Jonas on a Farm in Winter

by Jacob Abbott

  CHAPTER XI.

  THE SNOW FORT, OR GOOD FOR EVIL

  The next morning, after breakfast, Oliver proposed to Rollo, that theyshould go down to the pond, and build a snow fort. During the night,there had been a slight thaw, accompanied with some rain. The body ofsnow on the ground had become softened and adhesive by the moisture, andwas, as Jonas said, "in prime condition for all sorts of snow work."

  Oliver borrowed of Jonas the large wooden snow-shovel, with a bladenearly two feet square, used in cutting out the paths around the house.Rollo assisted him to strap it on the hand-sled, together with someboards, two iron shovels, and a hoe.

  "The Conqueror"--for that was the name of his sled--"will have to becaptive to-day," said Oliver, as he bound the load upon the sled, whichhe and Rollo were going to drag down to the pond.

  "You had better take the garden-reel and line," said Jonas to Oliver,"if you intend to make a good fort. You will want to stretch your lineso as to make the sides square, and to guide you in cutting out yourblocks of snow."

  "O, we don't want to be so particular as that," said Oliver.

  "But I thought," said Jonas, "that your plan last evening was, to doyour work in a workmanlike manner. If you want a substantial fort tolast all winter, you must lay a good foundation, and cut your coursestrue, so that they will rest firmly one upon the other,--and especiallyif you are going to have a roof."

  "We mean to have a roof," said Rollo, "or we cannot illuminate it in theevening."

  "Well, then," said Jonas, "I advise you to take the line, and buildaccording to rule."

  Oliver had not forgotten what Jonas had often told him about doing hiswork like a workman.

  "_What is worth doing at all, is worth doing well_" Jonas used to say.

  So Oliver went to get the reel and line.

  While he was gone to the tool-house, Rollo thought of Franco Ney, andbegan to call aloud, "Franco! Franco!"

  Franco did not come.

  "Franco! Franco--o! Franco--o! Where _is_ Franco?" said Rollo; "we can'tgo without him."

  "He won't mind you," said Oliver, as he came running back.

  "You call him, then," said Rollo.

  Oliver whistled the dog call, and in a moment, Franco came running fromthe poultry yard with a bone in his mouth, which he had been gnawing fora breakfast. At that moment, Nathan came running out of the door, with aluncheon in his hand for them all. The farmer's wife had put up in apaper an apple turn-over and a nut-cake for each of the boys, as theywere going on so important an expedition.

  Very soon, every thing was ready, and they started for the scene ofoperations, eager for their work, Oliver and Rollo drawing the sled, andNathan and Franco following on behind.

  When they arrived near the pond, Oliver pointed to a little mound, notfar from the edge of the water, which overlooked the principalskating-ground of the village boys in winter.

  "There, Rollo," said Oliver, "there's the place for a fort. Many apleasant time we have had there, in a clear winter night, watching theskaters all the way up to the head of the pond. The fires looksplendidly."

  "It is a good place for a lookout," said Rollo; "but then I wouldn'tbuild it here. Let us go down nearer the pond."

  "No," said Oliver; "if we go down near the pond, as likely as not, thefirst skating night, some of the boys will tear our fort all to pieces."

  "What if they do?" said Rollo.

  "I want it to last all winter," said Oliver.

  Rollo yielded to Oliver's wishes, and they began together to unbindtheir load of boards and tools.

  "Come, Nathan," said Oliver, "we want you to help us now."

  Rollo and Nathan measured with the reel and line, while Oliver planted astake firmly in the snow at the four corners of the square.

  According to Jonas's advice, the evening before, they had agreed to maketheir fortification twelve feet square, and the walls about one footthick.

  Rollo and Nathan held the cord, stretched from corner to corner, justalong the surface of the snow, while Oliver, with the shovel, cut thesnow square down to the ground, more than a foot and a half deep.

  In this way they went round the whole enclosure, outside. They then wentinside, and, by a similar process, cut away the snow so as to leave anunbroken line of snow wall about ten feet square and one foot wide.

  "There," said Oliver, "there are the sills, as Jonas called them. It iswhat _I_ call a good foundation."

  After this, Oliver asked Rollo to bring in the measuring-board inside ofthe fort.

  Oliver and Rollo remembered what Jonas had told them about "commandingand obeying," and agreed to take turns in being "director."

  It was Oliver's turn for the first hour, and Rollo was to obey him.Nathan was to assist them both, when he was wanted.

  Oliver, therefore, took the command, and directed where and how to cutout the snow, in the manner which Jonas had described.

  They proceeded with the measuring-board, to mark off, and cut out by it,solid blocks of snow about four feet long, one foot wide, and one thick.

  Rollo laid down the measuring-board on the snow, and then both of them,with the shovels, cut down the snow perpendicularly along the edges, soas to have all the snow-blocks of precisely the same length, breadth,and thickness. These they laid in courses, on the top of the foundation.

  It took just three blocks to form a side, excepting the side where thedoor was, which they left three feet wide.

