Rollo looked astonished enough. He had no idea of such a catastrophe; and he and Henry both at the same instant took up the honey-pot to see if any of the bees had escaped destruction. Their eyes fell, at the same moment, upon one solitary bee that was standing upon the inside of the flower-pot. His attention had been arrested by the sudden glare of light, and so, just as Rollo and Henry first observed him, and before they had time to put the flower-pot down again, he spread his wings and flew out towards them.

Down dropped the flower-pot. The boys started. “Run!” exclaimed Jonas, following them with shouts of laughter, “run, run, boys, for dear life!” and away they all went towards the garden gate.

The bee, however, was not following them. His only object was to get away. He flew in another direction; but Rollo, Henry, and Jonas did not stop to look behind them. They kept on running, until Jonas was well on his way towards the pasture, and Rollo and Henry were safe in the shed. And this was the last time that Rollo ever attempted to make up a hive of bees.

JONAS’S MAGNET

One evening, after tea, Rollo was seated upon his cricket, before the fire, reading. His mother was upon the sofa, also reading, and so the room was very still.

By and by, Rollo finished his book. It was quite a small story-book, and he had been reading it some time, and so he had got to the end. He laid the book down, therefore, upon the table, and began to consider what he should do next.

“Mother,” said Rollo, “what shall I do?”

“I don’t know,” said his mother; “you must contrive some way to amuse yourself, for I am busy reading, now.”

Rollo sat still, looking at the fire a few minutes, and then he thought he would go out into the kitchen, and see what Nathan was about. Accordingly, he went into the kitchen. Dorothy was at work, making some bread for the next day. Jonas was bringing in wood. Nathan was sitting upon the floor before the fire, very much interested in looking at something which he held in his hand.

“What have you got, Nathan?” said Rollo.

“I am seeing this nail stick on,” said Nathan.

“Stick on!” said Rollo; “what does the child mean?” He accordingly came up to Nathan, and found that he had a smooth, flat bar of steel, not very regular in its shape, in one hand, and a nail in the other; and he was amusing himself with applying the nail to the bar of steel, and seeing it adhere.

“It is a magnet,” said Rollo. “What a big magnet! Where did you get it, Nathan?”

“Jonas gave it to me,” said Nathan.

“Let me try it,” said Rollo. And he stooped down by the side of Nathan, and offered to take away the magnet.

But Nathan held it off upon one side, and said, “No, no; I must have it. Jonas gave it to me.”

“Well, Thanny,” said Rollo, “I won’t take it away; only you let me sit here and see you play with it.”

So Rollo sat still, and did not molest Nathan, but only looked on and saw him touch the little nail to the bar, and leave it hanging there. Rollo knew it was a magnet, for he had heard of magnets, though he had never before had an opportunity of seeing one. As Nathan found that Rollo was not going to take the magnet away from him, he soon ceased to appear afraid of him, and presently he let Rollo have the magnet in his hands. Rollo said he only wanted to look at it a moment, to see what made the nail stick on.

He examined the steel bar carefully. It was not quite a foot long, and was shaped like a common flat ruler; only, instead of being straight from end to end, it was swelled out a little along in the middle. On looking at the bar very attentively, Rollo observed some very fine, hair-like lines, crossing each other, so as to produce the appearance of fine net-work. Rollo supposed that this was what caused the magnet to take up the nail. He observed that there was one place, near the middle of the bar, where this net-work was more distinct and strong than in the other parts of the bar, and so he put the nail there, expecting that it would be attracted very strongly. But he was surprised at observing that it was not attracted there at all. He then tried it at different places, all along the bar, and he found that it was not attracted any where in the middle, but only at the two ends.

While he was wondering what could be the cause of this, he heard the front door open, and he knew that his father had come home. So he jumped up and ran off into the entry, Nathan following him, to show his father the magnet. His father was busy putting away his coat and hat, and told the boys to go into the parlor, and he would come in, in a moment, and see it. When he came in, he sat down before the fire, and took the magnet, Rollo and Nathan standing by his side, and looking on with eager curiosity.

