FREDERICK THE GREAT AND HIS LIBRARIES. 



197 



SOUTH SEA ISLANDER'S NOTION OF 

 WRITING. 



The Rev. J. Williams, in his 

 Narrative of Missionary Enter- 

 prise, gives the following interest- 

 ing anecdote : 



" In the erection of this chapel 

 (at Rarotouga), a striking instance 

 occurred of the feelings of an un- 

 taught people, when observing, for 

 the first time, the effects of written 

 communications. As I had come 

 to work one morning without my 

 square, I took up a chip, and, with 

 a piece of charcoal, wrote upon it a 

 request that Mrs. Williams would 

 send me that article. I called a 

 chief, who was superintending his 

 portion of the work, and said to 

 him : 



"'Friend, take this, go to our 

 house, and give it to Mrs. Wil- 

 liams.' 



" He was a singular-looking man, 

 remarkably quick in his move- 

 ments, and had been a great war- 

 rior; but in one of the numerous 

 battles he had fought he had lost 

 an eye, and, giving me an inex- 

 pressible look with the other, he 

 said : 



" ' Take that ! She will call me 

 a fool, and scold me, if I carry a 

 chip to her.' 



" ' No,' I replied, ' sho will not ; 

 take it, and go immediately, for I 

 am in haste.' 



"Perceiving me to be in earnest, 

 he took it and asked 



"'What must I say?' 



" I replied 



" 'You have nothing to say; the 

 chip will say all I wi ;h.' 



" With a look of astonishment 

 and contempt, he held up the piece 

 of wood, and said 



" ' How can this speak ? Has it 

 a mouth?' 



'' I desired him to take it imme- 

 diately, and not spend so much 

 time in talking about it. On ar- 

 riving at the house, he g-wo it to 



Mrs. Williams, who read it, threw 

 it away, and went to the tool-chest, 

 whither the chief, resolving to see 

 the result of this mysterious pro- 

 ceeding, followed her closely. On 

 receiving the square from her, he 

 said 



" ' Stay, daughter : how do you 

 know that this is what Mr. Wil- 

 liams wants?' 



"'Why,' she replied, 'did you 

 not give me a chip just now ? 



" ' Yes,' said the astonished war- 

 rior, 'but I did not hear it say any- 

 thing.' 



" ' If you did not, I did,' was the 

 reply, 'for it made known to me 

 what he wanted ; and all you 

 have to 'do is to return as fast as 

 possible.' 



" With this the chief leaped out 

 of the house, and catching up the 

 mysterious piece of wood, he ran 

 through the settlement with the 

 chip in one hand and the square in 

 the other, holding them up as high, 

 as his arm would reach, and shout- 

 ing as he went 



" ' See the wisdom of the.se Eng- 

 lish people: they can make chips 

 talk ! they can make chips talk ! ' 



" On giving me the square, he 

 wished to know how it was pos- 

 sible thus to converse with persons 

 at a distance. I gave him all the 

 information in my power; but it 

 was a circumstance involved in so 

 much mystery, that he actually 

 tied a string to the chip, hung it 

 around his neck, and wore it for 

 some time. During several fol- 

 lowing days, we frequently saw 

 him surrounded by a crowd, who 

 Were listening with intense interest 

 while he narrated the wonders 

 which the chip had performed." 



FREDERICK THE GREAT AND HIS 

 LIBRARIES. 



The principal amusement of Fre- 

 derick's leisure hours, at all periods 

 of his life, was his library. The 

 plan for his reading in general. 



