 Section 18 of the Junior Classics, Volume 6, Old-Fashioned Tales. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The Junior Classics, Volume 6, Old-Fashioned Tales. Uncle Jack's Store Eat by Mrs. E. M. Field. Once upon a time began Uncle Jack, since we know no fairy stories are worth hearing unless they begin with once upon a time. Once upon a time there was a country ruled over by a king and queen who had no children. Having no children of their own, these sovereigns thought other people's children a nuisance. I am afraid they were like the fox who said the grapes were sour because he could not reach them, for it was well known that they wanted some of these torments very badly themselves. Don't call us torments, Uncle Jack, interrupted his little niece. Well, you see madam, historians must be truthful. I am bound to say that the king and queen, pastoral law in which the children were described as bickles, torments, plagues, bothers, nuisances, worries, and by twenty-four other titles of respect which I have forgotten. This law enacted, first, that the children were to be seen and not heard, wherefore all children under the age of sixteen were to speak in a whisper and laugh in a whisper. They couldn't, Uncle Jack, broke in brighter. They could only smile. Or grin, said Uncle Jack. So you think that a cruel law, Brider? Secondly, as the sight of a child set the royal teeth on edge, no child was to be allowed to set foot out of doors unless between the hours of twelve and one on any night when there was neither moon nor stars. At that rate they would never go out, said Brider. Well, you see this was a law for the abolition of children. So they were to be suppressed as much as possible, of course. Then thirdly the law declared that as little pictures have long ears, no child should ever hear the conversation of grown-up people. Therefore children were never to be admitted into any sitting room used by the elders of the family nor into any kitchen or room occupied by servants. Oh, said Brider, did they keep them in the coal cellar? In some houses, perhaps. Fourthly, for as much as play was not a profitable occupation and led to noise and laughter, all playtime and holidays should at once be abolished. That was a very bad law, said Brider warmly. Well, the law was passed and was soon carried out. And anyone coming to the city would have thought there were no children so carefully where they kept out of sight. All the toy shops were closed and confectioners were ordered, under pain of death, neither to make nor sell goodies. But one thing the king had forgotten, and that was that after all there were more children than grown people in the country. One family had nine children, another six and so on. So that, counting the boarding schools, there were just three times as many children as grown people in the capital. Well, after about a week of this treatment, for the parents were compelled under threat of instant execution to carry it out. It happened that there came a night when at twelve o'clock, though it was not raining, there was neither moon nor star to be seen. So all the children in the city rushed forth into the park with Chinese lanterns in their hands, making quite a fairy gathering under the trees. Oh, how delicious it was! They ran and shouted and played games and laughed, till suddenly one o'clock struck and all the king's horses and all the king's men came to drive them to their homes again. But there were hundreds and hundreds of children, and only a few soldiers with wooden swords. For this was a very peaceable nation, and armed even its police with only birch rods. So one of the biggest boys blew a tin trumpet and called all the children to him. I vote we rebel, he said. We will not stand this any more. Let us drive away all the grown-ups and have the town all together to ourselves. Now it so happened that a fairy had been watching all that went on in the town and was not at all pleased. So when she heard this bold boy speak, she thought it would be a good thing to let this rebellion be carried out. Serve him right, she said, young and old shall all learn a lesson. So she collected a few thousand fairies, and they flew to all the king's men and whispered in their left ears dreadful things which frightened them terribly and made them believe an immense army, instead of the troops of children, was coming to crush them all. Then the fairies whispered in their right ears that it would be wise to fly to a neighbouring mountain where there was a large old fort and there take refuge. So they galloped off as fast as the king's horses would carry them. Then the fairies flew all over the town and whispered the same things to all the grown-up people, fathers and mothers, old maids and old bachelors, till they too tumbled out of bed, dressed in a terrible hurry and fled to the mountain. Even the king jumped out of bed, tied up his crown in his pocket handkerchief and ran for his life in his dressing gown, while two lords in waiting, more gentlemen of the bed chamber, rushed after him with the royal mantle of ermine and the scepter and golden ball. The Lord Chancellor filled his pockets with new sovereigns from the mint, for he slept there to look after the money, and then he too ran, but rather slowly, for he had the wool sack on his back and it was pretty heavy. When they asked him why he took the trouble, he answered that he thought the ground might be damp and he already had a cold in his head. Well, all the elders being gone, the children were left in possession of the city, at which you may well suppose they were greatly astonished. But then the lanterns began to go out and one after another they grew very sleepy. So the boy with the tin trumpet blew it again and commanded that everyone should now go to bed and that a meeting should be held at twelve o'clock next day in the park at which every child should appear. Appear they did, in their Sunday clothes. Those of them at least who cared for finery. There were no mothers or nurses to object. All were in great delight at having no one to rule them. I shall never go to bed at eight, said one. I shall never eat rice pudding, horrid stuff. I shall never take any more doses. I shall never do any more lessons. Nor I, nor I, nor I shouted one after another. We shall all do only what we like. How happy we shall be. Only one little maid whispered with a tear trembling on the long lashes of her blue eyes. Dotty wants mother. But Dotty was soon comforted and ran about as merrily as ever. Meantime the elder boys and girls held a very noisy parliament in which there were never less than five speaking at once. After a great deal of chatter they determined to set up a queen and a very pretty little girl called May was chosen and crowned with a crown of flowers. Next, Queen May and her council of six, three boys and three girls, ordered that a big bonfire should be made of all lesson books and pinafores, for they thought pinafores were signs of an inferior state of being under command, as servants sometimes think their caps are. The next law was that all the raspberry jam in the city should be set aside for the use of the queen and her court and for those who were invited to the Royal Tea Parties. There was a little grumbling about this, but finally the grumblers gave in. While this time troops of children came pouring in from the neighbouring villages with pinafores on the end of broomsticks as flags of rebellion. Being pretty hungry, they dispersed for dinner, which in most of the houses was a very curious meal, as of course no one could cook, so they had to forage in the kitchens and storerooms, while bands of hungry young folks stormed the confectioners' shops and dined off ices and wedding cakes. Then they opened the toy shops and put them in charge of parties of children, and gradually the other shops were treated in the same way, for buying and selling is always a game children like, and it was such a treat to have real things to sell. Only money was such a trouble, they were always forgetting to bring any, and the young shopkeepers never were sure if a shilling or a sovereign was the right price for a thing. Therefore they concluded to do without it, and costly things were bought for kisses, while cheap ones would be had for saying, if you please, or if they were very small, as a penny-bun, for instance, then please was enough. How nice! said Brider. Well, for a whole week there never was such happiness as the children enjoyed. Games from morning to night, bread and jam three times a day, no lessons, no forbidden things, and a queen of their own age in place of the tyrant king. But when a week was over some little murmurs began to arise. Every morning I ought to say the queen sat on her throne in the royal palace to receive any of her subjects who liked playing at being courtiers, and she and her council then settled any difficulty that arose about rules of games, about the way to make the best toffee, and any other important question. On this particular morning then, rather more than a week after the establishment of the children's kingdom, a very large throng entered the queen's presence. Foremost came a troupe of boys and girls who led in a pale, serious-looking boy as a prisoner, and brought him to queen