WHO KNOWS BEST, A LITTLE BOY OR HIS FATHER?
The next morning, Rollo awoke early, and he was very much pleased tosee, as soon as he opened his eyes, that the sun was shining in at thewindows. He was not only pleased to find that the prospect was so goodfor a pleasant ride, but his vanity was gratified at the thought that ithad turned out that he knew better about the weather than his father.He began to dress himself, as far as he could without help, and waspreparing to hasten down to his father, to tell him that it was going tobe a pleasant day. When he was nearly dressed, he was surprised loobserve that the bright sunlight on the wall was gradually fading away,and at length it wholly disappeared. He went to look out the window tosee what was the cause. He found that there was a broad expanse of darkcloud covering the eastern sky, excepting a narrow strip quite low down,near the horizon. When the sun first rose, it shone brightly throughthis narrow zone of clear sky; but now it had ascended a little higher,and gone behind the cloud.
"Never mind," said Rollo to himself. "The cloud is not so very largeafter all, and the sun will come out again above it when it gets up alittle higher."
Rollo came down to breakfast, and he went out into the yard every two orthree minutes, to look at the sky. The cloud seemed to extend, so thatthe sun did not come out of it, as he expected, but still he thought itwas going to be pleasant Children generally think it is going to bepleasant, whenever they want to go away.
His father thought it was probably going to rain, and that at any rateit was very doubtful whether Uncle George would come. However, he saidthey should soon see, and, true enough, just as they were rising fromthe breakfast table, a chaise drove up to the door, and out jumped UncleGeorge and cousin Lucy.
Lucy was a very pleasant little blue-eyed girl, two or three years olderthan Rollo. She had a small tin pail in her hand, with a cover upon it.
"Good morning, Rollo," said she. "Have you got your basket ready?"
"Yes," said Rollo; "but I am afraid it is going to rain."
While the children were saying this, Uncle George said to Rollo'sfather,
"I suppose we shall have to give up our expedition to-day. I am in hopeswe are going to have some rain."
"In _hopes_," thought Rollo; "that is very strange when we want to go ablueberrying."
Rollo's father and mother and his uncle looked at the clouds allaround. They concluded that there was every appearance of rain, and thatit would be best to postpone their excursion, and then went into thehouse. Rollo was very confident it would not rain, and was very eager tohave them go. He asked Lucy if she did not think it was going to bepleasant, but Lucy was more modest and reasonable than he was, and saidthat she did not know; she could not judge of the weather so well as herfather.
Rollo began by this time to be considerably out of humor. He said heknew it was not going to rain, and he did not see why they might not go.He did not believe it would rain a drop all day.
Lucy just then pointed down to a little dark spot on the stone step ofthe door, where a drop had just fallen, and asked Rollo what he calledthat.
"And that,--and that,--and that," said she, pointing to several otherdrops.
Rollo at first insisted that that was not rain, but some little spots onthe stone.
Then Lucy reached out her hand and said,
"Hold out your hand so, Rollo, and you will feel the drops coming downout of the sky."
Rollo held out his hand a moment, but then immediately withdrew it,saying, impatiently, that he did not care; it was not rain; at any rateit was only a little sprinkling.
Lucy observed that Rollo was getting very much out of humor, and shetried to please him by saying,
"Rollo, I would not mind. If it does rain, I will ask my father to letme stay and play with you to-day, and we can have a fine time up in yourlittle room."
"No, we cannot," said Rollo; "and besides, they will not let you stay, Iknow. I went yesterday to ask my father to let Jonas go with us to-day,and he would not."
It was certainly very unreasonable for Rollo to imagine that his fatherand uncle would be unwilling to have Lucy stay just because it had notbeen convenient to let Jonas go with them. But when children are out ofhumor, they are always very unreasonable.
"Why would not he let Jonas go?" asked Lucy.
"I do not know. Mother said it was because I did not ask him right."
"How did you ask him?"
"O, I interrupted him. He was reading."
"O, that is not the way. I never _interrupt_ my father if I want to askhim any thing."
"Suppose he is busy, and you want to know that very minute; what do youdo?"
"I will show you. Come with me and I will ask him to let me stay withyou to-day."
So Lucy and Rollo walked in. When they came to the parlor door, they sawthat their parents were sitting on the sofa, talking about other things.
