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Page 2
"Why?" asked Bertie.
"Well, he wanted to be; he thought it was a useful thing to be."
Bertie gave an expressive grunt, which conveyed his opinion that there
was no accounting for tastes.
Another square building came out, this time with windows and chimneys.
"A model of the Manchester branch of the Young Women's Christian
Association," said Harvey.
"Are there any lions?" asked Eric hopefully. He had been reading Roman
history and thought that where you found Christians you might reasonably
expect to find a few lions.
"There are no lions," said Harvey. "Here is another civilian, Robert
Raikes, the founder of Sunday schools, and here is a model of a municipal
wash-house. These little round things are loaves backed in a sanitary
bakehouse. That lead figure is a sanitary inspector, this one is a
district councillor, and this one is an official of the Local Government
Board."
"What does he do?" asked Eric wearily.
"He sees to things connected with his Department," said Harvey. "This
box with a slit in it is a ballot-box. Votes are put into it at election
times."
"What is put into it at other times?" asked Bertie.
"Nothing. And here are some tools of industry, a wheelbarrow and a hoe,
and I think these are meant for hop-poles. This is a model beehive, and
that is a ventilator, for ventilating sewers. This seems to be another
municipal dust-bin--no, it is a model of a school of art and public
library. This little lead figure is Mrs. Hemans, a poetess, and this is
Rowland Hill, who introduced the system of penny postage. This is Sir
John Herschel, the eminent astrologer."
"Are we to play with these civilian figures?" asked Eric.
"Of course," said Harvey, "these are toys; they are meant to be played
with."
"But how?"
It was rather a poser. "You might make two of them contest a seat in
Parliament," said Harvey, "an have an election--"
"With rotten eggs, and free fights, and ever so many broken heads!"
exclaimed Eric.
"And noses all bleeding and everybody drunk as can be," echoed Bertie,
who had carefully studied one of Hogarth's pictures.
"Nothing of the kind," said Harvey, "nothing in the least like that.
Votes will be put in the ballot-box, and the Mayor will count them--and
he will say which has received the most votes, and then the two
candidates will thank him for presiding, and each will say that the
contest has been conducted throughout in the pleasantest and most
straightforward fashion, and they part with expressions of mutual esteem.
There's a jolly game for you boys to play. I never had such toys when I
was young."
"I don't think we'll play with them just now," said Eric, with an entire
absence of the enthusiasm that his uncle had shown; "I think perhaps we
ought to do a little of our holiday task. It's history this time; we've
got to learn up something about the Bourbon period in France."
"The Bourbon period," said Harvey, with some disapproval in his voice.
"We've got to know something about Louis the Fourteenth," continued Eric;
"I've learnt the names of all the principal battles already."
This would never do. "There were, of course, some battles fought during
his reign," said Harvey, "but I fancy the accounts of them were much
exaggerated; news was very unreliable in those days, and there were
practically no war correspondents, so generals and commanders could
magnify every little skirmish they engaged in till they reached the
proportions of decisive battles. Louis was really famous, now, as a
landscape gardener; the way he laid out Versailles was so much admired
that it was copied all over Europe."
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