Little Paul; or, How to be patient in sickness and pain

Front matter

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I

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I. CAPTAIN BRONX 13

II. THE WIGWAM 16

Chapter I. Captain Bronx

Paul’s father. The house where he lived. The steamei’.

T ITTLE PAUL’S father was the captain of a steam-boat that plied between New York and a large town some miles np the Hudson Eiver. His name was Captain Bronx. The house that he lived in was a small and very pretty cottage on the bank of the river, about half a mile from the town where the steam-boat landed.

There were very pretty gardens and grounds about the house where Paul lived, and at one end of the house there was a piazza looking out over the water. Here, when Paul was a very small child, his mother used to sit, toward the close of the day, holding him in her arms, and watching for her husband’s steamer coming up to the town. When the steamer came in sight, Paul’s mother used to wave her handkerchief to her husband, and he, on his part, used to answer the signal by waving his own handkerchief, standing, while he did it, conspicuously on one of the paddle-boxes.

There was a flight of steps going down the bank to the water. At the foot of the steps was a boat-landing, where Captain Bronx kept a pretty little boat for short excursions on the river. Half

CAPTAIN BRONX.

How Paul’s father used to play with him on summer mornings.

way down these steps there was a platform, with a good look-out from it. Sometimes Paul would stand on this platform when his father’s steam-boat was going by, and wave a little flag by way of salutation.*

Captain Bronx was a large and rather stern-looking man, with a hard, weather-beaten face. He was, however, good and kind at heart. He loved his wife and little son very much, and they all lived a very happy life together. The captain was almost always gone away from home during the daytime. He was gone to New York in his steam-boat. He went away usually at eight o’clock in the morning, and he came home again at eight o’clock at night, so that he was usually away just about twelve hours.

In the summer mornings he used to get up early, and play with Paul for an hour or two before breakfast about the house and grounds. Sometimes, too, he would play with him in the evening, after he came home from his trip.

Very often, in the morning, it was not convenient to play much about the grounds, on account of the dew upon the grass. Sometimes, however, there was no dew. This was generally the case when it had been windy during the night. There is seldom any dew in the morning when it has been windy. The reason of this is that the wind dries up the dew as fast as it falls, or, perhaps, dissipates it in tliQ air before it has time to fall.

Captain Bronx was quite a rich man, though he lived in a small house. His wife wished to have a small house, because she did not like the expense and the trouble always occasioned by a large * For a view of the house, and of the stairs and landing, see Frontispiece.

CAPTAIN BRONX.

Mrs. Bronx’s wishes in respect to her house.

one. When Captain Bronx was preparing to build his house, he intended, at first, to make it a large and elegant mansion, but his wife begged him not to do that.

“ If we have a large house,” said she, “ we must have a great deal of company and a great many servants, and I shall be all the time burdened with care. I shall be worried continually by the waste that the servants will make, or by their quarrels with each other. Then all the time there will be some one or other of them that will have to be changed, either because they don’t suit me, or because the work don’t suit them, and I shall be continually going to and fro among the intelligence-offices in New York to get new ones ; and all this will be only to keep up an establishment for the benefit of mere acquaintances that we care very little about, and who care very little about us, except to come and get what we can give them.”

“ That’s all very true,” said Captain Bronx. “ And what shall we do about our house ?”

“Let us build a small, neat, and pretty house like a cottage,” said Mrs. Bronx, “ with just rooms enough for our own every-day use, and one chamber for our friends. Then, for servants, I will have only one woman and one boy. By this plan, I shall lead a quiet and happy life with little Paul, and not have any more trouble and care than is absolutely necessary.”

“ Very well,” said the captain ; “I think that will be the best plan, after all.”

So Captain Bronx built a small but very pretty house, and arranged it within in a manner to occasion his wife as little trouble

THE WIGWAM.

The woods. Rose and Phelim. The wigwam.

as possible in taking care of it ; and here Mrs. Bronx and little Paul lived together, while the captain was absent on his trips to New York, in a very happy manner.

Behind the house was a piece of wild and romantic land, covered with woods, where Paul used often to play.

Chapter II. The Wigwam

The woman and the boy that Mrs. Bronx employed in her housekeeping were colored people. The woman’s name was Bose. The boy, who was her son, was called Phelim. Phelim was about fourteen years old, and, though he was not very bright, he was yet a good boy, and he was very faithful in taking good care of Paul.

