No More Learning

197
His father said this was a wise reso-
lution ; but he was a little surprised by
the, extraordinary gravity with which
Frank spoke:
" The first thing that I shall do
when I get home," continued Frank,
"shall be to ask mamma for two of
the largest sheets of paper she has in
her paper treasury ; and at the top of
the one I will write, or I will print, in
large letters, MAN, and, on the other,
WOMAN; and I will rule lines very
close, and on these two sheets of paper
I will make two lists, one for myself,
man; and the other for Mary, woman ;
and under these heads I will put every
thing that we ought to know or learn,
before we grow up to be man and
woman. I will have two columns, papa,
and put those things, that we cannot
possibly do without, in one column,
s3
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? 198 PRANK.
andfAhose that we might like ito! ihatej
but that// we can do without, ii thfe
other. That will be very useful,' wilV
not It, papa? and one column i fcriii
call must want, and the other, \rttay
want-. :. /i-n(ti ih " "/ 'lo b inaw
" Some things will be the same for
both of us, papa; for instance, truth
goes under must want, for both man
and woman; but courage, papa, goes
under must want in my list, and may
want in Mary's; or, perhaps, it may
be left out entirely in her list; We
will consider of it. " - :v t Lil
" Do so: in the mean time, Frank,
consider a little where you are going.
Do not haul your horse about in that
cow path, from side to side, or you will
throw him down. " ;>> ' '. Dtuimsb
'-ffri-rwitt , itkke' icartie',r"'^apW. . * Mind
where you are going, Felix* sir. 'We
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? SRANK.
199
mili I begin onrlists this day, and Mary
and Ii c3tt';sfettle therm all u. v What do
ybw think, papa ? You smile : you look
a& if yon thought we could not do this. "
ithink, that perhaps you will
want a little of your mother's assist-
ance and mine ; for, without more ex-
perience, or knowledge of the world,
than you two possess, it will be im-
possible, that you should know all that
necessary to put in or to leave out of
your lists of must wants and may wants. "
''/That is true," said Frank; "for I
did not know till very lately, that
Latin grammar and Latin should go
under must want for man, that is, for
gentleman. By the bye, papa, that
gardener, who is not a gentleman, un-
derstands Latin. " ' . i<<oh mii. v. 'i. "i.
i. ";Jfes, he knows the Latin names
of Ifees, plants, and flowera. ! ' . <<. . / n. ntv
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? 200 FHANK.
"But," answered Frank, "he knows
a great deal more. I took up a book
that was lying on the seat in his porch,
and what do you think it was, papa?
A Latin book! a Latin poet! "
"Virgil's Eclogues, I suppose? "
" Yes; Virgil's Eclogues : how conld
you guess it? " ':
Without waiting for an answer, Frank
went on--
" His son told me, that he not only
reads that but other Latin books,
which he called the classics, at his lei-
sure hours, for his amusement! Think
of that, papa! "
His father did not appear much sur-
prised, but told Frank, that he hoped
and believed, that he wouldHsome time
or other read Virgil and all the clas-
sics for his amusement. Frank asked
his father what he meant by the classics.
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? FRANK.
201
His father began to name to him some
of those authors, who are called ancient
classical writers; but before this list,
with various explanations, was finished,
they saw the boy following them, who
was carrying the willows home for
Frank. He had taken a short way
across the fields. He had such a load
on his back, that it reached above
his head and below his knees, and
the trees seemed to be moving forward
of themselves. Frank's mother was
walking down the avenue, and said
to his father, when she met them, some-
thing which Frank did not quite under-
stand : pointing to the boy and the
willows behind them, she said,
moving wood doth come to Dunsinane. "
V. I know that is a quotation," said
Frank; " but I do not know from
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? 202 FRANK.
what book, nor exactly what it means:
I wish that I did. "
"It is from a play of Shakespear,"
said his father. " Shakespear is one of
the first English classic authors which
you will read for your amusement one
of these days, but not yet. Now tell
this moving wood where it should go. "
The boy was directed to Frank's
island: there his load of sallows was
laid down.
In the eagerness to begin his basket
making, Frank forgot, till late in the
evening, the two lists of the must
wants and may wants of man and
woman; but the next morning, it be-
ing a rainy day, the work was begun
as soon as the Latin lesson was
finished. His mother having furnished,
from her inexhaustible bounty, two
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? FRANK.
