They were gone two or three hours. At length, when the sun had nearly gone down, Mary heard voices in the front of the house. She left her back window, and went around to a front window to see. She found them returning, and all talking together with the greatest volubility. They had their baskets full of various commodities, and large bouquets of flowers and plants in their hands. They did not see Mary at the window, and as they all seemed to be good-natured and satisfied with their afternoon's work, Mary did not speak to them; and so they passed along into the yard undisturbed. They proceeded immediately to the cabinet in the play room, and then began to take out their treasures from their baskets, and pockets, and handkerchiefs, and to spread them out upon the floor, and upon the bench. In a short time, the floor was covered with specimens of plants and minerals, with shells, and pebbles, and little papers of sand, and nuts, and birds' nests which they had found deserted, and all sorts of wonders. The room was filled with the sound of their voices; questions, calls to one another, expressions of delight, exclamations of surprise, or of disappointment or pleasure. It was all,-"James, you are treading on my flowers!" "O Lucy, Lucy, see my toadstool!" "O, now my prettiest shell is broken!" "Move away a little, Rollo-I have not got room for all my pebbles"-"Where's my silk worm? now where's my silk worm?" "O Henry, give me some of your birch bark, do,"-and a hundred other similar ejaculations, all uttered together.
They soon began, one and another, to put their curiosities into the cabinet,-and then it was, as the old phrase is, confusion worse confounded. Lucy had some discretion and forbearance, and kept a little back, looking, however, uneasy and distressed, and attempting in vain to get an opportunity to put some of her things in. The boys crowded around the cabinet, each attempting to put his own curiosities into the most conspicuous places, and arranging them over and over again, according as each one's whims or fancies varied.
"O dear me," said Rollo, "I wish you would not keep moving these pebbles away, Henry."
"Why, you put them too far this way," said Henry; "I want my shells to go here."
"No," replied Rollo, "put your shells down on the next shelf. James! James! take care; don't touch that birds' nest."
"Yes, I want room for my silver stone," said James. He had found a shining stone, which he called a silver stone. And thus they disputed, and talked loudly and vociferously, and contradicted, interrupted, pushed, and crowded each other. Still, they were all good-natured; that is, they were not angry; the difficulty only arose from their eagerness and their numbers,-and their disorganization.
"O dear me," said Rollo, at length, "I wish we had a regent again; we got along very well, while Lucy was a regent. Let me be regent now. Come, Henry and James, let me be regent, and I will direct, and then we shall have order again."
"Well," said James.
"No," said Henry, "you have not been elected. You can't be regent, unless you are chosen regularly."
Lucy said nothing, but stood behind the others in despair.
"Well, then, let Lucy be regent; she was chosen."
"But I was only chosen regent for the walk," said Lucy.
"O never mind," said Rollo, "let her be regent now."
But Henry was not disposed to submit to any doubtful authority. He kept at work putting things in, in the way that pleased him most, without any regard to Rollo's proposal for prolonging Lucy's authority. As Henry did not acquiesce in this proposed measure, Rollo and James seemed to think it was useless for them to do so, and so they went much as they had begun, until they had pretty well filled up Jonas's cabinet with a perfect medley of specimens, the worthy and the worthless all together. They were at length interrupted by the sound of the bell, calling Rollo in to tea; Henry then went home, and James, Lucy, and Rollo went into the house.
ORGANIZATION.
James and Lucy staid and took tea with Rollo that evening; and, during tea time, Rollo's father and mother were talking, and the boys were all still. At last, just before they had finished their supper, Rollo's father asked them how they had got along collecting curiosities.
"O, we had a very good time," said Rollo, "till we came to put our curiosities away; and then we should have had a good time if the boys had not pushed so, and made such a noise."
"What made them do so?" asked his mother.
"I don't know, unless it was because we did not have any regent."
"Any what?" said his father.
"Any regent," said Rollo. "We had Lucy for a regent while we were walking, and then we got along very well; but she would not be regent any longer, when we got home."
Rollo's father and mother scarcely knew what to make of this; for they had never heard before of a regent in children's plays. But as they looked towards Mary, and observed that she was smiling, they at once understood that it was one of her plans. Rollo's father said he thought it was an excellent idea.
"But why did not you have a regent when you were putting your things away, just as you had before?" he asked.
"Why, Lucy said she was only chosen for the walk."
"And so she would not serve any longer?"
"No, sir."
"That was right, Lucy. Never attempt to command without a commission.
"But, Rollo," added his father, "I should think it would be best for you to have some sort of organization, if you are going to attempt to do any thing in company. Men never think that they can accomplish any thing in company, without organization; and I should certainly think that children would not be able to."
"Organization?" said Rollo; "what is that?"
"Why, some plan for investing some persons with authority. There must always be authority to decide little questions without debate, and for getting the opinions of all, on great questions, regularly.
"If a number of men," he continued, "were going to form a cabinet of curiosities, they would form a society. They would choose one to be president, and one to be secretary, and one to be cabinet keeper."
"What does the president do?" asked Lucy.
"The president decides who shall speak, when several want to speak at the same time; and so he prevents all confusion. Nobody must speak without his leave."
"Do they have to ask him?" said Rollo.
"Yes, in fact, they ask him, though not formally in words. They ask him by rising. In large meetings among men, whoever wants to speak, stands up, and then the president calls their name, and that is giving him permission to speak. If more than one stand up at a time, then he calls the name of one of them, and he has leave to speak, and the other must sit down."
"Which one does he call?" asked Rollo.
"The one whom he happens to notice first. He must be careful not to call his friends more than he does other persons. He must be impartial. Then, besides, the president puts the question."
"Puts the question?" asked Rollo; "what is putting the question?"
"Why, after all has been said about the plan that they want to say, the president asks all that are in favor of it, to hold up their hands; and he counts them. Then he asks all that are against it to hold up their hands. He counts these too. And it is decided according to the number of votes."
"Is that the way they do?" said Rollo.
"Yes," replied his father, "that is the way that men do; but boys all talk together, and dispute. If some want to play ball, and some want to play horses, they all talk together, and dispute; it is all,-'I say we will,' and 'I say we won't,'-and those that make the most noise get the victory."
"The men's way is the best," said Rollo.
"I think so myself," replied his father.
"And what does the secretary do?" asked Mary.
"The secretary keeps the record. He writes an account of every meeting."
"Does he write all that every body says?" asked Rollo.