“I don’t suppose you did do any thing wrong towards them, but you committed a great fault in respect to me.”

“What fault?” said Rollo.

“Disobedience.”

“Why, father, how?  You did not tell me to stay close by you.”

“And is a boy guilty of disobedience only when he does what his father forbids in words?”

“I suppose so,” said Rollo.

“What is disobedience?” asked his father.

“Why, it is doing what you tell me not to do; is it not?”

“That is not a sufficient definition of it; for suppose you were out there in the bushes, and I was to beckon you to come here, and you should not come, would not that be disobedience?”

“Why, yes, sir.”

“And yet I should not tell you to come.”

“No, sir.”

“And so, if I were to shake my head at you when you were doing any thing wrong, and you wore to continue doing it, that would be disobedience.”

Rollo admitted that it would.  “So that it is not necessary that I should tell you in words what my wishes are:  if I express them in any way so that you plainly understand it, that is enough.  The most important orders that are given by men, are often given without any words.”

“How, father?”

“Why, at sea, sometimes, where there is a great fleet of ships, and the admiral, who commands them all, is in one of them.  Now, if he wants all the fleet to sail in any way; or if he wishes to have some one, vessel come near to his, or go back home, or go away to any other part of the world; or if he wants any particular person in the fleet to come on board his vessel,—­he does not send an order in words; he only hoists flags of a particular kind upon the masts of his vessel, and they all obey them.

“Now, suppose,” continued he, “one of the ships did not sail as he wished, and when he called the captain to account for it, he should say that he was not guilty of disobedience, because he did not tell him to sail so.”

Rollo laughed, and said he thought that would not be a very good excuse.

“Well, it is just such an excuse as yours.  I did not positively command you not to go near the boys, or not to have any conversation with them at all, though I expressed my wish that you would not, so that you could not help understanding it.”

Rollo could not deny that this was so.

“But that is not the only case of disobedience.  For you did one thing which was contrary to my express command in words.”

Rollo looked concerned, and said he was sure he did not know it.

“I told you not to go out of my sight.”

“Well, but, father,” said Rollo eagerly, in reply, “I am sure I did not mean to.  I was picking berries so busy, I did not observe where I was.”

“I know you were, and that was the disobedience; for when I command you to keep in sight of me, that means that you must take good care that you do mind where you are.  Suppose I were to tell Jonas that he might go and take a walk, but that he must be sure to come back in half an hour, and he should go, and pay no attention to the time, and so not come back until three quarters of an hour; would that be obedience?”