May's feet. What is the charge against this prisoner? asked the queen with dignity. Don't we'll speak at once, she added, so hastily that several courtiers giggled. Please, Your Majesty, said a boy stepping forward, we caught him in the act, the very act of learning lessons. Lessons! cried the whole court in every tone of disgust, anger, grief and dismay. Lessons! screamed the queen, and at once fainted away. She didn't, said Brider indignantly. Don't you think the shock was great enough? asked Uncle Jack. Besides, she felt at part of her royal duty, perhaps. Anyhow, they tickled her with feathers and put burned cork to her nose till she had a black moustache, and one boy brought a red hot poker, which he said he had heard was a good thing, though he did not quite know how it was applied. It was the best remedy, certainly. For on its appearance, the queen jumped up shrieking and declared she was perfectly well. Then the queen proceeded to try the prisoner, and requested the whole court to act as jury. It was a very sad case of youthful depravity. The criminal had carefully kept this one book, Somebody's Arithmetic, or Magnal's Questions, to gloat over in secret. And even now was not a tall penitent, but declared, when asked what he had to say for himself, that it was stupid and a bore to play games all day long, and he was sick of them. The jury could not agree as to what was to be done with such an offender, and so he was allowed to go, and bidden not to do it again. And the queen went on to the next difficulty. Here the throne room became quite full of children, all in great perplexity. For the matter was this, that the food supply was running short. The confectioner's shops were nearly empty. There was plenty of jam, but very little bread. And one or two boys, who had breakfasted on jam out of a pot, eaten with a spoon, said they didn't know how it could be, but somehow they thought it did not quite agree with them. This was really very serious. Could no one cook? Well, several had tried to make puddings, but somehow, though they ought to have been quite right, something was wrong, and no one would eat them. One girl had bravely made some apple dumplings, and baked them quite brown, but then she could not find out how to get the apple in, so there were no more than hard balls, and not real apple dumplings at all. What are we going to do? said Queen May surrefully. A dead silence reigned. I know, said a boy called Eric, starting forward suddenly, and all liars turned to this owner of a brife idea. I know, he said, brandishing a mini-bladed knife. I'll kill a pig! A murmur of horror arose from the girls. Oh no, said Queen May politely. My faithful subject, we will not let you make yourself so miserable. Oh, I don't mind, cried Eric. Really, you know, I should like it. I'll hold him for you, cried several boys at once. Quite as if they liked it, whispered the girls. But Queen May interposed and said the court should break up and go to blind man's buff. At the same hour next day, anyone who had a bright idea should come and tell it. For the rest of the day, she, at least, did not mean to bother her head. If a pig were killed, it would have to be cooked. And shaking her curls, which were like a crown of gold, Queen May jumped off her throne and ran out into the park. Presently, the fairy, Setum Ride, came flying over the town and saw all the children running about and shrieking with laughter. Bless my broomstick, she said, for she had borrowed one from a witch to fly upon, saying she had rheumatism in her left wing. Bless my broomstick, this won't do at all! She did not notice that a great many children were standing about in groups whispering, what they did not say aloud, that they were getting tired of games all day and of nothing to eat but sweetcakes and jam and meals. I should really, really and truly, like some boiled mutton, said Master Archie, who was known to have had a special dislike to that dish. I know what I shall do, said the fairy. I shall make these children feel like grown-ups, and then I shall fly off to the mountains and make the grown-ups feel like children. And if that doesn't bring them to their senses, I am sure I don't know what will. So the fairy Setum Ride waved her hand over the troop of children. You shall all feel like grown-up people, she said. In a few minutes, a strange change began to come over them all. A great game at Blind Man's Bluff was going on when suddenly several of the girls put themselves into very stiff, solemn attitudes, just like old maids, and said, really, they thought they were almost afraid they could not play anymore. Such games, especially at their time of life, were hardly quite proper, so they would not go on. Others, again, declared that there was nothing they so thoroughly enjoyed as watching people playing at these kinds of amusements, but for themselves. Well, if the others did not mind, they would like just to sit quietly and watch. So they did, and presently some of the boys began stroking that part of their faces, where a mustache might someday grow, and remarking that, oh, don't know, you know, this sort of thing was all very well for schoolboys, but really, we could not, you know. This sentence Uncle Jack brought out with a very funny draw. The boys being turned into dreadfully fashionable fellows. The crowning point, continued Uncle Jack, was reached when the blind man, pushing down his bandage, stood still and addressed this altered crowd very seriously indeed. What miserable folly is this, he asked. Shall we mortals waste our precious flying moments in, in what, my brethren? You see, he had turned into a preacher, explained Uncle Jack. In what a miserable, frivolous occupation, catching each other. Nay, only trying to catch each other. Poor fools and blind. Let us cease, I say. But he had no one to say it to, for the whole audience had gone off in different directions, and the preacher had only his little brother of five left to listen to his wise words. Come along Tommy, said he. I will try and find someone for you to play with, little man. Play with, answered the little brother, in a tone of utter surprise. My dear sir, I have no time to play. Letters, telegrams, appointments by scouts fill my time. Let me tell you sir, there is no busier man than your humble servant in the whole country. With which he turned about and strode off with the longest strides his little legs in their blue sailor trousers could take, for he had become a man of business. This is too absurd, muttered the elder, and went off to look for the church of which he was vicar. The same remarkable change came over all the children. One little brat who was busy teasing an unfortunate kitten stopped suddenly and rushed off in search of pen and paper, with which he returned and began once to compose an ode to Tabitha, fairest pussy ever seen, with thine eyes of clearest green. Fly me not! That was how it began, for he had become a poet. I thought poets wrote about knights and ladies, and green fields and the moon, remonstrated brighter. So they do, but sometimes they want a new subject, and this young genius thought he had found one. Well, all the children, without losing their child faces and figures, turned into the sort of people they would be when they were grown up. So of course their game seemed very dull, and they wanted grown-up occupations. But not knowing quite how to set to work, they were all lounging vaguely about when the clear notes of a bugle sounded through the city. This was the well-known signal for the assembling of the whole population in the park, and off went all those queer grown-up children to the place of meeting. Here they were met by Queen May, who sat on a garden chair with her court around her, all looking very solemn. My faithful subjects, said the Queen, I have sent for you to consider a very grave question. I regret to state that the affairs of this kingdom are in a condition which will, perhaps, be best described as unsatisfactory. Here, here, said a gentleman at four, bowing gravely. Here, here, echoed many voices. Perhaps the most unsatisfactory point is, went on Queen May, who you see talked in very grown-up language, is, I say, the banishment of a large portion of the population, that portion, in fact, which we were formally accustomed to call our elders and bettors. Prizer, no, no! Queen May went on to explain that, after all, they got on badly without these elders. With all their efforts, the young folks had not strength or skill to do a variety of things, without which the round of life seemed likely soon to come to a standstill. So she proposed that she, and all who would go, should start at once for the mountain and fetch home the exiles. There was some murmuring of this, the old law might be carried out, and the children made wretched again. And, why, bless me, said an elderly person of nine, as he fixed on a double eyeglass with gold rims. They might actually want to send me, me, to bed at eight o'clock. Proper conditions would be made, the Queen said. One after another all the objections were overcome, and a long procession started, with Queen May mounted on a white pony at its head. On arriving at the mountain they were greatly surprised to meet the King, that stern tyrant who wanted