Cousin Lucy's Conversations

CONVERSATION VIII

BUILDING

In one of the yards belonging to the house that Lucy lived in, was a border for flowers; and in this border Royal had an apple-tree, which had grown up from a seed which he had planted himself. It was now nearly as high as his head, and Royal said that he meant to graft it the very next spring.

At the end of this border, near one corner of the yard, there was a vacant place, where some flowers had been dug up, and Lucy had it to plant beans in. She used often to dig in it, and plant, when she had nothing else to do. Miss Anne gave her several different kinds of flower seeds in the spring, and she planted them. Generally, however, she had not patience enough to wait for them to come up; but dug the ground all over again, with her little hoe, before the flowers, which she had planted, had had time to show themselves above the ground.

She was digging, one day, in this garden, and Royal was hoeing up the weeds around his apple-tree. Royal said that his apple-tree was growing crooked, and that he was going to get a stake, and drive it down by the side of his tree, and tie a string to it, and so straighten the tree up.

Lucy came to see Royal stake up his tree. He made the stake very sharp, and when he got it all ready to drive, he said that he must go and get the iron bar to make a hole.

“O, you can drive it right in,” said Lucy, “without making any hole.”

“Not far enough,” said Royal. “It must be driven in very deep and strong, or else the string which ties the apple-tree to it, will pull it over to one side.”

So Royal went and got the small crowbar, and came back dragging it along. He made a deep hole by the side of the apple-tree, but not very near it, for he did not want to hurt the roots. Then he took out the bar, and laid it down upon the grass, and inserted the point of the stake into the hole which he had made.

While he was doing this, Lucy took hold of one end of the iron bar, and tried to lift it.

“O, what a heavy bar!” said she.

“I don’t think it is very heavy,” said Royal. So saying, he drove down his stake with repeated blows of his hatchet.

“You are a great deal stronger than I am,” said Lucy. “You can drive the stake down very hard indeed. I don’t believe but that you could make a hen-coop.”

“Who told you anything about a hen-coop?” said Royal.

“Joanna,” said Lucy. “She said that she was a farmer’s daughter when she was a little girl, and that she had a hen and some chickens; and that her brother made her a hen-coop pretty much like the turtle-pen you made down by the brook.”

“I could make a hen-coop,” said Royal, “I know, – and I mean to. Perhaps I can get some hens to put into it. At all events, I shall have a hen-coop.”

“If I was a farmer’s daughter,” said Lucy, “I should have hens.”

“But you can have hens without being a farmer’s daughter,” said Royal.

“How?” said Lucy.

“Why, you and I could buy some hens with our own money, if mother would let us; and then I could make a coop.”

“Well,” said Lucy, “I mean to go and ask her this very minute.”

“No; stop,” said Royal. “That won’t do any good. She will tell you to ask father, and then he won’t believe that we can make a coop, and he won’t want to take the trouble to have one made for us, and so he will say no. I’ll tell you what we must do. We must make the coop first, and then, when it is all ready, we can ask father if we may buy some hens.”

“Well,” said Lucy, in a tone of great satisfaction, “let us go and make it now.”

“But you can’t help make it, Lucy. I shall have to make it myself, all alone; and so the hens must be mine.”

Lucy did not like the plan of giving up all the hens to Royal; but Royal insisted upon it that he should have to do all the work, and, of course, that he must have the hens himself. At last, Lucy said that, if he did not let her have a share, she should not stay with him, but should go into the house.

But Royal did not like at all to stay and work alone. He tried to get Lucy to remain, and at last he said that, if she would, he would make her a garden in the corner, – a beautiful garden, full of flowers.

“Real flowers?” said Lucy.

“Yes, real flowers, – all in blossom.”

“How shall you get the flowers to grow?” said Lucy.

“O, I shall get them already grown, in the gardens, and in the fields, and stick them down in the beds. I shall make beds and little alleys just like a real garden.”

“And how long will the flowers keep bright?” said Lucy.

“O, as long as you take the trouble to water them. You will have to water them, you know, – and Miss Anne will lend you her watering-pot.”

Lucy was pleased with this proposal. She liked the plan of having such a garden very much; and as to watering it, she said that it would be no trouble at all; she should like to water it. So it was agreed that Lucy should stay and keep Royal company, while he was making the coop, and help him all she could; and that he should make her a flower-garden, and stock it well with real flowers, – and so have all the hens himself.

They then walked along together, to look out a place for a coop. Lucy said that she wished there was an old hollow stump in their yard, but there was nothing like one. Royal said that he had heard of a barrel for a hen-coop; and he just then recollected that there was a corner round behind the barn, where there were several old boxes and barrels; and he and Lucy went there to see if they could find one which would do. He found one that would answer the purpose very well.

Lucy wanted to help Royal roll it along, and Royal allowed her to do it, though he could roll it very easily himself alone; for it was empty and light. It seemed to please Lucy to help him, and so Royal allowed her to push it with him.