Rollo stopped at the door, but Lucy went in gently. She walked up to herfather's side, and stood there still.
Her father took no notice of her at first, but went on talking withRollo's father. Lucy stood very patiently until, after a few minutes,her father stopped talking, and said,
"Lucy, my dear, do you want to speak to me?"
"Yes, sir," said Lucy, "I wanted to ask you if you were willing to letme stay here to-day and play with Rollo, if you do not go to themountain."
"I do not know," said her father, hesitating, and patting Lucy on thehead--"that is a new idea; however, I believe I have no objection."
Lucy ran back joyfully to Rollo, and after a short time, her father wenthome. Rollo, however, did not feel in any better humor, and all Lucy'sendeavors to engage him in some amusement, failed. She proposed buildingwith bricks, or going up into his little room, and drawing pictures ontheir slates, or getting his storybooks out and reading stories, andvarious other things, but Rollo would not be pleased.
Rollo ought, now, when he found that he must be disappointed about hisride, to have immediately banished it from his mind altogether, andturned his thoughts to other pleasures; but like all ill-humored people,he _would_ keep thinking and talking, all the time, about the thingwhich caused his ill-humor. So he sat in a large back entry, where heand Lucy were, looking out at the door, and saying a great manyill-natured things about the weather, and his father's giving up theride just for a little sprinkling of rain that would not last half anhour. He said it was a shame, too, for it to rain that day, just becausehe was going to ride.
Just then, his father spoke to him from the window, and called him in.
He and Lucy went in together into the parlor.
"Rollo," said his father, "did you know you were doing very wrong?"
Rollo felt a little guilty, but he said rather faintly, "No, sir, I wasnot doing any thing."
"You are committing a great many sins, all at once."
Rollo was silent. He knew his father meant sins of the heart.
"Your heart is in a very wicked state. You are under the dominion ofsome of the worst of feelings; you are self-conceited, ungrateful,undutiful, unjust, selfish, and," he added in a lower and more solemntone, "even impious."
Rollo thought that these were heavy charges to bring upon him; but hisfather spoke calmly and kindly, and he knew that he could easily showthat what he said was true.
"You are _self-conceited_--vainly imagining that you, a little boy ofseven years old, can judge better than your father and mother, andobstinately persisting in your opinion that it is not going to rain,when the rain has actually commenced, and is falling faster and faster.You are _ungrateful_, to speak reproachfully of me, and give me pain, byyour ill-will, when I have been planning this excursion, in a greatdegree, for your enjoyment, and only give it up because I am absolutelycompelled to do it by a storm; _undutiful_, in showing such a repining,unsubmissive spirit towards your father; _unjust_ in making Lucy and allof us suffer, because you are unwilling to submit to these circumstancesthat we cannot control; _selfish_, in being unwilling that it shouldrain and inte
rfere with your ride, when you know that rain is so muchwanted in all the fields, all over the country; and, what is worse thanall, _impious_, in openly rebelling against God, and censuring thearrangements of his providence, and pretending to think that they aremade just to trouble you."
When he had said this, he paused to hear what Rollo would say. Hethought that if he was convinced of his sin, and really penitent, hewould acknowledge that he was wrong, or at least be silent;--but thatif, on the other hand, he were still unsubdued, he would go to makingexcuses.
After a moment's pause, Rollo said,--"I did not know that there was needof rain in the fields."
"Did not you?" said his father. "Did not you know that the ground wasvery dry, and that, unless we have rain soon, the crops will suffer verymuch?"
"No, sir," said Rollo.
"It is so," said his father; "and this rain, which you are so unwillingto have descend, is going down into the ground all over the country, andinto the roots of all the plants growing in the fields, carrying in thenourishment which will swell out all the corn and grain, and apples andpears. In a few days there will be thousands and thousands of dollars'worth of fruit and food more than there would have been without thisrain; and yet you are very unwilling to have it come, because you wantto go and get a few blueberries!"
Rollo was confounded, and had not a word to say.
"Now, Rollo," continued his father, "all the rest of us are disposed tobe good-humored, and to acquiesce in God's decision, and try to have ahappy day at home; and we cannot have it spoiled by your wickedrepinings. So you must go away by yourself, until you feel willing tosubmit pleasantly and with good humor. Then you may come back, but besure not to come back before."