  After working more than two hours, and laying two courses, they shoveledout all the broken snow that remained inside, and then sat down on thesled to eat their luncheon and rest.

  "How do you like the looks of it, Rollo?" said Oliver.

  "_Well_," said Rollo; "only I don't see how we can make a roof."

  "Jonas will help us do that," said Oliver, "if we do the rest of thework well."

  The boys, however, were now pretty tired. They had worked very hard.They pulled off their caps, and with their handkerchiefs wiped theperspiration from their foreheads.

  "Don't let us work any longer now," said Nathan, rubbing his hands, andknocking one foot against the other. "I think we have done enough forone day; and my feet are _so_ cold!"

  "_We've_ done enough!" said Oliver. "I think Rollo and I have had theprincipal _doing_ to do. You and Franco have been looking on."

  "'What you've to do Get done to-day, And do not for to-morrow stay; There's always danger in delay'"--

  said Rollo. "I think we had better finish it now. Come, Nathan, jumpabout here on the sled, and you will soon be warm."

  So they went briskly at work again, Rollo taking the command. They foundit very hard, after the second course, to get the snow-blocks up on thesnowy wall. Often they would slip away out of their hands, just as theywere lodging them safely on the top, and fall over on one side of thewall, and break to pieces.

  "Let us cut them in two," said Oliver; "we can handle them better so."

  Before they got through the fourth course, they were glad to cut alltheir materials into pieces of one foot square.

  "How high are the walls now?" said Rollo, as they stopped to look at theappearance of the last course.

  "Between five and six feet," said Oliver. "The foundation is at least afoot and a half high, and we have laid four courses."

  Oliver, Rollo, and Nathan went to work together, then, stopping up allthe chinks in the wall, inside and out, with soft snow.

  When this was well done, Oliver took the hoe, and with the sharp edgeshaved down all around on both sides, making the walls look even andtrue.

  "Well," said Rollo, "that is the best snow fort I ever saw. Jonas doesknow how to do things, doesn't he, Oliver? But I don't see how we are toget a roof on."

  "I don't care about a roof," said Oliver. "We don't want to play in itonly in pleasant weather."

  "I'll tell you what we might do," said Rollo. "We could make a partitionthrough the middle, and put a roof over half of it."

  "So we can," said Oliver. "We'll do that th
is afternoon. It's time to goto dinner now."

  The boys then gathered all the tools, &c., and laid them together, asJonas had taught them to do, when they finished work, and then startedfor home.

  "Halloo, Franco," said Rollo, "are you here still?" They had been so busyat work, they had taken no notice of him. But Franco had watched theiroperations, and now went running on in the path before the boys, wagginghis tail, as if he had as much pleasure as they, in contemplating theresult of their morning's labor.

  When Jonas came home to dinner, at noon, the boys were impatient to tellhim what they had done.

  But Jonas was too much engaged in some work about the new barn to listento their story then. He told them, however, that he would go down aboutsunset, and look at their work, and hear the account, in the evening, ofthe experiment in doing work like workmen.

  After dinner, Oliver was excused from many of his regular duties, onaccount of the visit of Rollo and Nathan; and the three boys hastenedto return to their fort. They were so intent on finishing it, that theylost all interest in playing with Franco, or each other.

  "What shall we call our fort?" said Oliver, as they walked along.

  "We don't want any name, do we?" said Rollo.

  "O, yes," said Oliver, "let us have a name. I always like to have aname. There's the old 'General,'--we have had many a good time with him;and my 'Conqueror,'--there isn't a boy in town that doesn't know mysled."

  "We might call it 'Gibraltar,'" said Rollo.

  "Yes, that's a good name," said Oliver. "How do you like 'IcebergCastle'? Jonas was telling us all about the icebergs the other evening;and I read a story, about a famous 'Ice Palace' in Russia; how do youlike that?"

  "I don't like that," said Rollo. "Ours is a _fort_; it isn't a palace."

  "If you are going to have it a palace," said Nathan, "whom will youhave for a _king_?"

  "You may be king, Nathan," said Rollo, "and we will soon demolish yourpalace, and make a prisoner of you."

  "No, no," said Oliver, "the fort shall stand as long as ice will last. Imean to pour water all over it, and freeze it into solid ice; and Iexpect the last ice to be seen any where about next spring, will be theruins of the old fort."

  After some discussion, the boys agreed to call it "Iceberg Castle."

  They then took a survey, inside and out, of their morning's work, anddecided to proceed at once and build the partition which Rollo proposedbefore dinner. At Oliver's suggestion, Rollo was director.

  For more than an hour they continued their toil, in constructing thepartition. Jonas had given them no instructions about this; and theyfound it much more difficult than the walls, on account of the small,low door, which they had to make, to lead from one apartment into theother.

  At last, as Oliver and Nathan were drawing through the outer door asmall heap of loose snow, which they had gathered up from the floor ofthe inner room, Rollo followed them, shouting, as they emerged from thefort, "Done, boys, done!--Hurrah for Iceberg Castle!"

  "I wish Jonas was here now," said Oliver; "but I suppose it will be twoor three hours before he can come down."

