Kitabı oku: «Caleb in the Country», sayfa 2

CHAPTER II.
TROUBLE

As Caleb walked along by the side of Raymond, and came upon the bridge, he was seen both by his grandmother, who happened to be standing at the door, and also at the same instant, by the two boys, Dwight and David, who were just then coming home from school. Dwight, seeing Caleb walking along so sadly, his clothes and hair thoroughly drenched, set up a shout, and ran towards him over the bridge. David was of a more quiet and sober turn, and he followed more slowly, but with a face full of surprise and curiosity.

Madam Rachel, too, perceived that her little grandson had been in the brook, and she said, “Can it be possible that he has disobeyed?” Then, again, the next thought was, “Well, if he has, he has been punished for it pretty severely, and so I will treat him kindly.”

David and Dwight came eagerly up, with exclamations, and questions without number. This made poor Caleb feel worse and worse—he wanted to get home as soon as possible, and he could not tell the boys all the story there; and presently Raymond, finding that he could not get by them very well, took him up in his arms, and carried him towards the house, David and Dwight following behind. Caleb expected that his grandmother would think him very much to blame, and so, as he came near enough to speak to her, he raised his head from Raymond's shoulder, and began to say,

“I am very sorry, grandmother; but I could not help it. I certainly could not help it.”

But he saw at once, by his grandmother's pleasant-looking face, that she was not going to find any fault with him.

“You have not hurt yourself, Caleb, I hope,” said she, as Raymond put him down.

“No,” said he, “but I feel rather cold.”

His grandmother said she would soon warm him, and she led him into a little bedroom, where he was accustomed to sleep, and undressed him, talking good-humouredly with him all the while, so as to relieve his fears, and make him feel more happy. She wiped him dry with soft flannel, and gave him some clean, dry clothes, and made him very comfortable again. She did not ask him how he happened to fall in the water, for she knew it would trouble him to talk about it. So she amused him by talking about other things, and at last let him out again into the parlour.

The wetting did Caleb no injury; but the fright and the suddenness of the plunge gave him a shock, which, in his feeble state of health, he was ill able to bear. A good stout boy, with red cheeks and plump limbs, would not have regarded it at all, but would have been off to play again just as soon as his clothes were changed. But poor Caleb sat down in his little rocking chair by the side of his grandmother, and began to rock back and forth, as if he was rocking away the memory of his troubles, while his grandmother went on with her work.

Presently he stopped to listen to the voices of Dwight and David, who were out before the house.

“Grandmother,” said he, “is that the boys?”

“Yes,” said she, “I believe it is.”

Then Caleb went on rocking, and the voices died away.

Presently, they came nearer again. The boys seemed to be passing down in front of the house, with a wheelbarrow, towards the water.

“Grandmother,” said Caleb, stopping again, “what do you suppose the boys are doing?”

“I don't know,” said she, “should not you like to go and see? You can play with them half an hour before dinner, if you please.”

Caleb did not answer, but began to rock again. He did not seem inclined to go.

Soon after he heard a splash, as of stones thrown into the water. Caleb started up and said,

“Grandmother, what can they be doing?”

“I don't know,” said she, “if you want to know very much, you must go and see.”

Caleb rose slowly, put his rocking chair back into its place, and went to the door. He looked down towards the bank of the brook before the house, and saw Dwight and David there. They had a wheelbarrow close to the edge of the water, with a few stones in it, some as big as Caleb's head. Each of the boys had a stone in his hand, which he was just throwing into the brook. Caleb had a great desire to go down and see what they were doing; but he felt weak and tired, and so, after looking on a moment, he said to himself, “I had rather sit down here.” So he sat down upon the step of the door, and looked on.

After the boys had thrown one or two large stones into the water, they took hold of the wheelbarrow, and, then, tipping it up, the whole load slid down into the water, close to the shore. The boys then came back, wheeling the great wheelbarrow up into the road.

They went after another load of stones, and Caleb's curiosity was so far awakened, that he rose slowly, and walked down towards the place. In a few minutes, the boys came back with their load; David wheeling, and Dwight walking along by his side, and pushing as well as he could, to help. As soon as he saw Caleb, he began to call out,

“O Caleb, you were afraid of a cow!”

Caleb looked sad and unhappy. David said,

“I would not laugh at him, Dwight. Caleb, we are building a mole.”

