Rollo's Museum

CAUGHT,-AND GONE AGAIN.

Rollo was sadly disappointed at not being chosen cabinet keeper. Older and wiser persons than he have often been greatly vexed from similar causes. When the society meeting was ended, Mary told Lucy that she must tell Jonas that they had chosen him cabinet keeper, for she was secretary, and it was the secretary's duty to do that. Mary then went into the house. The children gathered around the cabinet, and began to look at the things which had been put in the day before. Rollo undertook to arrange one of the shelves differently from what it had been; but Henry told him he must not touch the things, for Jonas was cabinet keeper, and nobody but the cabinet keeper had any right to touch the things.

"O, I am only going to change them a little," said Rollo.

"But you have no right to touch them at all," said Henry, pushing Rollo back a little.

"Yes, I have," said Rollo, standing stiffly, and resisting Henry's push. "It's my cabinet, and I have a right to do what I please with it."

"No, it is not your cabinet," said Henry; "it belongs to the society."

"No, it doesn't," said Rollo.

"It does," said Henry.

Rollo was wrong-and, in fact, Henry was wrong. In disputes, it almost always happens that both boys are wrong. Lucy stood by, looking distressed. She was very sorry to have any disputing about the cabinet.

"O, never mind, Henry," said she; "let him move them. Jonas will put them all right afterwards."

"No," said Rollo, "I am going to keep the cabinet myself."

This was not at all like Rollo, to be so unreasonable and angry. But Henry's roughness had irritated and vexed him, and that, in connection with his own determination to keep the charge of his cabinet, had got him into a very wrong state of mind.

Lucy did not know what to do. She walked slowly along to the door, and after standing there a moment, while Rollo was at work upon the cabinet, she said,

"O, here comes Jonas, now."

James and Henry ran to the door, and, as they saw Jonas walking up the lane, they ran towards him, followed by Lucy, and they all began eagerly to tell him about the society, and about his having been chosen cabinet keeper. Lucy came up to them before they had finished their account; and as they had all turned round when they met Jonas, they came walking along together towards the house. James and Henry talked very fast and eagerly. They told Jonas about the society, and about their having chosen Mary president, and Lucy secretary, and him cabinet keeper. When they had finished their account, Lucy added, in a desponding tone,

"Only Rollo says he means to be cabinet keeper."

"Does he?" said Jonas.

"Yes," replied Henry. "He says you made the cabinet for him, and he will have it."

"O, well," said Jonas, "let him be cabinet keeper; he will make a very good cabinet keeper."

"No," said James, "we want you to be cabinet keeper. We chose you."

They saw Rollo at the door of the barn, looking at them, but not very good-naturedly. When they came up, Lucy said,

"Come, Rollo, let Jonas be cabinet keeper; that's a good boy."

"No," said Rollo, "it's my cabinet, and I mean to keep it myself."

"Then we won't help you get the curiosities," said Henry.

"I don't care," said Rollo.

"And we won't have any society," added James,-thinking that that threat would compel Rollo to give up.

But Rollo only said,

"I don't care; I don't want any society. I can make a museum myself."

There is no doubt, but that many of the readers of this book will wonder that Rollo should have acted in this manner. And yet they themselves act in just such a way when they allow themselves to get out of temper. It is very dangerous to allow ourselves to become vexed and angry. We then do and say the most unreasonable things, without being aware, ourselves, of their unreasonableness and folly. Rollo himself did not know how his conduct appeared to the other children, and how it sunk him in their good opinion.

Rollo would have had a miserable time in attempting to make a collection of curiosities alone. He would very soon have got tired of it, and have abandoned the plan altogether. It happened, however, that some circumstances occurred to prevent the consequences that his ill humor and obstinacy came so near occasioning.

Henry and James, finding that Rollo would not give up the cabinet to Jonas's care, considered the plan of the society abandoned, and went to play in the yard. Lucy went into the house to find her cousin Mary. Rollo remained at the cabinet for some time, but he found it very dull amusement to work there alone; besides, he heard the other boys' voices out in the yard, and before long he began to feel a strong desire to go and see what they were doing. He accordingly went to the door of the barn. He saw that Henry and James had got a log of wood out, and had placed a board across it, for a see-saw. Rollo slowly walked along towards them.

Henry saw him gradually approaching, and so he whispered, or rather spoke in a low tone to James, saying,

"Here comes Rollo, James; don't let's let him get on our see-saw."

But James felt in more of a forgiving mood than Henry. He did not like quarrelling, and he knew very well that peace-makers must be prepared to yield and forbear, even if they had not been themselves in the wrong. So he said,

"O, yes, Henry, let him have a ride. He may get on my end.

"Rollo," he added, calling to Rollo, as he came up, "do you want to see-saw? You may have my end."

Rollo did not quite expect this gentle treatment, and it made him feel a little ashamed. He, however, took James's place, but he did not feel quite easy there. He knew it was a place that he did not deserve. Pretty soon he proposed that they should all go after raspberries down the lane.

"Well," said Henry, "and I'll go and get my dipper."

"Your dipper?" said Rollo.

"Yes," said Henry, "I brought a dipper."

Henry then went to a wood pile which was lying in the yard, and, looking behind it, among the logs, he drew out a small tin dipper, and showed it to Rollo.

"O, I wish I had a dipper to carry!" said Rollo. "It is better than a basket."

Rollo went into the house, and presently returned bringing two small baskets.

"One for me?" said James, interrogatively, holding out his hand.

"Yes," said Rollo.

"Give me the other," said Henry, "and you shall have my dipper."

"Well," said Rollo.

"I should rather have a basket," said James.

