Part 6

So Mary explained to him what her father had said. She told him, first, that whenever one boy intrusted his property of any kind to the hands of another boy, it was a _bailment_; and that the question whether the one who took the thing ought to pay for it, if it was lost, depended upon the degree of care he took of it, considered in connection with the question, whether the bailment was for the benefit of the bailor, or the bailee.

"What is _bailor_ and the _bailee_?" said Henry.

"Why, Rollo bailed you his fish," said Mary. "Rollo was bailor, and you bailee."

"No," said Henry, "he only gave me back my dipper, and the fish was in it."

Mary asked for an explanation of this, and the boys related all the circumstances. Mary said it was an intricate case.

"I don't understand it exactly," said Mary. "You returned him his property which you had borrowed, and at the same time put into his hands some property of your own. I don't know whether it ought to be considered as only giving him back his dipper, or bailing him the fish."

"I did not want the _fish_," said Henry.

"No," said Mary. "It is a knotty case. Let us go and ask father about it."

"O, _I_ don't want to go," said Henry.

"Yes, I would," said Mary. "I'll be your lawyer, and manage your side of the question for you; and we will get a regular decision."

"Well," said Henry, reluctantly. And all the children followed Mary and Lucy towards the house.

They found Rollo's father in his room, examining some maps and plans which were spread out upon the table before him. When he saw the children coming in, he asked Mary, who was foremost, what they wanted. She said they had a law question, which they wanted him to decide.

"A law question?" said he.

"Yes," she replied; "a case of bailment."

"O, very well; walk in," said he.

There was a sofa at one side of the room, and he seated the children all there, while he drew up his arm-chair directly before them. He then told them to proceed. Rollo first told the whole story, closing his statement by saying,

"And so I let him have my fish; and that was a bailment, and it was not for my benefit, but his, and so he ought to have taken very especial care of it. But he did not, and lost it, and so he ought to pay."

"But we maintain," said Mary, "that the _fish_ was not bailed to Henry at all. Rollo only gave him back the dipper, and, though the fish was in it, still the fish did not do Henry any good, and so it was not for his benefit."

"It seems to be rather an intricate case," said her father, smiling.

Henry looked rather sober and anxious. The proceedings seemed to him to be a very serious business.

However, Rollo's father spoke to him in a very kind and good-humored tone, so that, before long, he began to feel at his ease. After hearing a full statement of the case, and all the arguments which the children had to offer on one side or the other, Rollo's father began to give his decision, as follows:--

"I think that Rollo's giving Henry the dipper, with the fish in it, was clearly a bailment of the fish; that is, it was an intrusting of his property to Henry's care. It is clear also that Henry took pretty good care of it. He tried to avoid losing it. He took as much care of it, perhaps, as he would have done of a fish of his own. Still, he did not take _very extraordinary_ or special care of it. The loss was not owing to _inevitable_ accident. If the bailment was for Rollo's benefit, the care he took was sufficient to save him from being liable; but, if it was for his own benefit, then all he did was at his own risk; and the loss ought to be his loss, and he ought to pay for it."

"But I don't see," said Mary, "that he was to blame in either case."

"O, no," said his father; "he was not to blame for losing the fish, perhaps. That is not the point in these cases. It is not a question of who is to blame, but who ought to bear a loss, for which perhaps nobody is to blame.

"And you see," he continued, "that it is reasonable that the loss should be borne by the person who was to have derived benefit from the risk. If the risk was run for Henry's benefit, then he ought to bear the loss; which he would do by making Rollo compensation. If the risk was run for Rollo's benefit, then Rollo ought to bear the loss himself."

"Yes, sir," said Rollo; "and it certainly was for Henry's benefit, for he was trying to catch another fish for himself,--not for me. I had no advantage in it."

"That is not so certain," replied his father. "It depends altogether upon the question, who had a right to the dipper at that time. If Henry had a right to the dipper, then he might have even poured out the water, fish and all; or he might have kept the fish in, to accommodate Rollo. On the other hand, if Rollo had a right to the dipper then, and he let Henry have it, as a favor to him, then, in that case, the bailment was for Henry's benefit."

"Well, sir," said Henry, "I had a right to the dipper, for it was mine; and so it was for his benefit, and I ought not to pay."

"No, sir," said Rollo; "he had let me have it, and I let him have my basket."

"I only _lent_ it to him," said Henry.