Rollo’s father examined the magnet from end to end, very carefully, for some time, without speaking. At length, he said,

“It is an old file.”

“An old file!” said Rollo.

“Yes,” said his father. “Some of Jonas’s work, I suppose.”

“Yes, sir,” replied Rollo; “at least it is Jonas’s magnet.”

“There you see the marks,” continued his father, pointing to the net-work, “of the old file teeth. Jonas ground them nearly out.”

“Are those the marks of the file teeth?” said Rollo. “I thought it was the magnetism.”

“No,” said his father, smiling, “those are the traces of the file teeth, undoubtedly. You may go and ask Jonas how he got his magnet.”

So away went Rollo and Nathan in pursuit of Jonas. They found him in the kitchen, just arranging his wood for the morning fires. They asked him where he got his magnet, and Jonas replied as follows:—

“Why, the other day, I went into town with your father’s watch, to get a new crystal put in; and when I was at the watchmaker’s, I saw a curious-shaped piece of iron hanging up. I asked the man what it was. He said it was a magnet, that he kept to touch needles. Then he gave me a nail, and let me see how the magnet would attract it. He told me, too, that if I had a knife, and would rub my knife on the magnet, the knife would attract, too; and so I did rub it, and I found that my knife would attract the nail, though not very strong. Then I asked him if any piece of iron would attract, after it was rubbed upon the magnet; and he said that iron would not, but that any piece of steel would. He told me that if I would bring a larger piece of steel, when I came after the watch, he would rub it for me, and then I should have a larger magnet. I told him I had not any steel. But he said any old file would do, and that I might grind the sides and edges a little, and make it smooth.

“So, when I came home, I found some old files in the barn. Some were three-cornered, and some were flat. I thought the flat would be the best shape, and I asked your father if he would give me one of them. He said he would; and so I ground the ends square, and the sides smooth, upon the grindstone. Then, when I went after the watch, the man rubbed it for me, and it makes a very good magnet.”

Then Rollo and Nathan went back, and repeated this story to their father.

“Very well,” said their father; “that was a very good way to get a magnet. I remember giving Jonas the file; but I did not know what he wanted it for.”

“I think a magnet is a very curious thing,” said Rollo. “See how the nail sticks to it!”

“There are a great many other things curious about it,” said his father, “besides that.”

“What?” said Rollo.

“I should want some other apparatus to show you,” replied his father.

“And can’t you get the other apparatus?”

“I don’t know. Perhaps mother might get it. Yes, I’ll tell you what we will do. I will name some things which mother may prepare, and you may get them together upon the table in the kitchen, when they have got the kitchen all in order. Then I will come out, and give you all, out there, a lecture upon magnetism.”

Rollo and Nathan were exceedingly pleased with this plan; and even Rollo’s mother looked somewhat gratified. She said she did not know much about magnetism, and she meant to go out into the kitchen herself, and hear the lecture.

“And what things shall we get?” said Rollo.

“Two or three needles,” replied his father, “some fine, and some coarse; some thread, a saucer nearly full of water, a cork, the sand-box off of my table, and a sheet of white paper. Put them all in good order upon the table, and set the chairs around it. Then, when all is ready, come and tell me.”

So Rollo’s mother put down her book and went to help Rollo collect the articles which his father had said he should require. She began to look into her needle book for the needles and thread, while Rollo went for the sand-box. When Rollo came back with the sand-box and the sheet of paper in his hand, he found Nathan with his high chair, at the kitchen door, trying to get in.

“What are you doing here, Nathan?” said Rollo.

“I want to get my high chair in,” he replied.

The truth was, that Nathan, having learned from the conversation what was going on, was eager to secure a good seat for himself, and so he was attempting to drag out the high chair which was kept in the parlor for him to sit up to the table in.