“A mole!” said Caleb. “What is that?”

“Why, it is a kind of wharf, built out far into the water, to make a harbour for our shipping. We learned about it in our geography.”

“Yes,” said Dwight, coming up, eagerly, to Caleb, “you see the current carries all our vessels down the stream, you know, Caleb, and we are going to build out a long mole, out into the middle of the brook, and that will stop our vessels; and then we are going to make it pretty wide, so that we can walk out upon it, and the end of it will do for a wharf.”

“Yes, it will be a sort of harbour for 'em,” said David.

Caleb looked quite pleased at this plan and wanted the boys to let him help; and Dwight said he might go and help them get their next load of stones.

But Caleb did not help much, although he really tried to help. He kept getting into the other boys' way. At last Dwight got out of patience, and said,

“Caleb, you don't help us the least mite. I wish you would go away.”

But Caleb wanted to help; and Dwight tried to make him go away. Presently, he began to laugh at him for being afraid of a cow.

“I suppose I could frighten you by moo-ing at you, Caleb.”

Caleb did not answer, but walked along by the side of the wheelbarrow. David was wheeling it; for they had now got it loaded, and were going back to the shore of the brook, Caleb on one side, and Dwight upon the other. Dwight saw that Caleb hung his head, and looked confused.

“Moo! moo!” said Dwight.

Caleb walked along silent as before.

“Moo! moo!” said Dwight, running round to Caleb's side of the wheelbarrow, and moo-ing close into his ear.

Caleb let go of the wheelbarrow, turned around, burst into tears, and walked slowly and sorrowfully away towards the house.

“There, now,” said David, “you have made him cry. What do you want to trouble him so for?”

Dwight looked after Caleb, and seeing that he was going to the house, he was afraid that he would tell his grandmother. So he ran after him, and began to call to him to stop; but, before he had gone many steps, he saw his grandmother standing at the door of the house, and calling to them all to come.

Caleb had nearly stopped crying when he came up to his grandmother. She did not say any thing to him about the cause of his trouble, but asked him if he was willing to go down cellar with Mary Anna, and help her choose a plateful of apples for dinner. His eye brightened at this proposal, and Mary Anna, who was sitting at the window, reading, rose, laid down her book, took hold of his hand with a smile, and led him away.

Madam Rachel then went to her seat in her great arm-chair, and David and Dwight came and stood by her side.

“I am sorry, Dwight, that you wanted to trouble Caleb.”

“But, mother,” said Dwight, “I only moo-ed at him a little.”

“And what did you do it for?”

“O, only for fun, mother.”

“Did you suppose it gave him pain?”

“Why,—I don't know.”

“Did you suppose it gave him pleasure?”

“Why, no,” said Dwight, looking down.

“And did not you know that it gave him pain? Now, tell me, honestly.”

“Why, yes, mother, I knew it plagued him a little; but then I only did it for fun.”

“I know it,” said Madam Rachel; “and that is the very thing that makes me so sorry for it.”

“Why, mother?” said Dwight in a tone of surprise.

“Because if you had given Caleb four times as much pain for any other reason, I should not have thought half so much of it, as to have you trouble him for fun. If it had been to do him any good, or to do any body else any good, or from mistake, or mere thoughtlessness, I should not have thought so much of it; but to do it for fun!”

Here Madam Rachel stopped, as if she did not know what to say.

“I rather think, mother, it was only thoughtlessness,” said David, by way of excusing Dwight.

“No; because he knew that it gave Caleb pain, and it was, in fact, for the very purpose of giving him pain, that Dwight did it. If he had been saying moo accidentally, without thinking of troubling Caleb, that would have been thoughtlessness; but it was not so. And what makes me most unhappy about this,” continued Madam Rachel, putting her hand gently on Dwight's head, “is that my dear Dwight has a heart capable under some circumstances, of taking pleasure in the sufferings of a helpless little child.”

David and Dwight were both silent, though they saw clearly that what their mother said was true.

“And yet, perhaps, you think it is a very little thing after all,” she continued, “just moo-ing at Caleb a little. The pain it gave him was soon over. Just sending him down cellar to get apples, made him forget it in a moment; so that you see it is not the mischief that is done, in this case, but the spirit of mind in you, that it shews. It is a little thing, I know; but then it is a little symptom of a very bad disease. It is very hard to cure.”