"But you lent it to me for the whole walk," said Rollo, turning round to Henry.

"You must only speak to _me_," said his father. "In all debates and arguments, always speak to the one who is presiding."

"Well, sir," said Rollo, turning back to his father, again, "he lent it to me for the whole walk, and so I don't think he had any right to take it back again."

"That is coming to the point exactly," said his father. "It all depends upon that,--whether Henry had a right to reclaim his dipper at that time, after only lending it to Rollo. And that, you see, is another bailment case. Henry bailed Rollo the dipper. This shows the truth of what I said before, that a great many of the disputes among boys arise from cases of bailment. This seems to be a sort of doubled and twisted case. And it all hinges on the question whether Henry or Rollo had the right to the dipper at the time when Henry took it. For, as I have already explained, if _Henry_ had a right to it, then his keeping Rollo's fish in it was for Rollo's advantage, and Rollo ought to bear the loss. But if _Rollo_ had a right to keep the dipper longer, then he bailed the fish to him, in order to be able to let him have the dipper, for he could not let him have the one without the other; and so it was for Henry's benefit; and, as the loss was not from _inevitable_ accident, Henry ought to bear it."

"Well, sir, and now please to tell us," said Mary, "who had the right to the dipper."

"Rollo," said her father.

"Rollo!" exclaimed several voices.

"Yes," replied Rollo's father. "There is a principle in the law of bailment which I did not explain to you the other day. It is this: Whenever a person bails a thing to another person, for a particular purpose, and receives a compensation for it, the bailor has no right to take it back again from the bailee, until a fair opportunity has been allowed to accomplish that purpose. For instance, if I go and hire a horse of a man to make a journey, I have a right to keep the horse until the journey is ended. If the owner of the horse meets me on the road, fifty miles from home, it is not reasonable, you see, that he should have the right to take the horse away from me there, on the ground that it is his horse, and that he has a right to him wherever he finds him. So, if one boy lends another his knife to make a whistle with, he ought not to take it away again, when the boy has got his whistle half done, and so make him lose all his labor."

"Why, it seems to me he ought to give it back to him," said Rollo, "if it is his knife, whenever he wants it."

"Yes," replied his father, "he ought to give it up, no doubt, if the owner claims it; and yet perhaps the owner might do wrong in claiming it. Though I am not certain, after all, how it is in case a thing is lent gratuitously."

"What is _gratuitously_?" said Rollo.

"Why, for nothing; without any pay. Perhaps the bailor _has_ a right to claim his property again, at any time, if it is bailed gratuitously, though I am not certain. I will ask some lawyer when I have an opportunity. But when a thing is let for pay, or bailed on contract in any way, I am sure the bailor ought to leave it in the hands of the bailee, until the purpose is accomplished; or, at least, until there has been a fair opportunity to accomplish it.

"Wherefore I decide that, as Henry intended to let Rollo have the dipper for the whole expedition, and as he took Rollo's basket, and Rollo agreed to let him have some drink, as conditions, therefore, he ought not to have reclaimed the dipper. Since he did reclaim it, Rollo did perfectly right to give it up, fish and all; and as he did so, it was a bailment for the benefit of the bailee, that is, Henry. And of course it was at his risk, and, in strict justice, Rollo has a right to claim compensation for the loss of his fish. But then I should hope he won't insist upon it."

"Well, sir," said Rollo, "I don't care much about it now."

"You see, Henry," continued Rollo's father, "I haven't been talking about this all this time on account of the value of the fish, but to have you understand some of the principles you ought to regard, when any other's property is in your possession. So, now, you may all go."

"Well, uncle," said James, as the children rose from their seats, "haven't you got some great box that we can have for our cabinet?"

"Your cabinet?" asked his uncle.

"Yes, sir, we want to make a museum."

"Why, Rollo has got a cabinet. Jonas made him one."

"Yes, sir; but he wants his for himself, and we want one for our society."

"You may have mine, now," said Rollo; "I am not going to have one alone. I have concluded to let you have mine. Come."

So Rollo moved on, as if he wished to go. In fact, he had an instinctive feeling that his conduct in respect to the cabinet and the society would not bear examination, and he wanted to go.

But his father, afraid that Rollo had been doing some injustice to his playmates, stopped the children and inquired into the case. The children told him that they had formed a society, and had elected Jonas cabinet keeper; and that Rollo had afterwards said he meant to be cabinet keeper himself, and so would not let the society have his cabinet to keep their curiosities in.