They were, for some time, in doubt where it would be best to put their coop; but at last they concluded to put it under the trees, by the side of the great, flat stone. Lucy said that this was an excellent place, because she could sit at Miss Anne’s window, when it was rainy, so that she could not go out, and see the hens and chickens.

Royal placed the barrel down upon its side, near the great stone, and drove down stakes on each side of it, to keep it from rolling. Then he made a great many other stakes out of narrow pieces of board, which he found around a pile of lumber behind the barn.

As fast as these stakes were finished, Lucy wheeled them along, upon a little wheelbarrow, to the place where the coop was to be made. So Royal found that, besides keeping him company, Lucy could really assist him, much more than he had at first supposed she could.

Royal drove the stakes down into the ground, in such a way as to enclose a square place. The fence formed the back side of this enclosure, and it was big enough to hold several hens, and to give them room to walk about a little. When it was nearly done, Lucy said that she meant to go and ask Joanna to come out and see it, to tell them if it would do.

Royal said that he should like to have her go, very much; though he was pretty sure that the coop would do very well. Lucy ran off into the house, and after a little while she appeared again leading Joanna.

“Yes,” said Joanna, – after she had looked at the coop a minute or two, with a smile upon her countenance, – “yes, that is quite a coop, really.”

“Isn’t it a good coop?” said Royal. “See how strong these stakes are driven into the ground.”

“It is a great deal better than I thought you could make,” said Joanna.

Joanna’s commendations were not quite so unqualified as Royal wished them to be.

“Well, don’t you think,” said he, “that it will do very well to keep hens in?”

“Why, it is an excellent coop for you and Lucy to play with,” said Joanna; “but as to keeping hens in it, there are two objections.”

“What are they?” said Royal.

“Why, the foxes and cats can get in, and the hens and chickens can get out.”

“How?” said Royal. “How can the hens get out?”

“They can jump over,” said Joanna.

“Well, the chickens can’t jump over, at any rate,” said Lucy; “how can they get out?”

“They can creep through,” said Joanna, gravely.

Royal and Lucy both looked rather blank at these very serious objections to their work. After a moment’s pause, Royal said,

“Do foxes and cats kill hens and chickens?”

“They kill chickens,” said Joanna, “and that is one great reason for making a coop.”

“Is there any other reason?”

“Yes; sometimes they want to keep the hens from straying away to the neighbors’, or getting into the garden, and scratching up the seeds and flowers.”

“There are no seeds in our garden now,” said Royal.

“No,” added Lucy, “but I don’t want to have them scratch up my flowers.”

“But, Joanna,” said Royal, “is not this just such a coop as your brother made for you? Lucy said it was.”

“It is like it in the stakes; but mine had a cover over the top of it.”

“I can put a cover over this,” said Royal.

“O, very well; if you can do that, I think it will answer.”

After Joanna went into the house, Royal tried to contrive some way to put a cover over his coop; but he found that it would be very difficult to fasten it on. The tops of the stakes were not steady enough to nail any thing to; and besides, they were not all of the same height; and, of course, if he should put boards over across, they would not be steady. At last he said,

“O Lucy, I have thought of another plan.”

“What is it?” said Lucy.

“Why,” said he, “you remember those great boxes around behind the barn, where we got our barrel.”

Lucy said that she remembered them very well.

“Now,” continued Royal, “I will get one of those great boxes for the roof of my coop. There is one large, flat box, which will be just the thing I will pull up all these stakes, and drive them down again, so as to make a square, just as big as the box.”

“I don’t understand, exactly,” said Lucy.

“Never mind,” said Royal, “it is not necessary to explain it. You shall see how I will do it; let us go and get the box.”

Royal and Lucy went together to get the box. They found one there which Royal said would do very well; the bottom of it was about as large as a common tea table; but the sides were narrow, so that, when it was placed upon the ground, with the open part up, it was not very deep.

Royal attempted to roll this box out; but he found it much harder to move than the barrel was. This was partly because it was larger and heavier, and partly because it would not roll, on account of its square form.

However, they contrived to get it out, and to work it along through a gate which led into a large outer yard. By this time, however, they both got tired, and Royal said that he meant to get some rollers, and roll it along.

So he brought some round sticks of wood from the wood pile, for rollers; and with a bar of wood, which he found also upon the wood pile, he pried the box up, and Lucy put two rollers under it, one at each end. They also placed another roller a little way before the box. Royal then went behind the box, and with his bar of wood for a lever, he pried the box along; and he found it moved very easily upon the rollers.

Lucy wanted a lever too, – and she went and got one; and then they could both pry the box along, one at each corner, behind. They had to stop occasionally to adjust the rollers, when they worked out of place; but, by patience and perseverance, they gradually moved the box along until they came to the gate leading into the inner yard, where the place for the coop had been chosen.

They found some difficulty in getting it through the gate, because it was too large to go through in any way but by being lifted up upon its side. Royal, however, succeeded in lifting it up, and then in getting it through; and after that it was but a short work to move it along upon its rollers to its place of destination.

