



Produced by Rosanna Yuen and PG Distributed Proofreaders




ROLLO AT PLAY;

OR,

SAFE AMUSEMENTS.

[Illustration: "Now he is standing perfectly still. O, Jonas, come and
see 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 intended
principally as a means of entertainment for their little readers, it is
hoped by the writer that they may aid in accomplishing some of the
following useful purposes:--

1. In cultivating _the thinking powers_; as frequent occasions occur, in
which the incidents of the narrative, and the conversations arising from
them, are intended to awaken and engage the reasoning and reflective
faculties of the little readers.

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

3. In cultivating the _amiable and gentle qualities of the heart_. The
scenes are laid in quiet and virtuous life, and the character and
conduct described are generally--with the exception of some of the
ordinary exhibitions of childish folly--character and conduct to be
imitated; for it is generally better, in dealing with children, to
allure them to what is right by agreeable pictures of it, than to
attempt 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 lose
a Squirrel. How to keep a Squirrel. Fires in the Woods.

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

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

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

STORY 6. TROUBLE ON THE MOUNTAIN.--Boasting. Getting in Trouble. A Test
of 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. He
had a hammer and nails, and some small pieces of board. He was trying to
make a box. He hammered and hammered, and presently he dropped his work
down and said, fretfully,

"O dear me!"

"What is the matter, Rollo?" said Jonas,--for it happened that Jonas was
going 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 the
grain? I do not know what you mean."

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

Rollo was discouraged about his box. He thought he would look and see
what Jonas was going to do. Jonas trundled the wheelbarrow along, until
he came opposite the barn-door, and there he put it down. He went into
the barn, and presently came out with an axe. Then he took the sides of
the wheelbarrow off, and placed them up against the barn. Then he laid
the axe down across the wheelbarrow, and went into the barn again.
Pretty soon he brought out an iron crowbar, and laid that down also in
the 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 asked
her, and she, in return, asked him if he had read his lesson that
morning. He said he had not; he had forgotten it.

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

Rollo was sadly disappointed, and also a little displeased. He turned
away, hung down his head, and began to cry. It is not strange that he
was disappointed, but it was very wrong for him to feel displeased, and
begin 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 your
duty of reading, and now you are out of humor with me because I require
you to attend to it. Now it is _my_ duty not to yield to such feelings
as you have now, but to punish them. So I must say that, instead of a
quarter of an hour, you must wait _half_ an hour, before you go out
with Jonas."

Rollo stood silent a minute,--he perceived that he had done wrong, and
was sorry. He did not know how he could find Jonas in the woods, but he
did not say any thing about that then. He only asked his mother what he
must 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, and
began to read aloud. When he had finished one page, which usually took a
quarter of an hour, he went in to ask his mother what time it was. She
looked 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 do
what you please till the other quarter has elapsed."

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

So he went on reading, and the rest of the half hour passed away very
quickly. 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 had
submitted pleasantly to his punishment, and she gave him something
wrapped up in a paper.

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

Rollo wondered what it was. He took it gladly, and began to go. But in a
minute 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 and
listen, and when you hear him, call him. But you must not go into the
woods unless you hear him."



BRIDGE BUILDING

Rollo went on, down the green lane, till he came to the turn-stile, and
then went through into the field. He then followed a winding path until
he came to the edge of the trees, and there stopped to listen.

He heard the brook gurgling along over the stones, and that was all at
first; but presently he began to hear the strokes of an axe. He called
out as loud as he could,

"Jonas! Jonas!"

But Jonas did not hear.

Then he walked along the edge of the woods till he came nearer the place
where he heard the axe. He found here a little opening among the trees
and bushes, so that he could look in. He saw the brook, and over beyond
it, on the opposite bank, was Jonas, cutting down a small tree.

So Rollo walked on until he came to the brook, and then asked Jonas how
he should get over. The brook was pretty wide and deep.

Jonas said, if he would wait a few minutes, he would build him a bridge.

"_You_ cannot build a bridge," said Rollo.

"Wait a little and see."

So Rollo sat down on a mossy bank, and Jonas, having cut down the small
tree, began to work on a larger one that stood near the bank.

After he had cut a little while, Rollo asked him why he did not begin
the bridge.

"I am beginning it," said he.

Rollo laughed at this, but in a minute Jonas called to him to stand
back, away from the bank; and then, after a few strokes more, the top of
the tree began to bend slowly over, and then it fell faster and faster,
until it came down with a great crash, directly across the brook.

"There!" said Jonas, "there is your bridge."

Rollo looked at it with astonishment and pleasure.

"Now," said Jonas, "I will come and help you over."

"No," said Rollo, "I can come over myself. I can take hold of the
branches for a railing."

So Rollo began to climb along the stem of the tree, holding on
carefully by the branches. When he reached the middle of the stream, he
stopped to look down into the water.

"This is a capital bridge of yours, Jonas," said he. "How beautiful the
water looks down here! O, I see a little fish! He is swimming along by a
great rock. Now he is standing perfectly still. O, Jonas, come and see
him."

"No," said Jonas, "I must mind my work."

After a little time, Rollo went carefully on over the bridge, and sat
down on the bank of the brook. But he did not have with him the parcel
his mother gave him. He had left it on the other side.

After he had watched the fishes, and thrown pebble-stones into the brook
some time, he began to be tired, and he asked Jonas what he had better
do.

"I think you had better build a wigwam."

"A wigwam? What is a wigwam?" said Rollo.

