Chapter 13
It was some weeks later that John Duddlestone found his stock of whalebone was growing low.
"Wife," said he, "the whalebone's nearly gone, and I must have some more at once."
"Surely, John, I know well it's nearly gone!" she answered. "Haven't I watched every bit as you've used it? and haven't I pretty near cried to see it go so slowly?"
"Pooh! you foolish woman!" he cried.
"But, John, you'll take me, and go to see the King and Queen?" she inquired.
"Why, you silly woman, do you think I should leave you behind, when I know you're nearly crazed to go?"
"O John, John, you dear, good man! I've mended all my dresses, and made myself trim and neat. I've seen to your coats; and all's done; and I feel as if I could scarcely live till I see the Queen."
"You'd best keep alive," said her husband; "and if all goes well we'll start by the coach on Monday."
Monday was as lovely a day as heart could wish; and John and his wife walked down the Bristol streets to the public-house from which the coach was to start.
It was a great event in Mrs. Duddlestone's life, for she had never been beyond her own town, except for a drive into the country in a neighbor's cart.
They were quiet people; but it had got about the town, that they were going to London to visit the Queen, and numbers came out to see them go.
Perhaps some of the great merchants wished they had been simple and humble enough to offer to entertain Prince George when he had visited their town.
They journeyed straight to London, where John bought his whalebone, and then found their way to St. James' Palace, where, presenting the Prince's card, they gained ready admittance.
They were shown into a room, more beautiful than any that they had ever seen. Very shortly the door opened, and the well-remembered face of their guest appeared. Almost before he had greeted them, a quiet-looking lady followed him, and came smilingly to greet them.
"This is the Queen," said Prince George; and then, turning to her, he added, "These are the good people who showed me such kindness in Bristol."
The Queen was so gentle and courteous that neither John nor his wife felt confused in her presence. She talked kindly to them, asking after their trade, and how they had fared in their journey.
She then asked them to dine with her that evening, and said dresses would be provided for them, so that they should not feel strange by seeing that they were dressed differently from all her other guests.
She then called an attendant, and desired that refreshment should be given them, and that they should be well cared for, and shown all that might interest them until dinner time.
It was a long, wonderful day to them, as they walked about from place to place. Before dinner they were taken to the room that was prepared for them, and there they found elegant court dresses of purple velvet ready to put on.
"Surely, John, they can not be for us!" cried Mrs. Duddlestone.
"Yes, but they must be! Did not the Queen say she would give us dresses? and do not these dresses look as if they had been given by a queen?"
"John, I shall feel very strange before all the grand ladies!"
"Then you need not, wife, for the Queen and Prince will be there; and the others will not trouble you; but this is a queer dress. It's like being somebody else."
And very queer they felt, as for the first time they walked down the grand stairs, in such, splendid dresses, to dine at the Queen's table, with the Queen's servants to wait on them.
"You must go first, John," said his wife, for shyness came over her.
"Be not so foolish, wife," whispered John; and, though feeling rather awkward in his new dress, he walked simply forward, as he might have done in a friend's house.
The Queen met them at the door, and, turning to her other guests, who were assembled, she said, "Gentlemen, I have to introduce to you, with great pleasure, the most loyal people in the town of Bristol."
At these words they all rose and bowed low, while John and his wife did the same, and then sat down, and ate a good dinner.
After the dinner was over, the Prince summoned John Duddlestone to the Queen.
At her command John knelt before her, and she laid a sword lightly on his shoulder, with the words, "Rise up, Sir John Duddlestone"; and the simple, kind-hearted bodice-maker of Bristol rose up a knight.
His wife stood by, watching with eagerness, and could hardly believe that from plain Mistress Duddlestone she had become Lady Duddlestone.
She would, have been very proud if the Queen had laid the sword upon her also; but she heard that was not needed. However, she was made very happy by being called to the Queen's side.
"Lady Duddlestone," said Her Majesty, "allow me to present you with my gold watch, in remembrance of your visit to St. James' Palace, and of the Prince's visit to Bristol, which led to our knowing two such loyal and courteous subjects."
Lady Duddlestone bowed lower and lower, almost unable to find any words in which to express her gratitude.
A gold watch! Was it possible? Watches were not common in those times. She had heard of watches, and had even seen some; but had never dreamt of possessing one.
