His father had owned a wise old horse whose name was Charley. One day Charley was eating the grass in the yard, and Johnnie Jones's father, who was then only a baby three years old, was lying on the ground, playing with the leaves After a while old Charley had eaten all the grass near by, except the very long delicious blades underneath the baby. He couldn't ask the little boy to move away, because he couldn't talk. So, very carefully, he took hold of the baby's dress with his teeth, lifted him up, and set him down on the other side of the yard. He did not even frighten him, but the mother, who was looking out of the window, was very much frightened, until she saw that the baby had not been harmed.
Mother and Johnnie Jones agreed that Charley had shown almost as much sense as Fanny, but that it wasn't very safe to leave little children alone when there were horses and ponies about.
When Johnnie Jones Learned to Swim
One summer, when Johnnie Jones was six, he and the other members of the family spent a month in the woods. They lived in a small log house which was close to a beautiful lake, and almost completely surrounded by trees. Johnnie Jones enjoyed the life there immensely. He learned to row a light boat on the water, and every day he went for a long walk through the woods, meeting many birds and small wild animals on the way. Sometimes, in the distance, he caught a glimpse of the beautiful, graceful deer, which were too timid to permit him to come very near them.
Just in front of the house was a wooden dock where Johnnie Jones liked to play, but where he was never allowed to go alone as the water about it was very deep. "Teach me to swim," he said to his father. "Then I shall be able to play wherever I please."
Father had been intending to give Johnnie Jones lessons in swimming and was only waiting for a warm, sunshiny day. Such a day came very soon, and, about twelve o'clock, he and Johnnie Jones, dressed in their bathing suits, went in the water. The little boy considered bathing great fun as long as he remained close to shore where the water was shallow but he did not like it so well when Father carried him out to the raft, where the water was so deep that it reached the shoulders of the grown people standing in it.
"Now, son," Mr. Jones said, "I want you to stand on the raft, and jump when I count three. I will catch you in my arms, let you go down under the water, and bring you up again. Remember to hold your breath, so that you will not take any of the water into your nose or mouth. Perhaps you had better keep one hand over your face for fear you might forget and try to breathe before you reach the surface. Now jump, I am quite ready to catch you."
Johnnie Jones stood on the raft and looked down at the water. He did not want to jump into it, but neither did he want to disappoint his father. Besides he wished very much to learn to swim.