Rollo's Museum Part 8

And it did rain. The next morning, when Rollo awoke, he heard the storm driving against the window of his chamber. After breakfast, he took an umbrella, and went out into the barn, and found Jonas already at work upon the cabinet. In the course of the morning he finished it. He put three good shelves into it, which, together with the bottom of the box, made four shelves. He also put the two covers on, with hinges, so as to make doors of them; and put a little hasp upon the doors, outside, to fasten them with. He then put it up in one corner of the play room, all ready for the curiosities. Rollo put in his hornets' nest, his pebble stones, and his hemlock-seed, as he called it; and then went to the barn door, and began to be as eager to have it clear up, as he had been before to have it rain. He wanted to go out and collect some more curiosities.

After a time it did clear up, and Rollo obtained his mother's leave to go and ask all the children who were going to have a share in the museum, to come one afternoon and begin to collect the curiosities. They all came--Lucy, James, and Henry. And when Rollo saw them all collected in the garden yard, with baskets in their hands all ready to go forth after curiosities, he capered about full of antic.i.p.ations of delight.

"Now," said Henry, "let us go down to the hemlock-tree."

"No," said Rollo, "it will be better to go to the brook, where I found the pebbles."

"But I want to go and see if I can't find another hemlock-seed," said Henry.

Rollo was, however, very unwilling to go that way, and yet Henry insisted upon it. Lucy listened to the dispute with a countenance expressive of distress and anxiety. First, she proposed to Rollo to yield to Henry, and then to Henry to yield to Rollo; but in vain. Henry said that Rollo ought to let him decide, because he was the oldest; and Rollo said that he himself ought to decide, because it was his museum.

They were both wrong. Neither ought to have insisted upon having his own way so strenuously. At length, after quite a long and unpleasant altercation, Lucy proposed that they should draw lots for it. The boys consented.

"I'll tell you a better plan than that," said a voice above them. They looked up, and saw Mary sitting at the window of the chamber. She had been reading, but, on hearing this dispute, she had closed her book, and now interposed to do what she could to aid in settling it.

When Rollo heard his sister Mary's voice, he felt a little ashamed of his pertinacity. Lucy asked Mary what the plan was.

"Why," said she, "in all expeditions where there are several children, it is very desirable to have a regent."

"A regent?" said Lucy.

"Yes," said Mary, "a commander, to take the lead, and decide the thousand little questions which are likely to occur. Unless there is somebody to decide them, there will be endless disputes."

"Well," said Henry, "I'll be regent."

"No," said Mary, "you must choose one. I'll tell you how. You must choose the regent by ballot. Lilac leaves make good ballots. Each one of you must consider who you think will be best for regent,--that is, who will have the most discretion and judgment, to decide wisely, and at the same time be mild and gentle, and amiable in manner, so as to be a pleasant commander. Of course, no one must vote for himself."

"But I don't understand," said Rollo. "What are the lilac leaves for?"

"For ballots; that is, for you to write your votes upon. You can write on the under side of a lilac leaf with the point of a pin."

"Can we?" said Lucy, with a look of curiosity and pleasure.

"Yes," said Mary, "you need not write the whole name. You can write the first letter--that will be enough. R. stands for Rollo, L. for Lucy, H.

for Henry, J. for James, and N. for Nathan."

"Ho!" said Rollo, "Nathan won't do for a regent."

"Perhaps not," said Mary; "each one of you must vote for the one you think best. Now get your lilac leaves, and I will drop you down some pins."

The children ran off very eagerly to get the leaves, and then came back, and Mary dropped down four pins. They each took one, and, with the point of it, wrote a letter upon the back of the leaf. Then Mary asked Nathan to carry around his cap, and let them all drop their leaves into it, and then bring them up to her, and she would see who was chosen.

So Nathan, highly pleased with his office, collected the votes in his cap, and brought them up to his sister Mary. She looked them over as she sat at the window, the children all looking up from below, eagerly awaiting the result. At length, Mary told them that there were four leaves in Nathan's cap, and that three of them had the letter L upon it.

"So," said she, "you see you have chosen Lucy for regent."

"Yes, I voted for Lucy," said Rollo. "I thought she would be the best."

"And so did I," said James and Henry.

Lucy looked down, and felt a little embarra.s.sed at finding herself raised so suddenly to the dignity of regent; and she asked Mary what she was to do.