“Well, mother,” said Dwight, looking up, and speaking very positively, “I am determined not to trouble Caleb any more.”

“Yes, but I am afraid your determinations won't reach the difficulty. As long as the spirit of mind remains, so that you are capable of taking pleasure in the sufferings of another, your determinations not to indulge the bad spirit, will not do much good. You will forget them all, when the temptation comes. Don't you remember how often I have talked with you about this, and how often you have promised not to do it, before?”

“Why, yes, mother,” said Dwight, despondingly.

“So, you see determinations will not do much good. As long as your heart is malicious, the malice will come out in spite of all your determinations.”

Just at this moment Caleb came in, bringing his plate of apples, with an air of great importance and satisfaction. He had nearly forgotten his troubles. Soon after this, dinner was brought in, and Madam Rachel said no more to the boys about malice. After dinner, they went out again to play.

CHAPTER III.
BUILDING THE MOLE

Caleb sat down upon the step of the door, eating a piece of bread, while Dwight and David returned to their work of building the mole. They got the wheelbarrow, and loaded it with stones.

Caleb sat a few minutes more at the door, and then he went into the house, and got his little rocking chair, and brought it out under the elm, and sat down there, looking towards the boys, who were at work near the water. At last, David spied him sitting there, and said,

“There is Caleb, sitting under the great tree.”

Dwight looked around, and then, throwing down the stone that he had in his hands, he said,

“I mean to go and get him to come here.”

So he ran towards him, and said,

“Come, Caleb, come down here, and help us make our mole.”

“No,” said Caleb, shaking his head, and, turning away a little; “I don't want to go.”

“O, do come, Caleb,” said Dwight; “I won't trouble you any more.”

“No,” said Caleb: “I am tired, and I had rather stay here in my little chair.”

“But I will carry your chair down to the brook; and there is a beautiful place there to sit and see us tumble in the stones.”

So Caleb got up, and Dwight took his chair, and they walked together down to the shore of the brook. Dwight found a little spot so smooth and level, that the rocking-chair would stand very even upon it, though it would not rock very well, for the ground was not hard, like a floor. Caleb rested his elbow upon the arm of his chair, and his pale cheek in his little slender hand, and watched the stones, as, one after another, they fell into the brook.

The brook at this place, was very wide and shallow, and the current was not very rapid, so that they got along pretty fast; and thus the mole advanced steadily out into the stream.

“Well, Caleb,” said Dwight, as he stopped, after they had tossed out all the stones from the wheelbarrow, “and how do you like our mole?”

“O, not very well,” said Caleb.

“Why not?” said Dwight, surprised.

“It is so stony.”

“Stony?” said Dwight.

“Yes,” said Caleb, “I don't think I could walk on it very well.”

“O,” said Dwight, “we are going to make the top very smooth, when we get it done.”

“How?” said Caleb.

“Why, we are going to haul gravel on it, and smooth it all down.”

“Why can't we do it now?” said David, “as we go along: and then we can wheel our wheelbarrow out upon it, and tip our stones in at the end.”

“Agreed,” said Dwight; and they accordingly leveled the stones off on the top, and put small stones in at all the interstices, that is, the little spaces between the large stones, so as to prevent the gravel from running down through. Then they went and got a load of gravel out of a bank pretty near, and spread it down over the top, and it made a good, smooth road; only, it was not trodden down hard at first, and so it was not very easy wheeling over it.

They found one difficulty, however, and that was that the gravel rolled over each side of the mole, and went into the water. To prevent this, they arranged the largest stones on each side, in a row, for the edge, and then filled in with gravel up to the edge, and thus they gradually advanced towards the middle of the stream, finishing the mole completely as they went on. Caleb then said he liked it very much, and wanted to walk on it. So the boys let him. He went out to the end, and stood there a minute, and then said that he wished he had his whip there, to whip in a stick which was sailing down a little way off.

“Where is your whip?” said David.

“I suppose it is hanging up on its nail,” said Caleb, “I mean to go and get it.”

So Caleb walked off the mole, and went slowly up towards the house, singing by the way, while David and Dwight went after another load of gravel. While they were putting down this load, and spreading it on, Caleb came back, looking disappointed and sorrowful, and saying that he could not find his whip.

