Georgie | Page 4

they should like the lecture, and promised to attend. Rollo said he would remember it all; and so his mother began.
"The value of a plaything does not consist in itself, but in the pleasure it awakens in your mind. Do you understand that?"
"Not very well," said Rollo.
"If you should give a round stick to a baby on the floor, and let him strike the floor with it, he would be pleased. You would see by his looks that it gave him great pleasure. Now, where would this pleasure be,--in the stick, or in the floor, or in the baby?"
"Why, in the baby," said Rollo, laughing.
"Yes; and would it be in his body, or in his mind?"
"In his face," said James.
"In his eyes," said Rollo.
"You would see the signs of it in his face and in his eyes, but the feeling of pleasure would be in his mind. Now, I suppose you understand what I said, that the value of the plaything consists in the pleasure it can awaken in the mind."
"Yes, mother," said Rollo.
"There is your jumping man," said she; "is that a good plaything?"
"Yes," said Rollo, "my kicker. But I don't care much about it. I don't know where it is now."
"What was it?" said James. "I never saw it."
"It was a pasteboard man," said his mother; "and there was a string behind, fixed so that, by pulling it, you could make his arms and legs fly about."
"Yes," said Rollo, "I called him my kicker."
"You liked it very much, when you first had it."
"Yes," said Rollo, "but I don't think it is very pretty now."
"That shows what I said was true. When you first had it, it was new, and the sight of it gave you pleasure; but the pleasure consisted in the novelty and drollery of it, and after a little while, when you became familiar with it, it ceased to give you pleasure, and then you did not value it. I found it the other day lying on the ground in the yard, and took it up and put it away carefully in a drawer."
"But if the value is all gone, what good does it do to save it?" said Rollo.
"The value to you is gone, because you have become familiar with it, and so it has lost its power to awaken feelings of pleasure in you. But it has still power to give pleasure to other children, who have not seen it, and I kept it for them."
"I should like to see it, very much," said James. "I never saw such a one."
"I will show it to you some time. Now, this is one kind of plaything,--those which please by their novelty only. It is not generally best to buy such playthings, for you very soon get familiar with them, and then they cease to give you pleasure, and are almost worthless."
"Only we ought to keep them, if we have them, to show to other boys," said Rollo.
"Yes," said his mother. "You ought never to throw them away, or leave them on the floor, or on the ground."
"O, the little fool," said Rollo suddenly.
His mother and James looked up, wondering what Rollo meant. He was looking out at the side of the carryall, at something about the wheel.
"What is it," said his mother.
"Why, here is a large fly trying to light on the wheel, and every time his legs touch it, it knocks them away. See! See!"
"Yes, but you must not attend to him now. You must listen to my lecture. You promised to give your attention to me."
So James and Rollo turned away from the window, and began to listen again.
"I have told you now," said she, "of one kind of playthings--those that give pleasure from their novelty only. There is another kind--those that give you pleasure by their use;--such as a doll, for example."
"How, mother? Is a doll of any use?"
"Yes, in one sense; that is, the girl who has it, uses it continually. Perhaps she admired the looks of it, the first day it was given to her; but then, after that, she can use it in so many ways, that it continues to afford her pleasure for a long time. She can dress and undress it, put it to bed, make it sit up for company, and do a great many other things with it. When she gets tired of playing with it one day, she puts it away, and the next day she thinks of something new to do with it, which she never thought of before. Now, which should you think the pleasure you should obtain from a ball, would arise from, its novelty, or its use?"
"Its use," said the boys.
"Yes," said the mother. "The first sight of a ball would not give you any very special pleasure. Its value