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Title: The Crown of Success


Author: Charlotte Maria Tucker



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THE CROWN OF SUCCESS

[Illustration: The sparkling crown was placed on her brow. _Page 213._]

THE CROWN OF SUCCESS

by

A. L. O. E.







Thomas Nelson and Sons
London, Edinburgh, Dublin
and New York




_CONTENTS._

         _I. The Dame's departure_,            7

        _II. Mr. Learning at breakfast_,      12

       _III. The Cottages of Head_,           16

        _IV. Plain-work and Fancy-work_,      22

         _V. Mr. Alphabet_,                   29

        _VI. Mr. Reading's fine shop_,        35

       _VII. The Ladder of Spelling_,         41

      _VIII. Breaking down_,                  47

        _IX. Mr. Learning's visit_,           55

         _X. Dick's mishap_,                  63

        _XI. Miss Folly_,                     69

       _XII. A visit to Arithmetic_,          77

      _XIII. The wonderful Boy_,              81

       _XIV. The Thief of Time_,              90

        _XV. Duty and Affection_,             95

       _XVI. Grammar's Bazaar_,              102

      _XVII. Pride and Folly_,               110

     _XVIII. The Carpet of History_,         119

       _XIX. Hammering in Dates_,            125

        _XX. The pursued Bird_,              131

       _XXI. Plans and Plots_,               136

      _XXII. The Cockatoo, Parade_,          143

     _XXIII. The Cage of Ambition_,          152

      _XXIV. A visit to Mr. Chemistry_,      159

       _XXV. A Lesson_,                      167

      _XXVI. Hearing the Truth_,             177

     _XXVII. A Brave Effort_,                185

    _XXVIII. Expectation_,                   190

      _XXIX. Empty and Furnished_,           196

       _XXX. Fruits of Needlework_,          204

      _XXXI. The Crown of Success_,          212




_LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS._

    _The sparkling crown was placed on her brow_,     _Frontispiece_

    _Nelly could hardly see the stepping-stones through
    the thick leaves of the plant which she bore_,                27

    _Miss folly went jabbering on: "Just try that bonnet
    on your head,"_                                               73

    _Dick, Lubin, Matty, and Nelly paying their first visit
    to Grammar's Bazaar_,                                        103




THE CROWN OF SUCCESS.

CHAPTER I.

THE DAME'S DEPARTURE.


A merry life had Dame Desley and her four children led in their rural
home. The sound of their cheerful voices, the patter of their little
feet, the laugh, the shout, and the song, had been heard from morning
till night. I will not stop to tell of all the daisy-chains and
cowslip-balls made by the children under the big elm-tree that grew on
their mother's lawn; or how they gathered ripe blackberries in autumn;
or in the glowing days of summer played about the hay-cocks, and buried
one another in the hay. Their lives were thoughtless and gay, like those
of the sparrows in the garden, or the merry little squirrels in the
wood.

But a time came at last when these careless days must end. Dame Desley
had to take a long journey--she would be absent for many a month--and on
the evening before her departure she called her four children around
her.

"My dear children," she said, "I must leave you; I must give you up for
a while to the care of another. But I have chosen a guardian for you who
is worthy of all your respect. Mr. Learning is coming to see you
to-morrow, just an hour before I start; and I hope that he will find you
all good and obedient children during my absence. Whatever he may bid
you do, do for the love of me, and when you attend to Mr. Learning,
think that you are pleasing your mother."

When the four children were alone together, just before going to rest,
they began eagerly to talk over what Dame Desley had told them.

"I wonder whether I shall like this Mr. Learning," said Dick, a merry,
intelligent boy, with bright eyes that were always twinkling with fun.
None of his age could excel him in racing or running; he could climb a
tree like a squirrel, and clear a haycock with a bound. He loved the
free careless life which he had led in his mother's home, but still he
wished for one more full of adventure and excitement.

"I'm quite sure that I shall not like Mr. Learning," cried Matty; "for
I have seen him two or three times, and I did not fancy his looks at
all. He is as solemn and as grave as an owl; he wears spectacles, and
has a very long nose, and his back is as stiff as a poker." Matty was a
pretty little girl, with blue eyes, and golden curls hanging down her
neck, but she had a conceited air, which spoiled her looks to my mind.

"I wish that we could stay where we are, and go on as we always have
done, without being plagued by Mr. Learning at all," cried Lubin, with a
weary yawn. Such a fat little fellow as he was, just the shape of a
roly-poly pudding, with cheeks as red as the apples that grew on the
trees in the orchard.

"But mother spoke kindly of him," said Nelly, a pale lame child who sat
in the corner of the room, stringing buttercups and daisies; "if she
likes him, should not we try to like him, and not set our hearts against
what mother thinks for our good."

"Perhaps Mr. Learning's company may be pleasant for a change!" cried
Dick. "I hear that he gives lots of presents to his friends, and makes
them both rich and great. It would be a stupid thing, after all, to
spend all one's life in gathering wild-flowers, or kicking up one's
heels in the hay. I mean to be famous one day, and they say there's no
way of being so without the help of old Learning. There's Mr. Sharp
that lives at the hall; his beautiful house and grounds, his carriages,
horses and dogs, all came from Mr. Learning. I've heard of people who,
when they were boys, were so poor that they hardly had bread to eat,
whom Mr. Learning took under his care, and now they've lots of good
things of every sort and kind. Sometimes they're asked to dine with the
Lord Mayor of London, where they feast upon turtle and champagne--"

Fat little Lubin opened wide both his eyes and mouth on hearing of this.

"And sometimes," continued Dick, "they are actually invited to court,
being high in the favour of the Queen."

"I should like to go to court," said Matty, "and wear fine feathers and
lace. But I wonder if Mr. Learning will think of doing such grand things
for us."

"We will see!" cried the merry Dick; "I'm resolved to get on in the
world!" and he turned head over heels at once, as a beginning to his
onward progress.

"My children, it is time to go to rest," said the voice of Dame Desley
at the door. "Remember to be up in good time in the morning, for my
worthy friend Mr. Learning is to breakfast with me to-morrow."

Off went the children to bed. Dick lay awake for some time, thinking
over what was before him, and when his merry eyes closed at last in
sleep, the subject haunted him still. He dreamed that he was climbing up
a little hillock, made of nothing but books of all the colours of the
rainbow--purple, and orange, and blue--and each book that he looked at
had his name as its author in big gilt letters on the back. On the top
of the hillock stood Mr. Learning, holding a finely-bound volume in one
hand, while he held out the other to Dick to help him on in his
climbing. Very proud and very joyful was the little boy in his dream as
he clambered higher and higher, and thought what a famous figure he was
going to make in the world! But what was his delight when Mr. Learning
placed the well-bound book in his hand, and on opening it he found that
all its leaves were made of five-pound notes!

"Why, I shall be as rich as Croesus, and as famous as all the seven
wise men of Greece put together!" cried Dick, cutting a caper at the top
of his hillock in such a transport of joy, that he knocked over the
whole pile of books, just as if it had been a house made of cards, and
came down flat on his face with such a bang, that it startled him out of
his dream.




CHAPTER II.

MR. LEARNING AT BREAKFAST.


Little Nelly, though weak and lame, was the first of the children to
come down to the parlour in the morning to help her mother, Dame Desley,
to lay the table for breakfast. The child felt a little frightened at
the idea of the stranger guest, and doubted whether with all her best
efforts she could ever please Mr. Learning.

White were the round breakfast rolls--and whiter still the table-cloth
on which they were laid; and merrily sang the kettle on the hob, as the
white steam rose from its spout.

"Why are there two tea-pots?" asked Matty, who had just come into the
parlour, dressed out in the finest style, as a visitor was expected.

"The larger one is for us, my dear," said her mother, as she went to the
cupboard for tea; "and out of the little square-shaped one I shall help
my friend Mr. Learning."

Matty was so curious to know why Mr. Learning should have a whole
tea-pot to himself, that she kept hanging about the table, touching the
plates, jingling the cups and saucers, and not noticing Dick and Lubin,
who had just come into the room.

Dame Desley filled the large tea-pot, first putting in tea, and
afterwards hot water, after the usual fashion; she then went again to
the cupboard, and bringing out a dumpy stone bottle, to the amazement of
Matty filled the little tea-pot with ink.

"Now, my dear," she said, turning to Nelly, who stood behind ready to
help her, "bring from my desk a quire of foolscap paper, put it on
yonder plate, and place a good steel pen beside it. Mr. Learning has a
very peculiar taste; instead of tea, toast and butter, he always
breakfasts on paper and ink."

"Paper and ink!" echoed all the children; "what a very funny fellow he
must be."

"No wonder he's thin!" cried Lubin, opening his round eyes very wide.

"Hush! here he comes," said Dame Desley, going herself to open the door
for her honoured guest.

Mr. Learning entered with a solemn air; he was tall, thin, and grave. He
had a forehead very broad and very high, and was bald at the top of his
head. Thick bushy brows overhung his eyes, which looked calmly through
the spectacles which rested on his nose, and a long beard descended from
his chin.

The children received their mother's guest each in a different way.
Dick, who had made up his mind that Mr. Learning would procure for him
fortune and fame, gave him such a long hearty shake that it seemed as if
the boy meant to wring off his hand! Lubin, with a pouting air, held out
his fat fist when desired by his mother to bid the gentleman
"good-morning." Matty, hanging her head on one side with a very affected
air, touched his fingers with the tips of her own. Poor Nelly, who was
more shy and timid than the rest, dared not lift up her eyes as she
obeyed her mother's command; but she was cheered when the formidable Mr.
Learning said in a pleasant voice, "I hope that we shall all be very
good friends when we understand each other better."

Then all sat down to breakfast. None of the children--except Lubin, who
always thought eating and drinking a very important affair--could attend
much to their meal, they watched with such surprise and amusement the
movements of Mr. Learning. Helping himself to his inky draught with a
pen, which he used instead of a spoon, he then devoured sheet after
sheet of foolscap paper with such evident relish, that Dick could hardly
help bursting out into a laugh, and Matty was inclined to titter. Mr.
Learning used a pen-wiper instead of a napkin, which saved Dame Desley's
linen. He ate his breakfast with a thoughtful air, hardly speaking a
single word. When the repast was ended, all arose from the table, and
the dame, with a sigh, prepared to bid a long good-bye to her children.

"I leave you under good care, my darlings," said she; "and I expect on
my return to find you wiser, happier, and better from the instructions
of Mr. Learning, who will show you the little homes provided for you,
and teach you how to furnish them. Mind that you do all that he bids you
do; work with cheerful good-will, you will then have reason all your
lives to rejoice that you ever knew such a friend. And one more parting
word, my children: beware all of the society of Pride; I know that he is
lurking about in this neighbourhood, but keep him ever out of your
homes."

The children were sorry to part with their mother; lame Nelly was
especially sorry. The tears rose into the little girl's eyes, but she
hastily wiped them away, and tried to look cheerful and hopeful, that
she might not sadden her mother.




CHAPTER III.

THE COTTAGES OF HEAD.


"Come with me, my young friends," said Mr. Learning, as soon as Dame
Desley had departed; "I will take you to the four little cottages that
have been bought for you by your mother, and which you are, by my help,
to furnish with all things needful."

"A cottage all to myself--what fun!" exclaimed Dick, cutting a caper on
the grass.

Guided by Mr. Learning, the four children went on their way towards the
villas of Head, four tiny dwellings that stood close together on the top
of a hill, two looking to the east and two to the west. Nice little
cottages they were, each with a small garden behind it. The two that
fronted the west were thatched with golden-coloured straw, and the glass
in the little windows was almost as blue as the sky. The two that looked
to the east had darker thatch and brown glass windows. The first were
for Matty and Nelly, the others for Lubin and Dick.

"Mine is the prettiest, much the prettiest cottage!" exclaimed Matty,
with a smile of delight; "it has the brightest thatch, and the whitest
wall, and the most elegant shape besides!"

"Mine is the biggest!" cried Dick with some pride.

Now each of the cottages of Head had two little doors, the funniest that
ever were seen; they were just of the form of ears, and Matty's and
Nelly's were almost hidden by the golden thatch above them. The children
went in and examined the inside of the dwellings one by one. Each had
four little rooms--parlour, bedroom, kitchen, and spare room. But the
walls were quite rough and bare; not a scrap of carpet covered the
boards; there were chimneys, it is true, but no grates were to be seen
in the empty fireplaces.

"Well," cried Dick, as with his companions he returned to the space
between the cottages, in which they had left Mr. Learning standing, "I
should be mighty sorry to have to live in such an unfurnished house!"

"If it remain unfurnished it will be your own fault," replied Mr.
Learning, as he drew from his pocket four purses, yellow, red, and
pink, and blue. "These are the magic purses of Time," he continued, "and
most valuable gifts are they; each of you shall possess one. Every
morning you will find in them a certain number of pieces of silver and
copper money,--men name them hours and minutes. A few you will employ in
paying for your lodging and food in that large dwelling hard by, called
Needful House, in which you may remain for a while until your cottages
are fit to be lived in. Some of your hours and minutes you must spend on
every week-day in buying furniture for these little Heads in the town of
Education."

Dick caught eagerly at the yellow purse, and instantly began to count
out the money. Every bright coin had the stamp of a pair of wings on one
side, with the motto, "_Time flies fast_," and on the other side in
raised letters the motto, "_Use me well_."

Lubin and Matty took the red and pink purses with a careless air, as,
like too many amongst us, they did not know their value. Lame Nelly very
gratefully received the blue purse, with the hours and minutes in it.

"And now," cried Dick, "where is this town of Education, for I'm in a
desperate hurry to begin to furnish my Head?"

Mr. Learning moved a few steps to the right, and pointed with his
gold-headed cane to a spot where some smoke rising in the valley showed
that a large town must be.

"You can see it yonder through the trees," said the sage.

"Oh, dear! it is a good way off!" said Lubin. "I hope that you don't
expect us to travel there every day."