203
sheets of paper, large as Frank's imagi-
nation could desire, he, and Mary
under his directions, accomplished rul-
ing them tolerably straightly, dividing
each page into two columns, ruled,
contrary to good advice, with red ink
so liquid, that it blotted much of the
space intended to contain the virtues
of man. Fatigued with ruling, for it
is a very tiresome business, as all who
have tried it will bear witness, Frank
went no farther in his great work, at this
sitting, than printing MAN, in large
letters, on his own page, and WOMAN,
in equal size, on Mary's. The ensuing
day was fine, but no riding for Frank;
his father could not take him out with
him every day. Basket making at
their island was now a fine resource;
but, in their first attempt, the willows
were not stuck at equal distances, or
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? 204
FRANK.
so as to form a perfect circle. The
basket proved but a misshapen thing,
crooked in every direction; it could not
stand because the bottom was so round;
and the handle was so weak and so ill
fastened, that it came out the first time
Mary attempted to use it.
After this failure in basket making
Frank returned to his lists. Truth, honour,
courage, were fairly written in his best
round hand under the head man; and
Mary, for woman, wrote also truth and
honesty; and, after consulting Frank's
mother, added, modesty and good-
temper. The next word in Frank's
list was written and scratched out
several times. First it was Latin
grammar; then grammar was scratched
out, and Latin left; then Latin classics
was put instead of grammar: then
learning was written; and at last learn-
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? FRANK.
205
ing was to be effaced all but the 1, and
literature to have been put in its stead;
but the paper would not bear it; there
was now a hole, aud Frank's hands
were hot, and he grew impatient, and
he pushed aside the paper, and said
that he would give it up for this
morning.
Mary wrote patience in her list before
she left the table: Frank urged her to
scratch it out, assuring her that it was
included in good temper, a point which
she seemed to doubt; for, as she said,
Frank was very good tempered, but
she did not think that he was always
patient. Frank, feeling the justice of.
this observation, returned to his work,
and never quitted it till he had written
the whole over again. This time he
put in patience and perseverance in
his list before Latin or classical lite-
VOL. i. t
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? FRANK.
rature. " Even in our plays," as
Mary said, " and in alt those things
which we do merely for our amuse-
ment, we eannot succeed without pati-
ence. "
" To morrow we will go to our
basket making again," said Frank,
" and we will not give it up. "
In this resolution he and Mary per-
severed ; and after the Latin lesson
was finished, on those days when his
father could not take him out, or when
he returned early in the day from his
rides, at every moment's spare time,
he and Mary were at work, either at
their baskets or at their lists.
" It is very agreeable, mamma," said
Frank, " to have employments both
for out of doors and in doors, to which
we can go constantly, without trou-
bling you or any body. And you see,
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? FRANK.
207
mamma, we do not begin new things,
and grow tired, and leave them in a
few days, as you say foolish children are
apt to do. Look, mamma, at this
basket: compare it with the first that
we made, this crooked tumble-down
thing, with the round bottom and the
broken handle. See how much we are
improved! " .
. . . " Yes," his mother said, "this is
a really good, strong, useful basket. "
Frank asked his mother if she would
be so kind as to walk with them to his
old friend Mrs. Wheeler's, that he
might carry this basket to her; he
wished to give it to her, because she
had given him the first basket he ever
possessed, a little one made of rushes,
which had been long since destroyed;
but the remembrance of the kindness
remained in Frank's mind; and his
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? 208 FRANK.
mother willingly walked with him and
Mary to the cottage.
Mrs. Wheeler was sitting on a stool
before her door, shelling peas; and
Mary, holding their basket by the
handle, offered it to her.
She smiled and thanked them, and
seemed to like the basket, even before
she knew that it was their making;
and she was surprised fully as much as
they expected, when she heard that it
was made by them, and on purpose
for her.
But when Frank reminded her of
the little rush basket, which she had
given to him long since, the tears came
into her eyes, and she said,
" God bless you! God bless' your
grateful little heart! Think of his re-
membering that so long, which I had
quite forgotten! "
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? 209
She gathered up the husks of the
peas which she had been shelling, and
threw them into the basket, to show
Frank that it would be immediately
useful to her.
