don't think I was in any danger."

"I don't think you were myself," said his father.

"Then, why did you send me back?"

"For two reasons. First, you disobeyed me."

"But I don't think I came before you more than an inch."

"Nor I," said his father; "very likely it was not more than half an
inch."

"And was that enough to do any harm?"

"It was enough to constitute _disobedience_. I told you to keep back,
_outside_ of us, and by coming up even as near as we were, you showed a
disposition not to obey."

"But I forgot," said Rollo. "I did not observe that I was so near."

"But when I give you a direction like that, it is your duty to observe."

Rollo was silent. After a short pause, he added,

"Well, father, you said that there were two reasons why you sent me
away."

"Yes, the other was that you were spoiling all the pleasure of the
party. You kept Mary and mother continually uneasy and anxious."

"But I don't think I went into any danger."

"Perhaps not; that is not what I charge you with. I did not send you
away for going into danger, but for making other persons anxious and
uneasy."

"But, father, if there was not any danger, why need they be uneasy?"

"Do you suppose that persons are never made uneasy and anxious, except
by actual danger?"

"Why--I don't know, sir."

"If you observe persons carefully, you will see that they are."

"Then they must be unreasonable," said Rollo.

"Not altogether," said his father. "If you were lying down upon the
ground, and I were to come up to you with an axe, and make believe cut
your head off, it would make you very uneasy, though there would be
really no danger."

"But this is very different," said Rollo. "That would have been as if I
had made believe push mother off."

"That would have been more like it, I confess. But I only meant to show
you that it does not always require real danger, to make any one uneasy
and anxious. When we see persons in situations which strongly suggest
the idea of danger to our minds, it makes us uneasy, though we may know
that there is no actual danger in the case. Thus it is painful to most
persons to see a carpenter upon a very lofty spire, or to go very near a
precipice, or see any body else go, even when there is a strong railing;
and so in all other cases. Therefore, our rule ought always to be, when
we are in company with others, not only not to go into actual danger,
but not to go so near as strongly to bring up the id