to stop all fun. Running as hard as his legs could carry his fat body with his crown on the back of his head, and a green netbag tied on the end of his scepter chasing a white butterfly. Please, Your Majesty, began Queen May shyly, that the King only looked round for a moment and ran on, then tumbled over a furs bush so that his crown rolled far away and the butterfly escaped, while he lay there kicking. The children were very much surprised at this, and thought the King must have gone mad, and in fact they felt very penitent, for they supposed his hurried flight must have been too much for the brain, so they were to blame for this terrible alteration. A little further on however, they were still more surprised to see a circle of the most serious old maids in the whole capital, ladies whose time was mostly spent in making flammel garments for the poor, or sitting at neat tea tables with neat curls on each side of their faces, and a neat cat curled on a neat cushion in a neat chair close at hand. And these old ladies were all screaming and laughing like children. These very respectable old ladies now looked anything but neat. Their curls were flying in all directions, and they were screaming with laughter, pinching each other, and making all sorts of silly jokes over a furious game of Hunt the Slipper. For, you see, they had gone back to what they used to like when they were children. Queen May looked at them gravely. Dear friends, she said, at your age, is this decorous? Is it proper? Is it even ladylike? There it is! Catch it! Catch it! cried one of the old ladies. Come and play with us! cried another. None of the rest paid any attention to the serious looks of the grown-up children, who went sadly on toward the fort. Hoping to find someone more reasonable. The next person they saw was the Lord Chancellor, a bold stout old gentleman who was sitting on the wool-sat, which, you remember, he had carried away on his back. He was very busy with a pipe, and the children thought he was smoking and grew more hopeful. He might have some trace of good-sense left, they thought, if he could care for such a grown-up pursued. Here Uncle Jack offered his cigar to Brider politely, but she made a face and turned her head away. I don't want to be so grown-up as that, she said. Oh, said Uncle Jack with his funny face that he always put on to tease Brider. Oh, I thought you wanted to grow up all of a sudden. Well, only for some things, answered she, feeling that Uncle Jack was taking a mean advantage in remembering her sayings and bringing them up again. Please go on, she added hastily. Uncle Jack winked at her very slowly and solemnly, then took a good puff at his cigar, and went on. When they came up, he was found to be blowing soap bubbles. Ah-ha-ha! he spluttered, trying to talk with the pipe in his mouth. Don't break it, please! There! as the bubble burst and vanished. It's too bad, I declare. Directly I got a really good one, big and bright. That always happens. Have a try, he added, offering Queen May the pipe. I say, my Lord, said the Major General commanding the Royal Army, coming up at the moment. Can you tell me how to mend lead soldiers? I've tried gum and glue, and one of the maids have on it tried to sew one. But somehow they don't join properly. It's a horrid bore, and that fellow, the Speaker, won't let me have a ride on his rocking horse. I'd punch him only six foot three, and as broad as he's long. So I don't know what to play at. It is slow, answered the Lord Chancellor pittingly. Never mind, old chap. Come up to the fort and we'll make some toffee. So the elderly gentleman went off arm in arm, and Queen May shook her head sadly. They are all mad poor things. What are we to do? Hi, hi, cried a voice, and looking round, they saw that tall, handsome nobleman, the master of the horse, running towards him as fast as he could. At last perhaps they had found someone to speak sensibly to. Hi, you fellas, he cried breathlessly. Stop a minute, will you? Is that a circus pony? And can he do tricks? Sit up with a hat on and drink out of tea cups, I mean? Certainly not, replied Queen May, with her utmost dignity. I hardly understand, Lord Moyers, how you can ask such a strange question. Did you ever see a lady, especially if she were a crowned queen, riding a circus pony? Lord Moyers giggled and turned head over heels on the spot, after which he rushed off again to join the rest of the House of Lords, who were playing high cockalorum close by. The procession went on very sorrowfully towards the fort. It grieved them to see this frivolity in those to whom they had been taught to look up. Alas, my country, sighed Eric, the boy, who you remember, had proposed to kill the pig before he was touched with the fairy wand. Perhaps it was on arriving at the gates of the fort that the very strangest sight was seen. The queen was a very stout and middle-aged person, of rather stern countenance. And here she was, busy with a skipping rope, her hair loose, her royal robes tucked up and her crown on one side. The best fun and the finest exercise in the world, she gasped, if I could only skip twice to one turn of the rope. And on she went, while the children watched. But there was something so utterly ridiculous about the sight that Queen May and her followers, after various vain efforts to suppress their mirth, burst into one peel of laughter which rang merrily through the old fort and over the hillside. It broke the charm, and in a moment the children became children again and the grown people became as they were before. There was a large flat field on the mountain top, in front of the gates of the old fort, and here all the axiles were in a few minutes assembled. The king was about to address them, when in a moment, no one knowing how she came there, the very sedum rite stood among them, close beside his majesty. You have all learned a lesson, and I will put it into words for you, she said. Oh dear, interrupted brighter, here comes the moral, don't make a very hard one, Uncle Jack, please. He laughed, I must finish this truthful story truthfully, Miss. She said, turning to the king and queen, your fault was that you forgot, you once were young yourselves. Rider nodded her head very wisely, and you children forgot that you could not do without old people. That wicked law is at once repealed. Certainly man, said the king, bowing. Children are to be children, and to behave as such, and to be treated as such. Parents are parents, the children are not to forget that. Now, go home all of you, and don't forget this one caution. I've got my eye on you. With these awful words the fairy vanished. And that's the end of the story. And a very nice ending too, said Rider. The Junior Classics, Volume 6, Old Fashioned Tales, Section 19 Brida's Dreadful Scrape, by Mrs. E. M. Field Brida was awakened from her pleasant morning sleep by a strange sound. Her window was partly open, but something struck against the upper sash. It was not a bird that had lost its way, nor a wasp come to look for jam, for as Brida raised her head, something that could only be a handful of light gravel or shot, struck the window again, and at the same time a clear, shrill whistle sounded outside. Brida hastily sprang up. One does not care much about dress at nine years old, so in white night dress and dark twisted hair she fearlessly put her head out of the window, and saw to her delight her cousin Maurice Gray, a boy some two years younger than herself, with his queer ugly little scotch terrier Toby standing on the lawn. She need not be sad for want of a playmate today. Get up and dress, cried Maurice. Aren't you ashamed, my lady, lie in bed? Come out directly! Brida did not need a second invitation. A very short time indeed passed before she was by Maurice's side. His father had brought him over, he said. His father wanted to see grandfather about some business, so he had started off very early. Maurice was dreadfully hungry, and as the grannies never breakfasted till ten, he and Brida each got a thick slice of bread and jam from the good-natured cook, and then went off to the garden, Brida running races with Toby, who mostly had the best of it. You see, he had four legs to Brida's too. They went to the binary and acted a little play, which, however, wanted a few more actors, sadly. It was so puzzling for Brida to be both the imprisoned princess and the ogre at once, and when Maurice, the valiant knight, slew Toby for a dragon, and stepped over his corpse, or would have done if Toby had been a little more dead, and not run away every other minute. It got really puzzling, and it was well that the breakfast bell rang at that moment. Breakfast was rather a long, dull affair. Uncle James, Maurice's father, explained to grandfather a great deal about a drainage scheme, and grandmother every five minutes asked her maid Martha, who stood behind her chair, to tell her what it was all about, which Martha had to do in very loud whispers over and over again. Maurice and Brida were very glad to run out again, with special directions from grandmother to keep off wet grass and not get into mischief. This, they thought, could not possibly happen. This time they rambled into the farmyard. Brida would not look for more kittens, but tried to