Such a big beauty it was! She was glad to fall back behind the other guests, and get time to think quietly, and realize that all was true, and not a dream from which she would wake, and find herself in her little attic bed-room at Bristol.
Queen Anne then spoke to Sir John, offering to give him a position under Government; but he begged to be excused.
"It would be strange, your Majesty, very strange, up in London, and my work at Bristol suits me far the best. We want for nothing, and should never feel so well and home-like as in our little house at Bristol."
The Queen understood him, and did not press him; and in another day or two the couple were again on their way home.
"You're glad, wife, that we're going home?" John asked; "and you think I did well not to take some office in London?"
"Well! You could have clone no better. It's been grand to see, and grand to hear; but it would be very strange and uncomfortable to live always like that, and I'll be right glad to be back once more.
"I'm more than proud of it all. But I should never like our own room, in which Prince George sat so home-like with us, to belong to another."
"No, no--we will keep our own snug home," replied John with earnestness.
And so they did, living on quietly as of old; and the only display ever made by Lady Duddlestone was, that whenever she went to church or to market, she always wore the Queen's big gold watch.
* * * * *
Language Lesson.--Let pupils use other words to express the meaning of what is given below in dark type.
You'd _best keep_ alive.
It's been _grand_ to see.
_Then you need not_.
You're _nearly crazed to go_.
_Attendant_ is made up of two parts--the stem, _attend_, and the ending, _ant_ (meaning one who).
The meaning of the word _attendant_ is _one who attends_.
Make out an _analysis_ of the last two lessons, and use it in telling the story in your own words.
* * * * *
LESSON XXXV.
pre sume', _suppose; think without being sure_.
mus'cles, _those parts of the body which give us motion, and by which we exert our strength_.
ex tent', _space; distance_.
or'di na ry, _common; usual_.
knowl'edge, _that which is known through study_.
de gree', _measure, as of space or time_.
spent, _used up; exhausted_.
snapped, _broken off_.
de tached', _taken away from_.
* * * * *
WHY AN APPLE FALLS.
"Father," said Lucy, "I have been reading to-day that Sir Isaac Newton was led to make a great discovery, by seeing an apple fall from a tree. What was there wonderful about the apple falling?"
"Nothing very wonderful in that," replied her father; "but it set him to thinking of what made it fall."
"Why, I could have told him that," said Lucy; "because the stem snapped and there was nothing to support it."
"And what then?" asked her father.
"Why, then, of course it must fall."
"Ah!" said her father, "that is the point: why must it fall?"
"I am sure I don't know," said Lucy. "I presume it was because there was nothing to keep it up."
"Well, Lucy, suppose there was not--does it follow that it must come to the ground?"
"Yes, certainly," replied Lucy, wonderingly.
"Let us see," said her father; "but first answer this question: What is an animate object?"
"Any thing that has animal life, and power to move at will," replied Lucy.
"Very good," said her father; "now, what is an inanimate object?"
"Any thing that does not possess animal life, or can not move at will."
"Very good again," said her father. "Now an apple is, of course, an inanimate object; and therefore it could not move itself, and Sir Isaac Newton thought that he would try to find out what power moved it."
"Well, then," said Lucy; "did he find that the apple fell, because it was forced to fall?"
"Yes," replied her father; "he found that there was some force outside of the apple itself that acted upon it, otherwise it would have remained forever where it was, no matter if it were detached from the tree."
"Would it, indeed?" asked Lucy.
"Yes, without doubt," replied her father, "for there are only two ways in which it could be moved--by its own power of motion, or the power of something else moving it. Now the first power, you know it does not have; so the cause of its motion must be the second."
"But every thing falls to the ground as well as an apple, when there is nothing to keep it up," said Lucy.
"True. There must therefore be some power or force which causes things to fall," said her father.
"And what is it?" asked Lucy.
"If things away from the earth can not move themselves to it," said her father, "there can be no other cause of their falling than that the earth pulls them."
"But," said Lucy, "the earth is no more animate than they are; so how can it pull?"
"That is not an ordinary question, but I will try an explanation," said her father. "Sir Isaac Newton discovered that there was a law in nature called attraction, and that all bodies exert this force upon each other. The greater the body, the greater is its power of attraction.
"Now, the earth is an immense mass of matter, with which nothing near it can compare in size. It draws therefore with mighty force all things within its reach, which is the cause of their falling. Do you understand this?"