  "Can't we do something more?" said Rollo. "I wish we could put on aroof, before he comes."

  "I don't believe we can do that," said Oliver.

  The boys walked in and out, and all around the fort, again and again,admiring its appearance, and thinking what else they could do.

  "It wouldn't be a bad plan to have a king, as Nathan said, in ourcastle; would it, Oliver?" said Rollo.

  "Not at all," said Oliver. "Let us make a king, or a giant, to keep thepremises for us, when we are away."

  So saying, they all set to work rolling snow-balls to make him.

  Oliver rolled up a huge mass, for his body, larger than they could atfirst get through the doors.

  Rollo rolled one for his head, and Nathan made several small ones.

  In one corner of the inner room, they laid a small platform, of severalsquare, flat blocks of snow, for a throne, as Rollo called it; and herethey placed his "Majesty."

  "It seems to me," said Oliver, "that the King of the Frozen Regionsought to have a crown and a court."

  No sooner said than done. A little band of snow-balls, in double rows,soon encircled his brow, surmounted, too, with icicles and stalactites,which Nathan brought from the brook.

  The opposite corners of the room were soon decorated with correspondingfigures, whom Rollo introduced as Lord and Lady Frost.

  He had scarcely pronounced the names, when Jonas walked in, to thesurprise and great delight of the boys.

  "Well done, boys," said Jonas; "I think you have followed directionsthis time. I give you credit for doing your work in a workmanlikemanner. But I can't stay to talk with you about it now. Your father,Oliver, wishes me to go out on the pond, and bring home the sled we leftthere, the other night, in the storm. The wind has come out in thenorth-west, and there is every prospect of a bitter cold night. It hasbegun to stiffen already, and, before morning, the sled may be locked upin solid ice."

  Jonas hurried away, and the boys, not a little disappointed, gatheredall their implements together to return home.

  "It _will_ be a cold night; won't it?" said Oliver, as he looked off tothe north-west. How fast it grows cold! It freezes now. I was in hopeswe should have one more mild day. But we can't get a roof on afterthis."

  "Won't it make good skating on the pond," asked Rollo, "if the waterfreezes now?"

  "Yes, indeed," said Oliver. "I shouldn't be surprised if there wasskating there to-night. It's only a thin sheet of water over the ice andsnow. Three or four hours of real cold will make ice enough for that.

  "Come, Nathan, jump on the sled, and you shall have a ride. Rollo and Iwill be your horses. Mother will have supper ready by the time we gethome."

  Nathan, glad of a ride, took his seat, and they were soon at the house.

  Oliver took the snow-shovels and the other tools, and returned them totheir proper places, and then drew up his sled into a corner of thewagon-house.

  After tea, Oliver and Rollo went out into the yard to feel the air, andjudge of the impression the night would probably make upon "IcebergCastle" and its inhabitants.

  It was clear and cold. The stars twinkled brightly. The moon was not up.

  "See there!" said Oliver; "I do believe they are building a fire down onthe pond already. There'll be a skating party to-night, no doubt."

  The boys returned to a cheerful room with a good fire, and were seatedround the table, to amuse themselves for the evening. They passed thetime pleasantly until Jonas returned from the pond.

  "O Jonas, Jonas," they all said, as he came in, "what made you stay solong?"

  Jonas gave them an account of his adventures, and of his meeting a partyof skaters, who were already on the pond, expecting to be joined, inthe course of the evening, by a much larger number from the village.

  After Jonas had taken his supper, the boys gathered around him to talkabout their fort, every now and then running to the door or window, tosee the fire on the pond.

  Long before it went out, Oliver, Rollo, and Nathan, were in a soundsleep.

  The next morning, early, they appeared as impatient to run down to the"Castle," as if they had dreamed of it all night long; and before thefire was well burning in the great room, they all three came runningback to Jonas, out of breath, and with sad faces, exclaiming,--

  "O Jonas! Jonas! our fort is all torn to pieces!"

  True enough, some of the boys of the skating party had completelydemolished the Castle.

  Oliver and Rollo were greatly excited; they were grieved, and they wereangry, and could scarcely refrain from expressing wishes of vengeancewhich it was not in their power to execute.

  Jonas sympathized with them in their severe disappointment.

  "'Tis _too bad_," said Rollo.

  "'Tis _too bad_," repeated Oliver. "How shall we pay them for it? Jonas,tell us how?"

  "Pay them for it?" said Jonas; "that isn't the way I shoul
d do."

  "Well, I think they deserve it," said Rollo.

  "So do I," said Oliver.

  "What do you mean by paying them for it?" said Jonas; "giving them asmuch injury and pain as they have given you? Don't you remember thelesson that Franco taught us, that to return good for evil was goodpolicy as well as good morals?"

  "Well, what would you do, Jonas?" they both asked together.

  "I don't know now," said Jonas, "what I would do. I will think of it.But this I know,--that we ought _never to be overcome of evil, but toovercome evil with good_."

  Oliver and Rollo wondered what Jonas would do.