One morning in September, when it had been windy during the night, so that there was no dew, Captain Bronx took Paul out into a grove behind the house, and began to build him what he called a wigwam. This wigwam was a small hut made of branches of evergreen trees laid upon a frame of poles. It was quite small, being just large enough for little Paul to go into it.

While the captain was building the wigwam, Paul undertook to help him by carrying the branches and laying them upon the frame as fast as his father cut them off from the trees in the wood. But he did not lay them on right. He laid them on with the tops upward, in the position in which they grew on the original trees, whereas he ought to have laid them with the tops downward.

THE WIGWAM.

Mode of laying the roof. Conversation abqut the wigwam.

The reason why he ought to have laid them with the tops downward is because in that position they shed the rain better. If the branches of the trees are placed in such a manner that all the little leaves that grow upon them have their points turned outward and downward toward the ground, then they conduct the water of the rain away, and thus the interior of the Tut is kept dry. But if, on the other hand, they are placed so that the tips of the leaves point upward, then the leaves catch the rain and conduct it in toward the stems, and from the stems it falls down into the interior of the wigwam.

The captain explained all this to Paul, and after that Paul placed the branches with the tops downward.

“What a pretty green house!” said Paul, when the wigwam was finished. “ Will it always keep green?”

“No,” said his father ; “ after a while the branches of the trees will all turn red and brown.”

“Would not they keep green if I were to water them?” said Paul.

“ No, not long,” replied his father.

“ Because I could water my wigwam just as well as not,” added Paul. “I could water it every morning — that is, if Phelim could help me.”

“ He would help you, I have no doubt,” said the captain, “ but it would not do any good. The leaves of trees will not keep green long unless they are growing.”

“ Then, father, could not you make a wigwam of growing trees?”

“No,” said his father, “ we could not train trees to grow the

THE WIGWAM.

right way. Trees almost always grow with their leaves pointing upward. Whereas, to make a roof that will shed the rain, we have to place them with their leaves pointing downward.”

“But, father,” said Paul, “we might bend the branches while they are growing, and make them grow downward.”

“We might bend the branches,” said his father, “ and possibly make them grow in a bent direction ; but the leaves and all the little sprigs Would immediately begin to turn and grow upward, and that would spoil the roof.”

“ Then, father,” said Paul, “ I should think it would be better if trees had been made to grow in such a way as to point their leaves downward, and then the woods would be full of little roofs, and men could live under them instead of having to work so hard to build houses.”

“ No,” said the captain, “it is the building of the house rather than the living in it after it is finished that gives men most pleasure. People are always happier when they have something to do. You will find that the chief pleasure that you will take in this wigwam will be in helping me build it. After it is finished, so that there is nothing more to do about it, you won’t care for it long.”

“ Oh yes, I shall care for it a great while, I am sure,” said Paul. “I shall care about it all the time — at least, as long as it is green.”

“ It will not be green very long,” said the captain. “ A wigwam is not a very permanent structure.”

What do you mean by a permanent structure ?” asked Paul.

THE WIGWAM.

Definition of words. Future use to be made of the wigwam.

“ Why, structure means any thing that is built,” said the captain, “ and permanent means lasting a great while, so that a permanent structure means a building that lasts a great while.”

“ I should like to see a permanent structure,” said Paul.

“A castle is a permanent structure,” said the captain. “When you go into the house I will show you the picture of one.”

“ Let us go in now,” said Paul.

Just then Paul heard the bell ring at the house. It was the first bell for breakfast. So the captain, after putting upon the wigwam all the branches which he had cut from the trees, took Paul by the hand and led him toward the house.

On the way, Paul said that he thought he should like his wigwam even after the leaves had all turned brown.

“It looks prettier to be green, I know,” said he, “but still I shall like it when it is brown.”

“ But the little leaves will all get so dry that they will drop off very easily,” said the captain. “At the least touch of the branches the leaves will come showering down all over you.”

“That I shall not like,” said Paul.

“ But there is one excellent use that you can put your wigwam to when it gets brown and dry,” said the captain.

“What use, father?” asked Paul.

“You can make a bonfire of it,” said his father. “It will make an excellent bonfire, especially if we burn it in the night.”

“ I shall like the bonfire very much indeed,” said Paul.

“ So shall I,” said his father.

When they went into the house, the captain took a book down

THE WIGWAM.

