No More Learning

" I will go and find out that good-na-
tured master of his, and ask him to go
to the bottom of the affair this minute. "
Frank's father held his hand, how-
ever, and prevented him from going;
for though he liked his eagerness to
have justice done to the Negro boy, he
thought, he said, that this boy's master
must know his character better than
any stranger could; and that his master
would in all probability take care to
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? FRANK.
279
find out the truth, without Frank's in-
terference.
" But," said Frank, " they are going
to turn him out of the house directly.
Only just let me find the engineer,
and tell him this. "
Here he is, my dear," said Frank's
mother, " now do not be in a hurry.
Speak distinctly: for I could hardly
understand your story, you spoke so
very quickly. "
The engineer came into the room
with his telescope in his hand; that
telescope with which Frank had med-
dled. A sudden flash came across his
mind : a thrill came all over him.
" Miss Mary," said the engineer,
" I am sorry that I cannot keep my
promise to you, yet; but I must first
set to rights something which has been
broken in my telescope. The cross
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? 280
FRANK.
wires," continued he, turning to Frank s
father, ''- I should say the cross cobweb
threads have been broken, and swept
away, as I believe, by a little lying boy. "
" No; they were broken by me,"
interrupted Frank, stepping forward and
standing firm, though he grew ex-
tremely pale.
" By you ! " repeated Frank's father,
and mother, and Mary, with astonish-
ment.
"By you! " repeated the engineer.
" I never thought it possible ! and I
have been on the point of committing
a great injustice. "
"Oh, sir! " said Frank, "stop
them from turning away the Negro
boy, and punish me as you please.
May I go and tell them ? "
" Stay where you are, Frank," said
his father.
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? FRANK. 281
The engineer went immediately to
repair the injustice that had been done
to the poor boy. Frank's father and
mother continued in the mean time
quite silent. Mary saw that they were
much displeased: she hoped, however,
that it would all be over when the
engineer, returning, said, that he
had seen his servant, and that
the Negro boy was safe and happy
again.
Frank, relieved from a dreadful sus-
pense, now took breath, and he went
forward towards the table on which
the telescope lay. He told exactly
what he had done, when his curiosity
had tempted him to meddle with it;
but said,
" I assure you, sir, that I did not
know that I had done any mischief, or
I would have told you of it that mo-
2b 3
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? 282
FRANK.
ment. I never guessed that the
Negro boy was accused of it. I am
sure I never thought, that his crying
had any thing to do with my having
meddled with the telescope. "
"But you knew, Frank," said his
father, " that you did wrong in med-
dling with what was not your own, very
wrong. Whether you did mischief or
not was mere accident. You were too
ignorant, you see, to know, whether
you had injured the instrument or
not. "
" You thought that you were only,
brushing away useless cobwebs," said
the engineer, " when you were de-
stroying an essential part of the in-
strument. "
Mary said she hoped that it could be
repaired. The engineer said that it
could, and Frank was glad ; but, look-
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? FRANK.
283
ing up at his father, he saw that the
displeasure in his countenance was not
abated.
" You have done wrong, Frank," re-
peated he. " And though the mischief
can be repaired, that does not diminish
your fault. You knew that it was not
strictly honourable or honest to touch
what was not yours. And when once
you deviate from strict honesty, no one
can tell what the consequence may
be. Not only a valuable instrument,
but the character and happiness of
one of your fellow creatures, might
have been destroyed, even by this,
which you thought an error not worth
mentioning, and had forgotten while
you were mending a parrot's cage. "
" Let this be a warning to you,
Frank, as long as you live," said his
mother.
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? 284
FRANK.
And that it might be so, that the
impression might not be lightly effaced
from his mind, his father ordered hirri
to go to his own room, and forbid him
from mixing with the rest of the family,
and from seeing this day any thing
that the engineer was going to show
them.
The engineer was too sensible a
man to ask that Frank should be spared
this punishment; he knew that the
purpose of just punishment is to do
future good. Far from begging that
Frank might stay and be forgiven, he
strengthened the right impression.
" I am going to mend what you
broke, Frank," said he, " and I know
that it would entertain you to see how
this is done. But before I heard what
your father has just now said to you,
I had in my own mind determined
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? FRANK.
285
not to let you have this pleasure.