Royal sat down upon the great, flat stone, and said that he was tired, and that he had a great mind not to make a coop after all, – it was such hard work.

“Then,” said Lucy, “I don’t think you will be very persevering.”

“I don’t believe you know what persevering means,” said Royal.

“Yes, I do,” said Lucy; “Miss Anne told me. It is when you begin to make a coop, and then give up before you get it done.”

Royal burst into a fit of laughter.

“No,” said Lucy; “not that, exactly. I mean it is when you don’t give up – and I think you ought not to give up now – making this coop.”

“Well,” said Royal, “I believe you are right. It would be very foolish to give up our coop now, when we have got all the hardest part of our work done. I’ll go and get the corner stakes.”

Royal then went and made four strong stakes for the four corners, and brought them to the place, and drove them down into the ground. He took care to have them at just such a distance from each other, as that they should come as near as possible to the four corners of the box, when it should be placed over them.

Then he drove a row of stakes along where the sides of the box would come, between the corner stakes on each side; and he drove these all down a little lower than the corner stakes, so that, when the box should be placed over them, it would rest upon the corners, and not upon the sides. Before he closed the last side, he rolled the barrel in, and placed it along by the fence. Then he put a roller under it, on the outer side, – so that thus the barrel was confined, and could not move either way.

“Now, Lucy, we are ready for a raising,” said Royal; “but we shall never be able to get the box up, by ourselves, if we work all day.”

They concluded to ask Joanna to come out again, and help them get the box up. She came very willingly, and all three of them together easily succeeded in putting the heavy box into its place; and Royal had the satisfaction of perceiving that it fitted very well. Joanna then said that, for aught she could see, their structure would make a very safe and convenient coop.

When their father and mother came to see their work that evening, their father said that it would do very well for a coop, but that it was too late in the year to get hens.

“If I get some hens for you,” said he, “it will be several weeks before they lay eggs enough to hatch; and then the chickens would not have grown enough to get out of the way of the cold of the winter. It is full as late now as any brood of chickens ought to come out.”

Royal and Lucy looked greatly disappointed at this unexpected announcement. It was a difficulty that had not occurred to them at all. Their father was always very much pressed with his business, and could seldom give much time or attention to their plays; but they thought that, if they could make all the arrangements, so that they could take care of the hens without troubling him, there would be no difficulty at all. They did not know but that hens would lay and hatch as well and as safely at one time as at another.

Lucy had some corn in her hand. Her father asked her what that was for. She said it was to put into the coop for the hens. She had asked Joanna for some, and she had given it to her, because she said she wanted some corn all ready.

Here her mother whispered something to her father, which Lucy and Royal did not hear.

“Yes,” said he, in a low tone, in reply, speaking to her mother, “perhaps I can; very likely.”

Royal wondered what they were talking about, but he did not ask.

“Well, Lucy,” said her father, “throw your corn into the coop, and about the door; perhaps you can catch some hens in it. Who knows but that it will do for a trap?”

“O father,” said Royal, “you are only making fun of us.”

“Why, you have caught squirrels, haven’t you, time and again? and why not hens?”

“Nonsense, father,” said Royal; “there are no hens to come and get caught in traps.”

“Perhaps, Royal,” said Lucy, as she scattered her corn into the coop, “Perhaps. – We will put in the corn, at least, – and leave the door open.”

So Lucy put the corn in and about the door; and then the party all went away laughing. Lucy forgot her disappointment in the hope of catching some hens, and Royal in the amusement excited by such an idea as setting a trap for poultry.

CONVERSATION IX

EQUIVOCATION

Immediately after breakfast, the next morning, Lucy went out to look at the coop, to see if any hens had been caught; and when she came back, and said that there were none there, her father said that she must not despair too soon, – sometimes a trap was out several nights before anything was taken.

That day, after Royal had finished his lessons, Lucy called upon him to fulfil his promise of making her a garden.

“Why, Lucy,” said Royal, “I don’t think I am under any obligation to make you any garden.”

“Yes, Royal,” said Lucy, “you promised me that you would, if I would help you make the coop.”

“Well, that was because I expected that we could have some hens; but, now that we cannot have any hens, the coop will not do us any good at all; and I don’t see that I ought to make you a garden for nothing.”

Lucy did not know how to answer this reasoning, but she was very far from being satisfied with it. She, however, had nothing to say, but that he had agreed to make her a garden, and that she thought he ought to do it.

Royal said that he meant if they got any hens to put into the coop; and Lucy said she did not believe that he meant any such thing.

Royal was wrong in refusing thus to fulfil his agreement. And the reason which he gave was not a good reason. He did, indeed, expect, when he made the promise, that he should have some hens to put into his hen-coop; but he did not make his promise on that condition. The promise was absolute – if she would help him make his coop, he would make her a garden. When she had finished helping him make the coop, her part of the agreement was fulfilled, and he was bound to fulfil his.