"And did he first agree that the society might have it?"

"No, sir," said Rollo, decidedly; "I did not agree to any thing about it." He thought that this would exonerate him from all blame.

"Was not there a _tacit_ agreement?" asked his father.

"A _tacit_ agreement!" repeated Rollo. He did not know what a tacit agreement was.

"Yes," said his father, "_tacit_ means silent; a tacit or implied agreement is one which is made without being formally expressed in words. If it is only understood by both parties, it is just as binding as if it were fully expressed. For instance, if I go into a bookstore, and ask the bookseller to put me up certain books, and take them and carry them home, and then he charges them to me in his books, I must pay for them: for, though I did not _say_ any thing about paying for them, yet my actions constituted an implied agreement to pay. By going in and getting them, under those circumstances, I, in fact, tacitly promise that I will pay for them when the bookseller sends in his bill. A very large portion of the agreements made among men are tacit agreements."

The children all listened very attentively, and they understood very well what Rollo's father was saying. Rollo was considering whether there had been a tacit agreement that the society should have the cabinet; but he did not speak.

"Now, Rollo, did you consent to the formation of the society?"

"Yes, sir," said Henry, eagerly; "he _asked_ us all to form the society."

"And was it the understanding that the museum was to be kept in the cabinet that Jonas made?"

"Yes, sir," said Rollo, rather faintly.

"Then, it seems to me that there was a tacit agreement on your part, that if the children would form the society and help you make the collection, you would submit to whatever arrangements they might make about the officers and the charge of the cabinet. You, in fact, _bailed_ the cabinet to the society."

"Yes, sir," said the children.

"And as the bailment was for your advantage, as well as theirs, you ought not to have taken possession of the property again, until a fair opportunity had been afforded to accomplish the purpose of the bailment, that is, the collection of a cabinet by the society. So, you see, you fell into the same fault in respect to the society, that Henry did in regard to you in the case of the dipper."

The children were silent; but they all perceived the justice of what Rollo's father had said.

"And the society have a claim upon you, Rollo, for compensation for the disappointment and trouble you have caused them by taking away the cabinet."

Rollo looked rather serious.

"O, we don't care about it," said Lucy.

"Well," said his father, "if the society release their claim upon you, as you did yours upon Henry, very well. I hope, at all events, you will all go on pleasantly after this."

The children then went out, and Rollo, followed by the other boys, went to find Jonas, to tell him he might be cabinet keeper. They tried to tell Jonas the whole story, and about Rollo's giving the fish to Henry, and its being a bailment. But they could not make Jonas understand it very well. He said he did not know any thing about bailment, except bailing out boats--he had never heard of bailing fishes.

THE CURIOSITIES.

Jonas accepted the office of cabinet keeper. He inquired particularly of the children about the meeting of the society, and, as they stated to him the facts, he perceived that Rollo had been a good deal disappointed at not having been chosen to any office. Jonas was sorry himself that Rollo could not have had some special charge, as it was his plan at the beginning, and the others had only joined it at his invitation. When he observed, also, how good-naturedly Rollo acquiesced,--for he did at last acquiesce very good-naturedly indeed,--he was the more sorry; and so he proposed to Rollo that he should be _assistant_ cabinet keeper.

"I shall want an assistant," said Jonas, "for I have not time to attend to the business much; I can give you directions, and then you can arrange the curiosities accordingly; and you can help me when I am at work there."

Rollo liked this plan very much; and so Jonas said that he might act as assistant cabinet keeper until the next meeting of the society, and then he would propose to them to choose him regularly. He told Mary of this plan, and she liked it very much indeed.

The children had various plans for collecting curiosities. They had meetings of the society once a week, when they all came into the play room, bringing in with them the articles which they had found or prepared. These articles were there exhibited and admired by all the members, and then were put upon the great work-bench, under the care of the assistant cabinet keeper. They remained there until Jonas had time to look them over, and determine how to arrange them. Then he and Rollo put them up in the cabinet, in good order.

Mary did not collect many articles herself; but she used to tell the children what they could get or prepare. They made some very pretty collections of dried plants at her suggestion. They would come to her, as she sat in the house at her work, and there she would explain to them, in detail, what to do; and then they would go away and do it, bringing their work to her frequently as they went on. In respect to collections of plants, she told them that botanists generally pressed them, and then fastened them into great books, between the leaves, arranged according to the kinds.

