Charlie Bell, The Waif of Elm Island

by Elijah Kellogg

He bought him a light, keen-tempered axe, that he might cut up the small wood at the door, and split up oven-wood for Sally. When he brought the axe from the smith’s, he said to Charles, “I will put a handle in it, and then we will grind it.”

“I think,” he replied, “that I can put a handle in it, if you will tell me what kind of wood to make it of.” Charles was not acquainted with the different sorts of trees in this country.

“There is no white oak on the island,” said Ben; “but here is a straight-grained hornbeam: I will take that.”

He cut down the tree, and splitting from it a suitable piece, left the boy to make it himself. When he came in to dinner, the boy had made the handle, and put it in the axe. Ben examined it with surprise.

“I couldn’t have made it any better myself,” he said. They now ground the axe, and Charlie went into the woods every day with Ben. He would chop into one side of the tree what little he was able, while Ben chopped into the other; but when it was down, he was quite useful in trimming off the limbs with his little axe: thus he learned to strike true, and to chop with either hand forward.

Ben, every once in a while, came across a maple or oak, that stood in the way: as he knew that by and by he should want a cart, plough, harrow, and other tools, he cut them, and taking them to the mill with his logs, had them sawed into joist and plank of different dimensions, and then put them in the front room to season under cover, that they might not warp or crack.

Charlie could not accomplish much in the woods, because he had not yet become accustomed to chopping, and was not strong enough; yet it was very pleasant for Ben to have company. But there were other ways in which, boy as he was, he was exceedingly useful, and a source of direct profit, which may serve to show to any little boy who reads this, how much a boy, who has the will and pluck, may do. In the first place he took care of the hens. Now, there never were any hens that enjoyed themselves better, or laid more eggs, than Charlie’s. The stumps of the trees Ben had cut were alive with bugs and wood-worms, also sow bugs, that harbored in the decayed roots; here the hens scratched, and scratched, and feasted. “Cock-a-doodle-do!” cries the rooster; “I’ve found some worms!” and all the hens would run and gobble them up. You will remember that the ledge, in which the middle ridge terminated, was perpendicular; not a breath of north or east wind could get there, because all back of it was forest, and there in the hot sun the hens dug holes, and rolled in the mellow earth, where, even in winter, it was warm when the sun shone, and Charlie scraped the snow away for them down to the ground; they could also go to the beach and get gravel, as the island was so far at sea that there was seldom any ice on the beach.

Charlie also milked, and took care of the calf which they were raising, and fed him with meal and potatoes. Hens like fish as well as cats, and he caught flounders, tom-cod, and dug clams for them, so that they laid most all winter. This was a great help to Sally, as Charlie’s coming into the family made her a great deal more work, for she had stockings and mittens to knit, and cloth to spin and weave, to make clothes for him. She had to do it, too, at a great disadvantage; for, as they had no sheep, and raised no flax, and had no loom, she was obliged to buy the wool and flax, and send the yarn to her mother to weave. This took a great deal of time, because her mother was only able to do Sally’s work after she had done her own.

Charlie cut all the wood, except the large logs: these Ben cut, and Charlie hauled them in on a hand-sled. Now, all this saved Ben’s time; but he did more: he dug clams for chowder, and caught lobsters. The rocks on the White Bull were a great resort of lobsters; many were found under the eel-grass and the projections of the rocks. Whenever he saw a bunch in the eel-grass, he would pull it away and find a great lobster, which he would put in his basket. He would also peep under the rocks, and say, “I see you, old fellow,” and with his flounder-spear pick out another. He also caught smelts, which are a first-rate pan fish. Round the points of the ledges were cunners (sea-perch) and cod: these he caught also. This all went directly to the support of the family.

Children reared in hardship, and thrown upon their own resources, develop fast; and never was Charlie more happy than when, bringing home a mess of fish, he felt he was of direct benefit to his benefactors. In the enjoyment of abundance of food, warm clothes, plenty of sleep, and breathing the bracing sea air, with the consciousness that he was useful and beloved, he began to grow with great rapidity, and increase in vigor and enterprise every day. When he first came he hardly dared speak above his breath, and the most he attempted was a sickly smile. But now he sang at his work or play (for he had good ear and voice), could laugh as merry as Sally herself, and often put the squawks in an uproar with his merriment. His pale cheeks had regained their color, and his eyes all the fire of youth, for he loved, and felt that he was beloved, and his finely-cut and delicate features were full of expression.