"You must not only travel there," replied Mr. Learning, "but you must
carry back the things which you purchase, without minding the trouble or
fatigue. The way is very straight and direct. You must go down this
hill, which is called Puzzle; it is not long, but tolerably steep: you
must cross the brook Bother which flows at the bottom, and then the
shady lane of Trouble will take you right to the town."

"And what must we do when we get there?" asked Dick.

"Your first care, of course, must be to paper your rooms; each one must
do that for himself. The paper you will buy with your money from the
decorators, Messrs. Reading and Writing; their house is the first that
you will reach when you come to the end of the lane. Then you will
doubtless look out for grates, and other needful articles of hardware;
they may be had at reasonable prices from Mr. Arithmetic, the
ironmonger. Mr. History, the carpet-manufacturer, has a large assortment
to show; and General Knowledge, the carpenter, keeps a wonderful variety
of beds, tables, and chairs, of every quality and size."

"And our gardens, too, will want looking after," cried Dick.

"Mr. Geography, the nurseryman, will help you to lay them out according
to the newest design. You, my young friends," continued Mr. Learning,
turning towards the two little girls, "who have garden walls with a
western aspect, on which the fruit-trees of needlework can grow, must
buy plants from Mrs. Sewing, whose white cottage you plainly can see,
just at the other side of the brook, near where those weeping willows
are dipping their branches in the stream."

"We shall have lots to do with our money," sighed Lubin.

"But quite enough of money for all that you require, if you only do not
throw it away, nor let some quick-fingered thief like Procrastination
steal away your treasure of Time," replied Mr. Learning with a smile.
"Think of the pleasure which it will give your mother if she find each
of you, on her return six months hence, comfortably settled in a
well-furnished house of your own! If any additional motive for exertion
be needed, know that when your mother comes back, I will present a
beautiful silver crown of Success to whichever of you four shall have
best employed your money in furnishing your garden and house."

"That crown shall be mine!" thought Dick; "I'll win it and wear it too!"

"I shall certainly never get a crown," said Nelly Desley half aloud; "it
is quite enough for me if my mother be pleased with my cottage!" A fear
was on the little girl's mind that she should manage her shopping very
badly, and she hoped that the brook would be shallow, as she could see
no bridge across it.

"I shall take my time about this furnishing," said Lubin, as soon as Mr.
Learning had taken his departure, promising to return some day to watch
the progress of his charges. Lubin, though not lame like Nelly, was
heavy and slow in his movements, and often was laughed at by Dick for
his great dislike to trouble.

"My cottage looks so pretty outside," said silly little Matty, shaking
her fair locks, "that I almost think it would do without any furnishing
at all."




CHAPTER IV.

PLAIN-WORK AND FANCY-WORK.


"I'll take the measure of my walls at once," cried Dick, "and see what
quantity of paper I shall have to buy from Mr. Reading. Shall I look
after yours too?" and he turned good-naturedly to his sisters.

"Please do, dear Dick," replied Nelly.

"I shall leave Master Lubin to measure his own; a lazy young urchin like
him would not move a finger if he could help it; I would not give one of
my minutes for his chance of winning the crown of Success!"

"I shall do very well," grumbled Lubin, not much pleased at the cutting
remark.

"Matty, dear," said Nelly to her sister, "as we have something to buy
that our brothers have not--and plants of needlework, mother says, are
best when put in at the beginning of spring--had we not better set off
at once and buy what Mr. Learning recommended? Mrs. Sewing does not
live far off; we might carry up our needlework plants before our
brothers are ready to start with us for the town of Education."

"You are always in a hurry!" cried Matty.

"It is because I am lame," replied Nelly meekly; "as I can never go
fast, I am obliged to make up for my slowness by starting early."

"Well, it's a fine bright morning, and it's rare fun to have a run down
hill!" cried Matty, "so I am quite willing to go."

Off she flew like a bird, her long ringlets streaming behind her, and
her merry laugh was borne back by the wind to Nelly, who, at a much
slower pace, walked carefully down the hill. As Matty, however, took to
chasing a bright butterfly, which led her quite out of her way, Nelly
was the first to reach the brook which flowed at the bottom of the hill.
To her great comfort she found that there were stepping-stones across
it, so that there was no need that she should wet her feet with the
waters of Bother. Mrs. Sewing's house was also quite near, so that there
was little trouble in reaching it.

The good woman herself was outside her door, occupied in training a
large plant of needlework over her porch.

"Good-morning," said Nelly, who had slowly picked her way over the
stepping-stones of the brook.

"Good-morning," repeated Matty, who had rushed on, out of breath with
her haste, that she might not be behind her sister.

Mrs. Sewing was a prim little dame, dressed in a curious garment of
patchwork, with a necklace of small round pin-cushions hanging almost as
low as her waist. Instead of her own hair she wore a most singular wig,
made entirely of skeins of cotton and wool, which hung a long way down
her back.

She received her young customers with a low formal courtesy, and said
with a smile as she turned from the one to the other,--

    "That girl is wise, and worth the knowing,
     Who in life's spring-time comes to sewing."

"Mrs. Sewing," said Matty, who could hardly refrain from laughing at the
funny appearance of the prim old lady, "we've come to buy plants of
needlework from you to train up our garden walls. We've plenty of money
to buy them with,"--here she jingled her hours and minutes,--"so pray
show us your stock directly, for we're in haste to begin our planting."

With another courtesy Mrs. Sewing made reply,--

    "I've Running-up and Felling-down,
     And Hemming for a lady's gown;
     I've Button-hole, and Herring-bone,
     And Stitching, finest ever known;
     I've Whipping that will cause no crying,
     And Basting, never source of sighing;
     For good Plain-work, there's no denying,
     Is always worth a woman's trying."

"I don't much admire these Plain-work plants," said Matty, with rather a
discontented air; "their blossoms are so miserably small, the leaves are
so big, and the stems are all set with thorns, just as sharp as needles.
You have something yonder a thousand times prettier, with flowers of
every hue, and in such lovely little pots!" and Matty pointed as she
spoke to a row of plants of Fancy-work, that were at no great distance.

Again Mrs. Sewing courtesied and replied,--

    "I've Knitting, Netting, Crochet, Tatting,
     I've Bead-work, German-work, and Plaiting,
     I've Tent-stitch, Cross-stitch, Stitches various
     To show off patterns multifarious;
     Round Fancy-work each lady lingers,
     So please your taste and ply your fingers."

"There now!" exclaimed Matty, who, followed by Nelly, had eagerly run to
the Fancy-work row; "was ever anything so pretty as this! Every blossom
like bunches of beads that glitter so brightly in the sun! This, this is
the plant for my money; and then it is so easy to be carried!"

Nelly also looked with great admiration on the beautiful flower, and
felt greatly inclined to choose one like it. She knew that she had not
hours enough to purchase all that she might like, and it was quite
natural in a little girl to wish for what was pretty and pleasant. But a
thought crossed the lame child's mind, and laying her hand on Matty's
arm, she whispered in her sister's ear: "Don't you remember, dear, how
fond mother is of the fruits of Plain-work; we've heard her say many a
time that no Fancy-work in the world is half so much to her liking. Now
mother will come back to us again when the fruit will have had time to
ripen; pretty blossoms are nice to look at; but the great thing, after
all, is the fruit."

"I'm not going to plague myself with that stupid Plain-work," cried
Matty, shrugging her shoulders; "but it may do for _you_!" She said this
in so scornful a tone that it brought the colour to Nelly's pale cheek.

"Why should I mind?" thought the lame little girl; "I know that mother
likes Plain-work best; she values things that are useful rather than
those that are pretty; and oh, I'm so glad that she does so, or what
would become of me!"

So Matty purchased the pretty ornamented creeper, with its clusters of
bright-coloured beads, and Nelly took a fine thriving plant of
Plain-work, to train up her garden wall.

Then both took leave of Mrs. Sewing, who, smiling and courtesying to the
girls, bade them farewell in these words,--

    "Pleasure and profit both attend ye,
     Sewing ever shall befriend ye!"

Matty's plant was in a small light pot, and she easily carried it across
the brook; then turning, she looked back at her sister, who could hardly
see the stepping-stones through the thick leaves of the plant which she
bore. Nelly's pot was also very heavy, and before she could reach the
shore, her lame foot slipped on a stone, and she fell splash into the
waters of Bother.

The stream was very shallow, so there was no danger of her being
drowned, but the shock, the tumble, and the wetting were anything but
agreeable. It was very unkind in Matty to stand, as she did, laughing at
her poor lame sister, as she floundered in the brook of Bother, still
grasping her pot of Plain-work.

"Oh, dear, dear! how the thorn-needles are pricking my fingers!" gasped
Nelly.

"Then let go--throw the stupid Plain-work away," cried Matty.

But Nelly had too brave a spirit for that. She knew that what was worth
acquiring was worth bearing, and she would not be discouraged by a
trifle. I wish that some of my little readers who sit pouting and
fretting over a seam, crying over a broken needle, or a prick on a tiny
finger, could have seen Nelly when, with repeated efforts, she scrambled
out of the brook, with Plain-work safe in her grasp.

The two girls now made their way up the hill of Puzzle, on their return
to the cottages of Head. Matty, eager to plant her pretty creeper,
greatly outstripped her sister, as she had done when they at first had
set out. But with patient, uncomplaining labour, Nelly Desley plodded on
her course, and before long both Plain-work and Fancy-work were safely
transplanted into the ground by the wall at the back of the gardens.

[Illustration: Nelly could hardly see the stepping-stones through the
thick leaves of the plant which she bore. _Page 27._]




CHAPTER V.

MR. ALPHABET.


"Now we're all ready to set off to Messrs. Reading and Writing," cried
Dick, as the four children stood together on the slope of the hill; "I
vote we have a race--one, two, three, off and away!" and dashing forward
like a young stag, he rushed down the hill, distancing even Matty, and
with the force of his own rapid descent cleared brook Bother at a bound.

Nelly could not help clapping her hands.

"I should have thought," observed fat Lubin, who had kept at her side,
"that you, of all people in the world, would have hated this silly
racing, and disliked to see any one go at so desperate a pace."

"Why should I dislike it?" asked the lame child; "I would go at a great
pace too, if I only were able."

"But when you are lame, does it not vex you to be so distanced by
others?"

Nelly hesitated a little before she replied, "Sometimes, I own, it does
vex me a little; but then I am comforted when I think that as long as I
do my best I should be only glad that others can do better."

Lubin and Nelly came up with their brother and sister at the cottage of
Mrs. Sewing; for Dick, who was in a merry mood, had stopped there to
help the old dame to transplant a fine slip of Fancy-work, and Matty was
standing laughing beside him.

"See how well he does it!" she cried.

"I wonder that he is not ashamed to use his fingers like a girl!"
exclaimed Lubin, who was himself remarkably clumsy.

Mrs. Sewing turned round with a smile and a courtesy.

    "Better the fingers thus employing
     Than in fighting, fidgeting, or destroying,"

observed she.

Dick looked up and laughed. "I'll soon prove to you, my lad," he cried,
"that hands that can ground a pretty slip of German work, are ready and
fit for something harder," and he squared up towards Lubin with clenched
fists, and such a merry look of defiance, that his brother was more
than convinced by the sight, and trotted off along the lane of Trouble,
at a much brisker pace than usual.

"We'll go after the plump one," cried Dick, "or he'll arrive at Mr.
Reading's before us."

Along the lane they all went. The weather had been dry of late, and the
road was not so muddy as usual. Indeed the walk was so agreeable that
Dick remarked that "trouble is a pleasure." It was not long before the
four young householders found themselves at the door of Messrs. Reading
and Writing.

Their shop was a very large and handsome one; indeed a finer and better
was not to be seen in the whole town of Education, on the outskirts of
which it stood. It was separated into two divisions, over the first and
principal of which Mr. Reading himself presided. A great variety of
papers for walls were displayed in the large glass windows, and when the
children peeped in they saw a vast number more in the shop.

"Well, here's a fine choice!" exclaimed Matty, in pleased surprise; "I
think that one might spend half one's life in the shop of Mr. Reading,
and always find out something pretty and new."

"But where is Mr. Reading himself?" cried Lubin; "and how are we to get
through this iron grating which shuts us out from the shop?"

His last question was answered by the funniest little dwarf that ever
was seen, who popped out from behind the counter, and with a large iron
key in his hand came toddling up to the grating. He was just twenty-six
inches high, and had a head almost as big as the rest of his body.

"I say, little chap, will you let us in?" said Dick, rapping on the iron
bars.

"I'm not accustomed to be spoken to after that fashion," cried the dwarf
angrily; "my name is not 'little chap,' but 'Mr. Alphabet,' though some
dare to call me A B C. I ought to be treated with respect, for I am
several thousand years old."

"You've been wondrously slow then in your growth," laughed Lubin; "I
think I could jump over your head."

"It's easier said than done," grumbled Alphabet, casting up a glance of
scorn at the boy, whose fat figure was not formed for jumping; "and I
should advise you to have a care how you provoke me by any boasting or
insolent language. I am both strong and bold, and I come of an ancient
race. My father was an Egyptian, or a Phoenician, or--"

"Never mind your father just now, my good fellow," cried Dick; "just
turn your key in the lock, and let us into the shop of Mr. Reading."

"You don't suppose that I'm going to let you pass without paying toll,"
growled Alphabet; "I always expect a fee of some of the money of Time."

"Let us in," cried Lubin, kicking the grating.

"You may kick till you're tired," said the gruffy little dwarf; "no one
gets to Mr. Reading without paying toll to Mr. Alphabet, his highly
respectable porter."

"Let's give him his fee and be done with it," cried Matty, hastily
pulling out her purse.

Seeing that there was no use in refusing, as Alphabet had the key of the
gate, each of the children now produced some money, Dick giving less
than the others. Alphabet took the bright hours with a merry grin, as he
swung back the iron grating; but when Lubin was about to pass in, the
dwarf planted himself in the way.