Picture of the castle explained. The narrow windows.

from the book-case, and showed Paul a picture of a castle in it. It was a large castle built upon a rock. There were round towers at the corners, and a large square tower, with a flag flying from it, in the middle.

“A castle is a very permanent structure,” said the captain, “ for it is built of stone, and it is usually founded upon a rock. Some castles last more than a thousand years, but your wigwam will only last a few weeks.”

“ What do people build castles for ?” asked Paul.

“ They don’t build them at all, scarcely, nowadays,” said the captain. “ When they used to build them ages ago, it was to defend themselves against their enemies in them. When their enemies were coming they would shut themselves up in their castles, and their enemies could not get in. They had narrow window’s made in the walls, so that they could look out and watch their enemies, and shoot arrows out at them.”

“ Yes, or guns,” said Paul.

“ No,” said his father, “ they had no guns in those days. They only had bows and arrows, and other such weapons as those.”

“ I see the narrow windows in one of the round towers in the picture,” said Paul.

“ Yes,” said the captain ; “ there are some larger windows in the square tower, but they are so high, and so far back from the outer wall, that the enemy can not get up to them to get in, nor even shoot arrows in at them.”

By this time breakfast was ready, and so the captain put the book away, and he and Paul took their seats at the table.

HORSES AND CARRIAGES.

Paul’s love of instruction. A house down the river. Picture of it.

Paul, though young, was a very sedate and thoughtful boy, and he liked very much to hold such conversations as this with his father. Indeed, he liked to listen to instruction better than to play, and, whenever his father commenced any thing of the nature of play for the purpose of amusing his little son, it almost always ended in some sort of instructive conversation, as it had done in this case of the building of the wigwam.

CHAPTEE III.

HORSES AND CARRIAGES.

About a mile down the river from the place where Captain Bronx lived, there was a very pretty house, with piazzas around it, where Paul used sometimes to go and make a visit. There

HORSES AND CARRIAGES.

Phelim brings Paul a letter.

were two children who lived at this house. Their names were Charles and Lucy Ormond.

One day when Paul was sitting under the piazza in his own home, he saw Phelim coming along the path, bringing in his hand what seemed to be a letter.

“Phelim,” said Paul, “ what have you got?”

“ I have got a letter,” said Phelim.

“ Who is it for?” asked Paul.

“I don’t know,” said Phelim. “I can’t read what is on the outside of it, but I believe it is for you.”

“ Why don’t you learn to read, Phelim ?” said Paul. “It would be very useful for you to learn to read.”

“Yes, Master Paul,” said Phelim, “I know it would, but I don’t think I could ever learn. The letters are all mixed up together so in the reading that I never could make them out.”

“You could learn, Phelim,” said Paul.

“ No, Master Paul,” said Phelim, “ I don’t believe that I could ever learn. I tried once in a school. I could learn some of the letters when they stood by themselves, but I could not learn how to pronounce them when they were together.”

Paul took the letter from Phelim’s hand and looked at the back of it. He found his own name inscribed there in printed characters of a form indicating that the letter was the work of a child who had not yet learned to write current hand.

“I think it is from Charles Ormond,” said Paul.

“I think so too,” said Phelim.

Paul opened the letter, and read as follows :

HORSES AND CARRIAGES.

The invitation.

Mra. Ormond’s plan in giving parties to children.

Thursday morning.

Master Charles and Miss Lucy Ormond request the pleasure of Master Paul Bronx’s company at an evening party to-morrow at two o’clock.

The reader may perhaps consider two o’clock as rather an early hour for an evening party, but it seemed nothing unusual to Paul, for he was accustomed to be invited to what were called evening parties at that hour. The truth is, that when her children had a party, Mrs. Ormond thought it much better that the assembly should take place in the middle of the day rather than in the evening; but then, in order that it might seem like evening to the party, she was accustomed to close the shutters of the room where the children played, and to light the lamps. She was also accustomed to set the clock forward to eight or nine o’clock when the party began. Thus the children enjoyed the illusion of going to a party at eight or nine, and staying till eleven, with the advantage of good, bright daylight to go home with after the party was over.

Paul carried his letter of invitation to his mother, and she at once consented to his accepting it.

“And I’ll go with you,” said his mother.

“ Good !” said Paul, clapping his hands ; “ and let us go there in a chaise, mother.”

“ Is it too far for us to walk, do you think?” asked his mother.