I think," continued he, speaking to
Frank's mother, and laying a detaining
hand upon Frank, who was leaving the
room, " I think that people are mis-
taken, who say, that when children tell
the truth and confess a fault, they
should not be punished for it in any
way. I have always let my children
feel the natural consequences, or receive
the just punishment for their faults,
even when confessed; else they would
be quite deceived as to what would
happen to them in real life. And
besides, there would be little or no
merit in telling the truth, if people
never were to suffer by it. My boys
can tell the truth and take the conse-
quences, thank Heaven ; and so, I see,
can yours. "
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? 286 FRANK.
This was a comfort to Frank: he
walked more firmly out of the room.
Mary followed him, but he would not
let her share his punishment.
" No, Mary," said he, " you have
done nothing wrong: go back and be
. happy, or I shall be more unhappy. "
Mary left him, because she was
afraid of making him more unhappy.
But though she saw and heard many
entertaining things this day, though a
microscope was lent to her, with which
she saw a spider draw out the fine
cobweb thread, which was to repair
the damage, and though she watched
with breathless attention the nice ope-
ration of replacing the cross threads,
and though she learned their use, and
even though she saw in this wonderful
glass the men and mountains on their
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? FRANK.
287
heads--yet none of the things she saw
or heard pleased her half as much as
if Frank had shared her pleasure.
Frank had one comfort, and a great
comfort it was; during the hours
when he was sitting lonely in his own
room, he heard the Negro boy whis-
tling merrily. Good Mrs. Catherine
came in the first interval, which the
business of the day allowed her, to tell
Frank how happy the poor black boy
had been ever since his master had
been convinced that he had told the
truth.
" And I am convinced," continued
she, " that what has now happened, -
and, in short, his being saved from
harm by your telling just the plain
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? 288
FRANK.
truth, will show him more to his own
feelings the use and beauty of truth,
as I may say, than all the scoldings he
ever had: aye, and than all the
whippings about lying, which he had
with his old master. "
This poor Negro had been but a
very short time with the engineer; he
had formerly lived with the cruel
captain of a slave ship, and tyranny
had made him a coward and liar.
The next morning Frank heard him
singing the following ditty, while he
was brushing his master's coat, in the
court near the window of Franks
room.
Mango happy man, sir,
Never lie again, sir.
Mungo he may thank
Truth-tell-master Frank.
These Negro rhymes gave more plea-
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? FRANK.
289
sure than Frank had ever received from
any compliment before, either in prose
or verse. This day all was bright to
Frank within and without. His friend
the engineer shook him by the hand,
when he bid him good morning. And
Frank observed with pleasure, that no
precautions were taken to prevent him
from touching the instruments; but
that his honour was trusted, and that
all seemed secure that he would not
repeat his fault.
This day he was allowed to follow
the engineer about, wherever he went.
At about twelve o'clock he heard him
say, " I must go out now, and take
an observation of the sun. "
An instrument which Frank had
never before seen was now produced.
It was like a triangle made of brass,
and there were on it two small
vol. i. 2 c
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? 290
FRANK.
mirrors, one in the centre, and the
other between the centre and the cir-
cumference of the circle; there was
also a telescope attached to the in-
strument.
A cup, or box, filled with quick-
silver, was placed on a smooth part
of the gravel walk in the sunshine.
Upon the quicksilver floated a cir-
cular piece of flat glass, and through
this, in the quicksilver, was seen the
image of the sun.
Frank was going to ask some
question, but his mother, who was
standing beside him, put her finger
on his lips, and he was silent. All
were silent for some seconds, while the
engineer attentively looked through
the telescope at the image of the
sup in the quicksilver. When he
had finished his observation, the en-
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? FRANK.
291
gineer held the instrument for Frank,
and bid him look through the tele-
scope at the quicksilver. Frank look-
ed, and exclaimed, " I see two suns!
both as red as blood--one dancing
about--now it is still -- now they are
coming closer together--now they
almost join -- they quite join! Oh!
Mary, look at them. "
Mary looked, and was more de-
lighted than Frank seemed to be;
for Frank, having once gratified his
curiosity by the sight, began to look
uneasy.