make friends with some small balls of fluff, which meant some day to be turkeys. At one corner of the yard was a deep tank or little pond full of a dark brown, rather thick fluid, which was used in the garden and fields, and had a great effect in the way of making things grow. Brida and her cousin stood looking at it. I declare, said Brida, it's like the Styx. I don't see any Styx, said ignorant Maurice, who had never learned that the old heathens believed that souls of dead people went in a ferry boat across a dark river called the Styx, and that the old man who rode the boat was called Caron. Brida thought it would be capital fun to act this little scene. Certainly the treacle-coloured stuff in the pool looked nasty enough to do very well for this dark river. As to Maurice, he was younger than his cousin, and when they were together she always invented the games, although he had been to school already, and thought girls generally were very little use. So, when Brida explained what she wanted to do, he only said that he did not know how to act a story that he had never heard, to which Brida only answered quietly, and as if it were a fact no one could think of doubting for a moment. You don't know anything about anything, Maurice. Sit down there. No, not on a cabbage, but on the wheelbarrow, and I will tell you all about it. So she told him the story in the middle of which the wheelbarrow upset, because Maurice laughed. So he sat on a log of wood, and Brida picked up the wheelbarrow, got into it, and began in the words of one of her lesson books, with a little alteration to suit the occasion. Friend, Roman, countryman, lend me your ears. I am Keron. What? asked Maurice. Don't spoil my speech. You may only say, hear, hear, as they do in Parliament. But suppose I don't want to hear? Brida had no notion of what they would do under such unlikely circumstances, so after thinking a little she merely said, don't be silly, Maurice, and that sort of answer puts an end to any argument quite easily. This is my dog, Cerberus, with three heads, went on Brida, pointing to Toby. My, what a lot of bones he would eat, said his master. Brida suddenly jumped down from her rather unsteady pulpit. Oh, we will have fun. Hear, Maurice, put on my white pinafore. You shall be a ghost, and I will get into the tub with my dog, Cerberus, and fare you over the river, she said. It won't hold, too, said Maurice, looking rather doubtfully at the rotten tub, which Brida pushed into the filthy waters, making a splash and a most horrible smell as it went in. Oh, ghosts don't want much room. Now Cerberus, in Hugo, and in the poor dog went, hastily and ungracefully, being in fact thrown in head foremost. After one howl he resigned himself, and lay down at the bottom of the tub, into which unsteady boat, Brida, armed with her own small spade, followed with Maurice's help. Having balanced herself by crouching down, so as to bring the centre of gravity to the right place, she proceeded to paddle, or, as she called it, to row with a little wooden spade, splashing a good deal, and, of course, making the tub turn round and round, and wriggle very uncomfortably in the pool. Well, it doesn't matter, said Charon, giving up in despair and looking very red in the face. We can pretend I crossed the sticks to fetch you. Now I must speak to the soul in Latin, because, of course, Charon and Cerberus talked Latin always. I suppose Cerberus barked in Latin. All three mouths at once, said Maurice. What a horrid row it must have been. Now talk away, said Brida. But we don't know Latin. I've only just begun it. Hick, hike, hawk. That doesn't matter. We must make it up, of course. If we put us, or oh, at the end of every word, we sound exactly like the stuff Cousin Ronald learns. Now, poor us, soul us, do us, you us, want oh, to cross over oh. Yes oh, replied Maurice promptly. Then us, come oh, oh, oh, screamed Brida, making the last word very long indeed, for she trod on the one tail of the dog Cerberus, causing that remarkable animal to jump up howling. Charon's ferry boat was not built to allow of athletic sports on board, so it went over and Brida went in. Oh, dear, what word can describe the filthy mess into which Brida was plunged up to her waist, the smell of it, and the chill, horrible feeling. Fortunately, she had just taken Maurice's hand to help in the soul, who indeed felt very lucky to escape such a voyage. Maurice was able to help her, but soaked to the waist and ready to cry, he scrambled up to dry land. By way of mending matters, the dog Cerberus, who may be supposed to have become Toby again, had gone in altogether and was rather pleased with himself. So he came and had a good shake close to Brida, so as to splash all the rest of her small person, and then ran round and round expressing his delight by all sorts of queer noises. But oh, here was a mess, and this, after the trouble of yesterday, and all Brida's good resolutions, was too dreadful, and tears came fast to her eyes. But kind Maurice, instead of laughing, pitied her. Don't cry, he said. Can't you wash? I might run, said Brida dolefully, remembering what dreadful things happened to frocks that ran. That stuff might run off, said Maurice. Come on. And she followed meekly to the nearest greenhouse, where was a large tub of fresh water, and beside it a big squirt or syringe used for watering plants high up in the greenhouse. Oh, Maurice dear, I will never call you stupid again! cried Brida, delighted, as Maurice filled the syringe and set to work upon her. What fun that was! It was almost worth the fright of that horde splash, and almost, not quite perhaps, worth the disgrace Brida would certainly be in with nurse. Such peals of laughter followed each shower, that the quiet cows in the fields beyond lifted up their great heavy heads and stared with brown eyes of mild astonishment. Can you imagine the sort of figure Brida was when grandmother came out in her wheelchair to take a turn in the sunshine? Soaked from head to foot, streams of clean water, and others of the horribly smelling stuff into which she had plunged, pouring off her in all directions. She did indeed look a miserable little guilty thing, hanging her head while grandmother looked at her through her gold eyeglass, evidently so surprised and shocked that she could find no words for a few minutes, and at last could only tell her she must never, never, never do such dreadful things again if she did the consequences would be reader's note, a row of stars appears here, and reader's note. This row of stars must stand for those dreadful consequences, for Brida never heard them. Uncle James and grandfather had come up by this time, and she fled as fast as wet clinging clothes would let her to the house. It was out of the frying pan into the fire, though, for nurse's wrath was really something too dreadful, and the way in which she ended by saying that she supposed Miss Brida would like better to make mud pies in the streets than to play with other Christians hurt the child's feelings dreadfully. I'm sorry to say she walked out of the nursery with damp, smooth hair and a clean frock, but with her head so very much in the air that her namesake, St. Bride, or Bridget, or Brida, would have been quite shocked. You see, Cousin Salome, she said afterwards, it was such a dose of disgraces, and I meant to be so wise and clever and useful. Did you ask to be made wise and clever and useful? Asked Salome gently. Brida hung her head. She had forgotten that. I'm afraid she dressed so quickly in the morning to join Maurice that she never remembered to ask the helper of the helpless to make her what she would like to be. I've been so miserable, Cousin Salome, she added. I don't believe Mary Queen of Scots could have been more wretched if she had had her head cut off three times running. How this was to be managed did not seem to strike Brida as puzzling. She and Maurice had so often acted the execution of Mary of Scotland with an armchair for the block and an umbrella for an axe, that they were quite used to the Queen having her head cut off very often, without minding it in the least, or being any the worse for it afterward. But certainly it is very tiresome when our most amusing games end in some mischief that we never dreamed of doing. It was not so very long before this dreadful accident in the tub that Brida, who had been reading English history, told Maurice they would act King Canute and his courtiers on the seashore. So she put two chairs and collected all the water she could from every jug and water bottle she could find, so as nearly to fill a bath placed in front of the two chairs on which she and Maurice sat. So they put chairs close by the seashore as the tide came in, related Brida, and the little waves came nearer and nearer and the courtiers said, oh, King, let us move a little higher up. But Canute said, why should we? Did you not say I was such a great King that no doubt even the sea would obey me? And the courtiers held their stupid tongues, for they knew very well that they had said so. But the tide kept on coming and presently the courtiers got up and ran away, for the water was half way up the legs of their chairs, and they had already been sitting with their knees up to their noses. But