Rollo at Play | Page 2

by this that he must ask his mother. He went in and asked
her, and she, in return, asked him if he had read his lesson that morning.
He said he had not; he had forgotten it.
"Then," said his mother, "you must first go and read a quarter of an
hour."
Rollo was sadly disappointed, and also a little displeased. He turned
away, hung down his head, and began to cry. It is not strange that he
was disappointed, but it was very wrong for him to feel displeased, and
begin to cry.
"Come here, my son," said his mother.
Rollo came to his mother, and she said to him kindly,
"You have done wrong now twice this morning; you have neglected
your duty of reading, and now you are out of humor with me because I
require you to attend to it. Now it is my duty not to yield to such
feelings as you have now, but to punish them. So I must say that,
instead of a quarter of an hour, you must wait half an hour, before you
go out with Jonas."
Rollo stood silent a minute,--he perceived that he had done wrong, and
was sorry. He did not know how he could find Jonas in the woods, but
he did not say any thing about that then. He only asked his mother what
he must do for the half hour. She said he must read a quarter of an hour,
and the rest of the time he might do as he pleased.
So Rollo took his book, and went out and sat down upon the platform,
and began to read aloud. When he had finished one page, which usually
took a quarter of an hour, he went in to ask his mother what time it was.
She looked at the clock, and told him he had been reading seventeen
minutes.

"Is seventeen minutes more than a quarter of an hour, or not so much?"
asked Rollo.
"It is more;--fifteen minutes is a quarter of an hour. Now you may do
what you please till the other quarter has elapsed."
Rollo thought he would go and read more. It is true he was tired; but he
was sorry he had done wrong, and he thought that if he read more than
he was obliged to, his mother would see that he was penitent, and that
he acquiesced in his punishment.
So he went on reading, and the rest of the half hour passed away very
quickly. In fact, his mother came out before he got up from his reading,
to tell him it was time for him to go. She said she was very glad he had
submitted pleasantly to his punishment, and she gave him something
wrapped up in a paper.
"Keep this till you get a little tired of play, down there, and then sit
down on a log and open it."
Rollo wondered what it was. He took it gladly, and began to go. But in
a minute he turned round and said,
"But how shall I find Jonas?"
"What is he doing?" said his mother.
"He said he was going to clear up some land."
"Then you will hear his axe. Go down to the edge of the woods and
listen, and when you hear him, call him. But you must not go into the
woods unless you hear him."

BRIDGE BUILDING
Rollo went on, down the green lane, till he came to the turn-stile, and
then went through into the field. He then followed a winding path until

he came to the edge of the trees, and there stopped to listen.
He heard the brook gurgling along over the stones, and that was all at
first; but presently he began to hear the strokes of an axe. He called out
as loud as he could,
"Jonas! Jonas!"
But Jonas did not hear.
Then he walked along the edge of the woods till he came nearer the
place where he heard the axe. He found here a little opening among the
trees and bushes, so that he could look in. He saw the brook, and over
beyond it, on the opposite bank, was Jonas, cutting down a small tree.
So Rollo walked on until he came to the brook, and then asked Jonas
how he should get over. The brook was pretty wide and deep.
Jonas said, if he would wait a few minutes, he would build him a
bridge.
"You cannot build a bridge," said Rollo.
"Wait a little and see."
So Rollo sat down on a mossy bank, and Jonas, having cut down the
small tree, began to work on a larger one that stood near the bank.
After he had cut a little while, Rollo asked him why he