



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