, " But it is so strong," said Mary,
- " it will bear a much greater load than
this. "
" Yes," said Mrs. Wheeler, " I will
keep my faggots in it. "
She and Frank both smiled, when
she pronounced the word faggots; and
while she went to empty the basket of
peashells and fill it with sticks, Frank
told Mary the mistake he had made,
when he was a very little boy, about
faggots and maggots.
" I can bear to be laughed at now,
cannot I, mamma 1 better, at least, than
I could at that time.
Yet," added he,
" I recollect that stupid Tom vexed
t3
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? 210
FRANK.
me a little, the first time we saw him,
by laughing at my triumphal arch, and
calling my bricks--baby bjicks. ,'Eio,iooR
" Now I know the reason,'. ' ' said
Mary, " that you have nefrf played
with the bricks lately. " : /*. o^iodO "
" And a very foolish reason it cKti2
said Frank. " I will conquer ,fthati
foolish feeling. " ". ' v i '. it ob mid
" Look! " said Mary, " here ^
Mrs. Wheeler with the basket filled
with sticks. Good-natured woman!
she likes to show us how useftit/it
will be. " '. ". . . ,. . . '. . . . \rhfr;n
She placed the basket in her chimney
corner; and told Mary and Frank,
that she would never let any body
touch it, but herself and her grandson
George. *. '. . 'i- ' . . o .
When once she had named George,
she could not help going on speaking
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? FRANK.
otihim; she showed the parlour, which
lies haft iiid 'newly white-washed and
floored5giaoA! said,' that every penny he
&ouid earn, Jje laid out in some com-
fort4t>> Ikes 0'nJ i,
" George was talking," continued
sW, *<<" of making for me a little arbour
terfthe^gttrcten; but 1 would not let
him do it, for he does too much for
me, and he can be much better em-
ployed; so I persuaded him to lay
aside all thoughts of the arbour. "
When Frank heard this, a plan of
making: an arbour for Mrs. Wheeler
came into his mind, which he com-
municated to Mary as they were
returning home: and Mary and he
agreed, that they would make use of
some strong and long sallows, which
the gardener had sent them; and for
this purpose, they said, they would give
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? 212
FRANK.
up their plan of making a new arbour
for themselves in their island. This was
an excellent project; but it happened
to this as to many other excellent pro-
jects, that the carrying it into execu-
tion was from day to day postponed:
something was always to be done first;
and delightful rides made Frank quite
forget Mrs. Wheeler's arbour.
During the course of this autumn
and winter, when Frank had learned
to ride tolerably well, his father some-
times took him out riding, when he
went with his friends, or when he
went out on any business, in which
a boy of his age could learn any thing
useful. . ;i i. j. . .
Frank liked the rides best which he
had with his father when he was
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? FRANK.
213
alone; because then he could ask
him all the questions, which he had
treasured up for those happy times.
When his father's friends happened
to ride with them, Frank found it dis-
agreeable to be silent, especially as the
conversation sometimes turned on sub-
jects which did not interest him, and
which he fancied that he could not un-
derstand ; yet he had sense enough to
attend to what was said, and he found,
that he often learned more than he
could have done by talking himself,
even of what he was most anxious to
say;
. ! It happened, in one of these rides,
'that his father was accompanied by
4wdi gentlemen, one was an engineer,
well informed in literature and science,
the other was a country squire, who
had a large estate, was good natured,
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? FRANK.
but very ignorant, and fond of low
company.
The business of this ride was to lay
out anew road, which was to go through
part of that gentleman's estate. In
this business Frank was not inte-
rested, and he thought, as he told
Mary, that it would prove one of his
stupid rides. .
The begiaing was tiresome, for he
could not understand what the engineer
was saying to his father about a trigo-
nometrical survey of Egland, nor of
what the squire said to him about
hounds. He trotted on for miles with-
out any amusement, except talking by
turns to Felix and to his little dog
Pompey, whom he taught to follow
him in his rides.
He was, however, called upon to
listen to a long story, which the squire
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? FRANK.
215
endeavoured to make him understand.
A story, such as people full of their
own affairs, and unused to children,
address' to them for their amusement.
