could make his arms and legs
fly about."

"Yes," said Rollo, "I called him my _kicker_."

"You liked it very much, when you first had it."

"Yes," said Rollo, "but I don't think it is very pretty now."

"That shows what I said was true. When you first had it, it was new, and
the sight of it gave you pleasure; but the pleasure consisted in the
novelty and drollery of it, and after a little while, when you became
familiar with it, it ceased to give you pleasure, and then you did not
value it. I found it the other day lying on the ground in the yard, and
took it up and put it away carefully in a drawer."

"But if the value is all gone, what good does it do to save it?" said
Rollo.

"The value to _you_ is gone, because you have become familiar with it,
and so it has lost its power to awaken feelings of pleasure in you. But
it has still power to give pleasure to other children, who have not seen
it, and I kept it for them."

"I should like to see it, very much," said James. "I never saw such a
one."

"I will show it to you some time. Now, this is one kind of
plaything,--those which please by their _novelty_ only. It is not
generally best to buy such playthings, for you very soon get familiar
with them, and then they cease to give you pleasure, and are almost
worthless."

"Only we ought to keep them, if we have them, to show to other boys,"
said Rollo.

"Yes," said his mother. "You ought never to throw them away, or leave
them on the floor, or on the ground."

"O, the little fool," said Rollo suddenly.

His mother and James looked up, wondering what Rollo meant. He was
looking out at the side of the carryall, at something about the wheel.

"What is it," said his mother.

"Why, here is a large fly trying to light on the wheel, and every time
his legs touch it, it knocks them away. See! See!"

"Yes, but you must not attend to him now. You must listen to my lecture.
You promised to give your attention to me."

So James and Rollo turned away from the window, and began to listen
again.

"I have told you now," said she, "of one kind of playthings--those that
give pleasure from their _novelty_ only. There is another kind--those
that give you pleasure by their _use_;--such as a doll, for example."

"How, mother? Is a doll of any _use_?"

"Yes, in one sense; that is, the girl who has it, _uses_ it continually.
Perhaps she admired the _looks_ of it, the first day it was given to
her; but then, after that, she