As they were going home, his father said,
"That was a very pretty wheelbarrow, Rollo, I think myself."
"Yes, it was beautiful, father. It was so light, and went so easy! I wishyou would buy me one, father."
"I would, my son, but I think a wheelbarrow will give you more pleasure atsome future time, than it will now."
"When do you mean?"
"When you have learned to work."
"But I want the wheelbarrow to _play_ with."
"I know you do; but you would take a great deal more solid and permanentsatisfaction in such a thing, if you were to use it for doing some usefulwork."
"When shall I learn to work, father?" said Rollo.
"I have been thinking that it is full time now. You are about six yearsold, and they say that a boy of _seven_ years old is able to earn hisliving."
"Well, father, I wish you would teach me to work. What should you dofirst?"
"The first lesson would be to teach you to do some common, easy work,_steadily_."
"Why, father, I can do that now, without being taught."
"I think you are mistaken about that. A boy works steadily when he goesdirectly forward in his work, without stopping to rest, or to contrive newways of doing it, or to see other people, or to talk. Now, do you thinkyou could work steadily an hour, without stopping for any of thesereasons?"
"Why--yes," said Rollo.
"I will try you to-morrow," said his father.
The Old Nails.
The next morning, after breakfast, Rollo's father told him he was readyfor him to go to his work. He took a small basket in his hand, and ledRollo out into the barn, and told him to wait there a few minutes, and hewould bring him something to do.
Rollo sat down on a little bundle of straw, wondering what his work wasgoing to be.
Presently his father came back, bringing in his hands a box full of oldnails, which he got out of an old store-room, in a corner of the barn. Hebrought it along, and set it down on the barn floor.
"Why, father," said Rollo, "what am I going to do with those old nails?"
"You are going to _sort_ them. Here are a great many kinds, all together.I want them all picked over--those that are alike put by themselves. Iwill tell you exactly how to do it."
Rollo put his hand into the box, and began to pick up some of the nails,and look them over, while his father was speaking; but his father told himto put them down, and not begin until he had got all his directions.
"You must listen," said he, "and understand the directions now, for Icannot tell you twice."
He then took a little wisp of straw, and brushed away a clean place uponthe barn floor, and then poured down the nails upon it.
"O, how many nails!" said Rollo.
His father then took up a handful of them, and showed Rollo that therewere several different sizes; and he placed them down upon the floor inlittle heaps, each size by itself. Those that were crooked also he laidaway in a separate pile.
"Now, Rollo," said he, "I want you to go to work sorting these nails,steadily and industriously, until they are all done. There are not morethan three or four kinds of nails, and you can do them pretty fast if youwork _steadily_, and do not get to playing with them. If you find anypieces of iron, or any thing else that you do not know what to do with,lay them aside, and go on with the nails. Do you understand it all?"
Rollo said he did, and so his father left him, and went into the house.Rollo sat down upon the clean barn floor, and began his task.
"I don't think this is any great thing," said he; "I can do this easilyenough;" and he took up some of the nails, and began to arrange them ashis father had directed.
But Rollo did not perceive what the real difficulty in his task was. Itwas, indeed, very easy to see what nails were large, and what were small,and what were of middle size, and to put them in their proper heaps. Therewas nothing very hard in that. The difficulty was, that, after havingsorted a few, it would become tedious and tiresome work, doing it thereall alone in the barn,--picking out old nails, with nobody to help him,and nobody to talk to, and nothing to see, but those little heaps of rustyiron on the floor.
This, I say, was the real trouble; and Rollo's father knew, when he sethis little boy about it, that he would soon get very tired of it, and, notbeing accustomed to any thing but play, would not persevere.
And so it was. Rollo sorted out a few, and then he began to think that itwas rather tiresome to be there all alone; and he thought it would be agood plan for him to go and ask his father to let him go and get hiscousin James to come and help him.
He accordingly laid down the nails he had in his hand, and went into thehouse, and found his father writing at a table.
"What is the matter now?" said his father.
"Why, father," said Rollo, "I thought I should like to have James come andhelp me, if you are willing;--we can get them done so much quicker ifthere are two."
"But my great object is, not to get the nails sorted very quick, but toteach you patient industry. I know it is tiresome for you to be alone, butthat is the very reason why I wish you to be alone. I want you to learn topersevere patiently in doing any thing, even if it is tiresome. What Iwant to teach you is, to _work_, not to _play_."
Rollo felt disappointed, but he saw that his father was right, and he wentslowly back to his task. He sorted out two or three handfuls more, but hefound there was no pleasure in it, and he began to be very sorry hisfather had set him at it.
Having no heart for his work, he did not go on with alacrity, and ofcourse made very slow progress. He ought to have gone rapidly forward, andnot thought any thing about the pleasantness or unpleasantness of it, butonly been anxious to finish the work, and please his father. Instead ofthat, he only lounged over it--looked at the heap of nails, and sighed tothink how large it was. He could not sort all those, possibly, he said. Heknew he could not. It would take him forever.