Rollo, as he happened to feel rather good-natured than otherwise, just then, after putting down his things, helped Nathan get his chair through the door, and placed it up at the kitchen table, which stood out in the middle of the floor. He then went into a closet, and opened a little drawer, where he knew corks were kept, and brought out one or two, selecting the cleanest and softest that he could find. When he came back, he found Nathan, pouring out some black sand, from the sand-box, upon the sheet of paper.

“Now, Nathan,” exclaimed Rollo, running up to him, and seizing the sand-box, “you are a very naughty boy.” And he attempted to take away the sand-box violently.

But Nathan, though he knew very well that he was doing wrong, did not seem fully disposed to admit Rollo’s authority to set him right by violence. He resisted; and, in the struggle, the table was pushed away, and the water in the saucer spilled over. The water ran along under the sheet of paper. Nathan, seeing the mischief that had been done, was a little frightened, and released his hold. Rollo then took up the paper, which had sand upon the upper side, and water dripping off from the under side, saying,

“There, Nathan, now see what you have done!”

“I didn’t do it,” said Nathan.

“You did,” said Rollo.

“I didn’t,” said Nathan.

Hereupon, Jonas came up to the table to see what was the matter. Each of the boys told his story.

“Now we are in pretty trouble,” said Jonas; “we thought we were going to have a fine lecture; instead of that, there are two boys to be punished, and wet paper to be dried.”

“Punished?” said Rollo.

“Yes,” said Jonas, “Nathan for touching the sand-box, and you for touching him.”

“Why, he was pouring out all the sand,” said Rollo, “and I was only trying to stop him.”

“Yes, but you know,” said Jonas, “that you had no right to stop him by violence. That always makes the difficulty worse.”

Here Rollo began to look pretty sober. He knew that he had done what he had very often been forbidden to do.

“Now,” said Jonas, “we can wait and tell your mother about it, when she comes out, or we can just settle it all among ourselves.”

“How?” said Rollo, with an anxious look.

“Why, I can dry the paper and the sand,” said Jonas, “if you and Nathan will only punish the boys.”

“How shall we do it?” asked Rollo, looking up with a faint and doubtful smile.

“I think a pretty good punishment,” said Jonas, “would be for you and Nathan to go and sit in two corners of the room, with your faces to the wall, until I get the paper and sand dry—if you think that would be punishment enough.”

“Well,” said Rollo,—his eye brightening at the idea of winding up so unpleasant a business so easily,—“well, Nathan, let’s go.”

Nathan was ready, and so he climbed down from his high chair, and as Rollo went to one corner of the room, he went to the other, and they took their places, as Jonas had directed; only Nathan could not resist the temptation of looking round, now and then, to see how Jonas got on with the drying of the paper. They, however, bore their self-inflicted punishment very patiently; and when Jonas had got the paper dried, and the table wiped down, and every thing replaced as it was before, he told them that it was time for them to get up again. The punishment was not very severe, it is true; but then, it was probably a pretty efficacious one, in respect to its effect in impressing it upon Nathan’s mind that he must not touch things without leave, and upon Rollo’s, that, when Nathan is doing wrong, he must not set him right by violence.

In a short time after this, the things were all ready upon the table, the chairs were placed around it, and Rollo went to call his father. He found him writing a letter. As soon as he reached the end of a sentence, he came out, and took his place at the table. Rollo’s mother sat next to him at the same side of the table, and Jonas and Dorothy in two chairs, on the opposite side. Rollo then was placed at one end of the table, and Nathan, in his high chair, at the other.

Just then, however, Rollo’s mother observed that the table was wet a little.

“Why, Rollo,” said she, “how came the table wet?”

“Why, Nathan and I did it,” said he.

“How?” said his mother.

“Why, we did it—eh—pulling. But Jonas has settled it all, mother.”

“Ah! Jonas has settled it, has he? very well. Then we will all now attend to the lecture.”

MAGNETISM

Rollo’s father looked over the things which had been arranged upon the table, for a moment, in silence, and then took up Jonas’s magnet.

