"However," continued Mr. George, "though we ought not to allow any loss that we may meet with to make us anxious or over-careful afterwards, still we may sometimes learn something by it. For instance, I think it is generally not best to take a watch, or money, or any thing else of special value in our pockets when we go out among a crowd."
"Yes," said Rollo; "if I had only thought to have put my purse in my trunk when I went out, it would have been safe."
"No," replied Mr. George; "it would not have been safe-that is, not perfectly safe-even then; for a thief might have crept into the house, and gone into your room, and opened the lock, and got out the money while you were away."
"But the front door is kept locked," said Rollo.
"True," said Mr. George; "that is a general rule, I know; but it might have been left open a few minutes by accident, so that the thief could get in-such things do happen very frequently; or one of the servants of the house might have got the trunk open. So that the money is not absolutely safe if you leave it in the trunk. In fact, I think that in all ordinary cases it is safer for me to carry my money in my pocket than to leave it in my trunk in my room. It is only when we are going among crowds that it is safer to leave it in our rooms; but there is no absolute and perfect safety for it any where."
"I don't see," said Rollo, "how they can possibly get the money out so from a deep pocket without our knowing it."
"It is very strange," said Mr. George; "but I believe the London pickpockets are the most skilful in the world. Sometimes they go in gangs, and they contrive to make a special pressure in the crowd, in a narrow passage, or at a corner, and then some of them jam against the gentleman they are going to rob, pretending that they are jammed by others behind them, and thus push and squeeze him so hard on every side that he does not feel any little touch about his pocket; or, by the time he does feel and notice it, the purse is gone."
"Yes," said Rollo, "that is exactly the way it was with me.
"But there is one thing I could have done," said Rollo. "If I had put my purse in my inside jacket pocket, and buttoned up the jacket tight, then they could not possibly have got it."
"Yes," said Mr. George, "they have a way of cutting through the cloth with the little sharp point of the knife which they have in a ring on one of their fingers. With this they can cut through the cloth any where if they feel a purse underneath, and take it out without your knowing any thing about it till you get home."
"I declare!" said Rollo. "Then I don't see what I could do."
"No," replied Mr. George, "there is nothing that we can do to guard absolutely against the possibility of losing our property when we are travelling-or in any other case, in fact. There is a certain degree of risk that we must incur, and various losses in one way or another will come. All we have to do is to exercise the right degree of precaution, neither too much nor too little, and then submit good naturedly to whatever comes."
* * * * *
This is the end of the story of Rollo's being robbed, except that, the next morning after the conversation above described was held, Rollo found on his table, when he got up and began to dress himself, a small package folded up in paper, with a little note by the side of it. He opened the note and read as follows:-
DEAR ROLLO: From the moment that your loss was ascertained, I
determined that I would refund the amount to you, under the
authority which I received from your father to pay all expenses
which you might incur through unexpected casualties. This robbery I
consider as coming under that head; and so I refund you the
amount, and have charged it to your father.
I did not tell you what my design was in this respect at once,
because I thought I would see how you would bear the loss on the
supposition that it was to be your own. I also wished to avail
myself of the opportunity to teach you a little of the philosophy
of the subject. And now, inasmuch as, in learning the lesson, you
have shown yourself an excellent pupil, and as you also evince a
disposition to bear the loss like a man, there is no longer any
reason for postponement; and so I replace the amount that was taken
from you by a little package which accompanies this note.
Your affectionate uncle,
G. H.
[Illustration: THE LOSS MADE GOOD.]
On opening the package, which was lying on the table by the side of his note, Rollo found within a new wallet very much like the one which he had lost; and in this wallet were two sovereigns, two pennies, and a new due bill from his uncle George for four shillings.
CHAPTER XIV. THE DOCKS.
One day Mr. George told Rollo that before leaving London he wished very much to go and see the London docks and the shipping in them.
"Well," said Rollo, "I'll go. But what are the docks?"
It may seem surprising that Rollo should be so ready to go and see the docks before he knew at all what they were. The truth is, what attracted him was the word shipping. Like other boys of his age, he was always ready to go, no matter where, to see ships, or any thing connected with shipping.
So he first said he was ready to go and see the docks, and then he asked what they were.
"They are immense basins," said Mr. George, "excavated in the heart of the city, for ships to go into when they are loading or unloading."
"I thought the ships staid in the river," said Rollo.
"Part of them," said Mr. George; "but not all. There is not room for all of them in the river; at least there is not room for them at the wharves, along the banks of the river, to load and reload. Accordingly, about fifty years ago, the merchants of London began to form companies for the purpose of excavating docks for them. The place that they chose for the docks was at a little distance from the river, below the city. Their plan was to build sheds and warehouses around the docks, so as to have conveniences for loading and unloading their ships close at hand.
"And I want to go and see some of these docks," added he, in conclusion.
"So do I," said Rollo. "Let us go this very day."
Although Rollo was thus ready, and even eager, to go with his uncle to see the docks, the interest which he felt in them was entirely different from that which his uncle experienced. Mr. George knew something about the construction of the works and the history of them, and he had a far more distinct idea of the immense commerce which centred in them, and of the influence of this commerce on the general welfare of mankind and on the wealth and prosperity of London, than Rollo could be expected to have. He accordingly wished to see them, in order to enjoy the emotions of grandeur and sublimity which would be awakened in his mind by the thought of their prodigious magnitude as works of artificial construction, and of the widely-extended relation they sustained to the human race, by continually sending out ships to the remote regions of the globe, and receiving cargoes in return from every nation and every clime.
Rollo, on the other hand, thought little of these grand ideas. All that he was interested in was the expectation of seeing the ships and the sailors, and of amusing himself with the scenes and incidents which he hoped to witness in walking along the platforms, and watching the processes of loading and unloading the ships, or of moving them from one place to another in the crowded basins.
Rollo was not disappointed, when he came to visit the docks, in respect to the interesting and amusing incidents that he expected to see there. He saw a great many such incidents, and one which occurred was quite an uncommon one. A little girl fell from the pier head into the water. The people all ran to the spot, expecting that she would be drowned; but, fortunately, the place where she fell in was near a flight of stone steps, which led down to the water. The people crowded down in great numbers to the steps, to help the child out. The occurrence took place just as the men from the docks were going home to dinner; and so it happened that there was an unusually large number of people near at the time of the accident.