________________________________________________
_ While Nat takes a good long sleep, I will tell my little readers
something about the boys, among whom he found himself when he
woke up.
To begin with our old friends. Franz was a tall lad, of sixteen now,
a regular German, big, blond, and bookish, also very domestic,
amiable, and musical. His uncle was fitting him for college, and
his aunt for a happy home of his own hereafter, because she
carefully fostered in him gentle manners, love of children, respect
for women, old and young, and helpful ways about the house. He
was her right-hand man on all occasions, steady, kind, and patient;
and he loved his merry aunt like a mother, for such she had tried to
be to him.
Emil was quite different, being quick-tempered, restless, and
enterprising, bent on going to sea, for the blood of the old vikings
stirred in his veins, and could not be tamed. His uncle promised
that he should go when he was sixteen, and set him to studying
navigation, gave him stories of good and famous admirals and
heroes to read, and let him lead the life of a frog in river, pond,
and brook, when lessons were done. His room looked like the
cabin of a man-of-war, for every thing was nautical, military, and
shipshape. Captain Kyd was his delight, and his favorite
amusement was to rig up like that piratical gentleman, and roar out
sanguinary sea-songs at the top of his voice. He would dance
nothing but sailors' hornpipes, rolled in his gait, and was as
nautical in conversation to his uncle would permit. The boys called
him "Commodore," and took great pride in his fleet, which
whitened the pond and suffered disasters that would have daunted
any commander but a sea-struck boy.
Demi was one of the children who show plainly the effect of
intelligent love and care, for soul and body worked harmoniously
together. The natural refinement which nothing but home
influence can teach, gave him sweet and simple manners: his
mother had cherished an innocent and loving heart in him; his
father had watched over the physical growth of his boy, and kept
the little body straight and strong on wholesome food and exercise
and sleep, while Grandpa March cultivated the little mind with the
tender wisdom of a modern Pythagoras, not tasking it with long,
hard lessons, parrot-learned, but helping it to unfold as naturally
and beautifully as sun and dew help roses bloom. He was not a
perfect child, by any means, but his faults were of the better sort;
and being early taught the secret of self-control, he was not left at
the mercy of appetites and passions, as some poor little mortals
are, and then punished for yielding to the temptations against
which they have no armor. A quiet, quaint boy was Demi, serious,
yet cheery, quite unconscious that he was unusually bright and
beautiful, yet quick to see and love intelligence or beauty in other
children. Very fond of books, and full of lively fancies, born of a
strong imagination and a spiritual nature, these traits made his
parents anxious to balance them with useful knowledge and
healthful society, lest they should make him one of those pale
precocious children who amaze and delight a family sometimes,
and fade away like hot-house flowers, because the young soul
blooms too soon, and has not a hearty body to root it firmly in the
wholesome soil of this world.
So Demi was transplanted to Plumfield, and took so kindly to the
life there, that Meg and John and Grandpa felt satisfied that they
had done well. Mixing with other boys brought out the practical
side of him, roused his spirit, and brushed away the pretty cobwebs
he was so fond of spinning in that little brain of his. To be sure, he
rather shocked his mother when he came home, by banging doors,
saying "by George" emphatically, and demanding tall thick boots
"that clumped like papa's." But John rejoiced over him, laughed at
his explosive remarks, got the boots, and said contentedly,
"He is doing well; so let him clump. I want my son to be a manly
boy, and this temporary roughness won't hurt him. We can polish
him up by and by; and as for learning, he will pick that up as
pigeons do peas. So don't hurry him."
Daisy was as sunshiny and charming as ever, with all sorts of
womanlinesses budding in her, for she was like her gentle mother,
and delighted in domestic things. She had a family of dolls, whom
she brought up in the most exemplary manner; she could not get
on without her little work-basket and bits of sewing, which she did
so nicely, that Demi frequently pulled out his handkerchief display
her neat stitches, and Baby Josy had a flannel petticoat beautifully
made by Sister Daisy. She like to quiddle about the china-closet,
prepare the salt-cellars, put the spoons straight on the table; and
every day went round the parlor with her brush, dusting chairs and
tables. Demi called her a "Betty," but was very glad to have her
keep his things in order, lend him her nimble fingers in all sorts of
work, and help him with his lessons, for they kept abreast there,
and had no thought of rivalry.
The love between them was as strong as ever; and no one could
laugh Demi out of his affectionate ways with Daisy. He fought her
battles valiantly, and never could understand why boys should be
ashamed to say "right out," that they loved their sisters. Daisy
adored her twin, thought "my brother" the most remarkable boy in
the world, and every morning, in her little wrapper, trotted to tap at
his door with a motherly "Get up, my dear, it's 'most breakfast
time; and here's your clean collar."