"I think that I do," said Lucy; "the earth is like a great magnet."
"Yes," said her father; "but the attraction of the magnet is of a particular kind and is only over iron, while the attraction of the earth acts upon every thing alike."
"Then it is pulling you and me at this moment!" said Lucy.
"Certainly it is," replied her father; "and as I am the larger, it is pulling me with more force than it is pulling you. This attraction is what gives every thing weight.
"If I lift up any thing, I am acting against this force, for which reason the article seems heavy; and the more matter it contains, the greater is the force of attraction and the heavier it appears to me."
"Then," said Lucy, "if this attraction is so powerful, why do we not stick to the ground?"
"Because," replied her father, "we are animate beings, and have the power of motion, by which, to a limited degree, we overcome the attraction of the earth."
"Well then, father," said Lucy, "if our power of motion can overcome the attraction, why can not we jump a mile high as well as a foot?"
"Because," replied her father, "as I said before, we can only overcome the attraction to a certain extent. As soon as the force our muscles give to the jump is spent, the attraction of the earth pulls us back."
"Did Sir Isaac Newton think of all these things, because he saw the apple fall?" inquired Lucy.
"Yes; of all these and many more. He was a man of great knowledge. The name by which the force he discovered is generally known, is the Attraction of Gravitation, and some time you will learn how this force keeps the earth, and the sun, moon, and stars, all in their places."
* * * * *
LESSON XXXVI.
en'vy, _wish one's self in another's place_.
doffed, _took off, as an article of dress_.
blithe, _very happy; gay_.
fee, _what is received as pay for service done_.
boast, _object of pride_.
quoth, _spoke_.
hale, _in good health; strong_.
* * * * *
THE MILLER OF THE DEE.
There dwelt a miller, hale and bold, Beside the river Dee; He worked and sang from morn till night-- No lark so blithe as he; And this the burden of his song Forever used to be: "I envy nobody--no, not I, And nobody envies me!"
"Thou'rt wrong, my friend," said good King Hal; "As wrong as wrong can be; For could my heart be light as thine, I'd gladly change with thee. And tell me now, what makes thee sing, With voice so loud and free. While I am sad, though I'm a king, Beside the river Dee?"
The miller smiled and doffed his cap: "I earn my bread," quoth he; "I love my wife, I love my friend, I love my children three; I owe no penny I can not pay; I thank the river Dee, That turns the mill that grinds the corn That feeds my babes and me."
"Good friend," said Hal, and sighed the while, "Farewell! and happy be! But say no more, if thou'dst be true, That no one envies thee. Thy mealy cap is worth my crown; Thy mill, my kingdom's fee; Such men as thou are England's boast, O miller of the Dee!"
* * * * *
Directions for Reading.--In the second stanza of the lesson, _wrong_ becomes very _emphatic_ on account of _repetition_ (being repeated a number of times). _My_ and _thine_, in the same stanza, are _emphatic_ on account of _contrast_ (contrary meaning of the words).
Point out an example of _emphasis_ by _repetition_, and an example of _emphasis_ by _contrast_, in the third stanza.
* * * * *
Language Lesson.--Hal = Harry = Henry.
Let pupils place _un_ before each of the following words, and give their meaning.
changed burdened envied
* * * * *
LESSON XXXVII.
fero'cious, _savage; fierce_.
rosette', _an article made to resemble a rose_.
aban'doned, _left forever; given up_.
encoun'ter, _meet face to face_.
in'fluence, _power over others_.
keen, _sharp; piercing_.
reputa'tion, _what is known of a person_.
wit'ness, _see or know by personal presence_.
trail, _track; footsteps_.
alert', _on the watch; careful_.
* * * * *
THE JAGUAR.
The jaguar, or as he is sometimes called, the American tiger, is the largest and most ferocious of the cat family found on this continent.
Some jaguars have been seen equal in size to the Asiatic tiger; but in most cases the American, animal is smaller. He is strong enough, however, to drag a horse or an ox to his den--sometimes to a long distance; and this feat has been frequently observed.
The jaguar is found in all the tropical parts of North and South America.
While he bears a considerable likeness to the tiger, both in shape and habits, the markings of his skin are quite different. Instead of being striped like the tiger, the skin of the jaguar is beautifully spotted.