“ Yes, mother,” said Paul, “ I think it is too far for us to walk. It tires me very much to walk so far. But I will try, if you think it is best.”

HORSES AND CARRIAGES.

Conversation between Paul and his mother about going to the party.

Mrs. Bronx had observed that for some time past it had appeared to fatigue Paul to walk. He seemed to get out of breath very easily, and to be disposed to stop very often when he was at play, in order to sit down and rest. Having noticed these indications, Mrs. Bronx was afraid that they might denote some incipient sickness, and she resolved to make inquiries of the doctor on the subject the first opportunity.

She had not, however, yet done so ; but, now that Paul seemed to think he could not well walk so far as to Mrs. Ormond’s, the possibility that he might have some secret sickness coming upon him recurred to her mind, and she felt quite concerned. She did not express her uneasiness to Paul, but only said at once that they would go to Mrs. Ormond’s in a chaise, if Paul liked that way better. She was the more ready to do as Paul wished, because he did not insist upon it, but made known his wish in a gentle* and considerate manner. Indeed, he said expressly that if his mother thought it best to walk he was willing to try.

Accordingly, the next day, about one o’clock, Mrs. Bronx sent Phelim after a chaise. Phelim went for a chaise to a livery-stable in the town, where a great many different horses and carriages were kept. This was the way in which Mrs. Bronx always obtained horses and carriages when she wished to take a ride.

At the time when the house was first built, Captain Bronx proposed to build a stable and to keep one or two horses in it, but Mrs. Bronx asked him not to do it.

“ But it will be so much more convenient for you,” said he, “ to have horses always at your command.”

HORSES AND CARRIAGES.

Reasons why Mrs. Bronx preferred not to keep carriages and horses.

“No,” said she, “I think it will be much more convenient for me to send to the public stable for them ; for, if we have horses of our own, it will make me a great deal of trouble to take care of them.”

“ Oh no,” said the captain, “ you will not have to take care of them at all. I should hire a coachman to take care of them.”

“Then I should have the coachman to take care of,” said Mrs. Bronx, “ and that would make me more trouble than the care of the horses. Besides,” she continued, “ we want different kinds of horses and different kinds of carriages for different occasions ; and, unless we keep a great many, we shall not be nearly as well accommodated as we shall be to go to the livery-stable.”

“But then it may sometimes happen,” said the captain, “that you w T ill wish to take a ride, and you will send to the stable, and all the horses and carriages will be out.”

“ True,” said Mrs. Bronx ; “ but then, on the other hand, if we keep horses of our own, sometimes they will be sick, or they will want shoeing, or the harness will be broken, or something will be the matter with the coachman ; so that I think I should be disappointed of my ride much more frequently by depending upon my own horses than by depending upon a good livery-stable.”

“ Very well,” said Captain Bronx ; “I believe you are right.”

So the captain made an arrangement with the keeper of the livery-stable, at so much a year, to send a horse and chaise every morning to his house to take him to the steam-boat, and also one in the evening to the pier, when the boat arrived, to take him home. He was also to furnish for the use of Mrs. Bronx any car-

HORSES AND CARRIAGES.

Working of the plan.

Phelim comes with a horse and chaise.

riages and horses that she might want from time to time, and Captain Bronx was to pay him the hill once a quarter. After trying this plan for some time, they found that, without any care or trouble, they were much better provided for, and at much less expense, all things considered, than if they had kept hordes and carriages of their own.

In order to make sure of a chaise on the day of the party at Mrs. Ormond’s, Phelim was sent to engage one the evening before. This was, however, scarcely necessary, for the keeper of the livery-stable found Mrs. Bronx such an excellent customer that he was extremely unwilling that she should ever be disappointed ; and so, whenever all his own horses were engaged at the time that Mrs. Bronx sent for 'one, he would never send back a refusal, but would always procure for her such a horse and carriage as she desired from some other stable in the town.

At half past one on the appointed day the horse was at the door. Phelim stood at his head to hold him, while Paul and his mother got into the chaise. The plan which they had formed was to ride to Mrs. Ormond’s in the chaise, but to walk home. Paul thought that he should be able to walk one way. Phelim was to go and take the chaise back. There was not room for him to go with Paul and his mother in the chaise, and so he was going to walk.

“ When we arrive at the house,” said Mrs. Bronx to Phelim, “ we will fasten the horse to the post before the door, and then when you get there you can take him and drive him home.”