“Where did you put it when you had it last?” asked David.

“I put it on the nail,” said Caleb, “I always put it on the nail.”

“O, no, Caleb,” said Dwight; “you must have left it about somewhere.”

“No,” said Caleb, shaking his head with a positive air, “I am sure I put it on my nail.”

“When did you have it last?”

“Why,—let me see,” said Caleb, thinking. “I had it yesterday, playing horses on the wood-pile: and then I had it this morning,—I believe,—when I went up the brook to meet Raymond.”

“Then you left it up there, I know,” said Dwight.

“No,” said Caleb, “I am sure I put it on my nail.”

“You did not have it, Caleb,” said David, mildly, “when we met you on the bridge.”

“Didn't I?” said Caleb, standing still and trying to think.

“No,” replied Dwight, decidedly.

“I wish you would go up there with me, and help me find it.”

“Why, we want to finish our mole,” said David.

“I'll go,” said Dwight, “while you, David, get another load of gravel. Come, Caleb,” said he, “go and shew me where it was.”

So Dwight and Caleb walked on. They went down to the bridge, crossed the stream upon it, then turned up, on the opposite bank, and walked on until they came to the cotton landing. Caleb then pointed to the place where he had fallen in; and they looked all about there, upon the bank, and in the water, but in vain. No whip was to be found.

Before they returned, they stopped a moment at the cotton landing, and Caleb shewed Dwight that the cotton was all made of little bubbles. They got some of it to the shore and examined it, and then, just as they were going away. Dwight exclaimed, suddenly,

“There is your whip, now, Caleb.”

Caleb looked round, and saw that Dwight was pointing towards the little fall or rather great ripple of water, and there, just in the fall, was the whip-handle floating, and kept from drifting away by the lash, which had got caught in the rocks. There the handle lay, or rather hung, bobbing up and down, and struggling as if it was trying to get free.

After various attempts to liberate it, by throwing sticks and stones at it, Dwight took off his shoes, turned up his pantaloons to his knees, and waded in to the place, and after carefully extricating the whip, brought it safely to the shore.

“I am very glad I have got my whip again,” said Caleb, while Dwight was putting on his shoes.

“I am glad too,” said Dwight. “But you told a lie about it, Caleb.”

“A lie!” said Caleb.

“Yes: you said you certainly hung it up upon the nail,” said Dwight, as they began to walk along.

“Well, I thought I did,” said Caleb.

“That makes no difference. You did not say you thought you hung it up, but that you were sure you did.”

“Well, I certainly thought I did,” said Caleb; “and I am sure it wasn't a lie.”

Dwight insisted that it was, and Caleb determined to ask his grandmother.

They returned to the mole.

It was not long after this, that David, on looking towards the house, called out that his mother was coming. It was true. She put on her bonnet, and was coming slowly down to the brook, to see how the boys got on with their work. They were rejoiced to see her coming. They took Caleb's chair, and laid it down upon its side, and then put one of the side-pieces of the wheelbarrow upon it with the clean side up; and this made quite a comfortable seat for her, though it was a little unsteady. She sat down upon it, and made a good many enquiries about their plan and the progress of the work.

“Well, boys,” said she, “that is a capital plan, and you will have a great eddy above your mole.”

“An eddy!” said Dwight, “what is that?”

“Why, the water coming down, will strike upon the outer end of your mole, and be turned in towards the shore, and then will go round, and will come into the stream again. There, you can see it is beginning to run so already.”

So the boys looked above the mole, and they saw the little bubbles that were floating in the water, sailing round and round slowly, in a small circle, between the upper side of the mole and the shore.

“When you get it built away out,” said Madam Rachel, “there will be quite a whirlpool; you might call it the Maelstrom. There, you see, Caleb can have a little harbour up there on the shore, and one of you can go out to the end of the mole, and put a little ship into the water, and the eddy will carry it round to him. Then he can take out the cargo, and put in a new one, and then set the ship in the water, and the current will carry it back again, round on the other side of the whirlpool.”

The boys were very much delighted at this prospect, and they determined to build out the mole very far, so as to have “a great sweep,” as Dwight called it, in the eddy. Caleb went out upon the part of the mole which was finished, and put in a piece of wood, and watched it with great delight as it slowly sailed round.