"But you," said she, "don't know enough of plants to arrange them in that way,--and, besides, it would be too great an undertaking for you to attempt to prepare a large collection. But you might make a small collection, and select and arrange the flowers in it according to their beauty."

Lucy said she should like to do this very much, and so Mary recommended to her to go and get as many flowers as she could find, and press them between the leaves of some old book which would not be injured by them. Lucy did so. She was a week or two in getting them ready. Then she brought them to Mary. Mary looked them over, and said that many of them were very pretty indeed, and that she could make a very fine collection from them.

"Now," said she, "you must have a book to keep them in."

So Mary went and got two sheets of large, light-colored wrapping paper, and folded them again and again, until the leaves were of the right size. Then she cut the edges.

"Now," said Mary, "I must make some false leaves."

"False leaves!" said Lucy; "what are they?"

"O, you shall see," replied Mary.

She then cut one of the leaves which she had made into narrow strips, and put these strips between the true leaves at the back, where they were folded, in such a manner, that, when she sewed the book, the false leaves would be sewed in with the true. But the false leaves, being narrow strips, only made the back thicker. They did not extend out into the body of the book between the leaves; but Mary showed Lucy that when she came to put in her flowers between the true leaves, it would make the body of the book as thick as the back. They would make it thicker, were it not for these false leaves.

"Yes," said Lucy, "I have seen false leaves in scrap books, made to paste pictures in. I always thought that they made the leaves whole, first, and then cut them out."

"No," said Mary, "that would be a great waste of paper. It is very easy to make them by sewing in narrow strips."

Mary then asked Lucy to sit up at the table, and select some of her prettiest flowers,--some large, and some small,--enough to fill up one page of her book; and then to arrange them on the page in such a way as to produce the best effect; and Lucy did so. Then she gummed each one down upon the page, by touching the under side, here and there, with some gum arabic, dissolved in water, but made very thick. When she had done one page, she turned the leaf over very carefully, and laid a book upon it, and then proceeded to make selections of flowers for the second page. In this manner she went on through the book, and it made a very beautiful book indeed. Mary put a cover and a title-page to it; and on the title-page, she wrote the title, thus:--

A

COLLECTION

OF

COMMON FLOWERS,

BY

LUCY.

When it was all ready, it was presented to the society, and put into the cabinet, where it was long known by the name of "_Lucy's Collection_." She wrote the name of each plant under it, as fast as she could find out the names; and, whenever visitors came to see the museum, she would ask them the name of any of the flowers in her collection which she did not know, and then wrote the name down. Thus, after a time, nearly all the names were entered; and so, whenever the children found any flower which they did not know, they would sometimes go and look over Lucy's collection, and there perhaps they would find the very flower with its name under it.

This museum lasted several years; and the next spring, Rollo made his collection of flowers, which was larger than Lucy's. Mary helped him about it. At first, he was going to have it in a larger book; but Mary thought it would be better to have all the books of a size, and then they would lie together very compactly, in a pile; which would not be the case if they had several books of different sizes. She said if any one wanted to make a larger collection, he had better have several volumes. Rollo made volume after volume, until at last his collection consisted of six.

There was one collection of _leaves_; Henry made it. His object was to see how many different-shaped leaves he could get. He did not regard the little differences which exist between the leaves of the same tree, but only the essential differences of shape; such as between the leaf of the oak and of the maple. Two or three pages were devoted to leaves of forest-trees, and they looked very beautiful indeed. Leaves, being naturally flat, can be pressed very easily, and they generally preserve their colors pretty well. One page was devoted to the leaves of evergreens, such as the pine, fir, spruce, hemlock; and they made a singular appearance, they were so small and slender. A little sprig of pine leaves was put in the centre, and the others around. Then there were the leaves of fruit-trees and plants, such as the apple, pear, peach, plum, raspberry, strawberry, currant, gooseberry, &c., arranged by themselves; and there were half a dozen pages devoted to bright-colored leaves, gathered in the autumn, after the frost had come. These pages looked very splendidly. The names of the plants to which all these leaves belonged were written under them, and also the name given by botanists to indicate the particular shape of the leaf; these names the children found in books of botany. Such, for instance, as _serrated_, which means notched all around the edge with teeth like a saw, like the strawberry leaf; and _cordate_, which means shaped like a heart, as the lilac leaf is, and many others.