"You said that you could jump over my head; just try."

"I don't just think that I could," said Lubin, who was daunted by the
manner of the dwarf.

"Now, for your stupid boast," growled Alphabet, "I will not allow you to
pass till you've paid twice as much as the others have done;" and as he
spoke he half closed the grating in Lubin's face.

"You can't keep me out now you've unlocked it," cried Lubin (who was,
however, still on the outside, having been as usual behind-hand), and
he tried to push the gate open.

"Push away," said the dwarf with a grin.

But poor Lubin soon found to his cost that Alphabet was strong as well
as little, and quite able to hold his own against any amount of pushing.

"Won't you help me?" cried Lubin to Dick; the fat boy was getting quite
red with his efforts.

"Oh, nonsense; fair play is a jewel!" exclaimed Dick; "you must fight it
out for yourself. If you can't master little A B C, a precious poor
creature you must be."

"Pay double toll, or I'll never let you in!" shouted the passionate
dwarf.

There was no help for it; poor Lubin was obliged to pull out his money;
and Alphabet, with a grin of triumph, at last allowed him to enter.

"Is Mr. Reading at home?" asked Dick.

"He is just within," said the dwarf; "if you'll look over the papers for
a minute, I'll go and tell him that you are waiting."




CHAPTER VI.

MR. READING'S FINE SHOP.


"Well, Mr. Reading keeps a splendid assortment indeed!" exclaimed Dick,
looking round the immense shop with delight. "There are such lots of
fine papers here that the only difficulty will be which to choose!"

"I know what I will choose!" cried Matty; "that paper all covered with
pretty little fairies!"

"It is but a poor paper; I cannot in conscience recommend it for wear,"
said Mr. Reading, who at that instant made his appearance from an inner
part of the shop.

"Oh, but it is charming!" cried Matty; "I should care for no paper like
that."

"And I see what I like best!" exclaimed Dick; "there's the jolliest
paper that ever was made; don't you see it, up in that corner?--sets of
cannibals dancing round a fire!"

"That's the Robinson Crusoe pattern," observed Mr. Reading, "a great
favourite with young customers of mine."

"That's the paper for my money!" cried Dick; "I never saw anything more
to my mind!"

Nelly and Lubin then chose their patterns, the former thinking what
would please the taste of her mother, the latter what would cost least
of his Time money; for the lazy rogue grudged every hour that he gave to
reading.

A difficulty came into Nelly's mind. "We are to paper our rooms
ourselves," said she; "how can we do so, having nothing with which we
can fasten the paper on firmly?"

"I've the paste of Attention at your service," said Reading; "you will
find nothing more certain to stick on a paper than that. You shall carry
home a can of it to-day."

"And there is another thing which we must remember," observed Lubin, who
had a sensible and reflecting mind, though too lazy to make much use of
it; "as our walls are higher of course than ourselves, we must have a
ladder to lift us to the higher parts of them."

"I can supply that want also," cried the ready Mr. Reading, who seemed
to take pleasure in serving his young guests; "I've the magic ladder of
Spelling, and I am willing to let it on hire."

"Let's see this ladder," said Dick.

At a word from his master, Alphabet, the stout little dwarf, withdrew
into an inner part of the dwelling, and soon re-appeared, lugging with
him a ladder which was three times as long as himself.

"This is a very curious and ingenious ladder," remarked Mr. Reading,
"and quite worthy of your closest observation. You see that on the
_under_ part of each step is a sentence quite perfectly spelt; but this,
of course, cannot be seen when the ladder is placed by a wall. On the
upper part appears the same sentence, but with many a blunder in it to
try your powers of recollection. You must study the ladder well before
you attempt to mount it, and get the right spelling fixed in your mind,
so as to make no mistakes. Then, before putting your foot upon any step,
you must spell the sentence upon it; if you correct every blunder, the
wood will be firm as a rock; but if you leave a single fault unnoticed,
one little letter misplaced, the step will give way under your weight,
and land you flat on the floor."

"What a horrible ladder!" exclaimed Lubin; "it seems to have been
expressly contrived to break the neck of every one who is so silly as to
mount it."

"It only needs care in the using," replied polite Mr. Reading, unable to
suppress a quiet smile; while Alphabet, who thought it a _capital_ joke,
burst into a loud laugh. "I confess that the ladder of Spelling has
been the cause of many a tumble; but still it is an excellent
ladder,--the trees of which it was made grew beside our own stream of
Bother."

"Any one might have guessed that!" muttered Lubin, rubbing his head with
a disconsolate air, as if he already felt the bumps produced by the
ladder of Spelling.

"Let's see these funny sentences on the steps," said Dick, "that we are
forced to spell so finely. Such a comical ladder as this will make the
papering of our walls a very slow affair."

As my readers may be curious to know whether they could have mounted the
ladder without any step breaking beneath them, I will give them a few of
the sentences to correct at their leisure. I write the faulty words in
italics, though I hope that it is not needful to do so.

    I _hav to ants, too unkels to_,
    The kindest _wons_ I ever _new_.

    _Except_ this _presint, nevew deer_,
    I am _sow_ glad to _here your hear_.

    _Gals sow shurts_, and boys _sew beens_,
    Labour is _scene_ in various _seens_.

    I _eat ate appels_ at a _fate_,
    Then took my _leve_ and _warked_ home _strait_.

    The winds they _blue_; the sky was _blew_;
    Tom, as they dashed the _oshon threw_,
    _Write overbored_ a _poney through_.

    Our _sovrin rains_ in joy and _piece_;
    The summer _reigns_ our crops _increese_;
    The _weery_ horse from _rain_ release.

"I tell you what I'll do," said Lubin, after thoughtfully surveying the
ladder from the top to the bottom: "I'll get good-natured little Nelly
to stand below while I'm climbing the steps, and she shall call out to
me the right spelling, so that I shall be certain to make no blunder."

Polite Mr. Reading shook his head. "Each must master the difficulty for
himself," he replied; "not a single step would keep firm were there any
attempt at such prompting."

Poor Lubin heaved a sigh like a groan.

"Who's afraid!" exclaimed Dick; "the greater the difficulty the greater
the glory of mounting to the top of the ladder! Just roll up our papers,
Mr. Reading, we'll carry them under our arms. The girls will take charge
of the can of paste, and as for this remarkable ladder, Lubin and I will
contrive to bear it between us."

Thus loaded, the little party passed again through the iron grating.
Dick walked first, with a confident air, holding one end of the ladder
of Spelling, while Lubin, grumbling and sighing, supported the other
end. Nelly followed with the can of Attention, for Matty was too much
engaged in looking at and admiring her pretty fairy paper to think of
her lame little sister. Mr. Reading, the most polite and agreeable of
shopkeepers, bade them farewell with a bow; and little Alphabet shouted
after Lubin, "When you can manage to get to the top of the ladder of
Spelling without tumbling down on your nose, I'll give you free leave to
come back and jump over my head if you like it!"




CHAPTER VII.

THE LADDER OF SPELLING.


"What a jolly pleasant fellow old Reading is!" cried Dick, as they
jogged along.

"Well enough," replied Lubin, jerking his shoulder, "if he had not
plagued us with this hateful ladder, and did not keep such a covetous,
impudent little porter as that ugly old dwarf A B C."

"I did not see much harm in the dwarf," laughed Dick; "the best fun I
ever had in my life was seeing you pushing on one side of the gate, and
the little chap pushing on the other. Alphabet was too hard for you,
Lubin, my boy, though he is such a mite of a man."

The observation made Lubin rather sulky, and he said nothing till,
having passed through the lane of Trouble, the party stopped by the
brook of Bother.

"I'm afraid, Lubin," observed Dick, "that an awkward fellow like you may
miss your footing if attempting to cross while carrying a weight on
your shoulder. You go first, unburdened, and then I'll easily stretch
out the end of the ladder for you to catch hold of."

Lubin did not wait to be twice invited to put down his tiresome burden.
He flung down his end of the ladder, went across the stepping-stones at
once, and then, without so much as turning to look at his companion,
began to walk fast up the hill.

"Holloa! stop! where are you going?" shouted Dick.

Lubin only quickened his pace.

"The lazy rogue means to leave me to carry this ladder all by myself!"
exclaimed Dick, in high indignation.

"I wish that I could help you, dear Dick," said Nelly; "but I'm lame,
and--"

"And you've been carrying the can all the way, till your face is quite
pale with fatigue. I wonder that that saucy puss Matty is not ashamed of
treating you so."

"I was so busy with my fairies that I forgot," began Matty.

"Ah, well; take the can now and remember. And as for the ladder--"
Without finishing his sentence, to the surprise of the girls, Dick
suddenly turned round, and walked back several paces. His object soon
became plain; he was giving himself room for a run. Once more he rushed
forward with a bound, and, laden as he was with ladder and with paper,
was over the brook in a moment.

"There's a jump!" he exclaimed, his face flushed less with the effect,
than with the pride which he felt in having accomplished such a feat;
"depend on't, a boy who can leap like that won't soon be turned back in
life's long race by any difficulty or trial. I only wish that Mr.
Learning could have seen me take that jump."

Nelly's admiration of her brother's remarkable powers was a little
damped by a fear that arose in her mind when she saw how he gloried in
them. Nelly was very fond of Dick, but she could not help thinking that
she would rather have seen him conquer his pride than jump over
half-a-dozen Bothers. Slowly and thoughtfully the little girl passed
over the brook, and Matty, who was now carrying the can, brought up the
rear of the party.

"Dick," said Matty, when she had joined her brother, "I wonder that you
did not lay the ladder of Spelling across the stream, and make a bridge
of it at once."

"I was too wary a bird for that," laughed Dick. "You know I've not yet
mastered that awkward spelling, and if I'd put my foot upon a step, I
should just have gone souse into Bother."

"Oh, I quite forgot!" exclaimed Matty.

"You seem to have a trick of forgetting," said her brother; "you forget
that your can of Attention is full, and you swing it to and fro as you
walk, so that you spill it at every step. You had better give it up
again to Nelly."

"How Lubin trots up the hill!" cried Matty. "I never thought that he
could get on so fast."

"He knows pretty well what he has to expect when I get up with him!"
cried Dick, who was indignant at his brother's desertion; "I mean to
give the fat rogue such a thrashing as he never had before in his life!"

"Oh no, dear Dick!" exclaimed Nelly. "I am sure that you had better
forgive and forget."

"I don't see why I should," rejoined Dick.

"There are a great many reasons," said Nelly, who never suffered an
angry or revengeful feeling to rest in her heart; "we know that it is
noble and right to forgive, and to do as we would be done by; and has
not dear mother a thousand times told us to live in love and kindness
together?"

"But he played me such a shabby trick!" exclaimed Dick.

"You must remember, dear brother, that Lubin is not so strong as you
are, and cannot bear a weight with such ease."

"No; you're right there!" cried Dick proudly, raising the ladder of
Spelling with one hand above his head, to show the might of his arm.

Nelly saw that her brother was getting into better humour, and ventured
to say something more. "There is another reason why you should forgive
Lubin. Poor Lubin has also, perhaps, something to forgive and forget."

"I never ran off and left him in the lurch."

"No," replied Nelly, in a very gentle tone; "but when he was in trouble
with Alphabet, you burst out laughing instead of helping him. I don't
think, dear Dick, that you know what pain you give by your way of joking
and mocking at others who can't do as much as yourself."

"Have I ever pained you, Nelly?"

"Sometimes," replied the child.

Dick was silent for a few minutes. He was recalling to mind times when
he had ridiculed his gentle little sister for her lameness--the slow
pace which she could not avoid. He felt ashamed of his ungenerous
conduct, and willing to make some amends.

"It was too bad in me to hurt _you_, Nelly, who never gave pain to any
one; so, for your sake, this time I'll consent to forgive and forget."

While this conversation went on, the brother and sisters had walked
half-way up the hill, and, before many minutes had passed, they had all
arrived at their group of cottages. Dick kept his word to Nelly, and
took no further notice of the desertion of Lubin, than by saying, with a
laugh, when first they met, "You went up the hill at such a pace, my
fine fellow, that one might have thought that you fancied the terrible
Alphabet following close at your heels."

Lubin looked rather sulky, but was glad to be so easily let off; he was
not aware that he owed Dick's forbearance to the kindly offices of
peacemaker Nelly.

As the day was now far advanced, the children resolved not to begin
their papering work till the morrow. They went to the house Needful,
where they were to have their board and lodging for a short time, till
their cottages should be a little furnished. They were all rather tired
with their day's exertions, and none but Dick felt disposed to take a
stroll in the evening.




CHAPTER VIII.

BREAKING DOWN.


The first care of Matty and Nelly in the morning, after they had taken
their breakfast, was to water their needlework plants.

"I can't think," said Matty to her sister, "how you could be so silly as
to choose that ugly Plain-work,--I'm sure there's not a bit of beauty in
it."

"I wait for the fruit," said Nelly meekly.

"It does not climb high like mine, to adorn the walls; it creeps heavily
along the ground. It is such a mean-looking plant."

"We shall not think it mean in the season of ripening," observed Nelly.

"Ah, here comes Lubin!" cried Matty; "he was late for breakfast, as
usual. Good-morning, my lazy brother. Do you know what has become of
Dick?"

"Not I," answered Lubin, with a yawn.

"Perhaps he has been working at his cottage already," said Nelly, "and
has been studying the ladder of Spelling. Just wait till I fetch the can
of paste--we'll put Attention into several little pots, and all begin
papering our walls together."

Nelly soon brought the paste, which she had kept during the night at
house Needful. As Lubin and his sisters went towards the group of
cottages, they heard the cheerful voice of Dick calling to them from the
inside of his own.

"Come in here with you, and I'll show you something worth the seeing."

"Why, Dick," exclaimed Matty, who was the first to enter, "you don't
mean to say that you have papered half your parlour already!"

