No More Learning

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? 224 FRANK.
Frank, who had never before seen
such an instrument, went eagerly to
look at it. But he could not under-
stand its different parts; he saw teles-
copes and brass circles, with many divi-
sions of which he could not guess the
use. He saw a compass : with this he
was acquainted; for his father had
shown him a compass: he watched
the needle as it trembled; and when it
stood still, he knew it pointed to the
north: his curiosity was next excited
by a small glass tube, in which he saw
a bubble that continually moved back-
wards and forwards, whenever the in-
strument was stirred.
He saw the engineer look at this
bubble frequently, and as it were con-
sult it. Frank observed, that the
bubble always went to that end of the
tube which was highest.
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? FRANK.
225
At last, when the instrument was
settled to the engineer's satisfaction,
Frank saw that this bubble stood quite
still, exactly in the middle of the glass
tube; he perceived, therefore, that
its use was to show when the instru-
ment was level. . He asked what this
was. The engineer said it was a spirit
level. He asked what the bubble was,
and why it always ran upwards. The
engineer said that it was a bubble of
air; but he told Frank, that he could
not explain more to him, that he must
go on with his work.
The engineer ordered one of his
assistants to stand on the road at a
certain distance from him, with one of
the staves, which the man held on the
road. On this staff there was a sliding
part, which the man pushed higher or
lower, when the engineer, who looked
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? FRANK.
at it through the telescope, made signs
to him to raise or lower it. When this
was done, the engineer called the man
to him, and noted down the height to
which the slide had been placed on the
staff, and this operation was repeated
at several places.
As Frank had been quite silent, and
had taken care not to be in the way,
the engineer gave him leave to look
through the telescope at the staff; and
told him, that he might call to the man
to raise or lower it till it should be
at its proper height. Frank looked
through the telescope; but, to his
astonishment, he saw the man standing
on his head, and the road seeming to
stand on the man's feet; and when
he called to the man to raise the slide,
he lowered it, or when he called to
him to loWer it, he raised it, doing
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? FRANK.
227
exactly the contrary to what he desired;
at which the squire grew angry, and
began to call the man a blockhead, a
dunce, and an obstinate fool. But
as the man had always done rightly,
when the engineer had spoken to him,
Frank guessed that the fault must be
his own; and as all the objects were
reversed, that is, turned a different way
from what they usually are, he perceived
that he ought to reverse his orders, and
to say higher when it seemed to require
to be lower, and lower when it seemed
to require to be higher.
" I see," said the engineer, stroking
Frank's head, "that your kind father
has taught you better things than
how to hold a telescope, that he has
taught you to be patient, and to believe
that you may be in the wrong, and
ought not to expect to be in the right
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? 228
FRANK.
in a new thing, which you have never
learned. "
Encouraged by these kind words,
Frank said, he wished very much to
know the reason of what he bad seen,
and particularly why the man ap-
peared to stand on his head? But
his father told him, that this could not
be explained till he knew a great deal
more. ' . ' ' ''>><<
" What is the engineer going to do
now 1" asked Frank.
' " He is going to measure the height
and distance of those two mountains,
which you see to the east and to the
west, to your right hand and to your
left. "
Frank observed, that the engineer,
after looking through the telescope,
examined the divisions on the brass
circles ; then changed the position of
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? FRANK. 229
the telescope, and again examined the
divisions; after which he looked satis-
fied, and wrote something in a little
book. And Frank heard him say
several things to his father which he
could not understand, about taking
angles, a base, and a meridian line.
When the engineer seemed to have
done with the instrument, Frank asked
if he might again look through the
itedescope. The engineer nodded, and
went on with his former conversation.
Frank looked, but saw only a mountain
upside down, and Frank said to the
man next to him, " What has your
master been doing? " The man. . 'an-
swered,
. . He was taking the angles. "
And Frank understood no more than
he had done before. The engineer,
turning round at this instant, saw Frank's
vol. i. x
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? FRANK.
curious and distressed look, smiled,
and said,
" My dear, you have a great deal
to learn before you can understand the
meaning of all this. "
The squire asked if he had now
finished his business.
The engineer answered that he had.
"Heaven be praised! " exclaimed
the squire, "we shall have our road---
the rest is all Hebrew to me. It is
amazingly cold standing here: and I
am heartily glad to see that wooden
Harry-long-legs go back again into
its box. "
Frank smiled.