“This bar is what they call a magnet,” said he; “but all the magnetism is in the two ends.”

“It is?” said Rollo; “and what is the reason of that?”

“You can see that it is so,” said his father, without answering Rollo’s question, “in this way.”

So he laid a small nail down upon the table, and then touched the middle of the magnet to the nail. It was not attracted at all. Then he moved it along a little, towards one end, and touched it again. Still it was not attracted. Then he moved it along farther and farther; but the nail was not attracted until he got to the end of the bar, and then the nail hopped up and adhered to it quite strongly.

“How curious!” said Rollo.

His father then repeated the same experiment with the other half of the bar, and found the result the same. The nail did not appear to be at all attracted until he reached the end, and then it was lifted and held by this end, just as it was by the other.

“So that, you see,” said Rollo’s father, “that the attractive power of the magnet resides in the ends.”

“Well, father, what is the reason?”

“I don’t know,” said his father.

“Don’t you know, father?” said Rollo. “I thought you were going to tell us all about it.”

“No,” said his father. “I only know a very little about it, myself. I am going to explain to you some of the facts,—such as I happen to know. So you must all remember this fact, that in the magnet, the attractive power is not distributed over the whole mass, but resides only in the opposite ends. These ends are called poles.”

“Yes, sir,” said Rollo, “we will remember.”

“Now I can make this apparent in another way,” said his father. Then he asked Rollo’s mother to thread a needle; and when it was threaded, he asked Jonas to stand up and hold the thread in such a manner as to let the needle hang over the middle of the table.

Then, when the needle was still, he brought up the middle of the magnet very near to the needle; but it did not move towards it at all. Then he drew the magnet along towards himself, keeping it at the same distance from the needle, and when the end of the bar came opposite to the needle, it immediately leaped out of its place, and adhered strongly to it.

“There is another way still,” continued the lecturer, “better than either of these.”

So saying, he took off the needle, which had adhered to the magnet, and drawing out the thread, he laid the needle itself carefully away upon a distant corner of the table. Rollo took it up, and was going to place it back with the others. But his father told him to put it down again, by itself, where he had placed it, and not to touch any of the things without his direction.

“I am going to show you another way,” he added, “of making it evident that the attractive power of the magnet resides at or near the poles.”

So saying, he opened the sheet of paper, and spread it out upon the table. Then he laid the magnet down upon it.

“Now, Jonas,” said he, “sprinkle some sand upon it from my sand-box, carefully, and see where the sand will adhere.”

So Jonas took the sand-box, and held it over the bar, not very high, and moved it slowly along, from one end to the other, and thus sanded the magnet all over. The sand fell off of it, however, freely, at every part except the ends; and Jonas, observing that it seemed to adhere there, held the sand-box a little longer over those places; and thus there was formed a sort of a black bur at the extremities, consisting of an accumulation of the black particles of sand. Rollo’s father then took up the bar carefully, and passed it around, so that all who were seated at the table could examine it closely.

“It is thickest on all the edges and corners,” said Rollo.

“Yes,” said his mother; “and the sand forms little black bristles, pointing off in every direction.”

They all examined it attentively, and observed the little black bristles pointing out every way from the edges and corners at the ends.

“This shows you,” said Rollo’s father, “exactly how the magnetic power, so far as its attractive force on other bodies is concerned, is distributed. You see it resides in the two ends, and the two ends seem to be exactly alike.”

“Yes, sir,” said Rollo, “exactly.”

“They seem to be so,” continued his father; “but the fact is, the magnetism of one end is very different from that of the other.”

“I see that the cluster of sand is a little bigger at one end, than it is at the other,” said Rollo’s mother. She was more observing than the others, and had noticed a little difference, which had escaped the rest.

“That indicates only a difference in degree,” said Rollo’s father; “but there is a difference in kind.”

“What do you mean by that, father?” asked Rollo.

