LESSON LV.

Learning to Work.—­ORIGINAL.

1.  A few years ago, several little volumes were published, called “The Rollo Books,” which are full of interesting stories about a little boy of that name.  They were written by a gentleman whose name is Abbott.

2.  They are not only interesting, but also very instructive books; and no little boy or girl can read them, without learning many very useful lessons from them.  They are not only useful to young persons, but their parents, also, have derived many useful hints from them, in the management of their children.

3.  The following little story is taken from one of them, called “Rollo at Work;” and I hope that my little friends who read this story at school will also read it at home to their parents, because it will be both interesting and useful to them.

4.  The story begins, by telling us that Rollo’s father had set him at work in the barn, with a box full of nails, directing him to pick them all over, and to put all those that were alike by themselves.

5.  Rollo began very willingly at first, but soon grew tired of the work, and left it unfinished.  The remainder of the story will be found in the following lessons, in Mr. Abbott’s own words.

LESSON LVI.

The same subject, continued.—­ABBOTT.

1.  That evening, when Rollo was just going to bed, his father took him up in his lap, and told him he had concluded what to do.

2.  “You see it is very necessary,” said he, “that you should have the power of confining yourself steadily and patiently to a single employment, even if it does not amuse you.

3.  “I have to do that, and all people have to do it; and you must learn to do it, or you will grow up indolent and useless.  You cannot do it now, it is very plain.

4.  “If I set you to doing anything, you go on as long as the novelty and the amusement last; and then your patience is gone, and you contrive every possible excuse for getting away from your task.

5.  “Now, I am going to give you one hour’s work to do, every forenoon and afternoon.  I shall give you such things to do as are perfectly plain and easy, so that you will have no excuse for neglecting your work, or leaving it.

6.  “But yet I shall choose such things as will afford you no amusement; for my wish is that you should learn to work, not play.”

7.  “But, father,” said Rollo, “you told me there was pleasure in work, the other day.  But how can there be any pleasure in it, if you choose such things as have no amusement in them, at all?”

8.  “The pleasure of working,” said his father, “is not the fun of doing amusing things, but the satisfaction and solid happiness of being faithful in duty, and accomplishing some useful purpose.

9.  “For example, if I were to lose my pocket-book on the road, and should tell you to walk back a mile, and look carefully all the way, until you found it, and if you did it faithfully and carefully, you would find a kind of satisfaction in doing it; and when you found the pocket-book, and brought it back to me, you would enjoy a high degree of happiness.  Should not you?”