The Apple Dumpling and Other Stories for Young Boys and Girls Part 7

The ladies saw that she was alone, so one of them went up to her and took her hand. She was an old lady, and wore spectacles, and she looked very kind and good. So the dear little girl let the dentist lift her into the great chair, and take off her hat, and the old lady kept hold of her hand, and said, "It will be over in a minute, my dear child," and then she pressed her little hand so kindly, that Emily felt quite comforted.

The other lady was a young lady, and she too felt sorry that Emily was to suffer. She wanted to smooth her hair, and give her a kiss; but she thought that the little girl might be afraid of so many strangers, so she sat down very quietly.

When the dentist had looked into Emily's mouth, he saw that four teeth must come out. So he got the instrument, and held her head tight with his arm.

Emily turned pale, but she kept quite still, and did not cry or scream; and the dentist pulled out the four teeth, one after the other, without a sound from her lips.

When they were all out, some large tears came from her eyes and rolled down her cheeks; but she only said, "Thank you," to the lady that held her hand; and, putting her handkerchief to her mouth, she ran down stairs.

"My darling child," said her Grandma, "how well you have behaved; I did not hear the least noise."

"No, Grandma," replied Emily, "I tried very hard not to scream; I was determined to be quite still; and a good old lady like you, Grandma, held my hand, which was a great comfort. But oh! Grandma, it _did_ hurt me most terribly."

"My dear child, I know it did," said her Grandma; "you are the best little girl in the world, and a happiness and a treasure to me."

After Emily had gone, the ladies who had witnessed her good conduct, and admired her courage, asked her name and where she lived; and one of them, the young lady, sent her a pretty little gold ring with a blue stone in it, and a little note containing these words:--

"For the dear little girl who had the courage to bear a great pain n.o.bly."

Emily was very much pleased with this little present; it was so unexpected. She could not find out who had sent it to her.

I hope all the little boys and girls will read this story with attention, and when they go to the dentist's they will think of Emily, and try to imitate her good conduct.

THE BOYS' SCHOOL.

Not very long ago, Mr. Harrison kept a boarding-school for little boys in a delightful village in Hertfords.h.i.+re. He took twenty boys to educate, and he was so kind, and had such a pleasant way of teaching, that the boys were happier with him than they would have been at home.

When the boys came in the spring, Mr. Harrison gave to each of them a little plot of ground for a garden; and the little fellows were very busy during play-hours, in preparing and arranging their gardens. They had permission to go to the gardener and get just what seeds they wanted; so some of the boys planted melons and cuc.u.mbers, and some pumpkins and radishes, and two of them made an elegant flower-garden.

They put their ground together, and erected a little hill in the centre, with a path all round it, and all the borders they planted with roses, and c.o.c.ks...o...b.., and mignonette, and sweet-peas, and many other pretty flowers; and when the flowers came out, their garden gave quite a brilliant appearance to the place.

The boys had also a very large play-ground, and in it their kind teacher had had a number of gymnastic poles put up, for their healthy exercise and amus.e.m.e.nt. There was one very high pole, with four strong ropes fastened to the top of it, and an iron ring at the ends of the ropes. The boys would take hold of the rings, and run round as fast as they could; then lifting their feet off the ground, away they would fly in the air, round and round, like so many little crazy monkeys. There was one little chap that could climb up one of the ropes like a cat, and hang upon the top of the pole.

Then they had swinging-bars, and jumping-bars, with a spring-board to jump from, and wooden horses, and a climbing-pole, and several other things; but, what was better than all, they had a funny little ragged pony, and a short-legged, long-eared donkey, for their especial use, and many were the fine rides they had on their backs.

Sometimes, to be sure, the pony had a fas.h.i.+on of dancing a slow jig on his hind-legs, with his fore-feet in the air; but the boys were used to that, and stuck on until the dance was finished; then the pony would trot off very peaceably.

The donkey, too, had a way of putting his nose to the ground, and pitching his rider, head over heels, on the gra.s.s. But the boys were used to that too, and did not mind it in the least. They would jump up and shake themselves, and try again, and by dint of poking and punching the sides of the sulky little animal, he would after a while make up his mind to go. When he had once done _that_, it was all right. You would think he was the most amiable donkey in the world. The pony's name was "Napoleon," and the boys called the donkey "Old Pudding-head."

Twice a-week during the summer, Mr. Harrison took the boys to bathe in a fine pond, where such as could would swim, and the rest would tumble about in the water; and altogether he was so kind to them that the boys thought there never was a better teacher, or such a famous boarding-school.

I have not yet told you that they learned anything. I suppose you all think that playing was the princ.i.p.al thing they went to that school for.

But if you do, you make a great mistake, for the greater part of every day was spent in the school-room.

Mr. Harrison made school-time very pleasant. He seldom had to punish a boy for bad conduct or neglect in getting his lessons. He always encouraged them to ask questions about their studies, and told them never to learn anything by rote, like a parrot, but to come to him when they did not understand a lesson; and he always made it so clear that it was a pleasure to learn. Sometimes a boy would ask a foolish question, which would make the rest laugh; but then Mr. Harrison would say it was better to be laughed at for trying to learn, than to grow up a dunce.