Still he could not think of any excuse for leaving his work again, until,after a little while, he came upon a couple of screws. "And now what shallI do with these?" said he.
He took the screws, and laid them side by side, to measure them, so as tosee which was the largest. Then he rolled them about a little, and afterplaying with them for a little time, during which, of course, his work wasentirely neglected, he concluded he would go and ask his father what hewas to do with screws.
He accordingly walked slowly along to the house, stopping to look at thegrasshoppers and butterflies by the way. After wasting some time in thismanner, he appeared again at his father's table, and wanted to know whathe should do with the _screws_ that he found among the nails.
"You ought not to have left your work to come and ask that question," saidhis father. "I am afraid you are not doing very well. I gave you all thenecessary instructions. Go back to your work."
"But, father," said Rollo, "as he went out, I do not know what I am to dowith the screws. You did not say any thing about screws."
"Then why do you leave your work to ask me any thing about them?"
"Why,--because,--" said Rollo, hesitating. He did not know what to say.
"Your work is to sort out the _nails_, and I expect, by your coming to mefor such frivolous reasons, that you are not going on with it very well."
Rollo went slowly out of the room, and sauntered along back to his work.He put the screws aside, and went on with the nails, but he did verylittle. When the heart is not in the work, it always goes on very slowly.
Thus an hour or two of the forenoon passed away, and Rollo made verylittle progress. At last his father came out to see what he had done; andit was very plain that he had been idling away his time, and hadaccomplished very little indeed.
His father then said that he might leave his work and come in. Rollowalked along by the side of his father, and he said to him--
"I see, Rollo, that I shall not succeed in teaching you to workindustriously, without something more than kind words."
Rollo knew not what to say, and so h
e was silent. He felt guilty andashamed.
"I gave you work to do which was very easy and plain, but you have beenleaving it repeatedly for frivolous reasons; and even while you were overyour work, you have not been industrious. Thus you have wasted yourmorning entirely; you have neither done work nor enjoyed play.
"I was afraid it would be so," he continued. "Very few boys can be taughtto work industriously, without being compelled; though I hoped that mylittle Rollo could have been. But as it is, as I find that persuasion willnot do, I must do something more decided. I should do very wrong to letyou grow up an idle boy; and it is time for you to begin to learn to dosomething besides play."
He said this in a kind, but very serious tone, and it was plain he wasmuch displeased. He told Rollo, a minute or two after, that he might go,then, where he pleased, and that he would consider what he should do, andtell him some other time.
A Conversation.
That evening, when Rollo was just going to bed, his father took him up inhis lap, and told him he had concluded what to do.
"You see it is very necessary," said he, "that you should have the powerof confining yourself steadily and patiently to a single employment, evenif it does not amuse you. _I_ have to do that, and all people have to doit, and you must learn to do it, or you will grow up indolent and useless.You cannot do it now, it is very plain. If I set you to doing any thing,you go on as long as the novelty and the amusement last, and then yourpatience is gone, and you contrive every possible excuse for getting awayfrom your task. Now, I am going to give you one hour's work to do, everyforenoon and afternoon. I shall give you such things to do, as areperfectly plain and easy, so that you will have no excuse for neglectingyour work or leaving it. But yet I shall choose such things as will affordyou no amusement; for I want you to learn to _work_, not play."
"But, father," said Rollo, "you told me there was pleasure in work, theother day. But how can there be any pleasure in it, if you choose suchthings as have no amusement in them, at all?"
"The pleasure of working," said his father, "is not the fun of doingamusing things, but the satisfaction and solid happiness of being faithfulin duty, and accomplishing some useful purpose. For example, if I were tolose my pocket-book on the road, and should tell you to walk back a mile,and look carefully all the way until you found it, and if you did itfaithfully and carefully, you would find a kind of satisfaction in doingit; and when you found the pocket-book, and brought it back to me, youwould enjoy a high degree of happiness. Should not you?"
"Why, yes, sir, I should," said Rollo.
"And yet there would be no _amusement_ in it. You might, perhaps, the nextday, go over the same road, catching butterflies: that would be amusement.Now, the pleasure you would enjoy in looking for the pocket-book, would bethe solid satisfaction of useful work. The pleasure of catchingbutterflies would be the amusement of play. Now, the difficulty is, withyou, that you have scarcely any idea, yet, of the first. You are all thetime looking for the other, that is, the amusement. You begin to work whenI give you any thing to do, but if you do not find _amusement_ in it, yousoon give it up. But if you would only persevere, you would find, atlength, a solid satisfaction, that would be worth a great deal more."
Rollo sat still, and listened, but his father saw, from his looks, that hewas not much interested in what he was saying; and he perceived that itwas not at all probable that so small a boy could be _reasoned_ intoliking work. In fact, it was rather hard for Rollo to understand all thathis father said,--and still harder for him to feel the force of it. Hebegan to grow sleepy, and so his father let him go to bed.
Rollo Learns to Work at Last.