"I don't say it, but you may see it," said Dick.

"What wonderful progress you have made!"

"I should say that I have," returned Dick, with a mighty self-satisfied
air, as he looked around his parlour, already quite gay with the
Robinson Crusoe pattern. "I've done more, too, than you can see," he
added, striking his hand on the ladder of Spelling, which he had placed
by the wall; "I've learned every sentence in this ladder as perfectly as
any man can learn them, and can now climb to the very top with the
greatest safety and ease."

Matty and Lubin looked on their clever brother with eyes in which
admiration seemed mixed with a little envy.

"But how could you paper the room without paste?" exclaimed Nelly; "I
had charge of the whole supply."

"My dear simple sister," replied Dick, "you don't suppose that all the
paste in the world is held in your can, or that no other kind is to be
had. I took a stroll yesterday evening with my acquaintance, young
Pride, and he told me of a first-rate paste called Emulation, showed me
where to get it, and helped me to lay in a capital store. You've no
notion how pleasantly it made me get on with my work. I believe I shall
paper all my four rooms before you have finished a single one of yours."

"Oh, let me have some of your paste!" cried Matty.

"Have it and welcome," said Dick; "it's cheap, and there's plenty for
all. I don't know what is making our little Nelly look so serious and
grave."

"Oh, Dick," said the child, in a hesitating tone, "did not dear mother
warn us to have nothing to do with Pride?"

"He's a jolly good fellow!" cried Dick.

"But mother forbade us to keep company with him."

"Really, Nelly," said Dick, rather sharply, "I'm old enough to choose my
own friends."

"But if Pride should prove to be not a friend but an enemy? Oh, dear
brother, I should be afraid to use anything that Pride recommends."

Dick burst into a laugh. "Use what you like, poor, patient, plodding
little pussy; leave me to follow my own ways. You've not resolved, as I
have, to win the crown of Success. You were never made to shine, unless
it be like some little taper, giving its quiet light in a cottage; while
I mean to dazzle the world some day, like the eruption of a splendid
volcano."

"A precious lot of mischief you may do," observed Lubin; "better be a
sober taper in a cottage, that cheers and gives light to some one, than
a blazing volcano, that makes a grand show indeed, but leaves ruins and
ashes behind it."

"Every one to his liking!" cried Dick, nimbly mounting the ladder, and
spelling over the sentences so fast that his hearers could hardly follow
him. Doubtless he meant to show off his talent, but, in his eagerness to
be admired, he forgot--who can wonder that he did so?--the right
spelling of one little word. Down he fell crack on the floor, the moment
that he put his foot on the _poney_!

Up jumped Dick in a second, not hurt indeed, but a good deal mortified,
especially as Lubin laughed, and Matty began to titter.

    "Here we go up, up, up,
       Here we go down, down, down, oh!
     That is clever Dick's way
       Of winning the silver crown, oh!"

cried Lubin, his fat sides shaking with mirth.

"I would not stand that from him!" exclaimed a voice from without, and
the shadow of Pride, a beetle-browed, black-haired, ill-favoured lad,
now darkened the doorway of Dick.

"I'll stand no impudence!" cried Dick in a passion, and, dashing with
clenched fist up to Lubin, he knocked him down with a blow.

"Give it him well!" shouted Pride.

But Nelly rushed forward in haste, and threw herself between her two
brothers. "Oh, don't, don't!" she cried in distress; "remember our
mother, remember the love which we all should bear to one another! It
was wrong in Lubin to laugh--but oh, please--please don't beat him any
more."

"I'll beat him in another way!" exclaimed Dick, who was, perhaps, a
little ashamed of having struck his younger brother; "I'll beat him at
climbing this ladder,--one fall shall never daunt me!" and once more he
ascended the steps, spelling without a single blunder, till, on the very
topmost round, he waved his hand in triumph.

"I hope you're not hurt?" whispered Nelly to Lubin, who was slowly
rising from the ground.

The boy turned gloomily away.

"You don't want her, do you, to cuddle and pet you as if you were a
great big baby?" said Pride. "I wonder you don't go to your own cottage,
and shut yourself up quietly there."

"I'll go and have nothing more to do with any of them," muttered Lubin,
pushing Nelly aside, and leaving the cottage of Dick in a mood by no
means amiable.

Nelly sighed; and as it appeared that she could at present be of no more
use to her brothers, she quietly took her portion of Attention, and went
to paper her own little room.

I shall not tell of all her difficulties and troubles, nor how, when
using the ladder of Spelling, she found it several times give way, and
drop her down on the floor. The process of learning is a slow one, as
every one is likely to know who has done enough of the papering work to
be able to read this book;--and as for that troublesome ladder, A. L. O.
E. will not venture to say that she has never had a tumble from it
herself. I need only mention, as regards lame Nelly, that in the end,
after days and weeks of patient labour, her house was very neatly
papered indeed.

Matty had far less trouble. The ladder of Spelling seemed made on
purpose to suit her convenience; she mounted the steps with greater
ease than even the active Dick could do. Her walls were soon covered
with fairies; but, as Lubin observed, no one could think the cottage of
Head well furnished with a paper so poor and thin,--you could almost see
the bricks through it. Matty was, however, well pleased; and even, in
the blindness of self-love, had some hopes of the silver crown. Pride
flattered her skill and her quickness, and was always a welcome guest at
her cottage as well as in Dick's. Neither the brother nor the sister yet
knew the evils that might arise from their using the paste of Emulation.

And how fared poor Lubin meantime? He worked slowly, by fits and starts,
whenever the humour was on him, but it seemed to his brother and sisters
as if his walls would never be papered. Nelly, after her own day's work,
would carry the ladder to Lubin, but he constantly refused to use it.

"What nonsense it is," he would angrily say, "to have words sounded in
one way, and spelt in another. I wish that the fellow who made that
ladder had been well ducked in the brook of Bother."

"But as it _has_ been made, and we've no other," observed Nelly, "would
it not be wise to make the best of it?"

By her gentle persuasion Lubin more than once attempted to mount the
first step, but it always gave way beneath him; he never could remember
of the _to_, _too_, and _two_, which was the right one to use.

At last, catching up the ladder in despair, Lubin flung it out of his
door.

"Let it go--I should like to break it to bits and make a bonfire of it!"
he cried; "I can paper my rooms without it."

"Oh, no; not the upper parts," suggested Nelly.

"I don't care for the upper parts, I'll leave them as they are,"
answered Lubin. "If the bricks and mortar are ugly, no one need look at
them, say I."

"But, Lubin," exclaimed Matty, who had just come in, "you will be quite
ashamed of your house if it be furnished worse than a ploughboy's."

"It will do very well," replied Lubin. "I hate this papering nonsense,
and I wish that Mr. Learning had been far enough away, rather than come
to plague us poor children with his tiresome Reading and Spelling!"




CHAPTER IX.

MR. LEARNING'S VISIT.


It must not be supposed that during the time which it took to paper the
cottages, other things were neglected; that Plain-work and Fancy-work
were not watered, or that frequent shopping expeditions were not made to
the town of Education. My history is by no means a journal of each day's
proceedings, but only an account of some incidents that seem most worthy
of note.

I wish that I could tell my young readers that Dick frankly owned
himself sorry for having knocked down poor Lubin. Perhaps he would have
done so, for he had a kind and generous disposition, but for the evil
influence of Pride. This dark companion was almost always now at the
elbow of Dick, filling him with notions of his own importance, making
him look down upon every one who was not so sharp as himself. From
cottage to cottage Pride moved, now putting in Lubin's mind gloomy,
angry feelings towards his brother; now flattering the vanity of Matty,
till she thought herself a perfect model of beauty and almost too good
to keep company with her lame little sister Nelly. Pride did not fail
also to try to put evil into Nelly's heart, but she never would let him
converse with her; she remembered the words of her mother, and shunned
the dark tempter who leads so many astray.

"I wonder," said Pride one day to Matty as she was watering her
Fancy-work plant,--"I wonder why a lovely young creature like you should
not spend more of Time's money upon dress."

Matty giggled and blushed, and said that she feared that there was not
such a person as a good milliner to be found in all the town of
Education.

"Well," said Pride, "I think that I can help you to find one whom no one
has ever excelled in this important line of business. There is a distant
relation of my own, Miss Folly, who is wonderfully quick with her
fingers, and makes all sorts of elegant things. Lady Fashion has her so
often with her at her fine town-house, that it is clear that she regards
Miss Folly almost in the light of a friend, and would not know how to
get on without her. Folly is particularly anxious to employ her art in
hiding any changes made by age. I have known an old lady dressed up by
her with wig, rouge, and a low muslin dress, fastened up with bunches of
roses, whom you really would have taken, at least at a distance, for
some lovely young creature of twenty!"

"Oh, could you not introduce me to Miss Folly!" exclaimed Matty; "if she
could so beautify an ugly old lady, what would she do for a young girl
like me!"

"I will bring her here with the greatest pleasure," replied Pride; and
glancing at Matty's dress, he added, "From the elegant style of your
attire, I should have really imagined that you had long ago known Miss
Folly."

When Dick had almost finished his papering, and Matty was far advanced
with hers, the children received one day a visit from Mr. Learning, who
came to observe their progress. Nelly was so hard at work in her spare
room, that she did not hear his step, and was a little startled when she
felt a heavy hand laid on her shoulder.

"Don't be afraid," said Mr. Learning kindly, "go quietly on with your
work. 'Slow and sure' is your motto, I see; what you do is done neatly
and nicely."

Nelly looked up with a pleased smile. She had never expected to receive
a word of praise from the tall stately gentleman in black, who lived
upon paper and ink.

Mr. Learning then proceeded to Matty's cottage. Matty, who happened to
be twining flowers in her beautiful hair, started up, and, in a little
confusion, greeted her guardian with a courtesy.

He glanced round the cottage for awhile in silence. Matty thought that
he must be admiring the quickness with which she had papered her walls;
his first words disappointed her not a little.

"You have made a great mistake in not choosing a better and stronger
paper; labour is thrown away upon this. However quickly you may get over
your work, no one will ever think a dwelling well-furnished whose walls
are covered with nothing but fairies."

"Stupid, solemn, cross-grained old critic as he is!" thought Matty; "I
knew that he and I would never agree together. I paper my walls to
please my own taste, and snap my fingers at Learning!"

The grave guardian then stalked slowly across the little plot of ground
which divided the boys' cottages from those of the girls. Though Dick's
was just opposite to Matty's, Mr. Learning chose to cross over first to
Lubin's.

The boy, buried in a deep slumber, lay snoring upon the floor, quite
unconscious that any one had entered. With great disgust Mr. Learning
looked around on one of the most untidy rooms that his eyes had ever
beheld. It was only papered to such a height as the arm of the fat boy
could reach, and even the little that had been done had been finished in
the very worst way. So small a quantity of the paste of Attention had
been used, that the paper was already falling off; odd pieces were lying
here and there, and the most careless observer must have seen that he
was in the dwelling of a sluggard.

Mr. Learning said nothing at all; he did not even waken the sleeping
boy, though he felt a little inclined to give him a poke with his boot.
The stately guardian took out from his pocket a piece of chalk, and
wrote on the rough bricks above the paper, in letters half a foot high,
the single word DUNCE, then turning round on his heel, he quitted the
cottage of Lubin.

It was perhaps intentionally that the sage had arranged to make his
visit to Dick the last. Here there was much to satisfy and please his
philosophic eye, and Mr. Learning's grave face relaxed into a smile as
pleasant as if a whole dozen of copy-books had been spread out for
dinner before him.

"You're a clever fellow," said he; and Dick made a very low bow, pleased
but not at all surprised by the compliment.

"I should not wonder if, some day," pursued Mr. Learning, "I should be
able to introduce you to my friends the Ologies."

"Pray, who may they be?" asked Dick; "I never heard of them before."

"They are of a remarkably superior family, that has been settled for a
length of years in the higher part of the town of Education. There are a
number of brothers, and they are all remarkable men. There's--

"The Ology, who keeps a religious library;

"Myth Ology, who deals in books describing the superstitions of heathen
nations;

"Ge Ology, whose collection of marbles, stones, various earths, and old
fossils makes him famous;

"Phren Ology, who professes to tell the characters of people by feeling
the bumps on their heads;

"Chron Ology, who manufactures nails that are known by the name of
dates;

"Conch Ology, who keeps a museum with a vast variety of shells;

"Entom Ology, who has another filled with butterflies and other insects;

"Ichthy Ology, whose taste leads him to make a collection of fish;

"Zo Ology, who has a large garden with all kinds of creatures in it."

"What a very large family it is!" exclaimed Dick, who had begun to
think that these Ologies would never come to an end.

"I have not mentioned all," replied Learning. "But all are intimate
friends of mine, and I invite them all every year to a feast in my house
in London."

"I wonder what you give them to eat!" thought Dick, "and whether these
Ologies have all your own taste for paper and ink!" He had a little awe
for Mr. Learning, so did not utter the reflection aloud.

"You shall know them all some day," continued the guardian; "they will
help you to fortune and to fame!"

"Why not know them at once?" cried Dick.

Mr. Learning smiled again; but this time his smile was not so pleasant.
"You are by far too young," he replied, "and have something else to
think of at present. Your cottage is nearly papered, I see, but you have
as yet not a single grate within it."

"I'm going to the ironmonger's this very day," cried Dick; "there's no
use in waiting for my brother and sisters, they are so slow at their
work. I shall be hand and glove with all the Ologies before Lubin has
covered his ugly bricks!"

What was Mr. Learning looking at so attentively through his spectacles,
as Dick uttered this sounding boast? He had caught a glimpse of Pride,
who, upon his entrance, had hidden himself behind the open door, and who
was there listening to the conversation between Dick and his guardian.