Each spot resembles a rosette, and consists of a black ring with a single dark-colored spot in the middle.
Jaguars are not always of the same color; some have skins of an orange color, and these are the most beautiful. Others are lighter colored; and some few have been seen that were very nearly white.
There, is a "black jaguar," which is thought to be of a different species. It is larger and fiercer than the other kinds, and is found only in South America.
This animal is more dreaded by the inhabitants than the other kinds and is said always to attack man wherever it may encounter him. All the other beasts fear it.
Its roar produces terror and confusion among them and causes them to flee in every direction. It is never heard by the natives without a feeling of fear, and no wonder; for a year does not pass without a number of these people falling victims to its ferocity.
It is difficult for one living in a country where such fierce animals are unknown, to believe that they have an influence over man, to such an extent as to prevent his settling in a particular place; yet such is the fact.
In many parts of South America, not only plantations, but whole villages, have been abandoned solely from fear of the jaguars.
There are men, however, who can deal single-handed with the jaguar; and who do not fear to attack the brute in its own haunts.
They do not trust to fire-arms, but to a sharp spear. On their left arm they carry a strong shield.
This shield is held forward and is usually seized by the jaguar. While it is busied with this, the hunter thrusts at the animal with his sharp spear, and generally with deadly effect.
A traveler in South America relates the following incident as having come under his observation:
"Desiring to witness a jaguar hunt, I employed two well-known Indian hunters, and set out for the forest. The names of these hunters were NiÒo and Guapo. Both of them had long been accustomed to hunt the jaguar, and I felt perfectly safe in their company.
"Guapo, the larger of the two, was a man of wonderful muscular power, and had the reputation of having at one time killed a black jaguar with only a stout club.
"When all the preparations had been made for our start, we looked as if we might capture all the jaguars that came in our way.
"Some hours after we had entered the forest, the quick eye of Guapo discovered the trail of a large jaguar which he assured me was recently made.
"Stopping for a moment, both Guapo and NiÒo looked carefully about in every direction, and listened attentively, in order that they might see or hear the animal if he were near.
"Then motioning me to follow at a little distance behind them, they stepped off quietly in the direction of the trail, Guapo being about thirty feet in advance of NiÒo.
"We went forward in this manner several hundred yards, not a word being spoken, and the keen eyes of both the hunters constantly on the alert.
"Guapo, in the meantime, who seemed to have no fear and became more and more excited as he approached to where he thought the animal must be, had increased the distance between himself and NiÒo considerably.
"Suddenly a terrific roar, and at the same time a cry of pain and a shout, warned us that Guapo had met the jaguar.
"NiÒo bounded forward, and I followed as quickly as I could. A fearful sight met our eyes!
"The jaguar, which had been hiding in the branches of a large tree, had sprung down upon Guapo and fastened its terrible teeth in his thigh.
"With a shout filled with fury and determination, NiÒo at once sprung forward and savagely attacked the beast with his spear.
"This caused the jaguar to let go its hold of Guapo, who, made furious from the pain of the wound the animal had given him, turned, and with his spear attacked it with a mad ferocity as savage as that of the beast itself.
"In a moment all was over, and the jaguar lay dead at our feet. I dressed Guapo's wound the best I could, while NiÒo took the skin from the body of the animal, which proved to be nearly eight feet long.
"We returned very slowly to the village with the wounded man and our prize. In a few weeks Guapo had entirely recovered from his wounds, and was ready for another hunt."
* * * * *
Directions for Reading.--Let pupils pronounce in concert, and singly, the following words: _O, most, ferocious, only, whole, hold, slowly, over, both, roar_.
What tone of voice should be used in reading this lesson?
* * * * *
Language Lesson.--Place _re_ before each of the following words, and then give the meaning of each.
turned told join capture call
* * * * *
LESSON XXXVIII.
dikes, _high banks of earth_.
con'tra ry, _quite different from what is usual_.
dis as'trous, _causing great loss or suffering_.
keels, _strong timbers extending along the bottom of boats_.
stork, _a kind of bird_.
bus'tle, _quick and excited motion_.
mire, _soft and wet earth_.
scorn'ing, _turning from any thing as if of no value_.
sat'u rat ed, _wet through and through_.
moored, _tied fast, as a ship to land_.
slouched, _hung down_.
mim'ic, _copied in a smaller form_.
* * * * *
HOLLAND.