"It is a little house made of bushes such as the Indians live in."

"O, I could not make a house," said Rollo.

"I think you could if I should tell you how, and help you a little."

"But you say _you_ must mind your work."

"Yes,--I can mind my work and tell you at the same time."

Rollo thought he should like to build a wigwam very much. Jonas told him
the first thing to be done was to find a good place, where the ground
was level. Rollo looked at a good many places, but at last chose a
smooth spot under a great oak tree, which Jonas said he was not going to
cut down. It was near a beautiful turn in the brook, where the water was
very deep.

Jonas told him that the first thing was to make a little stake, and
drive it down in the middle of his wigwam-ground. Then Rollo recollected
that he had left his hatchet over on the other side of the brook,
together with the parcel his mother gave him; and he was going over to
get them, when Jonas told him he would trim up the bridge a little, and
then he could go over more easily.

So Jonas went upon the bridge, and began to cut away the branches that
were in the way, leaving enough on each side to take hold of, and to
keep Rollo from falling in. Rollo could then go back and forth easily.
He held on with one hand, and carried his hatchet in the other. Then he
went over again, and brought his parcel, and laid it down near the great
oak tree.

Then he made a little stake, and drove it down in the middle of the
wigwam-ground. Then he asked Jonas what he must do next.

"That is the centre of your wigwam; now you must strike a circle around
it."

"What?" said Rollo.

"Don't you know how to strike a circle?" said Jonas.

Rollo said he did not, and then Jonas told him to do exactly as he
should say, and that would show him.

"First," said Jonas, "have you got a string?"

Rollo felt in his pockets in vain, but he recollected his little parcel,
which was tied with a piece of twine, and held it up to ask Jonas if
that would do. Jonas said it would, and told him to take it off
carefully, and tie one end of it to his centre stake.

And Rollo did so.

"Now," said Jonas, "make another little sharp stake for the marker, and
tie the other end of the twine to that, near the sharp end."

Rollo worked busily for some time, and then called out,

"Jonas, it is done."

All this time, Jonas was at work in the bushes, at a little distance. He
now came to Rollo's wigwam-ground, and took hold of the marker, and held
it off as far from the middle stake as it would go, and then began to
make a mark on the ground all around the middle stake. Now, as the
marker was tied to the middle stake by the string, the mark was equally
distant from the middle stake in every part, and that made it exactly
round. Then Jonas laid down the marker, and pulled out the middle stake;
and they looked down and saw that there was a round mark on the ground,
about as large as a cart-wheel.

Then Jonas took the crowbar, and made deep holes all around, in this
circle, so far apart that Rollo could just step from one to the other.
But Rollo could not understand how he could make a house so.

"I will tell you," said Jonas. "You must now go and get some large
branches of trees, and trim off the twigs from the lower end, and stick
them down in these, holes. I will show you how."

So Jonas took a large bough, and trimmed the large end, and sharpened it
a little, and then he fixed it down in one of these holes, in such a
manner that the top of it bent over towards the middle of the circle;
then he went back to his work, leaving Rollo to go on with the wigwam.



A VISITOR.

Rollo put down two or three branches very well, and was very much
delighted at seeing it gradually begin to look like a house, when he
thought he heard a voice. He listened a moment, and heard some one at a
distance calling, "Rol--lo. Rol--lo."

Rollo dropped his hatchet, and looked in the direction that the sound
came from, and called out as loud as he could, "What!"

"Where--are--you?" was heard in reply.

Rollo answered, "_Here_," and then immediately clambered along over the
bridge, and ran through the woods until he came out into the open field;
and there he saw a small boy, away off at a distance, just coming
through the turn-stile.

It was his cousin James. It seems that James had come to play with him
that day, and Rollo's mother had directed him down towards the woods.

James came running along towards Rollo, holding up something round and
bright, in each hand. They were half dollars.

"Where did you get them?" said Rollo.

"One is for you, and one is for me," said James. "Uncle George sent them
to us."

"What a beautiful little eagle!" said Rollo, as he looked at one side of
his half dollar; "I wish I could get it off and keep it separate."

"O no," said James, "that would spoil your half dollar."

"Why, they would know it was a half dollar by the letters and the head
on the other side. What a pretty thin eagle! How do you suppose they
fasten it on so strong?"

James said he thought he could get it off; so they went and sat down on
a smooth log, that was lying on the ground, and laid Rollo's half dollar
on the log. Then he took a pin, and tried to drive the point of it under
the eagle's head, with a small stone. But the eagle would not move. They
only made some little marks and scratches on the silver.

"Never mind," said Rollo; "I will keep it as it is." So he took his half
dollar, and they walked along towards the brook.

They showed their money to Jonas, and told him that they had tried to
get the eagle off. He smiled at this. The boys went back soon to the
wigwam, and James said he would help Rollo finish it. While they were at
work they put their money on a large flat stone, on the brink of the
brook. They fixed a great many boughs into their wigwam, weaving them
in all around, and thus made a very pleasant little house, leaving a
place for a door in front. When they were tired, they went and opened
Rollo's little package, and found a fine luncheon in it of bread and
butter and pie; which they ate very happily together, sitting on little
hemlock branches in the wigwam.



DIFFICULTY.

After their luncheon, the boys began to talk about the best place for a
window for the wigwam.

"I think we will have it _this_ side, towards the brook," said James,
"and then we can look out to the water."

"No," said Rollo, "it will be better to have it _here_, towards where
Jonas is working, and then we can look out and see him."

"No," said James, "that