The Crown of Success Part 11

"And now sit down and rest yourself, dear one," said Affection, spreading a thick mantle on the gra.s.s, that its dampness might not hurt the child.

"May I?" asked Nelly timidly of Duty.

The beauteous maiden bowed her head in a.s.sent. There was no sternness now in her look; Duty is no enemy to innocent enjoyment--rather should we say that there is no real enjoyment but that which is found by those who take Duty for their guide and their friend.

"See, here is refreshment for you," said Affection, placing before the wearied child a rich cl.u.s.ter of delicious fruit. How sweet is such refreshment given by the hand of Affection, how doubly sweet after efforts made at the call of Duty!

Never, perhaps, had Nelly Desley pa.s.sed a happier hour than she did now on the bank of that stream which she had crossed with such trouble and fear. She now looked with pleasure at the waves as they rushed so rapidly by her.

One thought only disturbed little Nelly. "Poor d.i.c.k! I wish that I knew of his safety," said she.

"He is safe enough," replied Duty; "but there, as you may see, lie his three grates in the mud of the stream."

"If he had only had the plank of Patience," exclaimed Nelly.

"It was offered to him as well as to you," said Duty with a graver air; "and I thought at first that your brother would have gladly accepted my offer. But there came to this sh.o.r.e of the brook a dark, ill-favoured lad--"

"It must have been Pride!" exclaimed Nelly, who knew too well her brother's companion.

"This Pride," continued Duty, "began to taunt and to scoff. 'Holloa!' he shouted across the stream, 'will a genius like you stoop to be directed by a woman! Duty is for slaves, and Patience for donkeys. Kick aside that miserable plank, and clear the brook with a bound, as you've often cleared it before.'"

"d.i.c.k is a wonderful boy for jumping," cried Nelly, who greatly admired her brother.

"He jumped once too often," observed Duty; "this time he jumped not over but into the brook, and mighty was the splash which he made!"

Even gentle Affection could scarcely help laughing at the recollection of the scene.

"But he scrambled out!" exclaimed Nelly.

"Yes; very muddy, and wet, and cross, leaving all his three grates behind him. I do not know whether Pride dried d.i.c.k's clothes, and wiped off the mud, they both ran off as fast as they could; I think that your brother was ashamed to be seen, after having so scornfully refused the aid of Affection and Duty."

It was now time for Nelly to continue her walk and return to her own little cottage. Her beautiful friends accompanied her all the way up hill Puzzle, and made the steep way quite pleasant by their cheerful, wise conversation. Tiring as her lonely expedition to the town of Education had been, Nelly never in future times remembered without a feeling of enjoyment her little adventure by the brook where she had met with Duty and Affection.

d.i.c.k with some trouble recovered his grates from the stream. But he never looked at them with pleasure, for they served to remind him of the day when, prompted by foolish Pride, he had overtasked his powers, and, spurning the plank of Patience, had gone floundering into brook Bother!

CHAPTER XVI.

GRAMMAR'S BAZAAR.

I cannot undertake to describe all the expeditions to Education, nor the various purchases made by the children; but I will here mention the first visit made by the Desleys to Grammar's famous bazaar, a place much frequented by all those who dwell in the town.

I need hardly tell my readers that Grammar's Bazaar lies in quite an opposite direction from Mrs. Amus.e.m.e.nt's, and that the two concerns have no connection whatever with each other. There are no sweetmeats sold in the former; the goods are all called _words_, and are arranged in perfect order on nine stalls, kept by nine sisters, well known by the name of Parts of Speech. These sisters live and work together in the greatest harmony and comfort, and are highly respected by all the inhabitants of the town of Education. Some indeed call them "slow" and "tiresome," and Miss Folly has been heard to declare that the very mention of them gives her the fidgets; but neither you nor I, dear reader, form our opinions by those of Miss Folly.

It was on a fine morning in summer that d.i.c.k, Lubin, Matty, and Nelly paid their first visit to Grammar's Bazaar. They entered it by a low porch, half choked up with parcels of words tied up in sentences ready to be sent to various customers.