"No," said Rollo, "I think a dipper is better. I can get some drink with it, if we come to any brook."

"But you must give me some drink out of the dipper, if I want any," said Henry-

"Well," said Rollo, "I will."

"Though I can drink without a dipper," said Henry.

"How?" said Rollo.

"O, I can get a piece of elder, and punch out the pith, and that will make a hollow reed; and I can draw up the water through that into my mouth."

By this time, Rollo and Henry had exchanged the basket and the dipper, and they were all walking along together. Rollo told the boys of several other reasons why he would rather have the dipper on such an expedition; but Henry preferred the basket, and so all were satisfied.

They went on down the lane. The berries were very thick. The boys ate a great many, and they filled their baskets, and the dipper besides. When they reached the bottom of the lane, Rollo proposed that they should go on, through the woods, to the brook. They liked the plan. They accordingly hid their baskets under the fence, heaping full of raspberries. Rollo said that he should take his dipper with him, so as to get a drink at the brook.

"But you can't use it to get a drink," said Henry; "it is full of raspberries."

Rollo had not thought of this difficulty. He walked slowly along, with the other boys, a few minutes, looking somewhat foolish; but in a moment he said he meant to eat his raspberries up, and then his dipper would be empty when he should get to the brook.

So he began to eat them. The other boys wanted some of them, and he gave them some, on condition that they should help him fill up his dipper again, when they returned up the lane on their way home. They assented to this condition, and so the boys walked along, eating the raspberries together, in great harmony.

They rambled about in the woods, for some time, meeting with various adventures, until they reached the brook. Neither of the boys were thirsty, not even Rollo; but still he took a drink from the brook, for the sake of using the dipper. He then amused himself, for some time, in trying to scoop up skippers and roundabouts, but without much success. The skippers and roundabouts have both been mentioned before. The latter were a sort of bugs, which had a remarkable power of whirling round and round with the greatest rapidity, upon the surface of the water. While Rollo was endeavoring to entrap some of these animals, the other boys were picking up pebbles, or gathering flowers, until at length their attention was suddenly arrested by a loud and long exclamation of surprise and pleasure from Rollo.

"What?" said Henry and James, looking towards Rollo.

They saw that he was standing at the edge of the water, gazing eagerly into his dipper.

"What is it?" said the boys, running towards him.

"I have caught a little fish," said Rollo.

True enough, Rollo had caught a little fish. It was very small, and, as it had been swimming about there, Rollo had, probably more by accident than skill, got him into his dipper, and there he was safely imprisoned.

"O, what a splendid little fellow!" said Henry, crowding his head in between Rollo's and James's, over the dipper. "See his fins!"

"Yes," said Rollo. "It is a trout,-a little trout."

"See his eyes!" said James. "How he swims about! What are you going to do with him, Rollo?"

"O, I shall carry him home, and keep him."

"O, you can't keep him," said James; "you have not got any pond."

"Never mind," said Rollo, "I can keep him in a bowl in the house."

"What shall you give him to eat?" said James.

"Eat! fishes never eat; they only drink. I shall give him fresh water every day, and that will keep him alive."

"They do eat, too," said James. "They eat bait off of the hooks when we fish for them."

Rollo had forgotten this fact when he said that fishes never ate; and, having nothing to say in reply to it, now, he was silent, and only looked at his fish.

"O, I wish I had a fish!" said Henry. "If I had kept my dipper, now, I might have had one."

"I don't believe you could have caught one," said Rollo.

"Yes, I could; and I believe I will take my dipper, after all, and catch me a fish."

"No," said Rollo, "you lent me the dipper, and I lent you my basket instead; and now I must keep it till we get home."

"No," said Henry, "it is my dipper, and I only lent it to you; and I have a right to it whenever I want it. So you must give it to me."

But Rollo was very far from being convinced that he ought to give back the dipper then. He had borrowed it, he said, for the whole expedition, and he had a right to keep it till he got home. Besides, he had a fish in it, and there was nothing that he could do with him, if Henry took away the dipper.

But Henry said he did not think of catching a little fish in his dipper, when he lent it to Rollo. If he had, he should not have lent it to him. He only lent it to him to get raspberries in. But Rollo insisted that he had lent it to him for the whole expedition, and to put any thing in it he pleased.

After some time spent in this discussion, Rollo finally yielded. He was, in fact, somewhat ashamed of the part he had taken in the former difficulty, and had secretly resolved to be more good-natured and yielding in future. So he gave the dipper back to Henry.

Before he did this, however, Henry said that he would be very careful not to lose Rollo's fish.

"I will only dip the dipper in again," said he, "very carefully, to catch another fish, without letting yours get out. Then we can carry both to your house, and put yours in the bowl; and then I can carry mine home in the dipper."

So Rollo gave the dipper back to Henry, though very reluctantly.

Henry carried it carefully down to the bank of the brook. He stood upon a little sloping shore of sand and pebbles, and began to watch for the little minnows which were swimming about in the deep places. He immersed his dipper partially in the water, being very careful not to plunge it in entirely, lest Rollo's fish should escape. Whenever he made an attempt, however, to catch a fish, he was obliged to plunge it in; but he did it very quick, so as not to give the prisoner, already taken, time to escape.

At last, a fish, larger than any he had seen, came moving slowly along, out from a deep place under a large log, which lay imbedded in the bank. Henry made a sudden plunge after him. He drew up his dipper again, confident that he had caught him; but, on looking into the dipper, no fish was to be seen. The bird in the hand, and the bird in the bush, were both gone.

The boys tried for a long time, in vain, to catch another fish. Rollo was sadly disappointed at the loss of the one he had caught, but there was now no help for it; and so they all slowly returned home together.