"Let me give you one word of advice, my boy," said Mr. Learning, in a
serious tone; "go to the town of Education as often as you will, and buy
what you may, but never let Pride go with you. He is a safe companion
for no one; and the better that you are acquainted with _me_, the less
cause you will find to cherish _him_!" and with this quiet warning, Mr.
Learning quitted the cottage.

"Ah, Pride!" cried Dick, as the dark one sneaked out of his hiding-place
behind the door; "you find that the saying is true, 'Listeners never
hear good of themselves.'"

Pride looked offended and annoyed.

"Never mind, old friend," continued Dick; "I won't attend to a word that
he said, for I find you as pleasant a companion as any that ever I knew.
I'm just going off to the town to buy grates from Arithmetic the
Ironmonger, and if you like to come with me, I can but say that you'll
be heartily welcome."

Pride needed no second invitation, and the two soon started together.




CHAPTER X.

DICK'S MISHAP.


Messrs. Arithmetic and Mathematics were large manufacturers of ironware
and machinery of every kind, of which they kept an immense assortment
continually upon sale in a shop attached to the premises. They were said
to be near connections as well as partners in business. Mr. Arithmetic
had the name of a hard man, who looked sharply after every farthing,
though not quite so hard perhaps as his partner Mr. Mathematics. And yet
his workmen, who were all called _ciphers_, One, Two, Three, Four, Five,
Six, Seven, Eight and Nine, never complained of their master. They said
that they always received their just due, and as long as they kept in
their own proper place, had never any reason to grumble.

Mr. Mathematics was a great philosopher, and shut himself up a good
deal, that he might have leisure to invent new and curious machines. He
did not show himself to customers so often as Mr. Arithmetic, who was
the soul of the business, keeping all the workmen in order, scarcely
ever out of his shop, and ready to serve all the world.

The Ironmongery establishment was on the top of a steep cliff that rose
on the right side of the town of Education, just beyond Mr. Reading's
large shop; and thither, on that fine summer's day, Dick and Pride
wended their way.

"We must go up here," observed Dick, as they reached a narrow staircase
cut in the cliff, and known by the name of the Multiplication stairs. I
should not wonder if my readers had run up it many a time; if so, I need
not tell them that it consists of twelve flights of steps, with twelve
steps in every flight; that the first and second are so easy that a baby
might almost toddle up them; that the two next are rather more steep,
while the fifth is easier again; that the seventh and eighth are perhaps
the worst; while the tenth flight quite tempts one to run, it is so
delightfully smooth!

Dick was so active and vigorous a boy, that he mounted up to the top
without even stopping to take breath. He had thence a fine view of the
distant landscape; but what interested him most was to look down on the
town which lay at his feet, and see the gilded names of the different
Ologies shining on the fronts of their dwellings. There was Chemistry's
beautiful shop too in view, with lovely-coloured glass jars in its
windows; and Botany's vast garden not far off, bright with the hues of a
thousand flowers. A fine place to look at, and a good place to dwell in,
is this town of Education.

An immense building was now before Dick, though rather dull and
unattractive in appearance; the names of Messrs. Arithmetic and
Mathematics were in large black letters over the door. Dick entered,
followed by Pride, and viewed with astonishment the vast variety of iron
utensils around him. He could scarcely stop to look at the simple
grates, called sums, which were the things that he came for, his eye was
attracted by so many articles more curious and more interesting. There
were big rules of-three kettles, simple, inverse, and compound;
reduction grinding-machines, and tables of weights of every species and
size. There were innumerable instruments of various kinds that were
known by the name of fractions; Dick did not exactly know their use, but
they looked like instruments of torture. In an inner compartment of the
place great machines were fizzing and whizzing, pistons rising and
falling, wheels rolling and rumbling; that part belonged especially to
Mr. Mathematics, and many of his partner's customers never entered that
wing of the building.

"What do you require here?" said Mr. Arithmetic, a man dressed in
iron-gray clothes, with a face which looked dry and hard as one of his
own kettles, above which was a shock of iron-gray hair, which gave him
rather a formidable appearance.

"I want to buy four little grates, to put in my house," said Dick,
standing with his hand on his hip, and speaking in an easy tone, to show
that he was not afraid of Mr. Arithmetic.

"I understand: my four first sums--Addition, Multiplication, Division,
and Subtraction;" and the learned ironmonger pointed to a pile of some
hundreds of the articles required by Dick.

"They are such simple, light little things," observed the boy, "that
I'll carry off a couple with ease."

"As far as mere weight goes," said Pride, "you might bear away all four
at once; but they are rather awkward to hold, and, if I understood you
aright, you are obliged to carry all your purchases yourself."

"Ay," observed Mr. Arithmetic with a grim smile, "when the Prince of
Wales himself came to shop in our town, he was obliged to be his own
porter. Governesses and tutors may pack up the loads, but the pupils
have the carrying after all."

"I certainly could manage two grates at once," observed Dick.

"I would advise you to be content with one at a time," said Arithmetic,
"and come for the second to-morrow."

"Pick me out four good ones, not too small," cried Dick, trying to speak
with an air of command; "I'll walk in further with my comrade, and have
a look at yonder machines."

"Don't go too near those in work," said Mr. Arithmetic to Dick; "little
boys may get into trouble if they meddle with things that they don't
understand."

"Perhaps I can understand rather more than he supposes," muttered Dick,
walking with head erect, and nose in the air, and a sort of swaggering
step, which he probably thought best suited for a genius.

He passed on between rows of strange machines, whose use he could
scarcely guess at; but he was ashamed to show any ignorance while Pride
was close at his side. At last Dick stopped before a turning-lathe,
which had been made by a man called Euclid, and watched with interest
and surprise all the curious articles called problems, which a clever
workman was every few minutes forming with the circular saw.

"That does not look such hard work after all," said Dick; "the man has
only to hold up the wood to that curious whirling machine, and it cuts
it right into shape in a second. I think that I could do that myself."

"I should not advise you to try," said the workman, as he stopped his
lathe for a short time, to go and look for a piece of hard wood. Pride
glanced meaningly at Dick, and the boy's foot was in a minute on the
board whose motion turned the circular saw.

"Give me that problem, I'll show you what I can do!" cried the eager
Dick to his prompter; the next sound that he uttered was a yell, as the
saw cut one of his fingers almost to the bone!

The cry drew Mr. Arithmetic to the spot. "Is the hand off?" was his cold
hard question.

Poor Dick held up his bleeding finger.

"You've got your lesson cheaply," said the iron-gray man; "you had
better know your own powers a little better before you meddle with
matters like this. Wrap up your finger in your handkerchief, take up
your grate, and be gone."

Much mortified by his morning's adventure, poor Dick in silence obeyed,
not making an attempt to burden himself then with anything but a simple
sum of Addition. It would have been well indeed for the boy if the
experience of that day had cured him of his foolish presumption, and
made him give up the company of Pride.




CHAPTER XI.

MISS FOLLY.


"Oh, dear! how frightful this great big DUNCE looks upon my wall!" cried
poor Lubin; "and how shall I ever get rid of it? It's always staring me
in the face, and telling tales of me to every one that comes into the
room! What shall I do with the ugly thing?"

"Cover it over, dear Lubin," said Nelly, who felt for her brother's
distress.

"Does it not look hideous?" cried Lubin, looking round with a woe-begone
face.

"It does look hideous indeed, and, if I were you, I would paper it over
directly. No one could see it then."

"It's too high for me to reach," sighed Lubin.

"Yes, unless you were to use--" Nelly hesitated, for she knew Lubin's
dislike to the ladder of Spelling.

"I know what you mean," said Lubin gloomily; "but I won't use that
ladder just now. Perhaps--there's no saying--perhaps some day I may
learn to spell without stumbling, and get rid of that hateful word
DUNCE."

"No time like the present," suggested little Nelly, with a smile.

"Not to-day, I say; I'm not in the humour; I've no fancy for a tumble on
the floor."

"Have you a fancy, then, to go with me to Mr. Arithmetic's, to get
grates for our little fireplaces?"

"That's where Dick cut his finger yesterday?"

"Yes; poor Dick!" exclaimed Nelly; "but we won't go so near to the
machines."

"I'll keep at arms' length from all problems," cried Lubin. "Well, if
you are going to the ironmonger's shop, we may just as well go together.
Is Dick to be of the party?"

"No," replied Nelly; "yesterday's mishap had made him rather dislike
Arithmetic, though the accident did not happen in his part of the
building. But I hope that Matty will come; I was just going to invite
her."

Casting one more vexed glance at the great DUNCE on his wall, Lubin
sallied forth from his cottage with Nelly. As they crossed over the
little green space to Matty's door, they heard such a jabber of voices
within her cottage, that one might have thought that the little
dwelling was full of chattering magpies.

In the parlour appeared Matty on her knees, examining with eager praises
the contents of a large box of millinery open before her; while, talking
so fast that she could hardly be understood, a curious creature stood
beside her, whose dress, manner, and appearance, amazed both Lubin and
Nelly.

The stranger was by nature very small and mean in appearance; but she
had puffed out her dress with crinoline and hoops to a size so immense,
that she half filled up Matty's little parlour, and it was hard to
imagine how she had contrived to squeeze herself through the doorway.
She had seven very full flounces, each of a different colour, adorned
with flowers and beads. Her waist had been pulled in very tightly
indeed, till it resembled that of a wasp; and a quantity of gaudy
jewellery shone on her neck and arms. But the head-dress of Miss
Folly--for this was she--was still more peculiar than her figure. An
immense plume of peacock's feathers stuck upright in her frizzled red
hair, which was all drawn back from her forehead, to show as much as
possible of her face. Her great goggle eyes were rolling about with a
perpetual motion to match that of her tongue; and her cheeks, rouged
till they looked like peonies, were dotted over with black bits of
plaster. I don't know, dear reader, whether Miss Folly be an
acquaintance of yours; if so, I hope that you will excuse my saying
that, notwithstanding her rouge and her jewels, I consider her a perfect
fright.

But here let us make no mistake. I know that there are certain persons
who confuse between Miss Folly and Miss Fun, and fancy that these are
names for one and the same person. I assure you that this is not the
case; Folly and Fun are perfectly distinct. I own that laughing,
singing, playful little Fun, is rather a pet of my own; she and I have
had pleasant hours together; nay, I have actually consulted her when
writing this very book. It is true that she needs to be kept in order,
for her spirits get sometimes a little too wild; she must be forbidden
to do any mischief, or give pain to any creature living. But when under
good control, Fun is a bright and charming companion, especially to the
young; and I delight in hearing her merry laugh, and in watching her
sparkling eyes. But as for Folly, I cannot abide her; her mirth only
makes me sad. Perhaps, before they lay down my book, my readers may more
clearly distinguish what qualities make Miss Folly unlike that general
favourite--Fun.

[Illustration: Miss Folly went jabbering on: "Just try that bonnet on
your head." _Page 73._]

It was clear that Matty Desley was very well satisfied with her
companion, and she turned over the wares with delight, as Miss Folly
went jabbering on,--

"There, now; that's something that I can quite recommend; it's decidedly
_à la mode_, worn by all the duchesses, countesses, baronesses, and lady
mayoresses, at all the balls, routs, conversaziones, and concerts given
this season! And--yes, just try that bonnet on your head, and look at
yourself in this glass"--(Folly always carries a glass)--"doesn't it show
off the charming face?--doesn't it suit the pretty complexion?--doesn't
it make you look quite bewitching, a lovely little fairy as you are?"

"Matty!" cried Lubin, the moment Folly paused to take breath, "we're
going to Arithmetic the ironmonger; will you come with us and buy a new
grate?"

    "Multiplication is a vexation,
       Addition is as bad;
     The Rule of Three doth puzzle me,
       And Fractions make me mad!"

cried Folly, rolling her goggle eyes, and thinking herself quite a wit.

"Was it not at Arithmetic's factory that Dick hurt himself yesterday?"
said Matty.

"Hurt himself, did he?" interrupted Folly, who seemed resolved to take
the largest share of the conversation. "Why did he not come to me for a
salve? I've the best salve that ever was invented--Flattery salve,
warranted to heal all manner of bruises and sores; yes, headaches, and
heartaches, and all kinds of aches. It's patronized by all the heads of
the nobility and gentry. I've tried it myself many a time, and always
find it a perfect cure! When I've the high-strikes (I'm very subject to
the high-strikes), I just rub a little on the tip of my ear, and it
calms down my nerves like a charm. I wish you would try it!" she cried,
turning to Lubin.

"I'm not subject to high-strikes, and don't want Flattery salve," said
the boy, in his blunt, simple manner; "all I want is to know whether
you, Matty, will go with us to the town of Education."

"I can't go to-day!" cried Matty, annoyed at being interrupted by her
brother and sister; "I shall want every minute of Time's money to buy
some of Miss Folly's pretty things!"

"Leave Miss Folly, I should say," cried Lubin, who had no want of plain
common-sense; "a pleasant, good-humoured smile makes a face look nicer
than all that flummery there."

"Dear Matty, the days go fast," said Nelly, "and you know that our
mother expects to find our cottages well furnished on her return. I
really think that we've no Time money to spare upon what can be of no
possible use."

"What would my Lady Fashion, my most particular friend, say if she
could hear you?" exclaimed Folly, who had been struggling to get in a
word, much talking being very characteristic of Folly; "she--Lady
Fashion I mean--is always for the ornamental; the useful she leaves to
the vulgar. As for your sister there" (Folly only condescended to speak
to Matty), "she knows nothing, I see, of flounces, furbelows, fringes,
and flowers; she'd put on a bonnet back part forward, or a shawl wrong
side out; and she looks like a whipping-post, or a thread-paper, or
a--"

"Oh, stop that jabber, will you!" cried Lubin, putting his hands to his
ears.

"Come with us, Matty," entreated Nelly, "and buy something solid and
useful. Summer will soon be over, and when cold weather comes, what
should we do without grates?"

"I can't come, and I won't come!" cried Matty pettishly; "don't you see
that I'm exceedingly busy?"

