QUARREL OF SQUIRE BULL AND JONATHAN. 175 a hand to deal with in doors as out; sometimes treating his family as if they were not the same flesh and blood, when they happened to differ with him in certain mat ters. 4. One day he got into a dispute with his youngest son, Jonathan, who was familiarly called Brother Jonathan, whether churches ought to be called churches or meetinghouses; and whether steeples were not an abomination. The squire, either having the worst of the argument, or being naturally impatient of contradiction, I can't tell which, fell into a great passion, and declared he would physic such notions out of the boy's noddle. 5. So he went to some of his doctors, and got them to draw up a prescription, made up of thirty-nine different articles, many of them bitter enough to some palates. This he tried to make Jonathan swallow; and, finding he made wry faces, and would not do it, fell upon him and beat him soundly. After this, he made the house so disagreeable to him, that Jonathan, though as hard as a pine knot, and as tough as leather, could bear it no longer. 6. Taking his gun and his axe, he put himself into a boat and paddled over the mill-pond to some new lands, to which the squire pretended to have some sort of claim. Jonathan intended to settle the lands, and build a meetinghouse without a steeple, as soon as he grew rich enough. When he got over, he found that the land was quite in a state of nature, covered with wood, and inhabited only by wild beasts. 7. But, being a lad of spirit, he took his axe on one shoulder and his gun on the other, marched into the thickest of the wood, and, clearing a place, built a log hut. Pursuing his labors, and handling his axe like a notable woodman, he in a few years cleared the land, which he laid out into thirteen good farms; and, building himself a large house, which he partly finished, began to be quite snug and comfortable. 8. But Squire Bull, who was getting old and stingy, and, besides, was in great want of money, on account of his having lately been made to pay heavy damages for assaulting his neighbors and breaking their heads,-the squire, I say, finding Jonathan was getting well-to-do in the world, began to be very much troubled about his welfare; so he demanded that Jonathan should pay him a good rent for the land which he had cleared and made good for something. 9. He made up I know not what claim against him, and under different pretences managed to pocket all Jonathan's honest gains. In fact, the poor lad had not a shilling left for holiday occasions; and, had it not been for the filial respect he felt for the old man, he would certainly have refused to submit to such impositions. But for all this, in a little time Jonathan grew up to be very large of his age, and became a tall, stout, double-jointed, broadfooted cub of a fellow, awkward in his gait and simple in his appearance, but having a lively, shrewd look, and giving the promise of great strength when he should get his growth. 10. He was rather an odd-locking chap, in truth, and had many queer ways; but everybody who had seen John Bull saw a great likeness between them, and declared he was John's own boy, a true chip of the old block. Like the old squire, he was apt to be blustering and saucy, but, in the main, was a peaceable sort of careless fellow, that would quarrel with nobody if you only let him alone. He used to dress in homespun trousers, and always wore a linsey-woolsey coat, the sleeves of which were so short that his hand and wrist came out beyond them, looking like a shoulder of mutton; all of which was in consequence of his growing so fast that he outgrew his clothes. 11. While Jonathan was coming up in this way, Bull kept on picking his pockets of every penny put into them; till at last, one day when the squire was even more than usually pressing in his demands, which he accompanied NO WORK THE HARDEST WORK. 179 with threats, Jonathan started up in a passion, and threw the teakettle at the old man's head. 12. The choleric Bull was hereupon exceedingly enraged, and, after calling the poor lad an undutiful, ungrateful, rebellious rascal, seized him by the collar, and forthwith a furious scuffle ensued. This lasted a long time; for the squire, though in years, was a capital boxer. At last, however, Jonathan got him under, and before he would let him up, made him sign a paper giving up all claim. to the farms, and acknowledging the fee simple to be in Jonathan forever. J. K. Paulding. 76 Ho! all who labor, all who strive, Ye wield a lofty power; Do with your might, do with your strength, Fill every golden hour! The glorious privilege to do Is man's most noble dower. C. F. Orne. LXXIV. You INTELLIGENCE OF THE ELEPHANT OU know how a dog will carry home a basket or a bundle, and go trotting along without anybody to watch him. It is just so with the elephant. When he has been trained to do a certain work, he will keep at it by himself, and will seem to take as much interest in it, and do it as intelligently, as any man would do. 2. For instance, when elephants are taught to pile logs in a timber-yard, in the East Indies, they will go on piling without any command from their masters; and they are taught, when the pile grows high, to lean two logs against it, and roll the remaining logs to the top. I remember a story told by Sir James Tennent which shows this independence of action in the elephant. INTELLIGENCE OF THE ELEPHANT. 179 3. "One evening," he says, "whilst riding in the vicinity of Kandy, in Ceylon, my horse evinced some excitement at a noise which approached us in the thick jungle, and which consisted of a repetition of the ejaculation urmph! urmph! in a hoarse and dissatisfied tone. A turn in the forest explained the mystery, by bringing me face to face with a tame elephant, unaccompanied by any attendant. 4. "He was laboring painfully to carry a heavy beam of timber, which he balanced across his tusks, but, the pathway being narrow, he was forced to bend his head to one side to permit it to pass endways; and the exertion and inconvenience combined led him to utter the dissatisfied sounds which disturbed the composure of my horse. 5. " On seeing us halt, the elephant raised his head, reconnoitred us for a moment, then flung down the timber and forced himself backwards among the brushwood, so as to leave a passage, of which he expected us to avail ourselves. My horse still hesitated. The elephant observed it, and impatiently thrust himself still deeper into the jungle, repeating his cry of urmph! but in a voice evidently meant to encourage us to come on. 6. "Still the horse trembled; and, anxious to observe the instinct of the two sagacious creatures, I forbore any interference. Again the elephant wedged himself farther in amongst the trees, and waited impatiently for us to pass him; and after the horse had done so tremblingly and timidly, I saw the wise creature stoop and take up his heavy burden, trim and balance it on his tusks, and resume his work, hoarsely snorting, as before." 7. Now almost any trained animal, if left alone to decide for himself, in such a case, would have put down his load, if he could, and walked away. But how like a faithful and industrious man this elephant acted! As there was no room to pass, he made way, waited for the horse, encouraged him to come on, and then, when he had passed, took up his load again and went along. T. W. Higginson. |