here Brida, trying to get herself into this graceful position, lost her balance and rolled off her chair, falling on the edge of the bath, which, of course, upset and made a higher tide in the nursery than had ever been seen there before, for the water flowed in every direction and the children, ashamed and frightened though they were, could not help laughing at the way in which a pair of Brida's shoes floated about like little canoes till one that had a hole at the side turned over and went down. This happened at Brida's own home before her father and mother went away. Mother was not pleased, of course, but still she was not quite so dreadfully shocked as the grannies were at the adventure in the old tub. End of Section 19 Section 20 of the Junior Classics Volume 6 Old Fashioned Tales This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Nan Dodge. The Junior Classics, Volume 6 Old Fashioned Tales The Cratchits' Christmas Dinner by Charles Dickens Scrooge stood with the ghost of Christmas present in the city streets on Christmas morning, where, for the weather was severe, the people made a rough but brisk and not unpleasant kind of music, in scraping the snow from the pavement in front of their dwellings and from the tops of their houses, whence it was mad delight to the boys to see it come plumping down into the road below and splitting into artificial little snowstorms. The house fronts looked black enough and the windows blacker, contrasting with the smooth white sheet of snow upon the roofs and with the dirtier snow upon the ground, which last deposit, had been plowed up in deep furrows by the heavy wheels of carts and wagons. Furrows that crossed and recrossed each other hundreds of times where the great streets branched off and made intricate channels hard to trace in the thick yellow mud and icy water. The sky was gloomy and the shortest streets were choked up with a dingy mist, half thawed, half frozen, whose heavier particles descended in a shower of sooty atoms as if all the chimneys in Great Britain had, by one consent, caught fire, and were blazing away to their dear heart's content. There was nothing very cheerful in the climate or the town and yet there was an air of cheerfulness abroad that the clearest summer air and brightest summer sun might have endeavored to diffuse in vain. Before the people who were shoveling away on the housetops were jovial and full of glee calling out to one another from the parapets and now and then exchanging a facetious snowball, better-natured missile far than many a wordy jest, laughing heartily if it went right and not less heartily if it went wrong. The poulturer's shops were still half open and the fruiterers were radiant in their glory. There were great round pot-bellied baskets with chestnuts shaped like the waistcoats of jolly old gentlemen lolling at the doors and tumbling out into the street in their apoplectic opulence. There were ruddy, brown-faced, broad-girthed Spanish onions shining in the fatness of their growth like Spanish briars and winking from their shelves and wanton slain us at the girls as they went by and glanced demurely at the hung-up mistletoe. There were pears and apples clustered high in blooming pyramids. There were bunches of grapes made in the shopkeeper's benevolence to dangle from conspicuous hooks that people's mouths might water gratis as they passed. There were piles of filberts, mossy and brown, recalling in their fragrance ancient walks among the woods and pleasant shufflings ankle deep through withered leaves. There were Norfolk biffens, squab and swarthy, looking off the yellow of the oranges and lemons and in the great compactness of their juicy persons urgently and treating and beseeching to be carried home in paper bags and eaten after dinner. The very gold and silver fish set forth among these choice-fruits in a bowl, though members of a dull and stagnant-blooded race appeared to know that there was something going on and, to a fish, went gasping round and round their little world with no and passionless excitement. The grocers, oh, the grocers, nearly closed with perhaps two shutters down, or one, but through those gaps such glimpses it was not alone that the scales descending on the counter made a merry sound or that the twine and roller-parted company so briskly or that the canisters were rattled up and down like juggling tricks or even that the blended scents of tea and coffee were grateful to the nose or even that the raisins were so plentiful and rare the almonds so extremely white the sticks of cinnamon so long and straight the other spices so delicious the candied fruit so caked and spotted with molten sugar as to make the coldest lookers on feel faint and subsequently billious nor was it that the figs were moist and pulpy or that the French plums blushed in modest tartness from their highly decorated boxes or that everything was good to eat and in its Christmas dress but the customers were all so hurried and so eager in the hopeful promise of the day that they tumbled up against each other at the door clashing their wicker baskets wildly and left their purchases upon the counter and came running back to fetch them and committed hundreds of the like mistakes in the best humor possible while the grocer and his people were so frank and fresh that the polished hearts with which they fastened their aprons behind might have been their own worn outside for general inspection and for Christmas dolls to peck at if they chose but soon the steeples called good people all to church and chapel and away they came flocking through the streets in their best clothes and with their gayest faces and at the same time there emerged from scores of by-streets, lanes and nameless turnings innumerable people carrying their dinners to the baker's shops the sight of these poor revelers appeared to interest the spirit very much for he stood with scrooge beside him in a baker's doorway and taking off the covers as their bearers passed sprinkled incense on their dinners from his torch and it was a very uncommon kind of torch for once or twice when there were angry words between some dinner carriers who had jostled with each other he shed a few drops of water on them from it and their good humor was restored directly for they said it was a shame to quarrel upon Christmas Day and so it was God love it so it was in time the bells ceased and the baker's were shut up and yet there was a genial shadowing forth of all these dinners the progress of their cooking in the thawed blotch of wet above each baker's oven where the pavement smoked as if its stones were cooking too is there a peculiar flavor in what you sprinkle from your torch asks scrooge there is, my own would it apply to any kind of dinner on this day, asks scrooge to any kindly given to a poor one most why to a poor one most, asks scrooge because it needs it most spirit said scrooge after a moment's thought I wonder you of all the beings in the many worlds about us should desire to cramp these people's opportunities of innocent enjoyment I cried the spirit you would deprive them of their means of dining every seventh day often the only day on which they can be said to dine at all, said scrooge wouldn't you I cried the spirit you seek to close these places on the seventh day, said scrooge and it comes to the same thing I seek, exclaimed the spirit forgive me if I am wrong it has been done in your name or at least in that of your family, said scrooge there are some upon this earth of yours return the spirit who lay claim to know us and who do their deeds of passion, pride, ill-will, hatred, envy, bigotry and selfishness in our name who are as strange to us and all our kith and kin as if they had never lived remember that and charge their doings on themselves not us scrooge promised that he would and they went on invisible as they had been before into the suburbs of the town there was a remarkable quality of the ghost which scrooge had observed at the bakers that not withstanding his gigantic size he could accommodate himself to any place with ease and that he stood beneath a low roof quite as gracefully and like a supernatural creature as it was possible he could have done in any lofty hall and perhaps it was the pleasure the good spirit had in showing off this power of his or else it was his own kind generous hearty nature and his sympathy with all poor men that led him straight to scrooge's clerks for there he went and took scrooge with him holding to his robe and on the threshold of the door the spirit smiled and stopped to bless Bob Cratchit's dwelling with the sprinklings of his torch think of that Bob had but fifteen Bob a week himself he pocketed on Saturdays but fifteen copies of his Christian name and yet the ghost of Christmas present blessed his four roamed house then up rose Mrs. Cratchit Cratchit's wife dressed out but poorly in a twice turned gown but brave in ribbons which are cheap and make a goodly show for six pence and she laid the cloth assisted by Belinda Cratchit second of her daughters also brave in ribbons while master Peter Cratchit plunged a fork into the saucepan of potatoes and getting the corners of his monstrous shirt collar Bob's private property conferred upon his son and heir in honor of the day into