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"We shall see," said Mary.
She then drew them both carefully out a little way on one side, and holding them there steadily a moment, she let them go. They immediately began to swing back and forth, together.
After a few oscillations, however, the large stone began to gain a little upon the other, and seemed to be moving faster. Presently it had gained half an oscillation, i. e. when the large one was moving forward, the small one would be coming back.
"The big one moves the fastest," said Rollo.
"Not much," said Mary.
"No," said Rollo, "not much."
"And I don't think it is owing to the difference in the bigness of the stones."
"What else can it be?" said Rollo. "They are exactly alike in all other respects."
"Not exactly," said Mary. "We have made them as nearly alike as we could, but not exactly. There may be a good many little differences that we do not observe. But if the size of the stone would cause any difference in the vibrations, I should think it would make a much greater difference, for one is twice as big as the...
"Let us try a very big stone," said Rollo.
"Well," said Mary.
So Rollo got a stone as large as an orange, which was as heavy a one as Mary thought the thread would hold; and Mary suspended that from the branch of the tree, and then swung it in company with the two others. They all went very nearly together at first, though there was evidently a slight difference, which, in a shor...
"Now," said Mary, "we will try different lengths of string."
So she began to look over Rollo's pebbles, to find two as nearly as possible alike.
"The pebble stones must be of the same size, this time, for we want the two pendulums to be alike in all respects, except the length of the string, for that is the circumstance which we are now going to consider. We will have one string twice as long as the other."
Mary found two pebbles very nearly equal in size, and similar in shape. She tied them to two strings, making one string twice as long as the other. She suspended them as before, and then, taking hold of one with one hand, and the other with the other, she drew them out to the same distance on one side, and let them go....
"That makes a difference," said Rollo, clapping his hands.
"It goes twice as fast," said Mary.
"More than twice as fast," said Rollo, "I think."
"Let us see," said Mary.
They set them vibrating again; but they did not succeed in ascertaining whether the short one went more or less than twice as fast as the other. The two motions, so rapid and so near together, confused them. At length, Mary proposed that Rollo should count the vibrations of the long pendulum, while she counted those of...
Rollo then said that he meant to try a very short pendulum indeed, and he asked Mary to tie one up for him, not more than an inch in length. She, however, said that it would not be necessary to tie it to the branch; but, instead of that, she took hold of the string of one of the pebbles which was already hanging before...
Rollo then wanted to try a very long one, and proposed that he should climb up into the tree, and tie the end of the string to a high branch. But Mary was afraid that he would fall; and besides, she said that the pendulum would not swing clear of the branches below. She, however, immediately thought of the chamber wind...
"Have you got your thread long enough?" said Rollo. "It will take a good long thread to reach away down here."
"It is a whole spool of cotton," said Mary. And, so saying, she held up in her hand the spool, to the thread of which she was tying her pebble stone.
When it was secured, she slowly let it down, until it reached Rollo's hand, which was held up from below, ready to receive it. Mary then held the thread steady above, at a little distance out from the window, while Rollo took the stone along the side of the house, three or four feet from the place where it would natura...
"O, how slow!" said Rollo.
"Yes," said Mary, "it is very slow, indeed."
"I wish you had gone up to the garret window," said Rollo.
"O, this will do very well," said Mary.
Rollo determined to see how many he could count while the stone made one oscillation to and fro. He counted sixteen.
Mary then said she was tired of experimenting, and so she should not come down again. She, however, asked Rollo to set the pendulum swinging, and that then she would draw the thread in, and he could see that it would go faster and faster, the farther she drew it up, for that would make the string grow shorter and short...
Rollo did so; and this was the end of the experiments on oscillations.
<eob>
The Swiss Family Robinson Told In Words Of One Syllable
By
Mary Godolphin
Chapter I.
WHEN one has a good tale to tell, he should try to be brief, and not say more than he can help ere he makes a fair start; so I shall not say a word of what took place on board the ship till we had been six days in a storm. The barque had gone far out of her true course, and no one on board knew where we were. The masts...
"Come, boys," said I to my four sons, who were with me, "God can save us if it please Him so to do; but, if this is to be our last hour, let us bow to His will -- we shall at least go down side by side."
My dear wife could not hide the tears that fell down her cheeks as I thus spoke to my sons, but she was calm, and knelt down to pray, while the boys clung round her as if they thought she could help them.
Just then we heard a cry of "Land! land!" felt a shock, and it was clear that we had struck on a rock, for we heard a loud cry from one of the men, "We are lost! Launch the boat; try for your lives!"
I went at once on deck, and found that all the boats had been let down, and that the last of the crew had just left the ship. I cried out for the men to come back and take us with them, but it was in vain.
I then thought that our last chance was gone. Still, as I felt the ship did not sink, I went to the stern, and found, to my joy, that she was held up by a piece of rock on each side, and made fast like a wedge. At the same time I saw some trace of land, which lay to the south, and this made me go back with some hope th...
As soon as I got down stairs I took my wife by the hand, and said, "Be of good cheer, we are at least safe for some time, and if the wind should veer round, we may yet reach the land that lies but a short way off."
I said this to calm the fears of my wife and sons, and it did so far more than I had a right to hope.
"Let us now take some food," said my wife. "We are sure to need it, for this will no doubt be a night to try our strength."
My wife got some food for her boys, which we were glad to see them eat, poor as it was; but we could not share their meal. Three out of the four were put to bed in their berths, and soon went to sleep; but Fritz, who was our first child, would not leave us. He said, like a good son, that he would try to be of some use,...
"If we could but find some cork," said Fritz to me in a low tone, "we might make floats. You and I will not need them, for we can swim, but the rest will want some such means to keep them up."