"Come away, Nelly," said Lubin; "leave her to her fine Miss Folly; let
her furnish her head, if she likes it, with fairies, furbelows, and
flounces!"

Off went the brother and sister, but they had proceeded some way from
the door before they got beyond reach of the sound of Miss Folly's
chattering tongue.

Down hill Puzzle, across brook Bother, along Trouble lane, fat little
Lubin and Nelly went very sociably together.

"I don't think that you're as lame as you were," said the boy.

"The way seems shorter than it did," observed Nelly; "but one feels the
hill most when coming back."

As the children passed Mr. Reading's fine shop, little Alphabet peeped
through the grating, to the no small annoyance of Lubin.

"Ha, ha! my brave fellow!" cried the dwarf, "have you mounted the ladder
of Spelling, and have you now come to jump over my head?"

Lubin did not answer, but quickened his pace. He and his sister soon
found themselves at the bottom of Multiplication stairs.

"I wonder how we shall ever get up to the top?" thought lame Nelly, as,
with rather a disconsolate air, she glanced up the twelve flights of
steps.




CHAPTER XII.

A VISIT TO ARITHMETIC.


"It's a dreadful pull up this staircase!" exclaimed Lubin, as panting
and puffing he stopped half-way, his fat round face flushed with fatigue
till it looked almost the colour of a cock's comb.

"It is dreadfully tiring!" sighed Nelly, pausing a moment to take
breath.

"It is worse than the ladder of Spelling!" cried Lubin. "I vote that we
go back at once."

"Oh no, dear Lubin!" said his sister, immediately starting again on her
weary ascent--"perseverance, you know, conquers difficulties;" and as
she uttered the words, the lame girl stumbled at that step _seven times
eight_.

"You'll never succeed," observed Lubin.

"I'll try again," said the patient Nelly; and slowly but steadily she
mounted.

Her example encouraged her brother to follow.

"I say, Nelly," observed Lubin, "what a plague all this education
furnishing is! What lucky dogs those savages are who live in caves that
want no fittings, and who have never heard of Reading papers, or ladders
of Spelling, or this horrible Multiplication!"

Nelly could not help laughing.

"The very same thought was passing through my head," said she; "but I
tried to drive it away, for it seemed to be only fit for Miss Folly."

"Perhaps a cave might not be so very pleasant," rejoined Lubin. "But I
wish that some good-natured fairy could furnish these cottages of ours
with a stroke of her wand, and save us all this terrible trouble."

"It would not be so good for us, I daresay," said Nelly, stumbling again
at _nine times six_.

"And why not?" inquired her brother.

"Why," replied Nelly, as she rubbed her bruised ankle, "I think that the
trouble and pain serve to exercise our patience and perseverance, and to
make us more fit to meet the trials which are sure to come when we are
older. Besides," she added, still mounting as she spoke, "we take more
pleasure in that which has cost us trouble than in that which we get
with ease; and it is real enjoyment to feel that a difficulty has been
overcome."

"I'm sure that we can have no pleasure from this Multiplication stair."

"Oh yes, when we get to the top!" cried Nelly, who had just reached the
pleasant tenth flight, and now went along it hand in hand with her
brother at a pace that was almost rapid.

"Hurrah! hurrah!" shouted Lubin, not long after, as he stood panting on
the topmost step.

"Oh, what a charming view!" exclaimed Nelly. "I'm so glad that we
persevered!"

"It's a tremendous big place, this town of Education," said Lubin,
looking down from his height. "I don't like the look of all those
Ologies. I'm afraid that a great lot of things are required for a really
well-furnished house."

"We have only to think of our grates at present," said Nelly. "Please
keep close beside me, Lubin; for I've heard that Mr. Arithmetic is a
terribly hard man, and I'm rather afraid to face him."

So again, hand in hand, the two children walked into the big shop
together, and looked in wonder, as Dick had done, at the great heaps of
goods within it.

"We won't go near that machinery part," whispered Lubin. "One of these
big thundering engines would crack my poor head like a nutshell."

"What do you want?" asked the iron-gray man, coming from behind a great
pile of coal-scuttles.

Nelly squeezed Lubin's hand to make him speak first, for she was a shy
little girl.

"We each want four sum-grates, for four little fireplaces," said
Lubin--"the very lightest that you can give us. I should like some no
bigger than my shoe."

"You're made of different metal from the young fellow whom we had here
yesterday," said Arithmetic, looking down with some scorn at the fat
little boy. "You'll never cut your fingers by meddling with problems, I
guess."

"You may answer for that," said Lubin.

Mr. Arithmetic, without further delay, produced specimens of his four
simplest kinds of sum grates, like those from which Dick had been
supplied. Lubin and Nelly soon chose Addition as their first purchase
from Arithmetic--a grate so small and so light that even the little girl
supported the burden with tolerable ease.

"You must come back to-morrow for something a little heavier," said Mr.
Arithmetic. "Addition is simple enough; but Division needs a little
greater effort of strength."

"We've done grand things to-day," exclaimed Lubin; "it's time enough to
think about to-morrow."

"Oh, I will certainly come back then!" cried Nelly, not a little pleased
at her present success.




CHAPTER XIII.

THE WONDERFUL BOY.


That evening Dick and his dark companion Pride sat in his cottage
together. The boy looked out of spirits or out of temper. Perhaps his
cut still pained him; perhaps the perpetual patter of the shower which
was falling made him gloomy and dull, for a violent rain had come on,
which continued during the whole of that night.

"Who would have thought," said Pride, "that lazy Lubin and lame Nelly
would have mounted so bravely to the top of Multiplication staircase,
and have carried back, safely over Bother, such nice little grates of
Addition? You must really look sharp, Dick Desley, or they'll furnish
their cottages before you."

"Before me!" exclaimed Dick, with a sneer. "I could do more with my
little finger than Lubin with all his fat fist."

"Certainly," observed Pride, "it would be an intolerable disgrace to a
clever fellow like you if you let any one get before you. You are not
one who would endure to see another winning from you the crown of
Success."

"I'll never see _that_," cried Dick, haughtily. "I should like to know
who has a chance against me!"

"No one has the smallest chance against you, if you only exert
yourself," said Pride. "If I were you I would put forth my powers, and
do something to astonish them all."

"I will!" cried Dick, with decision. "I'll go to Arithmetic to-morrow,
and bring back the three remaining sum-grates all at once. But what
wretched weather we have this evening!" he exclaimed; "I'm afraid all
the brightness of summer is going. And what's that on my wall--that dull
stain as of damp, that seems creeping over my paper?"

"It is merely caused by the rain. I should think nothing of it," said
Pride.

But Dick did think something of the stain. He saw that it marred the
beauty of that upon which he had bestowed much diligent labour.

"I'll cross over to Nelly's cottage," he said, "and see if the damp is
staining hers also."

Nelly was busy fixing in her grate. She looked upon her brother with a
smile.

"How kind to come and see me through the rain!"

"I did not come to see you, but your paper. How is this?--there is not a
damp spot upon it!"

"Nor on Lubin's neither," remarked Nelly. "But I was with Matty just
now, and the damp shows sadly on her fairies."

"What on earth can make the difference?" cried Dick.

"I do not know, unless--unless--" Nelly hesitated before she
added--"unless it be that both Matty and you used the paste that Pride
recommended."

"That has nothing to do with it," said Dick, as he quitted the cottage
in displeasure.

But Nelly had been right in her guess. There will be an ugly stain upon
any work which we only pursue with zeal because we want to _outdo_
others in it.

Dick did not make his appearance on the following morning at the
breakfast-table. The children still took their meals at the house
Needful till their cottages should be better prepared.

"I am so glad that it has stopped raining," said Nelly, when she had
finished her breakfast. "I have been wishing for the weather to clear,
for I promised Mr. Arithmetic that I would go back for the grate of
Division. Matty, dear, you will come with us to-day?"

Matty had come down to breakfast in a dress almost as ridiculously fine
as that worn by Miss Folly herself. She tossed her head, and replied,--

"I've something better to do than to buy, or carry, or scrub wretched
sum-grates of Arithmetic. I'm going out with Miss Folly, to be
introduced to some of her friends."

"But, Matty, the grates are quite necessary," urged Nelly. "We are soon
to take up our quarters in our cottages, and sleep there as well as
work. What shall we do when the cold weather comes if we've no means of
having a fire?"

"How shall we cook our dinners?" asked Lubin. "If there's one thing more
useful in a house than anything else, I should say it is a grate in the
kitchen."

"Oh, Miss Folly tells me never to look forward to winter," cried Matty,
"but just enjoy myself while I can. So I am not going to plague myself
with either Addition or Division to-day. To look after such vulgar
things is only a shopkeeper's business."

"But what will mother say," persisted Nelly, "if she find your cottage
unfurnished?"

"Unfurnished, indeed!" cried Matty. "It will be far better furnished
than yours. I mean to have French mirrors, and Italian paintings, and
German glass and china. I shall get a tambourine also, and perhaps some
day a guitar. Miss Folly tells me that Lady Fashion, her most particular
friend, has all these; and though they make a fine show, they are not so
dear as one would think."

"They are all good and beautiful things, I daresay," began Nelly;
"but--"

"But grates must come before mirrors, and carpets before German china,"
laughed Lubin. "We must buy what is needful first, and think of what is
pretty afterwards."

"That may be your way; but it is not my way, and it was never the way of
Miss Folly," cried Matty, as she flaunted out of the house.

"I wonder at Dick being so late," observed Nelly; "we ought to be off to
the town."

"He is not late, but early," said Lubin. "He had had his breakfast, and
started for the town of Education, before I was out of my bed."

"I wish that he had waited for us," cried Nelly; "it is so nice to go
through our work all together. You and I had now better set off."

"I'm going presently," replied Lubin. "I've just five minutes to spare;
and I'm about to step round to Amusement's bazaar, hard by here, to get
a few barley-sugar drops, to refresh me on my wearisome walk."

"I think that you had better delay your visit to the bazaar until you
have done your business with Mr. Arithmetic. Our mother's proverb, you
know, is, 'Duty first, and pleasure afterwards.' The sky is dark, the
weather uncertain; we may be stopped from going altogether if we do not
start off at once."

"I should like to be stopped altogether," said Lubin, with a smile. "I
should not care if I never took another journey to the town of
Education."

"What! after all that you said to Matty about the necessity of grates?"

"Ah, yes; they are needful enough, but they are not needed just at this
moment. You may go on if you like it, I'll get my sugar-drops first. Set
off now, I'll soon overtake you; I won't spend much time at
Amusement's."

Nelly sighed, but she saw that there was no use in further entreaty, so
she set forth alone. The path down hill was slippery and wet from the
rain that had fallen at night--a sister's kind word, or a brother's
strong arm, would have been a real comfort now to the lame little girl.
Often and often did Nelly turn and look behind her, to see if Lubin
were not following after; but in vain she looked, not a sign appeared on
the hill of the fat little sluggard.

Nelly came to the stream of Bother. The brook was muddy and swollen, and
went racing on faster than usual. The stepping-stones were scarcely seen
above the brown waters that eddied around them.

"Oh dear, oh dear; I wish that Lubin or Dick were with me!" cried poor
Nelly, as she gave one more anxious glance behind her. "It is miserable
to have to go alone across such a stream as this." She put her little
foot upon the first stone, she fancied that it trembled beneath her
weight--then on the next, she was almost in the water. It was nothing
but a strong sense of duty that made the poor child go on. With
trembling steps and dizzy brain she proceeded on her dangerous way, and
great was her relief when she reached in safety the farther shore.

"One difficulty is happily past, but how shall I enter the great town
all alone? how shall I climb the wearisome stair? how shall I face cold
stern Mr. Arithmetic, with no brother or sister to back me?" such were
the reflections of Nelly as she made her way slowly along the muddy lane
of Trouble. Some of my readers may have experienced what a dull and
discouraging thing it is to do business all by one's self in the town of
Education.

One difficulty, however, Nelly found less great than she had expected it
to be. It is a curious fact, but well known to all, that those who have
once mounted Multiplication staircase never complain any more of its
steepness. Nelly ascended it without a single stumble, till, when she
had almost reached the top, she met her brother Dick coming down from
Mr. Arithmetic's. What was her astonishment to see the strong boy laden
with three grates fastened together, Division, Subtraction,
Multiplication, placed one on the top of another!

"O Dick, you can never carry all that at once!"

"I do carry all at once, as you may see," replied Dick, with a smile of
triumph; "I'd advise you to get out of my way, lest I knock you over the
staircase."

"Surely, surely you can't bear that great burden across the swollen
brook, or up the steep hill."

"Take no fears for me: I can't fail with the crown of Success in my
view!" exclaimed Dick, bearing his three grates aloft, as some warrior
might carry his banner.

"If you would only wait a few minutes for me," began Nelly, but Dick at
once cut her short.

"I wait for nobody!" he cried, pushing past his lame little sister. "If
you had been up this morning as early as I was, you might have enjoyed
the pleasure of my company." And so saying, Dick and his iron grates
went clattering down the staircase.

Alone poor Nelly entered the shop, alone she took up her purchase, and
alone she descended the twelve flights of steps, trembling under the
weight of Division, which she had found a much more serious burden than
little Addition had been.

"How could Dick carry _three_ grates at a time," thought Nelly, "when
one is almost more than I can support. But then I'm a poor, stupid,
lame, little creature, and Dick--oh, Dick is a wonderful boy!"




CHAPTER XIV.

THE THIEF OF TIME.


When Lubin had said that he would not spend much Time money at Amusement
bazaar, he had fully intended to keep his word. He meant to go steadily
on his walk to Education, or, as we might call it, "do his lessons," so
soon as he had had a little diversion. But let me advise all my dear
young readers to put off their visits to Mrs. Amusement's till they have
spent such hours as business requires in the town of Education. Let them
count their money before they set out, spend a good portion of it wisely
and well, and then, with light hearts and easy consciences, they may go
to refresh and enjoy themselves at Mrs. Amusement's bazaar.