"A dull, dark place this is!" exclaimed Lubin; "I would not give Amus.e.m.e.nt's Bazaar for fifty like this."

"Any chance of having one's pocket picked here?" said d.i.c.k, with a malicious wink at his brother.

"Let's visit all the stalls one after another," cried Matty, "before we make any purchase; I like to see all that's to be seen. What a comical little body is standing behind the first counter; she is not as big as Alphabet, I should say."

"She looks like his sister," observed Nelly; "but I suppose that she is one of the Parts of Speech." And she read the name "Article" fastened up at the back of the stall.

"What may you sell here, my little lady?" asked d.i.c.k, in his easy, self-confident way; "I see only three hooks on your counter."

Miss Article Part of Speech had to stand upon a stool that her head might peep over the top of her stall. "I'm but a little creature," said she, with a good-humoured smile; "_a_, _an_, and _the_ are all the words that I'm trusted to sell. If you want to see a larger a.s.sortment, pa.s.s on to my sister Noun; she has many thousands of words to show you, models of everything that can be seen, heard, or felt in the world."

Surely enough a most prodigious collection appeared on the counter of Noun, a large portly maiden who presided over the stall next to that of Article. There were _cups_ and _saucers_, _pins_ and _needles_, _caps_ and _bonnets_, models of _houses_, _churches_, _beasts_, _birds_, and _fishes_, by far too numerous to describe.

"These are all _common_," observed Noun, seeing the eyes of d.i.c.k fixed admiringly upon the collection; "I have behind me some more curious things that have all names of their own," and she pointed to a row of small figures. "These are not _common_ but, _proper_," she continued; "you will notice here _Wellington_, _Napoleon_, _Nelson_, and our gracious sovereign _Victoria_."

[Ill.u.s.tration: d.i.c.k, Lubin, Matty, and Nelly paying their first visit to Grammar's Bazaar. _Page 103._]

"And oh, look here, at Miss Adjective's counter!" cried Matty; "she keeps such a lot of dolls' things to dress up the figures of Noun. A _pretty_, _nice_, _curious_ cape--"

"An _absurd_, _ridiculous_, _preposterous_ cap," added d.i.c.k.

"Observe," said Adjective with a courteous air, "that I arrange my words in three rows, one above another, which I call _degrees of comparison_--_positive_, _comparative_, _superlative_."

"I see, I see," exclaimed d.i.c.k; "here's a bonnet, _frightful_--that's positive; another _more frightful_--that's comparative; and this with the superlative yellow tuft, I should call the _most frightful_ of all.

So, Nelly's clever--that's positive--"

"I don't think so," murmured Nelly.

"Matty's cleverer--that's comparative."

Matty laughed.

"And I am superlatively clever--without doubt the _cleverest_ of all!"

"In your own opinion," growled Lubin.

Nelly wandered on to the next stall, which was kept by the maiden p.r.o.noun. Though smaller in size, she was so much like her sister Noun as to be frequently taken for her. As it was a trouble to stout Noun to go far or move fast, she very often sent p.r.o.noun upon various errands in her stead. p.r.o.noun sold not many words; such as she had were mere pictures of such as were kept by her sister. _I_, _thou_, _he_, _she_, and _it_, and some others which we need not stop to enumerate.

"Here's a famous big stall!" exclaimed d.i.c.k, stopping in front of Verb's, which was a very remarkable one, being covered with clock-work figures all in motion. One could see by them what it is to _plough_, to _sow_, to _reap_, to _work_, to _weep_, and to _dance_. The counter of Verb was almost as extensive as that of her sister Noun.

"How do you make all these things move?" said d.i.c.k with some curiosity to Verb.

"I _conjugate_ them; that is, wind them up," she replied, showing a small bra.s.s key.

"Is it easy to conjugate them?" asked the boy.

"Easy enough with the _regular_ words," replied Verb, "but a good many of mine are quite _irregular_ in their construction, and it is hard to conjugate them."