THE PRINCIPLES OF ORDER.
"Father," said Rollo, at the dinner-table, "do you think it will rain all the afternoon?"
"It looks like it," replied his father, "but why? Do you not enjoy yourselves in the house?"
"O yes, sir," said Rollo, "we have had a fine time this morning; but Lucy and I thought that, if it did not rain this afternoon, we might go out in the garden a little."
"It may clear up towards night; but, if it does, I think it would be better to go down to the brook and see the freshet, than to go into the garden."
"The freshet? Will there be a freshet, do you think?"
"Yes, if it rains this afternoon as fast as it does now, I think the brook will be quite, high towards night."
Rollo was much pleased to hear this. He told Lucy, after dinner, that the brook looked magnificently in a freshet; that the banks were br.i.m.m.i.n.g full, and the water poured along in a great torrent, foaming and dashing against the logs and rocks.
"Then, besides, Lucy," said he, "we can carry down our little boats and set them a sailing. How they will whirl and plunge along down the stream!"
Lucy liked the idea of seeing the freshet, too, very much; though she said she was afraid it would be too wet for her to go. Rollo told her never to fear, for his father would contrive some way to get her down there safely, and they both went to the back entry door again, looking out, and wishing now that it would rain faster and faster, as they did before dinner that it would cease to rain.
"But," said Lucy, "what if it should not stop raining at all, to-night?"
"O, it will," said Rollo, "I know it will. Besides, if it should not, we can go down to-morrow morning, you know, and then there will be a bigger freshet. O how full the brook will be by to-morrow morning!"
And Rollo clapped his hands, and capered with delight.
"Yes," said Lucy, soberly, "but I must go home to-night."
"Must you?" said Rollo. "So you must. I did not think of that."
"But I think," continued he, "that it will certainly clear up to-night.
I will go and ask father if he does not think so too."
They both went together back into the parlor to ask the question.
"I cannot tell, my children, whether it will or not. I see no indications, one way or the other. I think you had better forget all about it, and go to doing something else; for if you spend all the afternoon in watching the sky, and trying to guess whether it will clear up or not, you cannot enjoy yourselves, and may be sadly disappointed at last."
"Why, we cannot help thinking of it, father."
"You cannot, if you stand there at the back door, doing nothing else; but, if you engage in some other employment, you will soon forget all about it."
"What do you think we had better do?" said Lucy.
"I think you had better go up and put your room and your desk all in order, Rollo; Lucy can help you."
"But, father, I have put it in order a great many times, and it always gets out of order again very soon, and I cannot keep it neat."
"That is partly because you do not put it in order right. You do not understand the principles of order."
"What are the principles of order?" said Lucy.
"There are a good many. I will tell you some of them, and then you may go and apply them in arranging Rollo"s things.
"One principle is to have the things that are most frequently used in the most accessible place, so that they can be taken out and returned to their proper places easily.
"Another good principle for you is to distinguish between the things which you wish to _use_, and those you only wish to _preserve_. The former ought to be in sight, and near at hand. The latter may be packed away more out of view.
"Another principle is to avoid having your desk and room enc.u.mbered with things of little or no value, as stones you have picked up, and papers, and sticks. The place to keep such things is in the barn or shed, not in your private room.
"Then you must arrange your things systematically, putting things of the same nature together. Once I looked into your desk after you had put it in order, and I found that, in the back side of it, you had piled up hooks, and white paper, and pictures, and a slate, and a pocket-book or two, all together. You thought they were in order, because they were in a _pile_. Now, they ought to have been separated and arranged; all the white paper by itself in front, where you can easily get it to use; the pictures all by themselves in a portfolio; and the books should be arranged, not in a _pile_, but in a _row_, on their edges, so that you can get out any one without disturbing the others. Those are some of the principles of order."
"Well, come, Rollo," said Lucy, "let us go and see your things, and try to put them in order, right."
Rollo went, but, as he left the room, he turned round to ask his father if he would not come with them, and just show them a little about it.
His father said he could not come very well then, but if they would try and do as well as they could, he would come and look over their work after it was done, and tell them whether it was right or not.
Rollo and Lucy went up into Rollo"s room, and, true enough, they found not a little confusion there. But they went to work, and soon became very much interested in their employment. A great many of the things were new to Lucy, and as they went on arranging them, they often stopped to talk and play. In this way several hours pa.s.sed along very pleasantly; and when, at last, they had got them nearly arranged, Rollo went to the window to throw out some old stones that he concluded not to keep any longer, when he exclaimed aloud,
"O, Lucy, Lucy, come here quick."
Lucy ran. Rollo pointed out to the western horizon, and said, "See there!"
There was a broad band of bright golden sky all along the western horizon--clear and beautiful, and extending each way as far as they could see. The dark clouds overhead reached down to the edge of this clear sky, where they hung in a fringe of gold, and the dazzling rays of the sun were just peeping under it. The rain had ceased.
Rollo and Lucy gazed at it a moment, and then ran down stairs as fast as they could go, calling out,
"It is clearing away! It is clearing away! Father, it is clearing away.
We can go and see the freshet."
CLEARING UP.
They went out upon the steps to look at the sky. A few drops of rain were still falling, but the clouds appeared to be breaking in several places, and the tract of golden sky in the west was rising and extending. The air was calm, and the golden rays of the sun shone upon the fields and trees, and upon the glittering drops that hung from the leaves and branches. Rollo and Lucy both said it was beautiful.
They went in and urged their father to go with them down to the brook to see the freshet, but he said they must wait till after tea. "It is too wet to go now," said he.
"But, father," said Rollo, "I do not think it will be any better after tea. The ground cannot dry in half an hour."
"No," said his father; "but the water will run off of the paths a great deal, so that we can get along much better."
"Well, but then it will run off from the brook a great deal too, and the freshet will not be so high."
"It is a little different with the brook," his father replied, "for that is very long, and the water comes a great way, from among the hills.
Now, while we are taking tea, the water will be running into the brook back among the hills, faster than it will run away here, so that it will grow higher and higher for some hours."
Rollo had no more to say, but he was impatient to go. He and Lucy went out and stood on the steps again. The clouds were breaking up and flying away in all directions, and large patches of clear blue sky appeared everywhere, giving promise of a beautiful evening.
"Hark!" said Rollo; "what is that?"