Page:The Swiss Family Robinson (Kingston).djvu/325

Rh in the roof so as to fix a pulley, by means of which, when he descended, I drew up a large ship's lantern, well supplied with oil, and as there were four wicks, it afforded a very fair amount of light.

Several days were spent in arranging the different rooms.

Ernest and Franz undertook the library, fixing shelves, and setting the books in order.

Jack and his mother took in hand the sitting-room and kitchen, while Fritz and I, as better able for heavy work, arranged the workshops. The carpenter's bench, the turning lathe, and a large chest of tools were set in convenient places, and many tools and instruments hung on the walls.

An adjoining chamber was fitted up as a forge, with fire-place, bellows, and anvil, complete, all which we had found in the ship, packed together, and ready to set up.

When the great affairs were settled, we still found in all directions work to be done. Shelves, tables, benches, movable steps, cupboards, pegs, door-handles, and bolts—there seemed no end to our requirements, and we often thought of the enormous amount of work necessary to maintain the comforts and conveniences of life which at home we had received as matters of course.

But in reality, the more there was to do the better; and I never ceased contriving fresh improvements, being fully aware of the importance of constant employment as a means of strengthening and maintaining the health of mind and body. This, indeed, with a consciousness of continual progress towards a desirable end, is found to constitute the main element of happiness.

Our rocky home was greatly improved by a wide porch which I made along the whole front of our rooms and entrances, by levelling the ground to form a terrace, and sheltering it with a verandah of bamboo, supported by pillars of the same.

Ernest and Franz were highly successful as librarians.

The books, when unpacked and arranged, proved to be a most