It was the history of a quarrel, about
a dead partridge, between the Squires's
and the Rogers's, which was made up
by a. marriage between Miss Squires,
his mother, and Mr. Rogers, his father,
" upon condition, that the eldest son,
that was to be, should be christened
Squires, which was accordingly done
by rri(C), that is, with me;" said the
puzzled and puzzling squire. " So I
became Squires Rogers, and, in time,
ought to be denominated Squire Squires
Rogers; being that I am Esquire, that
is, a Squire by title -- and Squires by
name -- and I may add, Squire by
nature: but I have never compassed
getting myself called Squire Squires
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? 216
FRANK.
Rogers, on account of the hissing in
common people's mouths; so it came
down to Squires Rogers, and then to
plain Squire Rogers. But this defeated
the intention of the founder," continued
he, " for there is many in the country
this minute, that does not know I am
any thing more than plain Squire
Rogers. I doubt whether even your
father does; but pray do you explain it
to him, my dear. " . >i . ',.
Frank said, that he would if he
could; he thought, however, that this
would be above his capacity; but he
repeated to himself several times,
Squire Squires Rogers, to try whether
he could say it properly, in spite of the
hissing.
His attention had been much dis-
tracted during the latter part of the
squire's story, by some words that he
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? FRANK.
217
overheard of the conversation, on the
other side of him, between the engineer
and his father, about stone stairs,
leading to curious buildings under
ground, which had lately been disco-
vered by some workmen who had been
sinking a well.
The conversation changed before
Frank's attention was released from
the Squires's and the Rogers's, and he
never could find out more.
Presently, his father stopped near
some ruins. The squire told Frank
not to mind that heap of old stones,
but to listen to what he was going to
tell him about a covey of partridges.
Frank, however, escaped this time
from the squire, and rode after his
father, for his curiosity was again ex-
cited by hearing the words, Roman
road and Roman arch; the recollection
vol. i. u
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? 218
FRANK.
of his own triumphal arch gave him
an interest in this subject. He was
surprised to learn, that an arch and a
road, which he now saw, had been
made when the Romans were in Eng-
land.
From the little books of history,
which he had read, he knew that
" the Romans in England once did
sway;" but he had thought of this
only as a circumstance mentioned in
books, and had never so much the
feeling of its being real as now, when
he saw a road and a part of a building,
which had lasted from their time.
The conversation next turned upon
one of those old towers which are called
Caesar's towers, and various facts of
history were mentioned, with some of
which Frank was acquainted; but
what interested him most, was ob-
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? FRANK.
219
serving the respect that was paid to
his father as a man of literature. He
remarked, also, that the squire looked
sulky and ashamed, while they were
talking of Tacitus and Agricola, of
Julius Caesar and Augustus; and when
he was asked some question about a
tower on his own estate, which was
said to have been built in the time of
Augustus Caesar, he said, he thanked
his stars he knew nothing at all of
any of the Caesars since he had left
school, except his dog Caesar, who
was worth them all put together. The
squire was at last obliged to whistle,
and to whip his boot, and talk to little
Pompey. Frank hoped, that when he
grew up to be a man he should never
be in such a condition. They rode on,
and as they went through the county
town, the engineer stopped to look at
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? 220
FRANK.
the cathedral, the roof of which wanted
some repair.
When observations were made upon
the different parts of the building, the
columns and Gothic arches, Frank
found, that his knowledge of the dif-
ferent kinds of arches, and of the
orders of architecture, enabled him to
understand part of what was said, and
made him eager to attend, in hopes of
learning more. When they were look-
ing at some headless statues in the
niches of one of the shrines in the
cathedral, and when he heard his
father regret the injury, which had
been done to this cathedral, and to
many others in England, by Cromwell's
soldiers at the time of the civil wars in
England, at least he knew who Crom-
well was: and when he felt his own
ignorance of many other facts in Eng-
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? FRANK.
lish history, which were alluded to,
in looking at the tombs and monu-
ments, he inquired and obtained some
information. But all this time the
squire, as ignorant of the history of
his own country as of that of Rome,
stood yawning at intervals before an
old grave stone, on which was the
name of either Roberts or Rogers;
whose only history seemed to be, that
he had been born and had died.
Frank and his father felt sorry for
the squire, and they quitted the cathe-
dral soon, lest they should weary him
by detaining him longer. They all
remounted their horses, and proceeded
to the place where the new road was
to be laid out. Here they found the
engineer's men waiting for them; they
had brought with them a telescope,
and two boxes, which contained his
v3
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? 222
FRANK.
instruments, and some wooden rods or
staves.