his mouth rejoiced to find himself so gallantly attired and yearned to show his linen in the fashionable parks and now two smaller Cratchit's boy and girl came tearing in screaming that outside the bakers they had smelt the goose and known it for their own and basking in luxurious thoughts of sage and onion these young Cratchit's danced about the table and exalted master Peter Cratchit to the skies while he, not proud although his collars nearly choked him blew the fire until the slow potatoes bubbling up knocked loudly at the saucepan lid to be let out and peeled What has ever got your precious father, then? said Mrs. Cratchit and your brother Tiny Tim and Martha warn't as late last Christmas Day by half an hour Here's Martha, mother, said a girl appearing as she spoke Here's Martha, mother, cried the two young Cratchit's Hurrah! There's such a goose, Martha Why, bless your heart alive, my dear, how late you are, said Mrs. Cratchit kissing her a dozen times and taking off her shawl and bonnet for her with officious zeal We'd a deal of work to finish up last night, replied the girl and had to clear away this morning, mother Well, never mind, so long as you are come, said Mrs. Cratchit Sit ye down before the fire, my dear, and have a warm, Lord bless ye No, no, there's father coming, cried the two young Cratchit's who were everywhere at once, hide, Martha, hide So Martha hid herself and in came little Bob the father with at least three feet of comforter, exclusive of the fringe hanging down before him, and his threadbare clothes darned up and brushed to look seasonable and Tiny Tim upon his shoulder Alas for Tiny Tim he bore little crutch and had his limbs supported by an iron frame Why, where's our Martha, cried Bob Cratchit, looking round Not coming, said Mrs. Cratchit Not coming, said Bob with a sudden declension in his high spirits for he had been Tim's blood horse all the way from church and had come home rampant, not coming upon Christmas Day Martha didn't like to see him disappointed if it were only in joke so she came out prematurely from behind the closet door and ran into his arms while the two young Cratchit's hustled Tiny Tim and bore him off into the wash-house that he might hear the pudding singing in the copper And how did little Tim behave, asked Mrs. Cratchit when she had rallied Bob on his credulity and Bob had hugged his daughter to his heart's content As good as gold, said Bob, and better somehow he gets thoughtful sitting by himself so much and thinks the strangest things you ever heard He told me coming home that he hoped the people saw him in the church because he was a cripple and it might be pleasant to them to remember upon Christmas Day who made lame beggars walk and blind men see Bob's voice was tremulous when he told them this and trembled more when he said the Tiny Tim was growing strong and hardy His active little crutch was heard upon the floor and back came Tiny Tim before another word was spoken escorted by his brother and sister to his stool before the fire and while Bob, turning up his cuffs, as if poor fellow they were capable of being made more shabby compounded some hot mixture in a jug with gin and lemons and stirred it round and round and put it on the hob to simmer Master Peter and the two ubiquitous young Cratchit's went to fetch the goose with which they soon returned in high procession Such a bustle ensued that you might have thought a goose the rarest of all birds, a feathered phenomenon to which a black swan was a matter of course and in truth it was something very like it in that house Mrs. Cratchit made the gravy ready beforehand in a little saucepan hissing hot Master Peter mashed the potatoes with incredible vigor Miss Belinda sweetened up the applesauce Martha dusted the hot plates Bob took Tiny Tim beside him in a tiny corner at the table the two young Cratchit set chairs for everybody not forgetting themselves and mounting guard upon their posts crammed spoons into their mouths lest they should shriek for goose before their turn came to be helped at last the dishes were set on and grace was said it was succeeded by a breathless pause as Mrs. Cratchit looking slowly all along the carving knife prepared to plunge it in the breast but when she did and when the long expected gush of stuffing issued forth one murmur of delight arose all round the board and even Tiny Tim excited by the two young Cratchits beat on the table with the handle of his knife and feebly cried, Hurrah! There never was such a goose Bob said he didn't believe there ever was such a goose cooked its tenderness and flavor size and cheapness were the themes of universal admiration eeked out by the applesauce and mashed potatoes it was a sufficient dinner for the whole family indeed as Mrs. Cratchit said with great delight surveying one small atom of a bone upon the dish they hadn't ate it all at last yet every one had had enough and the younger Cratchits in particular were steeped in sage and onion to the eyebrows but now the plates being changed by Miss Belinda Mrs. Cratchit left the room alone too nervous to bear witness to take the pudding up and bring it in suppose it should not be done enough suppose it should break in turning out suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the backyard and stolen it while they were merry with the goose a supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid all sorts of horrors were supposed hello a great deal of steam the pudding was out of the copper a smell like a washing-day that was the cloth a smell like an eating-house and a pastry-cooks next door to each other with the laundresses next door to that that was the pudding in half a minute Mrs. Cratchit entered flushed but smiling proudly with the pudding like a speckled cannonball so hard and firm blazing in half of half a quarter of ignited brandy and bedite with Christmas holly stuck into the top oh a wonderful pudding Bob Cratchit said and calmly too that he regarded it as the greatest success achieved by Mrs. Cratchit since their marriage Mrs. Cratchit said that now the wait was off her mind she would confess she had had her doubts about the quantity of flour everybody had something to say about it but nobody said or thought it was at all a small pudding for a large family it would have been flat heresy to do so any Cratchit would have blushed to hint at such a thing at last the dinner was all done the cloth was cleared the hearth swept and the fire made up the compound in the jug being tasted and considered perfect apples and oranges were put upon the table and a shovel full of chestnuts on the fire then all the Cratchit family drew round the hearth in what Bob Cratchit called a circle meaning half a one and at Bob Cratchit's elbow stood the family display of glass two tumblers and a custard cup without a handle these held the hot stuff from the jug however as well as golden goblets would have done and Bob served it out with beaming looks while the chestnuts on the fire sputtered and crackled noisily then Bob proposed a merry Christmas to us all my dears God bless us which all the family re-echoed God bless us everyone said tiny Tim the last of all End of Section 20 Recording by Nan Dodge Section 21 of the Junior Classics Volume 6 Old Fashioned Tales This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Sherry Forrest The Junior Classics Volume 6 Old Fashioned Tales Embellishment by Jacob Abbott One day Beechnut, who had been ill was taken by Phony and Madeline for a drive When Phony and Madeline found themselves writing quietly along in the wagon in Beechnut's company the first thought which occurred to them after the interest and excitement awakened by the setting out had passed in some measure way was that they would ask him to tell them a story this was a request which they almost always made in similar circumstances in all their rides and rambles Beechnut's stories were an unfailing resource furnishing them with an inexhaustible fund of amusement sometimes and sometimes of instruction Well said Beechnut in answer to their request I will tell you now about my voyage across the Atlantic Ocean Yes! exclaimed Madeline I should like to hear about that very much indeed Shall I tell this story to you just as it was? asked Beechnut Will this sober matter a fact or shall I embellish it a little? I don't know what you mean by embellishing it said Madeline Why, not telling exactly what is true said Beechnut but inventing something to add to it to make it interesting I want to have it true said Madeline and interesting too but sometimes replied Beechnut interesting things don't happen and in such cases if we should only relate what actually does happen the story would be likely to be dull I think you had better embellish the story a little said Phony just a little, you know I don't think I can do that very well replied Beechnut If I attempt to relate the actual facts I depend simply on my memory and I can confine myself to what my memory teaches but if I undertake to follow my invention I must go wherever it leads me well said Phony I think you had better embellish the story at any rate for I want it to be interesting so do I said Madeline then said Beechnut I will give you an embellished account of my voyage across the Atlantic but in