Page images
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]

'Quick, quick!" cried he; "let us run away, or he will catch us!"

"Who will catch us?" asked the stranger.

"Mr. Toil, the old schoolmaster! Don't you see him amongst the haymakers?"

And Daffy pointed to an elderly man, who seemed to be the owner of the field, and the employer of the men at work there. He had stripped off his coat and waistcoat, and was busily at work in his shirt-sleeves. Now, strange to say, the figure and features of this old farmer were precisely the same as those of old Mr. Toil, who at that very moment must have been just entering his schoolroom.

"Don't be afraid," said the stranger; "this is not Mr. Toil, the schoolmaster, but a brother of his, who was bred a farmer; and people say he is the more disagreeable man of the two. However, he won't trouble you, unless you become

a labourer on the farm.

"I am very glad to hear it," quoth Daffydowndilly; "but, if you please, sir, I should like to get out of his way as soon as possible."

They then went on a little farther, and soon heard the sound of a drum and fife. Daffy pricked up his ears at this, and besought his companion to hurry forward that they might not miss seeing the soldiers. Accordingly, they made what haste they could, and soon met a company of soldiers, gaily dressed, with beautiful feathers in their caps and bright muskets in their hands. In front marched the band, playing such lively music that little Daffy would gladly have followed them to the end of the world.

"Halt! Shoulder-arms! Quick march!" said a gruff voice in a peremptory tone.

Little Daffy started in great dismay; for the voice which had spoken to the soldiers sounded precisely the same as that which he had heard every day in Mr. Toil's schoolroom, out of Mr. Toil's own mouth. And turning his eyes to the captain of the company, what should he see but the

very image of Mr. Toil himself, with a smart cap and feather on his head, a pair of gold epaulettes on his shoulders, a laced coat on his back, a purple sash round the waist, and a long sword instead of a birch-rod in his hand.

"This is certainly old Mr. trembling voice; "let us run make us enlist in the company !”

Toil," said the boy in a away, for fear he should

"You are mistaken again, my little friend,” replied the stranger, very composedly; "this is not Mr. Toil, the schoolmaster, but a brother of his, who has served in the army all his life. People say he is a terribly severe fellow; but you and I need not be afraid of him."

"Well, well," said little Daffy; "but if you please, sir, I don't want to see the soldiers any more.”

So the child and the stranger resumed their journey; and by-and-by they came to a house by the road-side, where a number of people were making merry. Young men and rosy-cheeked girls, with smiles on their faces, were dancing to the sound of a fiddle. It was the pleasantest sight that Daffy had ever met with, and it comforted him for all his disappointments.

“Oh, let us stop here,” cried he to his companion; "for Mr. Toil will never dare to show his face here." But the last words died away uponhis tongue; for happening to cast his eyes on the fiddler, whom should he behold again but the likeness of Mr. Toil, holding a fiddlebow instead of a birch-rod, and flourishing it with as much ease and dexterity as if he had been a fiddler all his life.

"Oh, dear me !" whispered he, turning pale; "it seems as if there was nobody but Mr. Toil in the world. Who could have thought of his playing on a fiddle?"

"This is not your old schoolmaster," observed the stranger; "but another brother of his, who was bred in France, where he learned the profession of a fiddler. He is ashamed of his family, and generally calls himself by a

French name, meaning Mr. Pleasure; but his real name is Toil; and those who have known him best think him more disagreeable than his brothers.”

"Pray let us go a little further," said the boy; "I don't like the looks of this fiddler at all."

Great was his delight on wandering along the highway to see some people reclining lazily in a shady place by the side of the road. The poor child entreated his companion that they might sit down there and take some repose.

"Old Mr. Toil will never come here," said he; "for he hates to see people taking their ease.”

But even while he spoke Daffy's eyes fell upon a person who seemed the laziest, heaviest, and most torpid of them all. Who should it be again, but the very image of Mr. Toil.

"There is a large family of these Toils," remarked the stranger. "This is another of the old schoolmaster's brothers, who was bred in Italy, where he acquired very idle habits, and took the Italian name for Mr. Donothing. He pretends to lead an easy life, but is really the most miserable fellow in the whole family."

"Oh, take me back-take me back!" cried the poor little fellow, bursting into tears. "If there is nothing but Toil all the world over I may just as well go back to the schoolhouse."

Little Daffy had learned a good lesson, and from that time forward was diligent at his task, because he knew that diligence was not a whit more toilsome than sport or idleness. And when he became better acquainted with Mr. Toil, he began to think that his ways were not so very disagreeable, and that the old schoolmaster's smile of approbation made his face almost as pleasant as even that of his own dear mother.

NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE,

CURIOUS BUILDERS AMONG BIRDS.

BIRDS are the darlings of Nature-the favourites of Creation. Their plumage often assumes the most resplendent colours. They have the happy privilege of moving freely through space-now fluttering through the air, hunting the insect which flits from flower to flower; or soaring high aloft, to swoop upon the victim marked for their prey; again cleaving the atmosphere, and performing journeys of vast extent with great rapidity. Mankind cannot fail to admire these winged beings-some for the elegance of their form, some for the beauty of their plumage, some for the sweetness of their song, some for the grace and rapidity of their movements, and most for their wondrous skill and intelligence in building nests for the accommodation of their

young.

[graphic][graphic]

THE SOCIABLE WEAVER BIRD.

This little bird, of the size and appearance of our sparrows, is very common in South Africa. Some hundreds of them form a society, and unite to construct a common dwelling

for themselves, which may be considered as a village containing as many houses as there are separate nests. This village of theirs is like a huge mushroom of thatch, built round the trunk of some great tree, and spreading far out beneath its branches. When seen at a distance it looks like a round thatched roof, suspended to the branches of a tree. Underneath the eaves of this building, all around, the birds build separate nests for themselves, just as in one of our villages each family has a separate house to itself. All day long the busy crowd of workers hurry to and fro, resembling a swarm of bees in their industry, and, like them, return laden with everything needful for the construction of their homes, or for the nourishment of their young ones.

THE TAILOR BIRD.

The beak

This bird owes his name to his ability to sew. of a bird seems ill-adapted to needlework, but it is found to answer the purpose wonderfully well in the case of the tailor bird. His nest is a kind of bag formed of one or two very long leaves still growing on a tree. The edges of these leaves he neatly sews together by means of thread formed of a flexible kind of grass. After this the female fills the little bag with cotton-wool, and in this downy cradle the little ones are hatched, and gently rocked by every breath of wind. These wonderful structures are sometimes two yards in length; and when numerous, as they hang from the branches of trees, give a singularly1 novel aspect to the landscape.

THE MOUND BUILDERS.

Australia is the land of strange and curious facts in natural history. Not the least of these marvels is the enormous mound raised by a bird which is about the size of a partridge, and called by the naturalist the Megapodius. The mound it raises for the purpose of depositing its eggs is sometimes fourteen feet high, with a circumference of a

« PreviousContinue »