Part 16 (1/2)
_Mr Barlow._--This is not what they are quite so well convinced of. The Greenlanders, for instance, see that the Europeans who visit them are much inferior to themselves in the art of managing a boat or catching seals; in short, in everything which they find most useful to support life. For this reason, they consider them all with very great contempt, and look upon them as little better than barbarians.
_Tommy._--That is very impertinent indeed; and I should like to convince them of their folly.
_Mr Barlow._--Why, do not you look upon yourself as much superior to your black servants; and have I not often heard you express great contempt for them?
_Tommy._--I do not despise them now, so much as I used to do. Besides, sir, I only think myself something better, because I have been brought up like a gentleman.
_Mr Barlow._--A gentleman! I have never exactly understood what a gentleman is, according to your notions.
_Tommy._--Why, sir, when a person is not brought up to work, and has several people to wait upon him, like my father and mother, then he is a gentleman.
_Mr Barlow._--And then he has a right to despise others, has he?
_Tommy._--I do not say that, sir, neither. But he is, however, superior to them.
_Mr Barlow._--Superior, in what? In the art of cultivating the ground to raise food, and making clothes or houses?
_Tommy._--No, sir, not that; for gentlemen never plough the ground or build houses.
_Mr Barlow._--Is he then superior in knowledge? Were you, who have been brought up a gentleman, superior to all the rest of the world when you came here?
_Tommy._--To be sure, sir; when I came here I did not know so much as I do now.
_Mr Barlow._--If then you, when you knew nothing, and could do nothing, thought yourself superior to all the rest of the world, why should you wonder, that men who really excel others in those things which they see absolutely necessary, should have the same good opinion of themselves?
Were you to be in Greenland, for instance, how would you prove your own superiority and importance?
_Tommy._--I would tell them that I had always been well brought up at home.
_Mr Barlow._--That they would not believe. They would say that they saw you were totally unable to do anything useful--to guide a boat; to swim the seas; to procure yourself the least sustenance--so that you would perish with hunger, if they did not charitably afford you now and then a bit of whale or seal; and, as to your being a gentleman, they would not understand the word, nor would they comprehend why one man, who is naturally as good as his fellow-creature, should submit to the caprice of another, and obey him.
_Tommy._--Indeed, sir, I begin to think that I am not so much better than others, as I used to do.
_Mr Barlow._--The more you encourage that thought the more likely you are to acquire real superiority and excellence, for great and generous minds are less exposed to that ridiculous vanity than weak and childish ones.
A few evenings after this conversation, when the night was remarkably clear, Mr Barlow called his two pupils into the garden, where there was a long hollow tube suspended upon a frame. Mr Barlow then placed Tommy upon a chair, and bade him look through it, which he had scarcely done when he cried out, ”What an extraordinary sight is this!” ”What is the matter?” said Mr Barlow. ”I see,” replied Tommy, ”what I should take for the moon were it not a great many times bigger, and so near to me that I can almost touch it.” ”What you see,” answered Mr Barlow, smiling, ”is the moon itself. This gla.s.s has indeed the power of making it appear to your eye as it would do could you approach a great deal nearer; but still it is nothing but the moon; and from this single experiment you may judge of the different size which the sun and all the other heavenly bodies would appear to have, if you could advance a great deal nearer to them.”
Tommy was delighted with this new spectacle. The moon, he said, viewed in this manner, was the most glorious sight he had ever seen in his life. ”And I protest,” added he, ”it seems to be shaded in such a manner, that it almost resembles land and water.” ”What you say,”
answered Mr Barlow, ”is by no means unreasonable. The moon is a very large body, and may be, for ought we know, inhabited like the earth.”
Tommy was more and more astonished at the introduction of all these new ideas; but what he was particularly inquisitive about was, to know the reason of this extraordinary change in the appearance of objects, only by looking through a hollow tube with a bit of gla.s.s fixed into it. ”All this,” replied Mr Barlow, ”I will, if you desire it, one day explain to you; but it is rather too long and difficult to undertake it at the present moment. When you are a little farther advanced in some of the things which you are now studying, you will comprehend me better.
However, before we retire to-night, I will show you something more, which will perhaps equally surprise you.”
They then returned to the house, and Mr Barlow, who had prepared everything for his intended exhibition, led Tommy into a room, where he observed nothing but a lantern upon the floor, and a white sheet hung up against the wall. Tommy laughed, and said he did not see anything very curious in all that. ”Well,” said Mr Barlow, ”perhaps I may surprise you yet, before I have done; let us at least light up the lantern, that you may see a little clearer.”
Mr Barlow then lighted a lamp which was within the lantern, and extinguished all the other candles; and Tommy was instantly struck with astonishment to see a gigantic figure of a man, leading along a large bear, appear upon the wall, and glide slowly along the sheet. As he was admiring this wonderful sight, a large monkey, dressed up in the habit of a man, appeared and followed the bear; after him came an old woman trundling a barrow of fruit, and then two boys (who, however, were as big as men) that seemed to be fighting as they pa.s.sed.
Tommy could hardly find words to express his pleasure and admiration, and he entreated Mr Barlow in the most earnest manner to explain to him the reason of all these wonderful sights. ”At present,” said Mr Barlow, ”you are not sufficiently advanced to comprehend the explanation.
However, thus much I will inform you, that both the wonderful tube which showed you the moon so much larger than you ever saw it before, and this curious exhibition of to-night, and a variety of others, which I will hereafter show you, if you desire it, depend entirely upon such a little bit of gla.s.s as this.” Mr Barlow then put into his hand a small round piece of gla.s.s, which resembled the figure of a globe on both sides. ”It is by looking through such pieces of gla.s.s as this,” said he, ”and by arranging them in a particular manner, that we are enabled to perform all these wonders.” ”Well,” said Tommy, ”I never could have believed, that simply looking through a bit of gla.s.s could have made such a difference in the appearance of things.” ”And yet,” said Mr Barlow, ”looking at a thing through water alone, is capable of producing the greatest change, as I will immediately prove to you.” Mr Barlow then took a small earthen basin, and, putting a half-crown at the bottom, desired Tommy gradually to go back, still looking at the basin, till he could distinguish the piece of money no longer. Tommy accordingly retired, and presently cried out, that, ”he had totally lost sight of the money.” ”Then,” said Mr Barlow, ”I will enable you to see it, merely by putting water into it.” So he gradually poured water into the basin, till, to the new astonishment of Tommy, he found that he could plainly see the half-crown, which was before invisible.
Tommy was wonderfully delighted with all these experiments, and declared that from this day forward, he would never rest till he had made himself acquainted with everything curious in every branch of knowledge.
”I remember reading a story,” said Mr Barlow, ”where a telescope (for that is the name of the gla.s.s which brings distant objects so much nearer to the eye) was used to a very excellent purpose indeed.” ”Pray, how was that?” said Tommy.
”In some part of Africa,” said Mr Barlow, ”there was a prince who was attacked by one of his most powerful neighbours, and almost driven out of his dominions. He had done everything he could do to defend himself with the greatest bravery, but was overpowered by the numbers of his enemy, and defeated in several battles. At length he was reduced to a very small number of brave men, who still accompanied him, and had taken possession of a steep and difficult hill, which he determined to defend to the last extremity, while the enemy was in possession of all the country round. While he lay with his little army in this disagreeable situation, he was visited by a European, whom he had formerly received and treated with the greatest kindness. To this man the unfortunate prince made his complaints, telling him that he was exposed every instant to be attacked by his stronger foe; and though he had taken his resolution he expected nothing but to be cut off with all his army.