the first place I must tell you how it happened that my father decided to leave Paris and come to America it was mainly on my account my father was well enough contented with his situation so far as he himself was concerned and he was able to save a large part of his salary so as to lay up a considerable sum of money every year but he was anxious about me there seemed to be nothing continued Beechnut for me to do and nothing desirable for me to look forward to when I should become a man my father thought therefore that though it would perhaps be better for him to remain in France it would probably be better for me if he should come to America where he said people might rise in the world according to their talents, thrift and industry he was sure he said that I should rise for you must understand he considered me an extraordinary boy well said Phony I think you were an extraordinary boy yes but my father thought rejoined Beechnut that I was something very extraordinary indeed he thought I was a genius so do I said Phony he said continued Beechnut he thought it would in the end be a great deal better for him to come to America where I might become a man of some consequence in the world and he said that he should enjoy his own old age a great deal better even in a strange land if he could see me going on prosperously in life then to remain all his days in that porter's lodge all the money that my father saved Beechnut continued he got changed into gold at an office in the boulevards but then he was very much perplexed to decide how it was best to carry it why did he not pack it up in his chest asked Phony he was afraid replied Beechnut that his chest might be broken open or unlocked by false keys on the voyage and that the money might be thus stolen away so he thought that he would try to hide it somewhere in some small thing that he could keep with him all the voyage could he not keep his chest with him all the voyage asked Phony no said Beechnut the chest and all large parcels of baggage belonging to the passengers must be sent down into the hold of the ship out of the way it is only a very little baggage that the people are allowed to keep with them between the decks my father wished very much to keep his gold with him and yet he was afraid to keep it in a bag or in any other similar package in his little trunk for then whoever saw it would know that it was gold and so perhaps form some plan to rob him of it while we were considering what plan it would be best to adopt for the gold Ariel who was the daughter of a friend of ours proposed to hide it in my top I had a very large top which my father had made for me it was painted yellow outside with four stripes of bright blue passing down over it from the stem to the point when the top was in motion both the yellow ground and the blue stripes entirely disappeared and the top appeared to be of a uniform green color then when it came to its rest again the original colors would reappear how curious said Madeline why would it do so why when it was revolving said Beechnut the yellow and the blue were blended together in the eye and that made green yellow and blue always make green Ariel colored my top after my father had made it and then my father varnished it over the colors and that fixed them this top of mine was a monstrous large one and being hollow Ariel thought that the gold could all be put inside she said she thought that that would be a very safe hiding place too since nobody would think of going into a top for gold but my father said that he thought that the space would not be quite large enough and then if anybody should happen to see the top and should touch it the weight of it would immediately reveal the secret at last my father thought of a plan which he believed would answer the purpose very perfectly we had a very curious old clock it was made by my grandfather who was a clock maker in Geneva there was a little door in the face of the clock and whenever the time came for striking the hours this door would open and a little platform would come out with a tree upon it there was a beautiful little bird upon the tree and when the clock had done striking the bird would flap its wings and sink then the platform would slide back into its place the door would shut and the clock go on ticking quietly for another hour this clock was made to go continued beach nut as many other clocks are by two heavy weights which were hung to the wheel work by strong cords the cords were wound round some of the wheels and as they slowly descended by their weight they made the wheels go round there was a contravence inside the clock to make the wheels go slowly and regularly and not spin round too fast as they would have done if the weights had been left to themselves this is the way that clocks are often made now my father continued beach nut had intended to take his old family clock with him to America and he now conceived the idea of hiding his treasure in the weights the weights were formed of two round tin canisters filled with something very heavy my father said he did not know whether it was shot or sand he unsoddered the bottom from those canisters and found that the filling was shot he poured out the shot put his gold pieces in, in place of it and then filled up all the interstices between and around the gold pieces with sand to prevent the money from jingling then he soldered the bottom of the canisters on again and no one would have known that the weights were anything more than ordinary clock weights he then packed the clock in a box and put the box in his trunk it did not take up a great deal of room for he did not take the case of the clock but only the face and the works which last he packed carefully and securely in the box one on each side of the clock itself when we got to Havra all our baggage was examined at the custom house and the officers allowed it all to pass when they came to the clock my father showed them the little door and the burden side and they said it was very curious they did not pay any attention to the weights at all when we went on board of the vessel our chests were put by the side of an immense heap of baggage upon the deck where some seamen were at work lowering it down into the hold through a square opening in the deck of the ship as for the trunk my father took that with him to the place where he was going to be himself during the voyage this place was called the steerage it was crowded full of men, women, and children all going to America some talked French some German some Dutch and there were ever so many babies that were too little to talk at all pretty soon the vessel sailed we did not meet with anything remarkable on the voyage except that once we saw an iceberg what is that? asked Madeleine it is a great mountain of ice replied Beechnut floating about in the sea on top of the water I don't know how it comes to be there I should not think it would float upon the top of the water said Phony all the ice that I ever saw in the water sinks into it it does not sink to the bottom said Madeleine no, replied Phony but it sinks down until the top of the ice is just level with the water but Beechnut says that his iceberg rose up like a mountain yes, said Beechnut it was several hundred feet high above the water all glittering in the sun and I think that if you look at any small piece of ice floating in the water you will see that a small part of it rises above the surface yes said Phony, a very little it is a certain proportion of the whole mass rejoined Beechnut they told us on board our vessel that about one tenth part of the iceberg was above the water the rest, that is nine tenths, was under it so you see what an enormous big piece of ice it must have been to have only one tenth part of it tower up so high there was one thing very curious and beautiful about our iceberg said Beechnut we came inside of it one day about sunset just after a shower the cloud which was very large and black had passed off into the west and there was a splendid rainbow upon it it happened too that when we were nearest to the iceberg it lay toward the west and of course toward the cloud and it appeared directly under the rainbow and the iceberg and the rainbow made a most magnificent spectacle the iceberg which was very bright and dazzling in the evening sun looked like an enormous diamond with the rainbow for the setting how curious said Phony yes said Beechnut and to make it more remarkable still a whale just then came along directly before the iceberg and spouted there two or three times and as the sun shone very brightly upon the jet of water which the whale threw into the air it made a sort of silver rainbow below in the center of the picture how beautiful it must have been said Phony yes rejoined Beechnut very beautiful indeed we saw a great many beautiful spectacles on the sea but then on the other hand we saw some that were dreadful did you? asked Phony what? why we had a terrible storm and shipwreck at the end said Beechnut for three days and three nights the wind blew almost a hurricane they took in all the sails and let the ship drive before the gale under bare poles she went on over the seas for five hundred miles howling all the way like a frightened dog were you frightened? asked Phony yes said