"I never want to know how to do
these troublesome things, these sorts
of scientific puzzles, which a man can
get done for him by paying for," added
the squire.
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? FRANK.
Frank looked at him with surprise;
but there was something droll and
good-humoured in the squire's manner,
which diverted him, and he was glad
that they were to go on with him to
Rogers'-Court, where he cordially in-
vited them to rest and refresh them-
selves; being certain, he said, that
they must be more than half tired to
death, as he was himself, of this tedious
businessi
Rogers'-Court was a handsome old
house, of which the squire was proud,
as he was of all that belonged 46
him.
In showing this house, his ignorance
was still more striking than it had before
appeared. He had a fine library, which
had been left to him lately, as head of the
family, he said, by some great bookish
man of his name, but to him the bookk
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? 232
FRANK.
were of neither use nor pleasure; he
had several fine historical pictures,
in his dining room, and drawing room.
Frank began to ask some questions
about them, but he perceived that the
squire did not even know Darius and
Alexander; he called Alexander a
great Roman general.
While they were looking at the
pictures, two boys, older than he was,
nephews of Squire Rogers, came into
the room with their tutor, and joined
the circle who were examining the
pictures. Frank saw that the boys
and the tutor were laughing behind the
squire's back, at his mistakes. Frank
thought that this was very ill-natured,
and wrong. ' He was shocked at it,
and he would not go near them.
When he gave an account of this
visit to Mary he said, that he took
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? FRANK. 233
care not to ask any more questions,
lest he should expose " the poor squire"
This poor, or rather this rich squire's
ignorance made such an impression
upon Frank, that for a time he talked
of it more than of the engineer s know-
ledge; thinking it, perhaps, rather
more easy to avoid the one than to
obtain the other.
"My dear Mary," said he, "I
must take care not to be an ignorant
man. We will look over our his-
tories of Greece, and Rome, and
England, to-morrow, and see what we
know. "
"Yes," said Mary, "and find out
what we do not know. "
The next morning, as soon as Frank's
Latin lesson was finished, the floor of
x3
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? 234
FRANK.
his mother's dressing room was strewed
with the heads of Roman and of Eng-
lish kings, queens, emperors, and con-
suls. Mary put together the joining
map of the English kings and queens;
Frank holding the box, and giving each
head as she called for it in right suc-
cession. Not a single mistake was
made in her calling. Frank then tried
whether he could do as well with the
Romans; but he made one error. He
called for Tarquinius Superbus (Tarquin
the Proud), before Tarquinius Priscus.
" I always have made that mistake,"
said Frank.
" But you will not make it again,"
said his mother, " if you consider, that
Tarquin the Proud was on account of
his pride and wickedness driven from
the throne and from the country, and
was the last of the kings of Rome. "
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? FRANK. 235
This reason, as Frank found, fixed
the fact in his memory; and he ob-
served, that it was much easier and
better to remember by reason than
merely by rote. While Frank had his
Roman kings, consuls, and emperors,
on one side of the room, and Mary
her English kings and queens on the
floor, at the other; Mary began to
amuse herself with proposing visits
from one set of crowned heads to the
other; but Frank observed, that those
should not visit who did not live at
the same time, for that they would
not know each other's customs. This
led to an inquiry, which ended in
putting a stop to all visiting between
the kings and queens of England and
the kings and consuls of Rome. The
time of Julius Caesar's landing at Deal
was inquired into, and, to please Mary,
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? 236
FRANK.
he and the Emperor Augustus Caesar
were permitted to see Queen Boadicea,
though, as Frank observed, this was
absolutely impossible in reality, be-
cause Queen Boadicea did not live till
eighteen years afterwards.
They went to their little histories of
England, France, and Scotland, and
found all the kings and queens, and
remarkable people, who lived at the
same time; and they amused them-
selves with making out parties for these
personages, and inventing conversa-
tions for them.
They called this playing at contem-
poraries j contemporaries meaning, as
Frank's mother told them, those people
who live at the same time.
Even by this trifling diversion, some
useful knowledge was gained. New
inquiries continually arose, and led to
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? FRANK.
the grand questions, which nations come
first in the history of the world ? which
next in succession? or what states
flourished, that is, were in power and
prosperity, at the same time ?
Frank's mother, in answer to these
questions, unrolled a chart which
hung up in the study; it was called
" The Stream of Time.
