Jacob Abbott

Rollo at Work (Yesterday's Classics) Jacob Abbott

The third volume in the Rollo Series, a lively collection of stories about Rollo and his every day adventures in growing up in 19th century rural America, that have delighted generations of children. Told by his father that he is not big enough to work, five year old Rollo is determined to prove that he can. Starting off with unsuccessful efforts in picking up wood chips and stacking kindling in the shed, he eventually does learn how to work, and shows it by constructing a solid pathway over the muddy spot in the road. Under the gentle guidance of his parents, Rollo learns more about work with each new activity around the farm. Tending his gardens teaches him the difference between work and play. While gathering apples with the boys he experiences firsthand how much more smoothly the work goes when one person is in charge. Finally, on the way to town to spend his hard-earned money, Rollo hears a story from his mother that leads him to ponder his purchases much more carefully than he otherwise would have. In addition to entertaining his listeners, the author hopes his stories aid 1) In cultivating the thinking powers; 2) In promoting the progress of children in reading and in knowledge of language; and 3) In cultivating the amiable and gentle qualities of the heart. The scenes are laid in quiet and virtuous life, and the character and conduct described are generally - with the exception of some of the ordinary exhibitions of childish folly - character and conduct to be imitated; for it is generally better, in dealing with children, to allure them to what is right by agreeable pictures of it, than to attempt to drive them to it by repulsive delineations of what is wrong.