Beechnut when the storm first came on several of the passengers came up the hatchways and got up on the deck to see it and then we could not get down again for the ship gave a sudden pitch just after we came up and knocked away the step ladder we were terribly frightened the seas were breaking over the forecastle and sweeping along the decks and the shouts and outcries of the captain and the sailors made a dreadful din at last they put the step ladder in its place again and we got down then they put the hatches on and we could not come out anymore the hatches said Phony what are they? the hatches replied Beechnut are a sort of scuttled doors that cover over the square openings in the deck of a ship they always have to put them on and fasten them down in a great storm just at this time the party happened to arrive at a place where two roads met and as there was a broad and level space of ground at the junction where it would be easy to turn the wagon Beechnut said that he thought it would be better to make that the end of their ride and so turn around and go home Phony and Madeleine were quite desirous of going a little farther but Beechnut thought that he should be tired by the time he reached the house again but you will not have time to finish the story said Phony yes replied Beechnut there is very little more to tell it is only to give an account of our shipwreck why did you have a shipwreck? exclaimed Phony yes said Beechnut when you have turned the wagon I will tell you about it taking a great sweep turned the wagon round and the party set their faces toward home the Marshal was immediately going to set out upon a trot but Phony held him back by pulling upon the reins and saying steady Marshal, steady you have got to walk all the way home the storm drove us upon the Nova Scotia coast said Beechnut, resuming his story we did not know anything about the great danger that we were in until just before the ship went ashore when we got near the shore the sailors put down all the anchors but they would not hold and at length the ship struck then there followed a dreadful scene of consternation and confusion some jumped into the sea in their terror and were drowned some cried and screamed and acted as if they were insane some were calm and behaved rationally the sailors opened the hatches and let the passengers come up and we got into the most sheltered places that we could find about the decks and rigging and tied ourselves to whatever was nearest at hand my father opened his trunk and took out his two clock weights and gave me one of them the other he kept himself he told me that we might as well try to save them though he did not suppose that we should be able to do so pretty soon after we struck the storm seemed to abate a little the people of the country came down to the shore and stood upon the rocks to see if they could do anything to save us we were very near the shore but the breakers and the boiling surf were so violent between us and the land that whoever took to the water was sure to be dashed in pieces so everybody clung to the ship waiting for the captain to contrive some way to get us to the shore and what did he do? asked phony he first got a long line and a cask and he fastened the end of the long line to the cask and then threw the cask overboard the other end of the line was kept on board the ship the cask was tossed about upon the waves every successive surge driving it in nearer and nearer to the shore until at last it was thrown up high upon the rocks the men upon the shore ran to seize it but before they could get hold of it the receding wave carried it back again among the breakers where it was tossed about as if it had been a feather and overwhelmed with the spray presently away it went again up upon the shore and the men again attempted to seize it this was repeated two or three times at last they succeeded in grasping hold of it and they ran up with it upon the rocks out of the reach of the seas the captain then made signs to the men to pull the line in toward the shore he was obliged to use signs because the roaring and thunder of the seas made such a noise that nothing could be heard the sailors had before this under the captain's direction fastened a much stronger line a small cable in fact to the end of the line which had been attached to the barrel thus by pulling upon the smaller line the men drew one end of the cable to the shore the other end remained on board the ship while the middle of it lay tossing among the breakers between the ship and the shore the seamen then carried that part of the cable which was on ship board up to the mast head while the men on shore made their end fast to a very strong post which they set in the ground the seamen drew the cable as tight as they could and fastened their end very strongly to the mast head thus the line of the cable passed in a gentle slope from the top of the mast to the land high above all the surges and spray the captain then rigged what he called a sling which was a sort of loop of ropes that a person could be put into and made to slide down in it on the cable to the shore a great many of the passengers were afraid to go in this way but they were still more afraid to remain on board the ship what were they afraid of? asked Phony they were afraid, replied Beechnut that the shocks of the sea would soon break the ship to pieces and then they would all be thrown into the sea together in this case they would certainly be destroyed for if they were not drowned they would be dashed to pieces on the rocks which line the shore sliding down the line seemed thus a very dangerous attempt but they consented one after another to make the trial and thus we all escaped safe to land and did you get the clock weights safe to the shore? asked Phony yes, replied Beechnut and as soon as we landed we hid them in the sand my father took me to a little cove close by where there was not much surf as the place was protected by a rocky point of land which bounded it on one side behind this point of land the waves rolled up quietly upon a sandy beach my father went down upon the slope of this beach to a place a little below where the highest waves came and began to dig a hole in the sand he called me to come and help him the waves impeded our work a little but we persevered until we had dug a hole about a foot deep we put our clock weights into this hole and covered them over we then ran back up upon the beach the waves that came up every moment over the place soon smothered the surface of the sand again it made it look as if nothing had been done there my father measured the distance from the place where he had deposited his treasure up to a certain great white rock upon the shore exactly opposite to it so as to be able to find the place again and then we went back to our company they were collected on the rocks in little groups wet and tired and in great confusion but rejoiced at having escaped with their lives some of the last of the sailors were then coming over in the sling the captain himself came last of all there were some huts near the place on the shore where the men made good fires and we warmed and dried ourselves the storm abated a great deal in a few hours the tide went down so that we could go off to the ship before night to get some provisions the next morning the men could work at the ship very easily and they brought all the passengers baggage on shore my father got his trunk with the clock in it a day or two afterward some sloops came to the place and took us all away to carry us to Quebec just before we embarked on board the sloops my father and I watching a good opportunity dug up our weights out of the sand and put them back safely in their places in the clock box is that the end? asked Phony when Beechnut paused yes replied Beechnut I believe I had better make that the end I think it is a very interesting and well told story said Madeleine and do you feel very tired? no said Beechnut on the contrary I feel all the better for my ride I believe I will sit up a little while so saying he raised himself in the wagon and sat up and began to look about him what a wonderful voyage you had Beechnut said Phony but I never knew before that you were shipwrecked well in point of fact replied Beechnut I never was shipwrecked never was exclaimed Phony why what is all this story that you have been telling us then embellishment said Beechnut quietly embellishment repeated Phony more and more amazed yes said Beechnut then you were not wrecked at all said Phony no replied Beechnut and how did you get to the land? asked Phony why we sailed quietly up the St. Lawrence replied Beechnut and landed safely at Quebec as other vessels do and the clock waits asked Phony all embellishment said Beechnut my father had no such clock in point of fact he put his money in a bag his bag in his chest and his chest in the hold and it came as safe as the captain's second and the iceberg and the rainbow asked Madeline embellishment all embellishment said Beechnut dear me said Phony I thought it was all true did you said Beechnut I am sorry that you were so deceived and I am sure it was not my fault for I gave you your choice of a true story or an invention and you chose the invention yes said Phony so we did end of section 21