" I want to know the reason of
all this," said he; " but I know, that
if I ask the reason, or the use of
this, that you will tell me, that I can-
not understand these things yet. "
" True," said the engineer^ " I must
be cruel again to him, Mary; I can
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? 292
FRANK.
tell him only, that this instrument is
call a sextant, and that little vessel
full of quicksilver is called an arti-
ficial horizon; and that what I have
been doing is called taking the alti-
tude of the sun: hard words, without
any meaning to you as yet. "
" But," said his father, " it is
something even to have had your
ears accustomed to them, and to
have learned to join the names with
the sight of these things. You will
know them again when you see
them, and your ears, eyes, and un-
derstanding will not be all puzzled at
once, as they are at this moment. "
Frank, mute and motionless, stood
watching the packing up of the sex-
tant, which was now put into its box,
and of the quicksilver cup and mirror,
which were put into their case. The
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? FRANK. 293
lid was closed down and locked, and
the engineer ordered it to be carried
off.
Frank at this instant uttered a deep
sigh, which made all eyes turn towards
him. He looked such a disconsolate
figure, that the engineer, his father,
his mother, and even Mary, could not
forbear laughing.
" Might I ask one question, sir,"
said Frank to the engineer, taking hold
of his hand.
" No, not one more," replied his
father, " you must not be troublesome,
Frank. Let go that hand; you have
had. more than your share of him
and of the conversation; now your
mother and I must have our share,
and you must not torment this much-
enduring gentleman with any more
questions. "
2c 3
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? 294 FRANK.
The engineer shook Frank's hand
kindly, as he let it go, and assured
his father and mother, that he had not
been tormented; that he always felt
pleased, not plagued, by the sensible
questions of children. He was used to
children, he said, and fond of them.
Mary asked if he had any of his
own.
' . " Yes, thank Heaven! I have,"
answered he.
Mary was going to ask how many;
but recollecting that Frank had been
desired not to ask any more questions,
ishe stopped. The engineer, under-
standing this, smiled, and, in answer
to what she wished to ask, held up four
fingers of his hand. Then, accepting
an invitation to walk round the grounds,
he offered his arm to Frank's mother,
and Frank and Mary asked and ob-
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? FRANK. 295
tained permission to go with them.
They were in hopes that he would tell
something more about his children.
And they learned, in consequence of
his answers to the questions which their
mother asked, that two of his children
were boys, that the eldest, Lewis, was
a year and a half older than Frank,
and had been at school two years; the
youngest was but six years old, and
was to remain at home some time
longer,
Now Frank, who knew that he was
soon to go to school himself, listened
eagerly, and so did Mary, in hopes of
hearing something about this school
and these boys. But, unluckily, no-
thing more was said about Lewis, or
his brother, or his school.
The conversation turned upon edu-
cation, and seemed above Frank and
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? 296 FRANK.
Mary's comprehension; yet they felt
still interested in listening to it, because
it in some way concerned themselves.
The engineer said something in so low
a voice, that it was inaudible by the
youngsters, who were walking before
him; but it was clear that it was quite
audible (that is, to be heard) by those
who were walking with him. For
Frank's father and mother said with
emphasis,
" This gives me great pleasure. "
And Mary whispered to Frank, " I
am sure that must be something about
you--do you think we may hear it. "
" No, we must not listen to that, I
believe," said Frank; " but hush now,
Mary, he is speaking loud again.
" Madam," said the engineer, " you
are doing for your son what I should
have wished to have done for my own
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? FRANK. 297
boy; but that my business takes me
so often from home, that I cannot do
as much for him as I could wish. "
Frank's father answered, that in
these days of education, there was,
perhaps, as great danger of doing too
much as of doing too little for chil-
dren. He had observed, he said, that
most of his acquaintance had been
either too careless or too careful of
their boys, before they were sent to
school. Sometimes they were hu-
moured in every thing at home, be-
cause, as their parents said, they would
have hardships enough at school; but
this made those hardships the greater,
because the master was then to whip
the ill-temper out of the spoiled child
by main force; and, perhaps, in so
doing, to break his spirit for ever.
Some boys are sent from home in such
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? 298
FKANK.
gross ignorance, that they must work
doubly hard, or be left behind their
companions, or be exposed to shame
eternal, or to eternal flogging; other
parents run into the contrary extreme,
and by way of preparing them to get
on, or to get before their competitors
at school, cram them with lessons,
disgust them with learning, and
weary the runners before the race
begins.
" These overtaught children are
often the most to be pitied," said the
engineer; "because, as far as I have
observed, in the midst of all their teach-
ing, in science at least, they are taught
nothing accurately, and when they go
to school, or into the world, they are
all in the condition of my puzzled lad,
with his angles turned triangles. "
"I pity the poor child," said Frank's
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? FRANK.
