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The boys rambled about among the rocks, sometimes down in the ravine and near the brook, and sometimes very high up among the rocks. They were both pretty good climbers, and there were no very dangerous places, for there were no high, perpendicular precipices. They found blue-bells in abundance, and several other flowers. They also found a variety of brakes, of different forms and colors. They determined to gather as many flowers as they could, and then go down to the hemlock-tree, and there look them over, and select those best to be pressed; and then put them carefully into their books there. Then they could carry them home safely; they would, in fact, be in press all the way.
After rambling and climbing about for half an hour, the boys went down to the flat rock, under the hemlock, with large bunches of plants and flowers in their hands. Here they sat another half hour, looking over their specimens, and putting them into their books. At length, Rollo picked up a singular-looking thing, which was lying down by the side of the stone under the tree. It was about as big as his thumb, and somewhat pointed at the ends. It was black, and rather glossy, and the surface was marked regularly with little ridges. James could not imagine what it was; but Rollo told him that he thought it must be a hemlock-seed. The truth was, that it was a great chrysalis, though Rollo did not find it out till long afterwards.
"A hemlock-seed!" said James.
"Yes," said Rollo; "I have seen the cones which grow on fir-trees, and they are a good deal like this."
"But they are not so handsome," said James.
"I know it," said Rollo; "they are not so handsome. This is the most beautiful one I ever saw."
"We can plant it," said James, "next spring."
"Yes," said Rollo; "and then we can have a great hemlock-tree near our house."
"But we shall have to wait a great many years," said James.
"O, no, not a great many," said Rollo. "It is such a great seed, I think it would grow pretty fast."
But James did not like the idea of planting it very well. He proposed that they should keep it, for a curiosity, in their museum. Rollo insisted, at first, upon planting it; but at length, reflecting that it was not then the right season to plant it, he concluded to put it into the museum, with his raspberry-seeds, until the next spring, and to plant it then.
So Rollo put the hemlock-seed into his pocket, and he and James took their books under their arms, with a great many flowers and plants carefully placed between the leaves, and walked along towards the village. When they arrived at the apothecary's, Rollo put his book down upon the counter, and then took the wallet from his pocket, and untied the string, and took the prescription out, and handed it to the apothecary. The apothecary was talking with another man, at the time; but he took the prescription, and Rollo watched his countenance to see how perplexed and puzzled he would look, when he tried to read it. Instead, however, of appearing perplexed and puzzled, the apothecary only glanced his eye over it, and laid it down upon the counter, and immediately began to look upon his shelves to find the articles.
"That's strange!" said Rollo to himself. "He reads it as easily as I should a guide board."
While the apothecary was weighing out his medicines, Rollo was very much interested in looking at the little pair of scales in which he weighed them. Rollo never had seen so small a pair of scales. The weights, too, were small, square weights of brass, with little figures stamped upon them. He asked the apothecary what such scales as those would cost. He answered that they were of various prices, from one dollar to five. Rollo thought that that was too much for him to give; but while he was thinking whether his father would probably be willing to let him have a dollar to buy a pair with, James said that he wished he had such a pair of scales.
"So do I," said Rollo; "then we could play keep store. We could have our store out in the play room, and weigh things."
"So we could," said James. "We could put a long board upon two barrels for a counter."
"O, you must make your scales, boys," said the apothecary.
"How can we make them?" said Rollo.
"Why, you can get a good, stout knitting-needle for a beam. Tie a silk thread around the middle of it to hold it up by, and slip it along until you get it so that the needle will exactly balance. Then for scales, you must cut out two round pieces of thin pasteboard. Then take three threads for each scale, and run them through the pasteboard, near the edge, and at equal distances from each other. You must tie knots at the lower ends of the threads to keep them from drawing through. Then you must gather the other ends of the threads together, about half a foot from the pasteboard, and tie them to the ends of the knitting-needle, one on each side; and that will make a very respectable pair of scales for you."
"But what shall we do for weights?" asked Rollo.
"O, weights!-yes, you must have some weights. You must make them of lead. I will show you how."
So the apothecary took a small piece of sheet lead, rather thin, and cut off a little square of it. He then put it into one of his scale balances, and put a thin, square weight of brass, similar to it, into the other scale. The lead weight was a little too heavy. He then clipped off a very little with his scissors. This made it about right. Then, with the point of his scissors, he scratched a figure 1 upon it. "There," said he, "boys, there is a standard for you."
"What is a standard?" said Rollo, taking up the weight.
"Why, it is a weight made exactly correct, for you to keep, and make yours by. It is a one-grain weight. I will give you some sheet lead, and when you get home and have made your scales, you can cut off another piece, and weigh it by that, and so you will have two one-grain weights. Then you can put those two into one scale, and a piece of lead as big as both of them into the other scale, and when you have made it exactly as heavy as both of the others, you must mark a figure 2 upon it, and then you will have a two-grain weight. In the same way you can make a five-grain weight, and a ten-grain weight, and a pennyweight."
"What is a pennyweight?" said Rollo.
"It is a weight as heavy as twenty-four grains."
"The pennyweight will be very big, then," said Rollo.
"Yes," said the apothecary; "but you can take a little strip of lead like a ribbon, and then roll it up, when you have made it just heavy enough, and then it will not take up much room. So you can make another roll for two pennyweights, and another for five pennyweights, and another for ten pennyweights."
"And another for twenty pennyweights," said James.
"Yes; only twenty pennyweights make an ounce. So you will call that an ounce weight. But you cannot weigh more than an ounce, I should think, in your knitting-needle scales."
By this time the apothecary had put up the medicines, and he gave them to Rollo. There was a middle-sized parcel, and a very small parcel, and small, round box. Rollo put them all into the pocket of his pantaloons. Then he opened his wallet, and took out the bill, and gave it to the apothecary. The apothecary handed him the change. It was half a dollar, and one small piece of silver besides. Rollo put the change back into the wallet, and tied it up just as it had been before, and then crowded the wallet back into his pocket, by the side of the parcels which the apothecary had given him.
A LITTLE LAW.
That evening, when Rollo's father came home, he went out at the door leading to the garden yard, and looked into the yard to see if Rollo was there. He was not to be seen.