“Why, if the attractive powers at the two ends were both alike in their nature, only one was stronger than the other, then the difference would be in degree; but there is a difference in the nature of the magnetism itself. In fact, the magnetisms of the two ends are of opposite natures in some respects.”

“Why, both ends attract the sand,” said Rollo, “just alike.”

“True,” said his father; “they seem to attract the sand in precisely the same way; and, looking at the bar, as I now hold it up,” he added, “with the sand adhering in the same way at the two ends, one would suppose that they were both magnetic alike. But, in fact, there is a great difference between them.”

All the company looked upon the two ends of the bar, as Rollo’s father held it up, wondering how he would show that there was any difference between them.

“Now, in the first place,” he continued, “we must get the sand off of the ends. Do you think you can get it off for me, Rollo?” said he.

Rollo took the bar very eagerly, and attempted to brush the sand back upon the paper. He succeeded in brushing off a little of it; but the greater portion remained. When he rubbed upon one side, it moved round to the other; and he could not get it off.

“Hand it to me,” said his father, “and I will show you how it can be done.”

He also asked Jonas to hand him the tongs, which were standing by the side of the fire. He then held the tongs over the sheet of paper, in a horizontal position, and gently rapped the end of the magnet against them, letting the end project a little over the tongs. This knocked all the sand off, and left the bar clean as it was before.

“Now let me see,” said he, “what was it that I was going to tell you next?”

“You were going to show us,” said Rollo’s mother, “that there are two different kinds of magnetisms in the two ends of the bar.”

“O, yes,” said he. “In order to do this, I must poise a needle in a new way.”

He then took up one of the corks which Rollo had put upon the table. From one end of this cork, he cut off, with his penknife, a round, flat piece. It was about as large around as a wafer, but somewhat thicker. He cut a little groove along the upper side of this, and laid the same needle which he had before used, and which he had put away upon the corner of the table, into this groove. Then he put the whole carefully into the saucer of water, which he had previously drawn up towards him.

“There,” said he, “we call a cork like that, a float; because it is intended to float a needle upon. Now, you see, the needle being supported by the cork, and the cork floating freely in the water, the needle is at liberty to move in any way.”

Nathan thought it was a very curious experiment to poise a needle so, upon a piece of cork,—even without the magnetism. And he watched it as it slowly moved about, with a face full of interest and curiosity.

The needle swung round a little one way and the other, and finally came to a state of rest. Then Rollo’s father held the magnet in his hands, in such a manner as to point it towards the needle, and then gradually brought it down near the water, just by the side of the point of the needle. The point immediately began to move slowly towards the bar; but Rollo’s father lifted it up suddenly, before the needle had time to touch it. Then he brought the same end of the magnet down upon the other side of the point of the needle, and that drew it back again.

“There,” said he, “you all see that the point of the needle is attracted by the bar, whichever side I put it.”

They all said they saw it very plainly.

“Now,” said he, “I am going to turn the magnet, and bring the other end of it down to the point of the needle; and if the magnetism at this end is the same with that in the other, the point of the needle will of course be attracted by this end too.”

“Certainly,” said Rollo’s mother.

Then he brought down the other end of the bar towards the needle. This other end was a little bigger than the one which he had tried first, because the file had been a little bigger at that end. But the needle, instead of being drawn towards it, as it had been towards the other end, began to move slowly away from it.

“Why, it is going away,” said Rollo.

His father did not answer, but immediately raised the bar and put it down upon the other side of the point, and then the point began to move away back again; being evidently driven away from the large end of the magnet, on whichever side it was presented.

Then Rollo’s father reversed the magnet again; that is, he brought the smaller end towards the needle as at first. The point of the needle was now attracted, that is, drawn towards the magnet; and then when he changed it again, and brought the large end to the needle, it was always repelled; that is, driven away again.

“Now you see,” he said, “that the small end of the magnet attracts the point of the needle, and the large end drives it away. That shows that the magnetism in the two ends is of two different kinds.