The next day his father gave him his work. He was to begin at ten o'clock,and work till eleven, gathering beans in the garden. His father went outwith him, and waited to see how long it took him to gather half a pint,and then calculated how many he could gather in an hour, if he wasindustrious. Rollo knew that if he failed now, he should be punished insome way, although his father did not say any thing about punishment. Whenhe was set at work the day before, about the nails, he was making anexperiment, as it were, and he did not expect to be actually punished ifhe failed; but now he knew that he was under orders, and must obey.
So he worked very diligently, and when his father came out at the end ofthe hour, he found that Rollo had got rather more beans than he hadexpected. Rollo was much gratified to see his father pleased; and hecarried in his large basket full of beans to show his mother, with greatpleasure. Then he went to play, and enjoyed himself very highly.
The next morning, his father said to him,
"Well, Rollo, you did very well yesterday; but doing right once is a verydifferent thing from forming a habit of doing right. I can hardly expectyou will succeed as well to-day; or, if you should to-day, that you willto-morrow."
Rollo thought he should. His work was to pick up all the loose stones inthe road, and carry them, in a basket, to a great heap of stones behindthe barn. But he was not quite faithful. His father observed him playingseveral times. He did not speak to him, however, until the hour was over,and then he called him in.
"Rollo," said he, "you have failed to-day. You have not been very idle,but have not been industrious; and the punishment which I have concludedto try first, is, to give you only bread and water for dinner."
So, when dinner time came, and the family sat down to the good beefsteakand apple-pie which was upon the table, Rollo knew that he was not tocome. He felt very unhappy, but he did not cry. His father called him, andcut off a good slice of bread, and put into his hands, and told him hemight go and eat it on the steps of the back door. "If you should bethirsty," he added, "you may ask Mary to give you some water."
Rollo took the bread, and went out, and took his solitary seat on thestone step leading into the back yard, and, in spite of all his efforts toprevent it, the tears would come into his eyes. He thought of his guilt indisobeying his father, and he felt unhappy to think that his father andmother were seated together at their pleasant table, and that he could notcome because he had been an undutiful son. He determined that he wouldnever be unfaithful in his work again.
He went on, after this, several days, very well. His father gave himvarious kinds of work to do, and he began at last to find a considerabledegree of satisfaction in doing it. He found, particularly, that heenjoyed himself a great deal more after his work than before, and wheneverhe saw what he had done, it gave him pleasure. After he had picked up theloose stones before the house, for instance, he drove his hoop aboutthere, with unusual satisfaction; enjoying the neat and tidy appearance ofthe road much more than he would have done if Jonas had cleared it. Infact, in the course of a month, Rollo became quite a faithful andefficient little workman.
The Corporal's Again.
"Now," said his father to him one day, after he had been doing a fine jobof wood-piling,--"now we will go and talk with the corporal about awheelbarrow. Or do you think you could find the way yourself?"
Rollo said he thought he could.
"Very well, you may go; I believe I shall let you have a wheelbarrow now,and you can ask him how soon he can have it done."
Rollo clapped his hands, and capered about, and asked his father how longhe thought it would be before he could have it.
"O, you will learn," said he, "when you come to talk with the corporal."
"Do you think it will be a week?"
"I think it probable that he could make one in less than a week," said hisfather, smiling.
"Well, how soon?" said Rollo.
"O, I cannot tell you: wait till you get to his shop, and then you willsee."
Rollo saw that, for some reason or other, his father was not inclined totalk about the time when he should have his wheelbarrow, but he could notthink why; however, he determined to get the corporal to make it as quickas he could, at any rate.
It was about the middle of the afternoon that Rollo set off to go for hiswheelbarrow. His mother told him he might go and get his c
ousin James togo with him if he chose. So he walked along towards the bridge, and,instead of turning at once off there to go towards the mill, he went onover the bridge towards the house where James lived. James came with him,and they walked back very pleasantly together.
When they got back across the bridge again, they turned off towards themill, talking about the wheelbarrow. Rollo told James about his learningto work, and about his having seen the wheelbarrow at the corporal's, andhow he trundled it about, and liked it very much.
"I should like to see it very much," said James. "I suppose I can, when weget to the corporal's shop."
"No," said Rollo, "he said that that wheelbarrow was engaged; and Isuppose it has been taken away before this time."
Just then the corner of the corporal's shop began to corner into view, andpresently the door came in sight, and James called out,
"Yes, yes, there it is. I see it standing up by the side of the door."
"No," said Rollo, "that is not it. That is a green one."
"What color was the wheelbarrow that you saw?" asked James.
"It was not any color; it was not painted," said Rollo. "I wonder whosethat wheelbarrow can be?"
The boys walked along, and presently came to the door of the shop. Theyopened the door, and went in. There was nobody there.
Various articles were around the room. There was a bench at one side, neara window; and there were a great many tools upon it, and upon shelves overit. On another side of the shop was a lathe, a curious sort of a machine,that the corporal used a great deal, in some of his nicest work. Thenthere were a good many things there, which were sent in to be mended, suchas chairs, a spinning-wheel, boys' sleds, and one or two largewheelbarrows.