then," said she, "you must consider all the circumstances, and vote for the one who, you honestly think, will take the best care of the curiosities, and arrange them best."

The children then wrote their ballots, and brought them to Mary. Mary asked Lucy to count them. Lucy said she had not written her vote herself yet.

"Well, write it quick then," said Mary.

"But I can't think," said Lucy, "whether I had better vote for Jonas or Rollo."

"Well," said Mary, "you have only to consider whether it will be best for the museum to be in Jonas's hands, or in Rollo's."

"But I have been thinking," said Lucy, "that it is all Rollo's plan, and his museum; and that he ought to be cabinet keeper, if he wants to be."

"There is something in that," said Mary; "though generally, in choosing officers, we ought to act for the good of the society, not for the good of the officers."

"But it is my cabinet," said Rollo; "Jonas made it for me."

"That may be," said Mary; "that is, it may have been yours at the beginning; but when you invite us all to come and form a society, you give up your claim to it, and it comes to belong to the society; at any rate, the right to manage it belongs to the society, and we must do what will be best for the whole."

Rollo did not look very much pleased at these remarks of his sister's; but Lucy immediately wrote her vote, and put it with the others. She then examined and counted them, and immediately afterwards, she said there were three votes for Jonas, and one for Rollo. So Jonas was chosen. The children did not know who wrote the vote which was given for Rollo; but the fact was, he wrote it himself. He wanted to be cabinet keeper very much indeed.