No More Learning

" 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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? 306
JFJVAN'K.
him, oibhv dexterity in managing itihis
knife and- fork the first 'time he dined
with the English in the captain's
cabin; his quickness in learning to
speak English, and in observing all,
even the most trifling customs; his
surprise when he first heard one of "the
officers read from a book, and his great
curiosity to know how that wonder
was performed; his agility in dancing;
hUvpoliteness, affection, gratitude, and
above all, attachment to his parents,
ariditwife; and children, which pre-
vented him from accepting the English
captain's offer to bring him to Eng-
land:"- &i-in-i 'tr wt! . *U*r
m All these things delighted Frank and
Mary; so that they determined, that,
at ithei first convenient opportunity,
their Robinson Crusoe's island should
be'i-terne<i < into the great Loo-choo
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? PRANK. 307
island; and that Frank should be
turned into i iMadera, and Mary into
the 'English captain. But they had
sense enough to agree, that this must
not be done during the time that the
engineer should stay with them.
He was very busy drawing plans
part of this day. Frank and Mary
took great care not to be troublesome
to him; and, therefore, they were per-
mitted to stay in the same room with
him while he was at work, and he
allowed them to look irito his portfolio
at some plans of bridges and buildings.
They tried to build one of these, a
tower, with their little bricks, which
the engineer did not, like master Tom,
call baby's toys.
Frank and Mary had often tried to
build a bridge, but they never could
succeed in forming an arch, because
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? SQ6t FfciWN***
tht^rfcadiiaott aftb^he gditferent shaiped
bricks Jthat were necessaryu uTontheir
great delight, the engineer gave them a
mddelofa bridge which 'could be taken
to pieces and put together again.
After looking at some of the plans,
which he found in the portfolio, Frank
thought that he could draw the plan
of iaphouse without much difficulty.
There was only one thing that puzzled
him a little; he saw at the bottom of
each plan the words, by a scale of One
twentieth of m inch to a foot. How-
eateP, he set to work at his drawing, and
he*said-to Mary, n >> . >. t
" I will. draw a plan of this house
fof yo<<. "iJ. biDOH . ^ui. . . ? in i; "i J "
But when. ' his plan was finished,
Mary observed, that some of the rooms
looked larger than they were in reality,
artii aomdoanaUer. When he showed
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? FRANK. 309
his drawing to his friend the engineer,
he found many more faults with it.
" This library, in which we are now
sitting," said he, "is, I should think,
fully two feet broader than the break-
fast room. Your drawing room and
dining room in this plan are the same
size, and yet in reality you know that
one is longer than the other. And
the breakfast room is not half its real
breadth. "
"That is true," said Frank; "but
I know the measures of the rooms,
and I will write them in nice little
figures, as I see in your plans, then
every body can know the sizes. "
" Then the figures would do as well
without your drawing. Where are the
stairs in your house ? "
"Oh, I forgot the stairs," said
Frank; " but that does not signify,
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? FRANK.
because I can mark the place for them
here in the hall: and as to the break-
fast room, that is very bad I acknow-
ledge, because I forgot the passage,
and was obliged to squeeze it out of
the breakfast room. "
" The whole house is much longer, in
this drawing, than it ought to be, and
none of the rooms are in right proportion. "
" So I see. "
" As you know the measures of all
the rooms you might easily have re-
presented them in their right propor-
tions, said his friend, "if you had
drawn your plan by a scale. "
"Would you be so kind as to show
me how to do that," said Frank,
" when you are not busy ? "
He had finished all his business
for this morning, he said, and he was
very willing to assist Frank.
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? FRANK.
311
" First, said he, " we must know
the measure of the house, of which
you want to draw the plan. "
Of this Frank not being quite cer-
tain, he said, that he would go and
measure. But he had only a foot rule.
Mary offered her ribbon yard, which
was three feet long.
But the engineer said he could lend
them something that would do the
business better. He bid Frank ring'
the bell, and desired that all the things,
that were in the left hand pocket of
his carriage, should be brought to him.
Among these was a measuring tape,
divided into feet and inches. This
he lent to Frank, who went out with
Mary, and measured the length and
breadth of the house exactly. It
was eighty feet long, and sixty feet
broad.
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