"No," said his father, "only the decisions."
"Well," said Rollo, with a tone of satisfaction, "and the cabinet keeper keeps the cabinet, I suppose."
"Yes," said his father, "and so all disputings about where the things are to be placed in the cabinet, are avoided; for he decides the whole. He must be a person of judgment and skill."
"Jonas would be a good cabinet keeper for us," said Rollo.
"I think you had better form a regular society, Rollo," said Mary.
"Well," said Rollo, "will you belong to it?"
"Yes," said Mary.
"And we can choose our officers by lilac ballots," said James.
"We'll have the first meeting to-morrow afternoon," said Rollo. "I will go in the morning, and ask Henry to come,-if mother will let me."
* * * * *
His mother did let him, and the next afternoon the children all collected in the yard, intending to form their society, and proceed regularly. Mary promised to meet with them, and help them make their arrangements. They were to meet in the play room.
Before the time of the meeting, Mary went in, and, with Rollo's help, made some seats of boards, not far from the cabinet, so that all the members of the society might sit down. The children played about in the yard, some gathering lilac leaves for ballots, and some talking about the curiosities they meant to collect, until, at length, Mary came down and told them it was time to go and have their meeting. She had a great many little papers in one hand, and some pencils in the other. James asked her what she was going to do with those papers. She said they were for ballots.
"O, we have been getting lilac leaves for ballots," said Lucy.
"Papers are better," said Mary, "when there is a good deal of balloting to be done."
Then the children threw down the lilac leaves they had gathered, and followed Mary into the play room. They all came around the cabinet, and began to open it and talk about the curiosities. But Mary told them that, if they were going to have a society, they must not touch the cabinet until they had appointed a cabinet keeper-they ought all to go and sit down.
So they went and sat down.
"And now you must not talk at all, until the president is chosen," said Mary. "You must all write upon these papers the name of the person you think best for president, and then bring them to me. You see," she continued, as she distributed the papers around, to the other children, "that I am acting as president just now, until we get one chosen. That is the way men do. I asked father about it. He said that the oldest person, or one of the oldest, generally took charge of the proceedings, until a chairman was chosen."
"A chairman?" said Rollo.
[Illustration]
"Yes, or president; sometimes they call him a chairman."
So the children took their papers, and began to prepare for writing their ballots.
"What shall we put our papers on, cousin Mary, to write?" said Lucy.
"O, you must write on the seat by the side of you,-or on this book; here is a book for one."
"I can write on my cap," said James; and he placed his cap upon his knees, and began to use that for a desk. One of the children took the book, and others leaned over to one side, and put their papers upon the seat, and prepared to write there. Some began to write very soon. Others looked around mysteriously, considering which one of the company would make the best president. Henry stood up by the great work bench, and made that his writing-desk; keeping a sharp look-out all the time lest Rollo should see what he should write. And thus the children prepared their votes for president.
When the votes were all ready, the children brought them all together to Mary, who put them on the corner of the great bench near which she was standing; and the children all came up around them, to see who was chosen.
But Mary gently put her hand over the votes, and told them that that was not the way to count votes. "You must all go and sit down again," she said, "and appoint some one to count them; and then he or she must come alone, and look them over and tell you who is chosen."
"Well," said the children; and so they went back to their seats.
"I propose that Henry count them," said Mary.
"Well," said the children.
"No, let James," said Rollo.
"That is not right, Rollo," said Mary, "because it is of very little consequence who counts the votes, and in societies the best way is to let things that are of little consequence go according to the first proposal. That saves time."
So Henry came up, and began to look over the votes.
"They are all for Mary but one, and that is for Lucy," said Henry.
"Then cousin Mary is president," said James, clapping his hands.
"Yes," said Mary, "it seems you have chosen me president; and I will be president for a time, until I think that some of the rest of you have learned how to preside, and then I shall resign, and leave you to manage your society yourselves. Now you must write the votes for secretary." So Mary took her seat in the chair which she had provided for the president, and which, until this time, had been empty.
So the children began to write votes again, and as fast as they had written them they brought them to Mary, and dropped them in her lap. As soon as each one had put in his vote, he went back and took his seat. When the votes were all in, Mary looked them over, and said,
"There are two votes for Lucy, and one for Rollo, and one for Henry."
"Then Lucy is chosen secretary," said James.
"No," said Mary, "because she has only half. The person that is chosen must have more than half of all the votes. Lucy has two, and there are two scattering."
"Scattering!" said Rollo, looking somewhat puzzled.
"Yes; that is, for other persons."
"What shall we do, then?" said Rollo.
"Why, you must vote again."
So the children wrote votes again, and brought them in to the president. She smiled as she looked them over. Then she said,
"Now there is a tie."
"A tie, Mary!" said Rollo; "what is a tie?"
"Why, there are two votes for Rollo, and two for Lucy; that makes it exactly balanced, and they call that a tie."
"And now what shall we do with the tie?" said Rollo.
"Why, you must vote again."
Just as the children were preparing to vote again, they heard a noise of footsteps at the door, and, looking up, they saw Nathan coming in. He had his little straw hat upon his head, and his whip in his hand. He was playing market-man, and wanted to know if they wished to buy any potatoes.
The children all laughed. Mary said, "No, Thanny, this is a society; come, don't you want to belong to the society?"
"Yes," said Nathan; and down went his whip upon the floor, and he came trotting along towards Mary. Mary told him to sit down upon the seat next to Rollo.
Nathan took his seat, and began to look around with an air of great curiosity, wondering what they were going to do; and by this time the votes were ready. Mary looked them over and counted them, and then said that they were just as they were before, two for Rollo, and two for Lucy.
"What shall we do now?" said Rollo.
"We must vote again," said James.
"That won't do any good," said Henry.
"There's Thanny," said Lucy; "let him vote."
"Well," said Mary, "and that will break the tie."
"O, Thanny can't vote," said Rollo; "he can't write a word."
"He can vote without writing," said Mary. "Thanny, come here. Which do you think will make the best secretary, Rollo, or Lucy?"
"Why-Lucy," said Thanny, after some hesitation.
"Lucy, he says; so Lucy is chosen," said Mary. "Now, Lucy, you must be secretary; but I forgot to bring out some paper."
Rollo looked a little disappointed. He had hoped to have been secretary himself. So when Nathan came back to his seat, he began to punch him a little, good-naturedly, with his thumb, saying, "Me -why didn't you say me, Thanny? Hey, Thanny! Why did not you say me?"