So Paul took the reins and drove on. In due time, he and his

HORSES AND CARRIAGES.

Paul feels somewhat uncertain about being able to walk home. He reasons the case.

mother arrived safely at Mrs. Ormond’s house, and in the picture at the beginning of this chapter you see the chaise at the door.

Paul did not feel quite easy in leaving the carriage at the door to be taken away by Phelim, for he was, after all, rather reluctant to undertake the task of walking home ; and yet he did not like to tell his mother how weak he felt. He thought it would trouble her to have him tell her ; and, besides, he did not know but that she might consider it unnecessary complaining on his part, or perhaps an indication of indolence.

So he attempted to persuade his mother to keep the chaise on her own account.

“Mother,” said he, as they were ascending the steps to enter the house, “ would not it be better for you to keep the chaise and to ride home ? I am afraid it will be too far for you to walk.”

“Oh no,” said his mother; “I can walk just as well as not. I shall like to walk, having you for company.”

“It might possibly rain,” suggested Paul.

“ Oh no ; it does not look at all like rain,” said Mrs. Bronx. “The sky is perfectly clear.”

“ But sometimes there comes up a sudden thunder-shower toward evening,” said Paul, “ and what should we do in that case ?”

“I think there is so little danger,” replied his mother, “that we will venture it.”

So saying, Mrs. Bronx led the way into the house.

It would have been better if Paul had stated frankly and plainly his real reason for wishing to have the chaise retained. If he had simply told his mother that he was not perfectly well, and

HORSES AND CARRIAGES.

Phelim comes for the horse and chaise.

The party.

that lie did not feel that he had strength enough to walk so far, she would have decided at once to keep the chaise.

Paul’s motive was very good, however, for wishing to conceal from his mother that he was not well, and in the argument which he used he did not say any thing that was not strictly true ; so that, after all, he was not much to blame.

He and his mother went into the house, and in about half an hour Phelim came. After unfastening the horse, Phelim got into the chaise and drove back to the stable where the horse belonged.

When they went into the house, Mrs. Bronx went up stairs to find Mrs. Ormond in her room, while Paul was directed to go through a hall out into a little green yard behind the house, where the children that had been invited were assembling. When all the children had come they were summoned into the house, and were conducted through a small and narrow side entry into a room where the shutters were closed and the lamps were lighted. The clock on the mantel-piece was set at a quarter past eight. The children began to run about the room to get good places on the sofas and chairs, and, forgetting all about the daylight out of doors, imagined that they were beginning a fashionable party late in the evening.

THE BISHOP OF WINCHESTER.

The children at play. How they played the Bishop of Winchester.

Chapter IV. The Bishop Of Winchester

One of the games which the children played at the party at Mrs. Ormond’s was called The Bishop of Winchester. The way in which the game was played was this :

One of the children — the one who was appointed first to play Bishop — would go out. In the entry he would put on a paper cap, made as nearly as possible in the shape of a mitre — a kind of cap worn by a bishop. The older children would make this cap out of a large sheet of paper, which they would pin together in the proper form. The bishop would also put a ring upon his finger, and take a cane in his hand, and then, thus appareled, would come into the room, preceded by another of the children who was to act as herald. As the herald and the bishop advanced into the room, the herald would call out in a pompous tone,

“Bow down your heads and cover your eyes Till the Bishop of Winchester’s seated.”

The children would all immediately bow down their heads and cover their eyes with their hands, so that they could not see, and then the bishop would take the ring off his finger, and walking to and fro about the room, would hide it somewhere, the children all the time keeping their heads down and their eyes covered so as not to see.

When the ring was hid, the bishop would take his seat upon a

THE BISHOP OF WINCHESTER.

Farther account of the play. Question about the origin of the name.

chair in the middle of the room, which had been previously placed there for that purpose. The herald would then call out,

“ Lift up your heads and open your eyes,

The Bishop of Winchester’s seated.”

Thereupon the children would all lift up their heads and open their eyes, and the herald then, pointing to one of the children, the first in the row, would say,

“The Bishop of Winchester’s lost his ring Where do you think he has put it?”

The child addressed would then guess where the ring was hid, and then the herald would say,

“Go and see.”

So the one who had guessed would go and look in the place that he fiad designated, and if he found the ring there he was to be the Bishop of Winchester next. If he did not find it — and he was strictly forbidden to look in any place except the one that he had specially named — then the next one in the row was called upon, and so on until the ring was found.