Which of us does not know that bazaar? It lies on the further side of
hill Puzzle, very near to the cottages of Head, and a beautiful large
cherry-tree hangs its branches over the door. The house is not lofty,
but low and wide, with a multitude of bright little windows. It is
divided within into numerous stalls, each possessing separate
attractions. There is one much frequented by boys, where bats and balls,
bows and arrows, models of boats, and little brass guns are seen in
great profusion. At another stall there are pretty dolls of every size
and shape, wooden, wax, and gutta-percha; some made to open and shut
their eyes, and some to utter a sound. There are few prettier sights
than that of a number of rosy, good-humoured children, who have finished
their lessons well, and are going, each with a bright hour or two in his
hand, to the bazaar of Mrs. Amusement.

The stall that most attracted fat Lubin was one at which sweetmeats were
sold: raspberry, strawberry, pine-apple drops, bull's-eye, pink rock,
and chocolate sticks, barley-sugar twisted into shapes more various than
I can describe or remember. Lubin had taken his five minutes in his
hand, and now spent them easily enough; but there were more, oh, many
more things that he thought that he would like from the stall. He went
humming on as he examined the sweetmeats a favourite proverb of his,
"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." But the fat little dunce
might have added, "All play and no work will make Lubin a duller."

Full of interest in all that he saw, with his eyes greedily fixed on
the stall, Lubin did not notice a lean, small figure, which, softly as a
serpent on the grass, had stolen up to his side. This was no other than
Procrastination, a pickpocket well known to the police, who had often
been caught in the very act of robbing her Majesty's subjects of Time,
had been tried and sent to prison, but on getting out had always
returned to his bad occupation again. The poet Young long ago set up a
placard to warn men to take care of their pockets, giving notice to all
concerned that "_Procrastination is the thief of Time_;" but, in spite
of this warning, there are few amongst us who must not own with regret
that the stealthy hand of Procrastination has robbed us of many an hour.

Have you never suffered from Procrastination, good reader? It is he who
makes us _put off_ till to-morrow what ought to be done to-day. It is he
who whispers, "It will be time enough," when a duty should be performed
directly. If you are aware, at this very moment, while you sit with this
book in your hand, that you ought to be busy with Arithmetic, or should
write a letter to a friend, or do some little piece of business, start
up without an instant's delay, shut this book with a clap; perhaps you
may then catch between its leaves the sly fingers of thief
Procrastination.

Poor Lubin was not on his guard: he noticed not the form that crept
after him as noiselessly as a shadow. Procrastination took the
opportunity when the boy's attention was most engaged with the
sweetmeats, to draw out Time's fairy purse, and rifle it of its precious
contents. Silently then he replaced the purse emptied for that day, in
hopes, perhaps, that when the morrow filled it with new hours and
minutes, he might rob its possessor again of the treasure which he
guarded so badly.

"Well, now," exclaimed Lubin, "I can't stop much longer, for I promised
Nelly to follow her quickly, and I know that I ought to be at Mr.
Arithmetic's by this time. I'll just spend two or three minutes more on
those sugar-plums shaped like marbles, and then away to my business and
work like a man."

So Lubin plunged his fat hand into his pocket, and drew forth his purse
of Time. In went his fingers, fumbling about to pull out the minutes
that he wanted, but he fumbled and felt in vain--not an hour was
left--not a single little minute, to pay for what he required.

"It's that rogue Procrastination who has robbed me!" exclaimed the
indignant boy, as turning sharply round he caught a glimpse of a slim
little figure sneaking round the corner of a counter.

Lubin instantly gave chase. Fat as he was, it was wonderful to see how
he dodged the pickpocket, first round this stall, then round that,
shouting all the time, "Stop, thief! stop, thief!" as loudly as he could
bawl. I need scarcely add that all the boy's efforts were useless. Who
ever yet recovered lost Time? Out of breath and out of heart, poor Lubin
stopped panting at last; Procrastination had had a fair start, and
carried off his spoil in triumph.

"There's no use in attempting to go to Education to-day, I've not a
minute left," was Lubin's sorrowful reflection. "Oh, that I had started
with my sister, had thought of my business before my play, what useful
things I might then have bought with the hours which are now lost to me
for ever!"




CHAPTER XV.

DUTY AND AFFECTION.


In the meantime, poor Nelly had been wearily wending her way along the
lane of Trouble, with her burdensome Division on her shoulder. She felt,
as many a little student has felt, quite out of humour for work; her
arms ached, and so did her head; the mud in the lane was so deep that
she could scarcely keep on her shoes, and she sometimes sank in it
almost up to her ankle.

Thus in sorrowful plight the lame girl at last reached the brook of
Bother. Its brown turbid waters looked rougher and deeper and dirtier
than they ever had done before. The stepping-stones had almost
disappeared!

Nelly Desley heaved a long weary sigh as she looked before her, and
rubbed her forehead very hard, as puzzled children are wont to do.

"Oh, this tiresome Division, how shall I ever manage it! I never saw
Bother so bad. _Nine's in fifty-nine_"--another violent rub; "I know
what will be _in_, a poor little girl will be in brook Bother!--and
_what's to be carried_? why this grate is to be carried, and a very
_great_ vexation it is."

Weary Nelly sat down, almost in despair, on a stone by the bank of the
stream. What object attracted her eye, some yards lower down the current
of the brook, round which the muddy waves were eddying and rolling?

"Why--can it be?--yes, there are Dick's three grates all together,
Division, Multiplication, and Subtraction!" Nelly started up in alarm:
"Oh, what can have become of my brother?"

A little reflection soon reassured Nelly. Dick, the most active of boys,
and a famous swimmer besides, could not have come to much harm in a
brook in which, though many have been ducked, no one has ever yet been
quite drowned. It seemed clear that the boy had found the weight which,
prompted by Pride, he had tried to carry, somewhat too much for his
strength; and, being unable to carry it across the waters of Bother, had
flung down his tiresome burden, which, by the force of its own weight,
had stuck fast in the mud of the brook.

"Well, if Dick has failed, I need not mind failing," cried Nelly. "I
think that I'll do what he has done, and fling away this horrid
Division,--oh, what a relief that would be! But still, would it not be
foolish--would it not be wrong--to give way so to impatience? My dear
mother bade me obey Mr. Learning for her sake, she wishes my cottage to
be properly furnished; I must not be a sluggard or a coward. I must do
my best to get over this Bother."

"Well resolved--bravely resolved," said a voice on the other side of the
brook; and from behind the clump of willows which drooped their long
branches in the stream, Nelly saw two beautiful maidens come forth. They
were like, and yet unlike, each other. Both were very fair to look on,
both of noble height and graceful mien; but the one had an air of more
stately dignity, such as might beseem a queen; and her large dark eyes
looked graver and more thoughtful than those of her sister. The other
had smiling soft blue eyes, beaming with tender love, and the sunlight
fell on her golden hair till it seemed like a glory around her.

These lovely maidens were no strangers to Nelly, almost from her infancy
she had looked upon them as friends; many sweet counsels and good gifts
had the lame little girl received from Duty and Affection.

"Oh, Duty!" exclaimed Nelly, who was rejoiced to find herself no longer
alone, "only show me how I can get across, and I will not mind labour or
trouble."

Duty retired for a few moments to her retreat behind the willows, and
then returned, bearing on her shoulder a narrow plank. With the help of
smiling Affection she placed this across the stream.

"This plank, dear child," said calm, stately Duty, "was cut from the
tree of Patience, and small as it seems, can well support your weight.
Boldly venture upon it; the stream runs fast to-day, you are no longer
able to ford it, but on the plank of Patience you safely can pass
across."

Giddy and tired as she felt, Nelly instantly obeyed the voice of Duty,
and placed her foot on the plank. Duty leant forward, and held out her
firm hand to aid her, and soon the trembling child and her wearisome
burden were safe on the bank nearest to the cottages of Head.

"Oh, I am so glad to be well over!" exclaimed Nelly, and with exceeding
pleasure she looked up in the face of Duty, and smiled.

"And now sit down and rest yourself, dear one," said Affection,
spreading a thick mantle on the grass, that its dampness might not hurt
the child.

"May I?" asked Nelly timidly of Duty.

The beauteous maiden bowed her head in assent. There was no sternness
now in her look; Duty is no enemy to innocent enjoyment--rather should
we say that there is no real enjoyment but that which is found by those
who take Duty for their guide and their friend.

"See, here is refreshment for you," said Affection, placing before the
wearied child a rich cluster of delicious fruit. How sweet is such
refreshment given by the hand of Affection, how doubly sweet after
efforts made at the call of Duty!

Never, perhaps, had Nelly Desley passed a happier hour than she did now
on the bank of that stream which she had crossed with such trouble and
fear. She now looked with pleasure at the waves as they rushed so
rapidly by her.

One thought only disturbed little Nelly. "Poor Dick! I wish that I knew
of his safety," said she.

"He is safe enough," replied Duty; "but there, as you may see, lie his
three grates in the mud of the stream."

"If he had only had the plank of Patience," exclaimed Nelly.

"It was offered to him as well as to you," said Duty with a graver air;
"and I thought at first that your brother would have gladly accepted my
offer. But there came to this shore of the brook a dark, ill-favoured
lad--"

"It must have been Pride!" exclaimed Nelly, who knew too well her
brother's companion.

"This Pride," continued Duty, "began to taunt and to scoff. 'Holloa!' he
shouted across the stream, 'will a genius like you stoop to be directed
by a woman! Duty is for slaves, and Patience for donkeys. Kick aside
that miserable plank, and clear the brook with a bound, as you've often
cleared it before.'"

"Dick is a wonderful boy for jumping," cried Nelly, who greatly admired
her brother.

"He jumped once too often," observed Duty; "this time he jumped not over
but into the brook, and mighty was the splash which he made!"

Even gentle Affection could scarcely help laughing at the recollection
of the scene.

"But he scrambled out!" exclaimed Nelly.

"Yes; very muddy, and wet, and cross, leaving all his three grates
behind him. I do not know whether Pride dried Dick's clothes, and wiped
off the mud, they both ran off as fast as they could; I think that your
brother was ashamed to be seen, after having so scornfully refused the
aid of Affection and Duty."

It was now time for Nelly to continue her walk and return to her own
little cottage. Her beautiful friends accompanied her all the way up
hill Puzzle, and made the steep way quite pleasant by their cheerful,
wise conversation. Tiring as her lonely expedition to the town of
Education had been, Nelly never in future times remembered without a
feeling of enjoyment her little adventure by the brook where she had met
with Duty and Affection.

Dick with some trouble recovered his grates from the stream. But he
never looked at them with pleasure, for they served to remind him of the
day when, prompted by foolish Pride, he had overtasked his powers, and,
spurning the plank of Patience, had gone floundering into brook Bother!




CHAPTER XVI.

GRAMMAR'S BAZAAR.


I cannot undertake to describe all the expeditions to Education, nor the
various purchases made by the children; but I will here mention the
first visit made by the Desleys to Grammar's famous bazaar, a place much
frequented by all those who dwell in the town.

I need hardly tell my readers that Grammar's Bazaar lies in quite an
opposite direction from Mrs. Amusement's, and that the two concerns have
no connection whatever with each other. There are no sweetmeats sold in
the former; the goods are all called _words_, and are arranged in
perfect order on nine stalls, kept by nine sisters, well known by the
name of Parts of Speech. These sisters live and work together in the
greatest harmony and comfort, and are highly respected by all the
inhabitants of the town of Education. Some indeed call them "slow" and
"tiresome," and Miss Folly has been heard to declare that the very
mention of them gives her the fidgets; but neither you nor I, dear
reader, form our opinions by those of Miss Folly.

It was on a fine morning in summer that Dick, Lubin, Matty, and Nelly
paid their first visit to Grammar's Bazaar. They entered it by a low
porch, half choked up with parcels of words tied up in sentences ready
to be sent to various customers.

"A dull, dark place this is!" exclaimed Lubin; "I would not give
Amusement's Bazaar for fifty like this."

"Any chance of having one's pocket picked here?" said Dick, with a
malicious wink at his brother.

"Let's visit all the stalls one after another," cried Matty, "before we
make any purchase; I like to see all that's to be seen. What a comical
little body is standing behind the first counter; she is not as big as
Alphabet, I should say."

"She looks like his sister," observed Nelly; "but I suppose that she is
one of the Parts of Speech." And she read the name "Article" fastened up
at the back of the stall.

"What may you sell here, my little lady?" asked Dick, in his easy,
self-confident way; "I see only three hooks on your counter."

Miss Article Part of Speech had to stand upon a stool that her head
might peep over the top of her stall. "I'm but a little creature," said
she, with a good-humoured smile; "_a_, _an_, and _the_ are all the words
that I'm trusted to sell. If you want to see a larger assortment, pass
on to my sister Noun; she has many thousands of words to show you,
models of everything that can be seen, heard, or felt in the world."

Surely enough a most prodigious collection appeared on the counter of
Noun, a large portly maiden who presided over the stall next to that of
Article. There were _cups_ and _saucers_, _pins_ and _needles_, _caps_
and _bonnets_, models of _houses_, _churches_, _beasts_, _birds_, and
_fishes_, by far too numerous to describe.

"These are all _common_," observed Noun, seeing the eyes of Dick fixed
admiringly upon the collection; "I have behind me some more curious
things that have all names of their own," and she pointed to a row of
small figures. "These are not _common_ but, _proper_," she continued;
"you will notice here _Wellington_, _Napoleon_, _Nelson_, and our
gracious sovereign _Victoria_."

[Illustration: Dick, Lubin, Matty, and Nelly paying their first visit to
Grammar's Bazaar. _Page 103._]

"And oh, look here, at Miss Adjective's counter!" cried Matty; "she
keeps such a lot of dolls' things to dress up the figures of Noun. A
_pretty_, _nice_, _curious_ cape--"

"An _absurd_, _ridiculous_, _preposterous_ cap," added Dick.