“And now,” he continued, “there is one thing more which is remarkable about it; and I want you to observe it very carefully. You see,” he says, “that the small end of the magnet attracts the point of the needle. But if I try it now upon the other end of the needle, where the eye is, it will repel that, just as the large end of the magnet repels the point.”

He tried it, and the result was just as he had said. And he repeated the experiment in a great many ways, and they always found that the large end of the magnet would draw the eye of the needle towards it, and drive the point away; and the small end of the magnet would draw the point of the needle, and drive the eye away. This proved, as Rollo’s father said, some great difference between the magnetisms of the two ends. “And you see,” he added, “that it is a difference in kind, not merely a difference in degree.”

“But one thing seems strange to me,” said Rollo’s mother, “and that is, that both ends of the magnet don’t attract the point of the needle, just as both of them attracted the nail.”

“And the sand,” said Rollo.

“Yes,” added his mother. “When you brought both ends of the magnet, one after the other, to the nail, they both attracted it.”

“And so they did the needle which hung down by the thread,” said Jonas.

“Yes,” said Rollo’s mother; “but now this needle, that is floating upon the water, is half attracted, and half repelled.”

“The reason is,” said Rollo’s father, “that the needle, that is floating upon the water, is a magnet itself, and has two magnetic poles; but the sand, and the nail and the needle that Jonas held up by the thread, were not magnets. They were only common pieces of iron and steel.”

“Why, father,” said Rollo, “that was the very same needle; you laid it away upon the corner of the table.”

“Yes,” said his father; “but it was not a magnet then.”

“When?” asked Rollo.

“Why, when Jonas held it up by the thread.”

“And is it a magnet now?”

“Yes,” said his father. “We will see if it is not.”

So he took the needle off from the float, and put it upon the paper. He then sprinkled a little sand over it, from the sand-box, and, upon taking it up, they all saw that there was a little tuft of black sand both upon the point and at the eye, showing that it was magnetic at both ends.

“It became magnetic,” said Rollo’s father, “only by being touched by the bar magnet; and that was the reason why I put it away by itself as soon as it had touched the bar. I did not want to have it mixed with the other needles, which had not been touched, and which, of course, were not magnetic. Now, if I take one of the needles which has not been touched, and put it upon the float, you will see that both ends of it will be attracted by both ends of the bar.”

So he placed away the magnetized needle upon the corner of the table again, and took another one, and placed it very carefully upon the float. Then he brought down one end of Jonas’s magnet very near the point of the needle. It attracted it. Then he brought it down very near the eye of the needle. It attracted the eye too. Then he turned the magnet, and tried the other end, and he found that that end also would attract both the eye and the point of the needle.

“Try the magnetized needle, and see if that will attract it too,” said Rollo’s mother.

Then Rollo’s father took the magnetized needle from the corner again, and brought the two ends of that, one after another, near to the ends of the needle upon the float. It attracted them just as Jonas’s magnet had done, only a great deal more feebly.

“So, you see that this needle is really a little magnet, just like Jonas’s great one.”

“Only there is no proof that it has the two different kinds of magnetism in the two ends,” said Rollo’s mother.

“We can easily show that,” said his father. He asked Dorothy to get another saucer full of water, while he prepared another float. Then he put the magnetized needle upon the new float, leaving the unmagnetized one upon the old float. They both looked almost precisely alike, each upon its own little disc of cork in its saucer of water.

“There,” said he, “you cannot see any difference between them; but there is a great deal of difference between them; for one is only a common needle of steel, but the other has its two extremities magnetic in opposite ways.”

To prove this, Rollo’s father brought one end of the bar to the point of the magnetized needle, and the point was repelled. He brought it then to the eye of the same needle, and it attracted it. Then he brought the same end of the bar, first to the point, and then to the eye of the unmagnetic needle, and it attracted them both; so it was evident that there was a considerable difference, in reality, between the condition of the two, though there was no difference in external appearance.