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Page 71
"And I have had a complaint in this joint," continued the chair,
endeavoring to lift one of its legs, "ever since Charley trundled his
wheelbarrow against me."
"It shall be attended to," said Grandfather. "And now, venerable chair,
I have a favor to solicit. During an existence of more than two
centuries, you have had a familiar intercourse with men who were
esteemed the wisest of their day. Doubtless, with your capacious
understanding, you have treasured up many an invaluable lesson of
wisdom. You certainly have had time enough to guess the riddle of life.
Tell us poor mortals, then, how we may be happy!"
The lion's head fixed its eyes thoughtfully upon the fire, and the whole
chair assumed an aspect of deep meditation. Finally, it beckoned to
Grandfather with its elbow, and made a step sideways towards him, as if
it had a very important secret to communicate.
"As long as I have stood in the midst of human affairs," said the chair,
with a very oracular enunciation, "I have constantly observed that
JUSTICE, TRUTH, and LOVE, are the chief ingredients of every happy
life."
"Justice, Truth, and Love!" exclaimed Grandfather. "We need not exist
two centuries to find out that these qualities are essential to our
happiness. This is no secret. Every human being is born with the
instinctive knowledge of it."
"Ah!" cried the chair, drawing back in surprise. "From what I have
observed of the dealings of man with man, and nation with nation, I
never should have suspected that they knew this all-important secret.
And, with this eternal lesson written in your soul, do you ask me to
sift new wisdom for you, out of my petty existence of two or three
centuries?"
"But, my dear chair--" said Grandfather.
"Not a word more," interrupted the chair; "here I close my lips for the
next hundred years. At the end of that period, if I shall have
discovered any new precepts of happiness, better than what Heaven has
already taught you, they shall assuredly be given to the world."
In the energy of its utterance, the oaken chair seemed to stamp its
foot, and trod, (we hope unintentionally) upon Grandfather's toe. The
old gentleman started, and found that he had been asleep in the great
chair, and that his heavy walking stick had fallen down across his foot.
* * * * *
"Grandfather," cried little Alice, clapping her hands, "you must dream a
new dream, every night, about our chair!"
Laurence, and Clara, and Charley, said the same. But the good old
gentleman shook his head, and declared that here ended the history, real
or fabulous, of GRANDFATHER'S CHAIR.
BIOGRAPHICAL STORIES
BENJAMIN WEST,
SIR ISAAC NEWTON,
SAMUEL JOHNSON,
OLIVER CROMWELL,
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN,
QUEEN CHRISTINA.
This small volume, and others of a similar character, from the same
hand, have not been composed without a deep sense of responsibility. The
author regards children as sacred, and would not, for the world, cast
any thing into the fountain of a young heart, that might embitter and
pollute its waters. And, even in point of the reputation to be aimed at,
juvenile literature is as well worth cultivating as any other. The
writer, if he succeed in pleasing his little readers, may hope to be
remembered by them till their own old age--a far longer period of
literary existence than is generally attained, by those who seek
immortality from the judgments of full grown men.
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