"O, walk along with them just as you would if you had not been chosen; only you will decide all the questions that come up, such as where you shall go, and how long you shall stay in the different places. The others may give you their opinions, if you ask them; but they must let you decide, and they must all submit to your decisions."

"Well, come," said Lucy; "we'll go down the lane first." So she took hold of Thanny's hand, and walked along, the other children following.

They pa.s.sed through the great gate, and soon disappeared from Mary's view.

They were gone two or three hours. At length, when the sun had nearly gone down, Mary heard voices in the front of the house. She left her back window, and went around to a front window to see. She found them returning, and all talking together with the greatest volubility. They had their baskets full of various commodities, and large bouquets of flowers and plants in their hands. They did not see Mary at the window, and as they all seemed to be good-natured and satisfied with their afternoon's work, Mary did not speak to them; and so they pa.s.sed along into the yard undisturbed. They proceeded immediately to the cabinet in the play room, and then began to take out their treasures from their baskets, and pockets, and handkerchiefs, and to spread them out upon the floor, and upon the bench. In a short time, the floor was covered with specimens of plants and minerals, with sh.e.l.ls, and pebbles, and little papers of sand, and nuts, and birds' nests which they had found deserted, and all sorts of wonders. The room was filled with the sound of their voices; questions, calls to one another, expressions of delight, exclamations of surprise, or of disappointment or pleasure. It was all,--"James, you are treading on my flowers!" "O Lucy, Lucy, see my toadstool!" "O, now my prettiest sh.e.l.l is broken!" "Move away a little, Rollo--I have not got room for all my pebbles"--"Where's my silk worm?

now where's my silk worm?" "O Henry, give me some of your birch bark, do,"--and a hundred other similar e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns, all uttered together.

They soon began, one and another, to put their curiosities into the cabinet,--and then it was, as the old phrase is, confusion worse confounded. Lucy had some discretion and forbearance, and kept a little back, looking, however, uneasy and distressed, and attempting in vain to get an opportunity to put some of her things in. The boys crowded around the cabinet, each attempting to put his own curiosities into the most conspicuous places, and arranging them over and over again, according as each one's whims or fancies varied.

"O dear me," said Rollo, "I wish you would not keep moving these pebbles away, Henry."

"Why, you put them too far this way," said Henry; "I want my sh.e.l.ls to go here."

"No," replied Rollo, "put your sh.e.l.ls down on the next shelf. James!

James! take care; don't touch that birds' nest."

"Yes, I want room for my silver stone," said James. He had found a shining stone, which he called a silver stone. And thus they disputed, and talked loudly and vociferously, and contradicted, interrupted, pushed, and crowded each other. Still, they were all good-natured; that is, they were not angry; the difficulty only arose from their eagerness and their numbers,--and their disorganization.

"O dear me," said Rollo, at length, "I wish we had a regent again; we got along very well, while Lucy was a regent. Let me be regent now.

Come, Henry and James, let me be regent, and I will direct, and then we shall have order again."

"Well," said James.

"No," said Henry, "you have not been elected. You can't be regent, unless you are chosen regularly."

Lucy said nothing, but stood behind the others in despair.

"Well, then, let Lucy be regent; she was chosen."

"But I was only chosen regent for the walk," said Lucy.

"O never mind," said Rollo, "let her be regent now."

But Henry was not disposed to submit to any doubtful authority. He kept at work putting things in, in the way that pleased him most, without any regard to Rollo's proposal for prolonging Lucy's authority. As Henry did not acquiesce in this proposed measure, Rollo and James seemed to think it was useless for them to do so, and so they went much as they had begun, until they had pretty well filled up Jonas's cabinet with a perfect medley of specimens, the worthy and the worthless all together.

They were at length interrupted by the sound of the bell, calling Rollo in to tea; Henry then went home, and James, Lucy, and Rollo went into the house.

ORGANIZATION.

James and Lucy staid and took tea with Rollo that evening; and, during tea time, Rollo's father and mother were talking, and the boys were all still. At last, just before they had finished their supper, Rollo's father asked them how they had got along collecting curiosities.

"O, we had a very good time," said Rollo, "till we came to put our curiosities away; and then we should have had a good time if the boys had not pushed so, and made such a noise."

"What made them do so?" asked his mother.