Rob was an energetic morsel of a boy, who seemed to have
discovered the secret of perpetual motion, for he never was still.
Fortunately, he was not mischievous, nor very brave; so he kept
out of trouble pretty well, and vibrated between father and mother
like an affectionate little pendulum with a lively tick, for Rob was
a chatterbox.
Teddy was too young to play a very important part in the affairs of
Plumfield, yet he had his little sphere, and filled it beautifully.
Every one felt the need of a pet at times, and Baby was always
ready to accommodate, for kissing and cuddling suited him
excellently. Mrs. Jo seldom stirred without him; so he had his little
finger in all the domestic pies, and every one found them all the
better for it, for they believed in babies at Plumfield.
Dick Brown, and Adolphus or Dolly Pettingill, were two eight
year-olds. Dolly stuttered badly, but was gradually getting over it,
for no one was allowed to mock him and Mr. Bhaer tried to cure it,
by making him talk slowly. Dolly was a good little lad, quite
uninteresting and ordinary, but he flourished here, and went
through his daily duties and pleasures with placid content and
propriety.
Dick Brown's affliction was a crooked back, yet he bore his burden
so cheerfully, that Demi once asked in his queer way, "Do humps
make people good-natured? I'd like one if they do." Dick was
always merry, and did his best to be like other boys, for a plucky
spirit lived in the feeble little body. When he first came, he was
very sensitive about his misfortune, but soon learned to forget it,
for no one dared remind him of it, after Mr. Bhaer had punished
one boy for laughing at him.
"God don't care; for my soul is straight if my back isn't," sobbed
Dick to his tormentor on that occasion; and, by cherishing this
idea, the Bhaers soon led him to believe that people also loved his
soul, and did not mind his body, except to pity and help him to
bear it.
Playing menagerie once with the others, some one said,
"What animal will you be, Dick?"
"Oh, I'm the dromedary; don't you see the hump on my back?" was
the laughing answer.
"So you are, my nice little one that don't carry loads, but marches
by the elephant first in the procession," said Demi, who was
arranging the spectacle.
"I hope others will be as kind to the poor dear as my boys have
learned to be," said Mrs. Jo, quite satisfied with the success of her
teaching, as Dick ambled past her, looking like a very happy, but a
very feeble little dromedary, beside stout Stuffy, who did the
elephant with ponderous propriety.
Jack Ford was a sharp, rather a sly lad, who was sent to this school,
because it was cheap. Many men would have thought him a smart
boy, but Mr. Bhaer did not like his way of illustrating that Yankee
word, and thought his unboyish keenness and money-loving as
much of an affliction as Dolly's stutter, or Dick's hump.
Ned Barker was like a thousand other boys of fourteen, all legs,
blunder, and bluster. Indeed the family called him the
"Blunderbuss," and always expected to see him tumble over the
chairs, bump against the tables, and knock down any small articles
near him. He bragged a good deal about what he could do, but
seldom did any thing to prove it, was not brave, and a little given
to tale-telling. He was apt to bully the small boys, and flatter the
big ones, and without being at all bad, was just the sort of fellow
who could very easily be led astray.
George Cole had been spoilt by an over-indulgent mother, who
stuffed him with sweetmeats till he was sick, and then thought him
too delicate to study, so that at twelve years old, he was a pale,
puffy boy, dull, fretful, and lazy. A friend persuaded her to send
him to Plumfield, and there he soon got waked up, for sweet things
were seldom allowed, much exercise required, and study made so
pleasant, that Stuffy was gently lured along, till he quite amazed
his anxious mamma by his improvement, and convinced her that
there was really something remarkable in Plumfield air.
Billy Ward was what the Scotch tenderly call an "innocent," for
though thirteen years old, he was like a child of six. He had been
an unusually intelligent boy, and his father had hurried him on too
fast, giving him all sorts of hard lessons, keeping at his books six
hours a day, and expecting him to absorb knowledge as a Strasburg
goose does the food crammed down its throat. He thought he was
doing his duty, but he nearly killed the boy, for a fever gave the
poor child a sad holiday, and when he recovered, the overtasked
brain gave out, and Billy's mind was like a slate over which a
sponge has passed, leaving it blank.
It was a terrible lesson to his ambitious father; he could not bear
the sight of his promising child, changed to a feeble idiot, and he
sent him away to Plumfield, scarcely hoping that he could be
helped, but sure that he would be kindly treated. Quite docile and
harmless was Billy, and it was pitiful to see how hard he tried to
learn, as if groping dimly after the lost knowledge which had cost
him so much.
