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HOLIDAY HOUSE:
A SERIES OF TALES.
Dedicated to Lady Diana Boyle.
BY CATHERINE SINCLAIR,
AUTHORESS OF "MODERN ACCOMPLISHMENTS," "MODERN SOCIETY,""HILL AND VALLEY," "CHARLIE SEYMOUR," &c. &c.
"Young heads are giddy, and young hearts are warm, And make mistakes for manhood to reform."
Cowper.
NEW-YORK:PUBLISHED BY ROBERT CARTER,NO. 58 CANAL STREET.
1839.
New-York:Printed by Scatcherd and Adams,No. 38 Gold Street.
PREFACE
"Of all the paper I have blotted, I have written nothing without the intention of some good. Whether I have succeeded or not, is for others to judge." Sir William Temple.
The minds of young people are now manufactured like webs of linen, allalike, and nothing left to nature. From the hour when children canspeak, till they come to years of discretion or of indiscretion, theyare carefully prompted what to say, and what to think, and what to look,and how to feel; while in most school-rooms nature has been turned outof doors with obloquy, and art has entirely supplanted her.
When a quarrel takes place, both parties are generally in some degree toblame; therefore if Art and Nature could yet be made to go hand in handtowards the formation of character and principles, a graceful andbeautiful superstructure might be reared, on the solid foundation ofChristian faith and sound morality; so that while many natural weeds andwild flowers would be pruned and carefully trained, some lovely blossomsthat spring spontaneously in the uncultivated soil, might still becherished into strength and beauty, far excelling what can be planted orreared by art.
Every infant is probably born with a character as peculiar to himself asthe features in his countenance, if his faults and good qualities werepermitted to expand according to their original tendency; but education,which formerly did too little in teaching "the young idea how to shoot,"seems now in danger of over-shooting the mark altogether, by notallowing the young ideas to exist at all. In this age of wonderfulmechanical inventions, the very mind of youth seems in danger ofbecoming a machine; and while every effort is used to stuff the memory,like a cricket-ball, with well-known facts and ready-made opinions, noroom is left for the vigour of natural feeling, the glow of naturalgenius, and the ardour of natural enthusiasm. It was a remark of SirWalter Scott's many years ago, to the author herself, that in the risinggeneration there would be no poets, wits, or orators, because all playof imagination is now carefully discouraged, and books written for youngpersons are generally a mere dry record of facts, unenlivened by anyappeal to the heart, or any excitement to the fancy. The catalogue of achild's library would contain Conversations on Natural Philosophy,--onChemistry,--on Botany,--on Arts and Sciences,--Chronological Records ofHistory,--and travels as dry as a road-book; but nothing on the habitsor ways of thinking, natural and suitable to the taste of children;therefore, while such works are delightful to the parents and teacherswho select them, the younger community are fed with strong meat insteadof milk, and the reading which might be a relaxation from study, becomesa study in itself.
In these pages the author has endeavoured to paint that species ofnoisy, frolicsome, mischievous children which is now almost extinct,wishing to preserve a sort of fabulous remembrance of days long past,when young people were like wild horses on the prairies, rather thanlike well-broken hacks on the road; and when, amidst many faults andmany eccentricities, there was still some individuality of character andfeeling allowed to remain. In short, as Lord Byron described "the lastman," the object of this volume is, to describe "the last boy." It maybe useful, she thinks, to show, that amidst much requiring to bejudiciously curbed and corrected, there may be the germs of high andgenerous feeling, and of steady, right principle, which should be thechief objects of culture and encouragement. Plodding industry is in thepresent day at a very high premium in education; but it requires theleaven of mental energy and genius to make it work well, while it hasbeen remarked by one whose experience in education is deep andpractical, that "those boys whose names appear most frequently in theblack book of transgression, would sometimes deserve to be also mostcommonly recorded, if a book were kept for warm affections and generousactions."
The most formidable person to meet in society at present, is the motherof a promising boy, about nine or ten years old; because there is nopossible escape from a volume of anecdotes, and a complete system ofeducation on the newest principles. The young gentleman has probablyasked leave to bring his books to the breakfast-room,--can scarcely betorn away from his studies at the dinner-hour,--discards alltoys,--abhors a holiday,--propounds questions of marvellous depth inpolitics or mineralogy,--and seems, in short, more fitted to enjoy thelearned meeting at Newcastle, than the exhilarating exercises of thecricket-ground; but, if the axiom be true, that "a little learning is adangerous thing," it has also been proved by frequent, and sometimes byvery melancholy experience, that, for minds not yet expanded tomaturity, a great deal of learning is more dangerous still, and that inthose school-rooms where there has been a society for the suppression ofamusement, the mental energies have suffered, as well as the health.
A prejudice has naturally arisen against giving works of fiction tochildren, because their chief interest too often rests on the detectionand punishment of such mean vices as lying and stealing, which are sofrequently and elaborately described, that the way to commit thosecrimes is made obvious, while a clever boy thinks he could easily avoidthe oversights by which another has been discovered, and that if he doesnot yield to similar temptations, he is a model of virtue andgood-conduct.
In writing for any class of readers, and especially in occupying theleisure moments of such peculiarly fortunate young persons as haveleisure moments at all, the author feels conscious of a deepresponsibility, for it is at their early age that the seed can best besown which shall bear fruit unto eternal life, therefore it is hopedthis volume may be found to inculcate a pleasing and permanentconsciousness, that religion is the best resource in happier hours, andthe only refuge in hours of affliction.
Those who wish to be remembered for ever in the world,--and it is a verycommon object of ambition,--will find no monument more permanent, thanthe affectionate remembrance of any children they have treated withkindness; for we may often observe, in the reminiscences of old age, atender recollection surviving all others, of friends in early days whoenlivened the hours of childhood by presents of playthings and comfits.But above all, we never forget those who good-humouredly complied withthe constantly recurring petition of all young people in everygeneration, and in every house--"Will you tell me a story?"
In answer to such a request, often and importunately repeated, theauthor has from year to year delighted in seeing herself surrounded by acircle of joyous, eager faces, listening with awe to the terrors of Mrs.Crabtree, or smiling at the frolics of Harry and Laura. The stories,originally, were so short, that some friends, aware of their popularity,and conscious of their harmless tendency, took the trouble of copyingthem in manuscript for their own young friends; but the tales have sincegrown and expanded during frequent verbal repetitions, till, withvarious fanciful additions and new characters, they have enlarged intotheir present form, or rather so far beyond it, that several chaptersare omitted, to keep the volume within moderate compass.
Paley remarks, that "any amusement which is innocent, is better thannone; as the writing of a book, th
e building of a house, the laying outof a garden, the digging of a fish-pond, even the raising of acucumber;" and it is hoped that, while the author herself has found muchinteresting occupation in recording these often repeated stories, thetime of herself and her young readers may be employed with some degreeof profit, or she will certainly regret that it was not better occupiedin the rearing of cucumbers.
HOLIDAY HOUSE.