"Observe," said Adjective with a courteous air, "that I arrange my words
in three rows, one above another, which I call _degrees of
comparison_--_positive_, _comparative_, _superlative_."

"I see, I see," exclaimed Dick; "here's a bonnet, _frightful_--that's
positive; another _more frightful_--that's comparative; and this with
the superlative yellow tuft, I should call the _most frightful_ of all.
So, Nelly's clever--that's positive--"

"I don't think so," murmured Nelly.

"Matty's cleverer--that's comparative."

Matty laughed.

"And I am superlatively clever--without doubt the _cleverest_ of all!"

"In your own opinion," growled Lubin.

Nelly wandered on to the next stall, which was kept by the maiden
Pronoun. Though smaller in size, she was so much like her sister Noun as
to be frequently taken for her. As it was a trouble to stout Noun to go
far or move fast, she very often sent Pronoun upon various errands in
her stead. Pronoun sold not many words; such as she had were mere
pictures of such as were kept by her sister. _I_, _thou_, _he_, _she_,
and _it_, and some others which we need not stop to enumerate.

"Here's a famous big stall!" exclaimed Dick, stopping in front of
Verb's, which was a very remarkable one, being covered with clock-work
figures all in motion. One could see by them what it is to _plough_, to
_sow_, to _reap_, to _work_, to _weep_, and to _dance_. The counter of
Verb was almost as extensive as that of her sister Noun.

"How do you make all these things move?" said Dick with some curiosity
to Verb.

"I _conjugate_ them; that is, wind them up," she replied, showing a
small brass key.

"Is it easy to conjugate them?" asked the boy.

"Easy enough with the _regular_ words," replied Verb, "but a good many
of mine are quite _irregular_ in their construction, and it is hard to
conjugate them."

"And if one conjugate them carelessly, I suppose," said Dick, "that
there would be a great crack or whiz, and the whole affair would go to
smash."

"Oh, don't stop there asking such questions!" cried Lubin; "I'm heartily
tired of this stupid bazaar--and if you go on so slowly, we shall never
get to the end!"

"I like to understand things," said Dick; "there's a great deal to
attract one's attention in this curious counter of Verb."

"Adverb, who keeps the next one," observed Nelly, "sells stands for her
sister Verb's figures, to display them _nicely_, _prettily_, _safely_!"

"_Badly_, _crookedly_, _awkwardly_!" cried Dick, who was in one of his
funny moods. "I don't like the look of Adverb, I think that she's given
to _lies_!"

"The three sisters who have the last stall," whispered Matty to Dick,
"seem all but poor little creatures!"

"I should call them small, smaller, and smallest, like the three degrees
of comparison," laughed Dick, "but I see their names at the backs of
their counters,--Preposition, Conjunction, Interjection."

"Pray, Miss Preposition, what are these?" asked Nelly, as she took up
some small labels from that lady's stall, with _from_, _by_, _of_, and
such names upon them.

"They are to show in what _case_ Noun's words are to be packed," replied
Preposition politely. "You may remark yonder boxes with _Nominative_,
_Possessive_, and such names painted upon them; it is my business to
label my sister's goods, that they may be packed according to rule."

"It must be stupid work to deal in nothing but tickets!" exclaimed Dick;
"if I were a Part of Speech, I'd be Noun rather than Preposition! And
what has Conjunction to sell?"

"Only little balls of string to tie bundles of words together, such as
_and_, _either_, _or_; and scissors to divide the bundles, such as
_neither_, _nor_, _notwithstanding_."

"Oh, come here, come here!" cried Matty eagerly; "there's nothing
amusing to look at on the counters of Conjunction or Preposition, but
Interjection has something very funny! Look at these gutta-percha balls
shaped like faces, some showing pleasure--some horror--some surprise;
just give them a little squeeze, and hear how you make them squeak!"

Lubin pressed one of the heads between his fat fingers, and _oh! ah!_
squeaked the red lips.

"I'll try one!" cried Dick, catching up another; "it's so like Matty's
friend, Miss Folly, that I'm sure that she sat for her likeness!" He
thumped it down on the counter, and out came a shrill "_lack-a-day!_"

"I think," laughed Nelly, "that Interjection sells the funniest words of
all!"

"And the ones that we could best do without," said Dick scornfully,
throwing down the _lack-a-day_ ball.

The children did not leave the Grammar Bazaar empty-handed. I must just
remark that Matty loaded herself most with words from the stall of
Adjective, choosing most of them from the Superlative row; and that
Lubin, notwithstanding the neat labels of Miss Preposition, never knew
how to put one of the words which he got from Noun or Pronoun into its
own proper case.




CHAPTER XVII.

PRIDE AND FOLLY.


One day Mr. Learning, having finished a whole volume of travels for
breakfast, made up his mind to pay a visit to his charges at the
cottages of Head. He walked, as usual, at a rapid pace, with long
strides, looking neither to the right hand nor to the left; his thoughts
too busy with researches into the manners and peculiarities of distant
lands, for him to notice how autumnal hues were already tinging the
trees, or how summer roses were giving place to the convolvulus and the
dahlia. Mr. Learning did not go empty-handed; he carried with him as
presents to the young Desleys four small hammers of Memory, and four
bags of brass nails called Dates.

This time the first cottage which he entered was that of Dick, and he
would doubtless have been pleased to see the numerous articles for
ornament and use with which it already was furnished, had not the first
object which met his eye been the ugly figure of Pride.

Pride was engaged in making a list of all the furniture in Dick's
dwelling, very much like an auctioneer's puff. Everything, according to
him, was "first-rate," "of superior quality," or, "fit for the residence
of any nobleman in the land." Pride sat with his back to the door, and
therefore was not aware of the entrance of Learning, till the stately
gentleman in spectacles tapped him on the shoulder with one of the
hammers.

Up jumped Pride in a moment. He had no time to hide himself, or to beat
a retreat, so, being one of the most impudent fellows in the world, he
resolved to brave out the matter with the solemn philosopher.

"I did not expect to find you here again," said Mr. Learning in his
stiffest and coldest manner.

"Well, I'm surprised to hear that," replied saucy Pride, resting his
hand on his hip, and trying to look quite at his ease; "as I go
everywhere, and am welcomed by everybody, it's natural enough that I
should chance to meet the most potent, grave, and reverend Mr.
Learning."

"Where is your master?" asked Learning shortly.

"_My_ master, indeed!" echoed Pride; "Dick never yet mastered me. I
should rather say that I am _his_ master!"

"Where has he gone?" inquired Learning, without seeming to notice the
insolent remark.

"He has gone to History's shop, to purchase a carpet for his parlour. He
is sure to select a pattern of the newest and most elegant design."

"Then I leave these for him," said the grave philosopher; "a bag full of
bright brass Dates, and a hammer of Memory to knock them well in."

"If you had brought a sackful instead of a bagful," observed Pride, "it
would not have been too much for Dick Desley; and as for the
hammer--don't you know that he has a prodigiously fine Memory of his
own?"

Without condescending to reply, Mr. Learning put down his gifts, turned
round, and, quitting the cottage which harboured so impudent a guest,
went to the next one, which was Lubin's. The door, as usual, was wide
open, and the place deserted and empty. Mr. Learning did not even cross
the threshold, so disgusted was he at the unfurnished, untidy state of
the sluggard's home.

"I may as well leave these for him, but he'll never know how to use
them," muttered Learning, throwing in the hammer and nails.

He then crossed over to Matty's pretty cottage. Her door was also ajar,
and grave Mr. Learning stopped at it for some moments in astonishment
at the sight which presented itself to his view.

Miss Folly, in her seven flounces, her beads and flowers, peacock's
plume, rouge, ribbons, and all, was half reclining on the uncarpeted
floor, engaged in blowing bubbles. As each rose from the bowl of her
pipe, swelling and shining, and then mounting aloft, she watched it with
a look of affected delight and admiration in her up-turned eyes. No
contrast could be imagined greater than that between the stately
gentleman clothed in black, with his broad intellectual brow, spectacled
eyes, and grave, solemn manner; and light, fantastical, frivolous Miss
Folly, clad in the most absurd of styles, but looking as though she
thought herself the very pink of perfection.

"Dear, who can that funny old fogie be!" exclaimed Folly, as she caught
sight of grave Mr. Learning.

"Who may _you_ be, and what are you doing?" asked Learning, with less
politeness than he usually showed to ladies.

"You don't mean to say that you've never heard of me!" cried Folly, her
words bubbling out fast like water out of a bottle; "you must be Mr.
Ignorance, if you don't know that I'm Mademoiselle Folly, the most
particular friend of lovely Lady Fashion, and the inventress of
tight-lacing, steel-hoops, hair-powder, masks, periwigs--"

"Flattened heads, blackened teeth, nose-rings, lip-rings, and
tattooing," added Mr. Learning, remembering the account of a tribe of
savages which he had been reading that morning.

"And as to what I am doing," continued Miss Folly, taking up her pipe,
which she had laid down on the entrance of a stranger, "I'm very
usefully employed: I'm furnishing the cottage of Miss Matty Desley."

"Furnishing!" exclaimed Mr. Learning in surprise, as Miss Folly, with
distended cheeks, commenced blowing another bubble.

Folly was too busy at that moment to reply, even her tongue for a while
was silent; but after she had succeeded in filling a big bubble, and had
loosened it from the pipe with a gentle shake, she vouchsafed a little
explanation.

"Yes, I'm furnishing the cottage with fancies; their poetical name is
day-dreams, cheap, elegant bubble-fancies."

"You must take me for an idiot!" exclaimed Mr. Learning; "no one in his
senses could ever dream of furnishing a house with bubbles!"

Miss Folly was so intently gazing after the ascending bubble that she
seemed to forget even the presence of the sage. As the airy globule
ascended, she began pouring forth a stream of disconnected nonsense,
seeming to speak merely for her own pleasure, as her words could
certainly not be intended for the information of any listener.

"A carriage and four--sleek bays with long tails; no, white horses
with pretty pink rosettes, and harness all glittering with silver!
Drive through London--up and down Hyde Park--taken for the
Queen--bowing--smiling--ah me, the bubble has burst!"

"This is some poor creature that has lost her wits!" thought the
astonished Mr. Learning, scarcely knowing whether to regard Miss Folly
with pity or with contempt. Already another bubble was swelling on the
bowl of her pipe, and in a minute another bright ball was floating aloft
in the air.

"Exquisite beauty--great attractions--such a voice--such a manner--such
a killing smile! An ode from the poet-laureate; bouquets, sent without
end; roses in the middle of winter; a hundred and fifty scented pink
notes on Valentine's day; the star of the season; the--lack-a-day! that
lovely bubble has gone for ever!"

"It's time that I should go too," said Mr. Learning; "I've heard enough
of nonsense to last for a lifetime!"

He was about to depart when Matty suddenly burst into the cottage, in
her eager haste almost knocking down her astonished guardian with a roll
of goods which she carried on her shoulder. The shock of the collision
was great, but not so great as the shock to poor Matty at so suddenly
coming upon Mr. Learning when she only expected to find Miss Folly. She
dropped her burden with an exclamation of surprise, and then tried to
stammer forth an apology, but knew not how to begin. Mr. Learning stood
straight before her, more erect and stately than ever, sternly looking
down through his steel spectacles at the confused and blushing girl.
Miss Folly, however, was quite at her ease, and hastily pushing aside
her basin and pipe, began instantly to unroll the large parcel which
Matty had dropped in her fright.

"Ah, I knew it would be so! You have chosen the sweetest pattern--the
prettiest--most tasteful--most charming little carpet that ever a girl
set eyes on!" and she began spreading out on the floor a fabric so thin,
that it seemed as if made of rose-leaves.

"Did you buy that trash from Mr. History?" said Mr. Learning sternly to
Matty.

"No--why--I own--Miss Folly recommended me rather to try Mr. Fiction,
who lives close to Amusement's bazaar. It is a great matter, you know,
not to have to cross over brook Bother, or carry a carpet up-hill. And
Mr. Fiction has such a magnificent shop, and his wares are so very
cheap."

"Cheap and often worthless!" exclaimed the angry guardian, striking the
carpet with his heel, and proving the truth of his words by tearing a
great hole in the middle. "I brought a gift for you, Matilda Desley, but
I have no intention of leaving it here now. My hammer of Memory, my
bright brass Dates, are not required to fasten down such miserable trash
as this! But," he muttered as he strode away, "it is at any rate all of
a piece! a carpet framed by Fiction is just the thing for a cottage
papered with fairies, furnished with fancies, and occupied by Miss
Folly!"

"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed Folly, the moment that his back was turned, "I'm
glad that the old owl has flown off--he looked ready to peck out my
eyes!"

I should like, with wise Mr. Learning, to bid farewell to Folly for
ever. Perhaps my readers may wonder that I should have introduced them
to a creature so very absurd. I should not have done so had I had no
suspicion that Folly might intrude herself, without introduction, when
they themselves are furnishing their own little cottages of Head. Has
no little girl who now gazes on this page, ever sat for hours blowing
bubbles of fancies with Folly, listening to worse--more ridiculous
nonsense than that which shocked Mr. Learning? Has she not delighted to
imagine herself great, rich, beautiful, and admired? has she not
consulted Folly about her dress--spent her precious minutes and hours on
a looking-glass--or a fanciful garment, or a worthless work of Fiction,
when duties had to be performed, when valuable things were to be bought
in the good town of Education?

Ah, dear little laughing reader, have I, like grave Mr. Learning, caught
some one in the very fact of harbouring Miss Folly? Turn her out--at
once turn her out! She is a silly companion, an unsafe guide; she will
never make you loved, respected, or happy. Though not quite so dark and
dangerous as Pride, she is much more closely related to him than people
would at first imagine; there is much of Pride in Folly--and oh, for
poor, weak, ignorant beings like ourselves, is not Folly