Day after day, he pored over the alphabet, proudly said A and B,
and thought that he knew them, but on the morrow they were gone,
and all the work was to be done over again. Mr. Bhaer had infinite
patience with him, and kept on in spite of the apparent
hopelessness of the task, not caring for book lessons, but trying
gently to clear away the mists from the darkened mind, and give it
back intelligence enough to make the boy less a burden and an
affliction.
Mrs. Bhaer strengthened his health by every aid she could invent,
and the boys all pitied and were kind to him. He did not like their
active plays, but would sit for hours watching the doves, would dig
holes for Teddy till even that ardent grubber was satisfied, or
follow Silas, the man, from place to place seeing him work, for
honest Si was very good to him, and though he forgot his letters
Billy remembered friendly faces.
Tommy Bangs was the scapegrace of the school, and the most
trying scapegrace that ever lived. As full of mischief as a monkey,
yet so good-hearted that one could not help forgiving his tricks; so
scatter-brained that words went by him like the wind, yet so
penitent for every misdeed, that it was impossible to keep sober
when he vowed tremendous vows of reformation, or proposed all
sorts of queer punishments to be inflicted upon himself. Mr. and
Mrs. Bhaer lived in a state of preparation for any mishap, from the
breaking of Tommy's own neck, to the blowing up of the entire
family with gunpowder; and Nursey had a particular drawer in
which she kept bandages, plasters, and salves for his especial use,
for Tommy was always being brought in half dead; but nothing
ever killed him, and he arose from every downfall with redoubled
vigor.
The first day he came, he chopped the top off one finger in the
hay-cutter, and during the week, fell from the shed roof, was
chased by an angry hen who tried to pick his out because he
examined her chickens, got run away with, and had his ears boxed
violent by Asia, who caught him luxuriously skimming a pan of
cream with half a stolen pie. Undaunted, however, by any failures
or rebuffs, this indomitable youth went on amusing himself with
all sorts of tricks till no one felt safe. If he did not know his
lessons, he always had some droll excuse to offer, and as he was
usually clever at his books, and as bright as a button in composing
answers when he did not know them, he go on pretty well at
school. But out of school, Ye gods and little fishes! how Tommy
did carouse!
He wound fat Asia up in her own clothes line against the post, and
left here there to fume and scold for half an hour one busy Monday
morning. He dropped a hot cent down Mary Ann's back as that
pretty maid was waiting at table one day when there were
gentlemen to dinner, whereat the poor girl upset the soup and
rushed out of the room in dismay, leaving the family to think that
she had gone mad. He fixed a pail of water up in a tree, with a bit
of ribbon fastened to the handle, and when Daisy, attracted by the
gay streamer, tried to pull it down, she got a douche bath that
spoiled her clean frock and hurt her little feelings very much. He
put rough white pebbles in the sugar-bowl when his grandmother
came to tea, and the poor old lady wondered why they didn't melt
in her cup, but was too polite to say anything. He passed around
snuff in church so that five of the boys sneezed with such violence
they had to go out. He dug paths in winter time, and then privately
watered them so that people should tumble down. He drove poor
Silas nearly wild by hanging his big boots in conspicuous places,
for his feet were enormous, and he was very much ashamed of
them. He persuaded confiding little Dolly to tie a thread to one of
his loose teeth, and leave the string hanging from his mouth when
he went to sleep, so that Tommy could pull it out without his
feeling the dreaded operation. But the tooth wouldn't come at the
first tweak, and poor Dolly woke up in great anguish of spirit, and
lost all faith in Tommy from that day forth.
The last prank had been to give the hens bread soaked in rum,
which made them tipsy and scandalized all the other fowls, for the
respectable old biddies went staggering about, pecking and
clucking in the most maudlin manner, while the family were
convulsed with laughter at their antics, till Daisy took pity on them
and shut them up in the hen-house to sleep off their intoxication.
These were the boys and they lived together as happy as twelve
lads could, studying and playing, working and squabbling, fighting
faults and cultivating virtues in the good old-fashioned way. Boys
at other schools probably learned more from books, but less of that
better wisdom which makes good men. Latin, Greek, and
mathematics were all very well, but in Professor Bhaer's opinion,
self knowledge, self-help, and self-control were more important,
and he tried to teach them carefully. People shook their heads
sometimes at his ideas, even while they owned that the boys
improved wonderfully in manners and morals. But then, as Mrs. Jo
said to Nat, "it was an odd school." _
Read next: CHAPTER III. SUNDAY
Read previous: CHAPTER I. NAT
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