299
mother, " who, when he goes from
home, fancying that he knows a great
deal, finds, when he gets into the midst
of a great school, that he knows no-
thing rightly, and that he must un-
learn all that he has learned at home :
double, double, toil and trouble, both to
schoolmaster and to child. "
" Yes," said the engineer, " I hardly
know which is in that case most to be
pitied. "
As soon as the conversation came to
this point, Frank and Mary, who had
no pity for schoolmasters, and who
did not know why they should have
any, looked at each other as if they
had said,
" Do not you think this is growing
tiresome ? "
Then, by mutual consent, at the same
instant both set off to their desert island,
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? 300 FRANK.
where they were very happy, working
away at Friday's new garden, till a
sudden shower of hail drove them
home. ,.
When they went into the library
they were yet breathless with running;
but they stopped their puffing and
panting, for their mother was reading,
to their father and the engineer, some-
thing which seemed to be very enter-
taining; they were smiling, as they
stood before the sofa table listening to
her: and as he came in, Frank thought
that he heard his own name, but of
this he was uncertain. He peeped
over his mother's shoulder to see what
book she was reading. It was a voyage
of discovery to the great Loo-choo
island, on the coast of Corea. .
His father told him, that. of this
island, and its inhabitants, little, or
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? FRANK. 301
nothing was known in England, before
the account of this expedition was
published.
Mary asked, whether the inhabit-
ants of Loo-choo were savages, or
civilized people ?
Frank said, he supposed, from the
sound of the name, that they were
Chinese.
His father said they were not sa-
vages; very far from it: that they
were more like the Chinese than any
other people of whom we have any
account. 'i .
So Frank saw, by one of the prints
of the men and women to which his
mother turned.
" These people, though civilized,
are ignorant of many of our arts; quite
as ignorant as you are, Frank, of the
vol. i. 2 D= ''' '
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? 302
FRANK.
use of such instruments as you saw this
morning. "
" And one of these Loo-choo peo-
ple," said the engineer, " an intelli-
gent young man of the name of
Madera, was as anxious as you were,
Frank, to understand the sextant, and
as much mortified when he could not
at once comprehend it and all its
uses. "
The engineer drew Frank towards
him on one side, Mary on the other,
and putting an arm round each --
" Now, ma'am," said he, "that we
are comfortably settled, will you be so
good as to read on. "
And Frank's mother read on as
follows: --
" But Madera was not a man to be
thrown into despair by difficulty; on
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? FRANK. 303
the contrary, he persevered in observing
with this sextant; and the more the
difficulty was made apparent, the more
keenly he laboured to overcome it.
The progress, which he made in a few
hours, in the mere practical operation
of taking angles and altitudes, was not
surprising, because there is, in fact, not
much difficulty in it; but he was no
wise satisfied with this proficiency, and
seemed anxious to apply his knowledge
to some useful purpose.
*******
" With a sextant and stand, I made
him take the distance between the sun
and moon four or five times; on every
occasion he was wonderfully near the
truth. We endeavoured to confine
him to one object, merely to ascertain
the time of apparent noon, and I
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? 304
FRANK.
think we succeeded in explaining to
him how this was to be done.
" Some time after this, and just be-
fore the English ships were to leave
the island, Madera came on board,
with the sextant in his hand; he was
in such distress that he scarcely knew
what he was about. In this distracted
state he sat down to breakfast with
us, during which he continued lighting
his pipe and smoking as fast as he
could; drinking and eating whatever
was placed before him. After he had
a little recovered himself, he asked
what books it would be necessary to
read, to enable him to make use of the
sextant; I gave him a Nautical Alma-
nack, and told him, that he must un-
derstand that, in the first instance: he
opened it, and looking at the figures,
held up his hands in despair, and was
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? FRANK.
305
at last'iftwoed to confess that it was a
hopeless business. He therefore put
the: sextant up, and bade us farewell. "
. '" Poor Madera ! " -n-
. ni*. 'I think," said Mary, "that Ma-
dera is very like Frank. "
" But, fortunately," said the engi-
neer, " Frank does not live at the
island of Loo-choo; nor is his in-
structor," added he, looking at Frank s
father," going to sail away to-morrow,
and leave him without books, or with-
out any means of satisfying his laudable
curiosity. "
Frank and Mary had been so much
interested by what they had heard of
Madera, that the moment their mother
laid down the book, they asked leave
to look for the place where . Ma-
dera's name was first mentioned,. 'and
read all they could find concerning
2d3
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