In this way the boys would improve so much, both in mind and body, that their parents left them with Mr. Harrison as long as he could keep them; and both the boys and their parents were very sorry when the time came for them to leave, for Mr. Harrison would not take any boy after he was fourteen years of age.

One afternoon after school, the boys were all busy weeding in their gardens, when one of them suddenly cried out, "Phil, do you know how long it is to the Fifth of November?"

"To be sure I do," answered Philip; "it is just four weeks and four days."

"So it is, I declare," said Thomas, the first boy who had spoken. "Boys, I'll tell you what we will do. Let us all write to our parents for an immense lot of fireworks; then we will club together, and keep all, except the crackers, for a grand display of fireworks in the evening."

"Oh yes, yes," cried all the boys, "that is an excellent idea."

"I will ask Mr. Harrison," said Phil, "to help us fix the wheels and so forth, for all I ever fixed myself stuck fast, and would not go round at all."

"I mean to write for some Roman candles," said Frank; "they look so beautiful going up. They look like planets with wings."

"_I_ will ask for some snakes and gra.s.shoppers," said another; "it is such fun to see the boys racing round to get out of the way of them."

"We'll make some wooden pistols to put the crackers in," said another boy.

"Yes, and I will send for a little bra.s.s cannon that my uncle, Major Brown, gave me," said another.

Just then the bell rang for tea, and the boys, putting their little rakes and hoes into their tool-house, ran in to wash their faces and hands, and brush their hair. Then they took off their blouses, which they wore when at work in the garden, and hung them up in the play-room.

They had a nice large play-room for playing in when the weather was unpleasant.

It was astonis.h.i.+ng what large quant.i.ties of bread and b.u.t.ter, and apple-sauce, these boys consumed for their supper, for working out-of-doors in the fresh country air is sure to make people hungry, and boys especially are always ready for eating. After supper, Mr. Harrison read prayers, while all the boys knelt at their chairs around the table.

Then they were permitted to play out-of-doors again until the sunset.

Phil and Frank allowed themselves to be harnessed to a hand-wagon, and galloped off at full speed, with two of the smaller boys in it. The rest had a game at leap-frog; and Mr. Harrison and his family sat in the porch watching and admiring the gorgeous tints lent to the clouds by the rays of the setting sun, and sometimes laughing heartily at the capers of the boys.

At length the sun sank beneath the horizon, and Mr. Harrison said, "Come in, boys." He never had to speak more than once, for the boys were so well governed that they found it to their advantage and happiness to obey directly. So they came in as quietly as they could, and went into the study, where Mr. Harrison soon joined them, and read aloud an interesting book of travels for an hour. Then they went up stairs to bed.

One evening, not long after this, the boys were all together in the sitting-room. Philip was reading a book in which was an anecdote about a bad boy who had frightened another, by coming into his room at night, with his face apparently in a blaze, and looking, as the terrified child thought, like a flaming dragon. All at once, Phil shut the book, and said, "I say, boys, I will show you a funny thing, if you will put out the light, and it will be useful to you too. But first, let me read this story to you, and then we will try the game, and none of you little chaps will be frightened, because you will know what it is."

So saying, he read the story, which interested the boys very much indeed, and made them all eager for Philip's experiment.

Phil took a box of matches from the mantelpiece, and gave some to each of the boys; but suddenly he cried, "Wait a moment: I will be back before you can say Jack Robinson," and ran out of the room.

He went out to ask Mr. Harrison's permission to try this experiment. Mr.

Harrison said, "I am glad, my dear boy, you have come first to me; I believe I can always trust you. You may try your plan, and I will go with you and join in your amus.e.m.e.nt."

The boys were glad to see their teacher. He often helped them in their plays; and they were never afraid to frolic and laugh before him.

So Phil blew out the light, and then told the boys to take a match, and wet it on the tip of the tongue, and rub it on the sides of their faces, and they would soon have a pair of fiery whiskers apiece, without its burning them in the least.

In a moment all the boys had flaming whiskers, and streaks of flame all over their faces.

Peals of laughter resounded from all sides. Such a troop of little blazing imps were never seen before. Some had noses on fire, some ears; some made fiery circles round their eyes, and some rubbed their fingers with the matches--always taking care to wet them first--and ran after the rest.

Only one person was frightened; and that was because she had not been let into the secret. This was a servant girl, who opened the door, and seeing a room full of dark figures, with faces on fire, dancing, and laughing, and capering about, she ran, screaming, up stairs, crying, "Murder! Fire! Help!" with all her might, which made the boys laugh till they were nearly suffocated. But Phil ran after her, and with much difficulty persuaded her that they were really human beings, and good friends of hers.

After they had danced about for some time, Mr. Harrison advised them to go and wash their faces, and said that they had better not play this game again, as some accident might occur: a match might get lighted and set fire to their clothes. He said he had been willing to let them try it once, for then they would not be frightened if any wicked or thoughtless person should play a trick of this kind upon them. So the boys put up the matches, and went off to bed full of the fun they had had, and saying, that if they saw a person with his nose on fire, coming into their rooms at night, they would take hold of it, and give it a good pinching.