" This stream
seemed to issue from clouds, divided
into numerous streamlets of different
breadths, and various colours: only
one of these, of a uniform colour, flowed
straight in an uninterrupted course. All
the others appeared patched of many
colours, and were more or less inter-
rupted and broken in their progress;
sometimes running thin till they came
to nothing, or were swallowed up in
neighbouring streaks, or sometimes se-
veral joining together, and after a little
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? FRANK.
space separating in straggling figures.
Mary, when first she looked at this
map, said it looked like the window,
when, on a rainy day, some ringer has
been streaked down the glass mat^y
times. Frank said, that to him it
looked more . like a coloured drawing,
which his father had shown him, of
the heart, veins, and arteries. Across
the coloured streaks were printed
numerous names, which were the
names of the different nations and em-
pires of the world. Frank began to
read these, Chinese, Jews, Egyptians,
Phoenicians, Assyrians, Persians, Ma-
cedonians, Grecians, Romans, --{
Then pausing, and looking as if con^
founded by the number of the names,
"Mamma," said he, "just the mi-
nute before you unrolled that. *hart
I was going to say to Mary -- ' Manfy
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? FRANK.
we have learned a great deal to day,
but now, that I see how much more
we have to learn, I think we have
learned very little. Mamma, how
shall we eVer in our whole lives have
tune to learn, or memory enough to
remember, the histories pf all these
people f How very difficult it will be,
and how impossible, before I go to
school! Will it not be quite im-
possible, mamma? "
She readily allowed that it would be,
and assured him, that a complete
knowledge of the history of all the
nations in the world is possessed by
very few men, even after they have
studied history half their lives. "There-
fore Frank," said she, "you need not
despair, because at your age you know
but little. Go on steadily, acquiring,
as you do, every day a little more
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? FRANK.
and a little more knowledge, and
the difficulties will lessen as you ad-
vance. "
" Mamma," said Frank, " I should
like to fix a time for looking at this
map with you, and learning from it
something about the histories of dif-
ferent nations every day. "
" You may hang the chart up in my
dressing room, and you may come,
Frank, if you please, every day at my
dressing time," said his mother; " and
I shall be ready to help you as far as
I can; but, perhaps, many things will
prevent you after the first day from
being punctual to that time; and I
rather advise you to leave the map
where it is, along with the books of
history, which you generally read, and
where you can readily get at it, and
consult it, and look at it at the times
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? FRANK.
241
when you want to know any particular
fact. "
"That will be best," said Frank.
" Now, Mary, let us go out to warm
ourselves and play a little. Mamma,
will you call out from the window, as
you sit at work, ' One! two ! three!
and away? ' We will run from the
great beech to the great oak. "
After having ran several of what
Mary justly called good races, they
rested; and Frank, as soon as he had
breath, began to try to explain to her
die instruments which he had seen
with the engineer; but he ended by
saying, that she must see them before
she could understand them, or even
understand as much of them as he did.
Without any instrument, however, but
three sticks, he said that they could
play at levelling well enough; and,
VOL. I. y
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? 242
FRANK.
pushing out the pith from a piece of
elder stick, used it instead of a tele-
scope, and stuck it and three sticks
together with a nail: then he made a
sliding staff with two smooth sallows
for Mary: he bid her stand at some
distance, and be his levelling-man.
And in this manner they set about
trying to measure the ups and downs
in part of the walk round the shrubbery.
And Frank said he could measure the
height, that the sliding stick was raised
or lowered, by a foot rule which
his mother had given to him. This
play went on happily for some time,
Frank running backwards and forwards,
frequently, to examine whether Mary
was right or wrong, in her raising or
lowering of the staff.
" Now you see I am always right,"
said Mary, " pray do not come to
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? FRANK.
243
look any more: trust to me, pray
Frank do. "
He did so. Till at last, at a certain
turn of the walk, the wind being high,
and blowing full in Frank's face, he
called and bawled out the word
" Lower! I say, lower ! Mary, lower! "
in vain. Mary continually answered,
" I can't hear:" Frank replied, " You
must hear, for I hear you;" but this
answer did not reach Mary, and Frank,
after bawling till he was hoarse, grew
angry, and, running up to Mary,
snatched the staff from her hand, and
in an insulting manner declared, that
she was not fit to be a levelling man.
She pleaded, that the wind was so high
that she could never hear a word he
said; and he being in a passion re-
peated,
" You must have heard if you had
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? 244
FRANK.
been minding what you were about,
for I hear you now; and if you did
not hear, could not you have taken off
your bonnet 1"
" No, because mamma desired me
not to take off my bonnet. "
" Because! because ! Oh, that is
only an excuse. You do not like
to play at this play, I see," said
Frank.
" I do, I do, indeed," said Mary,
" if you would not be angry with
me. "
" But how can I help being angry,
when I have bawled till I am hoarse,
and you never would hear; and when
I heard you all the time. "
" It is very natural to be provoked
with a person for not hearing, I know,"
said Mary, " I have felt that myself.
I remember yesterday, when the wind
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? FRANK.
245
was high, and I was locked out, and
standing at the glass-door calling, and
calling, and calling to Catherine, beg-
ging her to let me in, and she did not
hear me, though all the time I saw
and heard her, I was very much
provoked, though it was not her
fault. "
While Mary was saying this, Frank
had time to recollect himself.
" My dear Mary," said he, " I was
cross, and you are very good-humoured,
and perhaps you are right too. Now
go to my place and call to me, and I
will stand in yours, and try if I can
hear you. "
Frank could not hear one word that
Mary said: and Frank acknowledged,
that he had been unreasonable. He
perceived, he said, that the wind,
which had been against his voice,
y3
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? 246 FRANK.
while he had been giving his orders,
had prevented his levelling man from
hearing his " lower and lower. "
" My dear," cried Frank, " now I
recollect it is just like the man, who
fell into the coal pit--in the ' Gentle-
man's Magazine. '"
" Man in the coal pit, in the Gentle-
man's Magazine! " said Mary, "What
can you mean? "
" My dear, do not you remember
the sufferings of Lieutenant George
Spearing? the man who went to a
wood to gather some nuts, and fell
into an old coal pit? "
" Oh, I remember," said Mary, " a
hole seventeen yards deep! and he
heard the robin red breast at day break,
singing just over the mouth of his pit.
Poor fellow! "
" Yes," continued Frank, " and he
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? FRANK. 247
heard the horses going to and from the
mill, and human voices. "
" And the ducks and hens distinctly,"
said Mary.
" And he called, and called," said
Frank, " or, as the book says, made the
best use of his voice, but to no manner
of purpose, for the wind was high, and
blew in a line from the mill to the pit;
so that was the reason that he heard
all that was done there distinctly, as I
heard you, Mary; but they could
never hear him; his voice was carried
by the wind the contrary way, as
mine was, my dear, and I beg your
pardon. "
" Think no more of it," said Mary,
" I am glad we did not quarrel
about it. "
" If we had, it would have been all
my fault," said Frank.
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? 248
FRANK.
" But now let us settle how it shall
be for the future," said Mary. " In-
stead of calling in this high wind, why
should not we make signals, as you
told me the engineer and his levelling
man did, when the man was at too
great a distance to hear his voice? "
" Very true, very right,' said Frank;
" how could I be so foolish as not to
think of that! The simplest thing in
the world! But when I am in a pas-
sion I can never think even of the
very thing I want, and that I know
perfectly well when I am not angry. "
" It is so with every body I believe,"
said Mary.
Justly pleased with herself, Mary
was remarkably exact afterwards in
obeying the signals; and Frank, anxi-
ous to make amends for his foolish
passion, was particularly gentle and
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? FRANK.
249
careful not to be the least impatient.
When they went home, Frank told
his mother of their little dispute.
" Now it is all over," said Mary,
" it was very well you thought of
changing places with me, Frank, other-
wise you never could have been so
soon convinced, that I was in the
right. "
" Now it is all over, I was very
foolish," said Frank; " was not I,
mamma. "
His mother could not deny it.
" But, mamma," said Mary, " we
were not quite so foolish as the two
knights, who fought about the gold
and silver shield. "
Frank had never read the story, and
she had the pleasure of reading it to
him. Let those, who have never read
it, read it now, and may those, who
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? 250
FRANK.
have read it before, recollect it the
next time they want it.
" In the days of knight errantry, one
of our good old British princes set up
a statue to the goddess of victory, in a
point where four roads met together.
In her right hand she held a spear,
and her left rested upon a shield: the
outside of this shield was of gold, and
the inside of silver. On the former
was inscribed, in the old British lan-
guage, 'To the goddess ever favour-
able,' and on the other, ' For four
victories obtained successively over the
Piets, and other inhabitants of the
northern islands. '
"It happened one day, that two
knights completely armed, one in black
armour, the other in white, arrived from
opposite parts of the country at this
statue, just about the same time; and
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